Academy's Undercover Professor

ACADEMY’S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR

Chapter 30 – The Person Who Sees, the Person Who Solves (2)

Ludger stood still and stared at the place where the werewolves had been.

His hands had burned them all down without a trace.

—Along with all the evidence that they were a lab test and not just werewolves.

It was okay for him to be relieved.

—Since it was over now.

But Ludger’s mind was not the slightest bit at ease.

Until the other professors, who lit up a fire with their magic from a distance, arrived one by one…

Ludger stood still, stuck on his spot.

***

The werewolf case—which had caused a stir at Sören Academy—ended with the removal of werewolves by the new professor, Ludger Chelysie.

Many students wondered if the incident was simply an inflated false rumor, but there were many witnesses who had actually witnessed the werewolves, so such an opinion was ruled out.

Rumors had already spread among students that Ludger had a bloody fight with a werewolf on the roof of a building under the full moon.

The students had already talked about the case on the .

-Is it true that it was a real werewolf?

-I saw it in person. On the roof of the research building, the new professor fought with the werewolf, and it was so cool.

-It’s not a lie?

-Actually, a part of the roof of the 3rd research building was broken, and there were signs of a fight.

-Whoa. So the new professor really caught the werewolf?

-I heard the new professor is a former soldier. Then it’s possible.

-He’s awesome.

So there were also questions about what the werewolves were and where they had appeared from.

Some even argued that the werewolves might actually have been a secret experiment from somewhere.

However, in the absence of clues, such an opinion was nothing more than gossip that did not even circulate properly.

—Because that wasn’t the important thing.

-Ah, I got five penalty points because I got caught.

-Me too. This is a bit risky for my warning in this Academy.

-Yeah. I don’t care about my five penalty points~ I already got award points.

-Where do you live?

That time, most of the students who decided to catch werewolves were found and faced penalties.

Out of the entire school, there were 130 students who had been caught.

Even the third-year students were included among them, so it was understandable.

They went out to become heroes, but instead of solving the case, they only got penalty points, so most students tore their hair out of regret about their wrongdoings.

It was the same for Aidan, Leo, and Tessie.

“Aargh! We’re doomed! We’re really doomed! Why does it have to be Professor Ludger who caught us out of all people?!”

The three of them had been called to the counseling room for a meeting with the principal.

Aidan was still immersed in his thoughts, but Tessie was different.

She was restless.

She should never have allowed a loophole in order to revive her family, but in the werewolf incident, let alone being compensated, she was being properly punished by Ludger.

Tessie glared at Aidan with resentment and soon bit her lower lips and shook her head roughly.

She couldn’t blame Aidan.

She wouldn’t be alive without Aidan.

Aidan was the one who saved her from the werewolf attack, after all.

‘Yeah. I’m just… I couldn’t do anything at the time…’

She felt so stupid that she grabbed the hem of her uniform with her trembling hands.

It’d been about 10 minutes.

The door to the counseling room opened.

The three musketeers: Aidan, Leo, and Tessie, who were sitting in their seats, stood up on their feet.

Principal… She was coming into the counseling room with a beaming smile. She had white on the outside part of her hair but a pinkish on the inside part of her hair.

Following the principal’s footsteps was a man with a cold-hearted image.

It was Ludger Chelysie, the man who blew down the werewolves the night before.

Ludger looked the same as usual.

His outfit was a red long coat, not his usual black frock coat, but his firm neatness still remained.

“Now, now. All three of you, sit comfortably.”

Hearing the principal’s words, the three people, including Aidan, sat down again while studying the principal’s face.

The principal also sat in her empty upper seat.

“Please sit down as well, Professor Ludger.”

“I’ll stand here.”

“Well then, if that’s convenient for you. Now, let’s get down to business. Do you know why I called the three of you here?”

No one answered that question right away.

But there was no one who didn’t know.

There was only one reason why the three of them were gathered there: Because they had witnessed the werewolves from the closest distance and gotten caught by Ludger.

Tessie, who didn’t expect to face the principal, thought Ludger had really been determined to punish her.

‘What does he mean by not just giving penalty points but also telling the principal about it?’

Wasn’t it a declaration that it would never be finished with ordinary disciplinary action?

‘I’m doomed!’

She held back her tears for dear life.

It was some kind of a bad feeling.

After that day, she never forgot that she had promised herself never to cry again.

Most of all, she was triggered by Aidan and Leo, who were sitting casually.

“What will happen to us?”

Aidan opened his mouth first, but as Aidan spoke, his gaze did not avert from Ludger.

“Why do you think I called all of you?”

“…I don’t think you wanted to give us a mere penalty point.”

“You’re right.”

It was then that Ludger opened his mouth.

“The three of you ignored Sören’s warning and went all the way into the forest and posed a danger to yourselves, and you almost got hurt. If things had gone even a little wrong, one of you could have died.”

The three people who felt as if they were stabbed by his remark shut their mouths.

“Even though there wasn’t an accident in which anyone died in the end, I thought you should know for sure how serious your complacent behavior was—that’s why I offered the principal a suggestion.”

They realized it was serious.

All three of them knew that those words didn’t have good intentions behind them.

As the heavy atmosphere lingered in the counseling room, the principal clapped her hands.

“Now, now. Don’t make faces like the world is collapsing. Think positively. And Professor Ludger. Your words that frightened the students were a bit harsh.”

“Your honor, this is not something that should be overlooked.”

“Of course, thanks to Professor Ludger’s hard work, it ended without anyone getting hurt, and you are right that the students were complacent. But it ended well, didn’t it?”

“…I don’t understand.”

“Because they’re still kids. And even with the intimidating remarks, Professor Ludger gave quite a detailed explanation, right? Aidan?”

“Yes, yes!”

When he was suddenly called, Aidan answered in a hurry.

“I heard the story. I heard you jumped to save Tessie from danger?”

“N-no. It’s… just.”

“Competition among students is important, but it’s better to help each other instead. And neither of you ran away from the location so that you could protect Aidan.”

At the words of appraisal coming out of the principal’s mouth one by one, confusion lingered on the faces of Aidan, Leo, and Tessie.

‘Why is the principal like that?’

“You’re absolutely wrong in your behavior; that’s why I decided to take Professor Ludger’s advice and give each of you 10 penalty points.”

Ten penalty points!

If it was 10 and not 5 points, it meant that it was twice as bad compared to other students.

It was obvious that it was disadvantageous towards them.

“But…”

At that moment, the principal’s clear voice awakened the three people from their thoughts.

* * *

* * *

“Your actions in the moment of crisis are certainly worthy of praise, so I’ll give all three of you 10 award points.”

“Pardon?”

“Is… is that true?”

Ten penalty points. However, in addition to that, the penalty points had practically disappeared due to 10 award points.

The principal’s words did not end there.

“Aidan. You showed your courage in thinking of your colleagues before your own body in a time of crisis; I’ll give you 10 extra award points.”

“Oh!”

“Leo. You didn’t forget to be cool-headed in a moment of urgency, and you deliberately left a trail on the path as you passed so that others could follow you.”

“How, how come…”

“I’ll give you 10 extra award points. And… Tessie Friad.”

“Yes, yes!”

“You had the courage to face the werewolf and fight without running away. Some might say it’s reckless bravado, but you’ve understood it well. I hope you will keep that unshakable heart forever.”

“Yes, yes! Understood!”

“Because of that, I’ll give you 10 award points.”

As a result, the three of them had received 10 additional award points rather than penalty points.

The principal, who had been smiling at the three people who still couldn’t accept that this was real, looked back at Ludger while sitting down.

“You don’t have any complaints, right, Professor Ludger?”

“…If that’s what your honor wants.”

Ludger stepped back and drew the line that there was no disagreement.

The principal clapped her hands.

“Congratulations, kids. Keep up the good work in the future.”

“Oh, yes! Thank you! Your honor!”

“But still, don’t overdo it. Now… we have already taken too much time. Everyone, hurry up and go back to the dormitory.”

The three students left the counseling room while thinking that they were still dreaming.

Aidan, who was leaving last, stopped and looked back at Ludger, who didn’t even glance at him.

What was the reaction that Professor Ludger had shown just then?

Aidan left the counseling room with unresolved questions.

The door closed, and only Ludger and the principal were left in the counseling room.

“Phew, Professor Ludger. Are you satisfied now?”

The principal said so after the students were completely out of their sight.

“I was surprised. Even though it was you who asked me to take good care of those children.”

The principal, who was shaking both of her legs with her head leaned back, glanced at Ludger with half-opened eyes.

“On top of that, you’re asking me to act as if I was the one who did all of it.”

“Because it wouldn’t carve a very good image of you if you did what I was doing there.”

“I know. You want us to play a good cop and a bad cop, right? I can’t believe you call yourself a villain. Aren’t you feeling sad about it?”

“I just chose the most efficient method.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, since you said you’re fine with that, I won’t bother longer about that because, in the end, it was a good thing for the students.”

The president, standing up from her seat, approached the window that showed Sören’s scenery and swept the transparent window with her slender fingertips.

“Professor Ludger, you said you took care of the werewolves yourself, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What did you see there?”

“What do you mean?”

“Wasn’t there something peculiar about the werewolves?”

Even with the principal’s sharp words, Ludger’s expression did not change.

“I didn’t think there was anything.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I just chased the werewolves, and I got rid of them because I was afraid that they would pose a threat to the students. Just like what I did in the military.”

“Hmm. Well, then it can’t be helped.”

The principal also did not question him any further because Ludger’s fight with the werewolves while protecting students was already so famous that it had spread throughout the school.

“Anyway, I’d like to thank you once again. Thanks to you, nobody died.”

“I just did my job.”

“I like that confident attitude. I’ll look forward to your good performance in the future.”

Ludger bowed his head without a word.

After his conversation with the principal, Ludger returned to his professor’s office.

Ludger, who was sitting while leaning on the back of his chair, recalled what had happened the night before.

What had surprised him…

—The body of the werewolf pup that had been hidden by the fallen leaves that no one else had ever discovered.

It had certainly belonged to a human child on which fur had not yet grown.

Right…

He wasn’t mistaken.

It was obviously a human body that had not yet turned into a wolf.

‘The Shamsus school did not use wolves as experiments to create werewolves.’

Rather, it was the opposite.

They… created a werewolf using human beings as an experiment.

Instead of substituting human genes into wolves, they had captured human beings and forcibly mixed beast factors into them.

The strange behavior of the werewolf who had thrown the wreckage with her hands when she was in an emergency was finally understandable.

He had wondered why their brains worked so well, they were not like beasts—who should have no reasoning.

The werewolf pup must have been a human child.

It must have been the mother who blocked his way to protect her child.

‘Was it… her family?’

The three werewolves who had made a mess in Leathevelk and Sören…

Was it a human family that’d been used as an experiment?

—A child and two parents.

—Ordinary people who were just being swept away by unfortunate incidents.

Ludger had killed the three of them with his own hands.

Silently…

Ludger tightened his fist.

‘I have no regrets in my actions.’

Even if he went back to that time, Ludger would have made the same judgment.

Otherwise, it would have been him who was in danger.

All of the experiments had to be eliminated, and the connection he was involved in had to be broken as well. There was no other way.

And there was already a death toll from the werewolves.

Even though they had no choice but to do that in order to live, they had still killed and eaten someone’s family.

That was why he had killed them.

Yes…

He’s sure that was enough.

‘The eyes…’

—The baby’s clear eyes as it looked back at him at the end after licking its mother.

While Ludger was casting his spell to kill them, the look in the pup’s eyes did not contain any rebuke or anger toward Ludger.

There was only one emotion… 

The pup had been thankful to him for ending their terrible lives.

“…”

Ludger got up from his seat.

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