“Haa.”
Sergeant Lee Jin-wook took a deep breath.
The target was the pink-haired female student.
Fortunately, no one was looking this way. Everyone’s attention was focused on the academy students arguing with the battalion commander.
Bang—
A gunshot rang out.
Simultaneously, I heightened my senses to the maximum, and the flow of time in the world seemed to slow down.
It was unimaginable. Really firing a bullet at a student— even the military regime hadn’t been that blatant.
Most likely, I thought they were aiming for our key figure, Teacher Song Si-yeol, or me. But that was a miscalculation.
When I tracked the bullet’s trajectory by shifting my eyes, I couldn’t help but feel shocked.
‘Were they really targeting Park Hayeon…?’
If this continues, Park Hayeon will be hit. Moreover, her head had been targeted precisely. Since Park Hayeon is only B-rank, her skin isn’t bulletproof. The bullet would likely pierce her skull and kill her.
“How insane…”
The thought that Park Hayeon might die right now dominated my mind. She wasn’t fighting some lackey of the Demon King—no, she might die in this absurd situation. I couldn’t allow that.
I activated every muscle in my body to its fullest potential.
“Overload.”
I activate my magic sigil. Mana surged chaotically within me.
There wasn’t even time to stretch out my hand. I simply used telekinesis with my thoughts to push Park Hayeon out of the way.
This won’t be enough. Even though I managed to push her aside, the bullet travels faster than the speed of sound, so it might still be too late.
I moved the hand holding my spear.
Even if I didn’t cut the bullet, I intended to deflect it.
I focused all my nerves on the incoming bullet. Even for someone as skilled as me, seeing a bullet is extremely difficult. I could only barely see it with its afterimage.
“Please, let me see it…!”
I had already taken the primary step of pushing Park Hayeon out of the way, but it might have been too late. Successfully deflecting the bullet here is the only way to guarantee her survival.
I put every ounce of my strength into this effort.
Tchk. Something in my mind felt like it snapped, and my senses suddenly became crystal clear.
“Transcendence.”
“Agility SS-rank has been unlocked.”
A translucent window appeared in front of me.
The typical human limit is S-rank. In theory, it unlocks when enlightenment is attained, but in-game, it happens by defeating an awakened one of the same rank. It seems my strong will to save Park Hayeon was considered enlightenment.
“Is this how it works?”
Even though my Agility stats hadn’t changed, I could strangely track the bullet with my eyes. I raised my spear and positioned it on the expected trajectory.
Time gradually returned to normal. My focus was waning. The speed at which I moved my spear and the speed of the incoming bullet both increased in sync.
Ting—
“Aaack!”
Park Hayeon was pushed far away, and the bullet was deflected by my spear.
*
Teacher Song Si-yeol picked up the bullet casing that had fallen to the ground. Having been a superhero for a long time and having participated in many joint operations with the military, he was quite knowledgeable about firearms.
“Real bullets?”
He was shocked they had come prepared with live ammunition instead of blanks. In reality, Sergeant Lee Jin-wook’s gun only had one bullet, but the academy side had no way of knowing that.
“They fired a bullet!”
“How insane!”
“Did Shinoda just deflect a bullet?”
“That’s impossible.”
To the students, it appeared Shinoda had stepped forward to protect them by stopping the bullet. They were deeply moved by Shinoda’s leadership.
“He truly doesn’t care about his own safety for us!”
Everyone prepared for combat. Though they were scared to face bullets, they felt they couldn’t sit idly while Shinoda went this far for them.
“What a bunch of garbage.”
On the other hand, Shinoda was irate that someone had fired at Park Hayeon. The usually unflappable man trembled with anger, cursing under his breath.
The disturbance in the academy had now reached a point where it couldn’t be taken lightly. The soldiers, seeing the red knight at the forefront deflect an unknown bullet, instinctively felt they were screwed.
“How dare you… aim at the protagonist! Filth like you even dared! If anything happens to Park Hayeon, this world will have no meaning!”
The red knight, who had deflected the bullet, emitted a strange aura as he vented his fury.
“Who, who shot it?”
“The bullet was deflected!”
“Isn’t he A-rank? We’re all dead!”
“How are we supposed to fight against that?”
The soldiers, both officers and enlisted men alike, were terrified and started to retreat. Regardless of everything, even the commanding officer didn’t have live ammunition in his magazine.
“Hey, you. It was definitely you, wasn’t it?”
One of the soldiers, Corporal Jang Min-woo, startled by the knight’s accusation, looked around nervously. However, upon seeing Sergeant Lee Jin-wook—more panicked than himself—he relaxed a bit.
“It wasn’t me. I thought I was being wrongly accused for a moment. Anyway, what kind of student is that?”
Corporal Jang Min-woo thought to himself. At first glance, it seemed like some kind of boss monster had emerged due to a gate collapse and come to Earth, and he appeared to be at least S-rank if he was considered a hero.
The red dragon knight stood alone, blocking an entire battalion. A red aura spread from his body, enveloping the surroundings.
“Huh?”
Corporal Jang Min-woo noticed something was odd. His body wouldn’t respond, and his rigid limbs began to tremble.
“I’m going to die.”
An overwhelming sense of dread. He was sure he was facing death, and he unknowingly dropped his gun. Looking around, he saw others had also let go of their weapons and were kneeling on the ground.
“What are you all doing! Don’t collapse like that!”
Reprimanding his comrades in his thoughts, Jang Min-woo suddenly realized his field of vision was closer to the ground. Having pressed one knee into the dirt himself, he was no different from his comrades.
“I’m no different too…”
The dragon’s inherent ability, “Dragon Fear,” had activated within a certain radius, causing all mortals to be overwhelmed by terror.
Shinoda’s soul, closer to a dragon than a human, had taken one step further toward the dragon side due to Park Hayeon’s crisis. The fact that his “treasure,” the protagonist of this world, had almost been injured had triggered the Red Dragon’s innate rage.
“Unbelievable.”
Meanwhile, Teacher Song Si-yeol clasped his trembling hand with the other. Although A-rank, he didn’t collapse like others but was still paralyzed.
“Is this… killing intent?”
The fear of death filled Song Si-yeol’s mind.
“To think this was B-rank. The classification must’ve been grossly misrepresented. At least strong A-rank, maybe even… S-rank. Defeating Zhang Yichen wasn’t just luck!”
He sensed a thick wave of anger in this killing intent. Shinoda was clearly furious.
“He seems serious, despite his composed nature. This anger isn’t something that can be easily calmed.”
Gradually adopting a spear-throwing stance, Shinoda intended to kill the person who shot Park Hayeon right here. Whether villain or not, it didn’t matter now. His burning anger had consumed his rationality.
“I’ll kill you.”
Shinoda’s quiet declaration made Sergeant Lee Jin-wook roll pitifully on the ground.
“Wait, it was a mistake! The trigger went off by itself. I wasn’t planning to shoot…!”
Begging for his life had zero effect, something Shinoda had heard hundreds of times while working as a “Dark Knight.”
“Stop!”
At that moment, Teacher Song Si-yeol intervened, grabbing Shinoda’s spear-wielding arm.
“Let go.”
Shinoda, disregarding all formalities for a teacher, growled menacingly.
“Your anger is justified. But doing it this way makes you no better than a villain. He will face legal judgment.”
“Shit.”
“You aspire to be a hero, and you attend the Hero Academy, correct? Think about what it means to act heroically!”
Song Si-yeol’s desperate pleading continued. He couldn’t bear to watch such a talented person ruin their career over such a ridiculous incident.
“Ha, what a funny story. A teacher behaving like this. Who do you think you are to lecture me?”
“Kuh…”
Song Si-yeol was rendered speechless by the sharp retort. It was undeniable that he had not taken his teaching duties seriously. Still, even he had his own backstory.
“That’s right. I’m a failure. My hero career was full of regret and I’ve never been able to overcome it; I’m trash. That’s why I know. If you cross the line here, you’ll surely regret it!”
“…”
In his hero days, he couldn’t tolerate a vicious villain’s actions and ended up killing him. Violating the principle of non-lethal force meant disqualification as a hero, so he was dismissed from the Hero Management Agency and harshly criticized by the public. Many jumped on the bandwagon and attacked people blindly based on media portrayals without any context.
“I can’t bear to see you become another failure. I’m humbling myself to ask you. Stop.”
Failure. That word resonated with Shinoda.
The future he had heard about from Hosokawa Hitomi. In a parallel world, his alternate self had chosen the worst options at every decision point, resulting in a catastrophic future. Clearly a failure, he had met a lonely death.
“…Understood. However, I won’t let this slide. I’ll mete out some punishment.”
Although Shinoda didn’t intend to kill the person who sniped at Park Hayeon, he still planned to make them regret ever being born.
