Chapter 029
I Need to Make Some Money Too
Stepping out into the old training grounds at dawn always felt invigorating.
The crisp mountain air brushed against him.
Twenty years ago, the Academy was built above the Pyeongchang-dong district, requiring them to carve into the foothills of Mount Bukhansan—a move that sparked quite a backlash.
‘It serves as the perfect side dish for a drink.’
Taking a swig straight from the bottle, Kang Hyeon stepped onto the podium where the five cadets were waiting.
“Have you all maintained your horse-riding stances?”
They each reacted differently to the question.
Cha Yusik and Yoon Hyeonjong nodded without a moment of hesitation. Seo Haein scratched her head, while Kwak Dojin and Han Taeho flinched.
‘Would you look at them.’
Once they started learning the Three Calamities Swordsmanship in earnest, he had instructed them to handle their own basic physical conditioning.
Yet, as their sword skills improved, they had neglected the tedious lower-body training.
‘I must weed out this rotten mindset.’
No matter what higher-level martial art one learned, it was useless without the stamina to back it up.
“I had planned to recite the foundational chants of the Mind Art I’ll be teaching you today.”
The eyes of all five cadets widened at once.
He had told them they would only receive proper martial arts after the midterms, provided they met his standard.
Yet he was going to teach them the Mind Art in advance?
That meant he had already decided which martial art to pass down to each of them.
“Yet only those who are prepared can seize the opportunity.”
Smirking, Kang Hyeon pointed toward the back of the Academy with his whiskey bottle.
“That peak.”
It was a steep rock face, untouched by human trails.
“I’ll be waiting at the top. I’ll start reciting the chant the moment you arrive.”
“T-That peak?”
Han Taeho asked in horror, yet Kang Hyeon ignored him.
“Don’t forget, my class ends at 9 AM.”
That was it.
Before they could even utter a word of protest, he vanished in a blur.
The cadets stood there, dumbfounded.
It was currently 6 AM.
If they failed to arrive within three hours, they would forfeit the chant today. It also meant the faster they arrived, the more they could learn.
“R-Run!”
“Haaaaah!”
The cadets started sprinting like madmen.
* * *
After setting up their training, Kang Hyeon entered his faculty office.
“Oh, Sir Kang Hyeon! You’re here?”
Having arrived early, Lee Se-ah was wiping down his liquor cabinet.
Kang Hyeon looked at her in disbelief.
“Why are you wiping that?”
“Because it’s my job.”
“Who assigned you that job?”
“I assigned it to myself.”
Would the citizens ever know?
That the top agent of the Management Bureau, paid with their hard-earned tax dollars, spent her mornings wiping down a mere professor’s liquor cabinet?
“Stop dawdling and sit down.”
“Yes, sir!”
As Kang Hyeon sat in his chair, Se-ah naturally took a seat across the table.
She expertly laid out premium paper and began grinding ink on the inkstone Yoon Taejung had gifted him.
This was their morning routine.
Creating secret manuals.
As Kang Hyeon’s brush danced across the paper as if possessed, Se-ah matched his rhythm flawlessly beside him—laying down fresh paper, replenishing the ink, and gathering the dried pages to bind them together.
“Sir Kang Hyeon, what’s this manual?”
“The Water Luminary Formation.”
“What’s that?”
Just then, Kang Hyeon’s brush finished the title on the cover.
[Water Luminary Formation]
“Knowing will only get you hurt.”
“Tch, it’s always ‘you’ll get hurt if you know.’ I’ll have you know my lips are sealed.”
She pouted, though her hands quickly presented the next sheet of paper.
There were a staggering number of manuals to create.
He had to write the Seven Luminaries Formation, which would be unleashed when all seven disciples gathered. He had to prepare the Mind Arts and swordsmanship manuals for the five cadets currently climbing the mountain, and he needed to finish the Martial Medical Arts books to toss to Baek Yuyeon immediately.
“Wow, you’re really fast…”
If not for his blinding speed, it was an amount of work that would have taken a lifetime to finish.
“Haah.”
Se-ah let out an exaggerated sigh as she bound a completed manual with thread.
“I didn’t pass that bloodbath of a national exam just to do cottage industry crafts… I’m supposed to be a top agent, yet here I am grinding ink and binding books every day.”
Hearing her lament, Kang Hyeon chuckled, his brush never stopping.
“Keep at it. Something good will come your way soon enough.”
“What good thing? Building biceps from grinding ink all day?”
As Se-ah grumbled, Kang Hyeon finally shifted his gaze to her.
“Does the Management Bureau have a signature martial art?”
“A signature martial art?”
Se-ah paused for a moment.
They did have one.
A secret manual purchased from overseas at a massive cost for the agents. Yet, because it was a state secret, the general public and even most major guilds did not know about it.
‘Should I tell him? Should I not?’
Her pupils wavered. Her brain flashed blaring warning signs to keep her mouth shut.
Agent Rule Number One: Strict confidentiality!
Yet her instincts screamed at her.
‘I need to tell him this.’
Besides, was Black not a top-tier national secret himself? What was the big deal about sharing a secret with another secret?
Moreover, what if she reported this to the Director? He would undoubtedly light a fire under her to spill everything and squeeze some advantage out of it.
‘Should I tell him I will go ask the Director and come back?’
No. That was an amateur move.
The moment she hesitated, this indifferent man might simply say, ‘Forget it, why bother asking? Never mind.’
‘Ah, Director. If a problem arises, I will just take responsibility and resign!’
“We do!”
“What is it?”
“They learn the Shadowless Art, the Shadowless Step, and the Soul-Chasing Dagger Arts. The combat agents do, not me.”
“Is that so?”
Kang Hyeon furrowed his brow.
“The Shadowless Art is a low-grade demonic art.”
“You know it?”
Of course he did.
It was a trash technique created by the lunatics of the Demonic Cult to train their Shadowless Squad.
“Yeah. It forces the energy channels open to grant high achievements in a short time, but its hallmark is that the more you practice it, the more it shaves off your lifespan.”
“Whaaat?”
Se-ah’s jaw dropped.
Was the combat agents’ high average retirement rate… because of the Shadowless Art?
The state had packaged it as being due to excessive missions and training. Come to think of it, major guilds trained just as hard and stayed perfectly healthy.
Look at Dean Seo Ilhyeon. He was seventy this year, yet he was still in robust shape.
“On the other hand, the Shadowless Step and Soul-Chasing Dagger Arts are quite useful techniques. It’s a footwork technique that erases both footsteps and shadows, making it perfect for rats sneaking around behind people’s backs. And the dagger art isn’t bad for landing a killing blow in an ambush.”
Se-ah could not even process Kang Hyeon’s praise.
She felt the urge to call the Director immediately and demand they halt the training of this insane martial art.
“Shouldn’t we stop them from practicing it right away?”
“Don’t make a fuss. Is telling them right now going to change anything?”
“B-But still.”
“Just listen first, chick.”
Kang Hyeon continued speaking, his brush still gliding across the paper.
“I’ll give you the perfect translation manuals for the Shadowless Step and the Soul-Chasing Dagger Arts you guys use, along with the original and translated text of the Hidden Vein Mind Art to replace that garbage Shadowless Art.”
“The Hidden Vein Mind Art?”
“It’s a mind art tailored for the Shadowless Step. It masks the flow of your qi without a trace. Learning it will halt the drain on their lifespans, and the synergy will vastly eclipse that garbage they currently use.”
Se-ah inhaled sharply.
Anyone could see this was a massive haul.
Yet why would Kang Hyeon offer such incredible terms?
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world, is there?”
“As expected, chick. You catch on fast.”
“Name your terms. Within the Bureau’s power—no, on a national level, we’ll do everything we can…”
“It’s nothing that grand.”
The corner of Kang Hyeon’s mouth curled up.
“When I provide those translations, list my name as the manual translator, and have the state promote it.”
“Excuse me? Your name, Sir Kang Hyeon?”
Se-ah’s eyes widened.
“May I ask why?”
“I need to make some money too.”
Once Taejung Corporation stabilized, he planned to dive into the martial arts manual business in earnest.
However, he could not just unleash the knowledge in his head into the world right away.
Think about it.
Just because an unheard-of secret manual dropped into the market, what idiot would blindly buy it for tens or hundreds of billions of won?
Few would recognize its true worth, and it was almost guaranteed to be ridiculed as a fake.
Therefore, he had to build solid credibility first.
‘Manual Translator, Kang Hyeon.’
He would imprint his name as a brand in the Hunter market.
Kang Hyeon was confident.
As long as it passed through his hands, even the shabbiest street-level technique would sell like hotcakes.
The very framework and level of his interpretation existed on an entirely different dimension.
If people used to the scribbles of amateur translators opened his manuals, it would hit them like a hammer to the head.
Of course, there was the issue of how to prevent copying, but he would address that later.
“Is it possible?”
“Uh, well…”
The directives regarding Kang Hyeon flashed through Se-ah’s mind.
Currently, the South Korean government and the Management Bureau were desperate to hide Black by any means necessary.
There was a reason they had only revealed his identity to Dean Seo Ilhyeon when he took the professorship.
South Korea was a weak nation in terms of Hunters.
Right above them loomed the superpower China, constantly eyeing the Korean Peninsula, while across the sea, Japan and the United States held the world in their grip with their numerous S-Rank Hunters.
In such a situation, what if a rumor spread that someone stronger than an S-Rank Hunter had appeared in South Korea?
It would lead to one of two things.
They would either snatch him away through appeasement, or it would spark an international conflict.
With South Korea’s current national power, it would be difficult to prevent either.
It was the same no matter how much absolute martial prowess Kang Hyeon possessed.
A blade hidden silently in the dark is far more threatening than one brandished openly for everyone to guard against.
“Um, Sir Kang Hyeon…”
Se-ah swallowed hard and spoke cautiously.
“Must the translator’s name be Kang Hyeon?”
“Hm?”
“No, I mean… I was wondering if you really need to use your real name.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
Looking as if she were about to cry, Se-ah began explaining South Korea’s dismal geopolitical reality in excruciating detail.
How China would react, the diplomatic friction, how the state would not be able to protect him, and so on.
Listening to her, Kang Hyeon snorted dismissively.
“Let them come. I will crush whoever steps forward.”
In truth, he did not have the slightest intention of hiding his strength from the beginning.
It was just annoying.
As soon as he returned to Earth, the government organization had latched onto him like a leech, offering to manage his life—giving him a house, money, and paying daily tribute with whiskey.
There was no reason to refuse.
For someone who loathed bothersome things even back in Murim, it was quite a comfortable retired life.
Of course, that did not mean he wanted to boast and flaunt his strength either.
Kang Hyeon simply did not care.
Whether the world knew him or not, none of that mattered.
“We know you’re strong! Of course we do! But you don’t really have to fight them, do you?”
“Why shouldn’t I fight?”
Kang Hyeon tilted his head.
If weaklings barked, he simply needed to drag out their strongest fighter and beat him into submission.
“It’s not that you shouldn’t… it’s just that it would be sooo annoying for you.”
“What?”
“Of course it would be! The more these manuals spread, the more the Hunter world will turn upside down… and you want to put your real name on them?”
As Kang Hyeon’s eyebrows twitched, Se-ah hurriedly continued.
“The masters of South Korea’s top three guilds will show up with trucks full of cash and block your office door right away! Chinese and American spies will stick to you like leeches even when you go to the bathroom! Your name will be on the breaking news every day, and politicians will hound you just to take a single picture…”
“Alright, alright.”
Kang Hyeon conceded.
That would indeed be quite annoying.
“Then let’s use your name.”
“…Pardon?”
Se-ah’s eyes bulged.
“My name all of a sudden?”
“If you think about it, you’re helping out too, aren’t you? We can just consider it a co-authorship.”
“But that’s…”
“We’re going to use a borrowed name anyway, aren’t we? Just like you said, once the manuals hit the market, guys with bags of money will be lining up. Are you going to use a fake persona and do ghost transactions every single time? Ultimately, a real person has to meet them directly to handle the practical matters, haggle, stamp the contracts, and collect the money. Who’s going to do all that?”
“…”
Se-ah gaped.
Come to think of it, she was the only one who could do it.
Didn’t every other agent dread interacting with Black?
“If you don’t want to, forget it. I’ll just use my own name…”
“I’ll do it! I’ll use my name!”
Just as Se-ah squeezed her eyes shut and shouted…
A cautious knock echoed at the door.
“Come in.”
The cadet who stumbled in at Kang Hyeon’s permission was none other than Baek Yuyeon.
Her sunken face made it obvious she had pulled all-nighters for an entire week. Looking like a walking corpse, she held out the old book.
[Comprehensive Theory of the Heavenly Veins]
“Professor…”
Her voice was hoarse.
“I’ve memorized it all.”
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