The start of the Academy was always about choosing a dormitory.
Now that I had risen to a new rank, I had to leave the iron-ranked dormitory I’d been in.
Ahh, what a pity. It was a place I had grown attached to.
‘Isn’t the vomit on the wallpaper from the heroines still there?’
……Let’s hurry and get out.
While it might be a reward for someone, it was definitely not for me.
After moving the furniture to cover up the disaster as best as I could, I exited the dormitory with my belongings.
I secretly worried about competing with someone when choosing my dorm, but such things didn’t happen at all.
Due to some unknown reason, a majority of the dorms were vacant, so they had actually remained available.
And the majority of those vacancies were none other than elves.
‘So this is how the snowball rolls?’
That’s a good thing. Choose as your heart desires.
With that, I leisurely picked a new dorm and moved in.
The supplies in the dorm were the same as before, but the difference for a ranked dorm was…
There’s an extra room here!
‘And there’s a personal PC as well.’
If the previous iron-ranked dorm was a studio, this one was a two-room.
Moreover, unlike before, there was a personal PC on the desk.
The moment I saw that, I thought.
‘Elden Ring Elden Ring Elden Ring Elden Ring Elden Ring.’
……Looks like a corpse was here.
It was a legendary game.
However, contrary to my wishes, the personal PC couldn’t muster any power.
It wasn’t optimized in the first place and the specs were bad, so it was a natural outcome.
‘Elden Ring… service ended.’
Eh? Really?
‘It was originally a total flop, you know. Anyway, it’s a total flop.’
You’re just rationalizing your loss with sour grapes, huh?
I stepped out of the dorm again while regaining my humanity from the corpse state.
*
Unlike first year, we had to choose our major starting from the second year.
There are three types of departments.
Combat, Support, and Command.
The classes were divided by rank, but the subjects taught differed based on the major.
So, now.
We were gathered in the auditorium to choose our majors.
“Hyeji, where are you planning to go?”
“I’m heading to the Support department, fitting for me.”
“Hyeji the Support… in the Support department?”
……I started as a supporter, you know.
Hyeji averted her gaze, seemingly embarrassed.
Then Elcia clung to me and asked.
“Husband! What do you think about me going to the Command department?!”
……Mutage Renya’s here, huh.
“Elcia, wouldn’t you fit better in the Support department?”
“I just want to follow you, husband! Whenever it is!”
And so we decided our majors.
Hyeji went for Support. The rest for Combat.
However, a professor called Hyeji aside to talk separately.
From the increasing volume of their voices, it didn’t seem like good news.
A few minutes later, Hyeji returned to us looking downcast.
“Hyeji, what happened?”
“I got rejected from the Support department.”
Hyeji explained.
Since the Support department merely assisted the Combat department and didn’t annihilate enemies, she was rejected.
“If you kill all the enemies, that’s support! Those idiots!”
……Is that a normal reaction?
‘It makes sense if it’s a Karajim-type supporter.’
Hyeji seemed unable to contain her anger, stamping her feet.
To comfort Hyeji, who was gloomy for not being able to become a supporter, we all said a word.
“Why didn’t you hold back your damage a bit?”
“Indeed, Hyeji, you were too powerful.”
“For a supporter, your damage is way too high!”
Then, Hyeji, seemingly moved by our consolation, reacted passionately.
“You D-Class dealers can’t deal worth shit and then tell me that? You bastards!”
“””Ahh.”””
Suddenly stricken by conscience, we just let out a short sigh.
There would be no further conversation.
So the main dealer (supporter) and three spooners were quietly assigned to the Combat department.
And I excused myself from the group for a moment to make a contact.
One of the underground operations of breaking the Academy.
The salvation of research students. And the euthanasia of professors.
I had to bring it to an end.
*
Regardless of my second-year status, the biggest event was none other than the previously mentioned Kim Shinwoo Law.
It was truly revolutionary.
No, saying it was revolutionary was an understatement.
The moment it pulled the lives of the research students from the abyss to the normal orbit, such a word couldn’t express it.
Thus, the day the Kim Shinwoo Law was fully enacted, there were two cries within the Academy.
One was the cheers of research students who finally welcomed their liberation, weeping tears of joy.
The other was the wailing of professors lamenting the fact they had to sign an employment contract.
The sobs of the research students were a kind of triumphal march, teary yet exhilarating.
In contrast, the professors’ wails were a requiem stuffed with all the world’s grievances.
The two pieces of music formed a concerto within the Academy.
After selecting our majors and exiting the auditorium, I was on a call with someone.
None other than the representative of the research students.
“Are you well?”
– “Leader! We did it! We’ve been liberated!”
“Congratulations on becoming human.”
– “If it’s not too much trouble, could you teach me how to write the employment contract?”
“Of course.”
I delivered the carefully selected copies of the employment contracts to the representative.
Given the volume, it took a considerable amount of time to send them, but I patiently waited for all of them to transmit.
As soon as all the employment contracts were sent, the research student representative expressed intense gratitude.
– “Thank you! Thank you! Hail Shinwood!”
“And just in case, be sure to back up your files regularly.”
Saving is not an option but a necessity.
The magical spell that assists life, Ctrl + S, can be invoked anytime without issue.
Isn’t merging all layers and saving a curse, though?
‘Ah, fuck. That’s dangerous.’
It varies by situation, but generally, that’s the case.
Especially, the data of research students must be protected at all costs.
Because that’s the way for them to survive even if the Academy shatters into pieces.
“Later, I may ask for your help again.”
– “Leave it to us! But when can we assist you?”
I briefly closed my eyes, pondering the date.
I didn’t know the specific date.
But I certainly knew that timeframe.
“The second semester of this year. Your assistance will be desperately needed.”
– “No problem! All of our research students are your sword.”
“Thank you. I will contact you again in the future.”
– “Yes! Understood! For our research students’ lives, to Leader Kim Shinwoo!”
‘Leader, huh… It’s still too early to use that term.’
Then what will you say?
Well, of course, I had that decided ahead of time.
Coincidentally, it was also the right season for it.
I spoke again to the representative.
“I asked to be called leader, but actually, that’s a bit of a distant future story.”
– “Then who is Shinwoo? God? Messiah?”
“No. I don’t need such grandiose terms.”
I said with a slight smile.
“You are my spring.”
– “Aah…….”
With that, our call ended.
But from the last reaction, it seemed all the necessary meanings had been conveyed.
To commemorate this day, the research students created an anniversary by even writing in blood.
The name of the anniversary was ‘Research Student Day’, but among the research students, it was known by another name.
The Day of the Kim Shinwoo Law.
The Day of Liberation.
And the Day of Spring.
It was a historic day.
To respond to them, I excused myself from the group and invested all my time that day in the research students.
Specifically, reviewing the employment contracts.
Have the research students ever written an employment contract?
They might have seen a slave contract, but certainly not that, and they likely hadn’t even smelled the paper.
Just because I made them human, that’s not the end.
I had to ensure they could be independent as a basic duty.
Thus, I stared intently at the employment contracts in front of me.
Reading, pointing out errors, and correcting hundreds of employment contracts repeatedly.
My head throbbed and my hands trembled, and eventually, I even started to nosebleed.
Are those professors really human? How many trap cards are there?
‘Fuck, even an Eldritch deck wouldn’t have this many traps.’
However, my actions had surely been effective.
Even the Ph.D. students who had some resentment toward me started giving me friendly looks.
It seemed they didn’t realize how much they were being exploited like this.
Rather, it became an opportunity to deepen the bonds between the Ph.D. and Master’s students who realized they weren’t so different after all.
Therefore, among the research students, the only ones who opposed me were the extremely few who had secured professor positions.
That day, a brief article appeared in the campus newspaper.
The content was very succinct but sufficient to encompass all it needed.
– Research students. Finally human.
It was summer.
No, it was spring.
