Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 109

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 109
EP26 – Betting Table, “Gyeong-hap Dungeon ↑” (3)

My eye twitched. A crack formed across my composed face. Rebecca asked quietly.

“…What?”

A rebuke about being disrespectful was probably something she’d never heard in her life.

“Show respect before your professor.”

I don’t enjoy fighting. But I’m not the type to shy away from it when it’s necessary.

“…Professor Dante Hiaka. You’re beginning to overstep, aren’t you? Once the contract was signed, we ceased to be student and instructor.”
“Did we? This is still the Academy. Our relationship hasn’t changed.”
“Professor.”
“Let me redefine our relationship before we proceed. In my presence, you will conform to my standards.”
“Haven’t you grasped the situation yet?”

It was a presumptuous thing to say—and yet intriguing.

“Professor. Get your head on straight. From now on, you’ll be the one conforming to my standards. Can you refuse? I’m the one holding your leash now.”

Rebecca held up the contract paper for “Eternal ∞.”

“And how does that make it my leash?”
“Listen carefully, Professor. Preventing the academy’s reopening isn’t something you can stop through effort alone. It’s already reached the point where it will be opened whether I try or not. If you value your life, you’ll cooperate with me and beg for my efforts as well.”

Rebecca bared her fangs and growled.
So that was why she’d become so smug.

This is who she is.
This is why she means to betray.

I could have insisted on a verbal agreement from the start. Yet I’d shown her goodwill and bound our contract in blood. Rebecca flipped her attitude as easily as turning over my palm.

Before a fish is caught, one gazes upon it with yearning. How many people do you see in this world who abandon their catch once it’s been taken? She seemed to be that type.

At that moment, I paused to think.
I had two choices.

One: defer entirely to Rebecca.
I could pretend to treat her well until she betrayed me anyway, so playing along wouldn’t be difficult.

Two: discipline Rebecca now.
Even if betrayal was inevitable, there’s no fun in being toyed with until then. Better to establish boundaries now, once more.

But were these truly my only options?
After thinking a moment longer, I found myself smiling without meaning to.

“You’re smiling?”

Rebecca’s eyes twitched.

“You find this funny?”
“I do, rather.”
“I don’t think so. I know far more about you than you might think, Professor. You have much to lose. And the more you have, the more precious your life becomes.”
……
“I’m different, Professor. I’m not quite as afraid of dying as all that.”

That wasn’t what mattered.
One thing was certain: she knew far less than I did.
Rebecca had no idea how overwhelmingly superior my understanding of this world was.
She didn’t know I had a way to break that contract. She didn’t know I could push as far as I wanted with no risk at all, or how completely defenseless she was against me.
A couple of methods to rein her in had already crossed my mind.
Rebecca was a tyrant, a lioness. But I, having sworn to be the external pressure, was a dinosaur by comparison. If I pinned her down, what could a lioness possibly do?
And yet… a thought struck me.
Suddenly.
A more amusing approach occurred to me.

“All right.”
“…You understand?”

A surprised counter-question came back. Rebecca must have thought I’d fight her.
Fighting was satisfying enough, but it wasn’t always the best move.

“I’ll see to it that I preserve your line. But for that to happen, you’ll have to make some concessions to me as well.”
“…What sort of concessions?”

Rebecca’s voice had grown quietly guarded.

“If you become someone honest with me, then I’ll preserve your line.”
“……”

Rebecca’s brow creased slightly, as if she’d sensed something off in my words.
I was sitting across from her on the sofa, and now I moved to the seat beside her.

“Honest with you… what do you mean by that, Professor?”
“Just what I said. For us to truly be in the same boat, you need to open your heart to me a little more.”

As I drew closer, Rebecca’s eyes began to shift away from me.

“You’re doing this again, Professor.”
“I am.”
“I’m asking you: please don’t come so close.”
“That’s unfortunate. Once you’ve stepped into the same boat as me, I can’t simply maintain whatever distance you’d prefer.”

I settled into the seat beside her anyway. Her eyes looked away, then her head turned—a retreat from closeness. But I pressed further.
Leaning in, I asked again.

“Why are you like this?”
“Like what?”
“Why are you so angry? Today especially.”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“If you tell me, then it becomes ours. Come on—tell me about your day. All of it.”
“I don’t know.”
“No. You have to show me your heart. Right now, our relationship isn’t equal. We’ve gone to great lengths to climb into the same boat, and I’m promising to preserve your line—so you need to show me sincerity in return.”

The Princess Rebecca had just said something to me that she shouldn’t have.
I’m different, Professor. I’m not quite as afraid of dying as all that.
She’d made a grave mistake.

“…Why should I be equal with you?”
“Because your words are wrong. I’m not that afraid of dying either.”
“……”
“We both have roughly the same amount to lose—which means we can’t do anything together unless it’s equal. So speak. What happened to our Princess today?”
“……”

Rebecca’s brow furrowed.
But this was precisely my intention.

“…….”

If she isn’t afraid of dying.
Then I’ll make her afraid.

“Tell me. What happened? Who said something to you? And why are those pretty feet of yours hurt?”

Even by my own judgment, the tone was kind. The first voice I’ve let escape from this body since I arrived.

“…….”

Rebecca wouldn’t meet my eyes. This was a continuation of what I’d already discerned—characters of her background in this world were weak to genuine human warmth.

“If it’s difficult, you can take your time. I’ll be here.”
“…….”

Rebecca held her silence.
From now on, she could speak. Or she could refuse.
But I had a plan B. If this doesn’t work, I’ll do exactly what I thought before—pin her down with force and correct her attitude.

That would actually be more comfortable for me.
I really do hate Rebecca, after all.

“…….”

A few seconds passed.
Perhaps dozens of them.
Quite a long time elapsed.

“…….”

Rebecca, who had shown me nothing but her profile the whole while,
finally exhaled a sigh that started from her toes.

“…Nothing….”

At last, she opened her mouth.

“…Nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious, yet something is clearly the matter.”
“…It’s just that when I go around dressed as a saint…there are so many places where conflicts arise….”
“May I guess? You must have visited some convent or another, I suspect. Isn’t that so?”
“…….”

Then Rebecca turned her head sharply to look at me.
With a rather aggressive gaze.
But when our eyes met, she quickly averted her gaze.

“…You’re doing this on purpose.”
“Doing what.”
“You. Deliberately. Trying to catch some weakness of mine…that’s what you’re doing….”
“If it’s your weakness, I already know far more than enough. Isn’t one reason you keep wanting me around my information network?”
“If it’s not a weakness, then what exactly are you trying to do…?”
“When someone shares a boat with you and their spirits are low, one simply wishes to comfort them.”
“…….”

Then Rebecca sprang from her chair. She moved to a spot a little distance away and sat, pulling her legs up against herself as she embraced them.

“Princess Rebecca?”
“…….”

From that silence came a voice I’d never heard from Rebecca before.

“…I’m not going to say.”

It was the first time this witch had sounded her actual age.
But I decided to ask again.
Honesty is where a relationship truly advances—and Rebecca still hadn’t been honest with me.

“Did you struggle that much?”

Rebecca fell silent again at my question, for a long moment.
Then, finally.
Her lips moved—barely.

“…….”

But the movement didn’t become words.
Rebecca quickly changed the subject.

“…Let’s talk about the Gyeong-hap Dungeon instead, shall we? Can we stop with these strange questions…?”

That’s enough for now. That’s how it feels. But Rebecca’s moment of yielding was enough—my purpose was sufficiently achieved. She felt something for me.

“I can’t listen to your plea to keep us out of the dungeon. I’ve already submitted the request to the Empire Administration Bureau, and I can’t cancel something registered under the academy’s name.”
“But you know what the consequences could be….”
“Propose restrictions, and I’ll listen and decide.”

Rebecca, somewhat subdued, didn’t push back. She could have insisted we not go, but instead she chose to comply with my terms.

“Then I’ll propose something.”

Rebecca laid out three conditions.

1. Register the Dante Assassination Unit under an anonymous name.
2. Don’t reveal any information about the dungeon’s interior.
3. Enter the dungeon immediately without separate training.

“This way we can keep our people hidden from the Empire’s gaze….”

In the end, Rebecca’s proposal was only half-right.
She’d overlooked something without realizing it.

Zamryong Academy’s genius.

* * *

Before Valmond stretched the interior of a labyrinth within a labyrinth. Dark stone floors, towering walls, and a pitch-black sky.

“Seriously, isn’t this pushing it too far…?”

That’s when Grey grumbled from beside him.

“What?”
“You’re stepping into your first dungeon ever, and there’s no training. You haven’t even been taught the dungeon’s structure. Just sent in like that—how does that make any sense?”

Was she right?
Valmond nodded along. He had to admit, it did feel like something was missing. If Dante were a real professor, he ought to know the dungeon’s layout, its trials, how to break through them. Yet he’d simply insisted they go in.

“Still, he’s a professor. There must be a reason for it.”
“…Is there?”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry so much. Come on, let’s go!”

Valmond stepped forward and raised his hand.
Grey and Kendrick Drake turned to face him.

“I know a bit about this dungeon’s Teenage Server, actually. My family studied it once, back in the day. So if you all just trust me and follow along—”

That was when it happened.

“Hmm!”

Elise, who’d been sniffing at the air this whole time, suddenly bolted forward.

“Oi, Elise! Where are you going?”
“Follow me, Valmond, all of you. This way—I’m sure of it.”

So sudden. Valmond stood bewildered for only a moment.
Then all three of them started after Elise.
She ran like the wind, and the rest of them clenched their teeth, chasing hard behind her.
By the time they’d crossed seven or so intersections of the maze, a vast chamber opened before them.

—ROOOAAARRR!!

The Mid-Boss, a Troll Ogre, reared up with a massive club raised high above its head.
It was a creature three times the height of a man—a towering thing of raw bulk.

—GROOAAAHHH!!

It swung its club at Elise, but the blow crashed into empty ground instead.
CRACK!!
The space itself seemed to rupture. The shockwave bounced off the chamber’s walls and ceiling—a roar so deafening it felt like the ears would split.

“Khgh! You found it, then! Listen, Elise! Everyone!”

Valmond shouted.

“Be careful! From what I know, that thing—it’s huge, yes, but its defense is far tougher than its size would suggest. We need to draw its attention first, then target its weak point, the back of the head—”

In that instant, Elise closed her eyes and crouched low.

⋮
『 Dawn Wasteland Stroll 』
⋮

She launched from the maze floor like a bullet.

Whish ―――

As the Formless Sword ○ swept past, the ogre’s neck—thick as a building pillar—sliced diagonally and tumbled to the ground, and the massive body toppled after it.

Thud!!

The impact shook the air, and the troll-ogre’s four-meter frame crumpled and crashed to the floor. Then stillness.

“Oh, we got it!”

Elise grinned, sword still in hand. Grey and Kendrick Drake cheered with whoops and cries. Even Valmond was elated at the victory.

“Come on, this way.”

They sprinted deeper into the maze.
Then the status window for Gyeong-hap Dungeon ↑ appeared.

< ↑ First Section Breakthrough Complete. >

It was at that moment.

‘Hm?’

Valmond felt something odd wash over him.
He quickly checked the Crystal Orb. What was the all-time record on the Teenage Server for the First Section Breakthrough? From his memory, it was somewhere in the four-minute range.

‘Wait.’

That record was from roughly a hundred years ago. He thought harder, and it came to him—exactly four minutes and twelve seconds. And since no one had broken it in the hundred-plus years since, the leader of that mercenary company who had set the record was currently ranked first in the world standings.
But the number on Valmond’s Crystal Orb was something else entirely.

< 00 hours 03 minutes 57 seconds 34 >

…What?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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