Chapter 71
Eun-byul alternated her gaze between Areum’s back and Professor Si-hyun Jung, who tilted her head in curiosity.
In that moment, a surge of curiosity welled up inside her.
It was because she had received help from the professor in the past.
Somehow, it had even come to light, unintentionally.
‘This is a good chance to apologize.’
With her decision made, Eun-byul quietly rose from her seat.
Feeling the gazes of her group members, she walked outside.
“Hello, Professor!”
“…Nice to see you, Eun-byul. Were you all studying together?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Eun-byul clapped her hands together loudly and bowed her head as she spoke.
“Thank you so much for helping me with my assignment at the library last time!”
“Oh, it was nothing.”
“…Well, the content you explained at the request of my major professor came out publicly in the lecture….”
Trailing off, Eun-byul glanced at Si-hyun nervously.
Fortunately, Si-hyun didn’t seem to mind, sipping her coffee with a faint smile.
Eun-byul let out a sigh of relief.
“Whew… By the way, could you help us a little with our group project? We’re really stuck!”
When Eun-byul earnestly pleaded, Si-hyun checked the time on her phone.
She had plenty of time since she had come out leisurely, planning to stop by the bookstore.
“…Alright, let’s take a quick look.”
“Thank you!”
Following Eun-byul, Si-hyun entered the café.
On the table, traces of the students’ hard work were evident.
‘I used to do this too.’
There were times she borrowed lecture rooms or gathered at the library.
It was around this age that she started to grow close to Ji-a.
Recalling fond memories, Si-hyun smiled softly.
Inside the café, Si-hyun exchanged light greetings with the students again.
The two group members still had puzzled expressions, while Areum looked at Si-hyun with sparkling eyes.
‘If it’s Professor Si-hyun Jung, she’ll definitely free us from this torment!’
The ultimate supporter.
Professor Si-hyun Jung, who seemed to know the answer to everything, would surely end this hellish project!
Feeling her hands tremble with anticipation, Areum handed the assignment materials to the professor.
“H-here it is!”
“Let’s see….”
Si-hyun quickly scanned the content, her eyes darting back and forth.
Rustle—
She lightly flipped through the pages.
The students watched her, each second feeling like ten, as they held their breaths.
The group members were torn between doubt and hope.
Unlike them, Areum had no doubts.
Clasping her hands over her chest, she gazed at the professor.
Thump.
Thump.
Her heart pounded with excitement as she waited for a resolution to their problem.
As the students’ perception of time stretched into minutes,
“Where did you find it hard to understand?”
Si-hyun asked.
“This part was really confusing!”
Eun-byul stepped forward and explained the sections they struggled with.
The parts they found difficult before, the sections where they were stuck, and so on.
Realizing where the students were facing challenges, Si-hyun nodded slightly.
“There’s too much unnecessary information in the question.”
Gesturing, Si-hyun asked Areum for a mechanical pencil.
“These parts—just forget about them and think again.”
She drew a line through certain sentences with a sharp stroke.
Then, she picked out a few clunky sections and annotated them lightly with arrows and underlines.
“If you do it this way, it’s much easier to understand, right?”
She placed the paper neatly on the table, and all the students stared intently at it.
They slowly absorbed the revised content.
Moments later.
“Wow! It’s so simple!”
“Wow, Professor, it feels like my mind has cleared up!”
“As expected of the Professor!”
The students jumped out of their seats, cheering enthusiastically.
The assignment that had tormented them for hours suddenly seemed solvable.
It wasn’t that she gave them the answers.
She merely clarified the wording of the questions and added a few annotations.
But that simplicity allowed the students’ confusion to vanish.
Her guidance enabled the students to deduce the answers themselves.
Thanks to her, even the group members who had been frustrated were now beaming with smiles.
Si-hyun alternated her gaze between the cheerful students and Areum, whose expression hadn’t changed from the start.
Finally, she glanced at Eun-byul, who was still deep in thought, before checking the time.
‘I should head to the bookstore soon.’
With a graceful smile, Si-hyun waved and said.
“I’ll get going now. Good luck with your project.”
“Thank you!”
“Professor, you’re the best!”
Hearing the students’ heartfelt thanks, Si-hyun walked toward the counter.
After a brief conversation with the staff, she made her payment and left the café.
Soon, a thick slice of toast topped with whipped cream was placed on the students’ table.
It was honey bread.
When the unexpected dish arrived, the students looked at the server with confusion.
The server smiled gently and said.
“The professor bought this for you to cheer you on. What an amazing professor. Enjoy your meal.”
The server left.
The group members murmured in awe.
“Wow… Professor Si-hyun Jung is truly amazing….”
“If someone is this perfect in looks, skills, and personality, isn’t that cheating?”
Listening to their conversation with pricked ears, Areum straightened her shoulders confidently.
Hearing compliments about the professor she admired made her happy too.
‘As expected of our professor!’
Areum smiled brightly.
At that moment, Eun-byul mumbled to herself in a small voice, barely audible to others.
“I need to study again….”
One of the female students, who was eating a piece of bread, overheard her.
After swallowing, she asked a question.
“What do you need to study again?”
“Huh? Oh, this.”
Eun-byul pointed at the annotated content with her finger.
“If this is correct, couldn’t it also be applied to what we learned last week?”
“Where, where?”
The other female student carefully examined the annotated section.
And soon.
“…Wow. What do we do about this?”
“Right? The project is definitely solvable now, but it seems like a new problem has arisen.”
Eun-byul muttered in a frustrated voice.
Even though it wasn’t part of their assignment, it felt like a realization worth pursuing.
Nodding at Eun-byul’s words, the other student unconsciously murmured.
“…Professor Jung Si-hyun should be teaching a magic major, not just a liberal arts course.”
The other female student, who had been idly sitting, also unconsciously nodded in agreement.
***
Si-hyun wandered through the bookstore with a cheerful mood.
In her mind, she recalled the students she had encountered earlier.
‘Did I look like a proper professor?’
The enthusiastic reactions of the female students, filled with innocence, were truly delightful to witness.
Especially the sparkling gaze from Areum.
‘Fufu….’
Recalling the adorable expression on her student’s face, Si-hyun let out a small chuckle.
Her personal goal of becoming someone radiant in front of Areum seemed to be progressing smoothly so far.
‘Looks like I need to keep putting in the effort.’
Knowing something and teaching it were vastly different.
Although she was constantly mindful of that, it was hard to be sure if she was doing well.
No one gave her feedback or advice, and the students didn’t provide immediate responses either.
‘Maybe that’s why mentorship programs exist?’
It might not be a bad idea to observe how other professors conduct their classes or to seek their advice.
Since the academy regularly hosted special lectures, attending one of those might also be worthwhile.
Si-hyun organized her thoughts as various ideas floated through her mind.
“Oh, found it.”
Si-hyun’s steps came to a halt as she spotted the book she had been looking for.
‘If it wasn’t here, I was going to buy the e-book instead.’
Thanks to the large size of the bookstore, she was able to find a physical copy.
Since paper books had their own charm, Si-hyun smiled in satisfaction.
It was a book on solving janggi puzzles.
Si-hyun gently ran her fingertip across the cover of the book.
She had enjoyed playing janggi with her elder recently, more than she had expected.
She planned to enjoy it even more during her spare time by reading the book.
The puzzles themselves seemed unexpectedly fun, and winning against her elder would make the experience even more enjoyable.
After purchasing the paperback, Si-hyun left the bookstore.
Now all she had to do was have a light lunch and proceed with her academy lecture, marking the end of her day.
She stepped lightly into the academy branch building.
Her lunch menu was already decided.
‘Today, it’s the cafeteria!’
She had known for a while that there was a cafeteria in the basement of the building where liberal arts courses were held.
It wasn’t as neatly organized as a convenience store but had the cozy feel of a small neighbourhood supermarket.
The tuna kimbap sold there was her next target.
Crossing the sidewalk next to the sports field, Si-hyun observed the students walking around.
Some students from the melee major who had just finished their classes were visible.
Si-hyun greeted the students who acknowledged her as she made her way downstairs into the building.
She lined up behind the students.
Since the line wasn’t long, she quickly bought a roll of tuna kimbap.
‘Where should I eat this…?’
While she had decided on what to eat, she hadn’t given much thought to where to eat.
The time left before her lecture was slightly awkward.
‘Should I just eat quickly in the faculty office and return?’
Si-hyun lightly tapped her cheek as she pondered.
At that moment, her eyes caught sight of a familiar student in the distance.
A male student was sitting alone, eating ramen.
It was Kwon Jae-woo, a student who had served as a reference for her eye-level materials before the entrance ceremony.
‘I envy his superpowers….’
Because the student’s awakened trait was the rare ability of regeneration,
Si-hyun always felt envious whenever she saw him.
Lost in thought, she stood still for a moment.
She wished researchers could uncover the conditions for awakening someday.
She wanted to experience superpowers herself and use the status window freely.
Of course, there was no guarantee she would gain any amazing abilities.
‘Should I join him and chat while eating?’
Si-hyun walked leisurely toward Jae-woo.
“May I sit here?”
“Yes, of cour… Oh, Professor?!”
Jae-woo, who had been blowing on his noodles, turned his head without much thought, only to be startled.
He nearly dropped his chopsticks in surprise, but they fortunately landed cleanly on the lid of his ramen.
After glancing at the chopsticks to ensure they were fine, Jae-woo looked back at the professor.
‘No wonder the voice was so elegant….’
He never expected to run into Professor Si-hyun Jung at the cafeteria!
And on top of that.
‘She remembered my face and name!’
Although he had hoped she would recognize him during the first lecture, he had swallowed his disappointment when she hadn’t shown any indication.
Unlike major courses, liberal arts courses rarely involved deep interaction between professors and students. His expectations had been carefully tucked away.
But now, here she was, surprising him completely….
Trying to control his twitching smile, Jae-woo asked.
“Are you here for the kimbap?”
“Yes, I heard the tuna kimbap here is quite famous.”
“Haha! It definitely is! People keep coming back for it.”
The tuna-filled kimbap was polarizing due to its excessive filling.
Jae-woo was a fan of it. However, he was eating ramen today due to the price and the fact that eating it too often could get tiring.
Feeling excited, Jae-woo picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of ramen.
The spicy flavor spread in his mouth, and he quickly gulped down some of his drink.
At that moment.
The professor’s beautiful face suddenly frowned.
‘Huh…?’
It was an entirely unexpected reaction.
Jae-woo was left confused, unable to comprehend the sudden change.
Si-hyun asked in a low voice.
“…Do you like it?”
“Huh, what?”
Jae-woo was flustered once again.
Like what? What was she referring to?
Was that the kind of expression one would use to ask such a question?
In the brief moment of silence, countless thoughts raced through Jae-woo’s mind.
Once derailed, his thoughts couldn’t easily return to normal.
When the student didn’t respond, Si-hyun slowly stood up.
She decided to have her meal in the lecture hall while ventilating the room.
“I’ll see you during the lecture, student.”
“Yes! Enjoy your meal, Professor.”
As Si-hyun left the cafeteria, Jae-woo stared at her retreating figure, filled with unanswered questions.
‘What was that about…?’
Unable to come to any conclusion, he straightened his tilted head.
Jae-woo resumed eating his ramen.
The intense and spicy flavour filled his mouth as he absentmindedly stared at the ramen lid.
For a moment, he gazed at the bright, smiling face of the advertisement model, Hunter Yeo Do-hyung, on the lid before folding it shut.
—
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