The Simulated Battle and Lee Se-na

From now on, I will create a virtual space. Everyone, close your eyes and accept the energy.

At Park Do-jun's words, I and the rest of the students closed our eyes and quietly prepared to receive the energy. Though this was a world that had advanced through magic rather than science, virtual reality games had long been commercialized by supplementing the gaps in science with mana. I too had gained my power by synchronizing with a virtual reality game. However, the virtual reality here was not accessed through machines. It was purely through mana, creating an artificial, illusory space.

Of course, the data for the virtual reality is stored on computers and such, but in the end, this is still a combination of science and mana. The connection itself is made purely through mana.

To connect to the virtual reality, one had to link a mana code. And right now, that mana code was trying to connect to the twenty students, including me.

I could resist and block it if I wanted to.

But I did not resist. I quietly accepted it. As I accepted it without resistance, my vision changed.

"Whoa! This is insane!"

"It feels so real!"

The twenty students from the six teams, myself included, found ourselves in a small city. Looking around, there were almost no people in sight, only apartments and buildings filling the view.

A fabricated city that doesn't exist in reality.

This city created in virtual reality seemed to be an original design rather than based on any real-world city.

The floating text in the air served as proof that this world was virtual reality. It was nothing new to me, since I could check my own status window, but for the other students, it was something they could never see in reality. It was a function that only existed in the virtual world.

"Monsters are roaming around?"

"Let's have some fun, heh heh~"

The two boys who showed interest at the mention of monsters—called "monsters" or "monster"—were the same ones who had been complaining earlier about not being able to use their abilities in reality.

"Everyone, focus for a moment."

I spoke quietly, yet with a hint of authority, drawing the attention of all nineteen others at once.

"We're on the same team today, and this is a class. Let's start with simple introductions."

Though I spoke in a calm tone, not everyone obeyed. When many people gathered, there were always a few who caused trouble.

"Why should we?"

"Yeah. We can just do our own thing."

Among them were a couple who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seemed to have nothing but air between their ears.

"This is a class. It's about cooperation. If you want to act alone, that's fine when you're by yourself, but right now, that kind of behavior only harms the team."

Even though I knew it would be pointless, I tried reasoning with them.

"What, just because you're the freshman representative, you think you can boss us around?"

"Exactly. Why should we listen to your orders?"

I let out a sigh.

"Haah~ So you're saying you'll do whatever you want?"

"Yeah. What are you gonna do about it?"

"You think being the freshman rep makes you special?"

The other students' gazes toward the two grew cold, but the pair remained defiant. They seemed to be under the delusion that confronting me—the heir to the Yucheon Group and the freshman representative—made them some kind of righteous heroes.

They're a bit old for a middle-school syndrome phase. Looks like they need some medicine.

And so, I decided to administer it immediately.

"Aagh!"

"Guh!"

When I slammed their heads down with mana, they collapsed to the floor with strange cries.

"You two should stop deluding yourselves into thinking you're something special. I don't feel satisfied unless I return what I've received."

I even released a faint killing intent, but I made sure it was directed strongly only at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two of them. Even with the monitoring in place to regulate the intensity, their skills were only mid-to-low among the freshmen, separate from their arrogance. For the two of them, the level of killing intent I showed as the freshman representative was more than enough.

"Eeeek!"

"W-We were wrong! We won't do it again!"

Their attitude changed at an astonishing speed. The other students clicked their tongues in secret at how quickly the two turned submissive without any resistance.

"Whoa, that's harsh."

"They talked big for people who'd fold like that."

"It's embarrassing to be on the same team as them."

"Same here."

Crushing resistance was necessary to set an example, but seeing them turn submissive so easily made it feel like the lesson hadn't landed properly. Still, I had no intention of simply dominating through force alone.

The academy is watching this situation right now.

What I needed to show was not the image of a tyrant, but someone who knew how to wield both the carrot and the stick appropriately.

"I'll introduce myself first. My name is Seo Moon-jin. I'm twenty-two."

"Lee Se-na, twenty-one."

The first to respond to my introduction was Lee Se-na. She knew this was still class and that my words were correct, so despite her usual wariness toward me because of Seo Moon-hyun, she supported my opinion.

"My name is Osada Saya. I'm twenty-two."

A quiet female student revealed her name. She was Japanese, but with foreigners like Arian Liberin mixed in, it was nothing surprising. In fact, several of the male students weren't even East Asian.

"I'm Abdul Hassan from Afghanistan. Nice to meet you, brother. I'm twenty-three."

I nodded lightly at the Afghan youth's fluent Korean introduction, noting the stubble on his chin.

"An Baek-ho, twenty-one."

"Kim Chang-hyuk, also twenty-one."

As everyone introduced themselves, the two who had been knocked to the floor glanced around nervously before belatedly offering their own introductions.

"K-Kim Byung-seop. Twenty-one."

"P-Park Byung-gyu. I'm also twenty-one."

Though the two hadn't served as a proper example, fortunately the other seventeen students were capable of reading the situation. Thanks to that, things proceeded smoothly without needing to single out another troublemaker.

"Alright, let's summarize. We're inside a city with monsters—monster—roaming around. We have almost no information on them."

Of course, I could sense all the monsters. The monsters implemented to feel real reproduced the data of real monsters in virtual reality, and their combat strength was similar.

At best, they're monsters the students can handle.

But the goal of this class wasn't to defeat the monsters.

137 survivors.

In other words, the main objective was to find and protect as many survivors as possible.

They didn't show us those videos of heroes protecting civilians in the previous class for nothing.

They were emphasizing that the most important thing in practical lessons wasn't defeating monsters, but rescuing civilians.

"What we need to do isn't defeat the monsters, but rescue as many of the 137 survivors as possible. This first class is clearly meant to evaluate how many survivors we can save."

Everyone nodded at my words. Kim Byung-seop and Park Byung-gyu, still terrified from my killing intent, nodded especially enthusiastically while watching my expression. To the other students who didn't know about the killing intent, it just looked like the two had gotten scared after being hit once.

I didn't bother correcting that misunderstanding.

"I agree with Seo Moon-jin's… opinion as well."

Lee Se-na also expressed her agreement, though she kept glancing at me.

"Good. We still have over forty ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠minutes left, but let's move carefully. First, does anyone have an ability that could help us find people?"

No one raised their hand at my question.

Of course not.

Since the teams were assigned randomly, this class's team composition seemed to depend on luck. Though in truth, I had deliberately joined this team myself, and with just my presence, the team's balance was already broken.

"Then I'll have to do it."

After saying that, I used a simple tracking spell. I made the mana flow obvious so everyone could feel it, using the tracking magic openly, and they all looked at me with curious eyes.

"Oh, brother. Is that how you use mana to find people?"

"Yeah. It's magic."

In this world, the word "magic" existed, but it was mostly used as shorthand for mana techniques. Sometimes, due to the reverse export of Korean, these mana techniques were translated as "magic" as well. In any case, through the tracking spell, I found traces of people.

"There's someone nearby. Let's set up positions first… Can everyone briefly explain their abilities?"

"Hmm, brother. Explosions are my specialty. I can also attach spells that explode after some time. If I use several, I could easily bring down a building."

Abdul Hassan was saying something that sounded suspiciously like a terrorist.

"I'm a recovery type. I can heal injured people."

Lee Se-na revealed that she was a healer.

"I can put up barriers around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠myself and the people near me."

Osada Saya's ability was to protect allies with barriers, which was more useful as support when there were multiple allies rather than when alone.

"I can accelerate. When swinging a sword or running, I can temporarily increase my speed."

Kim Byung-seop revealed his ability.

"I can lift objects around me without touching them."

Park Byung-gyu seemed to specialize in telekinesis.

"Hmm, I see."

As the other students each explained their abilities to me one by one, several minutes passed just listening. But it was enough.

"For now, let's quickly gather the people and secure a place where we can easily protect them."

Then I glanced at Lee Se-na and called her.

"Lee Se-na."