Chapter 110
Chapter 110
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 110
>Chapter Title: Match Made in Heaven (5)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Behind Il-mok as he headed toward the clearing.
‘Ho. To think that kind of persuasion would actually work.’
Chu Il-hwan’s eyes gleamed. He had been monitoring Il-mok’s surroundings on Yeom Ga-hwi’s orders.
He generally left Il-mok alone during structured class hours, but during evening free time, he kept a secret watch like this.
Even during exams, Chu Il-hwan personally handled Il-mok’s surveillance.
‘That dictatorial, brutish Dokgo cadet went along with it so easily.’
Having eavesdropped on the entire conversation between Dokgo Pae and Il-mok, Chu Il-hwan wore an odd expression.
As an instructor at the Demonic Path Academy, he knew a fair amount about the Dokgo family.
The ancestor of the Dokgo family—one of the Five Great Clans—had been the chieftain of northern nomadic tribes.
As was typical for nomadic tribes, wars between them were constant, and their battles were mostly decided by cavalry clashes.
In a cavalry charge, the key was piercing power. In one collision, you had to sweep aside those blocking your path and punch straight through the enemy lines. The moment you hesitated or stalled, you’d be trapped in the enemy formation and doomed.
That was why the Dokgo family’s martial arts focused solely on offense, emphasizing sheer ferocity.
But in the end, the ancestor was ousted in a tribal power struggle and driven into the Central Plains. At the time, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult hadn’t yet been fully branded as traitorous rebels, so he sought refuge there.
The Cult Leader bestowed a Central Plains surname upon him—“Dokgo”—and the first family head studied the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s various demonic arts.
He melted their intricacies into the martial arts he’d originally practiced and successfully forged the Dokgo Iron Sword, their signature absolute art.
It retained the signature heavy sword strikes but allowed for far faster growth and far greater power—a demonic art befitting its nature. And in that historic moment, a demonic art that turned its user dictatorial and bullheaded was born.
During a cavalry charge, any hesitation or doubt meant getting trapped and dying. No room for second-guessing; only charging ahead, convinced of your own righteousness, suited such a martial art—and its side effect matched perfectly.
Over the hundreds of years since, the Dokgo Iron Sword had evolved and shifted slightly, but its core framework remained unchanged.
Having transformed from tribal chieftain to martial artist, it placed a bit more emphasis on footwork over mounted combat—that was the extent of the change.
The one-sided offensive heavy sword stayed the same, as did the dictatorial, bullheaded side effect.
Knowing all this, Chu Il-hwan had given up on trying to persuade Dokgo Pae.
He’d feared that pushing too hard might set off the Black Thunder Demon Spear’s side effects and get him killed.
Yet Il-mok had succeeded in persuading that dictatorial Dokgo Pae.
It might’ve seemed ridiculous that Dokgo Pae—who ignored even his own instructor—yielded to Il-mok’s words, but Chu Il-hwan didn’t dwell on it.
After five years-plus as an instructor, he was used to such things.
Strangely enough, kids that age tended to be far more swayed by peers than by adults.
Viewed that way, Il-mok was exceptionally unique.
His outstanding skills, status as the Heavenly Demon’s disciple, and the various feats he’d shown even before entering the Academy.
He was bound to wield massive influence over the cadets.
‘Not just those directly affected like Cadet Ju Seo-yeon, Cadet Jeong Hyeon, and Cadet Baek Cheon—the cadets’ average skill level is growing far faster than in previous batches.’
As an instructor, he felt the reality firsthand through his own body.
But even witnessing Il-mok influencing Dokgo Pae up close, Chu Il-hwan’s expression remained ambiguous.
‘Damn, the more I watch, the stranger that guy gets.’
He’d formed that judgment from the sights he’d seen while keeping a close eye on Il-mok.
Today, too, he’d trailed Il-mok in secret to that clearing.
And sure enough, there was some acting practice or whatever going on.
‘In the Demonic Path Academy, meant to cultivate talents for the Divine Cult—what the hell is he doing?’
After Jeong Hyeon’s archery demonstration came a series of impromptu spars.
‘Private spars between cadets are explicitly forbidden.’
From an instructor’s perspective, the goings-on in that clearing were pure chaos.
But the part that irked Chu Il-hwan most wasn’t even that.
‘No matter how overflowing with talent, how can he be that lazy?’
Upon arriving at the clearing, Il-mok did nothing but flap his mouth a few times—literally zero effort.
He just plopped down in a corner and spectated the acting or spars like it was a show.
Sometimes he’d close his eyes, making it seem like he might be doing Qi Circulation and Breath Adjustment.
“Snore. Zzzzorrr.”
Nope—just snoring away in a deep sleep.
‘…I knew he fooled around during class, but I figured there was some reason for it.’
Given the youngest young master’s phenomenal progress, he’d assumed slacking on training was impossible.
But now he saw it had been his own misconception.
Still, the thing that truly grated on Chu Il-hwan’s nerves was something else.
‘I knew he chased skirts, but to this degree?’
Taking stock of everyone gathered in the clearing, Chu Il-hwan couldn’t help being stunned in all sorts of ways.
Baek Cheon aside, it was nothing but women.
And since Baek Cheon was from an upper batch, that meant Il-mok was only hanging out with women among his peers.
‘There are only six female cadets in the batch, and he’s dragged four of them here. Hell, all three from A-Class females are together too.’
Chu Il-hwan thought to himself.
Was Il-mok turning this clearing into his own private den of vice?
A few more months, Baek Cheon graduates from the Academy, and Il-mok would be the only guy left.
Toss in some newbie female cadets he sweet-talks, and a full-blown pleasure den wouldn’t be surprising at all.
‘Once I clean out this shady crew, time for some real training.’
He was turning a blind eye for now, since he couldn’t let on that he was surveilling Il-mok.
In truth, Chu Il-hwan hadn’t planned to chew Il-mok out for chasing women.
Heavenly Demon Divine Cult doctrine didn’t forbid taking three wives and four concubines.
But that applied only if one was diligently pursuing strength in line with doctrine.
Seeing him laze around obsessed with women, though—he couldn’t just let it slide.
Was it because he was mulling how to discipline Il-mok?
Zing.
The instant Chu Il-hwan’s sharp gaze fixed on Il-mok—
Flash.
Il-mok, snoring away in sleep, snapped his eyes open and stared right at Chu Il-hwan’s hiding spot.
“Hm? What’s that?”
Sensing something off, Il-mok cocked his head, then shut his eyes and dozed off again.
Chu Il-hwan—who’d nearly blown his cover for nothing—finally let out a silent sigh of relief and thought.
‘…How does a slacker like that have such insane skills?’
Even frittering time away like this, he was that strong. If drilled properly, just how far could he go?
As Chu Il-hwan pictured purging the shady group and working Il-mok to the bone—
Il-mok, deep in his nap, shivered violently like he was having a nightmare.
* * *
A few days passed since Dokgo Pae had gotten advice from Il-mok.
He shared that advice with his sworn brother Mak Ho-yeol and racked their brains together.
But before long, they ran into a massive roadblock.
People good at thinking did it effortlessly. For them, trying to think was nothing but vague frustration.
Take practicing an ambush scenario, for example.
“Hahaha! Block this if you can, brother!”
It was supposed to be a stealth attack, but Mak Ho-yeol and Dokgo Pae came yelling and swinging weapons.
Same went for their martial arts.
They’d trained together for nearly three months now, so they knew each other’s styles inside out.
And since both arts targeted vital points head-on, there was no exploiting weaknesses or need for clever tactics.
“Dokgo little brother.”
“Yeah, Mak brother.”
“Doesn’t it feel like nothing’s changed at all?”
“I’ve been feeling the same.”
Simple as they were, they still had the brains to realize something was off.
“Feels like it’s tough to spark change with just the two of us, right?”
“Yeah, Mak brother.”
Naturally, they arrived at a conclusion.
They needed brains, but lacked them.
So why not borrow some from elsewhere?
As Dokgo Pae agonized over it, a certain face popped into his head.
“Ah! I know a useful guy, Mak brother.”
“A useful guy?”
“Yeah. We teamed up a few times during exams. Skills were nothing special, but his head seemed sharp enough.”
In fact, after the first exam, Instructor Chu Il-hwan had given similar advice: utilize ‘that cadet.’
And sure enough, they’d been grouped together in the second exam, likely for that reason.
But Instructor Chu Il-hwan hadn’t accounted for one unexpected issue.
The sparring tournament held after the first exam ended.
Thanks to Il-mok yielding in that tournament, Dokgo Pae had received about a month of special training under Academy Lord Yeom Ga-hwi.
On top of that, he’d sparred and discussed arts daily with his new sworn brother, Mak Ho-yeol, throwing himself into training.
Those two factors let Dokgo Pae make huge strides in his martial arts.
Not on the level of the youngest young master’s breakneck pace, but his Dokgo Iron Sword had undeniably advanced.
And as his proficiency grew, so did the side effects.
‘A warrior of the Divine Cult charges head-on! Strength is the only truth!’
Such thoughts flooded his mind, causing him to completely forget Instructor Chu Il-hwan’s advice—or ‘that cadet.’
But the advice from Il-mok—his one worthy rival and goal—managed to pierce even the side-effect haze tormenting Dokgo Pae.
He finally recalled the memory he’d buried.
“I’ll bring him right now, Mak brother!”
True to form as a Dokgo Iron Sword practitioner, Dokgo Pae sprang to his feet the moment the words left his mouth.
He even unleashed lightness skill as he scoured the Demonic Path Academy.
“There you are!”
Spotting his target, Dokgo Pae seized the cadet by the nape and lightness-skilled straight back to where Mak Ho-yeol waited.
“Guhk…”
Dragged along by the nape, the cadet let out a choked gasp.
Snatched out of nowhere by Dokgo Pae, he only regained his wits after being released.
The sight that met his eyes: two brutish, fierce-looking men staring him down intently.
“Gulp…”
Swallowing hard despite himself, the man asked in a quavering voice.
“Wh-what business d-do you have with me?”
“From now on, you’re our brain.”
“???”
Thrown for a loop by the abrupt explanation, the kidnapped cadet—Gwak Sul—went blank-faced.
But only for a moment. Composing himself, the flustered Gwak Sul began asking calm questions.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘our brain’?”
After a level-headed talk with Dokgo Pae and Mak Ho-yeol, Gwak Sul pieced together the situation.
‘It was all because of Cadet Il-mok’s advice.’
He’d just realized the mastermind behind his abduction.