I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy - Chapter 13

Late evening.

After finishing Hong Bi-Yeon’s special lecture, Baek Yu-Seol immediately left the academy grounds and headed for Arcanium.

He needed to visit a bookstore.

“Does she really believe all that…?”

Reflecting on what he had just done, he felt a wave of shame and guilt.

Hong Bi-Yeon. 

She was obviously a good and smart mage, but her disadvantage was that she had a rigid way of thinking.

And yet, he had taken advantage of that.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter since she’s a villain anyway.'

Baek Yu-Seol could not help it. Right now, Teripon's image as a magic sword was hovering in front of his eyes.

He had to convert Teripon into a magic sword as soon as possible to increase his involvement in the academy plot.

‘Let’s stop thinking about it. I have to buy books, too.’

He would need books for his major because he wanted to start taking practical classes and lectures.

As Baek Yu-Seol walked through the streets of the magical city of Arcanium, a stunning view unfolded before him, filled with colorful mage towers and numerous magic academies.

Winged horse carriages and small floating islands dotted the sky. The streets were quite crowded with students, including him, who had come out to purchase books in haste. 

Some were already wandering in boy-and-girl pairs, which made his stomach churn with irritation.

These young ones are so lively and full of energy.

The streets were beautifully paved, with vibrantly lit buildings lined up one after another. While admiring the essence of magical engineering, he turned into an alley and activated Flash to move quickly.

‘Is it here? I can’t remember.’

In the game, he could simply press ‘listen to the lecture,’ but in reality, he actually needed textbooks.

Adding to the absurdity, the grades would vary depending on the quality of the major book used.

At first, he recalled purchasing books from a well-known bookstore in the city. It had a vast collection and a lot of customers, which made it seem like the best choice.

But he was wrong. The players later revealed that there were hidden books all over the city that added to grades.

In particular, the bookstore where such books were most often hidden was the ‘Nameless Bookstore.’ It got its name because its signboard was empty.

After wandering along the alley for a while, Baek Yu-Seol arrived at the Nameless Bookstore. It was a rather shabby place.

The creaky wooden door of the dilapidated store, which looked eerie enough to repel even ghosts, swung open, releasing the musty smell of old books.

An old man was dozing off at the counter. That perverted old man was said to pretend to doze off while scanning customers with mana.

Well, ancient mages always seemed to have their quirks.

Without hesitation, Baek Yu-Seol stepped inside. Despite its age, the bookstore carried Maela’s Lecture Notes, written by someone who had graduated from Stella Academy as the top student ten years ago.

He did not know why it was being sold here. However, if he took a magic engineering class with those handwritten notes, he would get a perfect score almost guaranteed.

Baek Yu-Seol's grades did not concern him much because of the Sentient Specs, but there were hidden recipes stored inside, meaning he could find something useful later.

‘As long as I have that, I can study the rest of it with just plain books.’

After all, Baek Yu-Seol had gotten a perfect score thanks to the Sentient Specs.

'Let’s see… I think I found it.'

No one else seemed to have touched it. Maela’s name was clearly written on the book titled Magic Engineering Study Lecture Notes. While others might find the hand stains on it bothersome, he liked it that way. Old magic books and notes had a certain charm.

As Baek Yu-Seol reached for it, a pale hand suddenly appeared from the other side and grabbed the same book.

“…?”

“Oh?”

Baek Yu-Seol turned his head slightly and spotted a girl with sky-blue hair. She was a bit shorter than him and quickly withdrew her hand as if burned.

He, too, pulled back his hand, startled by her reaction.

“Eh, Eisel?”

“What. Do you know me?”

“Huh? Uh, you know you are famous.”

Eisel Morph, also known as the fake female protagonist, looked up at him, clutching an old, used book to her chest.

She flicked the strands of her wavy sky-blue hair and stared intently at him.

“Oh, you… The person from the other day?”

“Uhh.”

'It’s nice that you remember me, but can’t you remember that we’ve met two times?'

Eisel stood like that for a while and then shook her head.

“I enjoyed the discussion. It was quite disappointing that you didn’t explain it to the end.”

Now that he thought about it, even Eisel hadn’t solved all those problems. He vaguely remembered a storyline where she might have tried to solve them and ended up forming a bond with Ma Yu-Seong.

“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you,” she said as she turned her head coolly and went to the other side.

Wait a second, why is she in the store that sells used books?

Hurriedly, Baek Yu-Seol grabbed Maela’s Lecture Notes. Since he hadn’t lost it, everything was going as planned.

He then began picking out other books, one by one, while glancing at Eisel.

She was also selecting books, but strangely, she seemed overly concerned about their price tags.

‘Oh, that's it.’

This bookstore mainly dealt with second-hand books, so people rarely came here unless they were a poor student like him.

However, admission to Arcanium’s five prestigious academies was only for the truly wealthy. Students like him, who had to scrape together tuition fees using their parents’ entire life savings before they passed away, were rare.

In other words, coming to this bookstore… would mean she was as poor as he was.

‘It’s a bit sad.’

After her family’s fall from grace, Eisel had been forced to leave behind her luxurious past. She had lost everything in just a few months.

A girl who used to enjoy steak with every meal was now sifting through the price tags of worn-out books in a second-hand shop, unable to afford even a single new one.

Moreover, in the original novel, Do Not Love the Unfortunate Princess, Eisel had a tragic ending. In this world, where Flame had taken over the protagonist’s role, her fate was even worse. She was doomed to die before reaching a proper conclusion.

In the end, she would live a life of endless misfortune, walking a lonely path until her eventual ruin, shunned by all.

‘Well, it’s not my problem.’

As Baek Yu-Seol finished selecting his books, he had piled up more than ten on the counter.

He placed them on the countertop. The old man opened his eyes in surprise when he put them down.

What? He could open his eyes after all?

“What the... How did you carry all that here?”

“I’m just a bit strong.”

Looking to the side, Eisel kept her distance and with narrowed eyes, carefully examined the textbooks he had chosen.

“Why?”

Baek Yu-Seol tried to say something, but Eisel unexpectedly spoke first.

“No, it’s just… I thought you picked a fascinating subject.”

'She was about to insult me just now, wasn’t she?'

“Like what?”

“Like everything. Why would you want to learn Advanced Sealing Study?"

“Oh, this? Yeah, it’s not a very promising subject.”

Sealing Studies was an ancient magical discipline that focused on expressing magic through objects. However, with the development of alchemy and magical engineering, the creation of the enchant technique had rendered Sealing Studies obsolete.

It was said that its only notable contribution to magic was the invention of the staff.

As a result, the magical government withdrew funding for Sealing Studies, leaving scholars unemployed. Few students showed interest in the course, which pushed it to the brink of extinction.

But Baek Yu-Seol knew the course wouldn’t be abolished. It would persist until the end, because it became a grade booster for players. Regardless of the effort they invested, high grades were almost guaranteed.

“So, you do realize it’s a dead-end subject.”

“That’s why I’m taking it.”

“...”

Eisel gave him a look that screamed disbelief, as though he had just said something utterly nonsensical.

He couldn’t exactly explain that he knew all this from playing the game, which made the situation awkward.

“Everyone thinks like you. That’s why it’s easier to score well.”

“Anyways, I should get going."

Unable to continue the conversation, he dashed out of the bookstore, glancing back to see Eisel staring at the Advanced Sealing Studies book with a curious expression.

However, her expression didn’t look all that pleased.

***

The next day.

In the truest sense, this was the first day of class.

‘The first class…’

Eisel checked her timetable. The first lecture of the day at Stella Academy was titled How to Look into the Void.

Rumors claimed that it was an easy way to secure good grades, so despite being a non-mainstream subject, she had hurriedly signed up for the course.

“Are you in the void class too?”

"You too? Oh… I’m doomed. You study better than I do.”

“Did you come here to get grades too?"

"Isn’t it obvious? I thought only some familiar friends would know about this, but there are a lot of people. I’m doomed from the first semester…”

As news spread about the ease of earning good grades in the class, a large number of students had signed up.

For students who failed to secure scholarships due to not reaching the top of the list, this decision was inevitable.

‘This is bad.’

It was not very good for Eisel, who always had to stay at the top to get a scholarship.

‘I have to work hard on other subjects.’

Time was short, and there was a lot to study. There was no time to regret the past.

Eisel was striding along the hallway when she suddenly overheard the students crowding around and talking about the lunch menu.

Her stomach growled loudly in protest. She pulled out a bundle of meal tickets from her pocket, sixty in total.

These tickets would allow her to eat at the academy cafeteria sixty times, but they wouldn’t last her through the semester. She would need to stretch them out as much as possible.

‘Today’s lunch doesn’t taste good, so I’ll have to buy some bread at the cafeteria.’

Of course, she could barely buy plain bread, which cost only 1,200 credits. Eisel started walking to the cafeteria for a quick meal, but she abruptly stopped while passing by a lecture hall.

It was the classroom for Sealing Studies, the course that Baek Yu-Seol had mentioned the night before.

She peeked inside and spotted him sitting in the distance. He was listening to the lecture with a blank expression, his transparent black eyes looking hazy and enigmatic.

Eisel looked at the other students.

‘Huh? Why are there so few students?’

The class size was so small that it seemed barely enough to keep the course running. The professor, perhaps anxious about this, was nervously biting his nails as he delivered the lecture.

Even the students who had shown up for the class seemed restless and uncertain.

‘What if… if I also applied for Introduction to Sealing Studies?’

‘… I could improve my grades without spending too much time on this subject.'

'And if I studied other subjects with the time I saved, maybe I could rise in rank and receive more scholarships?'

‘Did he really know that this course was easy to earn grades?’

Eisel’s gaze returned to Baek Yu-Seol. His calm demeanor only deepened her confusion. She couldn’t make sense of his actions or thoughts.

Was he sleepy? 

Meditating?

Could it be that he had his own carefully thought-out enrollment strategy?

A flurry of thoughts raced through her mind, but Eisel quickly shook her head to dispel them.

‘What am I even thinking? It’s probably just a coincidence.’