The World After the Bad Ending
Chapter 231

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 231

The regular entrance ceremony at Zerion Academy.

I was gazing out the window, lost in thought as children from all over the country gathered for the event.

“Senior Hannon! We need to move the luggage!”

A student council junior shouted from behind me.

She was right — we were in the middle of a very busy situation.

The Zerion Academy student council always helped organize the entrance ceremony.

As such, council members were constantly rushing around with no time to rest.

Among them, the busiest was the newly appointed secretary, a top second-year in the Department of Martial and Magical Studies.

He was practically working himself to death.

The former secretary, Nivolance Panima, had vanished with an enlightened expression, as if retreating into legend.

With both the president and vice president absent, the new secretary had done an admirable job keeping the council afloat.

He deserved recognition.

‘Okay, the secretary position is filled.’

But what about the president and vice president?

The original president-to-be, Iris, had quit the academy.

Sharin, who was the most likely vice president candidate, had never been interested in the student council in the first place.

‘The student council is suddenly in crisis.’

Someone would eventually be chosen, of course, but I was already worried about who it would be.

That wasn't my only concern.

There was also the possibility that Lucas had been resurrected.

Isabel had done some investigating, but there was no trace of Lucas anywhere.

Still completely missing.

Where had Lucas disappeared to?

More importantly, I still didn’t understand why he was brought back in the first place.

Lucas hadn’t done anything heroic yet.

He was just like a chick that had barely hatched.

That was Lucas.

So who would go through the trouble of stealing his corpse and reviving him?

That question also gnawed at me.

And finally...

‘Midra. Where the hell are you?’

I’d been trying to ask something about the ancient dragon, but he hadn’t shown up anywhere.

Since he was also in the student council, I thought I’d run into him eventually, but we were all too busy for that.

With nothing resolved and only work piling up, I was going crazy.

“Aaaargh!”

Just then, a scream rang out from somewhere.

While moving the luggage, I locked eyes with my student council junior.

We both nodded in sync and immediately dropped the luggage.

“Let’s go check it out.”

“Yeah. Something serious must’ve happened.”

“We’ll have to leave the luggage for now.”

If a student was in trouble, it was the student council’s duty to respond immediately.

We followed that principle faithfully.

We absolutely weren’t using this as an excuse to get out of work.

When we reached the source of the scream, there was a crowd and a girl being restrained on the ground.

She was clutching a vicious-looking axe.

On the other side, a boy was foaming at the mouth and collapsed.

My junior and I recognized both of them.

Because of Vikamon’s death, many assistant instructors had quit, and the student council had to recruit replacements.

She was one of the new recruits for the magic department's entrance exam.

“What happened here?”

I asked one of the watching students, and he clicked his tongue, gesturing with his face.

“They say he was two-timing her.”

“I’ll kill him!”

The restrained girl shouted in rage.

The boy was trembling even while unconscious.

He must’ve been something else to try two-timing a girl like that.

“He kind of had it coming.”

As I realized what had happened, my junior gave me a strange look.

When I turned to her, she quickly looked away.

“More importantly, Senior Hannon, if Glen’s like that, what about the magic exam? He was supposed to be the proctor.”

Ah.

That guy lying there, Glen, despite his current state, was skilled enough to oversee the exam.

But with the whole council busy, there was no one else available to fill in.

“If we just beat him awake—”

“If you beat Glen, Senior Hannon, he’ll never get up again.”

My well-trained muscles were a curse.

Besides, the girl who got two-timed probably wouldn’t let Glen stick around as a proctor anyway.

We couldn’t have a murder at the entrance ceremony.

We’d have to come up with a solution.

“Hannon, why are you stressing over something like that?”

Just then, a familiar voice called out.

I turned to look, already knowing who it was.

“Card.”

He was the one I had dragged back from the Kingdom of Panisys and helped settle once more into Zerion Academy.

For a while, he had only contacted Solvas, a noble from Panisys, and spent all his time in his room after classes.

It was rare to see him outside like this.

“Fresh air’s not bad, huh?”

Card grinned at me.

“Don’t tell me...”

Had something happened regarding the civil war in Panisys?

As I looked at him with suspicion, Card just smiled.

“That’s a story for later.”

He then pointed at the unconscious Glen.

“Why don’t you just take his place as the exam proctor?”

Did this guy plan this all along?

“Card, I’m in the martial arts department.”

“Yeah, but your magic skills are better than most magic students.”

That wasn’t my ability—it was thanks to Sharin’s magic engravings.

I had nothing to do with it.

But Card kept grinning smugly at me.

“Sure, it’s Sharin’s magic, but you can actually use it rationally.”

So Sharin doesn’t use magic rationally?

I pictured Sharin as the exam proctor for a moment.

And I immediately saw all the first-year students getting blown away and shattered.

There was no way Sharin would bother adjusting the power of her magic.

She’d just want to get it over with quickly.

“Think about the new first-years applying to the magic department.”

Card hinted that he knew something.

Was he talking about my sister, Xenia?

After some thought, I finally made my decision.

“Alright. We can’t just leave the spot unfilled.”

I was part of the student council too.

I didn’t want to see it fall apart.

“Nisha, tell the secretary about Glen. I’ll go take his place at the magic exam site.”

“Yes, I’ve got things to do, but since this is urgent, I’ll take care of it first!”

Nisha was a smart kid.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

No wonder she survived the wild ride of the student council over the past year.

“Card, that story—”

“Let’s talk about it later in the room.”

Card waved his hand to see me off.

I hoped the matter with the Kingdom of Panisys would turn out for the better.

Judging by Card reaction, I trusted it wasn’t bad news as I made my way to the Magic Department exam hall.

* * *

The Magic Department’s exam was held in the magical testing arena of the Mage Studies building.

It was packed with students who had made it through the first selection.

When I arrived, I saw teaching assistants bustling around.

In these exams, it’s the teaching assistants who are busier than the professors.

Professors just observe the students who pass.

The teaching assistants handle the detailed evaluations and grading.

They have to supervise students, score them, and prevent accidents.

They were clearly swamped, with not even a moment to breathe.

“I’m Hannon Irey, a student council member here to support as an exam supervisor. Where should I go?”

“Huh? Wasn’t it supposed to be Glen Owen?”

I approached a teaching assistant and he looked puzzled.

“Glen’s head got smashed in after his girlfriend caught him two-timing.”

“What.”

The teaching assistant made a dumbfounded face, then looked troubled as he remembered how busy things were.

“Damn. Glen was supposed to be in charge of measuring magic levels.”

“How is that done?”

“You cast a certain level of defensive magic and see whether it can be penetrated. Glen might be a mess in other ways, but his defensive magic skills were almost teaching assistant level, which is why we had him do it.”

So maybe that’s how he managed to avoid getting actually killed by his girlfriend.

“You’re Hannon Irey, right? From the Martial Arts Department?”

Seemed the teaching assistant knew who I was.

He probably hesitated because I was from the Martial Arts Department.

“What’s the passing threshold?”

“Uh, hard to explain…”

“Then can you just fire a spell at me?”

“What?”

The teaching assistant looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

His eyes screamed, Are you nuts?

But I had solid reasoning behind the offer.

“I can’t cast defensive magic, but my body is tough. More specifically, I have very high magic resistance.”

A body of steel, remnants of an ancient dragon, lightning-borne resilience, and Flame of Ash.

I’m practically immune to most magical attacks.

Even the massive explosion triggered by Sharin’s magical engravings and mystical synergy doesn’t faze me.

Frankly, at the first-year level, only Xenia could leave a scratch on me.

“So if I can gauge their strength, I can determine their level just fine.”

It’s quicker than finding someone who can cast defensive magic.

The teaching assistant looked flustered, unsure of what to do.

Meanwhile, the first-year entrance exam had already started in full swing.

The rest of the test had to proceed smoothly, or the schedule would be disrupted.

If a supervisor’s missing, someone else will have to cover the spot.

“Hmmmm, well, the head teaching assistant in charge of this entrance exam is over there — teaching assistant Karan. Why don’t you go talk to him?”

Karan.

The name brought a familiar face to mind.

Karan Sirel.

Someone I’d once had a fun time working with as a teaching assistant.

Now that I think about it, that guy had quite the tenure.

Seems he had risen to a lead role among the Magic Department’s teaching assistants.

“Alright, I’ll speak with teaching assistant Karan.”

I immediately turned and headed off to find him.

And there, shouting at other teaching assistants in the distance, I saw Karan.

“You idiots! Can’t you even do your damn jobs properly?!”

Chewing out teaching assistants like that in front of the first-year students didn’t seem appropriate.

But Karan didn’t care and kept yelling profanities.

Already overwhelmed, the teaching assistants looked exasperated being held up by him.

It was a critical moment.

Since the scolding wasn’t directed at me, I pushed through the crowd of teaching assistants.

“Teaching assistant Karan.”

“Hah, and who the hell are you?”

Karan’s sharp gaze fell on me.

“I’m Hannon Irey, here to substitute for Glen Owen as an exam supervisor. I have a question about the supervisor role.”

“Can’t you see I’m busy as hell?!”

“I can. That’s why I’m asking as quickly as possible.”

At my curt response, Karan gave me a look of disbelief.

Then he let out a long sigh.

“So what is it?”

Karan’s razor-sharp eyes glared at me.

The kind of look that says if I waste his time, he’ll rip me apart.

The teaching assistants around us all flinched, clearly familiar with that glare.

This guy had been notorious among teaching assistants for his tyrannical behavior even before I showed up.

I heard that after I left, he got even worse — a major reason many teaching assistants had quit recently.

The only reason he hadn’t been fired yet was probably because of his family connections.

With such a tight schedule, explaining and persuading him verbally would take too long.

So I chose the fastest and most effective method.

The most efficient way to get him to use magic on me.

“If you’re so busy, wouldn’t it be better to shut up if you’re not going to be helpful?”

Every teaching assistant’s jaw dropped.

Bzzzt—

Sparks crackled from Karan’s body.

“You little brat.”

Excellent.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]