Chapter 62

“Everyone, it seems I must say goodbye now.”

“Hmm…?”

As Yu Hye-won and Professor Han stood up from the seats, they looked up at me with curious expressions.

“It’s an urgent recall order from the Academy.”

When I showed them my cellphone, the light from the screen painted the children’s faces red.

“What is this?”

“It’s an order for us to immediately fly back.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know either. It’s so urgent that there’s no time for detailed explanations.”

“So what kind of situation could it be that…?”

I raised my hand to cut off Yu Hye-won’s sentence.

“We need to go right now.”

I immediately left the theater and headed up the stairs.

Yu Hye-won and Professor Han followed behind me.

I considered going back to grab some luggage but decided against it.

After all, it wouldn’t be practical to carry luggage during flight.

Once we reached the wide yard, the city lights spread out below us.

And from the city, bursts of auroras in various colors shot up like missiles.

Those must be the Academy members on vacation returning now.

Then my phone alarm blared loudly again.

[Strict perimeter checks upon return / Formation flight recommended]

“Professor… please be careful…”

Han Min-ha muttered as she timidly grabbed the hem of my shirt with her fingertips.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Min-ha. And the others from the Academy are also flying together.”

“Yes…”

Although, I had a feeling it wasn’t quite so simple.

I also greeted Yu Hye-won, who was giving Min-ha’s hand on my shirt a disapproving glance.

“Thank you for inviting me, Student Hye-won. I would’ve liked to stay until tomorrow, but circumstances are what they are.”

“Yes.”

“Student Min-ha, don’t fight with Hye-won and have a good remainder of your vacation. We’ll see each other back at the Academy.”

“I understand. I’ll send the car to the Academy later.”

“Thank you.”

After giving the children a small smile each, I activated my aura.

KOOOOOOOOWAAAAA!!!

A sudden wave of overwhelming pressure hit my head, and the ground beneath me seemed to sink.

The mansion and the two students quickly shrank, and the entire city night scenery came into view.

After ascending to a certain altitude and slowing down, I experienced a temporary sense of weightlessness.

I immediately directed my body towards the Academy and began high-speed flight.

Breaking the sound barrier would get me there faster, but without a proper suit, my clothes would tear apart.

I had no intention of landing at the Academy completely naked.

This kind of flight felt incredibly rare.

Since coming to the Academy, I usually traveled by car unless necessary.

As I broke through the city lights and ascended into the dark sky, I spotted a brown aura approaching from afar.

Looking closer at the source, it was Professor Jin.

Professor Jin waved at me with a bright smile upon seeing me.

I returned the wave with a smile.

It would’ve been great to communicate through our suits if we had them, but now it wasn’t possible.

So the two of us flew side by side in silence towards the Academy.

* * * * *

The Academy came into view ahead.

Massive boundary lights, comparable to an airport, were lined up at regular intervals along the vast campus.

Runways and various subfacilities stood inside.

Given the emergency recall order, the anti-aircraft batteries scattered around the Academy perimeter remained inactive.

Had we flown in without permission, we would’ve been bombarded by anti-aircraft missiles and vulcans from all sides.

Many others from the Academy were also flying in with their own unique auras, descending in curves towards the research building’s parking lot.

Professor Jin and I followed suit and landed there.

“Huff… Did you enjoy your vacation, Professor?”

Professor Jin shook off some dust from her clothes as she greeted.

“I’m fine, thanks. How about you, Professor Jin?”

“I was just about to relax after finishing the guidance student home visits yesterday… this sudden turmoil is baffling.”

“Tell me about it. I saw five heroes flying together in formation today around noon; it might be related.”

Professor Jin seemed slightly surprised with my comment.

“Five heroes? Could they have been sidekicks instead?”

“Not sure, honestly. Let’s go ahead and find out.”

By this time of the evening, it was proper to call it night.

A few professors had already arrived and were seated in the faculty office.

“Professor Hyun!”

Professor Huh Taehyun waved me over with a familiar gesture.

I approached him, anticipating that this ex-spy might have some information.

“Hello, Professor Huh. How was your vacation?”

“I did well, how about you?”

“Me too. But what’s the matter? I haven’t heard anything unusual in the news.”

“Are Academy matters going to make it to the media?”

“Hmm. Even so, you must know something?”

“The department head will tell us everything soon.”

Right on cue, the department head entered, sweating profusely, holding a stack of papers.

“Are everyone here?”

The head rapidly counted the professors.

“Everyone’s present.”

“What’s the matter, Dean? I already lost my vacation handling the home visits, and I’m not in a good mood.”

When Professor Yu Hyun-ju crossed her arms, the department head flinched slightly.

Professor Yu is usually cool and quiet, but ever since the announcement of the home visits, she had been unusually sensitive.

How could she not be, when she lost all the expensive flights and hotel bookings?

With an already intimidating charisma heightened by anger, the department head carefully wiped his sweat while watching Professor Yu’s reactions.

“Just a moment… please wait. What…? What is this? How do I operate this? Bluetooth?”

The head pointed at the large TV mounted on the wall.

Professor Huh stood up and connected the head’s cellphone to the TV.

“Will this work?”

“Yeah. Play that. Play that.”

Professor Huh played a video file from the head’s phone gallery.

“Whoa…!”

At the sight of the video, Professor Jin took a sharp breath.

The screen showed burning warehouses and factories—not in the city center but somewhere out in the suburban area.

It was unclear whose bodycam this was since the viewpoint kept wobbling.

“Hero! Above!”

An exclamation from a presumed sidekick caused the camera to jerk upwards.

The moment the camera turned to the smoke-filled sky, a villain with daggers appeared, leaping down.

“Watch out!”

The camera spun violently, mixing with the owner’s curses.

“Shit…! There’s another one, didn’t I tell you?!”

“Be careful everyone! There seem to be more than just a few!”

Simultaneously, what sounded like large-caliber grenades went off with blinding flashes.

“AAAAH!”

“Go back! Circle around! Don’t approach from the front!”

“It looks like they planned this ambush on purpose!”

Terror-inducing laughter and flashing explosions accompanied the loud engine sounds.

“Hero! Only we can’t handle this! Request backup!”

“Oh, god damn it! I thought we’d finally get a big catch…”

“If we can’t hold, the office is done for!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!! It’s gonna be tasty!!”

At that moment, a woman’s eerie laughter echoed.

“Ugh…!”

“Rank-one sidekick has been hit! Out of the fight!”

“Hero! Request backup!”

“Request backup! Send someone now, no matter who!”

“Understood! Oversight Bureau! Oversight Bureau! Show up! This is…”

“One more villain heading your way! What the hell is that?!”

The camera sharply pointed towards a specific area.

There, a huge mechanical device with limbs stumbled forward—an ugly contraption pieced together with random scrap parts from a junkyard.

A mobile suit…? But what’s with this trashy design?

“Destroy that guy first! Avoid the others until backup arrives! Keep moving! Three-rank sidekick, fire your I-race at the unidentified machine!”

Soon, dual streams of blue I-race lanced out from above and struck the mechanical monstrosity.

The moment the I-race connected with the machine…

Between it and the machine, a dark vortex-like entity appeared.

The vortex swallowed the I-race like a black hole and then another vortex appeared directly towards the camera.

Suddenly, the screen turned bright blue and went dark.

“Gulp…”

Professor Jin covered her mouth as she gasped for breath.

The other professors couldn’t find words, only trading glances among themselves.

“This is what happened this afternoon. An entire hero office was wiped out.”

As the department head spoke, murmurs spread among the professors.

“Can you detail exactly what happened, Dean?”

In response to a professor’s question, the dean explained the on-screen events.

To summarize the head’s explanation:

In a peripheral industrial complex, villains started causing trouble, and the closest hero office was assigned the case. Since the area was near critical installations, the hero brought all his sidekicks on the mission. There, they found themselves unexpectedly cornered by many villains.

As seen in the video, they quickly made an emergency request to the oversight unit. Thanks to regular patrol and emergency standby heroes, they finally managed to suppress the situation.

“Technically, it wasn’t suppression. The villains disappeared the moment the reinforcements arrived.”

“So that’s why the recall order was issued so urgently?”

“In addition, there’s an urgent resolution from the education department and the oversight bureau.”

The dean handed out documents, page by page, from the stack in his hands.

These were official notifications issued by the education department.

The professors let out sighs and exhalations as they read the document.

* * * * *

And so the urgent faculty meeting continued as the shadow of mystery and danger loomed over the Academy.