Chapter 300: Who’s Messing With My Kid? (1) (Revised)

This is a boring time.

Second runner-up, runner-up, top runner.

Even after selecting the top three, Cheonghae Ilgeom seemed intent on never shutting his mouth.

He kept spewing out words incessantly.

-And so, from now on… .

‘This old geezer talks way too much.’

The meaning behind the words was fine.

No matter what the future era held.

Danger could come, so we must continue to hone our skills.

A martial artist is only truly a martial artist after honing their martial arts;

And never lose righteousness under the banner of being a righteous sect.

As you have entered the Dragon Gate Pavilion,

even if you can’t protect all the people with righteousness alone,

at least become someone capable of protecting your own region.

This was the gist of Cheonghae Ilgeom’s speech, but…

‘It sounds nice and all…’

But he’s been going on like this for tens of minutes now.

How could anyone not be bored?

I heard the first day was only supposed to cover the entrance ceremony and dormitory assignments.

No wonder the schedule seemed ridiculously simple.

‘Was this guy’s speech half the schedule?’

Experiencing it firsthand, it turned out to be quite the grueling schedule.

Unbelievable.

-Lastly, to your bright futures… .

For reference, I’d already heard that word ‘lastly’ for the fifth time.

Seriously, I’m going insane… .

It was one of the most difficult things I’d experienced lately.

Since I was currently on the stage,

the gazes of the junior disciples below looking this way were the same.

Especially.

It was even more so because I knew exactly where the male disciples’ gazes were directed.

‘They’re staring so openly, these bastards.’

Their gazes were fixed on Wi Seol-ah.

Then again, if I were in their shoes,

I probably would have looked at Wi Seol-ah too.

Wi Seol-ah, whose beauty had truly blossomed, possessed that kind of power.

If I could, I’d want to use my technique to cover her up,

but my internal injuries haven’t fully healed yet,

and doing something rash in front of Cheonghae Ilgeom could be problematic.

All I could do was.

memorize the guys sending those gazes.

‘…There are too many, I won’t be able to remember them all?’

Since most of the male junior disciples were doing just that,

it seemed they had no interest in Cheonghae Ilgeom’s words in the first place.

The same went for the female junior disciples.

Whether he knew it or not, only Cheonghae Ilgeom continued talking excitedly.

As I scanned my surroundings,

I spotted one guy staring blankly with his mouth hanging open.

‘Gotcha. I’ve got you memorized.’

I didn’t know his name or who he was,

but I remembered his face.

Muttering his face in my mind, I checked on Wi Seol-ah beside me.

Wi Seol-ah stood still, her eyes half-open,

and her perfectly upright posture caught my eye.

In the past, she would have been bouncing around,

or talking to me without even bothering to pay attention to Cheonghae Ilgeom.

In that case,

I would have told her to calm down,

or just casually brushed it off.

‘But now…’

Now?

Inside her slightly opened eyes, I could see golden pupils.

Her breathing was steady, her lips pressed tightly together.

Where had the lively Wi Seol-ah from back then gone?

She gave off the vibe of a well-educated descendant from a prestigious family.

It was different, and yet…

it felt a little distant.

‘This is actually closer to the Wi Seol-ah I know.’

A state where her emotions seemed to have melted away, leaving nothing behind.

Her eyes, resembling the cold winter,

felt closer to that time,

but somehow, it just felt regrettable.

As I glanced over at Wi Seol-ah,

sensing my gaze, Wi Seol-ah looked my way too.

Our eyes met.

Her eyes widened slightly, revealing Wi Seol-ah’s large eyes.

Containing a golden hue.

They looked like the moon.

And like the sun.

Which one could it be?

‘It doesn’t matter.’

It doesn’t matter which one.

Because all of it was Wi Seol-ah.

Wi Seol-ah looked at me like that,

and her lips twitched.

She looked like she was about to say something.

As I focused on Wi Seol-ah’s lips like that,

-With this, I shall conclude the entrance ceremony.

Cheonghae Ilgeom’s concluding words could be heard.

After talking until I was sick of it, it seemed it was finally over.

Following the guidance of the instructors,

the junior disciples began to move,

and as they did, Wi Seol-ah tried to move again, but.

I grabbed Wi Seol-ah’s wrist as she was about to move.

The feel of her wrist in my grasp was cold.

“You should finish what you were trying to say before you go.”

It felt regrettable to cut it off like this.

If you were going to say something, you should say it all the way.

“Ah, no, that…”

Meanwhile, Wi Seol-ah looked flustered, as if she hadn’t expected to be grabbed.

Looking at her wide eyes, it seemed she hadn’t changed much yet, thankfully.

Should I consider that fortunate?

“Meal…”

“Hm?”

“I was going to ask if you had eaten…”

…You were asking if I’d eaten?

It was a rather abrupt question.

“Of course, I ate. Why do you ask?”

“…Just… I just wanted to ask.”

Wi Seol-ah stammered, seeming more flustered than I was.

She looked like something was malfunctioning.

“Oh, the weather’s nice today, isn’t it…?”

“Does that look nice to you?”

The sky was completely filled with dark clouds.

Even looking generously, it seemed quite a stretch to call the weather good.

“…”

Perhaps she said it without even looking at the sky.

Wi Seol-ah finally looked up at the sky and shut her mouth tightly.

Maybe because even she could see it wasn’t.

After stammering awkwardly for a while,

she soon shut her mouth tightly and disappeared with quick steps.

“Hey, where are you going?!”

I called out, but she left without looking back.

Watching her retreating back, I let out a hollow laugh.

What on earth was she trying to do?

---

With the entrance ceremony over, the next thing left was dormitory assignment.

Damn, I don’t know what kind of fucked up mentality it is to spend three hours solely on speeches.

‘Four to five people per room.’

What was written on the large wooden board

was the room location and the names of the occupants.

The size of the building provided as accommodation was considerable,

with over six floors alone.

Even just considering the accommodation building housing only the male martial artists,

its size was almost equivalent to the entire district.

It was truly enormous.

‘My house isn’t exactly large, but…’

Still, if they’re using that much space for accommodation,

it’s nothing but excessive spending.

And yet, it’s strange that the rooms aren’t single rooms.

With that much space, couldn’t they give one room per person?

I asked Gu Jeolyub, who was looking at the floors next to me.

“Which floor are you on?”

“The third floor.”

“The third floor… Right. It seems they’ve gathered the sword users on the third and fourth floors.”

It wasn’t just Gu Jeolyub.

The sword cultivators who were somewhat well-known were gathered on specific floors.

So they divided them up again, huh.

‘I’m on the fifth floor, maybe.’

It seems they arranged them by ratio. Though I wonder if there’s a need for that just for rooms.

They must have their reasons.

Annoyingly, the floors were high.

The floors were damn high.

Confirming that,

I asked another guy.

“Friend, where are you assigned?”

“…F-fourth floor.”

Cheol Ji-seon answered, his voice trembling.

He seems to be on the fourth floor.

Surprisingly, he seems to use a sword.

Then again, he did wear a sword at his waist.

Though I’ve never seen him draw it.

“Do you know what we’re doing tomorrow?”

“I heard we’re just exchanging brief greetings.”

“With what, monsters?”

“With the assigned instructor…”

“Boring. What’s with the greetings.”

What a waste of time.

Why bother with pointless greetings.

We should just get straight to the point quickly.

Time is gold, after all.

As I sighed heavily, looking at the occupants divided by floor,

‘Hmm?’

I noticed a peculiar difference.

‘They’ve split them all up?’

The prominent ones.

Like the Sleeping Dragon or Sword Dragon,

they’ve mostly split up the Six Dragons and Three Peaks.

Is it a mistake, or a coincidence?

‘Why would they bother splitting them up like that?’

There must be a reason for keeping them separate without overlap.

Amidst that, a familiar name flashed by.

‘Huh? Did that guy come too? I don’t think I saw him until now.’

Hwangbo Cheol-wi.

I caught a glimpse of the name of that Hwangbo clan relative, the boar.

He could have entered as a junior disciple, but.

Maybe I didn’t see him during the exam because he was in Group 1?

That’s possible.

However, seeing as he hasn’t shown his face until now,

can I assume he’s deliberately avoiding me?

‘Is something not going well?’

I hadn’t been paying much attention to the matters concerning the Hwangbo family I had set up in the past.

Because I didn’t really care how it turned out.

I had only been concerned with Hwangbo Seon, leaving the rest aside,

but I should look into this matter again later.

The urgent matter should be Hwangbo Cheol-wi, though.

‘Looks like the others were split up too.’

Moyong Hi-ah, Tang Soyeol. Namgung Bi-ah, Wi Seol-ah, etc.

Just like the male dormitories.

it seems the female side was also split up similarly,

but what’s puzzling is that Gu Yeonseo is attached to Namgung Bi-ah’s group.

What’s the intention?

Is there even an intention?

Putting that aside for now,

I grabbed Cheol Ji-seon, who was flustered beside me, and spoke.

“Friend.”

“Yes? No, uh, yes.”

“If anyone’s bullying you, tell me. Don’t wait until later.”

‘…Ah, okay.’

Cheol Ji-seon’s expression as he answered was strange.

It looked like he was thinking, ‘Isn’t it a bit weird for you to say that?’

“Look at your eyes? Did I bully you? Why the long face.”

“Ah, no… You didn’t bully me…”

“Right? We agreed to be friends, buddy.”

As I patted Cheol Ji-seon’s shoulder,

the guy nodded.

This guy, he’s joking.

Kkuh-kuh.

“…”

“What, punk?”

“It’s nothing…”

Gu Jeolyub glared at me like a kicked dog, so I asked,

and he shook his head.

That bastard… He’s so ungrateful.

‘I picked up a guy who didn’t know the way and was rolling on the ground, cleaned him up, dressed him, and taught him to walk.’

He’s the epitome of ingratitude.

I’ll have to educate him again later.

As Gu Jeolyub shivered, feeling an unknown chill,

I decided I’d seen enough and moved my body.

The rest can wait until tomorrow.

Stretching my tired body, I headed off to find my room.

Placing the dormitories inside the Dragon Gate Pavilion was a decent idea in its own way, but

it wasn’t entirely good.

Kkiiiik.

Opening the assigned room and stepping inside,

a large room first caught my eye,

and a palpable tension could be felt.

“You insignificant punk, how dare you talk back to me.”

“Are you challenging me?”

Clichéd lines that sounded like they were heard somewhere before were being exchanged.

Seriously, where do they learn these lines beforehand?

“It wouldn’t be bad to determine who’s superior right now.”

Oh, heavens.

What is this mess?

Inside the room, seemingly having already entered,

several guys were growling at each other.

‘Ha.’

As soon as I saw the situation, a sigh escaped me.

Five.

The number of guys in the room, including me.

Only after seeing this,

did I somehow realize the reason.

‘No wonder.’

As I keep mentioning,

the Dragon Gate Pavilion is where junior disciples from prestigious families and renowned lineages gather.

Moreover, these are the genuine elites gathered after another screening,

which means.

that there are guys everywhere who think they’re geniuses,

and the majority are bastards whose pride pierces the heavens because they know their talents are great.

These are guys who have never known the meaning of being intimidated.

Their characteristic is.

Should I say that they tend to ignore truly exceptional individuals from the start?

The Six Dragons, Three Peaks, and so on.

The guys soaring high from now on.

They dismiss them as being from a different world,

and want to act as the leaders within their own world.

In a world full of such guys,

you put four or five in one room?

‘This bastard…!’

To determine who is superior,

they start with a battle of nerves.

With no attendants or anything,

if they’re going to live together for a while,

perhaps they judge it better to establish a hierarchy?

‘Ah… I’m already tired on the first day.’

Watching the guys getting riled up and squaring off,

my head already aches.

Now I think I understand a little.

Why they assigned rooms like this.

Looking at the building’s size,

they could have easily given single rooms,

but they went out of their way to make large rooms, put multiple people in them,

and not only that,

they split up the Six Dragons, or those already showing promise with nicknames,

and put them in one by one.

‘Do they need someone to sort things out if it gets excessive?’

It’s just how things are.

In a world where bowing down to stronger individuals is commonplace,

it might be an intention to strengthen the sense of organization,

but it didn’t look particularly good.

Ah, they should have just given single rooms.

What is this pointless act?

The justification, well…

At Dragon Gate Pavilion, families or sects don’t matter,

everyone is equal, blah blah blah.

they might spout nonsense like ‘there are no special privileges’,

but these guys are already grown,

and they clearly know how much power their reputation holds.

Do you think that would work?

Wouldn’t the Martial Alliance know that?

No. They know, but they leave it be.

Because that’s more convenient.

The quick-witted ones.

Are already checking out factions or,

moving to build connections.

I glanced earlier, they’re all fast.

Kids these days are really fast.

Back in my day… No, was it just me? Thinking about it makes me feel bitter.

Even if they’re all the same academy students,

they won’t be the same once they leave.

This place was practically the best spot for building connections.

And.

‘It’s also a good place to pretend to be strong.’

If you do well here,

that will also help your reputation,

so guys who think they’re hot stuff are all like this.

Especially, the floor I’m on,

only gathers guys who fight bare-handed,

so their temperaments are bound to be bad.

It must be that my bad personality is…

probably because I’m in the unarmed combat department.

Seeing how the guys who punch and fight I’ve met lately all had terrible personalities,

it must be due to the difference in martial arts.

‘If I were a sword cultivator, I’d be the kindest person in the world.’

[Grrr?]

‘What are you, suddenly getting up to argue? Go back to sleep.’

[…Grrr.]

I shoved the clueless beast that interrupted back away,

and surveyed the room on the verge of an incident.

‘Let’s see, I should probably break your nose so you shut your mouth…’

“Shut up, you bastard. Lower your voice, it’s giving me a headache. Anyway, uneducated bastards always think they’re strong just because they’re loud.”

“What?”

The guy who was shouting loudly.

lowered his voice coldly at my interjecting voice.

The look he gave me was quite murderous.

Judging by his eyes alone, he could probably kill someone.

“What did you just say…”

“I sleep a lot, so wake me up last. And memorize what the cafeteria side dishes are for tomorrow.”

“What the hell is this bastard…”

The guy approached me.

Seeing that, another guy seemed to notice something and spoke up, but.

“Wait, that person, Jin…!”

Ppadeuk-

My hand was faster.

“Gak…!”

The jaw of the guy who was about to throw a punch while yelling,

turned slightly.

Using my technique causes pain in my dantian,

so hitting him without hurting myself seemed impossible, so I hit him with all my might.

He probably won’t wake up until tomorrow morning.

Honestly, I wanted to get rid of him quickly.

Because I was tired and wanted to rest.

Teolsseok.

The nameless lump that had been heating up the atmosphere.

The moment he fell powerlessly onto the floor.

The other guys who were using their techniques lost their words.

“Hey.”

From the gap, I spoke to the guy who had been arguing with this lump.

“…Are, are you calling me?”

Judging by his tone and appearance, he wasn’t a clan relative.

He seemed to be from a sect.

“Then, is there anyone else there besides you?”

“W-what is it?”

“What’s this bastard’s name?”

“It was Pae Woo-cheol…”

Pae Woo-cheol, it was a name I heard for the first time.

He was huge, but a weaker guy than expected.

I rolled the unconscious guy into a corner with a kick,

“From tomorrow, if you need anything done, have Woo-cheol do it. He’s the youngest in this room from now on.”

The problem was him babbling noisily right after entering.

“…What do you mean…?”

As the guy who answered me asked again,

I frowned slightly.

“I don’t like people who lack common sense. If you don’t get it, do you want to be the youngest?”

“As an elder brother, I will take good care of my younger sibling.”

“You’ve got good sense. You be the second oldest.”

“Thank you, Hyung-nim.”

Unlike some people around me,

he seems to be quite quick-witted.

Not bad.

After knocking Pae Woo-cheol out,

the atmosphere seemed a bit calmer.

The guys too, among the names on the board,

they must have known I’d be sharing the room with them.

Knowing that, I don’t know why they were acting like this.

If I don’t want trouble later,

it was easier to establish dominance now.

I said to my roommates with a grin.

“Let’s get along well from now on, okay? Anyone unhappy with this situation?”

At my question, they exchanged silent conversations, looking at each other.

If there were any, I was willing to treat them kindly.

“Speak up quickly if there is, so I can put those guys to sleep and get some rest myself.”

The meaning of ‘put to sleep’ was obviously the physical kind.

Controlling my strength is a bit difficult right now, so it’ll hurt more than usual.

But it doesn’t matter.

Because it’s not me getting hurt.

Perhaps my kindness reached them.

The guys quickly shook their heads, indicating their agreement.

Seeing that, I nodded with a smile.

It was fortunate that they were all good kids, anyway.