A Taste of Foundation Work
Before dawn had broken, Kang Hyun stood on the plot behind the new building, stomping and packing the uneven dirt underfoot.
The bedrock layer’s pretty thick.
Through his qi he could see straight through the earth as if it were glass.
Might as well dig it out myself.
Save on excavation costs and time both.
Shing!
Kang Hyun drew a real sword. He’d picked it up cheap from the nearby armory, and it was serviceable enough.
Still need to forge myself a proper blade one of these days.
Fight Asura with this scrap? He’d be dead before he ever summoned the Heavenly God.
Before long the students began filtering out of the darkness one by one.
“Huh.”
“Professor?”
They looked puzzled. Normally their professor would already be lounging on a rock or a raised platform, nursing a bottle of liquor.
Why’s he holding a sword…?
The vibe’s totally different today.
While they all assembled, Kang Hyun kept staring at the ground as if running estimates in his head.
After a while he spoke.
“Everyone here?”
“Yes, Professor!”
“Then sit.”
He figured he might as well give the kids a demonstration while he was at it—a taste of the martial arts they would eventually learn.
Kang Hyun raised his sword. Anticipation lit the students’ eyes. They trusted him, of course, but they were still curious about the true power of the techniques he had promised to teach.
“This is just a sample. I already showed you Jewang Geomhyeong last time, so we’ll skip that and start with Ohodanmundo.”
“……!”
The legendary Ohodanmundo?! Seo Hae-in in particular went rigid with tension.
Wooooong!
It was originally a saber art, but Kang Hyun had long since transcended any dependence on a specific weapon. Hadn’t he demonstrated it with a tree branch in front of Ma Chul-woong not long ago?
KROOOAAAR!
The instant the words left his mouth, five tigers materialized in the air one after another. Just looking at them made knees threaten to buckle—savage, murderous beasts.
Kang Hyun brought the sword straight down into the earth.
KRAAAAAAANG!
The ground exploded. It literally shattered and tore apart as if packed with dynamite. Every time he struck, the five tigers seemed to rake their claws in perfect unison.
“Ugh!”
“What the hell…?”
KROOOAAAR!
With every tiger’s roar, house-sized boulders erupted in showers of rubble.
A human can actually use martial arts like this?
So this is a second-class art…! Completely tyrannical…!
Seo Hae-in’s thoughts were the most frantic of all.
And he says I can learn this?
Just watching made it hard to breathe. What would it feel like to actually wield it?
Then Kang Hyun casually extended his empty left hand.
“Wha—?”
The wooden sword at Yoon Hyun-jong’s waist slid free of its sheath and flew straight into Kang Hyun’s palm—perfect, effortless telekinesis.
“Next is the Invincible Twin Swords.”
Taah!
His body shot upward like a dragon, weaving between the soaring boulders.
At the same time—
Emerging Dragon Cross!
KWA-DUK!
The two blades carved perfect cross-shaped trajectories, quartering boulder after boulder with surgical precision.
Not one—dozens.
Thud-thud-thud!
“Hah…”
Yoon Hyun-jong sucked in a sharp breath. The cut surfaces were as smooth as polished obsidian.
“Catch.”
Kang Hyun flicked his wrist and tossed the wooden sword back. Yoon Hyun-jong caught it with trembling hands. The wood was still hot.
“Next—Do-jin, this one’s for you. The Demon-Subduing Sword.”
Holding only the real blade now, Kang Hyun radiated an entirely different aura.
“To hunt demons, you have to become a fiercer, more vicious devil than they are.”
Grrrrrr!
Dense, blood-red sword qi coiled around his blade.
Army-Breaking Blood Wind!
Where the Moyong family’s sword was refined, the Gongdong Sect’s was raw and savage.
KWAGAGAGAGAK!
You swung it with only one thought: tear apart everything that stood in your way.
“Urrrgh!”
“Haaah!”
A howling gale slammed into the students. They squeezed their eyes shut and threw their arms up to shield their faces. It felt like standing inside a hurricane.
That’s…
Kwak Do-jin’s blood was boiling.
That’s the path I have to walk!
The great boulders had already been reduced to gravel.
Thud-thud-thud!
Thousands of pebbles rained from the sky. Kang Hyun tilted his sword at an angle.
“Last one. Han Tae-ho—watch closely.”
Han Tae-ho gulped. Every student already knew what was coming.
Plum Blossom Sword Art.
A first-class technique!
Kang Hyun offered no explanation. In the old Murim, when a master of Mount Hua’s swordsmanship moved, no words were needed.
Because of the scent.
“Ah…”
“That fragrance…”
The rich perfume of plum blossoms began to drift from the blade.
Shing!
Kang Hyun’s sword began to dance—fluid, dazzling, utterly different from the crude power of the previous arts. A soft, breathtakingly beautiful sword dance.
“This is the Plum Blossom Sword.”
Crimson sword qi bloomed from the tip of his blade like hundreds of plum petals unfurling and scattering on the wind.
Beautiful…
This is martial arts? It’s pure art…
The students were entranced by the hypnotic dance. The plum blossoms filling the air were exquisite—until those same petals brushed past the falling gravel and reduced every last stone to fine sand. No one called it beautiful after that.
Thud-thud-thud!
At last every rock had been completely pulverized. When the dance ended, Kang Hyun calmly sheathed his sword.
Excavation complete.
He looked satisfied. The students stood frozen like statues. Ohodanmundo, Invincible Twin Swords, Demon-Subduing Sword Art, Plum Blossom Sword Art—each spectacle had so thoroughly shattered the limits of what a human should be capable of that their sense of reality had briefly short-circuited.
“What are you waiting for?”
Kang Hyun’s voice was flat.
“Not going to train? Show’s over—pick up your wooden swords.”
After morning training, Kang Hyun walked into his office and found Baek Yu-yeon inserting silver needles into a practice dummy.
“Baek Yu-yeon.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“How far have you gotten?”
She had memorized the books ages ago. He was asking about practical skill.
“I can do most of it without mistakes now.”
“Then it’s time to move to real patients.”
“Real patients?”
“Acupuncture is useless if you only ever practice theory. Every person’s qi and blood flow is different. Bone thickness, flesh density—everything varies.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Just wait.”
Not long after—
Knock-knock.
Someone rapped on the office door.
“Come in.”
The door opened to reveal none other than Hwang Ye-rim. Baek Yu-yeon’s eyes went wide.
“P-Professor Hwang?”
“It’s been a while, Yu-yeon.”
“What brings you here…?”
Truthfully, Baek Yu-yeon felt guilty. She had been skipping every single one of her major classes without a word of explanation.
Kang Hyun’s lips curved upward.
“I called her. Starting today, take this kid to the infirmary and work her hard. No better place to build real clinical sense.”
“Whaaat?”
Baek Yu-yeon’s face went paper-white, then crumpled into the expression of an abandoned puppy.
“……I still have so much left to learn from you, Professor… Are you really casting me out?”
That desperate look made Hwang Ye-rim’s brow twitch.
Look at this little brat.
She felt a quiet sting of disappointment. She was the professor of martial arts medicine, after all—she had come in person to collect her own student, and the girl was this heartbroken about leaving?
Just what had this contract professor taught her over the past two months to inspire that kind of attachment?
She had rushed over the moment she heard Baek Yu-yeon was being sent to the infirmary, and now the wind had been taken out of her sails.
“Who said anything about casting you out? Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays you report to the infirmary and assist Professor Hwang. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays you come to my lab.”
Only then did color return to Baek Yu-yeon’s face. Hwang Ye-rim, still wearing a complicated expression, looked at Kang Hyun.
“I’ll be honest, Professor—I’m a little surprised.”
“About what?”
“I assumed you’d want to monopolize Yu-yeon. A talent like hers doesn’t come along often.”
“She’s a person, not a possession. What’s there to monopolize?”
Kang Hyun let out a short laugh.
“The path of medicine is wide and deep. Experience matters just as much as theory. I’m trusting you to guide her well.”
Hwang Ye-rim’s eyes wavered. She heard genuine care for Baek Yu-yeon in those words.
“Thank you for entrusting her to me. We could actually use the extra hands in the infirmary.”
As Hwang Ye-rim offered a formal bow of gratitude, Baek Yu-yeon, who had been watching carefully, spoke up hesitantly.
“Um… Professor Kang Hyun.”
“What.”
“If I’m going to use acupuncture on patients in the infirmary… I’ll have to use the techniques you taught me in front of Professor Hwang, and I might even need to explain the principles… Is that all right?”
She was asking permission to share the contents of the Heavenly Meridian Compendium and the Heavenly Physician’s Needle Technique. Even she could tell those teachings would shake the entire world.
“Doesn’t matter. What’s the point of hoarding techniques that save lives?”
Besides, knowing something and being able to use it were two different things. Both arts were merely stepping stones toward the Water-Element True Qi and the Tendon Changing Classic anyway.
“If anyone asks, answer them honestly.”
“Thank you.”
It was a warm exchange, yet Hwang Ye-rim felt oddly unsettled.
What was that about?
Asking permission to explain the principles to her? As if the girl had learned some peerless secret art that Hwang Ye-rim could never possibly understand?
Ridiculous.
No matter how skilled Professor Kang Hyun might be, martial arts and martial arts medicine were completely different fields. Before joining the Academy she had already been the top authority in Korea, tempered by countless real battles in the nation’s strongest guild medical unit.
We’ll see about that.
A quiet fire lit under Hwang Ye-rim’s pride. She looked at Baek Yu-yeon with new resolve.
Just what did you learn from this professor over the past two months that made you ditch every single one of my major classes? I’ll be watching very carefully in my infirmary.
Not long after Baek Yu-yeon left, Lee Se-ah returned from the Management Bureau.
“Kang Hyun-nim.”
She held out a silver card.
“What’s this?”
“Your hunter license, issued by the Association.”
“Hunter license?”
He took the card. A photo, a name, and a rank were printed on it.
“Why A? Not S?”
“Ah, that.”
Lee Se-ah smiled.
“The Korean Association can only issue up to A-rank.”
“Then how do you get S?”
“That’s under the World Association’s jurisdiction. After registering as an A-rank hunter you have to wait three years, then rack up at least ten survival records in dungeons above A-rank before you even qualify for evaluation.”
That was why S-ranks received VIP treatment and full identity guarantees wherever they went in the world. They were officially recognized as transcenders by the entire planet.
“They made it deliberately annoying.”
Kang Hyun shoved the card into his pocket without much interest. Rank meant nothing to him. S or A—by his standards they were the same.
I’ll get around to it eventually.
“Oh, and one more thing.”
Lee Se-ah pulled a file from her coat and held it out.
“The investigation report on Do Jeong-hyeok.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. His parents divorced when he was young. He lives with his mother, and she’s quite well-off—apparently she inherited a sizable estate from his maternal grandfather.”
“Ah.”
Kang Hyun nodded.
“That’s why he went through the elite track, right?”
“Exactly—private tutoring pipeline. His mother’s involvement in his education seems even heavier than we thought.”
“Is that so?”
Kang Hyun skimmed the documents, then stood. It was about time he met Do Jeong-hyeok in person.