Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Academy Collapse Event (3)

The Academy Collapse Event had begun in earnest.

The Academy was now isolated by Kultung's barrier, and red Gates were opening everywhere, spawning monsters.

The red Gates that Kultung opened.

They possessed peculiar properties different from normal Gates.

Normal dungeons required time after a Gate opened before monsters ventured outside, but Kultung's Gates behaved as if they'd been open for months.

As a result, monsters poured from the Gates, and the entire Academy became a landscape reminiscent of a living hell.

"Damn it, how did monsters get all the way here?!"

"Is this a disaster?"

The Academy's Main Auditorium.

It was packed with people who had barely escaped the monsters.

Everyone was trembling with confusion and fear.

What was needed at a time like this was a leader.

At the Academy, there was only one person who fit that role.

"You worthless fools! What are you all doing?!"

Chancellor Ryu Jeonga.

Her voice, amplified with mana, echoed through every corner of the Main Auditorium.

It was forceful, yet it carried the power to invigorate rather than intimidate — everyone was able to pull themselves together.

"We are Heroes! Do you think it's acceptable for those whose mission is to kill monsters to cower before them? How dare you call yourselves Heroes in that state? Stand tall and hold your heads high!"

"She's right!"

"Death to the monsters!"

The atmosphere spread like a contagion, transforming the air inside the Main Auditorium in an instant.

As if they'd never been shaken, everyone was burning with fighting spirit.

There were students from non-combat departments and even civilians, but the majority were Academy professors and students who could be classified as combatants.

The dungeons and monsters outside might look numerous, but our numbers were far from small either.

The odds were very much in our favor.

"Young Cha, is this sufficient?"

"More than sufficient."

Ryu Jeonga grinned and stepped back, and I took the stage.

Naturally, every eye in the Main Auditorium turned to me.

"I'm Cha Eunwoo, professor in Convergent Awakened Studies."

I, too, needed to become an icon of trust for them, just like Ryu Jeonga.

I pushed the Charisma talent to its maximum and spoke.

"Given the circumstances, I'll get straight to the point."

I could feel solid trust in their gazes.

The belief that I could do something about this situation.

"Those of us here managed to escape danger, but far more people are still out there in that living hell. Your precious friends, students, and mentors among them."

At my words, professors and students alike tensed.

In reality, those who'd made it into the Main Auditorium were less than half the Academy's total population.

Everyone's heads must be swimming with worry for their people right now.

"Let's save who we can, starting now. We're going to rescue as many people as possible. Clearing the dungeons comes after."

Saving lives came first.

That was the right conviction and the right mindset for a Hero.

Besides, the forces we'd gathered weren't enough to be certain of victory.

The people we'd rescue from here on out were all Heroes too.

Gathering the scattered students and professors into one place would improve our odds.

"I will issue all tactical directives."

No one objected.

Everyone followed my command.

The most pressing challenge was organizing the forces.

Before deploying troops, they had to be organized into units — but the Academy didn't have pre-built party structures.

I entrusted the ad-hoc party formations to the genius tactician, Zhuge Soyon.

"Soyon, can you handle this?"

"Of course. I'll blow you away, Professor."

What would've taken an ordinary person ages, the genius girl finished in a flash.

After the forces were organized, efficient deployment began.

"Yeeun, pull up the map."

"Yes!"

A map of the Academy appeared on the Main Auditorium's screen.

"Let's see......"

The key to troop deployment was to avoid both excess and deficiency.

Sending a weak party to a difficult zone would mean total annihilation, and sending a strong party to an easy zone was a waste of resources.

If we delayed too long, those surrounded by monsters would be in danger, so we needed to split forces as efficiently as possible and dispatch them to as many locations as we could.

The problem was that I had too little information.

The combat power of allied parties meeting for the first time, the danger levels of each zone based on fragmentary intel — it was all far too imprecise.

For efficient allocation, I needed accurate assessments, but the margin of error was too large.

"I need to minimize the variables. Play it safe, even at the cost of some inefficiency."

I began distributing each party across the map.

***

"Fuck."

Building C, Research Lab.

A female professor in a suit muttered obscenities under her breath.

Her name was Oh Haejeong, a professor in the Magical Research Department.

"Gyaaah! G-get away! Go away!"

Every time she looked at the man in front of her, profanity rose to the tip of Oh Haejeong's throat.

Oh Haejeong watched the pathetic struggle between the man and a frog-type monster called a Dead Frog.

The man's name was Jeong Gitae.

There stood the man who could be called the current number one in the Magical Research Department.

─SCREECH!

"I-Ice Lance!"

Jeong Gitae launched a massive ice spear at the Dead Frog charging at him with its maw gaping wide.

It was an excessive spell for a lowly monster.

The problem was that no amount of powerful magic mattered if you couldn't hit the target.

The Ice Lance missed spectacularly.

"Gwaaah!"

What followed was a one-sided mauling.

The Dead Frog began toying with Jeong Gitae, kicking him around.

'Is that thing even a person?'

Despite its fearsome name, the Dead Frog was by no means a strong monster.

On the contrary, it was weak enough that even average students could solo a few of them.

'Christ. No wonder Theory-types get called braindead all the time.'

One of the common insults hurled at Theory-type professors was that they'd fled into research because they were too cowardly to fight monsters.

It varied from person to person, but the man making a fool of himself in front of Oh Haejeong certainly fit the description.

"Magic Missile."

Oh Haejeong easily subdued the Dead Frog with the simplest of low-level spells.

"H-Haejeong......"

Was he going to thank her?

Being thanked by someone like him wouldn't bring her any joy, but she wouldn't refuse a thank-you if he was offering.

That stupid thought had crossed her mind for a moment.

"It took you this long to kill that one measly monster? Useless woman!"

Oh Haejeong momentarily doubted her own ears.

They say when something makes you angry enough, you loop past rage entirely.

The unexpected verbal abuse caused Oh Haejeong's thought process to freeze.

"Tsk, pathetic. Oh Haejeong, you can forget about the Master Class Lab next semester too."

The Master Class Lab.

The most prestigious lab in Florian's Magical Research Department.

Only professors with both ability and connections could earn the right to participate.

It was no exaggeration to say that every Magical Research Department professor had come to Florian with their eyes set on the Master Class Lab.

Florian's most important papers all came from there, and internationally, anyone from Florian's Master Class Lab was automatically respected.

Oh Haejeong spoke.

"Oh, there's a Dead Frog over there."

"HIIIEEEEK! Where?! Where?!"

"Hmph."

That said, Oh Haejeong wasn't the type to dwell on such things.

She wanted to join the Master Class Lab, of course.

But she'd rather not go at all than grovel before a pathetic man like that.

'Professor Jeon Taejin was a son of a bitch too, but at least that man had some talent.'

Now that Jeon Taejin was in prison, a nobody like Jeong Gitae got to strut around like a king.

Oh Haejeong was thoroughly disgusted with the current state of the Magical Research Department.

"I wish a decent Top Professor would just fall from the sky."

As if that would ever happen.

A Top Professor wasn't something that could be created overnight.

No matter how brilliant a genius, there were no results without effort.

"Hey! There's nothing there!"

"My eyes must be getting bad lately, I must've seen wrong."

"You... seriously!"

Oh Haejeong let Jeong Gitae's grumbling go in one ear and out the other as she entered the research lab.

Inside were Magical Research Department students huddled together.

"I-I'm scared......"

"It's okay. The professors said they'll come rescue us soon, remember?"

Oh Haejeong spoke.

"Kids, everything alright?"

"Yes."

Oh Haejeong felt frustrated.

Her students weren't specialized in combat, but they all had at least basic fighting capability.

"I don't know if rescue will actually come. We still have zero information about what's happening outside."

"Oh......"

"So how about we just break out on our own?"

"That's......"

Every student's words dried up at once.

Oh Haejeong felt bitter inside.

'It's going to be like this again.'

In combat-focused departments, courses from the first semester of freshman year trained students to develop the awareness and mental fortitude of a Hero.

But non-combat students had no such training, so even the smallest crisis could shatter their composure.

For all intents and purposes, first-year Magical Research students were no different from civilians.

"I think we should do what the professor says."

The upperclassmen, who'd taken various courses over the years, were a bit different though.

The red-haired third-year Han Daedong confidently advocated for fighting.

"What do we have to be scared of? Against those bottom-tier monsters......"

"Enough."

The one who stopped Han Daedong was Jeong Gitae.

Jeong Gitae spoke as if he'd just heard something ridiculous.

"Han Daedong, can you take responsibility for what you're saying?"

"Responsibility?"

"If one of these students dies, can you take responsibility for that life?"

Han Daedong was struck speechless.

Jeong Gitae smirked as if to say, See?

"As a senior, you shouldn't speak that way. Your juniors are scared — the least you can do is not drive them to a battlefield if you can't even comfort them."

"I'm sorry."

"And that goes for all of you. Remember the sanctity and value of life."

"Yes."

The freshmen who'd wanted nothing to do with risking their lives against monsters gazed at Jeong Gitae with sparkling eyes, as if they'd found their savior.

Oh Haejeong, frustrated at the impasse, spoke up.

"Then what are you proposing? If you're going to oppose something, at least offer an alternative."

"What?"

Once the floodgates opened, there was no stopping.

Oh Haejeong continued without mincing words.

"Don't tell me you're suggesting we sit here and die together? What a wonderful plan."

"How dare you!"

"If we stay here, we all die! Do you not understand that?"

It was do or die at this point.

Oh Haejeong grabbed Jeong Gitae by the collar and shook him.

She'd just manhandled the most likely candidate for the next Top Professor — her career was certainly over.

Who cares about that?

I need to save these kids first.

"Quit your bullshit and move it! All of you... oh no!"

CRASH—!

A section of wall collapsed and a horde of monsters emerged from the breach.

There were far more than she'd expected.

"When did so many......"

With this many monsters, she should've noticed them during her patrols around Building C.

The reason she hadn't was probably that a new Gate had just opened.

'Damn it......'

If she'd known this would happen, she would've evacuated earlier.

Fighting this many while protecting the kids was impossible.

"Jeong Gitae! Take the kids and run!"

"Wh-what? Then what about you, Professor Oh......"

"Shut up and go!"

Yes.

I need to save the kids first.

"Forest!"

When Oh Haejeong cast her incantation, countless trees sprouted from the ground.

The densely packed trees split the lab in half, separating the students from Oh Haejeong.

"Come play rough with me, you miserable bastards."

Oh Haejeong began fighting ferociously.

Casting spell after spell, she appeared to be holding her own against the monster horde.

But only for a moment.

No matter how many she killed, the monsters showed no sign of decreasing.

"Hah, haah!"

She could feel her mana depleting rapidly.

At this rate, she'd be finished before long.

'At least they should've gotten far enough by now, right?'

Then that was enough.

She'd accomplished her objective, so it didn't matter if she collapsed here.

Just as Oh Haejeong was about to release her grip on her fading consciousness—

"Huh?"

Something unexpected happened.

The trees she'd created at the start began crumbling apart.

The defensive wall she'd carefully constructed with the aftermath in mind was falling apart far too easily.

When the trees finally crumbled completely, a person appeared.

"Are you alright?"

That person was the most handsome man Oh Haejeong had ever seen.

The most talked-about man in the world right now — Cha Eunwoo.

"Y-yes......"

Cha Eunwoo gave her a gentle smile and spoke.

"Rest a little. By the time you wake up, it'll all be over."

When Cha Eunwoo gestured, people began filing into the lab one by one.

They were Academy professors and students who had come from outside.

That was the last thing Oh Haejeong remembered.