CLS-Chapter 169

Chapter 169

“Why?”

Un-hyo was suffering from an inexplicable anxiety.

Looking at the sky, the day was clear, and he had woken up refreshed this morning, but he couldn’t understand why he felt so anxious. The school meal he had for breakfast wasn’t bad either, and there wasn’t anything that should be problematic.

“Why am I so anxious?”

No matter how much he thought about it, there was no reason to be anxious.

Today wasn’t much different from yesterday. If there was one difference, it was only that today marked the beginning of the class vouched for by Jo-hyeon, the Divine Cavalry General of the Righteous Alliance.

“Hmm…”

But no matter how much Divine Cavalry General Jo-hyeon vouched for the class, a class was just a class, and there was no reason to feel uneasy about learning.

Though the subtle gaze of Kong-mu and the incomprehensible evaluation results were a bit bothersome.

“Did you cough, sir?”

Peng Do-hyeong approached him with a greeting.

“You don’t look well. Did something happen overnight?”

“…There wasn’t really anything in particular, but strangely I feel somewhat uncomfortable and anxious, so my body must not be in good condition.”

“Your body is not in good condition?”

Peng Do-hyeong looked at Un-hyo with a serious expression.

If someone else had said this, he could just think ‘I see’ and move on, but Un-hyo was a martial artist. Unlike ordinary people, when a martial artist protected by Internal Energy said his body wasn’t in good condition, it was no different from saying a major problem had occurred.

“It’s not that anything hurts or anything like that… Hmm.”

Un-hyo also shook his head with a face that showed he didn’t understand either.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes. There wasn’t really anything to prepare. We don’t know the subject or who’s teaching it, so what preparation could we do? If there was information about the instructor and subject like with other courses, we could at least do some advance studying…”

Peng Do-hyeong’s face also didn’t look comfortable.

Generally, the Potential Dragon Military Academy was structured so that students chose their own classes. Though there were differences in the classes available depending on one’s year, basically individuals chose the classes they would take and prepared for them in advance.

This was because uniform teaching was impossible.

Even just Un-hyo and Peng Do-hyeong had the difference of using fist techniques versus sword techniques. There would be nothing for Un-hyo to do if he entered a sword-teaching class, and there would be no use for Peng Do-hyeong to learn fist techniques.

So normally one would choose classes suitable for oneself, but a class like this one—with no information and not knowing what would be taught—was a first. Naturally, they couldn’t prepare.

“We’ll find out when we go.”

Un-hyo shook his head back and forth.

Though he couldn’t know the class content, Divine Cavalry General Jo-hyeon was someone he had no choice but to trust. If it was a class vouched for by Divine Cavalry General Jo-hyeon, it would naturally lead them to higher realms.

That’s what Un-hyo thought.

Until now, that is.

“…What is that?”

Upon entering the Grand Training Hall, Un-hyo could discover two things. One was that there were fewer people attending the class than expected.

The number of those who came to attend class was not many, to the extent that the large Grand Training Hall felt desolate. Considering the enormous number of those who had lined up for evaluation, it meant that the number of those who passed the evaluation was correspondingly small.

“Hmm…”

Un-hyo let out a contemplative sound.

‘Even with such talents gathered, are there so few qualified to take this class?’

Even though the Nine Sects rarely participated in the Potential Dragon Military Academy, since the most promising talents from the Five Great Families and various mid-sized sects were all gathered here, there were many talents who could dominate the world.

Yet only about a hundred people stood in the training hall with awkward expressions.

“…Elder brother.”

Peng Do-hyeong’s voice came out trembling.

“I saw it too.”

But compared to the other thing, the small number of people wasn’t particularly problematic.

The moment they entered the training hall, they saw it. The soft bed prepared in one corner of the platform.

‘This is strange.’

He had never actually seen it with his own eyes.

Not once had they ever seen him lying on a bed. Even when stopping at inns, there was no need for them to visit his room. All they had seen was his figure rolling around on blankets spread on the carriage roof.

But why did his face come to mind the moment they saw the bed?

“…It can’t be.”

It shouldn’t be!

Un-hyo struggled to shake off the worst imagination rising in his mind. But the more he thought about it, the more all the circumstances fit together.

The instructor’s qualifications?

More than sufficient—overflowing even.

Though he might be younger than them, judging by his actual skills, they might be weaker than the dirt under Wei Yan-ho’s toenails. Even if Wei Yan-ho fought with both hands and feet tied, they might die from a tongue-lashing.

The gap in skill between them and Wei Yan-ho was that vast.

“It can’t be!”

No matter how much he tried to deny it, the fact that this incident occurred as soon as Wei Yan-ho entered the Righteous Alliance, and that Kong-mu had taken the ill-fitting position of special evaluation committee member to select students, bothered him.

Moreover, as if it were natural, though the class start time had already passed by a full period, the instructor had not appeared. This was impossible in an academy that valued time above all else.

And more than anything else…

“…Who other than that bastard would do the crazy thing of bringing a bed to a place for taking classes!”

“I agree.”

Un-hyo had no choice but to fall into contemplation.

It wasn’t too late yet.

Even if it wasn’t confirmed yet, no matter how he looked at it, the situation was flowing in that direction. So perhaps he should run away even now.

While Un-hyo was pondering what to do, someone approached and greeted him.

“Isn’t this Brother Un?”

“…Brother Mo-yong.”

Mo-yong Dong-hak, the young master of the Mo-yong Family, approached him with a smile and spoke.

“As expected, Brother Un also ended up taking this class. It looks like we’ll be seeing each other for a while, so please treat me well.”

‘We might not see each other…’

It wasn’t easy to say to someone speaking so friendly, ‘Sorry, but I’m currently thinking of running away.’ Un-hyo wasn’t someone lacking in prudence enough to spread unconfirmed facts, and moreover…

‘I can’t be the only one suffering.’

Even if Wei Yan-ho coming as the instructor of this class was true, he had no intention of warning them in advance. To speak honestly, how much had they suffered coming to the Righteous Alliance together with Wei Yan-ho? In the end, they had even crossed life-and-death crises.

No, wait!

It was such an absurd incident that he had half-erased it from his mind, but when they met the Twin Demons, they had almost all died.

‘Thinking about it that way, he is a life-saver…’

But it was also Wei Yan-ho who insisted on catching and beating to death the Demonic Path Twin Demons who were just going to pass by, and it was also Wei Yan-ho who brought about the crisis.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Un-hyo’s head always became complicated when thinking about the human called Wei Yan-ho.

‘What should I do?’

If Wei Yan-ho really came as an instructor?

It would be a tremendous misfortune.

But it would also be a tremendous opportunity.

Thinking coldly, among the people Un-hyo knew, there were almost no people he was confident could subdue Wei Yan-ho, and even those who might be of similar level didn’t exceed ten.

Wasn’t he the one who beat the Demonic Path Twin Demons like dogs?

Even his father, the family head of the Jin-ju Un Family, made him wonder if he could really do such a thing. Being able to directly learn martial arts from such a person was a tremendous opportunity. That was certain.

“Elder brother?”

When Peng Do-hyeong asked with an anxious face, Un-hyo cleared his throat and spoke.

“In my opinion…”

“Look, look! Look over there, elder brother!”

At Peng Do-hyeong’s urgent voice, Un-hyo turned his head. From the direction Peng Do-hyeong pointed, some man was trudging toward them.

Un-hyo felt like the sky was falling.

Though he had already suspected it, the shock of that suspicion becoming reality was much greater than Un-hyo had thought.

Wei Yan-ho.

Frowning in all manner of ways and radiating the attitude that he didn’t want to come through his entire body, Wei Yan-ho was walking toward the training hall.

‘If you hate it that much, don’t do it.’

Then everyone would have been at peace.

“Wh-what should we do, elder brother?”

“Don’t panic.”

Un-hyo first restrained Peng Do-hyeong and spoke as if spitting out the words.

“Thinking about it, it’s a good opportunity. A man must not refuse to lick bile if it’s to achieve his goals.”

Peng Do-hyeong slowly nodded. He too agreed with Un-hyo’s words.

“If he achieved such martial prowess at that age, there must surely be some secret technique. It might be a bit humiliating right now, but there are times when a man must endure humiliation to achieve his goals.”

“Quite right.”

But would goals be achieved by enduring humiliation?

Un-hyo was grateful that Peng Do-hyeong was by his side right now. If Peng Do-hyeong hadn’t been there, he too would have been caught in confusion, unable to do this or that.

Because Peng Do-hyeong was there, he could maintain his dignity as an elder brother.

In the midst of this, Wei Yan-ho entered the training hall and climbed onto the platform.

“What’s that?”

“Who is that person?”

“He looks young?”

As the expected instructor didn’t appear and a young man climbed onto the platform, the students began murmuring.

Receiving the concentrated gazes of the students, Wei Yan-ho looked at them with composure.

“Uh…”

Wei Yan-ho slowly opened his mouth.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Wei Yan-ho of the Guangdong Wei Family, and I’ll be serving as the instructor for this class starting today.”

“Instructor?”

“An instructor, he says?”

“Guangdong Wei Family? Wei San-ho?”

“An instructor, what does this mean! The instructor vouched for by the general is  this young kid?”

Of course, Wei Yan-ho’s age wasn’t that much younger compared to them, but comparing the ages of students and instructors was impossible.

Receiving gazes of disbelief and shock, Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“It’s natural that you’re flustered. Actually, I’m not particularly better than any of you. This is probably either some mistake or the result of the general’s whim.”

Un-hyo’s mouth dropped wide open.

‘If you say that, what are we supposed to do, man!’

Wasn’t this the time to show his skills and dispel their complaints! But why was he amplifying the complaints!

Wei Yan-ho looked around at the students and opened his mouth.

“No matter how much I think about it, teaching excellent people like yourselves doesn’t seem very efficient. I know my place, you see.”

“…Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho, with eyes half-closed from sleepiness, cleanly summarized the situation.

“So let’s self-study.”

“What?”

“Since today is the first day of class, let’s just do some light self-study and end it. So please train comfortably. Those who want to leave early can go.”

“…”

While the students were floundering, not understanding how this situation was developing, Wei Yan-ho ambled toward the bed, took off his shoes, and lay down.

Among the bewildered students, Un-hyo let out a deep sigh.

“I knew this would happen.”

He didn’t know what Divine Cavalry General Jo-hyeon was thinking, but…

“How could the general have seen a lazy person?”

Now they would know.

What it meant that even a hundred medicines were ineffective.

Un-hyo looked up at the sky with a forlorn expression.