The Academy’s Time Stop Player

TL/Editor: looloo

Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri

Illustrations: Here

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The old man began trembling with a face full of rage.

“How did you get here! No, no...”

He suddenly shouted at Hajoon and then started muttering to himself.

“This is a chance. A chance to kill him. Yes, that’s right. This is the only chance...”

As he finished speaking, the old man slowly turned his head to look at Hajoon.

He believed that within this dimensional space, he could kill an Irregular no matter what.

In this dimensional space, the old man was an absolute being.

“Kill the Irregular! Drain his power!”

With that decision, the old man shouted and slammed his staff onto the ground.

Immediately, a huge magic circle began to form on the ground where the staff struck.

Teleportation array.

The old man planned to teleport thousands of liberation troops within this vast dimensional space.

However, no liberation troops were transmitted in the teleportation.

“What, what is this?!”

As the old man began to panic, Hajoon smiled at him and spoke.

“Did you think I came alone?”

At that moment,

Whoosh!!

In an instant, a white line of light passed by Hajoon, Han Ari, and the old man.

A sword strike that cuts only what it wants to cut.

As the strike cut through all the walls blocking the way without harming a single person, the maze walls collapsed, creating a large open space.

Soon after, a man holding a sword approached from afar.

Han Ari’s eyes widened.

There was no way she wouldn't recognize that man.

“The Sword Saint!?”

“It looks like you rescued the student, Kim Hajoon.”

“Yeah.”

Boom!

“What?”

Before they could even be surprised, the situation continued to unfold.

A loud noise echoed from the ceiling and the floor below, accompanied by the screams of countless people.

-Aaah!!

-Run, run! The heroes have invaded!

As those words were briefly heard, with a loud bang, a hole big enough for a person to pass through appeared in both the ceiling and the floor.

From the ceiling, a woman descended, floating gracefully in the air, and landed in front of Hajoon. From the floor, a man holding a spear, carrying a small woman on his back, flew up and landed in front of Hajoon.

Han Ari could only admire the heroes who had just appeared.

“The Sage, the Spear Hero, the Rune Mage...”

Her heart pounded with excitement.

The greatest heroes of the present day.

All the heroes she admired the most were gathered in one place.

“The monster in the maze has been defeated and the kidnapped people have been rescued.”

“Building such a huge tower-like structure within the dimensional space, that was interesting. Anyway, we’ve restrained all the villains on the third floor and thrown them outside the space.”

“We’ve also taken care of the villains on the first floor.”

“I’m tired...”

Hajoon looked at the friends he hadn't seen in a while, chuckled, and nodded.

“Alright, so now it's just that guy left.”

As Hajoon’s gaze turned to the old man, the gazes of all four heroes followed suit.

The old man’s face twisted in anger and he trembled with rage.

“Alright, kids. Shall we take care of him?”

Hajoon smiled as he spoke to the kids.

It seemed like the situation was under control, and now they just needed to take down the old man, who appeared to be the master of this dimensional space.

However, the four kids began to glare at Hajoon with dissatisfied eyes.

Hajoon asked them,

“What, why?”

“Kim Hajoon, what did you do?”

“While we were taking down all the villains on the other floors, what were you doing?”

“Honestly, it seems like your student did more work than you did.”

“Agreed.”

“So, what, what do you want me to do?”

Hajoon asked with a dumbfounded expression.

At that, all four of them looked at each other and then began to act in unison.

Anna left only Hajoon behind, lifting everyone else into the air.

“Guys?”

“You can handle it alone, Hajoon. We'll wait outside the building. Just let us know when you're done.”

“Wow...”

Hajoon watched with a bewildered expression as the kids flew out of the building into the sky.

No matter how little he did, leaving him like this was a bit much... Sure, honestly, he had planned to take it easy with their help.

But still, they could help a friend a little...

“Those brats. They're supposed to be my friends.”

Hajoon grumbled as he looked at the old man.

The old man glared at Hajoon with a twisted, furious face.

“Die!!”

Thud!! Clang!!

With that shout, the old man struck the ground with his staff. Simultaneously, the debris of all the walls, including the floor, began to surge towards Hajoon like clay.

In the midst of it, Hajoon sighed and pondered.

How should he take down this guy?

Given that the old man was the master of this dimensional space, his body regeneration was probably basic, and he controlled the entire tower-like building, moving it freely.

“Ah, whatever, this is annoying.”

With that, Hajoon activated his time stop.

Simultaneously, he jumped towards the broken wall where Anna had descended, heading for the top floor of the tower.

“Uh... Is it okay to just leave him like that?”

Meanwhile, Han Ari and the kids floated in the air outside the tower, watching the situation.

To Han Ari's question, Anna smiled gently and replied.

“It’s fine. Hajoon has been resting for five years, he should do some work.”

“He obviously wanted to dump it all on us and do nothing himself.”

“That guy hasn't changed at all in years.

Despite their words, the heroes looked oddly pleased.

Han Ari watched the heroes in amazement.

She never dreamed she would see them all together in one place.

Then Anna spoke to Han Ari.

“Watch carefully and learn, Student Han Ari. There's a lot you can learn from him.”

“Ah, yes!”

With that, Han Ari began to observe Hajoon intently.

However, in that instant, Hajoon vanished.

“Huh? He disappeared!”

“He’s at the top floor of the tower.”

At Han Siyoung's words, everyone's gaze turned to the top floor of the tower.

Indeed, Hajoon's energy could be felt at the top floor, but it was hard to tell what he was doing because of the building's walls.

Then the next moment.

Bang!

The ceiling of the top floor shattered, and a massive golden hammer shot up into the sky. The hammer's head began to grow larger and larger, until it was almost covering the entire tower.

As this unfolded, Han Ari stood agape, stunned by the sight of the enormous golden hammer.

And then.

Thud――――!!!

With a tremendous roar, Maharazu crashed down, bringing the entire tower down with him.

“Aaargh!”

The scream of some old man was just a bonus.

Han Ari, too shocked by the situation, stood with her mouth wide open, simply watching.

'That, that... I have to do that?'

Follow that?

Me?

I don’t think I can...

Han Ari glanced at Anna, who had just given her advice.

But Anna, too, had her mouth wide open in shock, looking just like Han Ari.

Oh, maybe not.

Clearly, there was no way she could follow that either.

“Well, it's a good thing we saved all the kidnapped people! What were you thinking, destroying the entire tower like that?”

“We rescued everyone.”

“There’s always the ‘what if’ scenario!”

Meanwhile, outside the dimensional space, they were delivering the captured villains to the police and the association.

Han Ari finally felt the tension leave her body as the situation ended, and she collapsed onto a nearby bench.

Hajoon, who had just been scolded by Anna, approached Han Ari and spoke.

“Good job.”

“......”

Han Ari stared blankly up at him as he spoke those words.

Seeing her expression, Hajoon asked with a puzzled look.

“Why?”

“Were you the Irregular?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“You didn't ask.”

“Ugh......”

Han Ari sighed at that. She had just learned the true nature and personality of the idol she had respected.

Hajoon continued, addressing Han Ari.

“Well, now that we’ve successfully resolved the incident, it’s time to fulfill your promise.”

Han Ari looked up at Hajoon and shook her head.

“I want to learn under you.”

“I’m terrible at teaching.”

“Even so, I want to learn from you. Besides, it wasn’t me who resolved the incident, it was the heroes.”

Hajoon sighed at her words, a sigh that clearly showed how troublesome and annoying this was.

“If you learn under me, it’s going to be a hell of a lot of work.”

“Even so.”

Hajoon met Han Ari’s gaze. In the silence, he could roughly sense her determination.

It wasn’t easy to turn away someone who was looking at him with such a determined expression and eyes.

Hajoon sighed and spoke again.

“Fine, I get it. But there’s a condition.”

“A c-condition?”

Han Ari looked at Hajoon with a tense face, wondering what strange condition he would impose this time.

Hajoon grinned and stated his condition.

“For the next two weeks, you will-”

Two weeks passed, and it was the final night of the cadet sidekick practice.

Han Ari walked alongside Hajoon, letting out a sigh.

“Ugh......”

Who would have thought the condition would be to train for only two hours a day and spend the rest of the time freely.

Even the two hours of training didn’t feel like serious training. It was just sparring with Hajoon and scouting the area.

In other words, Han Ari spent the two weeks following Hajoon around and having fun, aside from the two hours of training.

-Anyway, since it's nominally practice with a hero, you just follow along.

Since it was a hero and sidekick practice, Han Ari always followed Hajoon around when he played, acting as a porter.

“This is what you meant by it being tough?”

“But it was fun, right?”

Han Ari scratched her cheek, feeling a bit embarrassed. She couldn’t deny Hajoon's words. She really had enjoyed the two weeks.

They visited various eateries, went fishing, and did all sorts of things.

Even though she had come for training, it felt like she had just been playing around every day.

Not that it was bad.

Traveling with the world's strongest hero for two weeks was an experience not everyone could have.

“So, where are we going now? Isn’t practice over for today?”

It was already 8 PM, and the sun had long since set.

Normally, Han Ari would have returned to rest, but she followed Hajoon without complaint when he told her to come along.

Hajoon answered her question.

“To my place."

“What? Your house?”

“Yeah, it's the last day. You haven’t had dinner yet, have you?”

Han Ari, puzzledly, just followed Hajoon.

After walking for a few minutes, when the smell of grilling meat started making Han Ari’s empty stomach growl.

“We’re here.”

Hajoon spoke as they arrived in front of his house.

“Come on in.”

“Ah, yes.”

At Hajoon's words, Han Ari followed him through the gate into the house.

Han Ari's eyes widened at the sight that unfolded in the yard of Hajoon's house.

“Huh?”

“Oh! Oppa! You're finally here?”

“Why are you so late? We already finished all the preparations and started grilling the meat.”

“I was late because I was training her.”

With those words, Hajoon pointed at Han Ari, who was still in a daze, marveling at the scene.

“Wow……”

In Hajoon's yard, a barbecue party was set up, and all the heroes Han Ari respected were gathered there.

Sword Saint Han Siyoung, Sage Anna, Spear Hero Liam Martel, and Rune Mage Haruna Ruel.

Additionally, there were the great hero Lee Jooah, disciple of the Divine Investigator, and Lee Joohee, who was making significant achievements alongside the Sword Saint.

Even the hero Elaine, known as the Guardian, and Yoo Seolah, called the Saintess of Korea, were present.

Han Ari's heart raced. All the heroes she admired were gathered in one place.

Elaine approached Han Ari kindly and said,

“Now that the main character is here, let's get started.”

“Huh, what?”

“You've had a hard time for the past two weeks. Wasn't it tough because of him?”

“He probably didn't give you proper training and just made you carry things, right?”

“Actually, he might have lied about being late because he didn’t want to prepare for the barbecue party.”

“No way, I wouldn't do that—”

“Yes!”

Han Ari's firm response, cutting off Hajoon's words, made everyone burst into laughter.

Han Ari smiled and laughed along with them, feeling good.

“So, how were the past two weeks?”

As everyone laughed, Elaine asked Han Ari with a gentle smile.

Han Ari thought for a moment at that question.

There hadn't been any proper training. She had just followed Hajoon around as his porter and played.

But.

Han Ari turned to look at Hajoon.

“Huh?”

“Hehe!”

She smiled happily like a mischievous child.

Spending two weeks with the hero she had admired since she was young.

There was no way she wouldn't be satisfied with those two weeks.

Han Ari answered with a happy smile.

“They were some of the most fun two weeks of my life!”

At those words, Hajoon chuckled and patted Han Ari's head.

“Yeah, you did well for the past two weeks.”

As the party gradually came to an end with everyone laughing and chatting, Hajoon took the opportunity to slip away under the pretense of taking Han Ari home.

Walking through the park under the cool night sky, Han Ari asked Hajoon,

“Mister.”

“Hm?”

“Can you tell me about your student days? I didn't get to hear it before.”

Hajoon stroked his chin at those words.

His student days...

The question brought back memories, and Hajoon found himself lost in thought.

Recalling his days as a student, Hajoon began to speak.

“Back then, I was really something else.”

“No, don’t just sum it up like that. Can you tell me in detail what happened?”

“Hmm…”

Hajoon thought again.

There had been many hardships, but looking back, they were just memories now.

Hajoon looked at Han Ari and spoke again.

“If I tell you everything, it’ll take too long.”

“Hmm… can’t you?”

Han Ari pleaded with a sincere face, looking up at him.

Hajoon chuckled at Han Ari's earnest expression and started to speak.

“Alright, so what do you want to know?”

“Oh! I want to know about the process of how you became an Irregular! I love hero stories.”

“Hmm… so where should I start?”

Hajoon pondered over where to begin his story.

He thought back to how his lazy, reluctant self had ended up becoming the strongest hero.

He recalled the unimaginable situations he had faced, situations no one could have imagined.

But now, they were cherished memories of his student days.

He thought about the story that had come to an end.

Hajoon chuckled softly as he remembered his past and began to speak.

“Well, how did I become a hero, you ask?”

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