The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 10

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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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Academy Absolute Professor Episode 010
I won’t become like those old men.
Lee Se-ah stepped outside and immediately pulled out her mobile phone.
[Kim Hyung-seok, Director]
The director’s orders were clear: anything related to Black was to be reported outside the chain of command.
Ring, ring.
The call barely rang twice before a cheerful voice picked up.
– Oh, Agent Lee? What brings you in on a weekend?
Lee Se-ah’s lips trembled slightly.
‘Well, because I came in on a weekend!’
“Black is planning to vacate his room.”
– Vacate? What do you mean? Where to? Don’t tell me he’s disappearing.
“No, sir. He’s moving to the Professor Building dormitory.”
– The Professor Building? He’s leaving a spacious estate for that place? Why.
Lee Se-ah reported what had happened at the Old Building Training Ground that morning.
“It seems he intends to keep those five close and begin training them in earnest.”
– Mmm.
While the director didn’t know why Black wanted to recruit and train students, there was no loss to the nation.
The problem was…….
– We can’t leave that man alone in the Academy for twenty-four hours.
“But sir, don’t we lack grounds to deny what he himself requests?”
– That’s true. So shouldn’t someone be there keeping close watch on him?
“……!”
Cold sweat ran down Lee Se-ah’s spine.
She knew perfectly well who the director meant by “someone.”
‘Not only weekend shifts, but now he’s saying I shouldn’t even commute?’
– If you register as a professor’s secretary, we’ll assign you one of the dormitories attached to the Professor Building.
‘D-Director?’
– I’m sorry. I know how harsh this assignment is for a newcomer fresh off the boat.
‘Then you shouldn’t ask me to do this!’
– But throughout our entire Special Forces Team, you’re the only one who can actually communicate with Black. Right? Agent Lee. Is this line working? Why aren’t you answering?
“……I’m listening.”
– Special duty allowance. I’ll add 300% of your current salary on top.
‘Do you think I’m doing this for the money?’
Truth was, she knew.
Knew that she was the only one in the Special Forces Team who could do this job.
And knew that this was proper work full of purpose.
‘I came in knowing this was the kind of work.’
Sacrifice for the nation.
Compared to the Black agents risking their lives running operations in remote overseas locations, taking up residence at the Academy was perhaps little more than self-indulgent complaint.
Besides, the man she was to keep watch over was the nation’s supreme S-Rank Force.
She let out a short sigh, then asked.
“You mentioned a good evaluation?”
– Of course! Who knows? If later a dedicated Black team is created instead of the general Special Forces Team, who do you think will lead it?
“Understood. I’ll do my best.”
– Thank you. The nation will not forget your sacrifice.
Click.
The call ended.
Lee Se-ah looked once more at the firmly closed entrance to the safe house.
Purpose, mission—all of it felt hollow.
Now that she’d agreed, the path ahead seemed pitch dark.
“Sigh, such is my fate…….”

* * *
Sunday, before dawn.
Atop the roof of the Old Building Training Ground.
Kang Hyun sat in a cross-legged position.
Even now he was pressing down the writhing toxin of Demon God Asura through the Extreme Yang Heart Method…….
‘Hmm?’
A faint sound of movement came from the direction of the training ground.
Kang Hyun opened his eyes slowly.
‘Still an hour before the promised time?’
The figure belonged to Seo Hae-in, a trainee from the twentieth intake.
After confirming no one else was nearby, she claimed a corner of the Training Ground and began loosening her stiff muscles with practiced ease.
‘A hard worker, then.’
Training at dawn without anyone asking her to do it?
Yet she’s perpetually last in the rankings.
‘Interesting.’
Intrigued, Kang Hyun finished his Energy Circulation and watched her movements unfold.
Once she completed her stretching, she picked up a wooden sword.
Swish! Whish!
Sharp cutting sounds split the quiet of the Training Ground.
‘The foundational forms of the Clear Wind Sword Method?’
Kang Hyun, whose mind held every martial art in existence, immediately grasped the root of the technique she was performing.
At the same time, he grew certain.
The martial texts from the Martial World he’d traveled and those that emerged from dungeons here were unmistakably connected.
‘The Clear Wind Sword Method, I see.’
Fundamentally, new students who enroll at the Academy choose a specialization.
Once they select their path, the supervising professor recommends Heart Methods and sword techniques registered in the West Building.
She’d likely been given this particular sword method as a recommendation.
‘The professor who recommended it is simply incompetent.’
Kang Hyun clicked his tongue inwardly.
The Clear Wind Sword Method was indeed one of the foundational arts of the Clear Sound School, known for specializing in swiftness and keenness—a technique women were well-suited to learning.
But her bone structure, as he perceived it, was entirely at odds with her outward appearance.
‘The foundation is different, the very foundation.’
Whether she’d eaten sardines as a child, her slender frame concealed bone density that was extraordinary.
‘What they call solid bone structure, I suppose.’
That physique was better suited not to nimble, swift swordplay, but to brutal, overwhelming techniques—or the Blade Arts entirely.
Had she simply mastered the proper martial technique, last place wouldn’t even be a question.
Add that effort into the mix, and she’d crush half the people here without breaking a sweat.
Glug.
As he poured whiskey and continued stealing glimpses of her training, the rest of the group began trickling in one by one.
Han Tae-ho, Yun Hyun-jong, Cha Yu-sik, and Gwak Do-jin, in that order.
When another trainee appeared, Seo Hae-in stopped her training and waited awkwardly.
Kang Hyun did not dwell on what brought each of them here or what lay in their hearts.
Each had their own circumstances, their own desires.
‘But still.’
Was teaching them the right call?
Truthfully, the most efficient course of action available to him now was to scour the entire world like a hawk hunting mice, filtering for only genuine prodigies.
Seven people bearing innate martial foundation, constitution, mentality, and talent—he should kidnap them if necessary and force them to master the Seven Luminary Formation.
That was the only way to stand against the Demon God Asura.
‘Just as those old men did.’
If they’d been the ones teaching, they wouldn’t have spared a second glance at such mediocre specimens.
If they’d had no choice but to teach?
‘Teach? They’d have simply beaten them into shape.’
Kang Hyun’s lips twisted.
He too had begun at thirteen, starting with beatings.
As bones shattered and organs ruptured, as blood poured from his mouth, they’d shoved a handful of Healing Elixir down his throat and beaten him again.
Being struck became as familiar as breathing, a process designed to eventually strip away all fear in the face of any attack or death itself.
Creak.
His teeth ground together.
Respect for one’s master?
He harbored none of that.
Rather, the mere memory of those days still kindled fury within him.
If the world could be saved through child abuse, what of that child’s own life?
During his time in the Martial World, Kang Hyun had envied the tender master-disciple relationships more than anything else.
Because it was something he’d never had.
‘I won’t be like those old men.’
Kang Hyun closed his eyes firmly, then opened them again.
Hadn’t he already made that vow before?
I’m going to live this life my own way.
Preparing for Asura is certainly important, of course.
If this world crumbles, then the corner where I rest and my fine Whiskey will disappear with it anyway.
But just as much—no, even more important than that—is taking care of myself.
This is a precious life that comes only once, after all.
If I were to beat seven people like beasts the way those old men did, turn the Seven Luminary Formation into a numb weapon and save the world—suppose I managed it.
Would I be happy?
‘No.’
Kang Hyun shook his head.
That would only be passing down the horrible hell he’d endured to someone else entirely innocent.
He didn’t want to save the world and then spend a lifetime nursing a hollow ache while drowning himself in liquor alone.
He didn’t want to become like those old men he despised.
‘And.’
Kang Hyun’s gaze shifted to the five heads clustered together in the training ground.
‘Those five—they will become the mirror that proves I’m walking a different path than those old men.’

* * *
Cha Yu-sik had been waiting in anticipation.
He’d thought about it all last night.
‘Who is Professor Kang Hyun?’
A contract professor suddenly hired after the entrance ceremony.
The Management Bureau’s parachute appointment—a man openly protected by Dean Seo Il-hyun.
And.
Someone who could overwhelm even an A-Rank Hunter like himself with crushing killing intent.
He’d searched all night but found nothing.
Which meant……
‘He’s undoubtedly an S-Rank Force the Management Bureau cultivated in secret or has hidden for some reason.’
For Cha Yu-sik, whose succession prospects were hardening in an unfavorable direction, the man was a lifeline dropped from heaven.
‘I need to grow stronger.’
If he could just grow strong enough to defeat his brother?
His father would surely see him again.
The Heavenly Wolf.
His father firmly believed that the alpha wolf leading the pack must be the strongest.
‘What will he teach?’
It probably wouldn’t be anything ordinary.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have written with such confidence that he’d teach them how to grow stronger.
A secret technique?
Or perhaps some newly developed art?
Cha Yu-sik’s heart raced.
A quick glance around confirmed he wasn’t alone in his anticipation.
The newcomer, the eternal last-place finisher, the mad one, the golden spoon.
All of them—waiting with that thrilling sense of what opportunity might come next.
How much time had passed like that?
Thud.
Someone landed on the ground.
It was Kang Hyun, dressed as carelessly as always.
“……!”
The trainees flinched.
‘When did he get up there?’
‘There was no trace of presence at all.’
‘Wait—can you even jump down from that height?’
The Old Building was five stories tall.
The roof alone rose well over fifty feet high.
Even if one could jump from it, dust should have risen—yet nothing did.
It felt like seeing a ghost.
“You’re all here.”
Yun Hyun-jong was the first to react.
“Sir!”
When a trainee meets a professor, one greets first as a matter of course!
At his bow, the other four followed suit, their heads dipping in unison.
“You all arrived early. I’ll give credit where it’s due—you weren’t late.”
The bottle swirled.
Kang Hyun shook the Whiskey bottle lightly in his hand.
“From now on, we gather here every morning at six sharp.”
“Every day, sir?”
The question came from Gwak Do-jin.
He was the sort who paid close attention to his class schedule.
“Of course. Did you really think you’d grow stronger training once a week?”
“……But sir, most students’ weekdays are packed with major courses and general education classes.”
“You don’t take those classes anyway, do you?”
Gwak Do-jin’s eyes widened.
He’d instantly grasped that this seemingly indifferent professor had read his academic record.
“And whether you come or go doesn’t matter to me. Whether you quit halfway through and run away—that’s all your choice. I won’t teach you through coercion.”
He’d made a choice not to be like those old men.
Violence was efficient, but it made people passive.
The moment the violence stopped, they’d give up easily.
‘If that’s what I’d wanted to do.’
But a path they’d chosen themselves?
The suffering along the way would be something they could endure on their own.
Yet when he said it, the trainees’ expressions grew peculiar.
‘So he won’t hand over secret techniques easily?’
Cha Yu-sik, thoroughly misunderstanding, cried out.
“I’ll do it!”
His voice rang with determination.
“Even if I have to abandon all my other major courses, I’ll stand here every morning at six!”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Yes! To learn your martial techniques, I’m prepared to accept low grades.”
“Martial techniques?”
Kang Hyun’s mouth twisted.
“What martial techniques are you talking about?”
“Sir?”
“What meditation methods, what martial arts—with the state you’re all in?”
In Kang Hyun’s eyes, these trainees looked like newborns asking him to teach them how to run before they’d even learned to crawl.
Their lower bodies were weak, their stamina poor.
In that condition, swinging weapons would exhaust them quickly, and they’d lose their balance just as fast.
Teaching them martial arts would be meaningless.
“You’re all starting from the foundation up.”
He swallowed.
Cha Yu-sik’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
Foundation work?
Yes—surely there was some secret internal cultivation technique for building the foundation?
“Everyone, spread your feet wider than shoulder width.”
“……!”
“And bend your knees. Until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Keep your back straight and your eyes forward.”
The trainees’ expressions grew even stranger.
Surely he couldn’t mean to have the Academy’s elite perform the Horse Stance—something you’d only see at a local martial arts school?
“If you’re going to learn martial arts, shouldn’t you at least be able to hold your own body properly?”

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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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