CH 30

Chapter 30 — Entrance Ceremony

The week went by quickly in his excitement.

It was already the day of the Millaes Academy entrance ceremony. After finishing all his preparations, JaeHyun left home with a slightly nervous expression.

Kim YooJung was waiting for him in front of his house. They were both going to Millaes Academy, and there was no reason why they had to go separately.

Of course, the biggest reason YooJung wanted to go together with JaeHyun was her lack of a sense of direction, but JaeHyun decided not to mention it.

It was a new start after all. There was no reason for him to argue and tire himself out.

Kim YooJung smiled brightly as she saw JaeHyun who came out right on time.

She even had makeup on, making her face slightly paler and her cheeks a bit red.

She probably did so to make a better first impression on others.

“You’re not late today. Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

He replied calmly, standing beside YooJung, when she asked worriedly.

“Auntie is really worried about you, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. You know she often gets upset easily.”

As JaeHyun talked to YooJung, he recalled his mother’s face.

For the past few days before he had to leave, Lee SeonHwa had kept worrying about her son and reminding him to be careful. JaeHyun had told her not to get distressed, but Lee SeonHwa couldn’t help her heavy heart. There were several reasons for it.

First—

Millaes Academy was located in Daegu, which was several kilometers away from Seoul. Daegu was the very first city in Korea in which monsters rampaged.

It was a land of death where it wouldn’t be strange for monsters to rush out at any moment.

Of course, that was also the reason prospective cadets could freely train without concerns, but… it didn’t change the fact that it was a dangerous place.

Second—

Millaes Academy cadets must all live in the dormitory.

They, who were no longer called students but cadets instead, had to work hard to become raiders while following strict regulations, and they experienced many hardships at this stage of their journey.

This was something many had trouble adjusting to since they were used to going right home after school.

Third—

Several accidents happened at Millaes Academy every year, and there were also those who lost their lives.

It was no different from the incidents that kept occurring during military service in the past. After all, it was a place where hundreds of Awakeners were gathered.

To say that there were no mishaps would be a blatant lie.

‘It was especially so when I was attending.’

JaeHyun let out a small sigh as he recalled his past.

Back then, he had lived through all the trouble somehow, but would he be able to do the same this time?

JaeHyun looked at Kim YooJung’s face as she walked beside him for a moment before turning away.

They arrived at the station to take the portal instead of the train that had stopped running due to the monsters. A woman, seemingly an employee, asked them after a slight bow.

“Hello. Where do you plan to go?”

“Ah! We are planning to go to Daegu…”

“You must be raider-hopefuls, then? I understand. If you show me your student ID, you can use the portal without any other fees.”

Academy cadets and active raiders were important assets to the country. As a result, they received a lot of different benefits, and using the portals for free was one of them.

Additionally, there were several other benefits, like getting an 80% discount on hospital fees and the extreme reduction in any costs related to government institutions and their facilities.

“Here!”

Kim YooJung showed the employee her student ID first. When JaeHyun also showed his student ID, she smiled brightly and bowed her head.

“Thank you for your continuous effort. Now, please come this way.”

The greeting at the beginning was a kind of custom. A greeting of thanks to the raiders who fought on the frontlines and kept civilians safe.

An event started by a celebrity on TV through SNS became a part of reality in that manner.

Vrrrrr…

“It’s in here.”

The employee pointed to the blue crystal as she spoke.

This crystal was a portal stone with coordinates recorded to it. It could be considered an experimental product of an attempt at inventing the warp stone that Park SungJae had given him before.

Its price could thus easily go over several tens of billions.

Fzzzzt! 

When he placed his hand on the Portal Stone, a strange sensation that was both hot and cold wrapped around his body.

A Warp Stone forcefully sucked a body through a part of the mana field and instantly transported it to the recorded coordinates. It made one extremely dizzy, so most didn’t really like using it.

As a result, YooJung was stuck behind JaeHyun because she didn’t want to take it first.

After watching JaeHyun use the portal and thinking for a moment, Kim YooJung closed her eyes tightly and pushed her own body through the portal.

***

<A moment later>

After the slight motion-sickness that accompanied the use of the portal disappeared, the two saw that they had arrived at the destroyed city of Daegu.

Collapsed buildings were seen on the streets, and the weed growing in the gaps was different from what they were used to. One could say that it was like a city destroyed and abandoned after a nuclear war in a science-fiction movie.

Looking around, there were already several people gathered in the ravaged city. There were also some familiar faces among them.

One such example was the muscular man in front who was directing the students.

‘Instructor Kim Seok-Gi. It’s really been a long time.’

Although it was a familiar face, JaeHyun was not at all happy to see him.

Back when he was attending Millaes Academy before returning to the past, the one who taught the beginner endurance class was Instructor Kim Seok-Gi.

He was someone who gave severe criticism while using hardcore training methods like making you run around the whole field until you felt like you were dying or making you hang from a cliff for up to an hour.

Kim Seok-Gi looked back and forth between Kim YooJung and JaeHyun and asked. 

“Are you freshmen at Millaes Academy?”

“Yes.”

“Please get on the bus over here. We will leave at the scheduled time.”

It was a brusque instruction.

The two got on the bus with their heads bowed low and scanned the interior. JaeHyun saw many familiar faces of people who’d made a name for themselves before he regressed. But even amongst them, there was one who especially caught his eye.

It was Seo Ina.

A genius born with a Magic aptitude of 92 and someone who became an S-rank raider representing the country.

Such a person was currently sitting by a window nervously, playing with her phone.

‘It seems she’s not the type to talk a lot. She’s exactly like she was on TV.’

Feeling a gaze on her, Seo Ina met JaeHyun’s eye for a moment. Her face turned red in an instant, and she looked away abruptly, fixing her eyes back on her phone.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going in?”

Kim YooJung, who followed after him, asked as he stood still.

“Oh. Yeah.”

After answering her, he continued to walk toward the back of the bus. Seo Ina felt someone stealing a glance at her.

The two sat in their seats and waited. They each read the Millaes Academy guidebook and observed the faces of all the students who had followed them onto the bus.

And when the clock finally struck nine, Instructor Kim Seok-Gi got on the bus himself.

“Fortunately, everyone got here just fine. We will get going now. As we make our way to the academy, read the guidebook one more time and ask if you are curious about anything.”

Freezing at the instructor’s stiff tone, the atmosphere in the bus became colder. YooJung poked JaeHyun in the side and asked with a worried expression.

“By the way, what should we do about that?”

“What do you mean by ‘that’?”

When JaeHyun replied drily, YooJung glared at him with dull eyes.

“What do you mean, what? Of course…”

JaeHyun already knew what she wanted to say even without hearing the words from her. It was about that event, which was one of the largest ones hosted by Millaes Academy and watched by numerous guilds.

‘I’ve already finished all preparations.’

JaeHyun stared out the window, lightly propping his chin up. But his eyes were filled with determination.

He had to come first in that event no matter what. 

***

***

The cadets who got off the bus arrived at the school gate and headed for the auditorium. They were waiting for the chairman, Gu Ja-In’s, speech there.

There was still 10 minutes before the expected time of 10 o’clock for the speech. The Magician cadets including Kim YooJung and JaeHyun were standing in rows to the right, while Warrior cadets like Ahn HoYeon were to the left.

The instructors standing among the nervous cadets were observing everything with wide eyes. It was to prepare for any unexpected outbreaks.

As they were waiting, the mumbling voices of the cadets started to get louder.

“Hey, is that him? That genius Warrior?”

“Ahn HoYeon? Ah Shiva. He’s totally a different species than us. Does an aptitude of 92 even make sense?”

“True. He’s really good-looking, though.”

The topic of the conversation was the face that appeared on TV, Ahn HoYeon.

He was already a genius with a Combat aptitude of 92, but he was handsome on top of that. Such interest was expected.

And as they talked about Ahn HoYeon and deified him, it wasn’t such a bad thing for JaeHyun.

‘Right now, I’m Ahn HoYeon’s savior. If I make good use of this, that guy will be a great card for me at Millaes Academy.’

Previously, when he had encountered HoYeon in the alley, JaeHyun had saved his life.

Unable to move in the face of the goblin’s attack, he gave HoYeon courage and fought alongside him. Although no one said it, Ahn HoYeon probably had deep trust in him as a result.

‘Of course, even if I didn’t save him, he wouldn’t have died.’

JaeHyun smiled slightly.

Originally, although An HoYeon would be covered in blood, he would have survived. The reason JaeHyun approached him was only to increase his personal connections.

‘There’s still at least 5 years before the downfall of Warriors. Until then, if I bring Ahn HoYeon along well, I won’t be treated coldly even as a Magician.’

JaeHyun proceeded to move his gaze—

to the woman standing in front of him with black hair and a mysterious aura. Seo Ina, seeming introverted, looked around with her arms crossed.

‘Seo Ina’s really pretty though, huh.’

With a special aura that flowed out of her deep black hair and hazel eyes, she was someone whose name was always on the list of Most Popular Raiders continuously from 2024.

But Kim YooJung had an attractive face too. With a pale complexion, round face, and a thin and healthy body, she had been quite popular even back at school.

Well, it wasn’t something JaeHyun had to be caring about now, though.

After shaking his head, JaeHyun recalled the information he had about Seo Ina and fell into deep contemplation.

‘If I can bring Seo Ina over to my side as well, the cards I can use would increase… but with that kind of personality, approaching her would be difficult.’

Although he was a little regretful, there was nothing he could do.

With her personality, she would only get suspicious of him if he approached her too much. For now, it was best to just gather information about her from afar.

Plus, JaeHyun currently had cards like Yoo Sung-Eun, Ahn HoYeon, and Lee JaeSang in his hands. There was no reason for him to force things.

Looking at JaeHyun staring a hole into Seo Ina, YooJung spoke to him in a fed-up tone.

“Hey. No matter how pretty she is, it’s a bit disgusting if you keep looking at her like that.”

“Huh? What are you saying? It’s not like that, it’s just…”

As Jaehyun was about to rebut her words, the podium lit up and a familiar voice started to ring out.

“Good morning, new cadets of Millaes Academy. I am Gu Ja-In.”

JaeHyun suddenly frowned fiercely.

The chairman had appeared.

‘That’s right… That’s what this bastard’s face looked like. Now I remember.’

JaeHyun gritted his teeth as he glared at the chairman. He was hiding by being declared missing in the future, but that man who was looking all virtuous now was the piece of shit that dragged several cadets into hell.

He probably wasn’t dead even when JaeHyun returned to the past, likely conspiring with others and keeping up his villainous deeds.

Why did JaeHyun have to overcome so many things back when he first attended Millaes Academy? The reason was standing in front of him.

Gu Ja-In. 

The chairman of Millaes Academy, one of the sources of all that evil.

From now on, JaeHyun had to go against him.

____