Namgung Se-ga, the warrior, was reincarnated in Romance

I took Professor Brianna Casablanca’s World Civilization course with Shaden Roze.

It was a class attended by all 120 first-year students together. Shayden, who sat in the awkward left window seat that was neither at the front, nor at the back, nor in the middle, argued that memorization subjects should be like this.

It was difficult to understand because it had not been like this since the days of Confucius and Mencius, when many people sat in a classroom and taught something, reciting the “Great Learning” and the “Doctrine of the Mean.”

However, the professor realized the moment he turned around a few times to write on the blackboard. This spot was a blind spot in his field of vision.

The professor from Casablanca, who looked like she had just crossed the threshold of her forties, was a beauty. The line moving from the hand to the elbow was clearly the result of rigorous training. It was clear that it was not swordsmanship or martial arts, but the cultivation of etiquette.

She explained the birth of the ancient dynasty and the Sieron Empire in a firm tone, but her final words were not harsh. Some of it was something I already knew.

“In the Sieran Empire, there are particularly many atheists, but there have always been people who believed in the gods regardless of their existence.” Including the road from the Satin Desert at the western edge to the only mountain range in the north, common traces of the Nine Gods have been found across all continents, from the five dynasties of Yulan, Bivan, Owen, Floyd, and Felix to the vast lands of the Sieran Empire.

Professor Casablanca ordered everyone to open the same page of the textbook and continued speaking.

“It’s a story about the creation myth of the Nine Gods.” Shall we all read together from the second line of the fourth page downwards?

“On the first day, the sea was created, on the second day, the land was formed, on the third day, the sun and the moon appeared, and on the fourth day, all of these were shaped into springs, rivers, wildflowers, birds, and beasts.” On the fifth day, humans were shaped, and among the gods who saw the humans, three of them simultaneously fell in love.

I gently ran my hand over the delicate illustrations, just like the familiar ones I used to see in fairy tale books when I was a child.

“While the three gods fought for possession of the human, the earth was devastated, the human lost their life, and the six gods who tried to stop the fight fell asleep from exhaustion.” The god who succeeded in killing the two gods and winning resurrected the human who had died on the sixth day, which seemed like it would never open, but it was no longer the human he had loved. The god tried five more times and then requested a deep sleep that would last forever, the first of its kind, and that was the seventh day.

The voices reading along with the book were still youthful, as they had not yet gone through puberty.

The emperor of the ancient land also claimed to be the son of a god, but the ignorant believed in shamans, and those who recited texts believed in Buddha and Taoist masters. Fighting, dying, and winning were more the ways of humans and demons than of gods. It was astonishing that the emperor of this land claimed to be the son of a god.

“…And so, on the sixth day, the humans who were born flourished, called themselves the children of the gods, and proclaimed themselves kings in place of the god who had lost his name, for flourishing is the footprint of the gods.”

“Thank you, everyone.” Thus, the six dynasties gathered together and began to establish their dynasties in the lands permitted by their power, asserting their influence. From page 15 to page 20, the royal lineage of the five dynasties and from page 21 to page 24, the royal lineage of the Sieran dynasty will be tested in a fill-in-the-blank format for the midterm exam, so it’s best to memorize them all.

“Yes.”

“Every time a marriage alliance is formed between dynasties, new treaties and regulations are born, so the royal family tree is the history of the world.” The empire and the five kingdoms have clashed, absorbed, persuaded, and soothed each other’s flourishing cultures to reach this point, and you must keep that in mind. “Alright, then let’s move on to page 25 right away.”

After that, it was about the first treaties, laws, thoughts, and literature, etc. It was a story about such things. I folded the page of the place where I said I would take the exam and quietly attended the lecture, but it was hard enough to remember the names of the people sitting next to me, let alone the names of complete strangers.

While scribbling with a pen and mimicking the person next to him, at some point he started to let the lecture flow through one ear like listening to a story, skimming through it vaguely. I was used to sparring, but the written exam was torturous even before it began.

***

Calypso Agrizent, who taught the lineage of empires, was a figure even more formidable than Casablanca. He said he would conduct the classes for the upcoming semester in this classroom. As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and began densely writing names on the chalkboard that filled an entire wall.

Every time the very thin and stern-looking man waved his stick-like arm, letters appeared as if they were being carved. From the top left to the bottom right, every continuous line of text, without once referring to a book, was someone’s name.

“The noble titles of the Sieran Empire include eight hundred hereditary titles and a staggering two thousand non-hereditary titles.” However, a title does not only affect one person. If there is an earl, there will be an earl’s wife, and a viscount, and a viscountess, and an heir…

Calypso Agrigent murmured as she spoke, underlining the name she had written.

“These titles and honors can be combined into one person’s body, then divided along bloodlines, and sometimes sold for money depending on the circumstances.” To audit, monitor, and punish to ensure there is no corruption in all of this. That is precisely the duty of the Imperial Nobility Yearbook Editorial Audit Team.

With a sharp sound, a chalk mark was made right in the center of the blackboard. My mind was in a daze.

“I can’t memorize all of this.” There’s no need to memorize it. Even at this very moment, contracts, marriages, and births are continuing. But. You, who are in front of me right now, must dive into a future entangled with numerous interests and relationships.

The man drew several lines between the letters he had written. He added short words above the lines. Marriage, alliance, adoption, succession…

“When you graduate from the academy, you too will receive appropriate titles based on your grades, and some of you will marry those who hold hereditary titles.” The knowledge you have learned now will only shine at that time.

Calypso Agrigent’s voice was consistently harsh and firm. The end of her voice cracked slightly. It felt as if he had been shouting all day long.

With the broken end of the chalk, the man tapped the center of the blackboard repeatedly. Then he turned back and drew circles, triangles, and squares over dozens of the names he had written. And then he drew dozens of asterisks.

“We have marked with asterisks the names of those who are directly related to the people present here.” They are relatives, guardians, and those with potential for adoption. Since they are academy peers graduating at the same time, they inevitably influence each other. Remember. The names with circles drawn around them are people you should know and get close to. Likewise, memorize them. The triangle and square names require a bit more detailed explanation, and since the blood and contractual relationships are very complex, I will explain them over several days in the next session.

The classroom was silent. No one made a sound.

It was a situation where I could have vented my complaints, but the fear of the man who had all those thousands and millions of names, life histories, places of residence, and interaction statuses stored in his head silenced me.

Everyone knew that the faces and names of the young boys and girls sitting here would be on the list of those granted noble titles three years later.

Agrizent called the four students sitting in the front row, stood them up, and handed out the handouts he had brought. The biographies of those with names marked by asterisks were inscribed in just a few words.

The students whose names were marked with asterisks, whether they knew the people mentioned or not, as well as the other kids around them, couldn’t say a word when information about people they knew or didn’t know was suddenly given.

“At this moment, you have realized how powerful a weapon having information can be.” “Getting into the Academy of the Sieran Empire means you are qualified to belong to the top 15% class.”

“⋯.”

“We need to know.” The threats that will come our way, the benefits we can gain, the direction we should move in. In this class, I plan to teach you how to process information so that you can use it effectively to carry on your family’s name and lineage.

The man who had been raising his voice the whole time dragged a simple chair that squeaked and sat it near the right corner of the blackboard.

In his hand, there was a bundle of unbound documents. He straightened his shoulders and only lowered his head to look at the stack of papers.

The professor’s neck, so thin that the bones protruded, added to his sensitive appearance.

“What are you doing?” I’m reading. You have to memorize it. You can play a game of guessing each other’s names or have a casual chat about what you know. From now until the end of the class, the time is yours to borrow. I didn’t buy you; you bought me. If you need something, just use it and put it back.

“⋯Yes⋯.”

“We will have a quiz next week on the material and handouts provided today.” From now on, every week, I will give a certain amount of handouts and conduct a five-question quiz ten minutes before the end. There are no midterms, finals, or separate assignments. Study.

The man’s gaze, which seemed like he had never even swung a twig, felt chilling. The way he handled information was closer to Dongchang (an extra-legal imperial intelligence agency led by eunuchs) rather than Gaebang (a martial arts intelligence organization led by beggars) or Haowon (a martial arts intelligence organization led by courtesans and gisaeng).

It is not about chasing to resolve what has already happened, but about proactively initiating matters so that everyone follows you.

Only then did a few people start to huddle together and whisper. Is this for real? Or, the classroom was filled with the commotion of voices confirming facts, like saying that this marriage proposal wouldn’t work out, or murmuring as if trying to memorize the first line of the handout without any thought.

Sheiden Roze, who had confidently thought it would just be a matter of quickly reviewing the noble yearbook he had already memorized, flipped through the handout he had received with a serious expression, examining it closely.

That kid and I are both the firstborns of the count’s family, but the amount of information we already knew and the way we understood it were completely different. It was a world I didn’t know until I was pointed out.

Did I arrogantly think that simply holding onto power would allow me to overcome everything and find peace?

He secluded himself in the mountains, repeatedly practicing alone to attain enlightenment and fame, but during every meeting, he would sit with his arms crossed, pretending to listen. Only when the world was on the brink of upheaval did he finally gather the entire Namgung family, both direct and collateral, under his wing and rise up with determination.

I wanted to tell him about today. I wanted to ask him what it was like to kneel and plead to protect his insignificant, lowly newborn nephews. Not only physical training but also knowledge is power, and there might already be eyes watching and guiding from above, so I wanted to plead if they could cross the river just once more with caution.

Despite swinging the sword like that, the back of his hand and arm, which bore no scars, were as white and smooth as flour.

What is it that I truly want to stop?

It was hard to tell whether the reason I could live the ten or so years of my new life with a smiling face was because I had no regrets left from my past life, or because there were still many things I couldn’t understand from my past life.

I just hoped that after living fifty years on this earth, I wouldn’t regret my past life anymore.

I vowed to take the exam properly, even if it meant reducing my training time. There were more things to learn and more things I wanted to learn than I had ever imagined. The characters in Si-eun’s name still have many strokes and my tongue still gets tangled, but it no longer feels awkward.

It was nothing less than a testament to how far I had come from my previous life.