I Became an Unknown Professor at the Academy

Lim Gyeongsu witnessed it.

Kuuwuuung―!!

A human being thrown at an incredible speed, leaving no afterimage, crashing into the wall.

And he realized.

Never stand behind the beast.

“Kkeuuuuhh…… What, what is this……?”

Kang Seok-ho, kicked by Baek Hana, flew from one end of the room to the other and crashed into the wall. As he struggled to free himself from the wall, Lim Gyeongsu thought, ‘Why don’t you just pretend to be unconscious……’

Just as Lim Gyeongsu had that thought, the two girls moved towards Kang Seok-ho simultaneously.

“Ju, Seok-ho―”

“Die.”

Hwaaaak―!!

A chilling voice, cold enough to snuff out the flames, accompanied a fiery ball that flew towards Kang Seok-ho.

“Joo-hee……?!”

Kang Seok-ho manifested his ability, Iron, and rolled on the floor to dodge the incoming fireball. Im Gyeongsu, watching this, thought again, ‘Just take the hit and pass out……’

Lim Gyeongsu had a simple reason for thinking this way.

“Trash.”

“Baek, Hanaaa……!!”

Before Kang Seok-ho could get up from the floor, Baek Hana pounced on him, assuming the pounding stance she had often used against him during their sparring sessions.

Peok, peok, ppeok―!!

With each punch from Baek Hana, Kang Seok-ho’s head jerked left and right.

It wasn’t unusual for Kang Seok-ho to get beaten up by Baek Hana; it had happened countless times before. But seeing Kang Seok-ho getting pounded while Na Joo-hee glared at him with cold, unblinking eyes sent shivers down Im Gyeongsu’s spine.

‘I should probably stop them soon……’

Kang Seok-ho’s face was already so swollen that it was hard to recognize him. Lim Gyeongsu was worried that he might actually die, so he turned to the only person who could stop Baek Hana, Lee Nayoung.

“Hey……?”

Lee Nayoung, who had been behind him just a moment ago, was gone. No, he had been so focused on the situation in front of him that he hadn’t noticed her moving away.

‘That’s not the point, though……!’

Lee Nayoung was a non-combatant who needed to be protected at all costs during this test. If something happened to her, the test would be over.

Lim Gyeongsu finally grasped the seriousness of the situation and turned around hastily.

“Umm―”

Kikikikik.

“……?”

Lim Gyeongsu turned his head at the sound of something being dragged across the floor, unrelated to the dull thuds of Kang Seok-ho getting beaten up.

-It looks like blood, but……

-It doesn’t seem like human blood……

Two aspiring alchemists, who had been poking around the dining table, brought their noses close to a wine bottle and whispered to each other.

-Haaa.

And on the floor, a few steps away from the two alchemists, another classmate lay sprawled out.

‘……I don’t know.’

Lim Gyeongsu decided to sit quietly and wait for someone to find him.

**

Kuguguung―!!

A section of the wall in the banquet hall slid down, revealing a hidden passage.

The aspiring alchemists, who had been poking around the dining table and the surrounding area, had discovered the hidden passage. Thanks to them, Im Gyeongsu, who had been sitting quietly, could finally get up.

‘……He’s still breathing.’

Lim Gyeongsu first checked on Kang Seok-ho, who was lying face down on the floor, and was relieved to see faint breaths escaping through the small gap between his swollen lips.

“Im Gyeongsu.”

“Huh?”

“Stop worrying about him and come over here.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll be right there.”

At Baek Hana’s call, Lim Gyeongsu quickly got up and ran towards the hidden passage.

“First of all, the front part of the book is all there is. The rest of the pages are blank.”

“Really?”

Lim Gyeongsu took the book from Baek Hana and confirmed for himself that the remaining pages were indeed blank.

“And if what’s written in the book is true, we don’t necessarily have to stick together like this.”

“……Hmm.”

Lim Gyeongsu was about to say something more, but he felt like he had just been given a voluntary retirement notice, and he sighed inwardly.

“But if the special bonus is indeed given to all students who reach the heart of the gate, as written here, there’s no reason for us to split up.”

“I agree. We should gather as many teams as possible and push through with numbers, even if we encounter the professors.”

Lim Gyeongsu silently sighed in relief at the two girls’ opinions.

“It’s a good idea, but I think we should propose a number limit. Based on this map, 12 people would be ideal. That’s about three teams.”

Park Myung Ho, an aspiring alchemist and the equivalent of Lee Nayoung in Kang Seok-ho’s team, voiced his opinion.

“Any more than that, and it would be difficult to deal with traps or unexpected situations.”

“And…… besides the special bonus, we also need to earn individual points, so……”

Lee Nayoung, who had somehow acquired a new bag, fidgeted with her hands as she added her thoughts to Park Myung Ho’s suggestion.

“That makes sense. With too many people, dividing the credit would be a hassle. And……”

Na Joo-hee glared at her fiancé, who was lying on the floor a few steps away, and ground her teeth.

“That jerk might cause trouble if he’s mixed in with the other teams.”

After losing to Nam Seo-hee in yesterday’s sparring match, it was as good as decided that Nam Seo-hee would be the top-ranked student. Na Joo-hee was still furious at her fiancé for causing unnecessary trouble when he was already out of the running for the top rank.

Especially, the shameless way he had grabbed her tail, which could be a sensitive spot for some transformation-type ability users, made her grit her teeth.

“It seems we’ve decided. Nayoung.”

“Yeah……”

Lee Nayoung unrolled the parchment.

“Im Gyeongsu.”

“Yes……”

Lim Kyung-soo glanced at the abandoned Kang Seok-ho one last time before raising his shield and taking position at the front.

“If this passage continues straight without any bends, we could drastically shorten our route.”

If they could traverse the secret passage in a straight line, as Nayoung suggested, they could bypass four entire rooms and reach the next decision point directly.

“Please, let there be nothing here again…”

“We’ve gained an extra member, so stop worrying and keep walking.”

“…Sigh.”

Na Joo-hee used a fireball as a guidepost, and Lim Kyung-soo entered the passage, with the rest of the group following behind.

Clatter, clatter—

“It’s skeletons.”

“…Phew.”

Lim Kyung-soo sighed in relief at the appearance of these low-tier monsters, which were among the most trivial of all magical creatures.

The sight of walking bones might be slightly eerie, but without muscles or skin, their movements were extremely sluggish, making them practically walking targets.

“Ah, w-wait…”

“Why? Is there a trap or something?”

At Nayoung’s shout, Lim Kyung-soo, who had been about to smash the skeleton’s skull, halted his steps.

“No, it’s not that… Could you bring me the head?”

“…The head?”

Acting all timid, who would’ve thought he’d have such a weird hobby?

“What are you thinking? Can’t you see the mold growing on their heads? That’s a rather rare ingredient.”

“…Who said anything?”

Park Myung-ho explained in place of Nayoung, and Lim Kyung-soo awkwardly scratched his cheek as he used his shield to knock down the approaching skeletons.

“Be careful not to let them hit the ground.”

“Tsk.”

Lim Kyung-soo collected five skulls and handed them over to the two alchemists.

“Only one…?”

“Take your time.”

With Baek Hana’s permission, Nayoung and Park Myung-ho sat down and carefully scraped the white fuzz growing on the skulls into glass jars they had brought along.

“Is that really the end of those skulls?”

“Hey. Didn’t I tell you to watch your mouth?”

“…Yes.”

They reached a dead end, and Na Joo-hee lit a candle on the wall.

Creak, creak—

As they met the simple requirements of the mechanism, the wall at the dead end lowered, revealing a new path.

“Only two more rooms to go until we reach the innermost area.”

Everyone except Baek Hana had their eyes shining at Nayoung’s words.

“Even if the professors are in those two rooms, we should be able to reach the innermost area without much trouble.”

“Thank you for the ride…!!”

Lim Kyung-soo was genuinely excited at the great possibility that he might benefit from this unexpected turn of events.

“Let’s stay quiet and keep moving. There might be other teams who have discovered hidden passages like us.”

“Yes.”

Lim Kyung-soo quickly raised his shield and began walking forward.

“But it really feels like we’re heading deeper inside.”

Aside from the increasingly ominous atmosphere, the most noticeable change was the disappearance of windows.

“Ahem, so… shall we open it?”

Lim Kyung-soo pushed the massive door with his shield.

“Oh? It’s opening smoothly.”

Unlike the previous doors that made strange noises, this one moved smoothly as if well-oiled. And the sight that greeted them through the opening made them gasp.

“What is this…?”

The space beyond the door was filled with cracks and burn marks, evidence of intense battles.

“…Let’s move on to the next room.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

Lim Kyung-soo quickly headed for the open door on the opposite side, and the group followed. Left alone, Baek Hana briefly took in the signs of fierce battle before catching up with the group.

“Shall we open it?”

“Open it.”

Lim Kyung-soo, now almost running, arrived at the final door and once again used his shield to push it open.

Inside, unlike the previous areas, was a room that looked very modern, like a guest room.

“Hana…?”

Nam Seo-hee, who had been sitting on a sofa in the center of the room, stood up.

“So, it was you, Seo-hee.”

Baek Hana passed by Lim Kyung-soo and approached Nam Seo-hee.

“We’ll discuss the details later. What kind of room is this?”

“Hmm? Ah, this is a resting place.”

“A resting place?”

“Just wait a moment.”

Nam Seo-hee picked up a piece of paper from the table in front of the sofa and handed it to Baek Hana, explaining.

“You’ve worked hard to get here. You can either proceed directly to the innermost area, or take your time exploring the rest of the test site. This place will disappear once the exam is over, so they said to see it while you can.”

“…I see.”

After thoroughly reading the paper, Baek Hana returned it to Nam Seo-hee and gestured to Nayoung.

“Nayoung, show me the map.”

“Yes…!!”

Nayoung quickly handed the map she was holding to Baek Hana.

This was indeed the last room, and beyond the door was the path leading to the innermost area. The resting place where they were standing was the end point of all the various paths.

Confirming that all the conditions were met, Baek Hana suddenly lifted Nayoung up.

“Hana?”

“Stay here quietly.”

“Huh? Oh, okay…”

Not fully understanding, Nayoung just nodded and decided to sit quietly with her hands on her lap as Baek Hana had instructed.

“Seo-hee.”

“Yes?”

“Where are the other team members?”

“They couldn’t keep up, so I left them behind. They seemed more interested in finding hidden materials, so it might have been for the best.”

“…I see.”

“Why?”

“Nothing. Stay with Nayoung.”

“Alright.”

Without further questions, Nam Seo-hee followed Baek Hana’s instructions and sat next to Nayoung. Having seated her two friends together, Baek Hana approached Na Joo-hee, who had been watching from a short distance.

“Are you going to rest here?”

“For now.”

“Alright. Then I’ll take a look around—”

Thud—

“…Ugh.”

Na Joo-hee suddenly clutched her abdomen and collapsed.

Baek Hana caught the falling Na Joo-hee and gently laid her on the ground before standing up again. Lim Kyung-soo, who had been watching the entire scene, was flustered and spoke up in shock.

“W-What? Why all of a sudden…?”

“I’ll make sure it’s painless.”

“…Huh?”

Lim Kyung-soo blinked in confusion as Baek Hana slowly approached him. The situation was so sudden and bewildering that his mind couldn’t process it.

“No… Wait… What…?”

His thoughts scrambled, Lim Kyung-soo finally managed to speak.

“You were the one who said we could all get rewards together!”

“That’s right.”

Baek Hana, now standing in front of Lim Kyung-soo, who was cornered against the wall, spoke in a low voice.

“That’s why I’m doing this.”

Separate from the top score, the academy offered to grant a wish to anyone who reached the innermost area. In other words, anyone who made it to the end would have the chance to receive benefits equal to those of the top scorer.

And those benefits would likely include the opportunity to choose a specific professor for private tutoring.

“I won’t let anyone interfere with my summer…”

“No, what do you mean by summer—”

Baek Hana’s fist connected directly with Lim Kyung-soo’s jaw, silencing him mid-sentence.