The S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy - Chapter 8

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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 8

“This can’t be real….”
Hae Seong muttered in a daze.
To think he could dispatch a Creature Falcon in such a short span of time.
Hae Seong’s astonishment didn’t end there. The spear, moments ago caked in blood, had reverted to its original shabby form—a plain iron spear.
“Haven’t had to exert myself like that in a while. I’m worn out.”
Sa Hyeon rolled his neck side to side with deliberate clicks. His red irises had already faded back to their ashen gray.
‘His eyes change color when he activates a skill!’
Hae Seong was still watching Sa Hyeon, frozen in fascination, when—
Sa Hyeon quirked an eyebrow and extended his hand.
“Gloves.”
“Oh! Yes, right here.”
Hae Seong immediately opened his inventory and retrieved Sa Hyeon’s gloves from where he’d stowed them, offering them with both hands in a respectful gesture.
Sa Hyeon casually tossed the iron spear to the ground and pulled on the gloves.
‘So the skill is activated through direct hand contact. That’s why he wears gloves normally.’
Hae Seong continued to piece together his observations.
His body gave a violent start the moment he glimpsed Sa Hyeon’s face.
A face drenched in blood.
The black clothing had hidden most of it, but his whole body—not just his face—was caked in gore.
“Um, Sa Hyeon. There’s blood on your face….”
Hae Seong ventured carefully.
Sa Hyeon clicked his tongue and wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve.
“Filthy nuisance.”
The gesture seemed oddly familiar.
As he furrowed his brow beneath the crimson streaks, Sa Hyeon’s already fierce features took on an even more menacing cast.
Hae Seong’s eyes naturally dropped away.
Separate from the fear Sa Hyeon’s harsh expression inspired, Hae Seong found himself replaying the combat in his mind.
‘With that level of power, he could’ve handled the Falcon without resorting to something tedious like sense disruption.’
Yet he’d demonstrated each technique methodically. As if he were passing knowledge on to someone.
‘Could the Association Director have known all along? Is that why this mission….’
His gaze caught on the iron spear lying discarded on the asphalt.
And beside it, rolling slightly—
“Huh?”
Something gleaming.
“That… that can’t be….”
Hae Seong rubbed his eyes and double-checked the object cast aside on the ground.
“Whoa—whoa—whoa!”
He hadn’t been seeing things.
Hae Seong clamped his hand over his mouth.
Sa Hyeon was now perched on the fractured asphalt, watching him with an expression of cool indifference.
“Did you blow out your eardrums along with your mind….”
He scanned Hae Seong up and down as if observing some exotic specimen.
But right now, Sa Hyeon’s frigid gaze didn’t register with Hae Seong at all.
“Isn’t that a Mana Stone?!”
A raw gem lay just in front of the iron spear.
The distinctive pressure waves of the Creature Falcon rippled softly across the Mana Stone’s surface.
“First time seeing a Mana Stone?”
Sa Hyeon, by contrast, remained composed.
Hae Seong released a breath of exasperation at that response.
“This isn’t just any Mana Stone!”
The higher a monster’s Rank, the sharply lower the probability of obtaining a Mana Stone became.
Usually, the core would shatter along with the stone during extraction.
Even a piece the size of a fingernail could fetch tens of millions of won.
‘But this one….’
It had come from the core of an A-Rank Creature Falcon itself.
A Mana Stone the size of a fist, no less.
And it remained perfectly round and pristine—not a single blemish on it.
Hae Seong asked carefully.
“Sa Hyeon, would it be all right if I took a look at that?”
“? Sure, go ahead.”
Sa Hyeon nodded.
Hae Seong accepted it with trembling hands and immediately began his appraisal.

[Skill ‘Absolute Appraisal (A)’ has been activated!]

A blue system window materialized before his eyes.

[Item Information]
High-purity Mana Stone extracted from the core of Creature Falcon.
Name : A-Rank Mana Stone
Attribute : Ice
Absorption Efficiency : 75%
Durability : 87%
Purity : 96%

“Indeed, a high-purity Mana Stone.”
Hae Seong exhaled in admiration as he read the window displayed before him.
Mana Stones were chiefly used as materials for reinforcement or equipment crafting.
Awakened Ones sometimes consumed them directly, hoping to raise their Rank or boost their stats.
The higher the purity of a Mana Stone, the steeper its price tag.
‘At this spec level… it should fetch at least fifty billion won.’
Not something I could dream of on my salary.
Hae Seong licked his lips and continued reading through the item information, only to pause abruptly at the final entry.

[Estimated Shop Transaction Price : 10,000,000,000 won]

“T-ten billion?!”
Hae Seong’s mouth fell open.
More than double what he’d anticipated.
He’d expected a high price given the purity, but this was beyond anything he’d imagined.
It was more than ten times his own annual salary as a reasonably high-ranking Hunter Association official.
Worried he might somehow damage it, he returned the Mana Stone to Sa Hyeon with quivering hands.
The stone’s owner caught it as casually as if it were nothing.
The indifferent grip was enough to set Hae Seong’s heart pounding.
“You can see that much?”
Sa Hyeon seemed more interested in the fact that Hae Seong could view the item’s Status Window than in the stone’s value itself.
“Yes… I can.”
Hae Seong awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
It was a familiar reaction.
Every Hunter who’d learned he possessed the Status Window Viewing skill had said something similar.
“It appears much like the Status Windows that Awakened Ones can see.”
Awakened Ones could only view their own Status Window from the moment of their awakening. But those who possessed the Status Window Viewing skill were different.
Yet most Hunters, despite their gratitude for his ability, harbored a certain reservation toward him.
Hae Seong moistened his lips and waited for a response.
“Convenient.”
“…Pardon?”
An unexpected answer came from Sa Hyeon’s lips.
Hae Seong’s brown eyes blinked rapidly.
The reply was brief and spare, yet it struck him far more deeply than any elaborate praise.
Most Hunters who’d learned of Hae Seong’s Trait had reacted much the same way.

—It’s true that fieldwork leaves you battered and broken every time, but doesn’t Hunter Hae Seong really know the secret to survival better than anyone?
—Hunter Hae Seong is better suited to fighting with his head than in the field!

In front of him, everyone offered hollow platitudes.
What they said behind his back found its way to his ears easily enough.

—In the end, a Hunter has to prove themselves through action, not by holing up in some comfortable office. Tsk.
—I’ll grant you have decent tactical judgment. But even with a strategy, we’re the ones who have to actually fight it out.
—How exactly are we supposed to trust a Hunter with no battlefield experience?

‘A Hunter fights with their body.’

It was a belief accepted as common sense in the Hunter world.
There weren’t many positions available for non-combat Hunters.
He’d thought it couldn’t be helped. He’d grown used to hearing such things.
Or so he’d believed he’d grown used to them.
Hae Seong exhaled a long, trembling breath, caught in some strange emotion.
Buzz, buzz—
His somewhat dazed mind snapped back to awareness at the vibration of his smartwatch on his wrist.
It was a notification from the Hunter Association.
Hae Seong checked the content and cleared his throat before reporting to Sa Hyeon.
“Sa Hyeon, additional support personnel are expected to arrive within three minutes.”
“We finished this long ago. What good does it do coming now?”
Sa Hyeon spoke with a bitter edge to his voice.
Hae Seong silently agreed, then studied Sa Hyeon cautiously.
Sa Hyeon sat perched on the rubble, examining a Mana Stone with an indifferent expression.
As expected, his eyes held no hint that he knew its true value.
‘Where did someone like him suddenly come from?’
What on earth was that ability just now? What was his real identity?
Question marks multiplied in Hae Seong’s mind.
‘And…’
Hae Seong recalled Sa Hyeon’s back, standing before the monster.
His eyes gleamed with resolve.
“Um, Sa Hyeon. Would it be all right to ask you something?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Beneath the languid tone lay unmistakable finality.
“You already know what I’m about to ask…”
Hae Seong muttered in an aggrieved voice.
Clang—
Sa Hyeon carelessly tossed the Mana Stone into his inventory.
Wait, such a precious object—!
Hae Seong gasped with alarm for the stone’s safety.
“You were about to ask about my Trait.”
Sa Hyeon’s words struck true, and Hae Seong bit his lip.
A Trait that deformed matter and muted specific spaces.
Even searching through his mental database of Hunters, he could find no one with a similar skill.
Sa Hyeon stretched both arms behind him, propping himself against the ground as he spoke as though sighing.
“It’s bothersome, so just check it yourself.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You said you can view the Status Window of items. Then you should be able to see a person’s as well.”
“Ah, yes, yes. That’s true…”
Hae Seong nodded blankly, as if struck.
Sa Hyeon looked down at him with displeasure, watching his eyes flutter about.
“What’s with that stupid look?”
“Oh, it’s just…”
Hae Seong answered sheepishly, touching his cheek.
“Usually you don’t really like me checking your Status Window. You call it a privacy issue.”
Sa Hyeon let out a loud scoff.
“Ha. It’s all recorded on the Hunter License anyway. People are so fussy.”
At these refreshing words, Hae Seong let a small smile escape.
Sa Hyeon gave a perfunctory nod.
“Just check it yourself.”
Hae Seong released a relieved breath and smiled faintly.
“Yes, then I’ll proceed.”
He activated his skill, his eyes fixed steadily on Sa Hyeon’s.

[The skill ‘Status Window Viewing (S)’ has been activated!]

A blue status window materialized before his eyes.

Name: Yeom Sa Hyeon
Age: 27
Rank: S
Trait: Master of the Intangible
Overall Stats: Vitality (SSS), Strength (SS+), Agility (S+), Intelligence (A+), Spirit (B)
…….

“Hah……!”
What kind of stats were these….
Hae Seong’s mouth fell open.
Even at a glance, the numbers were staggering. S-ranks across the board.
He’d expected Sa Hyeon to be S-Rank, but nothing like this.
Hae Seong’s eyes, scanning the status window with a face drained of color, froze on a single entry.

Primary Skills: Immortal Nightmare (SS+), Phantom Blacksmith (SS), Whisper of the Dead (S)…….

‘Immortal… Nightmare?’
His Rank only allowed him to see the skill names, but he could infer what kind of skills they were.
‘…It looks like an illusion skill.’
In that moment, a conversation he’d had with a colleague flashed through Hae Seong’s mind.

—That Mirror Mask in Hunter Prison, you know? The torture methods are absolutely vicious. They say he makes you feel the most painful thing you can imagine?
—Hmm, in that case, does he use an illusion skill that can produce tactile sensations?
—Huh? …Oh, that’s right! You really are sharp, Hae Seong. Ha ha!

Puzzle pieces clicked into place, one by one.
The Mirror Mask, presumed to use illusion skills, and Sa Hyeon, who possessed illusion skills.
The Mirror Mask, famous for those blood-red eyes, and Sa Hyeon’s eyes that turned crimson each time he activated his skills…….
‘……It can’t be.’
Sa Hyeon… is the Masked Interrogator…?
Hae Seong’s pupils trembled violently.

S-Rank Warden Devours the Academy Episode 8

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

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260512043.0009

© 2026, Baek Lu-ga

※ This e-book is protected under the Copyright Law 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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