# Chapter 11
Unlike Nam Seonjae, the leader of Team 2, Team 1’s leader was one of the students who boycotted his first class, the orientation. In fact, everyone except Nam Seonjae did.
“Hello, Professor.”
It was Thursday at 3 PM. This was the first time they’d met since the Monday first-period class.
Nam Seonjae was a sociable friend who greeted him with a bright smile, but Team 1’s leader merely gave a curt nod with an expressionless face.
He was already accustomed to students’ dismissive attitudes toward him. He didn’t harbor any particular complaints about it.
“Shall we start with Seonjae?”
“Yes.”
He had the illusion that Nam Seonjae’s tail was wagging behind his back as he answered. Not that he actually had one, of course—it just meant that Nam Seonjae was that eager to please him. Nam Seonjae was surely the only student in this class who liked him.
Team 1’s leader silently shuffled over to stand beside Nam Seonjae.
He opened Team 2’s submitted report on his laptop. He could see Nam Seonjae anxiously staring at the screen.
“So Team 2 chose the Zombie Gate because you have many Guides and only two telekinetic Espers, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting.”
Telekinesis has excellent efficiency. While most Espers with complex and powerful abilities tend to have poor efficiency—in other words, bad cost-effectiveness—telekinesis is one of the abilities with the best value for energy expended.
In other words, telekinesis has a simple mechanism and is a very common ability.
His team had seven members total, with everyone except the two Espers being Guides. The issue was that neither Nam Seonjae nor the other Esper had particularly high rankings. Nam Seonjae was a C-class Esper, while the other was D-class.
But the Zombie Gate was also a D-class gate. Although there were many zombies to deal with, it was a gate that wouldn’t produce a single casualty if handled properly.
“But there’s hardly any useful samples to be obtained from this gate. Is there really a reason to clear it?”
Currently, unless a Zombie Gate was on the verge of bursting open because it was filled with zombies, no one would willingly enter it.
The target value of S.M.T. fundamentally referred to the benefits that could be obtained by clearing a gate.
Most Zombie Gates were set in a modern background from half a century ago. Underground resources were depleted, and in ruined cities, one could only find garbage like corroded canned foods. In short, it meant there were no useful samples at all.
“…Experience points?”
Nam Seonjae replied with an uncertain voice. He looked at Nam Seonjae with a slight smile.
“This isn’t a game, Nam Seonjae.”
“Yes… Professor. What I meant was, since Zombie Gates require more preparation than other gates, once we clear one, we might find it easier to clear other gates.”
It was a decent answer, though he seemed a bit flustered. And Nam Seonjae would likely discover that there were actual experience points if he ever went into the field.
That was why ability users ventured into the field. Most ability users become addicted to gradually getting stronger. The reason D-class users could become C-class after 1-2 years, and C-class users could become B-class after 3-4 years was precisely because of these experience points.
Initially, people thought it was a defect in the ability diagnostic equipment, but as field ability users frequently showed increases in their abilities, rumors began to spread that clearing gates raised one’s rank.
This was why companies fiercely competed under the table for seemingly useless Zombie Gates. After all, Zombie Gates contained a tremendous number of monsters.
Hard work was always rewarded. Nam Seonjae would soon become one of the rapidly growing Espers.
He gave Nam Seonjae an encouraging smile.
“You have a point. I look forward to your presentation.”
“Yes, sir.”
As the Team 2 feedback seemed to be wrapping up, Team 1’s leader stepped closer.
He tried not to sigh as he pulled up Team 1’s report on his laptop. Then he turned to face Team 1’s leader.
*
“…That concludes Team 1’s presentation.”
He maintained an expressionless face as he flipped through Team 1’s revised report in silence. Although he had instructed them to make corrections, only a day had passed, so the presentation was essentially no different from the initial submitted preparatory report.
Originally, presentations were supposed to last about 10 minutes, with the remaining 10 minutes dedicated to questions and feedback from the instructor. This would allow two teams to present comfortably within an hour.
Of course, after giving feedback on Team 1’s preparatory report, he realized this would be impossible.
According to his initial plan, two teams would present each hour, four teams each week, allowing each team to present at least twice within the semester. But if all presentations were like this, students would enter the job market without proper tips, let alone understanding even the ‘S’ in S.M.T.
It would be better if they at least understood one thing properly. That’s why he decided to listen to only one presentation per hour. Nevertheless, out of the allotted 30 minutes, the presentation spent 20 minutes on preparation scenes and small talk, showed 5 minutes of recorded footage from the mock gate simulation, and then ended.
He could feel Team 1’s leader nervously glancing at him as the presentation ended.
“Take questions now.”
After such a poorly prepared presentation that even finished 5 minutes early, he was too dumbfounded to even sigh.
Team 1’s leader parroted his words like a parrot.
“Any questions?”
As if there would be any. What was there to ask? Should they inquire about which hamburger the Team 1 leader ate that gave them an upset stomach, as mentioned in the video? Is that the kind of question they expected?
He had advised Team 1’s leader from the start to completely revise everything from the report to every part of the process. He had provided very detailed guidance on the direction they should take. Seeing that they didn’t seem to have any idea how to present, he had warned that they couldn’t receive a passing grade with this approach. He had even offered to postpone their presentation date if they wanted.
But Team 1’s leader wanted to present on the scheduled date, and Ko Eungyo was also optimistic that the revisions wouldn’t be too difficult since Teams 1 and 2 were only presenting the first part of the gate operation. The result, however, was extremely disappointing.
Perhaps this level of presentation was the limit of the student’s ability.
As expected, the students remained silent, asking nothing. From his perspective, they didn’t even seem to understand what was wrong with Team 1’s presentation. Or perhaps they were pretending not to know.
To be honest, he was reasonably suspicious that Team 1’s leader had prepared this terrible presentation as a form of protest against the class. When no one asked any questions, the Team 1 leader actually seemed relieved. His brow furrowed at such a lax attitude.
Was no one really going to ask anything?
The students might not care about anything else, but they should at least have some camaraderie. He kept his mouth shut and stared intently at Team 1’s leader, who had begun looking at him again, wondering if they could step down now.
“Are all Team 1 members present today?”
As he asked this question while flipping through the preparatory report that could only be described as a mess, a look of embarrassment appeared on Team 1 leader’s face.
“Yes… Professor.”
After two rounds of feedback, Team 1’s leader had become quite compliant, unlike their initially brusque attitude. Anyone would change their attitude after being caught out multiple times. But he wasn’t satisfied at all. This morning, Team 1’s leader had left his office looking dejected.
He nodded and said:
“Then have all Team 1 members come up and stand on the platform.”
Although no one understood why, they all followed his instructions.
With hesitant steps, Team 1 members filed onto the platform. Ko Eungyo gestured lightly for them not to block the beam projector. The Team 1 members split into two groups, standing on either side of the rectangular screen.
Once the students seemed ready, Ko Eungyo instructed Team 1’s leader to replay the recorded video from the beginning.
“Shall we watch it again from the first second?”
Naturally, this wasn’t a question. It meant he was about to begin critiquing their presentation.
*
Team 1 members knew about Ko Eungyo. Rumors about him had already spread among the students before he was appointed as a part-time lecturer.
Based on the rumors, they couldn’t help but look down on Professor Ko Eungyo, who supposedly had no abilities and only fawned over Espers. Moreover, these rumors had considerable credibility.
The story that he stalked an Esper six years younger than him had been spread by none other than the person directly involved.
“Ko Eungyo, that disgusting bastard.”
Woo Sihyun’s tone was filled with hatred as he spat out the words.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
