I Just Sat There
Jin Myeong-hoon asked on the way over.
“So what exactly are you planning to do?”
He had summoned the professor in charge, yet now that the man was here, he realized he had no plan at all. The opponent was an S-rank hunter, after all.
“How should I know?”
“What?”
“We’ll figure it out once we clash, won’t we?”
Even so, Kang Hyun thought Jin Myeong-hoon’s decision had been rather shrewd. Calling for him despite having no answer meant the man’s accumulated instincts had kicked in.
When they reached the old training hall, Batar, who had been sitting with his arms crossed, acknowledged them.
“Oh, finally brought him, have you?”
The interpreters were doing excellent work. Even the casual remarks came through loaded with feeling.
“Right. Did you hear the situation on the way?”
Batar rose, his gaze locked solely on Kang Hyun. He did not so much as glance at Jin Myeong-hoon.
“Our kids and yours just want to loosen up a bit. But there’s all this talk about regulations and whatnot…”
Batar’s brow furrowed. When a man spoke, the least you could do was pretend to look at him—yet Kang Hyun had given him only a single sidelong glance and then paid him no further attention.
“Cha Yu-sik.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Do you want to fight them?”
He did not ask why the fight had started or who had thrown the first punch. He only asked whether the current standoff was of their own will or someone else’s.
Cha Yu-sik liked that about his professor. It was the difference between him and Jin Myeong-hoon.
“Yes. I want to fight.”
“Then that’s settled.”
Kang Hyun nodded, found a suitable bench, and pulled a bottle of liquor from his coat.
“The kids want to stretch their legs. No reason for the adults to stick their noses in. Professor Jin, come sit. Let’s just watch.”
“……!”
Jin Myeong-hoon was dumbfounded. He had called the man to resolve this, and now he wanted to spectate?
“Professor Kang, are you in your right mind?”
“As you can see, I’m having a drink.”
“You lunatic!”
“Want a glass?”
“I’m fine!”
Jin Myeong-hoon felt his sanity fraying. But what could he do? He already knew the man was like this. He decided to trust the instinct that had brought him here in the first place.
“Fine. Since the professor in charge bears full responsibility anyway, I suppose I can sit and watch in good faith.”
Watching Jin Myeong-hoon plop down beside him, Batar let out a hollow laugh. What had first been interesting was now starting to irritate him.
Thud. Thud.
Batar walked right up to Kang Hyun’s face.
“Watching is fine and all.”
His voice had dropped lower and thicker than usual.
“This is a meeting between professors in charge. If you’re going to speak to someone you’ve just met, shouldn’t you show at least the bare minimum of courtesy?”
Only then did Kang Hyun’s languid gaze turn toward Batar.
“You knew about courtesy? I thought you didn’t.”
“What?”
“People don’t usually call shoving your presence in someone’s face the moment you meet them ‘courtesy.’”
At the provocative words, Batar twisted the corner of his mouth. He understood at once that the man was throwing the events of the afternoon straight back at him.
“Interesting.”
Batar’s eyes swept Kang Hyun from head to toe.
“But words like that are usually what the weak spit at the strong. Just looking at you, your internal energy seems even more pathetic than the professor sitting next to you. Should I at least give you credit for the guts?”
The one startled by that remark was Jin Myeong-hoon.
What? Professor Kang is weaker than me?
If an S-rank hunter like Batar was stating it with such certainty, it could not be empty talk.
But that doesn’t make sense.
He could not understand it. Kang Hyun was calmly withstanding the very presence that even he found oppressive. It was enough to make a ghost cry foul.
Could it be…
The alcohol? Had the liquor erased his fear so thoroughly that nothing registered anymore?
While Jin Myeong-hoon sank into that misconception, Batar was making the same mistake. Kang Hyun was currently burning the greater part of his internal energy simply to suppress the Asura’s demonic poison accumulated in his body. What little remained he had sealed away so completely that Batar’s eyes could not even begin to glimpse his true realm.
Having thoroughly confused both hunters with his eccentric behavior, Kang Hyun turned his gaze.
“Cha Yu-sik!”
“Yes, sir!”
“You said you wanted to fight. What are you waiting for?”
The meaning was clear: ignore this side and settle the fight that had already started. At those words the eyes of the five changed. Honestly, with only Jin Myeong-hoon present and Batar pressing down on them, they had wondered if this was right—but Kang Hyun’s arrival steadied their hearts.
“Come at us, you barbarians!”
“You arrogant flower-bed brats! Fine—let’s go!”
The free-for-all erupted. They were Korea’s top cadets, but the other side was Mongolia’s top cadets as well. The sound of air splitting and battle cries exploded across the training hall. It was a real fight.
Gulp.
Kang Hyun tipped the whiskey bottle at a leisurely pace. He had been needing some live combat lately; this was perfect. Sometimes a fight with real emotion in it was more useful than coordinated sparring.
“Batar.”
Kang Hyun waved a hand dismissively.
“You’re blocking the view. Move aside. Don’t just stand there staring.”
Batar’s cheek twitched. His patience finally snapped; he unleashed a savage presence.
Kuuuuung!
The energy did not scatter outward. It poured down with the sole intent of crushing Kang Hyun alone.
Huk.
Even the faint aftershock that brushed him made Jin Myeong-hoon clutch the bench armrest white-knuckled.
Professor Kang, are you really all right?
Yet Kang Hyun did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
Looks exactly like those Green Forest bandits.
Ignorant mountain bandits. Not even from the Demonic Cult, yet they believed raw power solved everything—the classic strong-eat-weak mindset. They reminded him of the old monsters who had tried to settle every matter with violence. Not a type Kang Hyun particularly liked.
But they are convenient.
Twisting the thought a little, few temperaments were easier to handle. They worshipped the strong; show them overwhelming force and they would tuck their tails like beasts. The way they acted so roughly was simply because they followed the animal instinct of the strong devouring the weak.
Batar, for his part, narrowed his eyes again.
Again!
It had been the same at the welcome ceremony, and it was the same now. How could the man drink so calmly while taking this pressure?
What the hell is he hiding?
Just as Batar clenched his teeth and tried to raise his presence even higher—
Hup?!
Batar’s vision flipped in an instant. The floor of the old training hall began to turn red, and then a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood spread across the world.
What is this…!
Hills of strong men’s corpses piled beyond counting! At the summit a single man stood alone in solitude. And before him, a destructive force that looked ready to annihilate the world opened its maw toward him.
Haaah!
Just looking at it made his knees go weak. Then the vision snapped back to reality.
An illusion?
It had been far too vivid for that. Cold sweat beaded down his spine. Before he knew it, Batar’s presence had withdrawn—not because he had chosen to, but because his body had instinctively pulled it back, the way a herbivore shrinks its aura before a tiger.
Batar showed nothing on his face, yet inside he was reeling. Who was this man? He should have looked into him the moment that crafty Korean dean, Seo Il-hyun, had put him forward as the professor in charge!
Kang Hyun still sat in exactly the same posture, wearing exactly the same expression. With a stiff face, Batar turned his head toward the training floor.
“Hyaaaah!”
“Block it!”
“Kuaaagh!”
The free-for-all was still raging. That, too, was surprising. He had expected his side to crush them the moment it began—yet the Korean cadets were holding?
No.
At this rate, his side was the one about to lose.
…Remarkable.
Quiet Korea had been raising monsters like these in secret. Batar’s instincts told him clearly: the professor named Kang Hyun was not someone to touch right now. Better to keep good relations if at all possible. Yes—the kind of strong man he always spoke of was exactly this sort of person.
“Enough!”
Batar’s lion’s roar shook the training hall. The startled cadets froze mid-motion. He strode over to Bahmunt and spoke.
“You should be ashamed. Coming to another country and swaggering with that pathetic level of skill? Didn’t I tell you not to act up if you couldn’t overwhelm them in one go?!”
“P-Professor.”
“All of you, put away your weapons and leave!”
Under Batar’s thunderous order the Mongolian cadets wilted. Watching them, Kang Hyun added helpfully,
“Why stop them? It was just getting interesting.”
“The strong man I speak of is not this, Professor Kang.”
Batar looked him straight in the eye.
“If you cannot crush your opponent in a single stroke and end up fighting this evenly, it is no longer a relationship of strong and weak—it is a rivalry of equals. I seem to have greatly misunderstood Korea. This exchange will give both sides a great deal to gain. I will see you properly tomorrow.”
With that, Batar led the Mongolian cadets out of the training hall without a backward glance. Jin Myeong-hoon was left staring blankly. Why had Batar suddenly acted like that? Had something happened? From where he sat, Kang Hyun had not so much as lifted a finger. All he had done was sit on the bench and drink.
“Professor Kang, what did you just do?”
“Do about what?”
“Professor Batar. Why did he suddenly tuck his tail and leave?”
“How should I know?”
Kang Hyun let out a short snort of laughter.
“Thinking about it, he probably felt embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed?”
“A professor should just focus on teaching his kids. Instead a grown adult sits around talking about strong and weak and picking aura fights. Even he must have thought he looked ridiculous. Tch.”
“…….”
At the click of Kang Hyun’s tongue, Jin Myeong-hoon could only become a mute who had swallowed honey. Batar’s behavior had been a mirror of his own past self.
Kang Hyun rose.
“Everyone all right? No injuries?”
“We’re fine, Professor.”
“Looks like you need more training. Couldn’t even properly beat kids like that.”
“We’re sorry.”
“As long as you know. Keep refining yourselves.”
Watching Kang Hyun stroll out of the training hall with his hands in his pockets, Jin Myeong-hoon felt as if he were dreaming.
The next day.
Joint training began. The plan was for each professor in charge to take turns running the sessions in their own style.
“Professor Kang, you go first.”
Command of the first day was given to Kang Hyun. And what Kang Hyun had them do was only one thing.
“Spread your feet wider than shoulder-width and bend your knees. Keep your back ramrod straight, eyes forward.”
The five and Do Jeong-hyeok wore expressions that said, of course. The horse stance was the very first drill that announced the start of special instruction class.
“Ohh, the horse stance!”
Batar inwardly burned with competitive fire.
When it comes to horses, Mongolia takes the cake!
For Mongolian cadets raised on the harsh steppes, stamina and endurance were their greatest strengths. As expected, not long after the training began, ordinary Korean cadets’ legs gave out and they began collapsing one by one.
But the real contest started then. The five under Kang Hyun’s guidance and Do Jeong-hyeok did not so much as budge. Do Jeong-hyeok in particular wore a serene face without a single bead of sweat on his forehead. The Mongolian cadets gritted their teeth and held on, remembering the scolding Batar would rain down if they lost, yet once the hour passed they hit their limits and toppled. In the end, the only ones still standing on the training ground were Kang Hyun’s six students.
“Hoo.”
Batar was genuinely impressed. So those were them—the hidden claws and future of Korea!
“Do you train like this often?”
Kang Hyun gave a short nod. In truth his gaze had been fixed the entire time on one particular figure among the Mongolian group.
Red-eyed Kasahr.
The one who reeked of a Simdeung-gwi. The stench had not yet thickened; he did not seem to be active. Kang Hyun had watched him even the previous dawn and seen no movement.
When are you going to move?
Kang Hyun smiled leisurely.
Just let that tail get stepped on. He would thrash the boy so thoroughly he would not even be able to collect the bones.