Ch 68
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 68
"Teacher, we're done cleaning up."
"Good. Everyone worked hard. Jinsu, your skills have improved a lot, haven't they? Eunsu and Eunseo have also improved significantly. Everyone can go in now, but Se-jin, could you stay for a moment? I have something to discuss with you."
"Ah, yes."
‘Why is he asking only me to stay?’
‘Could it be because of what happened with Father yesterday?’
"Sister, see you tomorrow."
After all the kids left, only the teacher and I remained.
"During today's training, you seemed to be in poor condition, unable to concentrate. Is something wrong?"
"I'm sorry."
"After yesterday's evaluation ended, I had a separate conversation with your father... Did you happen to hear anything about it?"
"Ah... Yes. Father called me yesterday evening."
"Really? He didn't pressure you again or force you to train harder, did he? He promised me he wouldn't do that anymore."
"He said he won't interfere with training from now on and told me to learn diligently from you, teacher..."
"That's right. I also agreed to help with your training during the vacation."
"I'm sorry. You must have had your own plans..."
"It's fine."
"Are you really okay with it? I heard you even had a duel yesterday... Weren't you injured anywhere?"
"You're asking quite quickly."
"Earlier there were other kids around... Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Didn't you see me fine during sparring earlier? I won almost everything, but in the end your father cheated... Well, anyway, your father won't interfere anymore, so don't push yourself too hard."
"Ah... Um, but I heard that if I can't win at WHCU, you'll quit school and go to Ares Guild..."
"That's right. I told your father that if he pushes you too hard, you'll never be able to win, and then he pressed me a bit asking if you could win if he didn't interfere."
"Ah..."
"I said it would be better for you to prepare on your own for better results, but your father said anything other than absolute victory would be meaningless and proposed such a condition."
"Why did you accept such an unreasonable condition?"
‘He knows I was eliminated in the first round at the competition in January this year…’
‘I don't understand.’
"UGH! No confidence? I said okay trusting only in Se-jin, this is a big problem."
Despite his words, the teacher's face is full of mischief, as if he's not taking it seriously at all.
Last night after hearing from Father that I should marry the teacher if I don't win, I've been troubled all along... I feel somewhat resentful.
"Please don't joke around and answer seriously. I'm really serious about this."
Honestly, I don't dislike the teacher.
He's really handsome, highly capable, and even caring.
But I've lived my entire life focusing only on academics and swordsmanship, paying no attention to anything else.
I have no dating experience, yet suddenly I'm told to get married...
"Your face is red. Are you cold? Should we go inside to talk?"
"N-no."
In the first place, wanting to marry me off is just Father's idea, so the teacher could refuse.
Father said that seeing how the teacher cares about me, he seems to have feelings for me, but originally the teacher is famous for taking good care of and cherishing his students.
I thought about telling him everything truthfully and asking him to withdraw even now, but it's such an ugly and cowardly story that I can't bring myself to tell the teacher.
"Did I speak too lightly? Still, it's true that I accepted the condition of trusting in you, Se-jin."
"How can you trust me..."
"It's natural for a teacher to trust his student, right? Besides, if I hadn't accepted, your father might have pressured the vice principal again to make things difficult for you, Se-jin."
"You don't need to go to such lengths because of me. I'm used to such things... I'm fine, so even now you should withdraw..."
"But I'm not fine with it. Are you going to keep showing such a lack of confidence? I'll help you during vacation until the competition, so let's work hard together."
"..."
‘He's so positive that I don't know what to say.’
"You don't need to feel burdened. Even if you don't win, I won't become unemployed. Ares Guild is also one of the top 10 guilds."
"Even so, are you okay with quitting school?"
"Well. Even if I don't like it, I made a promise with your father, so there's nothing I can do. If I end up going to Ares, I'll have to ask to be sent to your team, Se-jin. Since you're the future guild master, you should be able to take good care of one teacher, right?"
"I don't know."
"No way... Kim Se-jin, are you really going to be like this?"
‘I'm really serious, but the teacher seems to think it's no big deal, which is annoying.’
‘I can't tell him the truth either... It's frustrating.’
***
The martial arts tournament preliminaries are conducted by region with three areas where schools in close proximity compete together. Region 1 brings together students from our 1st School, Incheon's 2nd School, and Daejeon's 3rd School to select 12 finalists.
Region 2 selects 12 students from three schools: Busan's 4th School, Daegu's 5th School, and Ulsan's 6th School.
Region 3 has 7th School and 7th School's branch campuses in Gwangju and Jeju, so only two schools select 8 students.
The preliminaries rotate between schools each year, and this year it's at 3rd School in Daejeon.
"Everyone worked really hard today, rest well when you get back to school."
And the martial arts tournament preliminaries just ended.
Se-jin naturally advanced, and we had some expectations for our kids, but everyone except Eunsu was eliminated.
Of course, it might be due to insufficient skills, but the bracket luck was quite twisted.
With many students, you need to win up to the third round to advance to the finals. The first round is definitely against students from other schools, but from the second round it was random.
In the second round, only Minhee faced a student from another school, while Eunsu and Jinsu met each other, and Se-jin also faced Eunseo.
That's how Jinsu and Eunseo were eliminated, and in the third round, Eunsu achieved victory after a close match, but Minhee's opponent was a third-year who had advanced to the finals as a second-year last year, so she was defeated.
Unfortunately, the opponent was a magician, so the matchup was too unfavorable.
I didn't teach methods to counter magic in Breaking Form.
Of course, with Teacher Kim's help, we did quite a lot of sparring, but the difference in magic decided the match.
"Teacher, do you have time this Sunday?"
"Why Sunday?"
"The vice principal said earlier that he'd give us special outings this weekend."
"Huh? Wasn't that only for finalists?"
"When you went to the bathroom earlier, he came and said he'd send out all the students who participated today."
‘He must be in a good mood since many finalists came from our school.’
"Really? That's great for everyone."
"Jinsu and Minhee said they're going to an amusement park. Teacher, come with us too."
"These clueless kids, wouldn't you be interfering with their date?"
"Then let's go watch a movie together."
"A movie? Do you really need to take your teacher along? If there's a movie you want to see, wouldn't it be better to watch it with your parents?"
"Dad is on a business trip until next week. Mom said she's going to grandmother's house on Friday."
"I have a schedule, so Sunday is a bit difficult..."
‘I couldn't go to Master last week because of the promotion exam, and that time I at least told him in advance, but this week I haven't said anything and I'm not going?’
‘I might get beaten to a pulp.’
"We just need to be back before 10... What about the evening? We can watch a movie and return to school together with you, teacher."
"Teacher, let's watch together."
‘Should I just offer to buy the tickets?’
But then I agreed.
Everyone has been working hard with supplementary classes, and Eunsu even advanced to the finals.
Hard work should be rewarded.
"Then Se-jin can also come... Huh? I don't see Se-jin. Where did she go?"
"Suster said she was going to catch the bus first. We'll ask when we go."
"Okay."
‘Se-jin has been acting a bit strange lately.’
‘I wonder if she has some worries - she spaces out during supplementary classes and has become much quieter.’
‘I wonder if Kim Dae-chan is secretly pressuring her, breaking his promise with me, so I asked, but she said that wasn't it.’
‘It's been like this since we talked on Monday... Is it because I have to quit school if she doesn't win WHCU?’
‘I tried to be cheerful about it, saying it doesn't matter if I go to Ares Guild to avoid giving her pressure, but I'm worried.’
The preliminaries were easy to pass with basic skills, and winning the martial arts tournament doesn't seem too difficult, but the problem is the WHCU competition.
Even if Bianca doesn't participate in this tournament as in the original, the other participants will also be the cream of the crop from their countries, so if Se-jin can't perform to her full potential due to pressure, winning might be difficult.
I spoke cheerfully to Se-jin, but I don't want to quit school and I especially don't want to go to Ares Guild.
I haven't even started building a friendship with the protagonist, which was my purpose for coming to school.
Of course, I decided not to be obsessed with the original story, but I'm sufficiently satisfied with my job as a teacher.
No matter how good Ares Guild is as one of the top 10 guilds with good treatment, working under an old-fashioned superior like Kim Dae-chan is absolutely out of the question.
I want to tell her in advance that Bianca won't participate to reduce some burden, but I have nothing to say if she asks how I know.
I think I need to give more praise and encouragement during supplementary classes to build her confidence.
***
‘It's already Friday - time really flies.’
After afternoon classes ended, I would normally go straight to dinner, but since I bought chicken for the kids and ate a few pieces, I'm not hungry.
I was thinking of doing some paperwork and then going straight to supplementary classes when I felt a vibration in my pocket.
It's the vice principal.
"Yes, Vice Principal."
—Where are you now?
"I'm in the swordsmanship training hall office. What's the matter?"
—Come to the vice principal's office right away. We have distinguished guests.
"Guests? There shouldn't be anyone looking for me. Who is it?"
‘Kang Shin-hyeok was a loner with no friends, and most of my acquaintances are people who work at school... What is this?’
—You'll know when you come, so just hurry up.
‘Couldn't he just tell me? Where would it hurt?’
I said I understood, hung up the phone, and headed to the vice principal's office.
If the vice principal called them guests, they must be outsiders, but I can't guess who at all.
When I arrived at the vice principal's office, knocked, and opened the door, I saw a woman in a navy suit and a blonde middle-aged gentleman with a sturdy build.
‘He said I'd know when I came, but both faces are completely unfamiliar.’
‘And what's this?’
‘The woman seems to be Korean, but that blonde gentleman is obviously a foreigner.’
Outside of festival periods, the only outsiders who can enter and leave Hunter schools are education office officials, Hunter Management Bureau officials, or Hunters.
There's a lot of talk about being too closed off for an educational institution, so they're pushing for openness these days, but since it's nominally a national security facility, foreigners cannot enter.
Even during festival periods when schools are opened, people with foreign nationality cannot enter unless they're relatives of current students...
"What's wrong? Sit down since you're here."
"Ah, yes."
"Teacher Kang, do you recognize them?"
"No. Both are people I'm meeting for the first time."
"Teacher, we don't have much time."
‘Seeing her call the vice principal 'teacher,' the woman seems to be an alumna of our school.’
"Ah, right. This lady here is the Asian regional director of the World Hunter Federation under the UN. She's the most successful among my former students and the pride of our school."
‘She looks to be in her mid-to-late thirties, but Asian regional director - quite an elite.’
"I wasn't interested in that field, so I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'm Kang Shin-hyeok."
"I'm Cha Ju-hyeon. It's possible not to know if you're not interested. It's not that famous to begin with - the teacher is exaggerating."
"I thought you might not know Ju-hyeon, but I thought you'd know this guy. You don't know him either?"
"He seems to be a foreigner, but I've only been abroad to China..."
"Do you have to meet to know? It's Conrad."
"Conrad?"
"Teacher, if you're going to introduce someone, please do it properly with their full name."
"Miss Cha, it's fine. I'll introduce myself directly."
"Ah, will you?"
‘He is quite fluent Korean, but looking at the magic flow, it seems the woman named Cha Ju-hyeon is using translation magic.’
"I'm Conrad Rowell. I serve as vice chairman of the World Hunter Federation under the UN."
"Co... Conrad Rowell?"
‘One of the Ten Stars, referring to the world's ten strongest Hunters.
An existence that gives British people pride.
The strongest swordsman on Earth.
That's Conrad Rowell.’