I Became an Unknown Professor at the Academy

—!!

The flickering blue light emitted a strong light and then disappeared. The two men standing next to it couldn’t hide their disappointment and smacked their lips.

“Damn, it’s a shame. We put so much effort into making it.”
“I know. But we can’t assign a separate workforce here either.”
“Aw…”

Yoon Do-sik and Jayden.
They had been working together on designing the gate, and now they were in perfect harmony.

I put the crystal in my hand into a storage artifact and said.

“We’ll keep doing this every semester, so start thinking about the theme for the second semester now.”
“The second semester… Can we increase the difficulty more than now?”
“Can I participate in the second semester, Professor Baek?”
“Participation is limited to first-year professors.”
“Kuh…”

Jayden sighed with genuine disappointment, clenching his fist.

“You take care of your teacher. If he goes astray, you’ll be held accountable too.”
“I’ll do my best…”

His words were different from his eyes, which expressed that he didn’t understand why he had to suffer because of his teacher.

‘You’re as selfish as your teacher.’

The annoying guy who had been trying to stay here by assigning tasks to the two people who came with him.

But as soon as he heard from me how to communicate with the crystal, he flew to the clock tower. He’s probably stuck in some gate right now, pounding his magic into the crystal.

“Oh, it’s almost time for the meeting. Let’s go, Professor.”
“The students do all the preparation anyway. Is there a need for a full meeting?”
“I don’t know. Today, the chairman himself called for the meeting.”
“The chairman…?”
“Yes, so let’s go quickly.”

Jayden led the way and opened the door, and we moved through it to the main building.

“Phew, it’s getting hot.”
“I have a body that doesn’t feel the heat.”

As soon as we entered the main building, Yoon Do-sik wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, and Jayden laughed playfully at him.

“Ah!! Hello, are you… there?”

One of the teaching assistants at the front discovered me and tried to greet me, but when he saw Yoon Do-sik and Jayden on either side, he trailed off awkwardly.

-…Isn’t the relationship between Professor Baek and Professor Jayden bad?
-I heard they’ve been hanging out a lot recently, have they reconciled?
-It’s not so much a reconciliation as Jayden has fallen under Professor Baek’s wing…?

“Cough, cough!”

Jayden, with his Awakened ears, coughed, and the whispering teaching assistants quickly averted their eyes and dispersed. Yoon Do-sik chuckled and pressed the elevator button.

“People should know how to be humble. How can you do something like that on the day you’re introduced? You should know when to stop showing off. Aw.”
“I’m reflecting on it, so please stop teasing me about it.”

It was a joke that had been used several times, but each time, Jayden blushed, looking at me. Still, he had more decency than his teacher, so he was bearable to be around.

-Ding.

The elevator door opened, and we entered the room with a sign that read ‘Conference Room 1’.

“We’re the last ones, aren’t we?”
“I told you we were late.”

The professors and staff, sitting together in groups based on factions, friendships, and grades, turned their attention to us. The two men whispered to each other.

I walked towards the front row to sit next to Kim Sung-won, who was sitting next to the head of the academic affairs department.

“Oh, you’re here.”

The guy who had been dozing off until a moment ago suddenly opened his eyes and greeted me as soon as I sat next to him. And.

“It’s a bit cold here, isn’t it?”
“It’s probably because of your age.”
“You’re not that much older than me, you bastard.”

Yoon Do-sik and Jayden, who were supposed to sit in their designated seats, sat down in the same row as me. Kim Sung-won’s eyes quickly turned to them, and Choi Min-sik, who was sitting next to him, also looked at Jayden with a slightly surprised expression.

‘He’s like a duckling.’

They must have realized by now that I don’t like chaos, but they still pulled this stunt behind my back.

The professors from the magic department, Jayden’s faction, began whispering and looking at us with surprise, and Lee Hyeok, the head of the sword department and the opposing faction, also looked at Jayden with a subtle expression as he chatted with Yoon Do-sik.

“Jayden.”
“Yes, Professor.”

The guy who had been talking loudly enough to be heard from two seats away leaned forward and focused on me. I ignored all the attention and warned him.

“Shut up.”
“Yes, sir.”

The guy swallowed his saliva and leaned back in his chair as quietly as possible. Yoon Do-sik whispered to him, teasing him, but I didn’t warn Yoon Do-sik.

-The chairman has arrived.

A voice came from the speaker mounted on the ceiling, and soon after, the chairman stood on the podium.

“I’m sorry to call you all here right after the vacation starts, but I thought it would be better than interrupting your vacation and disrupting your rest.”

Chairman Ahn Hyundo continued speaking as he looked at the paper he had been holding since he stepped onto the podium.

“Those of you who know me well will understand that I’m not the type of person to bring up a big issue and throw it at you. I just wanted to check in on how the Academy has been doing and see your faces. In that sense…”

Ahn Hyundo looked up from the paper and shifted his gaze to me.

“Our Professor Baek Woo-jin has been doing an excellent job in my place. Normally, I would have applauded, but since the person involved doesn’t seem to like it, I’ll skip the applause.”

Ahn Hyundo then mentioned the various big and small events that occurred during the semester and praised the professors and staff who had worked hard.

“And regarding the selection of observers… I had been meaning to sort this out, but our Professor Baek handled it cleanly. Thanks to him, the Academy has become a little cleaner. Haha!”

Ahn Hyundo laughed heartily, as if he felt relieved, and Lee Hyeok and Jayden, who were involved in that matter, lowered their heads.

“I also welcome the new professors who have joined us. I should have called you earlier to introduce yourselves, but the artifact I was looking for didn’t come out easily.”

After that, Ahn Hyundo continued to ramble on for quite some time.

“So… I hope you will follow Professor Baek Woo-jin’s instructions while I’m away.”

After the long-winded speech ended.

“Shall we start the meeting about the summer festival?”

Finally, we could get to the main topic.

“Regarding the booths…”
“This year, we will open it to outsiders…”

Unlike the chairman’s earlier monologue, the staff members who had been listening quietly began to raise their hands one by one and report on the preparation process and current status.

“Tsk tsk. The first-year students have it easy, just watching.”

As the meeting neared its end, Yoon Do-sik chuckled and leaned back in his chair. As Yoon Do-sik had just said, setting up booths and organizing events for the festival was the responsibility of the upperclassmen, while the freshmen could simply attend and enjoy themselves.

“Good. I’m relieved to see that everything is proceeding smoothly without major issues. Then, let’s organize the schedule for the final event.”

The final event.

“Is there any professor who would like to volunteer to participate this year?”

The chairman looked around, giving them time to think, but no one raised their hand.

“Well, it’s true that it’s heartbreaking if you participate confidently but get rejected.”

Rejected.

“In that case, as we’ve done in the past, we will select 10 people through a student vote. The selected 10 will be contacted separately, so make sure to keep the fourth day of the festival free to attend. And…”

Chairman Ahn Hyundo shifted his gaze to me.

“Professor Baek, it seems you’ll have to go up for auction as a surprise item.”

The final event of the summer festival.
The Love Auction.

Anyone who is a school official, i.e., a student or staff member, can participate in this auction, and the items up for auction are, as Ahn Hyundo just mentioned, the professors of the Academy.

The professors who are auctioned off must spend an hour with the person who wins the bid and must comply with any simple requests made by the bidder during that time.

Of course, the definition of a simple request is up to the professor being auctioned, so it’s not a problem to reject all requests if they don’t like them.

Because of this, there is a risk of relationships becoming awkward, so while all Academy officials are eligible to participate, in reality, most of the participants in the auction are students.

“I refuse.”

This is a given.
There’s no reason to waste time on such a troublesome event.

“Hmm.”

Ahn Hyundo stroked his short beard and made a troubled expression.

“I heard that you gave quite a generous special allowance to the new professors who helped with the new subject added to the first-year evaluation test…”

The guy looked at me cautiously and continued.

“Well, it’s not a big deal since it was used from the allocated budget, but it’s not a small amount either…”
“Get to the point.”
“Cough, well…”

Ahn Hyundo glanced at me.

“I heard that if you go up for auction, there will be someone who will bid a very high price for you…”

I turned my head to the side, following Ahn Hyundo’s gaze.

“Ack!”

It seems I’ll have to find a new financial officer.