The Academy's Terminally Ill Side Character

Rin Evans' POV:

"What the fuck is going on with Ryen?" I muttered under my breath, eyes fixed on the fight unfolding before me.

I was already shocked when I saw Leona go head-to-head with the instructor. The way she fought, the way she ended it—it wasn't something you'd expect from a regular cadet.

And now? She was holding her ground against Ryen.

But honestly, the one who surprised me the most wasn't her.

It was Ryen.

The form he was using… I recognized it immediately. There was no mistaking it.

That was definitely from the novel.

Let me explain it better.

This form—this power-up—was something Ryen was only supposed to awaken midway through his second year. Back then, it was a desperate move, a temporary state he forced himself into just to protect his friends.

It wasn't a full breakthrough, not a proper awakening. Just a pseudo-form—where he compressed the light of his holy sword and replaced all his physical boosts with pure magical reinforcement. A kind of self-made power-up born out of sheer grit.

And now he was pulling it off now?

He was only supposed to reach this point while fighting Kai Foster, who—at least in the original story—was still alive during that arc. So how the hell was he doing it here, in this situation?

Could it be... did he really get a glimpse of the next stage just from a few of my enhancements?

That would be insane.

I mean, compared to Leo, I hadn't even helped Ryen all that much. Honestly, I was a little worried he might fall behind. But this crazy bastard... as expected of a protagonist—he just kept getting stronger, even without anyone holding his hand.

I couldn't help but smirk.

"Typical."

The fight continue after that, and honestly? I have to say that Leona was doing better then I expected.

Sure, there were a few close calls—moments where I thought she'd get knocked out cold or overwhelmed by that burst of holy pressure—but she didn't back down. Not even once.

Her movements were sharp, adaptive. It wasn't just talent—she was learning as she fought. Adjusting her stance, controlling the distance, minimizing Ryen's advantage. She wasn't just reacting—she was thinking.

It was terrifying.

...At the moment, the two of them were saying something to each other in the arena. I couldn't hear what they were talking about from the stands, but I could guess. It was probably your typical protagonist monologue—something like "I will become stronger" or "I have to overcome this wall."

Honestly, I wasn't interested in that kind of stuff. I'd seen and heard too many similar lines in different novels to be moved by it anymore.

Same old script. Nothing new.

Anyway, it looked like they had finished their dramatic exchange and were about to resume their fight.

But then—

"EAT YOUR VEGETABLES…!"

I instinctively turned my head toward the right side of the arena, far away from where I was seated. There stood a man—probably in his early thirties—screaming at the top of his lungs like a lunatic.

Yup. That was him.

The disaster I had inadvertently summoned… had finally arrived at the academy.

The Vegetable Vigilante was here.

-----

…laughing.

"Khkk...!"

"Haha!"

"Khuk...Hahahha-haha!"

It started as a snort, then a wheeze, and then full-on howling. Like dominoes, the tension in the crowd shattered. Students began giggling, then chuckling, then flat-out roaring with laughter.

Ryen blinked.

Leona was still frozen, her sword half-raised, her mouth slightly open in disbelief.

"…Is this some kind of spell?" she muttered.

"No idea," Ryen replied, his golden aura dimming as confusion overtook intensity. "Maybe a curse."

A loud whoop echoed again from the stands. The man was now spinning a leek in one hand like a baton, his other hand clutching a paper bag full of—yes—more vegetables. He grinned like a man who had just accomplished something truly divine.

"STRENGTH IS GOOD! BUT FIBER IS BETTER!"

This time, even the instructors exchanged bewildered looks.

"Do we… stop him?" one of them whispered to another.

"Honestly, I'm curious where he's going with this," another replied, trying to stifle a laugh.

"...I still can't believe he is doing the same thing as he did when he cadet."

"True, I thought he changed but he is same as before."

Down in the arena, Leona finally lowered her sword all the way. Her shoulders trembled—not from fatigue, but from barely-contained amusement.

"Ryen," she said, trying to keep a straight face, "I think your spiritual awakening just got upstaged by a broccoli evangelist."

Ryen ran a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly. "I was about to break through something, you know."

Leona snorted. "Yeah. The emotional equivalent of a second puberty."

"RUDE," he said, but even he was laughing now.

From the stands, the man raised a carrot high above his head like a holy relic.

"THIS IS VITAMIN A! RESPECT IT!"

"Okay, now he's losing me," Leona muttered.

"I think he lost everyone," Ryen said.

Still, the crowd—now fully unhinged—cheered the vegetable prophet like he was the academy's secret mascot.

A few cadets even chanted: "VEG-GIE! VEG-GIE! VEG-GIE!"

"…Should we fight again later?" Leona asked, rubbing her temple.

"Probably for the best," Ryen nodded. "Kind of hard to go all out with carrot cosplay happening up there."

They exchanged a look.

And then, they both laughed.

…But in that moment, as Leona was still laughing, her eyes wandered—then locked onto the man who had just caused the commotion.

He wasn't heading out of the arena stands like a normal person.

No.

He was walking toward a group of girls.

Leona's smile faded.

She recognized them immediately.

They were the same girls who used to bully Keira. Rin had told her everything—names, faces, the kind of things they did.

So why was he walking toward them?

Something wasn't right.

Her eyes narrowed, and unease crept into her chest like a slow chill.

Something about this… felt off.

-----

He used to be just a normal cadet at Velcrest Academy—no different from anyone else.

Came from a humble family that ran a small farm. Naturally, he had a deep affection for vegetables. But it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Certainly not enough for people to call him eccentric… at least, not back then.

"—He used to be chill. Now he's like a walking salad crusader."

"—I still remember the day he pulled out a cucumber during sparring and started swinging it like a sword."

"—He's not strong—he's just unhinged."

Judging by the way his classmates spoke about him, it was clear that Ban Frok had once been—by all definitions—a very normal guy.

But now?

He was the first cadet in academy history to rack up over 500 penalty points. A man who'd come dangerously close to having his graduation canceled altogether.

Ban Frok. The one-man farmer of Green Earth Produce.

He wasn't quite a hero, and he wasn't exactly a villain either.

"EAT YOUR VEGETABLES!"

…Though judging by his current behavior, he definitely leaned more toward the villain side of things.

And yet, the guy still fought monsters, took down real criminals, donated most of his bounty rewards to charity, and delivered crates of fresh produce—grown with his own hands—to orphanages and struggling families.

He made villains eat vegetables. He made children eat vegetables. He made animals eat vegetables. He even made battle-hardened mercenaries and S-class adventurers eat vegetables.

Ban Frok was… an oddity. Even in a world where all sorts of chaos brewed, he stood out in the worst—and weirdest—ways.

In the original story, which was already bleak and exhausting, he barely showed up. His over-the-top obsession with food and nutrient balance didn't quite mesh with the grim tone of the plot. He was a gag character tossed in for comic relief—and mostly forgotten.

So what was he doing back at the academy now?

Simple.

He had a mission.

And when Ban Frok had a mission, nothing else mattered—not exams, not duels, not rules, not even reality.

He charged across the training field, eyes locked on a specific group of female students. Completely ignoring the matches going on around him, he stomped forward like a vegetable-fueled war machine.

All because of the atrocity they'd committed just a while ago.

An atrocity in his eyes.

He had returned to make them pay.

With vegetables.

"Why did you wasted a food?"

"W-What?"

The girl blinked in surprised at sudden....and almost stupid question?

The girl who just blinked now was the girl who thrown away Kiera's half eaten food after mocking her.

"Don't lie to me! I have proof!"

Immediately he took out his phone and show a screen to her and in the display was video with title saying.

—"Disrespecting Food: A Crime Against Nature."

The girl blinked again, this time slower, as if her brain was buffering.

"…What… is this…?"

Ban Frok didn't flinch. His face was stone. His arm—still holding the phone—was shaking with righteous fury.

"You threw away food," he said, each word heavy like a gavel striking down. "Half-eaten or not, someone made that meal. A farmer harvested it. A cook prepared it. And you—"

He jabbed his finger at her, "—threw it away like it was trash. Like they were trash."

The group of girls—about four of them—exchanged glances, clearly confused but increasingly alarmed.

One of them stepped forward. "Okay, look. We didn't mean—"

Ban raised a hand, stopping her mid-sentence.

"No. No excuses. You have disrespected the sacred pact between humanity and nutrition."

Now....even group of girls started to feel creepy and bit if fear due this strange man antics.

...And why the hell no one is stepping in for help?