Chapter 27: Jegal Tan (4)

Cho Un-hwi, armed with the caretaker’s authorization, sought out Head Instructor Chung-hyeon.

Chung-hyeon squinted at him and asked gruffly, “So, how many did you fix?”

“A total of one hundred and twenty training dummies. One hundred and twenty points.”

“You’ve been busy.”

“I even attached eyes to them for aesthetic purposes.”

“Is that so? Good job.”

Chung-hyeon swiftly erased the demerit points from the ledger and added the new points.

“You wouldn’t have so many demerit points if you weren’t always late and leaving early.”

“Please leave the dummy repairs to me from now on. I’m confident I can handle it.”

“You’re still not promising to be on time.”

“Trust me!”

“Sigh.”

Chung-hyeon closed the ledger and pulled out a certificate from his drawer. It was bound with a gold tassel.

“You’re officially an instructor now.”

“Really?”

“You’ve worked hard, one way or another. I look forward to working with you, Instructor Cho.”

Hurray! Hurray!

His promotion to a full-fledged instructor, which had been indefinitely postponed due to his demerit points, had finally come through.

Cho Un-hwi rubbed his cheek against the certificate.

‘No more contract work.’

Being a full-fledged instructor was different from being a contract worker.

He wouldn’t be fired easily unless he caused a major incident.

‘That means I can slack off without getting fired.’

He could finally focus on finding his lover.

He started humming a cheerful tune, but Yeom-gwang frowned.

His expression clearly said, “Damn it, I almost got rid of him.”

He cleared his throat and spoke.

“Instructor Cho.”

“Yes?”

“How’s Student Jegal Tan doing?”

“Jegal Tan? Hmm…”

Cho Un-hwi tried to recall the last time he had seen Jegal Tan, who had been absent from training for several days.

“I haven’t seen him lately…”

“Is that so? Excellent.”

Yeom-gwang beamed.

Cho Un-hwi stroked his chin, puzzled.

What was that about?

Something felt off.

***

“Good work.”

As Cho Un-hwi hung his instructor certificate on the wall, he heard a voice from the other side.

Knock, knock, knock.

He removed the cloth that was covering the hole in the wall and saw Yeo Mae-hong smiling at him.

“Here’s a gift for you.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s a sword ornament.”

She handed him a red ornament through the hole.

It had a small jade pendant in the center. It was quite beautiful.

“It’ll look nice on your sword hilt.”

She tapped the hilt of her sword.

“You shouldn’t have…”

“Congratulations on becoming a full-fledged instructor.”

Cho Un-hwi was touched. It was the first gift he had ever received.

‘I should get her something in return.’

He remembered a bottle of vintage wine he had hidden under his bed and reached for it.

“We need some drinks to celebrate.”

He poured some wine into a small cup and passed it to her through the hole.

“This is quite romantic,” she giggled.

“It won’t last long. I’ve already repaired enough wooden dummies to buy a whole forest of ironwood.”

“I’m going to miss this.”

Her voice was soft and wistful.

“It feels like just yesterday we were startled by that foot coming through the wall.”

“I know, right?”

He leaned against the wall, reminiscing about their shared experiences.

They had been through a lot together, from the shock of the foot incident to the challenges of teaching their students.

As the moon began to set, Yeo Mae-hong’s voice became slightly slurred.

It was understandable.

The wine he had given her was quite potent.

“Just one more cup.”

“You’ve had enough, don’t you think?”

“Just one more!”

“Just one more?”

He poured her another cup, and her hand quickly disappeared.

Slurp.

He heard her licking the cup.

“By the way, Instructor… how’s your exam preparation going?”

“It’s going well. Hehe, I’m going to win the next sparring match.”

“I’m looking forward to it. But I’m talking about the midterm exam.”

The midterm exam?

Was there another exam besides the monthly sparring matches?

“The sparring matches are individual competitions. But the midterm exam includes a team event.”

“A team event? What are you talking about?!”

He pressed his ear against the wall, eager for an explanation.

Yeo Mae-hong rubbed her eyes and explained, “The Shinmu Academy’s goal is to train skilled martial artists, but we also teach them how to work together as members of the Murim Alliance.”

In short, the academy assessed their students’ individual skills through monthly sparring matches and their teamwork skills through occasional team exams.

Teamwork emphasized cooperation and coordination, so the evaluation process was different.

“Like the Four Directions Sword Formation?”

The Four Directions Sword Formation?

He vaguely remembered hearing about it.

“It’s the first formation we teach our students. Don’t you remember?”

He suddenly recalled Yeom-gwang using a sly-looking student to demonstrate the formation.

“You mean that formation with four people?”

“Yes. You really forgot, didn’t you?”

He had completely forgotten about it.

‘Four people form a small formation, and five teams of four people form a large formation, right?’

He felt a sense of dread as he recalled the details.

“Do we have to form teams with our own students for the formation exam?”

“Yes.”

Her answer was devastating.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you’re not interested in getting promoted. But I…”

Her voice trailed off.

“I want to get promoted with you, Instructor. I want to go to Euncheon Hall with you…”

She mumbled something else, but Cho Un-hwi was too stunned to hear her.

‘So that’s why Yeom-gwang was so happy when I said I hadn’t seen Jegal Tan lately…’

He had probably planned to sabotage Cho Un-hwi’s promotion and keep him under his thumb.

“Damn it, nothing’s going my way.”

At least Yeo Mae-hong had warned him in time.

“Thank you, Instructor Yeo.”

He heard a soft snore in response.

“Good night.”

He chuckled and lay down on his bed.

It was a bright moonlit night.

***

The next day.

Cho Un-hwi stopped by the instructors’ office before heading to the training ground.

He found Chung-hyeon watering his orchids and called out to him.

“Head Instructor.”

“What brings you here so early? Have you finally decided to attend the morning meeting instead of racking up demerit points?”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the reason.

“Is there a team event in the midterm exam?”

“Of course there is.”

“Why was my name removed from the team event?”

It was an important question.

He was almost done searching for his lover in Dongcheon Hall.

He was starting to think about getting promoted to Euncheon Hall to continue his search.

But Chung-hyeon looked at him as if he were an idiot.

“Have you no shame?”

His eyes narrowed.

“You never show up at the instructors’ office unless you want something.”

“You always skip the morning meetings!”

“You even ran away when I tried to give you more work!”

“And you only have three students! How are you going to form a Four Directions Sword Formation with only three people?”

“And you want to get promoted? Seriously?”

Chung-hyeon’s face was devoid of sympathy.

“You should have thought about that before you started slacking off!”

But that was Chung-hyeon’s problem.

Cho Un-hwi had never been one to let guilt or shame get in the way of his goals. And when it came to love, he was relentless.

“I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! I’m going to participate in the team event! I’m going to get promoted!”

“Just be on time for once!”

“I’ll fix more dummies!”

“Just be on time!”

“Fine, I’ll fix twice as many dummies as I’ve already fixed!”

After much arguing, Cho Un-hwi finally managed to secure a spot in the midterm exam’s team event.

But there was a catch: he had to find a fourth student.

***

He had gotten what he wanted, but now he had a new problem.

“What am I going to do about the Four Directions Sword Formation?”

He flipped through the manual.

The formation itself wasn’t difficult to learn.

He had even managed to break through the Heavenly Net Formation, a powerful formation created by four grandmaster-level experts.

He could understand and dismantle simple formations with a single glance.

The problem was his students.

They had no understanding of formations whatsoever.

He had no idea how to teach them.

“I could just charge in and break through the formation…”

But that wouldn’t help them learn.

And besides, his current students weren’t strong enough to pull that off.

“Damn it, I need more students.”

He needed at least four students to form the smallest version of the formation.

“I should have kept Jegal Tan around…”

He regretted letting him go.

***

But when he arrived at the training ground, he was greeted by an unexpected sight.

“Greetings, Instructor.”

Jegal Tan was standing there, his face bruised and swollen.

He had traded his usual silk robes for a plain Dongcheon Hall uniform, and he was holding a well-worn sword in his hand.

He bowed respectfully.

“Oh?”

His aura was different.

He had shed his arrogant demeanor and looked like a true swordsman, his eyes sharp and focused.

“I know it’s not much…”

He drew his sword and held it up with both hands.

“But I’ve found my path.”

He began to demonstrate his swordsmanship.

It was the Shinmu Sword Technique, a basic technique that all students learned.

Swish! Swish!

His movements were flawless, precise and textbook-perfect.

But Cho Un-hwi noticed something else: the faint shimmer of energy around his sword.

‘His movements are the same, but…’

The timing of his internal energy flow was different.

He was supposed to unleash a flurry of strikes in a single breath, but…

Inhale. Exhale.

Jegal Tan was controlling his breathing, channeling his internal energy into only four of the ten strikes.

His footwork had changed too.

He was no longer standing still he was moving erratically, his steps synchronized with his sword strikes, adjusting his internal energy flow with each movement.

Cho Un-hwi grinned.

‘Ha! I thought he was a lost cause.’

He snapped his fingers.

Jegal Tan, startled, stopped moving.

“Don’t stop.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Cho Un-hwi’s hand moved slowly, and Jegal Tan’s sword began to move in sync with it.

“What’s going on?”

“He’s controlling Student Jegal’s movements with his hand gestures.”

“How is that possible…?”

Cho Un-hwi ignored the whispers and focused on Jegal Tan’s sword.

‘He’s using the afterimages of his Sword Qi to create a formation with his swordsmanship.’

It was different from a sword formation.

A sword formation was a tactical maneuver that involved multiple swordsmen moving in unison, while Jegal Tan’s technique used Sword Qi as a medium to create illusions.

‘This is far superior to a sword formation.’

It was even more advanced than a traditional formation.

Swish!

Cho Un-hwi watched as Jegal Tan continued to move, his swordsmanship becoming more fluid and intricate.

“The Illusory Heaven and Earth Formation?”

“Yes.”

The Illusory Heaven and Earth Formation.

A formation that disoriented opponents by creating illusions in eight directions.

Jegal Tan had incorporated it into his swordsmanship, using the afterimages of his Sword Qi to distort space.

‘It’s not perfect yet.’

He had only grasped the basics.

He might need some guidance.

“I know the Illusory Heaven and Earth Formation too.”

Cho Un-hwi’s fingers moved, and Jegal Tan’s swordsmanship changed again.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

“Ugh!”

Jegal Tan gasped, but his movements became even faster.

It was as if Cho Un-hwi was controlling his sword with invisible strings.

‘He can manipulate his internal energy like threads?’

Jegal Tan was amazed, but he focused on his swordsmanship, trying to understand the changes in his movements and his internal energy flow.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

His sword moved faster and faster, its trajectory becoming more erratic and unpredictable.

And then, to everyone’s astonishment, several wisps of blue light appeared around him.

They were the afterimages of his Sword Qi.

“Oh my god!”

The three observers gasped.

The wisps of light began to create strange illusions around Jegal Tan.

A low voice echoed through the training ground.

“The Illusory Heaven and Earth Formation disrupts an opponent’s sense of distance.”

A cold wind blew, and the sword strikes lengthened and shortened erratically.

“If you incorporate it into your swordsmanship, you can conceal the length of your sword…”

A single sword strike split into dozens of afterimages.

“…and erase its trajectory.”

The wisps of light flickered, creating an illusion of countless sword strikes, long and short, filling the space around Jegal Tan.

“Remember this feeling.”

Jegal Tan’s body swayed, and he stumbled backward.

“Ugh!”

He collapsed to the ground, his internal energy depleted.

“You’ve found your path.”

Cho Un-hwi looked down at him.

He suddenly remembered something.

‘They said there was a strange formation master at the Jegal Clan’s final stand.’

A master who had fought bravely, creating bizarre illusions with his swordsmanship, in the last remaining building of the burning Jegal Clan estate.

“Ugh… ugh… T-thank you for your guidance.”

He saw a flicker of that master’s dying embers in Jegal Tan’s youthful face.

‘So sword techniques can find their rightful owners, just like people find each other?’

Fate was a strange thing.

Cho Un-hwi shook his head and smiled warmly at Jegal Tan, who was struggling to kneel despite his exhaustion and his bleeding lips.

“Good work. You’re my fourth student.”

(TLN: Kofi for the novel is now up if you want to read advanced chaps and support me 🙂 ill also post 4 bonus chaps for every unique highest tier sub )