Chapter 34
The next day.
Yujin received a message from the President and was on his way to the President’s Office.
There are procedures and some questions he wants to ask, but Yujin couldn’t shake the feeling that it might be because he did a Dark Sorcerer cosplay in front of Reina.
If it were Reina, she would have rushed to report it to the President immediately. The image of her frantically shouting for the President to apprehend him made Yujin chuckle a little.
‘I’ve really become a terrible person.’
To be fair, Professor Reina hadn’t done anything too wrong. If anything, she may have just looked into his background.
Of course, in modern Earth, investigating someone’s background would be quite a misstep, but here, it was obviously not a big deal.
Still, Yujin felt a bit guilty. One day, when the misunderstanding clears up, he’ll need to sincerely apologize.
Lost in thought, he arrived at the door of the President’s Office and knocked while speaking up.
Knock knock.
“President, it’s me.”
“Ah! O-Oh, please come in!”
With that, the door flung open. Before Yujin could react, the President opened the door swiftly, making him smirk wryly.
To be fair, the President had been waiting at the door for Yujin’s arrival from the start.
Still, it felt peculiar seeing the hierarchy turned upside down. There was no denying that it was becoming increasingly awkward for him to live the life of a professor he wanted.
Yujin said,
“You really don’t need to treat me like some big shot. After all, you’re still the President in the Academy, aren’t you?”
“B-But…”
Seeing the President stutter, Yujin couldn’t help but give a wry smile. It was as if the President felt too intimidated to act that way because of a strong admiration for dragons…
“But you manage to act just fine in front of Professor Reina. Just do that.”
“I-I couldn’t possibly… It’s one thing to not interrupt your fun in front of others, but when it’s just the two of us…”
‘Well, technically speaking, it’s not just the two of us.’
Tiamat was watching with an uncomfortable expression beside the President, but there was no need to mention that to the President.
Speaking of fun, Yujin realized anew that he was, in fact, a dragon enjoying this whole situation.
Whether he was in human form doing his job as a professor or indulging in Dark Sorcerer cosplay in front of Professor Reina, it was an activity typical for a dragon having fun.
He assumed he wasn’t really thinking too differently about it all either.
With a bittersweet smile, he said,
“Well then, just act as you feel comfortable. But don’t behave like this in front of others.”
“Ah, yes! Of course!”
“And… can I come in now?”
As he stood outside, the President startled and replied,
“Ah, ah! Yes! Please come in!”
The President quickly moved aside, and Yujin finally stepped into the President’s Office.
Right after, the President swiftly closed the door and darted to her seat. Sitting at the beautifully decorated desk in front of the window, she said,
“Please come this way!”
As the President pointed to a spot in front of her, Yujin walked over.
When Yujin arrived, the President handed him several documents.
“Just fill out or sign the contents of the documents here. Ah, feel free to check the content and take your time…”
Swish!
“Done.”
“Huh?”
Yujin seemed to skim through the documents before he swiftly picked up the quill pen and completed everything in an instant. He moved so fast it was like lightning, leaving the President momentarily dumbfounded.
With that speed, the papers were almost smoking.
“W-What speed… Ah, wait. Is it really okay that you didn’t check them properly?”
“Application form, contract, research performance introduction, self-introduction, development plan, etc… I verified everything. The contract doesn’t have any unreasonable clauses, and the rest is either facts or things I made up, so I’m good with it. Besides, I didn’t have all that much to say in the research performance or self-introduction. Though I filled out something roughly… it doesn’t really carry much significance since my appointment is basically a done deal, right?”
“W-Well, that is true…”
The President couldn’t hide a dazed expression as she reviewed the documents. The writing appeared slightly burned, but the content itself didn’t have any major issues.
‘You set your level as… the beginning of the 8th circle, huh? Since I’m at the tail end of the 8th circle, and the head of the Mage Association is a mid-level 7th circle, that’s a somewhat fitting estimation.’
Circle.
It’s a magical system for mortals, forming a permanent ring of mana in the heart to wield magic.
A long time ago, a dragon shared knowledge with mortals while enjoying themselves, and by forming a ring of mana in their hearts, mortals could generate and manipulate mana from their hearts.
Levels are divided by the number of rings inscribed in the heart, with the more rings there are, the higher the mana tier and the more mana can be generated or stored.
Essentially, it’s a magical system unique to mortals that dragons don’t need. For dragons, who contain boundless mana and wield it with sheer will, the circle system is just a cumbersome hassle.
However, when introducing his level, he had to write something, so it seemed he arbitrarily picked the beginning of the 8th circle. This was quite appropriate.
The tale of how Yujin easily subdued the head of the Mage Association spread like wildfire, even though it had only happened yesterday. Many believed Yujin’s level was likely higher than that of the association head.
And the association head was a mage of the mid-level 7th circle. While you gain the title of Great Mage at the 7th circle, since Yujin had defeated such a Great Mage with a casual flick, it was fitting that he’d be at least at the 8th circle.
But if Yujin were at the same level as the President or higher, the hierarchy would look bizarre, so it seemed he set it to the beginning of the 8th circle.
Moreover, if he had set a higher level than the President, who was at the tail end of the 8th circle, people would think that was ludicrous.
‘After all, the last person to reach the 9th circle was the founder of our clan…’
Since the existence that reached the 9th circle had not appeared for thousands of years. The most they could claim was the half-human half-dragon founder of the Karandar Family.
Of course, while Yujin was a dragon, he didn’t need any circular system at all.
Anyway, what mattered now was that the President quickly reviewed the documents Yujin had filled out and said,
“…Well, there are no issues with the documents.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. The documents will be processed right away. After all, Yujin is already an appointed candidate.”
“However…”
“However?”
“The problem is that the academic year at the Academy has already started. The students have already completed their course applications, and the period for changing classes has past, making it somewhat difficult to insert your lecture at this point.”
“That’s certainly true.”
By the time Yujin stepped out of the maze, the Academy had already administered tests to the students. A mere introductory phase just down to the 5th layer with the students experiencing the maze for the first time.
New students had just enrolled, but at such an uncertain time, they had already settled on which classes they would take, whilst Yujin had been appointed as a professor.
“So, for now, I’m a position professor?”
Yujin said, lifting up the contract.
A position professor refers to professors who typically handle administrative duties at universities. Since they undertake administrative tasks, their lecture hours are reduced, and the Academy is not much different.
“Department head of Magic Studies… that’s a fitting role for a relatively new professor.”
The department head is a role usually referring to a department head below the dean, often referred to as the chief professor at universities.
Though it’s not a major position like dean or chairperson, it comes with an additional salary for that position, and if an assistant professor or associate professor takes it, they can earn extra points for their evaluations for those roles. Because of this, it’s often a sought-after position by entry-level or mid-career professors.
It seemed the Academy resembled this as well, making it a fairly suitable position for a new professor.
“It’s somewhat inadequate compared to your abilities…”
“No, not at all. If a new professor lands a high position from the start, there would be too much pushback and it wouldn’t be entertaining for me either. But…”
Yujin shook the contract, then asked her.
“It only says I’m the department head of Magic Studies, but the name of the department isn’t specified.”
Typically, there are department heads such as political science, administrative science, economics, and sociology under the Social Sciences College.
It’s presumed that the Academy would have something similar under Magic Studies, yet the department that Yujin would be in didn’t have a name attached.
When he questioned this, the President replied.
“It was difficult to determine where your mysterious theory from your paper belonged. After all, the department heads are currently rotating among professors, so it doesn’t greatly matter who takes which position if they’re a professor of Magic Studies. Alternatively… if you really wanted, you could establish a new department.”
“No need to go that far. Hmm… what existing departments are there?”
Having not thoroughly examined the Academy’s settings while playing Maze Academy, Yujin didn’t have much knowledge about it. He knew the Academy resembled a university structure, but that’s about it.
“There’s the Elemental Magic Department, Combat Magic Department, Everyday Magic Department, and Phenomenal Magic Department.”
“Then I’ll take the position of the head of the Phenomenal Magic Department.”
There was no profound reason behind this decision; he just thought that the concept of space and time fell more in line with the notion of phenomena. The President nodded in agreement.
“Understood. I’ll set it up that way.”
“But before that, I’d like to ask one thing.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“If I’m the department head, then who is the head of Magic Studies? Considering future matters, they will effectively become my superior, right?”
As previously mentioned, Yujin was only vaguely aware that the Academy had university-like structures; he didn’t know much in detail.
The professors in Maze Academy were only mentioned as so-and-so from the Magic Studies, Martial Studies, or Alchemy, but there was no clear title provided.
Because of this, he thought it crucial to know about the head of the department above the department head.
However…
“……”
The President began to sweat and looked away. Seeing this, Yujin tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s the matter?”
“W-Well, you see…”
It seemed he was reluctant to speak for some reason. Yujin pressed further.
“Is the head of the department die-hard authoritarian or something?”
“A-Not authoritarian, but they are a bit strict… Well, it’s just…”
The President hesitated a little longer, then spoke with a tone that conveyed an apology.
“The head of the Magic Studies Department is… Professor Reina Sahart.”
“Ah.”
At that point, Yujin sensed he had made a blunder yesterday.