A Zaunite?
The co-inventor of Hextech, the deputy head of the Hextech Applied Mechanics Research Group, a top-tier scholar whose status ranked in the top three of Piltover's entire scientific community... was actually a Zaunite?
"N-No way..."
The two Piltovan staff members gaped in sheer disbelief.
Even the many Zaunite students present couldn't immediately process this shocking revelation.
But Viktor remained resolute. For the first time in his life, he stood unapologetically in the center of the public eye and openly declared to everyone, "That's right, I am a Zaunite!"
"You two need to apologize," Viktor repeated, enunciating every word.
Yet the women stood there stubbornly, as if propped up by some invisible force that refused to let them abandon their Piltovan pride.
But Viktor shattered their pride with a single sentence:
"Please apologize sincerely—"
"Otherwise, I will directly contact my mentor, Principal Heimerdinger, and have you both terminated."
"Don't!" The women instantly panicked. "I apologize... we apologize!"
"S-Sorry!"
"Please be a bit more sincere!"
"S-Sorry, we were wrong!"
"Louder. No one can hear you." In a rare display, Viktor was deliberately making things difficult for them.
But the two women had completely lost their previous stubbornness. They were as meek as Zaunite students.
No matter how hard Viktor pressed them, they only shouted with increasing desperation, "We're sorry!"
"You may leave," Viktor finally let them off. "I will have everyone collect the remaining stationery themselves."
"Yes..." Relieved to be let off, the two women immediately tucked their tails between their legs and scurried away in disgrace.
They left behind a crowd of Zaunite students, stunned into silence.
Had they won?
Piltovans had actually apologized to them?
The Zaunite students erupted into an uproar.
Some cheered loudly, while others clenched their fists in excitement; their reactions varied.
But everyone looked at the man on the steps with gratitude and admiration.
"Professor Viktor!"
So Zaunites weren't inherently inferior to Piltovans. They weren't born to be cursed as "barbaric," "low-class," or "lacking innovation."
Among them were also wise, civilized, and proud figures capable of leading scientific progress!
It turned out that even in the upper echelons of Piltover—places they never dared to dream of reaching—Zaunites had been actively making their mark all along!
"Thank you, Professor Viktor!"
"Professor Viktor—"
"You truly are the pride of Zaun!"
Such voices rang out from the crowd.
Viktor, however, did not bask in the students' adoration. Instead, he asked, "Everyone, please quiet down."
"Why do you say I am the pride of Zaun?"
"Huh?" The Zaunite students, whose blood was rarely so fired up, hadn't expected Viktor to ask such a question.
Why?
Because out of the countless Zaunites, and the countless Zaunites struggling in Piltover, only Viktor had emerged as a top-tier scientist with such incredible achievements.
If they weren't proud of Viktor's emergence, who else should they be proud of?
"No, you are mistaken," Viktor said, shaking his head. "I can tell you an open secret—"
"In the University of Piltover alone, at least a fifth of the scholars and professors you see are immigrants from across the canal in Zaun."
"W-What?" The students' eyes widened in astonishment.
There were actually that many Zaunites among the university's professors?
Then why did they never feel any care from the professors or the school, but instead faced discrimination and ostracization at every turn?
Why did those Zaunite professors act so much like Piltovans? Why did none of them step forward to admit it, to the point where no one could even tell who was from Zaun?
"Because they, myself included—"
"We may look like Zaunites, like your 'own people.' But in reality, we are not."
"Therefore, we have no need to speak up for you. I could have easily chosen not to step forward today—just as I have done for the past decade."
"Standing up for you brings me no benefit; it only harms my interests. This is because we stopped being 'your people' a long time ago."
Viktor suddenly began speaking in baffling terms.
The students gradually found themselves unable to understand.
"Think about it again," Viktor guided them patiently. "Those two vulgar women just now considered themselves noble Piltovans, believing that Piltovans are inherently superior to Zaunites—"
"Yet why, when faced with deliberate difficulties and even rude humiliation from me, a Zaunite, did those two Piltovans completely lose their temper and cower in silence?"
"Think carefully. Between me and them, me and you, them and you, and me and those Piltovan elites... who truly belongs with whom?"
"This..." His words were a bit convoluted.
But the Zaunite students, having just experienced the incident firsthand and generally being prone to deep thought, gradually began to grasp the underlying meaning.
Why were they afraid of the Piltovan staff?
It was because they feared causing trouble and getting expelled by the university's higher-ups, not because they were actually afraid of the women themselves.
Why were the women afraid of Professor Viktor?
Because Professor Viktor was part of the university's higher-ups. Before him, those women were nothing more than grasshoppers he could crush with a flick of his fingers.
"I understand..." one of the students realized.
"Let's hear it," Viktor said, encouraging the student to speak as if he were teaching a public lecture. "What are your thoughts?"
The student replied, "Professor Viktor, you are teaching us that there is no need to feel inferior about our Zaunite identities."
"As long as we study hard, delve into our research, and rise to the top like you, even those Piltovans will have to look up to us in the future!"
"..." Viktor fell silent.
He hesitated, wanting to say something, but before he could speak, someone else offered an answer.
It was Lina.
Recalling everything she had experienced and pondering the questions Viktor had posed, she finally caught a faint glimmer of the truth.
"Professor Viktor, perhaps you are trying to tell us..."
"Whether people are close, whether they are 'one of us,' isn't divided by geography, but by status?"
"The reason those Zaunite professors refuse to speak up for us or show their Zaunite identities is actually because they have long since become the wealthy of Piltover, rather than the poor of Zaun."
"The discrimination Piltovans hold against Zaunites doesn't usually affect them, and even if it did, it wouldn't have much impact on their comfortable lives..."
This perspective was incredibly novel, instantly sparking a wave of discussion among the crowd.
Soon, someone noticed a flaw.
"Lina, according to your logic, we should be closer to those two Piltovan staff members, shouldn't we?"
"But why is it that the one who stood up for us is Professor Viktor, a prominent figure, while the ones making things difficult for us are those Piltovan women who aren't much better off than we are?"
"Uh..." Lina was instantly stumped.
She couldn't answer a question of that depth yet.
"You've already answered quite well, Lina," Viktor suddenly smiled at her encouragingly. "It seems you really did read the article in your notebook carefully."
"Huh?" Lina's heart skipped a beat.
At that moment, Viktor slowly opened his briefcase, took out a notebook, and solemnly handed it back to Lina.
"This is my thesis proposal?" Lina finally remembered the main issue. "Professor Viktor, are you... are you here to inform me of the results of last night's discussion?"
Viktor suddenly fell silent.
And that silence explained everything.
Lina's face instantly turned ashen, the hope that had just ignited in her eyes extinguishing along with it.
But Viktor told her, "Don't be discouraged, Lina."
"You weren't selected by the professors in the research group, but it wasn't because your thesis proposal was lacking."
"It was because of the article in your notebook—the very article we were just discussing."
"This..." Lina pursed her lips indignantly.
"Why?"
"Because that article terrified them."
"Huh?" Lina didn't understand.
The surrounding Zaunite students, whose attention had long been captivated by Viktor, also grew curious.
The research group he mentioned had to be Professor Jayce's group.
That group gathered some of the world's top scientists, the brightest geniuses.
Just what kind of article could strike fear into the hearts of such geniuses?
"Do you want to read it?"
Viktor asked the crowd, as if he had guessed their thoughts.
The crowd nodded. Their curiosity had been piqued; of course they wanted to read it.
"Then we can find a classroom—"
"And thoroughly discuss this article."
As he spoke, Viktor pulled a stack of bound documents from his briefcase.
"Th-This is..." Lina's eyes widened.
Weren't these photocopies of that article?
Judging by the thickness of the stack, there had to be dozens of copies.
Her brother's article had actually been brought along by Viktor in the dozens, ready to be handed out like flyers?
"Professor Viktor, why did you..."
"I was already planning to find an opportunity to share this article with everyone."
Viktor looked at the Zaunite students who had been stirred to anger, who had begun to think, and who were now gathered together.
"Now is the perfect opportunity."
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