Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 84

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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 84
EP22 – Zone 4 Kiyul Bureau (3)

I hated people who wielded power to dominate others.
Those who used their high and unshakeable position to crush their inferiors—I had never thought well of such people in all my life.

But.

I am someone who solves problems.
Even as a child, I was undoubtedly a scholar and a researcher.

Perhaps that’s why I loved games. A game, after all, is nothing but the process of continuously solving given problems within a set of fixed rules.

I don’t discriminate between tools when solving a problem. A pen or a pencil—it doesn’t matter. Power is the same. If it was the only way to solve the problem, I was willing to wield every ounce of power at my disposal.

“Ugh…”

The first problem had been Grey’s survival. But as I worked through it, the problem shifted. Now it was about removing the threat embedded within Hiaka itself.
It felt like a splinter lodged in my foot—trivial, insignificant, yet something that simply could not be left alone.
And so, working through that second problem, I arrived here.

“Hgh… ugh…”

In my experience, a man who has grown old and stagnant is bound to rot. Usually, people change after death, but an old man who has stagnated—he’s different. Death may be close at hand, yet he does not change. He only compounds his corruption’s justification.

“Ugh… ugh…”

So this man must die here.

“I’ll help you. If you can’t manage it yourself, I’ll open it for you. I’ll have you open the Rift with your own hands.”

I leaned forward and seized the Kiyul Officer by the wrist, then dragged him toward the Rift.

“Gah! P-please…! I was w-wrong…!!”
“Why are you resisting? You should push through.”
“P-please…!! N-no, I can’t…!!”

My stats had grown high from Repetitive Training and Boss Battles. Even as he strained with all his might, I could pull him forward without effort. “Nngh!!”

“Where in this world is there a man who bears responsibility in mere words? You have to prove it. With your own hands. Isn’t that right? Isn’t it?”

Muscle rippled along my forearms as veins rose beneath the skin. The Kiyul Officer’s trembling hands had no strength left to resist. His bent arms gradually straightened.

“Aaah…! P-please! Please…!!”

He thrashed about as if the Rift were the gaping maw of a viper. The officers nearby gasped in shock but dared not intervene. And then—the moment his hand touched the Rift’s surface.

“I would appreciate it if you would stop.”

A dozen or more figures clad head to toe in metal armor materialized beside me, wreathed in radiant light.
The emergency standby team from Headquarters.

“Ah, ah…! Here! Over here!”

The Kiyul Officer, who until now had been feigning remorse, cried out in jubilation as if he’d encountered angels themselves.
From among the emergency team—elite rank-one Kiyul Bureau operatives: the Nameless Ones. They were not human. Ancient combat automatons created through Stigmata and Alchemy.

“You! This bastard’s trying to kill me! This son of a— Drag him out immediately…!!”

A glimmer of satisfaction etched itself across the Kiyul Officer’s face. He was savoring the moment—anticipating that I would soon be dragged away under restraint by his reinforcements. Even if the professor had authority, he couldn’t possibly stand against the Hiaka Academy’s emergency response team from headquarters.

A complete miscalculation.

I had contacted headquarters as well.
And my message was routed directly to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel, as the department head, held more than enough authority to mobilize the Kiyul Bureau and conduct an investigation.
As a result,

“What are you doing?! Nameless Ones! Seize that madman at once—!”

While he was still barking away in his excitement,
the Nameless Ones bowed their heads before me.

“You mustn’t… you must not kill the Kiyul Officer, Professor.”

Shock rippled through his voice as it began to tremble.
But the Nameless Ones paid him no attention whatsoever, addressing me instead with careful deference.

“Please do not kill the Kiyul Officer, Professor.”
……

I acknowledged it then.
That I had arrived too late.

“There are Rifts to deal with. Let’s start with those.”
“Understood.”

Even now, neither the Kiyul Bureau personnel nor the Kiyul Officer comprehended this exchange, but that hardly mattered.

I released his hand and rose to my feet.

⋮

Everything that followed moved with extraordinary swiftness.

The Rifts were real. All of them were on the verge of collapse, and fortunately, every last one was eliminated.

Zone 4 Kiyul Bureau received an official audit from headquarters.

I would later learn that the Kiyul Officer, as the officer in charge, received a severe disciplinary action: dismissal from his post.

It seemed he had connections of his own, which I found regrettable.

Dismissal would have been more fitting.

But it was, ultimately, a minor incident.

* * *

Dennis, the Kiyul Officer.
Or rather, Dennis—no longer a Kiyul Officer—went through the disciplinary process and was stripped of his post. For days afterward, he was consumed by rage and anguish.
It was all because of that man.

Dante Hiaka, senior professor.

Afterward, Dennis the former Kiyul Officer attempted a background investigation into Dante Hiaka through the System Guild. But the cost was steep, so he couldn’t afford to dig very deep—he settled for uncovering the past alone. After all, if you know someone’s past, you know the person.

What came back was unexpected: there was barely any past to speak of. According to the System Guild’s records, this man had virtually no history, no identity worth mentioning.
He’d naturally assumed he had solid backing—but it seemed something had gone badly awry. To think the situation had spiraled this far because he’d listened to that bastard’s words.

Dennis, by contrast, felt a flicker of hope. The possibility had occurred to him that he might yet have his revenge on Dante Hiaka. The man who’d destroyed his peaceful, contented life—his world deserved to crumble too.

And so he resolved to mobilize every connection at his disposal.

The man called himself a “senior professor,” didn’t he? Likely a Master-class fighter, and probably ranked in the four digits.
What was he supposed to do about it? He had connections of that caliber himself.

First, he placed a call to the White Path.

“Hello?”
– Ah. It’s been a while. Officer Dennis.

Word of his dismissal from the outlying zone apparently hadn’t yet reached Zone 0. He saw no need to mention that he was no longer an officer. There was no point in making this harder than it had to be.

“I was wondering if you might take on an assassination contract. Just this once.”
– An assassination contract? Hmm. That’s difficult. Since I’m with the White Path, I don’t often involve myself in that sort of work….
“This man has inflicted shame upon me that knows no equal. I simply must have my revenge, but I’ve run out of options….”
– …….

The upright senior professor hesitated, then asked what had happened. Dennis sensed his opening and began fabricating details, eager to poison the man’s mind against him.

– Is that so? A demonic creature indeed.
“Yes. Truly. Please, won’t you help me….”
– I understand. Though it conflicts somewhat with my principles, I’ll see what I can do—perhaps short of outright assassination, but something.

Then the senior professor on the line asked him a question.

– What’s his name?

His name was
a renowned senior professor of assassination defense at the White Path.
Leo Bardo.

“Dante Hiaka!”

And then.
What was happening?
The voice on the other end of the line went abruptly silent.

“Um, um… Professor Leo?”
– …….
“Professor Leo? Are you there? I said Dante Hiaka!”
– …….

Why this? Why no answer? Dennis’s brow furrowed even as an unexpected, frigid voice returned.

– I won’t be hearing this conversation.

His heart sank.
The edge in that voice was razor-sharp.

“W-what do you….”
– I find this rather unpleasant, Officer Dennis. Handle your own affairs yourself.

Click.

The line went dead.
Dennis blinked.
What is this?
The reaction made no sense. Why would Leo, that renowned paragon of justice and gentleness, possibly…?
But when Dennis called again, Leo didn’t pick up. Dennis gritted his teeth.
Leo must have been afraid.
Dante was surely Black Path, after all.
He was worried about Black and White conflict, it seemed.
Tsk! How could the White Path bunch in Hiaka be so spineless and incompetent? Here was that cunning Black Path scum running wild, and they chose to turn their backs instead?
But Black Path would be different.
Dennis remembered a cadet who’d come through the Kiyul Bureau support program years ago—exceptionally talented, scrupulously just, nothing like a Black Path member at all.

“Hello?”
— Yes. Officer.

The kid had picked up. It’d been a while. They exchanged the usual pleasantries—how have you been, that sort of thing—before Dennis got to the point.

“Look, I hate to ask, but could you take on one job for me?”
— A job?
“Yeah. An assassination contract. I need you to kill one person.”
— Why would you ask me to do an assassination, Officer?

When Dennis sketched out the circumstances in vague terms, this unusually decent Black Path prodigy agreed without hesitation.

— He really is a piece of work. Understood. I’ll take care of it.
“I really owe you…!”
— So what’s the name?
“Right, right. It’s a senior professor. His name is…”

The cadet’s name—the son of the Dark Starlight Seat, heir to the Nibelung Family, a Black Path assassination prodigy.
Valmond Nibelung.

“Dante Hiaka. See? Even the name sounds like garbage, right?”

After that, Dennis felt triumphant.
This was it, he thought.
This time there wouldn’t be a problem. The kid was from Zamryong Academy, and he was known to refuse almost every professor who asked.
But then—

— What the hell, you bastard?

Profanity erupted that Dennis hadn’t anticipated.
His heart sank.

“W-what…?”
— Dante Hiaka? You just said Dante Hiaka?
“…….”
— That guy supposedly trashed the Bureau unfairly? Bullshit. You think I’m some kind of idiot? Where are you getting your information from, you moron?
“Cadet! What in the world is th—”
— Don’t scam me, you piece of garbage. If Professor trashed the Bureau, then you must’ve done something that deserved it. What the hell are you doing trying to badmouth the Professor?

Dennis couldn’t make sense of it. He had no idea what to say. Valmond’s anger pressed on.

— Hey!! How many people did you call with this crap? Huh? Tell me. How many people did you spread this to?!
— You’re not answering? You filthy dog?
— Fine. That’s it. Where are you right now? Zone 4 Bureau? I’m coming now. Say your prayers. You got that—?!

His heart pounding, Dennis heard the call cut off.
Click!
In the final moment, a low voice carried through: “…let’s see if you say the same thing right in front of my face…” before the line went dead.
His fingertips trembled.
Fortunately, he wasn’t at Zone 4, and he wasn’t at the Bureau. But he couldn’t stop his heart from racing.

‘Why is this mad Black Path bastard doing this?’

He remembered Valmond.
A good man, for all his rough appearance.
He’d volunteered at the Kiyul Bureau despite being Black Path—a genuinely decent and reliable fellow.
And then that same man had suddenly transformed into something more Black Path than any Black Path operative he’d ever seen.

‘The White Path is acting strange, the Black Path is acting strange….’

By this point, it felt like the entire world had conspired to make a fool of him.
Who exactly was Dante Hiaka? What was he, anyway?

……

He couldn’t stop here.
But he didn’t have the standing to call the senior professors. Calling them would likely just get him ignored.
That left only one person he could reasonably call—someone who was neither Black Path nor White Path…….

[ Neutral Senior Professor Collider ]

……

This man had described himself as an excellent elite senior professor, and he seemed to genuinely be one.
Neither White Path nor Black Path meant he was Neutral. And since Collider appeared older, perhaps…….

……

Yet after those two phone calls, something felt off to Dennis, and for some reason Collider seemed to lack Dante’s sheer weight and presence.
The feeling that calling him wouldn’t help.

……

And so Dennis abandoned all thoughts of revenge.
His spirit was utterly broken.

– [Missed calls: Valmond Nibelung 4]

Yet for days afterward, he could only live in terror.

– [Missed calls: Valmond Nibelung 38]

Because the calls kept coming.
The moment he blocked the number, didn’t he just call from different numbers?

– [Missed calls: ??? 1]
– [Missed calls: ??? 35]
– [Missed calls: ??? 127]
⋮

Right after a nightmare where a rabid dog came tearing at him.

“Gaaaaah!!”

Dennis jolted awake in bed, clutching his blanket, trembling with terror.

‘P-please stop calling……!!’

Hair loss! Insomnia! Nervous breakdown!

Screeeeeech…!!

For four days he trembled in dread, and in the end, he made the decision to leave the Academy…….

EP22

Zone 4 Kiyul Bureau

END

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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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