The professors’ protests against the Kim Shinwoo Law began to intensify with each passing day.
Recently, they started gathering regularly to the point of staging demonstrations within the Academy.
The protest location was all too familiar.
It was the very square where the clowns’ memorial was erected last time.
We happened to pass by and witnessed the scene.
Just like with the clowns, a multitude of professors was gathered, buzzing around.
However, the professors were unable to unite properly, only showering each other with various complaints.
“Kim Shinwoo Law is an evil law! Guarantee professors’ rights!”
“What kind of crazy talk is that, giving minimum wage to research students? Do you mean they should just die because of a lack of research funds?!!”
“To send research students home? What a trashy law!!”
“Guaranteeing holidays for research students? Stop with the nonsense!!”
“What’s wrong with scraping by with a tight budget? You should be grateful that you’re being fed vegetables!”
But amidst the chaos, the professors displayed remarkable unity over one single keyword.
As proof, one professor grabbed the microphone and shouted, _“Should professors die because of an evil law? Kill Kim Shinwoo!!!!!_”
_“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”_
“All that Kim Shinwoo needs is nothing but the death penalty!!”
_“Death penalty! Death penalty! Death penalty!”_
‘These motherf*ckers?’
_[Disgusting…]_
Then, one of the professors spotted me and began pointing.
“Hey, there’s Kim Shinwoo!”
“Surround him!!”
“Catch him alive!!!”
“Don’t let him die easily!!!”
“Keep chasing until he dies!!”
With eyes aflame, clusters of professors charged at me.
The scene, filling the skies and earth, could easily be described as a web of horror.
In a typical situation, I would have run away, but not this time.
Why?
Because Hyeji was there.
“Go, Hyeji. I choose you.”
As Hyeji stepped forward, the professors’ advance came to a halt.
Ignoring their hesitation, Hyeji took another step forward and declared.
_“I am Gangrim.”_
In an instant, the professors retreated.
As we tried to make our way to the stage, the professors quickly cleared a path for us.
As if Moses had parted the Red Sea, we finally arrived at the stage.
The professor who had been agitating the crowd had long since fled, leaving only the microphone behind.
I picked up the fallen mic and said.
“You all are so tiresome. Every time you speak, it’s just ‘research students’ this and ‘research students’ that. I’m genuinely sick of it.”
The professors attempted to protest again.
But when Hyeji glared at them, no one dared to speak.
Everyone just maintained their silence, glaring fiercely.
Here, I needed the power of Muzan.
For now, I would become the oni.
“Isn’t it enough for you to just keep your positions as professors?”
The professors still remained silent.
The difference now was that moments ago, they were silent out of fear of Hyeji, but now they were on the brink of exploding with rage.
Seeing this, I opened my mouth again.
“What are you saying about treating research students like humans? You could simply offer fair compensation and hire them.”
“You! What nonsense are you spouting?!”
Unable to contain his anger, one professor shouted at me.
I looked at that professor and said as calmly as possible.
“For research students to be treated as humans, it’s the same as professors being treated as humans.”
“We were also research students!”
“How pathetic. Just because you suffered doesn’t mean it’s right to inflict that pain on others.”
“Shut your mouth!!!”
Another professor couldn’t hold back his anger and bellowed.
I stopped Hyeji, who was about to press on against the professors, and continued.
“Instead of trying to exploit research students, shouldn’t you write up a fair employment contract?”
“We don’t have to listen to that kind of nonsense!”
“Most humans, businesses, and even graduate schools do that. Why can’t you?”
I raised my index finger.
“The reason is simple. Among the professors, not a single one’s a decent human being.”
“Kim Shinwoo, you scoundrel!!!”
“I’m tired of dealing with lunatics. I’m the one who wants this to end now.”
“Kim Shinwoo!!! You shouldn’t even be alive!!!”
_“Kill him!!!!!!”_
Ultimately, all the professors couldn’t restrain their anger and charged at me again.
A massive wave of professors was about to crash over me, but…
_”Stop.”_
Of course, it was the best restraint.
It was Hyeji.
The atmosphere between the professors and us was entirely opposite.
The professors, holding back their rage due to fear of Hyeji, were grinding their lips in frustration.
On the contrary, Jeong Ahyeon looked at the professors with disdain, while Elcia was busy picking up snacks the professors had dropped.
“Elcia, don’t eat that stuff.”
“There’s a chocolate donut here!”
“Ah, can’t resist that one. Give me one too.”
I took a chocolate donut from Elcia and popped it into my mouth.
As the sweet flavor spread across my palate, bringing me joy, a particularly grim-faced professor unleashed a roar.
“You think you can fly around like a student! Bring everyone down on yourself!! I’ll flatten you myself!!”
‘Really? Sounds good to me.’
_[What are you trying to do?]_
Ignoring Piece’s words, I laughed at the professor.
“Alright, I’ll summon them. Just wait.”
“I will wait as long as it takes!! I’ll crush anyone!!”
“And Hyeji?”
“……Call me someone higher than a student.”
Since it had come to this, I thought of one person to call.
I quickly sent just one text message and ignored all follow-ups.
*
Now the professors were bowing their heads, even holding their breath.
They were shooting silent glares at the grim-faced professor who had shouted before.
That same grim-faced professor was quietly cowering like everyone else.
I had done exactly as the professor requested.
So, remaining faithful to the professor’s words, I called my superior.
“As you said, I’m here. So who said they were going to take me down?”
It just happened to be someone a lot higher up.
Chairman Jang In-hyuk.
It hadn’t been long since we parted, but there was no helping it.
He was my superior.
‘Oh, what do I do when a professor says to summon my superior? The old fossil has to gather too.’
_[Why did the professor leave out the part about ‘under me’?]_
‘If their head had been working properly, they wouldn’t be staging such protests.’
“That professor hiding their head and not making eye contact said that.”
“I- I didn’t say that!”
“Come out.”
Pushed by the surrounding professors, the grim-faced professor was forced out.
The earlier confidence was nowhere to be seen; he was trembling like a death row inmate about to be executed.
Chairman Jang In-hyuk gazed at him with a relaxed expression, speaking to the professor.
“Why aren’t you moving? Didn’t you say you’d take him down?”
“That’s not it, I was just going to take down student Shinwoo…”
“Does that mean student Shinwoo lied to me?”
“Yes! Yes! That’s correct!”
“The professor’s argument is thus, what do you think?”
The professor put on a face of hope, thinking he had survived, showing a trace of confidence as if he could somewhat tackle me.
But hope, once grasped, often stings hardest when lost.
“If you want to take me down, you have to defeat Hyeji first.”
“Bring it on.”
“……”
Hyeji stepped forward, facing off against the professor.
A perfect checkmate.
If he agreed with what he said earlier, he would have to strike the Chairman.
If he denied it, he would have to fight Hyeji.
Either way, it was death.
The professor’s expression was a sight to behold.
It had soured even more than when he was dragged out, and tears were welling in his eyes.
At that moment, the secretary who had come with Chairman Jang In-hyuk asked him.
“What should we do?!”
“Do I have to do it? Just handle it as usual.”
“Yes, understood. This professor will be notified later, so please take note.”
“Ugh…”
The professor finally broke down in tears and merged back into the group of professors.
A slight disturbance arose in the group of professors, and one daring professor spoke to Chairman Jang In-hyuk.
“Hello, Chairman. I’m-”
“Just get to the point.”
“I wanted to ask about the Kim Shinwoo Law.”
“Go ahead.”
“There’s a malicious rumor spreading that Chairman agreed to the Kim Shinwoo Law, is it true?”
Chairman Jang In-hyuk smiled at those words.
“Of course, I did. I stamped three times in a row.”
“Ah… Aah…”
“But do you all have time for this? Have there been any research results?”
“Uhh, um…”
“You can gather, this is your freedom, but if results don’t come in, things will get interesting.”
With Chairman Jang In-hyuk’s closing remark, the group of professors quickly disbanded and moved back to their respective research buildings.
Desperate attempts to exploit those research students, who were still not fully treated as human beings.
But that wouldn’t last long anyway.
Once everyone had vanished, Chairman Jang In-hyuk began to walk away as if his work was done.
In the middle of that chaos, his secretary quietly scolded me.
“What were you thinking summoning the Chairman all the way here?!”
“Ah, how could I not when they told me to summon everyone above me? He’s the only one I know.”
“……Please be cautious next time.”
Barely finishing her words, the secretary hurriedly followed after Chairman Jang In-hyuk.
Perhaps he wasn’t waiting, she was almost running.
In the midst of that pandemonium, Elcia was still diligently collecting snacks.
“Stop picking up those!!!”
“Elcia, let’s go.”
“Husband! Here’s a strawberry donut!”
“Okay, just one please.”
“……Master, please share some too.”
I received a strawberry donut from Elcia.
So sweet.
The donut.
And the current situation as well.
Since that day, the professors’ gatherings never happened again.
