First University had one principal and two vice principals.
Nominally, the principal held all authority, but in reality, the school's day-to-day affairs were handled by the two vice principals. Vice Principal Shi Hui oversaw the Professor Joint Conference, mainly managing teaching, professors, and students; Vice Principal Ruo Yu oversaw the School Labor Committee, mainly managing staff, school affairs, and part of the Research Institute's work.
Overall, the two forces kept each other in check within First University while also supporting one another—like the upper and lower houses of Under the Moon Council.
But beyond those two forces, First University possessed another extremely powerful hidden force.
Relevant Department.
First University's "Relevant Department" answered directly to the principal, and neither vice principal had the authority to interfere. Yet just as Under the Moon Council's "Elders' Council" possessed the deepest foundations in the council, First University's "Relevant Department" controlled the school's most powerful force—Forbidden Curses. Everything from the research and testing to the storage of Forbidden Curses was under the Relevant Department's control.
It was a force that stood apart, yet truly existed within the school.
During the days when the principal had vanished from sight, the Relevant Department had kept a very low profile as well. Usually, the Professor Joint Conference and the School Labor Committee battled fiercely within First University, but if the Relevant Department tried to involve itself in the school's concrete operations, it would be jointly sniped by both forces.
You could be "gloriously isolated," but you could not roll up your sleeves and step into the arena.
That was an institutional arrangement, unrelated to grudges.
Moreover, in the struggle over the principal's position, neither vice principal would back down before the Relevant Department, because they would not allow the current two-choice situation to regress into a three-choice, or