Simon approached the fallen Claudia. "Are you okay?"
She gave a small nod. When she tried to stand, the paralysis hadn't fully worn off, and she collapsed back down ungracefully.
"I'll help you to the waiting room."
She shook her head. "Leave me alone."
But Simon insisted. He draped her arm over his shoulder and, careful not to startle her, slowly helped her to her feet. He was so strong that his movements forced her to walk along with him.
Claudia remained silent.
She glanced to the side, her eyes hollow. The arena was a hive of activity as staff cleared the poison gas and wiped down the floor. They were so busy that no one else even thought to check on them.
The two of them left the arena and entered the hallway leading to the student waiting room.
Claudia looked at Simon. She had used one of her most precious paralysis potions, yet he was striding along perfectly fine. It was irritating. The only reason he could be this unaffected was probably...
"...Professor Byulya's poison-eating class," Claudia said aloud. "The reason you can move like that even when you're paralyzed is because of that class, isn't it?"
Simon hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding. "I'd say it helped."
"...Haha." A weak, humorless laugh escaped her. "Right. You're the one Lady Nephthys brought in, after all. There must have been a reason. There's no way it was a useless class."
Muttering to herself, Claudia hung her head again. "You know, what you said two days ago... it really cut me to the bone."
"What did?"
"You asked, 'You don't really want to do this, do you?'" A hoarse whisper escaped her lips. "If I could turn back time..."
"Have you changed your mind now?"
"I can't answer that." Claudia shook her head. "I'm not just an individual anymore. I represent the majority. I led the boycott. If I give up now, I'll be betraying everyone who trusted and followed me."
They reached the waiting room door. Simon opened it with one hand and helped her onto a sofa.
"Get some rest."
As Simon turned to leave, Claudia called out, "Simon."
He stopped.
"Do you know the real reason I'm leading this boycott?"
Simon turned back, his gaze steady. It was something he had been deeply curious about. "What is it?"
"Because Professor Byulya..." Her voice trembled. "...doesn't care about us."
Simon frowned.
"It's true, isn't it? Have you seen how much the other professors dote on the students majoring in their subjects? They give them special training, drop all sorts of hints. The professors don't want the talented students—the ones tied to their own performance records—to fall behind. Professor Bahil, Professor Walter, Professor Hongfeng... they all do it. But why..." Her voice was thick with grief. "Why doesn't Professor Byulya care about us?"
Simon fell silent.
"The professor is impartial to everyone. She makes us all take the same antibody-building class. If our competitors build up antibodies, it puts us Venomology majors at a disadvantage. Our chances of surviving until the second year will drop even further. Why? Why won't the professor dote on us? Why does she make things even harder?"
She pressed both hands to her forehead. "Yeah, I know! I know I'm a selfish, nasty bitch! But Kizen is a system of endless competition! Is it really so awful, so worthy of being condemned, for me—for us—to expect a little favoritism from our major's professor?"
Simon remained silent as her voice began to crack. "In this second БМАТ, all the Venomology students' ranks plummeted! That witch Meirin made a big deal about dropping from 9th to 220th, right? I dropped from 35th to the 700s! For the first time since coming to Kizen, I thought I might actually get expelled! But the very next day, Professor Byulya...!"
A sob broke through her words. "She just... kept feeding us poison!"
She continued.
"Don't I have a right to feel this way? I didn't want to fight with the professor either!" Finally, she buried her face in her hands and let out a raw, sorrowful cry.
Simon couldn't offer any words of comfort, nor could he try to reason with or soothe her. Her emotions were far too intense.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. Professor Byulya..." He rolled several phrases around in his mind before finally trailing off. "...I'm sure she has her reasons."
She sniffled, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, but fresh tears immediately streamed down to replace them. "...Sorry. I just ended up unloading my weird complaints on you, and you have nothing to do with this."
"It's okay."
"I'm being so pathetic right now. I'd like to be alone."
"Alright. Get some rest."
Simon left the waiting room, closing the door behind him. He looked up at the ceiling, lost in quiet thought.
That evening, Simon went to Byulya's research lab.
"Professor, it's Simon."
"Oh, come in."
When he opened the door, Simon was stunned by the scene before him. 'Is this a room or a garbage dump?' It was astonishing in more ways than one. Trash and junk were strewn about in a chaotic mess, and the walls and furniture were rusted from the poison her body emitted. In the middle of the pandemonium, a woman was sprawled out on a sofa.
"You came earlier than I thought," Byulya said with a wave and a grin.
Simon quickly bowed his head. "Oh, hello, Professor."
"Come and sit."
"Thank you." He stopped, his foot stuck to the floor. He looked down to see he had stepped on something sticky. No matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't budge.
"Bwhahahaha!"
Seeing Simon struggle, Byulya clutched her stomach and let out a caustic laugh. Simon's face flushed with embarrassment. "P-please don't just laugh! Help me, Professor!"
"Try this." She casually dug in her ear with her pinky, then flicked a mysterious blue, rectangular substance at him.
With a grimace, Simon used his other, non-sticky foot to slide the object over. As soon as the blue lump touched the goo, it melted away as if by magic.
"...This might not be my place to say, but couldn't you try to live a little more tidily? I think Professor Hongfeng would have a fit if she saw this."
"How I use my room is my business!"
Soon, they were sitting opposite each other. Byulya rested her chin on her hand and smiled. "You look worried. Stuck on something while preparing for the БМАТ? Tell me anything. I'll help you out, just this once."
"Ah, actually," Simon said, shaking his head, "I've more or less found a solution for the 3rd БМАТ on my own."
"Oh, really? That's great. Then why did you come to see me?"
"There's something I'd like to ask you, Professor," Simon continued, his expression serious. "After the poison-eating class is over, what kind of class are you planning to teach?"
She let out a disbelieving laugh. "Why are you curious about that?"
"I faced Claudia during the Duel Evaluation today."
Simon explained what had happened, omitting the personal reasons behind her boycott and representing her position as best he could. Byulya listened with a bored expression.
"Did those kids ask you to do this?"
"No." Simon smiled faintly. "This was purely my own decision."
Byulya closed her eyes without a word.
A long silence stretched between them. Simon waited patiently.
"Alright, fine," she finally said. "I was planning to teach my original Venomology technique. Making you adapt to poison is just a preparatory step for that."
Simon's eyes widened. So she did have a plan. "Wouldn't it have been better if you had told the students that beforehand?"
Her expression made it clear she didn't agree at all. "There's an apple on an apple tree."
"Ah, yes."
"Starving animals are waiting for the apple to fall. Does the apple announce, 'Hello there, I'll be falling from the tree at precisely this hour, minute, and second, so please be on standby to catch and eat me' before it drops?"
"Ah, no."
Annoyed, Byeolya lifted her legs and slammed them on the table. “Right. Of course not, dammit! These noble brats here have their noses so high in the air, they openly demand a briefing from me. Do I, the teacher, have to bow and scrape and explain what I'm going to teach them? Do I have to be evaluated and inspected by a student for that?”
It seemed Byeolya had some pent-up feelings of her own.
"D-did something happen, Professor?" Simon asked, concerned.
She remained silent for a moment before speaking. "When I first arrived on Lok Island, the elders summoned me." She gritted her teeth. "I learned one thing from talking to those stubborn bastards. No matter how much I explain, I'll just get nitpicked somewhere else and endlessly challenged. The elders and those brats boycotting my class just don't like me, and that's all there is to it!"
'...Hmm.' Realizing the emotional rift was deeper than he'd thought, Simon spoke. "There may be people like that. But Professor, as I said, there's also Claudia's case. The students are dissatisfied because they don't understand your philosophy. I think this is something that can be resolved through conversation."
"Ah, forget it!" she suddenly shouted. "Me, them, we've each chosen our own way. And we both have to pay the price for our choices. On the plains, they don't teach you how to survive one by one!"
"Still," Simon said seriously, "this isn't the plains, is it?"
Byeolya growled. "What are you trying to say?"
"At Kizen, it's normal for professors to appeal to their students. The students have grown accustomed to Kizen's culture, and I think they might misunderstand, wondering, 'Why isn't our professor doing what the other professors do for us?' They're still just kids, after all," the seventeen-year-old Simon continued calmly. "So, would it be possible for you to talk with the students just once?"
"So you're telling me to bow down to that ridiculous boycott?"
"No." Simon smiled. "You'd be giving the students a chance, Professor."
After Simon left, Byeolya remained in her lab, lost in thought.
—"What we both need right now is a conversation. You could simply show them what kind of original technique you'll be teaching after the poison-eating class. Wouldn't that be enough?"
His voice echoed in her ear. 'Hmph, making a promise so unlike me.'
A knock came from the door. "Professor. It's me, the Head TA."
"Oh, come in."
The Venomics Head TA, her face haggard, opened the door with a tense expression.
"Head TA."
"Yes, Professor!"
"Mobilize the TAs and gather all the kids who were boycotting, right now. If any of them refuse to come, you have my permission to knock them out."
The Head TA, who had been trembling in fear of what other bizarre thing her professor might do, suddenly had her face light up. "P-Professooor!"
"Hey, what's with the sudden shouting?"
"Ah, I'm sorry! I was just so happy... But what should I tell them the purpose is?"
Byeolya grinned like a villain hatching a plot. "Just tell them I have something to say."

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