Visitors

After returning from the Tiger Clan’s territory, Ro-un sorted through the new facts he had learned and the items he had received from the tigers.

“But will there ever be a day when I actually use this trap?”

Should I just use it on some bastard I don’t like?
Having shoved the trap into his inventory without deciding what to use it for, Ro-un stood in front of the mirror.
Before leaving the room, Ro-un straightened his clothes in front of the mirror and adjusted the collar of his black shirt, lingering in the moment.

“Today’s the last day for this damn uniform too.”

When he had first received the academy uniform, he had vowed to become someone worthy of wearing it.
Let’s become an Awakener who protects the people, the nation, and the world!
That vow had been shattered to pieces by the way those in power acted in the face of calamity.
Now, Ro-un was no longer moved by their hollow words.

“Once I drop out and stop the Calamities and all that, I should make some money and live an easy life like the other famous Awakeners.”

The major incidents, no. Once I stop the ‘Calamities,’ I should go relax somewhere with good water and a nice view too.
Dreaming of a happy future, Ro-un left the dormitory.
If someone saw Ro-un wearing that angelic face and gentle smile again like before the regression, they might sigh in relief and think the Lee Ro-un they knew had returned.
Coming outside for the first time in a while, he could hear the excited voices of students stirred up by spring.

“#^!&&”
“(^@@#@“
“!!!?@$>!<”

Hm. Roaming around outside during class hours. As expected of students from our academy.
The corners of his mouth, raised in a good mood just moments before, dropped at once.
‘Who can stop idiots from ruining their own lives.’

He had given enough pointless lectures about how a student’s duty was to study before the regression.
Ignoring the wandering students and striding off to catch the chairman, Ro-un stopped when the conversation growing clearer as he approached reached his ears.

“Hey. Did you see that?”
“What you saw was real?”
“Why would someone who’s supposed to be on Mount Baekdu come here?”
“Exactly. Why would someone who belongs there be here?”
“I’m telling you, I saw it clearly with my own eyes.”
“If that person came in person, is it because of some exchange event? Was there any academy that wanted to do an exchange with us?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, the important thing is that Baekdu Academy’s chairman came to our academy!”

Freeze!

Ro-un, on his way to catch the chairman, came to an abrupt stop.

‘Who came where?’

Everyone acted like they were politely avoiding the subject, but Baekdu Academy’s chairman was no ordinary being.
They simply avoided saying it outright because they were watching their tongues around him, but everyone knew what Baekdu Academy’s chairman really was.

‘Baekdu’s chairman came here?’

A certain video, one that had practically revealed Baekdu Academy’s chairman’s true identity, rose automatically in his mind.

[Breaking news! An S-rank passage has appeared on Mount Baekdu. Residents near the passage are advised to evacuate immediately.]
[Experts state that the erosion level of the passage began rising rapidly the moment it was discovered, and that fewer than ten minutes remain until the passage collapses.]
[The Awakener Association has announced that it will summon the guild leader responsible for the area and hold them accountable.]
[This is reporter Kim Dae-gi on site. The passage is currently, uh, uh—! The passage is collapsing!]

More than ten years ago, an S-rank passage opened near Mount Baekdu.
The passage’s erosion shot up the moment it was discovered, and it collapsed before there was even time to mount a raid.
Then a man appeared.
As the station’s drones, the reporters, journalists, and police all fell back, the man appeared, stepped over the barricade meant to stop the residents of the otherworld that would soon pour out, and walked toward the passage that looked ready to collapse at any second.

“That man is?”
“I know him! He’s Baekdu Academy’s chairman!”
“It’s dangerous! Get out of there right now!”

Before the anti-otherworld unit soldiers manning the cordon could stop him, the passage, already at its limit, collapsed.

Crackkkkk!

The fractured space shattered like an explosion, and grotesque residents of the otherworld burst from the collapsed passage like water erupting from a burst pipe.
It was like a flood breaking through a dam.

“Run!”
“Damn it! It’s already too late. Forget that man and get ready to fire!”
“Prepare to fire!”
“Fi—!”

Just as the soldiers armed with anti-otherworld weapons were about to open fire on the creatures pouring from the passage, the man casually waved a hand first.

“Disappear.”

Kwarururururung!

The moment the man finished speaking, light exploded with a sound like the sky itself collapsing.
As everyone shut their eyes against the blinding brilliance, only the station’s drone captured what happened.
The drone clearly recorded the sky splitting apart and lightning striking down.

Kwarururung, Kwagang, Kwaaaang!

“……!”
“……! ……”
“……”

The residents of the otherworld couldn’t move in the face of divine wrath.
The wolf-like residents of the otherworld rushing in like a flood were struck by lightning and vanished without leaving even ash behind.
At the sight, as though an enraged god were dealing out heavenly punishment, the soldiers who had belatedly come to their senses, the viewers witnessing the disaster, and even the news anchor reporting it all stood with their mouths open.
Just as every last resident had vanished without leaving behind even a handful of ash, the passage boss that emerged at the very end suddenly appeared in front of the man.

“Krrrkyaaak!”
“Eek!”
“Watch out!”
“Damn it! It’s a boss with a stealth trait!”

The soldiers gripped their guns at the late discovery of the passage boss, but just as everyone realized they were too late, the man’s arm moved.

Slash!

A sharp cutting sound rang out, and in the moment it felt as if time itself had stopped, the boss’s neck slid crookedly off its body.

Thud.

The boss’s head fell, and while everyone stood stunned at the sudden turn of events, the station’s drone captured the man’s arm.
The man’s arm slowly changed back into a human arm from a form bearing sharp talons like a bird of prey hunting its target.
At that sight, everyone realized what the man was.

‘That man isn’t human!’

Coming to his senses a beat late, the reporter relayed the scene.

[He, he stopped the collapse. Baekdu Academy’s chairman has stopped the S-rank otherworld passage all by himself!]

At the reporter’s broadcast, cheers erupted from the people watching the news.
As people rejoiced that an S-rank passage collapse had been stopped without any damage, the reporter, armed with fearless journalistic spirit, ran toward Baekdu’s chairman.

“Hello. This is Kim Dae-gi of KTV First. Thank you for stopping the collapse of the S-rank passage.”
“It was nothing.”
“It couldn’t have been easy to come here alone to stop an S-rank passage collapse. What brought you to this place?”
“I merely came out because the academy’s front yard, where the students ought to be able to remain in safety, had become noisy.”
“Ah, because it was noisy. Hahaha.”

At Baekdu’s chairman’s calm answer, the reporter laughed awkwardly.
That single sentence was enough to make it clear that the man was not human.

“Thank you once again for stepping in during this emergency.”
“When the front yard becomes disorderly, the master should step out and put it in order. It’s only natural.”
“Pardon? That wasn’t a disturbance. It was an emergency caused by a collapsing passage.”
“Is that not also a disturbance?”

What kind of master personally deals with a passage collapse in his own front yard!
And without even pretending to hide what he is!
Unaware of the way the atmosphere around him had turned strange, Baekdu’s chairman asked back without so much as changing expression.

“Yes. I said I stepped in as just an ordinary person living his life. What exactly is the problem with that?”

When the man’s indifferent face turned toward the reporter, the journalist, meeting those cold eyes, shuddered as if doused in icy water and nodded.

“No! As a person, no one could simply ignore a crisis like that. Of course. Any ordinary human would’ve stepped in.”
“Yes. Exactly. Then I’ll be off. I still have things to do today.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you for the interview.”

The man walked away with light steps, as if out for a stroll, over the ground wrecked by the shockwave from the collapsing passage.
As he walked unconcernedly through the screaming crowd and the people racing about for disaster recovery in the wake of the S-rank passage collapse, he seemed like someone entirely detached from this world.

The fact that Baekdu’s chairman was not human.
In truth, Baekdu’s chairman was…

‘A dragon settled on Mount Baekdu.’

At the news that another one of the top species rooted on the Korean Peninsula, a dragon, had come, Ro-un frowned.
That made it worse, because he could not even begin to guess why the man had come here.
In the end, Ro-un moved to look for clues in order to find the reason.
Ro-un placed a hand on the shoulder of one of the students who had been chattering away.

Grab!

“Hiiiiiiik!”
“P-P-P-P-President?”
“We weren’t smoking!”

Whether the guilty students threw up both hands or not, Ro-un stayed focused only on the clue.

“I don’t care whether your lungs rot out from smoking or not. Say what you were just talking about again.”
“What we were just saying?”
“Uh, um. What exactly were we saying again?”

Ro-un frowned as he listened to the future lung-cancer candidates.
At the fierce look on Ro-un’s face, the students shrank into their shoulders.

‘I never thought the president looked scary before, but now that I’m seeing it, he looks terrifying.’
‘He was scary even when he beat people with a smile. He’s even scarier expressionless.’

The thoroughly frightened students rolled their eyes around and awkwardly reenacted the conversation they had just been having.

“H-Hey. Did, did you hear that?”
“I-Is it true?”

The reenactment was worse than a terrible textbook reading, and the students shuddered, desperate to get away, but Ro-un tightened the hand on the student’s shoulder as if telling them to keep going to the end.

‘Aaaah!’
‘Isn’t the president supposed to be a healer!’
‘What part of this looks like a healer!’

At Ro-un’s manner, which made it seem like he might start pummeling them with his fists at any moment, the class-skipping students trembled.

Thanks to brats like you never listening, my Strength stat went from D+ to B.

‘Thaaanks.’

Crack!

“Ack! Aaaack! Next! Hurry up and say the next line!”

Seeing their friend sacrificed to Ro-un’s grip, the students hurriedly continued the reenactment.

“Wh-Why is someone who should be on Mount Baekdu here?”
“Why is someone who sh-should be there here, why’d he co-come?”
“Is it an exchaaange event?”
“Was there any sch-school that wanted to do an exchange with us?”

At that part, the students unconsciously started gauging Ro-un’s expression.
While Lee Ro-un had run himself ragged for the sake of the academy, the other students had repeatedly caused trouble and kicked away every opportunity he brought back.
Without knowing what the guilty students were thinking as they nervously watched him, Ro-un flicked an eyebrow as if telling them to hurry up and continue.
At that reaction, the student whose shoulder Ro-un was gripping blurted out the final line.

“I don’t know, but the important thing is that Baekdu Academy’s chairman is coming to our academy!”
“C-Can we go now?”
“Can we go, President?”
“Please let us go.”

At their plea to be released now that they had done what he wanted, Ro-un jerked his chin.

“Go.”
“O-Okay.”
“We’re going!”
“We’re going straight to class and nowhere else.”

The students dashed into the classroom.
Having unintentionally sent the class-skipping students back to class just like before the regression, Ro-un sorted through the information he had just heard.

“So Baekdu’s chairman is at our academy.”

That makes no sense.
Baekdu’s chairman never once came to our academy.

‘The future I know has changed…?’

It had not even been a month since the regression, and already a variable he had not touched had appeared.
Just as Ro-un’s thoughts grew tangled, someone came looking for him.
At the sight of the person who had shown up on their own, Ro-un’s gaze sharpened.

“You are?”

Click, click.

Ro-un followed behind the chairman’s secretary.
The person who had just come looking for Lee Ro-un was the chairman’s secretary.

‘So here you were. The chairman is looking for you.’

Perhaps because she had been searching for him, the secretary looked a little short of breath.
After running away to avoid me, now he sends someone right to my face?
Is he expecting me to deal with Baekdu’s chairman for him?

‘Sounds exactly like something that chairman would do.’

Thinking of the chairman’s boundless cowardice, Ro-un twisted his lips.
The secretary, arriving at the chairman’s office with a more hurried pace than usual, stopped at the door and announced,

“Student Lee Ro-un has arrived.”

Slide.

The chairman’s office door opened on its own.

“Please go in.”

Relief flashed across the secretary’s face, her hair stuck to her face with sweat.
Ro-un found the secretary’s strange look odd, since she normally just repeated the same lines with an annoyed expression, but catching the chairman was more important, so he put the thought aside.

Slide, thud.

The moment Ro-un stepped inside, the door shut on its own.
The chairman’s office, as broad as his vanity, had once been filled with lavish decorations to match that vanity, but now it looked oddly empty, as if he had gone bankrupt and stripped the place bare.

‘What’s this? Did he liquidate his assets in the meantime?’

I haven’t even done anything yet.
Tilting his head in puzzlement, Ro-un looked slightly to the right and saw the uselessly long oversized sofa and elegant table the chairman kept for receiving guests.
A guest was already seated on the sofa.
It was not the chairman’s silhouette he knew.

‘Who is that?’

A straight, broad back. Neatly cut hair. A long neck.
The unfamiliar man turned to look at Ro-un, and the moment Ro-un saw his face, his eyes widened.

“So you’re Lee Ro-un.”
“Chairman of Baekdu?”
“This is the first time we’ve met in person, I suppose. A pleasure. I’m Yong Chang-jin, chairman of Baekdu Academy.”

Baekdu Academy’s chairman rose from his seat to greet Ro-un.
His pupils, sharper than anyone else’s, stared at Lee Ro-un as if binding him in place.