Encounter with the Enemy (2)
After Jin Sowoon and Ilgak returned, the academy students were finally released from the tense confines of the golden prison.
The most urgently injured, who had only received basic first aid, were moved to the physicians for proper treatment.
"Guests have arrived! Wake everyone up!"
Lights blazed across the entire Mandokmun as servants roused from sleep rushed out to attend to the academy students. Those short on rest were given bedding, and the hungry were served meals. The guest quarters and parlors couldn't accommodate everyone, so even the annexes and dangju-level lodgings were offered up.
"Please enter here."
"...Isn't this an annex?"
"This is the space provided for official guests of Mandokmun."
"Guests...?"
The sudden treatment, like night turning to day, left them dumbfounded. Mandokmun was one of the orthodox world's greatest and most terrifying enemies, after all. Their hospitality seemed nothing short of sinister to the students.
"They're gonna poison us like this, right? Last meal vibes..."
"Hm, maybe assassinate us in our sleep."
"...But I'm really freaking tired, though."
Such suspicions lasted only a moment.
"I'm crashing first. If someone dies or gets ambushed... Nah. Don't wake me. I'll just die in my sleep."
"Me too... The dangju's got it handled anyway."
"Yeah, Jin-danju's got skills."
Exhausted, the academy students shrugged it off and collapsed into sleep.
"Meals are ready... Oh?"
"They don't seem to be up yet..."
"These orthodox folks aren't scared at all?"
"Heard they went through hell in Mukrim."
"Just leave the food and go."
And so, when hunger woke them from sleep, they ate the meals laid out before them. Worries of poison or ambush had long vanished from their minds.
They spent two full days recovering like this. Once everyone's stamina had somewhat returned,
"How can I sit idle with such esteemed guests? Kahaha!"
A banquet was held at the initiative of the Mandokmun sect leader.
The attending academy students were left slack-jawed.
"Uh... Where am I?"
"Who am I?"
Handing over their beds was somewhat understandable, but the sect leader personally hosting a feast? That was hard for these orthodox elites to swallow.
Of course, what made even less sense than Mandokmun was,
"This liquor hits just right, Sect Leader! Kahaha!!"
Their own leader, Jin Sowoon.
"Does that scene make sense to you...? I'm seeing it with my own eyes and it still doesn't."
"Yeah... The Mandokmun sect leader and the Murim Academy representative sharing drinks so chummily..."
"But why's our danju acting so casual? Anyone'd think they're old pals."
Despite the gulf between orthodox and unorthodox leaders—and the generational gap between sect leader and academy student—Jin Sowoon showed no discomfort toward the Mandokmun lord.
"...Still, not flinching before an unorthodox giant shows some real guts."
"He declared he'd survive Mukrim from the start. Not your average boldness."
"...Didn't you guys always call Jin Sowoon crazy?"
"Kuhum!!"
As the students subtly swelled with pride watching him,
Mandokmun disciples began approaching them one by one.
"Heard you broke through Magyeong. How'd you pull that off?"
"Mukrim's no picnic even for us Mandokmun, and you fought battles there too? Impressive!"
The students, who had harbored vague fears of Mandokmun, gradually relaxed amid the friendly approaches. They couldn't treat them like old friends as Jin Sowoon did—the rift ran too deep—but sharing drinks while seated was feasible enough.
The subtly tense banquet ended two days later, just as the critically injured began regaining mobility.
Then, around a hundred Murim Alliance members from the Gonmyeong branch arrived at Mandokmun, having received the messenger bird.
"Welcome..."
"Out of the way!!!"
The academy students paled at the sight of the intruders roughly shoving aside Mandokmun disciples.
"Instructor?!"
"Instructor Gang Sun-tak?!"
The instructors they thought dead were entering Mandokmun hale and hearty. Jong Chuoak, who had grieved their loss more than anyone, forgot his injuries and rushed out barefoot.
"S-Senior Brother! You're alive!"
That was when Gang Sun-tak's hand shot out like lightning as he strode forward.
Slap!
With a sound that tore skin, Jong Chuoak's form hit the floor with a thud.
As the dazed Jong Chuoak lifted his head,
"How dare you!!"
Gang Sun-tak's roar shook the air.
"How dare you tarnish Cheongsung's name!! Who told you to lift your head?!"
"..."
Gang Sun-tak and the other instructors swept the hall with their bulging, chilling glares. They even unleashed killing intent toward students chatting with Mandokmun disciples.
"To think you'd beg help from unorthodox scum... You must be mad..."
As Gang Sun-tak's words continued, Jong Chuoak trembled harder.
Did they know the ordeals they'd endured to barely reach this place? Memories of Mukrim fogged back in unbidden—blurry, but the despair and pain sharpened vividly.
Jong Chuoak clenched his fists.
"Senior Brother... That's too harsh."
"What? You still haven't come to your senses and you dare talk back?!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Gang Sun-tak's kicks lashed out indiscriminately, wrecking Jong Chuoak's barely healed body once more.
"And you call yourselves orthodox warriors after begging scraps from unorthodox filth?! Qingcheng disciples?!"
Jong Chuoak rolled across the floor, wounds reopening, but no one intervened. Before instructor and student, they were sect brothers. No matter how unfair, rebellion was unforgivable.
Knowing this, Jong Chuoak endured the one-sided beating.
After a long bout of panting fury, Gang Sun-tak snorted.
"Seeing you all collectively insane, this has to be that bastard's doing."
"..."
He whipped his head around, scanning for the culprit.
"That dog Jin Sowoon clearly fed you all straight into the unorthodox maw!!"
At that moment, Jong Chuoak's eyes bulged, his body lunging toward Gang Sun-tak.
"Don't you dare spout—!"
As Jong Chuoak's fist flew,
Thud—someone blocked his path.
And socked Gang Sun-tak square in the face.
Gang Sun-tak staggered back a zhang, blinked in bewilderment, then grasped the situation and lifted his head.
"How dare you... You wanna die?!?!"
The puncher was none other than Nam Hwaseong. He growled low, barely containing his rage.
"Wanna die? That's you—abandoning students to save your own skins, then preaching now?"
"...You mad dog. You're under suspicion of colluding with unorthodox too, thrown in the golden prison..."
"Heard enough of your bullshit."
In an instant, Nam Hwaseong's uniform strained as his muscles swelled.
"Do you have any idea what hell we crawled through...?"
He shot forward like an arrow.
"Do you?!"
Nam Hwaseong's fist rocketed with full power.
"I swore over and over—if any instructor survived, I'd beat 'em to death with these hands!!!"
The momentum was fierce. But momentum alone wasn't enough.
The surprise blow had landed due to absolute faith that no student would defy an instructor.
But overwhelming a dangju-level figure as an ordinary student? Impossible.
Clasp.
Nam Hwaseong's signature iron fist was sucked into Gang Sun-tak's grip.
"You... Claiming to be Jin Sowoon's lackey, eh?"
Tat tat tat!
Seventy-Six Roads Footwork blasted Nam Hwaseong's lower body; legs buckling, he knelt, head now slightly below Gang Sun-tak's.
"Fine. I'll beat the sense into you so you can thank your sect leader."
Thud! Thud! Boom boom boom!
Indiscriminate punches rained down.
Cheonpung Mu-hyeong Divine Fist.
Was it mercy? Or an instructor's final grace? No internal energy laced the blows.
Thud! Thud! Boom boom boom!
The brutal beating of Nam Hwaseong commenced.
He tried countering midway, but Gang Sun-tak smothered it effortlessly.
"This...!"
As Jong Chuoak moved to intervene,
Nam Hwaseong reached out, stopping him—as if to say stay out, no matter what.
Other students then tugged Jong Chuoak back by his hem.
Looking up, it was Cheol Sunjik.
Jong Chuoak thrashed and yelled,
"Let go! Instructor Gang is...!"
"Even if we don't care, you would commit the sin of sect destruction. Stay put."
"..."
His senses finally returned.
Jong Chuoak panted, scanning around. He stared up at Cheol Sunjik holding him.
Stepping up for him? But why...?
"Sahwal-dan member, right?"
Cheol Sunjik's casual remark filled Jong Chuoak's chest with surging emotion.
"..."
"And us too."
Cheol Sunjik fixed cold, ruthless eyes—unseen even in the golden prison—on Gang Sun-tak.
"We've had plenty of time to heat up."
"..."
He approached Gang Sun-tak and unleashed a palm wind.
Gang Sun-tak, mid-beating, swung to block it.
"!"
Glaring at the hole torn through his uniform, Gang Sun-tak bellowed aggressively.
"Cheol Sunjik... You dare attack an instructor?!"
"Looked like you'd kill him if we let it go on."
"Hmph, he won't die. I've held back plenty..."
"Instructor."
"...Huh?"
Cheol Sunjik nodded toward the surroundings. His voice was colder than ever, laced with barbs.
"You wanna die here?"
He meant Gang Sun-tak's own safety.
"..."
Not just Gang Sun-tak—the instructors, their reason flown by student defiance—hadn't noticed yet.
"These fucking instructors...!"
"Ha, alive? Shit, and now they show their faces?"
"Yeah. Shameless bastards."
The academy students encircling them glared murderously.
Raw hostility on full display.
'Ah!'
Only then did Jong Chuoak realize: joy at the instructors' survival applied only to him, same-sect brother.
In Mukrim, Magyeong, the hell that followed—no instructors protected them at the fore.
Only after surviving to reach here did the "dead" ones reappear, unscathed.
Reason enough for enmity.
But Gang Sun-tak hadn't grasped the fury yet. Veins bulging in his neck, he roared at Cheol Sunjik.
"You... mad bastard! Did the Twelve Bongseong give you two lives?! Or did Jongnam accept you as formal disciple?!"
Gang Sun-tak's target had shifted from Nam Hwaseong to Cheol Sunjik.
Stealthy Seventy-Six Roads Footwork aimed to seal his pressure points—
Whoosh.
Cheol Sunjik flared his robe wide, dispersing the technique, spun, and drew his sword.
Clang!
Just a block and counter-stance, but Gang Sun-tak grew more incensed. Outdone by an ungraduated junior?
"You! Don't dream of leaving alive!"
Forgetting he was in Mandokmun, Gang Sun-tak unleashed full-force fist energy.
Boom boom boom!
The Cheonpung Mu-hyeong Divine Fist that battered Nam Hwaseong now howled with fierce winds toward Cheol Sunjik.
Cheol Sunjik fired sword energy at the onslaught, then slashed down to detonate it.
Boom boom boom!
Exact mimicry of Jin Sowoon in Mukrim.
"Cough cough!"
Sudden backdraft sandstorm blinded Gang Sun-tak instinctively.
Cheol Sunjik seized the gap.
Scree—ice-sharp sword energy raked toward his chest.
Whoosh...
A new energy slipped in like wind, deflecting Cheol Sunjik's aside.
"What?!"
Off-balance, Cheol Sunjik quickly stepped sideways.
Then a voice rang out.
"Don't you know attacking an instructor is a grave offense?"
Clear and resonant.
Cheol Sunjik stiffened, frowning deeply.
"!"
Of all people, here.
Nam Hwaseong sprang up from the floor and froze upon identifying the voice's owner.
"...Y-You...!"
The other students too. They held their breath at the sudden arrival.
"Sheathe your sword if you're done."
Even facing the emotionlessly extended blade tip, none dared move.
Such was the man.
Then,
"Well, now..."
A drawling voice leaked from the students.
Thud thud.
The figure that had frozen the students fixed his signature impassive gaze on the approaching one.
"Jin Sowoon."
"Didn't expect to see you here... People sure live long enough for anything."
Jin Sowoon's eyes swept the three sprawled bodies and Cheol Sunjik, glared at Gang Sun-tak, then returned to the man in blue robes.
"What a clusterfuck."
Jin Sowoon flashed his usual roguish grin.
Yet oddly, the students sensed an inexplicable unease beneath it.
Jin Sowoon murmured low to the blue-robed man.
"Why's a lofty one like you butting into this mess? Hm? Care to explain?"
"..."
"Yong So-a."
The blue-robed man, Yong So-a, stared piercingly at Jin Sowoon with unchanging impassivity.