Chapter 36
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Heroes Are Coming (2)
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Today was finally the day the detailed midterm schedule dropped.
The beautiful tradition that the week before exams means all free periods!
Thanks to that, I could luxuriate in bed until the sun hung high in the midday sky.
Of course, thinking about all the fatigue I'd built up, lazy urges to lounge around all day kept bubbling up unbidden.
But there was a class that smashed that tradition head-on.
The one evil course, the only one still hanging a 'business as usual' sign amid everyone's cancellations.
Chicken Master's class: Understanding Unorthodox Martial Arts.
Truly a ruthless, savage idea worthy of the unorthodox sects—I couldn't help but shudder.
At this rate, I might commit the unforgivable sin of not calling my master 'master'...
The routine right after my early bird wake-up.
Habitual smartphone observation syndrome kicked in.
[You must respect me. I am the third-ranked proper successor candidate of the great Moyong Family. I won the youth martial tournament, placed respectably in the most promising Thirteen-Year-Old Boys Ranking Battle, and was voted the top looker in Yoneong Province...]
"Aw, this crazy bastard."
I immediately deleted the spam from that pathetic Moyong Wicheon punk, who'd challenged me in advanced sparring class last time and ended up with a humiliating 0-3 record.
I sure as hell wasn't going to live like that.
Sprinkling some mental salt on the wound.
I logged into the Hundred Flowers Academy official app and calmly checked the exam notices.
Most were pretty standard stuff.
Understanding Classics had no practical exam.
Herbology and Toxicology—either Mr. Tang Chunsik's mental breakdown hadn't recovered yet, or something—dumped everything on the finals.
Slowly scanning the auto-scheduled exam lineup the app spat out.
"...Is she seriously getting dementia?"
I spotted one jaw-dropping schedule item.
* * *
A fiercer aura than ever swirled through the Western Hall.
Of course, with everyone who could leave already gone, exactly twelve students remained to tough it out.
A slight exaggeration: Chicken Master and the Twelve Apostles.
Of course, as the First Apostle, I had already renounced my faith deep in my heart—not three times, but as many as Chicken Master's age.
The last day of exams.
Four days and three nights from then.
While everyone else took their tests and partied hard, we'd be marching through a grueling exam boot camp?
Who the hell thinks like that?
Even I, who put up with Cheon Luri's antics thanks to my thick skin, and even the ever-patient Little Bird furrowed our brows slightly!
Soon, Chicken Master sauntered out of the building.
"I object! How can you make us test for four days and three nights?!"
"Even if practicals are important..."
"Please reconsider!"
The chicks peeped their protests.
However.
As if he'd predicted the uproar, Chicken Master approached with a serene expression and channeled sword aura into his axe handle.
Flash flash!
"......"
"......"
"Ahem......"
First came the excellent answer, 'Wanna die?' shaped into sword aura as a demonstration.
Chicken Master then launched into a boring, pedantic bad answer.
"Martial arts are for self-perfection, cultivating one's body. Raising your family's or sect's name through that is governing the household. Governing the nation... eh, skip that 'cause I hate cannon fodder duty. So what's left?"
"Pacifying the world."
Master nodded contentedly at my cue.
"Just to build your realm faster than other latecomers? To glorify your family? To gain sect recognition and become sect leader? Or just to survive?"
Master's gaze swept the room swiftly.
"Listen up. Though I was born with the blood of green forest bandits, scorned as lowly by the orthodox sects, I've never stained my hands or axe with innocent blood."
"You busted my nose... guk!"
Crack!
The flying axe handle traced a clean arc and smashed Moyong Taek's nose.
Was midterm boredom making that punk gamble with his life?
I sighed and looked away from Moyong Taek gushing nose blood.
"Green forest bandits were just mountain thug packs originally, but my generation worked to make us decent folk. Instead of axes for killing, we gripped pickaxes to carve mountains. Instead of taking lives and all else without reason, we charged tolls on roads we built and maintained ourselves. Did the world get a bit better?"
"Yes!"
"So comfy coming to the academy!"
"But parasites who couldn't kick the habit of sucking others' lifeblood lurk near Shaanxi, in the Taebaek Mountains."
Master's gaze now slowly pierced each face in turn, as if peering into souls.
"Hundred Flowers Academy trains true warriors. Can one who tolerates injustice be called a true warrior?"
"No!"
Master flashed a hearty grin.
"We're off to play the hero."
The rookies' faces turned resolute at the sudden hero high.
Even Cheon Luri seemed inspired, her dead-fish eyes sparkling faintly.
...A world where the Heavenly Demon Cult's young lord gets moved by a bandit boss's heroics.
Eh.
If it works, fine.
"Dismissed. Bring your weapons on exam day. I'll cover all travel expenses."
Maybe because it ended in just an hour instead of the full class slot.
Even Moyong Taek shuffled out with a dumb, thoughtful look.
Once the other cadets left, I naturally headed to master's quarters like it was my own home.
"Heh heh, how was that? Pretty cool, right? Admit it."
Master, hitting rock bottom in my mental eval with sudden corniness.
But with the hero high braking the side, even that seemed less pathetic.
"You were awesome, master."
Flattery's key in times like these.
Especially with his sleeve still stained by Moyong Taek's blood—basic survival.
"So, did you bring the bow?"
"Yes."
I pulled out the cloth-wrapped bow.
Master took it, examined it closely, then...
Thwack!
Lightning-fast, he smacked my head with the axe handle.
"Ow! Why'd you hit me?!"
"Isn't this the Divine Archer's bow-sword? Why's it in your hands?"
"You know it?"
"Of course. Half the reason I guarded the western woods was that thing..."
"Huh?"
Suddenly, master clutched my bow and drifted into reminiscence.
Long story short.
Before the academy was built, the bow's original owner, the Divine Archer, nearly wiped out the green forest bandits, then befriended master's father.
He especially doted on kid Seo Dohee (honestly, couldn't picture it) and shared tons of stories.
"And Wolfy here's a descendant of the wolf that guy raised?"
"Yep."
Hmm...
This counts as triple serendipity, kinda.
Wolfy, the bow, and master.
Poison resistance is just bonus—fits perfectly.
Since I'd already paid respects when I got the bow.
I'd just casually think of Grandpa Divine Archer as my grandmaster.
Anyway.
"Bow-sword? Not just a bow?"
Chicken Master gave me a pitiful look.
"You're the type to see a pearl as a pebble."
"No, why say it like—"
Shing!
Clearly a bow before.
But with one light shake, it transformed into a curved sword.
"—What?! How?!"
"Told you. Bow-sword. Channel inner energy along the engraved paths on the stock, becomes a sword. Vice versa too."
Master handed me the sword, as if to try.
Looking closely, fine grooves were etched in—so I focused qi there, swung...
Shing!
"Whoa."
Back to bow.
"Might feel off compared to your straight sword, but wielding archery and swordplay with one weapon creates tons of variables. Get used to it."
"Hm, but it's grandmaster's weapon, so maybe master should..."
"Don't say what you don't mean."
Busted.
Forcing down my grinning lips.
I powered through master's brutal training without a single complaint, for once.
Shing!
Shing!
"Fierce focus."
"Yep."
* * *
My first midterm since enrolling at Hundred Flowers Academy.
Way more uneventful than my slight nerves suggested.
Advanced Sparring Class.
"Guh, so frustrating...!"
I busted Moyong Wicheon's nose like Moyong Taek's for an easy win against his arrogant rematch.
Basic Swordsmanship.
"Your form's definitely improved. Excellent."
Sister Seol's minor harassment of kneading my forearms intentionally aside, perfect score clean.
Understanding Classics.
"Kyuu!"
...Does no one else see it?
I desperately ignored Squirrel zipping everywhere.
Flawless composition using classical script—gold medal, top honors!
"Easy."
I summed up midterms with perfect Western tongue pronunciation, honed by SAT English grind.
"Kyaow?"
Unlike Squirrel.
I smeared spit on Wolfy's cheeky nose, snoring in my lap the whole exam.
Back at dorms, I packed my gear bag.
"Ready, bro?"
"Of course, pal."
"Quit the sappy crap. Let's go."
Though I'd gained real combat experience via that historical assassin beatdown causality.
First time thrown into live action for real.
Savoring the pleasant tension and fluffy warmth on my chest, I strode out full of swagger.
Heroes' time!
* * *
"...What exactly do you want me to do?"
The one-armed man who'd once vied with Seo Dohee for gang leader, lost, and declared independence with the hardliners.
Sado Kyung let out an uncomfortable groan.
"We're asking for cooperation. We'll lend you our Blood River Division, so just secure one person alive."
"Who?"
"Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's young lord."
"...Why's someone like that in that Bandit Queen bitch's crew?"
"Hee hee hee... No need to know that far. Or..."
Smiling with clear malice even through the veil.
The woman danced lightly over the blood pool at her feet.
"Having your heart plucked out by these delicate hands isn't a bad choice either?"
At the mad words, Sado Kyung ground his teeth.
But she'd already shown monstrous skill, pulverizing charging bandits with a gesture.
With options gutted.
"...Never thought I'd end up a Blood Cult dog."
In the end, Sado Kyung chose wretched life over honorable death.
As before.
The woman’s smirk twisted into maniacal laughter.