Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 3

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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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Episode 3
EP2 – New Professor (2)

Forte froze.
The close-range assassination hadn’t even begun yet.
The professor couldn’t possibly have known about the sword hidden at his thigh.
So how did he know?

‘That’s impossible.’

No—he must have simply guessed right by sheer luck.
As Forte slowly raised his head, their eyes met. Pink eyes beneath dark, coarse hair bore down on him from above.
Eyes that seemed to see straight through him, laid bare.
It had to be an illusion.
The assassination had failed, so naturally some strange adult would feel frightening.

“I am a professor, versed in the School Rules. I know what responsibility falls upon you.”
“…….”
“But before I speak of School Rules and the like, what should you be saying to me right now?”

Forte bit his lip.
The professor before him radiated a vicious edge, something fundamentally different from every other professor he’d known.

“I apologize for the hasty assassination attempt.”
“Wrong.”
“…Pardon?”
“You haven’t understood a word I’ve said.”

Refusing to lose face, Forte stared directly into his eyes.
But there was something oppressive about it, somehow.

“Apologize for the lie.”

Tension hardened Forte’s jaw. A lie? Me?
How could he possibly know?
Forte considered denying it outright, but in that moment of hesitation, he lost several crucial seconds.

“……But we’ve only just met.”

The professor’s cool gaze narrowed.

“You’re attempting a second lie.”

Forte’s eyes widened.

* * *

The Assassination Department is isolated.
That’s why its students are always frustrated.

What’s permitted now is suffocating control and repetitive instruction.
What awaits in the future may be an existence of darkness for the rest of their lives—the bleak fate of assassins pressing down upon them.
So when something interesting emerges, they tend to become obsessed with it.

Hwaru and Dominic, first-year students of the Assassination Department, watched the unfolding situation with wide eyes.

“…….”

From Hwaru’s perspective, Forte suddenly froze, then began approaching while gauging the New Professor’s reaction.
The newcomer’s expression was remarkably serene, brimming with composure, and at the same time, terrifying.
An expression that revealed nothing of what he was thinking.
She wished she could see this more clearly.

“Huh?”

She saw it.
Wait.

…….

Hwaru blinked rapidly. Her heart raced. There was something about the atmosphere—as if someone had taken the childhood fantasy of what an “assassin” should be and incarnated it into flesh and blood.

“Those two are having a conversation….”
“Indeed.”
“Dominic. What’s the New Professor saying…?”
“Hmm.”

Dominic pushed his glasses up. He was a cadet with particularly sharp hearing.

“You didn’t forget the School Rules. You knew them and fired anyway, he’s saying.”
“Mm. That’s the truth….”
“He’s asking why you attempted such a clumsy shot. Before your skill, he’s criticizing your attitude.”
“Huh? Forte is a genius when it comes to Marksmanship though…….”
“And he’s also pointing out that your swordplay form was sloppy. Your approach—your expression, your gait, all stiff. He’s saying he’s seen plenty of cadets who couldn’t maintain composure like you, and half of them ended up as corpses…….”
“Wow, that’s scary….”
“Even so, this professor didn’t counterattack like the others do.”
“Oh? That’s right.”

Something had felt off.
Normally, a professor would counterattack to instill fear in the student, to prevent future assassination attempts. But this professor only disciplined.
Such remarkably unshakeable confidence, wasn’t it.

“……Dominic. Adel mentioned that she doesn’t know who this professor really is, didn’t she?”
“She did.”

It was the first time Adel didn’t know a professor’s identity.
At this point, the cadets’ reactions split into two camps.

The professors died so often that they’d started bringing in just anyone they could find.
Or.
This time, the department head had sharpened his blades and appointed some mysterious assassin as a professor.

‘Perhaps the latter is more likely.’

Dominic narrowed his eyes.
These days, there were assassins who stepped into the light, but that was a recent phenomenon.
In the old days, the saying went that an assassin’s greatness was measured by how concealed their identity remained.
Hwaru grinned, her rabbit-like front teeth showing.

“This is amazing. Registering for this class was the right call….”

Dominic also pushed his glasses up and nodded in agreement.

“I concur.”

By then, the New Professor’s disciplining had ended.
Forte had his rifle and Wind Jackknife confiscated, received demerit points, and was finally released.
Perhaps because of that.
When Forte returned, his expression had darkened.

“Fool. I told you not to do that.”
“It’s all right, Forte. This wasn’t a failure on your part. Your marksmanship was flawless. The professor simply proved far superior to what we anticipated.”
“…Dominic. Please, just stop.”

Forte’s mouth twisted.
His own weakness.
A professor who admonished him.
Friends who tried to console him.
All of it stung with unbearable shame.

“Listen. I need one favor from you both.”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t tell anyone about what happened today.”
“Why not?”
“Why? Because I’m mortified, damn it!”

Hwaru and Dominic nodded solemnly.

“Trust me on this much, at least.”
“Forte. My weight is not the only heavy thing I carry. You know the weight of my tongue. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Forte trusted his friends.

⋮
A short while later.

“Hey, guys. Something huge happened today, and, uh, Forte said not to mention it but… wait, you want to know? Well, Forte ran into the new professor and…”

“Everyone should stay on their toes. The new professor is quite formidable, I tell you. Curious what it was? Hmm. Keep it between us, though…”
⋮

And so when Forte entered the Lecture Hall, all eyes converged on him.
Turning his head, he spotted a girl whistling and a stocky boy pushing his glasses up.

“…Damn it all.”

He could guess what had happened.

* * *

One hour before class.
I’d locked myself in the Professor’s Research Office.

On the way back from disciplining the cadet who’d tried to kill me.
I’d spilled whatever came to mind, hoping he wouldn’t attempt my assassination next time, confiscated his weapon, and returned.
Yet even here in the office, my heart was still thundering in my chest.

‘This is insane.’

I’d survived by sheer luck.
I hadn’t done anything yet. Not even taught a single class. This was only my first day commuting to this place, and already it was this dangerous.

‘How the hell did I end up inside a game?’

Of all places—this cursed assassination game. On Hell Difficulty, no less.
It wasn’t fortunate that I’d survived.
I needed a plan.
What happens next? Can I escape this world? Muttering “log out” yields nothing. Does that mean I’m trapped here, forced to live like this?

‘Change your thinking. There isn’t much time before class.’

I decided to review the “tools” at my disposal once more.
First, the Growth System.
It was a method of earning growth currency by fulfilling my duties as a professor.
Teaching lectures. Administering exams. Building relationships with students.

‘The difference from students is that I can grow through research and publishing papers.’

This was something I’d need to examine in detail later.
Meanwhile, the settings menu contained something interesting.

Wasn’t it better to know something unnecessary than to know nothing at all?
I tapped ON.

Immediately, something popped into my mind.

⧉ Tip : Confiscated items lose ownership and can be placed in your Inventory.

I examined the two objects I’d taken from the student.

＊ Wind Jackknife [Common] │ Confiscated
＊ Lever Action Rifle MT-15 [Magical] │ Confiscated

Already [Magical] grade from the start of the game.
It was only now sinking in that this was [Hell Difficulty]. Equipment like this shouldn’t be appearing yet.

‘…A fine rifle.’

The base stats seemed a bit lacking. However, it came equipped with a special option: Close-Range Auto Strike.
Once a target is designated, any enemy within ten meters is automatically tracked and fired upon by the rifle itself.

Quite impressive.
More than that—it was worth money.

I’m a professor, but I own nothing. My total assets were 0 Hika.
Now this rifle belonged to me. I could do whatever I wanted with it. Rough market value put it at a minimum of 70,000 Hika.
In real-world terms, a weapon worth seven million won.

‘Who was supposed to die for them to hand out a weapon like this?’

Now I understood why the stone statue didn’t have a hole through it—it had been obliterated.

＊ Wind Jackknife is stored in your Inventory.
＊ Lever Action Rifle MT-15 is stored in your Inventory.

The Inventory had plenty of space inside. Items vanished from my hand as they were automatically stored, and they came out the same way when I needed them. Convenient.
Very convenient.

‘Right, I can’t afford to waste time like this.’

I began reviewing the lecture materials and studying the content of today’s class.
I was deep in concentration, absorbed in the material, when—

Knock, knock!

Damn. Someone was knocking on the research office door.
One person showed up on my Minimap. But the script didn’t reveal anything noteworthy.
I prepared to draw my gun as I spoke.

“Who is it?”
– It’s Adel, Professor.
“Come in.”

The familiar smiling female teaching assistant entered.

“How are you finding it, Professor? Any first-day impressions?”
“Nothing remarkable.”
“I was worried you might get assassinated. I look forward to working with you going forward.”
“…Right. Tell me—how many professors have you worked with before me?”
“You’re the first.”
“Surprising. I’d have thought there were several.”

Based on what I’d gathered earlier, hadn’t there been a few?
At that, Adel laughed awkwardly.

“Well, I was originally an administrative assistant. As for the previous professor, Lucan Del, his teaching assistant was unfortunately caught in an explosion with him and they both died. So I had no choice but to step in….”
“That’s tragic.”
“It really is. He was such a good person too.”
“…I understand. I’ll begin preparing the lesson now.”

After continuing my class preparations for some time,
Adel opened the research office door and stepped back in.
At last, the moment had arrived.

“Professor, it’s time for your class.”

I didn’t want to go, but there was no choice.

“…….”

But fortune wasn’t entirely waiting in the shadows.
The first quest I’d been anticipating finally appeared.

┃ Main Quest [First Day of Appointment]
┃ Reward: Star Fragment × 1,000 (DLC Exclusive Bonus)

Star Fragments meant universal growth currency. With them, I could develop anything—stats, abilities, whatever I needed.
Even on Hell Difficulty, it seemed there was no law saying I had to die. One thousand Star Fragments was extraordinary.
Absolutely, impossibly generous.

‘I’d been certain that even if luck carried me through today, I’d be dead within days…….’

With a thousand of them, survival became genuinely feasible to consider.
If I could just make it through today alive…….
Though that hardly seemed to be an easy task.
At the far end of the corridor, right after arriving in front of the Lecture Hall, I had to stop short.

“What’s the matter, Professor?”
“…….”

In front of the Lecture Hall entrance on my Minimap, bright red dots clustered thick as barnacles.
It meant nearly ten hostile individuals were pressed against the other side of the door.
Looking up, I could see a blackboard eraser balanced above the doorframe. At first glance, it might look like a student prank.

* Guillotine Trap [Advanced]

If only there were no magical device.
In other words, it was a trap designed to lower one’s guard.

“Professor?”

The teaching assistant urged me to hurry. I exhaled a long, silent sigh and moved forward. Toward the Lecture Hall.

…….

From this moment, fifty minutes.
Killing me is legal.

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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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