Rooting Them Out
Muil, squad leader of the Dark Shadow Unit's 5th squad, had infiltrated Cheonryong Academy on a secret order from the Murim Alliance. Watching his surveillance target, he ground his teeth in private.
What the hell is so special about that guy...
The fact that an entire squad of the Dark Shadow Unit had been mobilized just to watch some nameless nobody rankled him badly.
They're even giving a Heaven Purifying Pill to a lazy slacker like that? What on earth is the Military Head thinking? Don't tell me those rumors about taking him as a live-in son-in-law are actually true...
It was the kind of thought that would have given Divine Strategist Jegal Hyeon a stroke if he'd overheard it. From Muil's perspective, though, the suspicion was perfectly reasonable.
Of course, no one could deny that Baek Woohyeok's martial talent was genuinely rare. In less than half a year of proper training, he had already reached a level that rivaled the very best rising stars of his generation.
But the kid's still green as hell. And the mission he was given has nothing to do with martial skill anyway...
What Jegal Hyeon had asked of Baek Woohyeok was to stay alert for any schemes the Demonic Cult might attempt against Cheonryong Academy — and, beyond that, to root out any Demonic Cult spies who might already have infiltrated the school. Either way, it was a job far beyond what an inexperienced kid like Baek Woohyeok could reasonably be expected to pull off.
So the mission was just a pretext. This is all a scheme to recruit Baek Woohyeok...
It was a natural conclusion for Muil to reach. After all, Baek Woohyeok hadn't even bothered to pretend he was working on the assignment, and Muil's suspicions had steadily hardened into conviction.
From what Muil had observed, Baek Woohyeok's daily routine was painfully monotonous.
"Yaaawn..."
He would sit through Cheonryong Academy's vaunted, high-quality lectures making no effort to hide how bored he was, half-listening at best.
"Woohyeok! Let's spar again today!"
Then he would have a blood-spattering match — and that was not a figure of speech; actual blood flew — with the beloved daughter of Divine Strategist Jegal Hyeon.
"...Aaaargh!!"
And then he would train his body under Explosive Fist Hwangbo San. That was the sum total of it.
The 5th squad of the Dark Shadow Unit lost their concentration for what was, quite literally, no more than an instant.
They had lost Baek Woohyeok's trail yet again. For a unit entrusted with the Murim Alliance's most covert work, it was an inexcusable blunder.
Baek Woohyeok usually emerged from the forest around sunset. Today, he still hadn't shown himself by midnight.
Damn it... Don't tell me the bastard built himself a nest in there.
He was just about to privately unload another handful of grievances when a gasp tore out of him unbidden.
"Hhk..."
...I've been made.
Someone was standing right behind him.
A Demonic Cult spy?
Muil carefully reached for the dagger inside his robes —
"Ah. That would be a poor choice."
The voice at his back hit him like a second blow.
"...Baek Woohyeok?"
"That's right. I'm Baek Woohyeok."
The one who had taken his rear was none other than his surveillance target.
"When did you— no. You've known where we were this whole time?"
"That's not really the important part."
Baek Woohyeok brushed aside what was, to Muil, the single most critical question in the world, and went on as if they were chatting about the weather.
"Surveillance is fine. Just don't look so pissed off about it. I'm putting up with you lot too, you know."
It was a bone-chilling remark — the kind of thing you said when you'd known about the Dark Shadow Unit's watch from the very beginning.
"..."
Muil slowly turned his head, wanting to get a proper look at Baek Woohyeok's face.
"Well. You won't have to watch me anymore after this, anyway."
But in that brief instant, Baek Woohyeok had already vanished without a trace.
"Haa..."
Muil stared at the empty space behind him and let out a long, heavy sigh.
Those... eyes.
The indifferent red eyes he had glimpsed for a fleeting moment were seared deep into his mind.
The next day, Muil was continuing his surveillance of Baek Woohyeok as usual when a shocking report came in.
"Squad Leader! A new student — a rising star of the Souun Sect — was a Demonic Cult spy! Danmok Jin, young master of the Danmok Clan, is escorting him away as we speak!"
A Demonic Cult spy, caught by the Hidden Dragon of the Danmok Clan.
"Inform the Military Head at once! And tell him the Souun Sect will need to be investigated as well!"
On Muil's orders, one of the 5th squad's members left to carry the news to Jegal Hyeon. Meanwhile —
"Squad Leader! They caught a Demonic Cult spy!"
"I already heard. From someone else. A rising star of the Souun Sect, wasn't it?"
"Not just the Souun Sect! A rising star of the Hyeono Gate was a Demonic Cult spy as well! One-Sword Thunder Namgung Cheon exposed him and executed him on the spot!"
"What?"
A second report followed on the heels of the first: another Demonic Cult spy hidden inside Cheonryong Academy had been brought to justice by Namgung Cheon, the greatest rising star in the Central Plains.
Two spies, rooted out in rapid succession.
Only then did Muil remember the words Baek Woohyeok had left him with the night before.
"How in the world... Baek Woohyeok moved the two young masters of the Namgung Clan and the Danmok Clan?"
The thought that Baek Woohyeok had orchestrated all of this left his mouth hanging open, and he could not close it.
Cheonryong Academy spent the entire day in an uproar over the Demonic Cult spies who had been so suddenly unmasked.
Well — everywhere except around me, that is. There weren't exactly any students in my vicinity who'd get worked up about it.
"Woohyeok! Did you hear? Young Master Danmok and Young Master Namgung rooted out Demonic Cult spies! That was supposed to be your mission!"
I still hadn't managed to make friends with anyone besides Jegal Hui.
"Yeah, I know. It was about time for that."
"...Did you ask those two to do it?"
"Me?"
"Well, the three of you are surprisingly close. It seems like you share some kind of secret."
Her deduction had gone off-course on the important details, but she was sharp, true to the Jegal name.
"I didn't put them up to it. I'm not even that close with those guys."
Though I suppose I was closer with them than with the other students. At least they didn't openly act like they were scared of me.
I'd already been a figure of fear around here, what with people calling me the Blood Wolf.
"Hhk... The Blood Wolf is an actual blood wolf now..."
And the moment I walked into class today, I could feel the distance between me and the other students had grown even wider.
"Wow, his eyes really are red. I can't get used to that."
"It's because of that elixir your father gave me."
"More precisely, it's because of the martial art you're cultivating, right? Are you still not going to tell me its name?"
Yesterday I had holed up in the Dragon Vein all day, focused entirely on digesting the Heaven Purifying Pill Jegal Hyeon had given me. My mastery of the Iron-Blooded Yama Divine Art had soared as a result, and my eyes — once black — had been dyed a deep red.
The other students putting even more distance between us was only natural.
Honestly, if I weren't a Cheonryong Academy student, I'd have a hard time arguing if someone accused me of being a demonic practitioner.
I had no idea what Cheonbul had been thinking when he created this martial art. Had he picked up an appreciation for how cool demonic arts looked during the Orthodox-Demonic War?
I'll have to live like this until I break through the Transcendental Realm and achieve returning to nature.
Whatever. I had already gone through this once before I regressed. It didn't particularly bother me.
"Just how far has your realm risen? Don't tell me... the wall of the Peak Realm?"
"Who knows."
The important thing was that I had gotten stronger far faster than I had in the past.
"Ugh... I already couldn't beat you in a spar."
Anyway. Enough about my martial arts.
"Getting back to what we were talking about... I really didn't put those guys up to it."
"Right, that's what we were discussing. ...You didn't put them up to it? Really?"
Really.
"I told you, didn't I? In those kinds of novels, problems like this are always the protagonist's job to solve."
"You said that on the way out after talking with my father. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Those two are the protagonists."
I wasn't speaking in metaphor. I meant it literally. Namgung Cheon was the protagonist of the novel Danmok Jin had read, and Danmok Jin was the one who had stolen that role and become the protagonist of the murim in the previous timeline.
"I figured those two would move on their own even if I didn't say a word. And that's exactly what happened."
"...How did you even know that?"
"Who knows."
Truth be told, Danmok Jin's actions had caught me off guard as well.
That Namgung Cheon would throw himself into rooting out Demonic Cult spies had been obvious without even looking. In the past, he had been obsessed with racking up the kind of glory Danmok Jin used to call "achievement farming."
But in the previous timeline, Danmok Jin didn't root out the Demonic Cult spies until a little later than this.
I had been planning to quietly goad him into it. Instead, Danmok Jin had unmasked a spy before I even had the chance. I couldn't guess at his reasons, but a good result was a good result.
"...You have more secrets than I thought, Woohyeok."
"I always have."
Jegal Hui sounded vaguely sulky. Cheering her up, however, was a remarkably simple affair.
"Want to spar after class?"
"...Just once?"
"Until you're satisfied. I need to get used to the new realm anyway."
"Okay!"
See?
A great wind of spy-hunting swept through Cheonryong Academy.
Namgung Cheon and Danmok Jin moved with relentless energy. Principal Song Muja and the instructors threw their full weight behind the effort. The Dark Shadow Unit lent its aid from the shadows, and Demonic Cult spies began to be unmasked one after another.
Through it all, classes at Cheonryong Academy continued without interruption. Only a handful of instructors had been pulled away for the hunt, so it was possible.
And so, while Namgung Cheon, Danmok Jin, and the small number of students assisting them stayed busy rooting out spies, Baek Woohyeok's days went on exactly as they always had.
Time passed. Then, one day, Baek Woohyeok was making his usual trip to the Dragon Vein when he stepped into the forest and immediately let out a long sigh.
"Haa..."
"These bastards are supposed to be the protagonists. How the hell are they this sloppy at cleaning up after themselves?"
His senses, sharpened by his risen realm, picked up an unpleasant presence lurking in the woods — far more keenly than they would have in the past.
"The stench of filthy demonic energy is everywhere."
It was the demonic energy of demonic practitioners, the kind he had felt as routinely as breathing during the height of the Orthodox-Demonic War.
"Come out, you sons of bitches."
The instant the words left Baek Woohyeok's mouth —