“The lecture reviews were a complete disaster?”
I muttered blankly, rubbing my face at the unbelievable statement.
The darkness behind my hands only made things feel more dismal.
“Yes, without any room for excuses, absolutely.”
A voice came from across the desk.
Regaining my senses, I looked up to face her.
Across from me, Hwaryoung had a slightly troubled smile.
She reached under the desk and pulled out a stack of papers, then extended them toward me.
The bundle floated effortlessly through the air, guided by her magic, and landed right in front of me.
“If you check for yourself, you’ll probably understand what the issue was.”
“I see.”
I looked down at the stack of papers, a wry smile escaping me.
‘Truthfully, I hadn’t expected to hear something like this.’
I had come here simply following the flow of my thoughts.
For the past week on my way back to the Tower, I had encountered quite a few monsters.
No, saying ‘quite a few’ wouldn’t be enough—it had been like a downpour of monsters.
I had to run away more times than I cared to admit.
But unlike before, my efficiency in hunting had significantly improved.
Cassian had grown stronger.
Perhaps to adapt to her magic, she had taken the lead whenever we encountered monsters, cutting them down without hesitation.
In the process, the monster corpses had piled up into mountains, filling up the turtle’s cargo hold and even stuffing my spatial pouch to the brim.
I had come to the city to sort all that out.
And now, here in front of me, she was handing me this.
I glanced at Hwaryoung briefly.
She noticed my gaze and responded with a gentle smile.
It looked far more natural than when I had first met her.
Yet, there was still a lingering awkwardness.
It was most evident in her eyes—she hadn’t yet erased the coldness lingering within them.
Just like now.
Still, I could tell that she had become more accustomed to her role.
Her nameplate was proof of that.
I examined the golden badge on her chest.
[Third-Class Deputy, Hwaryoung]
“Now that I think about it, you’ve been promoted again. If you had told me in advance, I would have offered my congratulations.”
Hwaryoung covered her mouth and chuckled.
At this moment, it was just the two of us in the room.
Cassian and Mira had left everything in my hands and gone off to explore the city.
Come to think of it, this was Mira’s first time visiting the Stalactite City.
Ever since she had entered her doll’s body, she had always stuck by my side.
And since I had never intended to visit the city before, she never had the chance to come.
She had seemed unusually excited.
“This isn’t exactly something worth telling you, Evron. If anything, I earned this promotion by using you.”
She said it so matter-of-factly that I almost choked.
I barely suppressed the urge to cough and forced a laugh instead.
Right, ever since the auction house incident, she had practically become my handler.
Just like today.
I fiddled with Hwaryoung’s medal in my hand.
This was what had brought her to this position.
A third-class deputy, huh? The last time I saw her, she was a second-class agent.
She had climbed two ranks in just two years.
That was no ordinary pace.
“It’s all thanks to your own abilities, Hwaryoung. Now that we’ve become mutually beneficial to each other, isn’t that enough?”
“Fufu, even if it’s just words, I appreciate hearing that.”
She smiled as she spoke.
I responded with a laugh of my own.
We continued chatting casually for a while before a sudden curiosity struck me.
I turned to her and asked, “By the way, why did you remain a trainee for so long? With your skills, you could have risen through the ranks much sooner.”
At my question, Hwaryoung touched her cheek and let out a small sigh.
“I haven’t actually been in the guild for very long. I’m only in my sixth year. When I first met you, Evron, I was still struggling at the very bottom.”
She looked at me, a strong sense of satisfaction in her gaze.
‘It made sense. I had been her first major success. I had helped her climb a little higher.’
That thought settled within me.
“People from great houses have a hard time joining the guild, you see. We can only enter at the fourth floor. It’s a tradition—to ensure that the guild doesn’t become entirely dependent on noble families. Most organizations operate that way.”
I recalled a conversation I once had with Hong Ryeong.
‘I had asked him why he hadn’t joined the guild, even though his family was involved in it. He had simply shaken his head and smiled at me. He had said he hadn’t been able to join yet, so he was going to create his own organization. If I was interested, he told me to reach out.’
‘Of course, his smile had sent chills down my spine, and I had waved him off immediately. The memory of my entrance exam was still fresh. So this was the reason he had to start his own group. I hadn’t known that before. But it made sense—it wasn’t something a non-noble would typically be aware of.’
I gave a slight nod.
The guild’s structure wasn’t entirely unified, then.
That, too, made sense.
Wherever people—and especially mages—gathered, conspiracies were bound to brew.
Large organizations were particularly susceptible to it.
The Blade Association was the odd one out.
This was the normal way of things.
I turned my gaze back to the stack of papers in front of me.
‘Lecture reviews, huh?’ I hadn’t expected that.
I glanced at Hwaryoung again.
She simply smiled back at me, her expression even more natural than before.
“Then, I’ll take a look.”
I took a deep breath before turning over the first page of the stack Hwaryoung had handed me.
Then, I squeezed my eyes shut.
I had no choice—right from the first page, the content was shocking.
[Total Score: 2.1 / 5]
‘Ah. Now I understood exactly why she had shown me this. Our lecture had clearly drawn a lot of complaints. But why? Where had it gone wrong?’
I recalled the previous lecture.
‘It had been flawless. I had poured every ounce of my intellect into crafting it, so of course, it should have been. Then why was the rating like this?’
I turned to the next page, where several reviews were written.
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurposeI attended because they promised treasure, but aside from the first lecture, no one actually received anything. Even the successful participants weren’t given any proper rewards. Compared to other lectures, there’s no real reason to take this one except that it’s cheap. 1 star.
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurposeI don’t like that Evron guy, the so-called administrator of the Tower. He’s way too obsessed with points. 1 star.
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurposeThe lecture and the Tower’s design are inefficient. Too many distractions interfere with training. 1 star.
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurposeThe Tower’s open hours are too restricted. 1 star.
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurposeToo many sections require point payments. 1 star.
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurpose… 1 star.
The onslaught of 1-star reviews continued below.
It was clear the pages were sorted in order of lowest scores first.
They were filled with nothing but criticism.
I stopped reading and folded my arms.
Glancing at Hwaryoung, I noticed she also had a stack of papers in front of her, following along as I read.
When she caught my gaze, she looked up.
“Is there no way to find out who wrote these?”
At my question, Hwaryoung’s eyes curved in amusement.
“No, gathering reviews must be completely anonymous. We strictly protect the identities of those who leave feedback. And since we reward people with points for submitting reviews, they tend to participate diligently.”
I let out a sigh.
The second reviewer—I really wanted to know who that was.
Unfortunately, it made sense.
If anonymity weren’t guaranteed, no one would dare write something like this.
Otherwise, they’d probably get beaten to death.
“Well, I suppose it can’t be helped.”
I turned another page and continued reading.
The more I read, the worse I felt.
A significant portion of the complaints were about me personally.
Hmm. That stung.
I hadn’t expected my reputation to be this bad.
The betrayal seeped deep into my chest.
‘These were the same people who had smiled and laughed in front of me, calling me “Administrator,” “Evron-nim,” “Instructor,” and now they were stabbing me in the back?’
People really couldn’t be trusted.
And mages, especially so.
That thought had been with me for a long time.
Look at the swordsmen.
I recalled the many swordsmen I had encountered over the past two months.
‘They had been honest, straightforward, and full of pride.’
Even in the reviews, I could tell who was a swordsman just by their writing style.
Some even openly stated their names.
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurposeMy name is Goro, and I enjoyed the lecture. There was a lot of fighting, which made it especially fun.
I perked up slightly as I read that.
‘Goro—I’d met him again in the Canyon City. See?’ Goro was openly revealing himself and even complimenting me—
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurposeBut he takes too many points. That damn Evron. So, I’m giving 2 stars.
…
I closed my eyes briefly.
So even swordsmen were the same.
Betrayal coursed through me.
Even the tree in my heart trembled in despair.
However, as I continued reading, I started to understand the reason behind the complaints.
Points. That was the issue.
Thinking back, I had been quite aggressive in accumulating points over the past five years.
Even by rough calculations, I had probably amassed hundreds of thousands of them.
These people must have done their own calculations and been shocked at how many points I was taking.
Some reviews outright admitted it.
There were those who were simply bitter and left bad scores out of jealousy.
I chuckled bitterly and shut my eyes for a moment.
‘Should I reflect on my attitude?’
I thought deeply.
Then, I opened my eyes sharply.
‘Was I wrong?’
No.
Points belonged to those who earned them.
The old me might have considered lowering the required points after seeing these reviews.
But not anymore.
These people were nothing more than point dispensers to me now.
My mistake wasn’t in collecting points.
Look at the Arcana Trading Guild, the Abyss Secret Society, or any other organization.
They each dominated a specific field.
People never questioned the prices they set; they simply used the system as it was.
I was in the same position within the Tower.
I had only been taking a small commission.
‘Was my pricing too high?’ No.
The cost of using the Mirror Beetle was only 50 points per month.
Upgrades and modifications were entirely optional.
And yet, they still complained.
What I needed to reflect on was this—
Their dissatisfaction meant I had failed to provide them with services and satisfaction equal to the points I was taking.
Earning points was fine.
‘But had I truly given my best effort for every single point?’
‘At some point, had I begun operating on autopilot, merely providing standardized services without considering how to improve them?’
That was what I needed to fix.
To gather points, I had to provide something more.
Something truly satisfying.
I continued reading.
Toward the later pages, the ratings began to improve.
This one seemed to be from Hong Ryeong.
That one looked like it was from Jun.
And at the very end, someone had given a perfect 5-star review.
SampleStringWith😃Emojis🚀ForTestingPurposeThe bear doll is cute. Very, very cute. 5 stars.
…
I couldn’t help but laugh.
That was Cassian’s review.
She was the only one who had given full marks.
In general, swordsmen tended to give high scores.
Except for that one musclehead.
Having finished reading, I organized the stack of papers again.
The total score—2.1—stood out clearly.
“If the rating is this low, will there be any penalties?”
Hwaryoung gave a small nod.
“Yes, most likely. We determine lecture pricing based on these student reviews. Since this was the first lecture, we set the base fee at 3,000 points. If you run the same lecture again, we’ll probably lower it to around 2,000 points.”
“2,000 points… That’s incredibly cheap.”
Hwaryoung continued, “Good lectures usually start at over 10,000 points. Popular lectures for third and fourth-floor students can easily exceed 50,000 points just for registration. If you want to buy a seat, it costs even more.”
She brushed her fingers over the stack of papers in front of her.
“If these ratings continue, people will hesitate to enroll. In the end, only those looking for cheap lectures will sign up.”
I imagined it—an auditorium filled with random nobodies, people who wouldn’t fight or struggle like before.
They would simply sit, taking up space, focusing only on their training.
‘If Professor Irien saw that, what would she think? She’d probably be bored out of her mind and throw a fit. I could already picture her getting annoyed.’
“And if that happens, no one will buy lecture seats anymore. I was hoping to make some sales from those, so I had high expectations for your lecture, Evron. I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.”
She sighed, a hint of regret on her face.
“I’ll come up with a solution.”
I nodded slightly.
Letting only freeloaders in wouldn’t do me any favors either.
‘Would they even use my Mirror Beetles?’
People that stingy wouldn’t.
And if the Mirror Beetles weren’t widely used in the Tower, I’d lose my biggest source of growth.
I needed to prevent that.
‘But how?’
I had to think of a way.
Hwaryoung smiled again.
She had probably shown me the reviews as a warning.
Using her magic, she gathered up the stacks of paper and looked at me.
“Now that we’ve finished that discussion, let’s move on. Show me the items you brought, and I’ll calculate their value.”
“Ah, here.”
I took out my spatial pouch and handed it to her.
It was filled with everything I didn’t need.
Since it was too much to dump out here, I simply gave her the whole pouch.
Using her magic, she examined its contents and quickly tallied the value.
I checked the amount on the ring she handed me.
A good sum.
Though, after splitting with Cassian, my share would be smaller.
We chatted for a while, discussing city rumors and new lectures.
Then, my Mirror Beetle rang.
Mira was calling.
She was probably telling me to regroup.
I excused myself and stood up.
Hwaryoung rose as well to see me off.
I bowed slightly as I opened the door.
“Then, I’ll see you at the next lecture registration.”
“Yes, until then. This was Hwaryoung, Third-Class Deputy of the Arcana Trading Guild’s Fifth Customer Service Division.”
She bowed as she gave her final farewell.
I stepped out into the bustling city streets.
People were coming and going.
I hadn’t expected my lecture to receive such a terrible rating.
My mind felt cluttered.
For now, I needed to meet up with Mira.
Checking my Mirror Beetle, I headed down the street.
The lecture issue could wait for later.
Right now, I had another place to visit.
No matter how much I thought about it, there was something I just couldn’t figure out.
I needed advice.
From the city’s doll artisans.