I Possessed a Broken Academy Instructor

Chapter 35

“Ah, it’s good to see you, Jin Crow.”

“It’s Jin Crow, old man.”

Jin Crow clicked his tongue in response to the name that seemed to have a screw loose somewhere.

Yet, despite his calm exterior, facing the old man was anything but pleasant.

Cold sweat trickled down in tension.

His hand gripping the sword trembled, an overwhelming urge to leap into action surged through his body.

‘Arrogant. No, perhaps it’s more accurate to say he’s at ease in this situation?’

Just moments ago, the ability to sense the old man’s impending attack had been less about his own skill and more about the old man’s will being far greater.

Scattering psionic energy, it felt less like an attack and more like the removal of an unwieldy structure.

No, one might even question if this could be deemed an attack at all.

Swoosh—.

He reached up with a hand to wipe the flowing blood from his forehead.

Thanks to his superhuman body, which could regenerate most wounds without leaving significant scars, the injury had already begun to heal. Yet, it was a provocation sufficient to stoke the irritation that simmered within him.

“Is that you, General Kim Cheol?”

“Hmm? You know me? That’s unexpected.”

The man with the red hand, a special operations officer of the martial arts division. An old-timer.

The moment those two traits crossed his mind, a name suddenly surfaced.

And seeing him acknowledge it with surprising ease, Jin Crow could only bite his lip in frustration.

‘Of all people, it had to be that crazy old man.’

The reason he remembered the figure of the red hand, who was treated as a mere side character in the original story, was twofold.

Either he had a personal fondness for them.

Or they had left an impact in some way.

Kim Cheol fell into the latter category.

And not in a good way.

‘Pentagier special operations officer. A veteran of the Second Galactic War. His achievements, experience, age, and skill all mark him as a top-tier elder of the red hand, yet he remains a perpetual brigadier general, madman that he is, simply because he wants to stay in the field.’

The very reason he wore the insignia of a brigadier was absurd.

Originally, he had intended to remain a colonel, but he had accepted the words of his aide, who said that only by becoming a general could one maintain their pride.

‘…Of all people to run into.’

If it had to be a Pentagier, it would have been less burdensome if it were someone else. But facing a genuine madman, he felt a laugh bubbling up inside him.

Usually, when one gets transported into a novel, they start off with somewhat manageable characters, yet it felt as if he was always thrown into the fray just before death.

“Cough, cough.”

“Ha ha. So, it seems your pride is roused. I take it my introduction pleased you.”

Even amidst this, Kim Cheol babbled on with the ramblings of a senile man.

However, he couldn’t voice that thought.

Before he could even speak, Kim Cheol casually loosened his shoulders, wearing a friendly smile, and charged straight at him in an instant.

“Well then, shall we see what you’re made of!”

“Gah!”

With no time to draw his sword, he hastily crossed his arms to block the oncoming attack.

However, soon he could only regret it.

Kwahwahwahwahwah!

He thought he had blocked it perfectly, yet the force of the punch that struck him was overwhelming, unmatched by anyone he had faced before.

Cough—!

With blood bursting from his lips, his vision twisted rapidly. When he finally regained his senses, he found himself barely standing, leaning against the wreckage of what had once been a building.

“Did you intentionally avoid the spot for the cadets? Truly, you are a fine instructor, heh. I’m starting to like you more and more.”

Beyond his sight, Kim Cheol continued to babble nonsensically, as if he were a wild dog.

At this point, he could not deny it.

What was needed now was not reverence for the old, but an assault on the old.

‘Buy as much time as possible.’

The difference between Triple Gear and Penta Gear was like heaven and earth; anyone witnessing it might think it a new attempt at suicide.

‘Right now, though.’

The body that had been on the brink of death just moments ago now surged with adrenaline as the battle began, as if it had never been in peril.

Of course, the fatigue and backlash that would soon follow were beyond his reckoning, but what could he do?

First, he had to survive.

“Huuh.”

After angling the pitch-black blade, he exhaled a short breath.

In the same instant, he stepped forward, reaching Kim Cheol in the blink of an eye, and soon he was biting his lip, swinging his sword infused with near-overclocked psionic energy.

「National Military Swordsmanship No. 1: Horizontal Slash」

The sword that had just felled seven special operations officers now swung toward Kim Cheol’s neck, as if to sever it in one swift motion.

A short and concise strike.

Kim Cheol, watching Jin Crow’s blow, reached out a hand toward the blade that was swung with an unusual brilliance in his eyes.

“Are you jesting with me?”

With a clumsy and brutish grip unbefitting his age, he caught the blade barehanded.

Kkiikikik!

At that moment, the psionic energies of the two superhumans clashed and repelled each other, but Kim Cheol narrowed his eyes, not blinking, and focused his strength into an arm as thick as a human head.

Chaeng!

The blade shattered into pieces, and Jin Crow could not hide the momentary turmoil that flickered in his eyes.

Fortunately, it seemed that Kim Cheol’s fist, which shot out immediately afterward, sent him flying again, preventing that turmoil from being revealed.

Kwahhhaaang!

It soared through the void in a parabolic arc, crashing into the earth, shattering a building of unknown purpose.

“Cough!”

As if my spine had broken and healed in an instant, the sensation in my legs vanished momentarily before returning.

Meanwhile, Kim Cheol stood not far off, having traced the trajectory of my flight in mere seconds.

“Hm.”

Instead of launching an immediate attack, he gazed at Jin Crow with eyes brimming with questions, murmuring softly.

“Strange. Liberto, that child shouldn’t be in a position to suffer like this.”

‘Could it be that he’s hiding something?’ I had shattered my sword in anticipation, yet all that changed was the malice etched deeper into his expression.

Still, I had hoped for something from this so-called instructor.

‘Whether it’s luck or Liberto’s carelessness, either way, it matters little.’

The dead do not speak.

Thus, if both perish, the truth becomes irrelevant.

Kim Cheol clicked his tongue, then turned the gears within, channeling energy into the tips of his fists as he spoke.

“Well, whatever happens, may you depart well.”

For a soldier, honor is best delivered with a clean end.

He believed this sincerely, beginning to compress psionic energy to the point that the air around him warped, aiming to deliver a swift death.

“……”

Jin Crow bit his lip.

Inside, the triple gears continued to spin, but the fatigue and recoil from the relentless battles weighed heavily on his ankles.

‘What is this, a flounder with premature ejaculation?’

I hadn’t felt it while at the academy, but in this week on the field, I had nearly died more times than I could count.

Ah, am I really going to die now?

He absentmindedly chewed his lip, gazing at Kim Cheol through the slowly fading haze of his vision.

But in that moment, something immense flickered beyond him.

‘What is that……?’

A creature unlike any mass-produced or pawn I had encountered before.

As I took it in, I glanced down at the hilt of the sword that hung at my fingertips.

Seeing the blade, now shattered and more fittingly called a dagger, my body moved of its own accord.

Whooom!

Gathering every last ounce of strength, I spun the gears within.

In an instant, unable to withstand the output, blood erupted from Kim Cheol’s eyes, nose, and mouth, and just as he felt a strange discomfort, his eyebrows twitched.

“Ugh!”

Jin Crow thrust the blade he held in reverse, aiming directly at the nape of Kim Cheol’s neck, without any flourish, with brutal honesty.

The speed and force of the blade were fleeting, yet they surpassed that of the Triple Gear, causing Kim Cheol to instinctively reach out to parry it.

“Good attempt! Long Cro—”

“It’s Jin. You senile old man.”

Yet, the thought that he had successfully blocked it shattered almost immediately.

The strike was infinitely weaker than the tension suggested, and soon Jin Crow’s black boots filled his vision.

“Oh dear.”

Only then did Kim Cheol realize he had fallen for his ploy, a smile of mixed delight and embarrassment creeping onto his face.

KWA-BOOM!

His body flew through the air, indifferent to the smile, and only came to a halt after crashing through a building, just as Jin Crow had done before.

“Cough!”

As he rose, expelling a metallic-sounding cough, Kim Cheol brushed the dust away with his hand.

Just from that sight alone, one could easily discern the gap between him and Jin Crow.

“Right, it can’t be just that. No way.”

Proving his own thought, Kim Cheol nodded with a refreshing smile.

Yes, something felt off.

After all, he was a special instructor at the officer academy; he shouldn’t fall so easily.

As he pondered this, preparing for Jin Crow’s follow-up attack, a sound interrupted him.

-GRRRR.

“Hmm?”

With the familiar beastly growl echoing from behind, he instinctively turned his head to the shadow looming above him.

In that moment, he couldn’t help but chuckle, realizing anew what it meant to be utterly dumbfounded.

“Ha.”

Before him stood a figure unlike the mass-produced soldiers he had faced before, one clad in armor forged like a medieval knight, silently revealing its fierce gaze.

-GRRRRRRRR.

Then, with a characteristic low rumble, it raised its fist.

“…You’ve been clever, haven’t you?”

KWA-BOOM!

Right after, with a thunderous boom, the creature’s fist struck precisely above Kim Cheol’s head.

*

“Cough.”

Shuddering…

Jin Crow barely managed to twist the cap off his hip flask with trembling fingertips, pouring the nearly depleted liquor down his throat.

The mingled scent and taste of blood and alcohol was acrid, but he felt that if he didn’t drown the immediate pain in intoxication, he wouldn’t be able to bear it.

“…Cough! Hack!”

Perhaps the effects of the pentacle were finally waning, or maybe his body could no longer endure; he lay still.

Yet, he wasn’t quite at the brink of losing consciousness, so Jin Crow gazed at the distant echoes of explosions and vibrations, lost in thought.

‘Mid-tier creature. Knight.’

If the Pawn resembled a soldier wielding a spear, as its name suggested, the Knight bore a striking resemblance to a knight in armor.

It was not a name given lightly.

The difference lay in its overwhelming specialization in defense rather than offense.

In fact, it was said to be the most troublesome opponent for martial artists in the story, meaning that Kim Cheol, who charged in blindly swinging, would find it a poor match-up.

KWA-BOOM!

KUGUGUGUNG!

“…Or maybe not?”

The ferocious sounds were sharp.

Jin Crow let out a bitter laugh, struggling to hold onto the last threads of his consciousness.

He considered injecting one more dose of the remaining pentacle, but with not even a finger’s worth of strength left, that too was impossible.

And then, at that moment.

“Instructor!”

“Find him! Hurry up!”

He turned his head at the sound of a familiar voice.

A series of soldiers came into view, rushing from beyond the ruins, and thankfully, they were neither in red uniforms nor the brown garb of the militia.

‘Lieutenant Lee Hana. And the military police, perhaps.’

Suddenly realizing that Obia Timist was nowhere to be seen, he shook his head.

If one has no expectations, there is no room for disappointment.

“There! Over there!”

“Quickly, move him!”

Soon they discovered the battered Jin Crow, rushing towards him in a flurry, and as they beheld his form, an inexplicable sense of relief washed over them, prompting them to slowly close their eyes and ponder.

‘…Never again. The Admissions Inspector.’

That was a rather serious vow.