‘Huh…’

It was so absurd that I couldn’t help but laugh because the players in front of me were obviously nothing but rookies. When I looked at the girl who told me what to do, I immediately saw her status window. I guess she was part of the attack team because she had unlocked her first job, but nothing about her stats really caught my attention.

‘She’s just going to get carried.’

Even in a party of 14 people, she had probably gotten carried by them, so there was no need to remember her name or face. She might show some potential if she actually tried, but if not, she would just be a rookie I wouldn’t have any expectations for.

‘Han Sora?’

When the small rookie with short hair spoke up again, it was so ridiculous I didn’t know what to say.

“Sir?”

Naturally, I thought about what I should do. It would be stupid to trick them or introduce myself, and since I was somewhat a public figure, it would hurt my pride to come up with a plan to get rid of them. I could just use my power without having to use my brain like I had done with Ito Sota. Juliena was definitely reacting to my emotions because I could feel her trying to unsheathe herself from my waist. When I looked around slowly, the rookies must have thought they had insulted me, as I saw them smiling, and Jung Ha-Yan’s earlier statement about them being nice was clearly false.

“Sir? Aren’t you going to start the lesson?” one of them asked.

“I’m Lee Ki-Young, an instructor,” I told them.

“Ohh, I guess even people in charge of non-combatant jobs are considered instructors,” they commented.

I guess their comment was funny because I heard the others snicker. I wanted to just laugh it off, but I wasn’t that kind of person.

“Whew…”

The room became quiet after I sighed.

“Stop… sighing and start the…”

As soon as the words came out of their mouth, Juliena unsheathed herself from my waist and flew toward Han Sora. It was so sudden that I didn’t bother to react to her scream because Juliena had already flown over to her in an instant, the objects between her and me had strewn all over the place, and even the windows had started to crack. Juliena flew like she would cut Han Sora’s head off, but she stopped right in front of the latter’s eyes.

“Um…”

She couldn’t even respond. Her short hair flew back because of Juliena, and no one spoke even after her hair came back to place. However, Han Sora had definitely realized that she could have died just now because her chin started to quiver.

‘She peed herself…’

She definitely got scared because I saw yellow liquid dripping under her desk. It seemed that intimidation was more fun than I thought.

“How amusing. What’s your name?” I asked.

“Oh…”

She looked like she was suffering from a stroke, as she couldn’t even speak properly. When Juliena approached her again, I heard her speak in a low voice.

“It’s… Han Sora…”

“Han Sora. Before I start the class, I think I need to give you some background because it seems like many of you are unsatisfied with this class,” I started.

“...”

“I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m sure some of the trainees will have this kind of doubt. You don’t have enough time to train, so why do you need to take a class about minor and production jobs? Hm… How about the trainee next to Han Sora answer?” I suggested.

“What?” they asked.

“You can answer honestly,” I added.

“Th-That’s not true. I never thought…”

“No, I told you it’s okay to be honest,” I emphasized.

“I-It’s a bit…”

“It’s natural to have that kind of thought. You’re not sure how this happened, but you’re suddenly in a situation where you have to fight against monsters, and you ended up here and have learned many things. It may be a bit soon for you to fully adapt, but I’m sure you already have a basic understanding of this place,” I continued.

“...”

“You’ll be treated with respect if you have power,” I added.

When I looked around after I finished talking, I saw how frustrated the rookies looked.

“I’m sure some of you are already feeling the gap because you all know that the attack team that completed the dungeon capture unbeknownst to you all is getting better treatment, and honestly, they deserve the treatment because it means they adapt really fast. That’s the kind of experienced rookies our society likes,” I explained.

“...”

“I may be getting off-topic here, but your answers are correct. In this place, you’ll be treated with respect if you have power. In this world, the few strong players will receive special benefits that can’t even be compared to the benefits ordinary players will receive, and the amount of money the strong players make is beyond your imagination. Do you know how big the difference is in terms of income?” I asked.

“I… don’t know,” a rookie answered.

“There are players who can’t even make one gold in a day, but there are players who make over a thousand gold a day. A monster’s corpse makes you money, and the higher the monster’s rank is, the more valuable they are. The same goes for higher-ranked dungeons. Capturing an epic-ranked dungeon or above basically means you’re going to obtain a lot of money. The problem is—” I paused.

“...”

“—The problem is that there aren’t that many players who are capable of capturing epic-ranked dungeons or above,” I continued.

My words must have slightly stoked the rookies’ interests, as I saw them staring at me.

“Yeah, there aren’t that many of them. Everyone started out just like all of you guys. They started with the feeling that they could achieve something, and they trained hard, thinking that they could do well. They started to hunt monsters, felt like they were growing, and they started to think that maybe this world wasn’t so bad. Just like playing a videogame, they enjoyed the grind to increase their levels, as well as the thrill of getting new gear,” I said.

“...”

“And then, they either got into an accident, or they started to notice their limits, and then they realized this wasn’t a game. They started to get divided between people with talent and those without. Those without talent became dispirited while looking up to the players continuously climbing the ranks. Some of you will realize this reality as soon as you leave this training camp because the outside world is more dangerous than you think. Why do you think there are only a few players who are climbing the ranks?” I asked.

I was sure they knew the answer.

“The majority of them die during that process. They had either gotten themselves eaten alive by a monster, or they had become disabled before being forced to live in the slums as beggars. For men, they’re often used in human experiments, and women are either sold to foreign lands as slaves, or they’ll end up getting involved in bad things. Living in this world is harder than you think,” I continued.

“...”

“The situations I mentioned aren’t that bad. There are people who get captured by monsters, and after getting fed shit in the monster’s village, they end up getting eaten, and there are many whose lives had been spared after having their limbs amputated,” I added.

Honestly, those situations weren’t that bad either because I was sure there were some players who had experienced far worse than those.

‘Of course, I’m not one of them…’

“I’m sure some of you will end up in one of those situations. If you asked for my personal opinion, the majority of you will either die here within three years or become severely disabled and end up living in the slums. We might even run into each other at a bar. Especially trainees like Han Sora,” I added.

“What?” Han Sora asked, dumbfounded.

“People like you are usually the first ones to either die or end up disabled. Both situations are pretty bad, but the first to run wild is the first to meet their end because it’s a very common cliche,” I answered.

‘Ah…’

“You and you… and you… and the trainee next to you… and the trainee over there… There’s a good chance you’re going to be killed somewhere. I can assure you; there isn’t a single person here who can climb… Oh! Aside from you,” I told them.

[Checking Player Yoo Ah-Young’s Status Window and Potential.]

[Name - Yoo Ah-Young]

[Title - None. Please work harder.]

[Age - 21]

[Nature - Timid Optimist]

[Job - Unemployed]

[Stats]

[Strength - 11/Above epic rank growth limit]

[Agility - 10/Below rare growth limit]

[Stamina - 27/Above legendary growth limit]

[Intelligence - 10/Below average growth limit]

[Endurance - 12/Above rare growth limit]

[Luck - 15/Above epic growth limit]

[Magic - 01/Above rare growth limit]

[Overall Review - Player Yoo Ah-Young’s stamina and strength potential are high. Her endurance and magic potential are disappointing, but she has the potential to grow into an excellent vanguard.]

‘Not bad.’

I didn’t think she was part of the attack group, but she was way better than I thought because this was my first time seeing someone who had legendary-ranked stamina. I was basically here to discover gems like her. It seemed like her huge chest was drawing my attention, but of course, it was rude to stare at her like that.

The girl was surprised when I suddenly pointed at her, and after turning my head away from her for a brief moment, I continued talking.

“Your name?” I asked.

“Y-Yoo Ah-Young, sir,” she answered.

Now that I thought about it, she wasn’t one of the trainees who mocked me. When I pointed her out, everyone looked at her. Everyone looked as if they were confused, but whether they understood or not was none of my concern.

When I continued talking after tapping on the desk, they looked at me again.

“Excluding Yoo Ah-Young, none of you have the potential to reach the top. None. Some of you might be able to, but I’m certain you’ll only get there by overcoming several life-threatening situations.”

“That’s…”

“The world has always been unfair. I’ll speak briefly about Miss Jung Ha-Yan. She’s one of the mages currently representing Lindel. She achieved high enough stats to get the Devil’s Guild’s attention, and she has more mages beneath her than above her. How long do you think it took her to achieve all of this?” I asked.

“Ah…”

“Only a year. It may not seem like much, but this is pretty abnormal. It applies even more when you think about the people in the city who can't even get close to her even after studying magic for over twenty years. Actually… considering the situation, I’ll be more straightforward,” I said.

“...”

“You guys are trash with no potential,” I remarked.

“Ah…”

“And that’s why I’m here. Now, do you understand why a non-combatant instructor is here? You’re going to die anyway if you go out there, so I’m here to save at least one of you by turning you into a useful component of society,” I added.

“Th-That’s quite…”

“It’s not harsh at all. Whether you go out to hunt monsters or to war, you’ll be nothing but meat shields. If you can’t contribute to the city, you might as well do some labor or create an alchemist kit and be helpful to the city. Don’t put your effort into useless things, you idiots, as time is precious. I guarantee that people like you are better off listening to my lessons than another instructor’s lesson,” I continued.

When I looked at the trainees after I finished talking, I noticed they were being hostile. They seemed like they had something to say, but they didn’t have the courage to say it, as Juliena was still floating in the air.

Just then, the bell signaling the end of the class rang, but I didn’t bother waiting for them to say goodbye.

“I’ll see you next time, you idiots,” I told them.

As soon as I exited, I saw Jung Ha-Yan waiting for me. Despite the fact that the students were watching us from the window, it was kind of amusing the way she stuck right next to me. Even the two male recruits who had been talking about her before class started were staring at us, and for some reason, it made me feel better.

“Pwahaha.”

“Did you have fun, Oppa?” Jung Ha-Yan asked.

“Oh… yeah, I did. It was more fun than I thought. The students were nice…” I replied.

“Right? Everyone in Class C was really nice,” she commented.

“Yeah, and for some reason, I couldn’t stop looking at a trainee named Han Sora…” I added.

“What?” she asked.

“She was passionate about the lesson…” I started.

“Ah…”

“She was cute…” I continued.

“I-I see…”

“I think she was part of the attack group, so it’ll be best to recruit her to the Blue Guild. I want her by my side,” I added.

“What? I-I mean, yes, that would be… Oh… I know her, too. She’s… yes… hehe… I remember her. She was cute. Yes… cute…” Jung Ha-Yan mumbled.

I saw Jung Ha-Yan smiling awkwardly. Rather than blaming her for her actions, I was certain this method was more effective. I may seem pitiful, but a cowardly revenge like this was more of my style.

‘You need to be punished.’