From Space Idiot to Professor

12 – Tutoring (3)

Before it got dark, Edward sent an email and looked up the Rheinhardt family. As soon as he searched ‘Aidel von Rheinhardt’ on the internet, a flood of articles enough to furrow one’s brows poured out.

The most recent offense Aidel had committed was havoc in a Harcus casino, losing much more money than Edward could ever imagine, even more so that it was revealed he had used it without his family’s permission.

Even worse, it boldly stated that he had beaten up an opponent on a pool table to try to get his money back, only to be knocked out by security.

‘This guy is far crazier than the rumors suggest.’

And that’s not all.

Five months ago, when a bar refused to let him in as he was underage, he tried to set fire to the place.

Six months ago, he had secretly visited the hospital run by the head of the Rheinhardt family, yelled obscenities to the patients, and walked out.

Eight months ago, he ordered a ton of food from a delivery app, then sent a flurry of return requests and 1-star reviews, and was sued for disrupting business.

Thirteen months ago, he s*xually harassed a passing woman and when caught by space police, claimed ‘punishment can’t be given as I’m under the age of responsibility’, narrowly avoiding juvenile court.

As Edward scrolled down, more disgusting articles appeared.

“Ugh.”

Edward almost threw up his dinner.

“How has this guy not ended up in jail?”

Surprisingly, the boy named Aidell got off with just a fine thanks to his family’s backing, he’d never spent a day in jail. Edward couldn’t help but see red.

“No money, no sin; money, no sin.”

If people have money, their crimes aren’t considered crimes.

“Damn federation.”

The federation that had expanded its powers over tens of thousands of light-years had poor public order. There were plenty of policemen and prosecutors who would stagger like a prostitute given enough money, proving innocence for them.

But still, it was distasteful that such a notorious scumbag hadn’t been caught yet.

Moreover, he now had to work as a tutor to the boy mentioned in the article. Even though it was for a short term in terms of time, Edward found it repugnant.

“If it weren’t really tuition, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Edward packed his bags grumbling.

As soon as it was day, he found the spaceship of the Rhineland family. He had received a reply from the email saying to come at a convenient time the next day.

Clunk.

The antique private vehicle docked into the main vessel, a depressingly gray dock greeted Edward. The overwhelmingly vast space made Edward feel dwarfed.

“Oh, teacher! Please come in!”

A black-haired, golden-eyed young man hurried forward and bowed.

Such a well-mannered greeting.

“You are….”

“I’m Aidell. I look forward to working with you this month.”

“Yo-you… you’re the student Aidell?”

He looked far better than expected. His eyes were overflowing with charisma, and he was decently dressed. His bangs were also neatly trimmed.

It was impossible to think of him as a troublemaker based on his first impression.

“Yes, I’m Aidell Rhineland. And this friend over here is my personal android, Sonia.”

The short blue-haired android, bluer than twilight, nodded. She wore a headband with frills, and an apron decorated with chunky ribbons over a black background.

“…A maid dress?”

It’s an outdated wardrobe. Unless for cosplay, no one would wear such clothes. Edward thought for a short while, his brows furrowing a bit.

‘Why did he dress her like this? Is he into doing such things to androids?’

He couldn’t figure it out. Yet, Edward’s thoughts kept going in that direction. Also, the android was excessively beautiful.

That made her no different from an adult service robot.

Edward shook the thought off. He was convinced that he couldn’t judge a person by their first impression. Despite appearances, Aidell would reveal his true nature and torment him when it mattered.

No need to talk more than necessary. Deal with him as professionally as possible, Edward thought as he walked.

Aidell led Edward to his room. It was a spacious area of about 50 pyeong. Edward, who had only ever lived in a room of about five pyeong his whole life, felt a relative deprivation.

The room itself was modest and clean. Unlike his reputation as a gambling addict, there was no sign of a trump card, and bookshelves were packed with entrance exam workbooks and major textbooks.

On the electronic blackboard facing the window, there were randomly written formulas frequently appearing in physics.

‘What on earth is going on…?’

Edward asked as he unpacked his luggage.

“Is this the room you use?”

“Yes, this is where the young master uses.”

The one who answered was not Aidell, but Sonia. She fixed her headband and replied calmly.

“Contrary to what is known to the world, the young master is more studious than he appears. Currently, he is working hard every day to get into the Stellarium Academy.”

“…Ah, I see.”

Of course, he did not believe it.

The command could have been given to an android and the room could have well belonged to another member of the family.

But then a question arises.

‘Why, among so many private tutors, was I chosen?’

Perhaps it was because I was from a remote background, with low social status, and charged a cheap tutoring fee.

In the worst case, I could end up not receiving the tutoring fee and only being insulted.

Of course, Edward was not stupid enough to let this happen.

He secretly turned on the recorder he had brought and opened his mouth.

“Is your goal to get into Stellarium?”

“Yes.”

Edward chuckled to himself.

“The most important part of Stellarium’s entrance exam is the interview. Even if you do well on your written and practical exams, you can fail here. Were you aware of this?”

“Yes, I am aware.”

“There are two types of interviews: a specialized interview and a common one. The common interview is mostly about asking your motivation for applying and future plans, so we’ll focus on that later. I suppose you’d be more interested in the specialized interview.”

“That is correct.”

Aidel, surprisingly, did not make a single insulting comment and listened to Edward’s explanation.

‘This isn’t what I was expecting… well, as long as things continue this way, I have no complaints.’

Edward brought out an interview questionnaire and continued.

“The specialized interview is essentially a majoring interview. However, there are no majors in academia. So, you will have to mention the field you’re interested in, and solve the task provided by the robot on the spot. After that, an AI will score you once you write the solution on the blackboard.”

Then he pulled out a few printed papers.

“These are entrance exam questions generated by AI last year.”

The questions were varied, ranging from language, economics, history, philosophy, biology, military studies, etc. They were all from last year’s exams.

“Let’s see your abilities. Which topic are you interested in?”

“Um…”

Aidel swallowed her silence and moved her hand. Soon her fingertips pointed towards the physics paper.

‘Physics? She’s going to do physics?’

Edward was taken aback.

He reflexively turned his head to look at the bookshelf again. On closer inspection, all the titles of the specialized books ended with the words ‘physics’ or ‘mechanics’.

Next, he glanced at the blackboard filled with formulas. F=ma and so on. The principle of D’Alembert and the relationship between the Lagrange-Euler equation and so on.

‘…No way.’

Edward’s gaze returned to the desk.

‘Wait a minute.’

Aidel had picked up the test paper for a different subject instead of physics.

It was mathematics.

The subject Edward intended to major in someday.

Also, the subject he had chosen for his specialized interview.

‘She picked up the very exam paper that I took.’

In this case, there’s no need to check the answers. All he has to do is watch and listen to the solving process and mark it himself. Edward twisted his mouth in a smirk and said,

“Do you want to go with that?”

“I will.”

Let’s see how good she is.

While Edward might not know much else, he becomes incredibly finicky when it comes to mathematics. This would hold true even if the subject in question was, as some might say, the most infamous person in the universe.

Even if something major were to happen, Edward had his trust in certain things. The first was the presence of Sonia, an android upon which the principles of robotics were applied. The second was the secretly recording device.

“If I ever get caught, I’ll just have to tear up the compensation,”

With teeth clenched, Edward looked at Aidel picking up his pen. He skillfully twirled the pen in his hand, paused briefly in contemplation, then brought the point to the paper.

Squaring and squaring.

As if striking piano keys, a pleasing tone filled the room. In this moment, Aidel was mesmerizing with his mechanical pencil as if he were in a trance. Each sound of the pencil running across the paper, each sideline drawn, all were signs of thorough contemplation.

Witnessing his gravity, Edward couln’t help but swallow.

The solution didn’t take long. Once the pen was set down, Aidel spoke.

“I’ve solved it”.

“…So you want to explain now?”

“Yes, but before that, you can be informal with me. It’s actually awkward to hear such formality.”

“No, that’s.. I’m comfortable this way…”

“……”

Aidel nodded his head slightly, rose from his seat, and headed to the electronic blackboard all while carrying his workbook.

“This question requires understanding the permutation implications of a function. A student who can solve this will have an easier time understanding how to find the generalized solution of a system of linear equations.”

With that vital information shared, Aidel continued on with a full explanation.

The explanation itself was clean and concise.

Why this logic should be applied here, what the problem-maker’s intention was, what conditions should be added to be even more precise, etc.

Without fail, Aidel communicated every step of the process.

‘….This guy, he’s no joke.’

Just like a hero identifies a hero.

A genius recognizes another genius.

‘He really does have the skills.’

This was a defining moment in Edward’s thinking.

“How did I do? Was it okay?”

Aidel asked politely. Edward moistened his dry lips with a shy smile and responded.

“The solution itself was impeccable. But there were some spots where it dragged on. Specifically here, and more in this area…”

Even though mathematical intuition could make it easier to solve, he stuck to the traditional way of thinking. Edward found this cleverness rather impressive.

“Your solution follows old-fashioned methods. If you use the divisibility of a permutation here, you would be able to prove problem 3 without stretching out the formula too much.”

“Wow.”

“That applies to the set S as well. As you study Set Theory, you will learn about equivalence classes, which are…”

With Edward’s explanation, Aidel continually expressed admiration.

“You’re incredibly smart, teacher.”

Wasn’t there a saying about how even a whale dances to compliments?

Edward had unwittingly let his guard down in the face of Aidel’s relentless flattery and had started to chuckle awkwardly.

“Well, you’re beyond ordinary yourself…”

Edward felt a sense of disparity. It was unfathomable that a person so smart and polite could s*xually harass a passing woman or cause a ruckus at a bar.

Maybe this Aidel was different than THAT Aidel, he began to suspect.

“You’ve more than passed at this rate. But then again…”