"Greetings to you, Princ.i.p.al!"
"When does the plum blossom bloom?"
The messengers promptly replied to Eun Myeong-myeong's coded message.
"When the white b.u.t.terfly flies."
"You are undoubtedly messengers of the Hwacheon Academy."
It was only then that he let go of his nervousness. There were many potential mishaps that could occur within Moorim.
Coded messages were used as many a time, when messengers were captured, since dark cultivators would unhesitatingly replace them with men of their own.
The messengers of the Hwacheon Clan were men that would be willing to commit suicide rather than reveal the coded message of the Clan.
It was a cold and harsh reality, but nothing more could be done.
It was simply the fate the men had to endure.
At the messengers' response to the coded message, Eun Myeong-myeong nodded, and after prostrating themselves at him, one of the messengers took a letter out of his sleeve.
"This is a letter sent by the school administrator."
Shi Gong-bak was in charge of the administration of the Academy. As the entire wealth of the Academy was at his disposal, he could be called 'third in rank' in terms of who held the most power within the Academy.
'If we calculate the ranking within the Academy, the most powerful would be the Clan Leader, the second would be the Princ.i.p.al, and the third would be Shi Gong-bak.'
Still under the guise of an Invisibility Technique, Kang-hyuk began to ponder over Shi Gong-bak within his thoughts, and at the same time, was incredibly curious about the contents of the letter that had been sent with such urgency.
The person who received the letter wasn't Eun Myeong-myeong, but Ok Hae-mi.
She unfolded the letter, and began to read its contents. By this, Kang-hyuk was able to fathom her true standing.
'Is she really not just an ordinary first-year whip martial arts teacher?'
Kang-hyuk felt that if she was truly an ordinary teacher, she wouldn't be acting as Eun Myeong-myeong's hands and feet, having awareness of confidential matters of the Academy.
"Hmm…."
There was no significant change in her outward expression, but Kang-hyuk could read her inner agitation.
He could feel Ok Hae-mi's energy trembling.
Kang-hyuk moved himself directly behind Ok Hae-mi. His footsteps were silent as he used the Traceless Snow Technique, a technique that made his steps soundless, to the extent that it was as if he was treading on snow.
He took a look at the letter that Ok Hae-mi was reading.
The letter stated that the Clan Elder, Shim-gu, whilst undercover at the Hwacheon Academy, had discovered a spy. The spy had been caught and imprisoned, and the letter was to ask about what punishment should be given to the spy.
'He caught a spy? That fellow Shim-gu is pretty talented!'
Wrinkles began to form at the centre of Eun Myeong-myeong's forehead as he read the letter. He then looked at Ok Hae-mi.
"What do you think would be the best course of action?"
"Seeing that it's a special situation, I'm sure the other teachers will understand."
"Then I'll leave the responsibility to…"
In the midst of thought, Eun Myeong-myeong had a brainwave, then spoke.
"I'll leave the responsibility to Yun Hseong Seonsaeng, since he's the most experienced amongst all of the teachers."
Yun Hseong bowed in response.
"I'm lacking, but I'll do my utmost best."
"With that, I'll be leaving."
Eun Myeong-myeong immediately left, accompanied by his guard, as he headed for Hwacheon Academy.
They also took Hae-sak, an official of the Black Snake Sect that they had captured, with them.
Kang-hyuk looked up at the now dark sky. The beautiful night sky, filled with twinkling stars, began to show itself.
'I'd better go water the flowering plants the students have planted.'
As Ji Cheol-mok had wiped out nearly all potential dangers, Kang-hyuk felt that it would be okay to leave for a few hours.
'Well, Ae-rin's here as well.'
However, he wasn't in a rush to leave.
It would attract attention if he didn't attend to his night-watching duties.
Kang-hyuk intended to leave after his scheduled duty.
Even if he left by then, it wouldn't be too late.
'I can just move a little faster to make up for it.'
***
Despite the students being on their field trip, the employees of the Academy were still busy concentrating on their work as usual.
Their workload was still as numerous as ever.
This was because they were a.s.signed work that could only be executed when the students were absent from the Academy.
For example, constructing new buildings, organizing the library, or replacing old facilities.
Jeon Cheon-gwan, the administrator of the Academy, planned to have a deep clean of the entire Academy whilst the students were away at the field trip.
As the employees who were in charge of cleaning were given this news the day after the students left, they could not help but sigh.
"Don't sigh like that. What can we do? If we received orders from above, we have no choice but to do it."
The head of the employees had responded in such a way, then a.s.signed each person an area to clean.
The area a.s.signed to Shim-gu, still in disguise as a cleaner, was none other than the library.
The area he generally cleaned was the Liberal Arts subject cla.s.srooms, but seeing as the area was usually clean, a thorough cleaning could be done in two days singlehandedly.
Therefore, he was to work in another area, the library. But Shim-gu wondered why there was an insistence on him working in the library.
"The library…."
"Hey, Shim-ga! Let's go!"
As the employee that was to be working with him in organizing the library, Yun-ssi, called him over, Shim-gu internally sighed.
The Hwacheon Academy Library.
The library's official name was 'Cheonhamanjijibdaedang'- meaning the place where all of the knowledge of the world is gathered.
But everyone simply called it the library.
'The name's too grand and too long.'
Shim-gu clicked his tongue as he entered the library, it was huge in terms of area, with countless books on its many bookshelves, making it truly deserving of its grand name.
"Huh! You've finally arrived!"
"We were waiting!"
As Shim-gu entered the library with the other helpers, the librarians greeted them.
He noticed that the librarians' gazes felt somewhat tired, and that there were dark circles under their eyes. 'They did say that a large-scale reorganizing of the library was going to take place with the absence of the students.'
He felt a little anxious.
One of the librarians spoke up.
"We were a little overwhelmed with the task of organization ourselves, so we asked the school administrator for some additional help, and to think he sent help so fast! We're saved!"
"...."
Shim-gu finally realized why he had been a.s.signed to the library, instead of cleaning the usual Liberal Arts cla.s.srooms.
'I wondered why all the people that came with me were people that knew how to read!'
It was unusual for cleaning staff employees to be literate, and so, those that were, a small group of four, including Shim-gu, had been a.s.signed to the library.
"Right, now look at this list of books, if there are any books you find that aren't on this list, pick them out!"
The work had begun almost as soon as they had arrived.
'Well, I guess it is what it is.'
As Shim-gu received the list, he began to go through the library. But after around two hours had gone by….
"Oh!"
"Can, can that really be?!"
Two librarians were unable to hold back their surprise. They were looking at Shim-gu.
He was plucking out books with an att.i.tude of indifference, and the speed at which he was doing so was quite astonishing.
He was working at a rate much faster than the librarians who were skilled at their work.
Just in case, a librarian went over to inspect Shim-gu's work for mistakes or carelessness but found no issue.
His work was completely flawless.
The librarians were simultaneously taken aback and in awe of Shim-gu.
'He's a talent!'
'To think that such a talent is a cleaner!'
At that moment, a person approached the scene, and upon seeing the librarians blankly staring at Shim-gu, began to scold them.
"What on earth are you doing?! I even sent you additional employees as you complained of having too much work!"
"Ah!"
"Administrator!"
The librarian instantly bowed in greeting, and spoke up.
"It's just that the employee you sent to us is too good…."
"Even if he knows how to read, he's just a cleaner! How good can his work be for all of you to make such a fuss!"
He clicked his tongue, then looked over at Shim-gu, with his eyes widening in astonishment.
It was just as the librarians had said.
Shim-gu's hands moved so quickly that they almost couldn't be seen, effortlessly picking out books that weren't on the list, and marking them out.
In truth, this work wasn't in any way difficult for Shim-gu.
As the former head of Hyeonmugak, the amount of information he had to process in the span of a day was beyond comprehension.
After having to process so much information day in day out for fifty years, his processing and organizing abilities were unrivalled.
Despite having been in retirement for around eight years, the movements were embedded deep within his subconscious mind.
Even the current head of Hyeonmugak was unable to process information with Shim-gu's efficiency.
Shi Gong-bak tilted his head to the side.
'Why do I feel like I've seen that worker's earring somewhere before?'
He attempted to remember.
Shi Gong-bak had incredible memorization ability.
Even if he had seen or heard something once, he wouldn't forget it.
It was due to this ability of his that he, who was an orphan, begging on the streets to live, rose to become an official within the Hwacheon Clan and not long after, the Academy.
After careful observation of the earring, he finally recognized its true ident.i.ty.
'That! It's an earring embedded with the Hidden Qi Stone that hides all energetic traces! Not only that, but it's Hidden Qi Stone of the highest quality!'
He then tried once more to recall where he had seen the earring, and was successful.
'Huh?!'
He was so surprised that he almost let out a cry.
Before becoming the administrator of Hwacheon Academy, he was in charge of handling the wealth and resources of Hwacheon Clan.
At that time, to find a spy within the department Shi Gong-bak was working in, the head of Hyeonmugak Shim-gu had personally staked out in their warehouses, and used this earring to disguise his energetic traces.
In other words….
'The-there's no doubt! That earring, and those black clothes…. As well as the two birthmarks behind his ear! It's Shim Jangro-nim!'
Despite Shim-gu having changed his outer appearance using the Byeon-yong-sul technique, he hadn't changed his appearance to the point that Shi Gong-bak would be unable to recognize him.
Shi Gong-bak's knees were trembling.
"What's wrong?"
A concerned librarian had carefully spoken up.
Shi Gong-bak hurriedly wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeves.
"It-it's nothing! Nothing at all! You can all go back to work!"
"Yes, of course."
He then quickly exited the library.
However, he felt too uncomfortable with the situation to just cover it up, and act as if he was unaware of Shim-gu's presence.
This was why he summoned a librarian who was pa.s.sing by, and asked him to convey a message to the man named Shim-ga from the cleaning department- that he would be waiting for him in the library in the evening, as he had something he'd like to discuss with him.
***
It was late in the evening.
All of the librarians and employees had finished work, and so the library was desolately silent.
The atmosphere within the library was so dark and gloomy that a person with a weak heart could froth at the mouth and die at its eeriness.
Within the library, seated at a wide desk, was a young man.
His legs were swaying restlessly and his arms were crossed.
"Ah! Why on earth did you want to see me?"
He wasn't happy that despite it being so late into the evening, he was having to remain within the library.
But all of a sudden.
He could feel the energy of a person approaching.
'Who could it be?'
The energetic traces of the person were very faint.
At first, he suspected it could be an animal that had lost its way. However, it soon became obvious to him that it was no doubt a human.
But, for some reason, their footsteps were silent.
'It's definitely an animal! It's a rat!'
To be going in and out of the dark library so late into the evening with soundless footsteps was suspicious behaviour.
He recalled Kang-hyuk's words to him.
"Do you realize that you are an Elder of the Hwacheon Clan?"
"Of-of course."
"In that case, you'll have to receive a beating."
Along with the memory, he could almost feel Kang-hyuk's beatings again.
'If I just leave that rat be, I might receive another beating from elder Hyung-nim as I wouldn't be acting as an Elder, right? Ugh!'
He stood up from his seat, still trembling from the memory of his previous beating. He then flew up, ready to catch the rat.
