Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 26

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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 26
EP10 – The Popular Professor (2)

“I have no knowledge of this matter.”

I’d said it roughly seventeen times while in the Discipline Department.
And I’d meant it every time.

“Of course, Professor Dante. There’s no reason you’d know about Professor Hacon’s whereabouts!”
“How could you possibly know of an assassination tool that hasn’t even surfaced yet?”
“The body must be somewhere beyond this world. Ha ha.”

Every patrol officer in the Discipline Department was convinced I’d done it, yet they closed the investigation due to insufficient evidence.

“No, really, I don’t know anything.”
“Of course not, Professor. How could you possibly?”
“We don’t know either! Ha ha!”
…….

This was absurd.
I left the Discipline Management Bureau in a daze, only to find Adel waiting outside with a flower basket and a stack of letters piled in her arms.

“What’s all this?”
“Oh, Professor. Take a look at these.”

Letters? What letters?

“The White Path Association sent gifts. They said they’d like to meet with you separately!”
…….

It was an absurd turn of events.
Two White Path professors were already waving at me from a distance and coming my way.

“Ah, Professor! We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
“Are you well? We apologize. We should have introduced ourselves properly during the Elise incident last time….”

I was bewildered.

“What is it you want?”
“Oh, it’s nothing serious. For the next few days, whenever you’re at the department, we’d like to look after you.”

I understood what they were getting at.
In case the Black Path sent assassins, the White Path was offering me protection.
Under that guise, they were trying to plant the seeds of obligation.

“There’s no need. What would happen in broad daylight?”
“No, it’s fine! We should have extended our greetings much sooner anyway!”
“Just think of us as bodyguards. We’re research professors, so we don’t have any regular classes!”

I left the Assassin Hall with Adel, but the professors followed us all the way until we got in the car, acting like proper security detail.

‘I didn’t kill him.’

If I had to guess, someone else probably did.
This was the Assassination Department, after all—a place so twisted by grudges that everyone owed everyone else a debt of blood.
Looking into it, Hacon had quite a few enemies scattered here and there.

‘I don’t know either…….’

Until now, I’d let it slide.
Hacon’s death.
For me, it was nothing more or less than the removal of a threat.
But a few minutes later, the situation flipped entirely on its head.

【 Black Path Professor Venom : 】
【 Black Path Professor Curten : 】
【 Black Path Professor Viper : 】

As I left the Discipline Department, a stream of Black Path professors’ names scrolled across the Script, and I watched them dash somewhere en masse on the Mini Map.
Uneasy, I decided to follow them just in case—and found an ugly scene waiting.

“Haah…. Ugh….”

A White Path Association professor was slumped against a wall, blood-drenched, a blade driven clean through him.

“Professor. Are you all right?”
“Urgh…. Ah, you’re Professor Dante, aren’t you……?”
“That wound is severe. The Potion—”
“I drank it, I drank it….”

Haylan, a professor from the White Path Association, waved his hand with a smile.

“I’m fine. Really, I’m fine…. I reported it and the Medical Squad is on their way now…. It’s not a fatal wound.”

He said this while bleeding from the corner of his mouth.

“Let me pour some more Elixir on that wound.”

He seemed to have been hit with Poison and couldn’t move his body.
I began pouring the remaining Elixir onto his wound.
But it truly wasn’t fatal. If his lungs had been properly pierced, he wouldn’t be able to speak like this.
In other words, his abdomen had been stabbed with deliberate precision.
On purpose.
So he wouldn’t die.

‘……Is this a warning?’

The White Path Association professor had almost certainly been stabbed by those Black Path professors from earlier.

【 White Path Professor Haylan : ‘Ah…. Damn it…. Of all people, why did Professor Dante have to find me first……?’ 】
【 White Path Professor Haylan : ‘I can’t afford to leave a bad impression on this man…….’ 】

I found his thoughts peculiar, but he spoke with an awkward smile.

“Thank you, Professor Dante. That feels much better. And really, I’m quite fine now….”
“If that’s fine, then corpses should check into the Hospital and walk out alive. Professor, please do close your mouth.”
“No…. I really am fine. Truly…. But given that I’m a professor myself, being in this state before a professor I respect is somewhat embarrassing…. Would you mind leaving me alone……?”

Even now, he was trying to make a good impression on me.
What nonsense was this respect?
We’d never even met before.
And it occurred to me to wonder: why was this professor so eager to look good in front of me, a complete stranger?
It wasn’t hard to guess.

‘Orders came down from above.’

It hadn’t been just one or two people trying to butter me up earlier—it seemed orders had come down to the entire branch.
Bring Professor Dante to the White Path.
It made sense—they’d gotten the impression that he’d easily killed Hacon, a monster of the Black Path.

As I kept watch over the White Path professor that way, it wasn’t long before Medical Squad members came rushing over and transported him to the Hospital.

“Medical Squad here! We’ll get you to the Hospital right away!”
“Ah, thank you…. Phew….”

After a moment’s hesitation, I spoke up.

“I’ll ride along.”
“Yes, of course.”

I’d never met Professor Haylan before, but I felt I owed him an apology. Though I hadn’t killed Hacon myself, the rumor had spread that I had, and that was why he’d ended up in this state.
So I boarded the vehicle partly to protect him.

Meanwhile, I found the Black Path’s behavior perplexing.
If they objected to my killing Hacon, why not just come after me?
Yet instead, they’d left me alone and attacked the White Path Association’s professor as if issuing a warning.

Why?

* * *

I had a bad feeling about this. A particularly dangerous Bad Ending event had come to mind.

「 Bad Ending : Hika Assassination War 」

The Assassination War referred to a collective war between assassins.

And the Hika Assassination War was the worst possible event that occasionally erupted when I mismanaged the aggro of both the Black and White factions.

An emotional massacre rooted in ancient conflict—nearly two hundred professors from the Black Path and White Path would split entirely and kill each other, destroying the Academy in the process.

On Hard Difficulty, which only supported autosave, I’d torn my hair out every time that incident occurred, because when the Academy fell into ruin, Game Over appeared.

And perhaps, right now, I was standing on the very brink of that Assassination War.

Professor Haylan lay sleeping, wrapped in bandages. I was sitting in the chair beside his bed, lost in thought.

“Thank you, Professor Dante.”

Several professors from the White Path side had come to visit.

“For looking after the fallen Haylan. I heard you applied Potion to his wounds. Thanks to you, his injuries are apparently far less severe than expected.”

I hadn’t actually reduced his injuries—the assassination itself had been executed without causing major damage in the first place—but there seemed to be no need to correct the facts.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave.”
“Just a moment. Could you spare me a bit of time?”

He resembled a lion—the professor who introduced himself as Leo Bardo, Senior Professor of Assassination Defense at the White Path Association, drew me into the corridor and broached the subject carefully.

“This may not be the right time to bring it up, but I wanted to make you a proposal.”
“A proposal, you say?”
“Yes, indeed. A recruitment proposal.”

I narrowed my eyes.
I’d known this was coming.

“This assassination of Professor Hacon… we in the White Path Association regard it with profound respect. That monster killed many of our assassins, starting with my own brother.”
“…….”
“And so, there are strong voices rising from within. They’re saying it would be wonderful to bring Professor Dante into the White Path Association.”

Professor Leo offered a warm smile.

“We’d like to propose 50 million Hika over four years as a recruitment bonus.”

It was a staggering sum.
The assassination fee I’d received for apprehending that contract killing amounted to roughly 500,000 Hika.
But 50 million Hika over four years—that was an astronomical figure to propose merely as a recruitment bonus.

【 Professor Leo of Black Path: ‘How about it? Surprised, Professor Dante? This is the third-highest recruitment offer we’ve ever made.’ 】

Surprised didn’t begin to cover it.

“That’s not all. You know there are considerable opportunities that come through us—research requests, assassination commissions, and so forth. We pledge to prioritize you above all others in every single opportunity that presents itself.”

Sweet on top of sweet.
Of course, it wasn’t free money. The moment I joined the association, I’d have to fulfill my duties as a member.
But 50 million Hika as an advance—I could shoulder those obligations without hesitation. I’d be able to raise my Overall Combat Power tremendously right away.

“Will you join us?”

But I couldn’t accept the offer.
That was why I’d maintained my silence.

“Would you like some time to think about it?”
“…….”

Still, I didn’t answer. I simply sat there for a moment.

Late at night, all the staff had gone home. It was just Professor Leo and me in the Hospital’s Administrative Office.

I knew exactly how many people occupied this space. Precisely twenty-one.

【 Professor Ujin of Black Path: ‘…….’ 】
【 Professor Londran of Black Path: ‘…….’ 】
【 Professor Hodrigu of Black Path: ‘…….’ 】

Black Path professors concealed themselves near one wall and the ceiling.

【 Professor Viper of White Path: ‘…….’ 】
【 Professor Venom of White Path: ‘…….’ 】
【 Professor Curten of White Path: ‘…….’ 】

White Path professors crouched on the outer wall of the building beyond the windows, on the ceiling, and in the second-floor corridor.

The irony was that every last one of them excelled only at hiding—Detection required equipment and resources that they lacked (and Detection is difficult against those using Concealment)—so even though they were concealed in the same locations, they had no idea of each other’s presence.

Only I knew.
Only I understood how absurd this situation truly was.

【 Professor Ludenbach of White Path: 】

Now we were up to twenty-five.

【 Professor Viper of White Path: 】
【 Professor Ludenbach of White Path: 】
【 Professor Viper of White Path: 】
【 Viper, Black Path Instructor : “Currently, we are operating under the assumption that Professor Dante murdered Hacon with the aid of the White Path Association. In other words, this was not simply an assassination carried out alone. Accordingly, we intend to verify Professor Dante’s affiliation, and proceed to the next steps as soon as confirmation is obtained.” 】

Another instructor posed a question.

【 Venom, Black Path Instructor : “This conversation doesn’t seem to be one with Ujin’s collaborator, does it?” 】
【 Viper, Black Path Instructor : “Why would I trust only what appears before me? The White Path side must know we’re watching. They might attempt some trickery to sever their tail. What matters is the outcome. We need only observe whether Professor Dante belongs to the White Path or not.” 】

My suspicion had been correct.
The fifty million Hika had been a poisoned chalice—a story route that would destroy not just me, but the entire Assassination Department.
The next steps they mentioned were likely the path leading to the Assassination War.
Though the logic had some leaps, I let it pass—Hacon had been such an exceptional instructor, and the atmosphere in Zone 0 had been turbulent of late.

‘…No. That’s not it.’

No.

‘This situation was artificially created to kill me.’

If the fuse had been this easy to ignite, anyone could have lit it—it would have caught regardless.
Yet it stayed quiet until now, only to ignite at this precise moment.
My existence is the reason why.
I believe this is the malice of Hell Difficulty.

As I reached that conclusion, Professor Leo Bardo turned back to me.

“Professor? Do you perhaps need time to consider? If so—”
“That’s quite all right. I’ve already made my decision.”

【 Ujin, White Path Instructor : ‘……’ 】
【 Viper, Black Path Instructor : ‘……’ 】

In that instant, both sides focused intently on my words.

“I’m afraid I must decline.”

Simultaneously, the observers’ fortunes diverged.

“Ah…might I ask the reason?”
“It’s simply my nature. I’ve never been fond of belonging to an organization.”

I dismissed the matter with a short reply.
What could they do if I blamed it on temperament?
The White Path regretted the outcome unanimously, while the Black Path was split in opinion.
Half thought, “We didn’t want to fight anyway—this worked out well.” The other half thought, “What a shame.”
At least, until Leo’s next words came.

“If it’s a matter of compensation, I’d like to propose sixty-five million.”

What?
What’s this?
Does a price tag rise so easily?

“No, it’s not about the money. I’m well aware that sixty-five million is a substantial sum, but this is truly a matter of temperament.”

Professor Leo Bardo smiled.

“You know how to negotiate, I see? In that case, I’ll propose eighty million. This is our final offer.”

Thump. My heart dropped.
Eighty million?
At this point, reality began to slip away. Fifty million was already staggering—but eighty million?
I wasn’t the only one shocked by the figure.

【 Black Path Professor Viper: ‘Hah! Eighty million would be the highest recruitment offer the White Path has ever made.’ 】

Viper, the senior Black Path professor, was reeling as well.

【 Black Path Professor Ludenbach: ‘……Should I defect to the White Path too?’ 】

Even one of the Black Path professors was harboring such thoughts.

But I knew the truth. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
No matter how vast the sum. No matter how many opportunities dangled before me. It was poison—a trap with its jaws wide open, designed to devour me whole.
The moment I accepted, catastrophe would unfold.

“I’m afraid I must decline, Professor Leo. I—”
“One hundred million.”

At that instant, everyone gasped.

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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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