The Academy’s Time Stop Player

TL/Editor: looloo

Schedule: N/A

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Anna Elizabeth Hartel remembered well the incident at the entrance ceremony and her encounter with Choi Jungwon, the academy’s principal. It had only been a day ago, so naturally, she recalled it. However, she had a habit of quickly forgetting unimportant matters.

Like this guy for instance.

“Ah, hello. But… I didn’t expect Anna to be our team leader. Anyway, I’m looking forward to working with you."

A towering muscle-bound guy came up to her.

His name was Ma Jinhan.

Blushing, the boy shyly looked down and extended his hand to her.

Anna responded with a professional smile and shook his hand.

For some reason, he seemed to hold onto her hand for quite a while.

“I’m looking forward to working with you too."

“I, I’m also looking forward to it..."

There was the quiet Cheon Inhan, a spearman, and the timid Millie, who wielded a longsword. In order to scout talent, she had already dug up the backgrounds of half the students.

Although they were a step below her, they were part of the academy’s elite class.

’Ma Jinhan might not be right, but perhaps Millie is better?’

Ma Jinhan was the best in combat skills among the three, but he had a troubled past. Hadn’t he been involved in a school group assault case during his middle school years?

He had talent, but lacked heroic qualities.

Could he become a criminal? He seemed insincere now, and his original character didn’t seem much better.

She felt unsure about the other two. They were talented, but she had to tread carefully before deciding. There were students who stopped progressing after a certain point.

And before them, there was a boy she needed to investigate.

‘Where did that guy come from?’

She had researched the other students’ backgrounds, but she couldn’t find anything on Kim Hajoon.

It seemed like his information was deliberately concealed.

Even the information guild she had set up had trouble finding details about Kim Hajoon.

The only tidbit she received was that Kim Hajoon might not be Korean?

Since this didn’t help much, Anna decided to assess Kim Hajoon herself.

‘There are several puzzling things about him, like how he outscored Han Siyoung and became the top student...’

There was the incident with the Full-Power Man on the bus.

After several heroes barely managed to kill the A-rank villain, Full-Power Man, and declared they had saved all the students, rumors started that a student on the bus had killed Full-Power Man with a single strike.

When Kim Hajoon became the top scorer, Anna wondered if the rumors were true, but eventually, she didn’t believe them.

The rumors were just too unbelievable, especially given Principal Choi Jungwon had also denied them.

’It looks insignificant from the outside...’

But she couldn’t shake her doubts about him, given his bold introduction.

She recalled Kim Hajoon confidently introducing himself during that daunting test.

At the very least, it was obvious he wasn’t ordinary.

’I’ll find out this time.’

When it was time for the evaluation and the hands-on lesson began, Anna was taken aback by Hajoon’s expression.

’Is he serious?’

"Huff- Huff…”

Hajoon was huffing, struggling to keep his stance stable.

Seeing him, she found it absurd.

’Did he really become the top scorer by chance?’

She wasn’t sure if such a thing was possible due to luck, but observing him now, he clearly lacked physical strength and stamina.

Seeing the sweat dripping from his forehead, it didn’t seem like a joke.

Without a second thought, Anna shifted her attention away from Hajoon.

If he really became the top scorer by luck, he would likely be dropped from the special class eventually.

However, if the monster hunting gets delayed because of one team member, she thought as a team leader, she should intervene.

Just as she was about to speak to Kim Hajoon.

"Phew... Just go on without me."

"Hey, you should have said that earlier!"

"I agree. Hurry up, let’s go!"

As Hajoon spoke first, Anna quickly moved ahead, leaving him behind. At least he knew he was holding them back.

"What a joke! Who does he think he is! Did he really get to be the top scorer by luck! If we end up last, it’s all on him!"

"He said himself it was luck. Calm down. We’re almost there. And we’ve got Anna, so we’ll be fine."

In the end, Ma Jinhan couldn’t hold back his frustration and grumbled.

Anna observed this from a distance, feeling indifferent.

After all, she was well aware of Ma Jinhan’s personality.

Soon, they reached their target and the hunting sped up.

With Anna’s restraining magic immobilizing the beast, the remaining three coordinated an attack.

As they kept attacking, the black beast began showing signs of fatigue.

The problem, however, was Ma Jinhan, who, seeing the beast’s tired state, grinned and foolishly rushed in ahead of time.

"Wait, hold on!"

Cheon Inhan tried to stop him, but Ma Jinhan paid no mind and charged at the black beast, wrapping his muscular arm around its neck and started to strangle it. But no matter how weary it was, it was still a monster.

The Black Hound lunged, flinging Ma Jinhan away with force. Jinhan bounced on the ground before crashing into a tree.

"What the-"

Regaining his footing, Ma Jinhan rushed towards the Black Hound again.

Yet, where Ma Jinhan had tumbled, something started to emerge from the ground. At first, one creature, then, the count rose. Accompanied by a loud noise, thirty giant ground bees crawled from the earth and began to flap their wings fiercely.

"What, what? Oh no!"

"What did you stir up?!"

"Everyone, snap out of it!"

Quickly assessing the situation, Anna appeared out of nowhere, landing in front of the children. Behind her, the Black Hound still stood, and before her, the thirty giant bees.

"Ugh!" Frustrated, Anna clenched her teeth, beginning to summon magic.

Considering the time, our team might finish last, but that’s preferable to elimination.

And so, she shaped the formula for intermediate fire magic. Just as she was about to cast the spell...

Kim Hajoon strolled casually into her field of vision.

"Don’t come here, wait there..."

Then, he vanished.

Immediately following,

Crack—! Whack—! Thump—! Smash—!

To her astonishment, the heads of the giant ground bees started to burst.

"What?!"

Not long after disappearing, Hajoon, clutching a giant hammer and with his back turned towards them, appeared.

In an annoyed tone, he addressed Anna.

"Hey."

"Huh, what?"

"What are you doing? Deal with that first."

With a nod of his head, Hajoon pointed to the growling Black Hound. Instantly, the stunned children shifted their focus to Hajoon before quickly turning to face the Black Hound. As the bees’ heads kept blowing up, Hajoon observed the scene with an impassive expression.

"When did he get here... Ah!"

"What’s wrong, Jinhan?"

"I don’t know! A sudden sharp pain in the back of my head. Damn it!"

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Raei Translations

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Naturally, I never planned on playing the hero.

A hero who saves companions in a crisis?

I had no desire to put on such a show. However, the situation was becoming a problem.

’I might fail...’

Anna’s magic had stabilized things somewhat, but time was the issue.

In these practical lessons, the instructors valued time and safety the most.

The challenge was about capturing the magical beasts as quickly and safely as possible.

But if our team fails? The next step for Instructor Han Eeseul is clear.

Won’t he make us run 20 laps around the sports field as punishment, then return to hunt magical beasts?

The thought of that was unbearable.

’At least the hammer is tough.’

In the frozen space.

Naturally, the simple stones I previously used as a hammer couldn’t endure the building impact. They all either cracked or shattered. But this hammer was different.

Even after hammering for six hours, it was unscathed.

Rather, each swing peeled off rust, revealing a golden glow.

’Sigh... let’s just bear it this once. This is today’s final lesson anyway.’

Hajoon sighed and walked towards the children with Maharazu.

He then went behind Jinhan and tapped the back of his head with his palm three times.

A bit disappointing that it didn’t create a satisfying sound, but oh well.

He likely didn’t even notice he’d been hit.

"Ah, all because of this musclehead."

The first thing he did next was handle the ground hornets.

There were around 30, and their numbers were increasing.

The hornets had already spread their wings, aiming their razor-sharp stingers at the kids, and more were emerging from the ground.

Hajoon began to hit each one on the head ten times.

If these creatures were gone, they could easily finish off the Black Hound.

However, he had no plan to assist with the Black Hound hunt.

Why? Because it was hard.

The Black Hound’s jet-black fur was tougher and more resilient than anticipated.

It served as a shield, blocking Jinhan’s power and my hammer strikes.

Of course, if I hit its head around 50 times, it might succumb to a concussion, but that seemed unnecessary.

From the start, wide-area attacks likely wouldn’t work, but piercing attacks should.

With Cheon Inhan armed with a spear and Millie wielding a longsword, catching a wounded dog shouldn’t be difficult.

’Ah... I’m really done for today.’

How often do I have to work like this... No, time-wise, a day already seems to have passed. It’s just that I’ve stopped time, so it doesn’t flow.

"Alright, then...."

Before releasing the time stop, Hajoon looked around just to make sure. He might have overlooked a creature or two.

Fortunately, no more ground bees were in sight.

Without a second thought, Hajoon released the time stop.

Bang―! Thud―! Crumble―! Pop―!

As he watched the heads of the creatures burst, he checked the quest window that appeared in his field of vision.

[Sub Quest]

Available Character for the Quest: Kim Hajoon (Liber Laphilton Phil Ehrman)

Description: Hunt a certain number of magical beasts.

(Magical beasts 38/25)

Reward: 35 Experience Points

[Success!]

[You have slain more than the required number.]

[Additional rewards will be given!]

[Reward: 35 Experience Points]

[Additional Reward: Experience Points +20, +250p]

’Well, at least I deserve this much for my hard work.’

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