The S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy - Chapter 21

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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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Chapter 21

The Director sent Hae Sung and the Secretary out first.
Only after settling into his office chair and putting as much distance as possible between himself and Sa Hyeon did he finally speak.
“…Ahem. You’ve come by unannounced at this hour—it’s about the Gate Rank fluctuation, isn’t it? A surge this sudden is unprecedented for us. It’s not a good sign.”
As if to mask his unease, the Director let his words spill out in a rush.
All the while, his gaze remained fixed on his phone, wavering between whether to call the Association Chairman or not.
Sa Hyeon let out a scoff and dropped heavily into the single sofa at the far end of the room.
“There’s something worse than that.”
“…Something worse?”
Damn it.
Cold sweat beaded on the Director’s forehead.
“…Ah, are you talking about that unknown hunter I mentioned earlier?”
Sa Hyeon’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile.
“An Awakener with unknown identity was wandering through the Gate. And at minimum, S-Rank.”
“What, what did you say?”
The Director’s eyes blinked dumbly in shock.
An S-Rank Awakener with no known identity!
Even lower-ranked Awakeners posed a serious threat to non-Awakeners.
But S-Rank on top of that—a lawless one slipping in and out of Gates as he pleased.
“You didn’t know about this?”
When Sa Hyeon asked with a note of derision, the Director protested as if wronged.
“If I’d known, would I have left him alone?! Besides, how am I supposed to find an S-Rank Awakener who’s deliberately staying hidden?!”
“Quite confident, aren’t you.”
For a man claiming to be Director, boasting about his ignorance wasn’t exactly flattering.
As Sa Hyeon spoke with something like admiration, the Director made a pointless cough and averted his gaze.
Well, that was that.
Sa Hyeon clicked his tongue once, sank deeper into the sofa, and brought up the main point.
“I’ll need to take some Binding Shackles.”
“What??”
The Director shot up from his chair as if he’d heard something absurd.
“Do you think Binding Shackles are something any random person can just take?!”
“Then should I use regular handcuffs instead?”
Sa Hyeon tilted his head slightly.
They’d be worth less than a thread bracelet against an S-Rank Awakener.
“That’s…!”
The Director’s lips worked silently for a moment before his neck flushed red and he jabbed a finger in accusation.
“Do you have any idea what one Binding Shackle costs? Who knows what’ll happen if I hand it over to you!”
Hunter-grade shackles that sealed all item abilities—including an Awakener’s unique traits and skills—the Binding Shackles.
Embedded with high-purity rare Magic Stones, they were astronomical in value.
“Then is there another way?”
But Sa Hyeon’s mind was elsewhere.
That blond brat who escaped with a Return Stone.
There was no telling what trouble he’d cause next time, so a countermeasure was necessary.
“I’ll form a special response team separately and have them search for him. You don’t need to worry about it.”
When the Director shook his head firmly, Sa Hyeon crossed his long legs with a thoughtful hum.
“Aside from me and Baek Yi Won, there’s no Hunter capable of handling this. Can you really manage it?”
Currently, Hunter Baek Yi Won was being dispatched non-stop due to a sudden Dungeon Break.
Yet the Director remained confident.
“Of course! Don’t you know how many capable Hunters we have in this country?”
“Capable?”
Sa Hyeon rose slowly from his seat.
“Why, why are you getting up? Stay there and talk to me, hey! Don’t come over here!”
The Director stammered in great alarm.
Sa Hyeon came to a stop before the Director’s desk.
“Those capable Hunters of yours….”
……
“You just freed them all because someone slipped you a bit of money.”
“…!”
How did you—how could you possibly…!
The Director’s lips trembled.
Transparent expression, isn’t it.
Sa Hyeon let out a soft chuckle.
“My work involves looking inside the heads of the people in those places, so I’d think you’d at least know that much.”
“…Th-that’s slander! Where’s your evidence?”
He tried to dodge it off as ignorance, but Sa Hyeon simply shrugged.
“Well, if I need it, I can always produce it.”
…….
“Binding Shackles are worth more than a Director’s chair, aren’t they?”
Sa Hyeon narrowed his eyes and muttered it under his breath before adding, as if issuing a warning.
“It would be good to watch your conduct.”
Unless you’d like to be dragged down from that position.
…….
I should have blocked his return to the end, the Director thought, squeezing his eyes shut.
‘Why did it have to be him….’
In contrast to the Director, whose face had gone ashen, Sa Hyeon left with an easy smile.
“Oh. And there’s one more thing I need from you….”

* * *

Creak—
The door swung open smoothly.
“Look, you should hand it over while I’m asking nicely.”
Sa Hyeon rolled his neck and stepped out of the Director’s office.
Hae Sung, who had been clutching something wrapped in white cloth—roughly the size of a forearm—rose from his seat.
“Ah, Sa Hyeon!”
Just as he was about to greet him after so long without seeing him.
His gaze caught on something glinting between the folds of Sa Hyeon’s coat.
“…! Binding Shackles?”
The handcuffs hanging from Sa Hyeon’s belt loop.
A red Magic Stone was embedded in it.
Sa Hyeon gave a slight nod and continued speaking while intently studying his smartphone screen.
“I’m going to stop by somewhere else first, so go ahead inside.”
“Isn’t this supposed to be your immediate return to the Academy?”
“The Director gave me some information.”
A map was displayed on Sa Hyeon’s smartphone screen.
A red dot on the map was pointing to a specific location.
Seeing this, Hae Sung let out a small sound of realization.
“…Ah! Is that the location of that blonde Summoner from before?”
“No.”
Sa Hyeon replied while zooming in on the red dot.
“Dangerous criminals—the kind who’d know a lot about those types.”
“…I see….”
Hae Sung lowered his eyes and bit his lip.
He’d almost asked if he could come along—glad he didn’t ask first….
While Hae Sung felt relieved.
Sa Hyeon took one final look at the precise location of his destination, then glanced back at the Director’s office.
‘Still has its uses, I suppose.’
It was just as he was about to leave.
“Ah! Sa Hyeon!”
Hae Sung held out the object he’d been cradling.
Sa Hyeon took it without concern, and as he unwrapped the white cloth, a black sword came into view.
“Mm.”
Sa Hyeon drew the blade with little interest.
A sword with spiny pattern engravings carved into its sharp edge.
It was the reward item from this Gate incursion.
After an unknown Awakener fled, and he’d pursued them into the Gate, he’d just left behind the rewards he’d obtained.
“While you were inside, I ran an Appraisal on it. Turned out to be just a standard D-Rank weapon.”
“The Gate’s changed, but the compensation stays the same.”
“Yes, but….”
Hae Sung scratched his cheek as he continued, his tone measured.
When Sa Hyeon pressed him forward with a look, Hae Sung nodded and went on.
“There’s a Latent Ability on it.”
“A Latent Ability?”
“Yes.”
Items with properties that enhance an Awakener’s stats or skills.
Even among items obtained from Gates, weapons with Latent Abilities appeared at an extremely low rate.
An additional trait that manifested randomly through a weapon merchant’s Reforging, for instance.
The problem was that the conditions for manifestation were demanding.
Specifically, it required Reforging by a blacksmith who possessed the Latent Ability Unlock skill.
Since this was an exceptionally rare skill, finding a suitable candidate proved difficult.
“While we’re at it, let’s look into it together.”
Sa Hyeon tossed the weapon into his Inventory, then rummaged inside for something else.
“Where are you going, sir?”
Could the vicious criminal actually be a blacksmith? Hae Sung’s curiosity got the better of him and he spoke up.
Meanwhile, Sa Hyeon drew out a Black Hat from within his Inventory.
He pulled it down over his head.
“……!”
Hae Sung’s eyes widened as he glanced up at Sa Hyeon without thinking.
A disguise item…?
Sa Hyeon’s features had shifted subtly.
“Nothing special.”
Everything had changed—from a black mark under his left eye that Hae Sung had never seen before, to features that seemed somehow gentler, to a voice grown softer altogether.
Except for his ashen eyes, it was difficult to recall his original face.
Sa Hyeon adjusted his Leather Gloves with casual ease.
“I’m going to dig up some information.”

* * *

A space thick with hazy cigarette smoke.
The sound of clinking glasses mixed chaotically with loud, raucous shouting.
“…Seeing it in person makes it even worse.”
Sa Hyeon, standing in the midst of it all, furrowed his brow sharply.
A den of gambling and drugs—a playground for the lawless.
He’d seen it so often through criminals’ memories that he’d grown accustomed to it, as if he’d always come here.
‘I should’ve asked for more restraints.’
Quite the spread, isn’t there.
Sa Hyeon let out a small breath and surveyed the dark hall methodically.
Several tables came into view, their occupants exchanging heated words laced with coarse profanity.
Among them, the innermost table.
His gaze settled on a particularly raucous one.

“—What the hell are you trying to pull with some skill trick?!”
Crash!
Min Yong, a man of massive build, brought his fist down on the table.
The table lurched violently,
and the cards and chips scattered chaotically across its surface.
Had it not been crafted from specialized material, the table would have split clean in two under such force.
“Skill trick? What are you talking about? Are you just making excuses because you lost?”
The man across from him laughed snidely.
Pathetic. The moment he reached out to sweep the chips toward himself,
“Don’t you dare.”
Min Yong grabbed his wrist and growled menacingly.
The atmosphere grew increasingly hostile.
“Ooooh!”
“Fight! Hahahaha!”
The other players at the table and those watching the game began egging them on.
The massive man rolled up his sleeves deliberately.
“See this?”
A small Hunter Association mark drawn on the inside of his wrist.
“……!”
“!”
Everyone present drew a sharp breath at the sight.
No one in this place could fail to understand what it meant.
It was a tattoo mark branded only on vicious criminals released from the Hunter Prison.
Reading the shift in mood, Min Yong spoke with satisfaction.
“You know what A018 is?”
“…….”
A gulp. The man whose wrist was seized swallowed hard.
“My Hunter Prison number. I survived interrogation by that mirror-faced bastard and got out in a single day. That’s what it is.”
Min Yong narrowed his eyes and whispered with menace.
“Mess with the wrong person and you might lose that wrist.”
“…….”
Just as everyone except Min Yong fell silent, breathing trembling and shallow—
“A18?”
A voice broke the silence.
“Who the hell is that?”
At the sharp, almost contemptuous tone, Min Yong bristled and spun around.
One hand shoved in a pocket, eyes raking over Min Yong’s face with deliberate scrutiny.
Ah. So that’s A18.
Sa Hyeon’s ashen eyes gleamed with sudden recognition.
“We meet often, don’t we?”

S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy 21

Author
Baek Ruga
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yun Tae-ri
Cover
Tonp

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260512043.0022

ⓒ2026, Baek Ruga

※ This e-book is protected under the copyright law of the Republic of Korea.
No part or whole of this work may be reprocessed 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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