## Chapter 202 – 202. Headhunting
#202. Headhunting
Professor Shin Min-ha once made me two offers.
One was to transfer to the Summoning Department.
The other was to come to her workshop as an assistant, not as a cadet.
I wasn’t interested enough in summoning magic to become an assistant.
Being an assistant is basically being a slave.
Anyway, a mere cadet rejected an offer from a magic tower professor. And to someone who was so sincere that she even took me to the gate herself to emphasize the benefits of summoning magic.
She didn’t show it outwardly, but she was probably quite offended.
So, at first, I tried to keep my distance as much as possible.
But I’m already taking Professor Shin Min-ha’s class. Whether I like it or not, I have to participate in her class for the remaining half of the year.
I was trying to prepare a time to be alone with her, disguised as asking a question, to offer a polite apology.
“Ah.”
I never imagined this would happen.
I glanced at Professor Shin Min-ha. She didn’t seem to have any intention of teasing me.
“…I don’t know why you’re suddenly doing this.”
“I’ll tell you after you eat.”
Professor Shin Min-ha held a cookie to my mouth.
I was about to take the cookie when—
-!
A murderous aura flew from somewhere and swept through my entire body.
I was about to reflexively raise my magic power, but I calmed it down when I realized the source of the aura.
‘Here we go again.’
The one who released the murderous aura was none other than Professor Shin Min-ha’s summoned creature, Lyal.
Normally, I wouldn’t be able to know its location because of Lyal’s ability, but thanks to it voluntarily releasing its murderous aura, I had a rough idea.
It was sitting right across from me, glaring at me fiercely. Its body was still in the spirit realm, so I couldn’t see it.
‘Does it not have the ability to learn?’
Whether it releases its murderous aura or not, there’s nothing that thing can do.
Unless Professor Shin Min-ha orders it to kill me.
I ignored Lyal’s gaze and took the cookie that Professor Shin Min-ha offered.
Crunch-
I heard a familiar sound from somewhere, but I brushed it off. It’s none of my business.
“Is it good?”
“Yeah, well…”
The taste was, of course, just a normal cookie taste.
But regardless, I felt good. Is it because a beautiful woman fed it to me?
“Now, the reason—”
“Ah.”
Professor Shin Min-ha held the second cookie to my mouth.
“There are still a lot of cookies left, aren’t there? I’ll tell you when you’ve eaten them all.”
I was dumbfounded that she suddenly changed her mind, but I came here today to apologize to her.
If I can make her feel a little better with just this, it’s a cheap price to pay.
It wasn’t a particularly difficult request, so I took the cookies as she offered them.
“You eat well.”
“You’re not going to feed me the tea too, are you?”
“If you want.”
“I’m fine.”
I emptied the plate and tilted my teacup.
“How was it?”
“Huh?”
“I heard you did something similar with Choi Hye-na at the restaurant. I also heard on the internet that men like this kind of thing. Was I wrong?”
Her eyes, as if expecting something, were pouring down on me.
Could it be what I’m thinking?
“…It was good.”
“I’m glad.”
A faint smile spread across Professor Shin Min-ha’s lips. It was the first time I saw such a clear change in her emotions.
“But, in the end, why did you feed me the cookies?”
Apart from asking for my consent, I don’t know the real reason she fed me the cookies.
It’s not like she wants to play lovers with me.
“Last time, I offered to grant you anything you wanted if you became my assistant, right?”
“You did.”
I was dumbfounded when I first heard it.
The assistant offer itself was a bit embarrassing, but to grant me anything I wanted.
I wondered if she even knew what it meant for a grown woman to say such a thing to a man.
“After returning to the workshop, I thought about it carefully. Then I came to one conclusion. You might have felt like my offer was just empty words.”
“Huh?”
“After hearing various advice from those around me, I realized that my offer was somewhat inappropriate. So, I decided to learn one by one what I can and cannot do for you.”
Something seems a bit off about the conclusion.
It’s as if someone was whispering nonsense in her ear.
“Financial support would just be a waste of my breath. Professor Choi can provide that kind of thing as much as she wants.”
Professor Shin Min-ha brought another piece of paper. It looked like a contract to me. She grabbed a quill and wrote something on the paper.
-Shin Min-ha (A) must personally feed Kang Hyun-woo (B) if he wishes it.
The beautiful handwriting, worthy of being called calligraphy, created a somewhat absurd sentence.
It’s definitely Korean, but I don’t know what it means.
“Bill Herlitz, a renowned headhunter, said that to acquire talent, you need conditions that are different from other places. Rather than financial things, I’m trying to find conditions that only I can provide to you. About ten should be good, what do you think?”
Professor Shin Min-ha, whose voice was strangely excited, seemed full of confidence. I was speechless at her appearance, which I had never seen before.
Where should I start pointing out the problems?
“Now there are nine left.”
After hesitating for a while, I decided to keep my mouth shut.
She’s trying so hard, it would be a bit much to coldly reject her.
Of course, I have no intention of becoming an assistant or transferring to the Summoning Department, but I’m willing to help with research from time to time.
It’s not a particularly difficult task.
And also to retaliate against that damn summoned creature who’s been glaring at me while scattering murderous aura since earlier.
‘By the way, how is it sending gazes without a body?’
It can’t exert physical force, but just expressing its will in a mental state is an art that even an ordinary magician can’t imitate.
I guess it’s worthy of being the only summoned creature of a 4-circle summoner.
But in my opinion, Lyal is one of the summoned creatures that should not be contracted with.
It’s one thing for it to show hostility towards me, but preventing me from contracting with other summoned creatures is an issue that cannot be overlooked.
I don’t know why Professor Shin Min-ha contracted with such a summoned creature.
I thought about asking her, but I decided to refrain from it because we weren’t close enough to get deeply involved.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
“Wait a minute.”
Professor Shin Min-ha grabbed my sleeve.
“If you’re okay with it, Hyun-woo, I’d like to have regular meetings like this. Would that be alright?”
“Huh? Yeah, well… Then I’ll visit the workshop every week at this time.”
I was able to get out of the workshop only after making a promise in a daze.
As soon as I came out into the hallway, I heightened my senses to the maximum. The pissed-off Lyal might come at me with a knife.
But fortunately, that didn’t happen. It seems to know how to distinguish right from wrong.
After that, I returned to the classroom and listened to the remaining two lectures.
‘Should I have just not taken them?’
Except for minor barrier magic and summoning magic, most of the content was what I learned from Iris.
If I had known this would happen, I would have asked the Magic Tower Master to allow me to audit classes from other grades.
But it was already too late. For now, I had no choice but to wait for next year.
I secretly read the book I borrowed in the morning to pass the time.
Among them, there was a class that overlapped with Lumina, but I couldn’t even have a proper conversation with her because of her strangely wary attitude towards me.
‘I had some things I wanted to ask about the research society.’
Diabology, of which Lumina is a member, is a place that studies things related to demons.
It’s said to be a relatively historic research society, although it’s on the verge of being shut down due to the small number of members.
Thanks to that, the research lab is a mess with research materials that have accumulated over the years.
If I do well, I might be able to find a safe way to absorb the ‘Essence of Biresiel’ that I obtained from Lord Webley’s underground vault.
I want to go to the research society, but I had a prior engagement today.
“What brings you here?”
“I have an appointment with the Magic Tower Master.”
“Ah, Cadet Kang Hyun-woo?”
“Yes.”
“You can go right in.”
After greeting the female employee, I headed to the Magic Tower Master’s workshop.
Creak, as I opened the door and entered, a strange smell brushed past my nose. It wasn’t the smell of reagents that is commonly smelled from other magicians.
It was a smell I had smelled somewhere before.
“Welcome.”
As I went inside, a smile that seemed to stimulate the hearts of men was directed at me.
Ash-gray hair and eyes, and smooth thighs visible between the folds of her clothes.
There are few people in the world who don’t know her.
It was Hanlael, the Magic Tower Master of the Gray Magic Tower.
After bowing politely, I sat down opposite her, but the Magic Tower Master didn’t say anything.
She quietly scanned me up and down, then seemed busy muttering to herself and tapping the sofa.
‘Is this also part of the research?’
It’s not for me to say, but there are definitely a lot of eccentrics among magicians.
Of course, it was welcome for a pretty woman like the Magic Tower Master to send me a lingering gaze. I quietly waited for her research to end.
About five minutes passed.
“Hyun-woo.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have a dragon among your ancestors?”
I was speechless for a moment at the Magic Tower Master’s infinitely serious expression.
“Are you serious?”
“Of course.”
I thought she was just throwing out a trivial joke as usual.
“…I don’t know. My parents passed away when I was young. I can’t be a pure-blooded human, but at least there wouldn’t have been a dragon.”
If there was a dragon among my ancestors, I wouldn’t have grown up in an orphanage.
No matter how faint, a dragon’s bloodline is very precious.
“But, why did you suddenly ask that?”
“Um, should I tell you simply? Or in detail?”
“Simply, please.”
The Magic Tower Master smiled slightly at my answer.
It was still a captivating eye smile.
Appearance, ability, she has everything, so I wonder why she hasn’t gotten married yet.
“You’ve changed too much in just a week?”
At that moment, the Magic Tower Master’s eyes began to shine.
I was slightly surprised by the 180-degree change in atmosphere, but I had already received that gaze before.
‘When was it?’
I remembered.
It was when I first encountered the Magic Tower Master beyond the gate.
“The overall frame has changed, and even the state of the mana circle is unusual. Just a week ago, you were only at the level of barely reaching the 4th circle, but what kind of magic did you use…”
The Magic Tower Master trailed off, staring at the area near my heart as if possessed.
As if in response to that gaze, the mana circle began to pulsate violently. Mana power that has escaped control is boiling.
It’s not a dangerous situation, but the Magic Tower Master’s actions were clearly impolite.
Nevertheless, I didn’t say anything. Actively cooperating with the experiment was mutually agreed upon.
The Magic Tower Master continued to observe me with eyes filled with heat. As if urging me to calm down the mana circle.
‘She’s asking me to do something strange again.’
It wasn’t a difficult task, so I closed my eyes and focused on circulating the mana.
The moment the mana moved through the mana circuit.
‘…What?’
An unidentified sense of discomfort covered my entire body.
The mana moving through the mana circuit is too fast. It’s like driving on a wide-open highway.
Just in case, I stopped the operation of mana and pulled out the Vajra Energy that was sleeping in my dantian and sent it flowing through my blood vessels.
Only then did I realize the changes that had occurred in my body.
Not only the circulation of mana, but also the speed of the microcosmic orbit was too fast.
I didn’t know that the effect of flushing out waste products last night would be this great.
Of course, it’s not enough to aim for the next realm, but one thing was certain.
No matter what I did two days ago, I wouldn’t be able to beat myself now.
“Is it over?”
I woke up from my thoughts at the Magic Tower Master’s voice.
Just like before I closed my eyes, she was looking at me and smiling faintly.
The moment our eyes met, the Magic Tower Master got up from her seat and approached me.
The scent of the Magic Tower Master, who naturally sat next to me, brushed past my nose. I was almost distracted by the stimulating scent.
The Magic Tower Master smiled slightly, as if she liked my reaction.
“Then shall we have an in-depth conversation now?”
Her hand touched my chest.
