Chapter 131
Chapter 131
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 131
>Chapter Title: Shake the Bait for the Best Flavor (3)
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Fortunately, the club activity time ended just before I was completely brainwashed.
"Il-mok cadet. There's still time before lights out, so let's talk a bit more…."
"Sorry."
The cadets who had been fervently debating with me tried to hold me back, but I bolted out of the hall without a moment's hesitation.
As I rushed toward the Black Dragon Hall.
"Hahaha. I believe you'll definitely join the Doctrine Research Club!"
Instructor Jeong Gyu-seok's affable, hearty laugh drilled into my ears.
* * *
Even after experiencing the Drama Club and the Doctrine Research Club, my club tour continued.
But they weren't particularly substantial clubs.
It had nothing to do with my preferences or hobbies. The problem was that all the remaining clubs were overseen by senior class instructors.
The incident at the Demonic Path Academy where I first sensed something off—the one that led to Peach Blossom Ridge—where I evaded someone's presence and escaped the exam array.
It could have been a string of ridiculous coincidences, but given the circumstances, it was highly likely there was a lackey among the instructors or assistants.
And at that time, the senior class was out on practical training with the Enforcement Unit, so the suspects were limited to the instructors and assistants managing our class.
Of course, there could have been lackeys hidden in the senior class too, but it made sense to focus on the most likely culprits first.
In that sense, there was only one club left for me to visit.
The place I psychologically wanted to avoid at all costs. But the place overseen by one of the main suspects as the instructor.
The Body Aesthetics Club.
* * *
"Uahaha! Welcome, Il-mok cadet!"
Instructor Cheok Il-so laughed boisterously, pretending to welcome Il-mok.
"We've been waiting for you, Il-mok cadet!"
"My throat was getting sore waiting for you, Il-mok junior! Hahaha. Why'd you save our Body Aesthetics Club for last?"
"Big bro Mak! Isn't it obvious? I saved the most exciting club for last!"
"Uahaha! True, if you'd come to us first, all the others would've seemed boring!"
Dok-go Pae and Mak Ho-yeol chattered excitedly among themselves.
"Haa."
And Gwak Sul, sighing from a step away, acting like a total stranger.
'Why are they all shirtless….'
The sweat trickling down their muscles kept triggering Il-mok's hygiene obsession, making him want to turn tail and leave right then.
"Come on! You take off your top too!"
At Cheok Il-so's command, Il-mok sighed and asked back.
"Why do we have to take off our clothes?"
"Uahaha. To inspect each other's muscles more closely, of course. You can only achieve truly effective training by observing the fine movements of the muscles!"
It was undeniably sound logic.
Il-mok, who hadn't been much for exercise even in modern times, had still heard it before.
The idea that working out in tight clothes that reveal muscles and body lines was best.
People into gym workouts or Pilates always wore form-fitting outfits or sleeveless ones that showed almost everything.
But Il-mok had already seen something he shouldn't have.
The grotesque sight of them groping each other's muscles after stripping off their tops.
'Ew.'
The moment someone touched his body with sweat-covered hands, he felt like he'd swing his sword without thinking.
"…Do we really need to strip? We don't take off our pants to train the lower body, do we?"
Il-mok tried to deflect with sophistry, but the response was outrageous.
"How'd you know, Il-mok junior?"
"Hahaha. Looks like Il-mok cadet was checking us out closely!"
"???"
What the hell had these lunatics been doing in the middle of the Demonic Path Academy's training ground, where anyone could see?
Regardless of Il-mok's shock, Instructor Cheok Il-so suddenly yanked off his pants with a proud flourish.
'Crazy!?'
Il-mok, desperate not to see the horror, whipped his head away, but the instructor's laughter pierced his ears.
"Hahaha! No worries! I'm not going commando!"
Cautiously turning back at the voice, Il-mok saw Cheok Il-so wearing quite short shorts that ended about a third of the way down his thighs.
"These are lower garments I made myself for external art training! Uahaha!"
A quick glance showed they were pretty shoddy—nothing he'd actually sewn or cut properly.
It looked like he'd just sliced the bottom of his pants with something sharp.
As if he'd shortened perfectly good pants as much as possible to inspect muscles closely.
"We were so inspired by the instructor's shorts that we made our own!"
Inspired by the exposure, Mak Ho-yeol and Dok-go Pae followed suit, stripping off their pants.
They too wore shorts ending at the one-third thigh mark.
'They cut them so sloppily.'
Frayed threads dangled from the cut edges. Maybe they'd frayed from muscle flexing during training or from washing, unraveling further.
Il-mok thought that if they weren't careful, those shorts might rip right off someday.
Of course, these maniacs would probably just laugh it off.
'I don't want to see it! That grotesque crap!'
As a nauseating image flashed in his mind, Il-mok shook his head furiously.
"Hahaha. I was planning to focus on upper body muscles today since it's your first time, but if you're interested, I can fix up your pants like this too. Hahaha!"
Cheok Il-so's booming laugh made his whole body ripple with bulging muscles.
With only those mystery shorts on, the movements were blatantly obvious.
'Ugh.'
Nausea surged, and he averted his eyes hurriedly.
"Uahaha!"
"Ahahaha!"
All he could see were Mak Ho-yeol and Dok-go Pae in similar states.
Chop them all down!
Purify those filthy, sweat-soaked bodies!
Il-mok felt his hand itching toward his sword involuntarily.
* * *
That night.
After finishing the horrific club experience, Il-mok visited the infirmary again after seven days and nights.
"Found any leads, Young Master?"
At Seo Jae-pil's question, Il-mok let out a deep sigh before answering.
"Hoo. For now, Instructor Eun Ryeo doesn't seem to be it."
She didn't seem particularly eager to recruit him into the Drama Club. It felt more like she was reluctantly going along with it.
On top of that.
'Just the fact that she was with me during Instructor Chu Il-hwan's rampage pretty much clears her.'
Seo Jae-pil nodded in agreement with Il-mok's reasoning.
"I've had a couple more consultations with the instructors over the past seven days and nights, and Instructor Eun Ryeo was consistently the same."
Eun Ryeo had consistently focused on concerns about Jeong Hyeon. She mentioned Il-mok too, but portrayed him uniformly as a troublemaking bully tormenting Jeong Hyeon.
"Hmm. I'm curious what she said."
At Il-mok's question, Seo Jae-pil smiled and replied.
"Consultation records with patients can't be disclosed. You know that, Young Master."
It wasn't because she badmouthed Il-mok. As he said, that was Tranquil Heart Academy's rule.
Consultations were shared among physicians for research, but with all names anonymized.
This was just a special case, so he was selectively sharing only info needed to identify the lackey.
Il-mok knew this too, so he shrugged and accepted it easily.
"Can't be helped."
He was the one who'd proposed and built this system, after all.
"Then, what about Instructor Ma Do-young? I still suspect him the most."
At Il-mok's question, the smile vanished from Seo Jae-pil's face.
* * *
At the Demonic Path Academy's Vice Branch Hall.
Vice Branch Leader Yu Geuk was briefly exchanging official business talk with one instructor.
"What do you think of Instructor Ma?"
At Yu Geuk's question, the instructor pondered before cautiously replying.
"So, that instructor really was the support sent by that person?"
"Indeed."
"…Haa. Honestly, he moves way too obviously."
The instructor sighed deeply.
As a precaution, they operated in a compartmentalized structure.
The instructor didn't know Ma Do-young was an ally, and Ma Do-young knew there was another but not who.
Yu Geuk just met them in rotation to issue orders.
The instructor was even one Yu Geuk had recruited—technically loyal to Yu Geuk, not knowing exactly who 'that person' was, unlike Yu Geuk.
Whether Ma Do-young was the same, Yu Geuk couldn't be sure.
"Seems 'that person' underestimated the Demonic Path Academy's affairs too much."
"…Probably thought teaching rookies was no big deal."
Those who hadn't taught at the Academy couldn't understand.
How hard could it be to teach martial arts and knowledge to greenhorns?
But the real issue wasn't the teacher's skill level. Handling kids was a whole other matter—especially kids suffering demonic art side effects.
'Hoo. If it were the old Demonic Path Academy, this would've been easy.'
Unlike Chu Il-hwan or this instructor, Yu Geuk—like the Academy Leader—had graduated the old hellish program where half the cadets died.
If the mission to kill the youngest young master had come then, he could've handled it easily.
Just make it look like an accident during tough training or education.
But not now.
Even now, disappearances or severe injuries happened occasionally, but deaths were once every few years.
They still occurred sometimes, but suspicious circumstances meant investigations.
As Yu Geuk briefly reminisced about the bleak old Academy atmosphere, the instructor before him spoke cautiously.
"You telling me about Instructor Ma means you've made a decision?"
Snapping out of it, Yu Geuk nodded with his signature cold face.
"The physician from Tranquil Heart Academy suddenly stationed here, and Il-mok young master popping into the infirmary under consultation pretense—seems the young master and the lord haven't dropped their suspicions."
"I felt it too. During the consultations, it wasn't overt, but there was this weird unease. Vice Branch Leader."
"So, it's probably just a matter of time before Instructor Ma slips up."
They hadn't grabbed him yet, so they hadn't fully caught on. But Yu Geuk figured it wouldn't last.
"Then, do you have a plan?"
At the instructor's question, Yu Geuk nodded and replied.
"I'm planning to handle it together. With the youngest young master."
"!!!"
Yu Geuk continued explaining to the shocked instructor.
"Set a deliberately sloppy trap and give Instructor Ma a fake order. Right after he kills the youngest young master, you and I step in and take him out."
At Yu Geuk's rather extreme decision, the instructor asked tensely.
"Won't that deepen suspicions about us?"
"Just say he resisted fiercely during the subdual. That's all. Either way, we're the ones who took down a murderer—we didn't attack the young master. Plus, since Instructor Ma's already under suspicion, we need to eliminate him anyway."
Even after Yu Geuk's explanation, the instructor's worries lingered.
"I'm not sure if 'that person' you follow will accept it."
"No worries. 'That person' didn't directly intervene in sending Instructor Ma here. And the dead tell no tales, right? The moment Ma Do-young dies, the tail vanishes too."
Finishing his explanation, Yu Geuk's cold expression twisted oddly.
"And Instructor Ma said something amusing."
"Amusing?"
His sharp gaze made one corner of his mouth curl into a sneer.
"In emergencies, first action then report is basic, he said. So for now, kill Instructor Ma and report to that person later, no?"
At Yu Geuk's words, the instructor's mouth twisted similarly.
"As you say, Vice Branch Leader—the dead tell no tales."