Night had fallen.
In the luxurious and massive office, the desk lamp emitted a dim light. On the giant television hung on the wall, dazzling lights shone. Various Skill effects flickered across the screen, and ga characters expertly jumped between treacherous terrains, overcoming obstacles and defeating enemies along the way.
And in front of the television, on the plush carpet, a huge white bear was manipulating a controller with its thick, fleshy paw.
It lay at an angle on the floor, and with every heavy breath it took, ripples of light danced off its silver-white fur, srizing to behold.
Soon, an exquisite teacup was placed before Ye Su.
The warmth rose from the steam.
He shifted his gaze away.
As the stern middle-aged man returned to his desk and settled into the chair, Ye Su once again began his report.
He ticulously recounted everything he had observed about Huai Shi along the way.
"Oh? Is that so?" After listening to his report, the principal chuckled softly. "Sounds quite promising."
"I believe, in terms of skills and abilities, Mr. Huai Shi is fully capable of handling this job. The concerns the school administration office had are unfounded."
After a pause, Ye Su couldn't help but shake his head. "However, for the sake of the school's stable environnt, I actually do not recomnd officially admitting him into the research team."
"Why not? Isn't he the rare talent you described? No, your assessnt of him should be even higher, right?"
"Isn't that precisely why?" Ye Su replied. "Such a person may indeed be a once-in-a-century genius, but whether he is or not, it does not change his troubleso nature. It's just like how you are, Principal."
Not hiding his unfavorable impression of the principal, Ye Su spoke candidly, "One troublemaker in the Ivory Tower is already enough. Moreover, such a person will not willingly submit to your manipulation. If we truly anger him, the outco might be difficult to manage. The Astronomical Society might also harbor resentnt towards us because of it. And in the process, the Ivory Tower itself might suffer unexpected blows—I know it's funny to ntion Huai Shi in the sa breath as you, but you should not underestimate his capacity for disruption. Aren't there enough examples of 'do not bully the young for being poor'?"
"You do have a point." After a mont of contemplation, the principal's response didn't put Ye Su at ease because, on the contrary, the bear began to get excited.
"But the more you say that, the more interested I beco," the principal said cheerfully. "Besides, isn't that why I transferred him over here?"
Ye Su sighed wearily. "A stable Ivory Tower is sothing everyone would like to see."
"Everyone?" The principal snorted with laughter. "Does that include ? Stable? What constitutes stability? Simply teaching and educating properly? Or pretending we're oblivious to all the changes outside and closing the door as if nothing has happened?"
Ye Su didn't answer.
But the principal kept pressing calmly, "That can't be it, right? Ye Su, if the Ivory Tower were that kind of place, would you be here? Why tell such jokes?"
"I'm just fulfilling my duties for the salary I receive. From a long-term perspective, I really don't want the place where I plan to comfortably coast through the latter half of my life to suddenly go bankrupt or just vanish overnight. And..."
"And?" the principal asked.
"And, can we not play gas while discussing work?" Ye Su looked back helplessly at the white bear lying in front of the television. "Can't you be serious for once?"
"Wait a second." The white bear turned its head, its lips moving, and it spoke, "I'll be done in just a mont."
On the screen, the ga character finished off the final boss with a flashy combo and, without even appreciating the CG, casually tossed the controller aside.
The huge white bear rose from the floor and walked around the desk. He then sat in the even larger chair behind the stern Secretary, settling in comfortably. Lazily, he slouched, picked up a freshly poured beer beside him, took a couple of sips, and then sighed contentedly.
"Alright, let's continue," he said. "Where were we?"
"The unstable Ivory Tower."
Ye Su had just lifted his head when he recoiled as if electrified, raised his hand to shield his eyes, and pointed towards the white bear's crotch. "You forgot to put on pants."
"Why force a bear to wear pants? You bunch of rascals, can't you let a bear do a few less things that go against its nature?"
The white bear looked aggrieved, slowly stood up, pulled out a pair of huge shorts from the cabinet, and clumsily put them on its legs, then sat back down. "Happy now?"
"..." Ye Su sighed. "So, Principal, what exactly are you after?"
"I'm pleased, I'm willing. Can't I recruit soone for my own school?" The white bear questioned indignantly. "I'm doing this for everyone's sake too! With all this intense daily academic pressure, I found an idol to be a resident at the school. Isn't that good? He's quite handso, isn't he! Am I getting old, or have your aesthetic standards just changed too quickly for to keep up?"
The principal asked loudly, "Isn't Huai Shi wonderful?"
Ye Su was too tired to argue about these things anymore. This old turtle always acted the sa way—whenever the topic shifted to sothing he didn't want to discuss or answer, he'd put on a façade of 'I'm just a bear, don't make things difficult for .'
"Don't think I haven't noticed," Ye Su said bluntly. "The vice-principal actually has quite a problem with Huai Shi, doesn't he? Even if he hasn't said it outright."
"I think, on the contrary, everyone has a strong prejudice against the vice-principal," the polar bear said, scratching his head with a paw. "He's just doing his duty. So what if the budget he approves is a bit smaller? We just spend a little less; it's not like anyone will die. Why speak ill of him behind his back? Besides, he didn't vote against it, did he?"
"That's just on the surface, right?" Ye Su coldly exposed the principal's lie. "You should know how dissatisfied he is with your arrangents. To be honest, this is the first ti I've seen his expression look so grim—though it's usually quite bad, this ti it was genuinely awful."
"I admit there are so personal reasons involved, but he's not the sort who can't separate public from private matters," the polar bear shrugged indifferently. "Trust , he'll do his job well."
"But so people just love to stir up trouble!" Ye Su couldn't help but roll his eyes. "You know he doesn't like Huai Shi, yet you assign Huai Shi as his teaching assistant? You could have assigned him to be a teaching assistant for Alchemy; even that would be better than this!"
"What do you know?" the polar bear thundered, pounding the table. "I'm fostering their bond, understand? This is how it goes in comics; I've read plenty!"
"...In the end, you just want to stir up trouble!"
"I won't deny that's part of the reason, ah." The polar bear opened another can of beer and casually asked, "But what I'm more curious about is—haven't you only known him for less than a day? Why are you so concerned about his issues?"
"..."
Ye Su was struck dumb. Only now did he seem to realize, prompting an involuntary, rueful smile and a shrug.
"That little guy turned out to be a bit more formidable than I thought," the polar bear comnted nonchalantly. "In just one day, he managed to befriend the school's notoriously perverted physician. That's no easy feat... Perhaps it's true: 'birds of a feather flock together'?"
Ye Su had no response. Even if the principal's words were far-fetched, one point was accurate: in this instance, he himself was failing to separate personal matters from his professional duties. He was rely supposed to be the principal's Envoy and informant; yet, unconsciously, he had started to consider Huai Shi's interests. Although a large part of this was because the principal was simply unreliable, he couldn't deny that he felt an appreciation and fondness for Huai Shi that even surprised himself. If he hadn't been certain that his constitution was immune to any charms or Curses, he might have suspected he had been hexed.
"That's pretty good, too." The polar bear raised a paw and patted his shoulder. "You aren't getting any younger; it's about ti you made a few friends... You've grown, Ye Su. As your principal, I'm very proud!"
Honestly, Ye Su had wanted to hit him for a long ti. If only he could win a fight against him...
"Although I don't need to answer to you about official matters, as your old friend, I can at least assure you I don't have any ill intentions towards that little brag... probably."
"You yourself said 'probably'!" Ye Su retorted.
"People change, not to ntion bears, right?" The polar bear shrugged. "Besides, isn't the Ivory Tower a good place for him?"
Ye Su didn't have much to refute. The Ivory Tower was, indeed, a good place. Even if a promotion and a salary increase were far off, if one only sought knowledge and possessed the Talent, there was no better place in the world than this.
"Isn't that right?" The polar bear waved his paw. "Alright, that's enough. Any other issues?"
After much hesitation, Ye Su's expression beca serious. "Even so, I still can't agree to his appointnt at the school."
"Why not?" the polar bear asked, puzzled.
Amidst a sincere sigh of frustration, Ye Su slamd a thick dical report onto the table and pointed to the astonishingly off-chart indicators, which were almost off the scale into Hell, wishing he could shove the results in the principal's face.
"—Because this 'poison'... it's all blood!"
The next day, in the office of the school administration.
The amiable-looking deputy director placed a thick book in front of Huai Shi.
"According to school procedure, once classes begin tomorrow, students will have one month to thoroughly consider and apply for their tutors. This excludes students who were pre-assigned before enrollnt. During this ti, all classrooms will be in their new student recruitnt phase. However, Mr. Huai Shi, you need not worry. New teachers like yourself, Teacher Huai Shi, who do not have a fixed classroom, will be provided with ti, a classroom, and a degree of preferential resource allocation by the school."
He pointed to the thick roster in front of Huai Shi, his expression becoming earnest. "Since this will affect the number of students you have for the upcoming year, please choose with utmost care."
Huai Shi pinched his chin, studying the dizzying records, and started to get a headache. How does one choose?
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