The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 191

Han Si-hyuk’s entire life had been a journey of running away from Han Taesu.

Running, running again, until he finally reached this place.

A modest position as a professor at the Academy.

He had intended to live quietly, just as Han Taesu had always wanted.

But why?

Why had he come all the way here?

Step by step.

Han Taesu slowly walked toward him.

Those cold, unreadable eyes that had never changed since childhood drew closer.

When he looked at Han Siha, the Bloody Count always had a smile on his face.

But that smile was something he had never shown Han Si-hyuk, not even once. At one point, Han Si-hyuk resented him for it.

Now, he knew the reason, so he didn’t even bother with resentment anymore.

He was just afraid.

He didn’t resent Han Taesu, but he was still terrified of him.

“Why do you think I’ve come to find you?”

Han Si-hyuk swallowed hard at Han Taesu’s sudden question.

Han Taesu had an aura that dominated anyone around him, making it impossible not to feel tense in his presence.

However, Han Si-hyuk was no longer the person he used to be.

He had grown too much to crave his father’s love, and his hardened emotions kept him calm, even in this situation.

As a result, a slightly defiant answer slipped out.

“Did something else fail to meet your standards?”

His voice laced with sarcasm, he continued.

“After all, I’m not really your child, so it must be quite distasteful to see me lingering in front of your real son.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“So, have you come to threaten me into resigning from my position as a professor?”

“….”

Han Taesu stared at Han Si-hyuk for a moment.

His gaze was inscrutable. Yet, it didn’t feel cold.

In fact, it almost felt like pity.

But the words that came out of his mouth were far from that.

With great effort, Han Taesu finally spoke, his words heavy and reluctant.

“You will have to step down.”

At that, Han Si-hyuk’s face twisted in shock.

He had spat those words out with a sneer, not actually believing it would come to this.

And yet, he was being told to resign.

“…Do you really have to go this far?”

The emotions he had been suppressing surged up to his throat, making it hard to breathe.

He had completely discarded the name of the Castica family and been cast out with nothing.

Han Si-hyuk had clawed his way up to this point on his own.

That was why those words…

He couldn’t accept them.

For once, Han Si-hyuk’s emotions spilled over as he responded to Han Taesu.

“You told me to leave the family, so I left! You told me never to show my face again, so I stayed away! I haven’t borrowed the power of the family, and now you want me to give up what I’ve earned on my own, just for your sake?”

“Han Si-hyuk.”

“What… makes this so easy for you? How can you say such things without a shred of guilt… Even if I don’t remember, that doesn’t mean none of it happened….”

Han Si-hyuk gritted his teeth, forcing the words out.

After discovering the truth about the Katablam incident, he had thought about saying this countless times but had never been able to voice it.

“If you were going to destroy my entire family and village, why did you let me live?”

If he had killed him then and there, there would have been no reason for him to hold this hatred.

If this was how things would end up, then he shouldn’t have brought him away from that place.

“Why did it have to be like this…?”

Han Si-hyuk couldn’t understand Han Taesu.

“That…”

Han Taesu’s lips moved as if to respond to those words.

But instead, he changed the subject.

“That’s not important right now.”

“What?”

Han Si-hyuk flinched at the sudden, cold tone in Han Taesu’s voice.

“You need to resign from your position, not because of me, but because of what you’ve done.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“There was an attack on the investigation room.”

Thud.

Han Si-hyuk felt his heart stop at those words.

“Was it you?”

* * *

The look in his eyes suggested he already knew everything.

Han Si-hyuk, who had been spitting out words of resentment just moments ago, froze on the spot.

“That… that’s…”

He was dealing with the Bloody Count.

The man who had captured countless dark mages, willing to accept even innocent casualties for the greater good—the Bloody Count, who lived up to his name.

And now, that Han Taesu has discovered the truth of the incident.

Han Taesu was the kind of man who would stop at nothing for the Empire.

He was the most dangerous person in the Ardel Empire.

And so, Han Si-hyuk tried to deny it.

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about….”

Han Si-hyuk’s voice trembled as he shook his head.

His hands were already slick with sweat.

Han Taesu’s piercing gaze made it clear.

He didn’t know how Han Taesu had found out, but he wasn’t here just to probe for answers.

He knew something.

“I have no knowledge of… the attack….”

“Professor Grint suspects you.”

Han Taesu had connections among the professors, so there was no way he would miss any news within Ardel Academy. He continued in a voice that was as cold as ice.

“He’s sharp and skilled. Even if you’re trying to cover it up, any more suspicious actions and he’ll figure it out.”

Professor Grint wasn’t the real problem.

“And before that, I’ve already figured it out.”

With Han Taesu standing right in front of him, having uncovered the truth himself, the uncertain future of Professor Grint possibly finding out hardly mattered.

“It was an unfortunate accident, no doubt. I’m sure you did your best to handle it. But it was sloppy.”

“….”

“Did you really think you could fool me?”

Han Si-hyuk no longer had the strength to deny it.

He couldn’t offer excuses to someone who had come to know everything.

Thud.

Han Si-hyuk’s legs nearly gave out, but he managed to catch himself on the wall and remain standing.

He breathed heavily.

‘What… happens now?’

Would he be dragged away like this?

Or did Han Taesu intend to kill him here and now?

What would happen if all this came to light before Emperor Linia?

No matter how he thought about it, there was no hopeful outcome.

With a face full of despair, Han Si-hyuk looked up.

“What… what do you plan to do with me?”

“We are not family.”

Not family…

Those words had never felt as painful as they did now.

However, Han Taesu still had even harsher words left to say.

His voice rang out, cold and unfeeling.

“But legally, we are still family.”

“….”

“They say that when a dark mage is discovered in a family, the entire bloodline is eradicated.”

“Is that… so.”

“In order to protect my family, I intend to report you.”

Han Si-hyuk slowly nodded.

He wasn’t okay with it at all, but he forced himself to appear composed.

“Hah… ha…”

It was the expected outcome, after all.

No matter how much he resisted, he couldn’t possibly defeat Han Taesu on his own.

“Haha… ha…”

Han Si-hyuk resigned himself to his fate.

“In the end… things turned out exactly as you wanted.”

He hated him so much.

Han Taesu must have wanted to kill him countless times—the child of a cursed village and the sole survivor of Katablam.

He had been terrified that he might harm his real son.

“So… everything has gone just the way you wanted… I’m glad… for you….”

Han Si-hyuk let out a bitter laugh, hanging his head.

He had never harmed anyone with the power he possessed, but he couldn’t blame anyone else for the strength he had chosen to wield.

Perhaps this outcome had been inevitable from the beginning.

A foolish prophet who couldn’t see his own future.

Unable to see the shackles that would one day tighten around his neck, he had made the wrong choices.

This was…

His punishment.

Han Si-hyuk closed his eyes and waited for his sentence.

A shadow briefly fell over him, then disappeared.

“….”

A suffocating silence filled the room.

Whether Han Taesu would restrain him with bindings or behead him on the spot—

Han Si-hyuk expected something to happen and slowly opened his eyes.

Han Taesu stood in the same place, his expression unchanged.

His quiet voice echoed in Han Si-hyuk’s ears.

“This will be the last time I see you.”

Han Taesu spoke with an inexplicable sadness in his eyes, a sorrowful smile playing on his lips.

A smile that he had never shown Han Si-hyuk before.

Was he showing it now, at the final moment of his life?

Han Si-hyuk thought it was a tragically ironic display of fatherly love.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Han Taesu’s trembling voice broke the silence again.

He called his name.

A name he had never uttered with any affection.

For the first time.

Han Taesu called him.

“Si-hyuk.”

Han Taesu looked down at him with eyes full of sorrow.

But the next words were something Han Si-hyuk could never have expected.

“Leave the Empire.”

“…What?”

From the beginning, Han Taesu had intended to let Han Si-hyuk go.

* * *

“Was it you?”

The moment Han Taesu brought up the attack on the investigation room, Han Si-hyuk’s face stiffened.

His pale face grew even paler as he tried to deny the incident he had caused.

Dark mages.

Han Taesu, who had spent his life hunting them, was always battling the fury that boiled in his veins.

What was so appealing about that wicked power?

Why did people go so far as to harm others to obtain it?

For Han Taesu, killing them was both a duty and his entire purpose in life.

And Han Si-hyuk should have been no exception.

A boy who had sought out forbidden power to bring down the Castica family.

A child born in a cursed village.

A foolish prophet who couldn’t control his own dark power and had ultimately lost control…

Han Taesu should have been filled with rage.

He should have felt the urge to kill him.

But instead…

“So… everything has gone just the way you wanted… I’m glad… for you….”

Han Si-hyuk was trembling.

He was trembling like a leaf, waiting for death to come, just as he had sat in that ruined village, surrounded by the corpses of everyone he had once known.

Han Si-hyuk looked up at him with eyes full of fear.

Ten years had passed, but those eyes hadn’t changed. Han Taesu couldn’t bring himself to kill a child with eyes like those.

So, he had decided to let him go from the start.

“Leave the Empire.”

If you stay, I’ll have no choice but to kill you.

He hoped Han Si-hyuk would run far, somewhere he couldn’t see.

He could never be a father, but he didn’t want to become an executioner either.

That was all.

“Why… why are you…?”

Han Si-hyuk trailed off, unable to believe what he was hearing.

Han Taesu forced himself to continue in a calm tone.

“I’ve raised you for over ten years.”

Ten years.

It wasn’t a short time for Han Taesu, either.

“I never thought of you as my son, but maybe… you were.”

The boy is destined to kill his own son.

Letting Han Si-hyuk go now was a decision he might regret in the future.

Han Si-hyuk had never been treated with affection.

Even now, it would be a stretch to call what he felt affection.

He hated him, but… he didn’t.

After killing so many, perhaps it was a sin even to feel remorse now.

Han Taesu couldn’t quite grasp what this complex emotion was.

Maybe it was guilt.

With a sad smile, Han Taesu spoke.

“I haven’t been a good father.”

He was always sorry for that, and it would remain a regret for the rest of his life.

Even so.

He didn’t want to create more regrets.

He would let Han Si-hyuk go.

“I don’t want to become a father who kills his own child.”

So,

“Go.”

It was time to send away the face he would never see again.