Chapter 22
—[The birth of the first and youngest superlative hero that the whole world is watching? Who is the hottest hero in the video?]
[The arrival of a rare genius who will overturn the history of superheroes?]
After checking the articles in various media outlets and the titles of the Mutube videos, Ha-Jun could not look any further, covered his eyes with his hands, and began to shake his head.
Everywhere in the various articles and videos, including TV news, everyone talked about the same thing.
At the same time, because of this incident, even past incidents of the ‘Armstrong’ began to be re-illuminated.
[The controversial student (Irregular) who defeated the ‘Armstrong’, is none other than the protagonist of the video??]
(T-This is-…)
When the title of the mu-tube video, “The student who defeated the ‘Armstrong’,” began to play, a bitter smile appeared on Ha-Jun’s face.
“Huh…”
To be honest, I couldn’t have predicted it either.
What kind of crazy person would think of taking a video under those circumstances?
But it actually happened.
I sighed and rubbed my face with my hands.
Of course, after the video was uploaded, the academy immediately reported the users who uploaded and then removed and manipulated the public, but not many people believed it.
“That’s the guy who beat that Kalton,”
“You mean that video? Isn’t that an edited one?”
“No, did you see video carefully? That’s the same hammer he uses.”
“Really? No, how is it possible that he beat Kalton?”
“Why not? … There’s also a rumor that that guy killed an ‘Armstrong’ with a single blow.”
An example of this is because the students in my class are making an heated commotion as they glance at me.
(Huh… life…)
I ignored all glances and prayed that the instructor would come soon.
And did my wish come true? No sooner had I thought about it than the classroom door rattled open and a rough-looking man walked in.
It was Han, the instructor, who had not appeared in a while.
And shut the noisy class atmosphere with a single word of warning.
“Anyone who opens their mouth from now on will get a penalty point.”
With this one word, the classroom became quiet as if it were a lie.
After looking around at the children for a while, Li-Han opened his mouth with a satisfied nod.
“Before we start class, I will introduce one incoming student and one promoted student. Please come in.”
With those words, the two girls opened the door and entered.
A girl with long white hair hanging down, giving off a dreamy mystique. And a girl with long black hair and cute round eyes peculiar to her long black hair.
They were Yoo-Seol and Lee-Joo.
“These are the students who have entered this express class after having their abilities examined. Please introduce yourself.”
“My name is Yoo-Seol. Please take care of me.”
With those words, Yoo-Seol smiled seductively.
Immediately, the children who saw her were speechless and looked at her with wide eyes blankly.
“Don’t tell me it’s Yoo-Seol?”
“I heard her healing ability is so good that it’s hard to even look at her face…”
“I’ve really never seen her before.”
All the students began to look at Yoo-Seol with curious faces.
Indeed, she was not only Korea’s most famous and rare gifted person, but also Korea’s first and youngest hero.
Of course, she voluntarily returned her hero license after this incident, but the fact that she was the object of the students’ admiration did not change.
“I look forward to working with you from now on.”
She smiled seductively, and the students in the class began to cheer.
Soon her gaze began to turn to Ha-Jun, and she smiled at him.
I looked at her blankly.
Of course, I wasn’t that surprised because I already knew her.
I saw her yesterday, too.
But if there was anything that bothered me—.
(Why is that girl here?)
The girl with long black hair standing right next to her.
It was Lee Joo-ah, the younger sister of the student council president, who newly joined the express class this time.
Frankly speaking, her joining this class was unexpected.
To begin with, she was a girl who did not exist in the original storyline.
“Oh, hello. My name is Lee Joo-ah, and I’ve just taken the promotion test and moved up to the express group.”
“Lee Joo-ah? Don’t tell me you’re the sister of the student council president? … but aren’t you in the volunteer department?”
“That’s right. I heard that she went to the support department because of her lack of talent in combat.”
Each of the children began to look at Lee Joo-ah with questioning expressions.
Lee Han then smiled at these children and explained.
“Lee Joo-ah has proven her worth in the advancement test, so don’t worry about her. Rather, be careful not to lose it.”
At these words, all the children began to look at Lee Joo-ah with surprised expressions.
The children knew that this particular instructor did not have the personality to praise others with empty words.
Thus, it was hard not to be surprised that this instructor Han recognized them.
Ha-Jun, on the other hand, finally understood why she was here.
(Oh, is it because of me?)
Summoner.
Obviously, she must have put into action what she heard me say on the bus and succeeded in signing a contract with Divine Beast Fafnir after all.
(Still, if it’s this bad, well…)
Well, it was not a bad situation, if a little surprising.
It was also the fact that it was me who suggested to her to get help in the first place.
Of course, I don’t know if the changes I made will play well or not in the future.
(Maybe it’ll be alright?)
“Now that the introductions are done, I’ll let you two sit in those empty seats over there and get to the main discussion. You know that the external joint support training was interrupted in the middle of this incident, right?”
Other students who went out to support other outside agencies in this Hotel Villain terrorist incident were also forced to return to the Academy after the joint training was suspended.
Of course, this is a hectic situation on the part of the Academy, but since the evaluation itself cannot be canceled, a new test was planned to address the training.
“With the cancellation of the joint training, the first-year students’ evaluation will be conducted in parallel with the simulated combat survival training.”
At this Han’s words, one of the students in the class raised his hand and asked a question.
“Um…. How will the simulated combat survival training be conducted?”
“It’s a secret. I’ll let you know how it will be done on the day.”
Suspension grew stronger as the students heard these words anxiously.
Ha-Jun was thinking about the episode that would happen during the test.
(Combat survival simulation training…)
Since Ha-Jun had already played the game, he already knew the evaluation system of the training.
At the same time, I knew about the incident that would happen in that test, but it didn’t worry me too much.
I didn’t need to be in this episode.
(So all I had to worry about was me?)
The focus of this training was, as the name suggests, combat survival.
Of course, with the cancelation of joint training, the evaluation points increased and the rules and methods were changed, but the emphasis was still on combat and survival.
The academy’s artificial uninhabited island was the perfect place to evaluate all situations, including the increased evaluation points, even though the targets of combat here are demons or monsters, including people.
Survival on a deserted island
The duration was three days.
So far, it is a method that is evaluated as a battle between demons or monsters and students.
(Huh… I don’t want to do this already…)
The thought of having to stay in the wild for a whopping 3 days made me want to give up.
No, hey—.
Let’s just give up?
I felt that since the system and the main quest were gone anyway, I didn’t mind giving up early.
I took a moment to let that thought sink in, suddenly Li-han’s expression twisted to its fullest, and he warned the students.
“If any of you didn’t bring satisfactory results in this test, be prepared. I will personally educate you.”
Ha-Jun had to quickly give up on the thought he had just recalled.
***
Time passed quickly, and it was the day of training.
“Hah~n.”
Ha-Jun stretched and looked at the sky where the sun had not yet risen.
The time was five o’clock in the early morning.
All 700 students on the first-year combat course were on a wing bus headed for a small island near the East Sea. This small island, about a quarter the size of Jeju Island, was once an artificial island for superhuman training, created by the sage Choi Jung-won, and the head of the Wizard Association together.
In fact, the original purpose of the island was to study the weaknesses and ecology of the demons and monsters of the past cataclysmic period. But now that the number of demons and monsters has drastically decreased and the enemies of human beings have become villains, the island is used only for the training purposes of the students.
“Now, the first-year express class gather in four columns. Implementation.”
An hour later, the students arrived at the island, and each class gathered and began to inspect their belongings.
To be honest, the only possessions the students brought with them were, at most, their smartphones, and personal Noble Phantasm.
Of course, this was natural.
All of the instructors had kept the training method a secret. So who would have known in advance and prepared for it?
“Kim Ha-Jun.”
Well, not me, of course.
I had prepared just a little bit along the appropriate lines, just in case.
“What’s that?”
The instructor, who had passed the empty-handed students quickly, stood tall – even at a cursory glance – and stopped at the position where I was standing.
Instructor Li-han’s gaze then turned to the bag I was carrying on my back.
I unzipped the bag and showed the contents.
“It’s a sleeping bag.”
“A sleeping bag?”
“Yes. It looks cold at night.”
Li Han looked at my words with a blank smile on his face that seemed to say, ‘I’m so disappointed.’
“It’s old-fashioned. I think the academy will give you a sleeping bag?”
Incidentally, the sleeping bags supplied by the academy are portable sleeping bags that are small enough to easily fit in one’s pocket. By all accounts, they are even easier to carry than Ha-Jun’s sleeping bag, but all for a reason.
“I can’t sleep well without this sleeping bag.”
In my words, Li-han chuckled, took out his sleeping bag, and began to search every inch of his bag, and after checking everything in his bag, nodded and turned his attention to the other students.
Ha-Jun smiled inwardly as he watched Li-Han like that.
In fact, I had hidden various necessities and food in his bag, including a sleeping bag.
Of course, as soon as they arrived at the island, he stopped time and hid them in a cave on the island….
For the time being, the academy provided us with a bag of nuts, but it was not enough to endure the three days of training.
As the name implies, this training was for combat survival, so it literally meant that I had to find something to eat by myself. So I took them at their word and found my own food.
Buy It Yourself.
In a sense, this also meant that I was thoroughly prepared, so I intended to answer in that way if found.
Of course I would not be found.
“Now that we have finished inspecting your belongings, I will explain the test method.”
At these words, all the students began to look at the instructor with nervous eyes.
The emphasis of this training was to test the students to measure their combat ability. but with the interruption of this joint training, the part of the test that had to evaluate the students naturally lined up.
The artificial island was selected for this purpose.
The academy decided that the artificial island was suitable for testing the increased number of areas to be evaluated all at once.
Of course, the existing assessment location itself changed, so the assessment method and rules also changed.
“A Monster will be assigned to each person, You will survive on the island for a period of three days, find and Kill the Monster assigned to you, and verify the Monster you have killed with (“Bell Point”). There, we will check the additional points and measure the score based on the procedure and the response. The evaluation will be recorded by an artificial drone that will record the video, so you guys just have to do your best.”
The bell point refers to a lightweight, lower-grade magic tool, slightly smaller than a smartphone, specially created at the academy, that has a variety of functions, including the generation of a protective barrier with location tracking and a map of the island.
This was the original rule, followed by the following explanation of the added rule.
“Furthermore, the Monster is not the only target that you should be wary of.”
Students nodding their heads in question
Li Han instructor continued.
“In the express class, each of you will be targeted by not only the Monster, but also by one person. You are to arbitrarily define your assigned target as a villain and take the bell points that are given to each of you. Of course, if you are deprived of or fail to obtain either your own bell points or the target’s bell points, you are eliminated.”
He spoke in a complicated way, but the simple explanation was a game of tails.
“Your express class will be designated as a target for other advanced, intermediate, and lower classes to target, so be on your guard.”
“So, we only have to kill the monster and the take away bell points?”
“Yes, that’s right. If you are confident, you may take one of the instructor’s items placed on the island. I will include that in the points.”
The instructor said this as a joke, but surprisingly, some students were about to jump on him.
Of course, they can’t stand the provocation of a placed instructor, so they attacked….
What’s the best way to provoke?
If you toy with food in front of hungry students, it’s obvious anyone will attack you.
“Then the present time is 6:30; we will begin at 7:00. Be ready.”
