No Dark Secrets In This Book

Episode 168

In Korea, there were two more excellent academies besides Areah Academy. 

The reason is unknown, but since a thousand years ago when the black fog was rampant until now, only the Republic of Korea among the entire world has maintained a pure energy that can activate ancient relics. However, the unusually clear spiritual energy does not particularly help the growth of adults who have already reached a certain level or higher. It wasn’t much different for boys and girls who had just created a mana heart and started accumulating mana in their dantian. They need to have a certain level of capacity to hold water. To put it bluntly, no matter how many times you pour water into a pot with the bottom torn out, will it fill up?

As such, the academic consensus was that it helped the growth of those who had just reached the age of majority the most.

Of course, since the growth rate varies from person to person, and the standard for counting age differs from country to country, it may not be an exact standard, but still, for the protection of human rights, the opinion converged on receiving strategist education after reaching the age of majority. Even if each family teaches rote memorization subjects like crazy according to their own family rules, at least let’s not throw teenagers into a monster hunting ground and demand great achievements from them.

Such an agreement was reached around the 21st century. That’s how the three most outstanding strategist academies in the world were born in South Korea.

Areah Academy.

Mirinae Academy.

Guiding Star Academy.

Areah Academy is the most famous. Even the inter-dormitory competitions within the school are broadcasted.

However, Mirinae Academy was trying its best to catch up with the status of Areah Academy.

Is that why? The students’ uniforms and attitudes gathered on the playground were knife-sharp. Compared to the lines of other academies where students occasionally twisted their bodies and whispered to each other, unable to endure the boring preaching time of the principal who was perfect for a nap, it was an immensely military-like attitude.

Among them, ‘Jang Wi-an’, who stood in the very front row, was the next student council president and disciplinary committee member of Mirinae Academy.

As a student who inherited the spirit of Mirinae Academy most clearly, she shot a vigorous gaze at the principal of Areah without any relaxation, and Damyeon did not let her young age slide as an old man who hasn’t grown up would to his granddaughter. Rather, he began a mental attack, grinning as if he would have confronted her with full sincerity even if the opponent was an elementary school student.

“Seeing young and fresh students like you reminds me of a day long ago. It was a day in late spring when the flower buds were beautifully blooming…”

Even the professors standing around were flustered. It was clearly an unplanned speech to anyone’s eyes. On the Areah Academy side, ill-mannered and presumptuous remarks like “Why is the principal teacher acting like that?”, “Impeachment?” were about to pop out. However, the students of Mirinae Academy were still determined. To be precise, only Jang Wi-an was convinced of that. With her hair cut so short that it looked like a buzz cut, she focused her thick eyebrows and was battling the oncoming drowsiness.

‘I must never show a distracted appearance. This is enemy territory!’

Areah Academy prohibits filming within the school, but only during events like the competition, they allow outsiders to enter. Even now, filming devices using drones and such would be flying above their heads. 

Jang Wi-an knew well that this moment when the first-year students of Areah Academy, Mirinae Academy, and Guiding Star Academy meet for the first time is preserved every year and produces posts like “This year’s promising students poll.” And Jang Wi-an was still too young and immature to be swayed by public opinion hidden behind anonymity.

The reason Jang Wi-an always tried to show a strong appearance anytime, anywhere was not to become strong herself, but to appear that way to others.

Of course, you can start in order to look good to others. But if the weight of desire is on others, people easily blame themselves. They criticize themselves. That’s how they crumble. Although that may be a distant future for Jang Wi-an and perhaps just a part of the growth stage, Damyeon felt like he could tell that the educational style of Mirinae Academy had not changed just by facing the student Jang Wi-an.

‘…It’s not like Areah Academy is an exceptionally good educational institution.’

Areah Academy also forces almost abusive levels of learning if you think about it. Students losing arms in practical training is rare but quite common. Because professors can’t block all dangerous situations. Of course, the severed arms are reattached. That’s what the infirmary and health professors are for. But health professors can’t take care of each and every mental scar. Because there are many students and even more patients. The health professor, in other words, Cassice Demiran’s homeroom teacher, isn’t professionally knowledgeable about psychiatry in the first place…

‘And no one raised further issues…’

It only takes a moment for a quack counselor to ruin a life. So rather than quacking around, it might be closer to say they left the students to overcome it on their own. Because once you become a strategist, losing arms and legs isn’t actually that big of a deal. Is running out of potions the big problem? For strategists, the world was a battlefield against monsters, and for them, having a wrist cleanly blown off was better for treatment than having finger bones crushed.

Until now, Damyeon thought students had to adapt. Because the world outside the academy is even more terrible anyway. If a child would crumble at this level, they wouldn’t last long in this industry.

‘So it’s better to run away quickly if you’re going to run away anyway…’

This was a prevalent sentiment in strategist society.

* * *

As I’ve said many times, the general public who don’t know much about strategists treat them comfortably as celebrities.

But in the actual strategist society, the ending of a newbie who crawled in with that mindset is one of two things. Either they desert soon, shedding tears and snot, or they add a line to the list of war dead.

The former is better. That’s also the reason many commanders want a ‘quick desertion’ from a soldier they are concerned about. If you can’t take it, get out before you see a rough sight. Leave while you can live… It may be unexpected for pessimists, but there are few people who can happily watch innocent corpses pile up. Usually, they just desperately turn a blind eye or avoid it. They are just trying to live by ridiculing and looking down on the fact that those people have the same weight of life as themselves. All wars are like that.

But there is something important.

We must not be mistaken about what kind of profession a ‘strategist’ is. Outsiders can be mistaken, they can expect the attitude of a celebrity, but we must not be intoxicated by it. We mustn’t. If we want to live.

Because in a moment of delusion, people die.

On the surface, the profession of a strategist is definitely cool, and the more active you are, the more wealth and honor you can gain. In a society where you can’t get fair compensation even if you try, it may seem like a decent job. In the sense that it is admired by the public in an era where the power of media is strong. In a way, once you become moderately famous, you can enjoy a sweet position by playing with rich kids under the pretext of teaching disciples.

There’s not much you can really teach students before admission anyway, so you can literally have them memorize rote subjects and prepare them to showcase a secret weapon like a fireball in time for the admission schedule, and you can live luxuriously among wealthy mana enthusiasts, treated as a one-shot instructor.

But we must not be deluded. That means be careful of confirmation bias. Ask yourself once. Why do only the people who strut around and make a living catch your eye? Why are those who aren’t like that not visible at all?

You shouldn’t just listen to the words of the survivors. You have to lend an ear to the words of the dead.

But the words of the dead are not heard, and the living are endlessly supplied like moths to a flame.

Saying this is a way to improve your life.

Anyway, it’s not wrong.

Unlike in the past when they were treated as dirty and lowly garbage cleaners, the ‘surviving’ strategists are being treated well. So the past ‘forces’ who tried to change the image of strategists did everything they could for future generations. But as always, death often touches shaded places, so this is just another story.

So instead of telling the student that they were deceived to come here, Damyeon chose to push them to death. To become stronger, to become more outstanding, to become several times more amazing than others, than myself…

He sincerely hoped that these kids’ lives would truly blossom.

That was the best Damyeon could do.

‘So that they can become even stronger.’

I will cultivate their strength. So that they won’t die.

‘So that one day they can take revenge on me too…’

Such despicable teachings were always the best, he was.

‘Cassice…’

So that child was always, he was…