The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 53

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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 053
I’m disappointed in all of you.
I know now that Do Jeong-hyeok’s body is sturdy.
But to master the Iron Mountain Old Devil’s Martial Arts, a sturdy body alone won’t suffice.
‘He’ll need Pain Tolerance as well.’
So where should I begin?
“Do Jeong-hyeok.”
“Yes.”
“From now on, you attend no regular classes. You learn from me alone.”
“Understood!”
Baek Yu-yeon’s decision to abandon all regular coursework had already become famous throughout the Academy.
Do Jeong-hyeok had secretly hoped that I would give him my exclusive attention, and it had come to pass immediately.
Simply because he was my disciple.
The problem was.
…….
The Five Friends hadn’t left, even though it was past nine o’clock.
“What are you five doing here?”
“Didn’t you tell us, professor?”
Cha Yu-sik spoke on behalf of the group.
“If anything gives us trouble, come find you anytime.”
“……You’re already running into problems?”
“Starting today, I won’t be attending regular classes either. I’ll be training at your side. And whenever something troubles me, I’ll ask you right away.”
At that, Gwak Do-jin and Yun Hyun-jong stepped forward too.
“Same here!”
“Grades don’t matter. Besides, I did well on the midterm, so there’s no risk of expulsion anyway.”
The Five Friends had already learned this truth.
Listening to one more word from me was worth more than sitting through a hundred hours of lectures from the Academy’s tenured professors.
“I—I’ll stay too.”
“……Me as well.”
Han Tae-ho and Seo Hae-in had made their choice.
‘Hmm.’
I closed my eyes slowly.
I had long sensed their impatience and their fear of being left behind, and I saw no reason to turn away from it.
‘You don’t know what hell awaits you if you become my disciples.’
Under the guise of training, they would suffer the agony of flesh tearing from bone.
And when the Demon Kings emerged someday, they would be the ones standing at the forefront, risking their lives in battle.
There would be no escape to safety.
Because if they tried, I would kill them myself.
This privilege was merely the price they would pay.
“Do as you wish.”
I replied indifferently and nodded toward Do Jeong-hyeok.
“Follow me.”
“Yes.”
Whoosh!
I bounded toward a peak of Bukhansan.
To a boulder of suitable size I had scouted earlier.
“Starting today, you must shatter this rock with your bare fists.”
“……With bare fists?”
Gulp.
Do Jeong-hyeok swallowed hard.
Though his body had always been sturdy since childhood, that did not mean his hands were capable of breaking stone.
“It’s the foundation of External Force. Your fists must be at least as hard as the rock itself. Come here each day and strike it. Once you’ve shattered it completely, we’ll move on.”
Whoosh!
With those words, I vanished.
Do Jeong-hyeok stood stunned for a moment, then stripped off his shirt.
That’s right—I’d decided to trust him, so I had to see it through to the end!
“Haah!”
He exhaled deeply and planted his weight in his stance, then drove his fist toward the rock without hesitation.
Crack! Screech!
The brutal sound of bone striking bedrock echoed across the mountain.
“Insane.”
Gwak Do-jin shook his head, bewildered.
“……If you just leave like this, what are we supposed to do?”
There was nothing to say.
The professor had told them to do as they pleased—never asked them to follow.
But Cha Yu-sik’s eyes grew sharp.
‘Is this it? The training method the professor wants?’
The professor had said he didn’t take disciples because they were weak.
Cha Yu-sik thought he was beginning to understand what that meant.
Right now, none of them had the mettle to endure such brutal training.
‘No way. Who does he think he is! I can do it too!’
Schlink!
Cha Yu-sik drew his sword.
He then took position in front of a rock similar in size to the one near Do Jeong-hyeok.
“Yu-sik? What are you doing?”
As Gwak Do-jin asked, confused, Cha Yu-sik gripped his blade tight.
“I’m going to try as well.”
He had to defeat Do Jeong-hyeok.
Because he needed to become Kang Hyun’s disciple.
And to do that?
Anything that man could do, he had to be able to do as well.
Only then could he win in a martial duel.
“Really? Then I can’t lose either.”
Clang!
Gwak Do-jin drew his sword too, and from that moment on, Yun Hyun-jong, Seo Hae-in, and Han Tae-ho each gripped their weapons and stood before the rock face.
“Fine, whatever!”
“Let’s do this!”
“Let’s go, go, go!”
And so the six Students’ unauthorized training began.

* * *
After coming down the mountain, Kang Hyun went directly to the Director’s Office.
“Professor Kang, you’re here?”
Seo Il-hyun greeted him with visible relief.
“Did you call for me?”
“Yes, well—remember that exchange tournament I mentioned before?”
“The Global Exchange Tournament?”
“That’s right. Before the main tournament opens, there’s a preliminary exchange program between our Academy and a sister Academy we have a partnership with. It’s similar to an Exchange Student Program, in a way.”
“I see.”
“This time, the Mongolia Academy is coming to us.”
Mongolia ranked higher than South Korea.
In overall rankings, they were roughly mid-tier globally.
It was a stark reminder of just how weak Korea was on the world stage.
“Yes, so why did you call me, sir?”
“I need you to clear your schedule and help with the preparations. Mongolia is sending their top ten by grade, and naturally we’ll send our top ten as well, but I’d like you to take charge of coordinating the students.”
“Me, sir?”
Kang Hyun frowned.
“Isn’t it more fitting for the senior professor Jin Myung-hoon to step forward rather than a contract professor for an international exchange like this?”
“Just do me this favor. Right now, all the top students in the grade are your disciples—do you really think they’d obey Jin’s orders without question?”
Besides that.
In typical exchange tournaments, faculty mind games and psychological warfare run high.
Especially the Mongolian professors were known to have a fierce and brutal bearing.
‘If Jin Myung-hoon faces them?’
Seo Il-hyun shook his head.
He’d surely be overwhelmed and looked down upon.
‘But Kang Hyun?’
He didn’t seem like he’d yield an inch.
“Please, even if I’m begging like this, you won’t refuse? I’ve suffered so much handling this land matter—surely you can at least grant me this!”
“Hmm.”
Kang Hyun let out a brief sigh.
Should I think of it as just checking out the Mongolia kids’ potential?
“Not without conditions, sir.”
“Oh?”
Seo Il-hyun’s face brightened.
“You’ll really take this on? Excellent! Then I won’t ask lightly either. Tell me—what do you want?”
“Later, when I ask you for a favor, I’d appreciate it if you’d grant it without question or hesitation.”
“What sort of favor?”
“I’m not sure myself yet, sir.”
If I’m going to stay at the Academy, I’ll need the Director’s authority for plenty of things.
Creating a debt now seemed prudent.
“Fair enough. I’ll grant it, within what’s possible.”

* * *
Cha Yu-sik’s hands trembled as he descended the mountain.
‘Cutting stone with a sword.’
Easy to say.
Reality was brutal.
The stone was too hard—not even a scratch—and the recoil shot back through his grip, threatening to split his palms open.
‘Damn it.’
Do Jeong-hyeok was different. Clearly different.
His fists gouged craters into the rock, and even Seo Hae-in had managed shallow fractures across the surface.
Everyone else? Nothing.
He’d achieved nothing.
‘Is this really a difference in talent? Me—Cha Yu-sik—without talent?’
He had been the top of the Academy’s nineteenth cohort, where only Korea’s finest gathered.
Having always been praised for his gift, the self-doubt now cut all the deeper.
Lost in thought on the way back to the Dormitory,
a shrill buzz pierced the air.
His smartphone vibrated in his pocket.
[Father]
“Yes, Father.”
– I heard about your top score on the midterm. Well done.
“Thank you, sir.”
– How far have you progressed with the Imperial Sword Form?
Cha Yu-sik’s breath caught.
‘How far?’
He hadn’t even reached first stage yet—still grinding through the fundamentals of Cangqiong Wuya Swordsmanship alone.
The road ahead was impossibly long.
“…I’m still laying the foundation, sir.”
A faint sigh crackled through the receiver.
– Your brother has already reached the second stage.
“……”
– Don’t grow complacent with first place on a midterm. Half-listen to the professors’ lectures and focus entirely on the Imperial Sword Form. Understood?
“Yes.”
Click.
The call ended.
Cha Yu-sik stood motionless where he was.
‘My brother’s already second stage.’
More than anything else, that fact sent urgency crawling through him.
Was now really the time to be hacking away at boulders with a sword, trying to outdo Do Jeong-hyeok?
Shouldn’t he be mastering the Imperial Sword Form faster?
“Cha, junior.”
Someone clapped him on the shoulder from behind.
It was Gwak Do-jin.
Once they’d barely acknowledged each other, but after Professor Kang’s class, they’d grown close remarkably fast.
“Gwak.”
“What’s wrong? Our usually aloof Cha, looking like that?”
Gwak Do-jin was gripping his right wrist tightly too—he’d left no mark on the stone face today either.
“Your wrist—is it all right?”
“Nah, I’ll need to hit up the Infirmary later for some acupuncture. You know? Ever since Baek Yu-yeon moved there, the place has been packed.”
“…….”
Gwak Do-jin sensed that Cha Yu-sik’s mood had grown even darker than usual.
So he spoke up.
“Want to grab a drink?”
“What?”
Cha Yu-sik replied in disbelief.
Since the Five had gathered, they had never once skipped night training to go drinking.
“A drink?”
“It’s because of that bastard Do Jeong-hyeok. Something about it’s making me crave a drink.”
Cha Yu-sik agreed.
Yes, his restless heart had been unsettled ever since Do Jeong-hyeok’s arrival.
“And look at the professor — he keeps hard liquor on his lips all the time, yet he’s still so strong. Maybe the secret to that strength lies in the drink. Let’s go find out.”
Alcohol.
Naturally, there was a bustling entertainment district spread out before the Academy, but most Students rarely indulged in drinking.
Most came from elite backgrounds, and within these walls there was endless competition.
Fall into drink and it’d compromise training, losing rank over a single night.
But Cha Yu-sik had the day off today.
He just wanted to clear his cluttered mind.
“Sounds good.”
“Alright, while we’re at it, should we call the others?”
“Let’s do it.”

* * *
The second floor of an Izakaya.
“Ahhh!”
Gwak Do-jin drained a glass of draft beer in one gulp and exhaled with satisfaction.
“That monster Do Jeong-hyeok — I couldn’t believe it, but the rock was actually caving in under him? And how does he even hold a horse stance for three hours without breaking a sweat? Hyun-jong, how long can you hold it these days?”
“I can’t even last an hour.”
“Right! That’s normal! Ten minutes is what you’re supposed to manage!”
The Five gathered, talking endlessly about Do Jeong-hyeok.
They didn’t want to admit the difference in talent, but they could feel the wall.
And yet it still irritated them.
Meanwhile, Seo Hae-in’s eyes sparkled in a way they rarely did.
‘How strange.’
Ever since enrollment, she’d been treated like an invisible person.
She ate alone, trained alone.
And now came a day when she sat across from other Students in a bar, clinking glasses with them.
“Come on, let’s drink! Forget about it!”
“Cheers!”
Clink!
Each time Cha Yu-sik and Gwak Do-jin clinked glasses, Seo Hae-in hastily raised her own, timidly meeting theirs at the rim.
She didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere.
The sense of belonging, of being recognized as a peer, was too sweet.
So whenever the seniors drained a glass, she watched their lead and gulped hers down nervously.
One glass, two glasses, three glasses…….
As alcohol circulated through her body, her pale cheeks flushed a deep red.
Her slightly unfocused eyes laughed softly.
“But really!”
Gwak Do-jin, emboldened by the drink, slammed the table and raised his voice.
“The professor’s going too far, right? I mean, favoritism — that’s what it is!”
“……Favoritism, that’s right.”
Seo Hae-in, who ordinarily wouldn’t have dared speak up, found courage in the alcohol and chimed in.
“We want to be his disciples too! We were the founding contributors who crossed the line first, so why are we being left out for rolling stones? Isn’t that right, Hae-in?”
“Um…….”
Seo Hae-in shook her head.
“I’m just grateful to the professor.”
If it weren’t for him?
This moment wouldn’t exist at all.
She’d have gone on being called dead last, eventually expelled, searching for work elsewhere.
“I think whatever the professor does must have a deeper purpose, doesn’t it?”
Seo Hae-in poured himself a glass of soju with eager confidence, then downed it in one breath with a sharp “Ahh!”
Of course, he couldn’t just speak his mind honestly.
He’d end up isolated.
The whole mood right now was about griping about the professor!
Going along with it — that was just how society worked!
“But honestly, I’m juuust a little bit disappointed, you know?”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I mean, you just toss us some techniques and move on, but you tell Do Jeong-hyeok to hit rocks! I saw him making cracks in the stone today — I could do that too. Baek Yu-yeon gets it too. She’s always training alone with you in the Director’s Office. Why don’t you look after us? Discrimination is the worst thing in the world, right? Right?”
Seo Hae-in sought agreement with a bright smile.
But then.
…….
No one answered.
Gwak Do-jin, who’d been fired up just moments before, clamped his mouth shut. Cha Yu-sik lowered his gaze.
Yun Hyun-jong and Han Tae-ho’s eyes seemed wider than usual.
The moment Seo Hae-in sensed something was wrong, a chill ran down his spine.
‘W-wait, could it be…?’
He spun around reflexively—and saw something that shouldn’t have been there.
“I teach you all carefully, and this is how you repay me—gossip behind my back.”
Professor Kang Hyun’s voice.
“I’m the one who’s disappointed.”
“Hic!”
Seo Hae-in hiccupped.
The alcohol evaporated from his system in an instant.
‘But that’s not fair!’
He hadn’t meant it sincerely!
He was just trying to match the mood!
“N-no, sir, it’s not like that—”
“Never mind.”
Scrape.
Kang Hyun dragged over an empty chair and sat down.
Positioned now among the Students, he pushed an empty soju glass toward them.
“Pour me a drink.”

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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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