The S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy - Chapter 45

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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 45

Boom-boom-BOOM!
A massive tremor shattered through the Underground Market.
The scene had descended into chaos.
Merchants and customers screamed, scattering in panic.
A colossal Gate had erupted through the ceiling.
The pressure pouring from its menacing Crimson Rift crushed the air itself.
“…….”
Sa Hyeon moved against the tide of fleeing people, his stride purposeful and unhurried.
“S-Sa Hyeon! Let’s go together!”
Hae Seong gasped as he struggled to keep up.
When Sa Hyeon stopped at the crater’s edge, he came to stand beside him.
A massive pit had opened around the Gate as if from some great explosion.
Hae Seong peered down into the chasm, following Sa Hyeon’s gaze.
In the midst of the rubble stood a towering Gate, grotesque and imposing.
And around it, thick with—
“Mist…?”
A red mist, the color of blood.
Hae Seong muttered, dazed.
Sa Hyeon’s eyes swept across the desolate sight with clinical coldness.
His gaze caught on something beyond the chaos.
A dark-red fissure rippling beyond the Gate itself.
“Found it at last.”
A thin smile crossed Sa Hyeon’s lips as he leaped into the pit without hesitation.
“W-wait! Sa Hyeon! It’s dangerous to get close!”
Hae Seong’s cry came too late; Sa Hyeon had already landed gracefully on the bottom.
The origin point of the Gate was exactly as he’d predicted.
Gwak Cheol-jung’s Workshop.
Equipment that had been on display lay scattered everywhere, while only the sturdy forge remained standing, solitary and intact.
“…….”
Not a trace of anyone’s presence lingered.
Sa Hyeon’s cold gaze fixed on the forge.
The Gate exhaled a desolate wind, mixed with wisps of red vapor.
And within it, a faint crimson glow flickered.
‘Is this what Lee Ha-je was talking about?’
Sa Hyeon moved slowly toward the Gate.
An unpleasant sensation crawled across his skin like insects—the touch of tainted Mana.
Why here, of all places?
The question had haunted his thoughts on the way here.
Whatever this red light was, he would root it out completely this time, tear it from its source.
He advanced toward the Gate with deliberate strides.
The wind from within the Gate swept harshly through his hair.
He was just about to reach his hand into it—
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, you reckless bastard!”
A familiar roar came thundering from above.
“…!”
Sa Hyeon froze mid-motion.
Before he could even look up, a massive figure hurled itself down into the underground chamber.
Crash!
A man landed hard, kicking up a gust of wind.
“Do you have any idea what that thing is? Don’t you dare lay a finger on it! How many lives do you think you have?!”
It was Gwak Cheol-jung, covered head to foot in dust.
Sa Hyeon’s eyes widened slightly.
“…You didn’t die, old man?”
“You reckless fool—you’ve been treating me like I’m already dead!”
Gwak Cheol-jung tightened his grip on the Hammer in his hand, his voice trembling with fury.
Then again, he was a man who possessed skill and physical prowess that rivaled high-tier S-class Hunters.
There’s no way I’m going down from just this much shockwave.
Sa Hyeon’s hollow laugh drew a sharp reaction from Gwak Cheol-jung, who bristled and shouted.
“What’s so funny, you fool? Didn’t anyone teach you as a kid not to touch things you don’t understand? Get out of there, now!”
Gwak Cheol-jung stormed forward as if he’d heft his hammer any second, each footstep heavy with fury.
Hae Seong arrived a moment later, picking his way through the rubble.
“Whoa, hold on—please, calm down!”
He rushed over and grabbed Gwak Cheol-jung’s arm, trying to restrain him.
“What is this paper doll doing here?! Let go of me! You’ll break your bones at this rate!”
Gwak Cheol-jung swung the hammer about excitedly, brandishing it in the air.
His wrist snap was still intact—he looked unharmed.
Sa Hyeon observed this dryly.
Meanwhile, every time Gwak Cheol-jung shook his arm free, Hae Seong fluttered about like laundry caught in a gust of wind.
“Alright, that’s enough.”
Any more of this and we’ll just end up with more casualties.
Sa Hyeon finally relented, raising both hands in surrender and stepping back from the Gate.
“Damn it, you should’ve done that from the start!”
Only then did Gwak Cheol-jung snort and lower his hammer.
“So what’s this one, anyway?”
He looked down dubiously at Hae Seong, who hung limply from his arm.
Sa Hyeon clicked his tongue.
“Asking already.”
Hae Seong shook his head vigorously as if to clear the dizziness, then straightened up and bowed deeply at the waist.
“Forgive the late introduction, sir. I’m Yun Hae Seong, aide to Sa Hyeon.”
“An aide?”
Gwak Cheol-jung raised one eyebrow skeptically.
He glanced between the formally upright Hae Seong and the casually slouching Sa Hyeon, then nodded as if it suddenly made sense.
“I see. Given your usual behavior, you’d probably need someone around to clean up after you. The Association chairman must be putting in some effort.”
Sa Hyeon made no move to respond to this barb, his expression unmoved.
He gazed at the Gate that rippled in the empty air and asked, “Skip the pleasantries. What happened?”
A Gate had manifested in the dead center of Gwak Cheol-jung’s Workshop.
Normally, Gate appearance locations were determined at random.
Of course, areas like the Combat Zone Area saw Gates appear with higher frequency.
But there was no precise mechanism to explain how emergence sites were determined.
Yet one had appeared here, of all places.
Sa Hyeon looked back at Gwak Cheol-jung with narrowed eyes.
“…Damn.”
Gwak Cheol-jung ran his rough hands through his hair roughly.
“I’m pretty sure it’s because of that core you left with me.”
“…A core? You don’t mean the one we got this time?”
Hae Seong’s eyes went wide as he grasped what Gwak Cheol-jung was referring to.
Sa Hyeon narrowed his gaze as if he’d already anticipated this.
“Is it connected to that infection degree?”
The Boss that had swallowed the Red Stone.
The Gate rank shift that followed.
And the infection degree detected in that Boss’s core.
Gwak Cheol-jung nodded.
“Seems like it. I found fragments of that crimson stone glinting inside the purple core. I was trying to carve it out carefully, but suddenly the surrounding Mana erupted, and everything went to hell in an instant.”
“Where’s the core now?”
“That’s the thing. I had to dodge so quickly I didn’t get a chance to check.”
Gwak Cheol-jung’s gaze turned toward the Gate, which pulsed with a deep crimson light.
“It’s probably in there.”
……
Looks like we’ll have to go in and find it ourselves.
As Sa Hyeon steeled his resolve, Gwak Cheol-jung added in a grave voice:
“But here’s the thing. That stone doesn’t look like a naturally formed Mana Stone. There were faint marks—signs of deliberate craftsmanship.”
“…What? You’re saying…”
Hae Seong blinked, his face going slack as he grasped the implication.
“It was made by human hands?”
Sa Hyeon asked bluntly, and Gwak Cheol-jung answered with a deep sigh.

“Right. Someone is deliberately creating these situations.”
“…Huh.”
Hae Seong exhaled sharply.
So this Gate was also created by humans? How? And why on earth?
Only incomprehensible questions lingered in the air.
Gwak Cheol-jung raked his massive hand roughly through his hair.
“A Dungeon Break situation, and now this on top of it…. I don’t know who or why someone would pull such a stunt, but it’s giving me a headache.”
“We won’t know unless we go inside and look.”
Sa Hyeon answered with crisp certainty.
The moment he adjusted his Black Gloves, both men moved to stop him.
“Are you insane? Do you have any idea what’s in there?!”
“You can’t, it’s far too dangerous!”
Sa Hyeon’s brow furrowed sharply as he regarded the two blocking his path.
“Will we get anywhere just debating this here?”
“Even so, wait for the investigation team! The energy we’re sensing from outside is already abnormal—no matter who you are, this is reckless. We need to be more careful….”
“How long do you think that investigation will take? What if something in there breaks out in the meantime? That’d be a far greater catastrophe, wouldn’t it?”
“Well, that’s…”
Hae Seong bit his lip.
A Sudden Gate meant that no one could predict what might happen.
Whether a Boss Monster would burst out. Whether hundreds, or thousands of monsters would pour forth—no one could say.
That very unpredictability was why a Sudden Gate had to be contained and conquered immediately upon manifestation.
“……Is this bastard actually trying to get hit, spouting nothing but true things?”
Gwak Cheol-jung ground his teeth.
Still, he couldn’t let the man go in alone like this.
He’d thought his old comrade dead—he couldn’t push him back into danger a second time, not like this.
Yet he also knew that knowing Sa Hyeon as he did, there was no breaking through that stubbornness.
“Damn it!”
If I go with him, I’ll only be a hindrance—what the hell am I supposed to do?
Gwak Cheol-jung vented his frustration by pulverizing innocent ceiling fragments.
“If there’s nothing else, I’m going.”
“Hey, you!”
“Sa Hyeon!”
Sa Hyeon, his patience exhausted, was turning to slip past both of them when—
Whoooosh—
A sudden wave of pristine, refined Mana surged in, and Sa Hyeon’s eyes narrowed as he turned his head.
A powerful presence felt from far away.
That presence was drawing rapidly closer.
Hae Seong and Gwak Cheol-jung, still gripping Sa Hyeon’s arms, turned to look in the same direction.
“! This presence….”
Gwak Cheol-jung sensed it first.
Sa Hyeon tried to wrench his arms free and remove his gloves in response to the ominous aura.
‘…Reinforcements?’
He felt the tension drain from his body as he observed Gwak Cheol-jung’s calm reaction.
The next instant.
Whoooosh—!
A sword wind cut through the mist of the Gate.
Through that gap, someone touched down on the collapsed Workshop.
A man sheathing a Long Sword with fluid grace.
“…Uh? Uh-uh-uh?!”
Hae Seong’s hand flew to his mouth as recognition struck him.
Wind from the Gate scattered his platinum hair in disarray.
“B-Baek I-won the hunter?!”
South Korea’s number-one ranked hunter, Baek I-won.
At Hae Seong’s cry, Sa Hyeon turned his blank gaze toward the newcomer.
“Master!”
Baek I-won rushed over urgently to check on Gwak Cheol-jung’s condition.
“What brings you here too?”
Gwak Cheol-jung greeted Baek I-won with evident relief.
Yes—sending that reckless fool in alone was far worse than having Baek I-won accompany him!
Inwardly, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
“Of course I had to come. I’m relieved you made it through safely.”
Baek I-won exhaled with relief, his expression warm and composed.
His gaze drifted naturally toward the unfamiliar group accompanying Sa Hyeon.
“But these people….”
Then his eyes came to rest squarely on Sa Hyeon.
Baek I-won’s smile faded.
The description Bi-su had given matched perfectly.
Black garments like a messenger of death, eyes the color of ash—so unsettling in their chill—and a relaxed stance, weight shifted to one leg in an air of casual composure….
“……An Interrogator?”
Baek I-won’s brow tightened as he spoke.
“Ha…….”
Sa Hyeon let out a brief sigh of exasperation.
Honestly, he didn’t know whose mouth to shut first.
He’d gone to the trouble of removing his mask and coming up here just to avoid entangling himself in tedious matters, and yet everyone seemed to know who he was.
“…….”
“…….”
Eyes sharp with wariness met eyes cast down in annoyance.
The two gazes locked in silence.

An S-Class Instructor Devours the Academy — Chapter 45

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

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260512043.0046

ⓒ2026, Baek Ru-ga

※ This e-book is a work protected under the Copyright Law of South Korea.
No part of this work may be reproduced or processed 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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