Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Orientation (3)

A spacious room adorned with an ornate chandelier and decorations.

The only place within the academy capable of such extravagance was this: the Chancellor's office.

Florian Academy.

The institution that had nurtured ninety percent of Korea's rankers.

Some say Florian is Korea's finest academy.

Some say a Hero who didn't come from Florian can't be trusted.

Some say an Awakened who couldn't get into Florian is trash.

Some say Florian is the center of the Republic of Korea.

Some say Florian IS the Republic of Korea.

Perhaps those words weren't exaggerations. In the Great Hero Era, where Awakened held more value than intellectuals, the world wanted powerful Heroes more than brilliant inventors or great politicians.

Humanity had endured countless attacks. The Republic of Korea had nearly been destroyed more than once in the process.

Each time, it was Florian's Heroes who had defended the nation.

"Have you been well, ma'am?"

A diminutive middle-aged man greeted a girl. The girl, dressed in hanbok, looked at best like a child just entering puberty. To anyone watching, the sight of a middle-aged man speaking respectfully to her would seem strange.

But anyone who knew her would find it perfectly natural.

Ryu Jeonga.

A woman who could be queen at any time, yet had guarded the academy for over a hundred years—the Chancellor of Florian.

Some regarded Ryu Jeonga as the guardian deity of the Republic of Korea. Even the President couldn't stand above her.

It was no exaggeration to say that every notable Hero in South Korea had been raised by her. There was a time when Florian's Chancellor personally taught talented children, and every last one of them became a ranker. They were sometimes collectively referred to as "Ryu Jeonga's Children."

This man, too, had received Ryu Jeonga's tutelage over fifty years ago.

"Oh my~, has little Song been well too?"

"Thanks to your concern, ma'am."

"Getting old has only sharpened your tongue for nonsense. Save the insincerity."

But the man wasn't necessarily inferior to Ryu Jeonga.

He was her equal, or perhaps even more.

Song Jihyeok.

He was the Guild Master of Bisang, one of South Korea's three great guilds. His other title was Song Seokhwan's father.

"How sorrowful. To have my love for my teacher doubted."

"Child—no... I can't call you a child anymore, can I? That tiny little boy has grown bigger than me now."

"How could I ever surpass you, ma'am? Not even in ten thousand years."

"Enough with the pleasantries. You come to visit after ten years and talk about loving your old teacher? And after sharpening your blade, no less."

"Haha... That's regrettable. I've been busy, you see. Besides, let's be accurate—you're the one who started this, aren't you, ma'am?"

Wooooo───

A massive current of mana radiated outward from Song Jihyeok.

Ryu Jeonga murmured to herself.

This brat.

When did he get this strong?

She'd assumed he'd grown since their last meeting, but she hadn't expected this much. At this rate, the outcome might not be certain.

Song Jihyeok growled low.

"Even a beast knows to cherish its young. And yet, here you are sheltering the man who harmed my son. How do you expect me to take this, ma'am?"

"Calm yourself."

"Calm down? You're telling ME to calm down?"

When Song Jihyeok shouted, his mana exploded.

A massive shockwave was about to obliterate the space, but Ryu Jeonga waved her hand. The erupting mana compressed and gathered above her palm. She clenched her fist, and it vanished.

It might've looked trivial, but it was anything but. Ryu Jeonga had crushed energy capable of annihilating all of Florian with grip strength alone.

"Don't shout. It rattles this old woman's skull."

"Enough with the act and hand him over. If you insist on this stance, I won't stay quiet."

"Are you threatening war with an old woman?"

"What's stopping me?"

"Heh heh... My, my."

Ryu Jeonga was a Hero of unparalleled symbolic significance, but at the same time, that was all she had.

The powerless title of academy Chancellor was no match for the head of a mega-guild. If the two clashed, the outcome was obvious.

Yet Ryu Jeonga didn't back down.

"Child, do you even know who your son's assailant is?"

"I do. Cha Eunwoo—some no-name new professor with no track record, correct? And a wretch like that dared lay hands on my son......"

The sound of teeth grinding was audible.

Ryu Jeonga had tried to keep it hidden as best she could, but Bisang's Guild Master had lived up to his reputation. That pride-ridden son of his would never have confessed, so Song Jihyeok must've dug up the information through his intelligence network. But there was one thing even he didn't know.

Ryu Jeonga walked to the back of the Chancellor's office. A massive safe was set into the wall. She turned the dial, entered the combination, and opened it. Then she handed what was inside to Song Jihyeok.

"What is this?"

"Read it."

It was a stack of papers. Song Jihyeok quickly skimmed every page and identified it as an academic paper. The author bore the loathsome name: Cha Eunwoo.

"So the man did have a paper after all. I couldn't find it when I searched."

"Tsk, even a Guild Master above the law shouldn't go coveting state secrets."

"...Excuse me?"

A mere paper like this was classified? The unexpected response gave Song Jihyeok pause.

Ryu Jeonga grinned and urged him to read.

"Go on, take a look."

Reading the roughly fifty-page paper didn't take long.

But its impact wouldn't end quickly.

"...What is this?"

"What do you think? A paper written by Professor Cha."

Unbelievable. Was this even possible?

"Can this be trusted?"

"I've had it verified in secret. I'm planning to make it public soon."

"Good lord......"

After reading the paper, Song Jihyeok understood. He understood why Ryu Jeonga had gone to such lengths to protect a mere professor.

Efficient party management and the resulting Hero development methods, along with strategies for various bosses—they seemed to defy every concept humanity had built up until now.

None of it had been tested in actual combat, but Song Jihyeok, who'd fought monsters across countless dungeons, was certain.

This was not the work of some charlatan. It would work.

"But... can a human being really come up with something like this?"

Randomly conceived and then fitted with precise numbers? That was impossible to accept.

It was as if someone had sent scores of the world's top-ranked Heroes to their deaths and compiled data exclusively from the survivors who'd barely scraped through. Of course, no such thing was possible. A mere professor couldn't possibly mobilize that many Heroes.

Song Jihyeok could only let out a deep sigh.

"You're telling me he's a goose that lays golden eggs."

"That's right. Humanity needs Professor Cha."

Damn you, teacher—you've always been like this.

When Song Jihyeok was young, she'd always been on his side. When he was wronged, and even sometimes when he was in the wrong, Ryu Jeonga stood by him.

Whenever Song Jihyeok asked, Ryu Jeonga answered the same way. Morality is a luxury that belongs to times of peace. In an age of crisis, you must always choose what's best.

"And if I still insist on killing that brat......"

He wanted to ask. Is that brat more valuable than me? But he couldn't muster the courage. If his teacher said yes, Song Jihyeok would surely kill both her and the brat.

"If you do?"

"...It's nothing. A slip of the tongue."

In the end, Song Jihyeok's lips twitched, but he backed down. Thinking of what had happened to his son made his stomach churn, but hearing from his teacher that he was worthless would've been even more unbearable.

"I'll take my leave. But please ensure nothing like this happens again."

"Thank you for understanding."

He could've caught up with his teacher after their long separation, but his heart was too heavy for that. They hadn't met for a happy occasion to begin with.

After leaving the Chancellor's office, Song Jihyeok let out a deep sigh. His mind was a tangled mess.

***

Several days after the incident with Song Seokhwan.

Strangely, nothing happened. I'd been certain all hell would break loose, but it was so quiet it made me anxious instead. An Seri's interference could only delay things briefly at best.

That one delinquent young master was crowding my head.

"Yeeun-gun, pour me a cup of coffee."

"Sure!"

The coffee pot hummed briefly, and Lee Yeeun brought over a steaming mug. One sip delivered the familiar assault of sweetness on my tongue. I could never get used to this, no matter how many times I drank it.

"By the way, how did orientation go?"

"Keh."

I barely stopped myself from spraying the coffee. That was dangerous. Way too on-the-nose.

"Are you doing that on purpose?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

Without question, it had been the worst orientation in history. What kind of old movie scenario was this—a professor beating a student for educational purposes? After cooling down and thinking it over, I wondered: am I getting fired?

One small consolation was that this was an academy. The academy's purpose was to forge Awakened into battlefield-ready Heroes. Corporal punishment happened tacitly.

That said, not many professors had tried to kill a student like I nearly had.

But I'd had no choice either.

A halfhearted response would've only provoked Song Seokhwan further and made things far worse. Clamping down hard from the start was the best course of action.

Of course, the biggest reason was that I simply couldn't contain my anger.

"Hmm... the course might actually get canceled."

"There you go joking again. That's not funny, you know?"

I wished it were a joke too.

I'd used the Charisma talent to embed an intense fear in Song Seokhwan, but would that really be enough to make him back off?

No point thinking about it further.

What's done was done. Better to worry about it if and when something actually happened—that'd be healthier for my sanity.

"......"

Forget it.

I'll just focus on preparing the course.

"Like you said, it's not exactly a pleasant story. Enough about that—could you take a look at this?"

I sent Lee Yeeun the lecture materials via email.

Everything inside was something I'd meticulously prepared. With this in hand, the first practicum dungeon—Pale Monkey Forest—would be no problem.

"Mmm... Ooh!"

Watching Lee Yeeun review the materials reminded me of the day I'd first received her report.

Lee Yeeun, who'd ridden the emotional roller coaster with my every reaction. Though I didn't show it, I'd been just as sensitive to each of her responses. Looking back, teasing her then had been a truly rotten thing to do.

Fortunately, Lee Yeeun's overall assessment was very positive.

"Wow... I'm honestly impressed. When you first said ten minutes for Pale Monkey Forest, I thought you were out of your mind, but after seeing this lecture material—I honestly don't know anymore."

"Right?"

I couldn't tell if it was genuine praise or flattery, but it felt much better than being told flatly it was impossible.

So what if they were first-playthrough newbies? If I taught them diligently and passed on every bit of know-how I'd accumulated, that's what made them veterans.

Things were starting to take shape, little by little.

My eyes were on what came after graduation. Bit by bit, it felt like the pieces for reaching the ending were falling into place.