An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 144: The Angel Who Meets His Junior (1)

Thus passed Leffrey’s second winter. If he spent his first winter preparing for the academy entrance exam, he spent his second winter healing Soya’s wounded heart.

Soya who had suffered unimaginable humiliation returned to the academy cathedral completely dejected. After muttering, “I’m going to sleep,” she went into her room.

And didn’t come out.

Worried, Leffrey prepared all of Soya’s favorite foods and tried to coax her out, saying things like, ‘Soya? It’s time to eat,’ ‘Ah, it’s getting cold!’, or ‘You have to eat to grow taller…..’ but.

He failed.

Especially after hearing his last words, ‘You have to eat to grow taller,’ Soya just muttered ‘...! I don't care,’ and then started sniffling again.

As this continued for about a week, Leffrey became a little troubled.

‘Well, at least she’s eating the food I leave in front of her door…’

Just as Leffrey was getting increasingly worried, feeling like a father raising a shut-in daughter…

The Central Superhuman Academy’s entrance exam season arrived.

* * *

The Central Superhuman Academy Entrance Exam.

Leffrey had experienced it firsthand and knew that it was quite dangerous, full of absurd tests.

They would submerge students in water to the point of suffocation, lock them in dangerous rooms that caused mana poisoning, and force them to fight each other…

No matter how much our society values academic credentials, and even though the Central Superhuman Academy is the best academy, the exam was too difficult.

‘Surely, there would be many injured.’

So Leffrey asked the professors if he could be a medical staff member for the exam, to make sure there wouldn’t be any casualties.

“Professor, please, can’t you make an exception?”

Leffrey, with his Acting Angel ability activated, pleaded with angelic eyes and a pitiful expression, he clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture. If Park Jin-ho didn’t know Iriel, he might have fallen for it in an instant.

“It's not possible. A student helping with the entrance exam is…”

“Don’t you trust me? This exam is bound to be extremely difficult, and you professors don't care at all about those who fail.”

Leffrey was a bit frustrated.

To be honest, the Central Academy professors were only professors in name. In some ways, they were no different from military instructors.

They only cared about creating strong and capable soldiers. They lacked the ability to nurture a student’s character, or to guide those who were struggling.

Of course, this too,

…Was a sign of this corrupted world, a world on the verge of destruction.

“Professor, please…!”

“Haa, this professor believes this.”

Park Jin-ho sighed softly, then spoke the words Leffrey had predicted.

“Elite education is like this. We have to distinguish the superior from the inferior, filter out the weak, and select only the best. To fairly evaluate them, the exam must be conducted in an environment as close as possible to real combat.”

The vice principal continued,

“And in real combat, there is no salvation. The strong survive, and the weak die without meaning. That’s all there is to it. If you were to heal the examinees, the exam would lose its realism, and it would be meaningless.”

Park Jin-ho turned away and spoke again.

“Of course, this might seem cruel to you. However, the Central Superhuman Academy is a facility to train heroes. We cannot accept weak individuals who haven’t proven themselves in real combat.”

“Because we need to protect the world, right?”

“That’s right. To protect this world, even this kind of cruelty is unavoidable.”

Leffrey murmured in a low voice,

“Is it really unavoidable?”

Come to think of it, that's how it always was.

Leffrey and Park Jin-ho’s conversations always went this way.

Trying to reach an area where they could never agree, trying to make each other yield on points where they could never compromise.

But Leffrey was sure he was right.

Because he had witnessed firsthand how such methods would ultimately fail to protect the world.

‘The karma that surrounds this world is so dark. Far too dark.’

If everything in this world was closer to darkness, then those who were closer to gray could be considered to be the light. They were people who were protecting their own light, amidst this incredibly dark world.

The heroes Leffrey admired,

…they were all such gray individuals.

Though they’d been tainted by this dark and murky world, though they’d lost their purity in a world that had become mud,

…They hadn’t fallen completely like villains. They had protected themselves.

That's why Leffrey,

Couldn't help but respect them.

But sometimes, in moments like this,

Something welled up in Leffrey's heart.

“…I was truly grateful for you defeating those villains last time.”

“It’s something I should have done as a professor.”

“Honestly, I was surprised. To think that there are people who use debt to enslave others. And on top of that, a guild that disregards every law using their power as superhumans.”

Park Jin-ho slowly replied.

“Yes, those kinds of atrocities are something you, who came from Heaven, would be surprised to see.”

“What surprised me was that they were able to commit such acts for so long, and yet no one was there to judge them.”

Leffrey looked at Park Jin-ho once more.

“It means that no one tried to help those children who were crying, exhausted from praying, those who desperately clung to the adults with their parched lips… There was no one to take their hands.”

‘Judgment.’

In Leffrey's heart,

Once again, a flame ignited.

A sorrow too great to be called mere sorrow, along with a piercing pain and resentment. All those emotions, merging together, into a grudge.

‘I want to judge all of it.’

It filled Leffrey's small chest.

“Is it because they were deemed inferior? Because those children weren’t elites? Because they weren't chosen as the superior ones? Is that why you abandoned them, Professor?”

“No, it wasn’t like that. We, the Cheongu Guild, deemed that it wasn’t the right time to reveal our strength.”

To Leffrey's anger,

Park Jin-ho took a step back and made an excuse.

“It was the Headmaster’s order. The order of your kind, Iriel-nim.”

Leffrey’s heart was filled with an emotion too great to be called just a grudge, and he stumbled back and turned around. Then he stared intently at Park Jin-ho.

“I will stop the casualties. No matter what you say, Professor. Even if you punish me, it doesn't matter.”

At that gaze,

Park Jin-ho's body trembled.

That aura of omnipotence unique to someone on par with him. To think that he could sense such an aura from this young boy.

No, perhaps. He was even stronger than him.

‘The Angel of Judgment who lost his memories. Leffriel…’

He recalled the words of Headmaster Iriel. She had said that Leffriel, the Angel of Judgment, might be the only one who could reach the demon king now that there were no heroes left.

“I won’t abandon those children who are crying.”

Watching the young angel leave,

Park Jin-ho murmured as if truly regretful.

“That child, isn’t he too kind?”

Park Jin-ho felt only regret at the fact that such an angel was so kind and compassionate.

* * *

[Demonic power is responding to your emotions.]

Sometimes, something that could have been easily ignored, could escalate into something much larger.

[You have met the requirements to become an archangel.]

[If you accept the mission of Judgment, you can be promoted to an archangel.]

[You must be promoted.]

[Promotion is essential.]

[You must accept the mission.]

[Judgment.]

[Judgment.]

[Mission.]

[An angel is one who fulfills their mission.]

A pain, a piercing pain. Leffrey touched his chest, wondering if a hole had been ripped through it.

It was fine. But it wasn't fine.

‘It hurts…’

Memories of the past, memories of the War of Annihilation, flooded his mind. And seeing how dark this world was despite his year-long struggle…

Leffrey swallowed the tears that were welling up.

‘It’s too late…’

Leffrey apologized for being too late. Not just to that woman, but to the entire world.

‘I knew it all along.’

When the demon king insulted humanity, when Saint Rebecca lamented the origin of humans, when the Rainmaker acknowledged humanity’s ugliness.

Leffrey agreed with them in his heart.

Why?

Because Leffrey had no faith.

‘Faith in humanity.’

But as an angel, he tried to change the direction of this world by saying things he didn’t even believe himself. But what was the result?

Was he able to change anything at all, even a little.

Even if they defeated the demon king, humans would just continue to suffer because of each other, bringing about an even more horrific ending, wouldn’t they?

Leffrey, suppressing his tears, arrived at the cathedral. And then, he saw it.

[An angel without wings is not an angel.]

It was true.

Leffrey wasn’t an angel.

Not even a pure white, but just a gray, tainted by the filth of this world.

He was just ‘something’. That's all he was.

“Hic. Sniff.”

Leffrey sat down in a chair and wiped away the tears that he didn’t even know why they were flowing.

*Bang*—

At that moment, a girl rushed out with a surprised look on her face.

She was so startled that she was still in her pajamas, her gray hair a complete mess.

“Leffrey, why are you crying? Why, why?”

Soya, flustered, approached Leffrey. Not knowing what to do, she just looked at him and muttered,

“Is it because I didn’t listen to you? Because I didn’t come out? Is that why you’re crying?”

It wasn’t because of that, but…

Leffrey nodded slightly.

After all, he was Leffrey, the Practical Angel, someone who would use whatever he could.

“Ugh…”

Soya was incredibly flustered. Her pupils were visibly trembling.

“To cry over something like that…”

Although she said that, her tone was dripping with guilt. Perhaps from tomorrow onwards, Soya would come out of her room again and have meals with Leffrey.

Soya hesitated for a moment, then…

…embraced Leffrey’s shoulders.

“I’ll listen to you from now on. Okay?”

She said those words, and Leffrey felt a warmth from her small hand.

“But I’ll-I’ll do my best too.”

[Angelic Power is suppressing the Demonic Power reaction.]

[Promotion process has been halted.]

Leffrey, as if making a promise to himself,

Muttered those words.

* * *

Anyway, time passes. And so does time at the Central Superhuman Academy.

The entrance exam season arrived once again, with reporters gathering in doves to film the students arriving at the test site and producing random commentaries about it.

Watching this scene,

Leffrey slowly organized his thoughts.

‘I’m finally getting juniors…!’

Huhut- Leffrey was trying to act cool while fiddled with his hair. He was a little excited at the thought of becoming Leffrey, the Senior Angel.

I’ll be a good senior.

I’ll be a good senior and earn lots of Angelic Power.

‘If I heal the new juniors during this entrance exam, I can get a lot of benefits.’

The first benefit is Angelic Power, of course. Angelic Power is something where the more you have, the better.

The second benefit is connections. It was a common belief among superhumans that if you receive a favor, you must repay it. And if the one who bestowed the favor is a senior? It goes without saying.

The third benefit is identifying talents. To quickly support those who would become heroes in the future. And by becoming closer to those future heroes…

“Being in a senior-junior relationship with future heroes. Uhuhu…”

Leffrey, his eyes sparkling, waited to see who would arrive at the entrance exam site first. Arriving first at the exam site? It meant they were close to being the top candidate.

As the reporters tensed up and Leffrey stared at the horizon until his eyes hurt.

A girl was walking towards them from afar.

“…Wait.”

And Leffrey couldn't help but make a surprised expression.