Chapter 3
Chapter 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Lord First
>Chapter: 3
>Chapter Title: A Terrorist Attack Always Happens on the Academy Entrance Train (1)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Every genre has its formulas. Tropes, as they’re called.
When you think about it, it’s only natural. For a collection of works to form a specific genre, there must be common elements.
Take the classic hero’s tale, for instance. Ivan believed the format of this tired old genre was as follows:
A Demon King, or some great adversary, appears.
>The Hero forms a party.
>The Hero embarks on a journey to defeat the Demon King.
>The story follows the process of defeating the Demon King’s generals one by one.
>One of the generals becomes infatuated with the Hero.
>At the end of the journey, the Demon King is slain, and peace returns to the world.
Based on this format, Ivan had considered this world to be a classic hero’s tale.
But now, Ivan was desperately digging through his memories of Kim Seon-woo from thirty years ago, compiling a list.
What were the formulas of the academy genre?
ep3. A Terrorist Attack Always Happens on the Academy Entrance Train.
The princess had gone on about “winter is coming” as if she were from House Stark, but she was wrong.
It was currently January. It was, of course, the dead of winter, and the orphanage had just thrown a huge New Year’s party.
This meant there was still some time before the university semester began.
“An academy…”
Ivan was lost in thought, longing for the sourcebooks he had impulsively burned thirty years ago.
He remembered there were definitely a few academy stories among them. He couldn’t recall the names anymore… something about a Heavenly Demon, a swordsman, a shaman from Wudang, or a sorcerer going to an academy…
Jotting down what he could remember in a hurry, it went something like this.
>A list of academy genre formulas, of a sort.
‘Anyone and anything can show up at the academy.’
Literally, from cowboys to Heavenly Demons, anything was possible.
>That meant it would certainly include assassins ready to stab the precious sons and daughters of the Hero’s Party in the back.
‘The academy is always invaded.’
Sadly, an academy suffers more frequent invasions than a frontline strategic fortress.
>It was widely known that, statistically, if the protagonist doesn't drop out, the probability of the academy being invaded converges on 98%.
‘Demons infiltrate the academy.’
At a time when the Demon King was dead, all Seven Dragon Generals were either dead or missing, and demons had been either enslaved or driven to the ends of the earth.
Setting aside how they could possibly sneak into the heart of the Allied Kingdoms, into a mere educational institution of all places.
It meant that demon sympathizers or actual demons were bound to be hiding in the academy.
You could exclude demi-humans like goblins or orcs. Their appearances made hiding impossible.
It was better to assume that those capable of shapeshifting, like succubi or other fiends, were the ones in hiding.
‘There is a traitor among the students and faculty.’
I need to find a faculty member who is unusually hostile to the protagonist.
>That person is likely a demon mole.
‘There is a secret ruin or a hidden artifact within the academy.’
Saint Yansk University was a new institution, less than ten years old, a public university in the heart of the capital, personally commissioned by the late king. And yet, for some reason, I had to assume there was a ‘Chamber of Secrets’ inside…
‘The student body of the academy is broadly divided into three types: students, demon-related villains, and government agents.’
Here, ‘students’ didn't mean diligent model pupils. These kids were ticking time bombs.
They’d get caught up in incidents at the drop of a hat, and of course, the protagonist would be the only one who could save them.
The other students, those who didn't get into trouble, were one of two types: the quiet ones mentioned only by name, and those who were jealous of the protagonist.
Of course, this could all be considered part of a charming school life. The problem came next.
Students associated with demons. Essentially, those who should be classified as demon moles, demon spies, or demon partisans.
‘If I spot them, I’ll kill them in advance.’
The former Annihilation Squad officer and current orphanage director narrowed his eyes and underlined the sentence.
The best way to protect your allies was to annihilate the enemy.
So far, this was no different from a common hobby.
‘Next, government agents.’
If the children of international dignitaries were enrolled in large numbers, it was only natural that agents would be dispatched to protect them.
The problem was that agents rarely went on missions to perform just a single task.
In other words, the children’s bodyguards would moonlight as excellent spies for their friendly allied nations.
You couldn’t even kill these types. They weren’t from hostile nations, so laying a hand on them would immediately cause a diplomatic incident. On paper, their position would be ‘student,’ after all.
‘Since there’s no age limit, it wouldn’t be strange for active-duty agents from the war to enroll.’
The former Annihilation Squad officer stroked his chin, lost in thought.
It would be better if people I knew showed up. At least we could communicate.
Ivan thought this as he stared blankly at the hand axe hanging on the wall by his office door.
‘In academy tests, training, or other situations, if an instructor says it is [safe], a crisis is guaranteed to follow.’
This is why corporations should abolish their internal safety inspection systems and outsource all safety checks.
Given the nature of an academy, where spies, assassins, demons, and traitors outnumbered actual students, the only safe place was probably the headmaster’s office.
Even Dumbledore didn’t die in his office, after all.
Normally, the position of headmaster or president should be held by an administrator, but strangely, in an academy, it was ‘common sense’ for the world’s strongest individual to take the role…
Next. The most important thing.
Let’s recall the ‘ending condition’ of the academy genre…
‘The ending conditions for an academy story are [Survival] and [World Peace]… Wait. Wait a minute.’
If this world was now an academy story, and everything that had happened so far was just ‘background lore.’
Let’s organize this.
The Demon King appeared, the Hero killed him, and the world found peace.
Now, a mere four years after the war ended, the Allied Kingdoms were on the verge of shattering. While each nation was currently focused on rebuilding, competition for resources and colonies was intensifying.
In the numerous occupied territories that were once home to demons, the military governments of various nations were still exploiting demon slaves.
What could possibly qualify as a main story at this point?
‘A world war? No, that’s not it.’
Academy stories feature protagonists who are around high school or university age.
If a war broke out on a scale grand enough to be called a world war, not just a simple regional conflict, the limits of what such students could achieve would be all too clear.
In that case…
‘The Demon King’s revival…?’
Ivan took a sip of coffee, his sunken eyes glaring at his notepad.
No matter how he looked at it, that was the most logical conclusion. A story about the descendants of the Hero’s Party fighting against a resurrected Demon King to restore peace to the world.
Assuming the Demon King’s revival was a given, and that the students would drop out around their second year… and predicting the academy invasion would happen at least a year from now…
What needed to be done right now?
He added one more sentence to his notepad, then grabbed his coat and stood up.
‘A terrorist attack always happens on the academy entrance train (or other mode of transport).’
Ever since Harry Potter, in any world with trains, admission to an academy always involved a train. (If not, a carriage might be used. The common factor is that both trains and carriages are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. In fact, all modes of transport are vulnerable to terrorism. Traveling on foot was no different.)
And this Allied Kingdom was using the military supply trains, laid down so furiously during the war, for civilian transport.
Of course, even a military supply train is vulnerable to terrorism. Ivan’s eighteen years of military service could attest to that.
The demons also favored trains for transporting inland military supplies, so Ivan had both thwarted and perpetrated train attacks more times than he could count.
That was just the nature of the Annihilation Squad’s work.
Today, too, Ivan missed the Republic of Korea. A peaceful world where, on a train, you battled not terrorists or bandits, but stone-baked eggs and tuna kimbap.
Stone-baked eggs and tuna kimbap were added to Ivan’s ‘List of Things to Eat When I Return to Earth.’
*
“Just you wait! You just watch! All of you, watch closely! See how successful I, I become!”
Standing on the train platform, dragging an instrument case and a suitcase, Esidis sniffled as she glared at the crowd.
The crowd was holding up a large placard, seeing her off.
-Haiking Einar’s Eldest Daughter! Top of her class at Saint Yansk University!
She wasn’t at the top, not even second, but Esidis didn’t correct them. They had deliberately written that phrase just to enjoy her reaction.
-So proud! The Droan Kingdom’s finest! Beauty!
>-Inheriting the blood of the great conqueror, Haiking Einar, she challenges the conquest of the orchestra!
“What’s wrong with… with the orchestra?!”
Esidis shrieked before turning around and boarding the train.
A roar of laughter, *Wahahaha!*, erupted behind her.
*Mean, mean people. Couldn’t they at least cheer for me…!*
As the train departed, she buried her face in her sleeves and sobbed, growing distant.
The crowd that had been watching her from beyond the window began to disperse, murmuring amongst themselves.
“You think the young lady will be able to keep her spirits up?”
>“Of course, whose daughter do you think she is!”
>“Those Krasilov Kingdom folks are so pale, I just don’t trust ‘em…”
>“Still, the old master didn’t send her alone, so don’t you worry. She’ll do just fine.”
The crowd that had been teasing Esidis, the vassals of Haiking Einar, departed, murmuring their worries.
The eldest daughter of the Hero’s Party’s berserker, Einar ‘The Slaughterer’ Ulriksson. Esidis Einarsdottir.
>Admitted to the Orchestra Department of the School of Music at Saint Yansk University!
*
Two days later, the very same train that had received such a grand send-off from the vassals of Droan’s Haiking Einar derailed near the border of the Krasilov Kingdom.
Naturally, as it was ‘common sense’ for an academy entrance train to be caught in a terrorist attack, Ivan was not surprised.
Instead, he picked up his pistol and his axe.
*