MTLNOVEL Chapter 3 - You're Not Worth Saving
I’ve always loved exploring and studying. The pursuit of knowledge was the most important desire for me above all else.
When my friends started working and earning money after graduation, I entered graduate school without hesitation. I couldn’t find any greater joy than understanding the mysteries of this world one by one.
I smoothly obtained my master’s degree and entered the doctoral program, but the problem was my advisor.
My life took a turn for the worse when I met an evil professor who submitted my thesis to academic conferences as if it were his own work and used me to run errands like picking up his child from kindergarten. Working on weekends and overtime every day was the norm. Despite this, he maliciously refused to let me graduate, so I couldn’t fulfill my dream of becoming a professor and just aged helplessly.
I truly resented the world, wondering why the authority to grant graduation was given to individual professors—.
When I was summoned to Aurelia and only Kwak Dong-su was chosen as the hero, my interest naturally turned to the academy as I needed a job to make a living.
I heard that Aurelia was famous for its high academic enthusiasm even among various countries.
They say magicians and scholars from all over the world come here to study.
The existence of the academy, where nobles, royalty, and commoners with exceptional talents enroll, was enough to attract my interest, which was full of thirst for knowledge.
“You say you’re from a place called Earth? Oh, welcome. Please teach us many mysteries of the other world that we don’t know!”
“I came here to learn rather than teach. I don’t know anything about this place yet…”
“We don’t know anything about Earth either. How about this? Teaching while learning at the same time?”
Fortunately, the principal of the academy responded favorably to my interest and even granted me the special privilege of being both a student and a professor.
It’s very rare, but sometimes in the world of professional sports, there are people who serve as both players and coaches, so it’s easy to understand if you think of it in a similar concept.
It was happier than I expected.
Every day, I learned new things and shared the knowledge I had.
The students at the academy had high academic enthusiasm like me, so they showed interest and found even trivial information about Earth fascinating.
Even renowned great magicians and scholars were almost completely ignorant about Earth, so I was treated as a kind of specialist there.
Even the professors showed respect to me, and my Earth Studies lecture, scheduled outside of regular hours, soon became a popular class with people bursting at the seams.
“Thanks to you, there’s new vitality in the academy. I’m grateful.”
“It’s nothing. I’m glad to be of help.”
“There’s no one who can match you when it comes to Earth Studies. Well, that’s natural, of course.”
Said the principal, who, despite being called a great sage, looked like nothing more than a girl who had barely passed ten years old.
“So, I’d like to appoint you as a formal professor at the academy.”
“What? Me, a professor? A full professor?”
“Of course. However, there’s a procedure of presenting a formal thesis for professor appointment, so please keep that in mind.”
“I’ll write a thesis. I was interested anyway since Dong-su formed a hero party. I’ll write a thesis related to the hero party.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Professor! Full professor!
It was the moment when my long-held dream was finally being realized.
Spending my life doing research that I love, sharing knowledge, and earning money at the same time? In my opinion, there’s no better job than being a professor on Earth, no, even in this other world.
“I heard the news, Mr. Faust, or should I call you Professor Faust now?”
“When you become a professor, I’ll treat you to a meal!”
“You’ll continue the Earth Studies lectures, right? Your class is the most interesting at the academy for me! What? You’re not a professor yet? Come on, you’ll be a professor soon anyway!”
“Professor Faust! I look forward to working with you!”
—At that time, it was good. People around me were kind, and the position of a professor at the academy objectively came with considerable social status, so the number of flatterers increased as well.
When I started to have disciples following me, I myself became inflated with dreams as if I had already become a professor.
However, the problematic incident occurred.
The principal called me and expressed reluctance, saying that it would be difficult to appoint me as a professor.
“I’m sorry, but there’s a rumor going around that you plagiarized the thesis of the hero Lucy von Letlerea, so we can’t formally appoint you.”
“What? Me, plagiarizing someone’s thesis? Kwak Dong-su’s? He got 8th grade in the college entrance exam, entered a no-name university due to lack of applicants, and even dropped out of that to sell phones. You’re saying I plagiarized his thesis?”
“I’m sorry, but the vocabulary you’re using is unfamiliar to us. However, what we know is that the hero submitted the same thesis to the academic society one day before your thesis presentation date.”
“…Then that bastard stole mine.”
“Do you have evidence? The fact is that the hero presented the thesis earlier in terms of timing.”
“Please interrogate that bastard. There must be some dirty conspiracy.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s no institution in Aurelia that can interrogate the hero. Even the king is cautious of the hero, how could the academy be any different? Please understand.”
“Then… the full professor position…”
“Find another job. I’m sorry.”
—Even the principal probably didn’t know that the other job would end up being a horse dung cleaner.
Because Kwak Dong-su’s full-scale bullying started after that incident, I couldn’t find a normal job.
He seemed to be wary of the reputation I was building at the academy.
Kwak Dong-su was gaining a bad reputation by using his position as a hero to cause trouble in bars or deceiving people by claiming that worthless antiques were treasures from Earth to extort large sums of money. On the other hand, I was gaining fame among the nobles at the academy, known for being intelligent and of excellent character, and that didn’t sit well with Kwak Dong-su.
Even so, to frame me as a thesis plagiarist, he crossed the line.
“Hey, Kwak Dong-su. Why are you doing this to me? Weren’t we friends?”
“Oh, look who’s here, the plagiarist kicked out of the academy.”
Even when I couldn’t stand it anymore and went to meet him, he was having a lewd time at a bar with women in both hands. When Kwak Dong-su mocked me, the bar women, well-versed in flattery, giggled.
It would be a lie to say my pride wasn’t hurt.
The difference in status between a hero and an unemployed commoner was too great.
However, that was only an external status, and I never thought I was inferior to Kwak Dong-su in terms of ability.
“Even if I were to plagiarize, would I plagiarize your ignorant thesis? Do you even know how to write a thesis in the first place?”
“I do. That’s why I submitted a thesis to the academic society, right? Stop whining and get lost.”
“You know very well whose thesis that really was. If you have any conscience, shouldn’t you at least apologize to your friend?”
“Friend?”
Kwak Dong-su’s expression at that moment… it was truly a sneer that could provoke murder.
“You still don’t understand reality? I’m the hero. You’re just the dregs who couldn’t become a hero.”
He suddenly poured beer into a glass until it overflowed, then picked up the cup and walked arrogantly towards me.
With a sneering smile all over his face, he lifted the cup over my head and turned it upside down. The beer trickled down my scalp. I didn’t back down and glared at him fiercely.
“I’m the boss. You’re the underling. Why don’t you understand that and keep yapping?”
“I’m yapping? What did I yap about? I just quietly studied at the academy, that’s all.”
“That’s the yapping.”
“??”
“Why are you so enthusiastic about studying magic? Is it to outdo me, the hero? Do you think you can become a hero just by learning magic?”
“What kind of dog shit talk is this? You think I’m studying to aim for your position?”
“Of course. I must be a thorn in your side.”
“Your self-consciousness is so excessive it’s a disease. Let me ask you one thing. How did you steal my thesis? Who’s the actual perpetrator?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and what’s important is that from now on, you’ll be accused of treason if you study magic, and you should use honorifics when talking to me, the hero!!”
Suddenly, that bastard Kwak Dong-su rushed at me with a knife. Has he gone mad with drunkenness, that crazy bastard.
I easily subdued him by pushing him away with the wind magic I learned at the academy. Looking at Kwak Dong-su’s terrified expression, I felt sorry for the people of Aurelia who actually put their hopes in this bastard.
“Y-You fucking bastard! How dare you attack the hero? Th-That bastard is a traitor! From now on, anyone who’s friendly with that son of a bitch is all traitors!”
After that, I was an outcast wherever I went.
I became completely fed up with people who avoided even light conversation with me, fearing they might be marked by the hero.
Even the people I had become friends with at the academy turned their backs on me in an instant.
“To think he plagiarized a thesis, isn’t that the worst for a scholar?”
“Come to think of it, his lectures lacked depth…”
“I guess we were too friendly with someone who’s not even a hero”
“It didn’t make sense from the beginning for someone without proper academic credentials to become a professor.”
“Please don’t even set foot in the academy anymore.”
They say that glory and decline, sweetness and bitterness are eternal truths, but the way people’s attitudes changed overnight like flipping a hand really made me lose all affection for them.
——Now that that bastard Kwak Dong-su is dead and I’ve become the hero again, I’m already disgusted thinking about the people who will try to suck up to me, pretending to be close like sailboats changing course with the wind.
“Fa-Faust~~? Mr. Faust? No, Lord Faust! Please, won’t you accept this holy sword and come to the palace with me? Th-This is a matter of life and death for our family, so please, just this once, show mercy~~”
That woman, who is like the epitome of a coward, is persistently pleading outside the door.
Until just now, she was acting shamelessly as if she had done nothing wrong, but now, having heard something from somewhere, she’s thoroughly adopting a submissive attitude trying to gain my favor, but she can go fuck herself.
“Lord Faust? A-Are you in there? What can I do to be forgiven? I’ll do anything, so please tell me! Huh? Huh? I-I’ll really die at this rate.”
With Serena’s pleas as background music, I slowly savored and reread the letters that were delivered to our house before Kwak Dong-su left for the expedition.
The more I read, the more firmly I become convinced that these bastards are not worth saving.