The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 96

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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 96
Greet her. She’s my new disciple.
After finishing a brief interview, Ariana’s brow furrowed.
Sizzle-sizzle.
It was happening again.
A burning ache radiating from deep within her bones.
‘I’m going to lose my mind.’
She understood they were arranging an official exchange schedule between the Korean Academy and the British one.
They’d told her to wait a little longer, that a natural pretext would emerge, that she’d be able to meet Black—but…
‘How am I supposed to endure this?’
Ariana recalled the measure Black had taken last time.
She wanted to feel that cold again, the way it had extinguished the surging Yang Qi in an instant.
‘Of course.’
Her comment about eating grilled pork belly in the interview had been genuine too.
She was sincere about culinary pleasures no matter which country she visited.
‘…Black is apparently posing as an Academy professor?’
She’d already received that intelligence.
What surprised her was that Black didn’t appear anywhere on Korea’s S-Rank Hunter roster.
‘You’re a secret weapon controlled as classified material by the state too, then?’
That resonated with her.
She too had been under state management since childhood for being exceptional.
“Miss Ariana.”
The senior British attendant whispered respectfully.
“The vehicle sent by the embassy is waiting. This is the official route.”
Ariana stopped walking and turned to face her attendant.
“I’m sorry, Arthur.”
“Yes?”
“I told you. I’m just a tourist here enjoying a trip.”
Look at all the cameras in front of us.
‘Ugh.’
Her stomach was already churning.
“I’ll contact you later. Why don’t you all enjoy sightseeing around Seoul?”
“Wait, just a moment, Miss Ariana? This isn’t what was agreed—”
Flash!
Her form vanished in a single burst of light.
“No, wait!”
An emergency alert went out to Britain.

* * *
Bang!
“Director!”
“Please… please…”
Dark circles hung deep beneath Kim Hyung-seok’s eyes as he regarded the secretary who had burst through the door.
Over the past few weeks, he’d barely left the office on time.
“I don’t want to report anything else, sir…”
“Right, what now.”
“Ariana, who arrived in Korea today, has disappeared without following the official schedule.”
A grunt caught in Kim Hyung-seok’s throat.
With so many blood-pressure-spiking incidents lately, this barely fazed him anymore.
His tolerance for shock had been thoroughly worn away.
“Understood. Let me contact Black. She must have gone there.”
“Yes, thank you, sir.”
“All right.”

* * *
– Listen here, Professor Kang.
“Yes, Director.”
– Ariana apparently gave her British security team the slip at the airport and vanished. Did she come your way by any chance?
At Kim Hyung-seok’s voice, the corners of Kang Hyun’s mouth lifted.
‘She’s here.’
In fact, he too had been waiting for Ariana to arrive.
The sooner they began, the better.
Both the Ultimate Yang Heart Method for controlling Yang Qi and the Single Pole Sword Method for expending it efficiently would demand considerable skill to master.
There was no telling how long it would take her to learn them properly.
“She hasn’t arrived yet.”
— The way you say “yet” tells me she’s headed straight for you, isn’t she?
“Likely so.”
At Kang Hyeon’s calm reply, Kim Hyung-seok groaned.
— Ugh, it’s not Ariana’s safety I’m worried about. What do I care if a British Hunter disappears? What troubles me is the world finding out that Ariana came looking for you.
Then the global media and intelligence agencies will swarm in.
It’s only a matter of time before Black’s identity is exposed.
In fact, it’s precarious even now.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep it well hidden.”
Kang Hyeon had always thought it didn’t much matter if his abilities became known to the world.
That was before he’d seen Asura’s subordinates with his own eyes.
‘They’ve begun moving faster than expected.’
If that was the case, there was no need for Kang Hyeon to draw unnecessary attention now.
After all, the more information circulated, the higher the odds that Asura’s people would obtain it as well.
— All right, I’ll trust you on this. Still, contact me when you make contact with her. That way we can claim the embassy received her in secret. Just please don’t cause any incidents.
“Understood.”
Kang Hyeon set down his phone.
‘Incidents, he says……’
Sorry, but there’s no time for that.
Ariana’s plan was to go straight to the Philippines and begin training the moment they met.
‘I can’t afford to be leisurely anymore.’
He’d tried not to be hasty before, but having seen with his own eyes that Asura’s subordinates had embedded themselves in corners of the globe, he couldn’t help it.
‘I need to build my forces faster than theirs.’
This was precisely why Kang Hyeon had been cultivating a group recently.
‘This world can’t be protected by me alone.’
Kang Hyeon preferred this world to the Martial World.
It was his true home, and life here felt more at peace.
But if this world fell to ruin?
Then there would be nowhere left to return to, nowhere left to rest.
So he would protect it.
Whoosh……!
It was then.
Something hot caught within his spread Ki Perception.
‘Has she already arrived?’
He felt Ariana’s presence approaching rapidly from afar.

* * *
With the map application open, Ariana moved by leaping across building rooftops using the Lightness Technique.
“Huff, haah.”
Her footwork was that of a master in the Flower Realm, yet anxiety was evident in her breathing.
Her body ached like this—what if she couldn’t find him?
And where would she look for him anyway?
What if he wasn’t at the Academy, or what if she missed him entirely?
It was an unannounced visit, which made her worry all the more.
‘But……’
There was no choice.
If she waited to follow procedure, she’d be dead within her time limit before anything else.
‘I’m almost there now……’
As her gaze fell from the tallest building to the expansive grounds marked as the National Hunter Academy sprawling just before her, a voice pierced the moment.
“Bold of you.”
“……?”
“I didn’t expect you to come so openly, so quickly.”
In an instant, the figure of a man sitting casually on the rooftop railing came into Ariana’s view.
‘How did I not sense him at all?’
The shock was brief—her face immediately flushed with color.
Was this the expression of a castaway who’d spotted an oasis in the desert?
“You!”
Kang Hyun produced a Mask first, watching her bright smile.
“Wear this for now. The government isn’t thrilled about us being seen together.”
“Ah, of course!”
“And put this on too.”
He handed her the Beige Thin Overfit Hoodie Zip-up that had been hanging on Lee Se-ah’s chair.
At least it would obscure her figure.
“Yes, thank you.”
She obeyed without question.
Kang Hyun checked her meridians and found them more settled than in Paris, though still teetering on a knife’s edge.
The Yang Qi accumulating in her Dantian still hadn’t been fully discharged.
“You did well.”
“Pardon?”
“You found your way here. If you want to survive, you need to act that decisively.”
Just as Kang Hyun was about to send a [Contact Complete] message to the bureau chief—
Zing!
His phone rang.
[Chick]
“What is it?”
– Kang Hyun! You didn’t happen to see my windbreaker, did you? I definitely hung it on the chair, but it disappeared while I was out for a moment.
“I took it.”
– Excuse me?
A pause stretched across the line.
– …Professor, why would you take my clothes? They wouldn’t even fit you properly…
Suspicion colored her voice.
Though she didn’t say it outright, the implication hung there—*does he have some strange fetish?*—and Kang Hyun’s brow furrowed.
“Stop prattling. Since you called at the right moment, come to the construction site behind the New Training Hall immediately.”
– Why there?
“I need you to interpret.”
Kang Hyun had picked up English reasonably well lately, but speaking it fluently was another matter.
Until he could equip Ariana with Korean, he needed Lee Se-ah’s interpretation.
– Interpret?
“You’ll understand when you get here. And bring all my disciples with you—Jeong-hyeok, Yu-yeon, and Seo-jun too.”
The government had asked him to keep secrets, but his disciples were the exception.
They all had tight lips anyway, and to eventually complete the Seven Luminaries Formation together, they needed to build intimacy with one another.
– Understood… but Professor, my clothes—
Click.
Kang Hyun ended the call, then gestured with his chin at Ariana, who stood staring blankly at him in the oversized hoodie.
“Come along for now.”
Even the woman who’d been stiff in front of the British Royal Family followed him obediently.
Was it just his imagination?
But being at his side somehow cooled the burning in her Blood Meridians.

* * *
The construction site was nearly complete.
Three buildings, smaller than the New Training Hall but neat in appearance, stood proudly—certainly an impressive sight for the money spent.
Lee Se-ah and his three disciples were gathered there.
“But why did Master ask us to come here?”
“I have no idea.”
“Hmm.”
Baek Yu-yeon pressed her chin thoughtfully.
He was a master who wouldn’t show his face unless the disciples sought him out first—it was puzzling.
“Our master surely has his reasons.”
Do Jeong-hyeok wiped the sweat from his Profound Tortoise Armor with those words, while Min Seo-jun sat to one side stitching a bag with needle and thread, apparently working on inventory for Tae-jeong Space.
Baek Yu-yeon felt suddenly curious.
“By the way, Se-ah.”
The two frequently clashed in the professor’s office and had grown close outside work; Lee Se-ah had already asked her to use the informal address.
“Yes?”
“Did you see Ariana’s visit to Korea?”
“I did. It’s making quite the stir right now because of it.”
Lee Se-ah knew about it because she worked for the Management Bureau’s Special Operations Team—Kang Hyun and Ariana were coordinating to meet each other.
‘Wait a second.’
Could it be…?
The real reason Black had specifically taken the hoodie zip-up?
And why she’d said an interpreter was needed?
Just as Lee Se-ah’s eyes began to widen, two figures approached from the distance.
Kang Hyun and a tall woman following behind him.
The woman wore a Mask and was dressed in Lee Se-ah’s clothes, but when Lee Se-ah caught sight of the blonde hair spilling out from the hood, her jaw trembled.
‘A-Ariana!’
Her idol, here so close, right before her eyes?
Lee Se-ah felt as though she were dreaming.
‘Who is she?’
At the same moment, a flicker of surprise crossed Baek Yu-yeon’s pale blue eyes.
With her Heavenly Meridian Eyes, she could see the Yang Qi roiling within like boiling water.
Min Seo-jun, meanwhile, remained absorbed in his needlework, while only Do Jeong-hyeok tilted his head in puzzlement.
“K-Kang Hyun. Could that be…!”
As Lee Se-ah stammered, unable to speak the name aloud, Kang Hyun gave a light nod.
“We move to Paradiso Island first.”
“Yes? Ah, understood! Seo-jun! The formation!”
“Yes.”
We slipped into the Spatial Transfer Formation to avoid the workers, and soon arrived in the Philippines.
My disciples knew about the formation, but Ariana was startled.
We’d walked into a room—why was there a coastline?
Was it an illusion?
She hadn’t even begun to comprehend that this was the Philippines.
“You can take it off now.”
“Phew.”
Ariana yanked off the Mask and hood with a gesture of relief.
Swoosh!
Brilliant blonde hair tumbled free, and her face emerged.
“Gasp.”
Do Jeong-hyeok’s jaw dropped, and Lee Se-ah was overcome with emotion.
Kang Hyun regarded Ariana and spoke.
“These disciples have been studying under me to face that creature you encountered in Paris.”
“Ah….”
“Listen, all of you.”
It was a statement meant not only for Ariana but for the disciples as well.
“The monsters we’ve faced are merely the tip of the iceberg.”
“…!”
“This world teems with such creatures, and in the not-distant future, they will attempt to drench this world in blood.”
Gulp.
Lee Se-ah began interpreting naturally.
“Ariana, the reason I’m taking you as a disciple is the same—to fight them.”
Kang Hyun stepped closer to Ariana and looked down at her.
“Are you prepared?”
Ariana had already come prepared.
If it meant living… what was fighting?
After all, hadn’t those creatures fought even when survival seemed impossible?
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Before the interpretation was even complete, she added with fierce resolve.
“If you save my life, I’ll gladly become your blade.”
The corners of Kang Hyun’s mouth rose with satisfaction.
“Good.”
Kang Hyun turned toward his disciples, who stood frozen in stunned silence.
Then, in his usual indifferent tone, he announced.
“Greet her. She is my new disciple.”

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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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