The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 101

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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 101
I can’t just take anyone into my team.
The Practice Grounds were a maelstrom of chaos.
Hundreds of students crawled across the dirt floor, gasping for breath.
Seo Il-hyun, observing the spectacle, approached cautiously to Kang Hyun’s side.
Remarkably, Kang Hyun was sipping whiskey freely while radiating killing intent.
“Professor Kang.”
“Yes.”
“May I ask what sorcery this is? The killing intent you’re emitting is formidable, certainly, but the students seem to be seeing…… illusions or something like that.”
Kang Hyun’s lips curved upward.
“Seo Jun laid down an array.”
“An array?”
“Yes, a simple Illusion Array. The moment they try to cross the line, they see dying students collapsed around them.”
At his matter-of-fact answer, Seo Il-hyun’s eyes widened.
“Such an array exists? Wait, then what is that line on the ground? Isn’t it whoever crosses it who passes?”
“Crossing the line counts as passing.”
Only, it’s provisional passing.
Crossing the line despite the training means they’ve met the minimum condition to stand against Asura’s subordinates.
“But those who reach out to save someone in pain despite being able to cross the line—they receive final passing.”
“……!”
Seo Il-hyun’s eyes caught sight of Namgung Seo-ha grasping Cha Yu-sik’s hand and rising.
Poison?
Good.
Yet that isn’t all.
The enemies we’ll ultimately face can’t be handled without the spirit of sacrifice.
“These days, the Main is quite the topic of conversation.”
“……That’s true. The World Association has declared war on the Main.”
“Those chasing only power might become the Main themselves one day.”
It was a tragedy he’d witnessed before in the Martial World.
Those who turned to aid Asura while trying to oppose it.
“Hm.”
Seo Il-hyun, hearing Kang Hyun’s words, returned his gaze to the Practice Grounds.
O In-bang was walking among the students crawling in terror.
‘Professor Kang’s own selection process.’
Seo Il-hyun closed his eyes gently.
If those selected by this monster could receive proper instruction…….
‘It won’t be long.’
The dean’s chest swelled with emotion.
He envisioned the day when the National Hunter Academy, perpetually languishing in the bottom ranks, would soar to become the world’s number one.

* * *
“Stop.”
Kang Hyun’s voice rang out.
At the same moment, the killing intent pressing down on the Practice Grounds dissipated.
“Gasp, gasp!”
“We, we’re alive!”
Only then did the students exhale roughly and curl their bodies.
Honestly, most of them probably wanted to cry.
‘Who would want this! Who asks for killing intent training! It’s useless!’
Over four hundred people had attempted the trial, yet only forty-eight had crossed the line.
Besides, there were four other students who rose with O In-bang’s guidance.
Those who, including Namgung Seo-ha, refused to turn away from a dying comrade and readily surrendered their own test.
“You four pass with special approval, no second trial required. Stand aside separately.”
They were worthy of such recognition.
At Kang Hyun’s declaration, strength drained from Namgung Seo-ha’s legs.
‘I did it.’
It was fortunate.
Fortunate that his peer’s death was an illusion, and fortunate that he had passed.
Meanwhile, those who hadn’t made it through were still suffering from aftereffects.
Some foamed at the mouth, others sweated profusely.
“Come this way!”
It was Baek Yu-yeon and Professor Hwang Ye-rim who stepped forward.
She had been waiting in the back, and now she pressed Clear Heart Pills—refined painstakingly over the past week—directly into the mouths of the eliminated students.
“Open wide. Just swallow right away.”
Then something remarkable unfolded.
“Ah…!”
“I… I can breathe.”
Less than a minute after swallowing the pill, the students who had been convulsing steadied their breathing, and color began returning to their faces.
It was a pill designed to calm the mind and gently open the clogged Qi Meridians, washing away the sense of dread.
The faculty watching murmured among themselves.
“Isn’t that Baek Yu-yeon, who majored in Martial Medicine?”
“The angel of Mongolia… no, Paris now, I guess. But it seems she’s studying Alchemy too?”
“Well, Alchemy and Martial Medicine are closely related. But that level of skill is quite impressive, isn’t it? Look how quickly the students are recovering.”
Baek Yu-yeon paid no attention to the flood of gazes and quietly went about her work.
Beyond that, she also used her Heavenly Pulse Vision to administer acupuncture to those in serious condition.
In the midst of all this.
Kang Hyeon looked down at the forty-eight first-round passers.
“Still too many.”
The shoulders of the successful candidates stiffened.
It was a hint of a second round of selection.
“Listen up.”
Kang Hyeon took a sip of Whiskey.
“You have one hour to rest. After that, we begin the second selection.”

* * *
The second selection!
What kind of test would it be?
Once the rest period was given, the successful candidates gathered to one side and began loosening their tense muscles.
Even as they did, their minds started racing.
‘Why did the professor give us an hour?’
‘Recovery…? If so, it’s likely to be a physical test.’
‘The students under O In-bang did a lot of horseback stance in the first semester—let me loosen my thighs a bit more.’
True to form as elite Korean students, most of them grasped the intention and began preparing in advance.
“Would you like me to place some acupuncture needles?”
Baek Yu-yeon had come over.
“Me, me!”
“Me too, senior!”
She was explosively popular.
With her needles opening up the tense acupoints, their bodies became comfortable as if they’d woken from a deep, restful sleep.
And so the hour flew by.
“Everyone, assemble.”
At Kang Hyeon’s command, the students quickly formed ranks.
“I heard that during the break you hired veteran hunters with money to train in Killing Intent.”
The students’ pupils trembled.
Was this praise or criticism?
“I prefer those with strong initiative. I will regard highly those who prepared in advance, even spending money to do so, in order to attend my class.”
It was praise.
Of course.
A person who does something to grow stronger is better than one who simply sits idle.
“However, if you prepare, you should do it properly. What good is maintaining composure and momentum if you lack stamina? Without physical strength, you have to start over from the basics—and I have no confidence in holding your hand and teaching you horseback stance like I did with the first cohort. So I trust you’ve prepared accordingly during this break.”
Whoosh.
Kang Hyeon raised his hand, pointing to a peak partially shrouded in clouds behind the Academy.
It was a place students frequently climbed, known within the Academy as Cheonmu Peak.
“Do Jeong-hyeok will be up there. Run up and bring back the pass he gives you.”
The students grew uneasy.
Selection typically meant competition…
Which meant…?
“I gave Jeong-hyeok exactly twenty passes. Whoever doesn’t bring one back is eliminated.”
First-come, first-served, after all!
The students’ eyes blazed.
If you don’t make the top twenty, you’re eliminated!
You need to run now!
“As a note, there will be special privileges based on your arrival order, so you’d better run like your life depends on it. Start!”
The moment Kang Hyun’s words finished.
“Haaaah!”
“Gaaaah!”
Forty-eight students kicked up clouds of dust as they surged forward like madmen.

* * *
“Move!”
“You move!”
The mountain path leading to Cheonmu Peak had become a battlefield.
The problem was that the trail was narrow.
The leading group, blessed with superior physical ability, had spread far apart from each other, but the real trouble came from the ambiguous middle ranks that followed behind them.
Since their abilities were roughly equal, they kept tangling and bodies clashed.
In the midst of this chaos.
“Aaagh!”
One twentieth-year student tumbled and crashed into the dirt.
Someone had shoved him from behind.
“Damn it! I told you to move! Why’re you being so sluggish?”
“Hey, you—!”
The student glared at his classmate’s receding back with an indignant expression.
It was a classmate he’d never been on good terms with, and the shove was clearly deliberate.
‘Damn it all.’
Still, he had to snap back to his senses and get up quickly.
Even as he fell and rolled, three more students rushed past him on either side.
His heart sank.
If he was eliminated by just this small margin because of such an absurd situation?
It would feel unbearably unfair.
“You bastard, I’ll remember this.”
The student was gritting his teeth and forcing his upper body upright when.
Crunch!
“Aaaagh!”
A scream tore from his lips.
Someone running from behind had stepped directly on his ankle as he was getting up and kept going.
The student rolled, clutching at his ankle.
“Ah, senior! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
A twenty-first-year junior who’d stepped on his ankle spouted exaggerated apologies, then sprinted upward without even glancing back at the fallen student.
It was obviously deliberate to anyone watching.
They had no history of conflict, so this meant…….
‘Eliminating the competition.’
“You son of a—!”
He couldn’t even finish the curse.
His ankle was already swelling badly, and he couldn’t put weight on it.
The student squeezed his eyes shut against the wave of despair.
‘Is this it? Is it over for me?’
Though bitter, resignation was beginning to set in.
Perhaps this was also a kind of test. After all, unexpected accidents and even betrayal by companions could happen at any moment when facing monsters in dungeons.
Just as he was about to curse himself and strike the ground with his fist.
“Apply it.”
A flat voice came from above his head.
At the same time, a small jar of Healing Salve dropped into his chest.
The student flinched in surprise and looked up.
“……Gwak Do-jin?”
One of the O In-bang—the one they called the mad dog!
“Yu-yeon made this. It won’t provide lasting treatment, but it’ll numb the pain temporarily so you can at least keep running for a bit.”
“Senior.”
“Apply it and run. This might be the moment that changes your entire life—are you really going to give up just because it hurts?”
With those words, Gwak Do-jin disappeared up the mountain path.
Something hot welled up fiercely in the student’s chest.
He scooped up a handful of healing salve with trembling fingers and slathered it recklessly across his swollen ankle.
A sharp hiss escaped him.
To his amazement, the bone-grinding pain vanished the instant the salve touched his skin—as if it had never existed.
Of course, it was only numbing the sensation; if he pushed too hard now, he’d pay dearly for it later. But this wasn’t the time to worry about that.
“Rrraaaagh!”
He let out a feral cry and lurched upright, then bolted up the mountainside with mindless desperation.

* * *
Meanwhile, the junior student who had deliberately trampled the senior’s ankle was celebrating his cunning.
‘Perfect. If I keep this up, twentieth place is locked in.’
He’d successfully neutralized one senior ahead of him, and eliminated the one competitor climbing up from behind—a masterful tactical play.
As he was about to congratulate himself on his own brilliance and make the final push toward the summit, something happened.
“Wha—?”
His neck suddenly constricted as if caught in a noose, and his feet left the ground.
“Ghhhhhk—?”
It was as though an invisible hand had seized him by the scruff of the neck.
Whoosh!
His body was yanked backward at terrifying speed, flying down the mountain path toward the ground far below.
“What—what is this! Let go! Help me!”
He thrashed in the void and shrieked, but it made no difference.
Thud!
He crashed hard into the dirt at the back of the group that had only just begun climbing—the absolute last place.
“Ow! What—what is that? A ghost?”
The confused student scrambled to his feet, scanning the area wildly.
Ahead of him, he could see the heaving backs of the stragglers who’d fallen behind.
But in the place he could not see—
“Hmph.”
Kang Hyeon stood concealed on a branch above, drinking straight from a bottle of whiskey.
“I respect the drive to survive by any means necessary. You have to struggle to stay alive, after all.”
He muttered this while dusting off his hands.
“But I can’t abide someone trampling their own comrades to climb higher. A man like that will drive a knife into my back the moment it suits him.”
The kind who would crush a teammate’s ankle just to save himself.
When Asura descended, that was the breed who would betray first and become his plaything.
“I can’t have someone like that on my team.”

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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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