“The matter of facility operation management will be concluded here, and we will move on to the next item.”
Han-yul Military Academy’s conference room. This was the first professor’s meeting held after the first-half education and training.
All attendees were full-time faculty members, and among them, only full professors and full-time instructors were present.
Han Se-young, the administrative division professor responsible for leading the meeting, continued to speak.
“The current agenda… concerns the reevaluation request for the indefinite suspension punishment of Cadet Kang Tae-hoon from the Combat Division.”
The moment the name “Kang Tae-hoon” echoed, the conference room’s atmosphere instantly froze.
Professors revealed discomfort in various ways—some cleared their throats uneasily, while others wiped cold sweat.
In this situation of restraint, the one who spoke up was Kim Dong-hak, the longest-serving trainer at the academy.
“Isn’t Cadet Kang Tae-hoon currently under an indefinite suspension? Why a reevaluation now? Whose request is this?”
The professors and trainers shook their heads, indicating it wasn’t them.
“Just this.”
But there was an exception. A man raised his hand—it was Principal Lee Min-ho, seated at the uppermost position of the conference room.
“So that’s why you’re here. I wondered why you would suddenly attend a meeting you rarely come to. There’s a good reason, I see.”
Kim Dong-hak furrowed his brows.
“May I ask the reason?”
“Wasn’t it around this time last year that Kang Tae-hoon received his punishment?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Due to excessive violence against fellow students and professors, he was given an indefinite suspension.”
Gulp. Did the unpleasant memory just surface? A professor from the administrative division, seated in the corner, shivered.
Kim Dong-hak continued his words.
“At that time, Assistant Professor Kim Ji-yu from the Administrative Division, who was a victim, is still in treatment. In such circumstances, readmitting Kang Tae-hoon is completely unreasonable.”
It was said that the victim continues to suffer from the ongoing treatment and hasn’t returned to work yet, let alone resume her normal daily life.
Meanwhile, the offender was seen walking around school as if nothing had happened, attending lectures.
The order doesn’t make sense.
Other faculty members nodded in agreement with Kim Dong-hak’s sentiments.
“To that, there’s nothing to worry about.”
However, as if expecting the backlash, Principal Lee Min-ho held up an envelope.
“That’s…”
“A petition. And not just any petition—it’s under Assistant Professor Kim Ji-yu’s name.”
“…!”
The conference room began to buzz.
Kim Dong-hak glanced at Administrative Division Professor Han Se-young as if asking if he had any prior knowledge.
Han Se-young quickly shook his head to indicate he hadn’t.
Clap clap—!
Lee Min-ho lightly clapped his hands to calm the restless conference room.
“What Assistant Professor Kim Ji-yu most wishes for is for Cadet Kang Tae-hoon to quickly return to our Han-yul Military Academy and fully realize his dreams.”
“Ye…?”
Is it true that Assistant Professor Kim Ji-yu said such words? Even after her ordeal?
Kim Dong-hak found it hard to believe and almost wished it was a script orchestrated by the principal.
“This magnanimity truly moved me. To think we have such a wonderful educator at Han-yul Military Academy!”
“….”
“How could I stay idle after hearing that? As the principal, I must act on anything that needs to be done.”
If it were all true, Lee Min-ho’s actions could be seen as justified since he was merely following the victim’s wishes.
“Isn’t it our job as educators to correct a mistake on the spot and guide the individual toward the right path, so they won’t repeat it?”
It sounds easy to say, but how many people in this school can actually control that troublemaker? Not even Kim Dong-hak, the battle-hardened veteran seated here, could do it easily.
Besides, it’s a Combat Division student we’re talking about—an Awakened individual. The weaker administrative or technical division staff might end up getting hurt.
Kang Tae-hoon was nothing short of a walking powder keg.
“On top of that, I believe everyone here is aware of Kang Tae-hoon’s talents. It would also be a problem to let them go to waste like this.”
That’s the issue. The real problem is Kang Tae-hoon’s power—and the reason why such a situation has arisen is that no one can withstand it.
After all, Kang Tae-hoon was the second-ranked student last year.
“What? You were also among the 30 survivors who used only a spoon?”
Training was over, and normal life resumed. I was chatting casually with Moon Shin-chung in the lecture hall as usual.
“There, only I was an C-Rank Awakened. What do you think? Do I look different now?”
“Nah, how many things could you possibly do with that spoon for five full days?”
“You’ve no idea.”
I took out the spoon I had tucked away inside my coat.
“This spoon alone disqualified someone from the survival training.”
“Don’t joke around. Who’d fall for a spoon? A baseball bat would be scarier.”
Bang—!
At that moment, one student’s body tensed—a distant student, Baek Joo-hee, who was doing nail art.
She had probably made a mistake with her brush as nail polish splattered all over the desk.
It seems she overheard our conversation.
“Uh… Is it true…?”
Moon Shin-chung smirked, seeing Baek Joo-hee’s reaction. It seems he’s finally starting to believe.
“It doesn’t end there. I even defeated an A-Rank monster, Bazakh, with this spoon.”
“What? That huge dinosaur-type monster…?”
“You’re jumping the gun. On the fourth day of training, I engaged in a bloodbath with Instructor Geum Gye-jun. You can probably guess the result without me saying it, considering how I’m here.”
Which naturally means my success implied my victory.
“Insane! You survived a fight with that guy? Is this spoon even the same one? Did Arna somehow merge with you or something?”
“Do you know where Arna was when I fought Instructor Geum Gye-jun? She was hiding behind me.”
“Stop exaggerating already…!”
Bang—!
That’s when Arna appeared, hitting me in the back with a book.
Tsk. She’s already here?
“You did absolutely nothing at the time! You were just hiding behind me and whimpering!”
“…”
“You didn’t even show your face when Bazakh appeared!”
After hearing Arna’s account, Moon Shin-chung frowned.
“See, that makes more sense. How could you possibly defeat Bazakh with just that spoon?”
“But, I did use it to eliminate Baek Joo-hee.”
“Oh, alright, alright.”
“But it’s true! I swear!”
Whiiir—…
At that moment, the lecture hall door opened. A girl with a short haircut and glowing prosthetic arms entered—Seo Dan-ah, the assistant of the combat department.
Not the regular instructor.
“Everyone, please take your seats.”
Following Seo Dan-ah’s words, the students stopped what they were doing and straightened their postures. Arna also returned to her seat.
As the lecture hall quietened down, Seo Dan-ah began to speak.
“At the moment, Professor Sim Jung-hyeon is attending the faculty meeting, so I will be taking over today’s lecture.”
While it’s common to delegate some responsibilities to an assistant, actually handing over the lecture is rare.
However, the fact that she was confidently standing at the podium likely attests to the trust placed in her.
Indeed, Seo Dan-ah is very strong—strong enough to make even the cocky Arna flinch, as we witnessed during the last training.
“Don’t worry too much. Today’s lecture will involve simple audio-visual material and some practice; that’s all.”
Seo Dan-ah maneuvered the beam projector with her prosthetic arm, dimming the lecture hall. A PowerPoint-style display appeared on the screen.
“The topic of today’s lecture is interpersonal combat training.”
Interpersonal combat.
Not human versus monster, but human versus human.
Though it’s important to train against monsters, training to fight humans cannot be neglected.
Not everyone is like that, but among Awakened individuals, there is occasionally an insane one. There might come a time when a situation calls for combat against such individuals.
That’s why Seo Dan-ah prepared this practice.
“The practical session won’t be difficult. We’ll divide into teams to conduct a simple situational drill.”
Click—…
Seo Dan-ah extended her palm toward the students. Exactly five fingers.
“The practice will be organized in groups of five. Two will play the role of assailants, two will act as officers neutralizing the assailants, and the final member will be a civilian. Let’s proceed this way.”
Ding—!
Then, Seo Dan-ah operated the remote control, transitioning to the next slide. On it, a lottery-style random selection machine appeared.
“Let’s now assign teams.”
Whirr—!
Inside the case, balls began to dance.
“Uh, why am I…?”
The lottery result: Arna Kristin Dotir was chosen as a civilian participant in this practice.
….
“Argh…! How did I end up in this team…!”
“Umm… I lack confidence in fighting….”
Next, as the officer roles, the C-Rank Awakened Baek Joo-hee was chosen.
Also chosen was the human flamethrower, D-Rank Awakened Prometheus.
These two would restrain the assailants.
And finally,
The most crucial roles, the assailants, were…
….
….
“Hey, are you ready, Moon Shin-chung?”
Smack. I licked the head of the spoon once with my tongue.
“Of course, Spoon.”
Likewise, Moon Shin-chung licked the edge of a box cutter as well.
Our postures were undeniably villainous.
We were practically real-life hooligans.
*
