The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 49

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Academy’s Absolute Professor 049
Honestly, I’d like to throw a punch
High-end Apartment, living room.
Replays of the Martial Arts Tournament semi-finals played across the massive screen.
“Do Jeong-hyeok.”
Seo Ji-yeon, staring at the display, crossed her arms.
“Your mother said it clearly, didn’t she? Don’t go around throwing punches like some common ruffian.”
“Ah, about that.”
Do Jeong-hyeok scratched the back of his head.
“He was stronger than I expected. I lost my grip on the spear, so I had no choice but——”
“No choice? You should have held on to that spear with everything you had! Don’t you realize the scouts from all the Major Guilds were packed in the stands? That footage will follow you like a label for the rest of your life.”
……
“Your mother doesn’t want to see you fighting like some common brawler. For a Hunter, presentation matters just as much as ability. Do you understand?”
Seo Ji-yeon launched into a full lecture.
“Even Master Gye says the same thing—if you want to develop into an elite, you use the spear. So why do you keep making your mother waste money?”
In truth, Do Jeong-hyeok was receiving private tutoring from an S-rank Hunter named Gye Mu-jin.
The spear techniques themselves had come from him.
“I apologize.”
“Are you secretly practicing your fists behind your mother’s back?”
“No.”
Do Jeong-hyeok knew how much money his mother had spent on him.
She had used the vast inheritance left by his grandfather solely to raise him.
“If you understand, then absolutely no more punching from now on. Victory is a given, but the path to victory must be elegant. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Mother believes in you. You’re studying under the nation’s finest spear master, so just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
Only once Do Jeong-hyeok saw the expression soften on his mother’s face did he step outside.
He planned to attend regular classes after arriving at school.
“Sigh.”
A heavy breath escaped him.
Every time he gripped the spear, it felt suffocating, like wearing clothes that were too tight……
He wanted to throw a punch freely……
‘That’s not possible.’
His mother had sacrificed everything for him.
To become the perfect elite son his mother wanted, he could endure even this frustration.
He had just alighted from the bus and was trudging through the main gate toward the New Building when——
‘Hmm?’
Do Jeong-hyeok stopped in his tracks.
He felt an odd gaze fixed on him.
When he turned his head, he saw a man standing in the shadows of a building wall, holding a Whiskey Bottle.
‘Professor Kang Hyeon?’
Do Jeong-hyeok’s eyes widened in surprise.
Wasn’t he the most talked-about person at the Academy these days?
The eccentric who’d turned a perennial last-place student into the class Top, and the dedicated professor of Han Tae-ho, whom he’d barely managed to defeat in the semi-finals!
‘But why is he staring at me like that?’
Did he harbor resentment because Do Jeong-hyeok had defeated Han Tae-ho?
Just as Do Jeong-hyeok gave a light nod and tried to pass——
“That spear.”
Kang Hyeon spoke abruptly.
“Doesn’t suit you.”
“Pardon?”
“You were made for the fist. Your body wants to throw punches, so why are you holding a spear?”
……!
Do Jeong-hyeok’s eyes widened.
In all the years of instruction from countless Hunters, not a single one had ever said such a thing.
Certainly not with such bluntness.
Even just now, the frustration of wielding the spear and the hunger to throw punches had given him a headache.
‘How could he know?’
As the startled Do Jeong-hyeok stood frozen, Kang Hyeon took a step forward.
“If you ever find yourself curious about External Technique or Martial Arts, come to my office anytime. I’ll show you what real punching is.”
Whoosh!
The professor vanished with the wind.
But why?
Do Jeong-hyeok felt his heart racing.
‘I need to calm myself.’
He steadied his mind.
After all, he’d likely never study Martial Arts with the professor.
He had to take up the spear.
According to his mother’s wishes, and according to Gye Mu-jin’s wishes.

* * *
Kang Hyeon watched Do Jeong-hyeok’s receding figure with barely suppressed amusement.
‘He won’t come looking for me just because I said one thing.’
He was planning to use a more certain, more intuitive method going forward.
To entice a warrior?
Show him martial prowess.
That afternoon.
Do Jeong-hyeok appeared at the New Building Training Grounds.
It was exactly as Lee Se-a had noted in the report.
‘After regular classes end, he always trains here for about an hour before heading home.’
Kang Hyeon had already claimed his spot there.
Thud! Crack!
He drove his fists toward the dummy—and though he channeled no Internal Energy, an Air-rending Sound shattered through the entire training grounds.
“……!”
Do Jeong-hyeok, warming up his body, went rigid.
Technique-less. Pure, simple punches.
And yet.
Each time that fist split the air, Do Jeong-hyeok’s heart hammered like a wild thing.
Was this the feeling a dormant beast might experience, hearing the roar of its own kind awakening?
Kang Hyeon, indifferent to whether Do Jeong-hyeok was watching or not, finished his Martial Arts practice in silence and slipped out of the training grounds.
The next day. And the day after that.
Kang Hyeon appeared without fail at the hour Do Jeong-hyeok trained with his spear, drove his fists mercilessly into the dummy, and vanished.
By the fourth day.
“Professor.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Do Jeong-hyeok finally called Kang Hyeon to a stop.
“What.”
“May I ask you something?”
“Ask.”
“What martial art is that—the one you practice every day?”
“Curious?”
“Yes.”
“So it’s fists that draw you after all, not the spear?”
“I’ve been interested in them for some time now, actually.”
“I thought so.”
Kang Hyeon’s mouth curled upward.
The bait had been taken perfectly.
“I’ll teach you—if you agree to learn from me.”
“……”
Do Jeong-hyeok frowned in silence, wrestling with the question, then answered.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“Because my mother wishes it. I must wield the spear.”
Damn.
Kang Hyeon’s expression twisted darkly.
“The twenty-first generation is truly finished. And here I thought the so-called Top of his Class was something more than a mama’s boy.”
Do Jeong-hyeok clamped his lips shut.
It wasn’t a lie.
“Is your life your mother’s?”
“Don’t speak carelessly when you understand nothing!”
“Of course I understand nothing. I know nothing of other people’s family troubles.”
And Kang Hyeon never learned how warm a mother could be.
Because his mother isn’t here.
“But I’ll grant you this much—the spear you swing is pathetic. Keep at it like that and you’ll ruin your whole life.”
“Please don’t insult the person who taught me the spear!”
Do Jeong-hyeok bristled.
He understood that Professor Kang Hyeon was impressive these days, but compared to an S-rank Hunter like Gye Mu-jin, he’d amount to nothing.
“Don’t twist my words. Why do you drag an innocent person in front of you like a shield?”
“Excuse me?”
“I insulted you. Precisely you—the way you swing that spear.”
Those words struck Do Jeong-hyeok’s raw nerve.
Whoosh!
He swept the wooden spear down.
“Why don’t you come at me? Go ahead and try.”
“You told me to come at you first!”
Do Jeong-hyeok couldn’t hold back—he was curious about Kang Hyeon’s true skill.
Among his classmates, there was no rival except Han Tae-ho.
So what would be the ability of the professor who had taught even Han Tae-ho?
Crack!
The spear thrust aimed simultaneously at Kang Hyeon’s upper and lower openings.
But he didn’t dodge.
Instead, he stepped boldly inward, into the arc of the spear’s trajectory.
‘The spear’s weakness.’
If you could only close the distance—
The spear’s only advantage, its length, would be instantly neutralized.
There was another reason Kang Hyeon chose to engage Do Jeong-hyeok at close range.
‘Go on, throw a punch.’
He was helping the boy unbind his own shackles.
Crack!
One punch from Kang Hyeon shattered the wooden spear like dry straw.
“Ugh!”
Do Jeong-hyeok’s pupils trembled.
In an instant he’d lost his weapon, and Kang Hyeon’s momentum was already pressing hard beneath his jaw.
‘He’s strong!’
There was no room to evade.
He tried to step back, but Kang Hyeon’s shoulder drove toward him with enough force to crush his chest.
‘If I take that head-on, I’m done for.’
As danger flooded through him, instinct roared to life.
The instinct to survive overpowered reason itself.
Just as when he’d faced Han Tae-ho, the blood of the Vajra Body surged.
‘I have to use my fists.’
He couldn’t hold back.
Whether the professor intended it or not, an opening had appeared—a striking angle no fist user could resist.
The upward curve of Kang Hyeon’s mouth seemed to say it clearly.
‘You’re not going to let this pass, are you?’
And how could he?
Do Jeong-hyeok’s body compressed like a spring.
His right shoulder snapped back, and raw power drawn up from his lower body coiled through his waist and exploded outward through his fist.
“Raaaaaah!”
With a bestial roar, he unleashed the punch he’d been suppressing, detonating it toward Kang Hyeon’s face.
Boom!
A sound like cannon fire split the Training Grounds.
The dense shockwave from the blow sent dust and earth flying in all directions.
But—
“…Huh?”
Do Jeong-hyeok’s eyes bulged wide.
His full-force punch hung suspended in mid-air.
No—it was caught, blocked solid by Kang Hyeon’s palm.
Since childhood, no one had ever received his full-power punch so lightly.
‘So why…?’
It felt exhilarating.
This tingling sensation that raced through his veins and wrapped around his whole body—what could you even call it?
‘Freedom?’
Every hair on his body stood on end.
‘That’s right. I’m happiest when I’m throwing punches.’
Had Kang Hyun felt that too?
“See?”
Kang Hyun let out a short laugh.
“Your fist is far better than that spear.”
Kang Hyun brushed dust from his hands and turned to leave.
He didn’t bother asking Do Jeong-hyeok to account for his audacity in coming at a professor.
Let him pay that debt when he faced Asura later.
“Think hard about it. Your life is yours to live.”
The moment Kang Hyun was about to slip out of the Training Grounds—
“Professor!”
Do Jeong-hyeok called out to him urgently.
“What?”
“……Why are you trying to teach me?”
Kang Hyun stopped and answered plainly.
“I see real talent in you. But not in the you who wields a spear. In the you who throws fists.”
There was weight to those words.
Words that reached down and touched something buried deep in Do Jeong-hyeok’s chest.
“Then perhaps……!”
Do Jeong-hyeok’s lips began to move.
“Hm?”
“No, never mind.”
“Spineless. Out with it.”
“……Would you promise not to curse me after hearing this?”
“I promise.”
Do Jeong-hyeok swallowed hard and opened his mouth with great care.
“Is there any chance you could convince my mother?”
At those words, Kang Hyun’s brow furrowed sharply.
“You’re insane.”
“You just promised not to curse!”
“That wasn’t a curse—I mean it sincerely. Why are you whining at me to solve your family problems?”
“But you said you saw real talent in me!”
“No matter how talented you are, I can’t stand a mama’s boy. Handle your family on your own.”
As Kang Hyun turned away coldly, Do Jeong-hyeok cried out desperately after him.
“I’ve been different since I was young!”
……
“I couldn’t control my strength, so I hurt my friends and broke everything in the house. Because of my monstrous power, my parents fought every day, and eventually my father abandoned us and left.”
Kang Hyun’s footsteps halted.
“But my mother never gave up on me. She suffered endlessly raising me, poured out the vast inheritance my grandfather left her, all to turn my power into something good. To teach me the Spear Technique—something safe and elegant-looking in others’ eyes.”
Do Jeong-hyeok’s voice trembled.
“How can I defy a mother like that? My fists are like a curse to her—they destroyed our family itself.”
Silence fell.
Kang Hyun turned his head slowly.
“Quite the dutiful son.”
Do Jeong-hyeok bit his lip.
He’d known he wouldn’t be understood.
Was that why?
Suddenly he craved a drink.
“Can I have a taste of what you’re always carrying around, Professor?”
“What, whiskey?”
The corners of Kang Hyun’s mouth lifted.
He’d never refused anyone who asked him for a drink.
Whiskey, after all, always tasted better when shared than when drunk alone.
Whoosh.
Kang Hyun pulled out a Whiskey Bottle from his breast and tossed it to Do Jeong-hyeok.
Of course, his left hand already held another bottle.
Clink.
Do Jeong-hyeok caught the bottle and wore a bewildered expression.
“Where does all that whiskey keep coming from? Your hands were empty just moments ago.”
“Don’t ask. It’s my secret.”
Kang Hyeon flicked his chin, and Do Jeong-hyeok unscrewed another cap, taking a long swig of the harsh liquor.
The burning heat coursed down his throat, and all the tension he’d been holding back suddenly burst free.
“To be honest….”
Do Jeong-hyeok gripped the bottle tight.
“I want to throw punches like a madman too. You’re right, Professor. People train with spears in front of others, but every night I’d shut myself away in the Western Library devouring Martial Arts books. So I know. I know exactly how impossibly brilliant that Fist Technique you unfold in the Training Grounds really is.”
“You’ve got good eyes, then. So learn it.”
Do Jeong-hyeok met Kang Hyeon’s gaze with unwavering resolve.
“Could you persuade my mother well, without hurting her? If you do, I’ll follow whatever you say from now on.”
Hm?
Interest flickered across Kang Hyeon’s eyes.
“Can you take responsibility for those words?”
“Yes.”
“Say the world is ending, and a demon appears before your eyes ready to take your life. If I tell you to fight alongside me, would you?”
“I’m sorry?”
Do Jeong-hyeok tilted his head in confusion.
He wasn’t sure where such an absurd hypothetical was coming from.
“Just let me use my fists. I’ll twist that demon bastard’s jaw clean off.”
Tsk.
Kang Hyeon made a pleased clicking sound with his tongue.
A promise like that was worth spending some time on.
“Give me your parents’ contact information.”
Let’s meet them.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————