Savior Proto-Call Chapter 7

Chapter 7. No Longer Human (7)

"Hey, look over there. Isn't that a naturally awakened ability user?"

A low voice, somewhat frivolous yet deliberately hushed, reached the ears of someone drifting through the haze of sleep.

Yoon Doha jolted awake as though she'd been falling from a great height.

For a moment, she blinked in confusion. Then, realizing she'd only been dreaming, she sat up listlessly and brushed a hand through her pitch-black hair.

Still half-asleep, she looked around the classroom with a dazed expression.

The room was spacious enough to accommodate at least thirty people, yet only seven people were seated inside.

Yoon Doha narrowed her eyes and focused her vision, trying to distinguish the others.

In the row where she sat, there was a brown-haired woman who remained sprawled over her desk.

There was also a brown-haired man with a gentle face who was chattering away, along with another man who occasionally frowned as he listened to the endless stream of words coming from him.

In the middle row sat a woman with impeccable posture, carefully reading the Salvation Training Center guidebook.

In the third row, there was a woman wearing earphones who had fallen asleep with her forehead resting against the wall, looking almost unconscious.

Beside her sat another woman wearing a white baseball cap.

...There aren't many people in this year's intake.

Normally, approximately twenty trainees enrolled each quarter, including both artificially and naturally awakened individuals.

Since the Special Category class usually had more trainees than the Natural Category class, this year's numbers were indeed unusually low.

How long was I asleep?

Yoon Doha instinctively checked her wristwatch.

It was exactly on the hour.

That meant it was time for the scheduled assembly.

Fortunately, she hadn't slept for very long.

Relieved, Doha stretched her stiff back while screaming internally from the discomfort.

"Wow... With a face like that, she could make a fortune as a celebrity. What a shame she awakened."

Yoon Doha was yawning, feeling each joint in her spine twist back into place, when the voice of the man sitting two seats ahead caught her attention.

She tilted her head.

His cheerful voice suited his fluffy hair perfectly.

At the same time, she noticed that he was pointing toward the protective door at the front of the classroom.

Someone had apparently opened it earlier and left a doorstop in place.

The man was whispering about something beyond the doorway.

After staring at him for a moment, Doha unconsciously followed the direction of his finger.

Through the gap in the door, she could see someone's back.

A bright figure stood outside, bathed in the direct sunlight of the morning.

The woman's long hair had been neatly gathered into a high ponytail.

It shone with a translucent golden color, as though someone had cut out a piece of the morning sunlight itself.

Even from her silhouette alone, she appeared remarkably tall.

Her height complemented the graceful movement of her shimmering hair.

The white shirt and jeans she wore so casually gave her a refreshing appearance that seemed completely out of place for a military academy trainee who would soon be risking her life.

Her posture was perfectly straight and unbending, lending her an air of aloof elegance.

"Look how striking she is. I don't think she's mixed-race, either. She must be naturally awakened, right? Unless they get special permission, awakened people aren't allowed to dye their hair or wear colored contacts. Besides, if someone awakened artificially and lied about being naturally awakened, it'd be a huge pain to manage them anyway."

The other man, who had been quietly listening to the brown-haired student, nodded slowly.

With an expression of complete disinterest, he answered halfheartedly.

"Yes. She has blonde hair and purple eyes. As you said, she doesn't appear to be mixed-race, so she's probably naturally awakened."

"Probably stands out less than red hair would. But it looks like we don't have any naturally awakened people on our team, huh? Everyone's got black or brown hair."

Yoon Doha let their conversation go in one ear and out the other.

Then, the woman standing beyond the doorway suddenly turned.

Doha's lazily tilted head finally faced the entrance.

For the first time, she caught a glimpse of the woman's face, which had remained hidden from view.

However, the sunlight streaming diagonally across the doorway cast shadows over her features, making them difficult to distinguish clearly.

Even so, some of the woman's most distinctive features couldn't be concealed by something as trivial as a shadow.

...Purple eyes?

Her irises were a tranquil violet, like lavender flowers crushed into water and slowly boiled until their color seeped into the liquid.

It was a shade rarely found among ordinary people.

The unusual color provided unmistakable proof that she was naturally awakened.

Furthermore, despite the woman's somewhat stern expression, her face was so perfectly sculpted that even Yoon Doha, who had little interest in other people's appearances, couldn't help feeling impressed.

Her heavy double eyelids framed languid eyes.

A sharply defined nose rose from her face at an almost perfect angle.

And her lips, pressed together with a strangely stubborn firmness, added an edge of sensitivity to her expression.

There was something both modern and classical about her beauty.

Her striking, refined features were reminiscent of an unnamed figure depicted in an ancient temple mural.

However, at that very moment, Doha nearly made eye contact with the woman.

The woman's face was twisted into an expression suggesting she was in an exceptionally foul mood.

Yoon Doha immediately looked away and pretended to be interested in something else.

Her eyes wandered awkwardly through empty space.

Naturally awakened individuals tended to attract attention because their hair and eye colors changed upon awakening.

And quite a few of them found that attention uncomfortable.

This woman was even more conspicuous because of her extraordinary appearance.

Staring at her unnecessarily might only irritate her.

Besides, Yoon Doha preferred avoiding pointless conflicts.

When her very survival was at stake, she had no intention of causing trouble merely because she wanted to admire someone else's face.

"Oh... Isn't that person naturally awakened too? He's got green eyes! Whoa, so we actually do have a naturally awakened person on our team. But purebloods really are different, huh? I bet they're on a completely different level from mutts like us."

The man pulled the hood of his zip-up jacket low over his head, looking miserable.

Bitter words spilled openly from his mouth.

His blatantly sarcastic remarks made Yoon Doha frown.

Purebloods and mutts.

Those were derogatory terms used to distinguish naturally awakened individuals from artificially awakened ones.

But Yoon Doha wasn't particularly envious of naturally awakened people.

Although they were born with considerably stronger powers, those powers came with stricter restrictions.

They had to be especially careful about their behavior.

And above all, they were far more vulnerable to Phantom Pain.

Just like Baek Lee Young.

BANG!

The doorstop holding the front door open suddenly sprang loose with a tremendous crash, as though someone had kicked it.

The awkward atmosphere shattered beneath the deafening metallic noise.

Everyone immediately turned toward the entrance.

The first thing that entered their field of vision was a pair of vivid crimson eyes.

They were so intensely red that they seemed soaked in fresh blood.

Their gleam resembled something newly carved from freshly slaughtered meat and implanted into a living face.

"Well, hello there. Looks like most of this year's lot are still wet behind the ears. Not many of you, either... Ah, well, I guess that doesn't matter. Only the ones who can endure it will survive anyway."

Apart from her initial greeting, the woman seemed to be talking entirely to herself.

She walked casually toward the lectern at the front of the classroom.

Yoon Doha pressed a hand against her pounding heart and swallowed the curses that had risen to her throat from being startled.

Then she examined the woman from head to toe.

Her clothing looked familiar.

It was a Savior's combat uniform.

Doha had seen the same kind of uniform in the media, in textbooks, and just a few days earlier in the underground research wing.

However, the woman's uniform was worn so improperly that even someone unfamiliar with the correct way to wear it would have found it questionable.

She looked as though she'd just returned from destroying a Phantasm.

The standard-issue webbing harness had come completely undone on one side and dangled loosely.

Her top, which should have been neatly secured beneath the harness, was unfortunately caught between the remaining straps, fluttering awkwardly.

Three Korean characters were embroidered in gold across her chest.

Eun Narin.

The cheerful-looking woman roughly shook her short hair and dropped a folder onto the desk with a sharp thud.

Then she turned around, picked up a board marker, and scrawled her name across the whiteboard in handwriting so atrocious that it was nearly impossible to read.

The trainees, whose attention had been unexpectedly captured by Eun Narin, mostly wore bewildered expressions.

Their instructor, however, remained perfectly relaxed.

"All right, I'm Eun Narin. I'm a Savior, and I'll be your supervising instructor for Class 4 here at the Salvation Academy. If you want to use the boring, conventional military title, I'm a major. Major Eun. That's right, Major Eun."

She grinned broadly, the corners of her mouth stretching upward.

But rather than being refreshing, her smile was deeply unsettling.

Somehow, she looked like the sort of person who would cheerfully smile while grinding someone beneath her feet all the way down to the bottom of hell.

Eun Narin.

I'm sure I've heard that name somewhere before...

It was strangely familiar.

As Yoon Doha searched her memory, the headline and contents of a news article suddenly flashed through her mind.

[EXCLUSIVE] "Salvation Agency Seoul Headquarters 'Half-Destroyed' While Installing New Year's Slogan" — Culprit Behind Headquarters Devastation Turns Out to Be an Elite Insider?

According to an official from the Salvation Agency Headquarters, Major Eun was supervising the installation of a New Year's commemorative slogan on the exterior wall of the building at the time of the incident.

During the process, she reportedly lost control of the output of her special ability, "Telekinesis."

Major Eun Narin is currently undergoing a post-incident investigation. As disciplinary action, the Salvation Agency has... (continued)

...Is it really okay for someone like that to be in charge of a team?

Don't they say adults are mirrors for children?

If the trainees grow up watching someone who destroyed Headquarters, who knows what they'll end up destroying themselves?

Yoon Doha stared at Eun Narin with an unenthusiastic expression, inwardly horrified.

Her eyes nervously followed the instructor's movements.

Eun Narin watched the trainees who were awkwardly clapping or nodding along.

An enigmatic smile remained on her face.

Then she suddenly extended an arm and pointed somewhere beyond the wall.

"I'm originally assigned to Headquarters over there by Seoul Station. Now, if you're wondering why a perfectly healthy Savior who isn't even close to retirement ended up all the way out here teaching a bunch of chicks..."

She paused dramatically.

"Well, all I can tell you is that I came to the center temporarily for personal reasons and ended up taking charge of an instructional team."

She tilted her head.

"Those of you with Seoul addresses probably went to Headquarters for your awakening examinations, right? Anyone been there?"

Despite her hearty question, no one answered.

The silence was so awkward that Yoon Doha almost felt her own ears turning red on the instructor's behalf.

Eun Narin, however, didn't seem bothered in the slightest.

She leaned crookedly against the lectern and began flipping through her folder, looking like someone recording an online lecture entirely by herself.

Judging by the way her eyebrows gradually drew together, she seemed to be doing something she found rather unpleasant.

Before she'd even finished reading the few pages inside, she snapped the folder shut again.

Reckless and irresponsible.

What a wonderful combination.

"Umm, first things first. If I forget to announce anything important, the center director is going to chew me out, you know? So we'll start with the basics."

Her tone grew even more casual.

"I'll just go over things rooooughly, so don't get all nervous."

The laziness mixed into her voice was rather inappropriate.

She sounded thoroughly dissatisfied with the responsibilities she'd been given.

The Salvation Agency had adopted a military-style ranking system primarily to make managing ability users easier.

It helped prevent unnecessary disturbances and maintain convenient control over its personnel.

In other words, it was a structure designed to make it difficult for subordinates to openly express dissatisfaction with their superiors or challenge their authority.

However, the person assigned as Class 4's supervising instructor apparently didn't care much about formalities.

Then again, someone who had destroyed part of Headquarters was clearly not the sort of person who strictly followed regulations.

Eun Narin casually extended her index finger and little finger.

Then she smiled like a serpent offering Eve the forbidden fruit.

Opening her folder again, she removed the cap from her pen.

"Shall we start by taking attendance? When I call your name, all you have to do is answer with a nice, loud 'Yes!' Nam Hohyeon."

"YES! THAT'S ME! I'M HERE!"

"Well, aren't you energetic?"

He's disgustingly energetic.

Yoon Doha clicked her tongue discreetly and looked toward the brown-haired male student who had been noisily talking about naturally awakened individuals earlier.

At the same time, she repeated his name silently in her mind.

Nam Hohyeon.

Like it or not, they would be teammates who had to see one another every day for the next six months.

Remembering everyone's name seemed like the bare minimum of mutual courtesy.

It was a small concession to her conscience.

Of course, whether she'd end up forgetting those names later was another matter entirely.

"Dan Ryuha?"

"Yes."

This time, the woman who had been carefully reading the guidebook answered.

Among everyone present, she was particularly noticeable.

Her appearance alone seemed to convey her strong, upright personality.

She wore a perfectly ironed shirt and sharply pressed slacks.

Her back remained straight without the slightest sign of slouching, as though her posture itself were a reflection of her character.

The fact that she looked more mature than the other trainees only reinforced that impression.

Her calm, dark eyes and firmly closed lips clearly distinguished her from the students who had yet to shed the label of minors.

She's kind of like a composed, well-bred cat from a wealthy family.

"Cha Minseol."

"Yeees."

The woman wearing the white cap replied in a rather lighthearted tone and casually waved her hand.

Although her manner of speaking seemed somewhat careless, the fact that she answered promptly and properly every time created a strangely contradictory impression.

Deep dimples appeared beside the corners of her smiling lips, making every emotion she displayed more pronounced.

Cha Minseol didn't appear to be a minor, either.

The facial contours visible beneath the brim of her cap were smooth, without a trace of youthful baby fat.

There was a distinct difference between features sharpened through weight loss and those naturally shaped by maturity.

Yoon Doha's gaze traveled down the woman's cheek before stopping near the joint of her left jaw.

A short scar marked the area.

It was particularly noticeable.

Having grown up in an environment where violence and injury were common, Doha quickly recognized that the scar lay at an angle unlikely to result from an ordinary everyday accident.

Something about it made her uneasy.

However, it wasn't something she had any reason to mention aloud.

"Yoon Doha."

"...Yes."

Hearing her own name unexpectedly, Doha responded a moment late.

She awkwardly raised her hand.

She was remarkably practiced at quickly correcting the blank expression that appeared on her face.

Eun Narin briefly looked her over before smiling once, almost as though exchanging a silent greeting.

Her proactive, sociable demeanor belonged to one of the categories of people Yoon Doha found uncomfortable.

Doha didn't know how to respond.

She awkwardly lifted the corners of her mouth.

Fortunately, Eun Narin had already moved on to the next name.

"Min Yul."

"Y-yes! H-here!"

It was the naturally awakened student with brown hair and green eyes whom she'd noticed earlier.

He timidly raised his hand and blinked innocently.

His mannerisms resembled those of a small, harmless animal.

Perhaps because he didn't look remotely suited to the dangerous life of an ability user, Doha found herself spending an unnecessary amount of time looking at him.

The gentle curve of his lips stirred a strange sense of familiarity.

While trying to identify its source, she suddenly remembered her older sister.

The realization left a bitter, heavy feeling in her mouth.

In the end, she had to lower her head.

"Choi Rohan."

"Yes."

"Hyun Noa."

"Yeees."

The calm-looking male student wearing glasses and the bright-eyed female student who had been listening to music through earphones answered in succession.

Eun Narin continued down the attendance list, muttering quietly to herself as though repeating something under her breath.

Then she smiled brightly.

It was the kind of innocent-looking smile that inexplicably filled anyone watching her with foreboding.

"Everyone's here. Nice. Not a single one of you ran off. That's good. Means I don't have to go hunting anyone down."

Wait, has someone actually run away before?

An ability user who left without permission was considered a deserter.

And desertion was grounds for immediate execution.

It was surprising enough that anyone would dare attempt to escape in South Korea, where the government maintained such strict control over ability users.

But it was even more surprising that an elite Savior, albeit one who looked rather troublesome, would personally go after them.

Is there really a reason to waste such valuable personnel on chasing down runaways?

"Anyway, today's just your assembly day, so we're only going to cover the basics. The detailed lessons won't begin until your actual training starts."

Eun Narin raised a finger.

"There are exactly two things you need to remember before you leave today. How many?"

"Two."

The reluctant voices that answered sounded as stiff and lifeless as rice cakes that had gone cold.

Their lack of enthusiasm seemed almost contagious, making the atmosphere even more exhausting.

Of course, just as before, Eun Narin didn't care.

She clapped her hands lightly to draw their attention.

It was as though other people's reactions and emotions had never been included among the things she considered worth worrying about.

"That's right. First, every Sunday, you'll receive the schedule for the following week. The smartwatches issued to you will have the Salvation Agency app installed. Log in, and you'll find everything under 'Today's Schedule.'"

They hadn't received their basic supplies yet.

However, Doha had heard that those items would be provided when they checked into the dormitories.

Didn't I hear something about the government cutting the Salvation Agency's funding because of some ridiculous argument that taxpayer money couldn't be spent just anywhere?

Then where the hell are they getting the money to hand out smartwatches?

She had no idea.

She could only hope the devices would prove useful enough to justify their cost.

"And second... Whoops."

Her voice took on an awkward note.

At the same instant, the documents resting on the lectern came tumbling down with a loud clatter.

Apparently, Eun Narin had been leaning against the desk at an awkward angle and had failed to support the folder properly.

She raised an open palm in a casual gesture of apology, acknowledging her mistake.

Then she disappeared beneath the desk to retrieve the fallen papers.

Ah, wait a second.

Yoon Doha had been staring blankly at the now-empty lectern.

Then, without warning—

A tremendous heaviness pressed against the back of her head.

It felt as though her brain had been submerged in water for an impossibly long time.

Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned an elbow against the desk and rested her chin in her hand.

She desperately tried to keep herself upright.

Lowering her head completely in front of an instructor would be disrespectful.

That single thought kept her blinking sluggishly, struggling to maintain her posture.

But her efforts were meaningless.

A moment later, her head dropped forward like a severed head falling from its neck.

Tears streamed from her eyes, blurring her vision.

The world before her lost its focus.

A headache of unimaginable intensity tore through her skull.

It felt as though someone had mercilessly shoved a red-hot iron rod up her nasal cavity and continued driving it deeper, tearing apart the flesh behind it.

Her pupils suddenly rolled upward.

A familiar ringing pierced her eardrums.

It was as though someone had grabbed her brain and begun shaking it violently.

There had been no warning.

No gradual onset.

Nothing.

What... is this...?