Guns were still excellent weapons in this world. But that was only for ordinary soldiers who couldn't wield mana.
Rather than traditional bullets, this world's guns used 'magic bullets', bullets containing compressed mana with the power to kill low-intermediate rank grade 8 monsters. In comparison, the training saber said to cost 5 million won could only kill low-rank monsters on average. So, the gun was a stronger weapon on its own.
But Heroes and mercenaries who could wield magic power didn't choose guns. That was because 'magic power' couldn't be applied to guns, so no matter how strong the user of a gun was, the weapon had a clear limit in potency.
In choosing a main weapon, the most important aspect was its origin. In short, a weapon's grade went up the grander its origin was.
For instance, guns were separated into three grades - mass-produced, custom-made, or masterpiece. Swords, on the other hand, had much more – artifact, armament, treasured, mythical, legendary, etc.
This was because myths and legends were manifested in this world.
The sword was a weapon of long and deep history. Naturally, many swords had descended from myths and legends.
Sword of Freyr, demon blade Muramasa, magic sword Tyrfing, holy sword Durendal, king's sword Excalibur, etc… In this world, many swords of legends remained undiscovered in 'Dungeons' or 'Towers'. Each of them was a priceless treasure. Of course, these treasures could only be used by those who were proficient with swords.
Consequently, Heroes chose more ancient weapons. Even if they reached a bottleneck in their growth, a high grade weapon could help them break through.
"… Kim Chundong."
"…"
"You are a gun user?"
Is the weapon in my hand not obvious enough?
"..yes sir."
"Well then, if that's what you said... Can you hold out a bit longer? After this, I'll assign your room then I can you to the medic room."
Huh?
"I can...? Please don't worry about me, sir."
"Well said, cadet."
What, that's all?
The reaction is more subdued than I expected.
Some cadets begin whispering about me, but they constitute only a small fraction of the group. I'd braced myself for something worse—suspicion, scorn, another wave of sharp stares—but the response is almost underwhelming.
Is this also because of the influence of that bastard co-author?
"You can easily change the main weapon you chose today. And regardless of what you chose, you will go through the same training and tests. That means the weaknesses of a weapon will be yours to handle," Kim Soohyuk announced while looking my way.
Or maybe not..?
"Now, we'll assign you your rooms and your personal belongings will be sent there. Afterward, you're free. Classes will start four days later, that's next Monday."
"Follow me, cadets."
The tall instructor finally look away before walking towards the door. The other cadets, including me, follow quietly.
Well, maybe not exactly 'quietly'.
Some cadets are whispering amongst themselves. Most of them talking about hot gossip or their weapon selection, a few of them talking about my weapon selection.
How rude.
I'd rather them talk to me directly rather than cursing me where I still could hear them.
"Hey, look at this gunner, are you for real?"
…never mind.
"I just don't understand. Are you just one of those attention seekers? This is the first time I've heard of someone choosing a gun at Cube."
Just when I talked about it, a group of guys struck up a conversation.
One of them even deliberately bumped into me.
What an annoying extras. In the real world, they're nothing but a bunch of background characters I don't even bother giving names. But now look at them talking down to their own creator.
These kinds of losers, it's better to just ignore them.
But they don't seem so keen to ignore back.
"Yo, are you mute or something? Right, the instructor said you're sick earlier too, right? Fuck man, what kind of cripple are they letting to Cube these days."
Maybe a cripple I'm gonna make you once I get out of this world.
Huu…
It seems that there's nothing I could do for now. After all, I was just an ordinary guy in a body that wasn't even mine. Meanwhile, these cadets were practically child soldiers, bred and trained to hunt monsters since before puberty. It's not that I'm running away, engaging with them would give me no benefit, that's all.
But then just as I was about to walk away two more guys blocked my way.
"C'mon guys, are you bullying that sick kid from earlier?"
Who're you calling 'sick kid'?
"Joseph? What're you doing?"
"Can't you see? What is this, a blind calling someone mute?"
"Pfft—"
I couldn't help myself. A laugh slipped out, and though the bully shot me a glare, it was totally worth it. His glare was like a chihuahua's compared to Shin Jonghak's anyway.
"Are you seriously defending that gunner?"
"Oh, so you're also cognitively impaired? Great, a double disability. What kind of losers is Cube accepting these days?"
Hey, this guy's good.
"You bastard-!"
"Oi, just left him alone. Let's just go," his companion intervened.
Looks like this little argument's drawn more attention than they're ready for.
"Che, don't get cocky just because you're a little bit good at bow. Just you wait, Joseph!"
Like a true extra, the bully stormed off with his clichéd 'You'll regret this!' threat. What a ridiculous guy. Even though my fictional world has somehow become reality, I guess some people are destined to remain goofy extras.
"Heh, what a perfect pair of background characters. Are you okay?"
Look at that, even this other character noticed it. Who's this guy again?
"I'm Kim H— Chundong. Kim Chundong. Thanks for earlier… Anyway, nice to meet you, what's your name?"
"I'm Joseph. Joseph Rheydt. Anyway, I'll be going now, take care of yourself, pal."
"Yeah. You too."
"Joseph, what are you doing? Why would you go that far to defend that guy?"
The cadet that's been standing next to Joseph began to whisper once they walked away.
The cadet's voice was low enough to be meant for Joseph's ears only, but unfortunately for him, Chundong's Gift is to hear and see from far distance.
"What, you want me to just watch another student get bullied?"
"It's not that I'm telling you to let someone get bullied, it's just, he's a cadet here too! He should be able to handle himself!"
No wonder he only watched from the sideline when Joseph was defending me against two people. Now I understand—he was actually against helping me from the start.
"Against two guys? That student's clearly unwell, didn't you hear?"
"I know! It's just- Ugh, don't you know who they are? They're Shin Jonghak's-"
I lost their voices once they were about 20 meters away.
Chundong's Gift was lackluster in crowded place like this.
So those guys were Shin Jonghak's lackeys.
I remember putting something about his lackey that would help him bully people and overall just a trash human being that whole purpose was to complicate Kim Suho's otherwise perfect life.
I never thought that it's going to haunt me back like this.
To think that someone defended me, a complete stranger, against someone who's part of Shin Jonghak's group of 'friends'. What a nice guy.
Joseph, huh?
That name sounds familiar.
I think I remember putting that name somewhere.
So he's at least one of the characters I made.
Although I don't recall writing a character like him. Someone genuinely altruistic and willing to help a stranger without a second thought. Other than Kim Suho, of course.
I never really bothered writing secondary characters to shine like this.
Well, this is a hero academy after all, so it shouldn't be surprising to find cadets with those kinds of… heroic personalities.
I guess it's my fault for giving too much focus to the main cast, leaving the background character almost non-existent.
Come to think of it, it does seem odd to cluster all the promising and talented students in one class. Is that why that bastard co-author changed them?
But that's still a moronic decision.
If they have different classes, how are they going to interact with each other?
The readers are not going to like sacrificing character interaction for logistics.
What an amateur.
"Hey there."
While I was busy in my head, someone approached me from behind.
Don't tell me it's another one of those guys…
"Uh- well, sorry.. that was kind of weird. Did I surprise you?"
The cadet with short hair said while nervously scratching his head.
I guess it's not one of those guys from earlier. Doesn't seem to be the same type of trash either.
"Well, uh.. What's your name again?"
"..Kim Chundong."
"Ah, right, Kim Chundong. Nice to meet you, I'm Oh Jiyun. Sorry if I surprise you earlier. I want to check if you're okay."
Is this guy's concern about me? Is it about that spectacle from before?
If it's about those bullies why come to me now?
"Well, uh- sorry I didn't help you. I'm new here, in military school, you know? I entered through an external admission program, from a regular public school. I hesitate when they approach you since my English is not that good."
I could see that. And also an external admission program? Yet another new thing…
"It's nevermind."
"Well, uh, you sure?"
"Yes, it's better for you not to help anyway."
Since they're Shin Jonghak's lackeys, who knows what kind of hardship will a guy like him endure if he butt in recklessly.
"Huh?"
However this guy doesn't even understand the situation he almost got himself into. Well I guess someone coming from a public school wouldn't have a clue about Shin Jonghak's influence in the military school. In fact I bet 100.000 won that he doesn't even know about Kim Suho.
Let's try and see.
"Those two guys were Shin Jonghak's underlings. He's the second most powerful cadet here. You really shouldn't mess with him. If he wants to, he could easily make your three years in this place into a living hell."
At my words, Oh Jiyun face turned pale, finally realizing what kind of bullet he had dodged.
"So that's why no one helps either…"
Except one weird guy who's kind enough to help.
"Anyway, you're really clueless about this place, aren't you? Do you even know the number one cadet here?"
"Is it Kim Suho?"
Damn.
"Yeah… how did you know him?"
"Of course I know him, he's very famous! He's that handsome cadet from Agent Military School right?"
"..yeah? Is he that famous? Why? Because of his looks?"
"You don't know?"
What is it damn it. What did I know less about the main character of my novel than some random background character?
Thankfully he knew enough tact to answer it right away.
"There's a video of him, you know? Two years ago, there's a video of Kim Suho fighting armed robert.. robbery, in a bank. Caught on camera, you know, CCTV,"
Oh Jiyun gestures with his hand.
"It's gone viral even to international. A Agent Military School cadet stop bank robbery. It's on national TV everyday when it's gone viral. He's kind, handsome, and humble, my mom never stop talking about him you know? Many people say he's the nation treasure."
Well that's the main character I wrote alright.
"Then I heard that he got the first rank at Agent Military Academy graduation and that he got into Cube. You know, I thought that I might be able to be in the same class with him but I got with someone scary instead, haha."
You should've got into the same class if it wasn't for that bastard co-author. But getting viral after stopping bank robbery, huh? That's just so like Kim Suho.
Why did I never think of that?
"Are you from Agent Military Academy too?"
Oh shit.
"I am," but..
Since that was Kim Chundong I don't know anything if he asked me about it. Hell, I didn't even know about using English in Cube because of the change that bastard co-author made!
I need to do something before he asks anything.
"Anyway, do you know the class Kim Suho's in?"
"Kim Suho? Yeah, I think it was World class? I heard it from my friend."
"You're really a big fan of him huh?"
"Yeah, I mean, are you not? He's Korean's pride, you know? He might be this generation greatest Hero. Since he also in Cube that international, many people and me think he'll bring back Korea to number one Hero after Shin Myungchul. So I really look forwards for what'll he achieve here."
Indeed Cube is the best Hero school in the world, so Kim Suho winning over all the other cadets here would mean that he wins against every future Hero in the world.
Cube as international, huh?
Wait, don't tell me the bastard co-author changed the language just because of that?
"By the way, how about you?"
"Huh?"
"Are you not from Agent Military Academy? Have you ever talked with Kim Suho?"
Shit. Why're you going back to it?
"Uh.. no, he's really famous there too, so I didn't get the chance to talk to him."
"How is he when in Agent Military Academy? What kind of cool thing did he do there?"
"Well, uh…"
I didn't go in depth about Kim Suho's Agent Military Academy life in my setting.
Fuck, what should I do? Should I just lie?
At that moment when I look around for any clue I spot a guy staring at me. No, more accurately he was staring at me and Oh Jiyun.
Bingo.
"Hey, is that guy staring at us?"
My tactics proven effective as Oh Jiyun looked towards our back spotting the staring guy.
I thank the random guy in my heart for helping me in the hard times.
But seriously, who's that guy?
"Oh… yeah, he's my friend."
What?
"Uh, well, I guess I talk with you for too long…"
True to his cues the staring guy behind does a 'come here' gesture with his hand.
"Oh well, I gotta go. Let's talk again, tell me a lot of greatness of Kim Suho in Agent Military Academy next time, okay? See you next time then."
"Haha.. yeah."
Let's never talk again.
As he left I raised my hand back to his waves.
Well, nothing hurts from being polite.
With that I turned my head and continued walking, following the person's in front of me. Now that I think about it, how much longer until we reach the dormitory? It's been around 10 minutes since we started walking from the weapon selection room.
Just as I think about how long I need to continue walking, Oh Jiyun's voice enters my ears.
"He's not like that, you know?"
Then another voice.
"Regardless of how you think about him, why would you talk to him for so long?"
Is that the staring guy?
"Well, my bad for leaving you for so long. But he's a good guy you know? He also likes Kim Suho…"
Yeah, that's definitely the staring guy. Also, I'm Kim Suho's fan..? That guy's really clueless. How does it help his case?
"He's also Kim Suho's fan..? Well.. regardless why would you speak to that guy? He's totally an attention seeker."
It really almost work…
"I don't think he is though..."
"Well.. maybe not, but he attract the wrong kind of attention. Don't you see he's being bullied on the first day?"
"Is it his fault though?"
"Even if he isn't what's good was being involved with a guy like that?"
It's not that he doesn't get a point..
Anyway, this should mean that Oh Jiyun wouldn't approach me anymore. So this is good in a way.
I tune out the rest of their conversation as I search for the clue that our walk is ending soon.
Oh, I found it.
What a ridiculously eventful long walk.
Six extravagant skyscrapers stood in front of me.
Finally, we arrive at the dormitory, their glass gleaming in the afternoon light. Each building stretches impossibly high, making everyone here seem small by comparison.
"Here are the dorms for the first years. Guys are to the right, girls are to the left. The key to your rooms will be stored in the smartwatches you'll get now."
The cadets are called one by one, starting with Shin Jonghak.
If I had to guess, the students are called according to ranks.
Since Kim Suho was moved to another class to balance the overall grade, I wonder if other characters that are supposed to be in another class are also moved here.
Well, that's for later anyway.
Because the next one right after this is going to be Yoo Yeonha.
Huh, Yoo Yeonha after Shin Jonghak?
Well, isn't that something.
"Kaine Polczak."
….I guess the co-author changed this too. Then I suppose after this?
"Joseph Rheydt."
Okay. That's the guy from earlier. His rank must be higher than I expected—no wonder he had the confidence to risk being on Shin Jonghak's bad side.
"Simon Delick."
Maybe after this?
"Yi Kyungrak."
The fifth best then. That's quite low…
"Jin Hanjun."
…co-author?
"Rose."
"Xie Chen."
That bastard..!
"Jin Hajung."
"Selen Miura"
"Kim Hyuksoo."
"Tatsuki Fujimoto."
…
"Yoo Yeonha."
48?
48?!
The 48 best in this class?!
How?
I couldn't wrap my head around it. I didn't agree with the way he changed things, but I could at least admit some of the alterations weren't completely without reason… even if they were weak ones.
Yoo Yeonha, the sole successor of a major guild in Korea. The one that will become the protagonist's greatest ally. One of the most important characters that's going to become the future Queen of Seoul. Why is someone like that got a rank as low as 48?
No, this doesn't make any sense.
There must be some kind of mistake.
My gaze followed Yoo Yeonha as she walked off, her usual poise never faltering. A male cadet approached her—one of the early cadets that got called. Next to him stood Shin Jonghak, as stiff and prideful as ever.
"It looked like you ranked around the 40s. Not bad, Yeonha."
"Do you really think so?" She tilts her head slightly, voice honeyed. "What do you think, Jonghak?"
"Forty-eight is slightly above average. Not bad for a first-timer."
"Right. Above average is quite an achievement for someone who transferred to Hero Academy so late in their academic career."
"Hmm~ I suppose so. I've been working hard with my private coach. Thank you Jonghak, and Hanjun."
"A-Ah, it's nothing, really,"
Hanjun stammers, a flush creeping up his neck.
"But… my score still doesn't come close to yours." She looked at Shin Jonghak, eyes gleaming with innocent admiration. "Could you help me train? I want to be top of the class too."
"Sure, I'll help you."
"Aww~ Thanks!"
"I'll help you too, Yeonha!" Hanjun interjects eagerly.
"Thank you, Hanjun."
Hanjun's face turns crimson at Yeonha's acknowledgment.
What a hopeless guy.
As I watch the social theater unfold among Yeonha, Jonghak, and the hopelessly enamored, a sharp voice cuts through my observations.
"Kim Chundong."
I blink, pulled from my analysis back to my immediate reality. Kim Soohyuk stands before me, concern etched across his otherwise professional demeanor.
"H-huh?"
A confused noise slipped from my lips.
I can hear the other students laughing behind me.
You dare laugh at your creator?
Heat flashes through me, but I force myself to stay calm. Magnanimously, I choose to forgive their ignorance.
Not that I have much choice in the matter—there's no realistic way to retaliate without making things worse for myself.
Wait. Since when was it even get to my turn? Have the other cadets got their smartwatches?
Honestly, nothing makes much sense anymore. Why am I here, stuck in this place, dealing with the ridiculous decision of that bastard co-author?
"Cadet Kim Chundong, are you okay?"
Kim Soohyuk asked with an uncharacteristically worried face.
"Let's go to the medical room."
"..no, I'm okay. I think I already feel better, please don't worry about me, sir."
"..Kim Chundong, you don't have to feel bad. Let's go, I'll lead the way."
"No, it's really okay, sir.."
"Are you sure?"
What's wrong with him…
"Yes.."
"Alright. Don't push yourself too hard, okay? You could ask the staff using the smartwatch, just ask if you ever need it."
"Yes, sir.."
He finally gave a small nod after leaving a smartwatch in my hands and tapping my shoulder before leaving.
Is he really supposed to be someone like this, again?
***
I got into my dorm room feeling exhausted at all the surprises today.
Not only were some of the characters placed in a different class, some settings of the transportation were added, a minor character became more prominent, a major character's backstory was changed, and worst of all, the whole language used was also changed.
But these discovered discrepancies are likely just the surface. A cold dread settles in my stomach at the thought of what else might have changed beyond my current awareness.
The sheer volume of differences on just this first day makes it statistically impossible that the alterations end here.
That fake fan...
Just how much of my creation have you corrupted?!
Feeling defeated, I leaned back against the doorframe, my body slumping a little to the left as I let the weight of everything sink in. My plan was to just slide slowly to the floor and maybe contemplate my life from a sitting position. I braced myself with one hand to soften the landing—but as my fingers brushed against my vest pocket, I froze.
There's something inside.
Putting it out, I found a folded paper.
!!?
My breath stopped completely.
My mind rambling to make sense of what in front of me.
It can't be.
My heart thumped wildly at the possibility.
My assumption that nothing could go worse quickly fell down the drain.
What's happening in front of me has done the impossible and made me feel more afraid than anything that happened today.
For in the single piece of paper was written.
'I know who you are'