Galaxy Martial God Temple - Clubs (Part 3)
The oppressive aura radiating from Cheon So-yeon had put every sixth-grade club president in the room on edge—and even the teachers waiting in the staff room. The pressure she exerted wasn’t something a mere second-rate martial artist could produce. She hadn’t raised a single thread of internal energy, yet it felt as though an absolute sovereign who ruled an entire region through pure will alone had descended upon them.
Techniques that manipulate intent beyond internal qi… aren’t those only possible once you reach the Transformed Realm? I wondered. Is the Heaven’s Martial Body truly capable of this as well? For the first time, I understood why the Cheon Clan obsessed over anyone possessing it.
The teachers exchanged uneasy glances, clearly debating whether they should subdue her or let her be. Their eyes said they weren’t confident they could restrain her without someone getting hurt if she truly lost control. A few even whispered that they should call the principal.
While everyone else stood frozen with tension, I was the only one who moved. Whether Cheon So-yeon had deliberately kept her intent from affecting me or I had simply lost all sense of fear after dying multiple times, I could still function. I walked straight up to her and gave her a sharp flick to the forehead.
“Ow!”
The overwhelming presence she had been emitting instantly scattered. Cheon So-yeon clutched her forehead, eyes wide.
“I don’t know what misunderstanding you’re under, but it’s not that.”
She flinched at my words.
“…It’s not?”
Since Liven had given her the same hint, she must have sensed something was wrong when I didn’t show up and rushed to the staff room. Cheon So-yeon hated being treated specially because of her Heaven’s Martial Body. She despised situations where people around her suffered because of it. Sometimes it even looked like she was afraid of her own talent—as if she saw her constitution as a curse rather than a blessing.
I let out a small sigh.
“Well, it’s not completely unrelated, but there was no coercion. Besides, with this many teachers here, did you really think a single student could run wild however she pleased?”
Cheon So-yeon glanced around cautiously, then shot one last chilling warning glare at the club presidents just to be safe. The sixth-graders—who were all a head or two taller than her—flinched.
I flicked her forehead again.
“Ouch! Hng…”
“I wanted to handle this quietly, but since you’ve come all the way here, you should hear it too. Teacher Kim, is it all right for Soyeon to sit in on the conversation?”
Kim Dohwa nodded with a dazed expression.
“Y-yes, of course.”
“Let’s go inside.”
I led Cheon So-yeon into the counseling room. Kim Dohwa gave the other teachers a meaningful look, closed the door behind us, and sat down across from us.
I turned to Cheon So-yeon, who had taken the seat beside me.
“As Teacher Liven hinted, the club presidents out there want you in their clubs. They tried to coax me—your friend—so they could naturally draw you in as well. Then they started bickering about who approached me first, calling it cutting in line, and that’s how we ended up in this mess.”
“Ah… because of me.”
Seeing her look so downcast, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Who said it was because of you? It’s thanks to you. Thanks to you, they’re offering me generous support.”
It wasn’t like I was being threatened, and I had to join a club anyway. If I could secure ample resources in the process, it was all good for me. Still, Cheon So-yeon looked conflicted, her small face clouded with complicated thoughts.
“There are four possible solutions to our current problem.”
“Didn’t you say three earlier?” Kim Dohwa pointed out.
I shrugged. “That was before Soyeon knew what was happening.”
I raised my fingers one by one.
“First solution: Soyeon publicly declares she will not join the same club as me.”
This was the new option that had appeared earlier. The seniors outside didn’t actually want me—they wanted Cheon So-yeon. The only reason they had approached me at all was because a parent had warned them not to burden her. If the two of us had no choice but to join separate clubs, most of the conflict would disappear.
Kim Dohwa looked surprised. “But that means you’d forfeit all the benefits they offered you.”
The club presidents would no longer need to guarantee me anything. In fact, they might even prefer I stay away. Of course, once Cheon So-yeon chose her club, I could simply pick a different one afterward. At that point I’d just be an ordinary first-year student.
“I don’t mind losing a few extra perks,” I said. “If I alone received special treatment, it would only cause more talk later anyway.”
Kim Dohwa muttered, “That’s true,” and nodded, but she still looked at me with newfound respect. Giving up offered benefits wasn’t an easy decision, regardless of potential gossip.
“…But I don’t want to be in a different club from you,” Cheon So-yeon mumbled timidly. Still, she added that she would follow my wishes if I insisted.
“There are other options. Second solution: We auction the benefits outright.”
What every club truly wanted was the additional funding that would come with Cheon So-yeon’s enrollment—the crumbs from the feast. The real problem was the fighting between clubs over those crumbs. If we held a fair auction and forced them to calculate exactly how much they’d have to give me versus how much they’d gain, many would give up on their own. Fewer disputes that way.
“That’s quite a greedy approach compared to the first,” Kim Dohwa noted.
It was. Since the auction target was my club membership, the higher the bids, the greater my benefit.
“You’re not worried about the talk it would cause?”
“Overwhelming profit has a way of making people ignore gossip. Besides, you’ll protect me, won’t you, Teacher?”
My cheeky answer made Kim Dohwa retract the admiring look she had been giving me.
“Third solution: Join the strongest.”
Additional benefits or not, it didn’t matter. Martial artists should prove their worth through strength. We would hold an impromptu tournament and join the winner’s club.
“That does seem like the cleanest method,” Kim Dohwa admitted. “The kids would probably accept it without much complaint.”
There might still be dissatisfaction, but this was the Galaxy Martial God Temple. If they couldn’t accept strength-based decisions, they shouldn’t have enrolled in a martial arts school in the first place. They could have dropped out or transferred.
“However, both the second and third solutions have major flaws.”
“Such as?”
I looked at Cheon So-yeon. “Now that Soyeon has seen the situation outside, those seniors are probably seething with resentment.”
She avoided my gaze. I had hit the mark.
“In the end, whether she joins a club or not should be her decision above all else.”
Cheon So-yeon did not exist to satisfy anyone’s greed. And I was not merely her accessory. Our own wills had to come first. Everything else was secondary.
That was why I had asked them to keep it secret from her—but it was already too late. Kim Dohwa seemed to realize she had forgotten this point while focusing on mediating between the clubs. She looked at us with an awkward expression.
“Then what is the final solution?”
I smiled brightly.
“The fourth solution is…! It will be revealed in sixty seconds!”
“Is now really the time for jokes?”
“Ahahaha! You all just looked way too tense.”
I laughed cheerfully and revealed the fourth solution.
When Cheon So-yeon, Kim Dohwa, and I stepped out of the counseling room, both the teachers and the young club presidents stared at us with visible tension. Kim Dohwa let out a long sigh, glanced at us, and spoke.
“After thorough discussion, Student Cheon So-yeon and Student Cheon Jiwoo have decided not to join any of the clubs present today.”
Her declaration shocked both the students and the teachers.
“What? But clubs are—”
“I am aware. While technically a recommendation, in practice it is all but mandatory. Club activities allow students to learn many things while developing autonomy and social skills.”
Because morning classes at this school were essentially private tutoring for maximum learning efficiency, there was little time left to build social skills. The school had chosen club activities as a solution, which was why they offered such generous support—as bait.
“Instead of joining an existing club, these two will create and operate a new one.”
“They’re making a new club?!”
The club presidents erupted into murmurs.
“The club’s name is the Elixir Club. Its purpose is the creation and study of elixirs to support diverse martial arts. I will personally serve as its advisor.”
All forty-one existing clubs focused on martial arts, so none dealt with elixirs. Creating elixirs was simply too difficult for students, and the financial burden on the school would have been enormous. However, with the massive additional budget granted due to Cheon So-yeon’s enrollment, a small elixir club was now feasible. Of course, because it would handle expensive ingredients, membership would be strictly limited.
Even without a limit, it was unlikely anyone would join. Most direct descendants already received sufficient basic elixirs from the clan. Consuming too many elixirs wasn’t beneficial; dosage depended on age and cultivation realm.
In my case, I needed far more because I had to supply my main body and multiple avatars. Cheon So-yeon’s realm already exceeded normal support ranges, so the standard elixirs weren’t enough for her. I had used these points to propose the creation of a club that could legitimately help her, and after careful consideration, Kim Dohwa had approved it. Final approval would require the principal’s seal, but given the clan’s clear desire to support Cheon So-yeon and the fact that this solution would also resolve the conflicts between clubs, I was confident he would agree.
I also planned to use the club’s stated purpose of “diverse martial arts” to legitimately obtain support for various techniques. I had already learned light footwork, so next I would request throwing knife arts. While having reliable companions reduced the urgency compared to when climbing the tower, I still needed a proper long-range attack method.
“The president will be Student Cheon So-yeon, and the vice-president will be Student Cheon Jiwoo.”
At Kim Dohwa’s words, Gorilla Number Two—Cheon Jeon-il, president of the Sword Club—raised his hand.
“I object!”
Of course he would. He had suddenly been reduced to a dog that had lost its chicken. I had been prepared to handle his protest through proper—
“Even without the extra support, our club needs Junior Cheon So-yeon!”
Huh? I looked at Cheon Jeon-il in genuine surprise. His eyes sparkled with excitement and fighting spirit.
“The purpose of our club is to polish ourselves through sparring and master the sword! If a talented junior like Cheon So-yeon joined us, it would be wonderful! We don’t need any other support!”
It seemed he had been purely captivated by the overwhelming intent Cheon So-yeon had displayed earlier. And he wasn’t the only one.
“Our Fist Arts Club feels the same way!”
“Our Spear Club as well…!”
The clubs that practiced auxiliary arts like light footwork or throwing techniques stayed silent. Only the presidents of the six main-combat clubs openly coveted Cheon So-yeon’s ability. Regarding their reactions, Kim Dohwa said:
(To be continued in the next chapter)