The Black Forest
In the conference room, now emptied of everyone else, Buk Wonpyeong let out a long sigh.
"That madman……."
There was no other way to put it. How else would you describe someone baring his teeth at the instructors who held his leash, daring them to stab him with their knives?
……Is he really the reincarnation of the Black Path's communal enemy?
The absurd rumors were starting to gain a disturbing ring of truth. Buk Wonpyeong pressed his throbbing temples with his thumb.
"I'm aging faster because of that guy. Way too fast."
He was the benefactor who had granted Buk Wonpyeong the fateful opportunity to find the true inheritor of the Three Pure Ones Unfettered Sword. But at this rate, he'd die of old age before he could even open his sect. Enemy or benefactor? It was getting hard to tell.
"But unexpectedly…… the instructors backed down."
The vested interests of the Murim Alliance never yielded easily. No, it was safe to say they never yielded at all. Why would a group with money, power, and superior martial prowess ever step back?
They harbored no doubts about their massive fortress. They simply kicked away anyone trying to climb it and poured oil to set them ablaze.
Those aspiring to the fortress spouted similar words. They said you'd eventually fall no matter how high you climbed. It was just a matter of who climbed the farthest.
Buk Wonpyeong hoped Jin Sowoon would climb at least higher than him. Setting aside lay disciple status or profit shares.
He was simply curious what would happen if that young man succeeded.
But Jin Sowoon had kicked away the ladder with his own hands before even reaching the fortress.
[Go ahead. Do as you please. No, please, do it. That way, I won't feel any guilt when I strike back at you instructors.]
And then he'd roared that he'd slaughter everyone inside the fortress.
"Hah…… madman……."
It had been a dizzying moment, of course. The vested interests, especially the Jeongdo Council led by the Nine Great Sects, would never tolerate someone like Jin Sowoon.
Why could the vested interests maintain their positions? Because they crushed any challenge, no matter how trivial, without mercy.
So Buk Wonpyeong had no doubt this meeting marked the end of Jin Sowoon's ascent—and the start of his fall.
Yet.
[……Grind. Enough.]
The instructors had backed down first.
Why?
More questions than relief that Jin Sowoon had survived. The instructors weren't the type to retreat easily.
Backing down here meant Jin Sowoon's exploits and their humiliation would shadow them for the rest of the semester. Rumors would spread even after returning to the Murim Alliance, and the Cheongsung Sect would surely rage over the tale.
Yet the instructors had yielded first.
"I really don't get it."
Then it occurred to him—what would he have done? As he'd told Jin Sowoon, he'd have smoothed things over diplomatically.
Because when the instructors made their offer, he'd thought it was a decent deal.
"……."
He'd judged it the safest way to climb the fortress undisturbed.
But Jin Sowoon didn't care. As if reaching the fortress didn't matter, he'd burned the lifeline they'd tossed him and plummeted to the ground.
As if he feared nothing that came next.
As if he could fall even further.
A hollow laugh escaped him unbidden.
"……Is that the difference?"
Suddenly, it hit him—maybe Jin Sowoon's choice was the right answer.
The instructors were the ones who'd retreated, after all.
His head began throbbing again.
"I don't understand any of this."
Was it that the mind of a man barely past thirty had outmaneuvered him? Or had he, with twice the life experience, simply not understood the world?
Even after the meeting ended, Buk Wonpyeong lingered in the conference room for a long while.
"Damn it!"
No Jinha kicked a random stone, sending it flying. Still fuming, he stomped around, venting his rage in all directions.
"Damn it! Damn it! That damn bastard! I'll kill him……!"
Despite mental cultivation being a daoist's basic virtue, his cursing didn't look good—but Gang Sun-tak didn't stop him. He felt much the same.
Still, he worried about prying eyes.
"Calm down. It's over, isn't it?"
No Jinha, still huffing, glared at him sharply.
"Did you figure out why the Azure Dragon Pavilion Lord and Crimson Dragon Pavilion Lord are protecting him?"
"……We're looking into it."
"Still?"
A sigh leaked from Gang Sun-tak's lips. He hadn't been this dim before.
"Get a grip. This could spill over into investigating the pavilion lords. You know we have to tread carefully."
"That's because something utterly ridiculous happened!!!"
Gang Sun-tak chuckled dryly at No Jinha's outburst. He was right—if the Azure Dragon and Crimson Dragon Pavilion Lords hadn't intervened, they'd have crushed Jin Sowoon flat.
"Those guys have been up to shady stuff forever."
There was clearly no connection between them and Jin Sowoon. Yet they'd foreseen their moves and applied pressure through the White Tiger Pavilion Lord.
No one could ignore the pavilion lords they'd face in a year.
That's why they'd arranged the meeting.
Even that had failed spectacularly.
"Ever since that day…… I can't sleep from the injustice. I just can't sleep!"
"……."
No Jinha pounded his chest like a man who'd let an archenemy slip away. Fair enough—if it'd happened to Gang Sun-tak, he'd have half-killed Jin Sowoon first, pavilion lords be damned.
Gang Sun-tak patted his shoulder.
"In a way, it worked out better."
"How?"
"It's as good as a feud between the academy rep and the instructors. We can use that as an excuse."
"……."
"Our evaluations are absolute for the rest of the semester. That's plenty to corner him."
"……You're right."
Jin Sowoon would probably savor his "victory" and sleep soundly tonight. No Jinha, meanwhile, wouldn't get a wink.
But that was temporary.
"It's not over. No, it's just beginning."
From now on, Jin Sowoon would go to bed regretting every night.
Their power didn't show immediate results.
"Let's go. My treat today."
So for now, they'd nurse their sore guts a bit. Relief would come soon enough.
After the confrontation between the instructors and Jin Sowoon.
The semester resumed.
The academy students were dying to know how it ended, but neither Jin Sowoon nor the instructors said a word, acting as if nothing happened.
Of course, students starved for excitement in their dull academy life wouldn't let prime gossip slip. They spun all sorts of tales.
"I heard Jin the rep knelt before the instructors, bawling and begging for his life."
"They say Jin Sowoon led black path masters to raid the instructors' quarters one by one."
"I heard he handed them blank promissory notes."
The topic dominated drinking sessions and meals, but no one could verify the truth.
As rumors always do, the blaze died down, leaving embers behind.
"No…… why is my grade a C? I made it to the quarterfinals in the sparring tournament……."
"Tch, the instructors say your form comprehension is low."
"That's bullshit! How many times have they even seen our sect's forms?!"
"Ever since they switched to absolute grading, this keeps happening…… Tsk tsk. Maybe Jin the rep was right."
Non-Jeongdo Council affiliates started getting stingy grades.
It could pass as higher standards, as the instructors claimed overall levels were low.
But Jeongdo Council members—or their allies—began scoring higher than before.
"……Weird. That guy's always boozing and skipping class, yet he gets a B."
"Hm…… Some hidden agenda we don't know?"
"Hidden agenda my ass! They're just favoritism-scoring him!"
What started as subtle bias grew blatant over time.
By semester's end, three months in, the discrimination was crystal clear.
Most Jeongdo Council folks got top scores; half the Baekdo Council got good ones. The Twelve Peaks and others scraped the bottom.
Such overt bias turned the academy atmosphere tense and hostile.
Non-Jeongdo folks grew antagonistic toward the council's unfair treatment. The council took their privileges for granted, dismissing opposition as jealousy.
"Heard the Twelve Peaks guys went to the academic affairs office again yesterday. Complaining about unfair grading."
"Idiots. Whining instead of honing their skills."
"Yeah. They don't realize they rode Jin Sowoon's coattails for good grades all this time."
"We should give that bastard Jin Sowoon a piece of our mind sometime…… Eh? Who the hell are you!"
A Jeongdo Council man cursing Jin Sowoon grabbed the shoulder of a scrawny kid who'd bumped him without apology.
"No apology and you just……! Huh…… Mad Weasel?"
His face paled upon seeing it.
"Mad Weasel?"
The man who'd looked hungover yesterday scowled, and the thug scrambled.
"N-no, nothing. Yaryul Geuk."
He didn't know he was called "Mad Weasel" for biting and never letting go, day or night.
If Jin Sowoon was a pocket awl, this kid was a massive roadside turd. Only the stepper lost out.
The Jeongdo man cleared his throat and turned to leave.
"W-well, then……."
"Wait……."
"Y-yeah?"
"You said you'd give Jin Sowoon a beating?"
"Huh?"
"That's what you just said, right? Or not?"
"……."
Crack. Yaryul Geuk cracked his knuckles. The man's face went white.
"What? Why? What'd I do……."
Mad Wea…… No, Yaryul Geuk's eyes gleamed.
"Jin Sowoon…… He's mine. I'll smash him."
"……."
"So you can't beat him first, right?"
What the hell was this crazy brat babbling? As the man opened his mouth to retort—
Thwack.
His body crumpled to the ground.
The man inwardly screamed.
So what the hell does that even mean?!
Even after summer break ended, no trace of regret or gloom lingered on the students' faces.
Not that many had truly rested anyway.
After break came the two-month Great Journey, a massive trial weighing heavily on academic evaluations—and the launchpad for making names in the martial world.
"Heard anything about the Great Journey?"
Seong Moran bit her nails anxiously.
"Sis, why so nervous?"
"I hate the heat…… but bugs? I hate bugs."
Three candidates: Fire Desert, Ice Sea, Black Forest. The site split students into haves and have-nots, making it crucial.
"I'd prefer the Ice Sea."
At Eunseollan's words, Seong Moran perked up.
"Yes! You're from the North Sea, right, Seollan? No bugs there?"
"……Yeah."
Eunseollan hesitated. Her expression said it all: the North Sea had precious little "alive" to begin with.
"Young Master Jin, really nothing?"
I knew the destination, if not the official word. Academic plans spanned years.
In his past life, the Sichuan Blood Cult had canceled it, but the site was set.
"No word, but I know where."
"What?! Really? Where?"
"Mukrim."
"…………Huh?"
Seong Moran shook her head in disbelief.
"N-no way…… Right? You're joking? Teasing me? Haha…… Tell me no! No!!!"
Flung about by Seong Moran's grip, I steadfastly replied.
"Last cohort, Dragon Child single-handedly crushed the Takun tribe in the Fire Desert and made a name."
"……Th-that doesn't prove we'll go to Mukrim."
"That cohort's Ice Sea group had half frostbitten."
"……."
Seong Moran's face drained from blue to ashen black.
"N-no! No way…… No! No!!!"
She screamed and bolted from the rep office.
Why hate it so much? Beyond humidity and bugs, the upsides outweighed.
Plus, Mukrim pulsed with massive spirit veins.
Past students had clamored for it as their Great Journey site.
Mukrim was off-limits otherwise, a forbidden zone.
Then Namgung Seonhwa's eyes widened.
"Oh? Young Master Jin, new necklace?"
"Ah…… This? A gift from Ujae's father long ago. Had it worked on during break."
"So pretty."
"You think?"
I fiddled with the necklace, glancing at Seong Moran's empty spot.
I really couldn't understand. Mukrim was great.