OMH Chapter 22

Oh My Hero – Episode 22

22. The S-Grades I Ended Up Raising (3)

There were no chairs, no desks, no instruction manuals, and of course, no projectors or screens. Naturally, there wouldn’t be any educational presentations either.

‘And there’s no educator other than me. They’re supposed to be learning from me, aren’t they?’

Just as this hopeless workshop was about to begin, I was lamenting this bizarre situation alone when Mr. Kim Daeyeop made a loud noise, seemingly displeased with something as well.

“Hey! Outsiders can’t just barge into a workshop. Leave immediately!”

At the end of Mr. Kim Daeyeop’s pointing finger was Wooreen.

Wooreen was already upset because she couldn’t get in touch with her brother on the phone, and when a strange man pointed at her, she ran to me and hugged me.

Seeing this, Mr. Kim Daeyeop became furious, asking how I could bring an outsider, saying how many years of experience he had, how could I even think of bringing an outsider.

I apologized for bringing an outsider without permission, but pleaded with him to understand that this child had nowhere else to go, but Mr. Kim Daeyeop flatly refused.

“How can we trust and work with an outsider whose identity is unclear? An unclear identity means there’s a possibility that the outsider could leak our secrets, and at the same time, we can’t know where those secrets might have been passed on.”

“She’s just a kid. And are we even talking about secrets right now?”

“Esper Jang Hana! You are a high-risk S-grade Esper. Don’t forget that your very existence is high-level information, and information about your training is a valuable asset of the Association!”

“Then treat us with the respect we deserve~ Instead of locking us up in the Research Center all the time and experimenting on us. Am I some kind of lab animal?”

As Jang Hana began to grumble, Mr. Kim Daeyeop ignored her and began to focus on Wooreen, whom I had brought. He was telling me to get Wooreen out of room 172…

“Then where should the child be until the workshop is over?”

I tried to gloss over it by saying that wandering around the Research Center would make it easier to learn secrets, but Mr. Kim Daeyeop didn’t fall for it.

As Mr. Kim Daeyeop insisted that I send Wooreen out, Jang Hana jumped back into the conversation.

“It’s cold, why do you keep telling that little kid to go somewhere? Just let her stay. Gang Hana said she’d take responsibility.”

“It’s beneficial not to make exceptions as much as possible. She won’t freeze to death even if she’s outside the Center during the workshop.”

“Wow, are you really going to send her out? That little one? You’re really cruel. I wondered where your hair went, but you transplanted it onto your conscience? How can someone be like that?”

‘…Haha. Jang Hana, did you really have to point out that Mr. Kim Daeyeop is a bad-tempered bald man like that?’

Mr. Kim Daeyeop’s face turned red and blue because of Jang Hana, and eventually, Mr. Kim Daeyeop left room 172, and the atmosphere froze.

Bang!

It was 9:15 AM, but the workshop still hadn’t started.

*

Fifteen minutes later, at 9:30 AM, Mr. Kim Daeyeop, having calmed his anger, returned to room 172.

It seemed that we could finally proceed with the workshop, 30 minutes after the scheduled start time.

Because the returned Mr. Kim Daeyeop told us to sit down, we plopped down on the bare floor, where chairs didn’t exist.

The four of us sitting in a circle looked like we were playing a board game.

Regardless of my impressions, Mr. Kim Daeyeop immediately proceeded with the workshop as if trying to make up for the late start.

First, Mr. Kim Daeyeop explained the circumstances that led to the opening of the ‘Special Education for High-Risk Espers’ course, which I was hearing about for the first time.

Mr. Kim Daeyeop said that the eight S-grade Espers we possessed were too unstable.

In particular, it was difficult to restore the used abilities through Guiding, so their infinite potential was only being used as measuring tools in the laboratory.

That was because there were far more Espers than Guides.

In addition, when various factors such as grades and Matching Rate were added, it became even more difficult for a small number of high-grade Espers to receive Guiding.

Espers who cannot receive Guiding have limitations in using their abilities like non-rechargeable batteries, so the Association wants to keep them shelved.

Mr. Kim Daeyeop, who was so saddened by this reality, repeatedly suggested that even combat-type ability users among the S-grade Espers should fight without being too bound by their abilities.

However, he was blocked by the logic that ‘the power of abilities is the power in combat’ and was not actively reviewed, but he said that he saw the possibility of realization due to my existence.

The executives of the Association were greatly impressed by the fact that I, a B-grade Enhanced-Type, even though I had dual abilities, climbed up from the B-grade sparring matches step by step to the final round. They said that seeing this not just once but three times in a row gave them the conviction that the power of abilities does not determine everything in combat.

So, he wants to use me as a model to provide new education to newly growing S-grade ability users.

“Well, anyway, I understand the intention. My job is to teach the young Espers, right?”

Mr. Kim Daeyeop nodded. Having grasped his intention, I asked an important question.

“Then what should I teach the kids?”

“That’s for you, an expert in combat, to evaluate and decide!”

Uh… something feels wrong.

“…Then what should I evaluate and what should I teach?”

“The Association trusts Esper Gang Hana’s judgment and abilities, who is stronger than anyone else. Unleash your abilities to the fullest and make our future leaders into talents like you who use their abilities in the right place at the right time.”

‘So, you’re telling me to figure it out on my own?’

There’s no curriculum or anything because I don’t know what to focus on, so you’re telling me to do it myself. I was speechless to hear the words ‘The Association has no idea’ at the workshop, even though they called me.

Mr. Kim Daeyeop, unaware of what I was thinking, got excited and talked on his own.

He said that the training time would be 5 days a week, from 9 AM to 12 PM, and that he would give me the evaluation form and progress report form, so I should submit them once a week….

In addition, he praised me as an expert and asked me to explain what the kids needed on the spot.

“How would I know that? I haven’t even seen them fight except for Ham Soyoung.”

When I became passive, Mr. Kim Daeyeop sulked again, grumbling that young people should be interested in everything, and added petulantly that I should submit a plan by the end of the day.

Then Mr. Kim Daeyeop left room 172 in a huff.

He turned his head so fiercely that the ten strands of hair that slightly covered his bald spot like thin fluff fluttered like heat haze.

‘Seriously, he sulks so easily. What a petty bald man.’

Even though the notification time called a workshop was over, I couldn’t leave my seat. Because I had to write a plan.

‘There’s no curriculum or anything, so what am I supposed to do?’

The future was bleak. In the meantime, the kids were trying to sneak out, so I told them that I would conduct a simple test to keep them from leaving.

It’s not because I’m upset about being left alone that I’m holding the kids back. I’m holding them back to write a plan.

I reviewed what Mr. Kim Daeyeop had said.

He told me to keep the kids from relying too much on their abilities. That is…

‘What am I supposed to do?’

I racked my brains and came up with an answer.

First of all, I think I need to make the kids able to respond to situations with their bare bodies.

So, I decided to set the goal as improving the kids’ martial arts skills. Besides that, they should be able to combine their abilities with their physical abilities, but I decided to put that aside as an advanced course.

First, if you improve your physical abilities, the number of things you can do will increase.

“Let’s keep it simple. Really lightly.”

First, I made the kids run 2,000 meters lightly. As far as I know, they’re around 18 years old, and Espers are originally more physically capable than ordinary people, so I should make them do at least this much.

Ham Soyoung and Jo Yong, Enhancement-Type ability users, completed the 2,000-meter run in 12 minutes after I made them run.

It didn’t seem like they were too tired from this much running, which was typical of Enhancement-Type people.

On the other hand, Jang Hana barely came in panting after 15 minutes.

Our junior Jang will have a hard time in the future.

In fact, completing the 2,000-meter run in 15 minutes is very good by ordinary people’s standards, but these are Espers, so it’s just average.

I expected S-grades to have better basic stamina, but it seems they’ve been living in the Research Center getting ability tests only.

In particular, Jang Hana needs to improve her cardiorespiratory endurance.

While I was vaguely planning what to teach and how to teach them by making them do various physical fitness tests, Jang Hana spoke to me.

“Why do you keep making us do pointless training from earlier! You said it was special education! Is this special!”

“This time is to educate you not to rely too much on your abilities. It’s to educate you to fight well with your bare bodies. So, I’m going to teach you how I fight well without abilities. Jang Hana, you have the most basic physical strength deficiency, so be prepared because you’re the target of intensive training.”

“What is it~ It’s not special education, it’s just gym class. Where is it special. Ability training in the lab every day would be more special.”

I ignored Jang Hana’s grumbling and recorded the measured values on the physical fitness test sheet.

I will use this training time as martial arts training time. I was told to fight using abilities as little as possible, so that means teaching martial arts.

I had a fleeting sense of doubt as to how this was different from the basic training that other Espers also receive, but I’m just doing what I’m told.

I calmly measured the kids’ endurance, agility, quickness, flexibility, and dexterity with physical fitness tests to understand their condition.

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