Academy’s Villain Professor-Chapter 191 : Chapter 191

Chapter 191: Second Round as a Villain (3)
“A job, you say.”
Looking at Min Ha-rin, who had suddenly appeared, Ho-cheol racked his brains.
Judging by her casual clothes, it probably wasn't a job for her organization.
So what kind of trick was she trying to pull by coming here like this?
Unlike the cautious Ho-cheol, Ha-rin's eyes sparkled as she clenched her fists.
“Should I at least hear you out?”
“Ah, before that. If you’ve changed your mind, you’re welcome to come work for me.”
As if she still hadn't given up, she once again offered for him to join her, but of course, Ho-cheol immediately refused.
“No thanks.”
“A shame. Then let’s get back to business. I heard you’ve been expanding your forces like crazy. Like dried sea mustard in water. As expected, you’re capable. Very capable.”
It wasn't just to flatter him; it was genuine admiration.
Expanding one's forces was the simplest indicator to gauge the overall capabilities of an individual and an organization.
It was impossible just by being strong.
Beyond just being strong, a grand perspective, the charisma to overwhelm others, the virtue to embrace them, and in addition, it was impossible without lacking in anything.
And the new villain in front of him had grown a single organization several times its size in just a few days.
In the first place, was he really a rookie villain?
Ha-rin momentarily hit on that core point, but she quickly erased the suspicion from her mind.
In any case, such a question would not help with ‘money’ or ‘success’ at all.
She leaned her body towards Ho-cheol.
“So I was wondering if your organization can handle more volume.”
“If your side increases the order volume.”
If the scale of a subcontractor organization grew, the volume it could handle would increase, and it was a matter of course that the order volume would increase accordingly.
However, there was no reason for her to come and talk to him in private like this.
Ho-cheol rested his chin on his hand and added indifferently.
“And there’s no deal unless you get to the point. What’s your real intention?”
“Ah, good. Very good!”
Ha-rin even clapped her hands and her face brightened.
In fact, if he was competent enough to guess her real intentions, her hidden purpose, the conversation would go more smoothly.
“Right. I’ve been thinking about it since I caught the traitors the other day. There was a loophole called a lease rate, and there were bad guys who were using it. But what kind of great people are we to define their actions as bad and punish them? We’re villains anyway.”
Ha-rin smiled brightly, emphasizing the word ‘villain’.
“Isn’t it a disqualification as a villain not to take advantage of a loophole that’s so obvious?”
“Your loyalty to the organization is rock bottom.”
“Loyalty? Are there still villains who say such old-fashioned things?”
She placed one arm on the table with a thud.
“Now, being a villain is a business. Not to mention the guys who are just in it for one big score and then get out, there are also plenty of guys who see it as a stepping stone to achieve their own goals. That’s how MZ villains do it.”
She also had a certain sense of responsibility as a team leader, but she had realized it because of the traitors.
In any case, since they were all like that, there was no loyalty or reason to take care of things like leadership.
As long as it was to her benefit and she achieved her goal, that was all that mattered.
“It’s very simple. If the client changes or the volume is revised on a large scale like this, they’ll pull the lease rate all the way up. It’s a special privilege of our organization, which is friendly to other organizations.”
She spread her hands wide.
“Let’s fill the lease rate to the brim and embezzle it. Of course, the split is 50:50.”
Ho-cheol pulled his body back with a very reluctant expression.
“It’ll be dangerous. Are you really going to risk your life for just a 5% pittance?”
Of course, he only said it was dangerous; there was not even a fragment of a sense of crisis in Ho-cheol's tone.
And Ha-rin also did not feel a sense of crisis.
“A pittance is still a pittance.”
She leaned her body further and closed the distance with Ho-cheol.
“Cash. This organization doesn’t just look at traits or combat ability. There’s also a competition for tribute payments within the organization. Because cash is also a part of ability. Well, that’s what they say, but in the end, who in the world hates money? Especially if you’re a villain.”
Ho-cheol let out a faint sigh.
“So the money is a tool for tribute payments, for the competition for success.”
When he had heard her words, unlike the heroes he had seen so far or the professors at Clington, she was so faithful to her primal desires that she was no different from a real villain.
She would betray others for money, and that money was also just for her success as a villain and for a higher position.
“Of course. That’s the most important thing!”
Ho-cheol rested his chin on his hand and stared at Ha-rin.
That's why it was even more bizarre.
Ha-rin had none of the characteristic stench of a villain.
From what she said to what she did, she was a villain herself, but if you looked closely, she wasn't at all.
Just as she saw money as a means to success, it seemed she saw being a villain as just a simple means to some other great goal.
In fact, he had seen such a person several times so far.
Even setting himself aside, The Sun and Ji-an had been like that.
He became curious.
Not just a simple goal of having to help her because she was the dean's granddaughter, but a question and curiosity about the person named Min Ha-rin herself arose.
Ha-rin asked again.
“So, how about it?”
In fact, he had been planning to refuse.
Considering his two goals, it was a proposal with more disadvantages than advantages.
However.
Ho-cheol tapped the table with his fingertips.
“Alright. I’ll accept.”
“Great! Then I’ll send a person with the documents for the volume negotiation and schedule coordination separately!”
Ha-rin stood up from her seat.
Her visit to Ho-cheol today was top secret, and since she had snuck away, she had to go back to the organization quickly.
Just as she was about to leave, she stopped for a moment.
She turned her body again and gently rubbed the corner of her eye with her index finger.
“You, just a few days ago, your dark circles were so bad I honestly thought you were a walking corpse. You look much more lively. That looks much better.”
After Ha-rin really left, Ho-cheol discreetly turned his head and checked the mirror on the wall.
Indeed, the dark circles under his eyes, which he had thought would never disappear, were now barely visible.
He pressed the corners of his eyes.
“Did these really go away?”
Since a guy he had for almost half his life was disappearing, he even felt a strange sense of disappointment.
Ho-cheol, who had received a vacation and was pretending to be a villain, was maintaining an unprecedented amount of sleep.
A whopping 7 hours a day. In the past, he had sometimes slept that much on holidays or when he was very tired, but that had only been for a day or two.
As soon as he felt his body had recovered to some extent, he had gone back to surviving on 2 or 3 hours of sleep.
And since he was now delegating all the situations where he had to use his body to Wolf Fang, Ho-cheol had no reason to use his stress or Trait.
In fact, since his release, his condition had never been ‘at its best.’
In the early days of his professorship, he had been periodically injected with a Trait suppressant drug that was bad for his body, up to a lethal level, and by the time he had been freed from the suppressant, he was already dealing with a villain that even the Association had trouble with.
That's how much the word ‘recovery’ had no connection to Ho-cheol.
What would his best condition be like, once he had finished all the medicine and treatment he was currently receiving?
He silently clenched his fist.
***
For about a week, the once-a-week delivery had increased to twice a week, and the volume of goods traded per delivery had also more than doubled.
Naturally, the amount of money they were embezzling also increased considerably.
Of course, in Ho-cheol's or Wolf Fang's opinion, it was less than a pittance, so he just distributed it to his subordinates.
“Well, I think we’ve settled in quite a bit.”
Ho-cheol muttered softly, watching them carry the luggage.
“So, are you going back, boss?”
“I can’t just leave that side empty.”
At Wolf Fang's question, he nodded his head.
The vacation was also at its end, and he had to go back to Clington and take up the teaching post again.
In any case, since he had settled in and had a useful deputy in Wolf Fang, it would not be a big problem even if Ho-cheol only showed his face on the weekends.
It would have been a problem if he had only shown his face on the weekends when he had first taken over the organization, but now he had even received the loyalty of his subordinates.
There’s nothing like money.
As he was watching them carry the luggage in the warehouse, Min Ha-rin approached.
This time, since she had come on official business, she was in a hanbok again.
As she approached Ho-cheol, Wolf Fang discreetly stepped back.
Ha-rin looked around and then whispered, lowering her voice.
“Something’s gone wrong.”
“What?”
Don’t tell me you’re going to say something foolish like you got caught after less than a week of embezzling?
Fortunately, her following explanation was not the worst-case scenario Ho-cheol had imagined.
However, it was the second worst, close to the worst.
“The boss has taken an interest in you.”
“Hong Beom-do? Why?”
What kind of nonsense is this now?
Ho-cheol asked back, for a rare moment, flustered.
Although he had shown some prominence while pretending to be a villain this time, it had all been within the bounds of common sense.
At the very least, considering the scale of the organization, it was strange, even bizarre, for Hong Beom-do to take an interest in him.
“That is, the traitor you caught the other day. Well, the guys who had just stolen some goods were just given a scolding and chased away, but there was another one.”
Ho-cheol searched for his faint memory.
It had already been a week ago.
It was very difficult to remember every single minor fry.
After a long time of trying to recall, he finally nodded his head.
“The old-fashioned spy. You mean the guy who swallowed the coded message.”
“That’s right. That guy was not just an old-fashioned, small-fry. If he had sold that information to the outside, the organization would have suffered a huge loss.”
“Ah, so. He’s grateful that I caught him?”
If that was the reason, he should have just given him some money.
What was the point of taking an interest?
But Ha-rin scoffed as if it was ridiculous.
“Have you ever seen a villain be grateful to someone who isn’t one of his own? Of course not. He wants to know how you found the traitor.”
“A gut feeling.”
Ho-cheol said shortly.
In reality, it was the overwhelming experience he had accumulated as a villain and the big data he had derived from it, but since he couldn't say that honestly, he had no choice but to express it simply like that.
Of course, for Ha-rin, who had no idea if that was a lie, she had no choice but to believe it.
No, conversely, if Ho-cheol had been honest, she would not have been able to believe it.
“This is a big problem.”
Ha-rin rubbed the corner of one of her eyes with her thumb.
For a moment, Ho-cheol barely held back the laugh that was about to come out.
That habit of rubbing his eye, it was exactly the same as the dean's.
It made him think that they were really family.
And to think she was a villain instead of a proper hero, even though she had been influenced that much.
“The boss said to learn the method if you can, and if it’s a bit ambiguous or you can’t.”
She pointed to Ho-cheol with the hand that had been rubbing her eye.
“Bring him. You.”
“Is that so?”
Ho-cheol crossed his arms and thought.
Seeing that, Ha-rin's eyes widened as if dumbfounded.
“You, this isn’t a matter to be thinking about. This is something you have to do, you know?”
In the current villain industry, Hong Beom-do's words were the law.
And for a subordinate organization under his influence, they would have to pretend to die if he told them to, so what was he thinking about?
Of course, Ho-cheol just let her advice go in one ear and out the other and continued to run the calculator in his head.
There were a few possibilities to achieve his goal, and among them, the possibility of completely breaking with Hong Beom-do and becoming an enemy had also been calculated to some extent.
However.
“You, you’re not thinking of something strange, are you?”
At Ha-rin's slightly worried question, he came back to his senses.
Right, I’m also curious about this kid’s essence, so for now, should I watch her from the same side?
Ho-cheol tilted his head.
“Alright. Let’s go right away.”
***
After finishing the delivery, they arrived at Hong Beom-do's headquarters in Ha-rin's car.
Inside, most of the organization members were bustling around in hanbok.
Since it was Hong Beom-do's summons in the first place, there was no troublesome security check or inspection.
However, on their way in, another executive blocked their path.
To be precise, he only blocked Ha-rin.
“You go back. From here on, I will guide him.”
“Understood.”
Ha-rin bowed her head and greeted him.
And in that fleeting moment, Ho-cheol, who was standing next to her, could see.
In the eyes of her, who had lowered her head, a strong flame of anger that had never been seen before was burning.
Was that it?
Although it had disappeared in a flash, that was the clue that would solve Ho-cheol's curiosity.
And Ho-cheol was not so naive as to let that clue, which he didn't know when would come back again, slip away.
“No.”
He said firmly to the executive who had turned around to guide him.
“She’s coming with me too.”
Just what was that flame burning to consume?
Let’s see.