Chapter 10
At last, the complaints erupted.
It was precisely the fifth day since classes had begun.
“I don’t want to listen to this kind of class anymore!”
It was Yeom Ja-ryang (廉子亮), Young Master Yi of Cheonhwa Trading Company.
As he shot up and shouted, the other students nodded in agreement and stopped moving their hands.
They all looked at Sa Bigang with challenging eyes.
The fact that they had endured until now was because of the martial prowess Sa Bigang had displayed on the first day.
Whether it was staged or not, his shattering of Deung Bu-hyeong’s blade in a single strike had left a strong impression.
But the students’ will to no longer endure could be read in their eyes.
Sa Bigang looked over at the students with an indifferent expression.
“Continue.”
“I refuse!”
Yeom Ja-ryang clenched his fist tightly.
It had already been five days.
Sa Bigang had instructed the students to sharpen their swords.
This had been continuing for five days straight.
Sa Bigang lowered his eyes toward the students who were looking at him challengingly and opened his mouth.
“Sharpening a sword is not just about honing the blade…”
“You’re going to say it’s about honing and disciplining the mind, aren’t you?”
When Yeom Ja-ryang cut off his words, several students snickered.
Sa Bigang looked at Yeom Ja-ryang for a moment, then chuckled.
“Fine, what’s the problem?”
“Honestly, from our perspective, it seems like you don’t have the ability to teach, so you’re just having us sharpen swords while you play around.”
“Huhu. You think you can fathom my intentions?”
“Ah, yes. Of course it would be difficult. But at least we want to receive active lessons.”
Then Cho Mun-tak (趙文卓), a student who always stuck close to Yeom Ja-ryang, stepped forward and chimed in.
“That’s right! Sitting all day just sharpening blades is making us restless to death. Sitting around all day makes it hard to even take a morning dump!”
The students giggled.
Sa Bigang watched the students quietly, then nodded.
“Active lessons, you say. That’s good too.”
When Sa Bigang unexpectedly agreed readily, the students looked puzzled instead.
‘This feels even more unsettling somehow?’
‘What’s he plotting now?’
Sa Bigang spoke casually to the murmuring students.
“Follow me.”
***
“I absolutely can’t stand this! What the hell are we doing?”
Yeom Ja-ryang roughly brought down his fist.
Splash!
At his punch, the water surface splashed up, creating a spray.
The surrounding students looked back at him.
Bongchu Valley near Yongcheon Hall.
A place quite wide and deep, where many students would play in the water during the hot summer.
But the students gathered here now were definitely not here to play in the water.
The weather was quite cold for water play.
Ice hadn’t even melted at the water’s edge yet.
Nevertheless, every single student was immersed in the valley.
“Hey, what are you doing over there? Did you catch them all already?”
Just then, Sa Bigang, who had been sitting on a large rock by the water’s edge, looked this way and shouted.
Yeom Ja-ryang glared at him briefly, then turned his head away sharply.
‘Why did such a guy become our homeroom instructor!’
Irritation welled up.
Sa Bigang, who had said he would conduct ‘active lessons,’ had brought all the students to this place.
And he had suddenly instructed the students to catch ice fish.
Five per person, regardless of gender.
However, they had to catch them with bare hands, the size must not exceed three finger joints, and they had to be alive and moving without any injuries.
Ice fish that only live in low water temperatures could only be caught at considerable depths since the weather was warming up.
Therefore, to catch them, one had to completely submerge in the water and reach out.
Moreover, to avoid frostbite in this cold, one had to continuously circulate internal energy.
It was truly extreme training.
But how could merely catching ice fish help with martial arts development?
Furthermore, there was something else that made the students even angrier.
Every ice fish they caught, Sa Bigang would devour completely.
Wasn’t this like offering fresh food to an instructor who wanted to eat ice fish?
So all the students in the Special Purpose Class had no choice but to be dissatisfied.
Especially the female students, whose clothes kept getting wet and bothering them, were continuously irritated.
“Really, why do we have to get soaked in this cold weather just to catch ice fish?”
“It would have been better to just sharpen swords.”
“Didn’t we just provoke the instructor’s temper unnecessarily? He’s definitely doing this out of spite.”
“He seemed to be looking this way with lecherous eyes just now. Ah, really disgusting.”
The students, shivering from the cold, each grumbled.
The male students were the same.
Among them, voices blaming Yeom Ja-ryang could be heard.
Watching such scenes, Yeon U-gyeong chuckled and approached Yeom Ja-ryang.
“It seems the students have many complaints. They’re saying it would be better to sharpen swords.”
Yeom Ja-ryang glared, but soon confirmed that his opponent was Yeon U-gyeong and closed his mouth.
There was nothing good about carelessly provoking Yeon U-gyeong of the Hegemon Sword Yeon Family.
Whether in terms of family background or individual martial arts, he had nothing superior.
“But I also fully understand Brother Yeom’s feelings.”
When Yeon U-gyeong approached favorably, Yeom Ja-ryang looked up at him.
Yeon U-gyeong smiled faintly and patted Yeom Ja-ryang’s shoulder.
“As a fellow student, I am supporting Brother Yeom. This is my sincere feeling. Please don’t just take this lying down. Make him realize that he shouldn’t treat us carelessly.”
Yeom Ja-ryang felt a momentary thrill.
This young master of the Hegemon Sword Yeon Family had said ‘us.’
As if they were on the same side!
What kind of place was the Hegemon Sword Yeon Family?
Wasn’t it one of the families wielding high prestige in the current martial world?
If he could build a thick friendship with this young master of such a family…!
‘Father might acknowledge me!’
He could definitely highlight his existence to his father, who always had the modifier ‘useless second son’ on his lips.
Yeom Ja-ryang clenched his fist and answered with a determined expression.
“My thoughts are the same as Brother Yeon’s! I will definitely flatten that instructor’s nose! You can look forward to it!”
Yeon U-gyeong smiled broadly.
“As expected, Brother Yeom and I seem to have something in common. Let’s get along well from now on. I’ll trust Brother Yeom.”
“Of, of course!”
Yeom Ja-ryang firmly grasped the hand Yeon U-gyeong extended.
Just then.
“What are you guys doing? Enjoying some male bonding in the water?”
Yeom Ja-ryang and Yeon U-gyeong, who had casually turned their heads, were startled and backed away.
“Huk! What, what is it?”
Before they knew it, Sa Bigang was right beside them, staring at the two intently.
‘Wh, when did he!’
Yeon U-gyeong reflexively looked toward the rock by the water’s edge.
From the rock to here was quite a distance.
Moreover, since they were in water, he should have felt some presence.
Whether knowing Yeon U-gyeong’s surprised feelings or not, Sa Bigang looked at the two with an indifferent expression, then muttered as if to himself.
“Tsk, I imagined it and now I feel disgusted.”
“What are you imagining on your own!”
“Don’t have strange imaginations!”
Yeon U-gyeong and Yeom Ja-ryang burst out shouting.
Because of that, all the students who had been concentrating on catching ice fish looked this way.
“Huh? When did the instructor go over there?”
“Right. Wasn’t he sitting on the rock?”
While other students also looked on puzzledly.
“If it wasn’t male bonding, what was it? Were you chatting like girls?”
“Wh, what business is it of yours?”
“As an instructor guiding you, if I discover strengths, I should highlight them further. How about it? Should I recommend a good brothel? You can hold hands and laugh while chatting there just like now. Though I don’t know if they’ll accept men.”
At this point, even some of the watching students couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Yeon U-gyeong and Yeom Ja-ryang clenched their fists and trembled while glaring at Sa Bigang.
Yeom Ja-ryang spoke as if spitting out the words.
“As an instructor… shouldn’t you at least give a proper reason when making students do training or whatever? What kind of class is this in the water?”
“Hmm. Even if I tell you the reason now, you won’t understand anyway. So just do as you’re told. Don’t chatter like girls.”
“How can we believe that! The truth is you have no real ability but are just putting on airs, isn’t it? Even now, you’re just doing this because you want to eat ice fish, aren’t you?”
When the situation became serious again, the students’ expressions also hardened.
Sa Bigang also became serious and looked at Yeom Ja-ryang.
For a moment, Yeom Ja-ryang felt a chill and shuddered once.
Sa Bigang spoke in a rigid voice.
“If you have such doubts about my ability, come at me anytime.”
“What did you say?”
“Assassination or whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’ll accept it anytime. However, come at me prepared to pay the price when you fail. If you can kill me, I’ll gladly die as your teacher.”
Having finished speaking, Sa Bigang grinned wickedly.
That smile was so eerie that Yeom Ja-ryang felt his spine tingle.
Just then, one student shouted.
“Instructor, I caught them!”
“Good, bring them here!”
Before Sa Bigang moved, he glanced back at Yeom Ja-ryang.
“Ah, among what you said, the part about wanting to eat ice fish was correct. Huhuhuh.“
Yeom Ja-ryang felt completely deflated watching Sa Bigang walk away.
“What kind of instructor is that?”
To such Yeom Ja-ryang, Yeon U-gyeong sent a meaningful glance once, then turned around.
Yeom Ja-ryang clenched his fist tightly.
‘Come at you anytime? Just wait and see. I’ll make you regret those words.’
His gaze was directed toward Veritas hanging at Sa Bigang’s waist.
Meanwhile, Sa Bigang, who had returned to sit on the rock and eaten his fill of ice fish brought by the students, rubbed his belly and slowly stood up.
‘Should I end it here for today?’
Most of the students were still floundering in the valley.
Actually, completely submerging in water and catching ice fish with bare hands is no ordinary difficult task.
Not only must one protect the body warmly with internal energy, but one must also sink into the water resisting buoyancy, and quickly or gently grasp moving ice fish.
It’s not something that can be done just by having a high level of martial arts.
If one carelessly tries to catch them using internal energy, the ice fish are likely to burst or faint.
Nevertheless…
‘There are some guys showing decent talent.’
Sa Bigang’s gaze moved to the water’s edge.
There, students who had already caught all five ice fish were drying their bodies and circulating energy.
Of course, there were probably some guys who had the ability but were deliberately dawdling due to rebellious psychology.
But even so…
‘You’re only harming yourselves. Huhu.’
It must be no ordinary torment to have to continuously circulate energy while wasting time in the cold water.
Actually, this ice fish catching was one of the methods he often trained with when he was in the Demon Realm.
Controlling mana.
That gives a feeling similar to swimming in water.
Also, handling mana requires delicate and sensitive senses, like controlling minnows in water at will.
In other words, it’s a problem his students will definitely have to adapt to when they handle mana in the future.
‘When the time comes, there will definitely be a day when you’ll be grateful to me. So just do as you’re told. I’ll make you into the finest warriors!’
Sa Bigang narrowed his eyes and looked over the students.
The students here would become his elite subordinates in the future.
The students couldn’t even guess such a fate yet.
‘It will definitely happen. And you’ll help me take the Demon King’s head. That will be the path for my revenge and the work of saving the Central Plains.’
Of course, there was still a long way to go.
These alone were far from enough.
Starting here, but ultimately having to shake and refine the entire Central Plains.
But there was no need to rush.
It could be built up gradually.
Sa Bigang narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, the female students were quite uncomfortable with their wet clothes clinging to their bodies.
Several female students misunderstood on their own and whispered with unpleasant expressions.
“Oh my, what? I think he just peeked at my body.”
“He’s still looking this way now. With his eyes narrowed.”
“Really lecherous!”
Seeing such female students, Yeom Ja-ryang ground his teeth.
‘Perverted instructor! Enjoy while you can. When you wake up tomorrow morning, something surprising will have happened.’
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
