The First Disaster

"......Did anyone actually see ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that properly?"

"Yeah. Wasn't that like an anti-tank mine going off or something...."

"Crazy. You need that level of power just to get into Elite Class 1?"

"Even the dead last spot in Class 1 is reserved for total monsters way beyond spec, huh? The rumors were true...."

"Fuck, we can't even sit at the same table. Class 2's top ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠student was fuming about moving up next semester."

"No way in my opinion. The gap's huge...."

How much time had passed since I'd punched Kwak Taesan?

It started with someone's offhand mutter laced with a metallic rasp, and the frozen silence of Training Ground 1 shattered into pieces.

Just a spar, that's all. Didn't expect it'd draw this much attention.

I ignored the stunned stares pouring in from all sides as best I could, letting out a long, heavy sigh in my mind.

On the surface, I kept up an endlessly languid, indifferent expression, but cold sweat had already drenched my back under my shirt.

Good thing the gamble paid off.

If the timing had been off by even 0.1 seconds, I'd have been turned into Kwak Taesan-brand ground beef.

The reason I'd survived that ferocious fist without it crushing my chest was entirely thanks to a hidden piece I'd dug up from the flower beds right before the spar.

The official name in Ether Frontier:

The bizarre phenomenon earlier, where my body rippled and the fist passed right through—that was the judgment this item had forcibly created.

"And... I learned a ton about my perks and handicaps too."

I muttered softly to myself, rubbing my throbbing cheek.

The biggest haul from this life-or-death spar.

First off: this world was no longer just a game—it was reality.

In other words, the penalty from

didn't mean I'd drop dead from a mere gust of wind.

My cheek and forearm, grazed by debris, still stung like hell, but they were just superficial scratches that hadn't done any real damage to bones or organs—and I was perfectly fine otherwise.

If something as minor as a scratch had triggered the game system's bullshit judgment and ignored physics to insta-kill me, that would've been game over for real. Dodged a bullet there.

And the second harvest.

The hidden truth about the cheat perk I'd chosen:

Honestly, I thought this was a passive skill that was always on.

When playing the VR game, just having it boosted my evasion and parry rates like crazy as a constant effect.

But reality was different.

Back when Taesan smashed the platform and scattered dozens of rocks like shotgun pellets in that do-or-die moment—no amount of vet experience could've dodged all that with my 1 HP body. Impossible from the start.

So to survive, I forcibly widened my field of view and focused my consciousness to the extreme, dead set on blocking somehow.

And that's when the perk finally activated.

The world slowed to a crawl like a lie, and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flying rocks' trajectories broke into frame-by-frame chunks.

As if... time itself had stopped.

So it's an active skill triggered by me focusing on something.

Thanks to that, I even figured out the exact usage for the copy function attached to it. Talk about two birds with one stone.

Well worth risking my life to go toe-to-toe with Kwak Taesan.

With my internal recap done, I moved on, still ignoring the stunned stares from all around.

But hey, it's a spar. Can't just leave the guy passed out, right?

I approached Kwak Taesan sprawled in the center of the platform and casually grabbed the torn collar of his uniform.

Then I started trudging toward the edge.

Drag, swish—

The grotesque friction of a beastly bulk being hauled across the arena floor echoed through the training ground.

Truth be told, I wanted to sling him over my shoulder and exit like a badass master, but with my scrawny strength, even lifting him was impossible from the jump.

Damn, he's heavy. What, did they stuff lead weights in this guy?

I wasn't about to wreck my back and snap my spine like a bow.

So my best compromise was dragging him like luggage.

"L-Look at that. Dragging Kwak Taesan like a dog...."

"Th-That psycho... Is it okay to humiliate him that much after winning?!"

For some reason, the cadets seeing my humble compromise were paling and backing away slowly.

God knows what brutal misunderstandings were brewing in their heads.

The moment I stepped down from the platform, a familiar ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠figure burst through the frozen crowd, making a huge fuss as she ran up.

"D-Do-Dohyun!?"

"Ah, Seoa. See it okay?"

"That's not the point right now!!"

Seoa's eyes bulged like a rabbit's, her face on the verge of tears as she inspected my forearm this way and that.

Blood was dripping from the graze on my wrist.

It stung pretty good, but it was a light scratch with no threat to my life—though it didn't look that way in Seoa's eyes.

"Y-You're okay, right? Blood! You need to get to the infirmary and treated ASAP...!"

"......"

I gazed down at Seoa, who was clutching my torn uniform sleeve and on the brink of bawling.

Then I jerked my chin toward the massive lump of meat on the ground, foam at its mouth, dangling by the collar in my hand, and replied softly.

"......Worry about this guy first, not me."

"Ah...... Y-You're right...."

Seoa glanced back and forth between the sprawled giant and my minor scratch, then shut her mouth, cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

Soon, the murmuring cadets parted like the Red Sea, revealing Seol Eunha in the gap.

"Master. I watched the spar."

Unlike her dry voice, her purple eyes held a strange, smoldering heat as they fixed on me.

I secretly tensed my shaky legs and shot back with my usual languid, relaxed smile.

"How was it? Learn anything?"

"Yeah. It was amazing. Your overwhelming swordsmanship made my womb tremble without me even realizing."

"...Wha— What the—?!"

"......What kind of talk is that."

Where'd she pick up something weird like that?

"I mean it."

"......Eunha?!"

As Eunha innocently tilted her head with a blank face, Seoa's was already beet red, ready to explode.

I pressed my throbbing temple and sighed softly.

"......Haa, whatever. Let's head to the infirmary first. Hand this guy off and rest."

I nudged Kwak Taesan's collar with my toe as I spoke, and Eunha glanced down at him with her signature impassive stare.

"Master's bleeding. I'll carry this trash."

"Huh? No, even so, he's pretty heavy...."

Before I could finish, whoosh— Eunha grabbed his uniform collar with one hand and effortlessly hoisted the over-100kg muscle gorilla I'd been struggling to drag like luggage.

Without even a twitch in her waist.

Her face was utterly serene, like she'd picked up an empty cardboard box.

"......"

Whoa, fuck. So what was my scrawny ass dragging him for, worried about breaking my back?

This is Elite Class 1's average physique?

Am I weaker than even Seoa standing next to me?

I bitterly eyed Kwak Taesan dangling in midair, then my pathetic 1-HP body, and smacked my lips.

"......Fine. You carry him. To the infirmary."

"Got it, Master."

"D-Do-Dohyun! I'll support you! The blood's still...!"

The impassive Seol Eunha strode along, dangling the massive lump in one hand.

Beside her, Yoon Seoa clutched my already clotting arm, eyes glistening with tears.

I endured the stunned stares from the hundreds of cadets left in the training ground, shuffling forward on my aching legs.

So much for a quiet school life....

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Fortune among misfortunes, the storm of an entrance ceremony schedule wrapped up right after lunch with homeroom advisor Professor Cha Yura's closing remarks.

Good, no full 7-period grind....

I sighed inwardly with relief as I strolled down the quiet path to the Dormitory.

But glancing at the bizarre party members walking beside me made my head throb again.

Individually, they were all S-rank material, so why were they all fixated on me?

"Ugh, aren't entrance ceremonies supposed to be just slacking in the auditorium all day? Four periods on day one?!"

Seoa grumbled beside me, lips pursed. Then Kwak Taesan boomed a hearty laugh from my other side.

"Hahaha! I've heard of schools that go full seven periods on day one! Means the professors are passionate about teaching—great, right?!"

"Still! If they're gonna teach, skip the boring liberal arts like math and do martial studies or magic studies! Y'know, our major subjects!"

"They said that starts properly tomorrow. Day one's for acclimating to the Academy system."

I lightly brushed off Seoa's complaints in my languid tone.

"Poo...."

Seoa puffed her cheeks, still unsatisfied.

Step, step.

As we chatted casually, the massive dormitory—a pride of Ether Frontier—came into view in the distance.

Kwak Taesan suddenly cleared his throat, lowering his gruff voice.

"Ahem! Anyway, Dohyun."

"Yeah?"

I turned my head indifferently, and he looked down at me with a deliberately serious face.

"Couldn't say it properly with all the eyes earlier, but I sincerely thank you for not dodging my brutish, forceful challenge and facing me head-on."

"Uh... yeah, sure."

"And for your overwhelming feat of claiming perfect victory without allowing a single clean hit, I'd like to offer a small token of respect as thanks."

...Overwhelming my ass.

A battle mage who didn't show a single spell and came at me pure physical—that's how I won.

If he'd mixed in magic to disrupt, no way my current stats could've parried everything.

"Dohyun's issue is that F-minus stamina and mana. Kahaha! Used this back when I struggled with magic control. It'll help patch up your mana and stamina issues nicely. Here!"

...Jackpot.

Quest reward.

If memory served, this was Kwak Taesan's spar reward: at minimum an A-rank hidden piece.

Man, how many is he handing out today? Kwak Taesan, absolute GOAT.

Maybe rename him Shining Taesan from now on. Start a cult while I'm at it.

Kwak Taesan pulled a hefty leather pouch from his pocket and slapped it onto my palm with a thud.

"This should fill your puny mana tank a bi—"

"Hold up."

As I started to open the pouch, Eunha cut him off from behind me with a low voice.

"Master. We've got a tail."

Shing—! Before she finished, a flash like lightning rang from her waist, and the sword she hurled tore through the air toward the bushes on the right at terrifying speed.

Thwack—!!

"Kyaaak!?"

A girlish scream erupted from the bushes at the end of the sharp whoosh.

"...What, an ambush?"

Kwak Taesan instantly scowled fiercely and blocked the front, while I followed Eunha into the roughly parted foliage.

Eunha's thrown sword was buried deep in a tree trunk, emitting a chilling hum.

And right below that razor edge.

A tiny figure sat on the dirt, looking up at us.

"Ahaha...... Busted......"

A baggy shirt several sizes too big for her frame. A white-haired girl buried inside it.

Frail build that seemed ready to shatter, and forlorn eyes that stirred protective instincts.

Even with the murderous blade grazing her cheek, the girl added sleepily with a vacant smile.

"Wasn't really trying to threaten or anything......"

To others, she might look like just another ordinary, fragile Academy cadet.

But as a vet, I knew the true identity hidden beneath that pitiful facade.

......Holy shit.

The bloodwind soon to ravage this peaceful academy.

The culprit who would trigger the Academy's first disaster......

My favorite character from the game—the one I loved most.

Why the hell was she popping up here already...?