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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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After a long persuasion session, I managed to prevent the unfortunate incident of Professor Cathy visiting the dormitory.
Thankfully, she seemed to understand that baseless rumors would spread if she visited the dormitory.
In the end, we decided to meet at a park near the academy instead… but wait a minute.
I was a man who valued manners.
And if I was the one who initiated the meeting, regardless of the purpose, it was good manners to arrive at the meeting place before the other party.
Normally, I would arrive about ten minutes early and wait at a nearby café, but the other party was my secret friend, Professor Cathy.
She always arrived at least thirty minutes early for appointments in the original story, so I arrived at the meeting place forty minutes early, taking that into account.
There should have been no flaws in my calculations. I didn’t misread the time either.
“Oh? So-hyun, you’re early. I was worried I came too early, but it’s a relief.”
But why was she already waiting?
Huh? If I had arrived on time, she would have been waiting for forty minutes alone. No, since she arrived even earlier than me, she would have been waiting for about an hour?
You didn’t arrive even earlier, did you, Professor Cathy?
“Um, what time did you arrive?”
“Ah, I didn’t wait for too long. I had some time left over since I went jogging early this morning. So I came out early after I showered.”
According to her daily routine in the settings book, her jogging time was from 4:00 AM to 6:00 AM.
…It was currently 9:20 AM.
She couldn’t have been waiting here since 6:00 AM, could she…? But I wasn’t going to ask, just in case.
“So, why did you call me today?”
Ah, I had actually made plans to meet her today, but she agreed before I could even state my purpose, so I hadn’t told her why yet.
It wasn’t a big deal, just a simple matter.
“Ah, Professor, it’s nothing much, but I was planning to use my points…”
“What?”
“Yes? As I was saying, I was planning to use my points, and I was hoping you could help me…”
“Who?”
“…I was hoping you could help me decide what to get.”
“Of course, So-hyun. I’ll help you.”
She seemed strangely fixated on that.
I said I didn’t really need anything, but it would be a waste to leave my points unused, so I was planning to get something useful.
But it was more efficient to visit the academy points shop with a professor to give me some advice.
The items sold were slightly different depending on whether you had a professor with you.
It was originally a setting that would benefit Lilac, who was favored by the professors, but I could also take advantage of it.
“Have your points already been deposited?”
“Yes, they were deposited last night.”
“Hmm, but So-hyun, this might sound disappointing, but there’s not much point to renting fancy weapons or high-grade artifacts early in the semester.”
“What?”
“How about getting items that boost your stats or help with training? Of course, I won’t stop you if you really want to buy something with your points…”
“I’m not.”
“Huh?”
It seemed that my secret friend thought I was excited about the large amount of points I received and was planning to buy a cool weapon or artifact.
But I had no intention of buying those.
They might be helpful later, but they were useless to me right now, and considering my talent and trait, there were plenty of items that were more efficient, so why would I buy those?
“I’m just planning to buy some nutritional supplements and boosters.”
Professor Cathy’s face brightened.
“Yes, there’s no need to rush. Build a solid foundation first.”
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So we went to the academy shop first.
Professor Cathy was recommending various items to me, but I had already decided what to buy.
The shop owner saw the professor, looked at me, nodded, and then displayed a few additional items, just like in the original story.
I would be able to buy those items even if I came alone from now on.
The special items you could buy when accompanied by a professor were training boosters and talent enhancement potions.
I received 1000 points last night, and with the 300 points given to all academy students, I had a total of 1300 points.
The Talent Enhancement Potion cost 700 points, and the Trait Enhancement Potion cost 500 points. They were quite expensive, so if I bought both, I would only have 100 points left.
And the Special Fatigue Recovery Potion cost 100 points, so it would perfectly spend all my points.
By the way, these potions didn’t increase your talent rank.
If such treasures were sold at the academy points shop, everyone would have S-rank talents.
In fact, these items were often considered a rip-off due to their high cost.
Talents and traits were strengthened through use, and these potions only slightly increased their training efficiency.
According to the setting, even if you spent 100,000 points on Talent Enhancement Potions, you couldn’t raise your talent rank, so most people thought it was better to rent a decent artifact.
So the characters in the original story considered these items trash, but that didn’t matter to me.
“S-So-hyun?”
Even the professor, who told me not to rent artifacts, looked at me with concern when I made a choice even Lilac would call idiotic, but my will was as strong as steel.
“You know that drinking those won’t suddenly make your talent stronger, right?”
“Of course. If it did, no one would have a low talent rank. But I prefer steadily improving through training.”
Of course, that was a lie. I worked out because I felt like I was dying, and I wasn’t a masochist who enjoyed hard work.
The reason I chose these potions was simple.
Because of my talent.
My Enhancement was indiscriminate and could raise the level of anything.
It meant I could turn a simple consumable potion into… well, not an elixir of the highest grade, but a highly efficient potion.
Ah, yes.
Screw hard work. Life was best lived effortlessly.
With my satisfying shopping spree completed, it was time to part ways with my secret friend.
“Thank you, Professor. I’ll come back and buy the items you recommended next time.”
But for some reason, my secret friend stopped me.
She physically grabbed my arm.
I was a bit puzzled because I wanted to test the potions right away, but the professor simply smiled and said,
“So-hyun, you don’t have any plans now, right?”
“What? Ah, I was going to use the potions…”
“That’s good. It’s a bit of a shame to part ways so soon after meeting, so can you spare some time for your noona?”
Huh…? Did I say I didn’t have any plans? I didn’t think so. This was strange.
“Let’s have lunch first. Are you hungry?”
“Well, I am hungry, but saying ‘let’s have lunch first’ makes it sound like you have other plans.”
As I mentioned several times, my relationship with my secret friend worked because it was a secret.
Even if things had calmed down, it wouldn’t be good for an academy professor to be seen privately interacting with a student during such a sensitive time.
“What are you talking about, So-hyun?”
Ah, I must have been mistaken. Of course, Professor Cathy wouldn’t even think of something like that!
“Of course, we have to buy clothes, look around, and go to a café. Ah, should we watch a movie too?”
She was definitely thinking of something like that!
It pained me to refuse her when she was so happy, but it was the right thing to do.
“I’ve always wanted to go shopping and hang out with my brother if he entered the academy.”
No, wait a minute, that’s unfair! Stop with the unavoidable attacks…!
It seemed like my secret friend had realized that I was weak to her younger brother’s stories, as she became quite aggressive with them.
“Buying him clothes, eating delicious food together… I’m sorry, I got too excited about meeting you over the weekend and only thought about myself. So-hyun must have his own things to do.”
It was pitiful, but not enough to break my iron will.
Just as I was about to firmly refuse, I saw tears welling up in her emerald green eyes.
“…I’m fine for a little while.”
I was trash. Irredeemable trash…!
“Really? Then let’s go eat first!”
Seeing the professor brighten up instantly made me feel a bit tricked, but what could I do?
I had to play along when she was so happy.
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“Is it good?”
“Yes, this place is good.”
We were at a Western-style restaurant recommended by Professor Cathy.
I was surprised by how delicious the omurice with their original sauce, not ketchup, was.
“This is good too. Try it, So-hyun.”
Professor Cathy had already given me four pieces of her pork cutlet.
“You just gave me some.”
“Still. It makes me happy to see you eating well.”
Was this the dynamic between a noona and her younger brother…?
I had never had a noona, so I didn’t know if it was, but it felt strange.
Well, it was natural for it to feel strange.
I was grateful that she was acting like she couldn’t do enough for me, but it was also a bit uncomfortable.
It was a bit strange for me to say this as the recipient of her misplaced affection, but I wasn’t actually her brother.
Even after we finished eating, she took me to some clothing stores and enjoyed making me try different clothes.
“Are you siblings?”
I flinched at the clueless employee’s question, but she just nodded and picked out more clothes for me to try on.
“The size is a bit big.”
“No, you’re still a freshman, so you’ll grow into it.”
She had already paid for the meal, and when I said I would pay for the clothes myself, she looked like she was about to cry, so I ended up being forced to accept them.
Since we had spent quite a bit of time shopping and were already tired, we decided to rest at a nearby café.
“So-hyun.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for indulging me today. But let me just say this, so you don’t misunderstand.”
“What?”
“I do feel like you’re like my brother, but I don’t think of you as a replacement for him.”
Honestly, I was a little surprised.
The reason I had been worried about how to keep my distance from her was because it would be a problem if she saw me as a replacement for her brother, but I didn’t expect her to say that.
Seeing someone as a younger brother and seeing them as a replacement for your deceased younger brother.
They seemed similar, but were completely different when one delved deeper.
“So-hyun is So-hyun.”
Well, that was true.
She was this kind of person even in the original story.
She seemed weak, but was actually mentally strong.
So no matter how similar someone was to her brother, she never forgot that they were a different person.
She might treat them like a treasure, but she would correct herself before she made any serious mistakes.
That’s why her brother, although a source of her pain, couldn’t become her ultimate weakness.
If she had been more obsessed with her brother and couldn’t forget him, constantly seeking his image in others, her actions in the original story would have been very different.
“Professor.”
“Yes? What is it, So-hyun?”
I was relieved that she answered even though I didn’t call her “noona.”
“Thank you for today.”
“I should be thanking you instead, but So-hyun always says he’s grateful.”
In the original story, when the villains tried to make her betray the academy by taking a child who looked exactly like her brother hostage…
…she refused.
Unable to betray the academy but also unable to abandon the child, she struggled to protect him, and ultimately died.
Unaware that the child was an illusion created by the villains, she, a reliable supporter of the protagonist, met a pitiful end.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
That wouldn’t happen as long as I was here.
Clutching the potion bottles in my pocket, I made another vow.
“Then shall we go watch a movie now?”
“What?”
It seemed this strange date wasn’t over yet.
“So-hyun will buy the popcorn, right?”
Her cheerful expression made me want to laugh.
“Yes, I’ll buy you some.”
Since she didn’t see me as a replacement for her brother, there was no need to push her away.
We had already done everything else, so watching a movie wouldn’t change anything.
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T/N – So ends the mass release.
What a bittersweet chapter. I hope Professor Cathy remains an older sister figure to So-hyun in the future as well. He’ll have plenty of ladies falling for him, but wholesome relationships like this are pretty rare in novels nowadays. Also, RIP to the MC’s actual blood-related older sister in this world.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
I always love the protagonist’s inner thought