Chapter 29
“Looks like everyone’s come prepared, huh? Great. Even if it’s just a temporary hero name, it’ll be what you’re called during the experiential learning ahead.”
Justitia glanced at the class with a satisfied look and handed out materials to the kids in the front row, instructing them to pass them back.
“Oh, speaking of which, we haven’t picked a class president yet, have we? Hmm. Let’s set aside some time for that soon. For today, we’ll focus on costume design and coming up with our temporary hero names.”
Justitia said she’d give us an hour to start designing costumes first.
The kids seemed too focused to chatter much, all diligently scribbling away at something.
Yeonhwa was busy drawing, occasionally glancing over to see what others were up to. Maybe she was just being considerate for the designers.
No wait, she must have prepared the concept from a young age.
Jinhyeon, while not as intense as Yeonhwa, was slowly sketching something on his paper as well.
What the heck?
Did we need to draw this too?
I thought we could just write it out! The protagonist did that in the original, so I assumed that was the way to go.
I was a bit flustered but decided to just go for it like the protagonist and stick to writing.
Even scribbling down rough ideas, the designs turned out decent and stylish enough.
So, let’s see.
First, the material should be completely unaffected by strong bases or acids, and should remain unchanged even if it contacts any toxic substances.
It needs to be highly breathable but have low exposure, while allowing for comfortable movement.
It should also be exceptionally durable and not easily noticeable.
And for accessories, it could be something to collect toxic solutions and a syringe gun to cover for weak ranged attacks.
This should be enough.
The rest can be figured out by the designers and material engineers who have that job. They’re getting paid for it, after all. They should put in that much effort.
Okay, I’ll wrap up the design here and think some more about the name.
I already had a name in mind, but maybe something better would come to me.
I’d settled on something related to my ability and appearance, which I thought was pretty good.
Other ideas seemed either too silly or completely unrelatable.
It looked like this was the only decent one.
So, I set the design sheet aside and wrote my chosen hero name down in the designated spot.
I added some flair too, trying my hand at lettering for the first time.
While I was at it, Justitia announced that time was up and instructed everyone in the back to walk up and submit their papers.
I walked up in order, paper facing down, and Justitia said we were about to enter the exciting part of the class.
“Even though it’s a temporary hero name… since we’re in the same class, you all have the right to know. Now, we’ll have a time for announcing our hero names.”
The announcements wouldn’t end until everyone had shared, so she asked us to participate earnestly.
Justitia declared this with a slightly wicked smile.
“Wait, what?! We have to announce them?!”
At that, Lapiz beside me froze and looked at the teacher as if confirming if it was true.
“Yes. It’s an announcement, Lapiz,” Justitia replied.
She added that confidence and poise were virtues of a hero, hinting that we’d have more presentation lessons moving forward.
“Ugh, oh dear…”
Poor Lapiz looked like she was about to cringe just thinking about the announcement.
Weirdly enough, I didn’t really feel like tormenting Lapiz. Maybe it’s because she’s cute.
“You can’t stay scared forever, Lapiz. You want to be like your grandmother, right? So you need to work on it starting now.”
“Ugh… I guess I will…?”
Lapiz had a reluctant demeanor, but as soon as her grandmother was mentioned, she steadied herself despite her shivers.
Just then, Yeonhwa raised her hand, clearly eager.
“Me! I want to present!”
“Go ahead, Yeonhwa,” Justitia replied.
Seeing Yeonhwa volunteering, Lapiz subtly glanced at me, smiling awkwardly as if it was okay to be a bit late with her own presentation.
“My chosen hero name is… Pyra! I named it in honor of my father’s hero name, Pyro!”
“Pyro… I remember him. He didn’t possess immense strength, but he definitely had a heart full of justice. That’s a great name, Yeonhwa,” Justitia said with a warm smile, praising her choice.
Some classmates looked at her with a hint of respect, remembering that she comes from a long line of heroes.
Coming from a family of heroes isn’t exactly something to be revered.
After all, heroes are essentially soldiers of Heros Company.
That’s why I respect Yeonhwa even more. Her father and she both embody true justice.
With the first presenter kicking things off with energy, the kids continued to announce their names enthusiastically.
“My hero name is Lion! Lion is my name!!”
“Straightforward naming, Morgan. Good one. A splendid and meaningful name works, but names that are easy to identify are also great,” Justitia replied.
“My hero name is Yukihana.”
“You translated Seolhwa into Japanese… any reason behind that?”
“It’s pretty!”
“Indeed. Subjective standards are important too. Plus, it’s a temporary hero name, so no need for heavy meanings.”
“My hero name is Hecate. The magical goddess from ancient mythology. I’ll become a hero worthy of that name!”
Ageha said, casting a glance at me.
“Impressive aspirations, Ageha. Sounds good. If it’s you, then perhaps you’ll have the skills to match it,” Justitia praised.
The scoundrel who has turned a new leaf named himself Golden Stacks, while the heroine with the incantation called herself Power Word.
As we got down to the last few kids who hadn’t announced their names, Minho finally raised his hand.
“I’ll announce my hero name now.”
“Maha. Named after the unit of sound speed, huh? Is this a wish to someday break the sound barrier?”
“Yep.”
“Great. All the names are promising.” Justitia looked around the room. “So… who’s next?”
“I-I…”
The earliest to raise her hand among the remaining three was Lapiz.
“Lapiz, you’re up.” Justitia encouraged.
Lapiz stood and nervously revealed her hero name.
“M-My hero name is… T-Terra…” she said shakily.
“Terra, meaning earth. A name that suggests your ability…”
“A-Ah, yes, but, it’s also named after my grandma…”
“Interesting. I’ve seen people name themselves after their parents, but a grandparent? That’s quite nice. You’ve captured both meaning and significance,” Justitia noted.
After her announcement, Lapiz seemed to collapse from relief.
Now it was just Jinhyeon and me left.
After sensing my turn would drag, I decided to jump in.
I had been pondering for hours, so I was a bit nervous, but I still felt confident.
After all, the Boss told me to have confidence.
“My hero name is… Chemicat.”
“Chemicat, huh? Just changed the last letter of chemical, right?”
“Yeah. Changed the ‘L’ to ‘T’, making it immediately clear what my ability is and what I look like.”
Justitia seemed to like it, and the other kids agreed it was pretty good.
“Excellent. Do you have any other intentions or meanings behind it?”
I glanced at Ageha.
“I haven’t seen a hero name with a pun in it before, so I figured I’d like to try it out at least once.”
“I see… A hero doesn’t always need to be cool and tough. Sometimes, connecting with the citizens is a vital part of being a hero. A good name, indeed, Blanca,” Justitia acknowledged.
Ageha looked at me with an oddly ambiguous expression.
She seemed to think it was decent but also had that “I told you I didn’t like this before” face about it, making it tough to accept the compliment.
I’m great at puns, you know.
I raised an eyebrow at Ageha like I was challenging her.
I’d have to ask her later how she felt about it.
Finally, it was the last turn…
Honestly, I wasn’t even that curious anymore.
In the game, you could choose whatever hero name you wanted, so I had no clue what they’d pick.
If it were something totally ridiculous, at least it would make me laugh.
“My hero name is Protean.”
“Protean… A word derived from an ancient mythological sea god’s name. Why choose it?”
“Because of this god’s ability. Proteus could change his form at will. I too wish to be able to become anything.”
“A desire for transformation. Besides, since Jinhyeon’s ability is transformation too, it fits rather nicely. A good name.” Justitia concluded.
Once Jinhyeon’s presentation wrapped up, Justitia checked the clock and announced she’d end class a bit early today.
The kids cheered and headed home, but I had somewhere to go.
I had to head to the club.
* * * * *
I looked at the uncovered profile of Blanca, then back at her.
Even if it was only the most basic information at stage one…
That alone was enough to pique my interest in her.
[Blanca]
…
[Connection Material Stage 1]
[A girl who lived in the outskirts her whole life, sold off to an inhumane laboratory. There, she transformed into something else. The girl who feared darkness and humans is no more.
Only Blanca remains.]
That basic information alone was already shocking.