The Power of Parental Bonds
As I pulled out each item, the expressions on Yoo Hee-won's and Han Min-ha's faces grew increasingly strange. It was understandable—after all, the so-called tools for aura manipulation training consisted of things like a toy trumpet and a Bluetooth speaker.
Yoo Hee-won, unable to hold back any longer, snapped in irritation.
"No. These are the exact tools I used for training back when I was a rookie hero. They may look ridiculous, but I'm planning to use a method that's surprisingly proven to be effective."
"With your help, of course, Hee-won."
I held out the small toy trumpet to Yoo Hee-won.
"And this too."
The moment they saw the small snake in my hand, both Yoo Hee-won and Han Min-ha screamed and bolted away.
A chaotic racket echoed through the otherwise quiet shooting range. Yoo Hee-won stood beside Han Min-ha, blowing the toy trumpet with all her might, while I connected the speaker to my phone and cranked up loud explosion-like sounds. They were audio clips from hero battle footage released by the media.
To anyone watching, this would seem like an utterly crude and meaningless method. But in Secreto, every new recruit went through this process. It was surprisingly effective for improving mental focus, with the goal of enabling someone to fight under any extreme conditions. I had gone through it myself.
Secreto, of course, applied far more intense stress than this. Using equipment like the VR device from the basic evaluation, they played unfiltered footage of people exploding before your eyes, severed limbs, and swirling blood. The kind of brutal scenes that would make even fans of gore movies frown. And every clip was real footage of villains' atrocities.
The sheer grotesqueness and terror were overwhelming. Even heroes who entered with high ranks often couldn't eat properly for a while afterward due to the shock. If even the agents selected for Secreto reacted that way... I couldn't help but worry whether these girls would truly be able to stand against such villains after graduation. And whether they could endure the real horrors of the battlefield that the public never saw due to censorship.
Ah, my thoughts wandered off track for a moment.
Han Min-ha, with a snake draped around her neck, was aiming at the target with a deathly pale face. The young Burmese python, no more than a meter long, rested its head on her shoulder, flicking its tongue with its glossy black eyes. I'd hastily borrowed it from the academy's bio-manifestation research lab. Though Han Min-ha loathed snakes and their unique texture, this one was actually gentle and almost completely non-aggressive.
"Trust me. It's a training method I've used myself. You don't have much time left, Min-ha. The end-of-term evaluation is coming up soon, and besides..."
I lowered my voice so Yoo Hee-won wouldn't hear.
"We need to teach Song Do-yun a lesson before summer break. Isn't that right?"
Han Min-ha nodded hesitantly. Then the snake's scales brushed the back of her neck, and she flinched violently, stretching her neck as far as possible to get away from it.
"Good. Let's do this properly then. You've seen Eye Race before, right?"
"It was your mother's signature technique."
At my words, Han Min-ha's eyes widened as she stared at me.
"More precisely, it was a guided beam that could simultaneously intercept multiple targets. In other words, it's like carpet bombing with precision-guided missiles."
"Ah..."
"Since you've inherited that blood, I'm certain you can do it too, Min-ha. I'm not asking you to use Eye Race right away, but if you can at least reach the threshold of that technique, it'll be the same as crossing the barrier into detailed aura manipulation—the very goal we're aiming for."
Han Min-ha nodded firmly with a determined expression. I see. Mentioning her parents completely changes her attitude. Give it your best shot, Han Min-ha.
"Let's begin."
There were countless failures. Sometimes she couldn't produce anything at all. Other times she failed to control the intensity and blew the entire target away.
Yoo Hee-won eventually switched from blowing the trumpet to whispering terrible things directly into Han Min-ha's ear. The kind of crude profanity and insults I didn't even want to hear.
But Han Min-ha didn't give up. Even if her focus wavered, she kept firing her aura, desperately trying to achieve Eye Race or something close to it.
As expected, whether in the East or West, throughout history, nothing moves people quite like the subject of their deceased parents.
Several hours later, as the sun slowly sank and the sky was dyed in crimson hues.
When one target finally toppled over completely, Yoo Hee-won—who had been slumped in exhaustion—jumped to her feet in wild excitement, pointing frantically at the fallen target.
"I saw it too. Well done, Min-ha."
Han Min-ha let out a long sigh.
"Since we've come this far, let's try a few more times."
With arms trembling from hours of holding them up, Han Min-ha struggled to aim at the targets. From her fingertips, a very thin purple beam shot straight out and struck a target.
Beep!!
The confirmation tone sounded from the speaker as the target fell backward.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Some missed, but Han Min-ha managed to hit several targets, if only barely.
"Good. Very well done. Excellent."
Though the power was absurdly weak, that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was that she had manifested her explosively powerful aura in such a delicate form. Today's goal had been achieved.
Near the end of the first semester, Han Min-ha had finally taken her first step into the world of aura. The fact that she'd endured this long was impressive in itself. But now that she'd succeeded, the real work could begin. Moving up to the upper class, getting revenge on Song Do-yun—she could achieve it all.
I smiled and removed the limp snake from around Han Min-ha's neck. Having spent so long draped over her, the exhausted snake went completely slack in my hands.
I'd probably get an earful when I returned it to the lab.
"You worked hard too, Hee-won. Let's clean up and head back."
At our words of gratitude, Yoo Hee-won turned her head away with what looked like an angry expression. Despite how it appeared, this was simply her way of expressing her feelings. How cute.
"Let's head back. Everyone did great today."
Yoo Hee-won suddenly demanded with a pouty face. Eating out, huh... Well, after a day like today, it didn't sound bad.
"As long as it's not grilled pork intestines, anything's fine."
When Han Min-ha mentioned the kimbap restaurant we'd visited after dealing with the unconscious villain, Yoo Hee-won enthusiastically agreed. I picked up the box containing the equipment and smiled.
"Sounds good. Let's go."
In the late afternoon bathed in sunset, the three of us walked out of the shooting range side by side. As we headed to the parking lot, Yoo Hee-won kept chattering about Han Min-ha's shooting skills, while Han Min-ha smiled like an idiot and took it all in stride.
Yoo Hee-won, standing in front of the car door, shouted at me.
"It's not right to demand that I open the door when you can clearly see both my hands are full with boxes. In times like this, you should help your elder by carrying some of the—"
Han Min-ha took the box from my hands.
"It seems Hee-won views me less as her advising professor and more as a taxi driver."
A girl with black hair and gloomy glasses. The daughter of a couple who had been my comrades-in-arms, the only friends I'd ever had. A blonde, blue-eyed, arrogant, and brilliant rich girl. The daughter of my former superior, the one who had made me an academy professor after I'd lost my memories.
If this were a web novel, people would tear it apart. Lack of plausibility, convenience-driven plot, forced emotion, predictable twists. Just like that terrible story my senior Han Tae-woo used to write so passionately.
That's why I feel such a heavy sense of responsibility toward these girls. Just as their parents helped me, I have to teach them with all my heart and sincerity. I have a duty to make sure they can survive the hellish battlefield after graduation. To help them maintain their sanity in that mad war zone, to retire whole and healthy after working hard, to stand firm and unbroken no matter what situation they face.
As an advising professor at the academy, that's all I can do for them.
After that, I continued the special training with Yoo Hee-won and Han Min-ha, rotating through the academy's various training facilities. The end-of-term evaluation was drawing closer by the day.
Han Min-ha was curious about exactly how she would get her revenge on Song Do-yun. The answer lay in the end-of-term evaluation.
"That's correct."