Chapter 2
“Head Instructor Seo, what's with kids these days?”
“Head Instructor Cheon, why do you always fight to the bitter end? Isn't it about time you learned to look the other way? I just find them all cute.”
The two continued their conversation, filling each other's cups.
“Why do you talk like some old geezer wasting away in a back room?”
“Isn't it fun? Watching them run wild without knowing anything. They act all cocky, not knowing when they might die, and with a single gesture, they could be turned into a handful of ash. Or their flesh could separate into thousands of unrecognizable pieces and explode into the air.”
“…Head Instructor Seo, what kind of joke is that? By the way, Head Instructor Seo, why do you really not take off your mask? Do you really have to drink through a hole you cut in it?”
“The alcohol is going down well today.”
“Really? Me too. The Principal is probably going to kick me out anyway, so let's drink till the end today. Don't feel sad after I leave the Martial Arts Academy, just drink your fill.”
Seo Hyo-eun, perhaps also thinking that Cheon Ha-seong would be kicked out of the Martial Arts Academy, nodded and filled her cup.
After competitively drinking for half a shichen*, the two were so drunk they could barely support their bodies. In the end, they gave up on going home and got a room upstairs.
[N: 1 shichen = 2 hours]
“Let'sh... go to the room and have jusht one more drink, Head Inshtructor Cheon.”
At some point, she had gotten so drunk that her words began to slur.
“Fine! Let's drink till we drop!”
The two had definitely never gotten along so well. But who knew what was with that day.
In the end, when the amount of alcohol they drank in the room surpassed what they drank downstairs, Seo Hyo-eun, unable to even hold her head up, spoke.
“Hey, Head Instructor Cheon! You! Do you have any idea who my father is?”
Cheon Ha-seong, thinking she was spouting all sorts of nonsense, retorted.
“Why? Did your mother not tell you?”
“…?”
It took a moment for her to understand his words and get angry.
“Cheon Ha-seong!”
“Ah, sorry. Sorry.”
“Shouldn't you be apologizing to my mother, not to me?”
“It’s a secret from your mother.”
“Ugh! It’s so stuffy. Why is it so hard to breathe? Phew, it's hot! So suffocating!”
Seo Hyo-eun muttered and then suddenly took off her mask. Cheon Ha-seong thought.
That she was fucking beautiful.
And then, a loud thud echoed.
It was the sound of his head hitting the table. And just like that, Cheon Ha-seong fell asleep.
* * *
‘What is this? Where am I?’
That was the first thought that entered Cheon Ha-seong's mind as he opened his eyes on the bed.
Suddenly, a chilling feeling washed over him.
He quickly looked around.
‘Who is this…? Why is she in this state?’
Cheon Ha-seong was startled to see the naked form laid bare before his eyes. It was a woman. Seeing her perfect body, which looked as if a master artist had poured their heart and soul into sculpting it, he was flabbergasted and covered his mouth.
‘Head Instructor Seo? What… what happened?’
Her long, soft, glossy hair was splayed out like a waterfall, and Seo Hyo-eun was curled up tightly, using it as a blanket.
‘What happened last night?’
Then, he peeked under the blanket covering his own waist.
‘Right. Hello to you, too.’
They had gone all the way.
Now that he thought about it, memories started to slowly come back.
‘Wait…. I think Head Instructor Seo took off her mask later?’
With that thought, he gently lifted the hair covering her face.
‘…’
He had guessed she would be a great beauty just from seeing her eyes above the mask, but he had never imagined she would be this beautiful. It was to the point where he could only think how breathtakingly and absurdly beautiful she was.
He was now truly understanding what it meant to stare as if bewitched.
While Cheon Ha-seong was staring, completely captivated, Seo Hyo-eun also opened her eyes. Her face was scrunched up from a splitting headache caused by drinking too much.
Then, coming to her senses, she glared at Cheon Ha-seong, her face still scrunched up.
“What the, Head Instructor Cheon? Are you completely fine?”
“As for me, I've already expelled the alcohol's poison with my internal energy.”
“You can… do that too?”
They had somehow ended up spending the night together, and Seo Hyo-eun seemed to be in a bad mood over the fact that Cheon Ha-seong could do something she couldn't.
“Agh, my head.”
As she said that, she rubbed her face, and then her eyes suddenly widened as if she remembered something. Since Seo Hyo-eun was still naked, Cheon Ha-seong thought she had finally realized their situation. However, his guess was, once again, completely off the mark.
“My mask! My mask. Did you take off my mask, Head Instructor Cheon?”
Then, Seo Hyo-eun glared at Cheon Ha-seong as if looking at a beast.
It seemed that taking off her clothes was fine, but taking off her mask was not.
“You took off the mask, Head Instructor Seo. You said it was stuffy while you were drinking. You're just beautiful, why did you wrap yourself up so tightly?”
“Who doesn't know that I'm beautiful? I told you before, I wear a mask *because* I'm too beautiful.”
Seeing her speak so seriously even at a moment like this, he wondered if she really believed it.
“Let's go to the Martial Arts Academy for now, Head Instructor Seo. The candidates are there; we can't be late, not as Head Instructors.”
“Yeah... you're right. You go on ahead. I think I need to clear my head a bit.”
“Still, wouldn't it be better to go together? You can rest at the Martial Arts Academy when you see how things are. If we hesitate any longer, we'll really be late. I can just carry you on my back and use my lightness skill.”
“No. Go on ahead. I'll take care of myself.”
Cheon Ha-seong thought Seo Hyo-eun seemed quite distraught. However, time was too tight to get to the Martial Arts Academy, so he couldn't wait any longer. He figured if he at least went first, he could make an excuse for her when the others started looking for her.
“Head Instructor Seo, in that case, I'll go ahead and smooth things over. You rest a bit more and come slowly. I'm sorry this happened because I suggested we drink. And…”
“Hurry and go.”
Cheon Ha-seong thought he should also say something about the previous night, but Seo Hyo-eun, as if she had nothing more to say, pulled the blanket over herself and lay down.
“Head Instructor Cheon, I don't regret it. I'm the one who started it.”
Those words clearly reached the ears of Cheon Ha-seong as he turned away.
* * *
Fortunately, he was able to arrive at the Martial Arts Academy without being late.
The Chief Head Instructor approached first and tried to placate Cheon Ha-seong.
“Head Instructor Cheon, someone came from the Fourth Marquis's residence yesterday and all hell broke loose. The Principal is very angry, so if you can, please just bear with it today.”
It was a matter that could pass peacefully if only Cheon Ha-seong endured it. However, if even Cheon Ha-seong turned a blind eye, Cheok Gyo-woon, trusting in the Fourth Marquis's backing, could kill anyone he didn't like.
This was because killing an opponent during a duel at the Martial Arts Academy was not a crime, and if he could silence the Principal and the Head Instructors, a death that occurred here could be disguised as such.
Because of Seo Hyo-eun, he couldn't just come on strong without a care, but that didn't mean he could accept those words.
“That's why you shouldn't recklessly accept money and favors from others. It's best to assume that no one besides your parents gives such things without expecting something in return.”
It wasn't as if the Chief Head Instructor didn't know what kind of person Cheon Ha-seong was when he started this conversation. But he was doing it because the Principal had ordered him to.
“Still, instead of acting as excessively as you did yesterday, you can persuade them nicely. They're all just young kids.”
“I am young too, Chief Head Instructor.”
“Yes... that's true. But you're different, Head Instructor Cheon. You're a legend of the Divine Cult, acknowledged by the Principal and all the Head Instructors.”
Cheon Ha-seong started to feel increasingly uncomfortable talking with the Chief Head Instructor and quietly slipped away. The place he headed after leaving was where the candidates from common follower backgrounds were.
They didn't dare speak to Cheon Ha-seong and only looked at him with eyes full of awe.
The fact that Cheon Ha-seong was from a common follower background was not as widely known in the Divine Cult as one might think. The common followers saw him as one of their own and made him their goal, but those of high status did not like him being regarded as such a figure.
“You can consider what happened yesterday as nothing. I know that there is no pain that feels greater than the pain one suffers oneself. When I was in the Martial Arts Academy, there were six people like Cheok Gyo-woon. Those six had nearly ten subordinates among them. They all wanted to make me their subordinate, but when I completely ignored them, they tried to kill me, saying that if they couldn't make me part of their forces, they wouldn't let me become someone else's.”
Those present looked at him with surprised faces, wondering if such a thing had really happened.
Because Cheon Ha-seong was such a legendary figure, the thought that he must have been strong from the very beginning was unconsciously ingrained in their minds.
“So…. what did you do?”
When someone asked, Cheon Ha-seong spoke with an arrogant face, as if the answer were obvious.
“I fought. I didn't care how many times I got hit. I made sure to hit back at least once against any bastard who hit me. And I kept track of who hit me and attacked them frequently. Even if those bastards started the fight, I decided I would be the one to end it. Even after ten days, even after three months, I went and attacked them frequently. It was great. I was able to test my training.”
The candidates' eyes now widened for a different reason.
“Didn't you… get hit again?”
“I did. I was almost beaten to death, but living while being mocked by those bastards couldn't be called living anyway. If my life is to be decided by the words of others, how can you call that being alive?”
A smile touched Cheon Ha-seong's lips.
“As a result, among the bastards who hit me at first, there isn't a single one who wasn't crippled. I severed their tendons and meridians, thinking that if bastards like them gained power, they would only be a detriment to the Divine Cult.”
Hearing that, the candidates' mouths fell open and their eyes widened. They had never imagined he would have gone that far.
“But I heard that you, Head Instructor, passed the Martial Arts Academy in six days…”
“I did. Just because I passed didn't mean I had to leave the Martial Arts Academy. They told me to leave, but I said I couldn't because I still had things to do here. You all will find out soon enough, but the mnemonic verses for the Heaven-Shattering Will Art are inscribed in the latter six gates. No one has ever achieved complete mastery of it, so the leadership had it carved onto the walls of the Martial Arts Academy and are waiting for someone who can master it to appear.”
What Cheon Ha-seong was saying was information that those from high-ranking families would have already heard before coming. However, for the candidates from common follower backgrounds, there was no one to tell them such stories.
As a result, the candidates' concentration was higher than ever before.