Chapter 255 - Postgraduate Student

# With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Some people might agree with this saying, others might not. But one thing is certain.

'When you borrow great power, it comes with crushing interest...'

"Oh my goodness..."

I groaned in bed, muttering those words.

The price for the brain acceleration doping drug I took before the Knight of the Sun God raid to ensure our operation's success had finally caught up with me.

Is this why our ancestors warned against relying on drugs?

Fortunately, the side effects weren't as severe as when I collapsed after using my ability. Unlike when I'd pass out for a week after just one terrorist act, I woke up with a start after only one day.

"Da-in...!"

I felt quite sorry for worrying everyone, especially since it had been a while since I'd collapsed like this. But anyway.

I was able to return to normal condition sooner than expected. Well, it makes sense—I didn't even use my body directly, so collapsing was the strange part.

Anyway, now that we've defeated that Knight of the Sun God.

Until the doomsday cult's heart-pounding monster summoning disaster, I just need to focus on those Moonlight Church lunatics who love otherworldly monsters!

...Of course.

"....."

There was another concern quietly nagging at me.

"Stardust..."

Yes. It was about her.

'...Alright. I'll definitely tell you later, okay?'

"Hmmmm..."

In my room.

After ending three days of forced bed confinement by the overly worried Su-bin and Ha-yul, I was finally back in my own room.

Sitting in my chair, spinning around, I was worrying about Stardust.

...Has her attitude toward me softened considerably?

It could just be my imagination. There's no reason for her, a hero, to show a gentle attitude toward me, a villain.

But somehow. Somehow. Thinking back on our recent conversations... I felt we'd moved quite far from a normal hero-villain relationship. How many times have I saved her now? And she's directly and indirectly saved me quite a few times too.

'...Right. It must be my imagination?'

...For now, I had no choice but to reach that conclusion.

It was an absurd hypothesis anyway. It made more sense that Stardust was just trying to make me lower my guard so she could capture me later. How scary, Stardust. Just how far ahead are you planning...!

"...."

Right. Instead of these trivial matters, I should focus on the Moonlight Church's chaotic "Let's summon monsters from the otherworldly gate and destroy Earth" grand plan.

With that thought, I made a phone call.

Time to go check on the PMC.

***

The four members of Ego-squad, not the Yu-seong PMC squad that I've been nurturing to prepare for the Moonlight Church disaster...

These individuals were ability users I had carefully selected after much consideration.

Lee Se-geom skilled in swordsmanship, Seo Chae-young specialized in long-range sniping, Heo Da-hee who could tank damage while fighting, and San Soo-ah who supported the other three.

Unlike our Ego-stream original members who were recruited on the spot, these individuals were deliberately recruited by me from the beginning.

Like forming a party in an RPG game, each with their own independent role.

Lee Se-geom, the sword-wielding ability user, No. 1.

Seo Chae-young, who shoots arrows of light, No. 2.

Heo Da-hee, the tank-type ability user who wields a flaming greatsword, No. 3.

San Soo-ah, the ability user who creates buff-giving bubbles for nearby allies, No. 4.

As you can see, these four perform different roles while shining brightest when fighting together. When facing a strong enemy, Heo Da-hee tanks and draws aggro while Lee Se-geom slices them up at close range, Seo Chae-young provides support from a safe distance, and San Soo-ah buffs everyone.

And as you can tell from hearing this.

They're less like heroes and more like members of a game raid party.

Of course. That's how they were designed from the start.

The PMC, Ego-squad, was established for one purpose only.

It was created to fight the giant monsters that would emerge from the Moonlight Church's gate disaster.

Since Stardust alone couldn't protect the entire Republic of Korea from a monster wave, I separately trained these individuals as anti-monster weapons.

If our calculations are correct, these four working together might fight as well as Stardust against a single monster entity. While Stardust fights 1:1, they fight 4:1, so it makes sense...

'...It wasn't easy.'

Selecting these kids was truly challenging.

My plan from the beginning was to select as few elite members as possible for the first generation of the PMC, then use them as seniors to recruit second and third generations. Four people wouldn't be enough to face numerous monsters, after all.

That's why I had to be more careful than anyone when selecting the first generation. They needed to have ability, harmonize with other party members, and most importantly, have good character. They also needed to trust and follow me.

...As a result, I succeeded.

Though there was the issue that they followed me a bit more than I expected and even discovered I was Egostic, the important thing is that I succeeded.

That's how the first generation of Ego-squad was born—the monster extermination team for the Moonlight Church gate disaster, created with Lee Seol-ah's help.

And now, we've recruited the second generation.

'The second generation...'

The second generation is much easier to raise than our first generation team of four.

Unlike our No. 1 through No. 4 whom I personally trained and bonded with, these new recruits will be taught by our first four members. I taught them how to teach for this very reason.

This is the miracle of multi-level training. I only need to train four people, and these four will train another twelve, and those twelve will eventually train twenty-four more...!

This was possible because the PMC's second generation was selected with more emphasis on gentle personality and good character than raw ability compared to the first generation.

And since before, our team of four has been diligently training the second generation.

...They were complaining at first but then suddenly stopped contacting me—I hope they're all doing well?

With that thought, I arrived at the PMC.

And soon met the kids.

"Teacher Da-in~"

"Ugh."

Heo Da-hee immediately rushed to hug me, while Seo Chae-young fidgeted beside her. Lee Se-geom bowed his head, and San Soo-ah looked tired.

This was the first time I'd seen our squad members since bringing the second generation recruits to this PMC building.

...Somehow, they all looked more mature than usual. I guess it's because they have to coach their juniors.

"Have you all been well?"

"Don't even ask..."

No. 2, Seo Chae-young, twirled her yellow hair and sighed deeply.

Apparently, it was their first time teaching and guiding others, so it was quite challenging.

Still, they were managing somewhat thanks to what they'd learned from me and from following Stardust's example.

"How are the juniors doing?"

"Well... they're all learning diligently."

Lee Se-geom answered my question vaguely.

Of course, it wouldn't be easy for people who've lived ordinary lives to immediately learn anti-monster combat techniques. It would probably take some time.

Still, since we selected people with good character as much as possible, there didn't seem to be many problems.

"Anyway, we've told them to wait in the training hall auditorium so you could greet them. Perhaps you could stop by and say a few words..."

Lee Se-geom said to me.

He had precisely caught what I intended to do and prepared in advance. I hadn't seen the second generation recruits since their face-to-face interviews, so I should meet them at least once.

"Sure. Let's go."

"Yes!"

So I headed to the auditorium where our twelve PMC second generation recruits were waiting.

And then.

"Eek...!"

"He's here, he's here!"

"Is that the teacher of our teachers...?"

I couldn't help but be bewildered seeing them all standing at attention in neat rows, completely intimidated by my presence.

...Is this a PMC or a supernatural ability army?

"What... hey. Why are they acting like this?"

"Haha... well."

Seeing my bewildered look, Seo Chae-young awkwardly touched her hair.

Apparently, they found it effective to portray me as a scary person when teaching the recruits. Something about how if they don't perform properly, I, the PMC representative, would come and scold them. This isn't like telling a crying child that a tiger will come...

Well. It's not a bad method. Fear of superiors can also make an organization more cohesive.

Anyway, that's not what's important, so I should say what I need to say.

Standing in front of the auditorium, looking down at them, I gave a kind of welcoming speech.

Basically about how they've taken on an extremely important role and need to strive quickly for the peace of this country. Something like that.

"Eek..."

...Why are you trembling, kid?

After finishing what I had to say, I casually asked them:

"Did everyone understand?"

""""Yes!!!""""

"....."

The kids were so disciplined that their unified response was impressive.

Good. Let's keep going like this, just like this.

After having a final conversation with the PMC kids, I returned home.

Great. Our anti-Moonlight Church monster fighting corps is being well trained.

Next is, of course, that.

With that thought, I made a phone call.

...More precisely, an international call.

"Hello, Katana."

Now, it's time to get down to serious business.