The next day.
Dang Gyu-young and I were summoned by the principal.
It seemed there was one last thing left to discuss.
While we were heading to the principal’s office together, a question suddenly came to mind, so I threw it out.
“Have you decided on an alias?”
“Mhmm, I thought about a lot of different ones, but in the end—”
Dang Gyu-young played an imaginary drumroll in the air.
Then she said one of the candidates she had mentioned before.
“How about Gyu-ri?”
“It sounds good. Nice and normal.”
“Right? It’s not too plain, but it doesn’t stand out too much either.”
“What about the last name?”
“..….”
At that question, Dang Gyu-young fell silent and gave me a lingering look.
The corners of her mouth slowly curled upward.
“…….”
“That suddenly seems very suspicious.”
“Kim Ho, Kim Ho~”
Dang Gyu-young casually draped an arm over my shoulder.
Then she continued in a teasing voice.
“In some places, when people get married, the wife takes the husband’s last name.”
“That does happen sometimes, but aren’t you getting way ahead of yourself?”
“Don’t you know what a rehearsal is? You get used to it in advance.”
“Let’s decide this seriously.”
Dang Gyu-young pouted her lips.
“Why won’t you play along? That’s kind of disappointing.”
“This is the kind of thing you should be serious about. You said you’ll be using it for a long time.”
“Seriously though, Kim isn’t bad.”
“It’s not bad.”
“Try saying it.”
“Kim Gyu-ri.”
Dang Gyu-young crossed her arms and frowned.
“…That’s not the right vibe.”
“What were you expecting?”
“Try again. This time, say it in a gentle senior tone.”
“Here we go again with the role-play.”
“Ah, just play along!”
“Alright.”
“If I don’t even do this, she’ll probably get completely sulky.”
It’s not even that difficult of a request.
Soon, I stepped a little closer to Dang Gyu-young and met her gaze.
Then, lowering my voice and speaking in an overly cheesy tone dripping with sweetness, I opened my mouth.
“Gyu-ri, want to go grab some coffee with oppa?”
“Pffhahahahahaha!”
“I feel like Gyu-ri keeps making things hard for oppa.”
“Hey, hey, stohahahahaha!”
“If it keeps going like this… I guess I’ll have no choice but to kidnap our Gyu-ri?”
“Hahaha—!”
Dang Gyu-young, her face bright red, kept smacking my shoulder over and over.
After laughing loudly for quite a while, she finally took a deep breath.
“Ah, my stomach hurts. I laughed too much.”
“Seems like you liked it.”
“It’d be perfect if you toned down the cheesiness just a little.”
“I only did exactly what you asked.”
“What, is that a monkey’s hand?”
Dang Gyu-young grabbed my hand and after pretending to examine it closely, she said,
“…This is Kim Ho’s hand though?”
“It is my hand. But why are you interlocking our fingers?”
“It looked natural. Let’s just go with it.”
She replied shamelessly and kept walking.
Swinging our interlocked hands back and forth as we went.
Before long, we arrived in front of the principal’s office.
Just as we were about to knock, a familiar voice came from inside.
“It’s open. Come in.”
So we stepped inside without hesitation, and the usual scene of the principal’s office greeted us.
The principal lounged in his chair like a freeloader, lazily flipping through documents.
The vice principal processed work at an incredible speed, yet still shot sharp glances in between to hurry him along.
Then, as if thinking this was the perfect chance, the principal practically tossed the documents aside and welcomed us.
“So you took the finals over there, huh? At the Flame Emperor Dragon’s place.”
“I heard you subjugated him before.”
“Ugh… Those days are still so vivid. If I close my eyes, I can see it all like this.”
The principal who was now fully excited began launching into a series of heroic tales.
“The rules were changed a bit, but originally it wasn’t a three-way battle. All three strongholds were on the same side.”
“That’s what it looked like.”
I mean, who in their right mind would bicker over an S-rank dragon sitting in the middle?
The final exam was only possible because it was set in an artificial dungeon and the Flame Emperor Dragon had been put into a sleep state.
Originally, they must have surrounded the volcano from three directions and slowly tightened the pressure.
The sanctuaries were probably key components of a massive magic circle as well.
“As we kept pushing in, it must’ve decided it couldn’t take it anymore and burst out later. Those red ones came swarming in like a pack of dogs, and that’s when things really started. My party members were me and the vice principal—”
“That’s enough.”
The vice principal cut him off in a blunt tone.
“You didn’t call them here just for this, did you?”
“Just five minutes…no, ten minutes, can’t you give me that? Who else am I supposed to tell this story to?”
“I don’t believe you need to tell it at all. Please grow up.”
She wasn’t wrong, so the principal cleared his throat a few times.
Then, sounding slightly reluctant, he finally brought up the main point.
“Ahem. You’ve probably already guessed, but I called you here about the readmission issue.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
“To tell you the result first, it passed in the meeting. There were some concerns since student Dang Gyu-young has broken quite a few school rules and is also the president of the Thieves Club—”
The principal grinned and looked at Dang Gyu-young.
“—but it seems handling the temporary storage facility well worked in your favor.”
“That’s a relief.”
“While we’re at it, we’d appreciate it if you joined the disciplinary committee too… still not interested?”
“I’m sorry. I want to focus on my original goal.”
Dang Gyu-young’s attitude was just as firm as when she first heard the proposal not long ago.
The principal, seemingly not expecting much anyway, moved on to discuss other matters related to her readmission.
“Have you decided on an alias?”
“Yes. I’m planning to go with Kim Gyu-ri.”
Sensing my chance, I subtly shot her a cheesy look.
Dang Gyu-young immediately remembered the role-play from earlier and suddenly found herself in a desperate struggle to hold back laughter.
“Pff—!”
“Student Dang Gyu-young?”
“It’s nothing—pff.”
She clenched her molars and shot me a look that clearly said, “Don’t do it. Seriously, don’t do it.”
The principal seemed to sense something suspicious, but he didn’t bother pressing the matter.
He took out a bundle of documents, flipped through a few pages to check them, and then handed them to Dang Gyu-young.
“Go over this in advance. And before the semester starts, come in about a week to a week and a half early.”
“I will.”
“That’s all for business. I’m just asking out of curiosity…where are you going during the vacation?”
“We decided to go to the Dang family together.”
“I see.”
The principal slowly nodded at my answer.
Then he spoke with a serious expression.
“Be careful. You’ve been keeping up with the outside news, right?”
“Yes, we have.”
“These days the atmosphere over there, around the Dang family in particular, is pretty rough.”
“Because of the Blood Cult?”
“Yeah. Up until now they tended to operate more secretly.”
The Blood Cult’s power was overwhelmingly strong as a single group, but compared to the entire world, they were still at a significant disadvantage.
They knew that fact as well, so they usually moved beneath the surface without revealing their identity whenever possible.
Even the elders who infiltrated Dungeon Island this year had done the same.
The principal scratched the back of his head.
“But lately they’ve just been acting openly. Makes me wonder if the Blood Cult leader has gone mad from qi deviation or something.”
Because they were expanding their influence so recklessly, the Blood Cult was suffering considerable losses as well. But many of the sects that fell within their sphere of influence had also been unable to avoid destruction or being forced to shut their gates.
Some might have surrendered.
And if public speculation was correct, the Blood Cult’s next target would be the Dang family.
The principal shrugged as he looked at me.
“I figure you’ll handle things just fine. It’s not like the Dang family will collapse easily. Still, I just thought I’d mention it out of concern.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
“Alright then, enjoy your vacation.”
***
After Kim Ho and Dang Gyu-young left the room.
While the vice principal immediately resumed her work, the principal stood up from his seat but didn’t move anywhere else.
It wasn’t because he was trying to slack off a little longer. Another guest was scheduled to arrive soon anyway.
Knock, knock, knock.
A polite knock was heard first.
Then the door opened, and Lee Soo-dok and Seo Cheong-yong entered.
The principal greeted them with a smile and gestured toward the seats across from him.
“Ah, you’ve arrived. Please, have a seat here.”
Once the two teachers sat where the students had been sitting earlier, the principal continued with a question.
“So, how was it? After teaching for a year.”
“It was quite a refreshing experience. They call it the Golden Generation, and watching them grow day by day was both rewarding and fun.”
Seo Cheong-yong answered as always with his easygoing smile.
Lee Soo-dok also replied briefly.
“I feel the same.”
“I didn’t expect even Teacher Lee to say that. That’s surprising.”
A hint of interest flickered in the principal’s eyes.
Originally, Lee Soo-dok had not been fond of the teaching position itself, so when inviting him they had to attach rather excessive conditions.
There had even been a bit of pressure using the name value of the former hero.
Even though he had half been forced to stamp the contract, there was no reason for him to suddenly grow fond of being a teacher.
Judging from the rumors heard throughout the year, both his work attitude and the way he treated students had been rather half-hearted.
Yet unexpectedly, Lee Soo-dok had just agreed with Seo Cheong-yong’s assessment.
He spoke in a calm tone.
“It’s only right to acknowledge what deserves acknowledgment. The growth of some students has been quite astonishing. They always exceeded expectations.”
Everyone in the room knew exactly which “certain students” he was referring to.
Seo Cheong-yong smiled faintly and added,
“It’s hard not to have expectations. You start wondering what they’ll show next.”
“To be honest, that’s true.”
Lee Soo-dok nodded, but the principal did not miss it—
The momentary glint that flashed in his eyes.
It meant that what he felt toward the students wasn’t just anticipation.
And that guess was fairly accurate.
Competitive spirit.
A desire to test himself against a junior who was growing at a terrifying pace.
He had already thought for some time that they were no ordinary opponent.
The decisive moment came during the first semester’s final exam, Iron Maiden.
Lee Soo-dok had taken the role of defending the control room, confident that no matter who his opponent was, they wouldn’t be able to break through.
Even though several rules had been added to favor the students.
However, after a fierce battle, he ended up surrendering the control room, and from that moment on he began to genuinely acknowledge the students.
That they were fully worthy of becoming his rivals.
Whenever he watched the replay, certain thoughts would occasionally come to mind.
– What would I have done?
– Could I have won?
But regrettably, those thoughts remained nothing more than hypotheticals, and the competitive urge with nowhere to go continued to grow.
The principal had more or less guessed at these inner thoughts.
With a gentle smile, he made a proposal.
“If you still have some affection left for Dragon Slayer Academy… how about extending your contract a little?”
“I’d be happy to. I’ll extend it.”
Seo Cheong-yong accepted the proposal readily.
In contrast, Lee Soo-dok remained silent for a while.
It’s only natural he’d hesitate.
Extending the contract would increase the chances of satisfying that competitive spirit, but it would also mean taking on the bothersome duties of being a teacher.
Was it really worth going that far?
Of course, value could simply be created.
The principal voiced one more condition.
“As you know, they’re not the easiest children to manage, so we’d be grateful if Teacher Lee would also take the homeroom position again in the second year.”
“……!”
And it seemed Lee Soo-dok had taken the bait immediately.
Judging by the sharp glint that flashed in his eyes.
After thinking a little longer, he looked at the principal and said,
“I’d like to add one more condition.”
Leave a Reply