The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor [Novel] Chapter 18

The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor – Chapter 018

I Believe in the Innate Goodness of Humanity

A short while later.

As Kang Hyeon walked into the faculty office, Lee Seah asked as if she had been waiting.

“Why? What did Hwang Taegwang say?”

Kwak Dojin and Yoon Hyeonjong swallowed hard.

“He asked me to delete the video I recorded yesterday.”

“So what did you tell him?”

“I told him I’d delete it if that bastard Hwang Minwoo confesses everything from his own mouth at the committee and hands over the professors’ corruption ledger.”

“…Pardon?”

It was Kwak Dojin who reacted.

What on earth did any of this mean?

He had already given up on everything and was only thinking about getting expelled tomorrow, but what?

Hwang Minwoo’s confession?

The professors’ corruption ledger?

“Professor, what on earth is…”

The person who had just visited was the true Guild Master of Supreme King for it to be just empty talk.

“Will he really try to abandon his own son?”

Lee Seah worried beside the stiffened Kwak Dojin.

“The probability of that is high.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Hwang Taegwang doesn’t particularly cherish Hwang Minwoo.”

One could deduce Hwang Taegwang’s personality just by looking at how he bribed professors and committed corruption.

A man who would use any means and methods necessary to maintain his power.

To that kind of breed, a child was nothing more than an ornament to decorate his signboard.

Would he be unable to cut off a tail when his main body was about to be blown away?

“Come on, it’s still his child, though?”

“If he cherished his child so dearly in the first place, would he have left him to grow up into a piece of trash like that?”

“That’s true. Trash raised trash, didn’t he?”

“The reason Hwang Taegwang has been cleaning up after that bastard until now wasn’t out of paternal love, but simply because he hated having shit smeared on his face.”

“What if he tries to take revenge?”

“On who, me?”

With that single sentence, Lee Seah’s mind was put at ease.

‘Right.’

Who was Black!

The very person who obliterated the Leviathan—a monster that even five S-rank Hunters couldn’t defeat together—with a single wave of his hand!

‘I’d actually be grateful if he did.’

From the nation’s perspective, they would be able to carve out a rotten guild without expending much effort.

“Anyway, Kwak Dojin.”

“Y-Yes?”

Kwak Dojin flinched.

He was still unable to grasp the situation.

“There’s nothing for you to do tomorrow. You just need to sit still and watch. Don’t spout nonsense about getting expelled or whatever. Understood?”

“…Professor.”

“Thanks for the drink. It tasted good.”

* * *

Hwang Taegwang was more cold-blooded than expected.

“To think he would abandon his child this quickly.”

A file arrived in the professor’s email.

It was the corruption ledger of the corrupt professors sent by the Supreme King side.

“Wow, everything you said was right, Kang Hyeon?”

Skimming the ledger displayed on the screen, Lee Seah clicked her tongue.

“My god, they really pocketed a staggering amount. I finally understand why everyone says your life is set once you secure an Academy professorship.”

“Now, call them in.”

“Pardon? Who?”

“Who else? Oh Seonghun and Park Taesu.”

He waited by the rice bin and caught the rats.

Then shouldn’t he cook those fat rats now?

“Will they come obediently just because I call them?”

“Didn’t you say you were capable?”

Lee Seah flinched.

Thinking about it, it was embarrassing.

She had only boasted about entering the Management Bureau as the top graduate, but what had she actually done in reality?

While she was moving according to procedure within legal boundaries, Kang Hyeon made Hwang Taegwang seek him out overnight and even made him offer up the ledger himself.

An overwhelming handling of matters that passed by in a flash.

‘Does this really make sense?’

This must be why the field seniors talked her ears off about how practical experience was important.

Everything she stayed up all night studying at her desk was truly nothing more than mere theory.

“…I will call them right away.”

Biting her lip, she tapped on her tablet.

Then, surprisingly, the two professors came bounding in less than five minutes later.

“Huff, huff!”

“Professor Kang? What was that just now!”

Kang Hyeon was surprised.

“What, how did you do it?”

“I sent the ledger file to their personal emails. I told them if they didn’t come to the faculty office within five minutes, I’d send it to the Ministry of Education and the National Police Agency.”

“Oh, you really are the top graduate.”

When Kang Hyeon gave a thumbs-up, Professor Oh Seonghun flared up.

“What is the meaning of this right now!”

“Meaning of what?”

Kang Hyeon did not respect the two professors.

Hwang Taegwang covering for his child was an animalistic instinct, so it was at least understandable.

No matter how stupid and wicked a child was, it was his flesh and blood for now.

But?

These bastards, despite being professors, were giggling in joy over a few pennies while a student nearly lost his life and another had his life unfairly ruined.

Kang Hyeon personally hated this breed the most.

“I don’t know where you got that file, but it is a fabricated file. To threaten professors without even verifying the facts!”

“Isn’t it far too terrifyingly identical to what you received to call it a fabrication?”

“Professor Oh, wait.”

Sensing that the situation was unusual this time, Park Taesu stepped forward.

“So where did you get that?”

“Where else? The person who gave the bribes sent it.”

“Wh-What did you say?”

The two professors’ eyes widened as if they would pop out.

Did that mean the Supreme King Guild had sent it?

‘Nonsense. Why would Supreme King do that to us?’

“What I want is one thing. Spit out the truth with your own mouths at the Disciplinary Committee tomorrow. Expose everything—all the atrocities Hwang Minwoo committed until now, and how you bastards ruined a perfectly fine cadet’s life because you were blinded by a few pennies. Honestly, I hate wasting energy bickering with you guys here, too. Let’s make this easy while I’m still asking nicely.”

“Absurd nonsense! Is this man drunk? What kind of reckless remark is this!”

“Right. Actually, I didn’t think you guys would listen obediently either.”

“Then?”

“I intend to tell you again once you’ve become nice.”

Rising from his seat, Kang Hyeon cracked his knuckles.

“Do you know? I believe in the innate goodness of humanity.”

“What kind of nonsense is that now?”

“Originally, a person’s nature is born good. But as they live, dark demons like greed and selfishness inevitably cling to them. At first, your conscience howls, so you feel a prick of guilt and toss and turn at night, but later on, you grow numb even to that voice. And eventually, you’re completely devoured by the demon.”

Kang Hyeon slowly approached the two men, as if driving prey.

“But you see. Do you know what the fastest and most certain method is to strip away that fiercely clinging demon?”

The two professors stepped backward.

An eerie light gathered in Kang Hyeon’s pupils.

“It’s getting beaten up. Originally, that demon is terribly cowardly, lacking both courage and patience. It falls off very easily in the face of pain.”

“Y-You crazy lunatic! Do you think I’ll just stand still?”

Feeling threatened, Oh Seonghun and Park Taesu hurriedly tried to draw up their energy.

However.

‘Huh?’

‘Why is my energy…?’

The professors’ faces turned completely pale.

Their energy was completely blocked.

Before they even realized it, the acupoints all over their bodies had already been perfectly struck.

‘This crazy? Since when?’

They weren’t even given a moment to be shocked.

Smack!

Kang Hyeon’s fist mercilessly pierced through Oh Seonghun’s solar plexus.

“Keu, keuheuk!”

Seeing Oh Seonghun collapse, Park Taesu tried to flee, but Kang Hyeon’s kick ruthlessly smashed into his shin.

Thud, thwack! Wham!

Kang Hyeon does not beat kids.

Because they are still unripe, they can understand if you talk some sense into them.

But bastards who only age without properly becoming adults?

They deserve to be beaten.

These kinds cannot be fixed without a beating.

How much time had passed?

“Please spare me!”

“I was wrong! Professor Kang!”

The demons were finally lifted from the two professors.

“Have you become a bit more obedient now?”

“Y-Yes! We are obedient!”

“Then what about what I said earlier?”

“…If we do, what will happen to us?”

“What do you mean, what will happen?”

Plunking back down on the sofa, Kang Hyeon replied languidly.

“There are only two options. Speak the truth with your own mouths tomorrow and pay for your crimes, or get beaten to death by me while trying to run away.”

“…!”

“I gave you a chance. Make your choice.”

Trembling in all four limbs, the two professors looked at each other.

The deliberation probably wouldn’t take long.

* * *

At that time.

“Father, why did you call for me?”

“I heard the Disciplinary Committee is convening tomorrow. Explain exactly what happened.”

“Ah, about that… Hah, it’s nothing major. There’s a somewhat smart girl named Baek Yuyeon. I’m trying to bring her in, but the Mad Dog keeps interfering.”

Hwang Minwoo spat out his resentment heatedly, as if he had been wronged, but Hwang Taegwang already knew the full truth.

“Ha, haha.”

‘I was far too indifferent toward my own son.’

He believed that as the successor of an organization, one naturally had to have a ruthless side and possess a thorough sense of reality.

But that wasn’t being ruthless.

It was just being stupid.

Swinging the name and power of Supreme King around so lightly just to forcefully obtain a girl he took a liking to?

And doing so right in front of a monster protected by the Management Bureau?

“Son.”

“Yes.”

“Speak the truth with your own mouth at the Disciplinary Committee tomorrow. That you threatened her, and that you bribed the professors to fabricate it.”

“What do you mean! Why should we?”

“We? Did you not hear what I just said? I’m telling you to say it was you, not we.”

“F-Father…?”

“Secretary Kim, bring me an iron from my golf bag over there.”

“Which number should I give you?”

“Number 7.”

Slide.

Gripping the silver iron the secretary handed over without a word of complaint, Hwang Taegwang slowly rose from his seat.

Hwang Minwoo’s complexion instantly turned pale.

“D-Dad! W-Wait a minute. Why are you doing this!”

“You ask why?”

Hwang Taegwang’s gaze sank coldly.

“I don’t care what you do outside. But I refuse to watch the name Supreme King become a laughingstock because of a bastard like you. Face down.”

“Eek!”

“Are you not going to face down?”

Screams echoed through the Supreme King Guild building for a long time.

* * *

The Disciplinary Committee ended anticlimactically as expected.

Hwang Minwoo, who limped in, confessed.

From attempting to kill Baek Yuyeon in a fit of anger a year ago, to bribing the two professors to frame Kwak Dojin.

When the startled Dean of Academic Affairs looked at the two professors, they admitted it as well.

“Blinded by Supreme King’s money, we fabricated Cadet Kwak Dojin’s disciplinary records. We admit to all our crimes and will immediately resign from our professorships to face police investigation.”

Choi Byeonggil’s mouth dropped wide open.

Was this a Disciplinary Committee or a Confession Committee?

“…!”

Baek Yuyeon, who had prepared a testimony, also widened her eyes, and Kwak Dojin was similarly standing with his mouth agape in a daze.

Now that the full truth was revealed, Kwak Dojin’s disciplinary action was entirely nullified.

However, since it was a fact that he used violence in the process, it was concluded that the existing holdback would be maintained, but all the disciplinary records unfairly accumulated by the bribed professors would be wiped clean.

“Ha, haha.”

Walking outside, Kwak Dojin stared blankly up at the sky.

A surge of emotion swelled up from deep within his heart.

To think the year of time he found so unfair and bitter would be resolved this anticlimactically and perfectly in just a single day.

‘It’s all thanks to Professor Kang Hyeon.’

What kind of life would he have lived if he hadn’t met him?

Thinking about it this way, the excruciating year actually felt like a stroke of fortune.

Because if he hadn’t been wronged by Hwang Minwoo, he never would have met Kang Hyeon.

Without hesitation, Kwak Dojin headed toward the faculty housing.

“Professor!”

“Is it over?”

“Yes, it just ended! Thanks to you, Professor, all my disciplinary records have been deleted. Sincerely, thank you from the bottom of my heart!”

“Only with words?”

“…Pardon?”

Ah, liquor!

Liquor money is… gone now, though?

Come to think of it, what do I do for living expenses now?

“If you’re thankful, go seduce Baek Yuyeon.”

“Excuse me?”

Kwak Dojin’s face flushed red.

“I told you I don’t like her!”

“No, not that. Who told you to date her?”

“Th-Then?”

“Into our class.”

“Pardon?”

“Seduce her by any means necessary and make her join our class.”

Dojin, you punk.

I helped you, so isn’t it only logical that you help me out a bit now?

So, stop talking back and bring Yuyeon over.