3 – Spoon in the Drawer (2)
Shin Yoon-sung, a third-rate villain who wouldn’t even be a match for Arna.
He might just look like a piece of trash, but surprisingly, Shin Yoon-sung is a student at Han Yul Military Academy’s Combat Department.
Han Yul Military Academy has various departments.
Combat, Technical, Administrative, and Medical departments, among which the Combat Department is exclusively composed of Awakened individuals.
That’s right.
Shin Yoon-sung is an Awakened.
Elite, in its own way.
As an Awakened, magical power flows through his body. Even though the weapon is just a plain old spoon, he can still wield his abilities.
It doesn’t matter if the instrument is a spoon or a ladle.
As long as he can act as an Awakened, that’s all that matters.
─── Andvari ───
Grade: Unique
▶Active Skill [Locked]
▶Passive Skill [Locked]
▶ Function [Locked] – Unlockable!
Available SP Points: 1
*This item belongs to the character!
───
The SP Points obtained as a quest reward earlier catch my eye.
I unlock the function tab.
─── Andvari ───
▶ Function
[Gigantify: Skill Acquisition Possible, Requires 1 SP Point]
[???]
[???]
[???]
─
Gigantify. It’s a skill that makes it impossible, logically, to defeat an opponent with a small spoon, so it enlarges and transforms it into a weapon-like form.
[Gigantify: Skill Acquisition Complete!]
Let’s test it right away.
I reach out towards the spoon inside the drawer.
Swooosh─
The little thing that was just a simple rice spoon began to emit a blue light. Now, it felt more like a magic wand than a spoon.
Next.
Thunk─!
The spoon that had been jammed in the drawer shot up through the desk.
“Wow….”
It really became huge. It’s about the length of a hockey stick, with an area like a tennis racket.
It looks more like a mallet than a spoon.
If this hits a pot, it’s going to hurt quite a bit.
That aside….
“Screaaam! My desk!”
Because I used the skill without taking the spoon out of the drawer, only the fragile desk broke.
What should I do about this? Should I ask for help?
“Do I have any money left?”
If not, should I borrow some from my family?
“Oh, right.”
This kid doesn’t have a mom.
Of course, no dad either.
***
The weekend passed, and the weekday arrived.
Shin Yoonsung, an orphan without parents, headed to the classroom today as well, determined to fulfill his student duties.
Honestly, he had considered just skipping it all—being a hunter, a hero, and everything else. But he had to ask for the cost of a desk, so that became impossible.
Who would have thought someone would use Herman Miller as a desk brand? I almost choked on the foam looking at the price yesterday.
Do you think it makes sense for a desk to cost millions of won?
I’d rather use an IKEA desk quietly.
“Kick.”
He entered the classroom. Some students laughed when they saw him, and others sent sympathetic glances.
It was probably because of the evaluation match with Arna over the weekend. Since he got knocked out with one punch there, and even in the school community, it was like he was a living legend, there were almost no strangers.
Honestly, it doesn’t bother him at all.
Losing to our protagonist Arna is nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s such a natural thing that it doesn’t even itch.
On the other hand, Arna, the protagonist of ＜Tier One＞, was also in this classroom. Her dazzling blonde hair was still shining brightly today.
“Well… what is it?”
I confidently sat next to Arna.
Arna raised an eyebrow for a moment.
“What’s with that look? Am I so repulsive? You’re staring at me like you’ve found an unexpected cucumber in your kimbap.”
“W-When did I do that?! And I like cucumbers, by the way!”
“What? You like cucumbers? You’ve totally lost it.”
“What are you talking about now?! You’ve said enough, haven’t you?”
Suddenly, as Arna’s voice got louder, she was startled and covered her mouth.
“…”
After staring at my face for a while, Arna whispered softly.
“I… I’m sorry about your face. It just happened because my fist flew without me realizing it.”
Even though Arna, who apologized during the evaluation battle, seemed to think the facial attack was a bit harsh.
Our hero, with a kind heart.
“Thanks to you, I think a few molars are gold now. Chewing squid might be difficult in the future.”
“Uh…? Your teeth fell out…?”
“Of course not, kidding.”
“….”
But I think he has a really bad temper. Maybe I’m a villain at heart.
This is subtly amusing. Will there be another quest? I think I could really play Shin Yoon-seong properly.
“I should have hit you harder….”
As if worrying for nothing, Arna scratched his face. He also moved his buttocks to keep as much distance from me as possible.
Sssnip—
After some time, the classroom door opened. Kim Dong-hak, an elderly man with white hair flying, entered.
“I’ll start the lecture. Put your phones away.”
But the lecture didn’t start right away. After a brief silence, Instructor Kim Dong-hak pointed somewhere.
“You there.”
It was exactly the last row. There was still a student who hadn’t put away his phone. He was blatantly playing with his phone on the desk.
“Didn’t you hear me say to put your phone away?”
“What are you talking about? Talking about people and technology. Who are you to teach us without being an Awakened One?”
Even with the instructor’s instructions, the student didn’t care. To make matters worse, he even muttered to himself.
It was a statement completely disrespecting the instructor.
Note that this classroom is only for combat students. In other words, it means only Awakened Ones are here.
On the contrary, Instructor Kim Dong-hak belongs to the technical department, not the combat department. He is not an Awakened One.
From the perspective of the lofty Awakened Ones, Kim Dong-hak was nothing more than a weak human.
“Put away your phone.”
At that moment, Arna stood up.
Faced with this ridiculous situation, he decided to intervene directly.
“Come on.”
“Mmeh….”
If the words came from a fellow Awakened One, especially from the top student, the influence could be different.
In the end, the guy who couldn’t move at all ended up putting away his phone.
“Alright. Let’s begin the class.”
Kim Donghak, who was being ignored by a much younger student, didn’t say much once the situation settled to a certain extent.
If it were me, I would have blown up right there, eyes glaring and expressing utter discontent. He was someone with a pretty stable mentality.
Haven’t incidents like this happened once or twice before?
“For this session, I’ll be lecturing on mutations. Open the linked materials individually.”
Following the instructor’s directions, one by one, they began pulling out their tablets.
What? Tablets? I didn’t bring anything like that.
“Arna.”
“I don’t want to.”
“But I haven’t even finished speaking.”
Arna turned her whole body away.
That’s unfair. Even if you dislike me, couldn’t we at least share a tablet? Where did the camaraderie among fellow soldiers go?
“Hey, what’s going on there?”
Kim Donghak asked me when I still hadn’t taken out a tablet until the very end.
I decided to be honest in my response.
“I left my tablet behind.”
“You left your tablet? Do you even intend to listen to the class?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Well, nothing can be done. For this session, you’ll have to share with your neighbor.”
“Ugh…”
Nice. It’s even better this way.
Arna had no choice but to close the gap between us.
“Let’s continue the class. Material on page 3.”
The tablet contained images of various monsters threatening the world.
I recognize all these faces. They’re the creatures I’ve personally concocted from scratch.
“It’s been quite a while since monsters first appeared. Even just the confirmed ones amount to 64 species, and the subordinates, monsters, exceed a hundred.”
The boring explanation part had begun. Most students started zoning out, their faces buried in boredom.
On the other hand, Arna, sitting beside me, was unfazed. In fact, she was visibly attentive, even nodding along with Kim Donghak’s words.
She’s the protagonist I’ve created, but she gives me chills sometimes.
Is this something to endure?
“In the end, strategies were found for each species, and now we live in an era where we can easily suppress Ma powers through standardized data. However!”
Thud!
Kim Donghak kicked his foot once.
All the students who had shaken their heads at the unexpected loud noise jumped.
From Noble mtl dot com
“Don’t rely on data alone. And don’t fight relying only on past experiences. We must always consider mutant species.”
Finally, he moved on to the main topic.
Mutant species. Ma powers that show patterns completely different from recorded data.
Just because they look the same on the outside, blindly believing in strategies and rushing in is a sure way to meet a gruesome death.
“Experiencing it firsthand is faster than explaining it in words. Hm….”
Kim Donghak began to survey the entire classroom. It seemed like he was choosing a student to demonstrate.
Please, not me.
“You, the one who was using the phone earlier.”
Kid. Completely caught. Well, I’ll just play along reasonably.
“Next, you who didn’t bring a tablet.”
I suddenly felt uneasy.
“Each of you, enter the sync room with your equipment.”
“Ugh….”
The student who was playing with the phone reluctantly picked up the polyhex.
Of course, I thought he wouldn’t do it. But Arna seems to have a sense of humor.
Then I stood up too. In addition, I picked up my only weapon, a spoon, which I had tucked into my pocket.
….
But.
Am I going to have a meal right now?
Seriously, it’s falling apart….
Only a spoonful