Academy’s Villain Professor-Chapter 145 : Chapter 145

Chapter 145 : Teleportation
Hocheol, clutching his throbbing head, asked again.
"How did you know they were academy students? Were they wearing a uniform or something?"
Even if they were wearing a Clinton uniform, how could he distinguish between a pervert with a uniform fetish, a graduate, or an actual current student?
"No. That's not it. They had a smell."
Of course, Wolf Fang had his own reasons for his claim.
His trait was an overwhelming sense of smell, far surpassing that of a mere dog.
Even if someone had washed thoroughly, he could tell where they had been a few days ago, and even what they had eaten the night before.
Though it wasn't visible over the phone, Wolf Fang pressed his own nose.
"Clematis. The smell was so strong it made my nose tingle."
"What's that?"
"Ah, you know. The flowers they grow a lot of at the academy. The ones stuck all over the outer wall of the biggest building."
"Ah, so that's the name of that flower."
It wasn't exactly Clinton's school flower, but it was said to be the founder of Clinton's favorite flower, so it was planted all over the academy.
"But what can you tell from just the smell of grass?"
"I've never seen it grown anywhere else besides this academy. And the smell was so strong, it wasn't just a faint scent from passing by."
Wolf Fang declared with a confident voice.
"I've traveled half this country chasing escaped convicts. I've never seen anyone with that smell on them who wasn't an academy official."
"It could be a staff member or an official. There are so many people who practically live at this academy and come and go."
However, Hocheol's reaction was indifferent.
If what Wolf Fang said was true, he agreed that it was an academy official, but there was no guarantee that it was a student.
"What's the proof that it's a student?"
"A gut feeling. They reeked of that unique, immature kid smell."
"Tsk."
To offer his gut feeling as evidence at such a crucial moment.
Of course, for villains with as much experience as Hocheol or Wolf Fang, that gut feeling was often more reliable than physical evidence.
Hocheol let out a long sigh.
"Honestly, if it's not my student, I don't care. What's the trait?"
"Short-range teleportation, but the cooldown is extremely short and quite unusual."
"All teleportation is like that. But if it's teleportation, it's probably a student."
Hocheol muttered indifferently.
An already rare unusual trait.
And among them, the rarest and most highly-regarded was the teleportation trait.
There was no way someone with such a trait would live an ordinary life.
They would be either a villain or a hero.
"And it'll be easy to find."
Finding someone with a teleportation trait was not a very difficult task.
And since the scope was limited to Clinton, a few phone calls would probably be enough to find them.
There was no way they would live while hiding such a great trait.
"You have the battle footage, right?"
"I'll send it right away."
Wolf Fang had a body cam attached, so he could record and transmit the situation at any time.
And a short while later, a short video of about 30 seconds was sent to Hocheol's phone.
"Let's take a look. How unusual it is."
Hocheol watched the battle between Wolf Fang and the kid villain, his chin resting on his hand.
Even in the sweltering summer weather, the villain was completely covered, and their face was also securely hidden by a mask they had bought somewhere.
They had clearly made an effort not to leave any traces like hair or fingerprints, but they probably hadn't expected their opponent to be Wolf Fang.
Surprisingly, even villains who prepared to leave no traces often let their guard down when it came to smell.
Though no matter how much perfume they sprayed to cover their scent, it would be of little use against Wolf Fang anyway.
The battle in the video was at a level that was embarrassing to even call a battle.
Throughout, Wolf Fang's attacks couldn't even reach the villain.
When Wolf Fang rushed in, the villain's body would momentarily blur and disappear, then reappear at a distance from him.
At first, the villain had also hit Wolf Fang a few times, but seeing that it did no damage, they seemed to have decided to flee.
"The teleportation distance is almost fixed. The physical toll is similar to a full sprint. The time between trait activations is less than 0.5 seconds."
Hocheol analyzed the trait by alternately pressing the play and pause buttons on the video.
Unfortunately, since the video was recorded with a regular camera and not his own eyes, his analysis had its limits.
And since it was a rather cheap camera, the camera's focus would momentarily blur every time the villain activated their trait.
"Their stamina doesn't seem to be very good."
After about a dozen teleports, the villain seemed to be tired, and their movements slowed down noticeably.
The teleportation distance also became much shorter.
The reason Wolf Fang had missed them was simply because the villain had gone beyond his designated activity range.
If not for that, he could have induced physical exhaustion and caught them.
The video ended with Wolf Fang stopping his pursuit.
"The matchup and the situation were bad."
Wolf Fang was not at full power due to the output limit set by the Association, and the villain had chosen to flee rather than fight.
Most importantly, the villain was not even an escaped convict.
Except when catching escaped convicts, his activity range could not exceed two km from his assigned Association agent.
If not for those few adverse conditions, if he had been pitted against the villainous Wolf Fang in his prime, he would have had all his limbs torn off in about three minutes.
"You can say that again. I would have caught him if my activity range was just a little wider."
Wolf Fang clicked his tongue in blatant disappointment.
Hocheol, who had turned off the video, asked the most important thing.
"So what were you doing when you fought?"
"An escaped convict robbed a bank, and he took the bag and ran."
At those words, Hocheol rewound the video.
Looking at the heavy-looking silver case in the villain's hand, he asked.
"That bag?"
"Yes."
"How much was in it?"
"That villain had a shrinking trait, and considering the size ratio, wouldn't it have been at least a billion?"
"Their life is set."
Of course, the amount of a billion was not enough to leave a strong impression on Hocheol.
He quickly lost interest in the money and scolded Wolf Fang again.
"Anyway, you should still be ashamed. Honestly, with your practical experience, you should have predicted the path of a teleporter and been waiting for them."
"No, I did that several times. That guy just escaped unbelievably well. Really!"
"Excuses. Anyway, that's enough. I'll look into it on my own, so you keep your mouth shut as much as possible."
"Yes. I understand."
Ending the call, Hocheol turned his gaze to the side.
At some point, Jian had approached and was gently biting his hand.
Looking at her, Hocheol asked in disbelief.
"What are you doing?"
Jian grumbled with her mouth still full of his hand.
It was her own way of protesting and asking for attention, but since he hadn't given her any attention until the end, she couldn't help but be sulky.
"Hmph. You throw a pen at someone and don't even care?"
"Sorry. I didn't know."
He apologized obediently and pulled his hand away.
Now that I'm half-convinced they're a student, I'll have to go to the Unusual Trait Department.
Hocheol realized an unexpected fact.
"There isn't one?"
After being a professor for a semester, he had never heard of an Unusual Trait Department at Clinton.
And while walking around Clinton, he had seen all the department buildings Augmentation, Manipulation, Emission but he had never even seen a building for unusual traits.
Don't tell me the department itself doesn't exist?
This was quite troublesome.
After some thought, Hocheol finally picked up his phone again and found a saved number.
In a corner of the student cafeteria, Hocheol found Se-ah and plopped down in the Seat opposite her.
"What's with the sudden visit?"
"I just have something to ask about academic affairs."
Of course, he could have just heard it over the phone, but since he was nearby, he came in person.
And more importantly, Se-ah's voice had been full of worry, which had bothered him.
Instead of getting straight to the point, Hocheol started with a trivial topic.
"By the way, it's vacation, but you're here every single day. Don't you go home?"
Se-ah shrugged her shoulders.
"This is my home. Where else would I go?"
Of course, he knew there was staff housing on the Clinton campus, but that was literally just housing.
"Is it really a home if you can only sleep there?
You must have a family home somewhere. You should go see your parents."
Se-ah's expression darkened in an instant.
Only then did Hocheol flinch and shut his mouth.
Is she staying at the academy because of some story?
Looking back, Se-ah had left the academy as little as Hocheol.
There must have been a valid reason for that.
He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Did I say something I shouldn't have?"
Se-ah, who had been staring at Hocheol blankly, half-dazed, belatedly widened her eyes and waved her hands.
"N-no! My parents are both alive and well, so don't get the wrong idea!"
"That's a relief. I thought I'd said something tactless. But you have such a melancholic look in your eyes, as if there's some grand story. What, is something bothering you?"
The Se-ah let out another deep sigh.
"It's not that I don't have worries. It's just a little embarrassing to talk about. I feel like my worries are just me being spoiled compared to your situation."
Se-ah had come to know Hocheol's family situation through their various conversations.
That's why she had been trying her best to avoid the topic of family.
No matter how careful she was, it was bound to be a sensitive topic, so it was better not to bring it up at all.
But Hocheol replied even more calmly.
"Worries don't have weight. It's not about how it looks to others, but how I feel about it that's important."
"Really? In that case."
Se-ah cupped the cafeteria water glass with both hands.
"They're nagging me a lot to bring home a son-in-law."
"Ah."
Honestly, even though I said that, this is a bit of a spoiled complaint.
Se-ah herself seemed embarrassed after saying it and laughed faintly, and Hocheol also let out a dry laugh.
Thinking about it, this was the scale of worries that an ordinary person had.
It was he who had been on a ridiculously large scale.
Se-ah stared at her reflection in the cup.
"Son-in-law, my ass. I don't even have a boyfriend."
"I see. I guess you don't have time for things like dating."
Then Hocheol added teasingly.
"Come to think of it, you don't have any friends either."
"Ah, yes. Thank you for that very helpful observation."
Did he really have to point out something I hadn't mentioned?
Se-ah pouted her lips.
"And there's also this body of mine."
In fact, her petite frame and lack of time were not the main problems.
The biggest reason was that there were no men of her age who met her standards.
Looks, abilities, and personality.
To satisfy all those conditions...
For a moment, Se-ah looked up.
Her gaze met Hocheol's.
"Sha-ha-aa-aak!"
She shrieked and threw the water glass she was holding at Hocheol.
An ordinary person.
No, even a mediocre awakened person would have been knocked out by the force of the thrown cup.
Of course, no matter how off-guard Hocheol was, he wasn't so much of a fool as to be hit by it.
He lightly raised his hand and caught the cup.
But even though he caught the cup, he didn't catch the water.
The water inside splashed onto him.
"Ah, ack! Hey, sorry!"
Se-ah panicked and pulled out a napkin.
"It's fine. It's just water. I was hot, so this is good."
Hocheol nonchalantly took the napkin and wiped the water droplets from the tip of his hair.
"Well. I'm glad it's not as important a problem as I was worried about."
This kind of worry would naturally be resolved over time, so there was no need to offer any comfort.
"Now, let's get back to my story."
"Ah, what. Right. What were you so curious about?"
"Regardless of the year. Are there any students with a teleportation trait?"
"Teleportation?"
Of course, as a professor in the Manipulation Department, there was no way Se-ah would know all the traits of students from other departments.
But teleportation was different.
Let alone in one year. It was a rare trait that might appear only once every three or four years.
Of course, there would be rumors, and of course, Se-ah would know.
However, Se-ah's following answer completely betrayed Hocheol's expectations.
"There aren't any."
"Really?"
"Why would I lie about that? At least for the past few years, no student who has enrolled at Clinton has had a teleportation trait."
"Hmm. Then in all of Clinton?"
"Not among the staff or professors either?"
At the completely unexpected result, Hocheol contorted his face in embarrassment and rubbed his temple with his index finger.
"Are there any similar traits?"
"If it's a trait similar to teleportation, it's teleportation."
In the case of Shukuchi or Space Compression, it was possible to overcome distance, but at Clinton, those traits were also categorized as teleportation.
And as far as Se-ah knew, no such trait currently existed within Clinton.
"So why the trait? Is something else going on?"
"I was going to check because I thought there might be. But this makes it difficult to even check."
Then it meant that either they were hiding their trait, or there was another trait with a manifestation method similar to teleportation.
Hocheol stopped rubbing his temple.
The first priority was to check all the other unusual traits at Clinton.
"It doesn't seem like there's an Unusual Trait Department at Clinton. How do they educate them?"
While wearing an expression that seemed to ask why he was asking that, Se-ah answered obediently.
"There is one. But since the number is so small and it's a collection of traits that attract a lot of attention, for better or for worse, the lectures and everything are conducted as secretly as possible. So most professors don't know."
"Then is there no other way to find out about it?"
Se-ah clasped her hands together.
"Why the sudden question?"
"It's just personal curiosity."
After glaring at Hocheol for a moment, Se-ah finally sighed.
Looking at his expression, it was clear that it was more than just personal curiosity, and he didn't seem like he would give up.
It was better for her to yield before he started poking around and causing trouble.
She took out a business card from her wallet and held it out.
"This is the contact information for the Unusual Trait Department professor, so contact them here."
Of course, ordinary professors and staff members wouldn't know.
But as the union president and department head, she naturally had all the related contact information.
"Tell them I introduced you. And knowing his personality, he's probably at work today."
"Really? Then I should go right away. Thanks."
Hocheol pushed his chair back and stood up.
"Even if a son-in-law or a boyfriend is out of the question, if you ever need to introduce a friend, you can just take me."
Hocheol smiled lightly as he put down the cup.
Of course, he wasn't saying it just out of kindness.
I have to create a debt like this so that I can at least bring one friend to my parents grave in the future.
Of course, that was a story for the distant future, but there was no harm in preparing in advance.
As if she had heard something unbelievable, Se-ah blinked her eyes.
Only after Hocheol had left the cafeteria did she finally mutter.
"Really?"
Of course, no answer came back.