Chapter : 01
The Graduate Student Is the Final Boss
When does a person truly feel they have succeeded?
Is it when they’re sipping aged whiskey to their heart’s content while gazing at the city skyline through a wide-open window as the sun sets?
Or when they’ve climbed the ranks so quickly that their colleagues can’t help but envy them?
Or perhaps when they become the most famous person among everyone who shares the same name?
Any of those could qualify.
But at this very moment, I could confidently say…
This was it.
“And finally, we have long believed that the flow of mana follows a fixed set of natural laws. However, through this research, we have discovered that the flow of mana is capable of distorting space-time itself.”
Standing at the podium during the research conference, I slowly swept my gaze across the audience.
Every pair of eyes looking back at me was filled with admiration and awe.
“Of course, I can’t yet claim that the theory is perfect. Twisting the flow of mana may unexpectedly cause spatial collapse, along with… side effects that are, for lack of a better word, not exactly side effects.”
Ahem.
I paused for a moment and took a steady breath.
“Even so, I am confident that this research will become a milestone in the future development of magical engineering.”
With a faint smile, I brought my speech to a close.
“Thank you. I am the mage, Adel Catherine.”
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Thunderous applause filled the auditorium.
As soon as I stepped down from the stage after my closing bow, exactly as expected, countless reporters rushed toward me.
“Mage Adel! Your presentation was incredible! Could you give us a few words?”
“Professor, many are saying today’s presentation introduces an entirely new paradigm in magical theory. How do you feel?”
“How does it feel to become the youngest professor in history?”
Naturally, I was flooded with requests for interviews and handshakes.
Just as I’d prepared, I smiled politely and raised a hand.
“I’ll be accepting interviews at a later date. Thank you for your understanding.”
The rest would be handled by my junior colleagues.
Savoring the feeling of being a successful mage, I leisurely left the hall.
I’ve somehow become way too famous.
That’s right.
As of today, I was the most outstanding mage in the Magic Tower.
My talent is terrifying…
Having successfully concluded my research presentation, I had officially become the most famous Adel of all the Adels in the world.
…
…At least, I was dreaming that when someone started shaking me.
Who dares interrupt the sweet dream of a successful mage?
“What…?”
Still half asleep, I opened my eyes to find Isabella, already dressed to leave work, looking down at me.
Seeing that I was still wandering somewhere between dream and reality, she quietly whispered,
“Adel, the sun’s already up… I’m heading home first. You should go back to your room and at least get a little sleep.”
“…Huh?”
Only then did cold reality slowly seep into my senses.
The air thick with dust.
The lingering smell of burnt materials from endless experiments.
The constant humming of the mana synchronizer that never seemed to stop.
And me…
Adel, Graduate Research Mage No. 1, dozing off face-first on the desk.
So it was a dream.
A completely ridiculous one.
Everyone else had apparently gone home already.
The laboratory was empty except for me.
Yeah… I should just get some proper rest today.
When you spend every waking hour doing research, even your dreams trap you inside the lab—or have you giving research presentations.
Still…
It wasn’t a bad dream.
It’d be nice if it turned out to be prophetic…
Since tomorrow would be another busy day, I started packing up to leave.
The desk was a complete mess, buried beneath research materials and letters.
More than half of them were replies from nobles I’d asked to sponsor my research.
Most were undoubtedly polite rejection letters, so I ignored them and only picked up the letter addressed to me from Adolf.
Just as I was about to finish gathering my things…
My eyes landed on the research equipment that had led me to success in my dream.
“You worked hard too.”
Of course, there was no way this heap of scrap metal had suffered as much as I had.
Still, when you’re chasing success, you can even find yourself thanking an inanimate object.
So…
Let’s keep working together.
Feeling oddly sentimental, I gently ran my hand across the surface of the mana synchronizer.
Swish…
At that exact moment—
Crackle!
An overwhelming surge of mana exploded from my fingertips and swept through my entire body.
“W-what…?”
My voice came out distorted, crackling like a broken machine.
The world suddenly lurched.
Everything spun.
Time itself seemed to slow.
At the same time—
Countless memories flashed through my mind.
Memories that stretched far beyond the life I had lived.
Scenes that felt both completely unfamiliar…
…and strangely familiar.
They were…
My memories.
More precisely—
The memories of my previous life.
So… I really was reincarnated?
My research hadn’t been wrong after all.
I was living proof.
A soul displaced onto another timeline by distorted mana?
Shouldn’t I add this to my thesis?
No.
Forget that.
There was something much more important.
Among those flowing memories…
I saw myself lying around at home reading a web novel.
Its title was:
<The Young Master Doesn’t Want to Stop the End of the World>.
At first, it had been unbelievably exciting.
It had even surpassed one thousand chapters and ranked No. 1 among male-oriented fantasy novels.
But in the end…
The novel became infamous for having an incredible beginning and a disastrous ending.
And honestly…
The ending deserved the criticism.
ProfessorProfessorBrother: Why kill them all? Does this author even care about their own work? What a waste of my money.
That was the very first comment I’d ever left online in my life, posted immediately after finishing the final chapter.
That’s how dumbfounded I had been.
Not only was the identity of the final boss completely absurd…
The protagonist, after going through all the trouble of regressing, failed to stop either the final boss or the destruction of the world.
He simply died.
Was the author out of their mind?
Didn’t they want to make money anymore? Were they trying to scam their readers?
In a fit of frustration, I left an irritated comment completely unlike my usual self.
And it wasn’t just me.
Countless readers exploded in anger, saying the years they’d spent following the story had all been for nothing.
That happened on the very day my professor had thoroughly chewed me out.
I was leaving the laboratory after another miserable day.
I’d just let out a sigh and looked up from my phone when—
HOOOOONK—!!
CRASH!!
A deafening horn.
Blinding headlights.
“Gah…!”
Remembering the instant I’d been hit by the truck, my entire body trembled.
Only then did it finally hit me.
“…This is bad.”
I…
Was the final boss from The Young Master Doesn’t Want to Stop the End of the World.
And worse…
There was only about one year left before I awakened as the final boss and brought about the destruction of the entire world.
* * *
I was the professor’s—
No.
I was a graduate student.
That meant going to work earlier than construction workers and leaving later than small business owners was simply part of everyday life.
Of course, it hadn’t always been like that.
Everything changed once my professor started preparing papers for an academic conference.
From that moment on, my previous life’s peaceful existence was completely shattered.
My human rights disappeared.
The only title I had left was Lab Slave.
Sleeping in the lab became normal.
Even when I went home, I’d collapse unconscious on my bed, only to be jolted awake by my alarm and sprint straight back to the laboratory.
I’d lived like that for two years.
Sometimes I wondered if I’d literally work myself to death.
Fortunately…
Or perhaps unfortunately…
Instead of dying from overwork, I got hit by a truck and was reincarnated.
“…But how did I get reincarnated only to end up as a professor’s lackey all over again?”
