Why Should I Worry About Being Dismissed?
Kang Hyun thoroughly enjoyed atmospheres like this.
That fleeting instant of absolute silence when everyone faced an unbelievable situation—not a single breath to be heard. Screams, gasps, and curses all still stuck somewhere in their throats, unable to burst free yet.
“Th-the winner is……!”
The instructor finally snapped out of it after a long delay and raised the flag high.
“Cadet Seo Hae-in!”
That declaration lit the fuse.
“Waaaaaah!”
“Woooooah!”
The cadets’ cheers erupted first.
“Holy shit, did you see that?”
“Song Gi-cheol got sent flying in one hit? With Samjae Geombeop?”
“She crushed him with raw power…… just pure strength…….”
“Is that even human strength coming from a girl?”
“Seo Hae-in! You’re insane!”
Murmurs layered over the roaring cheers. Several professors shot up from their seats, and the scouts were frantically tapping notes into their tablets.
“Whoa. Goosebumps.”
Lee Se-ah rubbed her arms, clearly covered in goosebumps.
“Is that really the same Hae-in? She looks so timid and delicate…….”
“Delicate, my ass.”
“Huh?”
“She might look that way, but her bones are thicker than anyone else’s here.”
Kang Hyun took a pleasant swig of his drink. Watching such a refreshing match had definitely improved the flavor of the liquor.
They taught a solid-boned girl like that the light, flashy Cheongpung Sword Style. Tsk.
Of course, thick bones alone didn’t guarantee results like that. Just tossing someone a good secret manual didn’t turn everyone into an absolute master. If it did, the old bookkeepers managing the Murim archives would have conquered the world ages ago.
You made this yourself, Seo Hae-in.
She had climbed the cliff face every dawn and swung her wooden sword even while others rested. Every drop of sweat she had shed had simply returned as that heavy blow just now. Talent or not, most people wouldn’t even do the work when ordered.
Then the dazed Seo Hae-in turned her head toward the stands and locked eyes with Kang Hyun. She immediately bowed her head. Kang Hyun simply shook his bottle in reply.
Enjoy it to the fullest. Looks like today is your day.
The cheers still hadn’t died down. A perennial last-place finisher had smashed a championship contender in a single strike—of course they wouldn’t. Crowds always thrived more on dramatic reversals than predictable victories.
Kang Hyun glanced sideways at the professors’ seats. He suddenly found himself curious about the expression on the face of the professor who had once slapped Seo Hae-in’s cheek.
Sure enough, Professor Kim had also shot to his feet.
The shock must be huge.
He would have plenty to worry about. His own students had just witnessed how poor his eye for talent really was. And if Seo Hae-in ever made it big and mentioned in her autobiography or interviews how she had been slapped and humiliated during her academy days?
Would Professor Kim be able to endure that?
Serves him right for doing it.
Kang Hyun let out a quiet snort of laughter. Smashing the skull of a lazy or arrogant student during instruction was perfectly acceptable discipline. But crushing a kid who, even if a little short on talent, was desperately trying her best? That was an unforgivable mistake.
You reap what you sow in this world.
He had wounded someone far younger than himself, so someday that wound would come back around. That was simply how karma worked.
The round of sixteen wrapped up without incident.
Cha Yu-sik dismantled his opponent with elegance; Kwak Do-jin tore his apart with mad-dog tenacity. The fact that people had called him a mad dog in the first place was only possible because raw skill backed him up. Without skill, he would have just been treated like a yapping mutt.
In any case, the result was that all five of the hot-topic group cleanly advanced through the round of sixteen.
Just as Akanet fretted, the five themselves were fretting too.
Following senior Yu-sik’s order in the group chat, Seo Hae-in finished her shower and left the dorm. She was dressed in her usual comfortable casual clothes with the hood pulled low, yet……
“Huh?”
“Whoa, it’s Seo Hae-in……!”
“Shh, hey! Watch your mouth! She’s a senior.”
The way people looked at her had completely changed. Normally cadets would openly click their tongues or shoot her mocking glances when she walked by. But now—
Junior students coming the other way flinched and quietly stepped aside to clear a path.
“Oh, Hae-in! Hae-in! Your match today was seriously cool!”
Even classmates she had never exchanged a single word with approached first, offered awkward greetings, then fled as if running away.
So this is what he meant.
The professor’s words came back to her.
— Feel wronged? Then get stronger.
The entire situation felt strange and novel to Seo Hae-in.
I only got a little stronger, yet the way people treat me changed this much…….
She finally understood how childish and foolish she had been when she had shouted at Professor Kim about how unfair it all was. The cries of the powerless only ever sounded like excuses.
And if she had never met the professor, she would still be grinding her self-esteem down just to endure.
I want to get even stronger.
Seo Hae-in clenched both fists tight inside her hoodie pockets. She knew the truth. The place she stood now was not somewhere she had climbed to on her own. The professor had grabbed her by the scruff and forcibly hauled her up just to give her a brief taste.
So she could not stop here. She wanted to show him proudly—the version of herself that had truly become strong.
“Cadet Yoon Hyun-jong.”
Professor Hwang Ye-rim closed the chart as she spoke.
“Forfeit tomorrow’s match. If you take another impact here and the bone shifts even a little, you might never hold a sword again for the rest of your life.”
“I-I can’t do that……!”
“What do you mean you can’t? Advancing to the quarterfinals is already more than enough.”
“That’s not it—if I don’t fight, the professor gets dismissed!”
“Your heart’s in the right place, but think carefully. Do you really believe that professor will take responsibility for your arm?”
Hwang Ye-rim let out a short sigh and left the hospital room. The moment the door closed, Han Tae-ho and Kwak Do-jin, who had been standing around the bed, opened their mouths at the same time.
“What are you going to do, senior?”
“You forfeiting?”
The others—Cha Yu-sik and Seo Hae-in—seemed to be saying the same thing with their eyes. Are you really giving up? Is that all you’re made of?
Ahh.
Yoon Hyun-jong suddenly felt desolate. Even Professor Kang Hyun had been the same……!
“The only person here who actually worries about me is Professor Hwang Ye-rim.”
“If that’s how it felt, I’m sorry.”
Cha Yu-sik answered immediately.
“But that’s also reality. If you don’t fight, then just like you said, Professor Kang Hyun gets dismissed and the rest of us lose our chance to keep taking his classes.”
“I know, I know that.”
That was exactly what Yoon Hyun-jong had been agonizing over. Taking the hit himself was fine, but the choice would hurt others.
If I’d just been a little stronger, I could have won without breaking my arm.
“Yoon.”
Cha Yu-sik spoke gently. He genuinely felt bad for him, but Cha Yu-sik needed Jewang Geomhyeong that badly. Only by continuing to learn it from Professor Kang Hyun could he become the successor of Cheonrang.
“The reason we won today wasn’t just because of Samjae Geombeop.”
His serious tone drew every cadet’s gaze.
“You all felt it. The formulas the professor recites up on the peak aren’t ordinary.”
Everyone agreed on that point. The level was completely different from normal internal arts. Every time they circulated their energy, the pure inner power stacking in their dantian was extraordinary.
“So here’s the thing.”
Cha Yu-sik dropped his voice low.
“What I’m about to say stays a secret just between us.”
Previously, when Kang Hyun had demonstrated Jewang Geomhyeong for Cha Yu-sik, none of them had known what martial art it was—and they still didn’t. They had simply assumed it was something tremendous. Only Kwak Do-jin had casually asked, and Cha Yu-sik had refused to answer. Of course he had. It was a family secret technique.
“The martial art I was going to learn from the professor…… is actually Jewang Geomhyeong.”
“……!”
The cadets’ jaws dropped.
“Jewang Geomhyeong?”
“……That one!”
“You mean the Manbakza second-grade martial art?”
Jewang Geomhyeong was fairly well-known—one of the fourteen second-grade arts selected by Manbakza.
“Shh, shh, shh.”
Cha Yu-sik raised a finger and quieted their voices.
“It’d be best if you don’t go around blabbing about this. I might be able to stay quiet, but my father definitely won’t.”
Gulp. The cadets swallowed hard.
“Wait, so that means the professor knows Jewang Geomhyeong?”
Kwak Do-jin asked.
“Knowing it doesn’t even cover it, senior. He seems to know the matching internal art as well. I was shocked myself.”
“And you’re telling us this because……?”
“Because the martial arts he’ll teach you guys will also be on the level of second-grade.”
Cha Yu-sik knew from sparring with them. He knew how pure their inner power was. It was clearly similar to the inner power he himself had built while memorizing the formulas the professor taught.
Cha Yu-sik looked at Yoon Hyun-jong again.
“What I’m trying to say is…… the fact that we even got to take first-semester classes is already an enormous stroke of fortune.”
“In the end, you’re telling me to fight.”
“Who hands out second-grade martial arts? You wouldn’t fight for that? I’d keep going even with a broken leg.”
“Yeah, that’s fair.”
Yoon Hyun-jong agreed. The fake Ohodanmundo that had caused such a stir this time had auctioned for thirty billion won, right? If someone was offering thirty billion, what was a broken arm? You had to at least try.
“You didn’t even need to talk me into it. I was going to fight anyway. Don’t worry. I’ll make the semifinals with one arm.”
“Thank you.”
Cha Yu-sik gave a heavy nod.
“And starting tomorrow, we change tactics.”
“Tactics?”
“In the round of sixteen we each put on a little act like we won by luck and conserved stamina. But from the quarterfinals tomorrow, none of that. Everyone’s going to be on guard against us now anyway.”
“Then?”
“We go like Hae-in. The moment the starting whistle blows, we end it with full power. Let’s just rewrite history this time.”
The record for fastest championship using only Samjae Geombeop!
At that same hour, in the professor’s office.
“Aren’t you worried at all, Mr. Kang Hyun?”
“Worried about what?”
“What if Cadet Yoon Hyun-jong loses tomorrow? You’ll be dismissed.”
“Why should I worry about being dismissed?”
“Huh?”
In truth, Kang Hyun had already had his fill of fun at the academy. If he wanted to find disciples to teach the Chilyojin, he would have to head overseas now. Or scour the entire country.
“If I get kicked out, it’s their loss, not mine.”
“……!”
Lee Se-ah’s eyes went wide. Thinking about it, he was right.
Why was I even fretting about Black?
The ones who should be fretting were the academy and the nation. Black was an asymmetric force they needed to keep hold of, while Kang Hyun himself was just lounging around here for the time being. If he felt like leaving, he could simply leave.
Oh no. This is bad.
Lee Se-ah’s expression turned rapidly serious. If he really did get dismissed, what was she supposed to report to the director? Should she put pressure on the academy side? Or try to win over a few people from Jin Myeong-hoon’s line?
“Chick.”
“Yes?”
“Stop thinking useless thoughts and go grind some more feed.”
Swish, swish. Kang Hyun continued his brush strokes as he tossed the remark out.
“And looking at the bracket, you should be more worried about Han Tae-ho than Yoon Hyun-jong.”
Han Tae-ho. His next opponent was that soft-looking kid they had seen before—Do Jeong-hyeok.
“I can predict the other matches, but that one doesn’t come easy.”
The corner of Kang Hyun’s mouth curled up with interest. That match would probably decide tomorrow’s entire tournament.