Time passes alarmingly fast if you pay just a little less attention. “Time really does fly by,” Hong Seok-young said, setting down the document he was reading. “It's already September.” I cut off Hong Seok-young firmly. “Don't even think about taking a break. Get back to work.” Hong Seok-young tried to say something but went quiet when our eyes met. Only the sound of pages turning could be heard again. In the end, I surrendered. I irritably put the paper I was reading down on the table. At that sound, Hong Seok-young looked up with a bright smile. “Nothing, I just have one thing I'm curious about.” I pointed with my chin at the document I had set down. It was the list of attendees for the World Unconquered Dungeons Forum that Lee Mi-seon had brought over. Then I pointed with his chin at the document under the list of attendees. It was the blueprint for the Pilot High School, which Lee Mi-seon had also handed over, saying it was finalized. Hong Seok-young shook his head. This time, I looked at the document Hong Seok-young had been reading. It was the security blueprint for Pilot High School, drawn up by Kim Chae-min. Hong Seok-young frowned. “Is there really nothing to talk about except work?” I spread both hands and looked down at the table. Papers scattered messily. A laptop with the screen on and a work tablet PC that was likewise being overworked. Empty coffee cups. There was a lot to do. Aside from the upcoming forum, the construction of Pilot High School was also urgent. It’s not like it’s a building we’ll use for just a year or two. It needed to be built properly from the start. Not only in terms of security but also durability. We also had to consider the potential future expansion... but we couldn’t just build it huge when there weren’t even ten students yet. On top of that, there was the issue of the Mana Concealment Rune, which might or might not be related to Hong Seok-young. Things unrelated to Pilot High School? I had to review the information about the orphanage that Lee Mi-seon and Daseon had investigated, and keep an eye on Ark’s movements... Ever since it became known that I had come from the future, Hong Seok-young had been bombarding me with questions. I still didn’t know which pieces of information were necessary, but even if it wasn’t directly related to Ark, knowledge of the future had many uses. At the very least, I could model the Pilot High School building on the Hunter Academy I knew. Thanks to that, I had naturally distanced myself from the Pilot High School classes, which were of relatively lower priority. I’d roughly prepared the curriculum anyway, so I left it to Kim Chae-min and the Daseon Hunters. Honestly, I couldn’t ask the Daseon Hunters to keep handling classes forever, but I couldn’t ask Han Tae-kyung either. I couldn’t subject Han Eun-young, who I had just barely managed to calm down, to such a difficult ordeal. “…Still, people need to rest when they can!” “Then rest. I’m going to keep working.” “So I’m the only one taking a break?” Hong Seok-young put on a mock-aggrieved expression. “Enough of that. What’s the matter? You said you were curious about something.” “If you don’t want to, get back to work. I won’t stop you.” “If you’re going to work, check over Alex Hope one more time.” “I’ve already looked at it until I’m sick of it. I heard he’s arriving in Korea this Friday. No, that’s not it.” Hong Seok-young lightly shook his head. “What I want to ask is…” “What, did you break something?” “Huh?” Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on NovєlFіre.net “Or did you hit someone?” “As long as there are no witnesses, it’s fine, no witnesses… Even if there are, as long as you didn’t leave any evidence... Especially be careful of cameras.” “If there are witnesses and footage, just raid an S-Rank Dungeon and come back. If you’re irreplaceable, they’ll have no choice but to let it go.” “Why are you looking at me like that?” Hong Seok-young replied with a vaguely uncomfortable look. “Didn’t I say that I’m a civil servant in the future?” It’s complicated to dismiss the Director of the Ability Management Agency as a mere civil servant, given all the intertwined vested interests… “You're a civil servant.” "But listening to what you say, it's just sounds like a street thug..." "You acted like you would do it." “Damn it, that's right! I do sound like I would!” Hong Seok-young burst into hearty laughter. Only after laughing for a good while did he calm down, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. “Stop changing the subject.” "Then let's say that's the case." Hong Seok-young took a sip of the now-watery coffee with the melted ice. “You said it was your birthday. Is that really true?” So that’s what he was asking. “Well, I was talking to kid you, and turns out the kid's birthday is on that day too.” Since he found out that I’m Woo I-rok, Hong Seok-young had no hesitation in approaching Mini-me anymore. It’s not like he had really hesitated before, but at least he used to make a show of being mindful of me, the guardian. Compared to someone like Han Tae-kyung, that was more than enough. …I still have no idea how Han Tae-kyung showed Mini-me that anime with the cat. Anyway, in Hong Seok-young’s head, the formula had been completed: “Future student = childhood of future student = my student.” It was obvious from how he needlessly tried to be friendly with Mini-me. Mini-me looked flustered by the suddenly shortened distance between them. I couldn’t let Hong Seok-young become a father figure again, but something like an older brother’s boss could be acceptable. It’s good to have an adult besides me who could help out in case of emergencies. “It’s not common for siblings to be born on the same day.” After I was rescued. Although I had blurted out my brother’s name at the hospital, I answered the rest properly. Age, birthday, and such things. Well, except for my parents’ names. Even if I was confused coming into the outside world for the first time, I still knew I couldn’t say that. Luckily, none of the kids rescued with me knew I was the former research director’s child. “Won’t your younger brother find it strange?” Hong Seok-young asked with a worried expression. That was the same look he had when I first said I was pretending to be my missing brother. A face that wanted to stop me but didn’t know how. Even to me, this was the best way. No one questioned my existence. It was easier to gain sympathy as a cult victim than as someone from the future. “Just say we’re siblings and we happened to be born on the same day.” “…Will your younger brother believe that?” “If I say it’s what I wanted, he probably won’t think much of it.” “If I say it’s a day we celebrate for each other, then it’s fine.” “Aren’t you underestimating your younger brother?” Hong Seok-young paused briefly, then corrected himself. “Or underestimating yourself?” “I underestimate myself more because it’s me.” Hong Seok-young opened his eyes wide as if he had been caught off guard, then started laughing again with a chuckle. “That’s right. You’re absolutely right.” “By the way, why did you suddenly ask about my birthday?” "Ah, the kids asked." That sounded dangerous. “Usually, the homeroom teacher’s birthday is a surprise event for students.” I pointed out the obvious. “Receiving personal gifts from students is considered improper solicitation.” With a playful face, Hong Seok-young straightened his smile and picked the document back up. “We’re not an official educational institution, so it doesn’t matter.” That’s the kind of thing that would be a huge problem if the inspectors showed up. I looked into my phone screen. In the palm-sized screen, there was one person. As with most Hunters, he was fighting monsters with a sword in hand. It looked like the person in the video was dealing with monsters that had burst out due to a Dungeon Break, as broken roads could be seen around. If I turned up the sound, I would probably hear screams too, but that wasn’t the important part right now. I had deliberately turned off the sound to focus on the footage. The figure on the screen moved. With a small build, it was clear he weren’t a strength-based fighter. Bleached blonde hair fluttered. He dodged the monster’s sharp claws, used his legs to climb onto the monster’s neck, drove a sword into the nape, then leaned backward into a tumble and landed from the monster’s back. The rebound motion pulled the sword from the monster’s body. A neutral-looking face, boy or girl, looked up while catching their breath. When the round eyes turned toward the camera, the camera shook here and there. The video ended there. It was a combat video of Alex Hope that Lee Mi-seon had barely managed to obtain. The footage was taken three years ago, in Brisbane, Australia. Even considering the age of the video, the movements were far too different from the one I fought. If their faces hadn’t been the same, I wouldn’t have believed it was the same person. …Could it be the same person? Or someone else borrowing the appearance? If magic had been used to change appearance, I would have noticed. But the Alex Hope I saw had shown no signs of that. Of course, if an item from inside a dungeon had been used, that would be a different story. There are even items that can send a whole person back in time, so why not one that changes appearance? If that’s the case, then the question remains, why specifically choose Alex Hope’s appearance…? I turned off the phone screen. Han Eun-young approached with an awkward look. That expression made it obvious how our last conversation had concluded. Even if it hadn’t been, seeing her hanging out with her friends meant the answer was clear. She hadn’t come to me earlier, so I had left it alone but, as expected of a model student, she came to report it to me. “Can I… talk to you for a moment?” “Well, it’s about what you said last time… about quitting school.” “Why? You’re quitting?” Han Eun-young flinched and shook her head quickly. When I just quietly smiled, Han Eun-young stuck her tongue out slightly. “I decided to do as much as I can.” “Your pride took a hit at the idea of quitting because of your oppa?” “Uh… that too, but I felt like if I quit with such half-hearted feelings, I’d regret it later.” “At first, when we talked about path and clubs, I thought that since I was aiming for management support, I wouldn’t have to enter dungeons. But Seo Han-seong said I was good at finding dungeon raid methods and asked what I thought about focusing entirely on that.” Han Eun-young gave a shy smile. “So I thought I’d give it a try.” “Good… Hmm. One sec.” I left Han Eun-young standing there and went back to my room. I was sure I had set it aside somewhere. I returned to Han Eun-young with the item in hand. When she saw what I was holding, her mouth made a perfect circle. I stuck the sticker on Han Eun-young’s forehead. A praise sticker. “As a sign of encouragement to try hard.” “Uh, uh, th-thank you?” “By the way, is your club doing anything right now?” “No, not yet… we’ve just been tossing ideas around. But teacher Chae-min said, since we’re doing this anyway, why not host a magic theory debate…” That Archmage, seriously. "Seung-yeon is good at it, so maybe we can recruit an Archmage too, so Seo-hyun and Jin-woo are trying to persuade Teacher Chae-min." I doubted Kim Chae-min would fall for sweet talk from a bunch of eighteen-year-olds, but she was someone who got a job because she was obsessed with runes. …They’ll figure it out. If Kim Chae-min really did fall for their tricks, Lee Mi-seon might pound the ground in frustration, but it would also mean Lee Seung-yeon and the kids had some serious skills. “It’s not like we’ll lose anything, right?” “On that note, how about you join us too, teacher…” “Is the advisor position not enough for you?” “Come on, my dad said never to trust anything until a contract is signed!” Han Eun-young answered brightly. And at the same time, darkness swallowed everything. For more chapters, you can check out my here --> https://.com/SHWTL If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊 To receive the latest update notifications or report mistakes, join our Discord server linked below.