The S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy - Chapter 39

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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 39

“This is so humiliating….”
Goyo Guild Headquarters.
Bisoo sprawled across the polished marble floor, sniffling pathetically.
As a top-ranked Ranker and a core member of the Goyo Guild, Bisoo was treated with respect wherever he went.
But now he looked every bit like a mouse that had barely escaped a trap.
He rubbed his right foot—only just recovered—and trembled, shaking out the pain.
“Damn it, that interrogator… I swear I’ll make him pay for this one day!”
He glared at the ceiling and ground his teeth, but the moment Sa Hyeon’s face crossed his mind, a chill ran down his spine.

—Your ability seems pretty convenient. Must be nice.

That low, murmuring voice. Those eyes, burned into his memory like a brand.
Bisoo wanted to deny that his heart was still racing faster than usual.
“I never thought I’d feel so grateful for my Guild Master!”
He shot to his feet in indignation and yanked open the door to the Guild Master’s Office.
The office was bright and immaculate.
Baek Iwon sat at his desk, eyes fixed on his smartphone.
His platinum-blonde hair caught the fluorescent light, gleaming almost unnaturally bright.
His gaze shifted toward Bisoo, who had burst in without warning.
“Why are you so angry?”
At Iwon’s bewildered question, Bisoo erupted.
“That insane interrogator is even more vicious than the rumors! What kind of personality disorder is that?!”
Watching Bisoo stomp his feet indignantly in place, Iwon’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t tell me… you actually went to meet him in person?”
Bisoo grinned shamelessly and stepped closer to Iwon.
“Well, this ‘Mirror Mask’ is teaching at the Academy, so how could I not be curious?”
Before Iwon could even respond, Bisoo’s complaints came pouring out like a broken dam.
“Listen—I mean, at least you’re generous with cab fare. But that demon of an interrogator, he threatened me so terrifyingly that next time we meet, he’s just gonna use me as his personal shuttle! How is someone like that even allowed to work as a correctional officer?! At this rate, shouldn’t he be the criminal?!”
As Bisoo rattled off his grievances, Iwon sighed and set down his smartphone.
“I told you not to go looking for trouble. He’s not someone worth antagonizing.”
Having overheard the Management Bureau director’s conversation, Iwon had already warned Bisoo many times.
But Bisoo tapped the table with his knuckles, brazenly unconcerned.
“I just thought you seemed interested in that interrogator, so I wanted to ask what your connection was—”
Iwon exhaled quietly, then arched an eyebrow and asked pointedly:
“So, did you get an answer?”
Oh, he’s curious!
Bisoo’s lips curled into a smirk.
This is exactly the kind of moment to tease the boss about. Too bad all I have is complaints about the interrogator.
Bisoo clicked his tongue and shrugged.
“The interrogator wouldn’t tell me either. Come on, tell me—or I’ll just go find him again!”
Of course, that was a lie.
I’m never meeting that monster again. Never.
I’d rather run an A-rank Gate ten times with the Guild Master than face him again!
His strength was incredible.
Now Bisoo understood why those vicious prisoners were utterly helpless against him.
If someone ranked 11th could be completely overpowered, just how strong was he? Stronger than the Guild Master, maybe?
“Stop creating situations where you’ll run into him.”
Iwon turned away with obvious distaste.
Yet Bisoo’s gaze remained stubbornly fixed on him.
Eventually, Iwon let out a weary sigh.
“I really don’t know him. We’ve never even met.”
“No way! You’re the Guild Master!”
Bisoo’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Iwon had a free pass through not just the domestic sphere, but the International Hunter Association itself.
With him being called around everywhere, was there really anyone from the Association he hadn’t met yet?
He’d never encountered the interrogator before?
“Well, it hasn’t been long since I awakened before the interrogator went down into the underground.”
In fact, Sa Hyeon had chosen to descend into the Underground Prison voluntarily five years ago, and the timing was subtly misaligned with when Baek Iwon had begun making a name for himself as a Ranker.
“Still, whenever you’ve patrolled gates and caught vicious criminals, you’ve brought them down there yourself! Remember?”
“I only handed them over to the Management Bureau.”
Iwon replied lightly, and Bisoo nodded in understanding, bobbing his head.
“Right. We don’t have reason to go all the way down there. But why are you so concerned? Is this some kind of rivalry?”
“Rivalry? Hardly.”
Iwon let out a small, hollow laugh.
“I already don’t approve of the interrogator’s methods. There’s no way I’d bother with something like rivalry.”
Iwon was one of those who disliked Sa Hyeon’s approach—breaking his subjects’ minds to interrogate them.
Bisoo, who knew Iwon’s disposition well, found he had no choice but to accept this explanation readily.
“Then why are you so concerned? You chased all the way to the Guild Master’s Office and pried for information.”
Faced with Bisoo’s sharp questioning, Iwon found he had no grounds for rebuttal, and he wetted his lips with an embarrassed expression.
After a moment of silence, he reluctantly opened his mouth.
“…I suppose I’m curious about the interrogator’s background.”
“Oh, really? I’m curious too—how did that guy become such a wreck of a person?”
Bisoo agreed, his face serious.
Normally, once a Mental Ability was confirmed, even low-ranked users were strictly managed by the state or international organizations.
The interrogator was an S-rank Mental Ability.
The reason he’d ended up working as an interrogator in a prison…
Bisoo, now thoughtful himself, perked up and made a proposal.
“Then why don’t we go ask him directly right now? I’ll open the way for you!”
Of course, he had no intention of going himself—only the Guild Master would go.
Recalling that dreadful experience in Sa Hyeon’s office just moments ago, cold sweat was beading up on his forehead.
It was scary, sure, but his curiosity was unbearable. Damn it.
Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) Iwon refused.
“No, there’s no need to stir up trouble with the interrogator. You already got the full treatment, didn’t you?”
He exhaled a helpless breath as if to say he couldn’t be stopped, and picked up his smartphone again.
Ah, such a shame—but why does it feel like a relief?
Bisoo wet his dry lips and shook his head.
“That’s right. The guy’s seriously terrifying. If you actually met the interrogator, you’d understand why he’s got all those damn descriptors attached to his name.”
“…Bisoo. Your mouth.”
Iwon pressed his forehead with a sigh, his head throbbing.
That rough manner of speech showed no sign of ever improving.
Bisoo paid no heed and sprawled lazily across the sofa, speaking with shameless ease.
“Well, as long as the interrogator stays up on the surface, there’s no reason he and the Guild Master wouldn’t naturally run into each other, right?”
Iwon lowered his gaze back to his phone and answered curtly.
“True.”
A fortune app pop-up on the screen glowed brightly.
His eyes lingered for a moment on the fortune cookie message fixed in the center of the display.

[Your choices are already moving toward the correct answer.]

“I hope nothing happens and things just pass without incident…”
Iwon tossed his phone onto the desk and turned his gaze out the window.
Since the Dungeon Break erupted, this was the first peaceful dawn in a long time.

* * *

The next day, in Sa Hyeon’s room where not a sliver of light could enter.
The blackout curtains that Yu Wol had carefully installed were doing their job perfectly.
After a night spent battling with an exchange student and an intruder, it was a silence finally reclaimed.
But that peace did not last long.
Buzz—buzz—buzz—
The smartphone at the head of the bed emitted a loud vibration and traversed the nightstand.
Sa Hyeon furrowed his brow fiercely and reached out his hand.

[Gwak Cheoljung]

The name of the caller displayed on the screen.
Sa Hyeon answered the call with half-hearted fingers.
The moment he tapped accept, a booming voice burst through the speaker loud enough to make his ears ring.

-Ha! So the number wasn’t wrong after all!

Sa Hyeon instinctively held the smartphone a hand’s breadth away from his ear.
He dragged a palm across his face, his voice low and flat.
“…What is it, this early.”

-Early? You’re still sleeping? It’s nearly noon! You dump work on an adult and then lounge around like you haven’t a care!

“State your business.”
At Sa Hyeon’s curt response, the sound of Cheoljung clicking his tongue came through crisp and clear.

-Your attitude really hasn’t changed one bit, has it.

A long sigh filtered through the speaker.

-About that job you left with me.

But soon the playfulness drained from that voice, replaced by something grave.

-The weapon forging is done. You’re sure this came from an E-rank Dungeon? Once I unlocked its latent potential, the aura it gives off is extraordinary. It rivals a high-grade weapon.

“The performance?”

-It’s almost too good for something E-rank. But that’s not the problem.

Cheoljung’s voice dropped lower still.

-That purple core you sent along with it. It’s no ordinary specimen. From the moment I started examining it, something felt off, but I’ve never seen anything thrash around like this. What exactly did you bring back?

Sa Hyeon’s closed eyelids slowly lifted open.
The Ignis Moloch Core he’d obtained from the variant Gate.
Seeing that Yu Wol’s organization was also after it had made him suspect there was something special about it, but for even Gwak to speak this way…
“So. Are you still inspecting it?”

-Should be finished by tonight. I’ll have it ready by this evening, so come get it yourself. Understood?

Sa Hyeon slowly pushed himself upright, cracking his neck side to side.
“House calls aren’t an option?”

-You brat! If you don’t show up, I’ll sell the whole thing off, I swear it!

Click.
The call ended the moment Gwak had said his piece.
Staring at the disconnected screen, Sa Hyeon let out a quiet, mirthless laugh.
Still not thinking about his own temperament, that one.
Everything from the weapon to the core—the work had finished faster than expected.
He’d thought maybe tonight he’d finally crack through the barrier lodged in Yu Wol’s mind….
As he closed his eyes and mentally traced out his route, a sound cut through the silence.
Knock-knock.
In the quiet, a knock rang out.
“Sa Hyeon, are you awake? It’s Yun Haeseong.”
Something urgent hung in that voice.
“I think you’ll need to come out for a moment….”
Sa Hyeon tilted his head back and exhaled a long breath.
One crisis after another, it never ends.

S-rank Warden Devours the Academy – Episode 39

Author
Baek Luga
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yun Taeri
Cover Design
Tonp

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260512043.0040

ⓒ2026, Baek Luga

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