Galaxy Martial God Temple - Clubs (Part 3)
Cheon So-yeon's chilling, lethal presence instantly seized the room. The sixth-grade club presidents gathered there stiffened in alarm, and even the faculty members standing on standby throughout the staff room tensed to the limit. The sheer intimidating pressure radiating from her was completely beyond anything a martial artist at the 2nd-rate realm could ever produce.
Without stirring even a thread of internal Qi, she dominated the surrounding space through unadulterated mental intent alone, commanding the room as though an ancient martial sovereign had descended into the flesh. Isn't manipulating mental intent beyond internal Qi a technique reserved for the Transformed Realm at the very least? Was the Heaven's Martial Body truly capable of such an absurd feat? Now I understood why the Cheon Clan monitored and nurtured her constitution with such obsessive care.
The teachers exchanged fraught glances, agonizing over whether they ought to step in and subdue her or let her be. From the anxious looks in their eyes, none of them seemed confident they could restrain her without causing her harm if she truly went on a rampage. Someone even began whispering under their breath about whether they should summon the principal.
While everyone stood frozen, paralyzed by tension and wary of making a reckless move, I alone stepped forward. Whether Soyeon had consciously shielded me from the wake of her mental pressure, or because dying several times in the Tower had completely cured me of fear, moving around felt easy enough.
I walked straight up to Soyeon and flicked her squarely on the forehead.
“Ouch!”
The overwhelming aura smothering the room shattered into wisps of nothingness, and Soyeon clutched her forehead where my finger had struck.
“I don't know what kind of wild misconception you've cooked up in that head of yours, but it's not what you think.”
Soyeon flinched at my words. “…It's not?”
Since she had also received a tip-off from Teacher Riven, she must have sensed something was off when I failed to return and bolted straight to the faculty office. Soyeon profoundly loathed receiving special treatment merely for possessing the Heaven's Martial Body, and she despised the idea of those around her suffering collateral damage on her account even more. In fact, for reasons she kept guarded, she almost seemed terrified of it—as if viewing her constitution not as a divine blessing, but as a curse.
I let out a quiet sigh and continued. “Well, it isn't entirely unrelated to you, but nobody was being coerced. Just look around. How many teachers are in this room? Do you really think a few students could run rampant and do whatever they pleased right in front of them?”
Soyeon cast a furtive glance across the faculty room, then swept another frigid glare toward the club presidents just in case, silently issuing a stern warning. The sixth-grade presidents flinched, visibly shrinking before the gaze of a girl who stood one or two heads shorter than them.
I flicked her forehead a second time.
“Ow! Hmph…”
“Look, I wanted to wrap this up as quietly as possible, but since you barged in, you might as well hear the details. Teacher, it's fine if Soyeon listens in too, right?”
When I looked to Kim Dohwa for permission, the teacher nodded with a dazed, overwhelmed expression. “Y-Yes, of course.”
“Let's head inside.”
I led Soyeon into the private consultation room. Teacher Kim Dohwa swept a quick, reassuring glance over the other teachers in the staff office, pulled the door shut behind us, and settled into the seat across from us.
Turning to Soyeon beside me, I laid it out plainly. “Just as Teacher Riven mentioned, those club presidents out there are desperate to recruit you into their clubs. Their plan was to bribe me, your friend, so they could naturally drag you along. But then they started squabbling among themselves over who approached me first, accusing one another of cutting in line, and that's how this whole circus started.”
“Ah… Because of me.”
Watching her shoulders slump into a dejected posture, I let out a light chuckle. “Who said it's because of you? It's thanks to you. Thanks to your presence, they're practically begging to shower me with lavish benefits.”
It wasn't as though I was being threatened or strong-armed, and since I had to join a club anyway, securing plenty of perks and funding was an undeniable win for me. Despite my cheerful reassurance, Soyeon still looked caught in a tangle of conflicted thoughts.
“Right now, there are four possible solutions to this predicament.”
“Didn't you say there were only three earlier?”
At Teacher Kim Dohwa's pointed question, I gave a light shrug. “That was before Soyeon knew what was going on.”
Raising my fingers one by one, I counted them off. “First solution: Soyeon, you publicly declare that you will never join the same club as me.”
This was the brand-new option born the moment she walked through the door. The seniors waiting outside didn't care about me; they wanted Cheon So-yeon. The only reason they had bothered approaching me in the first place was because the parents who leaked information about Soyeon had strictly warned them against burdening her directly. If Soyeon and I were barred from joining the same club, the vast majority of the problem would instantly evaporate.
Teacher Kim Dohwa's eyes widened. “That means you wouldn't receive any of the perks they offered you, though.”
Exactly. The club presidents would no longer have any reason to guarantee me any bonuses. In fact, they'd actively hope I stayed far away from their doorsteps. Of course, if we took this route, I could simply wait until Soyeon made her choice, and then pick whichever club suited me afterward. Once she was settled, I would revert to being just another ordinary first-grade student.
“I don't care about losing a few extra perks.” While I couldn't say it wasn't a pity, it wasn't as if the standard club support I was rightfully owed would vanish into thin air. “Besides, if I'm the only one receiving special treatment, it'll inevitably breed resentment and nasty rumors down the line.”
“That's true…” Teacher Kim Dohwa murmured, nodding slowly. Even so, her gaze softened with genuine admiration. Rumors aside, turning down guaranteed, tangible benefits was never an easy choice for anyone.
“…I don't like the idea of being in a different club from you,” Soyeon muttered timidly, voicing her discontent. Still, she quickly added that she would follow along if that was truly what I wanted.
“There are other options. Second solution: put the benefits up for an open auction.”
What every club truly salivated over was the massive secondary funding and clan resources that would pour in if Cheon So-yeon enrolled in their roster. The entire conflict stemmed from competing factions clawing over that single prize. If we held an open, regulated auction, each club could weigh the concessions they had to give me against the windfall they stood to gain. Those who found the price too steep would withdraw of their own accord, drastically reducing the chances of lingering grudges.
“Unlike the first option, this one sounds quite greedy.”
“It certainly is.” Since the item on the auction block was 'my membership,' an escalating bidding war meant I would walk away as the primary beneficiary.
“Aren't you worried about rumors and backlash this time?”
“An overwhelming profit gives you the luxury to ignore petty gossip. Besides, you'll protect me, won't you, Teacher?”
My shameless, cheeky reply instantly wiped away whatever admiration Teacher Kim Dohwa had felt a moment prior.
“Third solution: side with whoever is strongest.” Support packages and bribes be damned. If you call yourself a martial artist, you prove your worth with your own might. We hold an impromptu tournament on the spot, and we join the club of whoever emerges victorious.
“That certainly sounds like the method that would leave the least room for gossip, and the students would readily accept the outcome.”
They might still harbor private grumblings, but this was the Murim. If anyone took issue with the law of the fist, they had no business attending a specialized martial arts academy in the first place. They could either drop out or transfer.
“However, there's a fatal flaw with both the second and third solutions.”
“And what would that be?”
At Teacher Kim Dohwa's question, I glanced toward Soyeon. “It might have worked before Soyeon witnessed this spectacle, but right now, she's thoroughly disgusted with the seniors waiting outside.”
Soyeon averted her eyes slightly, confirming my read. I had struck the exact bullseye.
“In the end, whether she enters a club or not depends entirely on Soyeon's own will, does it not?”
Soyeon did not exist to satisfy someone else's greed. Nor was I merely an accessory trailing after her. What had to take precedence over everything else was her choice and mine. All other considerations were trivial noise. That was why I had asked the teacher to keep this whole mess a secret from her in the first place, though that ship had clearly sailed.
Having been so preoccupied with mediating between the clubs, Teacher Kim Dohwa wore a look of sudden realization as she glanced between Soyeon and me.
“Then what is the final solution?”
I flashed a broad, teasing grin. “The fourth solution is…! To be revealed right after a sixty-second commercial break!”
“Is this really the time to be making jokes?”
“Ahahaha! You looked far too stressed, Teacher.” Chuckling pleasantly, I laid out the fourth solution.
When Soyeon, Teacher Kim Dohwa, and I stepped out of the consultation room, the faculty members and youthful club presidents watched us with baited breath.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Teacher Kim Dohwa glanced briefly at Soyeon and me before addressing the room. “After extensive discussion, Student Cheon So-yeon and Student Cheon Jiwoo have decided not to join any of the existing clubs present here today.”
Her declaration sent ripples of astonishment through both the students and the teachers. “What? But club activities are…”
“I am well aware. While technically listed as recommendations, participation is virtually mandatory under normal circumstances. Clubs provide an avenue for students to explore diverse fields while fostering autonomy and social skills.”
To maximize learning efficiency, morning classes at this academy were structured almost like one-on-one private tutoring, leaving precious little time for students to cultivate interpersonal relationships. The academy had implemented club activities as a compensatory measure, dangling generous support packages like bait to encourage participation.
“Instead of joining an existing club, the two of them will establish a brand-new club to conduct their activities.”
“Founding a new club?!” The club presidents broke into an uproar of confused murmurs.
“The club's official name will be the Elixir Club. Its stated mandate is 'the brewing and theoretical study of spiritual elixirs for multifaceted martial arts.' I will personally serve as its faculty advisor.”
All forty-one existing clubs were centered purely around combat techniques; not a single one dealt with spiritual elixirs. Compounding elixirs was far too intricate and demanding for elementary students, and for the school, providing the necessary herbs and ingredients would place an intolerable financial strain on the budget.
However, thanks to Soyeon's enrollment, the clan had allocated a massive supplementary budget to the academy, making a small-scale elixir club entirely feasible without burdening school finances. Of course, given the exorbitant cost of spiritual materials, the club's roster would be strictly capped.
Truthfully, even without a member limit, it was unlikely anyone else would join. Direct descendants already received standard allocations of elixirs that were more than sufficient without going through the hassle of brewing their own. Blindly gulping down elixirs was never beneficial; safe dosage was strictly governed by age and martial realm.
In my case, I needed vast quantities to nourish both my main body and my avatars, whereas Soyeon stood in a realm so absurdly advanced that the standard first-grader stipend fell ridiculously short of her requirements.
Using those very points, I had proposed founding a club that could legitimately benefit Soyeon, and after careful deliberation, Teacher Kim Dohwa had agreed. While the proposal still required the principal's final stamp of approval, it aligned seamlessly with the main family's directive to prioritize Soyeon while simultaneously quelling conflict and friction between the existing clubs. The principal was practically guaranteed to sign off on it.
Incidentally, using the club's official mandate of 'multifaceted martial arts,' I fully intended to requisition support for various auxiliary combat arts as well. Since I had already learned lightfoot techniques, my next target was throwing-knife arts. While climbing the Tower with teammates meant I didn't feel the urgent desperation I once felt for pure mobility, having a proper long-range combat skill was still an absolute necessity.
“Student Cheon So-yeon will serve as the club president, and Student Cheon Jiwoo will assume the role of vice president.”
At Teacher Kim Dohwa's announcement, Gorilla Number Two—Sword Club President Cheon Jeon-il—thrust his hand high into the air. “I object!”
Right, having the prize snatched from right under their noses was bound to trigger an outcry. To counter that, an orthodox approach would—
“Even without additional funding, our club truly needs Junior Cheon So-yeon!”
What? Startled, I stared at Cheon Jeon-il. His eyes were blazing with genuine fervor and martial competitive spirit.
“The purpose of our club is to hone and polish our swordsmanship together! Having a junior as prodigiously talented as Junior Cheon So-yeon in our ranks would be an incredible honor! We don't care about extra funding or perks!”
Cheon Jeon-il seemed purely entranced by the overwhelming martial intent Soyeon had demonstrated earlier. Yet he wasn't the only senior harboring such passionate conviction.
“The same goes for our Fist Club!”
“Our Spear Club as well…!”
While the clubs dedicated to auxiliary disciplines like lightness skills and throwing daggers remained silent, the presidents of the six core weapon and combat clubs hungered fiercely for Soyeon's peerless martial prowess. Faced with their impassioned shouts, Teacher Kim Dohwa spoke.