Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 76
>Chapter Title: Sparring Assembly (1)
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On the day of the Sparring Assembly.
Il-mok woke from sleep and let out a soft sigh.
"Damn it. It's already today."
The Sparring Assembly, the Academy Master's teachings—Il-mok had zero interest in any of it.
'I need to pay that damned perverted instructor back big time...'
How was he going to get revenge on that perverted instructor who was repaying the pain of lost love in this manner?
That alone was the important matter for Il-mok.
Lost in such trivial thoughts, Il-mok finished his ablutions and morning meal, and before he knew it, he had arrived at the training grounds where the Sparring Assembly was to be held.
"Check the order of today's sparring matches."
Chui Il-hwan, Il-mok's target, said this as he posted the notice on the wall.
Everyone crowded around the notice to check their turns and opponents, and Chui Il-hwan slipped out from the crowd of onlookers, flashing Il-mok a playful grin.
'I'm gonna land one on you.'
With no usable method coming to mind right away, Il-mok inwardly vowed revenge as he headed to the notice.
Scanning the various names listed there, Il-mok let out a hum.
'They set the order by skill level?'
Il-mok's turn was last. Right before him was Dokgo Pae, while conversely, Ju Seo-yeon was first up.
Having roughly grasped the situation, Il-mok was about to lose interest when Dokgo Pae approached him.
"Young Master Il-mok. Have you checked your sparring opponent?"
"I've seen it for now."
Il-mok kept his words brief, not wanting to get tangled with a madman, but Dokgo Pae kept talking.
"Then you know. Your opponent, Young Master Il-mok, is that Baek Family wastrel."
"...Didn't look that way to me."
*You're* the wastrel, Il-mok thought, hiding it as he replied.
"Hmph. He might act like he's straightened up since entering the Demonic Path Academy, but before enrollment, he was quite infamous. He's probably still putting on a huge act of reformation."
Il-mok let Dokgo Pae's slander go in one ear and out the other.
He already knew from Jin Ha-yeon, back during Demonic Path Academy enrollment prep, that the Baek Family and Dokgo Family weren't on good terms.
"So, what are you getting at?"
To stop the pointless gossip, Il-mok asked, and Dokgo Pae replied with a serious face.
"I wanted to crush that wastrel's arrogance myself, but since I'm up against you, I'll tell you about his martial arts."
"You mean Cadet Baek Cheon's martial arts?"
"That's right. That wastrel is still a direct descendant of the Baek Family, trained in hidden weapons."
Indeed, Il-mok nodded.
The Baek Family's fame was the Hundred Hidden Baek Family, meaning they hid a hundred weapons, renowned for hidden weapon techniques.
"So, he'll be throwing darts and concealed weapons nonstop during the sparring?"
"Exactly. For warriors of the Divine Cult, isn't it utterly petty?"
Dokgo Pae's remark starkly showed why the Dokgo Family and Hundred Hidden Baek Family were bitter enemies.
But Il-mok had no interest in the affairs of the Baek Family and Dokgo Family. Instead, his attention turned elsewhere.
'Wait, if I use this right...?'
A way to get minor revenge on Chui Il-hwan came to mind, and Il-mok grinned.
"Good intel."
At Il-mok's smile, Dokgo Pae twisted his lips into a grin as well.
"I'll trust in you, Young Master Il-mok."
Dokgo Pae.
The reason he gave Il-mok this information wasn't just because he hated Baek Cheon.
'The youngest young master already clashed with that senior Mak Ho-yeol or whatever. The seniors already know the youngest young master's martial arts. It's an unfair fight!'
That was the surface reason.
As the dignified eldest grandson of the upright Dokgo Family, he couldn't stand by and watch such an unfair match...
That was just an excuse.
'The youngest young master is still a step above me. But if he beats that wastrel, and I beat the youngest young master, then ultimately, I'm above that Baek Family wastrel!'
It was a perfect plan born from racking his simple brain.
Especially since Baek Cheon was a class senior and would graduate the Demonic Path Academy first.
Even after Baek Cheon graduated, as long as he beat the young master, it would count as beating Baek Cheon—that was the ingenious conclusion.
"Hahaha."
"Heh heh heh heh."
Thus, the two young men dreamed different dreams while sharing the same bed, laughing slyly.
* * *
After Il-mok obtained useful information from Dokgo Pae.
Soon the instructors gathered, followed by the Academy Master and Vice Academy Master taking seats on one side.
On the opposite side, senior cadets had already assembled, checking their sparring orders just like Il-mok's class.
Once everyone had gathered, the Sparring Assembly soon began.
The first match, as Il-mok had confirmed, was Ju Seo-yeon's turn.
"Begin!"
No sooner had the instructor acting as referee given the command than Ju Seo-yeon and the senior cadet moved.
Clang!
She couldn't last even ten exchanges before her spear was knocked upward.
Thud!
The senior cadet pressed in on her collapsing stance and sealed her acupoint with a finger strike, leaving her frozen solid.
'Hmm. She seemed to improve lately, but the gap between juniors and seniors is pretty big, huh.'
That was Il-mok's simple impression while watching the spar.
After that, the matches continued one after another. As Il-mok expected, they went in order of skill, so the early ones were all Yi-Class cadets.
Il-mok had little interest in his classmates, and most were cadets whose names he didn't even know, but a few stood out.
'Smart head on him, but his martial arts are a bit lacking.'
The strategist-like cadet who had been Dokgo Pae's teammate in the last exam appeared early in the order and was quickly defeated.
Then Jeong Hyeon stepped into the center of the training grounds.
Considering his solid performance in the previous exam, it was an odd slot. Even more so, given he had outshone A-Class Choi Woong by far.
But having watched the prior matches, Il-mok could roughly grasp the situation.
'Not just by exam scores, but pure sparring skill order?'
Jeong Hyeon's archery and other arts were far more useful in real combat than these straightforward frontal clashes.
"Please, take good care of me."
Stepping to the center, Jeong Hyeon trembled as he cupped his fists in salute, his voice like a crawling ant.
He positioned himself about three zhang (six meters) from the senior cadet and raised his bow.
"Begin!"
At the instructor's command, the senior cadet charged at Jeong Hyeon.
Screeeee!
Jeong Hyeon fired his pre-nocked arrow.
Thud!
And immediately stepped to widen the distance from the senior.
But arrows shot openly from the front with no cover were inevitably halved in power.
Clang!
The senior cadet calmly dodged Jeong Hyeon's arrows and gradually closed in.
"Eek!?"
Finally, when the gap narrowed to one zhang, Jeong Hyeon let out a strange gasp and froze.
Thud!
The senior didn't miss the opening, closing in instantly to hold his sword at Jeong Hyeon's nose and stop.
Right after the match ended.
Unpleasant talk circulated among the onlookers.
"Tsk. Pathetic."
"A Divine Cult warrior, yet so feeble."
"Archery has its limits, after all."
"There's still plenty of time before Demonic Path Academy graduation—maybe learn a new martial art."
Il-mok's classmates muttered, and voices came from the senior cadets too.
Naturally, Il-mok's brow furrowed.
'Idiots.'
It wasn't anger over them insulting Jeong Hyeon, with whom he was somewhat friendly. That irked him too, but...
'Don't they have anything in their heads but frontal clashes?'
No, it was genuine stupidity that made him frown.
Honestly, among all the cadets' martial arts here, Il-mok feared Jeong Hyeon's archery the most.
The others' arts were all openly deployed, so he was confident in dealing with them.
Of course, this boldness came entirely from the Heavenly Demon's teachings.
Thanks to countless spars with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's top master, the Heavenly Demon, Il-mok no longer blinked at ordinary attacks.
But an arrow sniping from hidden cover in a melee?
No, even without melee—if sniped from afar while sleeping?
And moreover.
'No need to sweat it out face-to-face either? Just hide, rest, snipe the target when it comes—bam! Sigh. Should've learned archery myself.'
For Il-mok, who valued rest and efficiency, archery was the ultimate martial art.
While Il-mok thought this, Jeong Hyeon, having finished his match, returned to the classmates with shoulders hunched.
Il-mok, who had been watching indifferently from a corner until now, stepped forward to meet Jeong Hyeon.
"Don't mind it too much. I know Cadet Jeong's true value well."
"M-My true va-value?"
At Il-mok's encouragement, for some reason, Jeong Hyeon's shoulders hunched even more, head drooping completely, looking utterly cowed.
'...Did I say something unnecessary?'
Feeling awkward, Il-mok tossed in one more line of praise and averted his gaze to the ongoing matches.
"Ahem. Surely others will recognize it someday too."
* * *
After Jeong Hyeon, the matches continued.
Once the Yi-Class cadets' turns ended, it was time for A-Class cadets like Il-mok.
"Ohohohot!"
Bang Mi-hwa burst into strange laughter even as she was being pushed back by the senior cadet, feigning composure until she finally lost.
Dokgo Pae's match went like this.
"Try blocking this too, Senior!"
"Uhahaha! Excellent!"
Somehow matched against similarly hot-blooded Mak Ho-yeol, they engaged in a hearty brawl.
They alternated their signature martial arts, clashing sword and blade nonstop.
No yielding, no retreating or dodging.
Dokgo Pae unleashed the famed Dokgo Rigid Sword and all-out offense nonstop, while Mak Ho-yeol parried every Dokgo Rigid Sword with swift blade arts.
"If you block this too, I'll concede defeat!"
"Come at me!"
Finally, Dokgo Pae unleashed his strongest technique.
Vast inner energy flowed along his giant sword, forming a heavy sword aura.
"Excellent!!"
Mak Ho-yeol's eyes gleamed as he swung his blade to meet it, smashing Dokgo Pae's giant sword repeatedly.
Watching their heated spar, Il-mok thought.
'Where'd they sell their footwork?'
Even Dokgo Pae, unleashing his final technique, had blood trickling from his mouth.
Meaning he kept charging head-on despite accumulating internal injuries.
'Ugh, barbaric bastards.'
Il-mok couldn't comprehend their romanticized fight.
Meanwhile, Mak Ho-yeol's blade kept smashing Dokgo Pae's giant sword.
"Urk."
Finally, the exhausted giant sword halted. Dokgo Pae, internally injured, let out a faint groan.
Yet Dokgo Pae steadfastly withdrew his sword, cupped fists, and saluted Mak Ho-yeol.
"I concede defeat, Senior."
"Hahaha! I never knew there'd be such a fine junior. Thanks to you, I've gained great insight!"
It felt like reuniting with a lost brother.
Il-mok wondered if those two might soon swear brotherhood, giving him a headache.
'Damn. Now they'll come together?'
As Il-mok shuddered at the horrific thought, the nearby classmates looked tense.
'Is he disappointed?'
'Well... the youngest young master might be.'
'Yeah. From what the seniors said, the youngest young master beat that Mak Ho-yeol Senior too.'
The reason for their thoughts was simple.
Nineteen matches so far, and their record was total defeat.
They expected seniors to be stronger, but such one-sided results were shocking.
Then, as Mak Ho-yeol and Dokgo Pae withdrew, the instructor called the next cadets.
"Cadet Il-mok. And Cadet Baek Cheon, step forward!"
At the command, Il-mok shook his head, clicked his tongue in displeasure—"Tsk."—and stepped forward.
Watching Il-mok's back as he headed to the training grounds center, the classmates thought.
'Yeah! The youngest young master might win.'
'We all lost, but if he wins the anchor match, it's different!'
Reaching that odd conclusion, the classmates shouted at Il-mok.
"Youngest Young Master, fight on!"
"You're our class's pride, Youngest Young Master!"
"You can win, Young Master!"
Suddenly, Il-mok had become his classmates' sole hope.