Hero Academy: Carrot and Stick

I woke that morning, ate breakfast, stopped by the Security Office for a brief report, and headed for the Combat Department faculty office.

Part of me was dying to mess with Go Chungshin, but now that I knew he'd be stationed here for a full year, there was no need to rush the cooking.

Take it slow. Savor the flavor. Let him recover, then cook him again…

Start with needling him once or twice a week. Just enough to get under his skin.

Begin with a low-sodium, vegetable diet. Raise the heat gradually, until eventually I was putting on a full wok-fire show and turning him into a proper Chinese banquet.

Armonia sounded puzzled by my reasoning.

"You could raise the intensity right away and he'd still endure it, wouldn't he?"

You know the foot-in-the-door technique?

There was a technique called foot-in-the-door. The idea was simple: if you wanted into someone's house, you first had to get one foot across the threshold.

Ask a stranger for ten million won on the first meeting and nobody would lend you a thing. But start with ten thousand, borrow a little more each time, pay it back, borrow again—and before long you could walk away with ten million. That was the theory.

People who kept granting small requests, step by step, had a tendency to end up granting dangerous ones without even realizing it. Because they trusted you. Because every previous favor had only reinforced that trust…

This was the same idea.

Go Chungshin would almost certainly keep taking it even if I crossed the line. But I wanted to break him all the way down to the last frayed edge of his mind. Not someone who obeyed me because reason left him no choice—someone whose emotions obeyed me too.

The kind of man who cursed me in his head while his body bowed on its own.

One step at a time into the house. Then, before he knew it, I would be wandering freely through the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen. And eventually… the kind of idiot who couldn't refuse even when I walked into the bedroom where his wife was sleeping.

Honestly, the biggest reason is that I want to experiment.

Where else was I supposed to test human relationships? I had no idea what kinds of people I'd meet once I started traveling other worlds. Running every kind of trial on Go Chungshin was my real purpose—preparation for whatever might come.

And while I'm at it, I get to enjoy abusing my authority…

As of today, I was awakening to the life of a power-tripping boss.

"Be honest. Isn't the fun the bigger reason?"

Kyuu?

"…"

I was still dodging the question when I arrived at the Combat Department faculty office. After exchanging greetings with Cho Seohyun, I got the results of the discussion we'd talked about the day before.

"The field observation is going ahead as scheduled next week."

"Makes sense. It's too important to just brush aside."

The Church, the Tower, the major guilds… every one of them had sent word that they wanted the observation program to proceed. From their perspective, Hero Academy cadets on the verge of graduation were pure resources.

Talent resources.

The more talent you had, the better—no exceptions. And none of them wanted to miss a chance to impress their prestige on the cadets. The Church and the Tower were famous enough to stay relatively reserved, but the major guilds beneath them had practically begged, promising to assign their best people to guarantee the cadets' safety if only the school would send them.

"There are five observation sites in total. The Church, the Tower, and three guilds."

Overnight stays and free outings were still on hold; only matters related to the observation itself had been decided. Where we would go, which cadets we would take—none of that had been settled yet.

"I'll put in a recommendation for the Church side. The Magic Department will handle the Tower anyway, and the Church is supposed to have the best room and board."

"Huh? Isn't it just a one-day visit?"

"It's a week."

Good lord…

I had assumed it was a single day trip and done. Instead, I was being handed the job of guaranteeing the safety of cadets on a week-long observation.

I was starting to understand why Cho Seohyun and Seong Sua had looked so worried.

The number of cadets we'd take was three honor students and three drawn by lottery. Six in total, under our escort.

People thought skipping a week of classes would be easy. Apparently it wasn't. During the observation, the cadets operated not as students but as provisional heroes, which meant the responsibility weighed that much heavier. Above all, it was real combat experience—harder than training, they said.

I'd better pray we get the ones who actually listen.

"Most of the incidents tend to come from external factors, so you shouldn't need to worry too much."

While I was talking with Armonia over the link, Cho Seohyun started watching me from the side with a worried look.

"Is the… work not too hard?"

"Pardon?"

"The security work."

"Ah. I'm fine."

I deliberately didn't claim it was easy. The workload had genuinely increased, and insisting it was comfortable wouldn't have improved my image anyway.

Seohyun fidgeted through a stretch of silence, then glanced at me and opened her mouth.

"I… I know you're tired, but… make a little time for me now and then."

"Haha. Understood."

"No, I mean… if you're busy, it can't be helped…"

"I'm just not used to the work yet. Once I settle in, I'll make the time. I promise."

Seohyun's mouth twitched at that. Then she smiled, rose from her seat, and said,

"Alright. Then let's get to class."

How to put it—lately, Cho Seohyun seemed to be making up for the time we couldn't meet by filling the gaps during class.

When she taught the cadets she was as strict as ever, but the moment break arrived she drifted over and struck up conversation about one thing or another. After the last attack, the change in her attitude was obvious. She came to me without fretting much over other people's eyes and just… talked.

Thinking back to the first time we met, it felt like a different era.

After Combat Department classes ended and lunch was done, Seong Sua filled me in on the observation as well.

"Um… next week is the Combat Department cadets' observation. And the week after that, it'll be the Magic Department cadets'."

"Yes. But Instructor Seong Sua."

"Yes?"

"Have I done something wrong?"

"Ah—no! Of course not!"

Her manner had shifted unmistakably. If Cho Seohyun had started awkward and was now actively closing the distance, Seong Sua had begun warm and lately carried an air of awkward restraint.

I more or less knew why. Seong Sua was not a shameless creature like me. The fact that she had secretly masturbated in front of a man was not going to scrub itself out of her head overnight.

And from what I saw yesterday, she finished so clumsily that she probably feels even more unsettled.

A man, once he physically came, was usually satisfied. A woman's satisfaction worked differently. If you masturbated in secret under a load of guilt and still didn't get off, there was no way you'd feel good about it.

But there was nothing I could do. Whatever form it took, all I could manage was to keep tossing bait until Seong Sua walked into my trap.

"If something's weighing on you, you can tell me later. Anytime."

"…Okay. Thank you for caring."

Seong Sua gave a bitter little smile and walked with me toward the classroom for Magic Department lessons.

After dinner I came to the Security Office and muttered to myself.

What would make a good carrot?

"…?"

The sudden non sequitur left Armonia nonplussed.

"Why are you looking for a carrot all of a sudden?"

No—I mean Go Chungshin. I've got a rough feel for the stick. It's the carrot I'm stuck on…

Carrot and stick. You needed both.

To cook the way I'd described earlier, the ingredients first had to sit still. If you wanted chicken, you had to raise the chicken. Slaughter, raise again, slaughter, raise again… And for a steady supply, I figured an ordinary carrot wouldn't be enough.

This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was not a man who would unwind over a couple of empty compliments. Force the praise and you risked the opposite effect. I needed something that would let him soak in his own sense of superiority and misread the whole situation.

A memory surfaced, and I checked Go Chungshin's dispositions to confirm it.

Every last one of them tied straight into games.

He clearly likes games, but…

I wanted to know which ones, at least, though he didn't seem the type to ramble about it to me. I'd already been a nuisance two days running, so today I decided to let it slide.

Well. I'll find out eventually.

If he spilled it himself I'd be grateful, but a man who'd snuck in undercover wasn't going to hand that over easily. Especially not when his goodwill toward me was scraping the floor.

I'll dig it out sooner or later if I keep watching from behind. For now…

What day was today, again?

Early clock-out day!

"…"

"He's not coming again today…"

Saint Blue—Yoon Jia—was logged into War of Religions, staring endlessly at her friends list.

Only two IDs sat there. Both of them showed in gray, offline.

What her pupils caught was none other than Plunderer.

Her boyfriend, Go Chungshin, wasn't in a position to log in at all right now.

"Don't tell me he's bored of me? What do I do…"

Jia thought back to the call she'd gotten from Go Chungshin after work earlier.

Jia had ended up lying without really meaning to.

Ever since arriving at the Hero Academy, Go Chungshin had been grinding through brutal work. She knew his abilities and his circumstances, and she wanted to cut him some slack. He had always pestered her to play together, and she had played along as much as she could to keep her boyfriend happy.

Whenever they queued, Go Chungshin brought a smurf account, massacred people who couldn't fight back, and loved strutting in front of her afterward. Jia had played along with that, too…

The problem was that it wasn't fun.

Then, about a week ago, something shifted.

"Lately it's actually been fun, though…"

At first she had only friended Plunderer because Go Chungshin pushed her into it. Plunderer was clearly better than her boyfriend—that much was certain. But he didn't just farm weak players for sport. He played hard, pushing his own skill as far as it would go. And beside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him, Jia found herself communicating, focusing, actually locked in.

What she'd liked most about playing with him was the connection.

Go Chungshin felt like someone who wiped out a lobby alone and then showed off. Plunderer felt like someone who enjoyed the game with you, building a real rapport as you played. Both of them were good—though the gap between the two was enormous—but the first time Jia had ever felt that a game was genuinely fun was when she played with Plunderer.

For the first time since buying that expensive VR headgear, the days had started to feel worth it.

But…

"Haa… so playing with me really was boring, huh? Maybe I should just sleep…"

She was about to close the friends list, deflated—when it happened.

"Huh!?"

Plunderer's ID shifted from dull gray to a bright, glowing green.

After hearing Plunderer's explanation, Jia relaxed at once and nodded.

"Ah… so you were busy."

"Yeah. If I'd known you were waiting, I would have logged in for even a minute just to say something."

"Come on. If anything, I'm the weird one for waiting every day."

Plunderer laughed.

"If I don't show up after nine, just assume I can't get on."

"Ahh… okay~"

Jia smiled, easing inside.

Whew… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so it isn't that playing with me is boring.

After that she had a good time gaming with Plunderer, and went to bed at ease.

"Haa… haahng…"

"…"

Watching Seong Sua masturbate while she touched my cock, I screamed a silent scream.

Put it in! Stick your hand in my pants!!

"…"

It's standing straight up! Why won't you just touch it with your hand?!

…But she never put her hand inside my pants.

Having poured every last scrap of strength into her private war with herself, Seong Sua spent what remained on the climax that followed, then fell asleep as if someone had flipped a switch.

…Damn it.

I wanted to come too…

When Seong Sua had locked the R-rated scene away and drifted under again, Armonia spoke up.

"Suho. I have something to tell you."

Hm? What is it?

Armonia almost never addressed me right before sleep. That alone meant it was important.

And the moment I heard ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her next words, I understood exactly how important.

"Zodiac has requested a change in the method of the mission."