Ch 150
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 150
I was wondering why he was suddenly acting like that, but he made a proposal asking if I had any thoughts about becoming a singer, saying the songs were really good.
Actually, this wasn't the first time I'd received such a proposal.
Last year, some student from I don't know which school uploaded the retreat performance video to YouTube.
It didn't become a big topic, but saying they saw it, I received entertainment industry proposals two or three times through SNS messages.
One place was a fairly large major agency that you'd recognize just by hearing the name, but I declined.
There was a possibility it could be impersonation, and even if it wasn't impersonation, I wasn't interested in that direction.
Even in this world, you can live well if you become a famous singer, but being a Hunter isn't an inferior profession at all either.
Civil servants also can't have side jobs.
Setting all this aside, I didn't originally want to perform at the retreat in the first place.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in that sort of thing. As I said before the performance started, I was pushed onto the stage, so even standing on a stage like this is overwhelming for me."
"For someone who says that, you were incredibly good at it.... Um, then could you perhaps give us just the songs?"
"Songs?"
"I heard you composed all the songs you just sang yourself."
"That's true, but they were made as a hobby.... Besides, I don't know if you're aware, but civil servants are prohibited from having side jobs."
I did say I made them since they're songs that don't exist in this world, but since that's not actually the case, I feel a bit reluctant.
Singing once at a performance like this and officially releasing music are completely different stories.
"Even as a hobby, creative activities are possible with the school principal's permission, as far as I know."
Come to think of it, that's true.
In my previous life, there were people among my fellow writers who were civil servants but received permission for side jobs and worked as writers.
Composing is also strictly creative work, so it would be allowed.
No, honestly, given my position, there wouldn't be a big problem even without getting permission for such things one by one.
There wouldn't be any crazy person telling an S-Rank Hunter to quit just because they composed music and made some profit.
"I'm sorry. I don't have much time."
"Then could you give us just the songs from today?"
"Huh? The songs I sang a little while ago probably aren't songs a girl group would sing, are they?"
"Our company has many male singers too. We'll treat the song price at the industry's highest rate."
I don't know how much the industry's highest rate is, but I have plenty of money.
Soon the original story will begin and when the protagonist possesses the body, there will be many things to worry about, so there's probably no need to create additional work.
"I'm sorry, but...."
"Brother! Huh?"
"You're Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok, right? I really enjoyed listening to your songs."
The performance must have ended as the girl group came down.
"Thank you. As I mentioned before, I'm not interested. Then I'll be going now."
I quickly left, worried they might keep pestering me.
Now that I'd finished everything I needed to do, I should go meet my master.
I was going to ask Se-jin to come along too, so I went to a corner to put down my guitar and sent a message.
"Senior!"
I turned around to see Choi Seo-ra.
"What?"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going back to the dormitory now."
There are fireworks left after the performance, but I'm not particularly interested.
"About the performance earlier...."
"You saw it too. I'm new so I was pushed into it and had no choice."
"No, that's not what I meant...."
Unlike her usual self, she's twisting her body around - is she sick somewhere?
"What's wrong?"
"The first song you sang was about me, right?"
"Uh... Huh?"
"The song lyrics seemed to be talking completely about me. Senior, you really...."
Her face turns red as she lightly hits my arm with her fist.
This girl seems to be seriously misunderstanding something.
"It's not like that, so don't misunderstand."
"Oh come on, don't be embarrassed. I know Senior's feelings and it's okay. Let's have a meal together this weekend."
"A meal is fine, but it's really not like that...."
"Teacher!"
Ah... Oh no, I ran into Se-jin at the worst moment.
"Hunter Kim Se-jin?"
"Huh? You know me? Teacher, who is this person?"
"Ah, this is my junior Choi Seo-ra. She teaches physical arts at the middle school."
"Hello. I've heard a lot about you."
"Ah, hello. I'm Kim Se-jin."
It looks like an ordinary greeting, but somehow the atmosphere doesn't seem normal.
"Then I'll go first. See you this weekend."
Fortunately Choi Seo-ra left first, but Se-jin's expression is quite serious.
"In a secluded corner like this, alone with a pretty female junior...."
"Don't misunderstand. Seo-ra is just a junior. She's a kid I got to know during an internship when I was at Chase Guild before."
"What's this about meeting this weekend?"
"Well, you know Do-hyun, right? Seo-ra is Do-hyun's homeroom teacher. I received some help from her before, so I promised to buy her a meal."
After my explanation, she relaxed a bit, but it doesn't seem like she's completely dropped her suspicious gaze.
"Seo-ra is really just a junior."
"I know. I trust you, Teacher. But don't be too nice to the women around you."
"No, I don't think I've been particularly nice to anyone."
"Someone as handsome as you, Teacher - if you're just a little kind and smile once, everyone falls for you."
Wow... Se-jin, this girl says incredibly embarrassing things like it's nothing.
"I can't avoid talking to people completely while living in society, right? I know what my position is, so please be a little understanding."
"I'm going to tell sister Luciel about today too."
"Huh?"
Honestly, I don't particularly mind if she tells her.
Luciel even broke into Lee Ji-sung's house with me, so explaining wouldn't be too difficult.
"Why are you so surprised? As expected...."
The reason I'm surprised is sister Luciel.
We've gotten somewhat close lately, but I didn't think we were close enough to call each other Sister and younger sibling.
"Jealous Se-jin is too cute."
At my words, she immediately turns red as a beet... She's really so cute I want to pinch her cheeks.
***
Eunseo's sword rotates quickly, deflecting my sword.
CLANG!
It immediately follows with a thrust, but when I twist my body slightly to dodge, she now slashes at the lower area.
It's quite a good combo, but her balance leaned forward.
I step with footwork, move to the side and give her a light push, causing her to fall forward.
THUD!
"Huh? Teacher, when did you move over there?"
"Your balance collapsed during the last slash. But you've improved quite a lot, haven't you?"
"It's all thanks to you, Teacher. Especially that mental cultivation method - it seems really amazing."
"If you keep training consistently, you'll get even better. Make sure to take your red ginseng regularly too."
"Yes."
I did worry about it a bit, but in the end, I taught Eunseo the mental cultivation method too.
Of course, it's not the Xiantian Mental Cultivation Method of our sect that I and Se-jin learned, but the Wudang Sect's mental cultivation method Small Heaven Technique that my master said he learned from a friend.
When he met Zhang Sambong, he remembered that I had previously asked my master to look into some third-rate mental cultivation methods and asked about it.
I was quite moved that my master remembered my story even in that situation.
Since it's the Wudang Sect's basic mental cultivation method, the efficiency is definitely not as good as our sect's method and the speed is slower, but it's still much better compared to raw magic.
It took some time to learn Chinese at first, but since Eunseo's magic isn't particularly abundant, it didn't take very long to convert it to internal energy.
Eunseo is also quite an excellent student, though not as much as Se-jin.
If there weren't competitors like Bianca in this WHCU competition, I think she could definitely aim for victory.
"Finals start tomorrow, so let's stop here for today. Go in quickly."
"Yes. Thank you for your hard work."
After sending Eunseo back, I also returned to the dormitory.
I washed up briefly and used warp magic to stop by Se-jin's house, picked up Se-jin, and moved to the portal where my master is.
"Kang Shin-hyeok!"
As soon as I entered, Luciel called my name and ran toward me.
I stepped with footwork and slightly dodged to the side.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Luciel also steps with footwork.
She said she recently started learning martial arts too, and her skills are considerable.
She almost hugged me directly, but Se-jin blocked her.
Se-jin tripped her and she was about to fall, but I caught and helped her up.
"Kim Se-jin, what's with you?"
"Sister should moderate yourself too. Didn't you see Teacher dodging?"
"It's been a while, so why are you interfering?"
"What do you mean a while? We saw each other yesterday."
They're growling at each other - really, these two sometimes seem to get along well, but they always bicker like this.
I stopped the two of them and went toward the camping car to find my master watching TV while eating cup ramen.
He used to mainly watch variety shows, but lately he's been completely absorbed in martial arts movies.
"Master, I'm here."
"You came?"
He doesn't even look at me and just speaks.
"When someone comes, you should look and greet them properly."
"It's an important scene right now, so be quiet."
If he won't even greet me properly when I came all this way and just watches TV, I have no choice either.
"The protagonist dies there, but later the protagonist's girlfriend sacrifices herself to save him."
"You brat!"
He throws a pillow and chases after me, but I easily dodge and go outside.
"How dare this kid give spoilers?"
"That's right. When your disciple comes but you only watch TV... Oof!"
He tried to flick my forehead, so I leaned back to dodge.
"You dodge well like a loach."
Normally I wouldn't be able to dodge my master so easily, but right now my master is controlling himself so Luciel's balance doesn't collapse, so he can't use his full power.
"How about we have a sparring match after a long time?"
"Not happening. I'm tired, so go play with your wives."
"What wives... I told you it's not like that?"
He doesn't even pretend to listen and goes back into the camping car.
I had no choice but to look toward Luciel and Se-jin, who were looking at their phones and talking.
They were bickering with each other just moments ago, but now they're blooming with laughter over something so interesting.
"What's so funny?"
"Ah, it's the video of Teacher's performance from last time."
"No... You filmed that?"
"All the performances are uploaded on the school homepage. I thought Sister Luciel would want to see it too, so I brought it."
"You made mistakes here too. Shin-hyeok, you're really shameless."
"What... What?"
"You kept making mistakes on the guitar but acted calm as if you were playing correctly."
Other people wouldn't know, but Luciel knows everything because she heard it a lot during practice.
"So what, other people don't know. Even if you make mistakes, just act like you didn't."
"Swindler."
"...Three days of chocolate bar confiscation."
"Hmph, even if you don't buy it, Se-jin will buy it for me, right?"
"Yes. I'll buy it."
When I see times like this, they get along so well again.
"Ah, Teacher, watching the video reminded me - sister Se-byeol contacted me yesterday or the day before...."
"Se-byeol, you mean that sister from the girl group you know? That manager person keeps contacting me asking for songs too, could you tell them to stop...."
"Her situation seems really difficult lately. Can't you help her out a little, Teacher?"
***
"No... Manager, what do you mean? The album production is canceled?"
We were all excited because they said they'd start producing the second album recently, but suddenly it's canceled - it's like a bolt from the blue.
"The CEO said the parent company's situation has become difficult lately, so they can't invest."
"But our Stevia girls have done many events. The response to the last album wasn't bad either. If a full album is difficult this time, even a mini single - if we just pick good songs...."
"Sang-cheol, I know you've been with the kids since their debut and you're very attached, but you know this industry, don't you? If they were going to make it big, they would have made it long ago."
"But there are still two years left in the contract. Then perhaps we could let the kids go freelance...."
"We can't do that. For whose benefit would that be?"
"What? No, then you're saying you'll just keep them without releasing albums?"
"Isn't that how it usually is? If they go out and do well, it'll just make our company look bad for not having the ability to make them successful."
"Isn't it too cruel to just hold onto the kids without giving them anything to do? The fans will be making a fuss too."
"How many fans do those kids even have? And who said we won't let them do activities? Even if we don't produce albums, there are things that don't cost money. They should go to events without being picky, and we should put our agency kids on YouTube channels to make up for losses even a little."
"Did the CEO tell you to do that?"
"Well, he didn't say it specifically, but it's obvious so he probably didn't mention it."
"But...."
"Sang-cheol, why do you keep acting like this? It's already been decided from above, so just do as you're told. Keep your mouth shut about it."
Manager Jeong patted my back saying let's do well and left.
All the kids are waiting with their eyes falling out for the new album production....
This is frustrating.