Chapter 27: The Legend Of The Legendary Librarian (1)
Four days after the entrance ceremony, on Thursday.
Fitting my assigned role, I spent my time as the librarian in the library, reading novels borrowed from the upper floor during work and enjoying comics after work.
There was no deadline for the given task.
At least on the surface.
The task the chairwoman gave me was to woo a capable woman, and such tasks were typically long-term projects.
It had been less than a month since I entered Sejong Academy, so I couldn’t possibly hook a woman and tell her to join the organization in that time frame.
I should make my move on those with potential — the so-called ‘heroines’—- after calmly observing them for a year and recruiting them to join us.
Even if they were not the heroines, it was also good to get people like Yumir, who were extras—or future supporting characters with promising futures on our side.
In that sense, I was slowly checking the list of freshmen through the library’s book rental program.
But then.
‘What’s this.’
I kept checking the student list registered in the database.
At first, I let it slide, but when I checked for the second time, I thought something was seriously wrong.
There was no protagonist.
Among the new male students, there was no one who could be considered a protagonist.
The protagonist’s name that I remembered was not there!!
Even though I thought they might have changed their name or used a pseudonym, I manually copied down each name that appeared in the library’s loan program and did overtime at home searching for hero information. I also registered with the Hero Association and private internet hero wiki. Still, there was no one who could be considered a protagonist.
‘A Korean man living abroad with a suitable E-level power, why can’t I find him!’
Most of the people I investigated had clean pasts, and no one matched the protagonist’s background setting.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Did the original setting change?
Had the setting of being a Korean from abroad changed from the country I knew to another country?
Or maybe he would be enrolling next year, not this year?
Or perhaps he did not enroll in the Academy at all this year?
My head started to ache from the absence of the target that should have been there from the beginning.
I infiltrated where the target was supposed to come for an assassination operation that held the world’s fate, but the target himself didn’t even appear where he should have.
‘This is really driving me crazy.’
How could something like this happen?
‘Does it make sense for the Academy’s protagonist not to appear in an Academy light novel!’
I felt like crying.
Even though I investigated the protagonist while my conjured-up chicken grew cold, there was no result in the end.
I thought I should check out all the guys individually, but when I counted, the number was quite significant.
The number of male freshmen who entered the Academy this year was about 100.
The number was supposed to be less originally, but the number of enrollees increased more than average due to the appearance of a certain woman.
[I came to the Academy to see Ms. Snow White! I don’t care about anything else!]
It was not only the women who enrolled for Snow White.
Many of the men also chose to enroll to see Snow White, and actually, something like a secret fan club for Snow White has already started operating in the Sejong Island community.
The membership already exceeded 1,000, and all sorts of photos and videos of Snow White were being posted under the name of ‘fandom’.
[Guys, Ms. Snow White coming out of the dormitory looks so pretty??]
[Did you see her back while she was holding a piece of chalk on the podium? Oh my, that waistline….]
[The Seven Dwarfs are watching^^]
[It seems like Ms. Snow White is having a company dinner at this restaurant tonight? A full-professor dinner??]
Thanks to this, I knew about Snow White’s every move without having to investigate it.
‘I wish I could know the protagonist’s movements like this.’
How nice would it be if, like Snow White, someone told me every single action that the protagonist took from dawn to dusk?
Assassination wasn’t an easy task.
Even when you attempted assassination based on accurate information, it was difficult.
And here I was, unable to even confirm the assassination target’s existence, the first step of assassination, so I couldn’t help but feel rushed.
‘Keep calm.’
It hadn’t even been a week since the first semester started in March.
Whether it was mid-term or summer semester admission, he would eventually appear in the Academy in whatever form.
[‘What’s your purpose in coming to the Academy?]
[I can’t tell you that.]
[Why? You didn’t come here just to study. Aside from the superficial reason, tell me the real reason.]
[That… I’ll tell you when the time comes. The reason I came to Sejong Island.]
Because he must have a purpose to accomplish something in the Academy.
‘But the novel abruptly ended before that was revealed.’
If the foreshadowing was not revealed and the story ended, people would admire it as a MacGuffin, but a MacGuffin was only a MacGuffin when it became a masterpiece.
The foreshadowing that ended abruptly like this was just unresolved foreshadowing.
It did not help me at all now.
What could be the reason for the protagonist to enter the Academy with that power?
To pretend to be weak after enrolling as a low-ability person or even a near-abilityless person?
To attract any woman in the Academy and aim to become a pillar?
Or maybe he really wanted to learn something at the Academy?
As long as there was a real purpose, not an outwardly advertised superficial purpose, the protagonist would definitely appear in the Academy.
But what if even that purpose could be achieved somewhere other than the Academy. What if there was no need to achieve it in the Academy?
“……Ha.”
My thoughts were getting complicated.
There were too many elements to consider just because the person who should be here wasn’t.
The only variable to speak of in the last six months was my activities as Goblin. Because of those activities, did the protagonist give up coming to the Academy?
That would be a ridiculous butterfly effect.
It would be more plausible if the protagonist died in an accident while I was acting as a villain or committed suicide due to the snowball effect of my villainous activities.
If things continued like this, I wouldn’t be able to figure out where the protagonist was.
‘Should I just tell the leader everything and ask for help?’
I feared that might increase the uncertain elements, but the leader would surely help me.
But then, my life would be beholden to the leader.
Although my life was already half controlled by the leader, if I revealed that I was a possessor, the leader would definitely seize me and turn me into a ‘writer’.
[You should throw out all the creations from your world. Hurry up!]
[You were a reader in your previous life? Don’t you know that every reader is a potential writer?!]
[Spit out the synopsis, plot, or whatever right now! Stories that unfold in a world without superpowers, which don’t exist in this world!]
[I brought a novel writing guide. From now on, you just need to write 30,000 characters of a novel a day. What? How do you write 30,000 characters? Ah, if you can write 300 characters a minute, 100 minutes a day will allow you to write 30,000 characters! Why would you say that without even trying? I’m telling you to try it first!]
And so, she would force me to spit out all kinds of creations from my original world.
Like Scheherazade, who had to tell stories for a thousand and one nights, I might have to recite the stories of my original world for her.
Stories that did not exist in this world.
‘If I can’t find him by summer, I’ll ask for help then.’
The deadline was the second semester.
If I couldn’t find the protagonist by the end of the ‘summer camp’ when the goblins would start to run amok in earnest, and the Four Heavenly Kings of Darkness started seriously attacking?
I would humbly admit my incompetence and ask for help from the leader.
‘Why is the protagonist not appearing?’
It would be really great if he just suddenly popped up and said, ‘I am the protagonist.’
“…Huh?”
“Hello?”
Beyond the desk, a familiar woman was smiling at me warmly.
“You’re working here, Mr. Do.”
“I told you I worked in the library, but I didn’t expect you to come to find me, student Yumir.”
Yumir had come.
Setting aside my complicated thoughts about the protagonist for a moment, I greeted Yumir with a friendly smile as a librarian.
“Did you come to borrow a book?”
“No, I came to see you.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. You said you paid the restaurant bill on my behalf.”
She came out of guilt, it seemed.
“Well, it’s something I should do. No matter how much chaos ensues, if someone suddenly disappears, someone else is bound to search for them, right?”
“…Oh.”
Yumir’s expression hardened momentarily.
She probably understood what I, as the Goblin, wanted to say.
[A hero who hides his identity might reveal it if he suddenly appears and disappears from the scene.]
If Yumir was smart, she would understand my point even in a conversation like this one, which seemed so casual and everyday.
“… I’ll keep that in mind, teacher.”
“No need for that.”
I substituted a response by shrugging my shoulders lightly.
“So, you really came to see me?”
“Yes.”
Yumir pulled something out of her bag.
“Would you like a cup of coffee? I brought it from the convenience store.”
Although it was convenience store coffee…
……A bottled Starbucks Latte (500ml)?
‘What’s her intention?’
This was too generous to be a mere favor.
“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it. And don’t worry about the restaurant bill.”
“Um, if you’re not busy, I’d like to ask something.”
“What is it?”
“……Do you have any books on clothing?”
“Clothing?”
“Yes.”
Yumir’s expression, for some reason, seemed sincere.
“Um, it would be even better if it’s about hero costumes.”
As expected.
She seemed to want to discard the Female Knight concept.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l