The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 2

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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’s Absolute Professor Episode 002
The Tragedy of That Day
Kang Hyeon watched the young man’s retreating figure as he bolted from the room, prattling about submitting a report at once, and drained the last of his Whiskey in one swallow.
Gulp, gulp!
“Ahh.”
The harsh alcohol burned down his throat, and with it, the stabbing pain that had been piercing his Dantian eased somewhat.
‘They haven’t the faintest idea.’
Why he reaches for the bottle.
Why he carries himself like a broken husk.
‘Asura’s Poison.’
To explain this, one had to return to that terrible day twenty years ago.

* * *
Thirteen years old, abandoned in an orphanage as a foundling.
Without warning, a Dimensional Gate had opened before the boy named Kang Hyeon.
When he came to his senses, he found himself in the Martial Arts World—a realm swarming with madmen who ate swords for breakfast.
A place where turning your head meant watching severed heads roll across the ground.
A brutal corner where stealing a single rice ball from hunger meant losing your hand, and begging for mercy meant having your throat cut because they found you tedious.
‘My dreams were modest enough.’
To survive.
To live long enough to return.
Whether luck favored him or cursed him, he could not say.
But it was a pair of eccentric old men who spotted him huddled and trembling in the gutter, and seized him by the nape of his neck.
“Ahahaha! He’s arrived! The Heavenly Martial Body!”
“And he carries the Heavenly Martial Star, blessed by heaven’s fortune! This boy can surely summon the Heavenly Deity Scripture!”
Cheering wildly, they dragged Kang Hyeon deep into a mountain Cave.
That was when his hell began.
They called it training, but to Kang Hyeon’s mind, it was nothing but torture.
And every last one of them was profoundly unhinged.
One obsessed with the blade, another who had thrown his life away for a single Palm Technique, and a physician who viewed human bodies as mere medicinal containers.
Strip away their martial prowess, and they were all lunatics.
Yet their madness accelerated his growth in ways that defied imagination.
Sword Technique, Movement Technique, Energy Cultivation, Medical Arts, Sound Technique, Palm Technique, Formation Technique—
He learned them all, every martial discipline known to man.
Show even the slightest hint of failing to meet expectations?
They beat him until his bones threatened to shatter.
Kang Hyeon had no choice but to learn with desperate tenacity, driven only by the will to live.
One of the old men even wielded a strange Formation art.
A miraculous technique that warped the flow of time itself, stretching a single day outside into four days within the Cave’s walls.
They claimed time was running short and hurled Kang Hyeon into the heart of that Formation, forcing him to master every conceivable martial discipline.
Only years later did he understand.
Even if the Blood Cult, Demon Cult, and Martial Arts Alliance combined their forces, not one of them could defeat even a single one of these elders.
And these beings of absolute power had one mantra they repeated to Kang Hyeon like a prayer:
“You must summon the Heavenly Deity Scripture within your own body, standing at the center of the Formation we have woven.”
“Only then can you stop the Demon God, Asura, when he descends upon this world.”
Twenty years passed in this manner.
And as they had prophesied, the heavens tore open in crimson, and the Demon God Asura descended.
The world seemed to crumble.
In truth, half the Martial Arts World must have been reduced to dust.
The seven elders immediately raised their Formation, while Kang Hyeon, coughing blood, deployed the Heavenly Deity Scripture as he had been taught.
The Heavenly Deity Scripture was a forbidden martial art that melded every discipline in the Martial Arts World into one, drawing upon the power of the Heavenly Deity itself.
This was precisely why the elders had drilled Kang Hyeon like a beast and taught him with such ferocity.
To save the world—or simply to survive—Kang Hyeon had wrenched every ounce of power from within himself, fighting that monstrosity for an entire month.
The heavens tore asunder, and the earth itself cried out in agony.
One by one, even those mighty elders fell, coughing blood.
“Do not stop!”
“Pierce its heart!”
The elders’ anguished final words drove Kang Hyeon forward.
He leaped, standing upon the sacrifice of his seven masters, and unleashed a single strike imbued with the essence of all martial disciplines.
Crash!
A deafening roar that seemed to erase every sound in the world.
The energy in Kang Hyeon’s hand pierced Asura’s heart with perfect accuracy.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaa!”
The calamity that seemed never to crumble spewed blood and staggered.
But it did not die so easily.
“You.”
A sickening metallic sound hissed through its lips.
“You insignificant insects have dared to drag in a being from another realm.”
Asura laughed like a madman and seized Kang Hyeon’s arm.
At the same moment, a deadly toxin burst from its heart and wormed its way into the dantian like a serpent.
“Wait. I am the incarnation of vengeance. My armies will… inevitably cross over into your world.”
Whoosh.
With that ominous curse, the demon god vanished without a trace.
And that was the end.
When his eyes opened again, he saw the blue sky of the Republic of Korea that he had left twenty years ago.
‘So that creature I saw back then was Leviathan.’
Whatever that thing was.
Compared to Asura, it was nothing but a worm—he’d obliterated it with a single gesture.
Thanks to that.
The government handed him a house and kept bringing him Whiskey.
Honestly, it all felt hollow.
He’d thought coming back would bring happiness.
The Earth he’d dreamed of.
His simple dream had been to spend his life here doing nothing, eating whatever he wanted, and lounging around reading web comics.
But reality was…….
‘Damn it all.’
Asura’s poison was persistently eating away at his life force, and now he had to prepare for when Asura would inevitably return.
‘Just when I thought I could finally live my life properly…….’
Now he had to fight that horrific creature again.
At least he had one thing going for him: he already had the Heavenly Deity Scripture in his mind to defeat it.
But the problem was that to perform the Seven Star Formation, which was a prerequisite for the scripture, he needed elders he didn’t have.
Someone else had to set it up.
That was why.
He was going to the academy.
‘I can’t stop it alone. I need replacements for those elders—talent I can train.’
After a month of investigating with the Smartphone the government had given him, he’d found that place was where the most talented people gathered.
‘Funny how things turn out.’
He’d trained until his bones shattered and blood poured from his mouth just to survive, and now his fate had reversed—he was meant to train others until they died.
To be honest, he was worried sick.
He had no social skills and had never formed a proper relationship with anyone.
For twenty years, the elders had done nothing but beat him—how could he have learned such things?
They hadn’t raised him as a person; they’d honed him into a blade to pierce Asura’s heart.
Because of that, he was unmatched when it came to martial arts.
‘By the end, those old men couldn’t even stand against me—that says it all.’
Besides, he’d killed a lot of people.
He’d cut down far too many.
He’d ventured out into the Martial Arts World several times to experience every kind of martial art, and during those journeys, he hadn’t let a single person who tried to kill him live.
Was he really supposed to teach someone with a humanity this withered?
A hollow laugh escaped Kang Hyeon as he rolled the last empty Whiskey bottle across the floor and sank deep into the sofa.
‘Fine, whatever.’
What did it matter?
First, he just had to stop that damned Asura.
Otherwise, this place he had to live in would disappear entirely.
He closed his eyes calmly.
The pain in his dantian still hadn’t subsided.

* * *
Outside the Safe House.
Lee Se-a hurriedly pulled out her Smartphone and pressed the call button.
It was a direct line to the director.
– Ah, Agent. What’s the status?
“Director. Black has set a condition.”
– A condition? He’s actually making demands?
Kim Hyeong-seok’s voice brightened noticeably at the other end of the line.
Small wonder—Black had been impossible to communicate with until now.
– My goodness, he’s finally opened his mouth! So? What does he want? Money? A new identity? Or does he want us to set him up with a distillery or something?
“That’s… he wants to be placed at the National Academy.”
– What?
“As a professor, sir.”
– A professor? Why suddenly a professor position? Is he drunk?
“…….”
He did seem drunk.
He’d complained of a headache, and then drained an entire bottle of Whiskey.
– Hmm, even if Black’s skill is real enough, a professorship is another matter entirely… Frankly, he’s an alcoholic. We won’t be able to control him well.
The National Academy houses the cream of the Republic of Korea’s elite.
It’s crawling with descendants of conglomerates, the Prime Minister’s family, and major Guild masters.
What would happen if a drunk stumbled into such a place was obvious without even having to see it.
“There are no open positions, though, sir?”
– Exactly. For the twentieth anniversary, we finalized the entire faculty lineup ages ago. It’s already been released to the press.
A brief silence fell.
“Should we just refuse?”
– Wait, hold on. Agent, why are you in such a hurry?
A sound of contemplation—a low groan—came through the line.
The risk was considerable, but it was equally attractive a situation.
– Sigh, all right. If Black demands it, we’ll create a position if there isn’t one. Agent, I’ll figure something out. Tell Black we accept, but make it clear that the Leviathan corpse disposal is non-negotiable.
“Yes, understood!”

* * *
The door clicked shut.
Kang Hyeon opened his eyes as Lee Se-a returned.
“Did he accept?”
“He did, sir. On one condition—that you dispose of the Leviathan corpse floating in the East Sea. Will that be acceptable?”
“Leviathan? That monster from before? There was still a corpse?”
“Yes.”
“Take me there.”
It was a simple task, so he left immediately.
After about two hours of driving in Lee Se-a’s car, the waters of the East Sea came into view.
“Ugh…”
Guild Association personnel monitoring the scene were retching violently, their faces covered by gas masks and protective suits.
As Kang Hyeon reached for the car door, Lee Se-a quickly stopped him.
“Uh, Kang Hyeon, sir.”
“Yes?”
“You absolutely must not approach it bare-handed. Even S-Rank Hunter Yun Tae-sung got close and his skin started melting…….”
“Wait here.”
“W-Kang Hyeon, sir?”
Lee Se-a cried out urgently, but he ignored her and stepped outside.
‘This is poison?’
A bitter laugh escaped him.
Still, one thing he had to thank the old bastards for was that the poison didn’t even look like poison.
While not quite Immunity to All Poisons, he had resistance to most toxins—and compared to Asura’s Poison, this was almost refreshing.
His footsteps rippled soundlessly.
Walking across the sea as though it were solid ground, Kang Hyeon looked down at the mountainous corpse of Leviathan.
“Rotted to the bone, hasn’t it.”
There was no need for any fancy martial art.
He simply gathered a handful of the Qi pooled in his Dantian and formed it in the palm of his hand.
Flames erupted upward.
The Samadhi True Fire took shape.
He hurled it, and before long the corpse vanished cleanly, leaving not even ash behind.
That was when.

A small cluster of light sparkled and fell where the corpse had vanished.
‘What is this?’
When I pulled it toward me with Void Retrieval, an old book came into my grasp.
[Flying Wind Step – Volume One]
‘Martial arts manuals drop from defeated monsters?’
Though it was written in Chinese characters, I could read it well enough.
‘I know this technique.’
It was a martial art from the Martial Arts World where I once belonged.
Still, it was a first-rate movement technique that only moderately talented practitioners usually mastered.
It was divided into three volumes—upper, middle, and lower—and this was the first.
Of course, I had already mastered it to completion.
It took me two days to learn it perfectly, if I recall.
As I approached with the book in hand, the girl rushed over.
“Are you all right?”
She was trying to calm her racing heart.
“I think I should be asking you that. Are you okay?”
“I need a moment to catch my breath. Huff, huff!”
Looking around briefly, the area was indeed in chaos.
The corpse that had been difficult to dispose of had vanished in an instant, causing considerable confusion.
“Aren’t you going?”
“I should… wait. What’s that book? Don’t tell me—”
When she caught sight of the Chinese characters written on it, her eyes widened like a rabbit’s.
“Is that… a Secret Manual?”
“Apparently so.”
“Congratulations!”
“What’s there to congratulate?”
Whoosh!
I tossed the book to the girl.
“Take it.”
“Yes, what?”
Lee Se-a, who had caught the manual in bewilderment, stood with her mouth hanging open.
In this line of work, a single manual was valuable enough to build a building in Gangnam.
“No, no! I didn’t ask for it! If you just register it with the Guild Association, the ownership would be entirely yours, and—!”
“Forget it.”
I waved dismissively and turned to leave.
“Consider it payment for the room and drinks I freeloaded for the past month at that expensive place.”
“No, that’s not—”
Lee Se-a’s expression was one of utter bewilderment.
“What hunter in the world pays rent with a Secret Manual?”
“If you really want to thank me, buy more Whiskey. The good stuff.”

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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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