Welcome to the Union Hero Academy (Part 3)
“Are you all seated?”
The homeroom teacher with dark blue ponytail hair stood before the podium, her clothes draped carelessly over her shoulders.
She must have been in her late twenties.
With a bored expression, she swept her gaze across the students.
“Good… well, since today’s the first day, let’s do a rough orientation.”
Her yawn came out half-hearted.
She looked like she had zero motivation.
“Hey, is that the Union instructor?”
“She’s said to be the homeroom teacher for the assigned class at orientation.”
Some of the cadets whispered among themselves.
It seemed they disliked the idea of a homeroom teacher who was this unmotivated.
Entering a hero training academy that ranked among the world’s best, only to find their homeroom instructor in this state—it was natural to feel disappointed.
Yet a few cadets actually looked at her with eyes that held equal parts curiosity and indifference.
They couldn’t quite recognize her because she had changed a lot since her active days, but some of them seemed to know exactly who she was.
After all, she had been a name that appeared frequently in the internet, on television, and in newspapers until a few years ago.
“Alright, I’ll introduce myself first. My name is Hong Daye.”
She wrote her name on the chalkboard with a flick of the chalk.
“Rank 93 among Korea’s domestic hero rankings. I’m the homeroom instructor who’ll be responsible for all of you.”
Whispers rippled through the room.
The eyes of the cadets shifted.
Rank 93 was no ordinary talent. In other words, she was a High Ranker.
Korean heroes were recognized even by the world itself.
Especially someone like Hong Daye, who had once displayed abilities beyond belief during her prime.
Her current rank was lower because she wasn’t active anymore, but back then she stood far above the rest.
“What? Hong Daye was a hero?”
“Hong Daye… the one who solved the Busan infection outbreak?”
“She was said to be one of the Ten Strongest candidates once.”
A young prodigy who burst onto the hero scene like a meteor, causing a stir in the industry.
She had been mentioned among the Ten Strongest candidates and drew attention as a potential representative of the next generation.
But a massive infection disaster five years ago forced her to retire from active duty.
“Well… enough of the boring self-introduction.”
Suddenly she fixed her gaze on the students.
An unknown power settled into her hazy eyes.
When their eyes met hers, the students flinched in unison.
“As you all know, the Union is the premier hero training institution in Korea.”
Hong Daye’s voice echoed against the cadets’ ears.
“With so many promising talents gathered from around the world, the competition is fierce.
New freshmen’s clumsiness? Falling in love with a new person? Better to drop those dreams.
“If you’ve been told you’re a genius so far, in the Union you’ll probably end up as the weakest.
Unless you want to be weeded out, you’ll have no choice but to train harder than anyone else.
The cadets listened in silence.
“The Union will evaluate you constantly.
It will record and score every single action of yours.
You’ll have to compete with the other cadets endlessly to prove your own worth.
That means joining a good clan, of course.
Some of the cadets exchanged glances, their faces turning slightly pale.
“In short, if you slack off just because you think you have talent, you might get weeded out.
And the Union isn’t generous.
In fact, quite a few cadets fail or get expelled every year.
“Ah.”
“Well, this year seems to have a decent number of decent raw materials.”
Hong Daye gave a few students a sideways glance.
She must have spotted Lee Siwoo, Kang Daehan, and Yu Seolhyeon.
Those three were prodigies she had definitely heard of.
“And…”
She cleared her throat once more and continued slowly.
“If you’re admitted to the Union, you’ll receive a temporary hero license.
Those who hold this license will be permitted to explore dungeons and hunt monsters.
You’ll also gain the right to receive certain supplementary penalties for illegal activities related to apprehending villains, such as collateral damage under criminal law.
For Jin Soyeon, who was only an academy cadet, this was an absolutely essential setting.
Without it, she would never naturally become entangled with monsters, villains, or dungeons.
“In addition, you’ll receive various benefits.
Of course, you can’t just receive benefits without giving anything back.
Great authority comes with great responsibility.
“You will each bear the title of a hero trainee and take on multiple responsibilities.
When a crisis alert is issued, you will be mobilized regardless of the fact that you are cadets.
You will have the duty to protect civilians from villains or monsters.
“…”
“Legally, you’re considered half-adults.
Until now you’ve been the ones receiving help, but that’s changed.
You are no longer the recipients of aid—you are the ones who must provide it.
“…”
Suddenly a spark lit up in Hong Daye’s eyes.
“The burdens you shoulder on those shoulders will be far greater than anything you’ve faced before.
The Union will also ruthlessly shape you into usable material.
It will be on an entirely different level from middle school.
Many of you will want to quit along the way.
“I’ve been listening to Hong Daye’s familiar words and preparing myself mentally.
By now she would surely begin her little speech in the style of a report—‘that thing’.
I had only seen it in the game, but imagining actually seeing it made me feel oddly nostalgic.
“During middle school we did many things that were considered too dangerous to do in reality.
That’s where you’ll gain real-world experiences you can’t get otherwise.
She let her sentence trail off slowly.
“For example…”
Hong Daye suddenly flashed a mischievous smile.
“Like this.”
Everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
“…”
“…Whoa?”
“U-What’s going on?”
“Whoa whoa, ugh.”
In a split second the students began trembling like aspen leaves before a snake.
Some of them broke into a cold sweat and their posture crumbled.
One male student panted heavily, struggling to stare at the homeroom teacher.
That was probably the best he could do right now.
Even that was a struggle.
Still, Lee Siwoo, Kang Daehan, and Yu Seolhyeon seemed to be holding up better.
They frowned deeply and breathed slowly, but they appeared far steadier than the others.
Of course, they were struggling too—but not to the same degree.
“…Just me, huh?”
It was only a little fluffier than straight hair, that was all.
“I guess the descriptions I saw in the game are pretty accurate.
Is this what people call killing intent?”
Killing intent.
By dictionary definition, it was the aura of someone about to kill or harm others.
In reality, however, such a thing didn’t exist.
It was a setting that only belonged in fantasy.
But the Romance Hero Academy contained it by design.
It was an intangible force that certain strong individuals emitted.
Those strong enough to feel it could use it to gauge the opponent’s level.
But it didn’t work on me.
Why? Because I was strong enough to resist killing intent?
No, that couldn’t be it.
To feel killing intent, you needed a certain level of strength.
That meant…
“I’m a weakling who can’t even feel killing intent.”
Damn it. I just sighed.
Was this setting even believable?
Until now I had trained hard—really hard.
And yet I couldn’t even sense the killing intent that Hong Daye was emitting.
“I knew about it because it had been mentioned several times in the game, but actually experiencing it leaves me feeling a little dazed.”
Look at these kids.
They’re all shaking from that terrifying killing intent.
We’re all new students at the Union, yet I feel like the things I aimed for for the past ten-plus years have become pointless.
“…How the hell did I even get into the Union?
Even with the supplementary processing, I actually passed the entrance exam in one shot.”
Thinking about it made me feel a little down.
“…”
“Huh?”
I felt a subtle gaze on me for a moment.
Was I imagining it?
Anyway, I stuffed all those useless thoughts away.
Since I already knew killing intent didn’t work on me, I was good.
After all, I had already given up on becoming the greatest hero.
Today I had learned how pathetic I still was.
So I should focus my energy on supporting Soyeon instead of holding back in real battles.
“Shall we end it here.”
An intangible force seemed to ripple through the air.
Ah, it was killing intent.
Because I couldn’t feel killing intent at all, I felt like I had turned into some ordinary passerby.
“Hah… hah… hah.”
“Whew, my stomach hurts.”
“Ugh… this is the first time I’ve felt something like this.
Is this the killing intent of a High Ranker?”
“Whew, whew…”
The cadets wiped sweat from their brows and panted.
Some of them had apparently experienced killing intent before, but others were struggling as if they had never felt it properly.
“If you’re going to be this intimidated, don’t even think about becoming heroes.
The killing intent of actual monsters and villains is beyond imagination.”
“…”
“Well, some people don’t seem to be affected much.”
“…”
Hong Daye slowly turned her gaze away.
“Oh, is it already that late?
Let’s wrap up the orientation.
That’s all for me.
Everyone, prepare for the next class.”
She glanced at her watch once.
Her expression, which moments ago had been radiating a deadly killing intent, was now as bored as could be.
She began walking with heavy footsteps.
Her motivation had vanished again.
“Hah…”
A heavy sigh came from beside me.
Jin Soyeon was breathing heavily.
“It was a lot harder than I thought.
It’s completely different from the killing intent I felt back then.”
“Are you okay?”
“Well, it was still an interesting experience.
There wasn’t this kind of stimulus in middle school.”
“Really?”
If it had been like this in middle school, the parents would have come storming in, demanding to know what we did to their kids.
“Is this like a rite of passage?
Hah.”
Jin Soyeon grinned, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
She still hadn’t fully bloomed her real talent, so this level of killing intent was too much for her to handle.
But someday she would surpass Hong Daye.
“What about you?
Jinhyuk, you’re the one with the weaker body, right?”
“Ah, well… I was okay, I guess.”
Jin Soyeon seemed to think I wasn’t weak enough to not feel Hong Daye’s killing intent at all.
She didn’t need to hear that from me, anyway.
After all, it would only make me the target of teasing.
Why bother?
Honestly, it would be embarrassing.
Right?