Academy’s Villain Professor

Chapter 53: S-Class (3)

The academy’s main gate in the distance resembled a warzone.

The grand stone gate that should have stood tall, along with the surrounding buildings, had collapsed entirely.

Not just collapsed—reduced to dust, leaving no trace behind, with several massive craters dotting the area.

And the culprits of this devastation, despite Ho-cheol’s approach, paid him no heed, continuing their fierce battle.

A massive explosion erupted around the dean.

On the other side, a villain absorbed the blast with their body and counterattacked.

“Tch.”

Ho-cheol, staring at the villain, clicked his tongue.

He hadn’t expected it, but this villain wasn’t a stranger either.

Though their face, like Vulture’s, was grotesquely altered beyond recognition, their trait was unmistakable.

Even if their technique was crude to the point of barbarity, it was still distinct.

“Breaker, huh?”

One of the four top executives from his former organization who had fled when Ho-cheol dismantled it.

Honestly, he’d thought he’d never see them again, yet here he was, facing two of them.

It wasn’t a reunion filled with fond memories or emotions, and their last parting hadn’t been amicable.

Still, meeting again after ten years felt oddly surreal.

But now, as enemies once more, he set such sentiments aside.

As the dean, locked in intense combat, was pushed back by Breaker’s attack, he slid right next to Ho-cheol.

Glancing at him, the dean clicked his tongue.

“You’re awfully quick.”

“I came as fast as I could. Isn’t that a bit harsh to someone here to help?”

Though he said that, Ho-cheol knew he’d been late.

Arriving at all was a relief.

The situation was dire.

The dean’s left sleeve was empty below the elbow.

There was no need to ask what happened to the missing arm.

It wasn’t like Breaker was chewing on a squid leg.

“You’ve definitely gotten old.”

“It’s not that I’m weak. There was a student who couldn’t evacuate in time. Trading one student for one arm was a cheap deal.”

“Sure, sure.”

The dean offered his reasoning, but to Ho-cheol, it was just an excuse for aging.

If it were the dean from years ago, no variable like that would’ve cost him an arm against a mere beast like this.

Of course, saying that aloud might genuinely upset him, so Ho-cheol kept it to himself.

Instead, he changed the subject.

“Their trait? They’ve got a second awakening too, right?”

“Yeah. On top of their original physical activation, they’ve gained shock absorption.”

“A perfect counter to you.”

Like Vulture, the two villains attacking the academy had traits tailored to counter the dean.

No matter how strong the academy’s professors were, they couldn’t match an S-Class.

Two of them made it a foregone conclusion.

Without Ho-cheol, the academy’s fate today would’ve been grim.

“You don’t seem surprised, though.

Seeing your old subordinate show up looking like a monster, and mentioning additional traits—sounds like the north gate was similar?”

“Yeah, Vulture was there.”

“A real reunion of relics. So, what happened? Don’t tell me you killed him?”

“Nah, didn’t kill him.”

“Good enough.”

Ho-cheol glanced at his side.

While they’d been chatting, the venom had fully dissipated.

As Ho-cheol stretched, the dean readied himself again.

“With you joining, this’ll be a lot easier. Back me up.”

“Nah, you’re in bad shape, old man. Focus on stopping the bleeding. This one…”

Ho-cheol tapped the ground lightly with his toes.

“I’ll handle it. You’ve already trashed the area, so I don’t need to worry about collateral damage.”

The breaker wasn’t in top shape either, only slightly better than the dean.

The fact that they weren’t attacking while the two chatted, instead catching their breath, confirmed it.

Stepping forward, Ho-cheol asked?

“Have you forgotten my face too? My traits, my personality?”

Like Vulture, no response came. Ho-cheol chuckled, shrugging.

“No choice, then. If you don’t know, you’ll have to learn the hard way.”

Perhaps irritated by his smile, Breaker charged.

A fist flew toward Ho-cheol’s face.

As an Enhancement-type, Breaker’s speed surpassed Vulture’s, nearing the speed of sound.

Ho-cheol dodged by a hair’s breadth and grabbed the overextended arm with both hands.

Even at near-sonic speeds, once caught, it was useless.

“Your head’s too high.”

Kicking off the ground, Ho-cheol leaped, hooking his leg around Breaker’s neck and slamming a knee into their chin.

Breaker staggered and fell back.

Before they could regain balance, Ho-cheol activated his trait.

His fist smashed into Breaker’s face.

That was it.

Watching the sequence, the dean shook his head.

A single strike with his trait activated.

It was less a fight and more one-sided violence.

Of course, Ho-cheol had the advantage of information and compatibility, but knocking them out in one blow was another matter entirely.

“Every time I see it, that trait is unreal.”

The attack looked slow and lethargic, but knowing the principle and power behind it, the dean didn’t underestimate it.

It appeared akin to an Enhancement-type trait, and Ho-cheol often used it as such, but it was far more dangerous than mere enhancement.

The fact that Ho-cheol could move under his own trait’s effects made it hard to even call him human.

And the speed and power of his trait had grown significantly in the last ten years, despite no opportunities to use or train it.

He’s something else.

As Ho-cheol casually dusted off his hands, the dean asked?

“Your left hand looks light. You didn’t just take it off yourself, did you?”

“Nah, we came to an agreement. A little coercion—no, persuasion.”

“You’ve got it easy.”

“It’s a ticking time bomb anyway.”

Ho-cheol nudged Breaker with his foot.

“But can they go back to normal?”

His voice and expression revealed a complex mix of emotions.

“Feeling pity?”

“As if.”

Ho-cheol snorted but didn’t outright deny it.

“Well, they’re trash, criminals no better than me, that’s true. Still, it’d be better if they could live and pay for their sins. Who knows? They might have an epiphany like I did.”

“Fair point.”

Could their current state even be called living?

They’d probably prefer rotting in prison as their old selves over this.

“That aside, for now…”

Ho-cheol pried open Breaker’s unconscious mouth and pulled out the bloodied arm.

Though chewed for a while and mangled, it still held its shape.

A bit of spit might patch it up.

He handed the arm to the dean.

“You’re one leg away from being Captain Hook. Why not consider it positively?”

“You’re awful in every way, but that mouth of yours is the worst.”

As the dean grumbled and reached for the arm, his phone rang.

Tucking the arm under his side, he pressed the call button.

“What’s the matter?”

Listening with a serious expression, he let out a long sigh and lowered the phone.

“We won the battle, but we lost the war.”

* * *

At the dean’s words, Ho-cheol looked puzzled.

Though their intelligence had been reduced to animalistic levels, two villains with S-Class combat power had attacked the academy.

Blocking them with such minimal damage was nothing short of a miracle, let alone a victory.

The only losses were property damage and the dean’s arm.

Without the dean’s mines buying time and Ho-cheol fighting at full strength, the academy would’ve been obliterated before external heroes could arrive.

Or had something gone wrong at the south or west gates?

No matter how much Ho-cheol looked down on the academy’s professors, it was their teaching he criticized, not their hero credentials.

Unless an S-Class villain had attacked there, it shouldn’t be an issue.

Reading Ho-cheol’s expression, the dean slowly shook his head.

“It’s not about the gate or the academy.”

His explanation was something even Ho-cheol hadn’t anticipated.

The academy attack was, in the grand scheme, just one minor battle.

The organization Ho-cheol had left behind boasted a scale far beyond his expectations.

It wasn’t just the academy.

The organization had simultaneously attacked hero-related facilities and personnel, including the Hero Association.

Some places, unprepared, suffered near-total destruction.

Ho-cheol asked with a strange glimmer of hope.

“Don’t tell me the Association…?”

Despite his reformation, he still harbored lingering resentment toward the Association, especially after recent events.

Besides, if the Association fell, it wouldn’t be a huge loss.

The heroes themselves were what mattered.

But, contrary to his hopes, the Hero Association stood strong.

Though their headquarters was half-destroyed, the many heroes inside prevented any casualties.

The S-Class heroes attacked faced only small-time villains meant to stall them, sufficient to keep them from aiding other facilities.

“Then what got hit?”

“Zero—Chain.”

The unexpected answer visibly shocked Ho-cheol.

“There?”

A high-security prison for dangerous villains.

Ho-cheol, having been there just two months ago, knew it well.

A facility that housed specially selected high-risk villains, regardless of rank.

Its defenses were so robust that even an S-Class villain couldn’t breach it, whether escaping or invading.

“How the hell did they break in?”

“At least five S-Class villains. One of them, reportedly, has power rivaling the top tier of S-Class.”

“Well, damn.”

Sure, a couple of S-Class villains could be handled somehow, but five was excessive.

He’d thought the organization’s strength was impressive, but on second thought, it wasn’t impossible.

They had the technology to forcibly elevate top-tier A-Class villains like Vulture and Breaker to S-Class.

Five S-Class villains was absurd, but five A-Class wasn’t out of the question.

In a normal scenario, holding out long enough would bring S-Class heroes rushing in, but that had been preemptively blocked.

Five S-Class villains meant they’d invested over twice the firepower here.

The academy was a sideshow; Zero—Chain was the real target.

“Don’t tell me they breached the deepest level?”

The dean sighed deeply at his question.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Ho-cheol crossed his arms, tapping his arm as he calculated.

Shaking his head, he said.

“There’d be at least a hundred A-Class villains, and if I recall, just under twenty S-Class villains.”

That was based on ten years ago.

The number of villains in Zero—Chain only increased, never decreased.

It might even exceed twenty now.

If nearly twenty S-Class villains escaped, no amount of strategizing could solve it.

Generations of peace and stability could collapse entirely.

No, it was worse than that—this country could genuinely fall.

The balance between heroes and villains was already precarious.

Adding twenty S-Class villains?

The ten or so active S-Class heroes couldn’t handle that.

They’d probably all die from overwork within a few years.

“But, for what it’s worth—whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate—only five S-Class villains escaped.”

“Why?”

The dean sighed again, seeing Ho-cheol’s genuinely confused expression.

“They’re all dead.”

He pulled up a photo on his phone.

“Whoa.”

Ho-cheol let out a small gasp.

Over a dozen bodies, charred black to ashes, in a state so gruesome it warranted a mosaic over the entire screen.

Their postures, directions, and positions suggested they were looking at something, unable to resist, and died instantly.

Staring at the photo, Ho-cheol noticed a familiar pattern in the burn marks.

He rubbed his mouth with his fingertips.

If his suspicions were correct, the situation was the worst possible.

“This…”

Normally, Ho-cheol, with his sense of responsibility as an educator, refrained from cursing.

But this time, he couldn’t hold it in.

“We’re totally fucked.”

Even the dean, who’d usually scold Ho-cheol for such vulgarity, just stared at the photo silently.

A force capable of vaporizing over ten S-Class villains without resistance.

Ho-cheol knew of no flame-based trait with that kind of output.

But he knew one trait whose effects resulted in heat.

[The Sun]

Once called the greatest hero of all time. For reasons unknown, now a villain.

A true S-Class.

“Seriously…”

Ho-cheol lowered his hand from his mouth.

“This is bad.”

His expression was clear.

“Really bad.”

And yet, he was smiling, as if thrilled.