Episode 86. Professor (4)

Dana walked over to the frozen Charlotte and squatted down to meet her eye level.

Her face was covered in the black sunshade hat she usually wears at the beach, and she was clutching a piece of paper in both hands, a map that Dana had drawn the other time we had met.

“yes. He said he didn’t know Gyo-dong well, so he drew a map like this.”

“Chuck, it’s the first time I’ve been here, so I thought I shouldn’t get lost and be late-”

“… for a moment.”

Dana looked around quickly and whispered, covering Charlotte’s pointy left ear with her hand.

“Your camouflage magic has been broken here. Did you forget it when it came out?”

“Uh, uh… !”

“it’s okay. It was covered by a hat so other people couldn’t see it. Come into the office at once.”

* * *

Last night, right before the consultation with Charlotte, Dana tried to imitate my sister’s kind words and gestures in the office… . I was in despair in front of a full-length mirror.

‘It’s too awkward even for me to see… !’

Her own smile reflected in the mirror was clumsy, and the corners of her mouth were clumsy, so it just felt grotesque.

The hand holding the teacup he had never served before trembled nervously, and when he heard his voice in a completely different atmosphere than usual, it was easy to beep.

Rather, the thought came up that the golem submitted as an assignment by the new students of the Department of Engineering would look more seasoned.

like that… . When Dana is in a deep sense of self-doubt.

‘professor. Why do you want to act?’

‘Yeah?’

To the question of Professor Ian, who was sitting in the counseling table prepared for Charlotte, she asked back as if she was asking something so obvious.

‘I heard that even though I can’t solve the problem of the student receiving counseling, I have to help him feel emotionally stable?’

‘I did.’

‘I don’t think the students who are watching it will feel comfortable if the professor who wants to consult is sitting there and acting like me.’

Even though I’ve received love, I’ve never given it to others… . It wasn’t easy for Dana to care for someone kindly.

‘You seem to be misunderstanding something.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Of course, a student may feel emotionally secure in warm, caring care and attention. But, that’s not all.’

Looking back on my school days now, I think that the kind teachers were also good enough.

When asked to pick one of the most memorable teachers, rather scary teachers like tigers or teachers with many fun and funny episodes often come to mind first.

Whether it’s a scary teacher, a caring teacher, or a funny teacher, the individual teacher’s personality is not the problem.

How much does that teacher worry about my career and future, and worry about it together?

It was important that he approached my troubles as if it were his own, empathized with them, and understood them.

‘Rather, that kind of professor might be more effective in narrowing the distance between students.’

‘Is it really so?’

‘Yes, the important thing for a student requesting counseling is to be someone who can sympathize with them and help them solve the problems they are facing.’

After arranging the dolls piled up on the counseling table, Professor Ian stood up and handed the hair tie on the desk to her, who had her hair untied like an older sister.

‘If the professor was a person who would only do what he wanted to do without caring about the students who came for counseling, Charlotte’s application for counseling would have been mixed up in a pile of paperwork and forgotten forever.’

‘but… .’

‘Professor is just bad at expressing himself.’

And, counseling is to show that clumsy side to the other person as it is.

Even if you are imperfect, you have to be honest with yourself first so that the other person can more comfortably share their worries and wounds.

‘To be overly conscious of students like now, and to try to hide the true face of the professor. It makes it difficult for each other to have open and sincere conversations. If you want to break down the barriers with your students, the best way is to approach them as they are.’

* * *

“Charlotte, sit here. Aren’t the counseling seats unnecessarily flashy? Until now, everyone was busy running away when they saw me, but I was so excited to sit down and talk to a student for the first time. So, a week before the consultation, I cleaned out the entire office and set it up-”

“there… .”

“Oh yeah. Want some tea? Because you’re a vampire, you can’t drink black tea. I’ll bring you green tea, can you wait a minute? I’m playing with the dolls next to me.”

“I… . Professor Dana?”

“yes?”

Sitting in the counseling table that occupies nearly half of the office.

Charlotte asked in a timid voice, covering her pointy left ear with a black hat.

“Did you know I was a vampire… ? You saw that the camouflage magic had been released earlier, but you weren’t surprised at all… .”

“yes. I recognized it at first sight.”

“Uh, how? Other professors don’t seem to know… .”

“Well… .”

Ian said that you should be as honest as possible during the consultation, but I couldn’t bear to say that the dragon was standing in front of you.

In the end, Dana compromised with reality by giving the answer closest to it.

“I’m on a different level than those guys. Especially the mana sense is innate.”

“ah… .”

“The headmaster here doesn’t work for me either. That’s why I won’t get cut even if I have all sorts of accidents here.”

‘Junior, is this really true… ?’

Dana looked at Charlotte for a moment, wondering if she could spit out whatever came to her mind.

“Awesome… ! That’s why you were able to concentrate on your research without worrying about the gazes of other professors!”

When I received the eyes of envy for no reason, I was relieved and thought of Professor Ian’s advice.

‘If you share each other’s weaknesses, you can remove the distrust that the other person might unilaterally reveal their secrets. Before listening to the other person’s concerns, it would be the best way to get close to a student who is anxious for the professor to show his lacking side first.’

‘Then what if the other side thinks I’m a strange person and runs away?’

‘If I had been a student who would close the door to my heart for that reason, I would not have applied for counseling from the professor in the first place.’

Because the person Charlotte chose as her counselor was Dana, not her sister or Ian.

Ian left advice to focus on doing the best you can as Dana, not others.

“As expected, junior!”

Ian’s words were surely not empty, but for some reason Charlotte’s eyes began to glow, and she raised her voice for the first time.

“Well then!”

“yes?”

“Professor, aren’t you afraid of me right now… ?”

“yes. You have no idea?”

“Somehow, I felt comfortable in front of the professor… !”

“That, is it?”

“Yeah! The humans I’ve met so far seem to feel a sense of life when they relax even a little… . The professor doesn’t flinch at all.”

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Vampires are suppressing their vampirism with faith, but that doesn’t mean that the hunting instinct passed down from their ancestors just disappears.

Other races felt intimidated as if they were facing a beast in front of them, which was the biggest reason why vampires were still ostracized.

‘The camouflage magic also hides charisma. I didn’t know that.’

A vampire’s charisma is a sense that a dragon cannot feel, so Dana has lived her life without knowing the prejudice humans have towards them.

“The guardian spirits prevent runaways, but people have no reason to be afraid of vampires.”

“Because that vampire could be Difel… .”

“I calculated the probability the day before yesterday that the vampire I met by chance was actually a Diffel? It was ten times less likely than being struck by lightning on a sunny day. Isn’t it strange to peck at that?”

As long as Esca, the goddess of the night, is in good health, the probability of occurrence of an entity called Dipel is low, and Esca Castle has dispatched wardens around the world to deal with them professionally.

Cases in which Dipel caused damage to other races were rare enough to be counted within five fingers.

“But why do I have to hide like this? It’s not a sin to be born as a vampire. right?”

“Yeah, that’s right… .”

“So, Charlotte.”

“Yeah?”

“Where do you want to release all the camouflage magic? I want to see your true self.”

* * *

The flowers that bloomed on the cliffs are beautiful because they prove the vitality of buds that sprouted despite being hit by the wind.

Wildflowers may have rougher petals than flowers grown in pots, but this is because they inherently struggle to survive in adverse conditions.

The Escar followers who are fascinated by the vampires and pledge their allegiance to them liken their lives to a flower on a cliff.

Unlike Sharp, who was born with a good temperament.

The nobility and responsibility that vampires pursue shines even more because they are built on a nature that is uglier than humans.

Living witnesses who sublimated their inner impulses into art and charisma and overcame sin through faith.

Among them, Charlotte, the eldest daughter of the Aberdeen family, located at the top, took off her camouflage and completely blocked the incoming sunlight, creating a cool atmosphere that even Dana could feel.

“Charlotte, you must have been a high-ranking vampire… !”

The red eyes that shimmered in the dark room made me understand why there were people who feared them and offered their blood to them.

Until exactly five minutes later, when she was completely relaxed, before she opened her heavy mouth.

“… So last month, I mustered up the courage to tell Professor Hadley in the middle of class that I was very sick. He told me to just drop out if that’s the case… ! This is the first time I’ve been treated like this. I feel so unfair!”

“… uh? Ah oh. yes. I guess.”

“Other kids do too. How the hell did he know he was hiding in the bathroom during break time, everyone whispers about it… . I can hear everything… .”

“Yeah, that’s right. I couldn’t possibly keep up with the class.”

“Professor, how can I not?”

“Oh yeah. You mean class? Hmm… .”

Charlotte is living in the Paideia dormitory, even though she is a D-class student.

In other words, while paying the astronomical dormitory fee with almost no subsidies, they are not receiving education.

As a daughter of the Aberdeen family, I wonder if I can afford that level of luxury, but… .

“I wonder if something urgent has happened to my family right now, my father has been begging me not to return to Esca Castle until I graduate. I don’t want to burden my family in this situation… .”

Though I had already made up my mind several times that I should focus on my studies with the goal of subsidizing dormitory expenses, with the admirable thought that as the next head of the family, I could not use the family’s wealth recklessly.

Her social phobia got worse day by day, to the point where she couldn’t keep her senses in places where there were a lot of people gathering. Charlotte, who was absent from most classes, couldn’t get good grades at all.

“That’s why you didn’t attend the magic duel evaluation.”

“Yeah… . Last year, there were almost no observers, so I thought about aiming for the C class. This year, it was full of people from the E class evaluation day.”

In this situation.

Can she get good grades in the final exams, as she is often sick due to nervous breakdown and sunlight allergy?

Dana thought about a solution for a while, then came up with a good idea and opened the closet.

“This is it.”

Charlotte’s eyes twinkled as she looked at Dana.