Entrance Speech (1)
“Ohhh—!! Do Hyul! How long has it been! You’ve only grown more dashing since I last saw you! Ah, more importantly, could you sign this for me? My wife and daughter are huge fans of yours!”
The moment I opened the door to the principal’s office, its heavy lattice-patterned surface swinging wide—
…there stood a familiar middle-aged man clutching a figure of me in one hand, springing up from what was clearly a very comfortable leather chair to greet me with open arms.
Years ago, for only a single brief month, this gray-haired senior had taught a newly arrived me the basics of ability control and hand-to-hand combat.
Now that so many of the first-generation senior heroes had already passed on from the lingering aftereffects of old injuries, he was one of the very few people who still called me by my real name when we were alone, rather than by the hero alias Smile.
Of course, hero work kept me so busy that beyond the occasional phone call to check in, it had been nearly seven years since we’d actually spoken face to face.
“Haha! Sorry about that. I told them not to ask for anything so embarrassing, but those two are absolute fanatics!”
“Haha! Not at all. Having fans that devoted is always a pleasure. More importantly—how’s the shoulder these days?”
“Haha, same as always. I’ve been fully retired from active duty for quite a while now, so I’m in excellent health. Lately I’ve even recovered enough to play tennis with my wife every weekend as a hobby.”
Hmm, so no real issues with daily life, then?
I distinctly remembered that right after the injury, he could barely keep his arm steady without a support device. It was a genuine relief to hear he was doing so well.
Separate from the envy I felt for how comfortably he lived after retirement, this mountain of muscle was a genuinely good-hearted man who had thrown himself into hero work without a second thought during the chaotic era when every sortie without me on site had produced hero-side casualties.
He was also the first person to look after me when I arrived in this world, so I couldn’t help but keep an eye out for him.
“Hahaha! Anyway, when the students heard you were coming, they were buzzing with excitement from the crack of dawn! So on my authority I cancelled all afternoon classes. This time, not only the new enrollees but every single enrolled student will hear your speech in the auditorium.”
…Huh? So that was why I hadn’t seen a single student on the way here?
Well, that worked out perfectly. From my position—needing to find a successor as soon as possible—the more students I could look over, the better.
The entire student body easily numbered over two hundred. Surely at least one among them would be the talent that damn status window was looking for?
This place was, after all, an elite hero-training institution that selected only the absolute cream of the crop from young aspirants nationwide.
Hehehe! Anyway, I’ll find whatever “true hero” nonsense it wants and retire as soon as humanly possible…!
So while my face wore the bright public smile, my mind was already scheming greedily. Following the senior who looked thoroughly excited for my speech, I arrived at a space far larger than any school auditorium—more like an oversized aircraft hangar.
I didn’t prepare a speech, though. Do I just wing it with whatever comes to mind…? I haven’t done anything like this since the elementary school class-president election.
…Well, I wasn’t some professional motivational speaker. I was just a senior from the same school offering a few words of encouragement to the juniors. Despite the expectant look my senior was giving me from behind, there was no real need for anything grand.
Hmm, I’ll just say some appropriate things and wrap up by reciting the professional hero oath. Lavy said the entrance speech isn’t that big a deal anyway.
Besides, my real job today wasn’t to deliver some moving address that inspired the next generation—
it was to scan the students thoroughly during the speech and hunt for any talent the status window might approve of.
A mere ten-minute speech only needed to stay just clean enough that the status window couldn’t find fault with it.
In that light, reading the professional hero oath—stuffed full of the rigid, upright content that damn status window loved—and dressing it up as a speech was a pretty solid plan.
Combined with the hero performance I’d polished over the last fifteen years, it would clear the passing grade no matter what.
“Ahem—. Hello, everyone. I am Smile, a first-generation graduate of this school and currently active as a professional hero.”
A wave of murmurs swept the hall—
“Whoa, it’s the real Smile…! Th-that’s actually Smile in the flesh…! He’s famous for never doing public appearances like this—so the rumors that he’s close with the principal were true…?!”
“Kyaaa! He’s way handsomer in person than on camera! The second the speech ends I’m getting an autograph on my clothes no matter what!”
“Quiet down, everyone. As students of Korea’s foremost hero-training institution, please show the dignity that befits you!”
“…Teacher, the autograph paper and marker are sticking out of your pocket.”
So, while carefully studying every teacher and student staring up at the podium in stunned awe, I prayed with all my heart that at least one among them would prove a suitable successor who could guarantee me a comfortable retirement.
“The reason I stand before you today is for the junior generation who will lead the future—”
I gripped the microphone and slowly began the speech.
…But isn’t that literally what you’re supposed to go there to learn? Are the admission standards way too harsh?
They stop accepting anyone over fifteen on the dot. If I still want to be a hero, should I start looking at regional schools now?
Fwoosh—.
“Waaah…! So in just a little while, the real Smile is actually coming to our school, right?! Seol-a, have you ever seen Smile in person?! I saw him a few times from far away during that big terrorist incident!”
“…Yeah. Once, when my older sister and I were kidnapped by a villain, Smile came and rescued us himself.”
“Huh?! K-kidnapped?! Aaaah, were you hurt anywhere…?!”
Hearing her ever-energetic friend’s voice, Lee Seol-a closed the holographic window on her phone that she’d been browsing for amusement and turned her head toward the sound to answer.
“Yeah, I wasn’t hurt. Smile came to save us right away.”
“Waaah…! I see, that’s so like Smile! In every incident Smile has ever responded to, there hasn’t been a single fatality! It’s truly admirable! Hehe, I want to become a reliable hero like that someday too!”
“Yeah. If it’s you, Eun-ha, I’m sure you’ll become a wonderful hero just like Smile.”
“Hweh?! R-really?! Hehe, thanks, Seol-a! Well, still, being exactly like Smile is impossible for me. Hehe.”
Ju Eun-ha brightened at the sudden praise, yet still seemed a little embarrassed that her friend had compared her to that Smile. She scratched her golden, gleaming hair and flushed pink across her cheeks.
…The Invincible Hero Smile—who never fell and never lost his smile no matter the adversity.
Like the earliest first-generation seniors, he protected citizens without ever seeking any reward. Ever since the Ability Management Bureau introduced its ranking system that tallied results every three months, he had held an overwhelming first place without fail—
and over the past fifteen years, the number of villain-related crime suppressions he handled was estimated at roughly two hundred thousand.
Among them, large-scale terrorist incidents involving more than a hundred civilian victims numbered over six hundred.
…And across every one of those heinous crimes, after Smile arrived on scene, civilian fatalities over the last fifteen years: zero.
It went beyond mere awe; at this point one almost felt the impious suspicion that the Bureau, the police, and the military must have been cooking the numbers for Smile.
Yet over those fifteen years, the people who had witnessed Smile’s exploits with their own eyes—and especially those whose lives he had personally saved—were so numerous nationwide, particularly in Seoul, that you could trip over them on any street.
No one doubted that absurd zero-fatality figure even for a second.
If Smile hadn’t responded, things might be different. But the moment Smile arrived on scene, no one died there. Ever.
That was why his most famous epithet was “the Invincible Hero who saves everyone.”
In truth, more than half of every large-scale terrorist incident that had ever occurred nationwide, and more than ninety percent of the major and minor villain crimes that happened in Seoul, could fairly be said to have been resolved by Smile alone.
“Hehe, I just want to take after Smile, you know. If anyone seriously claimed they were going to become a hero ‘just like Smile,’ that would just be pure arrogance.”
“…Yeah, true. No one can do things exactly the same way Smile does.”
“Hehe…! Anyway, I can’t wait to see him! After the speech later, do you think there’ll be time for autographs?! Then I can put it in my treasure box right next to the Lavy autograph I got the year before last! Hehehe!”
So for today at least, even Lee Seol-a understood her noisy friend’s fuss.
Normally she responded calmly to almost everything, and even now she showed no outward excitement—yet inside, the thought of seeing Smile up close had been making her heart flutter for a while already.
“…I don’t know. Autographs are probably impossible. Unlike the year before last, every enrolled student is gathered this year, and Smile is busier than we can even imag—”
Just then, right as she was about to deliver a realistic explanation to Eun-ha—who was bouncing beside her with an excited face and the slightly unreasonable hope of maybe even getting a handshake as well as an autograph—
“Ahem—. Hello, everyone. I am Smile, a first-generation graduate of this school and currently active as a professional hero.”
“Hup—! I-it’s the real Smile! S-Seol-a! Look over there! It’s actually Smile!!”
…With nothing more than that simple greeting, the great hero who could freeze the breath of every person in the hall appeared quietly on the stage, wearing only the old, cheap gray tracksuit that had long since become his symbol.