An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 148: The Angel Who Meets His Junior (5)

“Huh?”

Leffrey, as always, was rescuing people without much thought. The only thought that did cross his mind was, ‘How much Angelic Power will I get from this?’

“Professor…?”

For Klein to be shedding tears, it meant…

…That it was a truly shocking sight, shocking enough to even stop Leffrey, the Angelic Power–crazed beast.

“…”

Klein wiped away his flowing tears, then, as if unaware of embarrassment, simply sat down.

“Professor, are you okay?”

“I’m not.”

*Cower*—Did I do something wrong? Leffrey, feeling small, could only ask cautiously.

‘Did I cross the line too much?’

Interfering with the entrance exam as a mere student.

Definitely a problem.

Disobeying Professor Park Jin-ho.

That was also a problem.

And…

“I had forgotten something incredibly important. So incredibly important…”

Klein, in a choked voice, looked at the children Leffrey had rescued.

‘It wasn’t the mana dive that made me become a transcendent.’

The mana dive didn’t make Klein strong. It was the warmth of that hand reaching out to him, even in that harsh trial, that made Klein strong.

It wasn't trials that made superhumans strong. When people find the courage to protect others in the midst of trials, that's when they become strong.

To even break through a barrier that was theoretically impossible and rescue a friend, a nerdy boy who only knew magic.

Klein had forgotten that fact, such an important fact.

“Leffrey, you’re a strong person.”

[Klein Porphyrogennetos’ faith has been restored.]

[Gray is becoming closer to white.]

Klein, wiping away his tears, looked at the boy who was shrinking back, his eyes warm.

In his eyes, this golden-haired boy overlapped with the image of his once most precious friend.

“Unlike failures like us, You know how to cherish and love your friends.”

Klein, genuinely conveying all his affection, not even hiding his trembling fingertips, stroked Leffrey's hair.

“You are a true hero.”

Leffrey didn’t know how to react to those words.

He could only feel sympathy for Klein, acutely sensing the wounds left in his heart.

‘He's not hiding his emotions. He’s truly heartbroken, yearning for someone.’

And perhaps, by watching Leffrey’s actions, his heart was slowly being healed.

‘Heartache, huh.’

Leffrey also had a heartache.

A wound that would never heal.

‘Professor Klein, regained his faith?’

Faith in what? If Leffrey could also gain enlightenment from someone else’s actions, like Klein, would he also be able to regain his faith?

Then, would he be able to spread his wings and become a true angel?

‘No, that’s impossible.’

The boy's face turned coldly expressionless.

That will never, ever happen. This wound will never heal. This loneliness will never disappear.

Even if this world is destroyed and start anew. The day when he would regain his 'faith' in this world would never come.

“…Ha.”

Leffrey, startled by the coldness that was gripping his heart, shook his head and looked at Klein, who was still seeing him overlapped with someone else.

Yes, even if there was no salvation for himself.

‘This is the first time I’ve seen a message about someone regaining their faith. I never thought this would be possible. Never…’

Leffrey silently embraced Klein.

Klein, a little surprised by Leffrey’s actions, couldn't help but smile slightly at the warmth Leffrey showed.

* * *

“So that’s that young angel, Leffrey?”

A gloomy examinee in a parka muttered those words, the last to arrive at the entrance exam site.

“He’s different from the Demon King, and different from Iriel.”

The examinee, brushing off the liquefied mana from his hair, looked at the blond boy who was comforting Klein.

He then opened his smartphone,

And stared at a photo of a family.

A photo of a young woman who looked like a mother, and a young boy with black hair, who somehow resembled Leffrey. An assassination request was attached to that photo.

The woman had already been dealt with, so the request was to quickly finish off the boy. It was an ordinary request, nothing special about it.

Except, for one strange thing. The price of this request had skyrocketed after the Blessing of the Spirits.

“Tsk, a mere 10 billion won. They should have offered more. This isn't why I raised those bastards.”

A price that only a wealthy individual could offer. Anyone who wasn't a fool could guess that the client for this request was a conglomerate or a chaebol.

“And truly…”

The examinee laughed.

Because the destructive power of this request was so immense.

It was so immense that if he succeeded, he could destroy this corrupted world in an instant and finally bring about the extinction of humanity, the race closest to the demon king.

“The time has come.”

The examinee didn't miss the moment when Leffrey's expression turned cold, and took a picture.

His usual gentle smile was gone, replaced by a calm gaze and tightly pressed lips as he looked at the world. Truly, the coldness of a judge.

The coldness of the one this examinee had been waiting for so long.

“The time of judgment has arrived.”

This examinee, muttering those *chuunibyou*-like words, had many titles.

A patron who protected a certain chaebol family that was about to disappear due to retaliation from professors, then boosted that family's power by several levels.

A prophet who corrupted humans, consumed by greed for power, wealth, and lust, making them submit to the Demon King.

And the demon king’s second-in-command, the strongest among the Four Heavenly Kings.

The Key to Hell, Helki.

(TL Note: Helki (헬키) aka ‘Hell’ + ‘key’. Nice.)

Helki looked at the children Leffrey had pulled from the pool. Some would be so traumatized by this experience that they would be forced to live with recurring nightmares.

He couldn’t help but smile at that sight.

“Keep knocking, humanity. Keep knocking on that door…”

He continued,

“And it shall open.”

The gloomy-looking examinee pulled up his hood once again and hid himself among the other examinees.

* * *

Klein dismissed all the assistant teachers’ complaints.

To be precise, it would be more correct to say that he drove away the assistants by nitpicking their unfinished dissertations.

“Huk…”

The assistant teachers, who had been so arrogant and demanding Leffrey’s punishment just a moment ago, were now leaving dejectedly, their tails between their legs…

It made Leffrey feel good.

“I shouldn’t be enjoying this…”

The entrance exam continued.

However, the originally prepared test was scrapped, replaced by much safer tests that focused on character.

For example, the second test was to rescue hostages from an illusion. And their actions determined their score.

If they prioritized the lives of the hostages, they’d get bonus points. If they focused solely on their specialization, then their points would be deducted.

“What is this. It's the first time I've seen…”

“Huh? I’ve never seen this kind of exam format in the past exams.”

“That’s right, if I knew it would be like this, I wouldn’t have gotten tutoring.”

The examinees were flustered by the unfamiliar format, but they didn’t dare complain to the professor and just focused on the exam.

To rescue the hostages who had been captured.

Or to eliminate the enemy at the cost of sacrifices.

Naturally, the children who had been trained by guilds and families chose to eliminate the enemy at the cost of sacrifices.

“Isn’t this too easy?”

“They seem to lack discernment.”

They casually ignored the weak hostages and focused on eliminating the illusions, who were the designated enemies. As a result of pursuing only strength to reach the Demon King, they had been raised into children with nothing left but power.

Klein, seeing that, finally realized that he had been wrong.

“With children like those, we’ll never be able to defeat the demon king.”

Klein had witnessed true strength. The true strength that could reach the impossible.

The unbelievable strength, to reach out to another in your most difficult and terrifying moment. He remembered it.

And only strength like that,

Could defeat the demon king.

“Now, I’ll announce the scores.”

The scores were calculated based on that criteria.

Leffrey was slightly surprised to see this.

‘Could it be, the professor… Did the professor change his ways?’

Gray is becoming closer to white.

Leffrey finally understood the meaning of those words.

[The direction of the world is slowly changing.]

[You have gained a large amount of Angelic Power.]

No matter how dark the world is, there are always people who regain their color under such small lights.

[You have gained a large amount of Angelic Power.]

Leffrey was a little moved by this fact.

And he was a little more moved by the incoming Angelic Power.

Anyway, the scores were announced…

“N-No way. Why is my score so low?!”

“Professor, I’ve taken down so many enemies. And I’m in the bottom?”

Naturally, the examinees voiced their complaints.

But Klein’s response was firm.

“The purpose of our Central Superhuman Academy is just one. To protect humanity and slay the demon king.”

Klein, with a few hand gestures, laid out the images of the hostages the examinees had abandoned like a diorama.

“But look at this. After creating a scene like this, can you really call yourselves protectors of humanity?”

“But I saved even more people by eliminating the enemy!”

“It’s meaningless to mention ‘more people’ when you couldn't even save those right in front of you.”

It’s been so long since he had heard such sensible words.

Leffrey, momentarily forgetting himself and almost clapping, quietly listened to what Klein was saying.

‘Isn’t this practically the first time…?’

Leffrey was so excited to finally see the professors act like actual professors.

“Besides, we’ll never be able to defeat the demon king by abandoning the weak.”

“Why not? I heard that the only way to defeat the demon king is to strengthen humanity by ensuring only the strong survive!”

Klein muttered with a hint of sadness,

“A race that abandons the weak will only become weaker, a race incapable of even protecting its weakest.”

He continued.

Tears welled up in his eyes.

“When we protect those weaker than ourselves, we can overcome our own limitations.”

He slowly continued,

“Examinees, do you understand?”

There was no answer from the examinees. But a few of them seemed to have gained a new perspective from Klein's words.

‘By the way, I wonder who got the highest score.’

The one with the highest score,

…was Sori, the Saint of the New Angel Church.

“…Huh? That girl got first place?”

He had thought that she wouldn’t even care about weaklings, with that crazy look in her eyes…

“Because Angel-nim wanted us to save them. I am a good girl who obeys Angel-nim’s every word.”

Sori, who was standing behind him before he even knew it. Leffrey shuddered and took a step back from her.

“I, I’m not an angel.”

“…Ah, so you’re hiding the fact that you’re an angel.”

Sori’s eyes sparkled with fanaticism.

“Give me any order you wish, Angel-nim. We, the believers of the Angel Church, are always awaiting your divine decree.”

“What’s the Angel Church? I’ve never heard of it…”

Trembling—Leffrey, after barely shaking off Sori, was then caught by a pink-haired girl who let out a ‘Kyaaak-’ sound.

“You, you womanizer who seduced my sister!”

“Ah, ouch!”

Nibble nibble—The pink-haired girl was dangling onto Leffrey, biting his hand.

“Give my sister back!”

This girl was Sowol, a member of the Mooncat Tribe and Hongwol's younger sister, who had the second-highest score after Sori. And then came a dull sound.

With that sound, the pink-haired girl was sent flying.

*Whack*—

“Nyaaaaaaaang!”

“How dare you do that to… Leffrey-nim?”

“You, who are you!”

Leffrey, seeing the two girls growling at each other, sighed deeply.

‘Somehow, I feel like I've seen this situation before?’

Truly, he was Leffrey, the Karma Angel. But Leffrey was often called the Profit Angel, more than the Karma Angel.

‘And since I've seen this before, I should be able to get more… no, I mean, I should be able to stop them from fighting.’

Looking at the two girls burning with fighting spirit, Leffrey showed a smiled full of self-interest.

“Juniors…”