Chapter 204
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 204
Chapter Title: That's Right
The cadets from Group Seven of the Fierce Dragon Corps stared at Dang Jin-san with shocked expressions, just like their comrades.
First time meeting, and he says something like that?
Cho Mu-ha stood there dumbfounded for a moment.
Along with his fellow cadets.
Soon, they realized what Dang Jin-san meant, and their faces flushed red.
"Even if they are our seniors, that kind of talk is..."
Just as Cho Mu-ha was about to say something.
"That's the first thing Instructor said when we met him."
Dang Jin-san's follow-up words.
Cho Mu-ha's words stopped short.
"Of course, we were just as speechless as you are now. So then he continued."
"'Did you join the Fierce Dragon Corps because you want to die?'"
Dan Mok Un-roe chimed in.
Of course, Ha Mu-baek had left first in the middle, and even bought them food when he returned.
But in terms of the order of what he said to the Fierce Dragon Corps, Dan Mok Un-roe was right.
Go home.
Then, did you come here to die?
It flowed like that.
The faces of the Group Seven cadets relaxed.
They had caught on to Dang Jin-san's intention.
"The Fierce Dragon Corps is different from the Hidden Dragon Corps and Wa Dragon Corps. You only get two years of training here. Once it's over, you're thrown straight into combat."
Dang Jin-san recalled the senior Fierce Dragon Corps cadets he had seen during the break.
They were different from the juniors in front of him now.
He hadn't approached the seniors, and they hadn't approached him.
They were just in the same Fierce Dragon Corps, with no exchange or bonding between them.
He had thought it would be the same this year.
But then these juniors, whom he ran into upon entering the Devouring Dragon Pavilion, called him "senior" first and approached him.
Dang Jin-san couldn't just stand by and watch.
Especially since they had decided to join the Fierce Dragon Corps after seeing Joo Woo-myeong and Baek Ri-pyeong's spar at the Summer Combat Festival.
That was terribly misguided.
The Fierce Dragon Corps wasn't a place to join with that mindset.
It felt just like looking at himself from a year ago.
He had been lucky.
He had met Instructor Ha Mu-baek.
But these passionate juniors wouldn't have that luck.
So he felt he had to let them know.
Suddenly, he remembered the seniors practicing their last shield techniques right before deployment.
Desperate yet resolute, and on the other hand, terrified and trembling with fear.
That was the reality of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
After experiencing the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest and witnessing the final training of the upper-year cadets at the Dragon Training Pavilion, he understood the Fierce Dragon Corps even more deeply.
It was incomparable to last year, when he had come simply because some old fogey told him to.
"Survival rate after deployment: fifty percent. That's the reality of the Fierce Dragon Corps. You have to train with a desperate will to survive somehow. Not because the Summer Combat Festival looked cool."
Dang Jin-san's following words.
His demeanor was solemn and weighty.
His comrades were surprised, wondering when Dang Jin-san had this side to him.
"Y-yes. Understood."
Was Cho Mu-ha overwhelmed by that gravity?
He nodded and replied.
"Thank you for the advice."
He even bowed his head slightly.
"Good. Eat well. If you run into any trouble, come find us. It's only a year, after all."
Dang Jin-san patted Cho Mu-ha's shoulder.
"Yes."
Cho Mu-ha replied in a slightly emotional voice.
"There's a monster of an instructor in the Fierce Dragon Corps. He might just grab you by the collar and make sure you survive."
Yeon Ha-min, who had been quiet until now, suddenly said that and sat down first.
Everyone stared at her in bewilderment at her abrupt action.
It wasn't like her at all—the words or the behavior.
"A monster... instructor...?"
Cho Mu-ha tilted his head and asked.
"There is one. As long as you ignore how lazy he is. The fact that you can eat here like this, and that emotional Summer Combat Festival you loved? All thanks to that monster instructor."
Dang Jin-san said that much, turned around, and sat at his seat.
The Group Seven crew sat down and finally started eating.
The cadets from other corps eating in the Devouring Dragon East Pavilion glanced at them.
It was a sudden minor commotion, but no one could say anything to them.
A stark difference from a year ago.
Back then, Fierce Dragon Corps cadets couldn't even enter the Devouring Dragon East Pavilion, let alone cause a scene.
They could only use the Devouring Dragon South Pavilion, where the food was barely edible.
Now, the food quality was the same across all Devouring Dragon Pavilions.
Come to think of it, that's thanks to Ha Mu-baek too.
The very first incident where he turned the Dragon Training Pavilion upside down.
Of course, some cadets from the Hidden Dragon Corps and Wa Dragon Corps now might envy the Fierce Dragon Corps cadets making a fuss in the Devouring Dragon East Pavilion.
But even they couldn't say a word.
It was only natural.
The Summer Combat Festival champion and runner-up.
The two strongest in the Dragon Training Pavilion right now were in the Fierce Dragon Corps, sitting right there.
This evoked a sense of the times changing.
It had only been a year since they were humiliated by a mere Dang Chu.
To grow this strong in that time.
It was reality, but honestly hard to believe.
Baek Ri-pyeong, the Summer Combat Festival runner-up, couldn't even beat a single Dang Chu last spring.
Thinking back to that time.
Dang Jin-san chuckled.
"What's so funny?"
Baek Ri-pyeong asked.
"Ah, just thinking about this time last year."
"Ah."
Baek Ri-pyeong nodded at Dang Jin-san's answer and smiled faintly.
Whoosh.
Something flew toward the Group Seven cadets.
Thud.
Dang Jin-san caught it lightly. It was a fairly large pouch.
"What's this?"
He looked toward where the pouch had come from and asked.
There sat Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu.
"Something fun going on?"
Namgung Ji-hu asked as he sat next to them.
"Ah, we were talking about this time last year."
Baek Ri-pyeong answered his question.
And the gazes of the Group Seven cadets all turned to Namgung Ji-hu at once.
Joo Woo-myeong and Ha Seol-ran didn't know the story.
It was from before they joined the Fierce Dragon Corps.
The memory surfaced in the minds of the five at the same time.
And the five smiled simultaneously.
Namgung Ji-hu scowled at their laughter.
"Tch. Embarrassing memory for me. You monsters."
The Group Seven cadets' laughter deepened at Namgung Ji-hu's reaction.
A faint smile formed on Namgung Ji-yu's lips as she sat with them.
Thinking back, it was embarrassing for her too.
But it was their first time back then.
Everyone was inexperienced.
Namgung Ji-yu could smile at such memories, thinking of it as growing through experience.
"No, but seriously, what's this?"
Dang Jin-san asked again.
"Open it and see. Mooncakes. Hefei specialty, only available there. Welcome-back gift."
Namgung Ji-hu replied nonchalantly.
"Oh? Those famous mooncakes from An Hwa-sang?"
Dang Jin-san perked up and asked.
"That rumor reached Chengdu too?"
"Yeah, some guy who went to Hefei bragged about it nonstop."
Dang Jin-san set down his spoon, took out a mooncake from the pouch, and ate it first.
Everyone chuckled as they watched him.
"The real monsters aren't us—it's someone else."
Dan Mok Un-roe said, thinking of that person.
Namgung Ji-hu nodded unconsciously at the words.
He knew who that monster was.
The one who had transformed those five unrecognizably.
"But that monster instructor isn't here today."
"He said he couldn't rest properly during the break, so he's resting fiercely until today."
Nak Woo-jin answered.
"Ah, I heard. Wuchang was a mess."
Namgung Ji-yu said as it came to mind.
Blood Cult. Soul-Mixing Poison.
Was that incident something you could just call a "mess"?
The seven who experienced it firsthand shook their heads.
"It wasn't a mess—it was hell on earth."
"Like purgatory."
The cadets shared their thoughts.
"Well, at least Un-roe found his family martial arts."
At Dang Jin-san's words, the Namgung siblings' gazes turned to Dan Mok Un-roe.
"Family martial arts?"
"Yeah. So watch out, Ji-hu. It won't be like last year. Un-roe doesn't just use the Three Talents Sword Method anymore. He's learned the Dan Mok clan's family arts too."
Dang Jin-san boasted proudly, as if it were his own achievement.
"The Dan Mok clan?!"
The Namgung siblings exclaimed in unison.
They never imagined he was a survivor of the renowned Dan Mok clan that had been wiped out.
The Five Great Clans' judgment was that there were no survivors from the Dan Mok clan.
"A descendant of a renowned clan."
At Namgung Ji-yu's words, Dan Mok Un-roe's face turned beet red.
He felt embarrassed hearing that from the eldest daughter of the Namgung clan.
"The Three Talents Sword Method is a fine sword art."
Namgung Ji-hu said calmly.
Baek Ri-pyeong suppressed a smile at those words.
"Looks like he trained it during the break."
The advice Baek Ri-pyeong had given Namgung Ji-hu at the Summer Combat Festival.
Namgung Ji-hu had put it into practice.
"He trained really hard. Me too, and Ji-hu as well. We only started practicing the Heavenly Bow Infinite Sword late in the break."
He swallowed the part about practicing the Three Talents Sword Method while hiding from family members.
It was to avoid becoming gossip fodder among the clan.
"I should've just stayed at the Dragon Training Pavilion during the break."
Namgung Ji-hu grumbled with a frown.
Seven pairs of skeptical eyes turned to him.
"Not the place to talk about it, so later."
At Namgung Ji-yu's words, Namgung Ji-hu focused on his meal.
The cadets in the Devouring Dragon East Pavilion stole glances at the nine of them.
Gazes of jealousy and envy, and admiration too.
Especially Cho Mu-ha's group, their eyes sparkling as they peeked at their seniors.
Ha Mu-baek sat on his bed, scowling fiercely.
Because of the visitor across from him.
He had been in the middle of a delightful nap.
Yet this guy barged in without warning, flinging open his door without hesitation.
"What kind of rudeness is this, Pavilion Lord?"
Ha Mu-baek's voice was filled with anger.
Pang Do-yul, sitting in the chair across from the bed, just smiled.
"You keep your place so neat."
It wasn't particularly neat.
The room was simple, with no extra luggage.
"That's not what I meant."
"You were hiding away, so I came to you myself."
"I have nothing to do today? Even if I did, one instructor said he'd handle it all."
Pang Do-yul's smile deepened at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"Handle it? Or dump it on him?"
Ha Mu-baek averted his gaze slightly at the retort.
"A year ago, didn't you call us all bastards?"
Ha Mu-baek racked his memory at Pang Do-yul's question and nodded.
"Well, yeah, I did."
"And now?"
"Still bastards?"
Pang Do-yul gave a wry smile at Ha Mu-baek's blunt words.
"That's right."
A year had passed, but the Fierce Dragon Corps itself hadn't changed a bit.
It was still the same.
So the Dragon Training Pavilion was still full of bastards.
"That's why I'm trying to bring some change to the Dragon Training Pavilion—or more precisely, the Fierce Dragon Corps. They should at least become decent humans, right?"
Ha Mu-baek frowned slightly at those words.
He sensed something ominous in Pang Do-yul's intent.
"I see. No need to come all the way here to tell me that, Pavilion Lord. Well then, I'll be..."
As Ha Mu-baek got up from the bed.
"If you walk out without hearing me out, you'll be no different from the Dragon Training Pavilion bastards."
Ha Mu-baek, who had just taken a step, froze.
Checkmate.
He should have realized it when the Pavilion Lord brought up last year's incident.
How did this happen?
He was the one who had learned about the Fierce Dragon Corps' treatment and cursed the entire Dragon Training Pavilion and its lord as bastards.
Now, if he backed out when they wanted to change the Fierce Dragon Corps, he'd be the same bastard.
Ha Mu-baek had bitten the bait Pang Do-yul dangled by mentioning last year.
He rarely made such mistakes.
Ha. How did this... My edge is gone.
Pang Do-yul smiled again at the frozen Ha Mu-baek.
"Why not sit back down? Your legs must hurt. There."
Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms and plopped back onto the bed.
His gaze wasn't on Pang Do-yul.
"So, what do you want from me?"
"First, let me thank you."
Pang Do-yul stood from the chair and bowed slightly to Ha Mu-baek.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Truth is, thanks to you, I could push for changes."
Ha Mu-baek still looked confused.
"You know the purpose of the Fierce Dragon Corps, but to be blunt, they're meat shields. To make it easier for the Demon-Sealing Corps to control the jiangshi population in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, they act as bait up front."
Ha Mu-baek's face turned expressionless at Pang Do-yul's frank words.
"The Righteous Heaven Alliance doesn't want to spend budget on them. Just arm them with a sword and make sure they can stand in front of jiangshi. That's why they accept a hundred Fierce Dragon Corps cadets but don't allocate proper funds."
The more he heard, the angrier he got.
Righteous Heaven Alliance.
They called themselves an alliance of righteous sects, but their actions made them worse than the Evil Alliance rabble.
"In the end, it's about the budget."
Pang Do-yul continued his stiff explanation.
"The silver lining was that the Dragon Training Pavilion's Finance Hall Leader is Namgung Hwa-in."
Ha Mu-baek tried to recall who Namgung Hwa-in was.
Nothing particular came to mind.
"The current Namgung clan head's cousin. He's got huge pride in the Five Great Clans, a nasty temper, and big ambitions. He blew up when you smashed Instructor Sado Gwang."
"Ah..."
He remembered now.
After smashing Sado Gwang, some annoying flies had stuck around.
Those must have been from the Finance Hall.
Of course, he cleaned them up quickly. They were nobodies.
"How is having a guy like that as Finance Hall Leader a silver lining?"
"His nasty temper matches his talent for administration. His goal is to build achievements here in the Dragon Training Pavilion's Finance Hall, then go to the Righteous Heaven Alliance's Gold Sea Pavilion and become its lord. So he worked his ass off to maximize results here. That's why the pavilion's finances are solid now."
"Secured more funds than what the Righteous Heaven Alliance sends down, huh."
Pang Do-yul nodded at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"And among the Dragon Training Pavilion's budget, there's an allotment for the Pavilion Lord's staff. As finances grew, so did that budget, and I used it to raise the Fierce Dragon Corps' monthly stipends. That was the limit of what I could do."
Ha Mu-baek listened silently.
"Then this incident happened."
Pang Do-yul grinned.