NOVEL NEXT Chapter 76
Chapter 76. Hero Academy
The incident where about 13 students and teachers who arrived at school early were killed, and 4 others seriously injured.
The MA incident that occurred at Seoum Middle School was classified as a major disaster among the urgent MAs that happened at the same time.
Thanks to the assistance of many heroes, the situation was quickly brought under control, but those already dead could not return to their families.
People mourned the deaths of the young students and teachers, leaving white flowers in front of the school.
“We promise to thoroughly investigate this incident, identify the cause of the MA, and deliver a very strong punishment to those responsible!”
The Hero Department took a stance of finding the cause and meting out punishment.
It was a declaration of fulfilling their responsibilities.
However, this incident only added fuel to the already worsening public sentiment towards the Hero Department.
“Are there any plans for victim compensation?”
“How do you feel about the recent actions of the Hero Department being insufficient…?”
“Did you see the IUPC’s statement that this incident happened because we tried to fight rather than coexist with monsters?”
“Save my son right now!!”
Camera flashes erupted at the press conference.
“Uh…”
The poor employee acting as a representative of the Hero Department could only bow before the cameras, unable to say anything.
Yoo Ji-han, watching the footage of the press conference on a monitor in the office, clicked his tongue.
“It’s obvious they wouldn’t be able to answer, yet they sent out a low-level employee.”
“Probably a scapegoat.”
Yoo Ji-han had encountered the employee who appeared at this conference earlier in front of the middle school.
It seemed he was a person responsible for managing the MA that happened in the area.
But what could someone like that say in front of the reporters?
He could only feel pity for him.
“What does Yang Ji-cheol say?”
“There’s quite a bit of paperwork involved in the procedure with the Snowflake Guild, but he said he’d handle it instead.”
“Thanks for that.”
Meanwhile, Sweet Fun was in the process of the merger with Min Yu-ri’s Snowflake Guild.
——Did you perhaps threaten Min Yu-ri?
When Yang Ji-cheol first heard this news, he was visibly surprised.
How could a guild with such a short history even think about swallowing one that had been active for several times longer!
Moreover, the opponent was Snowflake, which always refused to upgrade, often mentioned even within the Hero Department.
They also knew that there were many guilds eyeing her, a tamer.
Yet, the place she chose turned out to be Sweet Fun, which only had two heroes.
This was an unusual occurrence, so Yang Ji-cheol was taking a keen interest and helping with various procedures.
“I suppose we should look for a new office as well…”
“I checked a few in advance, but I’m not sure if they’re good places.”
“More than anything, we need a place that can accommodate Chilla.”
“Well, it might be good to hear Min Yu-ri’s opinion too.”
Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu felt a growing need to escape their cramped office as their numbers increased.
It was too shabby for an office welcoming Min Yu-ri to a guild.
Furthermore, due to Chilla’s large size, entering such a small space was impossible.
“I hope it’s a place that won’t discomfort Chilla as much as possible.”
“Shall we search for a bit?”
A building where a large monster could freely enter while still having the decorum of an office.
The two searched online listings to find such a place.
However, it was not easy to find an office that fit all the conditions.
‘More than anything, it’s a monster.’
Chilla was officially classified as a pet, but in the end, it was a type of monster.
Having something alive entering a building would cause unease for the property owners.
In the end, they needed to meet someone who understood the heroes’ special circumstances.
That was no easy task either.
“Hmm?”
Suddenly, something caught Kim Si-hu’s eye.
An advertisement that popped up prominently on the search portal site.
[Hero Academy is looking for new students!]
“They’re recruiting students for Hero Academy.”
“Really?”
Hero Academy.
It was an abbreviation for Youth Hero Academy.
A program operated for one year targeting rank 4 parties composed entirely of heroes under the age of 33 among the already active hero parties.
Being organized by the large guild Red Hole, it was a kind of government-funded project supported by taxes from the state.
‘It wasn’t an ordinary school.’
Contrary to its name, Hero Academy wasn’t a school for young students but was designed to train outstanding hero parties that would lead Korea in the future.
Rank 4 heroes who were still inexperienced but showed potential.
It was known that they helped screen many raw gems and offered considerable support.
“They even provide activity support funds every month and a suitable office for the party free of charge.”
“I heard the support is quite generous.”
“The total support funds have reportedly increased significantly compared to last year.”
Activity support funds that come out monthly proportional to the number of members.
And granting an appropriate office for the party without charge.
Additionally, they even support a certain percentage when crafting equipment at the workshop!
Just in terms of financial aspects, there were truly a lot of benefits to be gained.
‘The graduate evaluation wasn’t bad either.’
This was the third selection of Hero Academy.
Parties from the first and second selections had already graduated and were actively engaged in work.
More than half of the parties that graduated from Hero Academy had upgraded to rank 2 and made a name for themselves.
Considering many heroes stagnated at rank 3, it was incredible success.
‘Some of the graduates were absorbed into other guilds as well.’
Since it was organized by a large guild, if they discovered outstanding talents, they would often make offers to absorb the parties that come out of the academy.
They’d pay considerable sums to the existing guilds and take the parties that graduated from Hero Academy.
And while it wouldn’t be entirely welcomed by Hero Academy, there were cases where graduates made connections overseas and expanded into places like the US or Japan.
“What if we went?”
“Sounds good, if we can make it.”
“Shall we give it a shot?”
“Hmm…”
Yoo Ji-han briefly fell into thought.
Hero Academy had a deadline for application, which closed at 11:59 PM today.
The minimum number of members specified was 2.
Up until last year, there was a limit of 3, but it seems it’s been reduced to 2 this year.
Now that Yoo Ji-han’s party had become 3, there was no problem applying.
‘They’re selecting up to a maximum of 30 parties.’
As long as Yoo Ji-han’s party could enter that 30, it could become a great opportunity and turning point for Sweet Fun.
“This is really not going to be easy.”
However, Hero Academy had very strict evaluation criteria given its large application scale.
Those filtered out from the documents would be a fifth of the final selected parties.
It was questionable if Yoo Ji-han’s party could even enter that number.
But even if they were lucky enough to pass, difficulties awaited ahead.
“It is said that more than half of the parties that are finally selected do not graduate.”
Even if they managed to join Hero Academy by a stroke of luck, graduating correctly was less than 30%.
While it was possible to graduate straight away upon reaching rank 2, it was almost close to impossible, and ultimately, the students had to meet all standards required by Hero Academy for a year.
There were many intermediate evaluations, and if they didn’t meet the evaluation criteria, they would be eliminated.
The graduation evaluation held about a year later was at a level that even an average rank 3 party would find it hard to pass.
‘The competition rate is enormous too.’
Hero Academy was a program with extremely fierce competition starting from the documents.
Many guilds were eager to apply, as a rank 4 party should at least submit documents first.
But could Yoo Ji-han’s party break through that competition and be accepted?
Honestly, the likelihood was low.
“Today’s the deadline, but the results are announced right the next day.”
Having the results of the documents announced the very day after the submission deadline was almost tantamount to pre-selecting candidates for acceptance.
“Shall we still give it a shot? I’ll handle all the necessary paperwork for the application.”
“Okay. Let’s give it a try.”
Usually, these documents require meticulous and thorough preparation for passing, but…
Just applying should pose no major issue.
With this in mind, Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu decided to apply to Hero Academy, thinking that nothing ventured, nothing gained.
“What if we actually get accepted?”
“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”
“I’m not really fond of kimchi.”
As Kim Si-hu worked on the application documents for Hero Academy, Yoo Ji-han spent his time searching for other office listings.
He thought that if he got his hopes up too much and ended up being rejected, the disappointment would only increase.
*
Hero Academy headquarters.
Given the scale of the application, Red Hole had established a separate organization dedicated solely to Hero Academy.
And now, the deadline for submissions had passed.
Even in the fully dark dawn, the lights of the headquarters were still shining brightly.
“I brought snacks!”
“Let’s all eat!”
An employee entered the office holding a plastic bag.
Inside the bag were coffee loaded with caffeine, energy drinks that wake you up, and delivered chicken.
Since the results were announced the day after the document deadline, a large volume of work needed to be processed in a short time.
Thus, they were preparing for an overnight work session.
“Where’s my coffee?”
“Here it is.”
Amidst the bustling employees over food, they chatted with each other.
“How many applications have come in so far?”
“About 900 so far.”
The number of candidates passing the documents would be five times the amount of the 30 parties that would be finally selected, coming out to 150 documents.
Thus, the parties applying had to overcome a competition rate of 6:1 right from the submission stage.
“There are a lot of parties applying this year too.”
“I guess there were plenty from our side as well.”
The program run by Red Hole allowed their rank 4 parties to apply as well.
Thus, parties from the large guild to those from smaller guilds gathered to apply.
As long as they were a rank 4 party with at least 2 members, many parties rushed to apply to Hero Academy.
“How many pre-selected candidates are there?”
“We only need to pick 86 from the documents.”
As many had anticipated, there were pre-selected candidates for the Hero Academy.
Parties already on a specific list would pass the document submission without any evaluation.
However, what they could pass was only the document evaluation.
At the interview stage, they had to be evaluated properly without exception.
Bzzzz—
The cellphone of the head of the Hero Academy evaluation headquarters rang.
He was biting into a perfectly fried chicken leg when he picked up the phone.
“Hello.”
—Is this the head of Hero Academy?
“…?”
Thinking it was probably a call from his wife worrying about his overnight work, he was caught off guard by a man’s voice coming through the phone’s speaker.
Upon checking the number, he realized this was a call from someone unknown.
“Yes, this is.”
—This is Red Hole’s big boss.
“Excuse me?”
Suddenly, the big boss?!
The head frowned.
—Don’t you know?
“Who are you…?”
—I’m the one who pays your salary.
“…?”
If he was the one paying salaries at Red Hole…
‘Oh no!’
Clunk.
Only then did he realize the voice on the other end and dropped the chicken leg he had been holding in the other hand.
The person he was talking to was none other than Baek Kang-cheon, the guild master of Red Hole.
“G-guild Master! What brings you to call me at this hour?”
—It’s nothing much, but among the parties that applied to Hero Academy…
The head nodded constantly while talking with Baek Kang-cheon.
And a few minutes later, he took the phone from his ear.
“…”
“…”
All the staff in the room were watching him breathlessly.
He wiped the greasy corners of his mouth and said.
“Guild Master Baek Kang-cheon just called me directly.”
“…What did he say?”
“He told me to just pass the documents submitted by a guild called Sweet Fun.”