35 - Can I Cry Now?
Episode 35
Meanwhile, Ibi had already tidied up her books and neatly packed her notes into her bag.
Then, she asked him a question.
“Professor, is there no homework today?”
Her eyes weren’t worried, but expectant.
“There is! Of course, there is!”
Feeling that he couldn’t disappoint that expectation, Professor Maless, who was about to open his book, hesitated for a moment.
In his heart, he wanted to give her a mountain of assignments like last time.
‘But I can’t let her get exhausted.’
He could see the fatigue on her face, probably from trying to do the ridiculous assignments he had given her.
What if he gave her too much again and she got tired of it?
What if she thought Professor Maless’s class wasn’t for her and went to another professor’s class?
‘That can’t happen!’
Professor Maless quickly flipped through the beginning of the book and pointed to a problem he thought was of moderate difficulty.
“Just solve this one here.”
“Just this one?”
“Yes. It’s not good to overdo it from the start. People should do things systematically and step by step.”
It wasn’t something the person who had given her an absurd assignment on the first day should say, but Professor Maless brazenly pretended not to know and handed her the book.
“Can I take the book with me today too?”
“Of course. Didn’t I tell you that the Academy for the Gifted doesn’t give out books until the class officially starts? How are you going to solve the problems without looking at the book?”
“I memorized it! It’s just one problem.”
Seeing Ibi looking at him as if it were obvious, Professor Maless was overwhelmed with emotion.
Not only was her comprehension fast, but her memorization skills were also excellent.
‘I must have misunderstood the Academy for the Gifted.’
He had heard that it was the first year of recruiting students after the war, and that those trying to make a name for themselves to become the Emperor’s adopted child were pushing all their children and relatives in.
So he thought they would be unremarkable, but to think there would be a child worthy of the name Academy for the Gifted.
“No. Take it anyway. Look at other things if you have time.”
“What about you, Professor?”
“Do you think I don’t have my own book? Don’t worry and take it.”
Professor Maless spoke in the voice of an extremely benevolent grandfather.
At those words, Ibi carefully took the book and bowed.
“Thank you. I’ll bring more pretty flowers to the next class.”
“Huh? Flowers?”
Professor Maless’s eyes widened at Ibi’s words.
“Don’t tell me you brought those flowers?”
Ibi nodded as if it were obvious.
There was a huge flower garden and greenhouse on one side of the Academy for the Gifted.
In the morning, when you go there, the staff in charge cut the flowers they grew to decorate the Academy for the Gifted.
In doing so, some slightly damaged flowers inevitably come out.
Ibi, knowing that she could take them as she pleased, stopped by there before coming to class today and received the least damaged flowers possible.
‘The classroom looked too empty.’
Besides, it seemed like it hadn’t been cleaned properly, so she came early today, opened the windows, and ventilated the room.
She also found cleaning tools and swept and wiped the room clean, and placed flowers on the professor’s desk, which only had a few books on it.
It wasn’t for any particular purpose. She just thought that this place, where she would be studying, would be prettier and cleaner.
“Then, don’t tell me… did you clean here too?”
“Yes. I did it.”
At those words, Professor Maless was speechless.
“Who told you to clean?”
“No one. I just wanted to do it. I used to work cleaning upper schools before I came here. I’m good at cleaning.”
Seeing Ibi clench her fist as if she was really confident, Professor Maless closed his mouth again.
The roughness that couldn’t be hidden even by the school uniform, and her very polite and courteous attitude.
So he thought she probably wasn’t a noble’s child…
Then, the short bell rang again, signaling the 15-minute break.
“I have to go now! I have another class. Thank you for the book. I’ll do my homework diligently!”
Ibi bowed again and went out of the classroom.
Professor Maless stared at the closed door for a long time before approaching the window.
He saw Ibi running as soon as she left the building.
Then, she tripped over something and fell forward with a thud.
“Oh dear!”
As Professor Maless, surprised, was about to run out, Ibi jumped up, dusted off her clothes, readjusted her bag, and ran back into the building.
The way she ran was just like a squirrel.
“That kid, really…”
It was normal for a child her age to cry and look for her mother when she fell like that, but instead, she was running bravely, which made him feel proud and sorry for her.
The thought of making the student suffer and give up on the class had already disappeared from his mind.
‘How could I have done such a thing as a human being.’
Professor Maless clicked his tongue, completely erasing the fact that he was the one who had tried to do it.
As a professor, isn’t it his duty to cherish every student and teach them well until the end?
‘I should contact her parents right away.’
With that much talent, she could make great achievements in the field of mathematics in the future.
‘I’m sure she’ll do just as well in other subjects.’
He couldn’t let other professors steal such a talented person.
Professor Maless packed his things, came out, and hurried to the main building of the Academy for the Gifted.
“Oh, isn’t that Professor Maless?”
The professors who recognized him greeted him politely.
Professor Maless was famous for not being close to other professors.
But that was only because Professor Maless himself didn’t want to be.
In fact, other professors were eager to become close to him.
Although he was said to have a quirky personality and no sociability, how great was his influence on the mathematics field of the Empire?
Although it had been decades since he had a direct disciple, the students who had learned under him in the past had become scholars who made a name for themselves in the fields of architecture and accounting.
But he was getting tired of the increasingly corrupt atmosphere of the academic world.
Then, there was someone who came to him wanting to learn from him.
He wasn’t particularly talented, but he accepted him as a disciple with the intention of valuing his passion.
But then it was revealed that he had approached Professor Maless’s other disciples, saying that he was their last junior, and made unreasonable requests.
Moreover, people who knew about this incident, instead of stopping him, even approached him to use Professor Maless’s fame, just like that person.
Professor Maless, tired of this, declared that he would no longer have any disciples.
In addition, he cut off contact with others.
As more than a dozen years passed, Professor Maless’s name was naturally gradually forgotten.
Because of this, those who didn’t know the old stories well looked down on him.
As evidence, even if Professor Maless taught directly, there was only one applicant.
It wasn’t that the students couldn’t be understood.
It was natural that younger professors who were active in academic societies were more popular than professors who no longer had disciples and would retire next year.
‘I wish he would change his mind and take in some disciples… Isn’t he someone who can control the academic societies of the Empire if he puts his mind to it.’
Thinking so, when they got closer, the professors’ eyes widened.
The Professor Maless they remembered always had a frown or a stern face.
But today, he was smiling brightly as if that had never happened.
While everyone was surprised and couldn’t close their mouths, Professor Maless said to them.
“Ibi Elden will be my disciple, so I hope no other mathematics professors will covet that child. Now, goodbye.”
Professor Maless left only those words and disappeared into the dean’s office upstairs.
“What did he say?”
“Who knows?”
The professors, not knowing what was going on, just stared blankly at Professor Maless’s back, bewildered.
\ \ *
“Seraphina! Seraphina Lidom!”
Seraphina frowned the moment she heard the voice coming from outside.
Although she was younger than other professors, she was a respectable dean.
In this Academy for the Gifted, where the hierarchy was determined by the position one held rather than age, there was only one person who would call her by her name like that.
Professor Maless.
Seraphina sighed deeply and replied.
“Come in, Professor Maless.”
As soon as she spoke, Professor Maless kicked the door open forcefully.
“Professor Maless? What kind of disciple calls her teacher that?”
“What are you talking about? Who was the old man who said that if I wasn’t going to do math, I wasn’t his disciple and should get lost!”
“Old man? You wretch! That’s why I didn’t think of you as my disciple!”
“You just said I was your disciple a moment ago!”
The teacher and disciple, who had argued like they had long ago, glared at each other.
Seraphina, about to say something more, sighed as she looked at the mountain of documents piled up in front of her.
“I don’t have time to argue with my teacher. What’s the matter that you came all the way here?”
