—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Instructor Kang Cheol-su heroically perished along with the main core.
…Such a thing did not happen.
Although the main core disappeared without a trace due to the enormous shockwave, Kang Cheol-su, who was swept away with it, was perfectly unharmed without a single injury.
“Oh…, my shoulders were stiff just now.”
Rather, he felt refreshed, saying that his muscles that had stiffened from exercising were loosened.
Indeed, it was robustness befitting a former top-tier hero.
Although he could now only exert the strength of a high-tier hero due to the ‘plague fragments’ embedded in his body, and he had become unable to properly control his abilities, his physical durability as a top-tier remained the same, so for him, an explosion of this level was merely a muscle massage.
However, the reason I was startled was because of the ‘performance bonus’ of the main quest.
As you know, the performance bonus is ‘additional rewards based on performance’.
That’s why I had poured out all the explosives I had to destroy the main core directly…
But now, it became unclear whether the main core was destroyed because of my explosives or because of Kang Cheol-su’s hero landing.
So I wanted to check the result right away, but we hadn’t escaped the Other World yet.
“Instructor, is rift activation usually this slow?”
“No, it’s only like this for rifts touched by the Fallen. For regular rifts, the rift activates as soon as the core is broken.”
I’ll say it again, the Fallen are wicked and crafty.
As Kang Cheol-su said, in the case of general rifts not touched by the Fallen, the rift appears and activates at the same time as soon as a single core is broken.
On the other hand, for rifts touched by the Fallen, the rift appears only after breaking the main core including the sub-cores, but it is deactivated.
And the wave that occurs as the rift activates,
– Kkieeeek!
– Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go!
– Become one… with us…
Attracts all the monsters in the Other World.
Literally, we had to survive the swarming monsters until the rift was fully activated.
But considering the strength of the people here, that was not much of a concern.
And decisively, our instructor Kang Cheol-su was here now.
“What are these pathetic monsters?”
Kang Cheol-su said with a bored face and raised his foot.
And when he stomped it down towards the direction of the swarming monsters with a thud,
Kwadududuk…!!
All the monsters were pulverized in an instant.
“”…””
Everyone looked at Kang Cheol-su with their mouths agape in astonishment.
Certainly, the monsters here were weak, but the number of monsters that just swarmed was so enormous that it was impossible to count.
But they all turned to powder with just a single stomp of Kang Cheol-su’s foot.
How could one not be surprised?
“What’s wrong?”
Kang Cheol-su asked with a face that seemed to ask if there was any problem, seeing everyone’s gaze directed at him.
To this, the kids shook their heads, saying it was nothing.
“To think such a person is our instructor…”
Someone muttered in an awed voice.
They must have felt reverence anew.
“…What’s with these kids all of a sudden?”
Kang Cheol-su approached me with a puzzled face and asked.
Since everyone else was dazed and I was the only one who looked unfazed, he came to ask me the reason.
To this, I answered with a snicker.
“It’s because you were too cool, Instructor.”
“…Oh, is that so?”
At my answer, Kang Cheol-su stroked his chin.
That was an action he showed when he was embarrassed.
“Um, Instructor. I have something I’m curious about, can I ask?”
“Something you’re curious about? What is it?”
The rift hadn’t been fully activated yet.
And since the monsters had all disappeared, I took this opportunity to resolve the question I had in my head.
“You told us to press the emergency rescue request on the smartwatch if a dangerous situation occurred, right? What effect does that have?”
“Ah, that.”
Kang Cheol-su showed the smartwatch on his wrist.
Then, on his smartwatch, a blue dot was blinking while making a ‘beep, beep’ sound in real-time.
Seeing that, something came to mind, so I immediately asked.
“…Don’t tell me it’s location tracking?”
Kang Cheol-su nodded at my question.
“The smartwatches distributed to students are linked to the network operated by the academy itself. So when a student presses the emergency rescue request, the instructors’ smartwatches can know the student’s location in real-time like this.”
“… Hmm.”
Just press the emergency rescue request and the instructors will come to save you.
This… while it was okay, it was not good.
If I were a Fallen, I would steal the smartwatch of a student or instructor to disrupt or murder the instructors.
That was how very dangerous this system is.
While I was thinking that, Kang Cheol-su said with a snicker.
“I know what you’re thinking. Do you think this system method is dangerous?”
When I nodded my head, saying yes, my anxiety immediately disappeared with Kang Cheol-su’s next words.
“Don’t worry. The people who made this system are the Principal and the Vice Principal. Even if a Fallen obtains a student or instructor’s smartwatch, forget about using it, they will conversely have their location tracked.”
“Oh, is that so?”
This system was built by the Vice Principal, who was a transcendent, Great Mage, and a top-tier hero in the production field?
Then it was absolutely safe.
If it was those two, even a system that looked sloppy would actually be extremely meticulous.
Feeling relieved by this, I asked one last thing.
“By the way, why were you late?”
I asked not to reproach, but because I was genuinely curious.
I knew there was a spatial magic user named Lee Yeon-ji among the instructors.
And since location tracking was possible like this, with her help, they could have come right away.
Then, why did they appear at the moment when it would end just by destroying the main core?
‘Why is their appearance delayed only in this story?’
In the game, there was no question choice of ‘Why were you late?’, so I had no choice but to pass over the question.
But now it was reality.
I could satisfy my curiosity about why they were late.
“Ah, that…”
At my purely pure question, Kang Cheol-su scratched the scar on his forehead.
But soon, he resolved my curiosity.
“I’m sorry for being late, but as soon as there was an abnormality in the rift, I entered the rift right away with Instructor Lee Yeon-ji.”
…He entered the rift with Lee Yeon-ji?
If she was there, they could have come here right away?
As soon as I thought that, Kang Cheol-su immediately solved my doubt.
“But the place we were transported to was neither the cave nor here.”
“…It was neither of the two?”
“Yeah, it was neither.”
So ignoring all the procedures they set, after destroying the main core, with Instructor Lee Yeon-ji’s ability…
Kang Cheol-su seemed to be saying something, but right now I was in a state of shock from the backstory that was not revealed in the game.
‘…There was a double rift from this time?’
Beyond overlaying the Other World, entangling another Other World.
That was what a double rift was.
Double rifts occured with mid-to-high tier Fallen or higher from the moment the story entered the middle.
And only Fallen with a named title could create double rifts.
That meant, from the beginning, a named Fallen was influencing the academy.
‘…Why didn’t I think of this?’
In other stories, when Kang Cheol-su or other instructors appear, it was right before facing and fighting the enemy.
Literally, they fight together.
However, uniquely in this story, Kang Cheol-su’s appearance was late.
Then, it was questionable why it was late, but other veterans and I thought it was just an academy-style cliché.
But it turned out there was a behind story like this…
‘Which named is it?’
I started thinking deeply about which named Fallen had been influencing the academy from the beginning.
From now on, if I think about preparations, I can lower the danger I will face later.
‘Plague? No, not that guy… That guy is a moody type, so he’s not someone who would scheme.’
And at this time, he would be in the Continent of Death trying to recover from the damage inflicted by Kang Cheol-su.
‘Then, Illusion?’
“…Seok.”
‘Yeah, there’s a possibility it could be Illusion too. Although he appears in the later part. He’s good at scheming.’
“…Top student!”
“…Ah.”
The sounds that seemed distant returned.
At this, I realized that I was too immersed in thought.
“Top student, are you okay? You’ve had a serious expression for a while, is there any problem?”
At Kang Cheol-su’s words, I touched my face.
…I could feel a stiff expression.
I had no idea I was making such a serious expression.
“…Lee Yu-jin, are you okay?”
At Lee Seo-yeon’s question, who had approached at some point, I nodded my head with an embarrassed smile.
Then Lee Seo-yeon asked again if I was really okay, but this time too, I only said yes.
To tell the truth, the information I knew was dangerous.
No, beyond being dangerous, it was not even accurate yet.
‘…For now, I’ll have to find out after leaving here.’
There was no need to think deeply, I just needed to find out.
Because there was a Fallen worshipper in the academy.
“Now, everyone. Since the rift is activated, let’s go out.”
At Kang Cheol-su’s words, everyone looked at the rift.
The rift was not red but completely blue.
It meant that the activation was complete and it was connected to the rift of the mock Other World managed by the academy.
With this, everyone, including me, moved their steps into the rift.
Like that, we returned to the academy.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After returning to the academy, the 16 of us, including me, were dragged to the infirmary first.
There, we underwent various examinations, and only after confirming that there was nothing wrong with our bodies could we leave the infirmary.
And we received a hint from Kang Cheol-su that we worked really hard experiencing actual combat, so even if we missed classes for two days, it would be counted as normal attendance, so we should rest well.
He said that after experiencing the mock Other World, there were only theory classes about the Other World for two days anyway, so we who experienced actual combat didn’t need to attend.
With this, I immediately headed to the dormitory.
After taking a clean shower,
“Ugh…, it’s nice.”
I was experiencing bliss lying on the bed.
This is it, this is it.
This fluffiness, this coziness you feel after a hard time!
It’s truly indescribable.
It feels like I’ll fall asleep like this.
But since I’m free to do anything for two days, can’t I just fall asleep?
With that thought, I was about to surrender my body to the approaching sleep…, but at that moment,
“Ah, right!”
I remembered that I had to receive the quest rewards.
At this, I abruptly sat up and leaned my body against the headboard of the bed.
“…What, it feels like déjà vu?”
Didn’t this happen last time too?
“It seems like it did…”
…Isn’t it only the first day now?
Why does it feel like it’s been a long time since I entered the dormitory?
For a moment, I felt an inexplicable sense of incongruity.
But that sense of incongruity was only momentary.
The quest window, which seemed to be throwing a tantrum in the corner of my vision to check it quickly, pushed the sense of incongruity aside and I embraced anticipation.
“Now, let’s see what kind of rewards it gives.”
Saying that, I dragged the quest window that I had stuck in the corner of my vision to a place where it was clearly visible.
The splendid golden light unique to the main quest sparkled.
My heart pounded noisily at that light.
Indeed, what kind of rewards will it give?
I swallowed the rising saliva with a gulp and reached out my hand towards the quest window.
And pressed firmly.
Ding.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Omen?
Hmm… A regressor?