Chapter 24. Just Now, Only Han Chunsung Didn’t Smile

***

“Is that person our class instructor?”

“She’s really beautiful.”

“I know that instructor. Kali Ishtar. I’m pretty sure that’s her name.”

“Could it be the Blood Dawn? Is it really that person? I heard she did great things on the eastern front.”

As Kali took her place at the podium, the classroom became quite noisy. Despite being C-class, some students seemed to recognize Kali and were discussing her.

Listening to their words, I was also simply amazed.

“Han Chunsung. Do you know the instructor? Why do you look so surprised?”

When David asked curiously, I briefly opened my mouth.

“We’re not really acquainted. She was just my examiner for the entrance exam.”

“Your examiner? Wait. Aren’t examiners usually A to B-class instructors?”

“…Yeah. Usually, that’s the case.”

While thinking that David was quite perceptive about strange things, I felt dazed too.

Despite our reactions and other students chattering, Kali remained silent after her first words, just observing.

As if scanning, she looked at the students’ faces from left to right, seemingly memorizing them one by one. Even watching this, it didn’t feel real.

‘To think that Kali would be a C-class instructor.’

It was truly unbelievable.

She was an instructor dedicated to A-class, let alone B-class.

But I couldn’t disbelieve it as it was happening in reality. Otherwise, Kali wouldn’t be standing at that podium.

ㅡ!

Suddenly, Kali’s gaze stopped on me, and as our eyes met, I felt my body stiffen for a moment.

Her red eyes were clearly looking at me with welcome and a strange emotion.

It was mostly a positive gaze.

My body froze for a moment.

Just by making eye contact, something indescribable seemed to bind my body.

It felt like it was pressing down on me, and I also had a strange sensation as if my hands and legs were being strongly gripped.

A feeling of pressure as if my entire body was protesting.

And when it all came together, I felt like my whole body was shrinking.

Rustle.

I clenched my hand tightly under the table, resisting the urge to shrink. I didn’t know what it was suddenly. But I knew Kali was the cause.

And there was no reason for her to have hostility towards me.

‘Don’t be flustered… Let’s take it calmly.’

I had to appear calm and composed.

Then, I soon realized what this feeling was.

It was like the instinctive fear a prey feels when facing a predator that’s like its natural enemy.

“Hmm.”

When Kali suddenly smiled, I felt the strange energy constricting me disappear in an instant.

“What’s that? Han Chunsung. Why did she just smile at you like that?”

“…I don’t know either.”

It really felt like I had been hit for no reason.

A strange feeling, as if I had been hit secretly.

During the entrance exam, I surely left a good impression, and if, as David said, the instructors were interested in me because of yesterday’s duel, Kali would have been interested in me too.

In a positive direction.

But directly meeting her gaze was too strange. Honestly, it was even bewildering.

Because things that didn’t happen in the original work kept happening.

“Alrightㅡ students, quiet. The chatter ends here.”

At the same time, as her cold voice rang out, the classroom was instantly enveloped in silence.

“It’s nice to see everyone excited and burning with determination on the first day. I tend to like such passionate attitudes. It seems some students recognize me, so let me introduce myself first. I’m Kali, Kali Ishtar, the instructor who will be in charge of you for the next half year. I was on the eastern battlefield and now I’m temporarily taking on the role of an academy instructor as a sort of break.”

Her introduction was calm and composed.

As if her first playful words were a lie, Kali now had a dispassionate expression.

While everyone was silent like mice due to her suddenly changed atmosphere.

I had to blankly wonder.

‘Wait, half a year…?’

Usually, one would say they’re in charge for a year, but Kali naturally said half a year. As if it was a set period.

“And I don’t usually come down to C-class. The students I was supposed to teach were originally assigned to A3 class. You can probably guess what this means, right?”

Without giving time to wonder, Kali continued speaking.

At this, I could feel some students’ eyes light up.

ㅡExceptional students are matched with exceptional instructors.

It’s an obvious statement, but it felt even more significant in this academy. As the level of students changes, so does the level of instructors teaching them. This meant that what could be learned was also surprisingly different.

And now all the students in this classroom understood.

That such an exceptional instructor had come down to this C1 class.

“This is usually impossible. And it’s as much of a lucky break for you as it is a small gamble for me. I’ll be watching your growth over the next half year and seeing how much I can lead you. I’m curious about how this year’s sprouts will turn out.”

As Kali spoke with a faint smile, the atmosphere in the classroom lightened a bit.

“So, does anyone have questions about what’s to come? Today, being right after the entrance ceremony, there’s no set schedule except for morning lectures. If you have simple questions, I’ll answer them properly before we start the lecture.”

As Kali looked around at the students with a refreshing tone, I found myself staring blankly without realizing it.

‘It’s really true.’

That Kali had really become the instructor in charge of C1 class.

“Instructor! I have a question.”

“Go ahead and ask.”

As soon as a student raised his hand, everyone’s attention focused on him.

He was a male student with light blonde hair and a confident expression, but my first impression was that he seemed really unpleasant. He had the impression of a delinquent, as if Leonhardt had been twisted to the extreme.

“Instructor! Do you have a boyfriend?”

And the moment the student’s question rang out… I closed my mouth.

‘…He’s crazy.’

But contrary to my thoughts, the surrounding students also expressed admiration and turned their attention to Kali.

-Ooooh!

-I’m curious too!

-You’re really so beautiful!

Not just the male students, but even the female students were all in an excited mood, agreeing with the question. I hurriedly looked at David and said,

“David, don’t laugh.”

“Huh?”

“Anyway, when I say don’t laugh, don’t laugh.”

There was no time to explain why.

If you laugh or agree here now, you’ll be marked by Kali right away.

So, forcing myself to keep my lips closed, I managed my expression and looked at Kali.

And sure enough.

Kali was looking at the student who asked the question, slightly curling up the corners of her mouth.

It looked like she was smiling. But her eyes weren’t smiling at all.

So I could predict everything she was about to say.

Student. Name?

“The student who just asked. Your name?”

As Kali opened her mouth exactly as I thought, the student who asked the question happily opened his mouth wide.

“My name is Gerard Leadre! My Talent grade is Rare, and I received the Talent called Zephyr’s Grace! Instructor! You’re really so beautiful!”

Whether he had completely lost his sense of the situation, he shouted so loudly the classroom could have flown away. Watching this, I was dumbfounded.

“Is that so?”

At this, Kali simply uttered a word and raised her right hand.

Gulp.

I swallowed unconsciously.

I felt anticipation at seeing ‘that’ in real life, which I had only seen in novels before.

Soon, her hand was beautifully positioned.

Snap!

Along with the clear ringing sound.

Bang!

In an instant, a huge boom shook the inside of the classroom as if a drum had burst.

“…!”

Most students didn’t understand at that moment. Why such a thunderous sound suddenly rang out, or what Kali had done.

Only I could see clearly.

The sight of the student who asked the question falling and rolling violently, his face almost crushed by the impact.

“Kyaaaa!”

“W-What’s going on?”

Around the student who had fallen to the ground without even groaning, several other students belatedly reacted with surprise.

“Quiet.”

And then Kali’s voice rang out again.

It was an extremely cold voice that hadn’t been there before.

At this, the female student’s scream stopped as if it were a lie, and even the students who were expressing shock closed their mouths.

“It’s good for students to laugh and chat in this academy. That’s much better than a bleak and static atmosphere. And I know to some extent how much talent you all possess to have entered this academy. You all would have proven yourselves through the entrance exam. But.”

The cold words that had been continuing were suddenly cut off.

And Kali gave a sweeping glance to the audience.

Any student who momentarily made eye contact with Kali was no exception.

As if under a petrification curse, everyone’s bodies stiffened unnaturally, and they even struggled to breathe.

And when her gaze reached me and David.

“…!”

Goosebumps rose all over my body, but I managed to endure somehow. I was able to avoid showing an unsightly appearance like the other students, and the same was true for David who had listened to my words.

After slowly turning her gaze away from us, Kali opened her mouth again.

“I can’t understand a rotten mindset. To dare to ask such a question to an academy instructor, you must have a thoroughly rotten mental state to be able to ask such a question. I only view students’ excitement positively when it’s about their own Talents and abilities. And about moving forward. Some might think my treatment is excessive now. Wondering what Gerard, who lost consciousness as if buried in the classroom floor, did so wrong.”

Kali paused again in the middle and slowly curled up the corners of her mouth.

It was truly a beautiful smile.

Not like the strange smile from before where her eyes weren’t smiling, but an extremely natural smile. Yet it was a smile that was cold to the extreme.

“None of those currently serving as instructors at this academy have never stood on a battlefield. Without exception, every single one has experienced battlefields in various regions and crossed between life and death. It means they’ve dedicated their bodies to protect this empire and have been devoted. But to receive such questions from students like you who have just received your abilities, my personality might not be… suitable for getting along. To not even maintain basic courtesy towards an instructor. I especially despise disrespectful students.”

The voice that followed was not just cold, but chilling.

As if the very mindset of casually questioning her was displeasing, Kali was now coldly expressing her anger.

“…….”

“….”

Inside the classroom where silence fell as if suffocating.

Kali exhaled softly and slowly shook her head.

“The student to Gerard’s right. Take Gerard to the infirmary.”

“Y-Yes! Understood!”

Even as the startled student carried the fallen Gerard out of the classroom, not a single person opened their mouth.

And I was equally surprised by the atmosphere.

‘It’s more brutal than I thought.’

It was the same scene I had seen in the novel, but experiencing it in reality was on a completely different level.

And at the same time, I came to realize.

‘So this is Talent level 9.’

With just a few words and a truly minuscule display of power, every student in this place froze.

Kali hadn’t laid a hand on anyone except the student named Gerard.

The power to subdue everyone just by making eye contact.

The pressure I couldn’t feel at all at Talent level 3, and which I could only vaguely sense now at level 4, was terribly heavy.

She was already like the predator of this space.

“In that sense, student Han Chunsung?”

When my name was suddenly called, I was greatly surprised but calmly opened my mouth.

“Yes, Instructor Kali.”

“Just now, only Han Chunsung didn’t smile. It seems all the other students were swept up in the atmosphere, either laughing or being moved.”

As she pointed me out specifically, I just smiled awkwardly.

In that moment, I saw David averting his gaze from me.

‘No, he didn’t laugh either.’

Why me?

“In that sense, I’d like to ask Han Chunsung one thing. Is that okay?”

“…Yes. Please go ahead, Instructor.”

Even as I answered, a small fear arose.

…The question I was about to hear didn’t seem like it would be easy.