episode_0004

The future of Starlight Colony is at stake in Green Camp.

For a moment, I did not understand Professor Edmund’s words.

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“…It’s getting late, but I think it would be quicker to talk right away in conjunction with the interview.”

Vice Principal Stella gave a glance to Edmund, the head of the faculty department, and soon he moved to where they were sitting across from me.

“To start with the conclusion, in order to win the colony competition, you must train the aces of the Special Forces Green Camp, and if you do not win, Starlight Colony will be destroyed.”

It seems like the conclusion was drawn right away.

It may mean that it is urgent, but it feels like a crime movie that skips all the process and just says, ‘The criminal is a cripple.’

“Do you know about the colony battle?”

“Of course. While I have been tutoring mechanics to students so far, they have achieved quite excellent results in the colony competition…”

oh.

“Captain Edmund. Did you know?”

“Hmm. You talked about what you did on the weekends, and even if that wasn’t the case, you were excellent from the beginning.”

“…From what I heard, it seems like you have considerable experience as an instructor.”

Vice Principal Stella’s eyes aren’t very nice.

Perhaps the students taught elsewhere were momentarily offended by the part about ‘achieving good results in competition’.

‘But I didn’t do anything wrong.’

Even if the students I teach win because they get excellent grades, and the loss has a negative impact on Starlight Colony, I have nothing to lose.

If there is a mistake, it is the colony that talks about destruction due to the colony war that is bad.

To be exact-

“I would like to ask you one thing in advance. Is the colony’s financial condition very bad?”

“…….”

The management of the colony is so bad that it requires a lot of money to recruit instructors under the condition that you must win the colony competition.

“Let me make a few guesses. This is purely an inference I made based on the information I gained while looking around here, Starlight Colony and the Academy over the weekend, as well as what you two just said and your reactions.”

Take a sip of tea to quench your throat, then slowly open your mouth.

“Until 15 years ago, Starlight Colony was a prestigious military school that produced many talented people in the Colony Competition. It was a place where the term ‘educational colony’ was more appropriate than any other place.”

“It was like that. Until 15 years ago.”

Vice Principal Stella agreed with what I said and laughed bitterly.

One problem. So why has the situation now deteriorated so close to collapse?

“…12 years ago, we slowly started to have bad records in the colony competitions. Our performance in competitions, which were always within the quarterfinals, kept getting pushed down to the round of 16, round of 32, and round of 64.”

“…….”

“Skilled prospects are leaving one by one, and among the children born in the colony, there are no children who can be called ‘special aces’, and even the children who thought so did not want to become the star of hope for this colony.”

Or leave for another colony.

Either give up on becoming a colony representative and pursue a career as a mechanic pilot on your own.

“Above all, for students who graduated from here, the diploma indicating that they graduated from ‘Starlight Academy’ would have been a kind of stigma.”

I almost couldn’t help but say something like, ‘If I’m going to come out with a diploma from a magazine college, I’ll transfer to Inseoul and graduate.’

I held back those words because they were not appropriate for this era.

“In this way, talent within the academy continued to leak out, grades worsened every year, and in order to somehow fill the absence of talent, they would have invested in the specifications of the AS…robot itself.”

There are two quickest ways to win a competition.

“If there are multiple ace pilots who can overturn even an unfavorable battle situation, you can achieve high scores in confrontational battles.”

One is to train an ace pilot.

“Ace is a knight in medieval warfare.”

And another one….

“But even if a knight does not have proper weapons and armor, he will be stabbed to death by soldier A wearing full plates.”

“It’s always a dilemma. Does a good pilot come first, or a strong mechanic?”

“In the end, both are necessary, but it appears that this academy has been lacking both for the past 12 years.”

“…Yes.”

Crackling.

“Both of them are very inadequate.”

Vice Principal Stella grits her teeth and shakes her fists.

“Really, in many ways…”

I try hard to smile, but I can’t hide my already cracked expression.

“Perhaps.”

“By any chance, what is it?”

“Did the foundation provide a loan to a mecha production company?”

“…….”

“If the problem of the colony war has a negative impact on the Starlight Foundation and the colony, we have no choice but to think about capital erosion by ‘military companies’.”

I wandered around the world and looked into many things about the world.

“They lend new generation AS to the academy and hope to become a sponsor. It is usually much more technologically advanced than the aircraft produced by the colony itself and is easier to mass produce.”

And while tutoring mechanic pilots, I saw with my own eyes the rare cases in which large corporations swallow up entire colonies.

“The problem is what happens when you ‘break it all’…”

“The contract was just wrong.”

Vice Principal Stella grits her teeth again.

“Just, that’s right. The contract…”

“Principal Stella may not have anything to do with it, but the people who came before us signed a bad contract, and if that contract still exists, that’s the end of it.”

“…….”

Stella bit her lower lip.

Although she holds the title of director, she appears quite emotional as a woman in her early 20s.

Or, although it was not his fault, he may feel burdened by the fact that he has to take full responsibility for the mistakes made by his family and the foundation’s predecessors.

“…next 3 years.”

“…….”

“Within 3 years, our Starlight Colony must ‘win’ the colony competition. Otherwise, you will have to pay huge compensation, which must be raised by selling the ownership of the colony.”

“Where is it?”

“Diamond Industry.”

“Ah.”

I was bitten by a hugely evil company.

No, to say that they are evil is that they are a mega-corporation from Earth that operates strictly according to capitalism, and is a huge group that encompasses the entire solar system.

“Even if you get bitten…”

“And there are three more places.”

“……Yes?”

“Capital was spent here and there.”

Stella lowered her head as if she could no longer speak.

“The compensation to be sent to Diamond Industries was borrowed from another military company, and although they received mecha support and financial support, they suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of the Colony, and to repay it, they borrowed money from another company…”

“What kind of colony is revolving…”

Revolving.

When it comes to credit cards, it’s called ‘card blocking’, and that’s what the foundation has done.

“How much money was taken?”

“……That is an internal secret of the foundation.”

“Can you tell me about that?”

“Yes.”

Grumble.

Vice Principal Stella slowly stood up.

The sound of the chair dragging on the floor was similar to the sound of chains rolling.

“I am desperate. As the chairman of the foundation, and as a student who was born and raised in this colony and graduated from this academy.”

“Oh, yes, that’s right.”

“So I need at least one more person. I don’t know much about the teacher’s teaching style or abilities yet, but I would like to bet that he was brought in by Professor Edmund himself.”

“No, I was just saying what I thought.”

“At the very least, this academy needs someone who can look at the academy’s situation calmly and objectively.”

Thump.

Vice Principal Stella grabbed both of my hands.

“Hey, over there.”

“Would you please become the star of our academy? If you win the colony competition, we will give you a bonus of several hundred million credits.”

“That’s it….”

If we can win the colony competition in this hellish situation, shouldn’t we be given not hundreds of millions but billions – no, even tens of billions?

“Hey, vice principal. No, Director. I’m not a soldier, I’m just a civilian tutor, a freelancer…”

“Professor Edmund. What will happen if I miss this teacher now?”

“Umm….”

Captain Edmund turns to me.

“The best pilot in the world….”

“…….”

You would be missing out on excellent teachers who can teach “…”

I glanced at Captain Edmund for a moment, but Captain Edmund looked at me intently and came next to me.

“Trev.”

“No, don’t call me that friendly.”

“No, Jeongwoon.”

“…No, if you suddenly call me by my real name like that.”

“What does it mean to like people from your hometown?”

This old man, no, the old man.

“As people from the same country who met by chance in this entire galaxy of the solar system, especially in the Starlight Colony, shouldn’t we live together and help each other?”

“I am Trev Cloud. I am a freelancer wandering around space.”

“There is kimchi in Starlight Colony.”

“…….”

oh.

“…If you are tempting me with just something to eat, you are greatly mistaken. No matter how difficult kimchi is to find, if you go to a fairly large colony, you can buy it even for 100,000 credits for 300g.”

“Served as a meal. This colony’s agricultural facilities are unrivaled compared to other colonies.”

“Even if you try to catch me with something like that…”

“And… that, Director. Can we both talk for a moment? It only takes 3 minutes.”

“…….”

Captain Edmund asks for understanding from Vice Principal Stella.

Vice Principal Stella, who was looking at me and the captain with somewhat suspicious eyes, nodded silently and went out.

“…What is it, Captain? The reason you want me so desperately. I know best that he is not someone who does this because of his career.”

“You know. I know you better than anyone else.”

Of course.

Before we are people from the same country, we are ‘comrades in arms.’

“It is difficult to explain in detail as the next interviewer is coming soon, but I will briefly tell you why I am speaking so desperately.”

A time of 3 minutes.

It’s time for the ‘interview’ to officially begin, and you can feel the excitement outside.

Perhaps the original interviewer, not me, was waiting outside and chatting for a moment with the vice principal.

“There is ‘it’ here in Starlight Colony.”

“…Kimchi?”

“No. This… Vice Principal Stella doesn’t know. A top secret that only I, the academy principal, and the foundation chairman know.”

Captain Edmund points his finger toward my heart.

“[ether bus]. …One of the 12 ether ores of the source is located here.”

“……No.”

Why?

Why is that?

A crystal that emits infinite energy, of which there are only 12 in the entire universe.

Why is it an object that can be said to be the highest crystal of all ether?

Ether Bus.

It is the power of evolution that can create any being, be it a god or a devil.

With all possibilities –

“If that’s the case, why are you such a mess…?”

With that, this shit is happening.