How to Live as a Genius Scholar in another World

Chapter 2 – How to Live Like a Master’s Degree Holder (1)

—–CROW—– 

“Nord. Nord. Wake up. It’s already morning.”

The third year of my life as a slave in another world.

About half a year after I finally paid off my sins and became a new person, I woke up to the sound of a voice calling me.

The feeling of a capped fountain pen poking my cheek. The woman’s voice ringing in my ears was familiar.

‘Fuck, I’m screwed. This is my thesis advisor’s voice, isn’t it?’

I was going to get chewed out for sleeping in the lab. Feeling my drowsiness instantly dissipate like a kicked dog, I hurriedly got up.

“Gwaaack!! Professor Yernara!!”

“What’s with the ‘Gwaaack’? Anyone would think I’m bullying you.”

A beautiful woman chiding me with a look of disapproval. No matter how many times I saw her, she never looked many times older than me. Elves and their fucking age-falsifying passive skills.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Professor. Old habits from my slave days.”

“You need to get it together. You’re a research student now.”

“Yes, I should be.”

A senior research student in the Department of Archaeology at Carmine University. That was my current title.

Isn’t it amazing? I, a mere former slave, was taking the super-elite course in this world with a high illiteracy rate, just like I would have on Earth.

“Ahem. Anyway, good morning. You’re here early.”

“Yes. I have to prepare for my transfer, too.”

The blue-haired elf smiled back at my awkward greeting.

Her robe, which looked like a camisole with a thick lining, had a deep cut at the chest. The flowing silhouette of the long skirt and the robe with shoulder pads was extremely violent to a just-awakened brain.

This elf, who was always a stunner, was none other than my former master and current thesis advisor, Yernara Gracier.

But that title of thesis advisor was also short-lived. Soon, I would also obtain a proper degree, although not as good as hers.

Above all, she herself was leaving the university soon. Her contract with Carmine University was ending.

“I still can’t believe Professor Yernara is going to another university.”

“Me neither. I’ve only spent 15 years at Carmine University.”

Wow, fuck. As expected of an elf, her sense of time is on another level.

The three years I spent here were fucking long, but for her, 15 years seemed like a short time. I heard that their lifespan was much longer than humans, so it probably felt like two or three years to her.

“I heard that your successor has already been decided.”

“Yes. They were searching since last year and found someone recently.”

“Did they hire someone competent enough to take over your position? It must have been difficult. I guess our university’s scouting ability was better than I thought.”

“Hey. We won’t be seeing each other for much longer, so why are you buttering me up?”

“I’m being sincere.”

Yernara is an elf with a long lifespan, but her 5-year contract wouldn’t have been renewed three times if she hadn’t produced results.

She was competent and kept producing results, so the university allowed her to stay here for 15 years.

Of course, half of what I just said was flattery, but there’s nothing easier than flattery based on facts.

Sweet-talking and sucking up to superiors was a piece of cake for me, who spent two years in the Korean military.

Even though we won’t see each other anymore, Yernara is a famous figure in this industry. I never know when I might need her help again, so a few words of flattery are nothing.

Even high school students say a few words of blessing when their homeroom teacher transfers, so how could a former slave not suck up to their thesis advisor at the age of 25?

“So? Is this the paper you’re submitting to the academy this time?”

“Yes. It’s a masterpiece I was able to create thanks to the knowledge I gained under your tutelage. You could even say it’s practically your paper, Professor.”

What Yernara was pointing at was the paper I had completed after staying up all night for the past few days.

There was still a week left until the submission deadline, but anyone in this field would never say that a mere week was enough time.

If I missed this opportunity, I would have to wait until next year for the next one. That’s why I had to finish it in a hurry, even getting a fucking nosebleed in the process.

“A masterpiece. You’re very confident.”

“I have a few certifications besides the paper. If things go well, I might even get a doctorate right away.”

It had already been half a year since I was freed from slavery.

I had also obtained a lot of language certifications thanks to my translation skills. And with the knowledge I had gained while helping Yernara for the past three years, I also had an archaeology-related certification.

But this alone was only at the level of a middle school graduate passing a GED and getting seven language certifications.

It was impressive, but it was still a level that made you go “Hmmmm” when it came to entering the academic world properly. I was planning to go into archaeology, not linguistics.

In this world, degrees are awarded by the overall academic association of the department, not by the university.

A research student who has accumulated achievements will receive a degree as a doctor of the ○○ academic association, not a doctor of the ○○ university. In that sense, I had not yet officially received a degree from the archaeological community.

‘I’m still just a graduate student for now.’

The fact that I was a research “student” and not a researcher proved that.

No, fuck, to put it more bluntly, I didn’t even have a college degree, so I was less than an intern at a small company, let alone a graduate student. The graduate students of the far-off Earth seemed to be looking at me and getting angry, saying, “Do you think we’re a joke???”

And a career built on three years of slavery? There’s no such thing.

‘Fuck, what professor would put a slave’s name on their paper?’

Professors are creatures who make a big deal out of putting the names of the graduate students they use every day on their papers.

The free translation slave Nord will never be included in the first author, co-author, or even in the “others who helped me write this paper” section.

But there is one way for me to get a doctorate right away.

“It’s a thesis that will determine my status in the academic world, so I can’t write it carelessly.”

The thesis system.

This was a system similar to special admissions for rural students, and it was a method that only foreigners like me could use.

Carmine University had a system where foreigners could be evaluated for a degree based on their certifications and thesis alone. You can think of it as a system that gives foreigners an opportunity to have their degrees recognized in this culture.

To use a university entrance exam as an analogy, it’s a special admission like a foreign language essay, not regular or early admission.

Or, like a transfer exam, it’s an unconventional method.

If you demonstrate sufficient ability here, it’s possible to obtain at least a bachelor’s degree and at most a doctorate. There are almost no precedents for getting a doctorate in one go, but it might be possible for me.

Why? Because I have a lot of language-related certifications, and the paper I’m preparing is of exceptionally high quality.

“Hmm~ Even though there’s no record of you completing any formal education, Nord, you could probably get a master’s degree just based on your certifications.”

Because she knew my specs, Yernara acknowledged that point.

My publicly known specs at Carmine University were that I was proficient in seven languages and had an advanced archaeology certification.

Most of the certifications were thanks to my translation ability, but it still wasn’t the specs of an ordinary research student.

In particular, two of the language certifications were in Runes and Elven, which are said to be insufficient for mages and archaeologists to study for their entire lives. Those are fields that have their own specialized departments.

To others, I probably looked like a genius who achieved results comparable to professors who had studied for decades, at the young age of 25.

In fact, the university had a reputation that I was a naive person who had studied all my life and didn’t know anything about the world, got caught by a broker and entered the country illegally, and then got caught and became a slave.

“But I think a doctorate might be a bit difficult.”

“Well, that’s true. Honestly, I’m not even hoping for a doctorate. I’ll be satisfied with a silver-ranked master’s degree.”

A silver-ranked master’s degree was a kind of tier.

In this world, it seemed like the ghost of a gamer who died while playing ranked games possessed everyone, making them obsessed with ranking everything.

So much so that scholars not only attached ranks to degrees, but even the common adventurers went on about bronze, silver, gold, mithril, and adamantium.

If these people were taught online games, they would probably spend a week discussing how the job tiers changed with each patch. And they would probably end up making their own damage charts and classifying everything from tier 1 to tier 10 in detail.

This reality also led to professors’ dumping work and flexing their seniority.

Needless to say, even as a research student, I wasn’t allowed to join in when the full professors were having formal discussions.

It was the same even if the topic was as trivial as “Isn’t today’s lunch bad?” I don’t know why they get mad when I ask if I can go after they ask me to do something, fuck.

The hazing by those who have dabbled in ink doesn’t end there.

For example, even if there are typos in these fuckers’ papers, I’m not allowed to point them out. It’s the bullshit logic of how dare a guy who hasn’t even gotten a doctorate find fault with a professor’s paper.

So what do I do? I have to quietly correct the typos without saying anything to the professor.

‘But fuck, this fucking uncivilized world doesn’t have Word or Hangul.’

Papers here are just pieces of paper written in ink.

Make a backup like a computer file, erase only the typo, type a few keys, and you’re done? There’s no such thing.

If there’s a typo on a page of a paper, you have to copy the entire page and then correct only the typo.

And if the professor doesn’t like your handwriting after you corrected it? You get woken up in the middle of the night and get chewed out.

I was lucky that Yernara didn’t have such a vicious hobby, but if I had spent three years under other professors like that, I would have stabbed them in the stomach and been hanged a long time ago.

Anyway, I got a little off track, but there’s no way these rank-obsessed game addicts would easily give me a high degree.

‘Originally, transfers on Earth were usually stricter than regular admissions.’

It was only natural that this thesis system was much more difficult than obtaining a regular degree.

The examiners who would be looking at my paper would probably be as strict as a company commander judging a military discipline competition after being dumped by his girlfriend. Even if I wrote a Nobel Prize-level paper, they would 100% find something to nitpick.

As such, I wasn’t expecting much and was planning to submit it with the mindset that I would be satisfied with just a silver-ranked master’s degree.

“Can I read it?”

“Yes, of course. Would you like me to make you a cup of tea?”

“Oh, would you? Thank you.”

See? She said thank you.

What superior says thank you to their subordinate for making them coffee? I don’t know how many times I’ve thought that I was lucky that Yernara bought me. This person is truly my goddess.

I happily went to make tea.

But why do I feel like this is also some kind of slave mentality?

“Huh? This is an archaeology paper?”

“Yes? Oh, that’s right.”

Did I not mention the content of the paper? Fuck, if I just said I forgot to tell her, I was going to lose points.

3000% brain power! Hang in there, my brain!

“I didn’t want to add to your workload when you’re busy preparing for your transfer, Professor. I was doing মোটামুটি well on my own.”

“Haha. Is that so?”

Luckily, I came up with a plausible excuse.

Fortunately, Yernara didn’t seem to be in a bad mood. A successful improvisation.

“I thought you were going to write your paper on linguistics since you never asked me anything about it. I should be the one learning from you in that area.”

“Hehe. I also became more interested in archaeology while working under you, Professor. Runes and Elven are… a bit difficult, too.”

At first, I thought about getting a degree in that field.

Runes and their modified form, Elven, are languages closely related to magic. A fucking magical graduate student, Nord. How cool!

But these runes and Elven are, to put it simply, like coding languages.

In other words, I was like a computer illiterate who only knew how to code. If I wanted to make a living as a Runes or Elven scholar, I had to learn a lot, starting with magic. And it would cost a lot of money.

‘It’s not like I’m going to settle down here forever.’

I needed to establish a foundation for my life and find a way to return home someday, so I didn’t want to waste time on unnecessary things.

Fortunately, in this world, there were many ruins and dungeons, so archaeology, which studies the past, had a strong position.

Archaeology in this world is an industry with a bright future. I could quickly establish myself here by utilizing my three years of experience as a graduate student slave.

“It turned out that today is the first time I’m showing it to you. I had the framework done a month ago.”

I made two cups of tea and went to Yernara’s side. Yernara was reading my paper without answering.

“So, what do you think? About my paper.”

“H-huh?”

At my question, Yernara, who had been staring at the paper intently, finally looked up.

“Ah, yes. It looks good. You worked hard.”

“It’s the paper that will determine my degree.”

It was like the placement test of this world, so I couldn’t just scribble it down.

I needed to start with platinum like fucking Faker to become a great elite who made a name for himself at a young age.

It’s not that it’s bad to achieve something through effort. I just want to avoid not being able to achieve results despite having the ability.

“…Yes. It’s a really good paper.”

Yernara stared at my paper for a while longer before putting it down.

“So, if it’s okay with you, Nord, can I help you with the editing?”

“Yes? Really?”

It was an offer I hadn’t even hoped for. To have my paper proofread by someone whose professorial experience was longer than my entire life?

That’s what a thesis advisor is supposed to do, but my slave mentality was so ingrained that I couldn’t even dream of it.

“Yes. Since you put my name as the first author on such a great paper, I can’t just do nothing, can I?”

What the fuck, what kind of graduate student doesn’t put their thesis advisor’s name on their paper?

That’s crazier than a new director erasing all the sponsors’ names from the movie’s staff roll and putting only their own name.

“I’d love that. It would be a disgrace to your name, Professor, if a low-quality paper was published under your name.”

“No. It’s really well-written. As expected of someone who studied a lot.”

Yernara smiled brightly and stood up.

“Then I’ll go get some reference books from my study.”

“Ah, I’ll help you.”

“It’s okay. They’re not heavy. I’ll be right back, so wait here.”

And so, we spent time editing and revising the almost-completed paper.

Adding supporting materials to reinforce the completed logic. Yernara even asked another graduate student who had arrived for work to help her pack her things so that she could help me revise my paper.

But in this world without typewriters, spending hours with just paper and pen made me sleepy.

“……Snnnnoooooore… Coooooore….”

When I realized it, I was half out of it, drooling while sitting. Dobby is free now. I’m going to dreamland.

“Haha. Are you sleepy?”

“…Ahem, I’m fine. Sorry for dozing off.”

“No. You can take a nap. Come to think of it, I woke you up to work. You must be tired.”

Yernara said that and stood up. She returned from the kitchen inside the lab with two teacups.

In a world without caffeinated tea, I wondered what she brought, but the teacups contained warm milk.

“Drink this and rest a bit. You still have a few days until the submission, right? When you’re tired, you make more typos, which only increases the work.”

“That’s true.”

She was right. Even one typo meant the whole page was rejected. When my brain wasn’t working well, it was faster to sleep and do it later.

“Okay. I’ll take a quick nap and wake up.”

“You can sleep soundly.”

With Yernara’s bright smile, I drank the warm milk. As the warm milk went down my throat, my body slowly relaxed.

I must have been really tired. I hadn’t even finished half of it, but my eyelids were already drooping like balls in summer.

“Wow. This is really… effective…”

Putting down the teacup, my consciousness quickly succumbed to sleep.

In my fading vision, I saw Yernara smiling, somehow different from usual.

***

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping like fucking crazy.

“Chirp! (Sex!)”

“Chirp! (Sex!)”

Fucking translation ability.

I still wasn’t used to the flying sex maniacs that screamed every morning. There’s no need to translate animal language, though.

“Good morning, fucking lab.”

I got up from the sofa and stretched.

Judging by the sun shining high outside the window, good morning was probably long gone, but since I just woke up, it was morning for me.

By the way, how long has it been since I slept so soundly? Even after being freed from slavery, I was so busy with certifications and my thesis that I slept and woke up like turning off a computer’s power strip.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah. I slept like a fucking log.”

I greeted a fellow lab slave… I mean, a fellow research student who was nearby and got up from my seat.

But Yernara, who had been next to me before I fell asleep, was nowhere to be seen. I rubbed my eyes and asked my slave friend.

“Hey, where did the professor go?”

“What are you talking about? She left for her new post this morning.”

“What? Without saying goodbye to me?”

I was surprised and also a little hurt. I mean, we spent three years eating together (not a typo), and she just left without saying goodbye to me!

“Huh? The professor said she said goodbye to you last night?”

“…What?”

Fuck?

It was the moment I heard the research student’s answer. An indescribable sense of foreboding crept up my spine without warning.

It was that feeling.

The feeling you get when you oversleep on a day you have to go to work.

The sunlight shining through the window and the chirping of birds automatically trigger the feeling of “I’m fucked,” that unique feeling of impending doom.

I looked at the table. The neatly arranged table was devoid of even a speck of dust or a single sheet of paper.

─I broke out in a cold sweat.

“…Pa, paper. Fuck, where’s my paper?”

“What paper all of a sudden? Are you still half asleep?”

Ignoring my colleague’s frown, I searched around. My paper was not on my desk or in the drawer.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

Ignoring the shrill warning, I searched through the drawer Yernara used.

My paper wasn’t there either.

Nowhere in this lab – my paper was gone.

“…What?”

I realized with a mind completely devoid of sleepiness.

Yernara had run off with my paper.

—–CROW—–