Two Ultimate Evils (4)
The Hall of the Current World — the meeting room where the representatives of every first-year class had gathered.
"Namgung Cheon and Baek Woohyeok. Those two are troublemakers, but they're also the strongest."
With those words, delivered in a grave voice, Danmok Jin opened the meeting.
"…Wait, what's that supposed to mean all of a sudden?"
"Felt like the kind of thing someone had to say, that's all…"
Though his tone suggested gravity, there wasn't anything particularly serious about the content.
"I'll grant you the Ghost Shadow, but One Sword Lightning isn't exactly a troublemaker, is he?"
"What are you saying, Young Lord Seomun? Are you calling Woohyeok a troublemaker right now?"
"No, Lady Jegal, that's not what I meant—"
"Woohyeok isn't a troublemaker. Granted, he skips class constantly and his attitude leaves much to be desired, but… regardless."
As the representatives bickered back and forth over Danmok Jin's opening remark—
"Ahem! In any case, setting my little joke aside, let's get the meeting properly underway."
Danmok Jin cleared his throat and steered the conversation back on course.
"About the final exam…"
Bracing himself for the backlash, he pressed on with a grave expression.
"I'll be honest with you all. As things stand, there is no way we can beat Namgung Cheon and Baek Woohyeok. None whatsoever."
He was, after all, a man with the courage to make himself hated.
"…"
A frigid silence swept through the room.
Danmok Jin squeezed his eyes shut without meaning to, but—
"…Hmm. Well, fair enough."
"He's right, you know. Aren't both of them Peak Realm masters?"
"It's embarrassing to admit, but I've never once beaten Woohyeok in a spar."
Contrary to his expectations, the students' reactions were remarkably matter-of-fact. At least, that was true of the Heaven Rank students — the ones in the same class as Danmok Jin, Namgung Cheon, and Baek Woohyeok.
If our own class is taking it this calmly… I probably don't need to worry too much.
Granted, these were representatives from every class, but the one steering the meeting was, in the end, a Heaven Rank student.
Naturally so — the Heaven Rank representatives surpassed the other classes not just in seniority but in raw martial ability itself.
"Thinking about it, I'm honestly jealous of Lady Jegal. Getting to spar with a Peak Realm master every single day."
"I get that. Back home I could receive instruction from my family daily, but at the Academy…"
"Mm, if anything, that's why I'm glad to be here. My family smothers me with protection. My sister, my brother — all of them. Maybe it's because I'm the youngest."
They were, after all, members of the Hebei Paeng Clan, the Sichuan Dang Clan, and the Jegal Clan — houses that ranked among the top five of the orthodox Murim.
Well, our Danmok Clan doesn't exactly fall behind either.
And the Danmok Clan, which Danmok Jin himself led as its young patriarch, was a prestigious house that bowed to no one anywhere.
"…I see."
"If the Heaven Rank students feel that way…"
The representatives of the Earth and Yellow Ranks readily nodded along with the Heaven Rank students' assessment.
The problem is…
The Yellow Rank students, who were lumped into the upper tier alongside the Heaven Rank.
"Hahahaha! Aren't the mighty Heaven Rank students being a touch cowardly? Even against two Peak Realm masters, I hardly think we'd be pushed back easily."
"Young Lord Seomun…"
Seomun Yeol, heir of the Seomun Clan — a prestigious house of Hunan Province — actually had the gall to sneer at the Heaven Rank students. A fitting attitude, indeed, for the successor of a family forever eyeing a seat among the Five Great Clans.
…That guy genuinely gets on my nerves.
In the original story Danmok Jin remembered, Seomun Yeol had caused no end of trouble in all sorts of ways.
Which was precisely why Danmok Jin couldn't stand him, but—
"Hahaha, Young Lord Seomun. We're not being cowardly — we're simply refusing to let our guard down. Those two really are that skilled, after all."
The mask of the upright, righteous orthodox successor he had maintained ever since his rebirth was remarkably thick.
"The Young Patriarch of Danmok is surprisingly timid for an heir of a clan famous for its Tyrant Blade. Losing your nerve before a fight even begins — and you call yourself a member of a great house meant to lead the orthodox Murim?"
"…Haha."
Even as Seomun Yeol showed Danmok Jin a discourtesy far beyond what he extended to anyone else—
Troll bastards, calling themselves a great house… They'll stoop to any filth in the book.
—Danmok Jin, naturally, was cursing out Seomun Yeol and his entire clan nonstop in his head.
"…And does Young Lord Seomun have some special plan prepared for this exam?"
Jegal Hui, her white feather fan raised to cover her mouth, asked Seomun Yeol in a voice sharp enough to cut.
Anyone could see she was in a foul mood.
"An excellent question, Lady Jegal! Allow me to share my — no, our Yellow Rank students' position."
Whether oblivious or deliberately ignoring her, the man himself launched into speech with unshakable arrogance.
"Frankly, do we really need a strategy meeting to handle just two people? Even a head-on clash of raw strength gives us more than enough chance of victory. If the Heaven Rank students feel burdened, then we'll take the front lines. We will win — we have every confidence in it."
True to his attitude, the content of his speech was every bit as arrogant.
Tsk.
Jegal Hui, who knew Baek Woohyeok's strength better than anyone, clicked her tongue.
"Ah ha…"
Paeng Muhan, bold by nature but wise enough to know his place, let out a deflated sigh of disbelief.
"Ha."
Dang Ryun, who had never much cared for Seomun Yeol to begin with, burst out laughing.
"Well? What do you say?"
Seomun Yeol, chest puffed out as ever, radiated confidence.
"Phew…"
Danmok Jin, who had volunteered for the role of group leader, was beginning to regret his past self's choices.
"…Then how about we do it this way?"
But the very fact that he kept the meeting moving forward at all proved he was a born leader.
And so, at long last, the day of the exam arrived — the day every student in the year would clash with the two students of the Peak Realm.
It went without saying, but the wealth of the Cheonryong Academy and the Murim Alliance never failed to leave me awestruck every time I saw it.
"Good grief… How much money did they burn on a single exam?"
Somewhere along the way, a vast examination ground had been erected within the Academy's grounds. And not just an open field — rows upon rows of replica buildings stood lined up across it. At the center, no doubt, sat a structure that was a dead ringer for the Murim Alliance's branch fort.
Given that every year had needed a ground like this prepared, they must have built four in total.
"…That's staggering extravagance."
It must have consumed a sum that a street orphan like me could scarcely have imagined.
"Hahaha, it's nothing. Surely an institution claiming to be the finest in the Murim ought to manage at least this much."
Instructor Muryang Ilgeom, chief supervisor of this exam, let out a hearty laugh.
"By the way, have you two finished your preparations? The other side's been scurrying about since early this morning, you know."
Well now.
"…"
I glanced sidelong at Namgung Cheon, who stood silently beside me. We hadn't prepared anything, really.
We did meet up for our little 'strategy conference,' but it ended with us just getting berated.
Then again, that was my fault, so I could hardly complain.
"We'll manage somehow, won't we?"
Neither Namgung Cheon nor I were particularly worried about things going wrong.
If anything, I'd worry about a Demonic Cult raid before I worried about that.
There was no way we'd lose to mere first-year students. And as for the Demonic Cult's assault — we'd already flushed out every one of their infiltrators, so that was nothing to fret over either.
"By the way, is it proper for a supervisor to be revealing that kind of information to us?"
Muryang Ilgeom's earlier remark was, frankly, not something a supervisor ought to have said. It amounted to telling us outright that the other students had been preparing something since dawn.
"Oh, come now. Would a comment like that really cause a problem? You two had a fair idea of it already, I'd wager."
He only shrugged, entirely unbothered. Surprisingly easygoing fellow.
"And one more thing. I placed a bet on you."
"A bet on what?"
"The instructors have a wager going on which side will win."
"Ah."
Come to think of it, an exam this interesting was bound to inspire a few bets.
"Was the stake a large one?"
"Nothing much from me. But your teacher — Instructor Hwangbo San — put up two months' salary."
"Oh dear…"
Not my teacher, technically, but I resolved all the same to win this thing — if only for Hwangbo San's sake.
"Hm?"
Muryang Ilgeom tilted his head as a transmitted voice-message reached him from somewhere, then gave a nod.
"All preparations are complete, it seems."
The exam was about to begin.
"Now then, allow me to explain once more. Students Baek Woohyeok and Namgung Cheon — you will play the role of Demonic Riders assaulting the Alliance branch fort. You win by incapacitating the student serving as Fort Master or by seizing the fort's divine seal. You lose if you are struck down first. Naturally, sword qi and fist qi will be restricted; beyond that, anything goes."
"Does that mean assassination techniques are permitted?"
"The Academy's own medical hall is standing by at the examination grounds, along with physicians from the Murim Alliance's medical division. Aside from severing limbs, crippling a dantian, or snuffing out a life in a single strike, a fair degree of rough handling is permitted. I'd say it's encouraged, even. This exam exists, in part, to drive home the danger that the demonic fiends pose to our students."
"…Sounds good to me."
"Then the exam begins now. Best of fortune to you both."
The instant Muryang Ilgeom finished speaking—
"I'll be going ahead."
Namgung Cheon said those words and—
—shot forward like a bolt of lightning.
Tsk.
I'd expected nothing less, so I merely clicked my tongue once.
Step, step.
And began walking toward my target at a leisurely pace.
"Two paths, hm…"
And naturally—
"Namgung Cheon went left, so I'll take the right."
I chose a different road than his.
"The exam begins now. Give it your all, everyone."
The moment Instructor Bi Yehwa finished speaking, the students assigned to the branch fort began bustling into motion.
"As discussed yesterday, we move separately."
First off, Seomun Yeol, leading the Yellow Rank students, left behind words that amounted to a declaration and departed.
"…We'll be off as well, per our plan."
"We'll do our best to follow the strategy, Lady Jegal, Young Lord Danmok."
All of the Earth Rank and Yellow Rank students departed as well, heading in the exact opposite direction from the Yellow Rank group.
"Phew… will things really go smoothly?"
The only students remaining at the fort building were the Heaven Rank students.
"Still, the odds favor us. There are only two routes leading to the fort."
"I heard the other years had instructors play the Demonic Riders. That naturally puts the defending students at an advantage."
"…Except One Sword Lightning and the Ghost Shadow are our own classmates. Isn't that a bit unfair to them?"
"Well, even without narrowing the approach routes, we could still hold them off, couldn't we?"
"That much is true."
The Heaven Rank students chatted away even as they worked busily.
"Touch that the wrong way and you're out on the spot. It won't kill you, but it's a vicious neurotoxin."
The student leading them was Dang Ryun, youngest son of the Sichuan Dang Clan.
"While the others stall the Demonic Riders, let's finish our preparations quickly."
The branch fort that Baek Woohyeok and Namgung Cheon would have to breach was fast becoming a fortress.
Inside the fort building—
"…Just as Young Lord Danmok predicted, Lord Namgung and Woohyeok split up. Given how close they supposedly are, I expected them to combine forces. I suppose not."
At Jegal Hui's remark — prompted by news brought by a Yellow Rank student from the swift-footed Kyeyoung Sect, famous for its lightness arts—
"Hahaha, that was lucky."
Danmok Jin answered with an embarrassed laugh, scratching the back of his head.
Why on earth did that rumor about those two being close ever spread? Anyone with eyes can see they can't stand each other.
Even Jegal Hui, who was friendly with Baek Woohyeok, apparently believed the two of them were on good terms.
Danmok Jin had assumed the same at first, too — but he'd had far more opportunities to observe the pair together than anyone else, and so he knew the truth. They despised each other, mutually and completely.
That was why he'd been certain the two wouldn't join forces in this exam — and reality had played out exactly as he'd expected.
…A good start.
If only things would keep flowing according to plan.
Even as Danmok Jin offered up his silent prayers—
"The Yellow Rank students have run into Lord Namgung. And they say the Earth and Yellow Rank groups will be meeting Woohyeok shortly."
Reports came flying in, one after another, from the students assigned as messengers.
"The Yellow Rank group and Lord Namgung have clashed! And Woohyeok has fallen right into our trap, just as we hoped! Everything's going smoothly!"
Just as Jegal Hui said, the start was proceeding without a hitch. Yet somehow, Danmok Jin couldn't shake a faint sense of foreboding.
"Well, well."
I swept my gaze across my surroundings.
"Nngh… We can do this!"
"Don't even think about winning. Our job is to slow him down as much as we can!"
Somewhere along the way, the area around me had filled to the brim with enemies.
"A formation of the Jegal Clan, as expected! That Ghost Shadow never even sensed us closing in!"
I'd suspected as much ever since I heard they'd been preparing something since dawn — and sure enough, they'd laid down a formation.
"Looks like a variant of the Hidden Shadow Formation."
It might have looked as though I'd blundered straight into a trap, but in truth I'd known the enemy was coming from the very start, and had simply been waiting. No formation of the Jegal Clan, no matter how cunning, could fool the Eye of Adverse Reflection.
So why had I waited for them to gather in full?
"Looks like everyone's here. Shall we get started, then?"
Because if they scattered and ran, hunting them all down afterward would be a pain in the ass.