Starting with Distributing Flyers

Zaunites?

The second inventor of Hextech, the deputy head of the Hextech Applied Research Group—a top-tier scholar ranked among the top three in all of Piltover's scientific community. And he was a Zaunite?

"No, impossible."

Those two Piltover aunties gaped in disbelief.

Even many of the Zaunite students present couldn't immediately accept this earth-shattering truth.

But Viktor stood firm. For the first time in his life, he made no effort to hide himself in the public eye, declaring without reservation: "That's right, I am a Zaunite!"

"You two should apologize." Viktor repeated, each word deliberate.

The aunties still stood there stubbornly, as if some invisible force propped them up, refusing to let go of their pride as Piltover citizens.

But Viktor shattered that pride with a single sentence:

"Apologize sincerely—"

"Or I will contact my teacher, Headmaster Heimerdinger, and have you both expelled."

"No!" The aunties panicked instantly. "We'll apologize, we'll apologize!"

"S-sorry!"

"Be sincere about it!"

"We're... we're sorry, we were wrong!"

"Louder. No one can hear you." Rarely, Viktor even seemed to be deliberately making things difficult for them.

Yet the two aunties had completely lost their earlier defiance. They were as meek as any Zaunite student.

No matter how Viktor pressed them, they only shouted louder each time: "We're sorry!"

"You may go now!" Viktor finally let them off. "The remaining supplies will be distributed by the students themselves."

"Yes." The aunties, as if granted a pardon, tucked their tails and scurried away in disgrace.

Leaving behind a crowd of Zaunite students, stunned into silence.

They had won?

A Piltover citizen had apologized to them?

The Zaunite students erupted.

Some cheered loudly, others clenched their fists in excitement—each reaction different.

But all of them looked up at the figure on the steps with gratitude and admiration:

"Professor Viktor!"

So it turned out that Zaunites weren't born inferior to Piltover folk, weren't destined to be called "savages," "low-class," or "lacking in innovation."

Among Zaunites, there were also wise, civilized, and great figures who could lead scientific progress—figures to be proud of!

It turned out that in the upper echelons of Piltover, which they had never dared to dream of, Zaunites had always been active!

"Professor Viktor, thank you!"

"Professor Viktor—"

"You truly are the pride of us Zaunites!"

Voices rose from the crowd.

But Viktor didn't bask in their admiration. Instead, he asked, "Everyone, please quiet down."

"Why do you say I am the pride of Zaunites?"

"Huh?" The Zaunite students, who had rarely felt such a surge of passion, never expected Viktor to ask them that.

Why?

Because among the countless Zaunites, and the countless Zaunites striving in Piltover, only Viktor had achieved such greatness as a top-tier scientist.

If they weren't proud of his emergence, who else should they be proud of?

"No, you're wrong." Viktor shook his head. "Let me tell you a secret that isn't really a secret—"

"Right here at Piltover University, among the scholars and professors you see, at least one in five are Zaunite immigrants from across the canal."

"W-what?" The students' eyes widened in shock.

So many professors at the school were Zaunites?

But then why did they never feel any support from the professors or the school? Why were they instead discriminated against and pushed aside at every turn?

Why did those Zaunite-born professors all act so much like Piltover citizens? Why did none of them ever step forward to admit it, to the point that no one could even tell who among them was from Zaun?

"Because they—including me—"

"We look like Zaunites, like 'your own people.' But in truth, we're not."

"So we have no obligation to speak up for you. I could have easily not stepped forward today—just as I've done for the past decade."

"Standing up for you brings me no benefit, only harm to my own interests. That's because we stopped being 'your own people' a long time ago."

Viktor suddenly began speaking in a way that was hard to follow.

The students gradually lost the thread of his words.

"Think about it again," Viktor pressed on, guiding them like a teacher. "Those two vulgar ladies just now—they considered themselves noble Piltover citizens, believing that people from Piltover are inherently superior to Zaunites."

"But why, when faced with my deliberate provocation, even outright humiliation as a Zaunite, did those two Piltover women have no backbone and dare not speak up?"

"Think carefully—between them and me, between you and me, between them and you, between me and those big shots from Piltover—who is truly on whose side?"

"This..." It was a bit convoluted.

But having just experienced the commotion firsthand, and being generally sharp thinkers, the Zaunite students gradually began to catch on:

Why were they afraid of the Piltover aunties?

Because they feared causing trouble and getting expelled by the school's higher-ups, not because they were actually scared of the aunties themselves.

Why were the aunties afraid of Professor Viktor?

Because Professor Viktor himself was part of the school's upper echelon—to him, those aunties were nothing but grasshoppers he could crush at will.

"I get it," one student said, having grasped something.

"Go on, share it," Viktor encouraged, as if leading an open lecture. "What did you think of?"

The student replied, "Professor Viktor, you're teaching us that we don't need to feel inferior because we're Zaunites."

"As long as we study hard, work diligently, rise to prominence like you, and climb to high positions, even those Piltover folks will have to look up to us!"

Viktor: "..."

He hesitated, as if about to say something, but before he could speak, another answer came.

It was Lina.

She recalled everything she had been through, pondered the questions Viktor had raised, and finally sensed something faintly:

"Professor Viktor, maybe you're trying to tell us:"

"Closeness—whether someone is 'one of us'—might not be determined by region, but by status?"

"Those Zaunite professors who usually refuse to speak up for us or show their Zaunite identity—it's because they've long become Piltover's rich, not Zaun's poor."

"The discrimination Piltover has against Zaunites never lands on them, and even if it did, it wouldn't affect their good lives much."

This idea was strikingly novel and immediately sparked a wave of discussion in the room.

Soon, someone spotted a flaw:

"Classmate Lina, according to your logic, shouldn't we be closer to those two Piltover aunties?"

"But why is it that the one who stood up for us was still Professor Viktor, a big shot, while the ones who made things hard for us were Piltover aunties who aren't much better off than we are?"

"Uh..." Lina was suddenly at a loss.

She couldn't answer a question of that depth yet.

"You've already answered quite well, Lina," Viktor said suddenly, giving her an encouraging smile. "It seems you've truly read that article in your notebook carefully."

"Huh?" Lina's heart skipped a beat.

Then, 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... here to tell me the results of last night's discussion?"

Viktor fell silent.

And that silence said it all.

Lina's face turned ashen, the hope that had just flickered in her eyes dying out.

But Viktor told her, "Don't lose heart, Lina."

"You weren't chosen by the professors on the research team, not because your thesis proposal was no good."

"But because of that article in your notebook—the one we were just discussing."

"This..." Lina pressed her lips together in indignation.

"Why?"

"Because that article scared them all."

"Huh?" Lina didn't understand.

And the Zaunite students, whose gazes had long been drawn to Viktor, grew curious as well:

The research team—that must be Professor Jayce's team.

That team gathered the world's top scientists and the brightest geniuses.

What kind of article could possibly terrify those geniuses?

"Do you want to see it?"

Viktor, as if reading their minds, turned and asked the crowd.

Everyone nodded. Their curiosity was piqued—of course they wanted to see.

"Then we can find a classroom—"

"And go over this article properly."

As he spoke, Professor Viktor pulled a bound stack of documents from his briefcase.

"This, this is—" Lina's eyes widened.

Wasn't this a photocopy of that article?

Judging by the thickness of the stack, he must have made dozens of copies.

Her brother's article—Viktor was carrying it around like a stack of flyers, dozens of copies on his person?

"Professor Viktor, why would you—"

"I was already planning to find an opportunity to share this article with everyone."

Viktor looked at the Zaunite students, who had stirred up their anger and were now clustering together, beginning to think:

"Now, the opportunity is just right."