episode_0085

It is natural for humans to want to show off when they have great power.

This is even more so if it doesn’t normally happen and then suddenly happens.

today.

The entire Starlight Colony is in such a situation.

“Really, I’m going crazy.”

“…Principal Stella. Why are you suddenly in my lab?”

“Do you also think that we are now a ‘celiac colony’?”

“……You looked around the community. Would you like to have a cup of tea first?”

While I was working on some educational materials in a separate lab, I offered warm tea to Vice Principal Stella, who came to the lab, and offered her a seat.

“I understand what happened, but don’t be too annoyed. Only the vice principal suffers.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“Now that we have three Genesis Guardians, we are probably invincible, the Zodiac Alliance and everything can be steamed up, etc. They are probably saying things like that. Peacefully.”

“That’s right!!”

Vice Principal Stella screamed in disgust.

“All they’ve done so far is just collect their salary and act like a lunatic, but the Green Camp platoon members are talking about how they’ve been keeping an eye on them since last year, and that they’ve made a huge deal since the Lavender interview. Don’t you say you have the instinct to become a hero?”

“I understand.”

“…You’re really calm in that respect. So I came. I feel like you’re the only person who talks about things like this.”

“That’s correct.”

I sipped my tea lightly.

“The same goes for the owners of Genesis, but even when strong AS was obtained, everyone had a similar reaction. In particular, people around me gave me more attention.”

“How did you respond in that situation?”

“When I was a party involved, I was so focused on responsibility that I didn’t know much. If I put it in a nice way, that’s okay, but looking back now, I was just a brat.”

It was like that during the Paladin days.

“I don’t really have any regrets. In the end, others may say I acted like a brat, but it was all about saving the universe. Well, someone said it was all ‘mission writing’.”

“Mission writing…?”

“I was gaslighted and told to save the world with a sense of duty.”

“…How are you telling these two people?”

“At least not like what happened to me.”

Today, the car is bitter.

Is it because I added too many leaves?

“Just be wary of praise from those around you, don’t be conceited, and you don’t have to take all responsibility yourself. That’s enough.”

“Umm….”

” Properly controlling the stick and the carrot is the most difficult task in training. it’s okay. It will be resolved over time.”

“I hope it can be resolved in a short period of time.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

I sat across from Vice Principal Stella.

“If there is something that causes such a sudden loss of confidence, it is usually someone’s death.”

“…….”

“I couldn’t even protect myself when I became stronger. Or maybe I was cocky and caused someone to die. Or, the person who was so proud met a stronger enemy and died. Seeing things like that from the side makes you doubt and be wary of yourself, and estimate the great power you have, the extent of that responsibility, and the weight you must bear.”

“How did you come to your conclusion?”

“Let’s work as much as our salary.”

“…Yes?”

“In an ordinary place, as much as your salary. If it’s a good place that you think you’ll have to stay in in the future, work harder by 110% of your salary.”

“…Is your salary not enough?”

Vice Principal Stella’s expression became somewhat uncomfortable.

“Ho, if you want a salary increase…”

“Now is the perfect time. It’s not like I’m greedy for money.”

“Then…?”

“Salary is the degree of my psychological responsibility. You work for what you get.”

“…It is true that I am getting a lot of criticism for paying very little for hiring a paladin.”

“Is that so? How are you going to make me transfer?”

“It can’t be!”

I made a light joke, but Vice Principal Stella jumped up and waved her hand.

“Others may not know, but you shouldn’t! Thanks to you, Starlight Colony is safe now!”

“That’s not necessarily true…”

“Even if others ask for a transfer fee of 10 billion won, no, 100 billion won, I will never pay it! Until the contract ends!”

“Even if a colony comes out that wants to take down 400 trillion as is?”

“…It must have been a secret?”

“An email was sent directly to me.”

When I took out the panel and showed her the email, Vice Principal Stella became thoughtful.

“This…!”

“12 Among my former students who got jobs at the colony, there were friends with whom I had been in regular contact until a few months ago. I felt a little sorry for those kids. He must have been summoned by a high-ranking person in the colony and interrogated in various ways.”

Didn’t you know he was really a Paladin?

I thought he was just a tutor.

I learned it for 500,000 credits a month, so who would think I was a paladin?

“Of course, I’m not saying my value is 400 trillion. From their point of view, it is just a symbol of their attempt to take money from me, thinking that they are getting rid of money that they do not need to receive anyway.”

“Aries Colony and other colonies felt sincere?”

“They are mistaken. Since I was a paladin and the red moon had that appearance, they were mistaken in thinking that I was the owner of the red moon.”

“…Even if that’s not the case, they really are thinking of buying you for 400 trillion. Ha, I didn’t come here to talk about this.”

Vice Principal Stella lowered her head and asked with a sigh.

“…Are you going?”

“I’m not going.”

“Yes? why? 400 trillion is no joke…!”

“Why not know if you can live 4 more years with that credit?”

“Oh.”

Vice Principal Stella’s expression hardened.

“Ji, is the story about the limited time limit really true…?”

“It just means that we are humans who do not know when we will die.”

As a human being.

“In fact, my health is better now than when I first came here. Isn’t the proof here now?”

I pointed to my face.

“I thought you would point this out from the beginning.”

“…I was surprised, but I missed the timing.”

“That’s right. It was an issue with 400 trillion credits, or even more than that, at stake.”

My reflection in the teacup is me wearing something other than a visor.

“I am aware that my life as a human being is coming to an end. How to end it is more valuable and meaningful to me.”

The man is wearing black sunglasses, not a half-mask type vision aid.

“In the past, I was definitely a pilot with the call sign Paladin. He was also the owner of the Creation Tree. However.”

One thing needs to be made clear.

“Even if others praise the glory of the past, their evaluation of the Universal Century can change overnight. Because humans are like that.”

I am not who they want me to be.

“To put it bluntly, ”

I don’t know if Vice Principal Stella will be relieved.

“Currently, I am Trev Cloud, a special forces instructor at Starlight Academy. Nothing more or less.”

I just do my best in the role given to me.

* * *

After Vice Principal Stella gathered her emotions and returned to the teacher’s office.

“If I had asked for a raise in salary, I would have felt at least a little more at ease.”

Not my heart, but Principal Stella’s.

“If you don’t want to pay attention, you won’t be able to not use it.”

No matter how much I stick to my current position as ‘Trev Cloud’, the world never looks at me only as a Cloud instructor.

Beep beep beep.

Even just now, it is like that.

“You’re sending an email through Geari Academy’s internal channel.”

An internal email sent by a person named OOO Teacher.

There is a detailed story written on the front as to why he is sending this email, and underneath it, a photo file is attached instead of a link.

“The picture quality is great.”

How long did it take to send this attached file?

It’s hard to read the original text, but I know better than anyone that this is a contact from one of the 12 colonies of the Zodiac.

‘The reaction was the same in all 12 places.’

Instead of rotting in a place like Starlight Colony, we will spare no effort in providing medical support to anyone who comes to us.

This is true even for the colony that sent this file right now.

“Chairman Taurus, you seem to be in a hurry.”

Chairman Taurus says he is even willing to purge Maria if he wants, and asks if he will pursue his grand dream of militarism by turning this galaxy into a ‘Taurus dimension’.

I wonder how much he has already put into Maria, and he said it’s okay if she’s not a pilot.

All they have to do is train and foster their own pilots and teach them the know-how.

Then, not only was it not enough to give away their 400 trillion won worth of shares to Starlight Colony, but they also offered all kinds of financial compensation, saying they would even pay tens of trillions worth of contract penalties.

“If you refuse, it means war.”

With threats.

“…Taurus is fine, but there is a real problem.”

Other people don’t know.

Since there is no story about colony vs. colony yet, it is not easy to judge as it is an email sent ‘individual to individual’.

“This is what I wanted to consult with Vice Principal Stella.”

Should we go see Chairman Yggdrasil?

no.

If it were her, she would definitely accept the challenge right away, saying, ‘I rather like it.’

“Ha.”

I opened the email.

[Ah, hello. teacher. Do you…remember? My name is Kim Satya, who got a job at the Sagittarius Colony.]

“You know.”

Although his skills were average, he was not surprised by my mask and followed me most actively.

A 24-year-old pilot who used to live alone with his grandmother, got a job as an AS pilot, and sent me a gift every year, telling me that he had taken his grandmother to the highest-end residential area in the Sagittarius Colony.

[Well, I really wasn’t going to say this… but I couldn’t help it.]

“I understand.”

How can a person with 3 years of experience withstand pressure from someone who is not just an executive at the workplace, but is equivalent to the highest authority?

[…’Singung’ asks for my number and says he wants to contact me, so maybe that’s good, right?]

“Hu.”

Paladin is a legend.

And there are still those who want to challenge that legend.

“…I want to tell you to wake up by 4 minutes and 33 seconds.”

Now that the Paladin, who was ‘thought dead’, is alive, those who want to challenge him have begun to appear one by one in the universe.