The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 9

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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 Absolute Professor: Episode 9
You Just Crossed the Threshold of Death
Saturday morning.
A loud alarm chimed on Professor Hwang Ye-rim’s Tablet as she was enjoying a rare lie-in at the Official Residence.
“Mm.”
She rubbed her eyes groggily and sat up, checking the screen.
[Emergency Summons!]
[Multiple Patients in Infirmary!]
“……An emergency on a weekend morning?”
She threw on her coat and rushed to the Infirmary, only to find it had descended into chaos.
Every bed was occupied by cadets shaking beneath blankets, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
“What in the world is happening here?”
Hwang Ye-rim grabbed the attending nurse and demanded answers.
“The cadets came in as a group, but there are no visible signs of external or internal injury. It doesn’t appear to be Qi Deviation, either.”
“Their pulse?”
“Unstable. Heart rate is erratic, breathing irregular. They appear to have suffered severe psychological shock.”
Hwang Ye-rim’s gaze grew distant and grave.
What could have happened in the middle of the Academy, and to an entire group no less, to reduce them to this state?
She approached the bedside of a cadet who seemed to be in the least critical condition.
His eyes were unfocused, but at least he appeared capable of speech.
“You. What’s your name?”
“Twenty-first batch……Yu Sang-chul, ma’am.”
“A first-year? What happened?”
“We went to a class, ma’am.”
‘A class?’
Hwang Ye-rim’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Which class?”
“Saturday special lecture. Special Guidance, ma’am.”
“Ah.”
She knew it well enough.
That visiting professor’s course—the one everyone at the Academy had been talking about lately.
“What was the class like?”
“The professor drew a line. He drew it on the ground with his sword……and told us to cross it.”
“A line?”
“Yes. He said if we crossed it, we’d be qualified to receive his instruction, and if we couldn’t, we were free never to attend his class again. But then suddenly——”
Yu Sang-chul’s pupils trembled faintly.
“It felt like we were going to die.”
“…….”
“Really. It wasn’t just fear—it was like my throat was about to be cut right there where I stood. I was genuinely trying to cross it, but my legs wouldn’t move and my body just froze……hiccup.”
His voice cracked as injustice welled up in his throat.
Hwang Ye-rim said nothing, pressing her fingers against his wrist again.
His pulse was still irregular, though slightly more settled than before.
‘His body isn’t damaged.’
His Dantian remained intact.
There were no signs of severed Qi and Blood.
“The professor didn’t use direct force on you?”
“No, no. He just……stood there.”
That made it even stranger.
No direct strike was delivered.
No Qi Projection was pumped into his meridians to shake them.
Simply through his aura, he’d brought this number of cadets to the Infirmary as a group?
How was that possible?
‘And besides——’
Hwang Ye-rim’s pupils dilated slightly as she let a thread of True Qi flow through her senses.
‘The Qi flowing through his blood vessels is unusually pure.’
It resembled the state one entered after consuming Spirit Herbs or Spirit Medicine.
It was absurd!
‘No, I must be mistaken.’
Rising, Hwang Ye-rim checked the pulse of another cadet.
The results were identical across the board.
‘Really?’
Hwang Ye-rim’s expression went blank.
He’d cleared the impurities from her blood vessels using Qi Pressure alone?
While it wasn’t completely clean, it still defied common sense.
‘What on earth is happening here?’

* * *
Training Grounds.
Kang Hyun stepped past the line he’d drawn and looked down at the five gasping students below him.
“Pathetic.”
His gaze lingered especially on Cha Yu-sik.
He’d said that a single student here should be easy to subdue, hadn’t he?
Well?
Had he gotten his answer now?
“…….”
Cha Yu-sik couldn’t lift his head.
Not from shame—more because he felt as though he’d retch the moment he opened his mouth.
‘Insane.’
When he’d first encountered the Killing Intent, he’d managed to endure it, barely.
But that had only been the beginning.
One step, two steps.
With each stride toward the line he’d drawn, the density of the Killing Intent transformed.
‘When I crossed it.’
Cha Yu-sik had felt the vivid sensation of his throat being cleanly severed.
‘Honestly, I thought I was dead.’
Even now, he couldn’t tell the difference.
What if he was already dead?
What if he was seeing hallucinations despite being dead?
“You… you…….”
Cha Yu-sik managed to force his mouth open.
“What are you, really?”
“What? A contract hire, parachuted in.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
Though Cha Yu-sik spoke with indignation, Kang Hyun replied with utter indifference.
“Does it matter? I said I’d teach you how to grow stronger, and on that condition, I said only those prepared to die should come. That’s all there is to it.”
He swept his gaze slowly across the five of them.
“And.”
His voice dropped low and heavy.
“You’ve just crossed over the threshold of death.”
All five cadets shuddered and looked up at Kang Hyun.
He liked the look in their eyes very much.
“Yes, now you’ve got eyes worth something.”
It was unmistakably different from the eyes of the fifteen who’d frozen in terror earlier.
There was a desperate hunger in them—a drive to try anything, to do anything.
‘At minimum, they won’t take their own lives just from seeing Asura.’
In other words.
They were worth teaching.
“Then I suppose I should make good on my promise and teach you how to grow stronger, yes?”
Kang Hyun reached into his jacket and pulled out a fresh Whiskey Bottle he hadn’t opened yet.
“Tomorrow morning, six o’clock. Show up at this Training Grounds.”
“……But… if it’s tomorrow, that would be Sunday…….”
Kwak Do-jin, who had crawled across the floor, mumbled this in a hoarse voice, but Kang Hyun paid him no mind.
Come or don’t.
That was their choice.
This wasn’t class time, after all.
“Ahhh.”
Kang Hyun blew another long sip from the bottle, then wiped the liquor from his lips with the back of his hand.
“The whiskey tastes sweet today.”
He disappeared out of the Training Grounds.
Until his figure vanished completely from view, not one of the five remaining students could bring themselves to speak.

* * *
Though it was a weekend, the rumor spread like wildfire.
When chaos broke out in the Infirmary, word reached countless students.
“Hey, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“About the Saturday seminar they’re holding.”
“Special Guidance? The one that contracted professor teaches?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“All the students who attended that day ended up in the Infirmary.”
“What? Why?”
“No idea. Maybe the professor beat them?”
In the old days, rumors traveled a thousand leagues without feet; nowadays, a fingertip sends them ten thousand leagues with ease.
Acanet
Posts began appearing on the Academy’s student-exclusive community.
└ The professor beat students?
└ Doesn’t seem like it. The nurse on duty said something different.
└ Guys. Wait, wasn’t Special Guidance supposed to be canceled?
└ Nope. The Dean said he enrolled problem students as attendees.
└ ?? Is that even allowed? Crazy.
└ Still, he’s the Academy Dean. He wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t.
└ But apparently Cha Yu-sik and that madman were both there.
└ Cha Yu-sik?
└ Seriously?
└ Wow.
└ Did Cha Yu-sik end up in the Infirmary too?
└ Nah, he wasn’t there.
└ So it wasn’t Cha Yu-sik who beat the students?
└ Could’ve been that madman. Cha Yu-sik’s usually pretty dignified with the students anyway.
Though solid information was scarce and most was mere speculation and gossip, the commotion grew loud enough that Jin Myung-hun heard it too.
After straightening his appearance, he made straight for the Dean’s Office.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
“Dean.”
“I had a feeling you’d come.”
Sip.
Seo Il-hyun was sipping tea.
His serene demeanor only deepened Jin Myung-hun’s frustration.
“If not for the Dean, that course should have been canceled from the start. What reason could you possibly have for going to such lengths?”
“Calm yourself and sit down. People might think you and Professor Kang are sworn enemies.”
Jin Myung-hun’s frown deepened further.
Rather than take a seat, he remained standing rigidly and raised his voice.
“As Chief Professor, I’m merely inquiring. A single mudskipper who suddenly appeared is disturbing the Academy’s order, and staying silent would be a dereliction of my duty.”
Seo Il-hyun studied Jin Myung-hun quietly.
‘That man—he’s no mudskipper. He’s a dragon.’
“What order has Professor Kang disturbed?”
“There’s too much to count. Drinking alcohol on campus. Sending students to the Infirmary. And I heard he even expelled fifteen students, claiming they lacked qualification.”
“Mm.”
The Dean set down his teacup and spoke quietly.
“Professor Jin. Let me ask you one thing. Did Professor Kang strike any of the students?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Or did he wield a sword and inflict injury?”
“…I heard he released Killing Intent.”
“These students—supposedly the finest elite of the Republic of Korea at a national Academy. When the professor releases his Qi Pressure and these weaklings collapse in fear and soil themselves, is that Professor Kang’s fault?”
“That’s…”
“Rather, shouldn’t they be ashamed that their true inadequacy has been exposed—soft as flowers in a greenhouse? Will they hide behind regulations and complaints when they face real combat, real monsters in a Dungeon?”
Seo Il-hyun’s intensity left Jin Myung-hun biting his lip.
“As for expelling them without permission, that’s different too.”
Seo Il-hyun clasped his hands beneath his chin and continued.
“Distinguishing those who can be taught from those who cannot is entirely within the purview of the supervising professor. After all, those seventeen students I forced through weren’t they the very ones you’d already written off—problem students on the verge of expulsion?”
“…….”
“As for the drinking matter, I’ll issue a warning. Professor Jin.”
Seo Il-hyun’s gaze grew heavy and grave.
“One piece of advice—mind your own affairs.”
“Dean.”
“Isn’t Professor Kang merely on a one-year contract? What use is a senior professor expending such effort over a single special lecture from a contract instructor?”
“…….”
“I trust you understand my meaning. You may go.”
At this clear dismissal, Jin Myung-hun’s fists trembled.

* * *
At that same moment, at the Safe House.
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
Lee Se-a, who had brought the Tablet at Black’s summons, clutched her head.
“Causing trouble on the very first day of class…….”
“Stop panicking and just read me the list.”
“The list?”
“Yeah, I need to see what kind of people these are.”
“But you said you didn’t need to look before.”
“That was because the previous list had people mixed in whom I didn’t need to bother with.”
“……One moment.”
Lee Se-a tapped the Tablet screen a few times, then displayed the profiles of the five survivors on the display.
[Cha Yu-sik, Kwak Do-jin, Yun Hyun-jong, Han Tae-ho, Seo Hae-in]
“First, shall I start with Cha Yu-sik?”
“Yeah.”
“This cadet is incredibly famous with the public. He’s the second son of the Cheonrang Guild Master.”
“Cheonrang?”
“Yes, one of the three major guilds…… His older brother is Cha Du-sik, the top graduate of the Academy’s 17th class. The two of them are locked in a vicious succession struggle right now, but with this suspension, it’s generally considered he’s been effectively pushed out of the running.”
“Tsk, so his temper never changed.”
“Sorry?”
“Never mind. Who’s next?”
“Kwak Do-jin. His nickname is Mad Dog. He’s been disciplined twenty-one times, and this time he’s been held back a year as well.”
“With that much discipline, shouldn’t he have been expelled long ago?”
“There seems to be a story there. Looking at his record, all the disciplinary actions were from his third year…… but until his second year, he was an exceptionally well-behaved student?”
“Is that so?”
The corner of Kang’s mouth lifted.
He remembered the image of Kwak Do-jin crawling up from rock bottom, tears and snot running down his face, driven only by sheer determination.
‘No common street punk could ever push through that Killing Intent and claw their way up.’
Within him, there had to be something—poison, fury, something burning fiercely.
“Next is Yun Hyun-jong. Wow, this student!”
Lee Se-a’s voice suddenly rose in pitch.
“Isn’t this the student you saved by striking his Dantian? His father is a fairly prominent CEO of a mid-sized enterprise. Taejung Mulsan—a company that primarily distributes Rare Grade Items and Spirit Medicine, Treasure Artifacts, and such things that come from Dungeons.”
“A merchant family, then.”
“Yes, in the early days they thrived on Dungeon byproducts, but lately they’re being squeezed out by major corporations backed by large guilds. Oh, but honestly, I’m a bit envious.”
“Of what?”
“You’ve become the savior of a student from a wealthy background. Won’t he come bringing Spirit Medicine and such gifts later to repay the favor?”
“He hasn’t brought anything like that.”
“An ungrateful student indeed.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Right, then there’s Han Tae-ho. This one is a new cadet from the 21st class. There’s almost no information on him. No family backing either. Still, for him to have made it into the Academy, he must have considerable skill?”
“He’ll do fine.”
Those who don’t…….
They cannot cross that line.
“And finally, the fifth one…… oh, she’s female?”
Among Hunters, particularly in combat-oriented disciplines, the proportion of female cadets was extremely low—around ten percent.
It was simply due to the harsh, dangerous nature of the profession.
“Seo Hae-in. She ranks at the bottom of her class in grades. She hasn’t been disciplined or anything, but…… all her marks are F’s. I suspect this is purely a matter of actual ability…….”
Kang narrowed his eyes.
He remembered.
By Han Tae-ho’s side, the small girl following in Kwak Do-jin’s footsteps crawled up the floor with the same grinding effort.
‘It wasn’t a lack of skill.’
She probably simply never had a master to properly assess her condition and guide her.
After scanning through the students’ records, Kang Hyun handed over the Tablet.
“Oh, and.”
“Yes.”
“We’re clearing out this room starting tomorrow.”
“What?”
“I’m moving quarters to the Academy faculty residence.”
“You’re leaving this place?”
“Yes.”
Teaching the students now.
If I’m going to seriously search for the right vessel, it’ll be better to be stationed there full-time.

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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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