The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 28

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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 28
If You’re Treated Unfairly, Become Stronger
Kang Hyun swept his gaze across the Training Ground and took in the situation at a glance.
First, he noticed the crimson handprint blooming across Seo Hae-in’s cheek.
Then he saw the middle-aged swordplay professor breathing heavily in front of her.
‘A rough picture’s already forming,’ he thought.
He’d been heading toward the Professor’s Building when a sharp friction sound caught his ear—so he’d come to investigate, never imagining it would be Seo Hae-in.
“Professor Kang Hyun? Perfect timing.”
The middle-aged professor opened his mouth as if relieved.
“I was inclined to let it slide, given that she’s a student in your class, but she’s crossed the line entirely. Do you know what this girl said? That she doesn’t even measure up to your heel?”
He jabbed a finger toward Seo Hae-in, his voice rising.
“During Cheongpung Sword Technique evaluation, she recklessly deployed the Samjae Sword Technique instead. When I pointed it out, she had the audacity to insult me and talk back. Surely you understand that for the Academy’s discipline, this isn’t something I can simply overlook?”
The middle-aged professor lifted his chin.
Kang Hyun listened to the lengthy grievance in silence, then took a sip of the Whiskey he was holding.
As his unhurried manner made the professor’s eyebrow twitch.
“Seo Hae-in.”
Kang Hyun fixed his gaze on her.
“Is that true?”
Her cheek burned, but Seo Hae-in didn’t look away.
“It’s true that I unconsciously used the Samjae Sword Technique during the practical session.”
“And?”
“That professor called you an incompetent charlatan. So I simply said what I felt. That’s when he struck my cheek.”
“You ‘simply said what you felt’? That means you were insulting the professor—is that right?”
“I, well…”
As Seo Hae-in’s words trailed off in confusion, Kang Hyun’s eyes turned ice-cold.
“And who told you to be my spokesperson?”
Seo Hae-in’s eyes widened in shock.
It felt like her head had been struck by a hammer.
She’d been certain he would defend her.
She had proven the power of the Samjae Sword Technique, and above all, she had stepped forward because she couldn’t bear to see her professor insulted.
Yet instead of praise, he was blaming her in front of everyone.
Seo Hae-in bit down on her lower lip hard.
The tears that hadn’t come even when she was struck now rose at his single word, reddening her eyes.
“Apologize.”
In that instant, even the watching students held their breath.
‘Why is he doing this?’
‘I thought he’d stand up for her…’
‘So even the drunk professor tucks his tail between his legs in front of a full professor?’
Just from their expressions, one could read their thoughts.
Plip. Plip.
Finally, tears spilled down Seo Hae-in’s cheeks, unstoppable.
Her voice trembling, she bowed her head toward the middle-aged professor.
“…I apologize for being presumptuous.”
“Ahem.”
The middle-aged professor cleared his throat and crossed his arms, then Kang Hyun spoke to Seo Hae-in.
“That’s enough. Go outside and collect yourself.”
At his words, Seo Hae-in spun around and bolted from the Training Ground.
The middle-aged professor puffed out his chest arrogantly and spoke.
“At least he has some sense. Since he made her apologize, however late, I’ll call us even on this matter.”
Kang Hyun didn’t respond.
He merely glanced at the professor once, as if the man weren’t worth addressing, and walked out of the Training Ground.
Sipping his Whiskey.
“Y-y-you… reckless fool!”
The middle-aged professor’s face flushed crimson.
He was speaking, and this man simply ignored him and left?
If he’d made the girl apologize, shouldn’t he himself bow his head as an educator?
This wasn’t something he could let pass.
“Class ends here for today!”
After dismissing the students, the professor strode after Kang Hyun.

* * *
Behind the Professor’s Building, beyond the Training Ground, lay the Walking Path.
“There you are, Professor Kang!”
The middle-aged professor finally planted himself squarely in Kang Hyun’s path.
“What in blazes are you doing? Even if you did slip in on a contract position, when someone of my standing—a tenured professor, no less—speaks, the least you can do is listen to the end. Huh—?”
The professor’s torrent of words caught in his throat.
Kang Hyun had simply stopped, and the light in his eyes was something demonic.
“Courtesy?”
Kang Hyun took a step toward the middle-aged man.
“Don’t mistake me.”
“What?”
“He bowed his head not because you were right, but because he was weak and ran his mouth when he had no business doing so. That’s why.”
In the Murim, the weak are trampled. That is the nature of things.
And it is no different in this modern world either.
“Simply because Seo Hae-in is weaker than you.”
If Seo Hae-in had spoken those words in the Murim out of anger?
She would’ve had no excuse even if her throat was cut.
“What are you saying! Are you claiming that student was right?”
“Then what exactly did the girl say that was wrong?”
“What?”
“She said you don’t measure up to my level. Was that a lie? I don’t even raise my hand against a student I can’t control. So where’s the mistake?”
“…!”
The professor’s face twisted hideously with shame and rage.
“What kind of lunatic are you? Are you picking a fight with me right now?”
Whoosh!
A raw, savage aura erupted from the professor’s body.
As befitted an A-rank Hunter, the leaves around him scattered in wild spirals.
But then—
Kang Hyun’s unmoved gaze unsettled him deeply.
A normal Hunter would have backed away or drawn a weapon. Why was this man standing defenseless with such confidence?
Was it arrogance?
The professor was about to lose himself entirely and raise his hand to strike.
“That hand.”
Boom!
An enormous pressure suddenly crushed down across the professor’s entire frame.
‘Huh—?’
His raised right hand froze, as if nailed to the empty air itself.
He couldn’t lower it even if he wanted to.
It was as though invisible shackles had been clasped around his wrist.
“You’ve been toying with me rather freely all this time.”
Shing!
Kang Hyun drew the real sword from his hip.
Still, the professor couldn’t budge a single step.
“P-Professor Kang… wait.”
Kang Hyun approached slowly and brought the blade’s tip to the inside of the professor’s wrist.
The same hand that had struck Seo Hae-in’s cheek.
Sting.
The skin split, and a thin line of crimson welled up.
“Hghhh…!”
The professor released a hollow, defeated groan.
Who is this person?
A contract professor?
What kind of aura does a temporary hire possess?
“I’ll give you one warning.”
Kang Hyun pressed the blade’s edge more deeply against the wrist.
Blood ran in thin rivulets down the professor’s forearm.
…
“If you ever use that hand so recklessly again,”
His voice was flat, without inflection, yet the killing intent within it was heavy.
“It’ll fall before your head does. Do you understand?”
The middle-aged professor opened his mouth to protest, but no sound came out.
The moment he spoke, he felt certain his head would tumble clean from his shoulders.
So.
Nod, nod.
Without thinking, his head bobbed up and down.
Sheathed with a soft whisper—Clang!
Only then did Kang Hyeon slide the blade back into its scabbard.
As if he hadn’t just blazed with killing intent, he walked away with a languid gait, the Whiskey bottle jingling softly in his hand, slipping unhurriedly down the Walking Path.
Thud.
The middle-aged professor, his legs gone limp, sat there in a daze for a long moment afterward.

* * *
On a bench behind the Professor’s Building.
Seo Hae-in sat there.
She pressed her lips together, trying to hold back tears, but they kept flowing.
There was indignation, but betrayal cut deeper.
‘I only worked up the courage because I didn’t want to insult the professor.’
And it was the first time she’d ever done it.
It felt unbearably cruel.
She couldn’t understand why she’d had to bow her head and apologize.
And it was shameful, too.
Hadn’t she talked back to the professor in front of dozens of her peers, gotten slapped, and then apologized anyway?
She was so pathetic, so utterly small, that she couldn’t bear it.
‘In the end, it was all just my own delusion.’
She should never have stepped forward in the first place.
She’d just gotten full of herself because her training had been going well lately—she should have kept silent like she always did, but the thought wouldn’t settle in her mind.
“Pathetic, really.”
A languid voice drifted from behind her.
She started, turning her head, and spotted Kang Hyeon leaning against a tree in the shade behind the bench.
Seo Hae-in scrambled to her feet and wiped her tears with her sleeve.
“I’m—I’m sorry.”
She apologized out of habit.
The way she always did.
“Drink this.”
Suddenly Kang Hyeon held out a Whiskey bottle.
“Pardon?”
“When you’re so wronged your insides are churning, nothing cuts through it like hard liquor.”
“I’ve never had a drink before in my life…….”
She was twenty-one, of age, but when would she have had time?
She trained every day and barely managed to get into the Academy.
And since she ranked at the bottom, if she didn’t work constantly she’d be expelled.
“Suit yourself, then.”
“No, no—I’ll try it.”
Why, she didn’t know.
An inexplicable defiance seized her; she took the bottle and put the mouth of it to her lips.
And then.
“Hack—cough, cough—ow, it burns.”
She erupted in coughing at the sensation of liquid fire.
It was brutally strong.
But strangely, the tight knot that had been lodged in her chest seemed to loosen a little.
“Seo Hae-in.”
“……Yes.”
“What you said just now—it wasn’t wrong.”
At those words, Seo Hae-in’s head snapped up.
“But then why did you make me apologize to you…….”
“Be quiet and listen.”
Seo Hae-in shut her mouth in alarm.
“The world doesn’t favor the righteous. It favors the stronger.”
Her eyes flickered with uncertainty.
“When you’re weak, you’ll have your mouth torn open even if you speak truth. When you’re strong, you’ll get applause even spouting garbage. That’s how the world works.”
Kang Hyeon took a sip of whiskey and laughed.
“Feel wronged? Then grow stronger.”
Those words burrowed deep into Seo Hae-in’s chest.
If you feel wronged, grow stronger.
So simple a statement, yet it carved into her heart with strange ferocity.
No one had ever said such a thing to her before.
You lack talent, so accept it.
You’re last place, so endure it.
That’s just how things are—lower your head and live with it.
But this man was different.
He was telling her that if she felt wronged, she should grow strong enough to crush them beneath her heel.
“Today, when you lowered your head, it wasn’t because you were wrong.”
Kang Hyeon tilted the whiskey bottle slowly.
“It was because you were still weak.”
…….
“Weakness itself isn’t a sin. But using weakness as an excuse to crawl on your belly your entire life—now that’s truly shameful.”
Seo Hae-in swallowed his words without breathing properly.
Something deep inside her chest was burning hot.
The sorrow and shame that had been crushing her moments before were transforming into something else.
Indignation.
And resolve.
“But today, I will praise you for not backing down from that trash—for barking back.”
……!
“It means your blade has at least found its pride.”
Once you naturally begin to feel your growing strength, pride naturally attaches itself to your blade.
“Next time, prove it not with your mouth, but with your sword.”
Seo Hae-in understood what Kang Hyeon was saying.
The midterm tournament coming soon.
He wanted her to prove herself there.
To show the unreasonable professor and her classmates who had mocked her.
“I will…….”
Seo Hae-in wiped away the last traces of tears with her sleeve, her voice rough.
“I will make the top five.”
At those words, Kang Hyeon let out a short laugh and turned away.
“Quite the crybaby.”
Yes, let’s see if you can make it.
If we’re judging purely by swordcraft talent, you might just be the best in this Academy.

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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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