I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner

As Seo Ji-an said, she is a member of the prestigious conglomerate Dae-jin Industries.

She was already in charge of many projects, and even without the Dae-jin Industries backing, she must be quite wealthy.

It meant that she was an unapproachable existence for ordinary students.

“I know it’s a bit late to ask this, but why did you decide to take Forbidden Arts?”

Forbidden Arts is originally an unpopular subject.

That says it all, considering the fact that the number of applicants is so low that classes are held without dividing them into classes.

I had no choice but to take it because of teacher Choi Do-won, but Seo Ji-an was different.

“. . . I was just curious.”

It wasn’t a particularly strange reason. After all, Seo Ji-an seemed to be the type who was quite eager to learn.

「𝙄𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.」

Personally, I was of the opinion that it was necessary to learn some forbidden arts, so I nodded my head without realizing it.

Soon, the vehicle arrived at its destination.

The old architectural style could be seen from the outside. It used to be a place related to the worship of the land god, but now it was an unused piece of land owned by the school.

“Since we’re here after a long time, shouldn’t you all get some fresh air?”

The teacher in charge, Go Daehye, gave the students some free time before starting the evaluation.

I also felt like clearing my head a bit, so I decided to walk around wherever my feet took me.

While I was doing that, I found a huge lakeside nearby and walked over to it. There was someone already there. It was Seo Ji-an.

「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜.」

Seo Ji-an was staring blankly at the lakeside with her characteristic expressionless face. I approached her and spoke.

“Practicing spellcraft again?”

“No. Just looking.”

There was a brief silence. Seo Ji-an seemed to be lost in thought, and I also didn’t try to make conversation and simply enjoyed the scenery.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

Bwooom.

Just as I felt a particularly strong gust of wind, Seo Ji-an turned her head slightly and stared at me.

When I looked at her with a questioning expression, Seo Ji-an hesitated for a moment before speaking with difficulty.

“. . . Why did you choose me?”

A moment of regret crossed her face as she said those words. It seemed like she thought she had said something unnecessary.

I understood what she meant and answered easily.

“Because you were the closest?”

“. . . If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.”

“I’m kidding.”

In fact, if I were to simply convert the various pieces of knowledge I had into money, there were countless better partners. Seo Ji-an’s question was probably about that.

However, those things weren’t very important to me. As long as I could get the materials I needed when I needed them, it didn’t matter who my partner was. Besides, my goal was simply to find a sponsor.

「𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙤 𝙅𝙞-𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙢𝙥 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙙.」

After thinking about it, I said to Seo Ji-an, who was waiting for my answer.

“I chose you because it was better for me to have you as my partner, given my circumstances.”

At those words, Seo Ji-an looked a little flustered, and then she averted her gaze slightly and opened her mouth.

“. . . Is that so?”

Her face seemed a little redder than usual, probably just because she was feeling shy.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

“Let’s see. . . . . ., twenty-three. No one’s missing. Then let’s start the evaluation. Hehe. It’s going to be a lot of fun, so you can look forward to it.”

Go Daehye smiled sinisterly and had her assistant hand out one straw doll to each of us.

Then she said,

“The Forbidden Arts midterm exam is a curse battle using straw dolls! It’s a one-on-one match, so you’ll have to be careful about how you allocate your offense and defense.”

“You want us to attack each other’s dolls?”

“That’s right. I’ve made them so that they’ll catch fire if they take a certain amount of damage, so there’s no problem with the judgment.”

“Any other rules?”

“It’s against the rules for multiple people to gang up on one person. Other than that, there are none. However, your score will be based on both the results and the process, so it’s not good to just sit around and do nothing~”

In short, it meant that we had to protect our own doll while cursing the other person’s doll and dealing damage to it.

“Okay, everyone, go to the designated spots. Let’s start quickly since we don’t have much time.”

Go Daehye gathered the students in front of an old wooden building with an excited expression and assigned them their positions appropriately.

Then she added, as if she had forgotten to say something.

“Oh, but since there are scores involved, everyone always acts so passively and it’s no fun. That’s why there’s a special rule. Who was the student who got extra credit last time?”

If she was talking about the Forbidden Arts stone incident, it was definitely me.

I felt a bad feeling at Go Daehye’s expectant smile.

“Hmm, I found him. Han Kang-yoon over there. I’ll give extra credit to anyone who catches him. But like I said, ganging up is prohibited. Obviously, the first person to attack will have the advantage, right?”

At those words, the students’ eyes changed completely.

“The exam starts when this straw doll touches the ground.”

Pshew.

The doll that Go Daehye threw into the air fell to the ground, its thin arms and legs flailing.

Thud.

And at that moment, countless eyes turned to me.