Chapter 85
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 085
Chapter Title: Academy New Student Shin Mi-rae [2]
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What the hell was this?
I read through the attached document with wide-open eyes.
‘Hunter Academy Official Faculty and Instructor List and Curriculum’…
This wasn’t publicly released material; it looked like someone had gotten their hands on internal docs and posted them. The more I read the names on that list, the hotter my blood boiled. Fucking hell.
The more I looked, the more I could see why that guy Kim Hyeong-man was so pissed off.
First off, the guy slated to be principal was the Hunter Association president.
The same bastard still sitting in that chair but scheduled to get booted out come November.
The dude was infamous for ignoring his actual duties as president—like Hunter education or advocating for Hunters—and obsessing over slapping hanja-derived or pure Korean names on monsters instead. His failed attempt to rename goblins “dokkebi” and ogres “thunderous dokkebi” was practically industry legend at this point.
Okay, fine, up to that point I could stomach it. The guy had to make a living after getting kicked out of the president’s seat, after all.
Math teachers, Korean language instructors—whoever, I didn’t care. So even if the staff list was padded with total nobodies I’d never heard of, that was tolerable.
But what enraged everyone at HuntWeb, myself included, was the list right below it. Korean history instructor, PE teacher, youth counselor—every damn one of them was a villain.
Why are there so many ex-military guys on the special training instructor list?
What the hell is that “political education officer” gig on the Korean history instructor’s resume? Planning to teach political indoctrination instead of history? Like, Goguryeo was all proud aggressors in our glorious Korean history, but Koreans are a peaceful people who’ve never invaded anyone—shit like that?
Hunters kinda do soldier stuff, so maybe they threw this together like a military academy vibe?
The faculty list was also packed with folks from the ‘Non-Profit Religious Corporation Mystery World Meditation Center.’
I knew exactly what that group was. Back when I was scrambling to rescue Miss Shin Mi-rae, those cultist scum showed up offering to “help with my mental training.”
They kept pushing unverified Buddhist and Taoist meditation techniques on Awakeners, claiming they could aid training—techniques never proven to work on us.
Once, they told someone awakening rock powers needed to “absorb the earth’s qi” and made trainees walk barefoot in dirt. That alone showed how unreliable these assholes were.
Still, they had some pull—sucking cash from every Awakener center in Seoul like leeches. And sure enough, they’d wormed their way in here too, snagging youth counselor spots and special training assistant roles.
And looking at the ex-military instructors hogging all the training slots? It made my stomach churn.
How the hell were these guys supposed to control Physical Enhancement Awakeners or Force Field Exoskeleton kids? Non-Awakeners? Scum like that?
Normal discipline? No way in hell. Even prisons struggled to handle Awakener inmates.
So how were they planning to rein in pubescent Awakeners?
Looking at all those ex-military names filling the list, it was obvious.
They planned to treat the young Awakeners like grunts. Oppress them, suffocate them, condition them to blindly obey superiors…
There were a few ex-Hunter instructors on the list, at least. But HuntWeb comrades apparently couldn’t stomach even that.
What’s Park Joo-heon doing as a special training instructor? That bastard got booted from the Special Task Force for trying to kill someone, and now they’re letting him teach kids?
Anyway, it was a total shitshow everywhere you looked.
Not just the faculty list—the recruitment guidelines’ fine print was the same.
It screamed “most students will drop out halfway,” yet to prevent that, the top note explicitly stated families would be evicted from their leased apartments if a student bailed on the program.
And even after graduation, students couldn’t just Hunter freely. Because the whole curriculum was government-funded, they had to mandatory serve 5 to 10 years at some agency.
Holding those apartments hostage to mold young Awakeners to their whims and exploit them on the cheap. That was the vibe.
Maybe the combo of military instructors and cultists was just too striking?
HuntWeb was full of interpretations like this:
Isn’t this brainwashing for kids? China’s got a bunch of similar Awakener schools, I hear…
Lots of similar takes. And yeah, that’s what I thought too.
Whether it was just suspicion or not, it pissed me off to no end.
Especially knowing clueless parents would still shove their kids into this academy despite the obvious red flags.
Still, tons of applicants, right? Free Seoul apartment for handing over an Awakener kid.
Fr, hand over one Awakener kid and get a free Seoul house? Huge W lol
Everyone was raging like that when another post went up on HuntWeb.
Association’s filing a group protest! All Association members, hit the link and sign the petition!
The Hunter Association’s gonna officially protest on behalf of those lists. Don’t skip out even if it’s a hassle (…)
Wonder if Kang Jun-chi’ll lend his name this time?
Baby Mushroom’ll take responsibility and borrow Oppa Jun-chi’s name!
I messaged Kang Jun-chi’s account, attached the link, and asked to borrow his name.
Didn’t take long for a reply.
Kang: Why should I?
I didn’t explain at length. Just sent some data I’d collected from Korean Awakener Alliance days—cases from the Middle East where boy and girl Awakeners were trained as ambush weapons and assassins.
Kang: Put my name at the top
A bit later, my phone rang. It was Kim Hyeong-man.
“You really are tight with Jun-chi! I asked Jang-sil and he said no way, so I gave up. How’d you get his signature? And of course Kim Geuk signed too, right?”
“There’s always a way. I signed too, naturally.”
“Anyway, you did great! Oh, and can I put Kim Geuk’s name under Jun-chi’s? We need some heavy pressure after Jun-chi, and those two words do the trick…”
I laughed genuinely at that.
“Be my honor.”
The next day, the Hunter Association submitted a protest petition to the relevant agencies—with around a hundred Awakener Hunters and a bunch of non-Awakener Hunters listed—in just half a day.
The response came quick.
Response from the agency! They’re sorry for the misunderstanding and want to meet to discuss.
They say they never planned to ignore the Association or go rogue—they’ll get plenty of help from us.
They’re not brushing us off, so we’ll meet. Official letter coming later, but if you’re on the Association committee and wanna step up, contact me!
I was a bit surprised. A group protest response this fast?
The attached agency reply read like a full surrender—super deferential.
“There’s been a misunderstanding,” “We’re sorry anyway,” “We’ll listen, so please meet us”… Not at all like official government correspondence to some association.
Scared of Kang Jun-chi’s name? Or intimidated by the hundred other Awakeners listed below?
Explained why the Special Task Force went all out to disrupt Awakener gatherings.
You could brush off ordinary shopkeepers banding together—count votes, pretend to listen, ignore. But Awakeners protesting? Can’t half-ass that.
You don’t fuck around with armed folks complaining.
That half-day list from an internet forum? Like a landing ship and a hundred escorting tanks. Grouped Awakeners like that could straight-up flex on the government.
Anyway, good shit. And how could I sit this out?
I posted in my cute style.
Baby Mushroom’s purity in crisis again!!
Tiny baby Mushroom’s graduating kindergarten… Next year, elementary school
Kindergarten boys don’t know sex yet, so they’re safe from Baby Mushroom’s charms, but elementary boys are all super mature these days!
Whole class’ll fall for Baby Mushroom’s fatal allure—how’s she supposed to stay pure? Wear an ugly bra?
And teachers worry me more! Some lust-filled teacher calls Baby Mushroom to the staff room secretly, and as a student she can’t resist—what then?
Baby Mushroom’s scared of students AND teachers
I read the replies.
Serious situation and you post terrorist bullshit? School mention triggered you into new ways to torment us? lol
Please stop…
Lots of fools who didn’t get it, but wise ones always lurk among the idiots.
Rage dripping from every sentence—Kim Geuk must be pissed. This bugs you big time, right?
Perfect timing—Kim Geuk’s vice chair of the Awakener Committee, so he’s stepping up?
Wait, that’s what it meant??
Kim Hyeong-man, true Elma-whisperer—guy had reading comprehension.
Baby Mushroom doesn’t know Kim Geuk Oppa, but yeah, that’s what he means!
I tossed in a casual reply, and below exploded with shock and awe—until Kim Hyeong-man chimed in.
Kim Geuk’s gladly stepping up—feels solid! I’ll send date and place via Association, so show up, yeah? Counting on you, Kim Geuk!
A few days later, I headed out with Kim Hyeong-man and other Association Awakener Hunters to meet the government suits.
Kim Hyeong-man was speaking for us.
“So why the hell are you pushing this without even a heads-up to the Association? It’s a Hunter Academy—skipping the Hunter Association? Association’s not your lapdog anymore, so now you’re ignoring us outright?”
Kim Hyeong-man wasn’t some Awakener rights activist. He didn’t give a shit about kids’ rights under oppression in that academy.
He was set to become Hunter Association president in November. He wanted to rep Hunters’ interests.
More precisely, he wanted this Hunter Academy’s cushy spots as post-retirement gigs for Hunters. Non-Hunters filling them pissed him off.
So his argument was consistent: He wanted the Association to claim the key positions.
“We don’t know how you got this, but it’s just tentative—not final! Pointing fingers already is…”
The government guy droned excuses, but Kim Hyeong-man ignored him.
“So! If you’re not ignoring the Association! Let us pick who—from top to bottom!”
“No, I mean…”
“What! What’s wrong with sending ex-Hunters to a Hunter Academy?”
Worn out by Kim Hyeong-man’s Elma energy, the suit sighed deeply. Then narrowed his eyes.
“You might’ve seen… there are ex-Hunters on the tentative list.”
“Ex-Hunter? Who?”
“Someone who Hunted then joined Special Task Force? Everyone active in Seoul knows his name and face…”
Lowering his voice, emphasizing “Special Task Force”—probably hoping for a scared, cowed Hunter reaction.
But we didn’t give him that.
Kim Hyeong-man’s eyes went wide, then he grinned.
“Oh, Special Task Force? That guy? Bring him here.”
The suit called someone, summoning the guy. While we waited, we whispered.
“These idiots know jack about the Hunter scene? Just heard ‘Hunters hate Special Task Force’ and thought that’d intimidate us…”
Moments later, the Special Task Force guy showed: leopard-like muscles, Park Joo-heon.
Ex-Hunter turned Special Task Force, the one who lunged at me and lost an arm…
I recognized him; he clocked me too.
“You…!”
He spotted me first—hard to miss a 2.1-meter tank.
I smiled. Smirks rippled across the Hunters beside me. Predatory ones.
The suit who called Park Joo-heon noticed our vibe shift, panic flashing. I overheard his whisper to Park.
“You two know each other? Friends, maybe?”