The S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy - Chapter 22

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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 22

Sa Hyeon gripped the wrist bearing the Marking.
Every eye in the vicinity fixed on his Black Gloves.
“What are you supposed to be? Some interrogator cosplay?”
One of the Hunters let out a snort of laughter.
The mocking tone shattered the cold tension that had settled over the room, and raucous laughter erupted.
“Is it Halloween today?”
“Haha, even wearing a Mirror Mask—what’s the deal?”
“How did a brat like that end up in a place like this?”
These days, people obsessed with dark hero stories went around imitating interrogators all the time!
While everyone burst into laughter,
…….
there was one who could not laugh.
Min Yong, still gripped by the wrist, had gone rigid.
‘…Those eyes.’
The gaze that met him straight-on beneath the Hat’s brim.
When he locked eyes with those eerie gray irises, his heart lurched without warning.
Then a Hunter’s voice snapped his attention back.
“Hey, kid—do you even know where you are to be talking so tough? The person you’ve got hold of is A-Rank. Fresh out of Prison Release, no less!”
…Right. An interrogator wouldn’t be here, would they?
When Awakeners manifested, their eye color changing was a common Physical Mutation.
There had to be plenty of Hunters with gray irises like that.
To have panicked just because their eye color matched.
I was being too paranoid.
Min Yong threw a contemptuous laugh at himself and tried to wrench his captured arm free—
“Seems you don’t understand the situation….”
—but why wouldn’t his arm move?
No matter how much force he exerted, the grasped arm wouldn’t budge an inch.
There exists a Hunter stronger than me…?
While Min Yong spiraled into confusion, his opponent remained calm.
“I think it’s you who needs to understand the situation.”
Sa Hyeon slowly narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.
“Your rehabilitation seems incomplete. Perhaps because you didn’t serve the full two hours?”
……!
Min Yong’s breath caught.
Two… two hours…?
A voice flashed through his mind.

─
Number 18, I’ll wrap you up in two hours, special deal.

“Since we’ve met this way, why don’t we fill in the remaining time?”
The eerie voice from the voice-modulated Mirror Mask layered over that gentle tone.
…….
A chilling shudder crawled up his spine.
It’s him.
Why is the interrogator here? Did he figure out the deal and come to arrest me? I thought he never came to the Surface World!
The fear Marked across his entire body paralyzed Min Yong’s mind.
And then came the final, crushing premonition.
‘I’m screwed.’
The hand Sa Hyeon held began to tremble violently.

* * *

Hunter Gambling House, private room.
In the silent chamber, two figures sat in different postures.
Sa Hyeon reclined casually at the seat of honor; Min Yong knelt miserably at his feet.
Is that really his face? Looks milder than I’d expected. …Though his features do seem familiar somehow.
Beneath the Hat, she caught a glimpse of Sa Hyeon’s true face—disguised by an item.
“How you managed a Prison Release this quickly is painfully obvious….”
Sa Hyeon propped his chin on his hand, parting his lips to speak.
Min Yong’s massive, muscular frame trembled slightly.
“Looks like your dealings with the National Director went smoothly.”
His earlier boasting about walking out of prison in no time hadn’t been mere hot air, it seemed.
“Th-that is… how did you….”
“Obvious.”
Sa Hyeon let out a quiet, hollow laugh.
“That Marking isn’t something you’d carve on just to show off like before.”
He gestured with his chin toward the Marking etched on Min Yong’s wrist.
The National Director’s Skill.
As long as the Marking persisted, the user could track the marked subject’s location.
It was primarily used on those released from prison after heinous crimes.
“Given that you’ve got it, you didn’t escape. The National Director personally let you out.”
“Th-that is….”
Sa Hyeon’s words had struck a nerve.
Min Yong’s shoulders—three times the width of Sa Hyeon’s—shrank to half their size.
“But what brings you to the Surface World? Are you here on assignment?”
He swallowed hard, forcing an obsequious smile as he asked.
Surely he hadn’t come to haul him back? He had no desire to return to that basement ever again!
“Something like that.”
Sa Hyeon replied casually.
Min Yong’s heart sank like a stone.
Sa Hyeon leaned forward, meeting his eyes.
“You need to connect me with that broker you work with.”
“A-a broker?!”
Seized by panic, Min Yong tried to weasel out of it.
But Sa Hyeon only let out a soft snort.
“No point lying. I’ve already pulled everything from your head.”
Even your bank PIN.
At his mocking addition, Min Yong squeezed his eyes shut.
This damned devil!
Yet this one thing—this he absolutely could not do.
That broker was someone he’d barely managed to get introduced to himself!
As Min Yong’s lips sealed tight, Sa Hyeon made a low sound in his throat and adjusted the Black Gloves on his hands.
…That was when the hell had begun, wasn’t it? The moment he’d taken off those gloves?
Min Yong’s pupils dilated sharply at that instant when Sa Hyeon opened his mouth.
“You going to cooperate willingly, or do I find him myself and drag you along?”
Min Yong cried out immediately.
“I-I’ll do it!! Just give me the word!!”
Better dead than suffer through that torment twice.
Only then did Sa Hyeon casually broach the main subject.
“Do you know anything about the Red Stones found inside Gates?”
“Red Stones, you say?”
“When a boss ate one, it went berserk and the Gate’s Rank jumped up by two levels….”
“What? I’ve never heard of such a thing….”
So what should he do now.
At Sa Hyeon’s eye signal, Min Yong answered briskly.
“I’ll find out.”
Sa Hyeon raised his eyebrow with satisfaction and opened his inventory, pulling out an item.
It was the core and reward items he’d extracted from the boss in the Physical Mutation.
“Investigate these as well.”
Sa Hyeon tossed them over, and Min Yong fumbled to catch them.
“Y-yes! Understood.”
“Find it all by this time tomorrow.”
“…By tomorrow?! That’s awfully short notice…!”
Min Yong’s head snapped up.
At that same moment, Sa Hyeon’s eyes met his.
“…I’ll do my best.”
Min Yong’s eyes snapped open, and he forced his lips upward into something like a smile.
Sa Hyeon rose from his seat and gave Min Yong’s shoulder a light pat.
“If you don’t want to make up those two hours you fell short on, do it right.”
Min Yong’s lips quivered.
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
“One last thing—the most important one.”
Again? What is he doing, giving me only one day and asking for so much?!
Min Yong aired his grievances inwardly while bowing his head.
“Yes, sir. Just tell me.”
Sa Hyeon’s eyes turned cold and sharp.
“I need you to find someone.”

* * *

The next day, Academy Professor Building.
Knock-knock.
The sharp tap pierced Sa Hyeon’s eardrums like an awl, shattering the silence.
He scrunched his brow hard and barely managed to crack his eyes open when bright sunlight stabbed straight into his pupils.
“…I really need to hang some blackout curtains in here.”
Sa Hyeon muttered a crude curse and pushed himself up.
His head felt like it was splitting apart—he’d been reckless with his skills yesterday for no good reason.
He shuffled slowly toward the sound of movement beyond the door.
The door swung open.
“Ah, Sa Hyeon! You’ve returned safely!”
Hae Sung stood there, relief and pleasure clear in his voice.
Sa Hyeon leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and pressed his thumb firmly against his brow.
“What is it?”
“Well, the thing is…”
Hae Sung handed over a thick sheaf of papers he’d been holding.
“I came to brief you on today’s class schedule. The first lesson begins at ten in the morning—it’s a joint session of Combat Class A and Combat Class B doing practical sparring. This is a report I prepared, and I’ve summarized the lesson materials that your predecessor had been using.”
Sa Hyeon flipped through the papers with indifferent fingers.
Page after page crammed densely with printed text.
“This is making me dizzy.”
Sa Hyeon handed the stack back to Hae Sung as if dismissing it.
“Combat Class A must be those three blockheads who went to the Gate yesterday. What about Class B?”
Hae Sung accepted the report back into his arms, suddenly snapping to attention with military precision.
“Combat Class B consists of second-semester students who’ve passed the test. Three of them in total, and all A-Rank.”
So there are three more of the same type, then.
Sa Hyeon nodded vaguely in acknowledgment and checked his wristwatch.
Roughly two hours remained before the class.
‘Might as well sleep a bit more.’
Sa Hyeon was narrowing his eyes in contemplation when Hae Sung spoke up.
“Have you had breakfast yet? The Academy dining hall is especially famous for its food, I’ve heard. The Rector apparently hired a chef with culinary expertise traits.”
“Money to burn, apparently.”
They should be spending that on Return Stones instead.
As Sa Hyeon let out a cynical remark, Hae Sung added brightly with gleaming eyes:
“This morning they’re serving beef bulgogi in a clay pot and Korean beef seaweed soup!”
He reported it with such enthusiasm, as if he’d uncovered something momentous, that Sa Hyeon let out a short, dry laugh.
“You remember everything, don’t you?”
“I studied the Academy guide I received yesterday thoroughly. The meal schedule was attached to it.”
The Record-keeper Trait reduced to memorizing lunch menus.
Sa Hyeon sighed.
Talent wasted to this degree bordered on sin.
‘I’ll need to retool him into something actually useful…’
Sa Hyeon’s gaze swept slowly over Hae Sung, from feet to crown.
“Never mind the food. Did you do your morning training?”
Hae Sung cocked his head in confusion.
“…The students, sir? Oh, I did notice Eun O was on the Practice Grounds since early dawn.”
“No. You.”
“…Me?”
Hae Sung blinked, then smiled with visible uncertainty.
“…Well, yes, I’ve been working on it, but… compared to other Awakeners, it’s pretty pathetic, really.”
After yesterday’s trip to the Gate with Sa Hyeon, Hae Sung had felt it bone-deep.
That he was deadweight in the field. At this rate, he’d be nothing but a useless Awakener.
But despite his eagerness, as a non-combat Awakener, he had no idea where to even begin.
Just then, Sa Hyeon’s eyebrows shot up.
“Good.”
“Pardon?”
Before Hae Sung could even wonder what was good about any of this, Sa Hyeon asked first.
“Do you have practice monsters here?”
“…Ah! Yes, of course!”
Hae Sung immediately pulled out his Tablet.
“There’s a separate management wing in the Training Hall Basement where we keep specimens captured for practice drills. Mostly D-Grade and E-Grade monsters.”
“That so?”
Sa Hyeon answered with a lazy tilt of his head, neck cracking softly.
“Then prepare them. Pick out suitable specimens and get their stats ready for me.”
“Yes, understood. Are these for the lesson, then?”
“That too, and also some training.”
“You’re going to train against practice monsters?”
Hae Sung couldn’t help but ask, bewildered.
The weight class difference would be far too overwhelming for an S-Rank like Sa Hyeon.
Sa Hyeon’s expression soured, as if the very question was absurd.
“You think so?”
“Then…”
“You.”
Sa Hyeon’s words came lightly, and he tilted his head toward Hae Sung.
Hae Sung’s mind buffered.
A beat too slow, his mouth fell open.
“…Me?!”

S-Rank Prison Guard Devours the Academy — Episode 22

Author
Baek Luga
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yoon Tae-ri
Cover Design
Tonp

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260512043.0023

ⓒ2026, Baek Luga

※ This electronic book is protected under the copyright laws of the Republic of Korea.
No part of this work may be reproduced or modified in any form without the permission of 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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