Make It the Best in the World
“Ahh, so refreshing.”
Han Tae-ho was in an exceptionally good mood.
The flowers blooming in the beds, the trees thrusting up all around him, even the pebbles rolling across the ground—everything looked beautiful.
If your achievements are solid, I’ll teach you the Plum Blossom Sword Art and the Purple Mist Divine Art later.
The professor’s voice refused to leave his head.
Just imagine it!
Himself, standing before an unmeasurable-class demonic beast that no one else could handle, unleashing a first-grade martial art…!
“Kyaaah.”
Of course the seniors were jealous.
Especially Senior Kwak Do-jin.
Signs that the old Mad Dog was about to make a comeback had already started showing, so Han Tae-ho hurriedly said,
“Professor already told us! Rank is just an empty shell! What matters is the person!”
Naturally, the words didn’t land at all.
“Oh, is that so? Then want to switch with me? Let’s go right now. You tell the professor yourself—ask him to swap us.”
“I really want to punch you one good time.”
“Exactly. When you got the Six Harmonies Sword Style you looked like you’d lost the country.”
Honestly, he didn’t mind the seniors being jealous.
When you win the lottery, taking a little flak is just part of the deal.
Han Tae-ho was humming under his breath and heading toward the new building when it happened.
“Hey, Tae-ho… right?”
“Huh?”
He stopped and turned. Three pretty cadets stood there wearing shy smiles.
Jackpot.
They were the ones famous even among their batch for their looks.
Girls from other departments who normally never even glanced his way!
“Do you remember us? We took a general education class together once.”
“Ah, yeah! Of course I remember!”
“Your match was so cool! You were basically even with Jeong-hyeok! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!”
“Ah, haha. It wasn’t that big a deal.”
Han Tae-ho’s facial muscles twitched.
This was the first real wave of heated attention he’d received since enrollment.
So this is what life as one of the top five in the year feels like?
“But Tae-ho, you guys graduated from the Three Talents Sword Style already, right? Is the professor teaching you something else now?”
“Huh?”
“It must be some incredible martial art, right? I really want to take the professor’s class too… is there any way?”
The girls’ eyes sparkled, but Han Tae-ho’s went cold.
Tch. Figures.
Girls like that never struck up a conversation without an agenda.
In the life he’d lived, a woman’s kindness always came with a price tag.
“Haha, the professor? He taught us something great, all right!”
“Really? What is it?”
“The Six Harmonies Sword Style!”
“Huh?”
“And the Six Harmonies Art!”
“The Six Harmonies Sword Style and Six Harmonies Art?”
The girls’ expressions turned strange.
“Isn’t that just one of our required courses?”
“Yeah, but the professor seems to think it’s insanely important. You know how he is—obsessed with the basics.”
“Ah, right… he is. So then? How do we get into his class? Can we just show up too? I heard Senior Baek Yu-yeon went to the dawn training and got picked as a disciple on the spot!”
“Hmm, well.”
Han Tae-ho scratched his head with deliberate awkwardness.
“I’m the youngest, so I only know that was a special case. You’ll probably have to aim for next semester.”
“Really? That’s too bad. Keep working hard. We’ll head out.”
Whoosh.
Watching them vanish like dust the moment they bounced off his iron wall, Han Tae-ho curled his lip.
Hmph. Go ahead and apply next semester. See if you can even cross that line.
The Five Prodigies had already predicted it.
Plenty of cadets wanted Professor Kang Hyun’s class right now, but most of them wouldn’t even qualify.
Just thinking about that moment still made Han Tae-ho’s flesh crawl.
Only by enduring hellish killing intent with bare skin did you even get the chance.
The chance to join the dawn training.
And after that?
The moment you stopped being sincere, that hard-won opportunity would be stripped away without mercy.
Like holding a horse stance for three straight hours is easy.
His mood soured for no good reason. He pulled out his phone and opened Akanet.
The top post was this:
…
Comments stretched on and on.
Han Tae-ho irritably typed one of his own.
Right after that came the replies.
He ignored them all and kept walking.
“You called for me.”
Kang Hyun opened the door to the dean’s office and settled onto the sofa with familiar ease.
“Oh, Professor Kang! Come in, come in!”
Seo Il-hyun stopped mid-pour, let out a hearty laugh, and welcomed him.
The charisma he’d displayed in the conference room was nowhere to be found.
“Yesterday’s meeting wrapped up cleanly. Just as you advised, I personally cut out those four rotten branches for good.”
“Didn’t look all that clean from where I was standing.”
“Heh heh, caught me, did you? Still, don’t push them too hard. They’re not completely useless people.”
“Why are you telling me that?”
Kang Hyun tilted the whiskey bottle.
“I only gave advice. Whether they get dismissed or not is none of my concern.”
“I know, I know. Haha. Anyway, Professor Kang.”
Seo Il-hyun steered the conversation to the real topic.
“About the plot behind the academy’s new building. I’ve transferred full ownership and usage rights exclusively to your Special Guidance Studies department. That land is yours to use however you like now. All the professors agreed.”
“Thank you.”
He’d been wondering when it would happen—the paperwork had moved remarkably fast.
“And have you checked Akanet at all?”
“No.”
“Take a look sometime. Your popularity is through the roof right now. Academic Support is getting flooded with requests to open additional registration so more people can take Special Guidance Studies.”
Seo Il-hyun felt proud.
The course he had established had become the academy’s most popular lecture in just two months.
Naturally, the dean’s own reputation was rising right along with it.
“Which brings me to this.”
Seo Il-hyun casually floated the main point.
“If we were to reopen registration right now, would you be willing to consider it positively? Mid-semester additional recruitment isn’t normally allowed, but if you want it, I’ll personally pull some strings.”
Kang Hyun answered without a single second of hesitation.
“I’m sorry. Please just stick to the original regulations.”
He had zero reason to open the course and take on more students.
I’ve already found everyone worth teaching at this academy.
Baek Yu-yeon of the Water Element Formation, Baek Yu-seol of the Moon Element Formation, and Do Jeong-hyeok of the Metal Element Formation.
Academic rules meant regular registration would open next semester whether he liked it or not, but he already had a plan for that too.
Only those who can endure the killing intent get in.
Not teaching people who weren’t worth teaching—that was Kang Hyun’s philosophy.
“Is that so? Truly a shame.”
The dean was disappointed.
If the cadets’ level rose even to the Five Prodigies’ standard by the July exchange tournament, the prestige of Korea’s academy would climb considerably.
“For now I plan to put up buildings on the land first. Registration will open next semester.”
“Heh heh, if that’s what you say, then there’s nothing I can do.”
After a long while, Yoon Tae-jung contacted him.
He wanted to report on the business situation, so Kang Hyun simply invited him to the area behind the new building.
He intended to hand the construction over to Taejung Mulsan.
“Hooo.”
After hearing the brief explanation, Yoon Tae-jung kept clicking his tongue in amazement.
“Truly incredible. To think you’d snatch up the absolute prime land inside the academy wholesale.”
“Is that really so impressive?”
“Of course it is! Even the top-tier large guilds in Korea show up with hundreds of billions in hand trying to put up a single building inside the academy, and they all get turned away cold!”
Especially because it was a national institution.
“Ah, right. Here.”
Yoon Tae-jung pulled a thick approval binder from his briefcase and held it out to Kang Hyun.
“This is the quarterly report on Taejung Mulsan’s recent business status and distribution profits. I’ve organized everything meticulously, so…”
Slide.
Kang Hyun didn’t even glance at the documents; he pushed them away with the back of his hand.
“That’s enough. I hate complicated number games.”
“…Even so.”
“I trust you, Chairman.”
More precisely, he trusted Yoon Tae-jung’s merchant talent.
The man was clearly multiplying the money just fine on his own.
Yoon Tae-jung’s face filled with emotion.
A person’s trust only shows its true worth when money is on the line.
“As the majority shareholder, I only want one thing.”
Kang Hyun’s mouth curved upward as he surveyed the plot.
“Make Taejung Mulsan the best group in the world. That’s all.”
A thrilling shiver ran down Yoon Tae-jung’s spine.
The best group in the world.
Wasn’t that the dream every entrepreneur held at least once?
With this man… I might actually make it real!
With the backing of someone who casually handled S-rank hunters, that is.
Yoon Tae-jung swallowed dryly and bowed his head deeply.
“I will keep that firmly in mind. I will make it so without fail.”
“Good. That’s that—now let’s get to the main point.”
Kang Hyun pointed with his chin at the empty plot.
“I’m thinking of putting up buildings here. What’s the rough estimate?”
“What will you use them for? If you tell me the facilities you need, I can give you a ballpark figure.”
Kang Hyun began casually listing the things he’d already planned out in his head.
The plot was about 2,000 pyeong.
He would raise three buildings on it.
Main hall / Archive & Medical Hall / Dormitory.
He’d set aside roughly 400 pyeong for a large outdoor training ground.
He spoke only in broad strokes, yet Yoon Tae-jung understood perfectly.
“Assuming top-grade materials and giving ourselves plenty of room, think about ten million won per pyeong.”
“So how much is that?”
“Total floor area of 3,300 pyeong comes to about 33 billion. Add landscaping, flooring finishes, and special equipment, and we usually tack on another thirty percent.”
“So another ten billion on top?”
“Yes. That much will more than cover whatever we throw at it.”
The moment he heard that, Kang Hyun reached into his coat.
Out came the 50-billion-won check Ma Chul-woong had given him.
“Wh-what is this?”
“Construction funds.”
“Fifty billion? Where on earth did you…?”
Kang Hyun didn’t answer.
“Don’t hold back—build it as well as you possibly can. If it’s short, I’ll get more. Ah, and one more thing. I’m going to slap the name Taejung on every building that goes up. Figured I should get permission for that.”
“My name?”
“Taejung Mulsan’s name.”
Yoon Tae-jung’s jaw dropped.
Buildings with a specific company’s name plastered huge and clear right in the middle of the National Hunter Academy?
As long as the academy existed, elite hunters would see those buildings every single year.
Advertising value you couldn’t buy even with hundreds of billions.
An achievement no other company in the country had ever pulled off!
“Majority Shareholder…”
Yoon Tae-jung’s eyes reddened.
He was genuinely moved.
“I’ll stake Taejung’s very survival on raising the absolute finest buildings! Starting tomorrow I’ll throw the best design and construction teams in the country at the job!”
“I trust you’ll handle it well.”
Kang Hyun nodded and brought up the final matter.
“Also, I’d like you to combine the remaining money with Taejung Mulsan’s investment capital and acquire some land for me.”
“Land? Real estate investment, you mean?”
“No.”
“Then…?”
“Daeseong Market is currently the top black market in the country… Isn’t it about time we took that title for ourselves? If the goal is to be the best in the world.”
“……!”
Yoon Tae-jung’s merchant instincts flared violently once again.
Among existing markets, the black market was where the biggest money changed hands.
And—
This man has more than enough ability to grow it.
If he felt like it, he could clear high-rank dungeons and stock the market to the brim!
“Of course we’ll acquire it! Where should I look? Gangnam? Or a large plot on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province?”
“Location doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even have to be domestic.”
“Pardon? Then what conditions…?”
“Accessibility can be zero. Deep in the mountains, an uninhabited island—I don’t care.”
Kang Hyun’s requirements were firm.
“The climate must be excellent and the land must be vast. Ideally a place completely isolated, with nothing around it at all.”
“Then… customers will have a hard time reaching it, won’t they?”
“I’ll handle that part myself.”
Yoon Tae-jung tilted his head, but nodded for now.
The man clearly had something in mind.
“I’ll contact you soon.”