I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy

In high school, students are often simple-minded. Whenever a young, pretty teacher arrived, they would cheer, and if she also had a good personality, she would quickly become a star on campus. 

Even though the students of Stella Academy were considered elites, this tendency wasn’t much different. After all, this was a place filled with teenagers. 

However, most of the professors here were over forty at a minimum, so it wasn’t common to have a popular professor in the way you might see in dramas. 

Professors like Professor Raiden, who taught Lunar Studies, and Professor Valenteina, the wand specialist, were exceptionally popular for their striking appearances, but such cases were rare, leaving the students’ interest largely unfulfilled.

“She’s really beautiful…”

“Hey. She looks like she could be our younger sister.”

“And she even talks like one.”

“But… She’s still a professor, right?”

In such an environment, what if a young, beautiful professor were to suddenly join the academy? 

‘Young’ didn’t quite capture it — ‘childlike’ might be more accurate. 

The new professor with an innocent appearance yet chilling name: ‘Professor Scarlet’.

In the vast auditorium, which could hold hundreds of people, around 200 students gathered, staring up at the small, white-haired girl standing at the podium. The scene felt somewhat surreal.

‘... Why is she here?’

Feeling a chill, Baek Yu-Seol cautiously moved toward the back. Even though he knew it was impossible to escape her gaze once their eyes met, he instinctively tried to move away.

“What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing…” 

Eisel carried a unique fate, one that drew Scarlet’s attention because of her particular trait of pursuing ‘destined love’ above all else. 

Of course, he knew very well that a few steps back wouldn’t do anything to hide them.

Baek Yu-Seol discreetly used his Sentient Spec to search for information related to Scarlet. There was little recorded about her. The ‘Queen of Witches’ — just the title alone made her a legendary figure.

In this world, she was akin to a ‘deus ex machina.’ Both readers and players knew of her existence, yet she had no role in the main episodes. 

Occasionally, when an unsolvable incident arose within the game, Scarlet or other special beings would appear to set things right.

For example, let’s say an event occurred where a first-year was suddenly faced with an overpowered Dark Mage. Typically, that would ruin the episode entirely, and in most games, it would lead to a ‘Game Over’ and a prompt to load a previous save. But in ‘Aether World Online’, a deus ex machina like Scarlet would appear to resolve the issue, allowing the episode to return to its normal course.

While countless bad-ending scenarios existed, no one knew why a deus ex machina would sometimes intervene.

The fact that the Queen of Witches, who normally hid away from the world, had descended here… meant that, against all odds, something in the mechanisms of fate had gone terribly wrong.

Even more surprising was that Scarlet appeared in Stella Academy, the main setting of the episode. And in one of the most important roles - a professor.

'Is that so…?' 

At last, Baek Yu-Seol fully realized his own mistakes. He had known that his actions had caused countless changes in the future, but he hadn't understood the extent of those changes. Scarlet’s arrival made it clear to him. 

'This world has become seriously distorted.'

The events had deviated far from the original storyline. Scarlet’s appearance wasn’t a coincidence. It was an inevitable outcome, brought about by the accumulation of all his past actions.

He gazed into the void, not at the screen in his spec, but at the empty air… Or perhaps somewhere up in the sky, waiting for an answer to this situation.

Then, a message appeared before him.

[The Constellation Project wishes to send you a message.]

A response arrived immediately from the entity that had brought him to this world. But…

“Argh!”

[Error! Error! Error! Error!]

[Unreadable text _003s&]

It felt like a needle had pierced through his brain, and strange, unreadable symbols filled the empty air in front of him.

“Urgh…”

“A-are you alright? What's happening? Oh my, what should I do…?”

When Baek Yu-Seol collapsed to his knees, Eisel quickly supported him. Leaning on her arm, he forced himself to his feet, straining to open his darkened vision and read the message in the air once more.

[Your ‘narrative power’ is insufficient to properly receive the message.]

As he had suspected, answers wouldn’t come easily. Struggling to regain his balance, he looked back toward Scarlet.

“Hello, everyone! I’m Scarlet, here to teach the course on Understanding Dark Magic and How to Counter It! I may not be a noble, so I don’t have a family name, but that doesn’t matter to you, right?”

Several loud “Yes!!” responses rang out from male students across the room.

However, a sharp ringing in Baek Yu-Seol’s ears made him wince.

[The Blessing of the Pink Spring Moon wards off the ‘Witch’s Charm.’]

'… What now?'

Sensing something was off, he quickly scanned the students around him.

'A charm spell?'

It was extremely difficult to cast a spell that enthralled another’s mind, especially on a mage. Normally, such spells required extensive preparation to affect a single target, let alone influence a group.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Without a special ward like the Blessing of the Pink Spring Moon, a wide-area charm spell - like Florins’ - would almost be impossible — yet Scarlet managed to do just that.

‘The effect isn’t that strong though.’

He turned to look at Eisel, who was frowning and shaking her head, trying to clear the strange thoughts invading her mind. 

Other students showed no signs of pupil dilation, the typical indicator of charm, suggesting that Scarlet had only succeeded in making herself appear strongly likable to them.

And that level of charm was something Baek Yu-Seol could easily manage to defend, simply by activating the Blessing of the Pink Spring Moon.

However, he kept this power sealed away and never used it. He knew how much Florin had been hurt by it, so he didn’t want to use it out of personal desire.

“Hm~”

Scarlet noticed that a few students hadn’t fallen under her charm and her eyes glimmered with interest. Her ability to charm wasn’t dependent solely on a person’s level of magical skill. Rather, it was determined by pure mental strength.

“As expected, there are quite a few students at Stella with strong minds, aren’t there?” 

She threw out this meaningful statement, then smiled as she took out her wand.

“Well then, the introductions are over, so let’s officially start class, shall we?”

Even though they hadn’t had a real conversation yet, she was already beginning the lesson. 

Some students looked disappointed, but they couldn’t disrupt the class.

“Alrighty~!”

Scarlet made a cute sound as she waved her small heart-shaped wand. 

In the air, a magical circle formed, blending fresh colors like red, yellow, and orange.

“I’ll be teaching you how to counter dark magic. But, actually, you all know this already, right? The best way to counter any enemy is to know a whole lot about them.” 

The vibrant magic circle spun around her wand, and then it gradually turned to a dull, gray hue.

“Starting today, I’ll introduce you to the many types of dark magic I’ve encountered in my life, and we’ll take time to familiarize you with them. Are you all excited?”

At the loud responses from the male students, Baek Yu-Seol plugged his ears with his fingers.

‘This is way too noisy.’

To be honest, he was curious, and in a way, even a bit excited. 

Why had Scarlet come to Stella? 

What was she planning as a professor here? 

And how would her classes be conducted?

“Hey, Eisel.”

“Yes. Huh?”

Eisel, who had been frowning and clutching her hair, relaxed her expression and responded to Baek Yu-Seol.

“Don’t feel any affection for that woman. Not even a little, no matter what.”

“… Alright.”

Without asking why, Eisel simply nodded in agreement when she saw the seriousness in Baek Yu-Seol’s expression, trusting that he had his reasons.

“Oh, and… I have something to discuss with you later.”

“What’s it about…?”

“It’s about your father.”

Eisel’s eyes widened in surprise, and he realized the time was approaching. She’d likely made some progress in her own investigations as well. 

Soon, she would need to understand her past and her father’s legacy.

“But.”

“...?”

"I’m not going to be the one to tell you."

"Then… Who will?"

"Princess Hong Bi-Yeon. She has gathered information about the incident involving your father."

"Ah…."

Originally, Hong Bi-Yeon had brought up Eisel’s father to Baek Yu-Seol and asked him to pass the information along instead. Whether it was because she found it awkward or embarrassing to say herself, or perhaps...

… Perhaps it was out of hatred. Or maybe she felt a deep reluctance to expose the shame of her family.

But regardless of the reason, doing so without directly revealing the truth held little meaning.

Baek Yu-Seol had known about Eisel’s secret for a while, but he hadn’t said anything on purpose. It wasn’t just that the timing wasn’t right; revealing it too soon would have complicated matters significantly. 

The ideal scenario was for Hong Bi-Yeon to personally confess to Eisel and apologize, but realistically, that was impossible. 

In the game, countless players had tried to create this scenario, but none succeeded.

‘Most of them opted for self-sacrifice.’

In every possible scenario, Hong Bi-Yeon would bite her tongue and die rather than reveal the truth to Eisel. That intense, crazed look in her eyes, was filled with conviction to stay silent to the bitter end. It left many players chilled to the bone—even though she was just a game character.

‘She’s deeply unlikable in so many ways.’

From the beginning, the Adolevit family was rotten to the core. Baek Yu-Seol had little interest in the storyline, but he’d recently looked into Adolevit and learned a lot.

‘A disgusting, repulsive family….’

It was understandable why a pure young girl, born into such an environment, had eventually fallen and assumed the role of a villainess in the main story.

Baek Yu-Seol’s primary goal was to gather all the Twelve Divine Moons and prevent the world from being destroyed. But if he had a second priority, it would be…

The purging of Adolevit.

And a complete reset.

In other words, establishing Hong Bi-Yeon’s throne.

That was the task he most wanted to accomplish before his death. For that to happen, it was necessary for Hong Bi-Yeon herself to be the one to reveal Eisel’s tragic secret.

Though they were like oil and water, destined never to mix. If they joined forces, an incredible synergy would emerge.

"Alright, everyone. Enough chatting—let’s focus!"

When the students started murmuring, Scarlet clapped her hands, gathering everyone’s attention with a bright smile.

"We’ve covered enough theory, so why don’t we try a practical exercise? Now, who wants to come up to the stage and defend against the dark magic I’ll cast?"

Several students eagerly raised their hands, but Scarlet didn’t look their way. She appeared to have already decided whom she wanted for this demonstration.

"You there, at the back. The handsome young man. Baek Yu-Seol, was it? Would you come up and try the exercise?"

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Hello everyone!

I’m beyond excited (and a little emotional) to share that we’ve reached an incredible milestone: 300 chapters of Flashing Genius! When I first started translating this novel, it was just me, my laptop, and a passion for this story. Back then, I never imagined that this book would receive so much attention. Now, here we are—thanks to your support and love!

Translating these chapters has been quite a journey. When I first picked up this project, I was still a full-time student juggling classwork, late-night study sessions, and translation all in one go. Many of times, I found myself hunched over my laptop, half-asleep, debating whether to finish my homework first or translate just one more chapter. 

Now, I’ve graduated (yay!) and can devote more time and energy. Along the way, your support through comments, encouragement, and even constructive criticism helped me refine the book. 

To celebrate this milestone, I’m setting a Kofi goal for 20 bonus chapters of Flashing Genius. Once we reach our target, I’ll release these bonus chapters. Every tip, pledge, or share makes a difference.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading, supporting, and coming along for all 300 chapters. 

KO-FI:-