I Became an Unknown Professor at the Academy

Whoosh!!

The calm snowfield was suddenly swept by a blizzard, which quickly turned into a natural disaster, covering the entire snowfield.

Clank, clank.

Even with the help of equipment, it was difficult for anyone, even a physically enhanced Awakened, to open their eyes in the blizzard.

Crunch, crunch.

With each step, clear footprints were left behind, but even these deep imprints were quickly erased by the raging snowstorm.

“Huff…”

A tired breath escaped from under the visor of a man’s helmet as he lowered his body and carefully pushed away the freshly fallen snow to the sides. Then, a seemingly frozen iron plate appeared.

The man carefully moved it, revealing a hole large enough for two adults to enter.

“Phew, finally some relief.”

After entering the hole and closing it with the iron plate, the man sighed in relief and lit the darkness with a small lantern he had hidden under his cloak.

Clank, clank.

The man carefully descended, making sure not to slip, despite the lightweight magic that was applied to the stairs.

“Huff.”

The man jumped down at the end of the long diagonal corridor and put away the lantern he had been holding. Then, he quickly removed his helmet.

“Is everything okay?”
“I should be asking you that.”

The man, Kang Seok-ho, asked his fiancée, Na Joo-hee, who responded nonchalantly.

Their relationship had become strained since the grade evaluation last year, and now it was nothing more than a business relationship.

“Haha… The blizzard started outside. If we had gone a little further, we might have gotten lost.”
“If you remember the way back, that won’t happen.”
“Oh, yes, of course.”

Kang Seok-ho awkwardly laughed at his fiancée’s cold response and cautiously approached her. More precisely, he headed towards his tent, which was separated by a magic furnace that was blazing in the center.

-You didn’t see any monsters, right?

“Huh? Oh, yes. I didn’t see any traces of other students either.”

-I see.

His fiancée, who only asked what was necessary and then fell silent again.

Kang Seok-ho sighed inwardly and took off the armor he had borrowed from his father, then took out his cleaning tools.

‘Haa, how can I win Joo-hee’s heart back?’

Kang Seok-ho wiped the armor with a special cloth and, like yesterday, began to think of ways to reconcile with his fiancée.

When they entered the second year, he was able to escape from the personal sparring with Baek Hana, but in hindsight, that wasn’t a good thing either.

Baek Hana, who had set new records as a legendary rookie, was his sparring partner.

Even if he was getting beaten up, the fact that his opponent was the world’s best rookie made him the envy of others. In fact, he had unknowingly gained the image of a punching bag among his classmates, but after the tournament, he had transformed into the ‘Iron Man’ who had persevered against the ‘Wolf Queen’.

‘Damn, what’s with her being so strong and having a weak tail?’

Kang Seok-ho briefly grumbled about Baek Hana but then sighed and shook his head. He knew that his fiancée’s distance wasn’t because he had grabbed the tail of another woman.

‘Haa, if only I could go back to that time and smash my own head.’

Even though he wanted to win, it was shameless of him to try to target the weakness of the person who had saved his life. Even now, he felt ashamed when he thought about it.

Kang Seok-ho, who couldn’t come up with a good idea today, just like yesterday, spent his time in uncomfortable silence and had his dinner with the convenience food he had prepared.

“Don’t wake me up late like yesterday, just wake me up when it’s time.”
“Yes, I will… Good night.”

Kang Seok-ho stared at his fiancée’s tent, which she had entered, and sighed.

When she first proposed to form a team together, he thought it was a sign of reconciliation, but he soon realized that it was just his wishful thinking.

‘What’s the problem?’

Since she hasn’t brought up the topic of breaking up, it’s clear that she hasn’t completely given up on the relationship. So, while it’s still hanging by a thread, he needed to find a way to close the distance before it was too late.

‘Maybe if I show up in a moment of crisis and save her, she’ll come back to me.’

He now knew that a simple apology wouldn’t fix this relationship. After all, he had already knelt down and apologized, so he knew it wouldn’t work.

She must have been disappointed by his cowardly behavior, so the only way to improve this cold relationship was to show the opposite behavior.

“I don’t know why they made us sign that waiver.”

Kang Seok-ho tapped the helmet on his knees and muttered softly.

“If there were monsters crawling around, I could at least try to draw a picture…”
“Why don’t you realize that your plan is already doomed?”
“Huh?!”

Kang Seok-ho instinctively rolled forward as he heard a chilling voice from behind.

“Ugh!”

Or, he tried to roll.

Kang Seok-ho felt his mouth go dry as he was bound by shadows that had enveloped his entire body.

“You found this place well.”

Kang Seok-ho’s eyes widened as a familiar figure slowly walked out of the darkness.

‘The student council president?!’

When he saw the shadows binding his body, he had expected it, but he was still surprised to actually meet her.

“How did you find me?”

Yoon Iseul, with a different smile from usual, approached Kang Seok-ho and reached for the silver necklace around his neck.

Whoosh!!

At that moment, a giant flame erupted above Yoon Iseul’s head and engulfed her.

“I told you before, but your firepower isn’t enough to pierce my shadows.”

Ssssssss.

The new shadow that had appeared from the flame quickly stretched out and swallowed the flame that was targeting Yoon Iseul.

“Hmph, don’t you know? It’s because of that idiot in front of you.”

Na Joo-hee, who had come out of the tent, glared at Yoon Iseul and her fiancé, who was being held in front of her.

“If we just hold out for one more day we would be fine, why are you doing this?”
“Hmm.”

Yoon Iseul, who had been silent for a moment, nodded.

Thud.

“Huh…?”

Kang Seok-ho, who had been tied up, went limp.

“He’s an idiot, but he’s my fiancé.”
“So? Do you want to fail together with your fiancé?”
“Tsk.”

Na Joo-hee, who had been standing on top of the shadows that had completely surrounded her, clicked her tongue.

“Don’t be too hard on him. I’m not doing this because I want to.”
“Do something about that smirk of yours.”
“Haha, it’s just a habit.”
“What about the reason for the ambush? Is it because you’re running out of food or something?”
“Of course not.”

Yoon Iseul explained the current situation to Na Joo-hee, who was looking at her with a cold gaze.

“I thought something was up since I didn’t see any monsters…”

Na Joo-hee’s face crumpled as she learned about the existence of the hunting team.

“It seems like you’re planning to spare me.”
“Well, for now…”

Swoosh.

“Huh?!”

The shadow that had climbed up Na Joo-hee’s body quickly took the silver necklace from around her neck and brought it to Yoon Iseul.

Crack!

The silver necklace around Kang Seok-ho’s neck cracked, and at the same time, the floor where he was lying down became muddy and swallowed him up.

“Haha, I hope to see you with a smiling face tomorrow.”

Yoon Iseul shook the silver necklace in her hand once and disappeared into the darkness as if melting into it.

“Damn it, you’re so annoying…”

Na Joo-hee stomped her feet for a while to calm her anger.

Then, as her head cooled down, she realized an important fact.

The thick iron plate blocking the entrance.

‘…I don’t know, let’s just sleep.’

Na Joo-hee, who had been thinking of setting fire to the student council if things got out of hand, went back into the tent and lay down in her sleeping bag.

.

.

.

The fourth sun rises over the snowfield.

“…”

“…”

The brightening snowfield was beautiful, but the atmosphere between the two beings was heavy.

“Ugh!! I told you to create monsters!!”

The cute-looking child, Bwiar, broke the heavy atmosphere first.

“Beroth!! You cunning god!!”

Beroth, wearing a white robe with a cradle engraved on it, glared at the group projected in the air and hopped around.

“You gave a god-grade artifact to an apprentice child?!”

The seven people who had successfully hidden themselves by turning the surrounding area into a maze with an artifact were finally able to avoid being detected by the hunting team until the end.

“Now, let’s release the monsters… Huh?!”

Bwiar, who had jumped onto Baek Woo-jin’s back, screamed and rolled on the floor as she felt the energy of emptiness coming from his body.

“Open the exit.”

At his command, the crystal opened a gate near the surviving students, connecting them to the outside world.

Baek Woo-jin was surprised, but he slowly watched the students leave through the gate and clicked his tongue.

This time was supposed to be used solely for Baek Hana’s growth. However, he had planned this exam to fulfill the wishes of the students who were begging him to kill them.

‘…I just wasted my time.’

However, when he received the list of participants, he couldn’t find the name of the students who were trying to stir up trouble. As a result, all his preparations became meaningless, and Baek Woo-jin didn’t release any monsters into the gate.

“Please take this off me!!”

“Haa…”

Baek Woo-jin, who felt deep fatigue at Bwiar’s noisy behavior, even though he could have solved the problem himself if he wanted to, stood up and disappeared into the blue light.

“What a heartless being.”

Beroth, who had been watching Baek Woo-jin leave, stood up and shook off the gray energy that had been clinging to her body.

“Go back to your master.”

The gray energy that had been circling around her soon disappeared, riding on the blue light.

Beroth, who had been artificially pulling up the corners of her mouth, touched her lips and muttered softly.

“It’s been too peaceful lately.”

Crack!!

Beroth, who had been watching the collapsing light, disappeared with a mysterious smile.