I Possessed a Broken Academy Instructor - Chapter 71



Chapter 71

“Is that so? Then, of course, I shall not kill her.”

Jin Crow, moved by her plea that bore no reason or explanation, sheathed the sword he had held against her throat and offered a benevolent smile.

“…Did you think I would say that?”

Of course, such a thing did not happen.

It was only natural.

He was not foolish enough to disregard the opinions of Baek Hwi-young, the protagonist of this world and a returner, but neither was he so dim-witted as to accept things without reason.

Thud—.

Yet, he could not hear the answer from Baek Hwi-young.

With a face twisted in distress, beads of cold sweat forming as he struggled to respond, Baek Hwi-young collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut, his body still not having recovered.

“Hwi, Hwi-young!”

“You managed to rush out. Your condition can’t be normal.”

Miel hurriedly dashed toward Baek Hwi-young, who lay sprawled on the floor, while Tita Zenolua took a sip of whiskey from the table and muttered softly.

As she said, Baek Hwi-young’s condition was far from normal.

Naturally, the other cadets looked on with concern, and the same went for the once-rebellious Satra and the former insurgents of the Lemal planet, who were, in any case, favored.

‘They were foes too strong for mere cadets to handle.’

They were likely thinking that.

However, Jin Crow was different.

Even if he had lost all the gears he had built up before his return, how could someone who had lived at least ten lives fall so easily?

It made no sense.

Of course, it wasn’t an act.

But the reason for his collapse was not due to battle; it must be something else.

‘Is it a mental issue, after all?’

It was a problem often brought to light.

Where does the identity of a human being lie?

In the past, the focus was on the physical body, but in modern times, it has shifted predominantly to the mental aspect.

After all, isn’t there much debate surrounding the topics of cloned humans and brain uploading?

—Is the replicated me truly me?

It is a subject that requires extensive discussion, both ethically and philosophically, and even in this era where science and mysticism have developed to extremes, it remains a topic of active debate.

The answer is not particularly intriguing to me.

However, the problem lies in the fact that Baek Hwi-young has already accumulated in his mind multiple instances of a “future he has experienced but has not lived.”

‘The brain also feels fatigue.’

Humans are creatures of forgetfulness.

Philosophers engage in tedious debates over whether forgetfulness is a blessing or a curse, yet the crux of the matter lies in its vital role in alleviating the fatigue of the mind.

Consider this.

Imagine if a human were to remember everything they have seen, learned, felt, and thought since birth, constantly recalling it all.

I assure you, in eight or nine cases out of ten, they would go mad.

It is no coincidence that we have terms like hyperthymesia and savant syndrome to describe such conditions.

It is, quite literally, a malady.

“Moreover, even if one has experienced a decade ten times over, that is already a century.”

One cycle of ten years offers a new opportunity.

Though it may seem brief in the countdown to ruin, it is a long stretch for a single individual to endure repeatedly.

The paranoid tendencies that manifest, or the obsessive drive to cross-verify every scrap of information one possesses, are but side effects of this burden.

Whether one is aware of it or not.

“Move inside.”

“Yes, Instructor.”

Jin Crow fixed his gaze on the figure of Beatus as he carried the white-haired Bai Huiyong inside, before settling into his seat and taking a drag from his cigarette.

Click-.

Tita Zenolua, sitting beside him, lit the flame with a lighter she had seemingly been waiting to use, and brushed her eyelids.

“Ah.”

“Interesting. Is this how you behave as an instructor?”

“…I would appreciate it if you could keep quiet.”

“If you wish.”

Perhaps it was just a feeling, but from the moment she revealed her role as an instructor, Tita Zenolua wore a perpetually amused expression.

It made one want to wipe out the mafia, if only in jest.

Whether she sensed his thoughts or not, Satra, who had just brushed her neck where a blade had grazed moments before, spoke softly.

“I don’t know if this will serve as a reason to spare my life, but I intended to confess once I had rectified my mistakes.”

“Most criminals say that.”

At Jin Crow’s blunt remark, Satra could only manage a wry smile.

She knew well.

The animosity Jin Crow displayed towards her was entirely justified.

Yet, regardless of the reasons, she had no intention of casually throwing away the opportunity for defense that the cadet Bai Huiyong had unwittingly provided.

“Red hands have betrayed us. Moreover, we too harbor a hatred for the creatures. If we had truly meant otherwise, we would have handed over the cadets from the start.”

She held the most undeniable evidence in her mouth.

Of course, she had no intention of using that as a pitiful excuse to evade guilt.

“If an execution were to be carried out here, I would accept it humbly. Regardless of the reasons, I made the worst choice, and I regret the responsibility and consequences to the point of grinding my teeth. But I hope….”

Slowly, she rose from her seat, kneeling with the same infinitely calm and dark gaze she had worn when they first met in the Atlas Colony.

“Captain!”

“…….”

Those still loyal to her sighed, yet the ones who truly mattered, Jin Crow and Satr, wore faces that were serene to the point of being static.

“Please allow us to rescue the survivors of the Lemal planet, who have fallen into the hands of that terrorist group, the Red Hands, and the cadets as well, Instructor.”

“……Hah.”

Jin Crow exhaled a breath that could have been smoke from a cigarette or merely a sigh filled with frustration, grinding the nearly finished cigarette into the ashtray.

No matter how uncomfortable it was, it was still Baek Hwi-young’s words.

They could kill if they wished, but there was an undeniable hesitation lingering in the air.

‘The material has already been identified; we just need to keep watch.’

Tita Genolua was already in the same boat.

Thus, if he entrusted it to her, at least there would be no accidents.

With that thought, he took a sip of the whiskey that Tita Genolua had poured and spoke.

“I am not Instructor Crow; I am merely Jin, a mercenary blinded by money.”

“Pardon?”

“Excuse me?”

The cadets, their faces taut with tension at his declaration, blinked as if to question the absurdity of his words, but Tita Genolua, realizing the true meaning behind them, regarded him with a look of surprise.

“I’m not sure, but you’re a second-class wanted criminal, right? Is that alright?”

“The bounty is regrettable, but it cannot be helped. I am already a hired hand.”

“……You adapt quickly. As expected of our department.”

He seemed like someone who would never compromise, yet there was a strange flexibility about him.

Of course…

“It’s my first time seeing the cadets of the officer academy up close; it’s refreshing.”

“C-Captain?”

“……Jin the mercenary is, how should I put it, always refreshing.”

The very adaptability and flexibility he displayed seemed oddly mismatched with his infinitely cold expression, and therein lay the problem.

Regardless, a line had been drawn, and from the moment Satra slowly bent his knees in a brief bow, the imposing figure of Instructor Crow vanished from this place.

Just as the atmosphere seemed to settle.

Knock, knock—.

Someone rapped on the door of the safe house, and as all eyes turned toward the sound, Tita Zenolua spoke.

“How prompt they are.”

As if responding to her tone, the mafia standing at the door swung it open.

In stepped a man clad in a white suit, a black briefcase in hand, entering the safe house.

“You’ve arrived, the hound of Geumganghyeok.”

“Please call me Minsu, Consigliere.”

Gone was the sly grin he had worn before; the man entered with a blank expression, one that Instructor Crow recognized well.

Indeed, he was the very substitute for Geumganghyeok, who had introduced himself as such when he first set foot in the Free Planet Alliance.

“So, you are Minsu.”

“You previously expressed your apologies for the rudeness shown.”

Though expected, the demeanor he had displayed was merely a façade, a performance of the true Geumganghyeok.

In contrast, Geumganghyeok, while masquerading as Minsu, had not shed his own nature; one might say he lacked sincerity.

‘Indeed, the only good elf is a dead elf.’

He let the rising tide of racial prejudice flow freely, gesturing toward Minsu as if to encourage him to speak further.

Eventually, as Tita Zenolua cast a glance that seemed to agree with his actions, Minsu silently opened the briefcase he had brought.

Rustle—.

From within, contrasting the leather exterior, a metallic sound emerged, and out sprang a holographic projection of the insufferably sly Geumganghyeok, a visage they had seen before.

〔Ah.〕

Yet, the projected image was somewhat peculiar.

He sat upon a single-person leather sofa that looked as if it belonged to a shadowy figure, clad in a classic suit and a fedora, a cigar in his mouth as he murmured softly.

〔A proposal you cannot refuse.〕

It was a line that transcended mere classicism, echoing the familiar words of a masterpiece found in textbooks.

“……”

“……”

Naturally, the cadets who failed to grasp the reference, as well as Satra and even Tita Zenolua, stared at him with blank expressions.

Instructor Crow understood, but instead of responding, he took a drag from his cigarette, his face settling into an even deeper mask of indifference.

Thus, it was the sly one who found himself at a loss.

〔…Oh dear, that was my attempt at a clever black joke.〕

From noble mtl dot com

He clicked his tongue in genuine disappointment, tossing his fedora carelessly into a corner.

The holographic projection was rather small, which made it seem somewhat comical at first glance, yet no one laughed, for they knew him well enough.

〔Well then, let us begin with the church…〕

“I am the mercenary Jin. I started taking care of matters for Tita Xenolua not long ago.”

〔Pardon?〕

“Let me reiterate, I am…”

〔Ah, cough! So that’s the setup. I shall take that into account. Then, it is with great regret that I acknowledge your involvement, mercenary Jin. Personally, I find it rather unsettling that an outsider, especially a mercenary from the Synthesized Nation, is meddling in our affairs.〕

He murmured this with a tone of sincere regret, placing a pre-cut cigar between his lips.

〔Naturally, I have blocked the information on my end. Even if they catch wind of something suspicious, unless they reveal it themselves, they won’t be able to lodge a formal complaint.〕

Geumyoung Security was a protective agency, but it also served as a security firm.

At the very least, if he had managed to block it, it meant they had bought some time, Tita Xenolua whispered quietly from behind.

〔Mercenary Jin, I do not know what your purpose is, but since we are working together, I hope you achieve that goal.〕

Of course, regardless of his competence, that smiling face was far from evoking any warm feelings.

Perhaps sensing Jin Crow’s demeanor, Tita Xenolua downed her whiskey in one swift motion and said, “Let’s get to the point, Geumgang Hyuk.”

〔Well, yes. In business, manners are about valuing the other’s time.〕

Geumgang Hyuk grinned, his eyes narrowing into slits, and exhaled a long plume of smoke from the cigar he held.

〔In two days, on Thursday, there will be a massive blackout in Districts 5, 7, and 11, coinciding with a large-scale protest by illegal workers.〕

District 5 is the headquarters of Carpe Diem.

District 7 is the union building of the Interstellar Transport Guild.

District 11 is the territory of Lucky Anubis.

He had laid out his intentions with a clarity that was unmistakable, and then he added,

〔The darker the night, the more entertaining the fireworks, wouldn’t you agree?〕

A truly ominous remark.

Jin Crow pondered over his words, slowly nodding in agreement.

“Truly, one can tell you’re an elf; you’re as cunning as they come.”

That was, without a doubt, a positive affirmation.