Chapter 23: The Recruit at the Table

How much time had passed after I delivered coffee to Professor Radvisin and the zombie graduate students?

I had finished reading all the papers assigned to me.

By the time I had arranged the table of contents based on the notes I had taken, Professor Radvisin stood up from his seat and said, “Let’s go eat.”

Perhaps because 《Nase》 is a Korean web novel?

People here often said “let’s go eat,” even when they weren’t literally going to eat cooked rice.

According to the Korean dictionary, “bap” (밥) can also mean “a meal,” so it’s not exactly wrong.

But I always wondered, ‘Isn’t this world one where rice isn’t the staple food?’

So even when I read the original, I questioned how “bap” could be used to mean “meal.”

Now, I understood.

The world in this novel was just created in a vague, careless way.

Accepting it that way made all my questions disappear.

“Ughhh…”

“Aaahhh—”

The zombies stopped what they were doing, stood up, and stretched their arms above their heads.

If this were the real Karvald Austri, he would never act so unrefined.

But since I’d been sitting still, focusing on reading the papers, my body felt stiff, so I couldn’t help but stretch too.

Still, unlike the graduate students who immediately slouched back into their hunched postures, I straightened my back and maintained a proper posture.

“New recruit, how is the organizing work going?”

“After reading the table of contents and introduction of the papers you gave me, Professor, it seemed you needed material on the ‘Correlation Between Ether Color and Attribute.’ So, I read through the main texts, checked and categorized related sections, and have proceeded to arrange the table of contents based on that.”

As we left the research building and walked toward the cafeteria, the professor asked about my progress.

So I explained the process in detail since I wasn’t even sure if I was doing it correctly.

If I was doing something wrong, I figured the professor would point it out and guide me in the right direction.

“You’re doing well. I wondered if you were doing something strange since you never asked any questions… Ah! Even though I was worried, I let you figure it out on your own because I thought there would be something to gain by wandering alone. But now I see you didn’t ask because you actually knew what to do?”

It was a relief to hear I was doing well, but at the same time, I felt a bit wronged.

I hadn’t asked because I feared they’d think I was clueless, but it turned out I could’ve just been honest.

“To be honest, I don’t really know. But since you assigned the task so naturally, I thought I was supposed to already know and just proceeded on my own. I’m sorry.”

“Oh dear! Were you embarrassed because it seemed like everyone else knew except you? But arbitrarily proceeding with the task like that isn’t a good habit. You seem quite proud, recruit. Still, it’s good you confessed honestly even if it’s late. Figuring out the right direction on your own is commendable as well.”

“Ah… th-thank you.”

During yesterday’s martial arts lecture, when Riolikin had said I was cool or a proper noble, it hadn’t really sunk in.

It felt like forced flattery just for the sake of praise, so I felt no genuine emotion.

But when the professor gave me a proper reason for his praise, it felt very different.

I felt extremely shy.

It had been a long time since someone praised me face to face.

“I stuttered without realizing it… my face feels warm too… Is this character break?”

I reflexively worried about a character break.

But calming myself down and thinking it over, I concluded it was just a matter of perspective.

Karvald Austri, including his father Hard Austri and other adults around him, had never really received proper praise.

Before coming to the academy, I saw that if students couldn’t keep up with class, teachers would glare at them, but if they did well, it was just taken for granted.

So it might be natural for Karvald Austri to feel shy hearing warm, generous praise from a senior.

Therefore, I hadn’t broken character.

“This new recruit is kind of fresh and cute~”

“What do you mean, senior? ‘This new recruit’? That sounds like you’re saying I’m not fresh or cute.”

The ones who really broke character were the two zombie graduate students.

They had only been able to make “urrr” and “grrr” noises earlier, but suddenly they spoke like humans and caught me by surprise.

“Yeah, that’s exactly right.”

“Hey! That’s harsh, senior! Just yesterday you were giving me a handful of candy because you found me cute! And now you switch sides as soon as a good-looking new recruit shows up?!”

“Don’t say things that the new recruit might misunderstand!”

Is it really that amazing for zombies to speak human language?

I found myself involuntarily eavesdropping on the conversation between the doctoral graduate student and the master’s graduate student.

Unlike me, Professor Radvisin didn’t look the least bit surprised by the zombies’ language skills.

He even seemed quite familiar with their conversation and atmosphere.

“Hahaha. I always say this, but dating is forbidden in my lab. I don’t want to see anyone quit studying because they break up after repeated love quarrels. They’re both my precious students.”

Although he forbade dating, the professor’s tone wasn’t strict.

Instead, his eyes were warm as he looked at his students, with an expression like “This is the good part~” filled with fondness.

Perhaps sensing this was said out of genuine concern, the master’s graduate student replied playfully, not as a male zombie but as a cheeky junior.

“Come on, Professor! Studying and researching together, couldn’t academic achievement and love grow together too?”

“What is she saying?!”

Anyone hearing the master’s graduate student’s words would clearly understand there was a will to date.

The doctoral graduate student blushed deeply and patted his junior’s back repeatedly in embarrassment.

The master’s graduate student howled in pain and twisted her body but smiled cheekily at the same time.

‘To think I’d see extras who weren’t even mentioned in the original start having a thing…’

Various elements kept reminding me this world was someone’s creation.

Still, characters the original author hadn’t conceived existed before my eyes, living their own lives.

This fact stirred a strange feeling in me.

An indescribable oddity made my heart restless.

No matter how I felt, we had soon arrived at the cafeteria building after our steady pace.

First and second years used the third floor, third and fourth years the second floor, and fifth years and graduate students used the first floor.

So I usually climbed the stairs when I came here, but today it would be the opposite.

The basement level of the cafeteria building housed the faculty-only cafeteria, but students could use it only when accompanied by a professor.

Naturally, Professor Radvisin took the stairs down, and his students followed suit.

I followed them down to the basement.

Unlike the cramped tables and chairs packed tightly together on the third floor, despite its fancy decorations, the faculty cafeteria was arranged more like a family restaurant.

Tables were spaced generously, and instead of ordinary chairs, soft sofas took their place.

“Judging by how you’re looking around, is this your first time in the basement? It’s really comfortable here. The tables are spacious, so you can write papers while eating.”

“But the big downside is that our professor has the final say on the menu. Because the food comes out quickly, he always unilaterally decides the menu without asking for our opinions…”

While Professor Radvisin chose the menu, the two graduate students led me to an empty table and talked.

The doctoral graduate student seemed to be listing advantages, but to me, what followed sounded like an equal drawback.

Sitting at the same table as the professor, writing papers while eating?

‘Isn’t that just torture? Maybe I’m misunderstanding because I’ve never gone to graduate school?’

Professor Radvisin ordered Aglio e Olio spaghetti.

Unlike the upper floors where students had to serve their own plates on trays, here, after ordering, staff brought the food to the table.

I didn’t understand why the doctoral graduate student mentioned papers as a plus.

‘Surely they don’t talk nonstop about papers or research during the meal?’

Contrary to my worry, the three of them remained silent throughout the meal.

Their mouths seemed to exist only for eating as they quietly ate.

The professor had said the menu was unified to serve food quickly—he probably wanted to eat fast and return to the lab to finish his work.

“Oh, by the way. Did you hear, Professor? There’s a first-year from the Austri Ducal Family who inherited his family’s purple ether but can’t fully use that power.”

“Cough!”

This came just as the meal was almost finished—when the master’s graduate student suddenly brought up possession of a vessel.

Because of that, I choked and had to gulp water.

Despite my reaction, everyone just glanced at me curiously but didn’t change the subject.

“I heard, between poison and buff attributes, he can’t use any poison-related powers at all. There are even rumors he lacks immunity to poison.”

“If that’s true, wouldn’t you want to study it?”

“……”

I didn’t understand what was going on.

Had they failed to recognize I was Karvald Austri?

But was that even possible?

If they’d heard the rumor that Karvald didn’t fully inherit his family’s ether, they’d surely know about the violet eyes too.

They had just mentioned purple ether.

‘But can anyone not realize my identity after seeing these purple and sky-blue eyes? They saw my face the moment I entered the lab, and we’re sitting face to face now!

I wondered if they were trying to fish for information, but after hearing the next conversation, it didn’t seem so.’

“By the way, Professor, you’re teaching a first-year course this semester, right? Is that student also in that class?”

“Yes, they are. Was it Karvald Austri? I asked the students to write about their ether attributes, and he not only wrote quite concretely but also proposed an interesting hypothesis that stuck in my memory.”

“……?”

Even the professor didn’t seem to know that the Karvald Austri who took his class was actually me.

Is it okay to say he remembered me without knowing my face?

“An interesting hypothesis? What was it about?”

“Ah, I can’t tell you that. I promised the students I wouldn’t reveal the content of their reports to anyone.”

Though he said he wouldn’t talk about the submitted reports to anyone, Professor Radvisin kept that promise well.

Come to think of it, he could have said the rumor was true because I didn’t include poison-related powers in my report, but he didn’t.

He seemed like a decent person.

‘But did I really propose a hypothesis that piqued his interest?’

The question arose in my mind, but I couldn’t dwell on it.

Because another topic about my possession was about to be brought up.