The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor – Chapter 006
Has Fortune Come Knocking?
Faculty lounge.
A professor standing by the coffee machine casually brought up a topic.
“About that newly hired contract professor.”
“You mean Kang Hyeon, right?”
“Yes, did you see the course registration results?”
“I did.”
A fellow professor chuckled softly.
“Three applicants. He couldn’t even fill the capacity?”
“An expected outcome. His course objective is ‘How to get stronger,’ and the prerequisite is… ‘Those prepared to die’? Even a full-time professor wouldn’t write something like that. Look at the kids these days.”
“Indeed, the Academy isn’t some back alley martial arts dojo.”
After chatting for a while, the two professors turned their attention to Jin Myeonghun, who was sitting quietly on a sofa and flipping through a tablet.
The topic of the contract professor had come up precisely because he was present.
He was, after all, the person who had most strongly opposed the Dean during this appointment.
They were trying to score points with him.
“What are your thoughts, Chief Professor? As you feared, things turned out this way.”
Only then did Jin Myeonghun’s fingers stop on the screen.
He finally looked up.
“Is this something to gossip about right now?”
“…!”
“It was an expected outcome. It will be handled according to regulations. Stop talking about it and get ready for your respective classes.”
“…My apologies.”
Jin Myeonghun folded his tablet and stood up.
A faint, cynical smirk grazed his lips as he stepped out of the lounge.
‘My friend.’
He thought of Kang Hyeon.
‘Even if you possess real skill, did you think standing at the podium would be that easy?’
* * *
At that moment.
“…What do we do?”
Back at the safe house, Lee Seah was slumped over.
She looked half out of her mind.
The Director had requested it!
He told her to assist him well!
Right from the very first step, this was a massive disaster!
“What do you mean, what do you do?”
In contrast, Kang Hyeon, buried deep in the sofa, remained perfectly at ease.
As always, a glass of whiskey was held in his hand.
Seeing him like that made her stomach churn with frustration, yet it also strangely relieved her tension.
Screw it!
“No, not you, Mr. Kang Hyeon.”
“?”
Then who?
As Kang Hyeon furrowed his brows.
“Our country, what are we going to do now?”
“What kind of nonsense are you babbling about in broad daylight?”
“The future is bleak, you see. To kick away the heavenly fortune of receiving direct teachings from Mr. Kang Hyeon? Sigh… our poor Academy cadets.”
“…”
“Still, those three were truly lucky kids. Even if the class is canceled, will you spare those three who trusted you and applied? Will you?”
The corners of Kang Hyeon’s lips twitched upward slightly.
Chick.
You’ve grown quite bold.
You even know how to joke around.
‘Though, to be fair.’
Outwardly smiling, Kang Hyeon inwardly clicked his tongue.
To be honest, a cancellation would mean plenty of disadvantages for him as well.
He needed to find seven vessels capable of handling the Seven Luminaries Formation right away, but his official channel to examine the students had just been cut off.
Even if someone to his liking showed up, it would be difficult to grab and train them without the pretext of a class.
“Hoo.”
He exhaled alcoholic vapor.
“If push comes to shove, I’ll just grab an S-rank Hunter license or something. Wouldn’t there be a few bastards wanting to learn then?”
“What?!”
Instantly, a pterodactyl-like shriek burst from Lee Seah’s lips.
“Th-That you must not do!”
“Why?”
When Kang Hyeon looked at her in confusion, Lee Seah was rendered entirely speechless.
Black’s existence was South Korea’s highest classified secret.
What if he became an official S-rank Hunter?
The fact that an unmeasurable monster existed in the world would be blown wide open.
While parts of it might be beneficial, the management would become infinitely more restrictive.
‘Because we aren’t a Hunter superpower.’
Superpowers like the US, China, and Russia might pull all sorts of stunts to win him over.
Realistically, if that happened, the government would inevitably find itself even more at the mercy of Kang Hyeon.
‘How am I supposed to say all this right in front of him?’
Cold sweat trickling down her spine, Lee Seah frantically rolled her eyes to squeeze together an excuse, just in time.
Bzz-! Buzz!
Kang Hyeon’s phone vibrated briefly.
Checking the screen, Kang Hyeon’s eyes narrowed with amusement.
[Dean Seo Ilhyeon: Professor Kang, if you have some time, could you drop by my office for a moment?]
Kang Hyeon tossed the phone aside and gulped down the remaining liquor in one go.
“Have the car ready. I need to go.”
With cancellation all but confirmed, a summons from the Dean.
Perhaps something to break through this situation would turn up.
* * *
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
Opening the door to the dean’s office, Seo Ilhyeon, an elderly man with a full head of white hair, rose from his seat.
Over the past week, Kang Hyeon had also roughly investigated the Dean.
Seo Ilhyeon, 70 years old, S-rank Hunter, practitioner of the White Cloud Sword Technique.
‘As expected.’
The moment he stepped in, he read the man’s internal energy—it was clean without a speck of impurity, clear and deep.
‘At the peak level, are we?’
In Kang Hyeon’s mind, this world’s ranks and Murim’s realms were rapidly converted.
‘S-rank is Peak, A-rank is First-rate, B-rank is Second-rate, C-rank is Third-rate.’
It might not be exact, but it gave a rough estimate.
Above all, what piqued Kang Hyeon’s interest was the texture of the energy Seo Ilhyeon was exuding.
‘He practices the Clarity Void Art?’
Kang Hyeon knew every single martial art in existence.
Even among those countless arts, the Clarity Void Art ranked quite high.
‘Reminds me of the Old Daoist of the Qingcheng Sect.’
It suited the image of the smiling, easygoing old dean quite well.
“Why did you call for me?”
“Have a seat first.”
When he sat on the sofa, warm tea was already prepared on the table.
Sip.
As he drank it, Seo Ilhyeon brought up the main point.
“The course registration results turned out unfortunate. To be honest, a large part of it is my fault. After all, I was the one who created the Special Guidance course itself.”
“It cannot be helped. It is fine.”
“You may be fine, but I am not.”
Seo Ilhyeon smiled meaningfully.
“To block a figure like you over petty administrative regulations like enrollment shortages—leaving aside my authority, wouldn’t that be a national loss?”
Kang Hyeon tilted his head.
Even for a dean, breaking regulations would carry significant risks, wouldn’t it?
Did he have some other trick up his sleeve?
“I will make a proposal.”
“Speak.”
“There are cadets soon facing expulsion evaluations.”
Seo Ilhyeon rested his intertwined hands on the table.
“Their grades are abysmal, or they caused frequent incidents. The reasons vary, but ultimately they are children who failed to meet the standards required by the Academy. Even the professors have given up on them. After all, eager students wanting to enter this place are a dime a dozen.”
Ah.
‘He’s putting them into my course?’
Is there any particular reason to do that?
Since they failed the criteria anyway, taking one extra class wouldn’t change anything, right?
“Normally, they would be processed for expulsion just like this… but there is a rule granting them a reprieve if they achieve a certain score in the midterm evaluation next month—the Bouting Tournament.”
Seo Ilhyeon’s eyes locked directly onto Kang Hyeon.
“I will use the Dean’s authority to assign those kids to you. Would you take them?”
There was no need to ask ‘why’.
Was there any task better than this for establishing a foothold in the Academy?
And above all.
He had decided to try living as a professor.
“You are showing me goodwill.”
“Because it is worth showing. Didn’t you save one of our students?”
“…”
Kang Hyeon looked at the Dean.
The warm yet upright energy of the old man sitting before him once again touched his skin.
The Old Daoist of the Qingcheng Sect he had met in Murim.
He thought only the texture of their practiced martial arts was similar, but even his tendency to walk the righteous path without hiding his inner thoughts was a dead ringer.
‘At this rate, he will achieve quite significant accomplishments in the future.’
While Kang Hyeon felt a quiet sense of amusement, Seo Ilhyeon waved a hand and continued.
“And do not think of this purely as goodwill. As I said earlier, I am handing you quite a troublesome and headache-inducing bunch of kids.”
At that honest attitude, the corners of Kang Hyeon’s mouth curled up slightly.
“Well, very well.”
Kang Hyeon slowly raised his body from the sofa.
He had already decided to live as a professor here and search for vessels.
Since the Dean had paved the way and shown goodwill first, it would only be logical for Kang Hyeon to respond in kind.
“To what extent have you mastered the Clarity Void Art?”
“…!”
Instantly, Seo Ilhyeon’s hand, reaching for his teacup, froze in midair.
“W-What did you just say?”
His voice trembled slightly.
The Clarity Void Art.
It was the true name of the manual Seo Ilhyeon had accidentally acquired through a stroke of fortune.
The root of his martial arts, known to absolute nobody else in South Korea—his own private secret.
Yet a man he had just met had spoken that name without a second thought.
Observing Seo Ilhyeon’s astonished reaction, Kang Hyeon continued indifferently.
“Your energy is clear, but your return path is slightly twisted. It must have stalled at the Triple Gateway.”
“H-How do you know that…!”
“Doesn’t the energy stall once at the Seventh Meridian?”
Thump!
Seo Ilhyeon’s heart surged.
Spot on.
That exact point had been blocking him for over ten years.
Turning his body toward the door, Kang Hyeon continued speaking.
“Do not try to force it up from there. The Clarity Void Art is not a martial art that walks such a tyrannical path. Discard your breathing at the blocked point and let it settle down into your energy core.”
“S-Settling it down…?”
“Yes. Rotate it three times, and empty it once. It will open up then.”
Creak, click!
Finishing his words, Kang Hyeon walked out of the dean’s office without a shred of lingering attachment.
Long after the door closed, a heavy silence lingered in the dean’s office.
“…”
Seo Ilhyeon stood frozen in place, unable to move a muscle.
His own martial mastery, built by devoting over ten years of his life.
Had that man completely pierced through it just by looking at him with his naked eyes?
‘Rotate it three times, and empty it once.’
Instinctively, Seo Ilhyeon moved the energy in his energy core exactly as Kang Hyeon had described.
Swish.
“Ah…”
That exact point that always choked up flowed as smoothly as melting snow.
‘I thought he was merely a monster…’
Had a genuine stroke of fortune rolled into the Academy?
* * *
“What happened?”
Hopping anxiously outside the door, Lee Seah latched onto him immediately.
“What?”
“The class! What did the Dean say? Is cancellation confirmed?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“He’s filling it with kids using the Dean’s authority.”
“What?!”
Lee Seah’s eyes widened as if they might pop out.
Did that make any sense?
Even if he was the dean, he couldn’t just strip away the freedom of students who wanted to take desired classes.
“He’s rounding up kids on the verge of expulsion and dumping them on me. Told me to take charge of them.”
“Isn’t that practically getting stuck with leftovers?”
“Who knows, let’s just go home. Prepare the drinks.”
“Understood!”
While riding in the car, Kang Hyeon sipped his liquor, suppressing his demonic aura.
When they finally arrived back at the safe house.
Ping!
A cheerful notification chimed on the professor-exclusive tablet.
Because he was poor with electronic devices, Lee Seah managed the work tablet entirely.
“Oh? Hold on.”
Reflexively lighting up the screen, Lee Seah tapped the notification window and whipped her head up.
“Mr. Kang Hyeon! The roster of enrolled students. It just arrived?”
“Already?”
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