I Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy 61

Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy

Chapter 61

After escorting Se-jin to the dormitory, I immediately took out my phone and made a call.

“Teacher Kang? You’re calling at this hour, what’s the matter?”

“I have something urgent to discuss with the Vice Principal. Would it be alright to talk for a moment?”

I did get Se-jin’s father’s number earlier, but it would be better to go through the Vice Principal rather than me, a complete stranger, calling directly.

“That’s fine.”

“Se-jin collapsed during dinner time today and had to go to the infirmary.”

“What did you say?”

“Teacher Kim said there didn’t seem to be anything particularly wrong and that it appeared to be overwork. She received an IV drip and rested in the infirmary for a while, and I just finished escorting her back to the dormitory before calling you.”

“Overwork… Well, it’s fortunate that there’s nothing particularly wrong.”

“I’d like Se-jin to get some rest. Honestly, I think with Se-jin’s skills, winning the Martial Arts Tournament wouldn’t be a problem even without attending the supplementary classes.”

“Really? Since the supplementary classes are your responsibility, isn’t that for you to decide?”

“I’ve already told her that she can take a break from supplementary classes anytime she wants if she wishes. The reason I’m contacting you isn’t about the supplementary classes, but about Se-jin’s weekend schedule.”

“Weekend schedule?”

“You know that Se-jin goes out on weekends to raid portals, right?”

“I know. Her father was so persistent about wanting his daughter to definitely win the WHCU competition that he was annoying about it, so I gave permission. What about it?”

“That girl Se-jin, even though her condition isn’t good, said she’s going portal raiding tomorrow too.”

“She collapsed from overwork, you said. It would be better for her to rest this week. Why don’t you tell her father to let her rest?”

“I tried talking to Se-jin about it, but she said her father is very demanding and she can’t bring herself to tell him she wants to rest.”

“I thought Dae-chan had a somewhat harsh side from before, but I didn’t know he’d go that far.”

“These days she has a lot of assignments, student council work, and supplementary classes on top of that, and not being able to rest even on weekends seems a bit much. Rest is just as important as training. And how much could her magic possibly increase from going portal raiding for two weekend days?”

“That’s true.”

“That girl Se-jin said she’s been sleeping less than three hours a day lately. She’s lost a lot of weight too, and at this rate, I’m worried we might be harming the child… Vice Principal, please talk to Se-jin’s father about this.”

“You want me to tell him she can’t go tomorrow? How should I approach it?”

“I’d be grateful if you could tell him that outings would be difficult for the sake of fairness with other students. He might think Se-jin asked you to talk to the Vice Principal because she didn’t want to go.”

“I understand. I’ll call him and contact you again.”

After hanging up, I was heading back to the dormitory when the Vice Principal called me.

At first, he objected, asking why I was changing my words after initially agreeing, but when I mentioned fairness as I had suggested, he apparently understood.

It seems going through the Vice Principal was indeed the right answer.

Feeling relieved, I immediately sent a text to Se-jin.

***

“Se-jin, aren’t you sleeping?”

“Oh, I was going to the study room.”

“You’re going to pull an all-nighter again today?”

“Yeah. I still haven’t finished the assignment due on Monday.”

“You collapsed and went to the infirmary earlier, so rest a little. I’ll help you with the assignment.”

“No. It’s my assignment, so I should do it myself. I’ll be back.”

I got ready and left the room.

The teacher said he would talk to my father, but knowing my father’s personality, there’s a high chance he won’t allow it.

Of course, I’m grateful just for offering to speak on my behalf.

Especially when he said I was his student earlier, I was moved.

I think I understand why the first-year kids like Teacher Kang.

Whether it’s skill or character, there’s really nothing lacking about him, and I want to become a hunter like Teacher Kang someday too.

I arrived at the study room and was about to enter when I felt a vibration in my pocket.

When I took it out to check, it was my father.

He’s probably calling because of what Teacher Kang discussed.

The teacher said he’d make sure I wouldn’t be affected, but since he’s quite perceptive, he might have noticed that I asked for this.

“Yes, Father.”

“It’s your father. I just had a call with the Vice Principal a little while ago, and he suddenly said weekend outings would be impossible.”

He talked with the Vice Principal, not Teacher Kang?

Did Teacher Kang talk to the Vice Principal?

“Just last week he let you go without saying anything, so when I asked why he was changing his stance, he said there could be fairness issues with other students… Did he happen to say anything to you too?”

“No. I didn’t particularly hear anything…”

“Really? Oh, who did you say your supplementary teacher was?”

“Teacher Kang Shin-hyeok… Why?”

“When I asked who brought up this fairness talk, he said it was the teacher in charge of your supplementary classes.”

“Ah, Teacher Kang tends to be quite strict about following principles.”

“A principled person? Isn’t it because you don’t attend his supplementary classes on weekends to go portal raiding?”

“Pardon?”

“Se-jin, since you don’t take his supplementary classes on weekends and go portal raiding instead, doesn’t he think he’s being disrespected?”

“That’s probably not it…”

“What do you mean it’s not? Then what other reason would there be for him to raise an issue? He’s not even a student. Acting like he’s such a great teacher. The Martial Arts Tournament will obviously be Se-jin’s victory anyway.”

“…”

“Anyway, these so-called teachers should think about cooperating when it comes to things that help students. What’s with all this principle nonsense?”

After complaining for a while, he told me to at least catch as many monsters as possible during practical training and hung up.

There was a message, and it was from Teacher Kang.

[You’re not pulling another all-nighter, are you? I asked the Vice Principal, and he said he spoke well to your father. Now you don’t have to go portal raiding on weekends. Don’t think about coming to supplementary classes right away though – at least rest well tomorrow.]

[I just talked to my father. Thank you.]

While I’m happy that I don’t have to go portal raiding on weekends anymore, I’m more worried about the teacher than happy.

It seems like he thinks very poorly of Teacher Kang, and I wonder if he might nitpick unnecessarily when they meet during the promotion examination on Sunday…

The teacher stepped up for my sake, but I regret not speaking up strongly and clearly during the phone call to say that the teacher isn’t that kind of person.

***

Today is Sunday, the day of the promotion examination.

Instead of going directly to the portal, I had to be at the Association by 8 AM, so I skipped breakfast and left school early.

Since it was the weekend and there were no commuters, the roads weren’t very congested, so I arrived in Gangnam where the Association is located faster than expected.

The Hunter Association occupies an entire building that looks like it’s easily over 10 stories tall.

And that’s in Gangnam too.

Even in this world, Gangnam is a place that would be second to none for expensive land prices, but the Hunter Association is wealthier than any other association in Korea.

Part of the taxes paid by hunters goes to the Hunter Association, and even though it’s just a part, hunters are high earners compared to ordinary people.

The Association President has quite powerful authority, and there’s even an episode where he commits various corruptions and gets taught a lesson by the protagonist.

He’s probably committing corruption right now too, but there’s nothing I can do about it at the moment.

In the original work, when the protagonist teaches him a lesson, he solves it with help from his wealthy family connections, but as a mere teacher, I alone would be like throwing an egg at a rock.

I’ll let the protagonist solve it later, I thought as I parked my car in the Association’s underground parking garage and was about to get out when my phone kept ringing.

[Teacher, good luck on your examination.]

[Teacher, fighting!]

[Teacher will definitely pass! Fighting!]

I thought someone was calling, but it was messages from the Swordmanship Class kids.

I don’t think I mentioned it during class, but did the kids taking supplementary classes talk about it?

There were too many messages to reply to individually, so I left a thank you message in the Swordmanship Class group chat and got out with my sword.

Entering the building, there were quite a lot of people despite it being early on a weekend morning.

I went to the information desk, presented my Hunter license, and said I was here for the A Rank promotion examination today.

“Confirmed. Please wait a moment.”

After waiting about 3 minutes, one well-built man approached me.

“Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok? You’re much more handsome in person than on screen. Nice to meet you. I’m Park Hyun-sik, in charge of today’s examination.”

“I’m Kang Shin-hyeok.”

“I understand you’re in your twenties. Since I’m older and the examiner, would it be okay if I spoke casually?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Then let’s go to the 6th floor first since we need to measure your magic?”

“Yes.”

I followed Hyun-sik into the elevator and went up to the 6th floor.

During the ride, even though I didn’t ask, he talked about various things regarding the examination and tried to make conversation.

At first, I felt it was slightly rude when he suddenly asked to speak casually upon first meeting, but after talking with him, he just seemed to be a naturally easygoing and sociable person.

I already knew everything from the advice I got from the Vice Principal two days ago, but I responded appropriately as we arrived at the 6th floor.

“Why is the line so long?”

As soon as we got off the elevator, I could see a long line stretching out.

“I wonder too. Is something going on?”

I heard magic measurement would be quick… What’s this about?

When Hyun-sik and I went to the front to register and asked, they said they normally operate five measurement machines, but three went for repairs yesterday, and since work had just started not long ago, there was a backlog.

Fortunately, as I had known, the measurement itself didn’t take long, so the line moved quickly and it was soon my turn.

“You know how it works, right? B Rank was 500,000, but the A Rank standard requires exceeding 1 million.”

“Yes.”

Although it was actually my first time, I had seen the protagonist measure in the original work, so I stepped onto the machine that looked similar to a treadmill.

You place your hands on the handlebars in front and inject magic, and the magic is displayed numerically on the screen in front.

As Hyun-sik said, you need to exceed certain standards for each rank: the lowest F Rank is 5,000, E Rank is 20,000, D Rank 100,000, C Rank 300,000, B Rank 500,000, A Rank 1 million, and S Rank is over 5 million.

They say it can measure up to 10 million, and while there’s no one who exceeds 10 million right now, the original work’s protagonist comes to measure after graduation and exceeds 10 million, breaking the machine.

Thinking there’s a problem with the machine, they do a re-measurement, but he ends up smashing all the other machines too, receiving the first-ever “unmeasurable” judgment in history.

I suppose I could do the same if I wanted to, but I don’t particularly intend to.

Magic measurement is just the minimum requirement anyway.

Besides the amount of magic, you need to meet various other conditions, so there’s no real meaning to scoring high.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, nothing. I’ll start right away.”

I was having too many stray thoughts.

I immediately grabbed the handlebars and let my magic flow.

The numbers rose quickly, but… Huh?

The symbol of an A Rank Hunter is Sword Energy.

I thought the amount of internal energy needed to generate Sword Energy would be sufficient, so I controlled it, but the numbers are strange.

[4,730,000]

Did I mistake Sword Energy for Aura Blade?

That can’t be right, but what’s going on?

I haven’t even used half the internal energy needed to create Sword Energy yet.

“What are you? I heard you were skilled, but 4,730,000 without even changing your expression?”

“4,730,000?”

“Wow, did you just hear that? 4,730,000. At that level, isn’t it almost an S Rank?”

“Wasn’t the S Rank standard 5 million? Who is that person?”

The people waiting behind started murmuring.

Hyun-sik, who was watching from the side, was so surprised that he spoke too loudly, so everyone heard.

“You’ve already passed the measurement, but do you still have more in you? If so, a little more…”

He seems expectant, but sorry, I’m not an attention seeker.

Having a high magic score doesn’t automatically promote you to S Rank Hunter, and there’s no need to overdo it.

“This is my best.”

As I spoke, I took my hands off the machine and stepped down.

“That’s disappointing. It seemed like you could have exceeded 5 million with just a little more. Still, that’s impressive.”

“I seem to be in good condition today.”

“Even if you’re in good condition, still, I’m only at 1.3 million myself. I guess the rumors were true.”

“Haha… But the amount of magic doesn’t represent a hunter’s skill, right?”

“That’s true.”

“So do we go directly to the portal now?”

“Main Examiner Kim Dae-chan hasn’t arrived yet. Other A Rank examinees need to be measured too, so we’ll have to wait a bit. There’s a mini bus prepared in the ground parking lot, so go wait there.”

“Are we all going together? I brought my car.”

“You can travel in your personal vehicle if it’s more comfortable, but you’ll have to come back here anyway to get your Hunter license reissued after the examination. Wouldn’t it be better to go together?”

Hearing that, if I had to come back to the Association anyway, there didn’t seem to be any need to drive, so I agreed and headed to the parking lot.

There were several mini buses, but each had ranks written on the front, and to avoid confusion, the names of examinees were even written on the side of the buses, so I boarded the bus with my name on it.

I was browsing the web on my phone to pass time when people started entering one by one.

I wondered if I should greet them, but since everyone seemed tense about the examination and no one was talking, I didn’t make any greetings either.

After 4 more people besides me had entered and we waited about 5 more minutes, the examiners including Hyun-sik whom I met earlier came in, and one person particularly caught my eye.

While not as much as the Vice Principal, he had considerably broad shoulders and a good build, with somewhat sharp eyes.

They say daughters resemble their fathers, and he seems to look somewhat similar.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Dae-chan, who will be serving as the main examiner today.”