Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: A Request to Team Up
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“What’s the matter?”
His thick eyebrows shot upward.
Behind the upper-class dormitory’s training ground. Hwangbo Seongu had stripped off his upper garments and was sitting cross-legged there.
Most people said that the skills of upper-class students like Hwangbo Seongu came from innate talent or the martial arts and elixirs gained through their family’s or sect’s prestige.
Of course, that wasn’t entirely wrong, but it wasn’t the whole story either.
At least not in Dang Heeran’s eyes. Excluding Yeong Sojin, every upper-class student was an earnest hard worker whose skill matched their effort.
Hwangbo Seongu was a prime example. Every day, at the same time, he honed his martial arts in the training ground.
And he wasn’t the only one. Upper-class students were scattered throughout the training ground, each practicing in their own way.
“You’ve come to talk to me, of all people. Did I do something to upset the Tang Clan young lady?”
Hwangbo Seongu tilted his head as he spoke. White steam rose from his sweat-soaked body.
His high body temperature was rapidly evaporating the sweat.
“The inter-class practical lesson is in three days.”
“...Yeah. So what?”
Hwangbo Seongu looked puzzled as to why Dang Heeran was approaching him. They weren’t strangers.
Even before coming to the Heavenly Academy, they had ties. The Tang Clan—one of the Three Great Clans—the Namgoong Clan, and the Hwangbo Clan had steadily exchanged visits. Dang Heeran had met Hwangbo Seongu multiple times at various events since childhood.
But they weren’t close. They’d exchanged words a few times as clueless kids, but now only formal acquaintance remained.
After being assigned to the upper class, they’d exchanged greetings a few times at first, but now they ignored each other.
“I want to be on your team.”
That was why.
She hadn’t wanted to say it. Hwangbo Seongu’s eyebrows shot up again. He hadn’t expected such words from her either.
“...With me? Why?”
“Just.”
Wi Seongcheon was targeting Hwangbo Seongu.
Why? ...How? She wanted to see. That was the whole reason, and she couldn’t tell Hwangbo Seongu that. Hwangbo Seongu blinked at Dang Heeran.
“...Well, I don’t mind. If you’re okay with it.”
Hwangbo Seongu stood up. He roughly threw on the training uniform he’d tossed aside and glanced at Dang Heeran.
“You sure you’re really okay with it?”
“What wouldn’t be okay about it?”
“You’re not asking because you don’t know.”
Paeng Yeonhwa.
He hadn’t said it outright, but the only reason Hwangbo Seongu would ask like that was Paeng Yeonhwa.
Paeng Yeonhwa... Dang Heeran chewed her lower lip. Their relationship was the same. When they were young, they’d been quite close. They’d had... no choice but to be close.
Her older sister, Dang Seona, had been special since childhood. Dang Seona knew it herself, and everyone in the Tang Clan knew it.
Her father poured all his affection into his sister, hailed as the Tang Clan’s greatest prodigy, leaving Dang Heeran with the scraps.
Her father, the Tang Clan head Poison Righteousness Lord’s favoritism toward Dang Seona was proven to all by having successors of the poison-using clans that had served the Tangs for generations guard her from childhood.
For Dang Heeran, isolated in the Tang Clan for various reasons, the only one she could call a ‘friend’ was a peer from another family. Among them, only Paeng Yeonhwa, who was the same age and gender. But now?
Everything had gone wrong. The daughter of the fallen Paeng Family was shunned by all the prestigious clans she’d once mingled with just ten years ago.
Naturally... they’d drifted apart. When they met at the Heavenly Academy. Knowing it ‘shouldn’t happen,’ childhood memories surfaced, and she’d spoken to her, only to receive a cold rejection: ‘Don’t come near me.’
That was the last memory with Paeng Yeonhwa. Same academy, same year... different classes. They’d crossed paths in joint classes a few times, but after that ‘don’t come near me’ refusal, no conversation had progressed.
“If you’re okay with it.”
Hwangbo Seongu snorted. It didn’t matter to him. Among the upper-class students, no one would try to team up with Hwangbo Seongu for the practical lesson in three days anyway.
It was definitely because of Paeng Yeonhwa. That’s why on practical lesson days, he always ended up with the leftovers.
“But promise me one thing now.”
“What?”
“Paeng Yeonhwa is mine to catch.”
Hwangbo Seongu bared his teeth as he said it.
“Do as you like.”
Dang Heeran turned her head and replied.
* * *
“See? I told you it’d end up like this.”
Bang Jun grumbled.
Today was the first day of the inter-class practical lesson. Ignoring Bang Jun’s words that it wasn’t necessary, Wi Seongcheon had persistently asked Paeng Yeonhwa to team up every time they met, only to be rejected each time.
But in the end, on the day of the practical lesson, Wi Seongcheon, Bang Jun, and Paeng Yeonhwa ended up on the same team.
The lower-class students who didn’t want to team with Paeng Yeonhwa had quickly grouped among themselves. Thanks to that, Wi Seongcheon, Bang Jun, Paeng Yeonhwa, and the other students who hadn’t teamed up early naturally formed one team.
“Well, it makes sense. Even if it’s a ‘lesson,’ that bear Hwangbo Seongu plays rough.”
Injuries were inevitable in practical lessons. Among them, Hwangbo Seongu’s attacks were especially brutal. Teaming with Paeng Yeonhwa meant facing that brute’s team.
“...I heard Paeng Yeonhwa actually approached other students first to team up this time. How much must she hate you?”
“Don’t say it like that; it makes me a little sad.”
Wi Seongcheon waved it off and glanced at Paeng Yeonhwa. She stood at the back with a cold expression, then quickly looked away when their eyes met.
In front of Yeongho Pavilion at the foot of Uicheon Mountain—the site of the inter-class practical lesson—the practical subject professors and upper-class students had already gathered.
There were nine professors in total, including the long-unseen Absolute Life Sword Seok Ijin and Wi Seongcheon’s supervising professor, Golden Capture Whip Flash Seo Il.
Seo Il spotted Wi Seongcheon and waved happily with a grin, while Seok Ijin gave a slight smile, lifting the corner of his mouth.
“It’s obvious, but this first inter-class practical of the second semester will have high evaluation scores.”
Seok Ijin was the first to speak to the assembled students. For all his quirks, he held a fairly high position among the practical subject professors.
“Students with guaranteed futures might not care much about scores, but not everyone is like that. So do your best. Victory matters, but scores aren’t based solely on win or loss.”
It was aimed at the lower-class students. Excluding Bang Jun, lower-class students weren’t from prestigious clans or the Nine Great Righteous Sects. They were students from mid- or small sects or martial families who’d entered via exams.
Upon reaching fourth year and nearing graduation, offers came based on academy scores.
Returning to family or sect for renewal was an option, but at twenty-five upon graduation, they were in their prime.
Too young to wholly commit to family or sect renewal.
Escort duty for giant escort agencies, merchant groups, or prestigious clans instead of martial families. Even invitations to become outer disciples of the Nine Great Righteous Sects, or offers to serve as guests in martial clans came frequently.
Among them, what Heavenly Academy students coveted most were the imperial palace and the Murim Alliance.
“You’ll spend a week in this mountain—eating, sleeping, and shitting here.”
A giant of a man spoke. Foundation Practical Fist Arts instructor Defeated Rock Hwangbo Gwang. Hwangbo Seongu’s relative.
“This bundle has two days’ worth of rice pills, basic antidotes, and golden injury salve. This is all we provide; the rest you get yourselves.”
Two days’ rice pills. Rationed carefully, they’d last a week, but surviving in the mountains wasn’t the lesson’s goal.
Bang Jun expected group ambushes like last time, but this was different.
“Team 1 to Baegun Peak, Team 2 to Wanam Valley, Team 3 to Blade Forest. They’re far apart, so you won’t run into other teams. Unless you deliberately flee to meet them... but in that case, you’ll be disqualified from evaluation.”
Wi Seongcheon, Bang Jun, and Paeng Yeonhwa were Team 3.
So was Hwangbo Seongu.
Wi Seongcheon checked Team 3’s members. Eight total. Wi Seongcheon, Bang Jun, Paeng Yeonhwa.
The other five already looked doomed. They were among the weakest in the lower class. Rather than his week-long teammates, Wi Seongcheon looked toward Hwangbo Seongu’s side.
Bony Hwangbo Seongu, Poison Needle Dang Heeran, Twin Moon Wheels Ha Ji-tae.
“Ha Ji-tae’s a pain. He meshes well with Hwangbo Seongu too.”
Bang Jun whispered. Dang Heeran being on Hwangbo Seongu’s team surprised both Wi Seongcheon and Bang Jun.
“Not a bad spot. Blade Forest... as the name says, trees and grass jagged like blades everywhere.”
Not hard to find food or water.
“Evaluation starts tomorrow.”
“What exactly are we being evaluated on?”
It was Wi Seongcheon’s first such lesson. Seo Il smiled brightly at the question.
“Everything.”
“...Pardon?”
“Everything we see is up for evaluation. Forest survival, camping, teamwork among members. Confrontations with opposing teams.”
“Win or loss is decided after a week, based on the overall evaluation. Understand?”
Seok Ijin grinned.
Wi Seongcheon grinned back.
Even if they clashed with Hwangbo Seongu midway and lost. They wouldn’t be eliminated from the forest.
The opposing team couldn’t seriously try to harm them anyway. This was ‘practical training,’ not real combat. It wouldn’t go all the way to the ‘end.’
So during this week, Wi Seongcheon could fight Hwangbo Seongu multiple times.
Only Wi Seongcheon smiled at the thought. His teammates’ faces darkened. A single loss would’ve been preferable. Enduring that brute Hwangbo Seongu for a week...
Not just Hwangbo Seongu. Hidden weapons flying from the dense woods. Not lethal, but sure to induce vomiting if hit—poison.
Plus Ha Ji-tae’s twin wheels. The week ahead was sure to be hell.
“Don’t worry too much.”
Seo Il reassured the lower-class students whose faces had turned pale.
“If it gets dangerous, the professors will step in.”
“Only if it’s really dangerous.”
Hwangbo Gwang glared to scare them. The three professors overseeing Team 3 in Blade Forest were Seok Ijin, Seo Il, and Hwangbo Gwang. Fitting choices.
[Do your best.]
Seo Il sent Wi Seongcheon a transmission. A glance showed Seo Il waving with a smile.
“He seems to really like you.”
As they entered Blade Forest, Bang Jun murmured. Wi Seongcheon smacked his lips and glanced at his right hand.
The twice-weekly lessons with his supervising professor. Four sessions already.
Wi Seongcheon still hadn’t grabbed Seo Il’s front chest peak.