I Became the Terminally Ill Character in My Friend’s Academy Novel – Chapter 7

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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A transmigrator’s morning started early.

Actually, I really wanted to sleep in, but I had to wake up because someone came to visit me early in the morning.

“I’m sorry for coming here so early. Did I wake you?”

“No, it’s alright.”

It was Professor Cathy.

She was still looking at me with concern, and honestly, it was a bit burdensome to have such a beautiful woman constantly worrying about me.

“It’s nothing much, I just brought some things that are good for your health.”

She said that and handed me a variety of health supplements.

The product names were strange.

Magic-infused 10-year-old red ginseng extract, invigorating alien turtle extract, and some unknown energy drink.

Her intentions were kind, and I was grateful, but honestly, I really didn’t want to drink them.

They looked like they’d taste awful.

But she just stared at me as if she was going to wait until I drank at least one.

“I’ll drink them later.”

I expressed my unwillingness to drink them in the traditional Korean way, but she didn’t accept it.

“Please try just one.”

“But, I haven’t even had breakfast yet…”

“I bought the ones that are okay to drink before meals, just in case.”

Well, I couldn’t give up the goodwill I had built up just because I didn’t want to drink red ginseng.

I steeled myself and drank the red ginseng extract.

It was so bitter.

Ugh.

“It’s better than you thought, right?”

No? Not at all.

“Yes, it tastes like it’s making me healthier.”

In other words, I was indirectly saying it was incredibly bitter and disgusting.

“I’m glad you like it.”

But it seemed to have no effect on someone who took other people’s goodwill at face value.

From now on, it would be better to be straightforward with Professor Cathy and the protagonist.

She cruelly watched me suffer with a satisfied look, then brought up the main topic.

“I told you I was an academy professor, right?”

“Yes.”

“Actually, after seeing you yesterday, So-hyun, I looked up the academy student records and contacted your family.”

“What?”

What nonsense was this?

I was an orphan. I didn’t have a family.

Ah, right.

My head must still be spinning from drinking something so bitter in the morning.

Of course, family didn’t mean my family, but this body’s family, Kang So-hyun’s family.

Wow.

In academy stories with transmigrators, it was a common rule to get rid of existing families beforehand, but I seemed to have gained one in this world.

“Yes, that’s the reaction I expected. I’m sorry for acting on my own. I didn’t know you had such a bad relationship with your family.”

I just frowned because I didn’t understand what she was talking about, but she seemed to have interpreted my expression differently.

“Your older sister said you pretended not to know her and hung up on her.”

And it seemed like I had somehow ruined my family relationships without even knowing it.

Thinking back, I seemed to recall something like that in the settings book.

Unlike Kang So-hyun who died first in this novel, his older sister and father appeared several times in the original story.

His father even became a semi-villain in the early part of the story, putting economic pressure on the academy after his son, who had entered the academy, died. His sister regretted not reconciling with him sooner and somehow ended up becoming a villain as well.

Well, it probably wouldn’t happen here since I was alive, but it bothered me that I had somehow exacerbated their bad relationship.

“It’s alright.”

Why? Because I was planning to go straight to the academy dormitory after being discharged today, and not to my family home.

It was early admission, but I made this decision because the academy had better training facilities, and I felt I needed to train this pathetic body up somehow.

To be precise, I hadn’t even considered going to my family home in the first place.

“Still…”

She seemed unconvinced when I said it was alright, but considering her personality, this wasn’t bad.

Wouldn’t I appear to her as an innocent boy who hid his pain and was considerate of others?

“Is that why you brought all this stuff? You didn’t have to.”

“No! It’s not that. I just wanted to express my gratitude for that small enlightenment I gained yesterday.”

Oh, it seemed she had made some progress as expected.

I hoped she would continue to grow stronger and become a reliable supporter for the protagonist, and a strong backer for my comfortable academy life.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“No, it was really important to me.”

That was understandable.

Cathy.

A hardworking individual with the C-rank talent Martial Arts, who, despite her mediocre innate talent, grew into an A-rank hero through her own efforts along with the help of the Chairman, her supporter.

However, she was stuck facing a wall she couldn’t overcome with effort alone.

She had a complex about her talent. Hearing this, you might think she was a similar character to Choi In-ho, the villain who appeared early on, but rather than being jealous of what she didn’t have, she admired them instead and wanted to help others reach the heights she couldn’t.

That was why she chose the path of a professor, and not of a field agent.

Well, the Chairman’s influence played a part as well, but in the end, she was just a really good person.

“It’s really alright. And I’m planning to go straight to the dormitory without visiting my family home anyway.”

“Oh…”

But our professor’s expression darkened again.

She probably thought I wouldn’t be able to endure the academy life and just give up, or to be more blunt, meet the end of my short lifespan.

But I wasn’t terminally ill anymore.

As a veteran web novel reader of over 10 years, I could confidently say that terminally ill characters rarely actually died in academy stories.

“I want to try my best.”

Regardless of the truth, the way she looked at me wasn’t bad.

No, it was very good.

“So please don’t worry about me at the academy, Professor, and just treat me like any other student.”

How many people would think, “Alright! I’ll make you work as hard as the other kids!” when a terminally ill student asked to be treated normally because they wanted to try their best until the end?

“Okay, I understand…”

Saying that with a tearful face wasn’t very convincing.

“I have something to do today, so I’ll be going now. Let’s meet again at the academy, prospective cadet Kang So-hyun.”

“Yes, I’ll be in your care, Professor Cathy.”

Please do take care of me. We promised to be secret friends, right?

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After becoming a hardworking challenger, who knew his limits but still persevered, and a tragic protagonist burning the last embers of his life in his youth in Professor Cathy’s eyes, I was smoothly discharged from the hospital in the afternoon.

Did you know?

Being able to walk on your own two legs without feeling like you were going to die was an enormous blessing.

I learned that lesson the hard way over the past two days.

Going from being on the verge of death to just being weak in a single day was practically a miracle.

“It’s been two days.”

Reilan Academy.

The place where I would be staying for a while, and the center of the story.

It was still quiet since only two days had passed since the entrance ceremony, and there weren’t many people around for now, but this place would become bustling later on, both in good and bad ways.

A story of growth colored with the hues of youth awaited, and a story stained with the sticky color of blood was also waiting.

But now, the sticky color would be greatly reduced.

Because I would make it so.

Recalling the future of this place which no one knew yet, I crossed the school gate.

My true academy life was about to begin.

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“I really didn’t know…”

The academy rules weren’t in the settings book.

“How was I supposed to know that early dormitory admission starts tomorrow…!”

Surprisingly, the moment I crossed the academy gate, I was apprehended by a security guard and brought here.

Fortunately, I managed to prove that I was a prospective academy student, so I avoided being kicked out. I was currently being kindly informed that early dormitory admission started tomorrow.

My true academy life seemed like it would only start tomorrow, haha.

Damn it, this was so embarrassing.

And when they said I had to call a guardian, I had no choice but to call my secret friend.

“So-hyun… or rather, prospective cadet Kang So-hyun…?”

And keeping my promise to meet again at the academy, I met Professor Cathy again.

In a much faster and more embarrassing way than I had expected.

I wanted to die.

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And now I was at Professor Cathy’s house.

…Huh?

What the hell?

It had only been a few minutes ago.

-You have nowhere to go? Ah, right, it must be difficult to go to your family home right now.

My secret friend’s gaze that looked at me like I was a runaway teenager hurt my pride.

-Then, since early admission starts tomorrow, how about staying at my place for today?

Was this the sense of distance of a character in a novel…?

Setting aside security since she could easily subdue me, was it really the right choice to bring a young man in his prime into a single woman’s house?

Could she confidently say yes to that as an academy professor?

“Would you like to shower first? Or are you hungry?”

“Let’s just say it’s the right choice.”

“What?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing. I was thinking about something else and misspoke. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to apologize. You can be nervous. It’s a stranger’s house. Now that I think about it, I should scold myself for being so unguarded as a professor.”

Huh? Was that so?

Now that I thought about it, I was the weirder one for tagging along to an A-rank hero’s house.

“Why are we strangers, Professor? We’re not.”

We were secret friends who had confirmed each other’s humanity in a dungeon and made a definite connection.

“…Professor.”

“…Yes?”

She let out a slightly dissatisfied sound, but quickly returned to her usual self.

“It’s nothing. You must be hungry, so let’s eat first. What would you like?”

“Will you make it for me?”

“Of course. Cooking is my specialty.”

I knew that.

Her best dish was omurice.

“Then, is omurice okay?”

Transmigrator specialty: Use what you know.

But after saying that, I thought it might not have been a good idea.

“…You like omurice?”

“Yes…”

Because the reason she was good at making omurice…

“You really do resemble him.”

…was because it was her deceased younger brother’s favorite food.

The more I looked at her settings, the more I wondered how she could still trust and like people.

“Excuse me, Cadet So-hyun.”

“Yes?”

“If you don’t mind, can we drop the formalities?”

“Of course, Professor.”

“And if possible, could you also drop the formalities with me, So-hyun?”

…That was a bit…

I jokingly called her “secret friend” in my head, but that level of familiarity with a professor was a bit…

“Oh dear, what am I saying? I’m sorry. I must have lost my mind for a moment.”

I had forgotten until now because it wasn’t a crucial setting point, but her younger brother, who was originally frail, died at a young age, having been caught up in a villain’s terrorist attack.

If he were alive, he would have been old enough to enter the academy this year.

It was a setting that only briefly appeared in her conversations with the protagonist, but it was definitely there.

It was an incredibly coincidental situation, though unintended.

A hardworking student who was the same age as her deceased younger brother and had a history of being caught in a terrorist attack at the entrance ceremony?

It was understandable that she would want to take care of him.

But while I was okay with being secret friends with her, I didn’t think we could become family.

She probably knew that too.

She must have just been subconsciously reminded of her brother.

“…If dropping formalities is difficult, could you at least call me ‘noona’?”

Professor, I think that would be even more difficult…

I couldn’t sleep well because I had to deal with the professor asking me to call her “noona” again after I came out of the shower.

Of course, I slept on the sofa.

…It was a bit of a waste.

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T/N – Oh god, that was too funny. The MC forgetting the early admission start date and Cathy pushing him to call her noona cracked me up. Forget ‘noona’, professor. Can I call you ‘mommy’ instead? 😀

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.