Academy’s Villain Professor-Chapter 185 : Chapter 185

Chapter 185: Talent
This guy would be good.
For someone who runs a company, the ability to judge people was not a necessity, but an essential skill and qualification.
That's why Se-ah's father could be sure.
His ability, personality, and relationships were all sufficient.
A villain's career?
That wasn't even a flaw.
No, in a sense, it was not a demerit, but a plus.
In fact, as long as he wasn't caught, a little bit of illegal activity was an essential element in the hunter industry.
It meant that he wouldn't fight while brandishing a paltry sense of morality.
He was more than enough as a partner for his daughter, who he had thought would live and die a spinster without ever having a romantic relationship.
Although love might be lacking, respect.
Wasn't that a truly precious and important emotion in this day and age?
Most importantly, Se-ah also blatantly showed feelings beyond simple goodwill whenever she saw Ho-cheol.
Just as the good atmosphere was continuing and they were about to choose a wedding date.
“I have children. Two of them.”
The shock the parents received from that declaration was far beyond what could be described in words.
Horror.
Bewilderment.
And anger.
In a situation where all sorts of negative emotions were swirling, only Ho-cheol was calm.
He, who had sensed that this silence was the last moment, reached out his chopsticks to the bowl in front of him.
An expensive-looking piece of meat.
It must have been the most core menu item in this hanjeongsik restaurant.
I have to eat that before I go.
Of course, that was only when everyone was out of their minds.
“You crazy bastard!”
Se-ah's father shouted, having belatedly come to his senses.
He reached out his hand over the table.
A plate flew straight for Ho-cheol's forehead.
Wajangchang—!
Ho-cheol, who had swallowed the last piece of meat, blocked the plate with his arm.
After that, he dodged the endlessly flying plates and ran away.
***
After a big commotion, Ho-cheol, who had taken refuge in the warehouse behind the restaurant, let out a long sigh.
A bluish bruise had formed around his eye.
If he had dodged or blocked all of them, he would have been so angry that he would have chased him all the way to the academy, so he had taken one hit at the end.
Still, since he was a former hunter, it had hurt quite a bit.
Instead, thanks to being hit properly, it felt like the heat had left his head, so that was a relief.
He had put on a show at Se-ah's request and had almost been roped into a marriage.
If it had ended with just one bruise, he had gotten off cheap.
As Ho-cheol was hiding for a moment, Se-ah stealthily approached him.
“Are they gone?”
“Yeah.”
Se-ah's parents, who had been fuming for nearly 30 minutes, had finally disappeared with a cute warning, at least from Ho-cheol's perspective, not to meet them on the street.
“Here.”
She held out an egg, which she had gotten from somewhere.
“What.”
Even while chuckling, Ho-cheol obediently rubbed the egg on his bruise.
She looked at Ho-cheol and asked cautiously.
“Do you really have two kids?”
Not just one, but two!
In fact, Se-ah had been more surprised by that declaration than her parents.
So much so that she had sat there dumbfounded for a good 5 minutes.
In fact, she was still dazed.
“Are you married? B-but it was definitely recorded as unmarried in the union's personal information.”
Even though she thought it was unlikely, she couldn't overcome her curiosity and finally asked.
“Divorced? Or did you have an accident?”
If it was neither, then perhaps he was a widower.
She couldn't help but be cautious.
But Ho-cheol just chuckled and said.
“None of the above.”
Ho-cheol explained the whole story in a casual manner.
From meeting the twins to leaving them at a facility as their guardian before they were registered as villains.
Of course, he had also brushed over the fact that they had been born through genetic manipulation, that Ji-an was the culprit, and about the Society that had originally had them.
“Well, so it's not a complete lie.”
“Ahaha. Is that so?”
Se-ah was relieved and burst into laughter.
Not married, not divorced, and not even a single father with a child.
But although she had greatly misunderstood, Ho-cheol's words were not entirely wrong.
“You’re having a hard time too.”
She patted the shoulder of Ho-cheol, who was squatting.
“You’re a complete pushover. How can you help others so easily?”
Although her words sounded like she was teasing him for being a pushover, there was a deep admiration in her voice.
“It’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. In any case, you even helped an enemy.”
Se-ah shook her head.
“I can’t do that. That’s why I quit being a hero.”
Risking her life to protect a student was her domain and responsibility as a professor.
But not just a complete stranger, but also people who cursed at her, and even those who were ignorant and evil.
Se-ah could not bear the responsibility of a hero, which was to embrace and protect even them.
In the end, she had run away.
That's why when Ho-cheol had said he respected her earlier, she had been happy, but also ashamed.
With her hands behind her back, she leaned against the warehouse wall.
“You said you respected me earlier.”
“I did.”
It was not just nonsense to get through the situation.
In the first place, it was Ho-cheol's only sincere statement in a place that had started with a lie.
Se-ah chuckled and tapped the wall with her heel.
“Me too.”
“What?”
“I respect you. I think you’re really amazing. More than a half-baked hero, a half-baked professor like me. You’re much more like a hero, and like a professor.”
Ho-cheol suddenly shot up from his spot.
He spun around and stood in front of Se-ah.
With the vast difference in height, Se-ah had to tilt her head all the way back to meet Ho-cheol's eyes.
“Wh-what, why. Why all of a sudden.”
The flustered Se-ah asked with a displeased expression.
“……No.”
Ho-cheol, who had been staring at her, chuckled.
“It feels pretty good to be acknowledged by you.”
“Whatever.”
Se-ah pouted her lips.
For a moment, she had been a little nervous because he had created a serious atmosphere, but the reason was so trivial that she felt like a fool.
She swayed her body lightly from side to side.
“Anyway, I won’t be hearing about marriage or being introduced to men for a while.”
In the end, Se-ah's goal had been successful.
Although Ho-cheol's reputation had plummeted, it wasn't like a rumor would spread.
“Thank you. You saved me.”
“What are friends for? We live by helping each other like this.”
“Right. Friends. Friends…”
Se-ah muttered the word several times.
Respect and friends.
When she had first heard them, it had felt like a satisfaction that would make her dizzy, but.
Strangely, now.
She didn't quite like it.
***
Monday's Ho-cheol lecture came again.
As always, he beat up the students in the name of practical application, and there were about 10 minutes left until the end of the lecture.
Everyone was spread out on the floor, barely breathing, and Ho-cheol, who was standing alone leisurely, pushed the box he had left in the corner of the training hall with his foot and came back.
“Everyone, gather around.”
The students got up in a daze and gathered in front of him.
Ho-cheol opened the box.
“Now. Take one of these.”
A sphere slightly smaller than a fist.
Its touch and texture were close to clay.
It was one of the test tools that Ho-cheol had seen several times when he had obtained his Trait-related license during the vacation.
“Some of you might know this.”
Ho-cheol repeatedly threw the sphere in his hand up and down.
“What was this called?”
“A sphere.”
“Right. That was it. It looks like a toy made of clay, but it’s very expensive.”
It had cost a considerable amount to purchase over 40 spheres, but this was why power was good.
Because he could just charge it all to the public funds.
“I’ll hand them out, so practice during the empty time in this lecture, or outside of lecture time.”
A simple test of neatly making this sphere into a cube or another shape.
But simple and easy were separate matters.
Its density was different every 1mm, and it even had the property of returning to its original shape.
If you failed in your force control even a little, the shape would immediately be crushed, so it was the most useful tool for testing fine output control.
“In the case of the license, the passing cut off was 1 minute…”
Ho-cheol said, snatching the sphere that was floating in the air.
“Your goal now is 20 seconds.”
The students were not so agitated.
20 seconds was a rather reasonable target time.
Although there was no one among the more than 40 students who could hit 20 seconds, there were several who were in the close 30-second range.
It was a moderate difficulty that everyone could pass within this semester.
“Ah, of course.”
Ho-cheol added one more thing belatedly.
“With one hand.”
This was the key.
At those words, the expressions of the students who had been happily playing with the spheres until just a moment ago all turned dark.
With one hand?
The difficulty of doing something with one hand that was usually done with two was not just double.
If one hand was missing, the difficulty would be at least 3 times, and in some cases, more than 5 times more difficult.
If even 1 minute was a struggle, how could they do it in 20 seconds?
It was a virtually impossible demand.
Moreover, Ho-cheol had no intention of ending it there.
If they all succeeded in that, his next goal for this training was to have them hold one sphere in each hand and make two simultaneously within 20 seconds.
Of course, he had kept that a secret for now, in case they might lose their motivation and give up.
“Is this even possible?”
Next to him, Ye-jin let out a groan.
Ho-cheol took the sphere from her hand, who was struggling to complete it with one hand.
“Now. Watch.”
Ho-cheol clenched his fist.
After about 10 seconds, when he opened his hand again, a perfect cube was made there.
All the students who saw it were half-dazed, as if they had seen a ghost.
Among the spheres in their hands, none had even taken the shape of a cube, let alone been completed.
“No, how is this possible?”
Of course, even Ho-cheol had not been this good when he had first encountered the sphere.
But after that license exam, he had continued to train with the sphere and had set a record on par with Guinness.
“The output and control of a Trait are also important, but how an awakened one will use their own body. A single joint, a single fingertip. It’s also important to be able to move such things at will.”
Whether the body moves according to one's will.
Although everyone was mistaken, in fact, the number of awakened ones who could control their bodies in perfect sync with their will was very small.
The rest just deluded themselves into thinking that their bodies were moving according to their will.
Escaping from this delusion was also an essential condition for growth.
“Awakened ones are always focused on maintaining their maximum output and its duration. But surprisingly, fine-tuning is also very useful. It’s just that most of them don’t know how to do it, so they live without knowing what’s important.”
It was so important, but since the vast majority gave up and considered it impossible, they were considering what was important.
Ho-cheol continued his explanation.
“There are many who ignore it because it's a basic ability, but basics are essential. At the very least, for talented people who are not geniuses like me or you, and for ordinary people, there’s no choice but to get used to it through step-by-step training.”
At that moment, the gasps of admiration and groans that had been coming from here and there until just a moment ago stopped.
Everyone's gaze turned to Ho-cheol.
Half of the students doubted their ears for a moment, and the other half had heard correctly but did not understand.
At the very least, one thing was certain.
Talented people?
Ordinary people?
That expression was not the problem.
It was the additional remark in front of it that was the problem.
What did this bastard just say?
The students' gazes and expressions were saying so.
Receiving their gazes, Ho-cheol tilted his head.
“Why is the atmosphere suddenly like this?”
Did I say something I shouldn't have?
Ho-cheol sincerely thought so.