I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 838 - Side Story 111: Like a Midsummer Night's Dream (1)

The life that unfolded afterward was similar to before, yet distinctly different. Rudsela realized this most acutely through the approach of others.

"Teacher Rudsela!" 

"Are you busy?" 

"Have you eaten?" 

"I found a good place today."

People were clinging to her far too much. From students to fellow teachers. They would come looking for Rudsela at every spare moment, bothering her.

'What's this? Did people always come looking for me this often?'

She recalled her memories of working at Theon. Well, it would be a lie to say she wasn't popular. He was an excellent mage and, at least as a teacher at Theon, never neglected his duties.

Therefore, the people he encountered were usually focused on these teaching duties.

'Personal approaches, as person to person, weren't that common.'

They weren't nonexistent. But they weren't as frequent as now.

Rudger had a cold and frightening atmosphere and wasn't sociable, so people were reluctant to approach him. Those who could approach him were basically people with strong psychological barriers, commonly those with strong mentalities. Or those who were completely oblivious.

But it was different here. Rudsela was the same as Rudger. She was also quite cold and rational, and not particularly sociable. She had never shown anyone a smile.

Yet she was popular.

'Should I consider this the effect of being a different gender?'

You might say gender doesn't matter, but the influence is greater than you'd think. The very action of hormones is different, isn't it? Most humans are greatly influenced by hormones. They say willpower is important, but it's ultimately hormones that control that willpower.

'The fact that people who couldn't succeed at dieting even with help from all kinds of famous trainers succeeded with just one injection proves it.'

And in the original world, Rudger was a man, and those who approached were usually women. And in society's view, women approaching men first wasn't seen in a particularly good light.

Their claim was that women should fundamentally be modest and demure. So there was a tendency to view women who approached men first as frivolous or loose.

'Well, it's an era without much in the way of human rights, so such standards would be severe.'

Still, in the original world, such perceptions were changing rapidly because the head of state was a woman and there were quite diverse women in high positions. Especially after Yekaterina became queen and Aileen ascended as empress.

'But this world hasn't reached that point yet.'

So women also chose to hide their purposes and speak indirectly and subtly when approaching men.

But this wasn't strictly applied only to women. Conversely, for men, this aspect actually worked as excessive pressure.

The pervasive perception was that men must make the first move—this coercive notion from the opposite direction.

People's personalities vary tremendously, yet women receive oppression and men receive compulsion.

'Well, enough of this digression.'

So what Rudsela was thinking was that most of the people approaching her now were men. And while they were trying not to reveal their true intentions, she could see at a glance the traces of 'passionate courtship.'

'Actually, there's that too, but strangely, the acquaintances I knew in this world show an odd obsession toward me.'

Someone who was originally playful becoming more mischievous was at least better. Even people who seemed like they never would showed strangely eerie obsession, making her wonder if this was really normal.

Recently, especially, Cain Selmore had started frequently visiting her at Theon under the pretense of being a guest. Perhaps stimulated by Cain's appearance, other men began approaching Rudsela even more.

As a result, she received critical looks from some women. Though she said some women, the main target was really just that impudent young wolf.

Because of this, Rudsela had to spend quite exhausting days recently. Wherever she went, someone would come looking for her. Even sitting still in her office, her assistant's sharp and piercing gaze was extremely irritating.

If she moved elsewhere, somehow people would follow her like ghosts.

'Just by becoming men, people who were originally women transform to be this aggressive?'

Right. She tried to think positively—at least she was fortunate not to meet everyone.

'I'm hiding my identity during this period anyway.'

There were more than a few people she felt awkward meeting. Especially if she encountered the Night Crawler Knight Commander during this period, it would be extremely troublesome.

'No. That would actually be better. If I encountered the 1st Imperial Princess Aileen during this period, or rather, the Crown Prince Allen here.'

Mm. She definitely didn't want to meet him under any circumstances. So she thought it was a great relief. The one week Rene mentioned was approaching. If there had been a few more weeks here, she might have made contact with the Crown Prince Allen.

'Even as Aileen, her obsessive personality was quite severe. She had to get what she wanted in her hands to be satisfied. Even now, after ascending as empress, she's been continuously trying to recruit me.'

What would she do if she became a man with even worse obsession? Rudsela felt her spine chill without realizing it.

'Whatever the case, is this finally ending?'

Rudsela stopped the pen nib she'd been playing with. Rene had said so. After about a week, they'd be able to return on their own.

She'd thought some kind of process might be needed to return, but it seemed that was just unnecessary worry.

Rudsela felt her consciousness being drawn by some powerful force. She didn't resist that force. Rather than being forcibly pulled, it felt like the comfort of naturally returning home.

And so Rudsela briefly closed her eyes and then dropped her head forward.

"Teacher. Would you like some tea......?"

The assistant who had just opened the door and entered, Sedan Roschen, was startled at the sight of Rudsela with her head down and approached her.

The moment Sedan's hand was about to touch Rudsela's body, Rudsela grabbed Sedan's wrist.

"What is it?" 

"Ah, Teacher. You've come to your senses. You suddenly dropped your head, so I thought something happened." 

"I lost consciousness?"

Rudsela tried to recall something as if retracing her memories. But like having dreamed, parts of her memory were vague and hazy.

The past week felt like she had become a different person. The feeling of being herself yet not herself. And strange memories that shouldn't exist.

"Sedina." 

"Yes? Teacher. My name is Sedan." 

"......Ah, right. I was confused for a moment. A similar girl came to mind."

Rudsela shook her head. She'd made an uncharacteristic mistake due to the strange memories that suddenly surfaced.

"Are you really alright? I wonder if there's a health problem somewhere." 

"It's not like that, so don't worry. I know my own body's condition well."

Rudsela seriously wondered if these memories were created by the gods' influence. But she was a bit confused since this had never happened before. The gods wanted their voices heard; they didn't create and convey nonexistent memories.

Rudsela reached a conclusion. This wasn't related to the gods.

She was influenced by some external existence. It was similar to what the gods did, but fundamentally different in that it didn't harm her.

'Above all, it feels too natural and familiar.'

Just as Rudger had seen part of Rudsela's memories, Rudsela had also seen part of Rudger's memories.

And naturally, the one most greatly affected was she who received part of future memories that didn't previously exist.

'Was that me? Me from another world.'

Rudsela raised her head and gazed out the window. She had thought her life could never be empathized with. The path she had to walk was a lonely one that no one could understand.

Even knowing this with her head, perhaps her heart felt loneliness in one corner.

But now, Rudsela felt the lump in her heart loosen a bit. Beyond this world was a wider world, and there was another version of herself there.

The self in the other world had achieved all tasks. So unlike her current sharp-edged self, the self in the other world was somewhat softer and more sociable.

Rudsela felt envious of that while simultaneously feeling a certain hope. Because she knew that at the end of this path whose conclusion was unknown, only ominous destruction didn't exist.

Of course, that didn't make her think optimistically. If she did nothing, the desired future wouldn't come.

She was simply reassured. Just knowing that at the end of this path was a terminus called salvation, she could gain the strength to move forward.

"It was like a midsummer night's dream, but somehow I feel refreshed thanks to it." 

"Huh, huh? Teacher. Did you just smile?"

Sedan Roschen widened her eyes in disbelief at the smile that appeared on Rudsela's lips.

Rudsela returned to her original cold expression as if she'd never smiled.

"I don't know what you're talking about. More importantly, where's the list of remaining Second Orders within Theon?"

Sedan, pressed by Rudsela's charisma, hurriedly handed over the materials she'd prepared. The dangerous daily life like walking a tightrope had begun again.

But for a while, it seemed she could fully enjoy this daily life.

Rudger and Rene returned to the original world. When the two regained consciousness, what they saw were the rotating circular rings of the mirror world.

The two naturally made eye contact, then simultaneously let out a chuckle.

"Somehow, it feels like I had an interesting dream. I didn't think of something like this though." 

"I see. We used it together, but the period we were actually together was short." 

"It couldn't be helped. Senior persistently chased and tormented me." 

"Tormented? You were running at me saying you liked it." 

"That's tormenting. Even if I receive confessions from women, it's just a bit troublesome for me." 

"That part, I definitely empathize with."

Honestly speaking, the experience of having one's chin grabbed or receiving strange skinship from a man with a man's memories wasn't a very pleasant feeling.

"Still, with this we've definitely learned one thing."

Rudger looked at the central core of the mirror world.

"The mirror world. This was a device that moves to other parallel worlds that have a point of contact with us through the commonly called multidimensional universe theory." 

"Though I made it, I didn't know it would have such infinitely varied effects."

Rene had just thought of it as a device that crossed more distant dimensions, like the Crystal Corridor that Rudger made. Yet the result was far more high-dimensional than that, leaving her unsure whether to be happy or just bewildered.

"And we've only used it once. With this, it's still hard to confirm the mirror world's proper performance." 

"That's true. For instance, we need to confirm whether our existence can be observed in this world while we're using the mirror world. Just as we saw or experienced parallel worlds, there will be variations unique to each world."

In that sense, going to a world with different genders could be considered fortunate.

Rene checked the pocket watch she'd prepared in advance.

"Amazing. A week passed in that world, but here only about an hour has passed at most." 

"The flow of time is quite different. Is one hour the standard originally?" 

"I can't be certain of that either. Sometimes it's 10 minutes. Sometimes 2 hours might pass. But one thing is certain—time here always flows slower." 

"That's fortunate."

If they'd spent a week in that world and years had passed here, an unmanageable situation would have occurred.

"S-so, about that."

Rene asked with a bashfully flushed face.

"Would you like to use it just one more time?"