I Became the Academy’s Kibitz Villain

It was not the kind of attention I wanted.

I became a librarian by pulling strings to quietly read novels at the Academy and find the protagonist in peace.

A woman, the most exotically beautiful among the faculty, approached me and sat next to me, even though there was no benefit in making contact with an irrelevant man like me.

And that too because the male employee, who should have sat next to me, moved to sit beside his girlfriend, so she deliberately sat next to me, who was sitting alone by the window.

There were plenty of other seats.

Many empty seats, in fact.

Using that excuse, she flirtatiously sat next to a handsome younger man.

‘What a pity.’

She was a pretty woman.

But as the Goblin who came into this world to gather information, I had no choice but to keep my distance from her.

“A younger man, huh? I thought you were my age.”

“Oh my, such jokes.”

She tapped my shoulder lightly with her hand, making physical contact.

Her touch, just brushing past my shoulder, revealed she was no amateur when it came to feeling out muscle.

Well, of course.

According to the Secret Society’s information, she was 32 years old.

She must’ve dated many men and had plenty of experience with them.

I didn’t mean to be biased, but even though she was pretty, I didn’t plan to engage with her.

Though it hadn’t been confirmed yet, there were unsavory rumors circulating about her.

‘There’s something about her.’

The Secret Society couldn’t confirm any information.

And a 32-year-old woman, born before the Great Cataclysm, without any special abilities?

There must be something up.

If there was no solid proof, I would just be attacking an older civilian woman, and kidnapping her to force a confession with truth serum is also not an option.

‘I can’t just arrest and torture someone because they seem like they might commit a crime.’

That went against the Chief’s philosophy and principles, and I was not one for that either.

“Is this your first time to Jeju, Mr. Do?”

“You know me?”

“Of course. There’s a rumor that a handsome librarian started working in the basement second floor of the library this year.”

Naturally, this woman was committing a misdemeanor by sexually harassing me right now.

She placed her hand over the armrest between the airplane seats, crossing her legs in her skirt, subtly letting her foot touch my leg.

“What are you planning to do in Jeju?”

“I’m looking for a gift to buy for my wife.”

“…”

For a moment, Professor Lisa’s expression froze awkwardly.

She seemed to sense that the man she was toying with was not an ordinary guy.

“A wife, huh. Where is she?”

“She’s on a business trip abroad. I probably won’t be able to see her much while I’m in Jeju.”

“Hmmm.”

Lisa’s eyes narrowed.

I could hear murmurs from the people around us.

-Tsk, tsk, poor guy. That woman’s trying to mess with another man again.

-Didn’t she say she was dating some ability user last time? I think he was a pretty high-ranked ability user too.

-I don’t know. She probably dumped him and moved on.

Amidst the criticism of Professor Lisa, sympathy for me filled the cabin.

Although there were no ability users on board, the quiet voices of the staff around me reached my ears loud and clear.

“Do you have a husband, Professor?”

“…What?”

“I asked if you’re married.”

“……Unfortunately, I haven’t found a good man to marry yet.”

Lisa waved her hand lightly and laughed.

With a slightly twisted smile, she continued to stare at me, her eyes glinting with a burning intensity.

“So, why did you come here?”

“You’re quite sharp, aren’t you?”

“I’m the curious type, and I also avoid unnecessary contact with other women.”

-For someone like that, you sure hang out with a lot of women, don’t you?

-He says he has a wife, but didn’t I hear he was bringing a blonde, blue-eyed foreign student to his house all the time?

-The wife thing is probably a lie. Isn’t he just enjoying having affairs?

As rumors and facts got mixed up, my reputation was steadily plummeting.

It didn’t really bother me if I fell into disgrace, as long as no one bothered me. But being known for enjoying affairs would be problematic, especially if my identity as the Goblin were discovered.

“There are three reasons. One, that snoring professor in first class is too loud.”

“Why didn’t you wake him up?”

“If I asked the flight attendant to wake him, she’d probably get scolded. And if I tried to wake him, I’d have to touch him.”

“You’re quite blunt.”

“He’s retiring after the summer semester. He only came along because he’s been sucking up to the Principal.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“……I feel like I heard something I shouldn’t have, but I’d like to keep things peaceful.”

“With that face?”

“…….”

It was too late to change my face now.

And I didn’t plan to transform into an unattractive face to enter the Academy.

‘There’s no reason not to make use of this handsome face of Do Chang-nam’s.’

Later, when my identity as the Goblin is revealed, walking around with an ugly face could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

And whether you were a man or a woman, being handsome or pretty made it easier to loaf around at work.

Though I did prefer to avoid any fuss.

“When the plane lands, we won’t have time to talk, so why not chat a little with this nosy pretty noona? Oh, can I get an orange juice, please?”

“Certainly. And for you, sir?”

“I’m fine.”

Look at this woman who confidently ordered orange juice from the flight attendant, who was flustered when she came down from first class to economy.

She even ordered a drink, fully intending to keep talking to me for the next 30 minutes until the plane lands at Jeju Airport.

“You’re more talkative than I expected.”

“I enjoy conversations, especially with handsome and mysterious men.”

“Fine, what’s the second reason?”

“I wanted to briefly discuss the classical literature education activity you’ll be in charge of in Jeju.”

I couldn’t find a reason to send her away.

“Once the plane lands, it will be difficult to find time to meet, so we’re using this 30 minutes to talk. Is that alright?”

“Well, since you’re insisting, I can’t refuse.”

When an educator said they wanted to talk about education, how could I say, “I won’t talk to you because you seem to be flirting with a younger man”?

“Hahaha…”

Though all of this was an excuse, Professor Lisa had the pretext.

“Do you know that most of the books in Jeju Library are classified as harmful materials for youth?”

“I know. And they were classified as harmful after the Great Cataclysm, too.”

When people thought of banned books, they usually thought of “red books.”

That’s right.

Books restricted for people under 19.

Not ideological red books, but books rated as unsuitable for minors.

“Before the Great Cataclysm, there were a lot of comic book stores near terminals nationwide. Or video rental shops, I guess? They rented tapes, comics, and books. It was like a paid library.”

“Mostly, they stocked fantasy and martial arts novels for entertainment rather than educational literature, right?”

“Exactly. Everything from there… was censored and moved to Jeju.”

Jeju became a cultural exile.

In the age of special abilities, all the rough and stimulating media, filled with brutal and violent imagination, was loaded onto ships and sent to Jeju.

“You know about the intelligentsia hunts, right?”

“Of course. The scholars weren’t buried, but all the books were burned.”

“Yes. Some books were burned after arriving in Jeju, but many were incinerated before they even got there.”

Could you believe that all the books in national libraries, bookstores, and rental shops were burned, leaving only the bare minimum for historical preservation?

This world went ahead and did just that.

-“Burn all the books that are harmful to education!”

-“If it doesn’t help with special ability education, destroy it all! Especially anything that shows ability users ruling over non-ability users, get rid of it!”

-“Set a standard for children’s comics! No more ‘cool villains’ appearing in them!”

Korea acted first, and other countries followed suit.

All sorts of books were swept away by the hands of concerned mothers who had been against violent comics since before the Great Cataclysm. Every book reeking of jjajang and cigarette smoke was burned.

“If you show those copied books to students in Jeju, they might be quite shocked. Some students might even develop their abilities in more violent directions.”

“Given what the Academy has taught them so far, I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

25 years.

The Academy’s curriculum and countless video materials had prepared students so well that they could look at the classics and just think, ‘This is how people used to think back then.’

“The students are adults and mature enough to filter the violent content in the classics. Besides, they’re all A-grade, aren’t they?”

“True.”

Lisa opened the bottle of orange juice and sipped lightly.

“Since your lecture is in the later half, you can take your time selecting books for the students to read—”

Gugugugu.

The plane suddenly shook.

A strong vibration rattled through, as if something had hit the plane.

“What… what was that?”

“Did we hit a bird…?”

While everyone panicked…

“…Ha.”

Orange juice spilled all over her white shirt.

Beneath her now-soaked shirt, a certain “knowledge pouch” began to reveal itself, one that could rival Baek Seol-hee’s.

“Really, if I could turn back time, I wouldn’t have opened the juice bottle. Oh, by the way, do you know?”

“Why don’t you clean yourself up first?”

“Oh, thank you. So, as I was saying…”

Lisa continued talking while wiping her shirt with the handkerchief I handed her.

“Have you ever seen the ‘Phoenix Feather’ that the Feygreen Group recently put up for auction?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my, really?”

“I saw it in a video.”

The Phoenix Feather that arrived in Jeju.

Its effect was reversing time.

“As soon as the feather was placed on the chest of the U.S. President, whose head had exploded, his body reverted 10 seconds back. His exploded head was restored, and he came back to life.”

Actually, I saw it for real.

On-site.

The Phoenix Feather.

I didn’t know how high its price will go, but its effect could only be described as a “miracle.”

“…I didn’t expect one of the world’s only seven miracle treasures to be auctioned off in Jeju.”

The one who put it up for auction.

It was me.