Chapter 233
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 233
Chapter Title: Those Children
Hwang Ryeok.
That was the burly man's name.
He was one of those overseeing the laborers, and plenty had quit because of his abuse.
He couldn't lay a finger on Elder Wi Ji-gun, but he caught the other workers like rats.
The recruiters had gone and picked out an eight-cripple for labor duty, and Hwang Ryeok was already in a foul mood over it.
But because Elder Wi Ji-gun kept defending the eight-cripple, he hadn't been able to properly discipline him.
Today, though, he was alone.
Up until yesterday, he'd been with Elder Wi Ji-gun.
And to top it off, he was just standing there blankly without even sweeping.
Jackpot.
"If they let an eight-cripple like you in as a laborer, you ought to work twice as hard as everyone else since you've only got one arm left. What the hell are you doing just standing there like an idiot!"
A bellow exploded from his lungs.
"Ah, sorry."
Namgung Hwi bowed his head.
"Sorry? Instead of spouting crap like that, move that broom. Tch. Not a damn spot here has been cleaned."
The place he pointed to had been swept spotless.
Even so, he nitpicked that it hadn't been cleaned.
The cadets had already stopped in their tracks at the shouting.
Dan Mok Un-roe started to step forward at his unreasonable harassment, but Dang Jin-san grabbed his arm.
And shook his head.
"It's a matter between laborers. As unfortunate as it is, we can't get involved. Best to report it to Elder Wi."
Dang Jin-san's judgment.
Elder Wi Ji-gun had quietly taken charge of all the Dragon Training Pavilion's laborers.
Thanks to that, even the overseers couldn't mess with him lightly.
But Elder Wi Ji-gun couldn't always be with every laborer, so incidents like this cropped up.
Dan Mok Un-roe ground his teeth.
Then he glanced at Ha Seol-ran.
"Where's Elder Wi?"
"Hm? I think he's near our training grounds?"
Dan Mok Un-roe kicked off the ground.
To fetch Elder Wi Ji-gun.
"That's why I told No Baek we shouldn't keep a one-armed guy around. But that damn Elder Wi said it was fine, so we let him stay. And this is how he does the work?"
Hwang Ryeok's tirade didn't let up.
No Baek was the one who'd first seen Namgung Hwi and let him in to try laboring.
He was one of the overseers too.
Unlike the fuming Hwang Ryeok right now, No Baek commanded great respect among the laborers.
Just then, Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu spotted the Fierce Dragon Corps cadets and quickened their pace toward them.
They passed by Namgung Hwi, who stood bowing and apologizing nonstop before Hwang Ryeok.
Hwang Ryeok's nitpicking was enough to make anyone's brow furrow just from hearing it.
Namgung Ji-hu's gaze drifted that way.
An empty right sleeve dangling limply.
A head bowed deeply, and scars faintly visible on his face.
Tzzing.
A strange sensation flitted across one corner of his chest.
"What?"
Namgung Ji-yu asked.
Because Namgung Ji-hu's steps had slowed just a bit.
"Ah, nothing."
Namgung Ji-hu resumed walking.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me properly!"
Whether the Namgung siblings passed by or not, Hwang Ryeok kept hounding Namgung Hwi like a rat.
However.
Namgung Hwi wasn't truly hearing Hwang Ryeok's words.
No sound reached his ears.
He kept his head bowed, but he could see them with the corner of his eye.
The boy and girl passing right by him.
'Those children...'
Namgung Hwi's heart pounded fiercely.
This was the first time he'd laid eyes on them.
Even after Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu joined the group, Hwang Ryeok kept berating Namgung Hwi.
It wasn't a pretty sight.
Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu couldn't help frowning too.
"So why'd we stop here?"
Namgung Ji-yu asked.
"Waiting for Un-roe."
Dang Jin-san answered lightly.
"Couldn't stand to watch that mess, apparently."
The two tilted their heads at the explanation.
But they nodded upon seeing the approaching old man.
An elderly laborer with a build rivaling Hwang Ryeok's.
Elder Wi.
No one thought of him as just any laborer.
Dan Mok Un-roe followed behind him.
Elder Wi Ji-gun strode straight toward Hwang Ryeok without slowing.
Hwang Ryeok spotted him too.
He flinched.
"What are you doing right now?"
"Teaching him proper work since he can't do it right."
Hwang Ryeok answered Elder Wi Ji-gun's questioning boldly.
"What's not proper about it? Looks clean enough to me."
Elder Wi Ji-gun said, looking around.
Hwang Ryeok had no comeback to that.
He'd just been nitpicking; the cleaning had been thorough.
"Th-that's..."
"And I've already talked it over with No Baek—I'm personally handling this friend Hwi here. So why are you messing with him?"
Elder Wi Ji-gun glared at Hwang Ryeok with his fierce eyes.
Hwang Ryeok felt a chill run down his spine.
'What the hell's with that old man's glare...'
His back grew slick with sweat.
A build matching his own, muscles to match.
Who knew how old the old man was, or how he kept such a body.
And that presence of his.
He'd only wanted to pick a fight because he hated seeing the old man coddling him, but for him to show up this fast.
Hwang Ryeok's eyes flicked to the Fierce Dragon Corps cadets.
There was the guy who'd followed behind Elder Wi Ji-gun's bold strides.
But what could a mere laborer like him do to cadets?
They were martial artists training in the martial arts.
"The laundry's piled up high. Just came looking for more hands. Ahem."
With that, he turned and slipped away.
Elder Wi Ji-gun frowned.
"Tch. That guy's always like that. Damn it."
He clicked his tongue at the retreating figure.
Word was, before Elder Wi Ji-gun came to the Dragon Training Pavilion, Hwang Ryeok had been truly untouchable.
"Think of it as some mutt barking and don't take it to heart. Laundry's piled up, so let's head that way first."
With those comforting words for Namgung Hwi, Elder Wi Ji-gun took the lead.
Namgung Hwi's gaze turned toward the Fierce Dragon Corps cadets.
His eyes met Dan Mok Un-roe's, and he bowed politely.
He'd grasped the general situation.
Then he glanced briefly at Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu standing with them before turning away.
It was the first time.
The first time he'd looked straight at those children's faces.
It was brief, but it felt like an eternity had stopped.
No—too short.
He wanted to keep looking, but he couldn't.
Not yet.
Not just yet.
With that, the two headed north.
"Do the laborers do the laundry too?"
"Our uniforms."
Dan Mok Un-roe muttered, head tilted, and Namgung Ji-hu answered casually.
The Fierce Dragon Corps cadets' eyes went wide at that.
It made sense.
They washed and wore their own uniforms.
The Fierce Dragon Corps didn't have standardized uniforms; everyone wore their personally prepared ones.
"The Pavilion issues them, so the Pavilion handles the upkeep too. We wash our other clothes ourselves."
Namgung Ji-yu added the explanation.
"Lucky. Hidden Dragon and Wa Dragon get it easy."
Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu chuckled at Dang Jin-san's grumbled mutter.
"Alright, let's get going."
Baek Ri-pyeong wrapped up the mood and headed toward the training grounds first.
The group arrived at the training grounds.
It had been a while since they'd all gathered like this.
"Who wants to go first?"
Dang Jin-san said with a grin.
Namgung Ji-hu stepped forward.
Since the day they'd eaten the Wulianghwan.
Aside from overseeing Wa Dragon Squad Twenty's training, they hadn't sparred separately.
They'd focused entirely on maximizing the pill's medicinal power.
Among them, the biggest gains had gone to Yeon Ha-min and Dang Jin-san, naturally.
They'd spent the full ten days in meditation.
"Alright, then I'll go first too."
Dang Jin-san stepped into the center of the grounds, facing Namgung Ji-hu.
His body itched for action.
This time, he'd definitely felt something.
The two faced off, while the others backed away.
Dang Jin-san moved first.
Spirit Snake Nine Whip lashed toward Namgung Ji-hu.
Namgung Ji-hu's response was, of course, Imperial Sword Form.
It was Dang Jin-san's first time seeing Imperial Sword Form.
But he didn't panic, focusing on unleashing his own techniques.
The momentum of their whips and sword was markedly different from before.
With increased internal energy came greater power in their movements.
After a long exchange, Dang Jin-san began to give ground bit by bit.
Their internal energy was comparable, so technique decided the fight.
And Namgung Ji-hu's Imperial Sword Form improved day by day.
"Puha."
Before a clear victor emerged.
Dang Jin-san retreated with ragged breaths.
"You're incredible."
He said, shaking his head.
"You too."
Namgung Ji-hu smiled back.
"Quit the bullshit."
The cadets' heads snapped toward the familiar voice.
Ha Mu-baek.
He'd appeared without a sound.
How long had he been there?
"I go to the trouble of feeding you good stuff, and you can't even use it right, wasting it like this. What's so incredible? The waste is what's incredible?"
Ha Mu-baek spoke like he was thoroughly displeased.
Though it was scolding and nagging, smiles crept onto Dang Jin-san and Namgung Ji-hu's lips.
They knew this instructor didn't stop at mere reprimands.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze swept over the other cadets.
"Let me see what you've got."
At that, they all paired off and began sparring.
But the matches didn't last long.
Ha Mu-baek cut them short midway.
Having assessed every cadet's state, he looked at them with pitiful eyes.
"I get it—you ate good stuff, your internal energy shot up, and you're all excited. But you're wasting way too much. Keep burning through it like that, and even ten jia of training won't be enough."
Dang Jin-san chuckled at Ha Mu-baek's words.
Ten jia? Ridiculous.
Could a human even hold that much internal energy to begin with?
Purely through heart methods, it'd take six hundred years of cultivation.
"Internal energy isn't about just shoving it in nonstop. Shove when you need to shove, pull back when you need to pull back. Explode when you need to explode."
Ha Mu-baek explained while demonstrating the motions roughly.
The cadets watched intently.
"Um, could you show us through direct sparring, Instructor?"
Joo Woo-myeong asked cautiously.
"Hm. What a pain..."
Ha Mu-baek seemed reluctant.
But under the cadets' gazes, he looked like he had no choice and started to step forward—
Then glanced at the sky.
"Next time. Time to eat."
And with that, he vanished.
"Huh..."
Someone let out a hollow laugh.
Yeah, that was him.
That instructor.
Elder Wi Ji-gun and Namgung Hwi arrived at the laundry.
Hwang Ryeok hadn't lied about the backlog.
The piled-up laundry drew a fervent welcome from the laborers.
"Alright, let's set up shop."
Elder Wi Ji-gun claimed a spot first, and Namgung Hwi took one nearby.
Hidden Dragon Corps uniforms.
One had a name embroidered on it.
As they washed away frantically.
Namgung Hwi picked up a uniform, and the embroidered name caught his eye.
Namgung Ji-hu.
His eyes trembled faintly.
There couldn't be two with the same name.
It was that boy's uniform from earlier.
His hands shook finely.
Even so, he washed it slowly, with utmost care.
Not leaving a single stain, he laundered Namgung Ji-hu's uniform.
Because of that, his pace slowed to match an ordinary person's.
He'd been blazing through the pile before, so people tilted their heads at his sudden sluggishness.
After meticulously finishing Namgung Ji-hu's uniform and passing it on.
As he washed the next.
This time.
Namgung Ji-yu.
He saw the name.
Namgung Hwi's hands slowed again.
Trembling fingertips.
Eyes tinting faintly red.
'You've grown so well.'
That was the only thought filling Namgung Hwi's heart right now.
Until Elder Wi Ji-gun patted his shoulder, he'd just kept washing diligently.
"Something wrong?"
"Ah, no."
"Yeah? You're extra diligent today. Heh."
Elder Wi Ji-gun sensed there was a story but let it slide like always.
"How about heading to the armory alone today? I've got other business."
It was already afternoon.
They'd skipped lunch, focused solely on laundry.
"But first, let's grab some food."
They had a late lunch at Devouring Dragon Pavilion and parted ways.
Namgung Hwi arrived at the armory alone.
Weapons thick with dust.
Namgung Hwi didn't grab just anything.
Instead, he focused his gaze, checking the engravings on the weapons.
He hadn't thought of it before.
But seeing those two names embroidered on the uniforms earlier jogged his memory.
Conveniently alone in the armory.
How long did he search?
Namgung Hwi picked up two swords.
Training blades engraved with Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu's names.
He levitated them with void grasp.
Cloth once.
Oil-soaked cloth again.
Cloth one more time.
He polished them with devotion.
Even more than when he maintained his own sword.
Probably the most focused moment of his life so far.
Though blunt training blades, they gleamed.
As if ready to slice through anything.
Hard to believe they were mere trainers.
"Not sure when you'll use these, but..."
Finishing up, Namgung Hwi murmured as he returned the two swords to their places.
Then he polished whatever weapon came to hand.
A stark contrast to moments before.
Yet the weapons all shone cleanly.