Chapter 266
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 266
Chapter Title: So That's How It Is?
The Fierce Dragon Corps recruit who had sneaked in while hiding his identity.
Yeah. Fine, I'll admit it.
I underestimated them.
Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest meat shields.
A brute-force unit that took just about anyone.
That's what I thought when I signed up.
Word was it wasn't even that tough a place.
The Fierce Dragon Corps only got rough after finishing the Dragon Training Pavilion's two-year training course and heading to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
Survival rate: five parts out of ten.
A genuine meat shield posting where clinging to life was no easy feat.
Still, I had confidence.
Confidence that I'd either survive the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest or bail from the Fierce Dragon Corps midway—somehow make it work.
My goal was simple. Just one thing.
Ha Mu-baek.
To meet that instructor.
He was my idol, after all.
The evil factions.
A world ruled first and foremost by the law of the jungle.
That's where I'd been born and raised.
Naturally, my idol was my grandfather, the supreme ruler of the evil factions.
But then.
The war between the Blood Cult and the Demonic Cult.
Countless powerhouses appeared... and vanished there.
Since my grandfather was the supreme ruler of the evil factions, I got to hear stories others couldn't.
And that's how I learned about the strongest martial artist of them all: Ha Mu-baek.
Idolizing the strong is only natural for an evil faction warrior.
So I wanted to meet him.
I wanted to see for myself what a powerhouse like that was really like.
Hocheon Corps.
As the leader of one of the Righteous Heaven Alliance's strongest enforcer groups, tasked with the alliance leader's personal safety, meeting Ha Mu-baek seemed like a pipe dream.
Impossible.
But then.
Last year.
He got demoted to instructor at some place called the Dragon Training Pavilion.
Of all places, the Fierce Dragon Corps.
The dumping ground where any scrub who signed up ended up as cannon fodder.
And he'd become a regular instructor there.
After that, the rumors about his exploits started rolling in.
I'd kept my ears open because I was interested.
What he'd accomplished there was the stuff of legends.
Not just the results his Fierce Dragon Corps cadets posted at the Summer Combat Festival and the Winter Combat Festival.
Pang Clan, underworld networks... even them.
It only made me want to see him more.
And the Fierce Dragon Corps gave me my in.
So I pulled off a reckless stunt.
And just like that, I joined the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Grandfather had told me Ha Mu-baek's senses were downright ghostly.
So I swiped an item and made my getaway.
The Seven-Colored Sealing Bracelets.
A stunning pair of bracelets that shimmered in seven hues.
Unlike their beautiful appearance, slipping one on each wrist perfectly sealed the user's internal energy.
Couldn't seal peak experts at the transcendent level or above.
But there weren't many of those across the entire martial world anyway.
No, the fact that it could seal even high-level experts' internal energy made it an incredible artifact on its own.
Typically used to neutralize captured masters for live transport.
There were better ones out there, but for suppressing my own arts, this was more than enough.
I put them on myself.
To seal my internal energy.
If I hadn't, Ha Mu-baek's senses would've sniffed out my true identity for sure.
It's been three months since I joined the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Mission accomplished, at least.
Ha Mu-baek was right there in front of me.
The aura of a true powerhouse oozed from him.
And...
'He was brutal...'
He really ground us down until our mouths tasted like blood.
How many times did I puke after training?
The guy was a monster.
Made me regret sealing my own energy.
How many nights did I stare at my wrists?
Dying to rip off the Seven-Colored Sealing Bracelets.
Couldn't easily remove the artifact, but I'd brought the key.
Now, three months later...
I was at the bottom of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Obviously.
The other cadets had at least started building their internal energy.
Mine's was sealed by the artifact—even the energy from the new techniques I was learning.
I was keeping up purely on external arts.
Ha Mu-baek made a rare appearance after so long.
I felt his gaze flick toward me.
'Wh-what?'
But maybe I imagined it?
It was just a split-second glance.
Truth be told, I didn't have the bandwidth to care.
With him watching, training ramped up to hellish levels.
I didn't notice Ha Mu-baek tilting his head slightly.
Today's grueling session finally wrapped up.
She dragged her exhausted body off to fill her empty stomach.
'West Pavilion today.'
One of the few joys that kept her going at the Dragon Training Pavilion.
The food at the Devouring Dragon Pavilions was top-notch.
And each of the four pavilions had different menus.
She'd scouted them ahead and picked based on her tastes.
Today's pick: Devouring Dragon West Pavilion.
Close to the Wa Dragon Corps and Hidden Dragon Corps training grounds.
As she passed the entrance, she bumped into five worn-out cadets.
They looked beat too.
But the moment they collided.
Right as she opened her mouth to apologize.
"Tch, fuck. Already pissed off, and now this? What the hell is this ugly bitch?"
Vitriol straight to her face.
When had she ever heard language like that?
"S-sorry..."
Still, she apologized. She'd been too wiped to watch where she was going.
"What a waste of a voice. That face with that tone?"
The displeased man kept insulting her.
Exhausted and irritated, Byeok I-gyeom was in a foul mood.
Already on edge, and now this ugly girl crashes into him.
Her uniform marked her as Fierce Dragon Corps.
Unlike Wa Dragon or Hidden Dragon, they didn't have uniforms, so easy to spot.
"Fierce Dragon Corps, huh. Tch. Figures—with a mug like that, couldn't even sell your body in a brothel. Damn."
With that, Byeok I-gyeom walked off.
They left, leaving her alone.
Gongya Hwiyeon.
Her whole body trembled.
'What the fuck did that bastard just say?'
First time in her life hearing that crap—from that scumbag.
Of course, her current face was hideous.
Small eyes. Flat nose. Thick lips. Pockmarks all over.
Breasts bound tight just in case.
Even so.
She was furious.
That worthless punk.
"Hwiyeon. What're you doing out here? Aren't you going in?"
A squadmate approached.
"Oh, yeah. Heading in."
A kind colleague who always tagged along when she rotated Devouring Dragon Pavilions.
The two grabbed food and sat.
Far from the group she'd bumped into.
Still, their loud chatter rang clear.
"Damn. Ruining my appetite."
"Fierce Dragon creeps all the way here."
Wa Dragon Squad 1, Year 1—fuming from brutal training—were venting on the sudden Fierce Dragon cadets.
"Bold of her to show her face looking like that."
"Yeah. Has no shame, wandering around without a veil. Fuck."
The insults kept coming.
"Her ass looked decent, though."
"Then you do her."
"You nuts?"
Endless mockery.
Still, the two focused on their meal and left first.
"Hwiyeon. You have to hold it in."
Jin Yeon-sim said as they left Devouring Dragon West Pavilion.
One of the few female cadets, she'd joined the Fierce Dragon Corps to support her poor family.
"I know. Getting weak and fighting back just means worse humiliation."
Jin Yeon-sim nodded at Gongya Hwiyeon's words.
"But what the hell are those guys?"
Jin Yeon-sim was the info hub for Fierce Dragon Year 1 Squad 7.
Nosy about everything at the Dragon Training Pavilion, she knew a ton.
"Wa Dragon Year 1 Squad 1. Elites from the New Eight Gates sects. Highborn types. That's why no one reins them in even when they act out."
Gongya Hwiyeon nodded.
"And they're running this fun little bet right now."
Jin Yeon-sim's eyes sparkled. Dying to spill what she knew.
"Oh, right. That bet?"
Gongya Hwiyeon had heard the basics from her before.
"Yeah. Stakes are pretty high, though."
She'd only half-listened then, so details were fuzzy.
"What're they?"
Gongya Hwiyeon asked casually.
The info poured out nonstop.
After hearing it all.
'So that's how it is?'
Gongya Hwiyeon's eyes gleamed.
Looked like she'd decided when to briefly unseal her energy.
Ha Mu-baek wouldn't judge the Summer Combat Festival anyway.
'Time to break out the bow.'
Gongya Jangcheon stared in bewilderment from his study.
"Th-this..."
Small boxes lined one side of the study.
One was empty.
He'd spotted it by chance.
Glancing up from a book.
Odd he hadn't noticed sooner.
The box had shifted ever so slightly, disturbing the shelf dust differently.
Curious, he picked it up.
Light.
Opened it: empty.
"The Seven-Colored Sealing Bracelets..."
Few could enter Gongya Jangcheon's study.
Fewer still dared touch his things.
"It was you, Hwiyeon!"
His mind reeled.
Never dreamed she'd take even the bracelets.
Gongya Jangcheon hurriedly summoned Mun In-baeksong.
"What?!"
Mun In-baeksong jumped.
Made sense.
If she'd put the Seven-Colored Sealing Bracelets on herself...
Even Ha Mu-baek couldn't sense her sealed energy.
No way to track her by senses.
"The young miss came prepared. Myriad Illusions Divine Mask and Seven-Colored Sealing Bracelets..."
Mun In-baeksong looked troubled.
"Sigh. What is that child thinking..."
"If I may... we should search her room."
Gongya Jangcheon frowned.
"Rifling through a grown woman's room?"
Three months since she'd vanished.
No one but her dedicated maid had entered to tidy.
"If she took the bracelets too, there must be clues."
"Even so..."
"It should've been the first thing we did."
Actually.
When Gongya Hwiyeon disappeared.
First thing Mun In-baeksong pushed for.
Gongya Jangcheon had stubbornly refused.
But now, they needed any lead.
"Sigh, fine. But with her mother."
Thus, Gongya Jangcheon called his daughter-in-law.
To search his granddaughter's room.
"The Sun-Shooting Purple Thunder Bow is gone too."
A weapon he'd gifted his archery prodigy granddaughter.
Gongya Jangcheon actually looked relieved at the news.
At least she'd taken her signature weapon.
"Anything else?"
"Nothing much, but... this."
A scroll on her wall, one brush stroke.
Looked like Gongya Hwiyeon's handwriting.
Just three characters.
Law of the Strong.
"Hm."
Gongya Jangcheon gazed at the scroll.
Training got even tougher once Ha Mu-baek returned.
The kind of brutal that made you mutter, "As expected."
Day after day.
As time passed.
Wa Dragon Squad 20's skills kept climbing.
But.
It didn't impress Ha Mu-baek.
Maybe because he'd checked out Wa Dragon Squad 1.
In the end.
Ha Mu-baek pulled a new move.
One he hadn't used on Fierce Dragon Squad 7.
"All of you, come at me. Until I say stop. No breaks."
Ha Mu-baek's low voice.
The Fierce Dragon cadets' eyes went wide.
Sparring nonstop until he called it?
Wonder if they'd survive the day.
That's what crossed their minds.
Wa Dragon Squad 20's five cadets gulped dryly.
Then charged Ha Mu-baek together.
Swords drawn precisely, no mistakes.
Five days to the Summer Combat Festival.
They had to get stronger. No choice.
Thwack! Thud thud thwack!
"Gaaah!"
"Agh!"
The five flew back in an instant.
And let out horrific screams.
Agonizing pain wracked their bodies.
Spar over in a flash.
Five writhing on the ground.
"Didn't say stop."
Ha Mu-baek said calmly.
They could barely get up.
"If you don't come to me, I'll come to you."
Short words.
Wa Dragon Squad 20 staggered to their feet.
Han Seol-bing looked mildly surprised.
"Corps Leader's serious. Haven't seen this in ages. Those kids are blessed."
"Huh?"
Dang Jin-san asked, face twisted in horror at her mutter.
"Feels like hell now, sure. But try it yourself—you'll get it."
Dang Jin-san shuddered at Han Seol-bing's words.
She murmured softly.
"It's actually pretty great..."