The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 38

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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 038
What are you all doing?
“Huh…?”
Ma Cheol-ung’s eyes widened.
“…The Oho Danmun-do?”
‘As I thought! You knew all along!’
When Kang Hyeon had spotted the fake manual so instantly, there’d been a glimmer of hope.
You can’t recognize a counterfeit unless you know the real thing.
“I’m a professor at the Academy.”
Kang Hyeon chuckled lightly and replied.
“So when you paid five hundred billion won, wasn’t that asking me to teach you something?”
“No, I just meant it as… gratitude.”
Snap.
Kang Hyeon broke off a bare twig from nearby, cutting Ma Cheol-ung short.
‘Why a twig?’
Whoosh.
In an instant, a raw and tyrannical energy burst forth from the twig in Kang Hyeon’s hand.
The breath caught in his throat.
Even Ma Cheol-ung, an S-grade hunter, felt overwhelmed enough to retreat.
Swish.
Kang Hyeon swung the twig lightly through the air.
And in that moment—
Rumble.
Ma Cheol-ung saw it clearly.
A massive tiger leaped into being along the twig’s trajectory, snapping at the empty space.
Kang Hyeon didn’t stop.
‘Hebei is cold and harsh country.’
To the north came frequent incursions from foreign tribes; to the west, endless raids by demonic forces.
Such barren terrain spawned countless mountain strongholds and warlord factions across the rugged peaks.
‘And so siege warfare—holding fast behind locked gates—became the daily reality.’
Swish, swish.
Kang Hyeon swung the twig twice, three times more.
With each stroke, another terrifying tiger roared into existence.
‘And it was this very art that elevated the Peng Clan to the greatest martial house in all Hebei through that relentless warfare.’
The Oho Danmun-do.
Literally, five tigers shattering the gate.
Not meant to be used against men, but to annihilate fortifications and structures wholesale—the ultimate expression of the tyrant path.
—Roooaaarrr!
Four tigers now writhed and roared in the empty air.
Ma Cheol-ung felt every hair on his body stand on end.
‘This is insane.’
Each single tiger was more savage and terrifying than an S-grade demon beast.
If one of them were to lunge at him right now—
He didn’t think he could even muster a defense.
‘So the previous manual really was fake.’
The third-grade arts like the Cheonpung-do method and Hyeolsa-do were certainly masterful techniques.
But before the tigers manifesting now, they were nothing but child’s play.
“The number of tigers summoned varies by one’s level of mastery.”
Kang Hyeon’s wrist made one final, grand rotation.
Five.
At last, all five tigers materialized in the air.
“When all five gather, only ruins remain in their wake.”
Whoosh.
As Kang Hyeon withdrew his energy, the phantom tigers scattered like a lie.
“Gasp… gasp!”
Ma Cheol-ung finally gasped for breath.
“At your current level, you couldn’t summon even a single one of those tigers.”
Ma Cheol-ung was shaken.
Here he was, one of South Korea’s highest-ranked hunters, an S-grade, and he couldn’t even mimic it.
‘Then what exactly is your true identity?’
“That’s why you need to learn this first.”
Whoosh.
Kang Hyeon drew two secret manuals from his robes and held them out.
⪡Geonkun Yeonhwan Talbeak-do⪢
⪡Geonkun Miheo Shin-gong⪢
‘I’d originally prepared these to give to Seo Hae-in.’
Well, he’d paid anyway.
He could always make another copy.
“The method will open and expand your blood vessels, and the gong will allow you to withstand the recoil of that tyrant-path technique. Why aren’t you taking them?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Master this first, then come find me. Once you do, I’ll teach you the Oho Danmun-do.”
Ma Cheol-ung, who’d accepted the manual without quite realizing it, was startled all over again.
“Wait, I know these!”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t these the method and gong that the Peng Clan treats as 3rd grade? How did you have these?”
“I don’t know anything about that. But let me ask you something first.”
“Please do.”
“If something that could destroy the world ever appeared, and you had the strength to fight it…… would you stake your life and fight?”
It was a question without beginning or end.
But Ma Cheol-ung answered without hesitation, his voice steady and firm.
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“If the world ends, there’s nowhere for me to live anyway, and I’d die too. So naturally I’d have to fight.”
Kang Hyeon laughed quietly to himself.
‘Right.’
Lee Se-ah had mentioned it.
He was one of five S-grade hunters who’d charged ahead foolishly when the Leviathan emerged.
He’d already proven it through action, so trust came naturally.
“If you have any questions, come here once a week at this time. I’ll help you.”

* * *
Time passed steadily.
During that span, the students hadn’t missed a single dawn training session.
“Haah, haah!”
“Hngh, hnngh!”
Five students who’d climbed the steep Cliff lay sprawled across the Peak’s summit……
[07:00 AM]
The remarkable thing was that only an hour had passed.
“Now you have the basics down.”
Kang Hyeon, sitting on a rock and sipping whiskey, looked at them and chuckled softly.
‘The Cheongbo Dan, no doubt.’
Elixirs boosted internal energy, but they also heightened the body’s recovery capacity.
As a result, their stamina climbed as fast as their effort could carry it.
“All of you, sit. It’s time to circulate your energy.”
At Kang Hyeon’s instruction, the students stumbled upright and crossed their legs into meditation posture.
Quick, despite the strain.
What kind of time was this!
They were already in the middle of learning the incantations of the Heart Method, and the longer time passed, the more they could sense it.
‘This is an unbelievable Heart Method.’
‘Whatever it is…… it’s far from ordinary.’
‘How does the Professor know all of this?’
Kang Hyeon hadn’t told them the name of the martial art he was teaching.
They would learn it only if they met his stated conditions, and if they failed to meet them, they would never know the next incantation from that moment onward.
The lesson continued.
[09:00 AM]
“Class ends here for today.”
After checking the time, Kang Hyeon threw himself off the Cliff without a second thought.
His exit was, as always, ghostlike and unremarkable.
On the Peak where Kang Hyeon had vanished.
“Ugh, I’m dying.”
Gwak Do-jin was stretching, preparing to descend the mountain.
“Hold on, everyone. Gather around.”
Cha Yu-sik called the cadets to a halt just as they were pulling on their outer robes.
“What’s wrong, junior?”
“We don’t have much time left.”
Cha Yu-sik’s expression was grave.
“The Mid-term Martial Arts Tournament is in exactly two weeks. Yesterday I saw the arena was already being set up in earnest.”
At those words, the cadets’ faces hardened.
For them, the stakes of this mid-term exam cut deeper than Academy entrance itself.
Professor Kang Hyeon’s career and their own futures hung in the balance.
“So here’s what I’m thinking.”
Cha Yu-sik swept his gaze across the other cadets.
“What if we skip all the regular classes from now on?”
“Skip classes?”
“Why waste time in classes taught by incompetent professors? We should spend that time sparring with each other instead.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea.”
Gwak Do-jin voiced his approval.
“I think that would be better for us, too.”
Yun Hyeon-jong stepped forward as well.
“Actually, something uncomfortable happened in our major class a few days ago.”
“What was it?”
“Professor Park openly mocked our group of five.”
“Professor Park? Do you mean Professor Park Gwang-woo? What did he say?”
“Just the ramblings of a trash professor. You don’t need to hear it.”
“No, I’m just curious.”
When Cha Yu-sik pressed, Yun Hyeon-jong reluctantly continued.
“He said the son of the Heavenly Wolf hasn’t lived up to his name, that you can’t shake your rogue past, that the newcomer doesn’t know his place, and that Seo Hae-in is unbearable to listen to.”
“That bastard’s got a twisted sense of humor.”
Gwak Do-jin laughed in disbelief.
“What did he say about you, Yun Hyeon-jong?”
“I wasn’t sitting in the front row, so he didn’t pick on me there. Though he probably has plenty to say about me behind my back.”
“Actually, that works in our favor.”
Cha Yu-sik chuckled softly.
“If they underestimate us all the way to the end, that’s something we should be grateful for. The real hunter doesn’t show their claws until right before the strike.”
Seo Hae-in, who had been listening quietly, nodded in agreement.
‘The professor was right about that.’
If you’re wronged, grow stronger.
Once you’re strong enough, everyone will shut up on their own.
“Honestly, my family’s been pressing me hard too. My father heard the rumors and apparently wasn’t pleased.”
Yun Hyeon-jong swallowed hard.
If Yu-sik’s father was Cha Ha-rang, he had to be an S-grade Hunter.
“Either way, we just need to prove ourselves with results.”
Cha Yu-sik shrugged lightly and began untying a bundle of supplies he’d left in the corner.
Clatter!
Five wooden swords emerged from within.
“Wow.”
Gwak Do-jin let out a breath of astonishment.
“Junior, don’t tell me you carried those heavy things all the way up this cliff?”
“Well, yes. I thought I’d use it as physical training too.”
“You’re insane.”
Gwak Do-jin shook his head in disbelief.
The other cadets were equally shocked.
They themselves had barely managed the climb with nothing but their bodies, gasping for breath the whole way—yet Cha Yu-sik had carried five iron-heavy wooden swords and still arrived at the summit first.
A true successor in the making of a major guild!
Cha Yu-sik flicked each wooden sword up with the tip of his foot, tossing them one by one to the cadets.
Thud, thud!
To the four who had caught their swords, Cha Yu-sik said, gripping the remaining one:
“Come at me one at a time. Using the Samjae Geom-beop.”
One by one, the cadets rushed at Cha Yu-sik.

In any other circumstance, Cha Yu-sik would have turned them away without a second thought.
But his real aim was to prevent Kang Hyeon’s dismissal from the Academy.
That kind of goal couldn’t be achieved by a single person working alone.
Someone had to step into the role of leader, observing them with objectivity and drawing out whatever potential lay dormant.
Yet as the wooden swords clashed and their exchanges deepened, Cha Yu-sik’s mind filled not with observations but with pure astonishment.
‘What…… what is this?’
Gwak Do-jin had been the first to face him.
Who could dismiss him as some amateur thug?
Setting aside everything else, his sheer tenacity was extraordinary.
Even when Cha Yu-sik held superior skill, strength, and endurance—more than once, it was Do-jin’s grit alone that had forced him to catch his breath.
‘If I’m at this level…… Do-jin should manage just fine.’
Next came Yun Hyeon-jong.
He proved surprisingly methodical.
Yun Hyeon-jong, who ranked in the upper-middle tier even among the twentieth cohort, had a gift for exploiting gaps in his opponent’s defense. Cha Yu-sik acknowledged this calculated approach and refined the timing of his thrusts to be sharper still.
Han Tae-ho, the newcomer, astonished him as well.
Though his sword work was crude and rough-edged, his rate of growth was staggering.
‘If I’d crossed swords with Han Tae-ho back in my first year?’
I might well have lost.
Here lay proof of what Kang Hyeon had always emphasized—the irreplaceable importance of a solid foundation.
‘Han will rise without difficulty.’
But there was one other.
One person who truly sent a chill through Cha Yu-sik’s entire body.
‘Seo Hae-in.’
The moment their blades had touched in that first exchange, he’d felt as though he were colliding with an enormous boulder.
His wrist had gone numb, stinging with the threat of dislocation.
‘What in heaven’s name is this……’
Outwardly, he’d forced himself to remain composed. Inwardly, he was reeling.
‘This is a female student’s sword?’
Had he closed his eyes while fighting, he would have sworn he was facing a giant.
The sheer tyrannical force woven into her Samjae Geom-beop technique was staggering.
‘And they said she was bottom of the class for years?’
Objectively, she was far more formidable to fight than even Yun Hyeon-jong among his own cohort—far more dangerous than Do-jin with all his stubborn grit.
‘The other instructors really were incompetent.’
To have given this raw gem an F grade year after year, treating her like gravel in the street.
Only Kang Hyeon could have seen Seo Hae-in’s true measure from the beginning.
“I stand corrected.”
Cha Yu-sik nodded once the sparring had finished.
“We don’t need to drill together like this.”
“Why not?”
Yun Hyeon-jong asked.
“The Mid-term Martial Arts Tournament—you’re all ready now. Let’s just train on our own from here.”
Only now did Cha Yu-sik understand that the professor had known exactly what he was doing all along.

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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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