Chapter 6

〈Chapter 7〉 Ah, This is What They Call “One Punch,” Huh?

“Alright, it’s about time we all move on to some real combat practice.”

The homeroom teacher announced to the gathered students.

Hero Academy students all aim to become heroes.

Well, technically, you get a Hero License upon graduation.

With that alone, you’re legally allowed to hunt monsters.

Afterward, your career path is entirely up to you.

You can join a big company if you wish…

Or even become a national-level hero.

Of course, this whole thing doesn’t concern Eugene, who was born with a golden spoon.

No, wait—before being a gold spoon, he couldn’t even make sense of the current situation.

“Whoa, you’re telling me we’re supposed to catch THAT? Are you serious?”

On the screen were goblins and orcs running around.

That would be fine if they only had clubs.

But nope, they’ve got swords and spears.

And those weapons are so rusted that even a scratch might give you tetanus.

“Does this world not have child rights or labor laws?”

Are you seriously sending kids into these life-or-death situations?

Ah, it’s okay? WHY THE HELL IS IT OKAY?!

“Hoooh, finally getting to fight real monsters!”

“I’m so glad I came to this school. Anywhere else, we’d still be stuck learning theory.”

“Yo, let’s bet on who can kill more goblins!”

It seemed like he was the only one with such doubts.

Rather, the other students were all fired up.

They were already acting like hardcore goblin slayers, completely ignoring the reality.

“Damn… Am I the crazy one here or is it this world?”

“Hmm! Don’t underestimate goblins just because they’re considered weak—they’re dangerous! They’re intelligent monsters with killing power. Statistics show that goblins are the most common cause of death for beginners.”

The teacher earnestly explained the dangers of goblins in great detail.

Stories about groups of four novices being wiped out…

Tales of female adventurers becoming captives for over a month…

But none of the students took it seriously.

Except Eugene.

‘Ugh… I don’t want to do this anymore. I just wanna go home now. I miss those scary older brothers at home. Wait… Do I even miss them?’

He didn’t realize yet that he was by far the strongest person there.

And his lack of reaction was interpreted differently by others.

-Hmph, goblins must be too boring for him.

-He probably tears them apart left and right.

-Sigh, poor Chul-soo and Young-hee.

To the other students, Eugene’s calm demeanor looked like confidence.

To them, this class was just another form of entertainment for him.

More specifically, an excuse to bother Chul-soo.

“Alright, now it’s time for you all to choose your weapons.”

‘Wait, what’s this about now?’

Weapons started appearing on the table: swords, spears, bows, even staffs that looked like they weren’t weapons at all.

There were also heavy hammers and whips weighing dozens of pounds.

Is it really okay to hand these kinds of weapons to teenagers?

Such concerns were meaningless as everyone quickly picked their own weapon.

“Even though these are training weapons, they’re worth hundreds of thousands outside. Choose carefully and don’t lose them.”

Apparently, even a single sword costs hundreds of thousands.

Though food prices seemed normal enough…

Top-tier heroes earn millions per month.

So why isn’t inflation happening?

Are they sitting on some resource-rich oil country or something?

‘Does this feel normal to these kids?’

The chosen weapons were all over the place.

Most went for swords or spears.

A few opted for staffs—probably mages-in-training.

For reference, Chul-soo chose a sword while Young-hee went for a whip.

“Hey, Kim Yu-jin… uh, Yu-jin. You need to pick a weapon.”

The teacher cautiously called out to him.

Eugene snapped back to reality and looked around.

Everyone else had already grabbed their weapons.

Thankfully, there were still plenty left.

‘Hmm, I really don’t want to choose anything. Honestly, I don’t even want to fight.’

Just thinking about fighting monsters terrified him.

Why should a regular 21st-century student have to fight monsters?

Even before considering possibility, it’s just unreasonable.

‘If this were a world where you’d starve without hunting goblins, maybe I’d understand.’

Looking at the cafeteria and dining hall, it seemed like they could afford ammonia fertilizer too. Why should he fight when there’s plenty of food?

But if he ran away now, they wouldn’t let him graduate.

He had to at least pretend to participate.

‘So, which weapon should I pick…’

Maybe a plain sword would be best to avoid standing out?

But sharp-edged weapons were equally terrifying.

Then he spotted something interesting.

“Oh!”

Possibly the most lethal weapon here.

Yet simple enough for anyone to use.

Without hesitation, Eugene picked it up.

“I’ll take this one.”

An eerie silence fell over the room.

The teacher looked slightly flustered.

“Eh, Y-Yu-jin, remember that once you choose a weapon, you can’t change it for a month…”

“This one is fine.”

Eugene had chosen a pistol.

Sure, the real-world Eugene had never fired one before.

But it had to be easier than the other options.

“At least I won’t have to get close to the monsters.”

However, the atmosphere felt off.

Something was wrong.

Feeling uneasy, Eugene asked in a low voice that unintentionally carried authority:

“Is there any problem with this choice?”

“No, no! Of course not! You’re free to choose whatever weapon you like! Hehe…”

The teacher nervously chuckled while wiping sweat.

Inside, however, he was thinking:

‘What the hell?!’

In this world, guns were decent weapons for non-magical people or mercenaries.

But for magical heroes, it was different.

They infused their weapons with magic to unleash powerful attacks.

At higher levels, they could easily pierce steel.

Guns, however, couldn’t easily contain magic power.

Naturally, they were avoided by heroes.

“It’s common knowledge that mid-level monster shields can’t be broken by regular bullets.”

Surely Eugene must know this fact.

Especially since he likely possessed top-tier magical power in the school.

There was no reason for him to choose a gun.

Except, Eugene genuinely didn’t know any of this.

‘Hehe, sweet! With this, I can just pretend to fight from afar.’

Thinking himself clever, Eugene returned to his spot.

The teacher, unaware of his thoughts, sighed deeply.

Not just because of the recent improvements in attendance and attention in class…

There was something fundamentally mysterious about him.

‘Maybe he’s finally trying to settle down and focus on school?’

The teacher immediately shook his head.

This was Hwagcheon after all.

It wasn’t wise to expect easy changes.

“Alright then, since everyone has chosen their weapons, let’s head inside. Please gather with your teams.”

Eugene confidently turned around.

Previously, he would have been lurking awkwardly by himself.

Or standing uncomfortably on the side.

But things were different now!

Both teammates were his friends.

With a smile, Eugene looked at Chul-soo.

“Tch.” Chul-soo openly showed his displeasure.

Young-hee appeared somewhat intimidated.

‘Hmm, they’re still mad at me, huh?’ Sniff.

His dreams of being popular were dashed again.

Nothing ever seemed to work out in this world…

Eugene, Chul-soo, and Young-hee walked together.

But no one spoke.

Young-hee was watching the two boys carefully.

Chul-soo silently led the way, gripping his sword tightly.

As for Eugene—

‘Oh man, monsters are gonna appear here? So scaryyyyyy.’

He was trembling at the thought of when the creatures might show up.

After all, he was the only one who would have to fight.

Young-hee was a girl, and Chul-soo was sick.

He had to protect them both.

Though, his mind wasn’t advanced enough to consider taking the front position instead of staying behind.

‘This school is insane for sending kids into places like this. If I die, I’ll haunt this place as a ghost!’

I’ll possess pianos in the music room and scare teachers forever!

“…At this point, someone could die without anyone noticing.”

Said with genuine concern.

Young-hee shivered at his words.

Chul-soo tightened his grip on his sword without saying anything.

“Yeah, true. But the teachers are watching us. They’ll come help if something major happens.”

“Hmm, good point.”

Reassured by Young-hee’s words, Eugene calmed down significantly.

Right, educators wouldn’t do something so reckless!

The teachers clearly had everything under control.

With that, his fears of dying disappeared.

…

‘Still, entering a forest like this is hard to adjust to.’

Their training ground was a dense forest.

He wondered how the school managed to have such a location.

Money must be rotting somewhere.

Government mountains or anti-inflation measures aside…

Experience told him that normal logic didn’t apply here.

So he decided to let it slide.

“Why are you disappointed?”

“Wha—Chul-soo!”

Eugene looked at Chul-soo, confused about what he meant.

Disappointed about what?

Chul-soo clicked his tongue.

“You might not get it, but this assignment is important to us. We’re not expecting perfection, but please don’t screw it up unnecessarily.”

“I’m going to do it properly.”

Eugene demonstrated by showing off his pistol.

Bang! Bang! One shot and the monsters will all die, right?

Chul-soo sighed deeply after glaring at Eugene.

“Anyway, our plan is to head straight to the goblin nest. The terrain isn’t a cave and is pretty open, so it should be fine.”

“The goblin nest is open? That’s unusual.”

“Probably a convenience for the students. Maybe these goblins lost their original nest.”

While Chul-soo and Young-hee discussed strategies,

Eugene stayed silent the entire time.

Honestly, he didn’t understand what they were talking about.

‘Ah, do I have to capture them? Probably… Grades are at stake, so running away would be embarrassing… Everyone would hate me…’

Still, he really didn’t want to fight.

While pondering this and idly peeling bark from a dry tree,

A strange white flying object caught his eye.

‘What is that?’

At first glance, it looked like a firefly.

A fist-sized white something was floating around.

Must be some kind of bug native to the forest.

‘This world has weird bugs too, huh.’

Given that green goblins exist in this world,

Strange insects weren’t surprising.

Still, bugs glowing during the day?

How did they evolve to do that?

‘Now that I think about it, did I even get my malaria shots? Or other virus/venom protection?’

Speaking of which, wasn’t Young-hee’s outfit dangerous?

She was wearing her school uniform.

The problem was that her skirt barely covered her thighs.

Even in this forest setting,

Her legs were dangerously exposed.

‘Bugs might target her…’

He remembered hearing that mosquitoes are attracted to female hormones.

If she gets bitten, it could be trouble.

Eugene slapped his hand toward the creature.

-Paf!

The bug flew through the air and crashed down.

Anyone watching would think he used an electric fly swatter.

Regardless, the bug fell motionless.

‘Hmph, protected my friend’s thighs and calves.’

At that moment,

[You have defeated a Mid-Level Monster: Fairy]

[Monster elimination record has been added to your student ID.]

[Current Points: 500]

Huh?

Suddenly, points increased.

Now that he thought about it, they did say killing monsters accumulated points.

‘So that was a monster?’

Never expected a monster to die from a single slap.

Sniff. If goblins were this easy, life would be great.

Of course, that was unlikely.

“Hey, let’s get moving.”

“Aah, yeah.”

At Chul-soo’s urging, Eugene moved forward.

Meanwhile,

The school nurse who had been targeting Chul-soo was shocked beyond belief—”How did he kill MY fairy?!”

Unbeknownst to Eugene.

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