Chapter 1: A Turbulent Entrance Ceremony (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1: A Turbulent Entrance Ceremony (1)
The Academy’s Holy Sword Hero.
This was a web novel written by a friend of mine. It was appallingly unpopular and currently on an indefinite hiatus.
To be honest, it wasn’t just “not fun.” It was a “misery porn” novel that made you wonder if the author was actively trying to pick a fight with her readers. It was more accurate to describe it as a story stuffed with “sweet potato” frustrations and almost zero “cider” payoffs.
And if you asked whether it was at least a well-crafted tragedy? Not even close.
Even though the protagonist was a “munchkin” with top-tier abilities, the plot mostly consisted of him getting stepped on because of his naturally passive personality. Because of that half-baked execution, it failed to satisfy any niche.
Well, normally, whether a novel flops or is a total train wreck wouldn’t be a big deal, even if it was a bit pitiful.
That is, if I hadn’t transmigrated into the damn thing like some cliché protagonist of a genre that’s already been milked dry!
- 6 minutes and 12 seconds remaining until the start of the Main Quest.
‘I’m going crazy. Shit.’
I felt a bit better than a moment ago, but my head was still spinning and my memories were hazy. I couldn’t even clearly remember what I had been doing yesterday.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I definitely hadn’t done anything that should have resulted in an “I woke up inside my friend’s failed novel?!” scenario!
No, now wasn’t the time for this.
This hopeless, dreamless novel didn’t exactly start with a bright and cheerful atmosphere. Specifically, in the prologue—the Academy entrance ceremony—cadets die in droves.
— Someone looked upon the two boys on the stage with envy, while another offered blessings. However, none of them could have predicted the carnage that was about to unfold.
A line from the novel suddenly flashed through my mind.
Carnage.
It’s a simple word on paper, but the insane plot point where twenty percent of the freshmen are slaughtered right at the start by a terrorist attack wasn’t pleasant to read. Now that I was about to experience it firsthand, I felt desperate enough to wring my friend’s neck.
I had to pull myself together.
There wasn’t enough time to just sit here despairing.
If the protagonist finished his speech as the Freshman Representative, I was as good as dead.
If I had transmigrated into a main character, I might have tried to use some ability to escape, but from what I could tell, I was definitely not a lead.
— In the sudden explosion, the students near the left wall of the auditorium died without even a chance to resist. Yet, perhaps they were the lucky ones. They wouldn’t have to face the despair that followed.
Lucky, my ass. How the hell is dying instantly “lucky”?
I turned my head and saw the left wall of the auditorium.
It was close enough that I could touch it if I reached out—no exaggeration.
In other words, I was one of the many extras destined to die shortly.
Of course, considering the events that followed, being away from the wall didn’t guarantee safety, but staying here meant certain death.
Leaving the auditorium would be the surest bet, but according to the settings of this crazy novel, the Academy was so overconfident in its security that they strictly prohibited anyone from entering or leaving during the ceremony.
Oh, and for the record, the reason they get hit by a terrorist attack despite that “ironclad” security is, of course, because of an internal traitor!
Indeed, as soon as I tried to break rank, a figure who looked like a professor glared at me sharply.
- 4 minutes and 7 seconds remaining until the start of the Main Quest.
No, but I’m about to die, so what do you want me to do…!
I knew I had to stay calm.
They say even if you’re dragged into a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.
Given the impending crisis, I needed to gather as much information as possible.
‘Status Window.’
Hoping for that all-too-familiar trope, I shouted it in my mind, but unfortunately, there was no response.
“…Status Window.”
Just in case, I actually whispered it aloud, but still, nothing appeared before my eyes.
Shit.
Honestly, I didn’t expect it to work!
My friend, who had a terminal case of “hipster complex,” absolutely loathed status windows in novels!
I don’t know why she bothered writing an Academy novel if she hated tropes that much, but what could I do?
Suddenly feeling a gaze, I turned my head. A female student in the next row was looking at me with a very strange expression, having apparently heard my muttering.
I had whispered it so quietly; maybe she had a hearing-related talent?
…This is seriously embarrassing.
No, this isn’t the time for that.
Before I knew it, the protagonist’s speech was nearing its end. That meant the clock was ticking down on my life.
But they say there’s always a way out, even if the heavens fall.
And if there isn’t? Well, you just have to force one open.
What was I going to do?
I was going to bolt.
As I moved out of the neat rows, the eyes of the faculty watching from the back and the surrounding students converged on me. But who cares about that when you’re about to die?
It pained me to derail my friend’s novel so early, but I wasn’t about to die just to preserve the original plot.
Besides, given my years of experience reading web novels, none of the guys who agonize over this stuff ever end up following the original plot anyway.
I felt a bit guilty, but she shouldn’t have written this kind of crap in the first place.
Who told her to write a novel like this for me to transmigrate into?
I tried to run, but I didn’t make it more than a few steps before a professor caught me.
Without a hint of fluster, he tapped on his tablet, looked at me, and sighed.
“What is the meaning of this, Cadet-to-be Kang So-hyun?”
Kang So-hyun.
Surprisingly, it was a name I recognized from the Setting Book my friend had shown me. No, it was a name I knew very well.
Not because he was a “named” character. That girl had included a few characters modeled after her real-life friends, and Kang So-hyun was the one modeled after me.
There were various details in the Setting Book, but the most memorable part was this:
— Kang So-hyun. The character who dies first in the prologue’s explosion. Naturally frail. While the grade of his talent is high, the penalties are so severe that it’s practically useless.
You son of a bitch.
Why even bother giving me a high-grade talent then?
Why? To mock me, obviously!
“Are you not going to answer, Cadet? If you need the restroom, hold it. The auditorium doors will not open until the ceremony is over anyway.”
Perhaps because similar types appeared every year despite the strictness, he was openly treating me like a troublemaker.
But that wasn’t it.
The professor’s expression darkened further as he heard some of the nearby students snickering at me.
“Go back to your seat. Be grateful you aren’t officially a cadet yet; I won’t deduct points.”
- 2 minutes and 50 seconds remaining until the start of the Main Quest.
I was getting annoyed.
Of course, his reaction was natural since he didn’t know what was coming, but seeing him push someone toward their death out of sheer ignorance didn’t sit well with me.
“There’s going to be a terrorist attack soon.”
I was a bit startled by the voice that came out—it wasn’t mine—but that wasn’t the priority right now.
“What?”
“It’s a terrorist attack targeting the freshmen. A massive explosion will occur at the left outer wall, and monsters will swarm in through the breach. The professors will be trapped by traps set by a traitor and the terrorists’ abilities, forced to just watch as the students are slaughtered.”
The professor was already looking at me like I was insane, but there wasn’t a single lie in my words.
“Right. I knew there were many among the freshmen who liked to stand out, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone cause such a scene at the entrance ceremony. I’ll remember your name, so I hope you manage to graduate quietly.”
Well, I understood him intellectually.
It would be hard to believe.
They took pride in their “ironclad” security, and with their long record of no incidents, few even dared to challenge them anymore.
To him, the idea of a “clout-chasing” freshman was far more realistic than a group actually attempting to terrorize the Academy.
However, that wasn’t a good enough reason for my life to be threatened.
“Let go.”
“Ha, now you’re using informal speech with an instructor? You really…”
“Shut up.”
My voice seemed to ring out unusually loud in the auditorium.
“Can you take responsibility? Everyone could live, but they’re all going to die because of your stupid stubbornness. It’ll be on you. Oh, of course, you’ll probably just whine that it wasn’t your fault, thinking they were destined to die anyway. It’s your choice to spend the rest of your life wondering ‘what if I had listened to that student’ and wallowing in regret.”
- 1 minute remaining until the start of the Main Quest.
The students who had been watching with amusement now looked at me with disgusted expressions, likely thinking I was taking the “bit” too far.
I was somewhat used to it, but the fact that not a single person believed me felt incredibly shitty.
The professor glared at me.
But so what? I wasn’t finished.
“But if I’m dragged down with them, then it becomes my business. So please, if you’re not going to help, just stay the hell out of the way.”
My voice must have been louder than I thought, as the Freshman Representative’s speech had stopped. The professor’s face was flushed with rage, clearly thinking I was being beyond audacious.
“Whew.”
In this vast auditorium, not a single gaze directed at me was friendly.
“Idiots. Fine, go ahead and die.”
“You…!”
Just as the professor started to shout something, I looked at the remaining timer.
- 7 seconds remaining until the start of the Main Quest.
Ah, I’m screwed.
The timer ticked down relentlessly. The moment the time hit zero, a massive roar erupted, and the outer wall of the auditorium collapsed.
Because the professor had been holding onto me, I managed to avoid immediate death, but the other students wouldn’t have been so lucky.
I felt a bitter taste in my mouth, but as I looked toward the breach to identify the monsters, I was shocked. There were some injured and fallen students, but there didn’t seem to be any fatalities.
— First Achievement Unlocked: ‘Changing Fate.’ You have overcome a predetermined death.
It was a boy who had blocked the explosion.
The protagonist of this novel, who should have been on the stage until a moment ago—Lilac—was bleeding from wounds he sustained while neutralizing the blast.
Wait, why?
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
In the original, students are blown apart, and the professors are isolated from them, unable to break through the traps set by the terrorists and the barriers used by the traitor.
To make matters worse, the protagonist only reveals his talent to stop the monsters after they appear.
But now, aside from most of the professors being isolated, a lot had changed.
First off, the professor holding me was outside the barrier. And while the protagonist was injured from blocking the explosion, no one had died.
As I stood there dazed, the protagonist suddenly looked at me and waved.
Wait, no way.
“Hey! It’s thanks to you!”
The eyes that had been fixed on the protagonist who blocked the explosion shifted back to me.
Seriously?
He just believed my words and sprinted all the way here from the stage?
I was grateful he believed me, but now that he actually had, I wondered if he was insane.
I mean, what if I had just been a crazy attention-seeker?
Then again, in the original novel, his personality was exactly why he gifted the readers endless “sweet potatoes.”
He was the poster child for the “believers in innate goodness.”
Anyway, is it okay now?
The moment that thought crossed my mind…
This godforsaken novel world, seemingly inheriting the author’s personality, refused to let things end on a good note.
— Confirmed: Deviation from original plot and casualties. To correct the narrative, the subsequent event will be strengthened.
— The appearing monster, a Low-tier High-rank Orc, is significantly empowered by the Authority of the Creator.
What kind of nonsense is that? Readers don’t like that kind of stuff these days.
Before I could even finish the thought, a massive fist emerged from the hole created by the explosion and sent the protagonist flying.
He seemed to have blocked it with his sword, but since he was already injured, he couldn’t completely deflect the damage.
“What in the world…”
The one instructor who could actually move was still holding onto me, muttering stupidly.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you going to help him? Do you really want to see everyone die?”
“No, of course not! Right! I’ll ask you about this later!”
Ask me later, my foot.
Still, it should be fine now.
A man who called himself an Academy instructor wouldn’t lose to a slightly buffed Orc.
— Also confirmed: Presence of a helper who was originally unable to intervene.
Oh, for fuck’s sake, stop joking. This isn’t funny. Readers hate this kind of development.
— Deploying one additional Orc.
Stop it, seriously, please.
Lilac is a munchkin protagonist, but he’s also a “growth-type” protagonist.
Maybe if he were at full strength, it would be different, but it was uncertain if he could handle a buffed monster alone while injured from the explosion.
Even worse, given his personality, he’d obviously get forced into a defensive position trying to protect the other students.
And the instructor—what was his problem? He wasn’t losing, but he wasn’t exactly overwhelming the Orc either.
The students were in a state of pandemonium, trying to get away from the monsters, but their exit was blocked by something similar to the barrier trapping the professors.
Ah, are we really doomed?
Just as I thought that…
“Perfect timing.”
Another protagonist, Cheon Yu-hak, drew his weapon—a spear—and thrust it toward the Orc that was pressing Lilac.
What’s this now?
Cheon Yu-hak, you’re not the type of guy to help people, are you?