Chapter 150
Chapter 150
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: White Cat Tribulation March (2)
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“Truly, you have nothing to say?”
Those were the eyes of someone who had spotted the culprit.
Even as he thought that, Chu Un-hwi fired back with a question of his own.
“What should I have to say?”
If anything.
“Have you been well?”
To that extent, anyway.
As he offered a smiling greeting, Jang Cheol-sim's expression grew even fiercer.
“Hah. Really.”
It seemed utterly ridiculous, but Chu Un-hwi stood tall and confident.
'I didn't leave a shred of evidence.'
He had cleaned up meticulously afterward, so there was no way he'd get caught.
“Is that so?”
“I'm innocent.”
“Truly, truly innocent?”
“My heart is purer than the clouds in the sky.”
He asserted as much, but Jang Cheol-sim's grilling wasn't entirely without cause.
“You said your name is Senior Instructor Jang Cheol-sim of Silver Hall, right?”
The ones caught at the scene had all repeated nothing but their own names.
So he asked something else.
Snap!
He pulled several sketches from his robes and thrust them forward.
“Don't these faces look familiar?”
Oh no.
“They look awfully familiar—the kids who follow you around.”
The sketches weren't perfectly accurate.
But they weren't so vague as to be unrecognizable.
'A lanky tall guy, a swallow-like young master, a flashy beauty, and a cute little girl.'
Chu Un-hwi exercised his right to silence.
“Why the zipped lips?”
“Well, this place feels a bit different.”
He casually rubbed some dirt on his fingertip and swiftly dotted each face like lightning.
“Now they're all freckled.”
“Quick hands. But the sketches I remember didn't have those dots.”
What was there to say to the growling Jang Cheol-sim?
Exercising silence only made him glare harder.
“Guess we'll have to do a lineup confrontation right here on the path.”
There were plenty of witnesses, after all.
“Why are you so desperate to devour my innocent students?”
“Why are you so desperate to turn my stomach?”
Whew.
Letting out a sigh, Jang Cheol-sim reined in his anger and spoke in a weary tone.
“Honestly, I have no intention of staging a confrontation.”
This kind of mess had to be swept under the rug by his own hand, truth be told.
Students getting hauled off to the disciplinary office wasn't something to let happen.
“Wise words.”
“The problem is you. You.”
“Hah.”
Rubbing his brow, Jang Cheol-sim fixed him with a stern gaze and warned.
“I'm letting this slide for now.”
Since he'd come for a good reason.
“But after the White Cat Tribulation March ends, brace yourself. I'm not letting it go.”
Chu Un-hwi clicked his tongue at the warning.
“Heh heh. Looks like greetings will have to wait. Don't worry too much.”
I'll smooth things over myself.
The disciplinary instructor's words were his one consolation, exchanged with an eye-to-eye nod.
The disciplinary instructor tagged along.
“Senior Instructor.”
At his call, Jang Cheol-sim couldn't ignore him and responded.
Though lower in rank, he was a senior of the jianghu and a Mount Wudang expert—the disciplinary instructor Shim-ui demanded respect.
“Please don't scold Instructor Chu too harshly.”
He'd spoken out of worry over excessive grilling, but it seemed unfounded.
“Hah. No need to worry.”
I'm the one who's worried, actually.
“Worried about what?”
You really don't know.
Clearing his throat, Jang Cheol-sim spoke with a face aged ten years.
“Do you know what the young Silver Hall instructors have been calling temporary instructor Chu Un-hwi lately?”
“No idea.”
“A guy with insanely good luck. Something like that. Senior Instructor.”
“I know.”
He'd even gotten a nickname recently.
“The Luck Supreme Sword... or whatever?”
Luck Supreme Sword (運數大統劍).
Meaning he wielded luck as his weapon instead of martial arts.
Warrior nicknames usually tied to skills or sects.
A title about swinging luck like a sword was little more than mocking ridicule.
“Cough. The young instructors are taking their jokes too far.”
Saying it to a normal warrior's face could spark a blade fight.
“The problem started when a nobody from a minor sect caught Elder Wang-u's eye.”
“Urgh. Worthy of envy.”
Even he felt jealous.
Jang Cheol-sim seemed no different.
“Just picturing that slippery face when I wake up makes me curse. And now Elder Wang-u's favoritism. Whew.”
Jang Cheol-sim admitted his own jealousy.
“That's not all. Somehow he's earned the goodwill of the Lone Eye Divine Sword, Dugok Ryul, too.”
Fitting for the Luck Supreme Sword.
“The issue is how many people have ended up in dire straits because of this temporary instructor.”
Gwak Jong-geun for starters.
“He was in on rigging the preliminary exam evaluations, so punishment's inevitable.”
But he had plenty of Silver Hall peers.
All of them gnashed their teeth at Chu Un-hwi for outing him.
“And that's not all. While protecting student Mok Yeon-seong, he started a dogfight and wrecked a bunch of students.”
Though it turned out to be his own sect's disciples at fault, a few petty types were still ready to bite at any chance.
“On top of flooding the place with petitions, making enemies of the training yard too.”
Jang Cheol-sim truly hadn't imagined someone so creatively talented at making foes.
“He needs to realize how many people are grinding their teeth at him.”
And grasp why he must watch his step.
Hearing it out, even the disciplinary instructor had nothing to say.
“Urgh. Can't argue with that.”
“The biggest problem is next.”
There's more?
“Who knows what chaos this guy—who stirs trouble with enemies like breathing—will cause next.”
“......”
“Ugh.”
Thumping his chest, Jang Cheol-sim quickly pulled a small pill bottle from his robes and dumped one in his mouth.
'Calming Pill' on the label—likely for steadying mind and body.
“Urk— I, who must remain pure and just, protecting a punk like that.”
Above all, the reality of defending someone more infuriating the more he saw him seemed toughest on Jang Cheol-sim.
He took good care of his subordinates.
Yet now he had to protect this guy too—torn between reason and emotion.
“Urgh.”
But as the disciplinary instructor watched him pop another pill, another thought struck.
'Maybe he just hates admitting there's someone he can't control.'
As a named disciple of Mount Qingseong, failing to handle one murky-origin nobody was humiliating.
In a way, it was frustrating yet admirably patient.
“Senior Instructor. By any chance...”
As Shim-ui opened his mouth.
“Haha! Are you Senior Instructor Jang Cheol-sim?”
A man holding a cat approached with a bright smile.
“And you are...?”
“Myo Gwang, sect leader of the Cat Truth Sect.”
“Ah, a sect leader, no less.”
As he moved to offer a fist salute to the sect head.
Grab!
Myo Gwang set down the cat and seized the senior instructor's hand with a beaming grin.
“Haha. Truly grateful.”
Thanks to you, our sect received great grace!
“Grace...?”
As Jang Cheol-sim started to ask what grace.
“The grace of sending Instructor Chu Un-hwi here and saving our sect from crisis.”
“Is... that so?”
Mention of the teeth-grinding subject from moments ago made Jang Cheol-sim roll his eyes.
Trying to discern if it was genuine or veiled rebuke.
'That rotten troublemaker getting praise? Never!'
But no need to doubt the praise's sincerity.
“Without Instructor Chu Un-hwi, our sect would have suffered massive losses.”
Sensing his lord's peril, Myo Gwang teared up with deadly seriousness.
“I-is that right?”
“Haha. Since we've met like this, join me for tea.”
Grabbing his sleeve, Myo Gwang urged.
“Sect Leader. W-wait a moment.”
“I'm heading to Elder Wang anyway. Come along.”
Jang Cheol-sim switched tack at once.
“I'll gladly accept your hospitality, Sect Leader.”
Let's go.
Having overheard the commotion with Jang Cheol-sim outside.
The moment he entered the medicine hall, Yeo Mae-hong's sharp gaze followed.
“...Instructor Chu.”
How could this happen?
“Tell me the straight truth. I'll keep it secret, so confess properly.”
Under her piercing eyes, Chu Un-hwi hemmed and hawed before giving a suitably edited account.
Roughly: chased a cat abuser, accident ensued.
That level.
Yeo Mae-hong clapped slowly.
“Coincidences on coincidences?”
“Yes. Exactly that.”
Moyong Seon-ya judged favorably too.
“You caught the perp after all that trouble. Wow— impressive.”
“It was rough.”
Did it land?
Their faces chilled coldly.
“We have to believe believable stories.”
“Think we don't know you after all this time?”
Damn. Should've known when their agreement lacked soul.
“How can you be so nonchalant with a comrade laid up?”
“Your insensitivity has gone too far!”
As the two women launched into nagging.
“Eahat hat hat!”
Squad Leader Yang, laughing heartily for once, clutched his side with a grunt.
Instructor Jo Hyun rushed over and smacked his arm.
“Your wound will reopen.”
“Ow ow. That's enough, hurts.”
Glancing at the sullen-eyed Jo Hyun, Squad Leader Yang Dae-cheol tossed in a word.
“That's enough. Instructor Chu must have had his reasons.”
Chuckling, Yang Dae-cheol met his eyes.
“I can't just stand by while you chew out my lifesaver.”
“Kuh— talk about loyalty.”
Thumbs up, groaning in admiration, then smacked on the back by Yeo Mae-hong.
Whack!
With the women gone, just the two left, Yang Dae-cheol spoke up.
“Haha. Never thought I'd laugh and chat like this again.”
“You looked hopeless when I found you.”
“Did I?”
With a subtle expression, Squad Leader Yang turned and smiled.
“Felt like someone yanked my collar when one foot was in the Yellow Springs.”
“The grim reaper didn't call it early for slacking?”
“Ha hat, maybe.”
Chucking, Yang Dae-cheol glanced at the women departing out the window and spoke casually.
“Looks like this is the end for me.”
“The end?”
“My life as a jianghu man.”
Retiring? He almost asked, but Yang cut in first.
“Truth is, my master said something when passing down the fist arts.”
Wrinkling his brow as if recalling, he continued.
“Nine Hundred Iron Fists are an ultimate technique, but not invincible—leave the jianghu when the time comes.”
Didn't get it as a kid.
Thought he'd shake the jianghu with master's arts.
Believed hard work would reach the top.
Yang Dae-cheol went on.
“Now I get it. 'When something beyond spirit rests atop those two fists,' leave the jianghu.”
“Is now that time?”
“......”
Pausing, Squad Leader Yang's lips twitched.
“Instructor Jo Hyun is a good woman.”
And.
“I think she's too good for me.”
But not sure.
“Not sure why?”
“Whether she truly likes me, or I truly like her, or if entrusting lives just stirred feelings.”
“......”
“Thinking of being together scares me first, truth be told.”
“Not like you, Squad Leader.”
This stoic fist master whining.
Straightening, Yang Dae-cheol replied.
“I'm human too. A being without fear isn't human—something else.”
“......”
Silence stretched between clashing gazes.
“Why tell me this now?”
“Because of you.”
“Me?”
“Feels like you'll up and leave someday.”
The women didn't notice.
“Sometimes same sex senses same sex emotions quickest.”
“......”
Spot on.
As he swallowed words, Yang Dae-cheol got to the point.
“Whatever decision you make, whenever, I'll respect it.”
But.
“Sometimes look back.”
Advice from a man dreaming solo supremacy, now leaving as a pair.
“Good to give your all to desires, but sometimes sharing the same gaze matters more.”
“......”
“Got oddly emotional.”
Forget it.
More embarrassing for me after saying it.
Scratching his head, Squad Leader Yang joked rarely playful.
“If things work out with Instructor Jo Hyun, you're invited. Ten bowls of noodles ready.”
Chu Un-hwi chuckled back.
“Ten won't cut it.”
Bubble bubble.
The medicine hall's decoction pot wafted pleasant scents.
The White Cat Tribulation March's opening day approached.