I Became a Terminally Ill Magic Genius at the Academy

A chubby male student was piling bread the size of a fist on his tray and eagerly eating. 

It was a familiar face. 

Kyle Evergreen. 

In the original work, he was a supporting character. While he wasn’t a significant character, Kyle played his role well as a supporting character.  

‘He was practically a potion factory…’  

Through the potions made by Kyle, Cedric and his party conveniently grew stronger. 

Rather than directly being involved with Cedric’s group, he provided indirect help through potions. Thus, he was a character Yohan could easily befriend without any burden. 

Moreover, his father ran a merchant company, the Evergreen Merchant Group. 

While it wasn’t a large-scale merchant group yet, its influence was gradually expanding. 

Considering his potion-making skills and the backing of the Evergreen Merchant Group…  

‘He’s not someone it would hurt to befriend.’  

Plus, he would be participating in the upcoming dormitory competition. 

It meant that following Leila and Yohan, Kyle ranked third among the freshmen of the White Wolf Dormitory.  

Yohan picked up his tray and walked briskly toward Kyle. 

As he moved, the students of the White Wolf Dormitory subtly avoided his gaze, but Yohan didn’t pay any attention to them and approached Kyle.  

“Mind if I join you?”  

He cleared his throat and struck up a conversation. 

Although he hadn’t mentioned it to others, Yohan had been putting in quite a bit of effort since the first day he found himself in this world. 

What kind of effort, you ask?  

‘An effort to break away from the delinquent image.’  

He figured that if he continued to carry the stigma of being a delinquent and a trashy person, it wouldn’t benefit him in the long run. 

So he was trying to tone down the personality of this body as much as possible and engage in ‘social activities’ without disturbing the original storyline. 

This attempt to converse with Kyle was for the same reason.  

“O-Oh, of course. Sit down and eat. It’s good.”  

Kyle’s face stiffened for a moment when he saw Yohan but then nodded vigorously. 

Yohan felt a strange emotion as he watched Kyle’s reaction.  

‘This feels like the reaction of an outcast hearing a bully ask to eat with them.’  

In other words, it felt like Yohan had become the bully making Kyle uncomfortable. 

Yohan shook off the uneasy feeling and sat down to start his meal. 

The bread was dry, the ham was simply salty, and he couldn’t tell whether the cheese was there or not. 

The soup…  

“This tastes awful.”  

He couldn’t quite find the words to describe the flavor, but the closest description would be something like milk diluted with water.  

“Isn’t it… Sort of edible?”  

“This?”  

Yohan couldn’t hide his bewilderment at Kyle’s question. 

How could anyone find this tasty? 

While the food—except for the soup—wasn’t entirely inedible, it definitely couldn’t be called delicious.  

“Oh… No. I mean, after eating it for a while, it seems like it isn’t that good.”  

Kyle replied awkwardly. 

Once again, Yohan strongly felt like he was bullying Kyle.

As expected, the rumor of Yohan Hart being a delinquent appeared to be widely spread.  

‘In situations like this, getting closer by sharing some personal stories isn’t a bad idea.’  

Yohan took a bite of his bread and continued the conversation.  

“Your father runs a merchant group?”  

“Yeah. The Evergreen Merchant Group. He’s been pestering me to inherit it from him already.”  

Kyle sighed as he spoke. 

Yohan stared at Kyle and spoke again.  

“Then why didn’t you just take over the merchant group instead of enrolling in the academy?”  

Huh. That wasn’t my voice.  

Before he could say anything, a mocking voice echoed from nearby, and Yohan turned his head.  

The dormitory badge with a flaming lion caught his eye.

It was a student from the Blazing Golden Lion Dormitory.  

“Haverto…”  

Kyle muttered quietly. 

So, the guy’s name was Haverto.  

Darkish skin.  

Golden hair.  

Eyes filled with malice.  

‘A typical Golden Lion.’  

Yohan quickly assessed the person.  

“Instead of coming all the way here and disgracing the academy, wouldn’t it be better if you just withdrew voluntarily?”  

Haverto’s words made Kyle’s face darken, and Yohan clicked his tongue.  

‘Ah! I was trying to live a peaceful life.’  

‘But I didn’t expect a Golden Lion to show up.’

———

“I thought I’d stop by before the dorm competition, but as expected from the ‘dormitory of commoners,’ the food is terrible.”  

Golden Sun, Haverto, glanced at Kyle’s tray and wrinkled his brow.  

One of the nicknames of the White Wolf Dormitory was the ‘dormitory of commoners.’  

As suggested by its name, the Solitary White Wolf Dormitory generally attracted individuals who were more independent than social. 

Among them, the proportion of talented commoners was relatively high.  

Conversely, the Golden Lion Dormitory was associated with nobility and honor, so it had a high proportion of noble students.  

‘The problem is that there are quite a few with a warped sense of superiority.’  

The original Yohan Hart was one of those people.  

This guy probably wasn’t any different.  

“I don’t know if you can even fight after eating this stuff, but good luck.”  

Haverto flashed a sly smile and extended his hand. Just as his hand was about to lightly tap Kyle on the shoulder—  

Smack.  

Yohan’s hand grabbed Haverto’s wrist.  

“Hmm?”  

Kyle, who had naturally shrunk away in anticipation of Haverto’s aggressive pat, widened his eyes in surprise when he saw Yohan’s hand gripping Haverto’s wrist.  

Of course, Haverto himself blinked in surprise as he looked at Yohan holding his wrist.

Only then did Haverto finally look at Yohan properly. He let out an ‘Ah’ as he recognized him. 

The whole process felt awkward since it was clear from the beginning that he had come here knowing Yohan was present.  

“Yohan Hart, fancy seeing you here. It’s been a while.”  

Haverto’s expression slightly twisted as he spoke. 

Yohan could tell that Haverto was quite conscious of him. In fact, it appeared that his very purpose for coming here was Yohan.  

“Yeah, sure. But when did we ever meet before?”  

“… Four years ago, in the capital.”  

Of course, Yohan had no memory of it. He calmly observed Haverto before shaking his head.  

“Don’t remember.”  

“… You don’t remember even after punching me?”  

So, it appeared he was someone who had been beaten by the former Yohan. 

Yohan let out a small, incredulous laugh at the continuous stream of trouble his past self had caused.  

‘But fighting with a Golden Lion isn’t exactly just typical delinquency, is it?’  

Yohan thought as he opened his mouth.  

“I tend to remember getting hit, not hitting others.”  

“You’re still a lunatic.”  

“Yeah. So if you don’t want to deal with a lunatic, just get lost quietly.”  

“I’ll leave once you let go.”  

At Haverto’s words, Yohan realized he was still gripping his wrist and loosened his hold.  

“Now, get lost. And don’t even think about causing trouble.”  

“Oh my. Since it’s a command from the great young master of the Marquis Hart family, I suppose I must obey. After all, you’re destined to be the ruler of the North, aren’t you?”  

Haverto continued to mock as he spoke. 

Yohan chuckled quietly. 

Meanwhile, Haverto kept going.  

“But how did the great young master of the Marquis Hart family end up assigned to the dormitory of commoners?”  

“Why don’t you go and ask the spirit of the Aaron Island?”  

“No need to ask; I think I can figure it out soon enough. Anyone can see that you’re far from noble-like, and you single-handedly destroy the honor of the nobility. Isn’t that why you ended up in the White Wolf Dormitory?”  

Yohan wasn’t fazed at all by Haverto’s insulting words. And for good reason.  

‘After all, it’s not really about me.’  

He was bad-mouthing the former Yohan, so there was no reason for him to feel affected.  

A delinquent? 

Sure, Yohan was a delinquent.  

But so what? 

What difference did it make now?  

“It’s just pathetic to see someone talking about noble honor while acting like a thug.”  

Yohan muttered as if he were disappointed.  

Haverto scowled while glaring at Yohan.  

“What did you say?”

“It’s too pathetic to bother dealing with, so just leave.”  

“……”  

Yohan waved his hand dismissively as he spoke. 

Naturally, Haverto didn’t listen and instead took another step closer.  

“I said, just leave.”  

“Did you come in second place in the White Wolf Dormitory?”  

“I think I did.”  

Yohan casually confirmed Haverto’s statement. As if that was exactly what he wanted to hear, Haverto’s voice grew stronger.  

“Then you’ll be my opponent.”  

“Good. I was thinking I definitely had to win anyway. If my opponent is you, it should be quite easy.”  

“This bastard…”  

“Your language is pretty foul, huh? Very noble of you.”  

Yohan stared directly at Haverto, who gritted his teeth before quickly opening his mouth again.  

“Let’s see who wins at the dormitory competition.”  

“Oh, wait. I think I suddenly remembered when you cried after I hit you last time.”  

“… See you later.”  

Haverto growled and withdrew his hand, which had been hovering near Yohan’s chest as if he intended to grab him by the collar, then turned around. 

Yohan smirked. 

He was quick to try to mess with Kyle, but seemed to lack the courage to lay a finger on Yohan. 

A guy who didn’t even have the guts to start a proper fight, yet was full of bluster.

Thinking that, Yohan shifted his gaze back to his tray, but—  

“……”  

Kyle was looking at Yohan with a strange expression.  

“What?”  

“Well, it’s just…”  

At Yohan’s question, Kyle awkwardly smiled and opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again as if he couldn’t find the right words.  

“What is it?”  

“It’s just that, well, I don’t think of you that way, but you know, people do say things.”  

“A delinquent?”  

“Uh, well…”  

“Still, I was a real delinquent. That guy’s just a thug.”  

Yohan was someone who didn’t discriminate against people and had a foul personality toward everyone. 

Haverto, on the other hand, was a jerk only to those weaker than him. 

Yohan tried to convey that difference, but Kyle appeared unable to understand the distinction between a delinquent and a thug. 

In the end, Yohan closed his mouth and continued his meal.  

“Thanks.”  

Kyle suddenly threw out words of gratitude while looking directly at Yohan.  

“There’s nothing to thank me for.”  

It wasn’t as if Yohan did it for Kyle’s sake; he had simply intervened because he was annoyed himself. 

It wasn’t something to be thanked for. 

But, of course, Kyle didn’t see it that way.  

‘I was worried because of all the bad rumors… But maybe he’s a better delinquent than I thought.’  

Kyle thought to himself. 

Not that he could say Yohan wasn’t a delinquent at all, but maybe he was, at least, a good delinquent.  

Of course, Yohan was obvious to Kyle’s thoughts. He simply stirred the watery soup on his tray.