Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 113
>Chapter Title: Rampage (2)
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“Yawn.”
Il-mok let out a long, drawn-out yawn in the Black Dragon Pavilion, sprawling out on his bed.
This was the plan he’d mentioned to Bang Mi-hwa midway through dinner.
Just as he’d resolved during that morning’s training session, starting today, Il-mok intended to slack off properly.
‘Bathed, fed, and feeling all cozy and drowsy. Perfect.’
He laid his head on the pillow and surrendered to the languor, and sleep came creeping in almost immediately.
Beyond the window of the room where Il-mok had dozed off, atop a tree shrouded by dense foliage.
‘Now he’s just sleeping out in the open.’
Choi Il-hwan’s face twisted grotesquely as he kept his daily watch over Il-mok’s surroundings to catch any suspicious groups.
It was barely the early hour of the dog (7-9 PM). Far too early to turn in.
In fact, no one else remained in the Black Dragon Pavilion except Il-mok. Everyone else was immersed in training.
While others were deep in practice, that guy was rolling around on his bed.
Pondering what to do with the lazy genius for a moment.
Choi Il-hwan’s senses picked up on someone approaching the Black Dragon Pavilion.
A presence so stealthy that even he, an instructor, hadn’t noticed at first.
It only triggered his senses once it reached the entrance to Il-mok’s room.
And the moment that presence opened the door.
‘Why is Instructor Eun-ryeo here!?’
Choi Il-hwan nearly lost his composure in an instant.
‘Could Instructor Eun-ryeo be that minion targeting Disciple Il-mok?’
If so, then she must have come to kill him while he slept alone.
‘Damn it!!’
Choi Il-hwan hurriedly circulated his inner energy, preparing to launch himself before she could strike Il-mok dead.
“Instructor Eun-ryeo!”
But she didn’t shout Il-mok’s name the moment she opened the door.
“!?”
Who in their right mind wakes the target before attempting an assassination? This wasn’t some wild brute like Mak Ho-yeol or Dokgo Pae.
‘Ugh….’
Choi Il-hwan, who had been about to leap, abruptly halted and nearly tumbled off the branch he was perched on.
And damn it all, as if sensing something, Instructor Eun-ryeo—who had called for Il-mok—turned her gaze toward the window.
‘Shit.’
Gritting his teeth, Choi Il-hwan clung to the branch with all four limbs, desperately suppressing his presence while meowing through his mouth.
“Meow.”
As her suspicion deepened at the awkward act.
“!? Uh, Instructor Eun-ryeo?”
Fortunately or not, Il-mok—who had been deep in slumber—opened his eyes. Her gaze shifted back to him.
And confusion clouded Il-mok’s face.
‘Why is Instructor Eun-ryeo here?’
What business did a female instructor have barging into a place where a lone man was trying to sleep?
‘No way!?’
Naturally, images of the usual scandalous scenes between instructors and disciples flashed through Il-mok’s mind. Meanwhile, Eun-ryeo fixed him with a cold stare and spoke.
“Disciple Il-mok.”
“Ahem. I didn’t expect you to come on so boldly, Instructor.”
“???”
“But… did you bathe first?”
From Il-mok’s perspective, plagued by hygiene obsessions, a proper bath was absolutely essential before any major undertaking.
And to avoid detection by Eun-ryeo, Choi Il-hwan—who was hanging from the tree with arms and legs splayed—turned pale with shock.
‘Suddenly showing up and talking about baths and being bold… No way!?’
While Choi Il-hwan began suspecting something between Il-mok and Eun-ryeo.
Eun-ryeo, still maintaining her icy expression, opened her mouth.
“I fail to see why bathing would be necessary for an instructor visiting a disciple.”
At her frosty tone, Il-mok finally realized his misunderstanding.
Embarrassed, he cleared his throat awkwardly and asked cautiously.
“W-well, then what brings you here?”
“I’ve come as an instructor to question Disciple Il-mok about his personal life.”
“…My personal life?”
“Indeed. Even as an instructor, I had no intention of meddling in a disciple’s private affairs. But yours has gone too far.”
Stung by her cold words, Il-mok averted his gaze slightly.
‘Did she catch me napping every day?’
He figured she must have come to scold him for being too lazy. But Eun-ryeo’s next words shattered his expectations.
“At the very least, shouldn’t a man have some sense of responsibility toward women?”
The reason Eun-ryeo had sought out Il-mok: to confront him about Jeong-hyeon. She had hidden Jeong-hyeon in her quarters to protect her from Bang Mi-hwa, Ha Young, and Joo Seo-yeon.
‘Dragging in all those women and then abandoning them without any responsibility. How can a man be so irresponsible?’
Eun-ryeo thought that Joo Seo-yeon and Bang Mi-hwa—who adored Il-mok—were bullying Jeong-hyeon out of jealousy because she was close to him. Ha Young was just helping her friend Bang Mi-hwa.
Ultimately, it was Bang Mi-hwa, Joo Seo-yeon, and Ha Young’s fault for directly tormenting her, but at the root, Il-mok hadn’t properly sorted things out.
That was Instructor Eun-ryeo’s conclusion.
“…Pardon?”
Of course, Il-mok couldn’t wrap his head around it, jolted awake and suddenly hearing talk of responsibility.
On top of that.
‘Disciple Il-mok lacks responsibility toward women?’
Choi Il-hwan, eavesdropping in secret, found his mind a tangled mess.
‘As expected!! Talking about responsibility means their relationship runs that deep! So he wasn’t just after the female disciples!’
While Choi Il-hwan grew convinced of the connection between those two instructors and disciples.
“R-responsibility? What do you mean by that, Instructor?”
Il-mok, still dazed, asked with a bewildered expression.
“Just what I said. Did you think everything would sort itself out after dragging in all those women?”
“!?”
What madness was this? Il-mok pondered briefly.
Soon enough, he grasped the situation.
“Instructor, yes, I did bring Disciple Bang Mi-hwa in, but how can I take responsibility for people liking each other?”
She must have come to grill him about Baek Cheon and Jeong-hyeon.
Jeong-hyeon had a crush on Baek Cheon. And Il-mok knew that Jeong-hyeon and Instructor Eun-ryeo were somewhat close as mentor and disciple.
Naturally, Eun-ryeo would at least vaguely know about Jeong-hyeon’s feelings for Baek Cheon.
Amid that, he had pulled in Bang Mi-hwa, who hit it off perfectly with Baek Cheon, to that clearing.
From Jeong-hyeon’s or her ally Instructor Eun-ryeo’s perspective, it was understandable if they found it unpleasant.
But.
“Disciple Il-mok. Is that really something you should say?”
That didn’t mean she could come barging in to interrogate him over it.
‘Romance is their own business. Isn’t this meddling a bit much?’
Honestly, it was absurd. Especially since.
“I’ve already spoken with Disciple Bang Mi-hwa about it, Instructor. She said she harbors no ulterior motives, so everything rests entirely on Disciple Jeong-hyeon.”
He had already sorted things out in his own way. There was no reason for this treatment.
At Il-mok’s confident reply, Eun-ryeo unwittingly pressed her forehead.
“How can you…”
This was why men were no good.
What woman in the world would outright say, ‘I have feelings for you. So I’ll torment the bothersome Jeong-hyeon.’!?
Eun-ryeo began pitying Jeong-hyeon, who had fallen for such an oblivious man.
“You believed that at face value?”
“Why would she lie?”
“Sigh…”
Eun-ryeo let out a deep sigh but didn’t press further.
Directly mentioning Jeong-hyeon’s bullying would be disrespectful to her.
“Show a little more responsibility. You never know what might happen when you’re away.”
Leaving that final warning, Eun-ryeo departed the room, exuding a chill aura.
“…What the hell was that about?”
Even after she left, Il-mok couldn’t comprehend her excessive interference.
‘When I’m away? Did Baek Cheon pull some weird stunt while I was gone?’
Il-mok wondered if something had progressed between Baek Cheon and Bang Mi-hwa without his knowledge.
“Damn. When Baek Cheon gets back, I’ll have to probe him casually.”
Head spinning, Il-mok flopped back onto the bed with an annoyed look.
And beyond the room’s window, atop the tree.
‘So Instructor Eun-ryeo was the first one he seduced! And he’s dragged in multiple women!’
‘That’s too much, even for him. Pulling in Disciple Bang Mi-hwa and claiming no responsibility for the feelings?’
‘…Disciple Bang Mi-hwa has no ulterior motives? Everything rests on Disciple Jeong-hyeon—what does that even mean?’
‘And why Baek Cheon’s name?’
Choi Il-hwan’s head grew more jumbled as he eavesdropped on the entire conversation between Il-mok and Eun-ryeo.
Disciple Il-mok and four female disciples. Plus Instructor Eun-ryeo and Baek Cheon.
The relationships of all seven figures tangled chaotically in his mind for a moment.
Right after Instructor Eun-ryeo left the room with her icy demeanor.
“Ugh.”
Letting out a faint groan, Choi Il-hwan hurriedly sat cross-legged and began Qi Circulation and Breath Adjustment.
Startled by Eun-ryeo’s sudden appearance, he had surged and then quelled his inner energy abruptly, already disrupting his demonic art once.
Suppressing his presence from her had strained him, and eavesdropping on that mess of a conversation worsened the symptoms.
- Promiscuous scum deserve to die!
- I’ve been alone my whole life—I have the right to kill that trash!
- Kill them! Kill them all!
Another self rampaged in his mind, and Choi Il-hwan focused on Qi Circulation and Breath Adjustment, beads of sweat forming on his brow to suppress the demonic art.
And as Choi Il-hwan delved deep into his inner world to battle the demonic art.
Swish.
‘To think the chance would come this quickly.’
A dark shadow approached the tree where Choi Il-hwan hid.
* * *
“Haa.”
Perhaps because of the weird nonsense from Instructor Eun-ryeo, or maybe from dozing off and being startled awake.
After tossing and turning for a while without falling back asleep.
“Heh heh heh heh.”
A faint sound, like laughter, drifted in from somewhere.
“Hm?”
Raising himself in puzzlement and turning toward the window where the sound came from.
Boom!!
With an explosion, the paper-and-wood window tore apart.
“Eheheheheh.”
A freakish intruder burst through the shattered window into the room, cackling maniacally.
The moment I saw the intruder’s face, goosebumps erupted all over my body.
“I knew it would come to this.”
The male lust demon. Choi Il-hwan’s assault.
I’d always had a bad feeling he’d pounce sometime, but of all days, it had to be tonight.
‘Fuck. His eyes are completely rolled back.’
The nonstop eerie laughter and bloodshot eyes left no doubt. He had fully succumbed to the demonic art.
In this crisis to my chastity, I moved swiftly.
Whoosh!
Drawing and swinging the sword by my bedside in one motion.
Boom!!
I barely blocked Choi Il-hwan’s swinging fist.
“Ugh….”
Black lightning coursed along the clashing sword, shaking my inner energy.
A power utterly different from our previous spars or tests.
‘He’s dead serious!’
That crazy pervert was going all out.
Just that single clash left my arm numb from the black lightning, and the disrupted inner energy caused blood to surge up my throat.
Instinct told me the truth: no matter how much I held back or went full force, protecting my chastity would be impossible.
“Ehehehehehe!”
As the pervert swung his black lightning-wreathed arm again with that grotesque laugh, I let go.
Not of my chastity.
Clang!!!
My sword, now swung, slapped against Choi Il-hwan’s palm.
If there was no way to handle a foe lost to demonic frenzy with eyes rolled back, then I just had to enter the same state.
The secret technique I’d awakened to, thanks to the Peach Blossom Ridge elders.
Namely, letting go.
Boom!
Clang!!
Abandoning thought, abandoning reason.
- You’re too slow! You can’t master the sword at that speed!
I simply surrendered my body to the commands of the other self born from the demonic art.