First University had one principal and two vice principals.
Nominally, the principal held all authority, but in practice, the university's specific 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, university affairs, and part of the Research Institute's work.
Overall, the two forces restrained each other within First University while also supporting one another—much like the upper and lower houses of Under the Moon Council.
But beyond these two forces, First University had 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. But just as Under the Moon Council's "Council of Elders" possessed the deepest foundations within the council, First University's "Relevant Department" controlled the university's strongest power—Forbidden Curses. Every aspect of Forbidden Curses, including research, experimentation, and storage, was controlled by the "Relevant Department."
It was a force that stood apart, yet undeniably existed within the university.
During the days when the principal had vanished from public view, the "Relevant Department" also kept a very low profile. Ordinarily, the Professor Joint Conference and the School Labor Committee wrestled fiercely within First University, making a lively spectacle of it. But if the "Relevant Department" tried to involve itself in the university's concrete operations, it would face a joint attack from 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 personal grudges.
Moreover, in the struggle over the principal's position, neither vice principal would yield before the "Relevant Department," because neither would allow the current two-way contest to regress into a