One More Round
“There he is!! Jin Sojin!! I’m going to kill you!!”
I let the shout ringing in from afar go in one ear and out the other.
“Guyang-ssojeo... perhaps you should calm down first. Aren’t the others watching?”
“Let go! I’ll kill that bastard right now and prove I’m innocent!”
“This is the first time I’ve seen Guyang Jihee lose her temper.”
“Same here. Just how huge a secret is it...?”
“The way she’s acting, it actually makes her look more suspicious, doesn’t it?”
“Hey... watch your mouth. Guyang Jihee saw you...”
I turned and headed for the martial arts academy.
The front gate was packed with people, and I didn’t feel like dealing with any of that nonsense, so I took the back way instead.
She was still screaming furiously, hopping around like a madwoman.
If I fought her now, a peak expert like her, I wouldn’t escape a crushing defeat, but in the end, Guyang Jihee could do nothing to me.
That was just the kind of woman she was.
“There he is!! Jin Sojin!!!”
“What is all this commotion? This should be personal training time, shouldn’t it?”
“The disciplinarian is here!”
The uproar behind me gradually died down.
And still, nothing had even begun yet.
This was nothing more than a taste.
The main course hadn’t even been served.
Enjoy your happiness while it lasts.
Now that every meridian in my body had been opened, it was time to prepare for my next breakthrough.
In the martial world, strength was everything.
I wasn’t even asking for White Blossom. At the very least, I needed to reach Ten Flowers before I could pluck out those annoying poisonous weeds.
My target was, naturally, the Yin-Yang Elixir.
If I knew where the miracle pill was, I’d snatch it up beforehand, but for now all I had was the information that it would be one of the prizes in the martial contest.
That had been true in the novel, too.
The fastest way to get it was still to join the contest.
If I could learn a more direct route to it, that would be nice...
The martial contest might not seem like much at first glance, but this was Jeongdo Academy, where history and tradition lived and breathed. People from the Eight Great Families and the Nine Great Sects gathered here in droves.
The winner would gain not only all kinds of elixirs and fame, but also offers of recruitment from countless factions. That was why everyone was burning with determination.
Only the top thousand students in the academy were eligible to participate, and you had to have successfully gone on at least ten missions outside the academy, so I needed to start moving now...
Thwack!
“Die! Die!!!”
Who the hell was talking?
As I made my way toward the back entrance of the academy, I heard the crisp sound of something striking flesh.
To be doing something like this in broad daylight, they had to be out of their minds.
When I rounded the corner and reached the secluded rear gate, four men and women were mercilessly beating a female student who had collapsed on the ground.
Each of them was huge, like four wild boars.
“What absolute trash.”
“Why is she even alive? If it were me, I’d have killed myself.”
“Her family’s already fallen apart, so why is she still hanging around here?”
The girl had curled up pitifully, trying to shield herself.
Even at Jeongdo Academy, which existed to raise the pillars of the martial world, this was still a place where people lived, so bullying and exclusion were part of the scenery.
Maybe that was even more true because they were such hypocritical righteous sect types.
“Die!! Die, I said!! How dare you trip in front of me?”
...
They couldn’t even help the weak, and instead they were the first to torment them. Really reassuring to watch.
I wonder if the Martial Alliance is okay.
Maybe the Blood Sect and the Demonic Sect rising up isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Still, I didn’t know the full circumstances, so it was too early to judge rashly.
Maybe she’d fallen and smashed her parents’ last memento. Maybe she’d accidentally stabbed someone with a blade...
There might have been something I didn’t know.
I blocked the path of the four people at the back gate and spoke in my most polite tone.
“Get lost. You’re in the way.”
Everything was fine, except they were blocking the road.
“W-what are you? Can’t you read the situation? Be sensible and go back on your own!”
Was I insane?
Why the hell should I leave because of them?
“Isn’t that Jin Sojin? That useless young master.”
“Jin Sojin? That’s him? I’ve never seen him before.”
“After spreading those ridiculous rumors and insulting Young Master Namgung Jin like that...!”
“It really is him. He’s been hiding somewhere all this time, hasn’t he? Lucky us.”
The men rolled their shoulders and walked toward me slowly.
“...Hah.”
I couldn’t even remember the last time someone had treated me like this.
As the sages of old said, action was more important than words.
Which meant that before talking, you hit first.
Like this.
Bang!
A massive wild boar flew through the air.
Watching such a huge body soar like that was a rare and beautiful sight.
“Y-you bastard, I’m talking to you!”
“Everyone, jump him!!”
The remaining three immediately gathered their inner power and charged.
They looked like Namgung Jin’s lackeys, the sort who clearly had no idea what situation they were in.
*
Rumors were such slippery things.
Some were completely groundless. Others contained at least a grain of truth.
“Krrrgh...”
After groaning for a long while, the men sprawled on the ground, knocked senseless.
Considering the foam at their mouths, they must have been pretty tired.
Sleep well.
I extended a hand to the girl still blocking the path.
A cute girl with green hair that fell to her waist lifted her head.
Ah, it was her?
“Y-you’re handsome...”
Her blue-green eyes were clear and deep like a lake.
“...”
“W-what am I saying? No, that’s not what I meant! T-thank you for helping me.”
Her face turning bright red, she stammered in panic before bowing her head.
Fists should be answered with fists. Courtesy should be answered with courtesy.
“It was nothing. Are you all right, miss?”
“Y-yes, thanks to you. Ow... my arm...”
“You should get treatment quickly, miss. Be careful.”
I passed her and headed into the inner grounds of the academy.
No, I tried to.
“W-wait a second!”
She was tugging at my collar.
This was bad.
I needed to get out of here quickly.
“What is it, miss?”
“I-I don’t know where the medical hall is...”
...
“Could... could you tell me?”
Blushing furiously, she twisted her body nervously and kept sneaking glances at me from the corner of her eye.
This is going to be a pain.
“Miss, it’s the building in the far back, the very corner behind the main hall.”
“I still don’t really know...”
What do you mean you don’t know?
She was fidgeting with her thigh, and though I could sense some pretty suspicious intent, I didn’t let it show on my face.
“That’s unfortunate. I’m busy too, so I’ll be going now.”
“Huh? W-wait!”
I walked into the main hall without looking back.
If I were the idiotic old Jin Sojin, I’d have probably gone in grinning like a fool, but that wasn’t happening.
Without a Sword King, I had to survive on my own, so I had no intention of inviting any more trouble.
Knock, knock—
Knock, knock—
“Come in.”
“Go ahead and enter.”
Once my master gave permission, I opened the door and stepped inside.
“Master, greetings.”
“Oh, Sojin. What is it? If you’ve come about the team transfer, it’s too late for that. Try again next quarter.”
The handsome middle-aged man I’d seen in the great lecture hall was none other than Master Raeji.
He had probably been bothered with the same request from other students, because he brought it up first.
“No, that’s not it. I’ve come because I need the Master’s permission.”
“Permission? What sort of permission?”
“I’d like to travel alone to the Central Plains. Please allow it.”
“No.”
Master Raeji cut me off at once, as if there was no point in discussing it further.
“Master... please.”
“Sojin. Are you out of your mind? I know you’re anxious, but if you go out into the Central Plains with your current skill, you’re practically begging for a sudden death. Calm down and think it over again.”
Even if I thought it over again, this was still the fastest route.
Of course, he was a good teacher if he was refusing because he was worried about his disciple.
“I know. I’m asking you knowing full well. Master.”
“Sojin, do you understand? You have both form and substance. Why are you in such a hurry when your time will come eventually? And besides, you disbanded the Jincheon Squad, so you’re not even a squad leader anymore.”
“That’s precisely why I’m asking to go alone.”
Master Raeji let out a long sigh, then pulled one book from the shelf and opened it for me to see.
“Do you know what this is? Rank 3061.”
“I know.”
A nearly walking sandbag. A student with a zero percent win rate.
The content written in the book was about Jin Sojin—in other words, me.
Still, impressive in its own way. He really never won once.
“Yes. Your ranking. At Jeongdo Academy alone, there are 3,060 people stronger than you! Then just how many masters do you think there are out in the vast martial world?”
“Please, Master.”
I looked at Master Raeji with eyes full of resolve.
I had no choice if I wanted the right to compete.
After staring at me for a while, Master Raeji let out a sigh so heavy it seemed to sink the floor.
“A fellow who’s never caused any trouble suddenly... Fine.”
“Thank you, Master!”
“I’m not done. If you want to go that badly, prove your skill.”
“What do you mean?”
“Yes. Defeat about ten people above you... in fair duels, and I’ll grant you permission to go to the Central Plains.”
“Anyone will do?”
“Let’s see... students in the two-thousand range... no, since you’re going to the Central Plains anyway, go challenge the students in the thousand range. You have until a week from tomorrow!! If they’re not students in the thousand range, I won’t recognize it!!”
Master Raeji said it triumphantly, wearing a face that practically asked what I was going to do about it.
In a week, even if I fought one person a day, I’d still have three left over.
Which meant I’d have to duel them in succession.
In other words, unless I was skilled enough to beat students in the thousand range twice in a row, I should give up on going to the Central Plains.
...
“If you can’t do even this, then unfortunately I can’t approve it. You may think I’m a terrible teacher, but... this is the best I can do. Do you understand?”
“...I understand.”
“Hoo... good. You may leave now.”
Master Raeji waved me away with a dismissive flick of his hand.
Creak—
Only ten?
Ten people... honestly, even if it were a hundred, it wouldn’t matter.
Namgung Jin alone was proof of that.
This is going better than I expected.
Master Raeji had set that condition expecting me to fail, but that was his mistake.
Starting tomorrow, I’d just grab one opponent after another and challenge them to duels.
Since I was so famous as a useless young master, if they refused a duel they’d only become the laughingstock of others. No one would turn me down.
And when I returned to the dormitory, pink hair was waiting in front of my door.
She shot me a venomous glare.
“You... where were you, and why are you only coming back now?!!!”
“Guyang Jihee.”
There was no doubt she’d come back asking for more of the candy I’d given her.
##
---