I Possessed a Broken Academy Instructor

Chapter 17

“I knew it, there was something about him.”

“Of course. Would he be an instructor if he didn't have the skills?”

“Well, yeah, but still. I don't like him. What good are skills if he's got no manners?”

Baek Hwi-young suppressed a bitter laugh at the cadets' voices leaking from a room in the men's dormitory and headed to his own room.

“Oh, Hwi-young. You're back?”

“Yeah.”

He walked up the stairs, returning greetings from cadets whose names he sometimes couldn't even remember.

In truth, it would be more accurate to say he had no time to think about anything else.

His mind was currently so complicated that the word 'confused' wasn't enough to describe it.

Creeak-.

He opened the door and entered his quarters. The empty bed on the opposite side caught his eye.

‘Did he drop out?’

At first, no, until just a little while ago, he had remembered the name and face of the cadet who was his roommate.

His skills might have been a little lacking for the Central Special Mission Military Academy, but his personality wasn't bad.

But now, he couldn't remember.

Not his name, not his face, not even the reason he left.

‘Because whenever I opened my eyes, it was always an empty bed.’

It's overwhelming just to remember the connections he made and broke throughout his regressions.

What would happen if, one day, his memories flipped and mixed, and he gradually lost his sanity?

When his thoughts reached that point, Baek Hwi-young, without realizing it, gripped his own neck, closed his eyes, and squeezed.

Crrrack…….

The pain awakened his mind, which had been sinking.

Soon, when he opened his closed eyes, the ashen eyes reflected in the window blinked.

“Hoo.”

A red mark remained on his neck, but there was no need to worry about it.

After all, for a Superhuman, such a mark was something that would disappear quickly, not even qualifying as an injury.

“Shall we begin.”

He sat in his chair, took out a notebook he had kept deep inside a drawer, and opened it.

Its contents were a long list of terms, written in a messy, scattered script, that only Baek Hwi-young, who had experienced the future, could recognize.

As if it were familiar, he held a pen and began to write down what he knew and had experienced, one by one.

-Alliance with the Empire. Impossible for now.

-Free Planetary Alliance. The Council Chairman is a puppet; the real political body is the council of owners of the five major corporations.

-Separatist guerrilla organization 'Red Hand'. Seems larger than expected. Relationship with the owners of the Free Planetary Alliance?

-Factions within the military. Led by Rosen and Kukenhausen. Alliance of minor factions…….

The reason he didn't bother transferring it to a more convenient device was simple.

It absolutely could not be leaked to the outside.

‘This is too much information for a mere cadet to know. It'll get annoying if the information brokers on the darknet even get a whiff of it.’

The possibility of it being dismissed as a mere cadet's delusion was low.

Setting aside the fact that he was a cadet at the Central Special Mission Military Academy, it also contained no small number of secrets about various factions and events that would soon occur, barring any major variables.

If he uploaded it to a device, the creation time would be saved in the data, so unless someone was an idiot, they would have no choice but to notice he had something.

Of course, the stories he wrote down would not necessarily be the absolute truth.

The future could always change.

Nevertheless, the reason he was organizing it was that it was a sort of "mistake notebook," an attempt to avoid at least some of the thorny paths he would encounter along the way.

How long had he been writing like that?

-Instructor Jin Crow.

When he reached the name he had semi-consciously pushed to the back, Baek Hwi-young paused the tip of his pen for the first time and stared intently at it.

Then, as if to organize his thoughts, he closed his eyes and let out a low, sigh-filled remark.

“……What is it? What changed? What in the world is it?”

At first, he thought it was a coincidence or some other variable.

Although the past had always been the same until now, it would be paranoia to be suspicious just because one thing—returning some liquor bottles—happened.

However, that thought soon collapsed.

‘Originally, he had no great interest in Creatures. No, perhaps it seemed like he was intentionally avoiding them.’

He had never brought up the topic of Creatures during his theory lectures.

Moreover, for the newly established lecture this time, both the original timing and the instructor were not Jin Crow.

In the end, Baek Hwi-young's deliberation had no choice but to arrive at the final possibility he had thought of and denied countless times in his mind.

‘A regressor?’

It was a guess so close to a delusion that any other cadet or instructor who heard it would have recommended a mental hospital to Baek Hwi-young, but paradoxically, for him, it was the most realistic deduction.

“No way.”

But he shook his head.

It was more likely that there was a different, special turning point in this past.

After a moment of deliberation, Baek Hwi-young began to write something under Jin Crow's name.

-Observe carefully.

And so, in Baek Hwi-young's quarters, only the sound of a pen moving could be heard late into the night.

***

“As of now, it's true that research resources on Creatures are lacking. Until just a little while ago, the majority of people simply called them space monsters instead of their academic name, Creature, so it's not surprising.”

Jin Crow's impassive voice echoed throughout the lecture hall.

As might be expected, the majority of the cadets were rubbing their sleepy eyes.

“However, it's very fortunate that we have the papers of Professor Lee Su-jong, who has been researching Creatures for the last 10 years, which have been of great help to the military. The Creatures you saw in the simulation room before were all data actualized through Dr. Lee Su-jong's research.”

Of course, among the Special Ability Division cadets, there were quite a few who were genuinely interested in Creatures and were paying attention.

“However, it's difficult to fully apply the cases from the colonial planets outside the Defense Line. Their situation and ours are different.”

But regardless of the cadets' reactions, Jin Crow paid them no mind and silently continued his lecture.

‘……He seems different somehow.’

Hino Kanae blinked her characteristic long black hair and black eyes as she scanned Jin Crow, who was speaking in a monotone voice.

His eyes, slightly hidden by his black hair, held an empty light, and his pale face and slightly sunken cheeks made him look like a sickly and frail man at first glance.

But with his well-trained body added to the mix, he was quite a sight to behold externally.

‘I acknowledge his skill. But I still don't like him.’

The display he had shown the cadets in the simulation room before was brief, but it had resonated with her.

However, that didn't mean she approved of his radical and extreme ideology.

What she revered was the spirit of Bushido from her homeland's distant past, not the madness of suicide commandos who were handed bundles of bombs and pushed to their deaths.

“Cadet. ……Uh.”

It was then.

“Hino Kanae.”

“……My lady.”

“Hm?”

Deep in thought, she was brought back to her senses by the whisper of Huma Kentaro, a vassal of the Hino family, who was next to her.

And she soon realized that Jin Crow was calling none other than her, and she stood up from her seat.

“Yes, Instructor.”

“I didn't tell you to stand. Sit.”

“……Ah, yes.”

She tried to ignore her needlessly blushing cheeks and stared at Jin Crow without losing her dignity.

She could feel the gazes of the other cadets, filled with sneers or laughter, but she knew she couldn't lose her composure.

“How dare he…….”

The members of the Hino family sitting beside her, including Huma Kentaro, narrowed their eyes, but he too was just playing his part.

“Quiet.”

But that was only for a moment.

The brief commotion that had filled the lecture hall subsided at Jin Crow's single word, as if it had never happened.

He narrowed his eyes as if displeased with something, but then shook his head as if to dismiss it and opened his mouth.

“A moment ago, I mentioned the difference between the colonial planets outside the Defense Line and the planets within it. Explain.”

“……The colonial planets outside the Defense Line belong to the Federation of the United Human Star Nation, but they are planets where other races or criminals, who are judged to lack the capacity to adopt the advanced political system of democracy, are relocated. Therefore, the sovereignty of each colonial planet is transferred to a Governor-General's office dispatched through proper procedures.”

Hino Kanae's answer was concise.

However, she couldn't help but be a little bewildered by Jin Crow's follow-up question.

“Then, do you know why the differences become so prominent when colonial planets and the Federation's member planets respond to Creatures?”

“……Pardon?”

What's with this sudden leap in logic?

Hino Kanae's red eyes widened and she blinked for a moment, but she soon answered.

“It's a difference in military power, organization, and management. The Defense Line is, as its name suggests, systematically managed by the Galactic Federal Army under the Ministry of National Defense, which divides it into sectors. However, the planetary defense capabilities of the colonial planets vary according to the discretion of each Governor-General's office.”

In truth, it was a textbook answer.

It was the argument that usually came up when you substituted the Empire for the Creatures.

Was that why?

“Hmm, a half-baked answer. Sit down.”

“……Yes.”

Jin Crow said with a less than satisfied expression, and Hino Kanae could only nod, trying to act nonchalant, and sit back down.

“Pfft!”

“Don't laugh so openly. It's rude.”

She could hear the annoying conversation between Dokgo Ran and Famille from behind, but she paid it no mind.

“Any other opinions?”

“Me!”

“Cadet Dokgo Ran. Speak.”

“Yessir! It's because the colonial planets are weak!”

“An insincere and thoughtless answer. Three demerit points.”

“W-what?! Mmph!”

“Haa, so embarrassing. You really don't have a……. Ah, right. You never did, did you?”

Just as Famille's low voice suggested, it was a familiar sight for Dokgo Ran to act thoughtlessly.

In fact, she was even grateful.

Because the answer Dokgo Ran had just blurted out was so pathetic, her own answer would have seemed slightly better by comparison.

“Any other cadet with an answer? No one?”

Unable to watch any longer, Ginatio scanned the cadets and asked.

However, the other cadets weren't confident they could give a better answer than Hino Kanae, so the atmosphere was one of silence.

‘Hmph, as expected.’

Thanks to this, the corners of Hino Kanae's mouth curled up slightly and Jin Crow's eyes darkened further, but the cadets still just glanced at each other.

“U-um…….”

But just then, a female cadet sitting next to the male cadet with ashen hair at the very back of the lecture hall timidly raised her hand.

“Cadet, Miel Angbereu.”

“Y-yes!”

The cadets' gazes focused on her, a girl with light brown hair and eyes who resembled a squirrel.

“Hi-hiccup!”

Was she startled by the gazes of over a hundred people?

Or was she just flustered by Jin Crow calling her name?

Whichever it was, Miel Angbereu, with a look of clear surprise, shrank her shoulders, but when Jin Crow waited quietly, she seemed to gain courage and mumbled a question.

“U-um, which side suffers more damage?”

“Huh?”

Naturally, the cadets who heard this could only stare at Miel Angbereu in disbelief.

‘……Is she an idiot?’

The same went for Hino Kanae.

Asking which suffers more damage between a colonial planet, which has almost no decent Special Mission Officers and maintains a force equivalent to a single fleet, and a federation planet that maintains a force of at least several hundred thousand, or even millions?

Wasn't it a question with such an obvious answer that even saying 'of course' felt like a waste?

“Ah, uh. I mean, what I meant was…….”

Did she only then realize what kind of question she had asked?

Miel Angbereu's face turned beet red as she tried to make some excuse.

“You've pointed out the blind spot.”

But right at that moment, the cadets couldn't believe their ears at the composed voice that came from the podium.

“The damage to the colonial planets is far less severe.”

Jin Crow added, tapping the podium with his leather-gloved fingers as if he found it interesting.

“Now, try to explain the reason why.”