The First Class
Enroll in Cheonlim Academy — COMPLETE!
Acquire the Mugung Ilwol Sword
Destroy Chaos Gates: 0/3
The realm of the Cheonnyeo Yeonhwa Heart Method has risen.
The abilities of the Cheonnyeo Yeonhwa Art are reshaping your body…
Condition: Fully master the Cheonnyeo Yeonhwa Art.
🎁 Reward: Mugung Ilwol Sword
“……?”
Morning.
I rose from bed after waking.
Beyond the curtains, the streets outside the window were dyed in the blue of dawn.
“……”
Wi Choryeong lay asleep beside me.
She looked troubled, as though she were having a nightmare.
The blanket had slipped halfway off, exposing her pale shoulder and the gentle swell of her breasts.
Only then did I realize I was naked as well, just like her.
‘What exactly happened yesterday?’
I had met with the Dean.
Been guided to the dormitory.
Had a small argument with Choryeong.
Then the maids had bathed us together in the tub.
Right after finishing that “bath,” both Choryeong and I had become completely strange.
Even the simple act of the maids drying us with towels had us trembling uncontrollably, forced to endure wave after wave of pleasure.
Choryeong had even lost control and wet herself midway… The maids had cleaned it up, but…
After that we must have eaten or done something else, yet my memory was hazy.
My mind had been far too clouded.
“Have you risen, Lady Dohwa?”
From the corner of the room, one of the maids who had been kneeling in wait spoke to me.
She raised a finger to her lips in a “shh” gesture, mindful not to wake Choryeong.
Understanding, the maid closed her eyes and fell silent once more.
Swish—
I slipped out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
The bathroom looked no different from yesterday.
…The tub was empty.
The lotion that had filled it had already been cleaned away.
“Mmm……”
Standing before the mirror, I examined my reflection.
Ever since waking, a sharp tingling had been pulsing through my lower abdomen, impossible to ignore.
‘My entire body feels hypersensitive… Probably because of the nano-machines in that lotion.’
But this sensation—this throbbing in my womb—was not from the nano-machines.
I was certain of it.
The cause lay deeper still.
In something far more primal.
“……”
Just in case, I checked my eyes and hair again.
…No, nothing was wrong.
Still the same “black” as always.
‘It’ll be fine. For now, at least.’
I reassured myself.
.
.
.
While circulating my qi, I waited. Before long, Choryeong awoke.
Like me, she was a martial artist.
A late-stage Peak expert, no less.
She was not the type to sleep in.
“…Tch, getting up first again…!”
“There’s no need to compete over this.”
“Tomorrow I will definitely wake earlier!”
“Please don’t. You should rest properly when it’s time to sleep.”
Even though we had both risen quite early, Choryeong clearly found it unacceptable.
We spent the remaining time circulating our qi, washing up, and making light preparations before leaving the room.
From today onward, our life at Cheonlim Academy would truly begin.
“Would you like help, my lady?”
“…I’m fine!”
Student cafeteria.
The academy had a shared dining hall.
A maid had shown it to us last night.
Choryeong was glaring fiercely at the kiosk.
Yesterday she had spent a full quarter-hour fumbling with it, unable to operate the machine.
When I had finally stepped in to help, she had tried to bite my head off.
Still, my assistance yesterday must have been worthwhile.
Today she finished ordering in under half that time.
Without anyone’s help.
All by herself!
“…Could you please stop making that face?! It’s infuriating!”
“Ah, my apologies. You simply looked too adorable, Lady Choryeong.”
“……Grrrrrr!!!”
We took our seats and waited.
Soon a robot attendant brought our meals.
Choryeong’s dish was a plain, lightly seasoned wonton soup.
She looked faintly disappointed, so she had probably failed to add any extras.
“If you ordered wrong, you can always order again. It seems meals are free for students here.”
“Kh…! A true swordsman must treasure food… I will not waste it.”
She shot me a glare.
“And what exactly is that pale thing you’re eating?”
“This? Carbonara.”
Choryeong wore an expression of utter disbelief.
Yet I was the one who couldn’t understand her.
She didn’t know what carbonara was?
And she still called herself a martial artist?
I didn’t know much about the murim myself.
But there were a few things I did know.
One of them was the typical scene inside a murim restaurant.
Weren’t kiosks, robot attendants carrying lightning-fast dishes, and carbonara as the standard menu all common sense in the murim?
…Ah.
I see.
I understood now.
‘She’s been so focused on training that she knows nothing of the outside world.’
I had been the same.
Buried inside Cheonwol Palace for the sake of cultivation.
Unlike me, who had at least learned a little about the murim in my previous life, Choryeong clearly had no such knowledge.
Poor Choryeong… at such a tender age…
“…Why do you look so annoyed all of a sudden?”
“It’s a misunderstanding. More importantly, would you like a bite?”
“H-How could a swordsman covet another’s food?! Such an unseemly act is beneath me!”
So she said.
‘Still…’
While eating, I quietly glanced around.
Other tables held students.
Probably disciples from other sects.
A few faces looked vaguely familiar if I looked closely.
Since I had rarely left Cheonwol Palace, I didn’t know many people.
‘Something suspicious…’
My master had warned me that this place—Cheonlim Academy—was suspicious.
And the Dean wasn’t the only suspicious figure.
Perhaps other staff members.
Or even the students who had enrolled here.
They might all fall under suspicion.
‘It’s unlikely that only the Dean is suspicious while the students are innocent.’
This academy was the size of a city.
Even in a murim world, it couldn’t run entirely on AI and robots.
There had to be other people keeping it running.
‘I need to suspect everyone and observe them all.’
‘One by one, carefully.’
‘What is their purpose for being here?’
‘Are they harmful or harmless?’
‘Are they villains or not?’
‘I won’t know until I see it with my own eyes.’
And if I determined someone was a villain…
Then I would deal with them myself.
If they proved too strong, I would ask my master for help.
“……”
Choryeong, currently absorbed in her wonton soup right in front of me, was also one of the suspects.
The possibility seemed low, but there was no harm in suspecting everyone.
‘Well… either way, this will take time.’
Life here wasn’t uncomfortable, at least.
For now, I would continue my investigation at a leisurely pace… I slurped down the rest of my carbonara.
After finishing our meal, I wondered what came next.
Now that I thought about it, although we had enrolled, no one had told us what we were supposed to do afterward.
Was this academy for studying?
Or some kind of special training?
‘All I’ve heard is that they research Hongoe.’
While I stood there wondering what to do next, a maid who had appeared in the cafeteria spoke up.
“The Master is calling for you. I will guide you to the ‘classroom.’”
The place we were led to was a small room.
It had a blackboard, desks, and chairs.
“Good morning. Did you both sleep well? Were you able to rest properly? If anything is uncomfortable, let me know. I’ll do my best to accommodate you, short of changing rooms.”
“Dean?”
The person waiting for us inside was none other than the Dean.
The same man from yesterday.
“The person standing here is not the Dean. I am your ‘temporary instructor.’”
“?”
“You probably don’t know the word ‘clone.’ Let me see… searching… Ah, would ‘avatar’ or ‘split body’ suffice as an explanation?”
I understood.
The real Dean existed separately, and the instructor here existed separately as well.
Yet they were the same person.
Was that what he meant?
‘How impressive… the murim.’
Since this was the murim, perhaps cloning or artificial womb cultivation was considered common knowledge.
“Well, don’t overthink it. Our memories and minds are synchronized periodically. Even physical details match without error… Yes, even the shape and size of the member that took your virginities are identical. Want to see?”
“……!”
Choryeong’s face flushed red.
I didn’t make the same expression, but I felt slightly disgusted.
A teacher, on the very first day, spouting such vulgar jokes.
And in front of young ladies in their prime, no less.
“It was a joke. Just a joke. No need to look so serious.”
“That wasn’t funny at all…”
“Sorry, sorry. I’ve been alone for too long. I really am hopeless. I don’t even know how to talk to young ladies anymore.”
“……”
“Anyway, treat me as though I am the Dean himself. The Student Rules apply to me as well. Understood?”
“…Understood.”
“Good.”
At our reply, he nodded in satisfaction.
“Then let’s begin class. First, to proceed with the lesson, ‘strip right where you stand and become completely naked.’”
The joke from earlier had been unfunny, but with that serious expression, he looked like a perfectly respectable instructor.
Choryeong and I obeyed, removing our clothes and standing naked before him.
“Just standing there is rather dull. Well then, why don’t the two of you kiss? Rub your bodies together as much as possible while you do.”
According to the Student Rules, the Dean’s commands were absolute.
And the man before us was the Dean’s clone—his identical self.
Therefore, we could not refuse his order.
“Kh… Lady Dohwa…!”
Choryeong approached me.
I faced her in turn.
Slowly, we pressed our lips together.
…Choryeong’s lips tasted sweet.
A different sensation from yesterday’s kiss…
“…?”
Something felt strange.
But I couldn’t quite tell what was strange…