Episode 414
by CristaeEpisode 414
Feeling anew why the evil path cannot win against the righteous path, Lee Han turned his gaze.
The students who had entered the classroom didn’t start practicing dance right away, but instead all sat in the corner chairs and began to pick up their cups.
“?!”
Lee Han was appalled.
What is this?
‘Are they rebelling against the professor?’
However, Professor Crinbal, instead of sending the students who were brazenly rebelling to the punishment room, poured coffee and tea he had brewed himself with very careful and kind hands.
“Yo… Yoner. What on earth is this?”
“Ah. The professor thinks ‘forcing people to dance isn’t good.’”
Yoner said, pulling in a chair and sitting down.
Professor Crinbal disliked making students who didn’t want to dance do it against their will.
Dance, after all, flows from the heart.
If you don’t dance when you truly want to, it’s not really dance.
“…????”
Lee Han was confused as to whether he was in Einrogard or a tavern in a nearby village.
‘Wait, are they saying that in Einrogard?’
“What do students who don’t want to dance do during class time?”
“Oh? Just… sit there and watch?”
“……”
Lee Han looked around at the students.
Surprisingly, just as Yoner said, the students were chatting and hanging out without concern, looking very familiar with it all.
Crunch!
“Did you just grind your teeth?”
“Must have misheard. Anyway, Yoner. While everyone else is slacking, I actually missed the whole first semester.”
Lee Han tried to quickly catch up on the lessons he’d missed.
If it were some other class, he honestly felt he could catch up even if he fell behind, but dance and etiquette were a different story.
Lee Han didn’t know much about dance, etiquette, or social skills, as he’d barely paid attention until now.
He had only learned dance in a crash course over the last vacation, and the only etiquette or social skills he knew were what he’d learned from the Wardanaz family…
“The professor judges a few kinds of dance at the exam, right? The popular dances lately are… about…”
“The professor doesn’t insist on checking things so thoroughly, you know.”
Yoner tried to stop Lee Han, thinking there was some misunderstanding.
Professor Crinbal really didn’t grade that strictly.
He always said things like ‘what is dance’, ‘it’s not how many dances you can do that makes a dancer, but how joyfully you dance’, ‘a dancer who can dance one dance ten thousand times is more beautiful than one who can dance ten thousand different dances’…
“All right. I get it. I’ll tell you what I know…”
“Professor!! Professor!!”
While the two were talking, Gainando, who had been chatting with Professor Crinbal about mage cards up front, suddenly yelled out.
“What is it you wish to say so excitedly, Student Gainando? Did you think of something fun?”
“I’ll teach Lee Han!!”
“That’s great enthusiasm!”
Professor Crinbal reflexively praised the student for saying something enthusiastic, but then paused.
“Wait. I heard Lee Han is quite a remarkable dancer, are you really going to teach him?”
“?”
Lee Han, who had been listening, froze.
Where had that misunderstanding come from?
‘What is this? Did the White Tiger Tower punks spread a rumor about me to mess with me?’
“But he still missed dances he couldn’t learn because he missed the lecture! I’ll teach him!”
“No… can’t I just learn from Yoner?”
Lee Han called out, but Gainando ignored him.
No matter how you looked at it, objectively, Gainando was a much better dancer than Yoner.
“…Very well! Even if there’s nothing to learn, friendship is wonderful. Go ahead and teach him!”
As Gainando, excited, hurried over, Lee Han suddenly felt uneasy.
He sensed a faint fragment of truth in Professor Crinbal’s words.
‘This guy’s dance skills don’t look that great…’
Lee Han looked at Gainando suspiciously but decided to be patient for now.
At the very least, Gainando had attended many more lectures than Lee Han and was confident enough to step up; surely, he had something to teach.
There must be something to learn from everyone.
- * *
After Gainando stepped on Lee Han’s foot for the thirteenth time, Lee Han kicked Gainando in the shin.
Who’s learning here!
Thud!
“Hey. Go do your assignments over there.”
“Aw.”
Other tower students watching nearby were impressed.
“He lasted more than ten times. Damn. I thought he’d explode after five.”
“I’m telling you, Wardanaz is secretly weak against people from his own tower. Hey, hand it over. You went past ten times. I win the bet.”
“Ha! That’s how you get revenge on Wardanaz.”
“Anyone want to pair up and dance next time? I want to step on his feet too.”
“……”
When Lee Han turned his head, the students chatting looked down sheepishly.
Professor Crinbal sincerely apologized as he approached.
“I’m truly sorry, Student Lee Han! I thought Student Gainando, even if clumsy with steps, had enough talent that it’d be okay!”
“I-I see.”
Professor Crinbal’s evaluation went down a bit in Lee Han’s mind.
“But I’m happy to see that you’re as outstanding a dancer as the rumors say, Student Lee Han!”
“Me, sir?”
“Yes!”
“I don’t actually know that many dances…”
“The number of dances isn’t what’s important, Student Lee Han! What’s important is right here.”
Professor Crinbal patted his chest vigorously, then thumped the floor with his heel.
“You mean magical energy?”
“Of course I mean your heart! And Student Lee Han, you already have a sincere heart toward dance!”
Lee Han really couldn’t understand this.
He knew Professor Crinbal was a kindly professor who believed in his students’ potential, but what had Lee Han done for such a high evaluation?
“Why do you think so, Professor…?”
“I heard from Lord Alardne!”
“!”
Only then did Lee Han recall that Professor Crinbal’s family was the Greenbell family.
A prestigious family from Granden City, where Lee Han had spent his break.
If it was the same family, it wouldn’t be strange if he’d heard about what happened during break.
‘Wait. Something’s weird.’
He remembered, but his doubt wasn’t easily resolved.
Conscientiously, Lee Han didn’t deny all he did over the break.
He did defeat the king of ghouls, saved knights, and took down a basilisk—those all truly happened.
But had Lee Han done anything with dance?
‘I don’t think so?’
“Professor, I honestly barely danced at all during break.”
“Student Lee Han, dance isn’t the important part. Dance is just a way to convey your sincerity!”
“No, what I mean is, I haven’t danced…”
“But all those people involved in Granden’s social circles want to invite you again, Student Lee Han! Are you going to turn them down? Are you going to disappoint them?”
Reflexively about to say ‘Yes,’ Lee Han barely managed to keep his composure and tried to think through what the professor said.
‘What…?’
Professor Crinbal kindly explained for Lee Han’s sake.
Asan’s older brother and sister, the Dalkard twins, the royals he’d met, the Afha Order, Yoanen from the Meikin family, the knights he’d helped, and so on.
If any of these people spoke up about what Lee Han had done, rumors would spread quickly.
“I understand that there are a lot of rumors… but what do they really have to do with dancing…”
“Student Lee Han. A real dancer can captivate people even without dancing!”
“What kind of nons…”
“In that sense, you’re doing very well right now! Don’t obsess over the steps, focus first on the people in the room. That’s true social grace!”
Driven dizzy by the professor’s logic—that you’re a wonderful dancer as long as you get invited to a lot of social gatherings, never mind the method—Lee Han was sent reeling.
“…Understood.”
Lee Han decided to step back for now and study dance separately.
But Professor Crinbal didn’t let Lee Han go so easily.
“Student Lee Han. I’ll give you an assignment just for you! Go out to the gatherings that invite you and mingle and converse! Make sure I hear your reputation and praise reach my ears!”
‘Dear heavens, I’m starting to miss Professor Voladi.’
Lee Han was shocked by the professor’s outrageous assignment.
“Can’t I just memorize and practice dance steps in the classroom?”
“That’s not what dance is! Also, your dance is already good enough as is, Student Lee Han. What’s important is winning people’s hearts!”
“Yeah, Wardanaz. Dance isn’t a technique, it’s about moving people’s hearts.”
“Your technique is enough! What you need now is proof, Wardanaz!”
Friends influenced by Professor Crinbal’s dance theories butted in obliviously.
But when Lee Han met their gazes, they flinched.
“Uh… well, if you don’t want to prove it, that’s fine…”
“Y-yeah. Actually, I kind of feel like you’re already moving people’s hearts.”
- * *
“Sigh… Bandur. How are you?”
“Of course well. But you don’t look so good.”
“Well, it’s the same for everyone. You’re always working hard managing the black market. Could I get a chunk of pork and two bundles of rye bread?”
Weekend.
Having come to the Black Turtle Tower’s black market to prepare meals for the priests, Lee Han handed over a bottle with a sigh.
Unlike the other courses where he was somewhat used to things, the shock of being thrown into a new course was still lingering.
A White Tiger Tower student, trading ink and paper for goods nearby, protested in surprise.
“Wait, why does Wardanaz get so much meat!? We exchanged the same bottle!”
“Well, when I traded with you, I was just Bandur. But when I trade with Wardanaz, I’m ‘Bandur who works hard managing the black market.’ Got it?”
“What kind of petty guy…!?”
Ignoring their squabble, Lee Han packed up his goods with wrapping paper and prepared to head back.
“Wardanaz.”
“!”
Salko, the elf student who looked like a dwarf, called Lee Han in a low voice.
It was obvious he had something secret to say, so Lee Han checked around and walked over.
“What’s up?”
“I’ve got some useful info. The White Tiger Tower guys are planning an escape this weekend.”
“Oh yeah?”
Lee Han wasn’t particularly surprised.
Normally, Einrogard students felt an innate urge to break out, settled back after ending up in the punishment room, then over time wanted to break out again.
Just as hamsters instinctively try to escape cages, Einrogard students instinctively tried to escape as well.
“Doesn’t it sound tempting? Don’t you want to know which way they found?”
“…Ah. You want to rob them with me?”
“Of course. Why else would I call you?”
Salko looked at Lee Han as if to say, how could there be any other reason.
Why would he call the busy Wardanaz just to chat?
Unless there was an official reason, he wouldn’t call him.
‘What’s so obvious, you crazy guy…’
Lee Han cursed Salko inside.
Anyone who overheard would think Lee Han was a professional bandit or something.
“I’m sitting this one out.”
“What!?”
Salko was genuinely shocked.
For Wardanaz, the beast, to yield?
“Are you sick? Were you badly hurt?”
“…Not that, I’ve just got a lot to do, plus information the White Tiger Tower guys brought back has been pretty sloppy lately.”
“Hmm!”
Truthfully, Lee Han was planning to use the Spire Stables to slip out for a bit, so he said this to brush Salko off, but his explanation was persuasive enough to make Salko pause.
Indeed, he remembered how following the White Tiger Tower guys in the first semester had ended badly.
“Is that so? They are a bit dumb… Thanks, Wardanaz. I’ll think it over.”
“Yeah. Make your decision carefully.”
“Got it. If you change your mind and want to rob them together, let me know.”
Lee Han nodded.
“Even if it’s midnight, let me know if you change your mind.”
“…I said I’m not robbing them.”