Chapter 321 - Black Forest

In the empty conference hall after everyone had left, Buk Wonpyeong let out a long sigh.

"Madman..."

There was no other way to describe him.

What else could one call a man who bared his teeth at the instructors holding him by the throat and told them to go ahead and stab him if they dared?

'... Is he really the Underworld's joint successor?'

Those absurd rumors were somehow starting to gain more and more credibility.

Buk Wonpyeong pressed his throbbing head with his thumb.

"I'm aging fast because of that bastard. Fast."

He was a benefactor who had given him the opportunity to find the successor to the Three Purities Formless Sword, but because of him, Buk Wonpyeong felt like he would die of old age before he could even open his sect, so he could no longer tell whether the boy was an enemy or a benefactor.

"But this is unexpected... The instructors backed down."

The vested interests of the Murim Alliance did not back down easily.

No, it would be fair to say they never backed down.

Why would a group with money, power, and outstanding martial might ever back down?

They had not the slightest doubt in their massive fortress.

They merely kicked away those trying to climb that fortress, poured oil over them, and set them on fire.

The ends of those who tried to climb the fortress were mostly alike.

If one climbed, one would fall someday. The only difference was who managed to climb higher.

Buk Wonpyeong hoped Jin Sowoon would climb at least higher than he had.

Leaving aside lay disciples and vested interests.

He had simply become curious what would happen if that boy succeeded.

But before Jin Sowoon had even climbed the fortress, he had kicked away the ladder with his own hands.

["Do it. Do whatever you want. No, please, I'm begging you to do it. That way, I won't feel any guilt when I use my hands on you instructors either."]

Then he had roared that he would kill everyone sitting inside the fortress.

"Hah... Madman..."

Naturally, it had been a dizzying moment.

The vested interests, especially the Orthodox Council led by the Nine Sects and One Gang, would never tolerate someone like Jin Sowoon.

Why were the vested interests able to maintain their position?

Because if anyone challenged their power, they tolerated not even the smallest thing and trampled the sprout before it could grow.

So he had not doubted that this place would ultimately become the highest point Jin Sowoon could climb, and the beginning of his fall.

And yet.

["... Grit. Enough."]

The instructors had backed down first.

'Why?'

His question came before his relief that Jin Sowoon had survived.

Because the instructors were not people who would ever back down easily.

If they backed down here, Jin Sowoon's exploits and the instructors' humiliation would follow them like shadows for the rest of the semester.

Rumors would spread even after they returned to the Murim Alliance, and the Qingcheng Sect would undoubtedly be furious at the story.

Even so, the instructors had backed down first.

"I truly do not understand."

Then, suddenly, he imagined what he would have done.

As he had told Jin Sowoon, he would have adjusted the relationship suitably during the talks.

Because when the instructors made their proposal to Jin Sowoon, he had certainly thought the conditions were decent.

"..."

Because he would have judged that it was the only way to climb the fortress safely without being hindered.

But Jin Sowoon had not cared.

As though climbing the fortress itself did not matter, he had burned even the lifeline they had lowered for him and fallen to the ground.

As though he had no fear whatsoever of what came next.

As though he could fall even farther if need be.

A hollow laugh escaped him without his realizing it.

"... Is that what is different?"

Then, suddenly.

He thought that perhaps Jin Sowoon's choice might have been the right answer.

Because in the end, the ones who backed down had been the instructors.

His head began to ache again.

"I have no idea what's what."

Had the schemes of a boy barely past twenty worked?

Or had he lived twice as long as that boy and still failed to understand the world?

Even after the talks had ended, Buk Wonpyeong could not leave the conference hall for a long while.

* * *

"Dammit!"

Noh Jinha kicked an innocent stone away.

Even so, his anger did not subside, and he huffed and puffed as he vented his resentment in every direction.

"Dammit! Dammit! Damn bastard! I will kill him no matter what...!"

Though mental cultivation was a Daoist's basic conduct, the sight of him even spewing curses did not look good, but Kang Suntak did not stop him.

Kang Suntak himself did not feel all that different from Noh Jinha.

Still, he was worried there might be eyes watching.

"Calm yourself. Is it not already over?"

Noh Jinha, who had been snorting and pouring out his resentment, glared sharply at Kang Suntak.

"Have you found out why the Azure Dragon Pavilion Master and the Red Dragon Pavilion Master are protecting that bastard?"

"... I am looking into it."

"Still?"

A sigh escaped Kang Suntak's lips on its own.

He had not been this much of a fool before.

"Come to your senses. This is an issue that could expand into surveillance of Pavilion Masters. You know we must approach it carefully, do you not?"

"Isn't it because something completely absurd happened?!"

At Noh Jinha's words, Kang Suntak let out a low chuckle.

Just as he said, if the Azure Dragon Pavilion Master and the Red Dragon Pavilion Master had not stepped in, they had fully intended to crush Jin Sowoon.

"It is hardly the first time those people have done something strange."

It was certain that neither the Azure Dragon Pavilion Master nor the Red Dragon Pavilion Master had any connection to Jin Sowoon.

Yet, as if they had foreseen their actions, they had exerted outside pressure through the White Tiger Pavilion Master.

No matter who they were, they could not ignore Pavilion Masters they would have to face just one year from now.

That was why they had ultimately arranged the talks.

But even that had ended poorly.

"Since that day... I have been so wronged that I cannot sleep. I cannot sleep!"

"..."

Noh Jinha pounded his own chest as though he had let his mortal enemy escape right before his eyes.

Well, if the same thing had happened to him, Kang Suntak would have half-killed Jin Sowoon first, Pavilion Masters or not.

Kang Suntak patted Noh Jinha on the shoulder.

"In a way, is this not actually for the better?"

"What is?"

"It is no different from the academy representative and the instructors having become enemies, so for us, cannot that serve as an excuse instead?"

"..."

"In any case, our evaluations are absolute for the rest of the semester. With that, we should be able to drive him into a corner."

"... I suppose so."

Tonight, Jin Sowoon would probably savor his victory and fall asleep in comfort.

Noh Jinha, on the other hand, would not sleep properly.

But that would only be for a short while.

"It is not over yet. No, rather, one could say it is only beginning now."

From now on, Jin Sowoon would go to sleep every night in regret.

Because their power was not something that became visibly apparent before one's eyes right away.

"Let us go. Tonight is on me."

So for now, they only had to soothe their bitter stomachs a little.

Because the time when they would feel at ease would soon come.

* * *

After the confrontation between the instructors and Jin Sowoon.

The semester began again.

The academy students wanted to know how this incident had been handled, but in the end, neither Jin Sowoon nor the instructors opened their mouths, and it passed as if nothing had happened.

Naturally, the academy students, who would never miss such a tasty story in their dull academy lives, made up all sorts of things.

"I heard Representative Jin ended up kneeling before the instructors and bawling, begging them to spare him just once?"

"They say Jin Sowoon led Underworld experts and stormed the instructors' quarters one by one."

"I heard Jin Sowoon handed the instructors a blank check."

The topic came up constantly not only at drinking tables but also at meals, but nowhere could anyone confirm what was true.

As rumors always did, the stories that had blazed up like wildfire slipped away before anyone knew it, but they left other things in their place.

"No... Why is my grade a Byeong? I clearly made it all the way to the semifinals in the sparring matches..."

"Tsk, they say your understanding of Martial Moves is low in the instructors' eyes."

"What kind of bullshit is that?! How many times have they even seen our sect's Martial Moves?!"

"With things like this continuing ever since it changed to absolute grading... Tsk, tsk. Perhaps what Representative Jin said was true after all."

Those who did not belong to the Orthodox Council began receiving stingy evaluations more often.

Of course, as the instructors had said when they claimed the overall level was low, it could have looked as though the evaluation standards had risen.

But for that to be true, the scores of those belonging to the Orthodox Council or those connected to it began rising higher than they should have.

"... This is a bit strange. That friend goes out drinking every day and has many absences, yet he received an Eul evaluation."

"Hmm... Does he have a move we do not know about?"

"What move, dammit! Obviously he got a good score because he is one of their favorites!"

The discrimination that had first been carried out subtly began to show itself more and more clearly as time passed.

By the time three months had passed since the semester began and the final evaluations came out, the discrimination had become obvious.

Most of the Orthodox Council members received the highest scores, while about half of the White Path Council members received good scores.

The members of the Twelve Peaks and Castles and everyone else received the lowest scores and ended up at the bottom.

As discrimination this blatant began, the atmosphere within the academy grew increasingly vicious.

Those who were not part of the Orthodox Council began to view the Orthodox Council with hostility over the unfairness they suffered.

And the Orthodox Council took the treatment they received for granted, dismissing the hostility of others as jealousy.

"They say the bastards from the Twelve Peaks and Castles went to the Academic Affairs Department again yesterday, claiming the evaluations were unfair."

"Idiots. They should think about improving their skills instead of whining."

"Exactly. They never think that they had been receiving good evaluations all this time thanks to that damned Jin Sowoon."

"We need to teach that Jin Sowoon a lesson sometime too... Huh? What are you?"

The man who had been walking along while cursing Jin Sowoon grabbed the shoulder of the tiny fellow who had bumped his own shoulder and walked past, then turned him around.

"Where do you think you're going without apologiz...! Huh... Crazy Weasel?"

And the moment he confirmed the face, his complexion changed.

"Crazy Weasel?"

When the brow of the man, whose youthful flush seemed to have only just faded yesterday, furrowed, the man hurriedly took back his words.

"N-no. It was nothing, Yayul Geuk."

Only he himself did not know that people called him the "Crazy Weasel" because once he bit down, he would not let go and would attack day and night.

If Jin Sowoon was an awl in a pocket, this bastard was a massive cow patty fallen in the middle of the road.

Because the only one who suffered a loss the moment they stepped on it was the person who stepped on it.

The man belonging to the Orthodox Council cleared his throat and tried to turn away.

"Th-then I will be going..."

"Wait..."

"Y-yes?"

"But you said you were going to teach Jin Sowoon a lesson?"

"Huh?"

"You just said that, didn't you? Am I wrong?"

"..."

CRACK.

Yayul Geuk suddenly cracked his fingers.

The man's face turned pale.

"What? Why are you doing this? What did I do..."

The Crazy Wea... no, Yayul Geuk's eyes flashed.

"Jin Sowoon... That son of a bitch is mine. I am going to smash him."

"..."

"But if you teach him a lesson first, that won't do, will it?"

What in the world was this crazy brat talking about?

The moment the man tried to make some excuse.

WHAM!

His body was already collapsing to the ground.

The man was still screaming inwardly.

'So what the hell is that supposed to mean?!'

* * *

Even though the summer break had ended, there was no regret or gloom on the academy students' faces.

No, before that.

There had hardly been anyone who had spent this break as a true break.

Because once the summer break ended, a Great Journey lasting a full two months would begin.

It was both a process that tested a major portion of their academic evaluation and a starting point from which they could make their names in Jianghu as academy students.

"Has anyone heard anything about the Great Journey?"

Seong Moran bit her nails as if nervous.

"Sister, why do you look so nervous?"

"I hate the heat too, but... I really, really hate bugs."

There were three candidate locations for the Great Journey.

Fire Desert.

Ice Sea.

Black Forest.

Because the advantages and disadvantages among the academy students differed depending on where they went, the location of the Great Journey was very important to them.

"I hope we go to the Ice Sea."

At Eun Seollan's words, Seong Moran opened her eyes wide and asked.

"Right! Seollan, you're from the North Sea, aren't you? There aren't bugs there, are there?"

"... Uh."

Eun Seollan could not answer easily.

Just from her expression, I could tell what she wanted to say.

She probably wanted to say that there was hardly anything "living" in the North Sea to begin with.

"Young Master Jin, have you really heard nothing?"

I had not heard anything, but I knew where we would go.

Because academy plans were originally set two years at a time.

In my past life, the Great Journey ultimately did not proceed because of the Sichuan Blood Incident, but the destination had been decided.

"I have heard nothing, but I do know where we will go."

"What?! Really? Where?"

"The Black Forest."

"... Eeeh?"

Seong Moran shook her head as if she could not believe it.

"N-no... Right? You're joking, aren't you? You're trying to tease me? Haha... Right? Tell me it's not true! Tell me it's not!!!"

While I was being limply shaken back and forth in Seong Moran's hands, I spoke firmly.

"In the previous cohort, did Yong So-ah not make his name by subjugating the Takun tribe of the Fire Desert alone?"

"... Th-that cannot necessarily be proof that we are going to the Black Forest."

"And in the cohort before that, half the academy students who went to the Ice Sea suffered from frostbite."

"..."

Seong Moran's face turned past blue and began to darken.

"N-no way! No... No! It can't be!!"

Seong Moran screamed and ran out of the representative's office.

Why does she hate it so much?

Aside from the humidity and the many poisonous insects, it actually has more advantages.

Moreover, is the Black Forest not a place where a massive spiritual vein flows?

Past academy students had hoped so much to go to the Black Forest as the location of the Great Journey.

Because the Black Forest was ordinarily designated a forbidden zone, and one could not enter it carelessly.

Just then, Namgung Seonhwa widened her eyes and asked me.

"Hm? Young Master Jin, that is a necklace I have not seen before."

"Ah... Do you mean this? Ujae's father gave it to me as a gift some time ago. I asked someone to work on it during the last break."

"Oh, it is so pretty."

"Is it?"

I toyed with the necklace and looked at the place where Seong Moran had run out.

I truly cannot understand her.

The Black Forest is such a good place.