Chapter 5
The pain that had spread through his heart still lingered.
“How about it? Do you understand now that I saved your life? If I hadn't stopped, you would have surely died.”
Cheok Gyo-woon numbly nodded his head.
It was because he had clearly realized how foolish it was to try and scheme in front of a man like Cheon Ha-seong.
It was a shame, like letting go of gold he held in his hand, but there was nothing he could do.
“Does anyone else know that you are this kind of person, Head Instructor?”
Cheok Gyo-woon asked as if he had to know at least that much.
“Of course not.”
Cheon Ha-seong said nonchalantly. Even after pulling off such an incredible feat, Cheon Ha-seong himself looked completely unfazed.
He knew that just to emit Formless Energy to make a person feel extreme fear and seal their movements required more than sixty years' worth of internal energy. But what Cheon Ha-seong had just displayed was so overwhelming that it couldn't possibly be compared to something like Formless Energy. Just how profound must one's internal energy be to display such martial arts?
While thinking this, Cheok Gyo-woon suddenly gasped as if he had remembered something and looked at Cheon Ha-seong.
“H-Head Instructor, have you perhaps... achieved complete mastery of that Heaven-Shattering Will Art that's said to be written on the walls of the later gates of the Martial Arts Academy...”
Then he shook his head vigorously. That would be absolutely impossible.
Wasn't that something even the Cult Leader couldn't do? If he could, there would have been no reason to make that incredible ultimate technique public in the Martial Arts Academy.
Cheok Gyo-woon laughed out loud, thinking how foolish a thing he had been about to say. However, Cheon Ha-seong remained consistently uninterested in it.
“How can I see the Cult Leader, Cheok Gyo-woon? I'd like you to show me what you can do.”
“Then. If I do that, what can I get?”
A shred of desire remaining, Cheok Gyo-woon asked timidly.
“Is that how you act towards the benefactor who saved your life?”
“Still, please show some good faith. You don't think I'm a fool, do you?”
“Right. I don't think you're a fool. Some things are more effective when you don't receive them in advance but postpone them for later. How about I promise to trust you once in the future?”
That seemed too trivial, but it didn't seem like Cheon Ha-seong would wait for long anyway.
“Understood. I will think about it for now. However, I cannot guarantee that I can let you see the Cult Leader right away. I can arrange for you to see my mother, but even my mother…”
His voice trailing off, it seemed the Fourth Marquis didn't receive much of the Cult Leader's favor either. However, Cheon Ha-seong was in a situation where he had to clutch at any straw.
“Let's go for now.”
Cheon Ha-seong left Cheok Gyo-woon and went to the Principal's office. The Principal felt his heart drop every time Cheon Ha-seong popped up unexpectedly. Since there was no way Cheon Ha-seong would have anything good to say to him, it was an automatic reaction.
“Principal, I need to leave early. Candidate Cheok Gyo-woon is coming with me.”
His face lit up at the words 'leave early,' but he tilted his head in confusion at the words that followed.
“What are you talking about? What are you planning to do to Young Master Cheok?”
“No, that's not it. It seems the Fourth Marquis has invited me. So I am going to see her.”
“…”
Hadn't something that seemed absolutely impossible just happened?
The Principal looked on as if it were the strangest thing, then shot up, approached Cheon Ha-seong, and grabbed his hand. He had always felt burdened by Cheon Ha-seong standing righteously alone, like something was stuck in his craw. But now it seemed Cheok Gyo-woon had mobilized the Fourth Marquis to resolve that problem in one fell swoop.
“Don't worry and go. You don't have to come in tomorrow either. Take a good rest for two or three days. You must be in great shock since Head Instructor Seo quit so suddenly without a word, so don't worry about the Martial Arts Academy. Let's just have it so you only need to show your face when I personally call for you, Head Instructor Cheon. Yes. That would be best.”
Saying that, he pushed Cheon Ha-seong on the back, telling him not to keep Cheok Gyo-woon waiting.
Even after seeing Cheon Ha-seong go in confidently, Cheok Gyo-woon was half in doubt whether the matter would be resolved so easily. However, Cheon Ha-seong came out with permission without any difficulty at all.
“You can use lightness skill, can't you, Cheok Gyo-woon?”
“I can, but…”
Until now, Cheok Gyo-woon had been somewhat confident in his lightness skill. But the thought of having to keep up with Cheon Ha-seong suddenly made him worry.
Not all of the Martial Arts Academy's Head Instructors had a higher level of martial arts than the candidates who entered. They might be at a higher level than the candidates from common follower backgrounds, but even that wasn't always true.
Cheok Gyo-woon was fairly certain that his martial arts level was higher than most of the Head Instructors in the Martial Arts Academy. But with Cheon Ha-seong, it seemed he was no match from the start. Hadn't he already experienced it once?
Cheon Ha-seong told Cheok Gyo-woon to start first, and after watching his lightness skill, he nodded. Thinking that it would take too long if he left him to it, he grabbed Cheok Gyo-woon's arm and performed his own lightness skill from then on.
For Cheok Gyo-woon, it was an incredibly humiliating experience, but it was a matter of blaming his own weakness, not one where he could complain to Cheon Ha-seong.
When they finally arrived at the Fourth Marquis's Residence, Cheok Gyo-woon's hair was sticking up wildly towards the sky. But somehow, not even a strand of Cheon Ha-seong's hair was out of place. Wondering how that was possible, Cheok Gyo-woon shook his head.
Cheok Gyo-woon, who was about to go inside, looked at Cheon Ha-seong.
“Speaking respectfully to a Head Instructor is only within the Martial Arts Academy…”
He was about to ask if speaking respectfully to a Head Instructor wasn't a rule that only applied inside the Martial Arts Academy, but seeing Cheon Ha-seong's expression, the words wouldn't come out.
“I suppose it doesn't just apply there. I mean, we must think of the Head Instructors as our masters and follow them well until we pass all the gates. Haha.”
It seemed that showing his overwhelming power once had been effective, as he didn't try to challenge him after that. However, Cheok Gyo-woon was only intimidated in front of Cheon Ha-seong; in front of the guards of the Marquis's Residence, he reigned like a king.
One of them approached and paid his respects to Cheok Gyo-woon, then glanced at Cheon Ha-seong and asked Cheok Gyo-woon with a questioning look.
“Young Master, isn't this the time you should be at the Martial Arts Academy? What brings you here?”
“I have come to see my mother, so announce me.”
Listening to how Cheok Gyo-woon spoke, it seemed the other person was not of a very low rank either.
“Please wait a moment. I assume this person will not be seeing her with you?”
“For now, I will see her first and speak to my mother directly.”
“Understood.”
It wasn't long before he came out, and Cheok Gyo-woon went inside first.
As Cheok Gyo-woon entered, a group of handmaidens and warriors poured out from inside. It seemed the Fourth Marquis had sent the people out at Cheok Gyo-woon's request, as it was likely not something that could be discussed in front of others.
It didn't take long for Cheok Gyo-woon to come out again.
Cheok Gyo-woon didn't come all the way out; he held the door open, looked at Cheon Ha-seong, and nodded.
Soon, as Cheon Ha-seong entered, a lavishly decorated interior came into view. Since Cheon Ha-seong had never been to a place like this, he might have found it fascinating, but he focused only on the Fourth Marquis.
The Fourth Marquis was sitting on a consort's couch, looking at Cheon Ha-seong with interest.
“I heard the story from Gyo-woon. Are you the Young Supreme One's lover?”
The Fourth Marquis seemed to have no intention of beating around the bush and asked directly from the start. Cheon Ha-seong believed that the longer he dragged things out here, the more danger Seo Hyo-eun would be in. So he tried to answer the questions quickly if possible, but he couldn't answer that particular question rashly.
No matter how he thought about it, it didn't seem like he was Seo Hyo-eun's lover. However, there was no time to dwell on that thought.
“I do not know if I am her lover, but…” Then, at the thought that his answer could make Seo Hyo-eun look foolish, he continued.
“It is true that I love her.”
“Did you rape the Young Supreme One?”
The Fourth Marquis asked, as if she found it amusing.
Cheon Ha-seong thought about what answer would be most advantageous for Seo Hyo-eun. However, it didn't seem like Seo Hyo-eun's reputation would be maintained just by saying she hadn't lost her chastity voluntarily.
When faced with a difficult question, it was best to first consider whether one absolutely had to answer it. And he finally made up his mind.
“That is a difficult question to answer.”
The Fourth Marquis looked at Cheon Ha-seong with an expression that said, 'Not bad.' She had not risen to this position merely by riding on the back of a pretty face and a good family.
Born as the eldest legitimate daughter of a Demonic Clan, she too had learned and trained in martial arts no less than any man, and the level of her martial arts was not low.
Cheon Ha-seong felt the Fourth Marquis slowly emitting her energy and pressing down on him, as if she were trying to test him.
The Fourth Marquis had already heard plenty about Cheon Ha-seong and knew that he had acted recklessly towards her adopted son, Cheok Gyo-woon. She believed that acting recklessly towards Cheok Gyo-woon wasn't just disrespecting him, but also disrespecting her who stood behind him, so she had been waiting for an opportunity to deal with him.
In the midst of that, Cheok Gyo-woon suddenly came to her one day and told her an interesting story. He said that the person who had slept with Seo Hyo-eun seemed to be the Martial Arts Academy's Head Instructor, Cheon Ha-seong.
The Fourth Marquis joyfully pondered how she would play the card named Cheon Ha-seong.
“Marquis, you may confirm whatever you wish to confirm about me, but I do not have much time. So, how about I show you myself directly?”
The moment those words ended, everything in the room simultaneously lifted off the floor and rose as if to touch the ceiling.
‘Heaven-Ascending… Art?’
The Fourth Marquis already knew about the Heaven-Ascending Art, a martial art that was the opposite of the Thousand-Catty Weight technique and made everything float towards the sky. She had even seen someone use the Heaven-Ascending Art before. However, this didn't seem to be on a level that could be called by the same name.
The Fourth Marquis noticed that the consort's couch she was sitting on was also moving. As a martial artist, her competitive spirit was stirred, and she executed the Thousand-Catty Weight technique.
A showdown unfolded, with the Fourth Marquis trying to keep the consort's couch on the floor and Cheon Ha-seong trying to lift it.
The things Cheon Ha-seong had lifted were already holding steady in mid-air. They weren't tilting this way and that; everything was stopped in place as if in a painting.
The Fourth Marquis used her full power as if to say, 'just try and stop me,' but in the end, she floated up until her head touched the ceiling.
As if to show that he had only done it to display his power and had no other intention, Cheon Ha-seong soon lowered the consort's couch. Shortly after, the other objects also came down gently.
“Marquis, please allow me to see the Cult Leader. I beg of you.”
“Then become my son's personal bodyguard.”
For the Fourth Marquis, it was no different from a pumpkin rolling in with the vine. How desperate must Cheon Ha-seong be for her help right now?
“I cannot do that.”
Cheon Ha-seong said it as if there was no need to think twice.