Why Did I Have to Enroll

"Master? ...Are you alright?"

Ban Yu-won, faced with a girl calling him master, briefly paid silent tribute to the patriotic martyrs who fought for Korean independence.

In other words, he was escaping reality.

Of course, it didn't last long.

Luciel was staring at him intently from an uncomfortably close distance.

"Master?"

"This can't be happening..."

Subordination, of all things.

Luciel being subordinated to me.

"It seems you're okay. ...Hee."

"No, what are you so happy about..."

Ban Yu-won, who had fallen into a state of complete panic.

"I'm very happy."

Meanwhile, Luciel's smile looked incredibly refreshing, having cleanly resolved all the problems related to her heart furnace in a 'completely unexpected way'. The problem was that the distance between her and Ban Yu-won was so close that it was uncomfortable to move.

As if forcibly making him aware of the not-so-desirable relationship that had just been formed between her and himself...

"Luciel, could you move back a bit?"

"Yes!"

With a prompt reply as if she was about to salute, Luciel really did move back just a tiny bit, minutely increasing the distance between them.

This much distance had been achieved as a result of his constant requests since a little while ago.

No, should this be considered fortunate?

Despite clearly saying it was subordination, Luciel wasn't properly listening to his words.

'Right, this is just exaggeratedly expressing a cross-section of the relationship between Luciel and me with the word subordination. As proof, the depth is still only at 1.'

According to Ban Yu-won's experience in dealing with language concepts so far, a depth of 1 is really just barely enough to be conscious of.

For that concept to have independent meaning and yield significant results, it needs to be at least 10.

So until subordination reaches 10, he should be able to feel at ease.

Probably.

Please.

'I can't tell my parents that I've acquired a classmate, and a girl who depends on me at that, as a slave, even if I die...!'

Ban Yu-won decided to organize the current situation while holding his throbbing head.

He absorbed all the concepts scattered around - including those of the Orc Captain Kuros who had just died - and killed all but one of the Masked Goblins that were now overcoming the pressure and charging at them.

"Kuruk, human! I'll kill you!"

"Brother's troubled, so be quiet for a bit, goblin."

"Kkuk!"

After removing the creature's mask and shoving it right into its mouth, it could no longer say anything.

Excluding that one, he absorbed all the concepts and checked only the changes in Ban Yu-won's internal concepts, which roughly came out like this.

[Core]

Life345

Body 293

Mysterious Qi 198

Soul 460

[Passive]

Martial Arts 246 [Swordsmanship 77, Mysterious Body Technique 28, Shadow Step 7, Pierce 35, Cut 35, Flow 36, Counter 28]

Resistance 10

[Active]

Super Strength 35

"Whew."

The depth had changed once again compared to when he had settled up to the 10th room.

Given that Ban Yu-won had barely dealt with any monsters, even this much was a level to be grateful for.

Especially absorbing a large amount of Super strength from the Orc Captain was an unexpected gain.

Similarly, gaining resistance from it finally brought his resistance depth to 10, and he was looking forward to seeing what effect this would have.

"Other than that, the unusual ones are the wildness stolen from the Orcs and also, Judgment (審判)...? Why did this come out?"

"Wildness!"

Luciel reacted strongly to part of what Ban Yu-won was muttering.

As he turned around thinking 'surely not', she grabbed his arm with a very serious expression.

"For our race, wildness is important."

"You were just rampaging because you couldn't control that wildness a moment ago."

"Now that I have a master, it's okay."

Luciel retorted to Ban Yu-won's needle-sharp jab while blushing slightly.

Honestly, if asked whether he disliked being called master by a pretty girl his age (though he didn't know her exact age yet), that certainly wasn't the case, but that's why it gave him goosebumps even more.

It was similar to the feeling of a pubescent teenager who really likes adult videos but can never admit it in front of a friend of the opposite sex.

"Please, I'm begging you, just stop with the 'master' thing..."

"Then, Lord Yu-won...?"

"Call me like you used to, please."

"That's not possible. Because you're my master."

Luciel said this while nodding her head.

If it wasn't just his imagination, she seemed to be admiring her own perfect logic.

Look at this resolute attitude that doesn't leave room for even a needle to enter!

Ban Yu-won sighed and proposed a compromise.

"Okay, I get it. But in return, you call me by name when other people are around."

"Hmm... Okay."

Finally, a dramatic compromise was reached.

As Ban Yu-won breathed a sigh of relief, he finally noticed Luciel's physical condition and his face hardened.

The injuries Luciel had sustained were so severe that they made Ban Yu-won's wounds look like child's play.

In fact, with only the two of them left, he wondered how much further they could climb the tower, but he couldn't just leave her with such serious injuries.

"Want to take a bite of this first?"

"Yes, Master!"

He was about to hand her the elixir of life made from the fruit of Eden, when Luciel's complexion brightened and she closed the distance he had managed to create.

Then she grabbed one of his arms and brought her face close to his.

Thinking he was about to receive a kiss, Ban Yu-won tensed up and stiffened his body, when suddenly Luciel opened her mouth slightly.

"...Don't tell me you want me to feed you?"

Luciel didn't reply and just nodded slightly.

Meeting her unwavering pink eyes, Ban Yu-won pondered for a moment before realizing there was nothing new about this, and reluctantly scooped up some jam with a spoon and fed it to her.

But at the same time, he thought, 'Isn't this a bit different from a master-slave relationship?'

He really couldn't understand.

"Nom...!"

Separate from Ban Yu-won's anguish, the change was dramatic.

While Luciel, who had eaten the jam, opened her eyes wide and expressed her delight by stomping her feet in place, all sorts of wounds on her body began to heal smoothly.

Her physical strength and magical power, which had been depleted during the intense battle, also gradually filled up.

Not only that, but just as it had for Ban Yu-won, Luciel's potential and even her characteristics would have grown.

"Hm, hmm..."

"Ah... Let's sit down and talk for now. Come here."

"Whew, okay."

Luciel had a comfortable expression as if she had immersed herself in warm water.

Ban Yu-won confirmed that the goblin he had thrown aside wouldn't die for a while, then led her to sit down in a suitable place.

"So what? You said wildness was important?"

"Yes. Our race finds its true form by nurturing wildness. But I..."

"Because of the heart furnace, you've been hesitant to nurture wildness until now."

"That's right."

It felt like this was the first time hearing about Luciel's personal circumstances.

As Ban Yu-won's expression turned serious, Luciel also swallowed hard and began to open up about herself in earnest.

"I was born as a beast-folk. If there's anything special about me, it's that my ancestors were extraordinary, and my father was a contractor of a constellation."

"Hmm?"

He recalled how she had shown a complicated expression when talking about the previous constellation.

As Ban Yu-won nodded in natural understanding, she continued speaking.

"My father regretted his contract with the constellation. But the constellation had no intention of letting go of our family, who inherit the blood of a great beast, and bestowed upon me a blessing that was like a curse through my father."

"You mean that's the heart furnace?"

"Yes. It allows me to gain strong power by burning emotions, but at the same time, it makes me excessively swayed by those emotions..."

Judging by what he had seen so far, it was undoubtedly a power close to a curse.

It even made the growth of 'wildness', which could be considered the core concept of the beast-folk, cautious.

"So I... tried to hide my emotions and react passively to external stimuli as much as possible."

"Ah... I see, so that's why you became passive in everything."

In fact, because of this, Luciel had not even gained half of the wildness she should have obtained by this age, despite being born with incredible potential.

If being only half as strong is this powerful, one can't help but wonder how amazing her original potential must be, but let's put that aside for now.

"Then that constellation..."

Having heard the story up to this point, Ban Yu-won asked with furrowed brows.

"Did it say it wouldn't remove the heart furnace unless you contracted with it?"

"To be precise, it said that if I contracted with it, it would evolve the heart furnace into a strong ability without penalties. But my father had no intention of letting me contract with that constellation, so he looked for another way."

"The tower?"

"No, I didn't know I would come to Union Academy either. The tower's selection is beyond human comprehension..."

Luciel's father had hoped that she would find and contract with a different constellation instead.

He believed that someone with the power of a constellation would have a way to resolve the heart furnace.

However, it's difficult for humans to find and contract with a constellation possessing strong power in the first place, and even if found, there's no guarantee that constellation would be benevolent, so he also made no progress.

Meanwhile, the constellation that had noticed Luciel's father's intentions created another contractor in that world to pressure him and...

"Just as our family was in crisis, I was summoned to the academy."

"Wait, then is your family alright?"

"Yes. The weak one they had to protect disappeared. By now, they should have regained their original dynamics."

Luciel spoke decisively, but couldn't hide her bitter expression.

Ban Yu-won was a bit shocked, not knowing she could make such an expression.

In fact, he was even more shocked that she was treated as a weak one.

"Wait a minute."

After hearing this far, he noticed something strange.

"Then what does being subordinated to me have to do with all that?"

"That's because you're my master."

That wasn't an answer.

As Ban Yu-won's eyes narrowed, she hurriedly provided a supplementary explanation.

"It's an instinct engraved in the souls of beast-folk. Beast-folk are completely subordinate to those they acknowledge as their masters, and the master's orders take precedence over 'anything else'. That's why you can control the heart furnace too, Master."

"Now that I hear it, it seems like finding a master would have been much simpler than finding a constellation, so why until now... Ah, it wasn't that simple, was it?"

"Yes."

From the start, the idea of finding and serving a master feels like something to resist, but since that's similar to the issue of finding and contracting with a constellation, let's not worry about that part.

There must have been a reason why Luciel hadn't found a master until now, even though she knew the method.

"For beast-folk to serve a master, there's an absolute condition. The master's soul must be of a much higher rank, allowing for complete subordination."

"Soul rank... subordination, you say."

"Yes. But... it's not to brag, but my soul rank is quite high. It was even higher because I was born bearing the constellation's curse, the heart furnace. By the time I had developed enough self-awareness to find and acknowledge a master on my own, it had already become impossible with any subject I knew..."

That's why her father had completely ruled out this method from the beginning, she said.

But then, at some point, she had the thought that she might be able to serve Ban Yu-won as her master.

Perhaps it was the moment when she was first subdued by Eve and became docile.

'That makes sense. No matter how amazing Eve is, there's no way she could easily subdue a strong person like Luciel.'

But Luciel became surprisingly docile, and thinking about it now, that was a kind of signal from the start.

A signal that it would be okay to be subjected to Ban Yu-won's 'orders' and 'constraints'.

That's why she started to let her guard down little by little from that moment.

Because Ban Yu-won would be able to subdue her when necessary.

If he became her master, he would be able to control the heart furnace!

'Soul rank.'

Ban Yu-won focused on that part of Luciel's explanation.

It's a very sudden realization, but.

Ban Yu-won checked Luciel's soul depth, which he could barely see only after she became subordinated to him.

A value just barely exceeding 200.

Meanwhile, Ban Yu-won's soul was 460.

...It's more than double?

'Come to think of it, when I awakened my authority, my soul depth was already 300.'

Didn't Luciel just say that her soul rank was high from the start because she was born with the heart furnace?

Does that mean Ban Yu-won's soul was also exceptional from the start because he was born with the Babylonian Code?

Thanks to that, he could become her master before something serious happened to Luciel.

As Ban Yu-won suddenly realized this fact and slumped his shoulders, Luciel, as if sensing his burden, spoke at just the right moment.

"I'm glad you made the decision in time, Master. ...Thank you so much."

"Is it strange that I feel the word 'decision' sounds heavy?"

"Heh."

Luciel tried to deceive him with a cute laugh, but Ban Yu-won wasn't fooled by such things anymore.

He knew that her friendly and comfortable attitude towards him wasn't simply to show her favor.

Of course, if she didn't like him, she wouldn't have thought of making him her master, but it probably wasn't more than that.

'Well, it was strange from the start that such a pretty girl with a good figure would come on to me when we haven't known each other for long.'

Ban Yu-won, finally reaching a rational conclusion, felt at ease.

Whether she knew or didn't know that he was thinking such foolish thoughts, Luciel stood up energetically and said,

"Then let's go as far as we can together! Thanks to you, Master, I can now handle the heart furnace freely...!"

"Wait a moment."

"Yes?"

Luciel tilted her head, looking back at Ban Yu-won.

Ban Yu-won was also very happy to see her changed so actively and vigorously compared to before entering the tower, but apart from that, there was something he needed to do now.

"Wildness. You roughly know my ability from what you've seen so far, right? I have some wildness extracted from the Orcs."

"Ah...!"

Luciel's eyes widened in surprise.

She seemed to have just remembered that this conversation started because of wildness.

"Really, will you... give it to me?"

"If you'll accept it, I'd be more than happy to give it to you."

"I'd be more than happy to accept it, anytime!"

Ban Yu-won bestowed upon Luciel all 20 points of wildness he had collected so far.

The wildness she originally possessed was a whopping 250.

Luciel, whose wildness had increased by 8% in an instant, couldn't contain her excitement and jumped up and down on the spot.

"Quickly... let's go fight! I'm not afraid of anything now!"

"We're doomed."

"Why?!"

Of course, it wasn't because of what she said, but because their tower exploration wasn't easy enough for just the two of them to endure from the start.

In the end, they couldn't hold out any longer in Room 19 and both were lost.

Ban Yu-won resolved to teach Luciel about 'spells that must never be memorized' as his first duty as a master.

"You caught an intruder?!"

— But as soon as they came out of the tower, they were caught by Yumina, leaving no time for that.

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