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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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Yoo Hee-won was startled by her father’s heavy voice.
She started to regret bringing up the subject, thinking she shouldn’t have.
Her father was a cold-blooded man, and family was no exception.
He also firmly believed that his only daughter would become an S-Rank, just like him.
Yoo Hee-won constantly worried about failing to meet his expectations,
Although she had never expressed it outwardly.
She swallowed and waited for her father to speak.
Finally, he said,
[Stop meddling in unnecessary matters and focus on your studies.]
“Yes…”
As the call ended, Yoo Hee-won let out a held breath.
Conversations with her father were always tense and difficult…
But to call it unnecessary meddling…
As expected, Dad is… the same as always.
Would he change even slightly if I became an S-Rank?
Yoo Hee-won, who had been standing there feeling somewhat dejected, straightened her expression and walked down the hallway.
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I had a dream.
I was flying in a hero suit when I encountered a cloud of a strange color.
I swerved sharply to avoid it, but an incredibly powerful force slammed me downwards.
Losing my balance from the impact, I started plummeting towards the ground.
After the ground and sky flipped several times, just before I crashed…
I managed to create dozens of weak barriers in rapid succession, shattering them to cushion the impact.
But having fallen from hundreds of meters, my body felt like it was breaking apart.
Groaning, I lay face down, but soon I came to my senses and jumped up.
“Groan…”
I stumbled, regained my footing, and looked up at the sky.
The strange cloud from before was growing larger and larger, and what I was looking for was nowhere to be found.
I tried to launch myself back up, cloaking myself in Aura, but my body wouldn’t allow it.
I collapsed, unable to fly, and stared blankly at the clouds.
“No…”
I saw a meteor with a long tail streaking through the clouds, slowly falling.
“No…!”
The meteor fell slowly but steadily, disappearing between rugged mountain peaks.
“No!!”
I clawed at the ground, trying to drag my unresponsive legs towards it.
But even at a glance, it was dozens of kilometers away.
Crawling that far was impossible… running it wouldn’t be any easier.
“Sob…”
Clutching at the dry weeds and pebbles, I sobbed like an animal.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!!”
When I woke up screaming, the clock read 4:00 AM.
As my Mental Barrier, disrupted by the dream, quickly recovered, I regained my composure.
It was a dream.
The same dream I always had.
But this time, there was something added.
I tried to make sense of it, but the memory of the dream slipped away like water through my fingers.
All that remained was the strangely colored cloud and the falling meteor.
I seemed to have felt various emotions while watching the meteor…
But I couldn’t remember anything anymore.
It was troublesome that I always woke up at this awkward hour every time I had the dream.
It would be better if it happened right after I fell asleep or right before I woke up, but 4:00 AM?
Rubbing my forehead, I got out of bed.
I wanted to shower because I was drenched in cold sweat from the dream.
As I showered under the hot water, instead of organizing my schedule for the day, I thought about the dream.
What kind of dream was it?
Why did I keep having it repeatedly?
Perhaps…
I arrived at an absurd conjecture.
Normally, I would have dismissed it or pushed it to the back of my mind…
But it was different now.
Perhaps, really…
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The mentoring session with Golden Viper and the Gray Molds.
Today was the day I was supposed to review their assignment on information gathering and covert operations.
Yoo Hee-won’s assignment was near perfect, so there wasn’t much to review.
From a quick read-through, it seemed like she knew more than I did.
What kind of private tutoring had she received to be able to produce this level of work as a freshman?
Perhaps her father had provided her with some sort of cheat sheet through his connections.
He was the kind of person who would call the dean directly about advisor assignments.
Han Min-ha, on the other hand, needed a lot of guidance.
As I continued to make corrections with my pen, Han Min-ha’s face grew redder and redder.
“It would be better to rewrite this part the way I’ve shown you. What you wrote, Min-ha, isn’t just a different opinion; it’s completely wrong.”
“I understand.”
Han Min-ha diligently took notes, but her hand was trembling so much that her writing was a mess.
“Does your arm hurt?”
“Ah… It’s fine. I’ve been training hard lately…”
Yoo Hee-won, who had been on her phone, scoffed at that.
I knew that Yoo Hee-won had been dragging Han Min-ha around for training recently.
The rumor had spread so much that there was no one in the academy who didn’t know about it.
Yoo Hee-won always attracted attention, and every move she made became a topic of conversation.
So, with her taking care of the bottom-ranked girl personally, there was bound to be a lot of gossip.
But since no one knew Yoo Hee-won’s true intentions, most of the rumors were speculation.
That Han Min-ha was cunningly clinging to Yoo Hee-won to survive in the academy, or vulgar rumors about Yoo Hee-won’s sexual preferences.
It was natural for rumors to become more sensational over time, but I didn’t like my students being slandered like that.
However, Yoo Hee-won didn’t seem to care at all.
She was an individualist who didn’t pay attention to her surroundings as long as she was satisfied with what she was doing.
On the other hand, Han Min-ha… well.
I wasn’t sure how she was taking the rumors.
She always seemed timid and hesitant, so it was hard to tell what she was really thinking.
Anyway, I hadn’t received any meaningful response from her since our last meeting.
I had thought that appeasing and persuading her by telling her about her parents’ past would be enough.
Did she need more time?
Han Min-ha couldn’t even use her Aura yet, so there was no telling when she’d be ready for the advanced defense techniques course.
The difference in skill between Yoo Hee-won and Han Min-ha was literally like heaven and earth.
I couldn’t teach them both at the same time, and Yoo Hee-won couldn’t lower herself to Han Min-ha’s level.
Han Min-ha needed to catch up to Yoo Hee-won, at least a little.
But when would that be…?
“Alright. Let’s stop here for today. It’s getting late, and you all need to go back and rest.”
“Professor, buy us dinner.”
Yoo Hee-won put her phone away and made a bold request.
“I know you already had dinner.”
“I didn’t like it, so I didn’t finish it.”
“But it’s too late to go out now. Let’s do it next time.”
“How about tomorrow? Something other than spicy stir-fried chicken.”
“I’m on vacation tomorrow, so I won’t be at the academy.”
Yoo Hee-won’s mouth formed an “o”.
“Oh, you take vacations during the semester?”
“I don’t have any classes tomorrow.”
“Where are you going? With whom?”
“I’m going alone, and you don’t need to know where.”
Yoo Hee-won narrowed her eyes and stared at me.
I met her gaze with a faint smile.
“I want to go back and rest too. Good work, everyone.”
I stood up, and Han Min-ha quickly jumped up and gathered her things, while Yoo Hee-won slowly rose with a suspicious look.
Since I was leaving for the day, the three of us left the research building together.
The sun had already set, and the streetlights looked particularly cold in the chilly evening air.
But the students seemed fine in their ordinary training clothes, so it seemed like I was the only one who felt cold.
At the intersection where the faculty housing and the dormitories split, I said goodbye to the students.
“Goodbye, everyone.”
“Goodbye, Professor.” “Yes.”
Han Min-ha waited for me to leave first, and Yoo Hee-won, not caring either way, turned around.
“Hee-won.”
I called out to her and said,
“Thank you for listening to my request.”
“What request?”
“About helping Min-ha. Thank you.”
I smiled, and Yoo Hee-won opened and closed her mouth a few times before turning away with an annoyed expression.
I knew why she was reacting that way.
She was embarrassed.
Still, I was grateful…
“See you the day after tomorrow.”
We said goodbye, waved, and went our separate ways.
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The next day.
I drove out of the academy and onto the highway.
I was on my way to the Administration.
After having that dream, I felt the need to look into not only Han Min-ha’s parents, but also my own past.
I also thought that knowing about my past might lead to more information about Han Min-ha’s parents.
Regardless of Secreto, it was only right that the orphaned daughter knew what had happened to her parents.
Calling wouldn’t get me anywhere past the general call center, so I decided to go in person.
I figured they wouldn’t turn me away at the door if I, a professor at Graford Academy and a former Secreto member, visited in person.
Of course, the Administration was a strict place, so I wasn’t sure, but I could at least gauge their reaction to my visit.
After a long drive, I arrived at the Administration.
The Administration building was an incredibly tall structure made entirely of glass, and its imposing presence was truly impressive.
As I looked up at the building, I saw an unknown hero with a red trail streaking across the sky and landing on the roof.
I looked away and entered the building.
At the entrance on the first floor, I presented my ID and stated my purpose of visit, and the security guard looked at me suspiciously.
“Excuse me, sir… Are you really a hero…?”
“Yes. How could I be a professor at the academy if I weren’t a hero?”
“Hmm… That’s true, but…”
The security guard looked troubled and typed on his keyboard again.
“Ah… but no matter how much I search… nothing comes up under your name…”
“That’s to be expected. There probably aren’t any records of my name or activities.”
“Excuse me…?”
The security guard raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
“That’s what I’m here to confirm. If you can’t handle this here, please report it to your superiors. Just tell them that a professor from the academy with the callsign Gray Steel is here.”
“Hmm… Alright…”
Since I had a valid academy staff ID, even if it sounded like a bluff, the security guard reluctantly picked up the phone and dialed a number.
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