The Gacha Addict of the Academy

“Are your injuries okay?”

As soon as I arrived, Hyeon-ah asked with a worried expression. To show that I’d been properly treated, I lifted my leg. What was once a sand-covered wound was now completely healed, looking spotless and clean.

“Hey, you—!”

What’s her problem?

Suddenly, Hyeon-ah looked horrified and hurriedly pushed my leg back down. I mean, I was wearing a skirt, so what’s the big deal about showing my leg? Apparently, she thought it was inappropriate and started lecturing me about being more careful next time.

I didn’t fully understand, but since Hyeon-ah said it, it was probably important.

I nodded.

“Wow, it’s completely healed?”

Kang Ji hyuk and Reina approached me.

Reina looked at my leg, sighed in relief, and patted my head. First Hyeon-ah, now Reina—why does everyone like messing with my hair? Annoyed at being treated like a kid, I swatted her hand away, but she just smiled even wider.

Normally, she’d start gushing about how cute I am or something, but today, for some reason, it really irritated me.

…Something’s definitely wrong with me.

To think I’d feel annoyed looking at Reina… That doesn’t make sense at all.

“It’s so neat, it’s like the wound was never there in the first place… This has to be her work.”

“Her?”

“Flost. That girl we saw earlier.”

How does she know so much about Flost? She’s never been treated by her before.

Well, maybe she heard about her from other heroes. The way she talked, it almost sounded like she’d experienced it herself, which was a little irritating.

“She didn’t even leave a scar,” Reina murmured, her voice full of amazement as she examined my leg.

I mean, for women, scars can be a big deal, right? Heroes probably get scars all the time, but Flost’s ability leaves no trace. That’s an undeniably valuable skill.

The issue is that Flost doesn’t go around healing people out of charity, so it’s not easy to get treated by her.

Heroes usually work in teams, but Flost didn’t belong to any. And now that she’s a student at the academy, only a few heroes have had the chance to receive treatment from her.

Many who did tried to recruit her into their teams, but she turned every single offer down.

“So, I guess she insulted you while healing you?”

“…Did you really need to bring that up?”

“Joo-hyuk, read the room,” Hyeon-ah scolded.

“What? Oh… uh, sorry.”

Well, yeah, she did insult me during the treatment.

But it’s not like it bothered me. I mean, I am an idiot, so it wasn’t exactly inaccurate. Besides, I don’t think she really meant it. Even if she did, it might sting a little, but not enough to make me cry. Probably…

I believe in her.

“But why is Flost in the infirmary?”

“…That’s a good question.”

Huh… now that I think about it, why is she there?

Oh, right.

In the novel, she worked as some kind of assistant to avoid interacting with others as much as possible. She practically lived in the infirmary, skipping classes whenever she could. If she absolutely had to attend, she avoided talking to anyone and vanished the moment class ended.

That is, until the protagonist saved her. After that, she stuck to his side, even transferring to his class. There wasn’t a detailed explanation of how it happened, but the professor had an exasperated look when explaining the transfer.

And the scene where she smiled at the protagonist while he stood there in shock? Absolutely unforgettable.

“Well, whatever the case, if she healed Luna’s injury, she probably doesn’t think badly of her,” Hyeon-ah said.

“…”

Reina seemed lost in thought.

Come to think of it, Reina was the most openly hostile toward Flost. Her first impression of Flost was that she was some mean girl who bullied me. Of course, Flost didn’t actually do that. It’s just that Reina cared about me so much she jumped to that conclusion. I appreciated the concern, but it was a bit overprotective.

Still, having an elf-like noona worry about me… it’s not a bad feeling.

“Luna?”

“…?”

While I was smiling to myself, Kang Ji hyuk suddenly called my name.

What now?

If this ruins my mood, I swear I won’t let it slide. I’ll show him the full power of a five-star weapon this time. Narrowing my eyes, I braced myself for the worst as Ji hyuk tilted his head and said:

“The P.E. teacher said you’re too weak and that they’ll ‘turn you into a proper person’ before you graduate.”

“What?”

“Are you serious?”

Before I knew it, I slipped into formal speech, so shocked that I couldn’t help myself.

My pupils darted around nervously. My hands and feet trembled. Just running a little earlier had left my legs shaky and my body completely drained. And because of that, I had taken a spectacular fall and ended up injured. And now they’re saying… what?

“L-Liar…”

It had to be a lie.

This is a joke.

Kang Ji hyuk was clearly making things up to mess with me. This was his way of pulling some twisted prank. Sure, I’d occasionally think, Maybe I should exercise a little more, but those were fleeting thoughts, not actual commitments.

“… Sorry, but it’s true. Even I can tell your body is too weak,” he said.

“… Stay strong,” Reina added with a pitying tone.

No way…

No way, seriously?

This has to be a prank.

I looked around at the three of them, trembling. All of them were looking at me with sympathetic expressions. Reina, in particular, gazed at me with an expression like a mother sending her son off to the military. It was oddly specific, but that’s exactly what it felt like.

Not that I’ve ever seen a mother sending her son to the military, but the raw, instinctual understanding of it was overwhelming.

“…Ah…”

I despaired.

From today on, Luna Crystal was doomed.

I had to be dreaming.

There was no other explanation for this nightmare.

Otherwise, how could it be true that I got targeted by the gym teacher—the muscle-bound lunatic himself? Normally, you’d only get noticed by a teacher if you were good at their subject, right? I was the opposite—a hopeless case. There was no reason for him to care about me.

Sure, I knew my body was weak, but for the teacher to personally take it upon himself to “fix” me? That wasn’t just fulfilling his duty; it was plain meddling. And while I don’t think meddling is inherently bad, when it’s directed at me? Yeah, it’s bad.

Please, just leave me alone.

As soon as Kang Ji hyuk finished his sentence, my brain spiraled into chaos. While I was still reeling, the gym teacher himself found me and dragged me off, saying we were going to “work on my fitness.” I flailed and struggled, trying my best to resist, but my pathetic attempts were meaningless against someone thrilled by the idea of exercise.

I was nothing more than an experimental mouse being dragged into the lab.

“… Are you okay?”

Reina asked me cautiously, looking at my burned-out expression.

Of course I wasn’t okay.

The gym teacher, true to his muscle-obsessed nature, carefully assessed my condition and then listed all the exercises I needed to do. One by one, he made me go through each of them. I didn’t even have the guts to say, Can I stop now? I just gritted my teeth and did as I was told, forcing myself through every movement.

If he had scolded me for doing poorly, I might’ve been able to use that as an excuse to call for help. Instead, whenever I looked like I was struggling, he’d flex his overgrown muscles and cheer me on with a bizarre dance.

That was way scarier.

The man’s a monster.

“… Looks like it was really tough,” Hyeon-ah murmured, watching me with a concerned expression.

No, actually, my body felt oddly fine—too fine. It was unnatural.

Earlier, the teacher gave me some strange supplement, telling me to take it before we started. I’d forgotten all about it during the exercises, but now that I think about it, it was probably why I was able to push through without collapsing.

And that terrified me even more.

If I’d been in pain, I could’ve used that as an excuse to stop. But with this… there was no escape.

If I had to repeat this hellish routine every day, I might actually die.

This wasn’t something any human should endure.

“… Was it really that hard?”

“Looking at him, yeah, it does seem like the teacher worked him pretty hard,” Hyeon-ah replied.

To the others, it probably didn’t seem like a big deal. In fact, when I started, I thought the same.

But I had overlooked one crucial fact:

My body was so weak that even the most basic tasks were a struggle.

Sure, if I kept this up long enough, I might actually get stronger.

But my mind would be utterly destroyed in the process.

…

Save me.