Ch 67
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 67
I finished eating breakfast at the restaurant and came out.
Normally I would have gone straight to the faculty office, but today I stopped by the administrative office on the first floor.
When I opened the door and went in, there weren't many people since it was morning.
"Teacher Kang? Are you here to get an exit pass?"
"Ah, that's not it. I took the advancement exam yesterday. So I'm here to update my Hunter registration."
"Oh, you must have advanced. So are you B-rank now?"
"No. I was originally B-rank, so now I'm A-rank."
"Wow, I heard A-rank advancement is extremely difficult... Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"Go to Yejin... Huh? The person in charge hasn't come yet. Well, we just need your Hunter license, so if you give it to me, I'll copy it and deliver it to the person in charge."
"I'd appreciate that. Here it is."
I took out my A-rank Hunter license and handed it to the staff member.
Even though I became an A-rank Hunter, the allowance doesn't increase by much.
It won't be applied retroactively either, so it'll be applied from next month, and there's no allowance during vacation, but still, I should take care of what I can get.
I left the administrative office and arrived at the faculty office.
After punching my attendance card and coming to my seat, Teacher Park at the next desk had just arrived and was unpacking his bag.
"Good morning."
"You're a bit later than usual today. Oh right, you said you were taking the advancement exam on Sunday. How did it go?"
"Of course I passed. So I stopped by the administrative office to register on my way here."
"Oh, congratulations. But does the administrative office handle business at this hour?"
"The person in charge hasn't come yet, but they said they just need a copy of the Hunter license, so if I leave a copy, they'll deliver it and process it. The administrative office teachers seem really kind."
"Kind my foot... When I went early last time to get something done, they firmly refused and told me to come during business hours."
"Huh? When I get exit passes in the morning, they do it without saying anything."
"Teacher Park is a pot-bellied married man, and our Teacher Kang is a handsome guy. The administrative office is all female teachers except for the director, so isn't it natural?"
Teacher Choi next to us chimed in.
"Hey, why are you saying that in the morning? The administrative office teachers must have been busy then."
"Busy my foot. When I was Teacher Kang's age, women who liked me were lining up... Time is so cruel."
"Teacher Park, you can't lie about things that can't be verified."
"No, it's true... This is so unfair, should I bring my college photos tomorrow?"
"Nobody wants to see photos like that... Teacher Kang, you passed the advancement exam, how about a drink?"
"Right. I actually found an amazing conger eel place, shall we go today?"
I was wondering why this topic hadn't come up.
But I have my supplementary class shield.
"I'd like to, but because of supplementary classes... It seems difficult."
"Ah, right."
"The festival is next week, so the preliminaries must be this week?"
"Yes. This Wednesday."
"If the kids make it to the finals, will you continue supplementary classes for finals preparation?"
"Yes. That's right."
"To have a drink with our Teacher Kang, we'll have to hope the kids lose."
"That's right."
"Se-jin is among the students taking my supplementary classes, so that would be quite difficult."
"Ah, right. How are the other kids? Se-jin will obviously advance. I heard first-year students are participating too."
"Even though they're first-years, they're all working hard, so if luck is on their side with the bracket, I think there will be good results."
"First-years have it tough, you're working hard."
"Haha. I'm dying."
"Don't die. We have to drink after the festival."
Really, it's about drinking until the end.
Anyway, by then I'll have more free time, so I said I understood and did some work, and before I knew it, it was meeting time.
Since next week is the festival, the meeting was mainly about role distribution for preparations, but since I'm not a homeroom teacher and already handling supplementary classes, I wasn't assigned any special additional duties.
After the meeting ended, I immediately went up to the swordsmanship training hall.
I was going to check stocks once and do some work before class, but it was noisy outside.
I went out planning to tell them if they came early, don't be noisy and go run laps, but not only Class A with morning lessons but also Class B with afternoon lessons - all the swordsmanship class kids were there.
"What's going on, everyone?"
"We came to congratulate you on your advancement, Teacher."
"I didn't say I passed though?"
With all the various things that happened yesterday and no one asking if I passed after my message telling the students to do well, I didn't specifically mention it.
"Don't tell me you failed?"
"No. Of course I passed."
"Really, Jinsu. There's no way our teacher would fail."
"Congratulations, Teacher."
"Congratulations."
They came early to congratulate me, and indeed, only my students thought of me.
They even made a cake with Choco Pies and stuck candles in it, asking me to blow them out. It wasn't even my birthday and I thought they were making too much fuss, but considering the effort the kids put into preparing, I obediently blew out the candles.
"Thank you all for congratulating me. Now, Class B should hurry and go to class, and since Class A came early, let's do some running first."
"Huh? No... Teacher, we came early to congratulate you, why are we running...?"
"Teacher, then we'll... We'll be going."
When running was mentioned, Eunsu and Eunseo and the other Class B kids turned around and left without looking back.
"Then we'll go back and come later too."
"Hey hey, regardless of the reason, since you arrived early, you have to train. Minhee take the lead, Jinsu take the rear, and let's run thirty light laps."
"Huh? Thirty laps is more than usual."
"Teacher, that's too much!"
"Evil teacher, step down!"
"I was going to end class early today and order chicken... Nut if you don't want it, I can't help it."
The power of chicken was tremendous.
"Kim Minhee, quickly go to the front."
"Lee Jinsu, you quickly go to the back."
"We want to run quickly!"
The kids who were jeering and dawdling just moments ago were moving more quickly than anyone.
"Teacher, is it one chicken per person?"
"Of course. But Jinsu, you get five extra laps."
"Huh? Why only me...?"
"You called me an evil teacher."
"No, Teacher... I wasn't the only one who said that..."
"Your voice was the loudest so I couldn't hear the other kids' voices? Don't think about slacking off, I'll check with the kids."
***
That bastard Kang Shin-hyeok told me he stepped up because Se-jin was a student he taught, but that bastard isn't even a homeroom teacher and isn't in charge of third-year swordsmanship.
For someone who only teaches a couple hours of supplementary classes a day to go this far, he must definitely think specially of Se-jin.
Our Se-jin is not only exceptionally talented, but takes after her mother and is quite good-looking too.
Of course, as a teacher having such feelings toward Se-jin, who is still a student, is truly deplorable.
But if he has ability, that's a different story.
His face doesn't really appeal to me by my standards, but he's pale and pretty in a way women would like, so he might be okay as Se-jin's match.
The teacher-student relationship is a bit concerning, but it'll be December soon and next year when Se-jin graduates it won't matter.
At twenty-five, the age gap with Se-jin isn't that big either... It seems fine.
I don't have information about his background or family, but I can just have guild staff look into that later.
Actually, there's no need to investigate.
Even if his family or background isn't great, if he has that level of skill at twenty-five, background doesn't matter.
I thought it would be better to talk to Se-jin about this to some extent, so I called her right away.
―Yes. Father.
"What are you doing?"
―I was doing assignments in the study room. I should have answered earlier... I'm sorry.
"It's fine. More importantly, I went to the association as an examiner today and met the teacher who's giving you supplementary lessons."
―Ah, you said you were going to examine today.
"Since he's a teacher who teaches you, I talked with him separately after the exam, and he was quite bold."
―Huh?
"That guy said Se-jin, you collapsed last Friday?"
―Ah... It's nothing. I was just a bit tired, but I'm fine now.
"I didn't think much of it either, but that teacher Kang Shin-hyeok was making a complete fuss."
―Teacher Kang originally cares a lot about his students...
"Just teaching two hours of supplementary classes, yet acting like he knows so much about you, trying to lecture me. He even spouted nonsense that with my methods, Se-jin, you could never win the WHCU competition.
―...
"Did you say something to that bastard, Se-jin?"
―Well, that is...
"Well, I guess not. Anyway, that bastard doesn't know anything. I'll handle my child's education myself, and even when I told him to go, he applied for a duel saying, if he wins, I shouldn't interfere with you."
―A... Duel? You and Teacher? You didn't accept it, did you? Teacher is a B-rank Hunter...
"That bastard advanced to A-rank today. Of course, even so, applying for a duel against me is ridiculous. I was so dumbfounded that I accepted it, intending to teach him a lesson."
―What? You dueled? Is Teacher okay?
Look at this kid?
I'm telling her I dueled, and she's only asking about that bastard Kang Shin-hyeok's wellbeing.
I felt annoyed for a moment, but Se-jin probably thought that guy was no match for me, so that might be why.
Maybe Se-jin has some feelings for that bastard too.
Anyway, I was planning to tell Se-jin to get along well with that guy, so it doesn't matter.
"He's not just someone who's all talk. That guy is fine."
―Really? Father must have gone easy on him. That's a relief.
"Ahem, that's true, but the staff in charge of the duel arena barrier all collapsed from exhaustion, so we couldn't settle the match."
―You couldn't settle the match?
"We had to take care of the collapsed staff, and he said he had a prior engagement, so we had no choice."
―Ah...
"If we had continued, this father would have naturally won, but that bastard has quite some skill too. Since he just advanced to A-rank, it'll take some time, but he'll definitely become an S-rank Hunter."
―I also think Teacher Kang is very skilled.
"It was as good as me winning, but anyway the match wasn't settled and we couldn't continue the duel, so we decided to settle it another way."
―Huh?
"First, as that guy suggested, I agreed not to interfere with your training at all. If you win, I agreed not to interfere with you in the future either."
―Ah... Yes.
"Instead, if Se-jin, you don't win, that bastard will quit school and come to Ares Guild."
―Teacher will quit school and come to Ares Guild?
"As I said earlier, that guy isn't ordinary. Such talent naturally should be brought to our Ares Guild."
―Then are you telling me to deliberately lose at the WHCU competition? That's...
"There's no need to go that far. Anyway, winning without this father's help would be difficult, wouldn't it? That bastard also said he'd help with your training during vacation, though he seemed uncertain when he said leaving it to him would produce better results than my methods... Well, since I made a promise with that guy about the competition, you handle it yourself and get close to that guy."
―What do you mean by getting close...?
"I have to keep my promise so he'll come to the guild, but we didn't set a specific period, so I don't know how long he'll stay. He might say he'll only do it for exactly one year and then leave."
―You meant for me to become friends with Teacher so he'll stay at the guild...
"Just becoming friends won't make that guy stay at the guild. When he becomes S-rank, other guilds will come after him with their eyes blazing to scout him."
―Ah... That would happen.
"So I thought about it, and Se-jin, you should take him as your match."
―Tea... Teacher?
"Why, do you dislike that guy? His face isn't particularly manly, but he's pretty, and his skills are outstanding."
―No, I've never thought about it like that. And I'm a student and Teacher is a teacher...
"In February next year, Se-jin, you'll graduate and be an adult, won't you? That bastard is only twenty-five, so the age gap isn't much. Well, if early marriage bothers you, he can come to the guild first and you can get engaged. From what I saw, that bastard seems to have some feelings for you too."
―Huh? Teacher does?
"If all he did was teach a few supplementary classes but he's willing to duel me, he must definitely have feelings. If Se-jin, you marry that guy, other guilds will give up their thoughts too."
―No... Father, Teacher is originally...
"Are you talking back to me now? This is all for the guild, so stop complaining and work on having a good relationship with that guy."