I Became an Unknown Professor at the Academy

“Well, I thought we were just having lunch together after a long time, but you’ve been interrogating me since the lecture ended. You didn’t even let me eat.”

Yoon Do-sik, sitting across from me, made no effort to hide his displeasure.

“You seem to have eaten quite a lot for someone who’s been so busy.”
“Ahem, that’s not a very nice way to put it.”

There were several empty plates on the table.

They had been filled with food delivered from the student cafeteria, freshly cooked.

“You’re so good-looking, but you have no sense of humor.”
“It’s not that I’m not funny, it’s that you’re boring.”
“My kids laughed a lot.”

I had reached my limit with this pointless conversation, so I picked up my umbrella and stood up.

“Are you leaving already?”
“I’ve been listening to your small talk for two hours.”
“What? Has it been that long?”
“Haha, it’s been a little over two hours.”

Yoon Do-sik, who hadn’t noticed the passing of time, quickly checked his smartwatch, and Jayden began to clear the plates.

“I almost stood up my students.”
“Are you leaving, Professor Yoon?”
“Yes. I have to go see my students’ experiments, even though I don’t have any lectures. Ugh, I’m so full.”
“Haha, no problem. Call me before you leave.”
“Sure, see you later.”

He naturally came over to my side and nodded.

“Aren’t you coming?”
“Be grateful that you’re not in the combat division.”
“Hmm? What are you talking about?”
“Tsk.”

I felt a little annoyed that I couldn’t throw him to the ground like the others, and I left the lab with him and got on the elevator.

“About the girl you asked me about last year.”
“Nayoung.”
“Yes. I was so surprised when you asked me to recommend her for a scholarship when she was taking another professor’s class.”
“Get to the point.”

I was extremely sensitive after listening to pointless conversation for two hours. If another person had been talking next to me, I would have done something about it by now.

“It seems that good looks are important for dating, even for someone like you with a sour face.”
“Budget cut.”
“Haha, Professor Baek. Should I kneel before you?”

Ding.

The elevator doors opened, and the guy who had been acting like he was about to kneel quickly followed me out of the elevator.

“Good afternoon, Professor!”
“Have a nice afternoon!”

I politely acknowledged the greetings of the tired-looking teaching assistants and professors and left the main building.

“It’s like a cult around here.”
“Please shut up.”

As I get older, I become more silent, but why are the people around me so talkative?

Thump.

“By the way, are you using an umbrella? With your magic, you could just walk around dry.” “Yoon Do-sik.”
“Ahem.”

We walked in silence for a while in the winter rain.

“About Nayoung…”

As we approached a fork in the road, he brought up the conversation he had started earlier.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to teach her seriously.”
“It would be polite to ask her first.”
“Yes, my mistake.”

He nodded, indicating that he understood.

“So, when will you be free?”

For a moment, I thought about what he was saying. And I quickly found the answer.

Year-end evaluation.

“From mid-June.”
“That early?”
“This time, I’ll be preparing for two grades, and I plan to increase the scale compared to last year.”
“Increase the scale? Haha, that’s great. I’ll clear my schedule from mid-June.”

Since he volunteered to be ground up, there was no reason to refuse.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

He seemed to have no further business, so he left without hesitation towards the building where the alchemy workshop was located.

Tap, tap.

“Haa…”

I felt satisfied with the returning silence and walked towards the mansion, following the rhythm of the raindrops.

-I’m back!!

As soon as I opened the front door, another disaster greeted me.

I moved to put away my umbrella and change my shoes.

-Beep!!

Just as I slipped into my slippers, a small disaster flew into my arms, wearing clothes I hadn’t seen before.

Puff, puff!!

She rudely patted my cheeks with her tiny hands.

No matter how many times I tried to correct her, this habit didn’t go away. Perhaps it was her way of expressing her excitement.

“Welcome back.”
“Yes.”

Claire approached me and naturally took my coat from me.

“Is this Yesol’s work?”
“Yes. She said there were limits to what she could order, so she recently started sewing herself.”

The small disaster, dressed in a white wolf pajama with Baek Hana’s features and white fur, patted my cheeks enough and then flew to Claire’s hand with her tiny wings.

-Waaang!!

She spread her tiny hands like a beast and jumped around.

-Mooossshhh!!

She couldn’t even pronounce it properly.

Every time I left her with Yesol for a day, she would come back with all sorts of strange things. It wasn’t something I particularly welcomed.

“Scary…”

I could endure it all just to see Claire playing along with the fairy’s rhythm, desperately trying to hold back her rising smile.

“Hana will be back soon, so let’s practice more so you can show her later.”

-Aang!!

“Phew…”

She couldn’t hold back her laughter and turned her head, her shoulders shaking slightly.

-Pee?

I held the fairy sitting on Claire’s hand.

“Please get me a cup of coffee.”
“Yes…”

I left her to calm down and returned to the study with the fairy.

“Behave and draw a picture.”

-Kkeureem!!

I placed a tiny quill and a piece of paper on the desk, considering the fairy’s size, which Yesol had somehow obtained. The fairy quickly sat down and began to draw lines as it pleased.

“Here.”

Claire brought in a cup of coffee and quietly placed it in front of me. Then, with a faint smile, she watched the fairy diligently scribbling something.

“Ah…”

Then, something seemed to come to her mind, and the smile on her lips disappeared.

“This fairy isn’t in the painting of Count Raven…”

The paintings and auction items from Le Colleang, which had not yet arrived due to special processing.

Indeed, the small creature had been there, but Oberon’s protection had prevented Le Colleang from seeing the fairy.

“There will be other opportunities, so don’t worry too much.”
“Yes. There will be opportunities…”

Her expression relaxed, but then her eyes widened, and she closed her mouth.

Hwaaaak──

Her white neck and cheeks gradually turned red.

“Th-there will be opportunities, lots of them, fairy…”

She looked quite flustered, and I searched my memory, easily finding the reason.

Wedding.

“Th-that, that, that is… Ah, Woo-jin…”

Claire stammered, her mind going back to last summer.

I didn’t answer, just looked at her face.

Her face turned even redder.

“The schedule hasn’t been decided yet, but I think I’ll need to be away for two days to attend the Priest Council.”
“You’ll need more time than that.”

According to my memory, this year’s Priest Council will be held in Italy. Considering the travel time, at least five days will be needed.

“This time, the host country is Korea, so two days will be enough.”

Korea.

An unexpected variable.

“We’ll talk about it again when the schedule is decided.”
“Yes…”

An awkward silence followed this conversation.

-I’m back.
-Excuse me!!

The children finished their lectures and came to the mansion for training with Claire.

-Oh, who’s this cutie?
-Haha, is this a copy of Baek Hana?
-So cute…

A brief noise while they changed their clothes.

Then, as usual, they went outside and began training with Claire in the winter rain.

‘The Priest Council.’

The starting point where the followers of the evil god reveal themselves with the Devil’s Breath.

Taking advantage of the absence of the main forces of each temple, a bomb attack using the Devil’s Breath occurs at the World Tree Temple.

‘But the starting point is Korea.’

It’s not certain that it will happen.

‘However…’

A small piece of paper and a quill left on the desk.

I put the paper, which contained a scribble that looked no different from a child’s drawing of me and Claire, into the desk drawer.

“It’s not a bad idea to settle a debt.”