Ch. 10.2

'Phew..'

I exhaled a sigh. Next to me, a guy named Mayuseong pretended to be humble and spoke in his usual friendly tone.

"Yu-Seol, why are you here?"

I did not want to come here either.

"You don't need to listen to this. There's a special reason, right?

There was no such thing.

I was compelled to attend since it came as a warning to low ranked students who performed poorly in the Class Placement Test.

'This is not the time…'

The [Episode 3 'Staff Inheritance Ceremony'], which started unknowingly, was completed in a very special way, and it could be said that receiving a lot of EXP was good news.

However, the worst thing was that it attracted unnecessary attention from the people around me.

My peaceful school life had been ruined. What was even more annoying was that damn Argento, which had put the limelight on my head, was now completely useless. 'Why did you even come to me?'

I had never seen a case where someone other than Edna was the owner of Argento, so I was clueless about the intent of that wand.

"Come on. Let's end the chatter and start the supplementary class from now on."

As Kyle patted on the blackboard, some commoner students raised their heads, and the nobles pouted their lips as if they were displeased.

However, since his position was supported by professors, there were no students who could stand up to Kyle.

"Today, we are going to check the problems of the Placement Test. As you know, in this placement test, there were infamous problems that have already been nicknamed as devil's three questions, and I solved one of them."

Hong Bi-Yeon's eyes twinkled at those words. It was the only reason she came to this place.

How the hell does one solve those three questions?

A student who succeeded in solving would tell her directly as there was no one else she could ask, so she just came to this lecture.

The other students were also quite interested in the matter, so they too focused on Kyle. He was very satisfied with all the attention and raised his specs.

"Then, I will show you how to solve the problem first. This problem is actually close to a trap. It was created to induce incorrect answers by accident, but first of all…"

Some students took out their notebooks and started taking notes, and Kyle's solution itself was very plausible.

However, it was only plausible and not a proper solution. Mayuseong, who caught that point, blinked his eyes, and quietly tapped on my shoulders.

"What do you think? Do you think that's right?"

I could not tell if that explanation was correct or not because I was not wearing Sentient Spec. "The devil's three questions? What are you on about?"

I did not come here to study in the first place, so keeping up with the conversation was difficult.

As a result, I gave a superficial response.

"I'm not sure."

I must admit that I was speaking softly, but the room was so quiet that most of the students heard me.

"Who is he?"

"It's Baek Yu-Seol."

"Ah… Him?"

The strange student who got all the other questions wrong but only got the devil's three questions right.

The fact that Baek Yu-Seol said, "I am not sure…."

'That…'

'… Are you saying that Kyle's interpretation is wrong?'

That's what it meant.

In fact, Baek Yu-Seol got all three questions right, and although Kyle entered the school with a perfect score in theory, didn't he get only one question correct out of the 3 devil's questions ?

Thud!

Kyle broke the chalk he was holding. He gave it too much strength.

I looked at Mayuseong with complicated eyes. Although he was the one who created this atmosphere, he was smiling with his eyes as if he did not know anything.

'You bastard, did you do that on purpose?'

The character Mayuseong was originally like that.

Kyle must have been displeased, and that was why he intentionally created this mess.

"Is my interpretation wrong? Baek Yu-Seol, then why don't you explain it yourself?"

"Ehhh…"

I thought it would be like this. I looked at Mayuseong with resentful eyes and then put on my Sentient Spec.

The devil's three questions.

The words were devil's three questions, but in fact, it was close to a nonsense question.

To explain the problem in a mild way, [The mage says, 'Great Earth, conjure on my call! When I chanted this spell, the earth's mass doubled. What is the reason?]

The answer to this question was simple.

The earth elements clustered together so the earth's mass was doubled.

… It sounded absurd, but it was really a matter of facts.

However, Kyle analysed the problem very mathematically.

When the spell's activated, the elements quickly bonds together under the catalyst which was mana, and so on, bullshit..., then the earth has increased mass as a result…

This was the conclusion he arrived at.

Well, whatever the solution, it did not matter as long as the answer was correct.

It was a solution that would definitely be helpful for correcting that one problem right away. But, the issue was that it would bother them again if a similar 'factual problem' came up next time.

"I can't show you how to solve it. I can only point out the mistakes."

"… What?"

With the help of Sentient Spec, I pinpointed the mistakes in Kyle's solution.

"The problem was presented with earth, but what if it was water or wind? Do you think your formula will apply then?"

"That's… When that time comes, you can apply a different formula."

"That's the problem. Why do we have to apply different formulas for problems of the same nature? Shouldn't the solution be changed instead of trying a myriad of formulas?"

"Your solution was pure fluke. To be honest, it's an interpretation that doesn't fit the examiner's intentions at all. No formulas or runes are needed to solve this problem. But you forced your knowledge into it."

I did not know much about magic. So, I pointed out only the 'core' part marked on the Sentient Spec.

"If you change this part here, your solution is complete nonsense. How would you explain it?"

At that moment, I did not know if he succeeded in solving this problem by coincidence, but he would not be able to solve it when another similar problem arises…

There was no need for complicated explanations. Because, I just had to prove that Kyle's solution was wrong.

"Ah…!"

"That's true…"

The smart students understood my words and began to note it down. Edna was also quite surprised, but she remained calm as possible. Rather, she looked at Eisel and Hong Bi-Yeon.

'… Shouldn't there be a confrontation?'

Originally, there was going to be a fierce quarrel between them in that place. However, since neither Eisel nor Hong Bi-Yeon could solve the problem that I had just pointed out, they were distracted by the solution.

'Is it really okay to think positively about this situation in which the villain and the protagonist do not fight?'

'…No, let's think positively.'

Kyle stood there, stunned, with his mouth wide open.

'Am I wrong....?'

Before that, Kyle, who had just realised that his explanation was wrong, bowed his head.

And he honestly admitted it.

"Your words… you're right."

"Is that so?"

Even though his explanation had been completely debunked, Kyle, rather than being angry, seemed to be overcome with a sense self-doubt.

"Maybe I was lucky enough to solve this problem..."

Not long after that, the special supplementary class was over, and I left the classroom faster than anyone else.

Not only did I not want to be in this stuffy and damp space anymore, but being with Mayueseong was too burdensome.

"I'll see you tomorrow!"

Leaving behind Mayuseong's energetic farewell, I walked down the tattered hallway.

'If I get caught by a guy like him by mistake…'

I did not know how it came to this by holding a wand like Argento.

As people slowly became scarce, I was about to go back to the dormitory, but in the corner of the hallway leading to the men's dormitory, someone was standing with her back leaning against the wall.

… Princess Hong Bi-Yeon Adolevit.

'What?'

I tried to pass by pretending not to know her, but she stopped in front of me.

".... What?"

"Previously, why didn't you explain the solution?"

It was not that I did not want to explain it, it was just that I couldn't do it. How on earth do someone logically explain such a nonsense question? In fact, the 'solution method' revealed by me could not be applied to other problems.

"I just don't have anything to say..."

"I see. I understand. You didn't want to reveal your solution in such a place, did you?"

'Eh.'

It was not like that. However, Hong Bi-Yeon nodded her head as if she had misunderstood it.

"Okay. You need a price, don't you?"

"What? Price?"

"Yes, the price."

She said so and tapped herself on the head.

"I'll pay you a fair price, so show me what's on your mind."