“This instructor, depending on what you do, you could have become angels or demons.”

“…”

“But… since the beginning, it’s been like this, so there’s no helping it.”

“I’m sorry!”

The young students, who haven’t even been to the military yet, felt an indescribable charisma from Jeong Gyeoul, who was mimicking a teaching assistant.

Some students even found themselves apologizing without realizing it.

However, Jeong Gyeoul had already made up her mind to become the demon of Class 12A.

“It’s a sad thing that brings tears to my eyes, but for your sake, I won’t hesitate to become a demon.”

Jeong Gyeoul’s declaration to become a demon herself.

Fear swirled in the students’ eyes.

“Everyone, lift the 50kg weight plates.”

The students gathered here were Awakened Ones of the Physical Category.

50kg was nothing to them.

‘…?’

‘Just 50kg?’

‘After all that posturing, what’s this?’

The students, who had been scared stiff, were still just 14 years old.

They’re still young.

They thought the training would be light!

Some students even chuckled and laughed.

Seeing this, Jeong Gyeoul smiled meaningfully.

‘Let’s see if you can still laugh by the end of the class.’

The class was two hours long.

The thought of showing them hell within those two hours had long since erased any sense of annoyance.

“Skip the repetition of commands. Squats, 10 reps!”

Not a single student responded with “Yes!” to Jeong Gyeoul’s command.

Jeong Gyeoul didn’t expect them to repeat commands from the start either.

It didn’t matter.

She would soon make them unable to open their mouths.

“Do we really have to do this…?”

“Well, she’s the instructor, so we have to…”

The hesitant students reluctantly followed the instructor’s orders.

But… there are always troublemakers.

Even during Jeong Gyeoul’s time in the student council, there were a few troublemakers she had to deal with.

“I won’t do it, I can’t.”

“Hey, you guys don’t do it either. Why should we?”

Since they weren’t moving, the other students doing squats hesitated and eventually stopped.

“Is this… rebellion against the instructor?”

“…Stop posturing and just kill time until we can all go our separate ways.”

Jeong Gyeoul, who had now dropped the title of instructor and became a drill sergeant, hardened her expression.

“Squats, 15 reps. How many?”

“…”

She asked, locking eyes with the troublemaker at the front.

But the troublemaker just stared back defiantly.

No answer, no action.

At that moment.

The troublemaker saw Jeong Gyeoul disappear in an instant.

Whack—

“Ahhh!”

“I thought you couldn’t make a sound… but it comes out well, huh?”

“What! The instructor hit a student!”

“Hey! Quick, record it! Report it!”

The students, who couldn’t say a word when Instructor Kim Ho-il beat them under the guise of sparring, raised their voices against the young instructor’s violence.

“Go ahead.”

“…What?”

“Go ahead, report it.”

“…”

Whether they reported it to the police or the Education Office, matters within the academy were handled internally.

It was almost like a form of extraterritoriality.

The academy’s supervision rarely disciplined for trivial matters.

After all, the Hero Academy was an institution for training aspiring heroes.

If they disciplined and punished for such minor issues, what instructor would teach enthusiastically?

Report if you bleed during sparring.

Report if you sprain a ligament while running.

Report if you get injured while lifting weights.

If that kept happening, the instructors would eventually slack off.

Even after graduating and becoming heroes, the students wouldn’t be much different from when they were students.

Then the mortality rate would only increase, leading to a vicious cycle.

In this era, which could be called the age of heroes.

Neither the government nor the media could easily touch the academy.

If academy-trained heroes rose up, at least half of Korea’s security system would collapse.

It’s similar to how Park Seol-hwa and Jeong Ha-yul, no matter how reckless they were, were untouchable.

Even Park Seol-hwa was academy-trained.

Jeong Ha-yul too.

Knowing all this, Jeong Gyeoul had no reason to fear a report about corporal punishment.

Returning to her original spot, Jeong Gyeoul shouted at the students again.

“20 reps. How many?”

“20 reps!”

“Look at your voices… You’ve neglected muscle training. 25 reps.”

“What does my voice have to do with muscles…?”

“Vocal cords are muscles too.”

“…”

“Squats, 10 reps. Begin.”

Overwhelmed by Jeong Gyeoul’s charisma, the students exchanged glances and started doing squats.

One… two… three……… eight… nine…

The students nodded at each other.

‘Let’s skip the last count.’

When five people gather, one is bound to be a troll.

This class had over 20 Physical Category Awakened Ones.

Meaning at least four trolls.

Sure enough.

“Ten!”

A torturer emerged, calling out the last number.

“Ah, Kim Yu-young…”

“Oops, sorry. It just slipped out.”

The students chuckled at the response, but…

For now, it was just a joke, so no one blamed Kim Yu-young.

But… it didn’t take long for the students’ expressions, actions, and tones to change.

“Ah, damn it, Kim Yu-young, are you kidding me?!”

“…Sorry, why do I keep doing this?”

“Aaaah! Let’s just stop!”

By now, the weight plates they were holding totaled 120kg: 50kg, 40kg, and 30kg each.

After over 200 squats in that state, the students’ attitudes changed drastically.

It wasn’t just Kim Yu-young who called out the counts.

Other students did it occasionally too, but Kim Yu-young’s overwhelming count made all the resentment focus on him.

Gradually, the dynamic Jeong Gyeoul wanted was taking shape.

“Squats, 30 reps.”

“Aaaah!”

“Ugh!”

Amid the students’ complaints, Kim Yu-young, the true troll, managed to skip the count.

“…It took 40 minutes just to do squats. This is the most horrifying class I’ve ever seen.”

“…”

First-time instructor Jeong Gyeoul. After just one class with 12D, she spoke as if she had decades of teaching experience, leaving the students dumbfounded.

But no one pointed it out.

If they rebelled, they’d get beaten. If they rebelled, the reps would increase. If they rebelled, the weights would increase.

Through repeated drills, a atmosphere formed where no one could defy Jeong Gyeoul, no matter what she said.

“If you had been like this from the start, how nice would it have been? The weights wouldn’t have increased, and the reps wouldn’t have gone up.”

“…”

Jeong Gyeoul looked satisfied as the students gritted their teeth and remained silent.

“Next is PT Exercise.”

The students, who hadn’t been to the military and only thought of jumping jacks, were relieved by the seemingly low intensity.

“Follow my demonstration. PT Exercise number 8.”

“…Number 8, full-body twist?”

“What’s that?”

“There’s this exercise in the military… It induces PTSD, so it’s called PT Exercise…”

Some students had heard of the infamous PT Exercise through family or friends.

Others had never heard of it.

Regardless, they had to do it now.

There’s a story that escape training is for escaping after being captured by enemies and tortured to the point of exhaustion, and PT Exercise is the process of exhausting your stamina.

Jeong Gyeoul’s logic was that heroes might one day be captured by foreign enemies, so they needed PT Exercise.

In reality, the training’s purpose and motivation were just excuses; she just wanted to push them.

Jeong Gyeoul lay down on the floor and assumed the PT Exercise number 8 position.

The most famous and infamous position.

Lying down, arms spread, legs raised vertically to form an L-shape.

Your head shouldn’t touch the floor.

First movement: tilt legs to the left floor. Second movement: return to the starting position.

Third movement: tilt legs to the right floor. Fourth movement: return to the starting position.

Beep~beep~beep! Beepbeepbeep~beep!

Jeong Gyeoul, who had somehow prepared a whistle, demonstrated once and got up.

“Just follow my demonstration.”

The students, exhausted from the weighted squats, thought this would be a break.

Lying down to do an exercise seemed easy.

“PT Exercise number 8, ready!”

The students lay down as instructed.

This level of bodyweight training wasn’t hard for them.

After all, aspiring Physical Category heroes weren’t weak.

‘All that demon talk was just to scare us.’

‘Let’s finish this in one go.’

‘Damn Kim Yu-young… Because of him, we’ll probably have to keep going.’

But…

“In this training, holding weight plates could risk injury… So I’ll adjust the weight with my telekinesis.”

“…What?”

Bzzzzzz—

Telekinesis spread throughout the space where the students lay.

Their bodies were instantly pressed down, almost as if they were embedded in the ground.

“Ugh!”

“This… this is too heavy!”

“It’s only 100kg. Stop exaggerating and assume the position.”

“…”

Beep~beep~beep! Beepbeepbeep~beep!

The whistle sounded immediately.

The students reflexively moved.

After 30 minutes, it was pure hell.

The academy’s famously lightweight boots felt like boulders, and their necks wouldn’t turn.

They wanted to grab something, but it was just the bare floor, lying down, waving their hands.

Their voices cracked, sounding metallic.

The continuous screams drew passing instructors and staff to see what was happening.

“…What, what’s going on?”

“Just passing by. It’s training.”

“…Alright. Keep up the good work.”

Recognizing Jeong Gyeoul, they turned back.

No one was coming to save Class 12A from hell.