Ch 72
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 72
"As expected, it's Se-jin. That 2nd School student was decent too, but they were completely outmatched."
"It's only natural since she's been winning since her first year."
Still, since the student made it to the finals, they managed to hold out for 3 minutes already.
But it didn't seem like they'd last past 5 minutes, and sure enough, before long Se-jin knocked away her opponent's spear.
Following up by pointing her sword at their throat, the opponent raised their hand.
"Winner, Kim Se-jin!"
The referee's judgment was met with cheers and applause from the audience.
"Shouldn't we go down and hug her, telling her she did well?"
"Teacher Hong, wouldn't that be a bit too much? As I said before, it was the expected result... We can congratulate her when she comes down."
Of course, I did clap.
Three consecutive years of martial arts tournament victories.
The protagonist who will enroll in two years will achieve the same record, but the title of being first belongs to our Se-jin.
I tried to approach Se-jin as she came down from the dueling arena after briefly sharing her thoughts, to congratulate her, but with student council officers, classmates, and even our kids - too many students approached to congratulate her, so... Well, there was no room for me to squeeze in.
I hadn't even gotten to say congratulations yet when the award ceremony began.
Actually, Se-jin is currently quite upset with me.
The day before yesterday when the round of 32 was held, I barely arrived on time carrying that kid on my back.
The match started precisely at 2 PM, but there was a bracket draw at 1:30 PM.
The main tournament proceeded like the preliminaries, with participants drawing numbers in name order to determine opponents, and fortunately we weren't disqualified and got placed in the remaining spot.
However, a teacher from another school coaching the student who became Se-jin's opponent in the round of 32 complained that she should have been disqualified for not showing up during the draw.
It was probably because if the draw had proceeded in name order, their student might not have faced Se-jin.
I thought there was no problem since only the draw order changed and we arrived before the match start time, but the relevant regulations weren't clearly established, so we were on the verge of being disqualified.
I hoped Se-jin would quickly make some excuse, but as soon as she heard about the disqualification, she hung her head in disappointment, so I made an excuse instead.
I said Se-jin was late because of severe constipation.
I asked if they couldn't understand since it was due to a biological need, not something else.
I said it carelessly in my urgency, but the effect was tremendous.
Our vice principal and other school vice principals serving as martial arts tournament judges, as well as the teacher who had complained, all made uncomfortable expressions but eventually accepted it.
In contrast, Se-jin glared at me with an expression like she wanted to devour me, but I had resolved to properly teach her now, so I couldn't let her be disqualified so absurdly.
I worried Se-jin might deny it and ruin everything, but fortunately she didn't contradict it either.
I felt a bit sorry, but anyway, thanks to that excuse we avoided disqualification and won the championship.
She'll graduate soon anyway, and I'm going to teach her martial arts, so I hope she'll forgive me... But since that day, the way she looks at me has been as cold as winter wind and snow.
I was thinking about how to appease her when some man approached me.
"Excuse me, are you Teacher Kang Shin-hyeok?"
"Ah, yes. That's right."
Now that I look, it's the PD who's been filming the martial arts tournament from the first day until today.
"I heard you helped Se-jin prepare for the martial arts tournament this time. We're planning to conduct a winner interview after the award ceremony - could you appear as well, Teacher Kang?"
"Yes. I understand."
The interview proceeded right after the award ceremony.
"We'll meet student Kim Se-jin, who set the unprecedented record of three consecutive victories in the martial arts tournament called the flower of Hunter School festivals, and Teacher Kang Shin-hyeok who helped her. Hello."
"Hello. I'm Kim Se-jin, a third-year at 1st Hunter School."
"Hello. I'm Kang Shin-hyeok, a swordsmanship teacher at 1st Hunter School."
"Student Kim Se-jin, congratulations. Your composure throughout all the matches was really impressive. Still, was there any opponent who felt even slightly threatening?"
"Well... I don't think there really was..."
"Ha ha. If someone else said that, I'd call them arrogant, but our student Kim Se-jin has been winning since first year, so she's fully qualified. Then let me change the question slightly - this is your last year, student Kim Se-jin."
It's true, but I worried she might get criticized for sounding arrogant like the host said, but fortunately he packaged it well.
"Yes."
"Are there any students you think will be active in next year's martial arts tournament?"
"There are."
"It wouldn't be Hwang Gu-yoon who you met in the finals since he's a third-year, so who?"
"Among my juniors, there's Seong Eunsu. She was eliminated in the quarterfinals this time, but starting from second year she'll attend practical training, so if she accumulates more magic and continues developing like now, I think she can achieve good results."
I don't know if she's watching the interview, but Eunsu would be very happy to hear this.
"So it was student Seong Eunsu. Certainly, student Seong Eunsu was very impressive for a first-year too. She didn't win in first year like student Se-jin though. Come to think of it, didn't Teacher Kang Shin-hyeok teach student Seong Eunsu as well?"
"Ah, yes. That's right."
"I'm already looking forward to next year's martial arts tournament. Now, this next question might be a bit sensitive, but by winning the martial arts tournament, you've secured participation rights for the WHCU competition in January next year. In the last tournament, you met winner Bianca in the first round and were eliminated, which was really disappointing."
"I lost because my skills were lacking, so it couldn't be helped, but I'm sorry for disappointing many people who supported me, and personally it was very regrettable."
"I'm curious how you plan to prepare for this WHCU tournament."
"For tournament preparation, Teacher Kang here has agreed to help me, so we plan to prepare together."
"With Teacher Kang? Since vacation is starting soon, I thought you'd go to Ares Guild where your father is for special training, but this is unexpected."
"Well... I think preparing with Teacher rather than special training at Ares Guild would be better for me..."
"Student Se-jin's trust in Teacher Kang is remarkable. Then let me ask Teacher Kang a question. Student Se-jin won and student Seong Eunsu advanced to the quarterfinals despite being a first-year - is there any special secret?"
"There's nothing particularly special. Rather than me teaching well, I think it's the result of the students working hard."
Although Eunsu received a lot of help from Breaking Form, she still couldn't have reached the quarterfinals without her own effort, and Se-jin would have won even if I hadn't taught her.
"That's a very modest answer. How far do you think student Se-jin can advance in next year's WHCU tournament?"
"I think the question is a bit wrong."
"Pardon?"
"I've never once thought about how far we'll advance. Our goal is victory."
As soon as I finished speaking, Se-jin looked at me with a slightly flustered expression - she probably didn't expect me to say it outright in the interview.
"Wow, Teacher Kang's confidence is remarkable. Many people expect Bianca, the last tournament winner, to win this tournament too..."
"I don't think there's any need for various words now. I'll prove the process through results."
***
Two weeks have already passed since the festival ended.
The reaction to the martial arts tournament victory interview was quite heated, with many media companies making additional interview proposals through the school.
However, I didn't respond since the week right after the festival was final exams, plus there was a lot of work due to year-end.
I already said everything I had to say in that interview anyway.
"With that, we'll conclude the closing ceremony."
As soon as the teacher in charge of the ceremony finished speaking, students rushed out of the auditorium.
All the students leaving the auditorium have smiles on their faces - they all seem excited about vacation.
Even though it's called vacation, it's not really vacation because of tournament preparation at the end of January.
Starting the week after the martial arts tournament ended, I taught Se-jin martial arts using supplementary class time.
I explained the source of martial arts as something I discovered in a portal when I was dispatched to China, but initially she showed a somewhat suspicious attitude.
It's not like this world doesn't have martial arts novels.
Se-jin probably doesn't usually read martial arts novels, but still, terms like martial arts techniques and internal energy would all show up as martial arts novel-related terms if searched online, so she could reasonably find it strange.
But I told her to trust me since it was the secret to how I could become strong quickly, and after operating the internal energy cultivation method once, her suspicions melted away like snow.
So for the past two weeks, with no sparring at all, we focused on basic knowledge of martial arts and converting her current magic into internal energy.
"Finally vacation. Time really flies. Teacher Kang, during vacation you're... Ah, you promised to help Se-jin train, right?"
"Yes. Starting from today."
Originally I planned to start after resting for at least 2-3 days if not a week, but Se-jin insisted she wanted to train, so we decided to start right from today.
A-rank portals occurring in Seoul are swept up by major guilds, making competition fierce.
Therefore, we decided to operate in Gangwon Province where many portals appear but there are fewer major guilds, and since there's distance involved, commuting would be difficult so we secured lodging.
Initially I thought of hotels in Gangneung or Chuncheon, but places like hotels have people watching and CCTV everywhere, making it difficult to comfortably teach martial arts, so I rented a pension.
It's a pension near Mount Seorak in Inje County - it was a bit remote, but we'd be traveling entirely by car anyway, and there's a mart if you go out a little.
Most importantly, it was close to the portal where my Master is, making it convenient to drop by occasionally, so I decided on the pension.
"Teacher, I heard you're going to Gangwon Province during vacation?"
It's Min-hee.
"That's right, but why?"
"Teacher, we're also going to a ski resort together during vacation - you should come too."
"What ski resort. Teacher's not going to Gangwon Province to have fun."
"Isn't February okay? The tournament ends in January."
"Hey kids, Teacher is human too. Teacher needs to rest sometimes."
"Teacher, you said last time that if we made it to the main tournament you'd grant one more wish. I'll use that."
Eunsu, I thought she'd forgotten since she didn't say anything after the martial arts tournament ended.
"Did Teacher say such a thing? I don't quite remember..."
"You're not saying you don't remember, right? We all heard it."
Tsk. I tried to gloss over it but it didn't work, so I agreed to go together in early February and said goodbye to the kids, telling them to have a good vacation as I returned to the dormitory.
I've been to a lot of snow sledding places when I was young, but I've never been to a ski resort... Well, it'll work out somehow.
As I was moving luggage I'd organized yesterday to the car, I felt a vibration in my pocket.
Taking it out, it's Se-jin.
"Yeah, Se-jin. Did you finish packing?"
―Yes. I organized it yesterday. Where should I go?
"Isn't your luggage heavy? I was going to bring the car in front of the dormitory."
―It's just a backpack and one suitcase, so I can carry it myself.
"Still, since I'm going out anyway, want to wait near the dormitory entrance?"
―Understood.
After loading all the luggage and going to the girls' dormitory side, I could see Se-jin waiting with her luggage.
I got out, helped load the luggage together, and picked up Se-jin.
"Teacher, how long does it take to get to the lodging?"
"Well. The GPS shows a little over two hours, but with many parents at the school entrance, won't it take a bit longer?"
Exiting the main gate, the road was packed with cars like holiday homecoming traffic.
I regretted not leaving a bit slower, but we got out of school faster than expected.
"Are you really okay not stopping by home?"
"It's fine. I mentioned it a few days ago and they just said okay without much else."
"Your mother too?"
"Ah, mother said to stop by briefly..."
"Then should we stop by briefly?"
"No. The tournament is my priority right now, so I can call frequently instead."
At least mother seems different from Kim Dae-chan, which is fortunate.
"Um... Teacher, should we eat lunch when we get there?"
"That's fine, or we could eat at a rest stop on the way. Teacher doesn't mind, so you choose."
"Then let's eat when we get there. It'd be nice to eat together with Teacher Hong and Teacher Kim."
"Huh? Teacher Hong and Teacher Kim aren't coming today though?"
"What?"
"Didn't I tell you last time? Both of them have things to do, so they're coming in 3 days."