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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: New Instructor
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As I walked out the main gate, a sense of injustice welled up inside me.
"Me, accessing the intranet to steal other people's information?"
No matter how I thought about it, it was utterly ridiculous. I felt wronged, but there was nowhere to vent. Over the past few years, I'd poured my life into the academy, so all my human connections existed only within Helmont Academy.
In an instant, I'd lost every contact and acquaintance I had.
-Woooong
Suddenly, the calendar app I'd saved on my phone activated. When I checked it, an old schedule I'd jotted down appeared.
[Schedule: My birthday. No matter how busy I am this year, don't forget to eat some seaweed soup. If any student celebrates or gives me a gift, make a note and be sure to repay them later without fail.]
"So today was my birthday..."
I thought with a bitter smile.
"Even when I wrote this, I figured I'd get a ton of celebrations."
-Ding
-Ding
-Ding
The phone's notifications, which had been silent since the calendar app turned it on, started blaring like crazy.
I checked my phone. It was flooded with an endless stream of texts.
Most were from "anonymous" senders. But I didn't need to see who they were from. Pretty much everyone with my number was from Helmont Academy anyway.
[Die, trash.]
[You always looked shady. Guess phrenology is real after all.]
[Pathetic bastard. Is peeking on people a hobby for guys like you?]
[I've never liked you from the start. Strutting around like you're hot shit, always acting superior—it was disgusting. Look at you now.]
[Pathetic and filthy.]
[Why were you even born? Just wasting oxygen, you worm.]
[Figures, growing up an orphan makes you act like such a spectacle.]
[Just kill yourself.]
-Click
I snapped my phone shut.
It's fine. I'd been alone ever since I possessed this body anyway.
I could just think of it as a fleeting dream. The moments of respect as an S-Rank Instructor at Helmont Academy, all the effort I poured in—it was just a game, nothing more.
-Rustle
My strength gave out, and the documents clutched in my hand scattered to the ground. As I bent to pick them up, my pitiful situation suddenly hit me hard.
"Sob..."
"Mommy, that uncle's crying."
"Shh, be quiet, Minseong. Looks like that uncle got fired from his job. If you don't study hard, you'll end up like him. So study diligently, okay?"
"Yes!"
They probably thought I couldn't hear, but my [Sensory Amplification] skill was always active. Their conversation rang crystal clear.
Tears streaming down my face, I stared blankly at the sky.
"Ah... I wish everything would just die."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙The links to successors connected to the [SSS] The One Who Walks the King's Path skill have been released for 10 minutes. If the link release state persists, [SSS] Harsh Fate will be imposed on the former successors.
"Ah... right... this was a thing..."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[SSS] Harsh Fate activation countdown: 23:49:53
The ones yapping away smugly right now. The bastards who terrorized me with suicide texts. Just you wait. The pain you're about to go through will be dozens of times worse than mine.
⚔ STATUS ⚔[SSS] The One Who Walks the King's Path ◎ Designate and link your own successors. ◎ Linked successors receive massive ability amplification and explosive growth speed boosts. ◎ Amplification and growth speed enhancements are proportional to the skill holder's abilities. ◎ Number of linked successors: 521
The reason Helmont Academy students grew so explosively was simple: this skill. Sure, my lectures and theories helped a lot, but without this SSS-grade skill, I couldn't have accelerated their growth this fast.
[The One Who Walks the King's Path] lets you designate anyone—old folks, kids, men, women—as "successors," amplifying their stats and boosting growth speed. And ridiculously, the buffs scale with the user's own stats. It's a total cheat skill.
But [The One Who Walks the King's Path] has a fatal flaw.
First, you need the target's consent.
-Hey, mind if I buff your growth?
-Sure. Anything to improve my magic skills.
Of course, you don't need explicit agreement on the details—just rough consent works. So it's hardly a downside for a passive ally buff skill.
The real issue is the second one.
If someone designated as a "successor" loses that status from the [The One Who Walks the King's Path] skill, they get slapped with [Harsh Fate].
⚔ STATUS ⚔[SSS] Harsh Fate ◎ Growth speed sharply decreases. ◎ Luck stat sharply drops. ◎ Mana utilization sharply falls. ◎ Total mana gradually diminishes. ◎ Major misfortunes strike occasionally. ◎ All effects persist until relinked as a successor.
"Still horrifying no matter how many times I see it."
Most of my students were magic hunter class hopefuls. In an academy like that, [Harsh Fate] was a utterly despairing debuff.
They probably wouldn't even realize they were hit, just slowly crumbling away. If I relinked them as successors, it'd reverse—but no way in hell I'd do that.
"Take care. Not that you will."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
-Click
I flagged down a passing taxi and got in.
"Where to?"
"Just drive anywhere for now."
I had nowhere I wanted to go, nowhere I needed to be. Overnight, I'd become unemployed.
-Woooong
Suddenly, my phone buzzed.
"Probably more death threats or harassment texts."
I stared out the window, thinking that.
-Wooong
It buzzed again.
Only then did I check— it wasn't a text, it was a call. The screen showed a familiar name.
[Yang Hangil]
"A old Helmont Academy colleague."
Yang Hangil was a fellow instructor when I first started at Helmont Academy. He worked there for about two years before jumping to another academy, but he wasn't bad at his job, so I remembered him.
"What's this about?"
We weren't close enough for him to call out of the blue like this.
"After years of no contact? And at this timing?"
It felt off, but I answered anyway. Nothing better to do.
"Hello?"
"Whoa, you actually picked up. Choi Juwon, right?"
"Yeah."
"Hey, hey, it's your hyung Yang Hangil. Remember? We worked as instructors together at Helmont Academy."
Still calling himself "hyung" just because he was born two months earlier.
"Yeah, I remember. What's up?"
"I heard the news, man. Fired from Helmont Academy today? Hyung'll buy you a drink after all this time—meet up tonight. Come out for dinner. Got something important to talk about, so you have to show, got it?"
He'd never been this chummy before, which set off alarms, but I was craving a drink anyway. And he mentioned something to discuss, so I figured I'd go.
Evening came, and I headed to the address Yang Hangil sent. It was a big, upscale-looking bar.
"Man... it's been forever since I even stepped into a place like this."
Lately, I'd avoided alcohol entirely to protect my schedule. The kids' growth came partly from [The One Who Walks the King's Path], but my rigorous self-management and packed curriculum played a huge role too.
"Sigh... guess I don't have to worry about tomorrow anymore."
That's when getting fired really sank in.
My bank account had tens of billions from before I even started instructing—no money worries there. I'd earned plenty on the job, but I hadn't done it for the cash anyway.
"Over here."
Inside, Yang Hangil waved at me.
A pretty woman sat beside him. When I gave her a questioning look, Yang Hangil grinned.
"Ah, a close junior of mine. She wanted to check you out~ You're famous as the S-Rank Instructor, right? Something like 'the world's best trainer of practical magic hunters—S-Rank Instructor Choi Juwon!'"
He hammed it up with a weird face, cackling. That's when I started feeling uneasy.
"This fucker... he didn't call me out just to mock me, did he?"
As I eyed Yang Hangil uncomfortably, the woman beside him greeted me.
"Hello. I'm Seol Euna. I've heard so much about you from Yang Hangil. You're so famous—I always wanted to meet you. Honored to finally do so."
Yang Hangil scowled like he was annoyed at her politeness.
"Hey, Seol Euna. You call me by my full name, but you're all sweet to this guy?"
"Yang Hangil. Once more: I only came because you said you'd show me Juwon. Don't make it weird."
"Tch."
The picture was clear.
"Yang Hangil's into Seol Euna. But she doesn't seem interested."
Then Seol Euna smiled.
"Have a seat."
The drinking session kicked off.
As it went on, Yang Hangil got plastered and started yelling.
"Fuck, man. You know how shitty it was for me instructing at Helmont Academy because of you?"
Stunned by the sudden cursing, I stared. He amped up even louder.
"Right? I'd put all this work into my curriculum, and those damn students flock to you. Fucking annoying. Good marketing pulls students regardless of skill, yeah?"
I looked at him incredulously.
"What nonsense is that? More students chose my classes because my teaching was superior. Has nothing to do with marketing."
Yang Hangil snickered.
"Bull... shit. Skill-wise, I'm way above you. You were some lowly hunter, but I worked at the Magic Tower. Practical instructor? Hilarious. You bodied it out in dungeons 'cause you couldn't hack it at the Tower~ Am I wrong?"
Wrong. The Magic Tower scouted me endlessly. I just had quests pulling me into dungeons. And from memory, Yang Hangil got kicked out after a year for messing with a forbidden tome, then started instructing.
I said flatly,
"You count getting fired from the Magic Tower after one year as experience?"
-Bang
Yang Hangil slammed the table and stood.
"Hey, watch your mouth, you fuck. I wasn't fired—I quit."
Then he grinned.
"Right, I left on my own. Unlike you, caught creeping the intranet for student data."
He started giggling, then shoved his phone in my face.
[Congratulations on your hiring as Helmont Academy instructor. Starting tomorrow, as 'Practical Magic Studies' instructor...]
Practical Magic Studies. The class I'd taught. They'd hired this guy as the new instructor.
"Choi Juwon, see this? Truth is, I came out tonight to brag. I'm taking your spot, replacing a loser like you. Me, teaching your Practical Magic Studies. Finally, Helmont Academy recognizes my talent."
"Jealous? You used to strut like big shit, now you're a mute honey-dipped bitch. Say something."
Unlike the rude Yang Hangil, Seol Euna had done nothing wrong. She just watched him with disgusted eyes.
I wanted to beat him right then, but held back—not wanting to be rude to Seol Euna, a stranger.
But he crossed the line.
"Ah... you pathetic fuck. Why snoop the intranet? Figures, no parents means no sense of boundaries..."
-Crash
The glass I hurled shattered right next to Yang Hangil's face. Couldn't stomach the mommy-daddy jab.
"Y-you psycho?!"
I glared at him coldly.
"Psycho's you, asshole. Come on out. I'm in a shit mood—let's throw down."