✓Question Two.
Define— A HERO.
A. A hero is someone who saves people.
B. A hero puts others before themselves.
C. A hero is not someone who saves everyone… but someone who decides who is worth saving.
D. A hero is someone who never gives up.
NS: Give your own definition (optional).
Tia stared.
"…All wrong."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
These aren't definitions.
Just beliefs.
His pen hovered.
Meaningless words.
Then—
Something shifted.
The words.
Scattered .
"…I didn't think too much."
"…Nor did I doubt."
"So why—"
The letters on the page flickered.
Slightly
Then—
Stopped.
Tia's pupils tightened.
"…What?"
The words formed into a single line.
DEFINE YOURSELF.
Silence.
A beat.
Then—
The world broke.
Darkness.
walls faded.
Tia's vision snapped.
Smoke filled his lungs.
Heat bit his skin.
Screams
Buildings burned.
The city in ruin.
A monster towered ahead.
Massive.
Its roar split the air.
People ran.
Cried.
Fell.
Then—
They saw him.
A child pointed.
"Hero lim!"
Heads turned.
A woman grabbed his sleeve.
"Please—save us!"
Another voice.
It's..
" Hero lim!"
we're saved.
More followed.
"Hero lim"
"Help us!"
"Please!"
Their eyes—
Full of hope.
Tia froze.
…Me?
His chest tightened.
He had fought before.
Killed before.
But never—
For strangers.
Never because people believed in him.
But for Survival only.
The monster lunged.
A car exploded.
Someone screamed.
Tia's jaw tightened.
Move.
But his body didn't.
For the first time—
He hesitated.
Then—
A child's cry.
"Mommy..."
Sharp.
Piercing.
His eyes snapped over.
The monster's claw descended.
Without thinking—
Tia moved.
Boom—
He shoved the child aside.
The claw grazed his side.
Blood sprayed.
Pain.
Immediate.
Real.
His breathing roughened.
"…Damn it."
He turned.
"You—"
He pointed at nearby awakeners.
"gey it together."
Their eyes widened.
"Start evacuating civilians."
"What about you?!"
Tia looked toward the monster.
Silence.
A woman grabbed his wrist.
Tears in her eyes.
" Hero lim"
"You can't fight that alone."
"You'll die."
" What would we tell the others."
Tia looked at her.
Then—
A small smile.
"…hurry up and evacuate."
She looked at him.
Disbelief all over her face.
He pulled free.
walked forward.
He stood.
Eyes on the monster.
No powers.
No overwhelming strength.
Only instinct.
Calculation.
Preparation.
Then he ran.
Forward.
The monster saw him.
Its jaws opened—
Too wide.
Rows of broken teeth.
Rotten breath.
It lunged.
Tia dropped low.
Crash—
Its claws tore through the bus behind him.
Metal screeched.
Glass exploded.
Tia rolled beneath falling Fragments.
Too slow.
A shard tore across his shoulder.
Blood soaked his sleeve.
He didn't stop.
His eyes darted.
Left.
Right.
Above.
Too big.
Too fast.
Too stupid.
Good.
The monster charged again.
Tia kicked over a market stall.
Fruit scattered.
Wood shattered.
The creature stormed through it—
Without slowing.
Exactly what he wanted.
He grabbed a loose cable.
Wrapped it around a streetlight.
Yanked.
Fast.
The pole tilted.
The monster looked up—
Too late.
Bang—
Steel slammed into its skull.
It staggered.
Roared.
Not enough.
Its tail whipped.
Crack—
Tia's arm bent wrong.
Pain shot through him.
Blinding.
A scream almost escaped—
He swallowed it.
His left hand worked now.
That would have to be enough.
The monster charged.
Again.
Tia limped toward a gas station.
He didn't look back.
The creature closed in.
Five steps.
Four.
Three.
Tia grabbed a broken mana lantern from the ground.
His fingers shook.
Not from fear.
From blood loss.
Two steps.
He smashed the lantern into the fuel line.
Liquid sprayed.
One step.
The monster opened its jaws.
Tia smiled.
"Got you."
His good hand shot upward—
Grabbing the torn electrical cable hanging from the shattered streetlight.
The exposed wire hissed.
Blue sparks dancing wildly across its tip.
The current bit into his palm.
His body convulsed.
Pain ripped through his arm.
Still—
He held on.
drove it downward.
Straight into the river of leaking fuel.
For a heartbeat—
Nothing.
The creature moved.
Closer now few inches from where he stood.
Then—
BOOM.
Fire swallowed the street.
The shockwave threw him backward.
His body hit concrete.
Hard.
His ribs cracked.
Couldn't feel his left leg.
Same with his right hand.
But—
Through the flames—
He saw it.
The monster collapsed.
Burning.
Dead.
Silence.
Then—
Few minutes.
Cheers.
They ran to him.
"So they saw everything..."
"Hero lim!"
"You did it!"
"You saved us!"
He looked down.
His body was ruined.
One leg gone.
One arm destroyed.
Blood everywhere.
His vision fading.
Yet—
His lips curved.
…So this is it.
This feeling…
Not pride.
Not joy.
Something quieter.
Heavier.
Understanding.
Being a hero…
is moving forward…
even when you know what it will cost.
His eyes closed.
The cheers faded.
Then—
Silence.
Tia opened his eyes.
Back in the hall.
White Walls
A tear—
Unexpectedly—
rested at the corner of his eye.
He touched it.
Confused.
"…I understand now."
His pen moved.
My own definition:
"A hero is someone who makes uncertain decisions and faces the consequences."
He stopped.
eyes moved to the timer.
02:02:00
2 hours left.
"…Ah."
Finally.
✓ The last question.
"What qualifies an individual to pass the Contamination Trial?"
Silence.
Tia didn't write.
…Qualifies.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Not 'how to pass.'
Not 'what to do.'
What qualifies you to.
A pause.
His gaze lowered to the paper.
Contamination…
A whisper brushed past his ear.
Wrong.
Tia didn't react.
…No.
Tia's fingers tapped once.
Illusions… triggered by doubt.
A faint breath escaped him.
And once it begins—
Reality and illusion can no longer be distinguished
His gaze steadied.
His grip on the pen tightened slightly.
What do we all have in common…?
A pause.
Then—
The Fear of being wrong.
The need to be right.
His eyes sharpened.
That's what triggers everything.
He picked up his pen.
And wrote—
"The key to the Contamination Trial is—"
A pause.
Then—
"The mind."
Ink settled.
He added one final line.
"Failure begins the moment the mind fractures."
"Once it does—recovery is impossible."
He placed the pen down.
Silence.
For the first time—
No whispers.
No illusions.
Just—
Stillness.
Seconds passed.
Then—
The walls began to fade.
So did everything within them.
The desk.
The chair.
the paper in his hands—
The words broke apart
And drifted into dust.
Gone.
Light bled through.
The space opened.
Students reappeared.
Some laughing.
Relieved.
Others—
Shaking.
Faces pale.
Eyes unfocused.
Like they had just crawled out of something dark.
"…What the hell was that…"
"I thought I was going insane…"
Tia stood still.
Then exhaled.
"…exhausting."
Moments later—
She appeared.
"Congratulations."
Her voice cut clean.
"To those who remain."
Silence fell instantly.
"You are dismissed."
A pause.
"The results will be announced tomorrow."
Her gaze swept across them.
Cold.
Unwavering.
"I suggest some of you begin packing."
No explanation.
"This academy will have fewer of you by sunrise."
She turned.
And walked away.
No warning.
No second glance.
Her footsteps echoed down the hall—
slowly fading.
Until even the sound disappeared.
Silence returned.
But it didn't feel like peace.
And just like that
The tension rose.
Fear settled in quietly.
Not spoken.
But—
in thoughts they couldn't stop.
Let me pass.
Let me get into the academy…