The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor – Chapter 015
I Must Be Truly Drunk
[The Mad Dog caused another incident!]
└ What incident?
└ He knocked Hwang Minwoo out and tossed him into the medical center. What’s funnier is he carried him there himself and proudly yelled that he beat him up before walking out;
└ Lmao he truly is a madman. Why did he hit him?
└ Because his face pissed him off.
└ Don’t bullshit me
└ It’s true; everyone there saw him say it directly to Professor Hwang Yerim.
└ Wow, isn’t this really crossing the line? The standard of the National Academy is dropping.
└ Why hasn’t that guy been expelled yet? He has over twenty disciplinary actions.
└ Fr I don’t understand.
└ The shame of the Academy.
Aca-Net blazed fiercely, and soon the sparks began to fly in an unexpected direction.
└ There’s another shame, you know.
└ Who?
└ You know. The contract professor who carries a liquor bottle around every day.
└ Ah.
└ I heard the Mad Dog takes that professor’s class too. At the old wing training ground every dawn?
└ 100% then. The Mad Dog got even madder because of that professor.
└ Someone said they saw the two of them chugging a bottle of whiskey each in an alleyway last time.
└ The Academy is in great shape.
As much as it became a hot topic, the referral to the Disciplinary Committee was swift.
└ Official announcement just dropped! The Disciplinary Committee is convening at 2 PM the day after tomorrow.
└ Is expulsion definitely confirmed this time?
└ Probably? You could brush off the previous disciplinary actions as minor, but he beat Hwang Minwoo up like that.
└ The Supreme King side is probably in an uproar too.
└ Huh? But Baek Yuyeon is listed as a witness, what’s up with that?
└ Baek Yuyeon?
└ The Walking Encyclopedia? Why is she involved?
└ I heard she was next to him when the Mad Dog beat Hwang Minwoo up, probably a witness.
* * *
That night.
Kang Hyeon’s residence in the faculty housing.
Kang Hyeon was checking the Disciplinary Committee attendee roster with Lee Seah.
Chairman: Choi Byeonggil (Dean of Academic Affairs)
Member 1: Oh Seonghun (Guidance Professor)
Member 2: Park Taesu (Parties’ Major Professor)
Medical Officer: Hwang Yerim (Martial Medical Arts Professor)
Incident Party: Kwak Dojin (18th term)
Incident Victim: Hwang Minwoo (19th term)
Witness: Baek Yuyeon (19th term)
“This roster is completely designed to expel Cadet Kwak Dojin.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, Oh Seonghun and Park Taesu—these two are Supreme King’s people. I checked the previous Disciplinary Committee records, and those two spearheaded them as well.”
“The evidence that they are Supreme King’s people?”
“They’re receiving tens of millions of won every month under the guise of guild advisory fees.”
“Hmm.”
Sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed, Kang Hyeon savored the whiskey in his mouth and asked.
“Is it legally problematic for a guild to pay an advisory fee to a professor?”
“No, it’s a form of legal sponsorship that cleverly bypasses the law. They’re even properly paying taxes on it.”
Lee Seah let out a deep sigh.
There was no way a guild of the Supreme King’s level would be that sloppy.
“The advisory fee is likely just a front. They probably received the real bribes separately. Whether it’s cash, gold bars, or elixirs.”
“So you’re saying there’s no evidence?”
“Not yet.”
“Didn’t you say you were the top graduate of the Management Bureau?”
“Th-That’s… Even so, it’s not like I can get a search and seizure warrant in a week and raid the Supreme King Guild’s vault.”
“Man, I expected something since you said you were capable.”
“I-I’ll report to the Director right now and coordinate an investigation with the NIS.”
“Forget it. No need to go that far.”
Pour!
Kang Hyeon poured the amber liquid into a rocks glass.
‘An investigation for kids playing house?’
The way people entangled and power rotted was the same here as it was there.
In fact, Murim was far worse.
Here, they at least exchanged bribes under the guise of legality within the boundaries of the law, but there, if things went wrong, it was an everyday occurrence to put on a mask, pay a visit, and slit a throat.
A world where silencing witnesses with murder happened as easily as breathing.
“Chick. Use your brain a little.”
“Pardon?”
“Who do you think is the biggest thorn in their side on that roster right now?”
Lee Seah thought for a moment.
They had likely bribed the professors already, and Kwak Dojin had already resolved himself to be expelled.
If so?
“Wouldn’t it be Baek Yuyeon?”
“Exactly.”
The sole witness and the only one who knew the full truth of this incident.
“If you were the Supreme King Guild, what would you do first?”
“Uh… wouldn’t I try to appease or threaten Baek Yuyeon?”
“Right, you know it well. When the evidence is glaringly obvious right there, why search in the wrong place.”
“H-However.”
Lee Seah couldn’t understand.
Even if it was Baek Yuyeon, how would she know how much the professors took in bribes?
“If you want to catch a rat, you shouldn’t dig at the rat hole; you should sit next to the rice bin.”
“…!”
“It’ll crawl out on its own two feet to take a bite even if you leave it alone, so is there a reason to go looking for it?”
* * *
Behind the female cadets’ dormitory.
A middle-aged man stood in front of Baek Yuyeon, wearing a Supreme King Guild badge on his chest.
“Have you given it some thought?”
“…”
“The condition we’re proposing is simple. Just go in as a witness and say absolutely nothing.”
The middle-aged man bent at the waist to match Baek Yuyeon’s eye level.
“Kwak Dojin is unconditionally getting expelled this time anyway. You know that too, right?”
“Yes.”
When Baek Yuyeon nodded, the middle-aged man smiled with satisfaction.
“Right, he’s getting expelled anyway, so there’s no benefit to you in saying anything useless there. Especially. It wouldn’t do that Kwak Dojin fellow any good either. I heard our Minwoo was threatening you with an exclusive contract? The guild will take care of that part so it doesn’t bother you anymore.”
The middle-aged man was an executive of the Supreme King Guild and Hwang Minwoo’s uncle by marriage.
Because of that, Baek Yuyeon wavered.
‘If I just keep my mouth shut…’
Hwang Minwoo wouldn’t be able to act like a stalker anymore, and Kwak Dojin wouldn’t face retaliation after his expulsion either.
Everything would be over.
Besides, wasn’t Senior Kwak planning to leave on his own two feet anyway?
Kwak Dojin had earnestly requested it too.
To go in as a witness and say absolutely nothing.
To help him get expelled safely.
— “So please, just think about yourself. Don’t ruin your life using me as an excuse.”
Kwak Dojin’s voice echoed in her ears.
‘Just think about myself?’
That meant I should choose for my own sake… but which path was truly for my sake?
Was covering up the truth and yielding to these people truly the path for me?
She intuited it.
‘Yielding here will ruin my life.’
Because it meant branding herself a cowardly weakling for the rest of her life.
Because it meant living with a debt of gratitude toward Senior Kwak forever.
Baek Yuyeon didn’t want to do that.
“I apologize, but.”
Baek Yuyeon bowed her head.
“I will decline.”
“…What?”
The middle-aged man’s warm eyes instantly turned cold.
“I will testify at the committee tomorrow exactly as I saw and heard. That Hwang Minwoo threatened me first with a 15-year contract, and Senior Kwak hit him while trying to stop it.”
“Haha, this student doesn’t know how the world works yet.”
The middle-aged man let out a scoff.
“Fine, let me say you blabber like that. Do you think the committee will believe you? Do you not know who the members there are?”
“Professor Oh Seonghun and Professor Park Taesu, right.”
A year ago.
The ones who covered up the truth during the dungeon practical exam and disciplined Kwak Dojin.
At Baek Yuyeon’s clear answer, the middle-aged man’s brow twitched.
“They are the professors bribed by the Supreme King Guild, aren’t they.”
“What? What kind of dangerous nonsense are you spouting?”
“Did I say something wrong?”
“Pfft, haha!”
The middle-aged man burst into a scoff of disbelief.
“Look here, student. It’s good to have a rich imagination, but carelessly spouting things like that will land you in big trouble. You might be the only one taking the fall for defamation.”
“It should be fine if there’s evidence.”
“Evidence?”
Baek Yuyeon’s pale blue pupils glinted for a fleeting moment.
“March 15th of last year. 30 million won deposited under the name of Kim Deoksu, a borrowed-name account belonging to Professor Oh Seonghun. April 2nd of the same year, 1 box of Jasodan, a premium elixir, delivered to Professor Park Taesu’s office. And in July, a 2% stake each in the Supreme King Guild’s affiliated research lab was transferred to the names of both professors’ families. Am I wrong?”
“…”
The middle-aged man tried hard not to lose his smile, but he couldn’t stop his cheek muscles from twitching.
‘How the hell does that bitch know that?’
The process of handing over bribes was a top-secret matter shared only among a few core executives within the guild.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just a rough guess.
Dates, justifications, items, quantities, and even the name of the borrowed-name account.
‘She knows it perfectly, without a single error?’
It was information absolutely impossible to know without looking directly into the guild’s internal ledger.
“…Could it be, was it Minwoo?”
The middle-aged man intuited it.
‘This is the doing of that idiotic Hwang Minwoo!’
He probably laid his cards on the table while threatening her with the contract.
Saying the Academy professors were all in his pocket.
That she had nowhere to run.
‘This moronic bastard!’
Inwardly, the middle-aged man wanted to tear his nephew to shreds.
Blabbing about the lobbying ledger just to seduce a girl?
Cold sweat ran down his spine, but the middle-aged man was an A-rank Hunter who had weathered all sorts of storms in the Supreme King.
“Tsk, tsk, fine, let’s say Minwoo spouted such nonsense. But even so, what changes?”
“Pardon?”
“All Minwoo has to do when he wakes up is feign ignorance and say he never said such things. Don’t delude yourself, little girl. The memories inside your head aren’t evidence. Unless you have something solid like a video or voice recording… Wait.”
Mid-sentence, the middle-aged man’s eyes suddenly glinted like a snake’s.
His gaze dropped to the pocket of Baek Yuyeon’s coat.
Baek Yuyeon’s right hand, which had been awkwardly shoved inside her pocket throughout the conversation.
“Don’t tell me.”
Dash!
The movement of an A-rank Hunter was not a speed Baek Yuyeon, a mere student, could react to.
“Ah!”
The middle-aged man’s rough grip dug into Baek Yuyeon’s pocket and forcefully snatched her phone.
On the screen, the words [Voice Recording in Progress – 05:12] were clearly displayed.
“Hah, well damn.”
The middle-aged man’s face contorted like an evil spirit.
He wondered why she bothered reciting the corruption details right in front of him.
She was trying to create solid evidence using his reaction.
“Have you ever seen such a cheeky bitch.”
He smashed the phone straight into the ground.
Shattered fragments scattered across the dirt.
“Ah…”
Baek Yuyeon’s face turned completely ashen.
The evidence she thought was her only lifeline was smashed to pieces right before her eyes.
“I tried to talk some sense into you nicely and end it here, but I suppose that won’t do.”
An oppressive momentum erupted from the middle-aged man’s body.
At the suffocating killing intent, Baek Yuyeon trembled and stepped back.
“Listen well. If our Supreme King sets its mind to it, trampling on your life is nothing. You’re a scholarship student, right? Should we pressure your sponsoring foundation to cut off your funding first? Think you can handle the tuition? And did you think Kwak Dojin being expelled is the end of it? We can bury him in this industry so he can’t even work as a porter. Do you understand?”
“…Ugh.”
“This is reality.”
The middle-aged man crushed the broken phone under his dress shoe.
“So keep your mouth shut at the committee tomorrow, or else…”
It was right then.
A languid voice drifted down from the top of the wall.
“Oopsie.”
“…?!”
Startled, the middle-aged man’s head snapped up like lightning.
Baek Yuyeon’s eyes also widened.
On top of the wall.
A man was crouching with his back to the moonlight.
Messy hair, an unfastened shirt collar.
He held a whiskey bottle in his left hand, and a phone in the other.
It was a situation that clearly looked like he was recording.
‘S-Since when…?’
Looking at the horrified middle-aged man, Kang Hyeon spoke, reeking of alcohol.
“I must be truly drunk. To see a cadet being threatened right in the middle of the Academy.”
Comment