Chapter 153
Chapter 153
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: Riot at the Academy
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*The well-intentioned don't just appear, and those who appear aren't well-intentioned.*
It means that a person with good intentions doesn't come easily, and a person who comes on their own accord doesn't come with good intentions.
There was no day this aphorism fit better than today.
“I've heard of your recent exploits.”
The uninvited guest waved his empty right sleeve.
“While I, on the other hand, have been having quite an uncomfortable time.”
“……”
For a moment, a thought crossed my mind.
‘Should I kick him out?’
But I couldn't raise my voice on such a fine day.
Besides, given his status, he wasn't someone I could just throw out.
I guided him and the members of the White Dragon Hall inside.
“This way, please. I'll have a table prepared for you immediately.”
“So you're saying you had room but didn't invite me.”
*Are we even friends?*
“...I must have forgotten due to being busy.”
“I see. Be more careful in the future.”
With a clamor, a dozen or so members of the White Dragon Hall followed him and took their seats.
The servants and maids of the Red Blossom Pavilion hurried to place tables before them.
The only problem was their seating; having arrived late, they were guided to the furthest tables.
Baek Jung-cheon and the other White Dragon Hall members looked displeased but said nothing more.
When I sent a mental message to Jeok Hwa-ran to continue the banquet, the musicians began to play, and the guests raised their cups again as if nothing had happened.
Still, they kept glancing our way, seemingly worried that something might happen.
That's how unusual the White Dragon Hall's recent actions had been.
“You seem to have been doing well. Well enough to build such a large academy.”
“Well, I haven't been doing poorly. By the way, I heard you were in seclusion for a long time. Are you feeling alright?”
“Are you concerned about my health now?”
“You're an elder of the Nine Dragons Fortress, after all.”
“Hoh, now that's a novel piece of logic.”
“I'm a man of principle. Despite how I may seem, I live by a strict code of etiquette.”
Though I had been called a young boomer for it.
“Is that why you buried my younger brother in the ground?”
“One can't be expected to show courtesy to an enemy, can they?”
“Didn't you just call me an elder of the Nine Dragons Fortress?”
“That's just how the world works. There are no permanent enemies or allies. Now that the fight is over, you've become an elder again in my heart.”
“What?! Wahahahaha!”
Baek Jung-cheon laughed like a madman.
Tears welled in his eyes as he asked.
“Does that mean we too can become allies?”
“If the conditions are right, there's no reason why not.”
Of course, that was a lie.
I blew off the Hall Master's right arm and buried his severely injured brother. What kind of ally would do that?
I'd be too busy watching my back to live.
Nevertheless, the reason I said we could be allies is because the White Dragon Hall is the White Dragon Hall.
A great house possessing hundreds of thousands of acres of land.
Great merchants who hold a near-monopoly on silk production in the southwestern Central Plains.
A grand clan with over two hundred masters, and if you include the martial artists from their branch families, their numbers well exceed a thousand.
They were formidable on all fronts.
I was trying to gloss over it smoothly, but I'd forgotten one thing.
“You're lying.”
My opponent was a master of political maneuvering.
“...If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do.”
“I don't.”
“Ah, yes.”
He said, downing his drink.
“I'd like to see how long you can afford to be so relaxed.”
“I'm not particularly relaxed right now. I have guests to attend to.”
“So I've been holding up a busy man. You may go.”
“Very well.”
Just as I was about to walk away, Baek Jung-cheon's voice called out.
“Ah, before that, may I offer a piece of advice?”
At his call, I quickly turned around.
“Coming from the elder of the Nine Dragons Fortress, the Master of the White Dragon Hall, I shall accept it as golden advice.”
“I hear a horse raised by an old man in the north ran away, only to return leading a herd.”
With that, Baek Jung-cheon fell silent.
“……”
This is the first part of the tale known as ‘The Old Man of the Frontier Lost His Horse.’
The tale of the runaway horse returning with wild horses, and the old man's son breaking his leg from one of them, thus avoiding conscription.
It means that good fortune is followed by misfortune. For him to tell me this meant...
‘It's a warning.’
It meant, ‘You may be successful now, but we'll see what happens next.’
“I'll take your advice to heart.”
I thought as I bowed my head.
‘This is a big problem, isn't it?’
* * *
The opening ceremony concluded successfully.
As proof, most of the guests in attendance went home thoroughly drunk.
Even the ever-so-composed Grand Chancellor.
“Hmph, So-pyeong. This old father of yours always... This world... not as I wish... so don't forget to be humble... and work hard...”
In particular, his drunken lectures gave me PTSD.
My own father in my past life used to sit me down and lecture me whenever he drank.
Anyway.
“Mmm...”
Thinking of Baek Jung-cheon's sudden appearance, my mind grew complicated once more.
After Bukgung Baek severed Baek Jung-cheon's right arm, the White Dragon Hall fell into great turmoil.
Baek Jung-cheon, a supreme swordsman, had lost his right arm, and his younger brother, Baek Ja-cheon, was bedridden with severe injuries. It was only natural.
At the time, an elder of the White Dragon Hall named Baek Ryang-ji stepped in and barely managed to control the situation, but he couldn't prevent the second wave of chaos.
It was a power struggle.
The Hall Master who lost his right arm versus the Hall Master's fully recovered younger brother.
Anyone could see it was a fight between the younger brother aiming for the master's seat and the older brother trying to protect it.
According to Jeok Hwa-ran, it was an absolute mess.
A chaotic free-for-all of assassinations, attacks, slander, and terror unfolded within the White Dragon Hall.
And so, the White Dragon Hall closed the clan's gates and ceased all external activities.
Half a year passed like that.
Then, Baek Jung-cheon appeared. In perfectly fine condition.
Which meant.
The power struggle had ended with Baek Jung-cheon's victory, and the White Dragon Hall was ready to stretch its wings again.
‘Just how did he win?’
I thought the able-bodied Baek Ja-cheon would win.
‘Or did he have a secret weapon passed down only to the head of the family?’
Well, that's not what's important now.
So what is important?
“Form a line!”
The interviews for the Jin Mujeon Academy are far more important, what else could there be?
I have to pick the right people from the start if this is to become a specialized academy with a 100% pass rate.
Men dispatched from the Haomun moved frantically, controlling the applicants and lining them up, while the former members of the Seventeenth Squad recorded their names and origins.
We couldn't conduct a full background check on everyone, but the act itself served to filter out those who came with ill intentions.
Moreover.
“I'm counting on you, Master.”
“……”
Bukgung Baek was sitting next to me; he would instantly detect any demonic or malevolent energy.
And so, the first interview began.
“What is your reason for applying to our academy?”
To the cliché question, came a cliché answer.
“When I was young, I wanted to become a hero who would command the world. Although, as I've grown older, reality has...”
It was to be expected. In the martial world, anyone who said, ‘I want to enter the Nine Dragons Fortress to live a stable life,’ would be branded a lunatic.
Well, if I had to name someone, our golden child Yang Gang might be capable of it.
In any case, the reason for asking such a cliché question was simple.
It was to instill in the interviewees the idea that ‘this is a real academy run by the Combat King.’
And Bukgung Baek also needed time to observe the applicants.
[One, three.]
Bukgung Baek sent a mental message. It meant the first and third were accepted.
I immediately wrote down their names and said.
“That will be all for now. We will post a list of successful applicants on the wall next to the main gate by noon tomorrow, so please check then.”
They shuffled out.
As soon as they left, Bukgung Baek asked.
“Is there any meaning in teaching only those who are already destined to pass?”
“Ahem, don't say such things. I need to make the Jin Mujeon Academy a success so I can at least donate money for the foundation stones when you rebuild the Bukgung Clan. And who knows? The academy might become the very cornerstone for the reconstruction of the Bukgung Clan.”
Hearing my answer, Bukgung Baek nodded, his eyes filled with anticipation.
At some point, Bukgung Baek and I had become an economic community.
“Next!”
After that, the tedious interviews continued.
While I bought time by asking cliché questions, Bukgung Baek would assess the applicants' potential through their energy and call out the numbers of those likely to pass the Nine Dragons Fortress exam.
This went on for a full day.
It wasn't until close to noon the next day that I was finally able to compile the list of successful applicants.
Over two thousand people had applied, but only about seven hundred were accepted.
Considering the revenue, it would have been right to accept the maximum capacity of one thousand people, but then I couldn't guarantee a 100% pass rate.
Therefore, I endured the heart-wrenching pain and decided on the rejects.
After asking Yu So-pyeong to post the list, I immediately lay down on my bed.
I hadn't slept a wink all night, busy writing down names.
‘If it had been Hangul, I would have finished in no time.’
No matter how I think about it, Chinese characters are too inefficient.
How is it that even people with the same name use different characters?
King Sejong the Great, all hail.
“*Yaaawn.*”
Just as I was about to fall asleep.
“B-Big trouble!”
Yu So-pyeong came running in, his face pale.
“Ugh, what is it?”
A surge of irritation made me snap back, and he quickly explained.
“The interview applicants have started a riot!”
“What?”
* * *
When I went outside, a riot had broken out, just as Yu So-pyeong had said.
“What in the world is the criteria for passing and failing?!”
“That's right! We walked a thousand li to get into the Jin Mujeon Academy! We can't just go back without an explanation!”
“Hear, hear—!”
If the Three Fiends of the Dang Clan hadn't been guarding the gate, it looked like they would have broken it down and stormed in at any moment.
“……”
“What should we do?”
*What to do?*
“We have to handle it.”
“But the atmosphere is too hostile, isn't it? It looks like they could draw their weapons at any moment...”
“Hey, it's fine. You think this is my first time dealing with something like this?”
It was, in fact, my very first time.
‘Damn it...’
Resolving this with words would look best...
“If you don't explain yourself right now, we'll set the place on fire!”
“Let's burn it down—!”
*Words, my ass.*
These reactionary bastards need to be shown a harsh lesson.
A Battle Lord Arrow, shot like a lightning bolt, landed between the rejected applicants and the Three Fiends of the Dang Clan, letting out a massive explosion.
“Gasp!”
“Ugh!”
The rejected applicants scattered in terror, stumbling backward.
*Thud.*
I immediately used the War King Step and landed among them.
“What's the big complaint?”
“……”
The protesters saw the Battle Lord Arrow floating around me and fell silent.
Of course, not all of them did.
These were men who lived on the edge of a blade; some of them lived with their lives half-forfeited already.
*Thump.*
The man who had been leading the protest collapsed to his knees before me and shouted.
“I heard the rumors and ran for ten full days to get here. Please give me a chance.”
“A chance?”
“Yes.”
I looked around and asked.
“Does everyone feel the same?”
“Yes—! Give us a chance—!”
“Fine. Anyone who wants a chance, follow me inside. If there's anyone who can endure the training, I'll personally hang the necklace of acceptance around your neck.”
It was the moment the Jin Mujeon Academy's original training regimen, PT, was revealed to the world for the first time.