The S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy - Chapter 2

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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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Episode 2

The Visitation Room of the Underground Prison.
“Association Director, I’ve brought him.”
A man in a suit entered and bowed deeply.
The middle-aged man sitting on the sofa nodded in acknowledgment.
“Thank you for your trouble, Secretary Jung.”
Behind the bowing secretary, slow, measured footsteps followed.
A masked figure with hands thrust into the pockets of a leather jacket crossed the threshold of the Visitation Room.
In the bright fluorescent light, his crimson eyes narrowed with displeasure.
The Association Director offered a smile in greeting.
“It’s been a long time, Sa Hyeon.”
The masked man cast an expressionless gaze at the Association Director, then opened the refrigerator door set in the corner of the room.
With an indifferent gesture, he withdrew a Cola Can and dropped himself into the seat across from the Association Director.
“It’s rare for me to be called by that name anymore.”
All this time, the inmates had called him only by such epithets as demon and monster.
Sa Hyeon gave a dry chuckle and hooked his thumb beneath the mask’s lower edge.
Click—
He removed the mask, and the hidden face was revealed.
The secretary’s eyes, which had been watching Sa Hyeon with a note of caution, widened almost imperceptibly.
‘Better looking than I expected.’
The secretary was seeing the Mirror Mask’s true face for the first time.
Sharp, keen eyes; lips drawn in an expressionless line.
He bore no resemblance to the gruesome or frightening appearance the rumors had suggested.
If anything, his features leaned toward the handsome.
Clink—
Sa Hyeon tossed the mask onto the table and took a sip of the drink.
As if finally able to breathe, he exhaled a shallow sigh, leaned his body heavily against the back of the sofa, and opened his mouth.
“What brings you down here?”
His true voice, unaltered by the mask’s distortion, echoed through the Visitation Room.
A low, melancholic tenor tinged with weariness.
His face, tilting side to side, bore the mingled marks of irritation and fatigue.
“You never show your face, so I had no choice but to come down myself. How is it you haven’t come up even once in five years?”
The Association Director spoke in a tone of familiar reproach.
“I didn’t come down just to check on your well-being, I’d wager.”
By contrast, Sa Hyeon’s tone dripped with mockery.
At his impudent demeanor, the secretary’s brow tightened visibly.
Yet Sa Hyeon paid no attention to the secretary’s reaction, draining more of the cola. The throbbing in his temples eased with the cool refreshment.

Before coming up to the Visitation Room, he’d paid Number 18 one final visit—a parting blow.
Presumptuously ranked as A-rank, that one had put in more effort than usual.
Sa Hyeon smoothed his furrowed brow and blinked several times.
The Association Director watched carefully as Sa Hyeon’s eyes regained their original color from their previously crimson hue and asked, “You’re not pushing yourself too hard, are you? Take it easy.”
Sa Hyeon let out a soft laugh and knocked back the rest of his cola.
Crunch—
As his leather-gloved hand crushed the empty can, it crumpled flat in his grip. He flicked the mangled can away carelessly.
Thunk.
The can traced an arc through the air and landed squarely inside the trash bin.
Sa Hyeon wiped his hand indifferently and spoke. “Spare me the pleasantries. Tell me what you came for.”
He had no intention of exchanging idle conversation with the Association Director.
Once again, the secretary’s body tensed as if stung.
“Now, listen here―”
The Association Director gestured for the secretary to stand down.
He must not provoke him now.
The Association Director had urgent business with Sa Hyeon.
“…My apologies.”

The secretary bit her lip and leaned back in her chair.
“All right, Sa Hyeon. I’ll be direct with you.”
As the Association Director spoke, Sa Hyeon tilted his chin in a gesture of permission.
The Director sat in thought for a long moment, his gaze lowered, his words withheld.
Just as wrinkles began to furrow Sa Hyeon’s brow again, a heavy voice broke the silence.
“We need you on the Surface.”
A short, weighty statement.
Stillness hung in the air for an instant.
Every eye in the Visitation Room was fixed on a single point.
“So the Dungeon Breaks have gotten worse?”
Sa Hyeon’s eyes half-closed as he tapped his knee with one gloved index finger.
He already had a rough sense of the situation up there.
Number 18 had said as much, and all the new prisoners had been chattering about it when they arrived.
Black gates sprouting up everywhere without warning. Monsters pouring out from within.
A phenomenon that had first occurred twelve years ago.
People had given it a name.
“Dungeon Break.”
Each time a Dungeon Break occurred, it brought casualties beyond imagination.
And this would be the third time.

“They can’t handle it topside, so they’ve come to break my ankle. Or have you forgotten why I came down here in the first place?”
His voice was languid, yet an edge lay beneath it.
Seeing the uncooperative response, the Director exhaled as if he’d expected as much.
“…You know that better than anyone. Which is exactly why we need you.”
It would certainly sound disagreeable to Sa Hyeon.
Yet it was foolish to let such talent rot away underground.
The Director had tried countless times to get him released, but Sa Hyeon’s resolve had never wavered.
But this time would be different.
The Director pressed his lips together firmly, then opened them with a grave expression.
“…Hunter Lee Ha-je is dead.”
Sa Hyeon’s leg, which had been bouncing with boredom, stilled.
“The Lee Ha-je I know?”
The Director nodded solemnly.
“Yes.”
“I see.”
Sa Hyeon swept his black hair back from his face.
‘So Lee Ha-je—the S-rank Hunter, the 1st Generation Awakener—is dead.’
It was unexpected news.
Yet there was no reason to dwell on sentiment.
Hunters, after all, lived in the shadow of death.
Sa Hyeon himself had once walked that line.
“What was the cause?”
Sa Hyeon asked in a flat tone.
Now he understood why the Director had come down here.
Inside a gate, dungeons were spaces teeming with creatures beyond reason.
A Dungeon Break was when the monsters within a gate suddenly spilled out into the world.
Dangerous, certainly—yet the death of an S-rank Hunter remained exceptional.
Especially one like Lee Ha-je, who possessed a Venom characteristic and was optimized for combat hunting.
The Director drew a long breath and spoke.
“…Awakener Runaway.”
In that instant.
A crack appeared across Sa Hyeon’s expressionless face.
The Director, who had been watching him in silence, continued slowly.
“Just like that day five years ago.”
Sa Hyeon, who had been leaning forward, slowly straightened his torso.
The smile that had lingered on his face vanished as if washed away.
“…Exactly the same?”
His voice was glacial and low.
Silence settled once more.
The atmosphere in the Visitation Room shifted in an instant.
A strong pressure bore down on his skin.
The Association Director swallowed hard and nodded.
“A week ago, Hunter Lee Ha-je and three of his team members entered an S-rank Gate together.”
……
“On the second day, a distress signal came in, and when the rescue team arrived—”
The Association Director lowered his head and continued.
“They were barely recognizable. All of them had been exposed to venom.”
An Awakener losing control of their own body, attacking all living things in the vicinity indiscriminately.
This phenomenon was called an Awakener Runaway.
Lee Ha-je’s rampage had annihilated his entire team.
A long breath escaped him.
Sa Hyeon’s mind became a tangled, dizzying web.
Shrieks of despair, the stench of blood at the tip of his nose, lives crumbling before his eyes.
Memories so vivid they seemed recreated in that moment.
Sa Hyeon shut his eyes tightly, then opened them again, trying to erase the horrific afterimage.
“…Hunter Lee Ha-je also died there.”
The Association Director added carefully.
Sa Hyeon understood the implication better than anyone.
Coming to his senses too late, Lee Ha-je had taken his own life.
“That’s just like Lee Ha-je.”
Despite his characteristic affinity for venom, he had always possessed a surprisingly soft heart.
Five years ago, Sa Hyeon had voluntarily chosen to go underground. To isolate himself, to push himself into hell, in pursuit of a thread that might lead to the one who had done this to him.
But the results had been meager.
And now, the same thing had happened again.
“So, who’s the culprit?”
Sa Hyeon’s lips curved into a sharp smile.
A cold smile tinged with rage.
Some had come to view Awakener Runaway as a form of mental disorder.
But Sa Hyeon still remembered that sensation with perfect clarity.
A mind hazy as if wrapped in fog. Limbs moving of their own accord.
A sensation of being controlled by someone else—strange, revolting, visceral.
It was no mental disorder.
“…You’ve spent five years searching and found nothing. There’s no way you’ll find them in this chaos.”
The minister shook his head and continued.
“Gates are still being created across the country. We’re holding on somehow, but Hunter Lee Ha-je’s absence is immense. It wouldn’t be strange if a city collapsed at any moment.”
……
“True, new Hunters have emerged from the Dungeon Shock—”
The Association Director added further explanation.
“—but it’s too risky to send newly awakened Hunters into the field.”
In total, three Dungeon Breaks had occurred so far. Each time, more than double the usual number of high-tier Awakeners had been born.
As if to balance the scales of power. Yet newly awakened Awakeners had no idea how to control their strength.
It was a situation where either move could lead to greater catastrophe—a true dilemma.
The Association Director’s reason for seeking out Sa Hyeon was clear. An unofficial, undisclosed S-rank—
“Your cooperation is essential.”
To bring Sa Hyeon back as a Hunter. And.
“Besides, you would be a good example for the newly awakened Hunters. If you do this, we’ll mobilize every researcher in the Hunter Association to find that culprit.”
The Association Director spoke with grim determination.
Sa Hyeon let out a dry laugh at this.
“…Support, you say.”
And added lightly.
“It’s a deal.”
A clear line drawn in words.
The Association Director nodded.
“…Yes.”
Sa Hyeon’s lips finally curled up with satisfaction.
“Good.”
At last, the affirmation had come.
The Association Director exhaled a sigh of relief and extended his right hand.
“I’m counting on you.”
Sa Hyeon said nothing, only smiled and clasped the offered hand.
A thin golden cord filled the space where the two clasped hands met.
The Association Director’s skill: Oath of Souls.
In a flash, the trace of the golden cord vanished.
The contract was sealed.

* * *

Hunter Association Headquarters.
Sunlight pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“…Damn, it’s bright.”
Sa Hyeon squinted at the view outside, his brow furrowed.
It was his first sunlight in five years.

An S-Rank Prison Guard Devours the Academy Episode 2

Author
Baek Ru-ga
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yun Tae-ri
Cover Design
Tom

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260512043.0003

ⓒ2026, Baek Ru-ga

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No part or whole of this work may be reproduced or processed in any form without permission from the author and publisher.

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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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