Ch 79
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 79
It's uncomfortable.
Is it because I'm wearing a suit after a long time?
No, actually it's not so much the suit but rather that there are too many people here.
We held a celebration party at the hotel banquet hall where Kim Dae-chan, who was all puffed up with pride from Se-jin's victory, was staying.
Between the host Kim Dae-chan's acquaintances, the vice principal's acquaintances, and even World Hunter Association officials, considerably more people came than I had expected.
I originally don't like crowded places, and the host Kim Dae-chan is also someone I find distasteful, so I didn't really want to attend, but since it was Se-jin's celebration party, I couldn't skip it.
Since this is Se-jin's victory celebration party, naturally Se-jin is the main character, and indeed Se-jin is surrounded by people even now.
She looks a bit tired but seems to be in a good mood as she hasn't lost her smile.
Unlike me.
Except for the vice principal, there isn't a single person I know, but I'm being tormented almost as much as Se-jin.
"So it really wasn't Aura Blade?"
"No."
I don't know how many times I've been asked the same question already.
The culprit making me suffer is Se-jin.
That girl Se-jin said in an interview earlier that she absolutely couldn't have won without me, expressing so much gratitude that she spent more than half the interview just praising me.
I appreciate the gratitude, but because of that interview, too many people are showing interest and talking to me.
"Vice Principal, I'll be excusing myself first."
"Already? It's not even that late. There are still many people I haven't introduced you to. Oh? Robert, this is our Teacher Kang."
In the end, I was tormented until the party ended.
When I returned to my room and looked at the clock, it was already past 11:30.
After washing up and lying on the bed, I finally felt like I could live again.
I thought I had changed a bit while living as Kang Shin-hyeok, but I guess being a natural loner is unavoidable.
After rolling around for a bit, I got up again and retrieved my phone from my clothes.
I was too busy today to properly check my phone, and now I see the battery is dead.
Since Se-jin won, there must have been a lot of contacts from Korea, so I connected the charger and turned it on.
There weren't many calls, but messenger notifications were at 999+, almost like a bomb.
From kids like Eunsu and Eunseo, Minhee and Jinsu who took supplementary lessons with Se-jin, to Teacher Kim and Teacher Hong and other school teachers - everyone contacted me to congratulate.
I explained that my phone died and it was hectic, apologizing while sending thank you replies to each person one by one.
Since it's morning in Korea, most of the "1" notifications didn't disappear, but a few people replied quickly.
[Um, but... Teacher, are you going to quit school now?]
This is a message from Eunseo, but I suddenly don't understand what she's talking about.
[Why are you saying the teacher is quitting? Would Eunseo be happy if the teacher quit?]
[No, yesterday's news article said you might quit school....]
Did the bet I made with Kim Dae-chan get reported in the media?
But only Kim Dae-chan, me, and Se-jin know about the bet.
Besides, Se-jin won anyway, so there's no reason for me to quit... What is this?
I sent a message saying I have no intention of quitting and asked her to send me the article link.
[Unprecedented reversal drama that shattered all experts' predictions - 2021 WHCU. Prize money and winnings also break all-time records!
At 2:13 PM local time, 11:13 PM Korean time, at the World Championship Stadium in London, Kim Se-jin, representing South Korea in the finals of the World Hunter Championship for students under 19, defeated British representative Bianca and claimed victory.
The WHCU prize money is 3 million dollars, but the amount automatically bet on their own victory in WH Toto run by the World Hunter Federation that hosts the tournament is multiplied by the odds to determine the final prize money.
Until the tournament began, most experts expected defending champion Bianca Rowell of Britain, who had won two consecutive years, to take victory.
Indeed, most people worldwide bet on Bianca Rowell, and her odds announced by WH Toto were 1.04x, recording the lowest in history.
Even betting the maximum limit of $1,000 on WH Toto would only yield a mere $40 profit, but Kim Se-jin's odds, who claimed victory this time, were 20.4x.
If someone believed in Kim Se-jin and bet $1,000, they would receive $20,400 in winnings - over 24 million won in Korean currency.
Winner Kim Se-jin received $61.2 million in prize money - approximately 73.4 billion won in Korean currency, an unprecedented amount.
However, there exists someone who earned even more money than Kim Se-jin, who received the record-breaking prize.
That person is Hunter School teacher Kang Shin-hyeok, who was in charge of Kim Se-jin's training.
According to WH Toto regulations, officials related to participating students can only bet on students they are associated with due to match-fixing concerns.
However, if they submit confirmation documents showing they received the student's consent, they can bet on other students and bet without limits.
In an interview with reporters before departing for WHCU participation, Kang Shin-hyeok said he received consent from Se-jin and bet not only all his assets but also took out loans to bet everything on Kim Se-jin, showing strong confidence in victory.
After that article was published, netizens said he did the same during the martial arts tournament, and the prevailing opinion was that he only said such things to show trust in his student, but wouldn't actually bet all his assets.
But he really did bet everything.
WH Toto's official site announced that record-breaking winnings were born in this WH Toto.
The winner is Korean, and the winning amount is $85.23 million.
The exact real name wasn't disclosed, but considering various circumstances, Kang Shin-hyeok is likely.
This amounts to over 102 billion won in Korean currency.
Some might think negatively that while winner Kim Se-jin's prize is 70 billion won, trainer Kang Shin-hyeok received over 100 billion won in winnings - the bear does the tricks but the master takes the money.
However, among netizens, there are many opinions that Kang Shin-hyeok, who believed in his student and bet everything, fully deserves the winnings.
Actually, calculating net profit including taxes, the true winner is champion Kim Se-jin.
WHCU winner Kim Se-jin has 80% of the prize excluded as necessary expenses, and only pays 20% tax on the remaining 20%, which is 16.34 billion won.
That's about 3.3 billion, so Kim Se-jin's actual receipt is 70 billion won.
Meanwhile, Kang Shin-hyeok must pay much heavier taxes.
While the World Hunter Federation that oversees WH Toto doesn't collect taxes separately, winners must pay taxes according to their country's tax laws.
Kang Shin-hyeok, who will receive 102 billion won, must pay 30% miscellaneous income tax plus 3% resident tax for a total of 33% in taxes, so his actual receipt drops sharply to about 68 billion won.
Some netizens are speculating whether Kang Shin-hyeok might emigrate.
Our country has no separate law so it's classified as miscellaneous income with heavy taxes, but looking at allied America and neighboring Japan, they have separate laws regarding WH Toto with very low taxes around 10%.
WH Toto winnings payment deadline is one year, and payment is only made when the winner accesses the WH Toto site and applies for payment, so it's not entirely impossible.
The choice is Kang Shin-hyeok's, but many in the public expect he'll quit his job even if not emigrating.
Kang Shin-hyeok has been working as a teacher at 1st Hunter School since March last year, receiving quite a high salary including A-rank qualification allowance, but compared to the winnings, it's just a drop in the bucket.]
Haha.... After reading to the end, I feel like cursing.
It's not because of people making "prophecies" about me emigrating or quitting school without saying anything.
Well, I suppose they could think that way.
What makes me angry is the taxes.
If the actual receipt is 68 billion won, that means taxes alone are almost 34 billion won.
What kind of taxes take so much....
It's highway robbery without holding a knife.
I quickly searched to see if there might be any way to save on taxes, but it was futile.
They say even if you go to a tax accountant with former National Tax Service director experience, there's no way to reduce miscellaneous income.
I wonder if I really should emigrate, but I can't.
Considering future events, leaving Korea wouldn't be a good choice.
It would be a waste to quit school, and I need to take care of Master too.
Just as I'm thinking there's no choice, my phone rings again.
[Teacher, are you sleeping?]
It's Se-jin.
[I'm sleeping.]
[How are you replying if you're sleeping?]
[Why? The teacher is going to sleep. Aren't you tired?]
[Your room was 813, right? I'm coming now.]
Huh? She's coming to my room?
It's almost 1 AM....
I sent a message saying it's late so if she has something to say, use messenger, but this girl isn't reading it.
I don't know if she's preparing or already left without her phone, but she's not even answering voice calls.
What on earth... No, wait. Could this girl be?
If she's coming at this late hour without proper explanation, there's only one reason.
Confession.
It's flustering, but thinking about it, there were signs in Se-jin's behavior.
During training camp, even when I said she could go home if being alone together was burdensome, she said it was fine and didn't go... And when the store owner at the mart we stopped by mistook us for newlyweds and meddled, only I got angry.
Sigh, I really don't know what to do about this popularity.
Of course, Se-jin is an adult too, so legally there's no problem.
Graduation is in a few weeks, so she won't be a student anymore....
I also care for and like Se-jin.
But that's only as a disciple, as my student, as one of my people - I've never once thought of or felt anything toward her as a woman.
There could be problems if I let her into the room, so I put on a tracksuit, grabbed my wallet, and went outside.
Going toward the elevator, the doors opened just right.
"Huh? Teacher, why are you out here?"
"It's not quite right to talk alone in a room at this hour. Others might misunderstand."
"I don't mind."
Haha.... I thought I might have been mistaken, but it seems my prediction was right after all.
It's complicated figuring out how to handle this properly without hurting her feelings.
"The teacher minds. Let's see... There's a bar in the basement. It says it's open until 3, so shall we go there?"
"Yes."
As I pressed B2, the doors closed. Usually it wouldn't matter, but maybe because I'm conscious of it, it feels slightly awkward.
"Teacher? Aren't you getting off?"
"Oh... Ues, I should get off."
Thinking about it, I brought my wallet but didn't bring the translation earphone.
My English is terrible... Well, I should be able to manage ordering at least.
If worst comes to worst, Se-jin can order.
We went in and found seats in a corner.
"I drank a lot at the party earlier, so I'll have non-alcoholic. There are quite a few non-alcoholic options. Um... I'll have the apple sparkler? This one. What about you, Teacher?"
"Teacher will have the same as you. Teacher will pay."
"Okay."
Se-jin didn't bring earphones either, but like a good student, she orders skillfully in English.
Good. That was quite natural.
It's transparent colored, and taking a sip, it tastes like apple juice with strong carbonation.
"Sorry for calling you out so late. But if not today, I might not see you often in the future, so I really wanted to talk."
I-is she jumping straight to the main topic?
"That's fine, but... Se-jin, can the teacher speak first?"
"Yes. Please go ahead."
"You'll graduate soon, but I am the teacher and you are the student."
Haha.... I never dreamed I'd be saying this line.
"What do you mean by that?"
Did I speak too indirectly?
I did it to avoid hurting her feelings, but it seems she doesn't understand, so there's no choice.
"I'm not going to my father's guild."
"I understand your feelings... Huh?"
"Huh? How did you know, Teacher? This is the first time I'm telling anyone...."
‘Someone who's not getting rice cakes doesn't even think about it, but drinks the kimchi soup first’ -that's exactly what I did.
It's a godsend that Se-jin didn't understand.
I almost made a complete fool of myself.