Chapter 221
Chapter 221: Ho-ae and Seok-gyeong (2)
They were merely latent, not yet manifested.
"Starting tomorrow, the training of the twenty newcomers begins."
"What? Already?"
"Did you not all begin training almost immediately after joining as well?"
"Well…… that's true. But those men looked very weak."
Did she already have a rough grasp of them all? That's what it meant.
Indeed, even seen from this angle, she has no less potential than Jeon Ra-hwa. No, seen from this angle, I should say she's somewhat different from me. Whether that's good or bad is still impossible to determine.
"I was thinking of giving you a role as well."
"What? Me!?"
"Yes. You."
Meeting Ho-ae's wavering eyes straight on, Dong Bong-soo asked clearly.
"Can you do it?"
The child's eyes were filled with equal parts tension and anticipation.
"What kind of role?"
"Instructor."
"Instructor? What's that?"
"Someone who beats people into shape until they get stronger."
"Huh? Beat them? Those men? Me?"
"Yes. You'll need to beat them into shape."
"……Why?"
"Because those men have all become members of Hero Gate now."
"Mem……bers."
"No need to be intimidated. Just do the same thing you've been doing with the children. The only difference is the number of people."
Household. People who eat together.
Having repeated this word several times, Ho-ae pressed her lips together with a look of resolve before nodding her head.
"……Yes! I can do it. I will do it."
"Good. Come to the Training Grounds before sunrise tomorrow."
Ho-ae bowed at the waist and disappeared with quick steps. Her back was still small, but it was straight.
Just then, Jeon Ra-hwa, who had been watching from a distance wondering what Kim Rae-won would do, approached. Still gazing in the direction Ho-ae had gone, she murmured.
"You really…… do you even know how old she is?"
"Skill has nothing to do with age."
"That's true, but……"
"You already agreed."
"What?"
"You said 'that's true, but,' didn't you?"
"……"
"Just watch. You'll be surprised when you find out how tough that kid already is."
In fact, it was he himself who had taught martial arts to that child. He hadn't passed on anything in a proper, thorough manner, but Dong Bong-soo could feel it. If his judgment was right, already—
Click.
He opened Ho-ae's individual status window.
The numbers were far higher than he remembered.
The last time he had checked was only a few days ago.
Interesting.
'I'll know for sure once I properly observe her over the next week.'
"In any case, this is already what she's been specializing in."
Sss—
"All I did was give it a proper name."
"Yes, understood. Even so, if it seems like the child can't handle it, I'll have her stop immediately."
"Don't go egging her on to try harder."
"Tchh—. As if I would."
Watching Jeon Ra-hwa's back as she walked away, Dong Bong-soo opened the quest window again.
Progress: 12%.
Seven days.
The words 'making them not die' were, coming from Kim Rae-won, quite convincing.
Both Jeon Ra-hwa and Ho-ae had accepted it, and as Dong Bong-soo, it was also something he could say with full sincerity.
'The most certain method of teaching survival is—'
Dong Bong-soo turned as well.
"Forcing them to cross the threshold of death over and over again."
Because the driving force of evolution can only ever be survival.
***
The day before sunrise.
Over thirty people had gathered in the Training Grounds.
The children had already been divided into two groups and lined up by Ho-ae.
The new disciples were in disarray. The energy from the interview the night before had dissipated, and only the cold air of dawn pressed down on their shoulders. They glanced at each other or stared at their feet.
Dong Bong-soo stood in the center of the Training Grounds and scanned each person one by one.
'Seven days.'
Arithmetically, it was entirely achievable.
Fundamentally, it's far easier to bring someone from ten points up to fifty in a short time than to take someone already at ninety and push them to ninety-one.
Except, it couldn't be done here.
"Attention."
It wasn't intentional, but 『Faith Weight』 naturally settled beneath the surface.
Yet the effect was clear. The backs of thirty people straightened all at once. It must have felt as though an indescribable weight was pressing down on the air.
"You are new. We are a new sect. And as such, we are weak. But!"
Dong Bong-soo continued speaking while calmly looking at each person in turn.
"The Martial World has been around a long time, and it has rotted just as long."
His outstretched index finger jabbed toward the sky beyond Hero Gate.
"Out there! The Murim, I mean! Murim is! The Martial World is stronger than us by as much as it stinks and reeks with all those long years behind it!"
His speech wrapped all of Hero Gate in silence.
"As you all know, Hero Gate will be venturing out into the Martial World. And soon at that."
"……"
"Then what is it that you need right now?"
Silence still hung over the Training Grounds and its surroundings. Yet from their bodies, an inexplicable fighting spirit began to flow. All of it was an atmosphere naturally drawn out by Dong Bong-soo.
He slowly walked over and passed by each of the children and new disciples one by one as he continued speaking.
"Pack enough belongings to last Seven Days And Nights. Right now."
Silence.
Thirty pairs of eyes widened simultaneously.
All the new disciples exchanged glances with the person beside them, left and right in turn, and the children looked to Ho-ae. The meaning of pack your things was all too clear.
"What you need is strength. Skill."
Of course, even Ho-ae was hearing this for the first time.
"I—Kim Rae-won—will make you strong. Strong enough that you won't get easily beaten wherever you go."
***
Jeon Ra-hwa came running, catching her breath.
She was clutching a roster tightly, so it seemed she had been working out what roles to assign each new disciple.
"You're taking everyone outside all at once this time?"
"Yes. All of them."
"But, if everyone leaves Hero Gate, who guards this place?"
"Why would anyone guard it?"
"……Pardon?"
"If no one's here, there's nothing to guard."
"……"
"People are Hero Gate. Not this building and this land."
Jeon Ra-hwa's mouth closed.
A moment of silence.
Then.
"……Then what about us?"
A clear, ringing voice rang out.
It was Eom Bi-ryeong, who had been standing under the eaves of the Training Grounds with her arms crossed. Myo Jin-heo stood beside her holding her fan.
Dong Bong-soo turned his head toward them with complete composure. As though seeing them for the first time right now.
"Oh? You were still here?"
"……"
The corner of Eom Bi-ryeong's eye twitched.
Myo Jin-heo, catching a glimpse of that, covered her lips with her fan and spoke in a low voice.
"The Eastern Trigram Leader has not yet returned, has he not?"
"Ah, that? Is that why you're still here?"
"For the time being, yes."
"Then come along."
"……What do you mean by that?"
"If two Trigram Leaders from Formation Tower are left alone in an empty house, that wouldn't be Hero Gate—it would be a Formation Tower armed robbery outpost, wouldn't it?"
Dong Bong-soo, faithfully layered in Kim Rae-won's persona, curled the corner of his mouth into a grin.
"You've been eating free meals all this time, so you ought to at least play the role of a proper guest. Don't you think?"
A brief silence.
Eom Bi-ryeong gave a small pfft of a laugh, and Myo Jin-heo folded her fan. For now, it was a sign of agreement.
Having watched all of that, Jeon Ra-hwa shook her head and approached.
"By the way."
"Yes. What?"
"Have you decided where you'll be training?"
"Of course……"
"Oh, so you did have a plan?"
"I haven't decided."
"……You're joking?"
"Of course……"
Dong Bong-soo smiled.
"I'm not."
It wasn't a joke.
Outside Gangdo is an open expanse.
And that is where lions naturally grow.
In a vast plain, running and rolling endlessly, being broken and battered—that is how one becomes a lion. Raise them in a zoo, and they're no different from an oversized house cat.
"For now, we'll start with running."
"No, I mean, if you're running, you need a destination, don't you?"
"Ah, that?"
"Yes, that."
"I have that."
"……Oh, I really ought to not pack food."
Wearing Kim Rae-won's face definitely has this kind of charm to it. Not bad at all.
But that's enough of that.
Dong Bong-soo looked off in one direction and spoke.
"The place where we first met."
"……?"
"Rainbow Lake."
"Rainbow Lake?"
"Yes. There."
It was a place that had grown thoroughly quiet now, unlike how it once was.
"Even if the bandits have all been wiped out…… that place is incredibly far, you know?"
"That's exactly why it's good."
"……?"
"It needs to be far enough that some people might drop dead running there. Otherwise it's not training."
"……"
***
One Hour later.
In front of Hero Gate's main gate, everyone from before stood with their packs.
Their packs amounted to no more than rations, water, and a change of outer clothing. And even those had mostly been distributed one by one by Jeon Ra-hwa, since most of them hadn't known how to put it together properly.
The new disciples' faces bore equal parts tension and bewilderment.
The children were different. Ho-ae had already divided them into two groups, placing them at the front and rear. Without being told to.
"Having familiar faces at the front and back will make it less unsettling for the adults."
That was what Ho-ae had told Jeon Ra-hwa.
On the other side, Eom Bi-ryeong came out with her sword strapped to her back. Myo Jin-heo silently unfolded her fan and stood behind her at the rear of the formation. Both of them carried the attitude that walking itself was nothing to them.
The moment the two Trigram Leaders' participation was confirmed, murmuring broke out among the new disciples.
Word had spread thoroughly enough by now that their identities were no longer surprising in Gangdo. It was simply the fact that such seasoned masters of the Martial World were coming along that gave them pause.
Dong Bong-soo let the murmuring wash over him.
Not bad. It adds to the grounds for the Guild Master's authority.
Of course, he wasn't particularly concerned with that right now.
Somewhere near the middle of the formation.
A man named Seok-gyeong stood there.
The two hundred and fifteenth interviewee from the night before. The last applicant.
—I don't know what Chivalry is.
—All I know is that failing to do anything when my younger sibling was dragged away is what Chivalry is not.
A man whose arrow of emotion had been aimed not outward but inward.
This type moves fast once they begin to unfold. Because the subject they are trying to prove themselves to is not others, but themselves.
The words 'I'll remember you' had not been Dong Bong-soo's calculation but Kim Rae-won's line—more precisely, a kind of improvisation. Having become the persona itself and played the role, the words came out very naturally. Even so, they had been quite effective.
Because Seok-gyeong's eyes had changed in that moment.
Right now, Seok-gyeong stood with no particular expression.
His pack was tied to his back. It was on the lighter side compared to the others. He seemed to be a person who traveled light by nature.
His eyes were deep. A clear gaze. This man's shoulders were broad and his hands thick, yet there was no scent of martial arts in his movement.
'Below Third-rate. A body that has not properly learned even a Basic Internal Energy Art.'
Even so, there was something worth noting.
That physique was a real combat body, forged through all manner of physical labor. The way the muscle was built was not from training and discipline but from work and a sound daily life.
A man past twenty.
By the standards of this place, one might think it impossible to teach him martial arts and expect results, but Dong Bong-soo thought otherwise.
In fact, the opposite.
'No martial arts, but the foundation is solid.'
A clean, empty vessel with nothing whatsoever inside it.
'All that needs to be done is fill it, and fill it again.'
The only thing was that the time needed to do so had to be shortened to the extreme.
Dong Bong-soo's gaze moved away from Seok-gyeong.
In any case, he would have more than enough time to verify over the course of seven days. For now, departure came first.
"Let's go."
Kim Rae-won tossed out a single word and started walking.
With his step as the signal, everyone else began to move as well.
Passing through Gangdo's city gate, a vast plain spread out before them. The morning sun was still low, and faint mist hung over the distant mountain ridges.
What on earth was he fed and how did he grow up, for this sort of thing to come naturally to him?
Ho-ae had already brought the formation into order, creating an overall balance.
Two groups of children wrapping around the adults from the front and back.
The march began, and Kim Rae-won gradually increased the pace.
When the formation had begun to straggle in under an Hour, Seok-gyeong moved. Without a word, he took the pack from an older disciple who was staggering behind him.
Without anyone telling him to.
He was effectively carrying two people's worth of packs now. Yet his pace did not slow. Because his base physical ability was vastly superior.
Ho-ae saw that scene.
Their eyes met. Seok-gyeong gave a nod, and Ho-ae nodded back.
They didn't know each other's names. They had never exchanged words. Yet it seemed as though something had passed between them.
'There have always been two types of people.'
Dong Bong-soo thought as he walked.
The strong and the weak.
The wealthy and the poor.
The rulers and the ruled.
Everything can fundamentally be framed as one of two contrasts like this.
And among those, naturally enough—
There are those who act when told, and those who act without being told.
Ho-ae had proven that among the children.
And Seok-gyeong was showing it now, with his own body.
'Interesting.'
The march continued.
It was still quite a long road to Rainbow Lake.