Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Only Cadet Han Cheon-seong Didn't Laugh
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***
“Is that our class instructor?”
“She’s so pretty.”
“I know her. Kalli Ishtar. I’m pretty sure that’s her name.”
“You don’t mean the Crimson Dawn? Is it really her? I heard she was a major force on the eastern front.”
As Kalli stood at the podium, the classroom buzzed with excitement. Despite this being C-Class, a few cadets somehow recognized her and were whispering amongst themselves.
Listening to them, I was just as astonished.
“Han Cheon-seong. Do you know the instructor? Why do you look so surprised?”
David asked, intrigued. I answered him briefly.
“We don’t really know each other. She was just my proctor for the entrance exam.”
“Your proctor? What? Aren’t the proctors usually instructors for the A or B classes?”
“…Yeah. Usually.”
Even as I thought that David was surprisingly sharp about these things, I was still dazed.
Despite the chatter from us and the other cadets, Kalli simply stood silent after her first words, watching us.
It was as if she was scanning the room, her eyes slowly moving from left to right, memorizing the cadets’ faces one by one. But even as I watched, it didn't feel real.
‘To think *the* Kalli is a C-Class instructor.’
It was completely absurd.
She wasn't just a B-Class instructor; she was exclusively in charge of A-Class.
But now it was reality, so I had no choice but to believe it. Otherwise, Kalli wouldn't be standing at that podium.
—!
Then, Kalli's gaze stopped on me. Our eyes met, and for a moment, my body seemed to freeze.
Her red eyes were clearly looking at me with a mix of recognition and a peculiar emotion.
It was a generally positive gaze.
But my body froze.
Just from meeting her eyes, something indescribable seemed to bind my body.
It felt like a gentle but firm pressure, a strange sensation as if my hands and legs were being gripped tightly.
A feeling of being squeezed, as if my entire body was crying out in distress.
And as it all combined, I felt my whole body instinctively recoil.
*Squeeze.*
I clenched the hand resting below the table, resisting the urge to shrink back. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew Kalli was the source.
And there was no way she harbored any ill will toward me.
‘Don’t panic… just take it calmly.’
I had to appear composed, unflustered.
Then, I soon realized what I was feeling.
It was like the instinctual fear of prey facing a predator.
“Hmm.”
Then Kalli suddenly smiled, and the chilling aura constricting me vanished in an instant.
“What was that? Han Cheon-seong, why did she just look at you and smile like that?”
“…I don't know either.”
I felt like I’d just been sucker-punched for no reason.
A strange, unsettling feeling, as if I’d been struck in secret.
I had definitely left a good impression during the entrance exam, and if, as David said, the instructors had taken an interest in me because of yesterday’s duel, then Kalli would have as well.
A positive interest, at that.
But her gaze was so peculiar that, honestly, I was completely bewildered.
Because things that never happened in the original story kept occurring.
“Alright—cadets, quiet down. That's enough chatter.”
At the same time, a cold voice echoed through the room, and the classroom fell silent at once.
“It’s the first day, so it’s good to see everyone excited and fired up. I quite like that kind of passionate display. It seems a few of you recognize me, so let’s start with introductions. For the next six months, I will be your instructor, Kalli. Kalli Ishtar. I was on the eastern front, but I’m now taking a short break as an instructor at the academy.”
Her introduction was calm and composed.
As if her playful first words had been a lie, Kalli’s expression was now impassive.
As the sudden shift in her demeanor left everyone dead silent, I found myself blankly wondering.
‘Wait, six months…?’
Normally, an instructor would say they’d be in charge for a year, but Kalli naturally said six months, as if it were a set period.
“And I don’t normally come down to C-Class. The cadets I was supposed to teach were originally assigned to A3-Class. Even you should be able to guess what that means, right?”
Before I could ponder it further, Kalli continued.
I could feel a few cadets’ eyes light up.
—A superior instructor for superior cadets.
It was an obvious saying, but it felt especially true at this academy, where the level of instruction changed with the level of the cadets. The things one could learn were surprisingly different.
And now, every cadet in this classroom understood.
That a truly superior instructor had come down to this C1-Class.
“This is something that doesn’t normally happen. In that sense, you could say you’re lucky, and for me, it’s a small gamble. I’ll be watching your growth for the next six months to see how far I can lead you. I’m also curious to see the caliber of this year’s sprouts.”
Kalli’s faint smile lightened the mood in the classroom slightly.
“So, does any cadet have questions about what’s to come? Today is the day after the entrance ceremony, so besides this morning lecture, there are no other scheduled activities. I’ll answer any simple questions before we begin the lesson.”
As Kalli spoke cheerfully and looked around at the cadets, I found myself staring blankly.
‘It’s real.’
Kalli was really the instructor for C1-Class.
“Instructor! I have a question.”
“Go ahead.”
As a cadet immediately raised his hand, all eyes turned to him.
He was a male cadet with light blond hair and a confident expression. My first impression was that he was a real jerk. He had the look of a punk, as if he were a twisted version of Leonhardt.
“Instructor! By any chance, are you seeing anyone?”
The moment the cadet’s question echoed through the room… I clamped my mouth shut.
‘…He’s insane.’
But contrary to my thoughts, the cadets around him started expressing their admiration one by one, turning their gazes to Kalli.
“Ooooh!”
“I’m curious too!”
“You’re so beautiful!”
Not just the male cadets, but even the female cadets joined in on the excited mood. I urgently turned to David and said:
“David, don’t laugh.”
“Huh?”
“Just don’t. If I say don’t laugh, don’t laugh.”
There was no time to explain.
If you laughed or went along with it now, Kalli would have you marked.
So I forced my lips shut, controlled my expression, and looked at Kalli.
And sure enough.
Kalli was looking at the questioning cadet, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly upward.
It looked like a smile, but her eyes weren't smiling at all.
So I could predict every word she was about to say.
*Cadet. Your name?*
“The cadet who just asked the question. Your name?”
As Kalli spoke the exact words I’d thought, the cadet who asked the question replied loudly, as if delighted.
“My name is Jerad Readri! My trait is Rare-grade, the Blessing of the Wind! Instructor! You’re so beautiful!”
He seemed utterly clueless, shouting so loudly the classroom seemed to shake. It was pathetic to watch.
“Is that so?”
Kalli uttered a single, clipped word and raised her right hand.
*Gulp.*
I swallowed without realizing it.
A sense of anticipation filled me—I was about to witness ‘it’ in person, something I had only read about in the novel.
Her fingers came together in a perfect shape.
*Snap!*
Along with the clear, crisp sound.
*CRACK!*
An explosive boom instantly vibrated through the classroom.
“…!”
Most of the cadets didn’t understand what had just happened—why such a loud noise had suddenly erupted, or what Kalli had even done.
Only I had seen it clearly.
The sight of the questioning cadet’s face being struck so hard it looked nearly caved in as he was viciously knocked to the floor.
“Aaaah!”
“W-What was that?”
As the cadet lay on the ground without even a groan, the students around him finally reacted in shock.
“Quiet.”
And then, Kalli’s voice rang out again.
It was a voice colder than anything she had used before.
At her word, the female cadets’ screams died as if they had been a lie, and the other cadets who had cried out in shock immediately fell silent.
“It’s fine for cadets to laugh and chat in this academy. It’s far better than a stark, static atmosphere. And I have some idea of the talent you all possess to have been admitted. You’ve all proven yourselves in the entrance exam. However.”
Her cold words were cut short.
Kalli’s gaze swept across the room.
Without exception, any cadet who met her eyes in that moment froze.
They became unnaturally stiff, as if petrified by a curse, and even seemed to struggle to breathe.
And when her gaze reached David and me.
“…!”
A shiver ran down my spine, but I managed to endure it. I didn’t show the same pathetic display as the other cadets, and neither did David, who had listened to my warning.
After a moment, Kalli’s gaze slowly moved past us, and she spoke again.
“What I cannot understand is a rotten mindset. To dare ask an academy instructor such a question… that’s a question only someone with a thoroughly rotten mentality could ask. I only look favorably upon a cadet’s excitement when it concerns their trait and talent, and their drive to move forward. Some of you might think my actions just now were excessive. You might wonder what that cadet, Jerad, did that was so wrong to deserve being slammed into the classroom floor, unconscious.”
Kalli paused again, a slow smile spreading across her lips.
It was a truly beautiful smile.
Not the strange smile from before, where her eyes didn't match, but a perfectly natural one. And yet, it was colder than ice.
“Not a single instructor at this academy has ever avoided the battlefield. Without exception, every one of us has experienced battlefields across the land and walked the line between life and death. We have dedicated and devoted our bodies to protecting this empire. And yet, to be subjected to this kind of question from cadets like you, who’ve only just received your powers… perhaps my personality isn’t suited for it. To not even show basic courtesy to an instructor… I despise nothing more than a disrespectful cadet.”
Her ensuing words were so cold they felt chilling.
As if she found the very idea of someone asking her a flippant question offensive, Kalli was now seething with cold fury.
“……”
“…”
The classroom was suffocated by a heavy silence.
Kalli let out a soft breath and slowly shook her head.
“The cadet to Jerad’s right. Take him to the infirmary.”
“Y-Yes! Right away!”
The startled cadet hoisted the fallen Jerad onto his back and hurried out of the classroom, but no one else dared to speak.
I, too, was taken aback by the atmosphere.
‘She’s even more brutal than I thought.’
It was the same scene I’d read in the novel, but seeing and experiencing it in person was on a completely different level.
At the same time, I thought:
‘So this is Trait Level 9.’
With just a few words and a minuscule display of power, she had frozen every cadet in the room.
Kalli hadn't laid a hand on anyone except Jerad.
The power to subdue everyone just by meeting their gaze.
I hadn’t felt it at all when I was at Trait Level 3, but now at Level 4, I could faintly sense her aura, and it was crushingly heavy.
She was already the predator in this space.
“On that note, Cadet Han Cheon-seong?”
Her sudden use of my name startled me, but I managed to reply calmly.
“Yes, Instructor Kalli.”
“A moment ago, only Cadet Han Cheon-seong didn't laugh. It seems all the other cadets were swept up in the mood, laughing or egging him on.”
As she singled me out, I could only offer an awkward smile.
In my peripheral vision, I saw David instantly avoid my gaze.
‘Hey, he didn't laugh either.’
Why me?
“In that regard, I'd like to ask you something, Cadet Han Cheon-seong. Would that be alright?”
“…Yes. Please, go ahead, Instructor.”
Even as I answered, a small fear began to rise.
…The question I was about to hear didn't seem like it would be an easy one.