Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 119
>Chapter Title: Reform (5)
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Jin Ha-yeon, who had stepped out of the medical ward, returned after about half a shichen.
“I’ll perform Pushing Palaces and Passing Meridians on you once more.”
With an attitude that exuded a chill even colder than before, if not more so.
‘…Is it really worth getting that upset about?’
It was unfair in many ways, but arguing about it was ambiguous.
Not only was the aura Jin Ha-yeon gave off so icy,
“Zzz.”
But shortly after her Pushing Palaces and Passing Meridians began, he fell fast asleep just like that.
His body was already completely wrecked from the rampage of his demonic art, and on top of that, the disinfectant alcohol, the education system reform plan, and Instructor Chu Il-hwan’s matter.
He had been using his brain and mouth non-stop, so he was already at his limit.
And when her touch reached him amid all that, cooling his body, he simply couldn’t hold out any longer.
The next day was the same.
He woke up to Jin Ha-yeon’s Pushing Palaces and Passing Meridians, not knowing when or where she even slept.
Then the Demonic Physician came and stuck needles into his acupoints again, and right after the morning treatment ended.
“Little Bro!!”
The anger-management-issue wild boar. No, his eldest senior brother arrived.
“I heard from Master. You’ve decided to completely overhaul our Divine Cult’s education system.”
“It just kinda ended up that way, Eldest Senior Brother.”
“Hahaha. Thanks to you, this eldest senior brother of yours has even more work now. I was planning to teach the kids demonic arts after they finished the school in half a year, but now all those plans are scrapped, so we have to start everything from scratch.”
“…….”
This guy’s insulting me right now, isn’t he?
Cold sweat naturally trickled down his back.
He had dropped a massive work bomb on the anger-management-issue wild boar, so it wouldn’t be strange if he flew into a rage and tried to kill him.
“S-Sorry, Eldest Senior Brother. J-Just spare my life….”
“Spare your life? What are you talking about? You did something so noble. Why would I go after my proud junior brother’s life? Uhahaha!”
“???”
Unsure if it was sarcasm or sincere, his eldest senior brother spoke in a solemn voice.
“This foolish eldest brother came to see you today because I was worried about your injuries, but truthfully, it was more to seek your advice.”
“My advice…?”
“With this foolish eldest brother’s dull mind, I couldn’t fully piece together our proud little brother’s plan. So, I figured it’d be better to hear it straight from you, and that’s why I came.”
“My plan? What do you mean?”
When he asked with a puzzled look, his eldest senior brother replied as if it were obvious.
“Hahaha. No need to pretend you don’t know just to humor this foolish eldest brother. Our clever little brother would naturally have planned everything out, right? So tell me. How should we teach the kids properly, just as you planned?”
“…….”
What the hell is this guy saying…?
‘Oh, please, God.’
Perhaps because he recalled thoughts on the education system, another self began slyly rearing its head once more.
“If we consider the school as a sort of elementary education, then what Eldest Senior Brother needs to prepare is something like middle school education. And the Demonic Path Academy can be called a higher education institution.”
Having modern memories left was truly a curse for someone who had mastered the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword.
The familiar modern progression of elementary, middle, high school, and university naturally came to mind.
Combined with the administrative systems he’d grown accustomed to as a civil servant, his mouth moved non-stop.
“The schools are managed by the branches in each region, so first, we need facilities to accommodate the kids who finish school. But realistically, it’ll be hard to house and manage all the kids from every stronghold. Plus, keeping young children separated from their parents for too long could harm their mental health. So, for now, we should divide them into groups of four or five villages and build facilities for elementary education in the largest village of each group.”
As his mouth kept going non-stop, his eldest senior brother pulled out paper and brush from who-knows-where and began scribbling furiously.
“Master was right. He said you’d answer if I just asked. Heh heh heh.”
At his eldest senior brother’s mutter, a vein involuntarily bulged on his forehead.
‘Master told Eldest Senior Brother about my side effect!’
But separate from his anger, his eyes had already turned toward his eldest senior brother’s brush tip.
At some point, he shut his mouth and fixed his gaze on the brush strokes with trembling eyes.
‘Is this some new kind of torture?’
How to put it.
If he dressed it up nicely, it was a bold, refreshing script. To be honest, it was handwriting so bad he wondered if his eldest senior brother should enroll in school just for calligraphy correction.
With the side effect already poking its head out, staring at that wild scrawl made his inner demons stir again.
‘No, forget how messy the handwriting is—what’s with writing it so damn big!’
He had a ton of words to spit out because of the side effect, but half the paper was already filled. All because of the needlessly huge letters.
“…What’s wrong, Little Bro?”
His eldest senior brother, who had been diligently taking notes, looked at him puzzled when he went quiet.
But instead of opening his mouth right away, he first raised his reclining body.
“Urk.”
“Young Master?”
“W-What’s wrong!?”
Jin Ha-yeon and his eldest senior brother, watching from the side, looked at him with concern. He turned his head toward Jin Ha-yeon first and said,
“Could you help me sit up a bit? I think I need to sit.”
“…Understood. The Demonic Physician said that moving a little would help with muscle recovery.”
With Jin Ha-yeon’s support, he raised his upper body. Then he extended his right hand toward his eldest senior brother.
“Let me write it, Eldest Senior Brother.”
“Oh come on. How could I make my injured little brother do that?”
Curse words nearly flew out of his mouth at his eldest senior brother’s consideration.
‘You call that torture!’
But he couldn’t tell the branch leader wild boar—who could kill him anytime—the truth.
“Wouldn’t it be more accurate for me to write it down myself than for you to take dictation? I need to move a bit anyway for faster recovery, so think of it as exercise.”
“My little brother’s heart, thinking of this foolish eldest brother, is truly touching.”
For some reason, his eldest senior brother handed over the brush and paper with a moved expression.
‘Better to die sick than like this. Sigh.’
He sighed inwardly. Then he spoke while writing neatly on the paper.
His eldest senior brother, who had been listening quietly, soon alternated between him and the paper with a shocked look and shouted.
“I knew you were a genius, Little Bro, but I never imagined you’d be so skilled in calligraphy too!”
“…I studied hard for the Demonic Path Academy entrance, so it just happened naturally.”
In truth, it was because of the damn side effect, but he brushed it off vaguely.
As he explained the education system in his head with words and wrote it neatly, at some point, the muscle pain started feeling duller.
He didn’t know whether to be happy or sad about it.
It was all because of the damn side effect.
Fighting the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword’s side effect like that, mixing modern knowledge and his own wisdom to answer, time flew by like an arrow.
“Your body still isn’t fully recovered, Young Master, so it’s best to rest for today.”
No sooner had his eldest senior brother left at Jin Ha-yeon’s gentle dismissal than she performed Pushing Palaces and Passing Meridians on him.
Exhausted in body and mind, he fell asleep again just like that.
“Little Bro!”
The next day, his eldest senior brother came again.
“For middle school education, it’d be good to select about three to five out of ten talented kids who finished elementary and gather them at the main mountain.”
Every day, he suffered under his eldest senior brother, forced to keep his mouth and brush moving non-stop.
How to put it.
It felt like he’d become a human knowledge blanket, just eating and spewing knowledge day after day.
* * *
While Il-mok was suffering under Wi Jin-hak,
Yeom Ga-hwi, who had returned to the Demonic Path Academy, was carrying out the Heavenly Demon’s orders.
“…Dismissing him from instructor duty is the end of it?”
At Deputy Pavilion Master Yu-geuk’s question, Yeom Ga-hwi nodded with a stoic face.
“It’s the command from His Supremacy. He couldn’t control the side effects of his demonic art, so he’s unfit as an instructor. However, since it was caused by the side effects, His Supremacy ordered him to receive counseling and treatment at the Serenity Heart Institute to manage them.”
Perhaps because it was the Heavenly Demon’s command, Yu-geuk could no longer object.
“Then we’ll need to select a new instructor.”
“Indeed. Do you have anyone to recommend?”
“…Having stayed long as deputy at the academy, I’m a bit out of touch with the instructors’ current status. Rather than recommend someone right away, I’ll look into it a bit.”
“Do that. Also, until the new instructor arrives, have the deputy pavilion master handle the martial arts training in Instructor Chu’s place.”
“Understood, Pavilion Master.”
After finishing his talk with Yu-geuk, Yeom Ga-hwi headed to where Chu Il-hwan was bound.
Creak.
At the sound of Yeom Ga-hwi opening the door, Chu Il-hwan, bound to a chair with his head bowed, lifted his head.
“The verdict on you has been handed down.”
At those words, Chu Il-hwan’s face grew complicated.
Yeom Ga-hwi repeated to the silent, wet-puppy-like Chu Il-hwan what he had told Yu-geuk.
Having received his verdict, Chu Il-hwan still wore a complicated expression as he asked back.
“…To the Serenity Heart Institute?”
“That’s right.”
“…You trust me, Pavilion Master?”
“It’s not my decision. It’s just the decision of Cadet Il-mok and His Supremacy.”
Answering thus, Yeom Ga-hwi recalled yesterday’s events.
‘…The rumors of him being a genius were widespread, but I never imagined it’d be to that extent.’
He had already fully sensed Il-mok’s talent in martial arts. He had personally observed the test out of suspicion.
But experiencing that famed intelligence firsthand was a first.
‘It was like he knew everything from the start. Yes. Like he was reciting knowledge, not just wisdom.’
From the education system to the Demonic Path Academy reforms. The stories poured out non-stop without any flaws.
Even he, who had been ready to oppose vehemently, ended up listening silently at some point.
There wasn’t even a hint of deliberation, making it seem like he was just reading from a book.
‘Now I think I understand why His Supremacy cherishes his youngest disciple so much.’
The handling of Chu Il-hwan was the same.
It linked perfectly with the prior education reforms, making it a perfectly natural solution.
Of course, contrary to what Chu Il-hwan thought, neither Il-mok nor the Heavenly Demon had fully trusted or forgiven him.
The counseling at the Serenity Heart Institute was closer to a ploy to induce slips of the tongue.
But Yeom Ga-hwi wasn’t foolish enough to mention that to Chu Il-hwan.
‘If he’s innocent, there’ll be nothing to catch.’
Conversely, if guilty, he believed one should accept punishment gladly, even if it was a cherished subordinate.
Separate from Yeom Ga-hwi’s inner thoughts, Chu Il-hwan believed he’d escaped suspicion, but his own thinking was a bit different.
‘The verdict from His Supremacy and Cadet Il-mok?’
It felt like a strong blow to the head for Chu Il-hwan.
‘His Supremacy, maybe, but Cadet Il-mok nearly died by my hand.’
Even if it was due to demonic art side effects, to forgive him like this.
‘Maybe I’ve greatly misunderstood Cadet Il-mok.’
The things he’d felt while surveilling Il-mok for over a month started to seem like delusions.
Like how he lusted after women, dragging female cadets around in droves, and even had some scandal with Instructor Eun-ryeo.
Or how he was so lazy that even during training, he’d swing his sword half-heartedly, and outside of classes, he’d just nap all day or sit around blankly.
All of it started to feel like his own misconceptions.
‘I nearly flapped my mouth and spread useless rumors.’
Chu Il-hwan, who had planned to report it to the Pavilion Master once he caught the underlings, decided to bury it forever.
It was a stroke of luck Il-mok couldn’t even imagine.
If those matters had reached the Heavenly Demon through the Pavilion Master, who knew what horrific fate would befall Il-mok.