He had found himself in the Princ.i.p.al's office after being released from the underground prison with his eyes covered with an eye patch.
Sitting inside the office was the Princ.i.p.al and the head of Jimilgak.
After hearing their apology, he had been made to sign a contract that mentioned he wouldn't reveal any details of the prison, and his stay within it to any outside people.
He was then given two choices. He could either accept a certain sum of compensation money and continue to work at the Academy, or he could accept a doubled sum of that compensation money, and leave the Academy.
Woo Cheon-baek was a man who thought practically.
It was obvious to him that even if he accepted the second proposition and left the Academy with the money, it would all eventually be squandered away.
Therefore, he had chosen the first proposition.
"Hah. Hahahaha."
He began to laugh like a madman.
He felt like it was all just a dream, having been released from the prison, but alas, it wasn't.
Definite proof of this was the countless silver now in his possession.
But, there was another favour from the Clan leader and the Hwacheon Clan that he was yet unaware of.
Warriors had been sent to protect Woo Cheon-baek in case he would be a target for a.s.sa.s.sination after the false charges had been dropped from him.
This however, would remain a secret from Woo Cheon-baek till the day he died.
* ＊ *
*Rustle*
As Kang-hyuk emerged from the vegetation, accompanied by the sound of rustling gra.s.s, the person present on night-duty was Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g.
Kang-hyuk had asked him to temporarily cover his shift whilst he made his short trip back to the Academy.
"Ah! Seonsaengnim! You're back!"
"I'm back. Did anything happen whilst I was away?"
"Nothing at all! I heard you had to leave for a while as you had something to do, but now you're back!"
Kang-hyuk had asked the student on night-watching duty prior to him to ask Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g to cover his shift, for the reason that he had to leave for some business.
The student seemed to have conveyed his message in its totality.
"Yes, yes that is correct."
"Have you finished what you had to do?"
Kang-hyuk paused, then replied.
"Hmm…I'm not sure. I don't know whether I could say I have finished what I went out to do, I haven't finished what I went out to do, or if I'm still in the midst of completing what I needed to do."
He then walked over to the campfire and sat down.
*Woof?*
Having sensed Kang-hyuk's presence, Deuk immediately ran over to him.
As Deuk had been reluctant to part with him while he was preparing to leave for the Academy, he had given him to Baek-gap to watch over.
"Are you that happy to see me?"
Deuk nodded, as if he was completely aware of what Kang-hyuk was saying.
"Er, I actually had something to ask."
Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g had spoken up quietly, with a cautious expression on his face.
"I actually heard that you're a secret envoy of the Clan Leader. I was curious as to if it was really…"
A grin began to spread over Kang-hyuk's face as Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g spoke. It was as he had expected-that nothing could be kept a total secret.
"Where on earth did you hear such a rumour?"
"It was today when all of us teacher a.s.sistants were working together…. I heard it from there."
Something which was far from reality had seemingly become an accepted fact.
Kang-hyuk looked up at Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g.
"What's your opinion on the rumour?"
"I'm not really sure, but…"
Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g went on.
"What I mean is, I don't really care if it's true or not. No matter what, I want to pay back the favour of you saving my life, so no matter where you go, I will follow you. This is my resolute feeling."
Kang-hyuk seemed to have fallen into a bit of a daze at his remark.
He could almost hear Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g's response overlap with the voice of someone from his past. That voice belonged to….
'That's right! It's Chil-so's voice.'
Chil-so was a fellow member of Kwaepungdae, who unlike his name [1], looked a little rough around the edges.
He was a man who could handle a spear with ease and had been a great commander during quite an unstable time. His name was Jang Ik-deok, but he had shortened it to Jang-bi. The characters 'Hyeol Mu' were added in front of Jang-bi to make his more commonly known alias 'Hyeol Mu Jang-bi'.
His name reflected the fact that when he used his spear, all four directions were filled with the mist of blood.
He was as brave as his skilled usage of the spear reflected, but his inner self differed from his exterior appearances. His heart was as soft as silk.
There had been a time where he had almost died from being besieged by a group of dark cultivators as he attempted to help ordinary civilians escape from the scene of a battle.
He had fortunately escaped from death as Kang-hyuk had undertaken the risk of saving him. If it hadn't been for Ho-seong's medicine from the Mysterious Medicine Valley, Kang-hyuk himself would have most likely died from the injuries he had sustained from the rescue operation.
After the battle had ended, Chil-so made a statement of grat.i.tude to Kang-hyuk:
"I cannot forget the fact that you saved my life Dae-ju nim. I have the full intention to return your favour of saving my life, and so wherever you go henceforth, I will follow you. This is my resolute feeling. I pledge my full loyalty to you, Dae-ju nim."
Thereafter, Chil-so married a fellow member of Kwaepungdae, Myeong-ah, and the two of them had many sons and daughters, living happily.
"Erm, what's the matter?"
Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g had observed the change in Kang-hyuk's expression, and so had asked in concern. Kang-hyuk shook his head in response.
"It's nothing. Oh yeah, is that really how you feel?"
"It is."
"If that's the case, in return for your loyalty, I will tell you the truth."
"...?"
"I'm older than your father."
"Sorry?"
Confused at Kang-hyuk's seemingly random remark, Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g tilted his head to the side, while Kang-hyuk began roaring in laughter.
"Hahahaha!"
He then lied down.
"I'll leave the night-watching to you then."
As Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g observed Kang-hyuk, lying down beside the fire, his confusion grew. He was almost certain that Kang-hyuk had been joking.
He questioned how a man that looked as though he was in his twenties could be older than his deceased father.
Then again, he also had a feeling that Kang-hyuk words weren't a lie.
'Cou-could he really be older than my father? I'll have to ask Baek-gap Hyung-nim about it later.'
He added more firewood to the campfire.
***
The next day had arrived.
It was their last day before they were due to return to the Academy. It was also quite an important day for the students.
It was from the results of the last day's activities that they would receive an overall grade for the field trip.
There was an even greater fighting spirit within the team that Chun-hak was in charge of. The team that had broken away from the safety zone, causing an unfortunate incident.
This was because today was their final chance to recover the points that they had lost as a penalty for the incident.
The second group that had gone past the safety zone were unable to even look at Chun-hak.
Chun-hak had separately called over the students of that group.
This piqued the interest of Kang-hyuk, who had been pretending to look elsewhere, but who was in truth observing the group.
'Huh? Chun-hak seems to have called over those students. What does he want to say to them?'
He followed Chun-hak with stealth, so that his movements were completely untraceable.
Chun-hak stopped at a location a bit further away from the campsite. It wasn't too far away, but it was a place that couldn't be seen by others.
He looked at the students of the second group that he had called over, then abruptly began to kick their shins.
*Pok!*
*Bam!*
*Peo-ok!*
The students screamed out, clutching their shins in pain.
"Arrghhhh!"
"Ahh!"
"Huuuh!"
Chun-hak, who finished handing out his present of kicking their shins, then spoke.
"Stop overreacting and get up."
"Wh-why would you do this?"
"I cannot accept this kind of violent behaviour!"
"I did this to absolve all of your guilt."
"What?"
Unable to fathom Chun-hak's words, the students were perplexed, tilting their heads.
"Since yesterday, all of you weren't even able to look at me properly. No, not just me, you haven't even been able to look at the other team members either. This is because of your guilt, is it not!?"
"...."
The students had nothing to say.
It was as Chun-hak had said.
This particular activity was meant to be a kind of cooperative task, which meant that all members of the team would be given the same grade. The mistake of one of the members within the team would mean that all of the other team members would be implicated, and so, the second group were feeling guilty that they had caused the whole team to lose points.
"I'm sure you can feel the effects of your beating now, right?!"
All of the group, were indeed feeling the pain of Chun-hak's beating.
"If you want to resent me, as the person who kicked your shins, then resent me! If you want to curse me, then curse me! But remember this. I won't forgive any actions that will cause bad effects on our team efforts and tasks."
The students shrank back at the voracity of Chun-hak's energy.
His energy was fierce, and amongst the students that had a weak inner cultivation, they were unable to resist it.
"If you've understood me properly, you can all go back now!"
"W-we understand!"
The limping students returned to their individual camping spots to have breakfast, while Chun-hak, who was looking upon them leaving, sighed deeply.
"Hahhhh…."
"It's not easy is it? Being a leader."
"...!"
Surprised at the unexpected voice, Chun-hak turned around to find Kang-hyuk standing there, smiling.
Chun-hak immediately bowed, having realized from Kang-hyuk's smile and words that he had been watching over him for a while.
"I apologize for having subjected you to such unsightly behaviour."
"No, it's nothing. The only person at fault is me, for watching over you secretly."
Kang-hyuk walked closer to Chun-hak and put his hand on his head.
"...!"
Chun-hak's eyes grew wide at Kang-hyuk's unexpected action.
"You're quite amazing."
"Sorry?"
"Being prepared to kick the shins of your group, and face their potential curses towards you. It's quite admirable.
"Ah….I-I see."
"But don't do everything on your own."
Kang-hyuk took his hand off Chun-hak's head.
"If you do that, in the end, you could be cursed by all, seen as the worst man in the world. Stemming from that, you could even face being killed."
"Bu-but…."
Chun-hak attempted to argue against Kang-hyuk's point.
"But if these actions of mine can cause my team to win, I don't care."
"That's exactly what your problem is. You're a fellow that can go to h.e.l.l if it's for the sake of your team. If you continue like that, you'll end up dying a dog's death."
Kang-hyuk sighed.
He had decided to give Chun-hak who he could see was kind, straightforward, but a little foolish, and a potential future leader of Moorim, a present.
'It's because I don't want to see a disciple of mine dying a dog's death.'
It was obvious to him, that if he let Chun-hak be, he would eventually become a scapegoat, like himself.
Kang-hyuk had survived by chance, and had risen to the hero-like position of clan leader, but he knew that these kinds of fateful chances weren't necessarily available to everyone.
'That's why I'll give you a small gift.'
He took a small box out of his sleeve, and presented it to Chun-hak.
"Here, take it."
"Wh-what is this?"
Kang-hyuk spoke smilingly at Chun-hak's question.
"It's a medicine for internal injuries."
"What?"
"Didn't you suffer internal injuries yesterday from overusing your internal energy?"
It was just as Kang-hyuk had said.
He had overexerted himself in his Gyeonggong ability during yesterday's activity of finding the green ribbon, and this had resulted in him acquiring internal injuries.
Despite his internal injuries having barely subsided, he had overexerted himself once more by intimidating the students.
Kang-hyuk could sense the smell of blood emanating from Chun-hak.
"This is a medicine for treating internal injuries that I tend to carry on my person, but I think you're in greater need of it at the moment. So don't refuse, and quickly take the medicine."
Chun-hak took the box.
"Thank you."
As he was under the impression that the box contained nothing more than a medicine for treating internal injuries, he took it without further hesitation. Chun-hak opened the box.
He could feel an unusual refreshing sensation from the pill, but was unable to identify why exactly he felt this way.
Chun-hak was after all only a student, and had only learned about medicinal pills from books, and therefore it was impossible that he would be able to correctly identify the type of pill Kang-hyuk had given him.
The pill was none other than the Heavenly Spirit Restoring Pill.
It could be regarded as foul play for Kang-hyuk to have given Chun-hak the pill on the last day of activities, but Kang-hyuk thought otherwise.
'This is just Chun-hak's luck. If he hadn't kicked the second group in the shins for the sake of the team, and spoken in a way that happened to touch my heart, would I have felt compelled to give him the pill?'
In Moorim, a person's skill was of course important, but what was regarded as more important than skill was luck. The saying that a person's success in life was seventy percent luck, and thirty percent skill, wasn't a saying that had no backing behind it.
[1] Chil-so means small seventh
