Why Are You Showing This To Me?

“Hey! Lee Ro-un! Look at this!”
“If you want me to look at something, could you hold it far enough away that I can actually see it?”

If he shoved it that close to his face, all Ro-un could see were colors and a few letters.
When Ro-un spoke with an indifferent face, only then did Joo Hee-jun move the hologram screen a little farther away.

“Hurry! Look at this!”
“What is this?”
“Just! Look when I tell you to look!”

Why was he getting angry?
Ro-un glanced at the hologram as if annoyed, then spoke.

“I get it, so you go over there and do today’s work.”
“No, if I go, you won’t be able to read it. I’ll stay quietly here until you finish reading.”

What was wrong with him today?
Ro-un found it a little annoying, but seeing how Joo Hee-jun looked like he would not budge no matter what Ro-un said until he finished reading, Ro-un eventually read the whole hologram right there.
The contents were comments on some article.

“‘At the end of the day, he’s still just a healer anyway. He can’t clear passages without dealers.’ ‘I seriously don’t get why people worship Lee Ro-un so much.’ ‘There’s also Divine Archer Hyun Dong-wook and Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon Chae Yu-rim with SSS-rank traits, but it feels like they only hype up Lee Ro-un too much.’ Hmm… these guys are only saying correct things.”
“What do you mean, correct! They’re all belittling what you did!”
“You startled me… Why are you yelling?”
“Hey, aren’t you even angry?”
“Why would I get angry at something true?”
“What do you mean, true!”

Huff, huff.
This guy.
Why was he getting this angry?
Ro-un looked back at Joo Hee-jun in confusion at the sight of someone else getting angry when Ro-un himself, the person the comments were about, felt nothing.

[Woof!]
“Ah.”
“Ah.”

At the sound of Ray barking, Ro-un and Joo Hee-jun reflexively looked down.
The white, fluffy puppy walked back and forth between the two with his tail hanging low as if telling them not to fight, then sat down on the floor and looked up at them.
Ro-un crouched down and roughly stroked his Hyung’s head.

“We’re not angry.”
“R-right. We’re not fighting either.”
[Whine?]
“It’s true. Want to look at this?”
“We made up!”
“That makes it sound like we really did fight.”
“Ah.”

Was the reason Joo Hee-jun awakened ‘Lord of Unstable Mana’ actually because he was lacking intelligence?
Ro-un glanced at Joo Hee-jun with eyes full of suspicion.
Perhaps because he felt guilty too, Joo Hee-jun broke out in a cold sweat.

“So? Why are you showing this to me?”
“Someone is deliberately worsening public opinion about you.”

Hmm. There were a few guys who would do something like that, but some of them should be too busy getting beaten down by Proprietress Gu right now.
They probably wanted to cling to him like drowning ghosts because he had shown his face during the Seocho-dong incident.
Ro-un thought little of it.

“Lee Ro-un! Are you just going to let this happen?”
“What am I supposed to do? And how do you know whether someone is deliberately manipulating public opinion or not?”
“You can tell by looking! It doesn’t feel sincere, and it feels like they’re posting mechanically.”

Stop looking at message boards so much.
How could he feel sincerity from hate comments?
Ro-un looked at Joo Hee-jun with disdain as he wasted his life.
Was this guy still going to fail to fix his trait even if Ro-un helped him?

“If you’re done saying what you wanted to say, go do your work.”
“Are you really just going to let it slide?”
“And what am I supposed to do if I don’t? Sue them or something?”
“Of course! We should drag every last one of them out and reveal that this is manipulation!”
“Don’t. If we do that, the situation will only get more tangled.”
“But this is a bad thing.”

Joo Hee-jun’s face twisted as if he felt wronged.
Ro-un did not know why he was the one feeling wronged.

“Joo Hee-jun. The world is naturally absurd and unreasonable.”

Ro-un stroked Hyung’s back, then held him in his arms and stood.

“So don’t sit there whining. Get up and do what you’re supposed to do.”
“…Okay.”

Ro-un silently watched Joo Hee-jun’s back as he sat dejectedly at the work desk that had now become his assigned seat, then said one thing.

“If you don’t like it, then try changing it yourself.”
“What?”
“I’m telling you to become someone incredibly impressive later and make this world rational and not absurd.”
“M-me? Could I do that?”
“If you stay like this, no.”
“Ah, Lee Ro-un!”

Joo Hee-jun shrieked.
Seeing him flop around like a freshly caught fish suited Joo Hee-jun much better than seeing him wilt like limp cabbage.
Ro-un gave a faint laugh, then stood while holding Hyung and sat at an angle.

Bang!

“Lee Ro-un! Did you hear the news!”

Cheon Su-ho kicked the door open and came in.
No, it shouldn’t open unless someone opened it for him, so how did he open the door and come in?

“You. How did you get in?”
“Hmm? I came in with the spare key I received during the errand last time.”

Ah.
He had not taken it back then.
Ro-un rubbed his face with his hand and looked back at Cheon Su-ho.

“More importantly, Lee Ro-un! Did you hear the news!”
“If it’s about the hate comments about me, Joo Hee-jun came and told me a moment ago, so I saw all of them.”
“Hate comments?! There are hate comments about you, Lee Ro-un? You should sue them at once!”

That damned suing again.
At Cheon Su-ho’s reaction, Ro-un turned his body completely and looked at him.
Joo Hee-jun’s eyes also swung over like a flatfish’s, so today’s work seemed to have gone out the window.

“So. What is it with you this time?”
“The chairman is currently firing faculty members en masse!”
“What?”
“Really?”

Ro-un and Joo Hee-jun’s eyes grew so wide they seemed about to pop out.

“Finally! Those inhumane bastards are leaving!”
“Hahahahaha! Joo Hee-jun. That is too harsh to say about faculty members. But I agree with them leaving.”
“What are you saying? Cheon Su-ho, why are you acting all proper by yourself when you’re happy about it too.”

The bastards who had been rotting the academy being cut out was welcome.
Good riddance!

‘Wait. Why am I welcoming this? I decided I wouldn’t care how this academy runs anymore. In the first place, I’m going to drop out of this place.’

Get a hold of yourself, Lee Ro-un.
You’re someone who will leave this place soon.
Why are you happy?
You were just about to draft a proposal about academy operations, weren’t you?
Are you insane? You even stepped down as student council president, so what are you thinking?
Ro-un berated himself for being happy at the news that the bastards who had been ruining the academy were being fired.

“Cheon Su-ho. Is that all the news?”
“Hahahaha. No.”
“What is it this time?”
“The chairman has lined the faculty members up in the plaza with the fountain and is throwing legal complaints at them. It’s the type of scene I often see in dramas.”

What the hell was that tiger doing in the middle of the plaza?

‘I’m thinking of taking every one of those insects’ heads soon. What does the Saint think?’

Surely he wasn’t really going to take their heads the way he had said on the day they went to the Night Market, right?
Joo Hee-jun, who had been staying still, suddenly sprang to his feet and shouted.

“Lee Ro-un. Let’s go watch at the plaza!”
“What?”

Excitement was written clearly across Joo Hee-jun’s face.
Of course, it wasn’t that Ro-un had no interest in that sight either, but now was not the time to get distracted by something like that,

“I think occasionally getting some fresh air is a good thing.”
“Even you, Cheon Su-ho…. Forget it. If you’re going, you two go.”
“What? Lee Ro-un. You’re not coming with us?”
“I have to finish this. Work was delayed because I went to Seoul.”
“Lee Ro-un.”
“Lee Ro-uun.”

Why were these disgustingly grown-up guys looking at him like that?
Ro-un shuddered and waved the two out with his hand.
The two, who had been torn between Ro-un and the spectacle, were pushed out of the room just like that when Ro-un drove them away.

Thud!

“Seriously, if there’s even the slightest thing that looks interesting, they all rush over in a crowd.”

As expected of people from our academy, they couldn’t resist anything interesting.
Ro-un picked up the plate he had finished engraving.
Once Ro-un finished the later-stage work on the engraved plate with the circuit carved into it, the ‘Emergency Escape Stone’ would be complete.
Otherworld energy was especially weak to Holy Power.
The circuit used that property to fling its holder out of places filled with otherworld energy.

‘That is the principle behind escape stones.’

Many scholars had researched using the property of Holy Power repelling otherworld energy, but using that trait to leave a space required a magical processing procedure.
Since those who possessed Holy Power were extremely rare, this research had remained at a standstill for a long time.
In any case, as a result of various research, the circuit used for escape stones was completed, and Ro-un had quickly snatched up those results.

‘If not for the bastards who tried to devour me, it never would have advanced.’

So this was him exercising his rightful rights.
Ro-un immersed himself in making the escape stones, detached from the mess outside.
Thinking that what was happening outside would have nothing to do with him.

Finally!
This day had come!

Step, step, step, step!

Ro-un walked quickly toward the chairman’s office.
The chairman’s secretary greeted Ro-un.

“Welcome, student Lee Ro-un.”
“Hello. Is the chairman inside?”
“Yes. He is waiting for you.”

The secretary opened the door for him.
Ro-un bowed his head to the secretary and went inside.
Having come here several times now, he walked through the chairman’s office, which had become familiar, and went straight to the place where Baek Ho-yeon worked.
Ro-un saw Baek Ho-yeon sitting indifferently and looking over documents, then hurried over to him.

“You called for me!”

Ro-un’s eyes shone brightly with expectation.
Was he finally going to write the consent form for him?
Baek Ho-yeon saw Ro-un’s eyes full of expectation and pulled the corners of his mouth into a smile.

“Ah. Student Lee Ro-un, you’re here?”
“Yes. Chairman. I heard you called for me.”

He really knew what Ro-un was expecting, and he felt a little sorry that he couldn’t meet that expectation.

‘Though in truth, I’m not sorry at all.’

This was all for your sake, so please don’t hate me, Saint.
Baek Ho-yeon sent Ro-un an apology in his heart and leaned back in his chair.

Creeeeak!

The chair screamed under Baek Ho-yeon’s sturdy weight.
As he leaned back, his straightened upper body swelled ferociously.
Ro-un felt a little overwhelmed.

‘That build is shocking no matter how many times I see it.’

Muscles like weapons bulged ominously as if they wanted to burst out at any moment.
Ugh, just looking at him was enough to make a person lose heart.
Baek Ho-yeon leaning back looked like a beast after finishing a hunt.

‘Not looked like. He is a beast. Just brushing against that would be a fatal wound.’

Ro-un avoided looking at Baek Ho-yeon’s densely compressed muscles.
If he kept looking, he felt like something in him as a man would crack.

“I called you today because I have something to give you.”

Finally…!
With joy filling both eyes, Ro-un waited with a pounding heart for the thing Baek Ho-yeon would hand him.
A white piece of paper fluttered between Baek Ho-yeon’s fingers.

‘The consent form!’

Like a fish bewitched by bait, Ro-un’s gaze followed the paper.
Baek Ho-yeon wanted to enjoy it a little longer before Ro-un came to his senses, but he was worried about what might happen later if he teased him too much, so he decided to stop here.

“Here.”
“Thank you.”

Ro-un bowed deeply.
He was finally receiving the consent form.
But when Ro-un saw the contents, he stiffened with the smile still on his face.

“Um, Chairman.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“What. Is this?”
“It’s written there. An invitation to the Awakener Academic Conference.”

Awakener Academic Conference.
Its precise name was the ‘Awakener Countermeasure Research Conference for Otherworld Invasion Preparedness.’
People usually called it the Awakener Academic Conference.

‘But why is an invitation to the Awakener Academic Conference written where my consent form should be?’

Ro-un turned back to Baek Ho-yeon with creaking movements.

“So why exactly are you showing this to me…?”
“I need you to attend the conference with me this summer.”

Ro-un was about to make another excuse and refuse when a beaming face came into view.
Ro-un’s eyes were filled with betrayal, distrust, and wariness.

‘What is this tiger plotting?’

Why was this man, who had been indifferent to academy affairs, suddenly doing something he had never done before?
As for taking the heads of the insects rotting the academy, he could accept that since the Tiger Clan did not like humans very much.
But attending a conference was a different story.

‘This is for the academy’s reputation and external activities. In other words, for its development!’

This tiger was moving for the development of the academy?
Ro-un stared very closely, as if trying to dig out Baek Ho-yeon’s true intentions.
At Ro-un’s gaze full of suspicion and wariness, Baek Ho-yeon lowered the corners of his eyes as if a little sad and spoke in a regretful voice.

“Student Lee Ro-un. I really want to raise this academy well.”
“I see.”
“I took office as the academy chairman, but no noteworthy results have come out, so I’m very sad.”
“I see.”

Ro-un repeated the same words like a parrot.
There was no helping the lack of results here.
It was not for nothing that it ranked at the very bottom among academies worldwide.
It would probably be faster to build a new one and raise its ranking than to raise a status that had fallen as far as it could go.

“So this time, regardless of whether they are students or teachers, and regardless of position, I’m planning to support anyone who can produce results.”
“Th… at, is a good idea.”

Ro-un, who had been about to answer mechanically, paused and then voiced his own thought.
That was the right direction even in Ro-un’s opinion.

‘Backing people from the same faction is not something an academy, a place of education, should do.’

Ro-un agreed with Baek Ho-yeon’s words as he thought of the support that changed depending on which faction someone belonged to.
Because even now, there were people left who could bring good results if they were supported according to their achievements.

‘There was one fourth-year senior doing decent research. Their research funding had been cut several times,’

Hah! Why am I thinking like a student council president right now!
Habits ingrained in the body were frightening, and Ro-un, who had been thinking about who should receive research funding if things went according to the chairman’s words, realized what he was doing and came back to his senses.

‘Get a hold of yourself, Lee Ro-un. I’m not even the president anymore.’

It seemed they were still processing it on that side, but in any case, he had submitted his resignation, so he was no longer the president.
Baek Ho-yeon, who clearly read Ro-un’s thoughts as if they were sitting on his palm, smiled faintly.

“I’m planning to conduct something like an on-site research inspection soon, but there is still a lot about this academy I don’t know. If someone helps me a little, wouldn’t the research funds go to the proper places?”

At the words that seemed to see straight through Ro-un’s thoughts from a moment ago, Ro-un’s eyelids trembled.
At the words spoken while openly looking his way, Ro-un opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Student Lee Ro-un. I heard you happen to be conducting research with two classmates?”

This felt ominous.
What was he about to say?

“What do you think about presenting that item at the conference? I’ll give you plenty of support too. If you want to commercialize that item, wouldn’t it be good to have the academy’s name behind it? And while we’re at it, we can gain achievements at the conference and change Jiri Academy’s image too.”

That way, little by little, I will turn this academy into a wall for you, Lee Ro-un.
Baek Ho-yeon spoke with satisfaction, thinking it was a good proposal even by his own standards.

‘The conference is an excuse, and truthfully, I’m supporting him because I’m curious what kind of item Lee Ro-un is making and what he plans to do with it.’

Ro-un, who didn’t know the chairman’s inner thoughts, looked reluctant at the idea of the academy’s backing.

‘If I present it under Jiri Academy’s name, won’t even something that would have been a huge hit end up failing?’

Ro-un seriously wondered for a moment which side would be stronger.