Ch. 28 - The Regressor (3)

I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy

Chapter 28: The Regressor (3)

Students in Class S were entitled to occupy one dormitory per person. However, this was not the case for everyone.

For instance, Flame.

She shared a dormitory with four people because she wanted to spend time with people her age.

She liked to hang out with people and was friendly with everyone from Class F to Class A, so she always had students from other classes over in her dorm.

Seven children were huddled together, chatting happily while savoring desserts and coffee in the narrow 60-square-meter space.

“Flame, are you okay?"

Someone approached Flame who was trembling with her head pressed against a pillow.

It was Jecky.

“... Uh."

“What is it? Tell us.”

"That’s right."

“Are you worried about something?”

“It’s just menstrual cramps, so don’t worry about it.”

"Really?"

The other girls quickly stopped paying attention to Flame and resumed talking amongst themselves.

‘How can I say anything? I’m not supposed to tell anyone. I have to suffer alone.’

'Baek Yu-Seol... He said that he’s forgotten his purpose...'

A side effect of regression was the loss of one's most precious memories and purpose.

He was walking forward with a sense of mission while leaving behind everything in the process.

Also, he said he wanted to live. Those words were heartbreaking, drilling a nail straight through Flame’s heart.

‘He wants to live.’

She would have dismissed it if someone else had said that, but Baek Yu-Seol was different.

If it was true that he returned with the power of the Silver Autumn Moon, he would disappear immediately after fulfilling his mission, and his existence would be erased entirely from this world.

Without leaving any records, memories, or even traces.

Maybe she would not even remember this conversation they had today.

Or so she thought.

If he were a regressor, he had to have an aim that would make him fearless even under the threat of being wiped off.

But no.

He had returned with a mission to save the world, yet he still wanted to live.

He knew that he would die eventually, and although he was scared, he was still going to move down the path.

Didn't his words basically suggest, ‘Let’s only tell each other half the truth?'

She too easily made a promise that should never be broken.

‘From now on, he…’

She would never pry into any secrets he had.

And if he had the same purpose as her, she would try to support him as much as possible.

Beep!

The alarm magic rang on the dormitory door.

[Hae Won-Ryang: Flame]

One of the other students stood in amazement as she checked the automatically engraved letters.

"Flame? Uh… Hae Won-Ryang is here to visit you.”

"...Press the 'not available' button for me."

"But..."

"This is Hae Won-Ryang…"

However, Flame stretched over the blanket to cover her head, too lazy to reply.

After looking at her for a while, Jecky looked at everyone's expression.

'Then, by any chance, if I... go out, would it be alright?'

Her heart began to thump. She knew it was pointless but could not bear the thought of not seeing his face.

"Guys, I'll be right back.”

Jecky quietly snuck out of the dormitory and soon reached the ground floor.

In the distance, Hae Won-Ryang was blankly staring at the night sky.

She saw him under the hazy light. Even those indifferent and cold eyes appeared beautiful to her.

"Hey..."

“...”

When Jecky shyly called out, Hae Won-Ryang looked back.

‘I just came to tell you that Flame is not here. In the meantime, it would be nice if we could have a conversation, even if it’s only one word…’

However, the reality was much harsher than that.

“Who are you?”

“H-Huh?" Jecky stammered at that, genuinely embarrassed.

She still accompanied Flame ever so often and had seen him on a few occasions. Even if he could not remember her, he had to have looked at her name tag a few times.

“I-I'm Flame’s friend...”

"Where’s she?"

Even now, Hae Won-Ryang only had eyes for Flame. It was remorseful, but she had to get her thoughts out.

"She's sleeping because she's not feeling well…"

At her words, Hae Won-Ryang blankly stared into the air.

'Did she lose her energy just because she confessed to a trash student and then got dumped…?'

A deep sense of defeat pierced his heart.

'What on earth do you like about a man who’s inferior in everything?'

What was the point of being considered a successor of the Full Moon Tower?

He was an inferior student who could not beat even Ma Yu-Seong, who only learned magic as a hobby, and was an idiot who could not even express his feelings to a woman.

Even as he fooled around, Ma Yu-Seong would eventually reach heaven with his talent, and Baek Yu-Seol could move Flame’s heart with his glib tongue.

In the meantime, all he could do was wallow in jealousy.

No matter how hard he tried, he did not have the confidence to match up to Ma Yu-Seong and Baek Yu-Seol.

Hae Won-Ryang’s head was filled with chaos.

He felt the pain course through his soul.

'Jealousy? An inferiority complex? Why am I feeling like this…?'

‘Weird.’

‘I’d normally never have thought of such things.’

‘Why do negative and ugly thoughts keep running through my head?’

'I must snap out of it. It shouldn’t overwhelm me.’

‘It must be because of stress lately.’

Turning to Jecky, Hae Won-Ryang said, "I get it. I should head back. Tell her to take care in my stead.”

"Yes...”

After leaving those words of concern, Hae Won-Ryang disappeared toward the men's dormitory.

Jecky, staring at him, gritted her teeth and clenched her fist so hard that her fingernails dug into her palms.

‘It's annoying.’

She was in a bad mood.

‘I am annoyed, so fucking annoyed.’

It had always been like this.

'Why? Why? Why always Flame?'

Anytime, anywhere, with anyone.

Everyone only looked at Flame.

The person who was always in the spotlight, the one who received everyone’s love, was Flame.

She was as beautiful as an angel, had a friendly personality, and had exceptional talent to be able to use the magic of different races.

She had everything.

Even Jecky's first crush had a thing for her.

Jecky blankly looked up at the night sky.

Endlessly, she stared.

The 1st Tower, 79th floor.

Vice Principal's Office.

Stella Academy's vice principal and Class 8 mage, Archie Hayden, stood before Professor Maizen Tyren. “I heard you were humiliated by a student this time, Professor Maizen. How shameful. How do you feel?"

Maizen bit her lip. "...I have no excuse."

"Yes, you shouldn’t. How do you feel?" he pressed.

Maizen seemed bewitched by his question and answered honestly, “I feel horrible and angry. Why a bastard given such talent... I can't quite understand.”

"Yes. Very good. Haha."

Archie Hayden stood up, patted Professor Maizen on the shoulder, and whispered quietly, "Keep going with that mindset. How is the 'Alchemical Engineering Cross Technique' research going with the ‘doctors’? Is it doing good?"

Professor Maizen smiled for the first time. “Of course.”

She was conducting a very special research. In a special organization called Moon Shadow Church, there were many outstanding ‘doctors,’ and they were researching the Alchemical Engineering Cross Technique to combine alchemy and magic engineering.

It was, in essence, an almost impossible research.

Alchemy, which dealt with the essence of matter, and magic engineering, which gave magic to the material itself…

Numerous geniuses had tried so far, and all had failed.

But this time, it would be different.

“Does your head feel a little clearer? The time has come for the effect of the special blessing I placed on you to expose itself.”

"Yes. Thanks to that, research is progressing rapidly.”

At those words, Archie smiled.

'Stupid woman…’

‘She probably doesn’t even know who’s deceiving her right now. Maybe even if she did, she wouldn't care.’

‘She’s a woman who would make a deal with the devil if she could obtain power and honor. A magic warrior to fight against the dark mages, who works for the dark mages...'

‘How much will the world laugh when they find out?’

Just thinking about it made him feel giddy with excitement.

'It’s about time now.’

Pushed by the power of the mages, the dark mages always had to hide.

Now, there was only one way left.

To invent a technology one step ahead of current mages and cause chaos in the society.

'It’ll be possible if alchemy engineering is completed...'

‘Soon, the time will come. Until then, I will wait quietly with bated breath.’

Alterisha had nothing that she could call a private laboratory. She only temporarily used the warehouse attached to Professor Maizen Tyren's laboratory.

Baek Yu-Seol had to submit the report for the group assignment. When he visited her, Alterisha greeted him with a puzzled face. “Haha. I didn't expect students to come even on weekends. Is that a report? Leave it here.”

He almost asked, "Where should I put it?" but he held back.

It was pure chaos.

‘Why’s the coffee cup hanging from the ceiling? What are those wads of paper flying everywhere?’

Baek Yu-Seol wondered if it was merely artistic flair. He thought hard as to why the fluorescent lights were dancing around on the floor.

“I’ll just leave it here,” he said, eventually choosing a thick book on the desk.

As soon as he dropped it, the entire support collapsed with a loud crash.

“Was that… my fault?”

"Hehehehe... It's alright. I can clean it up right away! It's okay! Don't worry!"

"Ah, yes."

Alterisha smiled shyly and hurriedly tidied up the lab.

She was a teaching assistant who Maizen always scolded. Even the students mostly ignored her as she was not from Stella.

‘Isn’t she from a group of street alchemists or something?’

Fortunately for her, she was able to join Stella Academy as an assistant. Unfortunately, she was assigned to work under Maizen.

"Ugh, this is a bit heavy..."

"Let me help you."

When Baek Yu-Seol picked up a box and moved it, Alterisha revealed a surprised expression.

‘What are you so surprised about? It makes me want to show off my muscles.’

When he put all the boxes aside, a blackboard that had been hidden came into view.

"That's..."

It was a magic pen. A pen that would be developed in the future and used worldwide by all mages. He could not believe they already had a beta version.

“Oh, that? Professor Maizen said it’s the formula she’s been studying with the doctors."

‘A formula?’

He had not even known such a thing existed. However, Alterisha seemed very interested in it, so she kept talking about it.

“That’s called the Alchemical Engineering Cross Technique. I... I wanted to see it too, but the professor told me not to touch it, so I stopped. Maybe it's because I'm lacking? I wish I could study a formula like that someday. The professor always calls me an idiot and curses at me, but..."

"Is that so?"

‘That formula… It’s kinda familiar.’

Hazy memories floated through his mind like illusions, but he could not grasp them.

“Can I take a look?”

′′Please feel free to, but if you get caught by the professor, you’d be in big trouble. Well, he already hates you and me anyway…”

She mumbled something, but Baek Yu-Seol’s head was already full of other possibilities.

'A flower of hope that bloomed on a handful of dry and desolate land.’

It was a sentence that appeared all the time when expressing Alterisha.

Stella Academy was shaken to the core after the episode in which Professor Maizen transformed into a dark mage.

There was a dark mage in the academy.

In addition to the loss of reputation, material and human losses were great because of the rampage.

Furthermore, led by Professor Maizen Tyren, the dark mages completed alchemy-magic engineering, the Alchemical Engineering Cross Technique. The addition of this technology allowed the dark mages to go on a rampage for a while.

Yes.

Alchemy-magic engineering.

Baek Yu-Seol had been waiting patiently, hoping that someday, Alterisha would acquire the technology of alchemy engineering and develop an invention for him.

But now that he thought about it, alchemy engineering wasn't Alterisha's technology in the first place.

It was the technology of the dark mages.

'It wasn’t a day or two I was annoyed by hunting dark mages in the game due to item monopoly. Why didn't I think of this?'

All those items made the already powerful dark mages even stronger and more frustrating.

How long did it take for that technology to come into the hands of mages?

At that time, the gap in technology had already widened, so it was judged that they would never be able to surpass the technology of the dark mages, but...

Alterisha.

As she stepped in, everything changed.

Armed with a genius brain as well as brilliant and novel ideas, she came to mass-produce numerous items that the dark mages did not even dare to think of.

‘What if…’

What if Alterisha got her hands on this technology first?

“Assistant Alterisha?”

"Yes? Do you want some coffee?”

"No, that's not it..."

Baek Yu-Seol looked into Alterisha's eyes. She was like an immature girl who now looked erratic for her age, but the moment she was given the slightest chance, she would immediately spread her wings and fly away.

From now on, he would give her every little chance.

“Could it be that Professor Maizen is bullying you? Isn’t it annoying?”

"Huh? Why would you ask such a question…?"

“If there was a way to get revenge very refreshingly, what would you do?”

“Ehehe, I'm only an assistant, and if I try to go for revenge and get cut off, I’d really be kicked out into the street! Hmm, being homeless is its own fun, though.”

“So, how about this? You’ll become a better alchemist than Professor Maizen. No, better than all the alchemists in the world.”

At his words, Alterisha looked at him blankly and laughed like an idiot.

“Yeah, then… That would be great.”

With that said, Baek Yu-Seol was convinced. Alterisha was already tired of being tortured by Maizen and of having to take care of the professor in a dusty warehouse.

She resented her talent, which was gradually rotting away, and the inability to spread her wings.

Pain and bitterness.

She dreamed of becoming an alchemist and creating inventions to her heart's content. She dreamed of becoming a top scientist.

Although it was a dream that she had to put aside for a while because she was discouraged by reality.

Ch. 28 - The Regressor (3)

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