SRS 131

If Yohan had known the Summoning professor gave out such generous grades, he would’ve dropped one of his current majors long ago to take Summoning.

This professor was so kind, so he wondered why Summoning majors always complained about how hard it was. Those students needed to be dragged into a Divine Studies classroom. They should experience the feeling of turning into frogs and singing a croaking trio until the class ended because their divine power ran out.

Yohan felt disappointed as he thought about the grades he missed. Suhyeok knew what Yohan was thinking about just by his expression and grabbed his friend’s shoulder firmly.

“Yohan, you aren’t thinking of ditching me for Summoning, right?”

“…I’m not.”

“You know four majors is a crazy thing to do, right? I trust I won’t have to see you in the headmaster’s office.”

“…Of course.”

Every word Yohan spoke went against his own conscience. He was surprised. He wondered how Suhyeok knew he had considered visiting the headmaster to talk about a double major.

Yohan decided Suhyeok must have a mind’s eye. He felt bitter about the grades he had to let go.

He looked at Professor Dervanto. Even then, Yohan’s body and abilities were focused entirely on holding the Elf professor.

“Um… I’m sorry, professor. I’m not a Summoning student.”

“You aren’t?”

Professor Dervanto was incredulous. His face seemed to ask why someone who wasn’t even in the class worked so hard to catch the Elf professor. Yohan avoided the professor’s gaze because he couldn’t bring himself to say his own professor had caused trouble and he was there to fix it.

“…Thank you for catching the professor. As you know, the school’s atmosphere has become chaotic because doppelgängers appeared recently. During this, my professor’s doppelgänger appeared, which led to this situation….”

Yohan tried to maintain his dignity as he explained the current situation. However, Professor Dervanto waved his hand a few times and interrupted Yohan’s explanation.

“I understand the gist of it. So you’re saying one of these two fellows is a doppelgänger.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then leave these two pointy-ears here and go back.”

“Pardon?”

Leave them here?

Professor Dervanto shouted at his students before Yohan could even ask why.

“I’m changing today’s lecture! Today’s lesson is how to extract information through interrogation using Necromancy. I’ll give bonus points to the student who figures out which one is the doppelgänger!”

“……!”

Both Yohan and Suhyeok were shocked by Professor Dervanto’s words.

“…He talks about bonus points so easily. I really should’ve taken Summoning.”

Of course, Yohan’s shock meant something different from Suhyeok’s. The black-eyed student looked like he had a headache as he pressed down on his friend’s head. Yohan wasn’t actually short, but he became the shortest person whenever he was among the Room 304’s students.

“Yohan, is that what’s important right now? Our professor is about to be extorted!”

“Ah. We can’t let that happen.”

They had fought a bloody battle for a reason. Yohan shook off the temptation of the grades and regained his senses. He bowed toward Professor Dervanto.

“…Um, professor. I’m sorry, but we need Professor Will so we can attend our own lecture.”

Professor Dervanto acted indifferent and picked his ear with his pinky.

“I don’t see why I should care about someone else’s lecture. This pointy-ear destroyed the building’s ceiling, so my students and I suffered too. There should be this much compensation so everyone feels like they can enjoy the class.”

I’m sorry, professor, but it doesn’t look like any of your students are happy about this.

Yohan saw the students’ expressions. Their faces seemed to say, “You want us to interrogate a professor? Are you going to handle the consequences later, you crazy professor?” Yohan almost rebutted, but he managed to hold back.

Instead, he politely asked for understanding. Professor Dervanto looked like he was being generous as he finally yielded the professor Yohan was holding.

“Then you take that one. Don’t forget to deliver him to the headmaster after the lecture ends.”

“……!”

It was a dramatic compromise. They didn’t get everything they wanted, but it felt like a good defense. Yohan offered his thanks and took one Professor Will back to the Herbology classroom. Only ten students, including Yohan and Suhyeok, remained in the classroom. It looked like a construction site because it was such a mess.

These students were either too slow to run away or they were inspired by Yohan’s actions and decided to stay.

“I’m sorry for being rude, professor. The situation was urgent, so I didn’t have a choice. Can you proceed with the class?”

As he spoke, Yohan opened his hand behind his back and flicked his fingers.

“Aha.”

Suhyeok recognized the signal. He quickly pulled a powerful anesthetic out of his sub-space. It was the same anesthetic he had planned to use on Professor Ariel. Yohan asked the question while preparing to knock the professor out if necessary. The Elf professor looked a bit displeased, but he accepted Yohan’s proposal.

“It isn’t difficult. The lecture was already on my schedule. Since the doppelgänger was taken below, let’s start the class immediately.”

“Who’s a doppelgänger? You speak quite well with that copied tongue.”

“Ignore the nonsense coming from below.”

“…….”

Yohan thought things were finally resolved, but they weren’t. The two professors continued their war of nerves by talking through the hole that connected the floors. For a brief moment, Yohan missed the headmaster.

He envied the headmaster’s presence, which had resolved the situation with a single word when Professor Hegel and the angel professor fought. Then Yohan realized his own wicked thoughts. He pinched the back of his hand to escape his foolish mind. He had almost put his faith in something impure.

“Then I’ll end today’s lecture here.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you, professor.”

There were many ups and downs, but Professor Will’s lecture was as smooth as usual. Yohan finished his notes and caught Professor Will as he naturally tried to leave the classroom.

“Um, professor. I’m sorry, but you have to face the headmaster now.”

The rule was to report to the headmaster’s office if a doppelgänger was found. Yohan made a polite request since even a professor shouldn’t be an exception. Professor Will frowned. Yohan quickly explained.

“Of course, I know you’d go see the headmaster even if I didn’t say anything. There’s no reason to be reluctant unless you’re a doppelgänger. It seems I was being presumptuous. I’m sorry.”

Yohan apologized before Professor Will could get angry. The professor had a strange expression on his face, but he turned around.

“I’ll go to the headmaster’s office. Follow me.”

It sounded like he was telling Yohan to come and watch him personally if he was that suspicious. Yohan hadn’t intended for that to happen. He looked at Suhyeok with eyes that begged for help. His hunter friend smiled proudly and patted Yohan’s shoulder.

“Wow, Yohan, your social skills have improved a lot. If you say it like that, even a doppelgänger has no choice but to go to the headmaster’s office. That was a great plan.”

Suhyeok leaned down and whispered into Yohan’s ear.

A plan?

Yohan had only apologized for his rudeness in a normal way. He sighed as he listened to Suhyeok praise himself for teaching Yohan so well.

“…At least it’s good that I can go see Mikael.”

He had to go to the headmaster’s office regardless of the situation. Yohan decided to focus on the positive side instead. Maybe it was because they were always together, but Yohan really felt Mikael’s absence after just one day. Suhyeok nodded when Yohan mentioned him.

Yohan took the chance to voice the worries he had kept inside.

“I don’t know if he’s resting properly. Did the headmaster interrogate him? What if he’s being bullied and hasn’t been fed?”

“Hey. Would a god really act that petty?”

Suhyeok shrugged his shoulders. Yohan’s expression became serious.

“Did you forget which place the headmaster is the headmaster of?”

“…….”

Suhyeok also became a bit more serious after that one sentence.

Professor Will stopped walking while the two were worrying about their friend. They looked up and saw the familiar pure white building in front of them. Yohan followed behind Professor Will as he entered without hesitation.

“Um, Professor. What happens if you can’t differentiate the real person and the doppelgänger?”

Yohan asked the question on the way. Professor Will answered normally.

“The original person doesn’t suffer direct physical or mental damage just because the doppelgänger isn’t caught. However, their reputation or trust will be damaged because no one knows what the doppelgänger might do. It’s like that fellow who tried to take my class earlier. In extreme cases, they might commit crimes using my appearance, so it’s better to catch them quickly.”

“Can the original person not tell that their doppelgänger exists?”

“There’s no way to know unless you meet them directly. However, it’s fairly easy to find them because doppelgängers have a habit of mimicking the original’s actions or routines to copy them.”

Ah, then was the Mikael who woke up first at dawn the doppelgänger?

Yohan felt like he was starting to understand which Mikael he saw at dawn was the real one. He nodded as he looked at the professor’s back. Based on how much he was sharing, it seemed the professor in front of him was the real Professor Will.

However, Yohan’s prediction turned out to be wrong the moment they entered the headmaster’s office.

“Oh? This is Will’s doppelgänger. Did you come to report it, Yohan?”

The headmaster said that as soon as he faced Professor Will.

Yohan began to feel a bit worried about his own terrible intuition. He wondered if it was normal for a servant of God to have such clumsy premonitions.

In the next moment, the headmaster subdued Professor Will’s doppelgänger with a snap of his fingers and made him float in the air. Yohan scanned the headmaster’s office. Mikael was nowhere to be seen.

“…Um, where’s Mikael?”

Something was strange. The headmaster had seen through Professor Will’s doppelgänger instantly, so it didn’t seem likely that he had missed Mikael’s doppelgänger. Then why had Mikael been gone all this time?

The headmaster spoke when Yohan asked because he couldn’t find any trace of Mikael.

“Ah, he went to the barrier for a moment.”

“Pardon?”

Yohan unintentionally raised his voice.