Chapter 93: Supplementary Lesson (1)

Chapter 27

*- Weaknesses? I don’t have any.*

That’s what I used to think.

Cho Un-hwi sniffled, staring blankly into space.

A cheerful voice chirped beside him, “Hehe, Instructor, more of these arrived.”

A pile of red papers sat on a nearby table.

Disciplinary notices.

Cho Un-hwi looked at the mountain of notices and mumbled gloomily, “What did I even do wrong?”

“This one says you were caught lurking near the female students’ dormitory, saying, ‘Oops, my bad.'”

“I just got lost.”

That was the official explanation, anyway.

‘Actually, I was caught trying to check the security at Euncheon Hall.’

But officially, he was innocent.

“Oh my, Instructor, again? Yesterday, you barged into the instructors’ cafeteria, shouting, ‘Ooh, something smells delicious!'”

“I was just following the delicious smell.”

That was his official excuse.

He admitted that his true intentions were a bit shady, but they were valid excuses. Why couldn’t they just let it go?

‘Those petty Euncheon Hall bastards.’

He couldn’t believe that such pathetic people existed in the same world as his wife.

The cheerful voice continued, oblivious to his misery, “Wow, what’s this? A super-sized disciplinary notice.”

“Sister, it says, ‘No need for a Demonic Cult Leader to appear in the mock training.’ ‘Same goes for the Chain Explosion Demonic Practitioner.'”

“Oh my, and this one says, ‘Submitting frivolous applications is highly unbecoming of an instructor.'”

“Wow! Ten penalty points! That’s a new record. Congratulations!”

Cho Un-hwi, drained of all energy, looked up dejectedly.

“You guys seem happy about this.”

“Oh my, you’re mistaken.”

“No way, it’s just your imagination.”

Baek Ri-seol insisted, humming.

“Cheer up! You have a lifetime job waiting for you even if you get fired.”

Yeah, that was fine.

He would never become a useless member of the Baek Ri Clan, no matter how low he sank.

“Happy? Do you really think I would think something like, ‘Serves you right, you villain who led the students astray and made them live a miserable life without friends or tears’?”

…So that’s what they were thinking.

He felt even more miserable.

“Ugh…”

He had no one to share his sorrow with.

He knew that the path of a martial artist was a lonely one, but this was too much.

“I can’t get fired like this!”

He had worked so hard to get into Euncheon Hall. He couldn’t just give up.

He had to succeed in the Murim Excursion.

Then the clever Dokgo Yul would find a way to help him.

Seeing his newfound determination, Baek Ri-seol clapped her hands.

“Oh my! Are you finally motivated? You’ve been neglecting us lately. I was about to get really mad.”

“That’s right, Instructor. You’re so capable, but you’re always distracted by other things. Come on, let’s find some wooden dummies to fix and make up for your lost points.”

“Uh, not that.”

Making up for his lost points was important, but there was something else that was more important right now.

“What I need right now is someone to take my anger out on.”

Where were the new students?

Where were the ones who would help him recover his penalty points?!

***

He asked around and found the new training ground.

It had a different atmosphere from the previous training ground.

Surprisingly, there was a pond with clear water and koi fish in the middle of the training ground.

‘They still haven’t given up on these crazy facilities.’

After walking for half an hour, he finally saw some familiar faces huddled together in a corner.

Jegal Tan was the first to notice him.

“You’re here.”

“Are you teaching them well?”

“I’m trying my best, but…”

Jegal Tan sighed.

“…it’s not going well.”

“I managed to make them memorize the Murim Common Sense, but…”

He spoke quickly.

“…it took them ten days to memorize half a book.”

“Shouldn’t they be able to memorize it after reading it once or twice?”

“Even if they memorize it, it’s not easy for them to apply it to real-life situations.”

“Sigh, this is so frustrating…”

*Thud!*

Jegal Tan clutched his shin and hopped around.

“Why… why did you do that?”

“Just because.”

Because he was annoyed.

*Thwack! Thwack!*

Cho Un-hwi kicked Jegal Tan’s other shin, sending him sprawling to the ground, then turned to Namgung Yun-ho.

“What are you doing now?”

“We were learning trap detection techniques.”

The trap in Namgung Yun-ho’s hand looked like a work of art, smooth and sturdy.

He had shown a talent for setting traps, and now he seemed to have reached the level of a master craftsman.

‘On the other hand, I’m…’

…terrible at it.

Even a child could probably make a better trap than him.

“Hey, fist fighter kid.”

“…Can you at least drop the ‘kid’ part?”

“We’ll see how you do first.”

He sat down and watched Namgung Yun-ho’s lesson.

“Now, let’s learn how to set traps.”

“You need to know how to set them to be able to detect them.”

“If this is a good place to set a trap, then the enemy will also be watching it.”

Namgung Yun-ho’s lesson wasn’t bad.

But the students all looked miserable, as if they couldn’t understand anything.

As expected, Eon Ho-seung, who had the shortest fuse, exploded.

“Why do I have to learn such trivial things?!”

He ruffled his hair in frustration.

“I understand about money and bargaining now. I’ll learn about common sense.”

“But this is too much!”

“Identifying poisonous plants and herbs, detecting traps… it’s too much.”

“And what’s with identifying movement techniques by footprints?”

“And why do we have to learn heroic lines?!”

One explosion led to another. The Jeok twins, Tang Gan, and even the usually calm Im So-jeong were complaining.

“We can’t do it! We’re not that meticulous!”

“That’s right! It’s hard enough to look at someone’s face, but you want us to observe their gait and the calluses on their hands? And they’re men?!”

“This is ridiculous! At the Tang Clan, people tell us their entire family history just by looking at us!”

Their complaints were pathetic.

But he couldn’t blame them entirely. Even Im So-jeong, the most sensible one among them, looked overwhelmed. These rich kids had clearly reached their limit.

Eon Ho-seung mumbled, his eyes glazed over,

“Isn’t ‘Nice to meet you’ and ‘See you later’ enough? What’s with ‘The world is vast, but we are all connected. May we meet again someday’? And why do we have to choose between ‘Villain! I shall punish you here!’ and ‘Repent your sins and fall!’ before fighting a villain?”

The twins, looking dazed, chimed in.

“And we have to shout it using diaphragmatic breathing.”

“With a ‘stern and righteous’ tone.”

“This is insane.”

Jegal Tan, who had regained his composure, said, “It’s the supplementary exam instructor’s personal preference. It’s a basic requirement.”

He was glad he had come.

He finally understood what the problem was.

“Jegal, are you aiming for a perfect score with these guys?”

“Why take the exam if you’re not aiming for a perfect score?”

He was a serial perfect scorer.

*Thud.*

Cho Un-hwi said, looking at Jegal Tan, who was sprawled on the ground, “Let’s be realistic. High expectations are poison for failing students.”

“You told me to teach them with all my heart as a skilled assistant…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Cho Un-hwi cut him off and said, “Lower your expectations.”

Look at him. He had a bad personality and seemed even dumber.

It was impossible.

They would just aim to avoid failing.

Eon Ho-seung’s eyes lit up.

“Temporary instructor, we might be in a sorry state right now, but don’t underestimate us.”

As Eon Ho-seung tried to get up, Baek Ri-seol smiled sweetly.

“Eon, your spirit is as vast as the sky, and even your rat-like appearance and uncouth words are a welcome sight. Do you understand?”

Eon Ho-seung sat back down, confused by her eloquent greeting.

He clearly didn’t understand a word she had said.

‘Well, it’s understandable. She’s using the language of refined scholars.’

Her intentions might be disrespectful, but she was still a child who had received a refined education from the Baek Ri Clan.

‘The weather must be nice. Even a rat-faced bastard with a shitty personality is a welcome sight.’

That was what Baek Ri-seol meant.

“Ahem, that was a nice speech.”

This guy, on the other hand, was hopeless.

“Miss, it’s nice to meet you too. Thank you for your hospitality. Is that… right?”

He turned to Jegal Tan, who nodded.

“I give up on the perfect score.”

“You think so too, huh?”

“What? Why?!”

Eon Ho-seung and the others protested, but Cho Un-hwi continued, “Let’s take the easy route. What’s the highest-scoring section in the mock training?”

“It’s the combat section, where you create a ‘surprise scenario’ and fight the instructor. If you survive for a certain amount of time or defeat the instructor, you pass.”

“That sounds easy.”

But Jegal Tan shook his head.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds.”

He looked at the students and said, “You can’t even get to the combat section if you’re lacking in any area.”

He then summarized the mock training in four words:

*- Adaptation. Evasion. Detection. Survival.*

Adaptation.

Use common sense to adapt to the mock training environment.

Evasion.

Use your knowledge of the Murim to avoid or overcome various traps.

Detection.

Use your senses and intuition to detect the enemy.

Survival.

Fight and survive.

If you were lacking in any of these areas, you wouldn’t be able to progress to the next stage.

If you failed adaptation, you wouldn’t be able to enter the mock training ground.

If you failed evasion, you would be eliminated and wouldn’t be able to proceed to detection.

And if you failed detection, you wouldn’t be able to trigger the “surprise scenario,” so there wouldn’t even be a combat section.

“That’s why it’s important to earn as many bonus points as possible during the exam.”

Even if they failed detection and couldn’t trigger the combat section, they could still avoid failing by accumulating enough bonus points.

It was a decent strategy, but Cho Un-hwi had a different idea.

“Your approach is wrong.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“From the start. Why do you need to adapt?”

He looked at the grumpy Eon Ho-seung and said, “Just ignore it and charge in.”

“Haha, that’s my specialty.”

“But keep your mouth shut. We don’t want you to lose points for being rude.”

“…”

Eon Ho-seung frowned.

Jegal Tan also expressed his disapproval.

“It’s a good strategy to aim for the highest-scoring section, but as I said earlier, you need to follow the steps.”

“Why do we need steps?”

Cho Un-hwi simplified the situation.

“Evasion? Unnecessary. Just follow someone else.”

“What if the ones who rush ahead fall into traps?”

“That’s your chance! Step on their corpses and move forward.”

“Eliminate your competitors from the start!”

The students stared at him in disbelief.

Tang Gan, looking dazed, asked, “You’re telling us… to be cowardly and wait for an opportunity?”

“Yes.”

“Is that something an instructor should be saying?”

Eon Ho-seung, the twins, and even Tang Gan joined in.

“That’s not just cowardly, it’s despicable!”

“There are lines we shouldn’t cross, even if it means failing.”

“We have our pride as martial artists. This isn’t funny.”

They were surprisingly principled for a bunch of failing students.

Im So-jeong, who had been silent, finally spoke.

“Instructor.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Even if we succeed, there’s another problem.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“The problem is whether we can detect the instructor, who’s hiding, and trigger the ‘surprise scenario.’”

She was a smart kid. She had immediately identified the flaw in his plan.

It wasn’t easy to find an instructor who was deliberately concealing his presence.

‘That’s exactly what I’m hoping for.’

Cho Un-hwi smiled inwardly and said, “I have a plan.”

He beckoned to Im So-jeong, who stood up quietly and approached her.

Eon Ho-seung, the twins, and Tang Gan followed suit.

Cho Un-hwi said, “It’s not easy to observe your surroundings. It’s probably unfamiliar to you guys, who are used to having everything done for you.”

“And there are hundreds of people participating in the mock training.”

“That’s right. It’s difficult to observe everyone carefully.”

“And we don’t have much time.”

Cho Un-hwi smiled as he looked at the students.

“Don’t worry, I have a way for you to get used to it quickly.”

“There’s a way… ugh!”

Tang Gan collapsed, clutching his chest.

“Instructor, you… gasp!”

Im So-jeong gasped as she saw a fist stopping right in front of her face.

Her hair, which had been blown upwards by the wind pressure, slowly settled back down.

He said,

“We’ll start by learning how to sense and observe auras.”

Learn how to sense my aura first.

*Crack!*

The five students froze as he cracked his knuckles.