Chapter 2
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Go Home
The Pavilion Lord's office, after the storm had passed.
Only Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul and Fierce Dragon Corps Leader Moyong Jin-ho sat there with awkward expressions. Hocheon Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek had already left the office.
"What do you think now that you've seen him in person?"
"I'm not sure."
"I'm telling you again. Don't touch him."
Moyong Jin-ho nodded at Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul's words.
His own instincts were warning him intensely as well.
Never get involved with that guy.
"Since he came as a regular instructor, we still need to assign him a squad. Otherwise, we'll be short on instructors."
The Fierce Dragon Corps was made up of twenty squads of five members each, with one instructor responsible for training each squad.
The twenty instructors for this cohort had already been finalized, and one of them was Ha Mu-baek.
"What a headache."
Pang Do-yul let out a sigh, then suddenly lifted his head.
There was another headache waiting.
"Come to think of it, there were some troublesome ones among the Fierce Dragon Corps trainees who enlisted this time, right?"
"Ah... yes. There were."
People who absolutely shouldn't have entered the Fierce Dragon Corps had all joined this cohort at the same time.
Reports about it had already reached the Alliance.
A response would come eventually, and things would get noisy then.
Moyong Jin-ho was already filled with worry.
"Perfect. Assign those troublemakers to Instructor Ha's squad to make up the numbers."
"Pardon?"
Moyong Jin-ho was startled.
"He said he just wants to stay quiet, but the surroundings make it noisy. Let's see if that's true this time too."
***
Three days had passed since unpacking in the instructors' quarters within the Dragon Training Pavilion.
And today was finally his first day on the job.
He had already received his assignment within the Fierce Dragon Corps.
"Squad Seven's dedicated instructor, huh."
He had watched the Fierce Dragon Corps enlistment ceremony from afar the day before. Since the Corps Leader said it was fine, he hadn't bothered to go out.
For now, Fierce Dragon Corps Leader Moyong Jin-ho hadn't touched him.
From Ha Mu-baek's perspective, that was one good thing. Probably thanks to Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul's warning.
"Well, lazing around here like this isn't so bad."
Ha Mu-baek muttered lowly as he headed to the training ground assigned to Squad Seven.
It wasn't far from his quarters to the training ground, so he arrived quickly.
Five people were visible in the distance. They were the trainees he was supposed to handle.
"Hm?"
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head upon seeing the five.
Some of them were in oddly familiar stances. And people who took such stances shouldn't be in the Fierce Dragon Corps, which trained meat shields.
"That one looks like he's from the Tang Clan no matter how I see it..."
A guy standing in a sloppy posture. His stance and weight distribution screamed someone who had trained in the Tang Clan's whip techniques.
"Hm. No signs of hidden weapons or poison arts... Just whips? Is he low talent?"
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head.
The Tang Clan's signature techniques were hidden weapons and poison, no matter what anyone said. Whips were just second-best. Yet a Tang Clan member who only trained whips?
Ha Mu-baek could only think that way.
"That one's from the Zhongnan Sect."
There was also a guy in a stance naturally ingrained from practicing the Zhongnan Sect's basic sword forms.
"That kid... Hm. Ambiguous, but maybe the Yeon Clan?"
There was also a girl he suspected was from the Hubei Yeon Clan, one of the Five Great Families.
What the hell was going on? Was he really an instructor in the Fierce Dragon Corps?
"Guess I need to check first."
Ha Mu-baek murmured, gathering internal energy in his eyes.
For a split second, a sharp flash passed through his eyes. In that instant, Ha Mu-baek scanned the five bodies gathered in the training ground.
Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
It was the eye technique from his sect that Ha Mu-baek practiced.
More precisely, an eye technique only Ha Mu-baek could practice. One made possible by his innate constitution.
It was a cheat-like martial art that could read an opponent's internal energy origins and movements.
"Oh? Look at this. Pulling a cute little trick."
Ha Mu-baek's expression changed subtly.
It was an internal energy he had seen at least once before.
'Tang Clan, Yeon Clan, Zhongnan. And that one...'
Five people, but only four types of internal energy read.
It meant one had never trained any martial arts at all. That was a headache in its own way.
Tang Clan and Yeon Clan from the Five Great Families, and Zhongnan Sect from the Nine Great Sects.
Assigning people from those backgrounds to his squad? The Corps Leader had done something amusing.
"I clearly said I wanted to stay quiet..."
After muttering softly, Ha Mu-baek continued walking and soon faced the five, who looked tense.
"Haa..."
A sigh escaped the moment he saw them.
At the sound, all five gazes turned to Ha Mu-baek.
"Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven, five members?"
"Yes!"
'This bastard.'
"Yep!"
'The one from Zhongnan.'
"Yes, sir!"
'The clueless idiot.'
"......"
'The girl from Yeon Clan.'
"Nyee..."
'Tang Clan bastard.'
Five distinct voices rang out. And Ha Mu-baek already knew their origins.
His face twisted as he looked at them. At his expression, the five showed various reactions of their own.
Ha Mu-baek stood before them.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ha Mu-baek, your dedicated instructor for Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven."
A short greeting.
"You know you'll train in the Fierce Dragon Corps for the next two years before being deployed to the Mountain-Crossing Great Wall, right?"
There was no reply. But their expressions told him everything. They all knew and accepted it, standing here because of that.
"Alright, since today is the first day of training, here's my first order."
Ten eyes fixed on Ha Mu-baek's mouth.
"Go home. That's it."
With that, Ha Mu-baek turned back toward his quarters.
"?!?"
"Uh, wait..."
"Huh?"
"Ha?"
"Huh?"
Before the five trainees could react, Ha Mu-baek was already quite far away.
He half-hoped it wasn't true, but it was.
Ha Mu-baek, who had vanished like that, didn't reappear until sunset.
The five confused trainees remained scattered around the training ground until then.
"Kya. The instructor's a total nutjob too. Well, if he says go home, we go. Lucky us."
The sloppy young man leaning against a tree stretched as he spoke.
In truth, he had shown maximum sincerity for him.
He enlisted in the Fierce Dragon Corps, waited for his assigned squad's instructor, and would follow orders.
Even the order to go home.
"What are you kids doing?"
But a sudden arrival made him stop before he could even take a step.
"W-we greet the Corps Leader!"
A tense boy suddenly bowed deeply to the middle-aged man who appeared.
Moyong Jin-ho looked around with a bewildered face.
This was definitely Squad Seven's training ground. Yet no instructor, just the five trainees.
What the hell was going on?
"Where's Instructor Ha?"
At Moyong Jin-ho's question, the five just exchanged glances.
The one who spoke was the sloppy young man.
"He went home."
"When?"
"Right after he arrived."
Moyong Jin-ho frowned at the reply.
"Dang Jin-san."
"Yes."
"No lies in that, right?"
"None."
"Got it."
Moyong Jin-ho left those words and departed the training ground.
The five trainees were left alone again.
Moyong Jin-ho wanted to rush to Ha Mu-baek right then, but he didn't.
Didn't the Pavilion Lord say not to touch him?
In the end, Moyong Jin-ho headed to the Pavilion Lord's office.
"Ha, really. That guy."
Pang Do-yul had no choice but to heave his heavy frame up. Since he had told Moyong Jin-ho, he had to handle it himself.
"Instructor Ha!"
Pang Do-yul called out upon reaching Ha Mu-baek's quarters.
Ha Mu-baek, enjoying a sweet nap on his bed, rose with messy hair.
"What brings the Pavilion Lord here?"
His voice was still thick with sleep. Even so, Pang Do-yul remained calm. He knew Ha Mu-baek's nature to some extent.
"Come in first."
"Sure. What the hell is this about?"
After sitting at the small table, Pang Do-yul got to the point of his visit.
"What do you mean?"
"You're Squad Seven's instructor in the Fierce Dragon Corps. That means you have a duty to train those trainees."
Ha Mu-baek just smirked at Pang Do-yul's words.
"You..."
"Sichuan Tang Clan. Hubei Yeon Clan. Zhongnan Sect."
Three sects slipped from Ha Mu-baek's cold lips. Pang Do-yul's face hardened at the names.
"Hmmm..."
"How much of an idiot do you take me for, dumping three prestigious kids together on me? Pavilion Lord, you think those three fit in the Fierce Dragon Corps that's gathering cannon fodder? What am I supposed to do, mix in two randoms to fill the squad and shove them at me? Babysit those three while sending the other two to die?"
"That's..."
"I knew you were a bastard, but you're really an irredeemable one."
Even at Ha Mu-baek's words, Pang Do-yul's expression didn't change.
"Obviously, pressure from those three sects will come to manage their kids. Using me as a shield? Or why accept those three in the first place? Even if the Fierce Dragon Corps takes anyone."
"......"
"I clearly said last time. I want to stay quiet. Don't make noise around me."
A fierce aura boiled up from Ha Mu-baek's body.
"Kuhk."
Pang Do-yul let out a low groan under the immense pressure squeezing his whole body.
"It's a misunderstanding."
The words forced through Pang Do-yul's lips while enduring Ha Mu-baek's aura.
Ha Mu-baek just smirked again.
"Dang Jin-san and Baek Ri-pyeong were sent directly by the Tang Clan Patriarch and Zhongnan Sect Leader. Yeon Ha-min came on her own..."
Ha Mu-baek's aura subsided.
"Doesn't change that they're here to die anyway. Sending them home seems best."
"Other instructors couldn't handle them."
"So?"
"Think other instructors can handle interference from Tang or Zhongnan? The Fierce Dragon Corps instructors are barely first-rate fringe at best. Could they even train those trainees properly? Lucky if they don't grovel."
"......"
"No matter the squad, they'd drag down the others. What's the sin of the kids who end up with them? No one but you can handle it."
"Nice how you care for cannon fodder recruits."
"At least five coppers come back alive. To raise survival rates even a bit, we must do our best. That's why I gathered them for you. You can handle it."
Ha Mu-baek's expression softened slightly at the earnest explanation.
Pang Do-yul didn't miss the opening.
"Dan Mok Un-roe volunteered himself. He won't go home just because you say so. The kid needs money."
Ha Mu-baek's face twisted.
"Here are the personal files on the five trainees. I brought them since you didn't pick them up. Please handle properly from tomorrow. Oh, and at least no interference from Yeon Clan."
"...?"
Question marks rose on Ha Mu-baek's face at Pang Do-yul's last words.
"Only I know she's from Yeon Clan. Impressive you figured it out, as expected. So burn her file for sure. It's one I made personally."
"What do you..."
"Take care of it."
With that, Pang Do-yul hurriedly left Ha Mu-baek's room.
Ha Mu-baek slowly examined the documents on the table.
"Haa."
A deep sigh escaped his lips.
"Fuck. Telling me to do the impossible. By the way, is this kid that kid?"
Ha Mu-baek's gaze stopped on one file.
After memorizing the five profiles, Ha Mu-baek burned the documents to ash with meditative fire.
His chest felt tight.
Others he could shrug off, but Dan Mok Un-roe and Yeon Ha-min's backgrounds hit differently.
In the end, he stepped out for some air.
Something caught Ha Mu-baek's senses.
"Ha?"
His figure vanished in an instant.
"What are you doing?"
Ha Mu-baek appeared at Squad Seven's training ground. Night had already fallen.
The five trainees were still there.
"Instructor!"
The most delighted was Dan Mok Un-roe.
The one most tense at their first meeting. A guy with barely a chick's tear worth of martial arts—truly nothing.
"Tch."
The one clicking his tongue was Dang Jin-san. The sloppiest one.
"I told you to go home."
"W-we can't!"
Dan Mok Un-roe shouted loudly. Desperation filled his eyes. Ha Mu-baek had expected it, knowing his story.
"I want to, but if I do, my old man will shove me back here. Wuchang to Sichuan is too far."
Dang Jin-san grumbled.
That guy needed manner training first.
The remaining three just stood silently.
They each had their reasons too.
Reasons they couldn't go home.
That's why they stayed in this training ground.
"Hoo."
A deep sigh flowed from Ha Mu-baek's mouth.
"You eat?"
"......"
"Did you eat?!"
At Ha Mu-baek's irritated shout, Dan Mok Un-roe shook his head vigorously.
"We've been waiting here for Instructor Ha the whole time."
"So frustrating."
Ha Mu-baek had first met them here around 9 a.m.
Now it was around 8 p.m.
These guys had been here the entire time.
The Pavilion's dining hall was already closed.
"Follow me, all of you."
Ha Mu-baek turned and said.
But they just flinched, none moving.
"What are you waiting for! Hurry up! We're going to eat!"
At his irritated shout, Dan Mok Un-roe scurried behind him. That seemed the signal.
The other four followed.
"Let's go."
Thus, Ha Mu-baek took his five assigned trainees to a nearby inn outside the Dragon Training Pavilion.
The table was filled with various dishes.
Dan Mok Un-roe just stared wide-eyed, unable even to pick up his chopsticks.
Dang Jin-san moved his chopsticks boldly, as if accustomed.
The other three ate moderately.
"Eat. Eat."
At Ha Mu-baek's urging, Dan Mok Un-roe finally brought food to his mouth with trembling chopsticks.
A taste he'd never experienced before.
Perhaps because of that.
Tears suddenly poured out.
"Ah, shit."
An irritated sound came from Ha Mu-baek at the tears. Dan Mok Un-roe flinched.
"You."
"Yes."
Dan Mok Un-roe flinched again at Ha Mu-baek's call.
"I'll pack some food, so take it home and come back. Your home's nearby."
"Pardon?"
Dan Mok Un-roe's eyes widened.
"Ah, I'll pack food, so take it home later."
Irritation laced the second explanation.
"Y-yes. Got it. Thank you, Instructor."
Dan Mok Un-roe bowed, tears streaming endlessly.
"Ah, shit. Really. Stop crying. You're a guy."
"Y-yes. Got it."
He wiped his tears with his sleeve and forced a smile, but his eyes still brimmed.
"More importantly, you lot."
Ha Mu-baek looked around at the five.
"Worthless things crawling into a place like this. Suicidal?"
No trainee answered the question.