Academy Applications
"We're going into the Academy."
"Ha… so it finally came to this…"
Park Jae-hyun let out a long, heavy sigh at my words.
I understood. Enrolling at the Academy would be pure agony for someone as socially awkward as him.
The Academy.
An educational institution founded to train Awakened — essentially a high school for people with powers. There were currently two campuses in the capital region and one in Busan. Most developed nations had established similar schools to teach Awakened how to use their abilities responsibly.
Its history wasn't particularly deep. Gates had only appeared a little over twenty years ago, and the Academy hadn't been founded until the chaos of those early years finally settled. Korea had been a bit slower than other advanced countries, so ours had only been around for seven or eight years.
"Don't look so defeated. It's not like we're going there for the school life."
Obviously, Jae-hyun and I weren't heading there to enjoy our youth. We had several reasons, but the biggest one was rooting out spies — finding the agents that villain organizations had snuck into the Academy.
It was a headache that plagued Lee Yeon-hui in every single loop. Tracking down operatives scattered throughout the campus was grueling work, and she never had enough hands to catch them all. More often than not, the ones who slipped through came back later to exact a brutal price.
This time, I'm cutting them off at the root.
"Haa… still, at least the constant paranoia ends once we're in. That alone should make things easier."
I gave him a bitter smile. Given how we spent our days raiding villain organizations, we couldn't afford to drop our guard even when we were resting. We had to stay tense without even realizing it. But once we were inside the Academy, at least the fear of a direct attack would ease. I couldn't argue with him on that.
The Academy was a full boarding school. And the people managing the students were top-tier experts in their respective fields. When fights broke out among hot-blooded Awakened teenagers — and they would — someone had to step in and mediate. There were no amateurs on that staff. Even a major villain organization would think twice before stirring up trouble in a place packed with people like that.
"What about Freedom and Lilis?"
"We'll keep monitoring them. But they shouldn't be able to make any big moves for a while."
"So all that chaos we caused actually paid off."
"Exactly."
Once we entered the Academy, we'd gain safety — but also a mountain of restrictions on what we could do. That was why we'd needed to hit those organizations hard beforehand, even if it meant pushing ourselves past the limit.
We both smirked, remembering the hellish days we'd just been through, then sat down at the computer without either of us needing to say a word.
"Forge some academic records and fill out the applications. I'll look for a school we can fake graduating from."
"You've reached the point where you order felonies without even flinching. I'm impressed."
My hands froze mid-motion.
…When exactly had I become like this?
I didn't even know anymore. If it needed doing, I just did it.
The clatter of keyboards filled the room. Then Jae-hyun's typing suddenly slowed.
"Boss. We've got a problem."
"What, is your conscience acting up?"
"If I get caught, I'll just say you threatened me, so I don't care about that. No — the application period already closed."
This bastard had been planning to throw me under the bus the whole ti—
"What…?"
"It's over. The application window."
"Why…?"
"Because it closed?"
"So what about us?"
"We can't apply…?"
"And enrollment…?"
"Not happening…?"
"……"
"……"
"…We're fucked."
I pressed my fingers hard against my temples, fighting off the headache, and started thinking.
"Then we hack the Academy servers and—"
"Boss, they're only accepting offline applications."
"Why?! This is an IT powerhouse!"
"Probably because there are too many people like you whose brains go straight to crime."
"……"
We were fucked.
I realized far too late that things had gone completely sideways from the very start.
Riiing—
A middle-aged man sitting in a spacious office stared at his ringing phone. His office line almost never rang, and his personal phone even less so — under normal circumstances he might have been glad. But the name on the screen made him scowl.
"Haa… Hello."
He'd considered hanging up, but it might have been something important, so he answered with a sigh.
Hey. It's me.
A casual voice came through the line. The moment he heard it, the man's face twisted even further.
"What is it this time?"
This time? You make it sound like I cause trouble every time I call.
How was it possible to spike someone's blood pressure in under five seconds of a phone call?
It hadn't been that long since the last time this guy had called out of nowhere with some absurd request. And now he was acting like nothing had ever happened.
"You rotten bastard… just tell me what you want."
As president of the Hero Association, you oversee the Academy too, right?
At that, Min Gyeong-ho's eyebrow twitched.
"…You little shit. Are you calling me to commit fraud?"
His furious voice traveled down the line — but the man on the other end answered in the same flat, unbothered tone as before.
My disciple wants to get in, apparently.
"By disciple, you mean the one who snuck into an unexplored tower without authorization and pocketed the artifacts?"
Come on, don't be so petty. It was a brand-new tower — not even under your jurisdiction. A guy goes in, messes around a bit, picks up a few things he likes. What's the big deal?
"Shut your mouth! Do you have any idea what I went through cleaning that up?!"
Talking about tower artifacts like they were seashells picked up at the beach made Min Gyeong-ho's head throb. He almost never threw his authority around, but just remembering what he'd had to do to handle that mess still made his teeth grind. He was about to shout again when—
Knock. Knock.
"Mr. President, is everything all right? I thought I heard raised voices."
At the knock and the voice beyond the door, Min Gyeong-ho switched instantly to a mild, gentlemanly tone.
"Haha. I accidentally hit the volume button on my phone. Sorry to worry you."
"Ah, of course. I figured someone as kind as yourself would never actually yell. Please call if you need anything — I'll be at the front desk."
Once the presence outside the door faded away, Min Gyeong-ho let out a massive sigh.
Pff— pwahahaha!
"Shut up. Unless you want to die."
Min Gyeong-ho pressed his forehead to the desk, trembling with rage, but the man on the phone was not the type to be cowed by threats.
Is the kind and gentle Association President allowed to swear like that?
"You son of a bitch…"
After laughing himself out, the voice on the phone steadied and continued.
Anyway, just get me two spots for the entrance exam.
"Why two?"
Dunno. The kid said he needs two.
The pure, indifferent I-don't-know of that answer made Min Gyeong-ho press his temples. Conversations with this man came with a default headache setting. It was exhausting.
"Haven't you spoiled him rotten? Looking at how reckless he is."
I've beaten him into shape enough that he won't get himself killed out there. And if he does die, at least he won't die alone.
Min Gyeong-ho let out a hollow laugh.
"If he survived being trained by you, the kid must be something else himself."
Well. Raising him has been entertaining, at least.
"So he's talented."
……
It had been a throwaway comment, but the man who'd been running his mouth nonstop went quiet for a moment.
He's not bad.
An odd reaction — but Min Gyeong-ho had no interest in digging deeper, so he let it slide.
"A genius?"
Well… not a genius, no.
An ambiguous answer. But what struck Min Gyeong-ho wasn't the content of the reply — it was the fact that Kim Jae-gyo was answering like this at all.
Among Korea's legendary Seven Heroes, there was no one — past or present — who could beat Kim Jae-gyo in a one-on-one fight. And Jae-gyo was notoriously picky, not just about himself but about everyone else. He was the last person you'd expect to take on a student.
Yet here he was, calling after years of silence to say he'd taken a disciple — and that the disciple wasn't even particularly gifted.
Had something changed in him?
The thought sparked a flicker of curiosity about this so-called disciple.
"If I get the chance, I'd like to have him spar with my daughter."
He was the disciple of the God of Combat himself. Min Gyeong-ho figured both of them would learn something from it.
…A kids' fight should be fine. It's not like he'll feel threatened by that.
A strange answer. Min Gyeong-ho was about to press him on what that was supposed to mean when—
Come to think of it, your daughter's talent is supposed to be pretty outstanding, right?
At Kim Jae-gyo's next words, Min Gyeong-ho's brain short-circuited.
"Hehehehe. My daughter, you say? Oh, my daughter isn't just talented — she's beautiful, brilliant, and—"
Kim Jae-gyo had pressed the wrong switch. He spent the next three hours enduring Min Gyeong-ho's nonstop daughter-bragging marathon.
"Unnie! Is it true you're going to the Academy?"
Lee Yeon-ah came dashing over and plopped down beside Lee Yeon-hui, who was packing clothes.
"I have to pass first."
"You'll pass. You'll take first place — or second at worst."
Yeon-hui thought the same, but she didn't bother saying it out loud.
"Yeon-chan oppa said he's taking the Academy exam too."
Yeon-hui's hands stopped cold.
She already knew Yeon-ah had exchanged contact information with Park Yeon-chan a few days ago. But she hadn't expected it to lead to him suddenly announcing he was enrolling at the Academy.
Park Yeon-chan. I was planning to make contact soon anyway. This works out better.
This loop was already diverging from every history she knew, and the person at the center of that divergence was unmistakably Park Yeon-chan. Everything she remembered of his actions made that crystal clear.
But.
That doesn't mean I can trust him completely.
For someone who had lived through loop after loop, taking a boy who acted nothing like his age at face value was no simple thing. If he turned out to be a threat, she'd have to deal with him.
So why…
Was it because of the memories she carried? Whenever she thought about Park Yeon-chan, those suspicions became hard to hold onto.
It was fine. Once they met, every question would be answered.
She sorted her thoughts and went back to packing the remaining clothes with Yeon-ah beside her.
"Are you sure about this? You don't have to go. The government provides support funding, and with your abilities you could take a stable job without ever stepping into danger."
A woman in a white coat spoke with genuine concern to the person sitting across from her.
"I want to go and expand what I'm capable of as much as I can."
The unwavering eyes looking back at her left no room for doubt. The woman smiled gently.
"All right. If your resolve is that firm, I won't stop you."
"Thank you for everything, Doctor."
"I didn't do anything worth thanking."
She waved off the deep bow with a dismissive hand. The woman was a counselor who specialized in victims of crime. Building a healthy rapport with her clients was her job — but this one was younger than most, and she couldn't help worrying a little more.
Which means I need to send her off with a smile.
She offered a few words of encouragement as her young client stood to leave.
"I'll have an enrollment gift ready for you. Make sure you pass and come back."
"Yes. Please make it something delicious."
With a bright smile, the girl picked up a printed sheet and walked out, her beautiful platinum-blonde hair trailing behind her. The paper in her hand detailed the Academy entrance exam.
In the applicant name field:
Choi A-rin.
She, too, was throwing herself into the Academy — all so she could become useful to Park Yeon-chan.