The S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy - Chapter 58

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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 58

“So…….”
Yeom Sa-hyeon spoke quietly, resting his chin on his palm.
His gaze drifted toward the floor as he leaned at an angle in his chair.
“―You’re a Black Market broker?”
Kim Ju-im knelt before Sa-hyeon, trembling visibly.
He swallowed hard, barely managing to find his voice.
“Yes, yes…… That’s correct, sir.”
A broker.
The kind of fungal growth that peddled information to the Black Market and connected Hunters seeking illegal dealings with the organizations behind them.
Sa-hyeon let out a hollow laugh, shaking his head at the absurdity.
“A man who belongs in a cell has been guarding one?”
Kim Ju-im squeezed his eyes shut at Sa-hyeon’s bitter mockery.
Cheol-joong, watching from the side, folded his arms and asked bluntly.
“How’d a guy with a title like yours end up wading through filth like this?”
“……It was for money. At first, it was really just one small piece of information.”
Kim Ju-im’s voice shook with desperation.
Fresh intelligence from inside the Prison commanded real prices on the underground market.
“I gave them just one trivial bit of information, and I made a month’s salary in one transaction. After that…… I couldn’t stop. But, but I had my reasons too!”
“Spare me the excuses. Just the facts.”
Sa-hyeon cut through Kim Ju-im’s protests with cold finality.
He had no need to hear why the man had gotten involved in something so reckless.
He’d grown sick of hearing the same justifications repeated endlessly.
He leaned forward in his chair, bringing his eyes level with Kim Ju-im’s.
“That hat owner you mentioned earlier―why were you looking for him?”
Kim Ju-im couldn’t meet Sa-hyeon’s gaze and hastily looked away.
“He…… he was one of my clients.”
Lee Ha-je was one of the broker’s clients?
Sa-hyeon’s brow creased slightly.
Kim Ju-im fell silent, gauging Sa-hyeon’s reaction.
Sa-hyeon gave a subtle nod.
Kim Ju-im swallowed and continued.
“But his contact went dark a while ago…… and I still haven’t received the final payment. So I went looking for him.”
“What was the job?”
At Sa-hyeon’s pressing question, Kim Ju-im stammered out the information.
“There are Mana Stones being distributed quietly these days. Only high-purity ones, or Mutated Mana Stones. He asked me to uncover the network that’s appraising and distributing them separately.”
Cheol-joong raised an eyebrow.
“Black market Mana Stone trafficking―isn’t that already a thing?”
“…… I thought the same at first.”
Kim Ju-im’s lips trembled faintly.
“But those people…… they were selling Mana Stones for consumption.”
“…What?”
Sa-hyeon’s gaze turned glacial.
“Eating Mana Stones?! Why in hell would anyone be so insane?”
Cowed by Cheol-joong’s raised voice, Kim Ju-im shrank back and faltered.
“T-to raise their Awakening rank, or so they said, or for Non-Awakened people to achieve Awakening……”
“…Huh!”
“Lunatics.”
Rumors had been circulating quietly for some time.
‘You can grow stronger by eating Mana Stones.’
Of course, it wasn’t merely hearsay.
There had been a case overseas where a Non-Awakened who accidentally swallowed a Mana Stone during an accident had achieved Awakening.
But. Only once.
As cases of severe side effects threatening life itself mounted, Mana Stone consumption was internationally prohibited.
“…… The hat owner asked me to find where that Mana Stone distribution originates, to trace it back to its source.”
At Kim Ju-im’s continued account, Sa-hyeon’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“So―did you find it?”
“Not yet…… I haven’t been able to pin down their trail…….”
“And yet you’ve been collecting payment without fail.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon let out a derisive snort, and Kim Ju-im flinched at his own fear, pressing his forehead to the floor.
“S-sir, the thing is, they’re not biting the bait as readily as I expected! I’m terribly sorry!!”
Yeom Sa-hyeon furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue.
The most crucial information he didn’t have—useless, just as he’d thought.
“You’re not lying to me, are you?”
“N-no, of course not!! It’s all the truth!!”
Kim Ju-im nodded urgently.
“Still, I should verify.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon poked lightly at Kim Ju-im’s forehead with his index finger.
“Ah—hah!”
Kim Ju-im’s breath caught.
A sensation wholly foreign seized his body, paralyzing it.
A pain like his brain was being scraped raw.
Cold sweat poured from him as though it were raining.
“…….”
Yeom Sa-hyeon examined his aura in silence.
His aura wavered unstably under the weight of his fear, but he detected no trace of falsehood.
“That’s enough.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon withdrew his hand.
Kim Ju-im collapsed against the floor, breathing in ragged gasps.
Relief at survival and dread of what lay ahead mingled across his face.
“Will I…… be imprisoned now?”
“That would be the case.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon pulled his gloves back on and nodded.
“You were a Prison Guard yourself, so you know the system. Prepare yourself mentally.”
“Please!! I don’t want to go into that Underground Prison, not for anything! I’ll do whatever you ask!!”
Kim Ju-im crawled desperately across the floor.
The musty, oppressive air of the Underground Prison. The screams echoing through those corridors—the thought that they would soon be his own seized his throat.
“Is that so?”
Yeom Sa-hyeon replied with indifference.
After a moment’s reflection, a slight smile crept to the corners of his mouth.
“There is one way to reduce your sentence.”
“Just say the word! Anything, truly anything!!”
Kim Ju-im cried out as though in agony.
Yeom Sa-hyeon’s eyes flickered with satisfaction as he gestured to Cheol-joong.
“Cheol-joong, have you got a tracker or something? Give me one.”
“What am I, a general store? Every time you ask for something, out it comes?”
Cheol-joong muttered his complaints but retrieved a silver ring from his Inventory nonetheless.
“It’s a ring with tracking function. Once you put it on, it’s designed so you can’t remove it without the recognition device I built.”
“Understood?”
Yeom Sa-hyeon tossed the ring to Kim Ju-im.
“Try any funny business removing it, and you’ll learn what happens.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Kim Ju-im hastily accepted the ring and slipped it onto his own finger.
The shackle was fastened.
Yeom Sa-hyeon extended his hand toward Cheol-joong.
“The Core Fragment Pouch too.”
“…… You’re asking for this as well?”
Cheol-joong frowned and handed over a leather pouch that rested on the workbench.
It contained the Core Fragments that Yeom Sa-hyeon had recovered this time.
Cheol-joong rubbed his chin.
“Hmm, I’m not sure if this will do. The energy was unstable, so I’ve been waiting for it to stabilize.”
“These are people hunting for Mutated Mana Stones. There’s no better bait than this.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon gripped the pouch and turned back.
“Kim Ju-im.”
“Y-yes! Prison Guard!”
“Bring me the information you were looking for. And…….”
Yeom Sa-hyeon tossed the pouch to Kim Ju-im.
Kim Ju-im scrambled to catch it with both hands.
“Go shake it down once. Bring the goods back as they are.”
“Yes, yes! Understood!”
Kim Ju-im nodded his head repeatedly.
‘You, you bastard! You’re my savior!’
He clutched the pouch in his hand like a lifeline, gripping it with all his strength.
Yeom Sa-hyeon produced a small key.
Click.
The handcuffs that had been binding Kim Ju-im’s wrist came loose.
His face brightened immediately.
“Th-th-thank you!!”
But the gratitude was short-lived.
“Ah, I almost forgot.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon added casually.
“…Yes? Forgot what….”
Kim Ju-im’s expression froze.
An ominous feeling swept through him instinctively.
“It’s nothing much.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon gestured nonchalantly toward the pouch.
“Just be careful with what’s inside. It’ll explode if you handle it wrong.”
“……!”
“It’s the same one that already blew up the Underground Black Market.”
“……Eek!”

Nothing much, he says?!
How could this man mention a bomb so casually?!

* * *

Outside the Research Building.
“Phew, how did this streetlight end up snapped clean in half?”
“Did a dump truck come and smash into it?”
The Academy maintenance workers clustered around the broken streetlight, murmuring among themselves.
“Ha ha… Something like that.”
Hae-seong laughed awkwardly and nodded.
Then.
“…Huh?”
He caught sight of Kim Ju-im rushing out of the Research Building as if fleeing.
‘How…. How did he get out?’
There was no way Yeom Sa-hyeon would have let him go willingly.
“—Thank you for your help.”
Hae-seong bowed politely to the maintenance workers and headed straight for the Research Building.
Stepping into the Workshop, Yeom Sa-hyeon and Cheol-joong were seated as if nothing had happened.
Hae-seong’s eyes moved between the two of them.
“Did the conversation finish well?”
“More or less.”
When Yeom Sa-hyeon replied curtly, Cheol-joong shot him a sidelong glance and clicked his tongue.
“You sent him off to gather information while letting him go. That’s the kind of trouble you go looking for.”
“I see.”
Hae-seong gave a small nod.
So you released him on purpose after all.
‘He must be searching for the same information Lee Ha-je was looking for.’
Which meant you’d entrusted him with the task again.
As Hae-seong was making his inferences, Yeom Sa-hyeon casually asked.
“Was everything cleaned up outside?”
“Yes, of course. …But there is one problem.”
“A problem?”
“Reporters seem to have caught wind of the commotion outside the Academy. Inquiry calls have been pouring in to the school… How should we explain it?”
“These people really do love making trouble for themselves.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon let out a sigh and leaned back deeply into the sofa, then cast his gaze toward Cheol-joong beside him.
“Cheol-joong, how’s that badge work coming along?”
“Just needs a bit more fine-tuning. But why do you ask?”
“Perfect.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon’s mouth curved upward in a loose smile.
“…This bastard. He always grins like that right before he causes trouble.”
Cheol-joong muttered under his breath with a hint of unease.
Yeom Sa-hyeon crossed his legs and spoke with confidence.
“Cheol-joong, lend me your name for a bit.”
“……?”
What was this kid talking about? Lend his name? For what?
Cheol-joong turned to Hae-seong with a look demanding explanation.
Hae-seong’s expression grew awkward as he spoke slowly.
“It seems he wants to use your name to… cover up the commotion.”
“You cover up one commotion with an even bigger one.”
Yeom Sa-hyeon added with casual confidence.
Cheol-joong blinked, utterly bewildered.
The moment the meaning sank in, his expression twisted into something grim.
“……What the hell?!”

* * *

The next morning.
Urgent footsteps echoed through the Lecture Hall Building corridor.
Bang.
A student burst through the classroom door.
“Hey, hey! You guys haven’t seen the announcement yet?!”
All eyes in the classroom turned toward him.
Someone sighed quietly.
“What is it now? Are you gonna say you saw the future again with some Precognition Skill item?”
“You gotta admit it! That knockoff hat or whatever?”
Laughter erupted across the room.
“It’s not a knockoff!”
The student in the doorway adjusted a slate-blue hat over his head with indignation.
“This time it’s for real! There’s actually an announcement about Master Craftsman Gwak Cheol-joong!”
“Ha-ha-ha! Come on, at least make the announcement sound plausible!”
“Right? There are whole guilds lined up trying to recruit a Master Craftsman like that. Why would he ever come to the Academy?”
Scoffs and snickers rippled through the room.
Buzz. Buzz-buzz. Buzz.
Phone vibrations sounded from across the lecture hall.
“Huh?”
“What is it… an announcement alert?”
Students pulled out their phones one by one.
The moment they opened the announcement.
“…Wait.”
“…What is this?”
Laughter vanished from their faces.
And soon after.
“This can’t be real?!”
“It’s serious??”
“We have to go to this!!”
The atmosphere had flipped in an instant.
Ryu-ah, who had just stepped into the classroom, blinked in confusion.
“What? What’s going on?”
Ryu-ah checked the announcement herself, a beat too late.
Her eyes widened instantly.
She grabbed her classmate’s arm in the corner—the one asleep at a desk—and shook it roughly.
“Hey, Kang Mu-geon, wake up! Wake up! Did you see this?”
“…Huh, what…….”
Mu-geon lifted his head groggily.
Ryu-ah’s phone was thrust in front of his face.
The moment Kang Mu-geon’s half-lidded eyes absently grazed the screen, Ryu-ah cried out.
“Master Craftsman Gwak Cheol-joong is giving a special lecture at the Academy!!”
“…What?”
‘Gwak Cheol-joong’?
The instant that name caught his ear, Kang Mu-geon’s eyes snapped open.
His gaze locked onto the notice.
“Huh?!”

[Special Lecture Invitation: Master Craftsman Gwak Cheol-joong
–Selected Participants: 50
–Location: Artifact Research Lab, Research Building, Academy
…….]

“The Master Craftsman?!”

S-Rank Prison Guard Devours the Academy — Chapter 58

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

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260512043.0059

ⓒ2026, Baek Ru-ga

※ This e-book is a work protected under the Copyright Law of the Republic of Korea.
No part of this work may be reproduced, processed, or transmitted in any form or by any means 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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