Chapter 121
Chapter 121. The Black Flame Dragon Who Gives Opportunities
“What on earth are you thinking, Young Master Jin?”
The best thing about being the Academy Representative was that, along with the residence, there were servants always standing by.
As the mood in the banquet hall grew increasingly hostile, the instructors hurriedly ended the banquet, and before heading to the dormitory, everyone in our group gathered at my residence.
“The aroma of the tea is good. Try some.”
“…….”
The middle-aged maidservant who had forced me into this heap of shame in the form of clothing brought out tea and refreshments even though I had not said a word.
Namgung Seon-hwa, Murong Jae-hwa, and Seong Mo-ran must have received this level of treatment at home as well, because none of them were surprised. However, our Taeul Sect kids went tense and silent at the sight of maidservants appearing without a word.
“Young Master Jin. Are you truly all right?”
“Are you all right, Lady Seon-hwa?”
“With what?”
“I did appoint you as an executive without even asking for your opinion, though…….”
“Of course I am happy about it. But because of that, the others are extremely angry, so that is what worries me.”
“If they are angry, then there is nothing to be done.”
Even though they could have entered the sphere of influence of the Five Great Clans, they had all chosen to follow me. From my perspective, I had appointed the finest staff possible.
“But once the academic schedule begins, if no one follows the schedule you arrange, Young Master Jin…….”
“Then I can simply step down from the representative position.”
“Pardon?”
“I did not come to the Academy for wealth, honor, or promotion in the first place.”
I would have to give up this comfortable life, and I would no longer be able to use servants, but so what?
To begin with, I had entered the Academy to protect my people, and that much was perfectly possible even if I was not the representative.
Before long, an incident would occur in which most of Murim Academy would die.
From the very first day I entered Murim Academy, I had lost sleep thinking about how to stop that incident.
The Corpse Mountain Blood Cult.
A branch of the Blood Demon Sect that split off from the Demonic Cult two hundred years ago and built its own independent force in Tibet.
Before the Great Righteous-Demonic War broke out through the Demonic Cult’s schemes, the Murim Alliance’s opponent would be this Corpse Mountain Blood Cult, and the very first sacrificial victims to be ground down by them would be the Academy students of this Murim Academy class.
“I came here to protect myself and my people. I have no interest in the representative position or any future post in the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.”
At my words, everyone’s gazes turned blank.
In my previous life, the Demonic Cult’s actions had been so secretive, and the sinister reach they had spread throughout the entire murim had been so complex, that no one had been able to notice their tricks. But now, I was here, and the information I had leaked was gradually spreading.
Because of that, the future had changed greatly, and perhaps the battle against the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult and the massacre of Murim Academy’s students would never happen.
“I will simply do my best at the things I can do. I will not compromise with them for the sake of my own interests either.”
“……Then, are we perhaps your people as well, Young Master Jin?”
At Namgung Seon-hwa’s cautious question, I tilted my head and said,
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“……Hehe.”
No matter what happened, my goal was clear.
To protect the people I had failed to protect in my previous life.
“Furthermore, no matter what tricks they try to play, things will not go as they wish.”
And along with that, to make those shitty bastards eat shit for once.
Jegal So-myeong intensely hated the Elder Hall. In the Murim Alliance, those who could enter the Elder Hall were generally politicians who were better at politics than ability.
Jegal So-myeong thought the Elder Hall was the place where all of the Murim Alliance’s abuses gathered: men filled with a thirst for power and steeped in a sense of privilege.
They did not follow discipline, they overstepped regulations, and they acted as if they were a privileged class.
That was why he firmly cut off acts such as barging into Mantongbu without an appointment and recklessly pushing in candidates who did not meet the qualifications.
But even for such a Jegal So-myeong, there were moments when he had to set aside all his piled-up work and meet a person from the Elder Hall. That was when they followed ‘procedure’.
“Why are they doing things they never did before so awkwardly?”
They had contacted him several days earlier, coordinated a schedule, and arranged a location. The one who had been flustered by this sudden appointment with a figure from the Elder Hall was, instead, Jegal So-myeong.
“What absurd matter are you trying to discuss that you even arranged such an uncomfortable meeting?”
At Jegal So-myeong’s words, Daoist Master Myeonghyeon smiled faintly.
“Well, must there be an appointment for us to meet? We are simply meeting like this and sharing old stories.”
As if that bastard and he had ever shared such talk. Moreover, back when Jegal So-myeong had been making a name for himself in the Murim Alliance through the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, he had not even known what gutter Myeonghyeon had crawled out of.
“I say it because busy men like you have come here after going through this bothersome pro.ce.dure.”
“Hoho, through this incident, we too have learned a great deal. We learned how important pro.ce.dure and
reg.u.la
.tions are. Thanks to that, we ended up accepting a child colluding with the Black Path into the Academy.”
I knew it.
Old stories, my foot. If he had not been seething over Jin So-un being admitted as the top scorer, he would never have done such a bothersome thing in the first place.
“As it happens, the Elder Hall has decided to draft a new bill. We named it the ‘Jin So-un Act’.”
“That does not seem like a very good name. If you do that, does it not make it sound as though Jin So-un committed something illegal?”
“Of course, once it is drafted, we will give it another name.”
“……Even if you make a law now, you cannot expel a child who has already been accepted into the Academy. You know that, yes?”
“Of course. We merely hope to create a detailed, airtight, and meticulous filter so that such an unfortunate matter does not happen again.”
It seemed he had more or less given up on Jin So-un’s case, but Jegal So-myeong still could not quite grasp what Myeonghyeon’s purpose was.
“Now that the Academy Exam is over, should we not begin looking after the murim in earnest?”
“No! Elder Myeonghyeon, you must already be extremely busy handling the Alliance’s affairs, yet you are thinking of the murim as well?”
Even at Jegal So-myeong’s sarcasm, Daoist Master Myeonghyeon’s complexion did not change much.
“Did traces of the Unorthodox Path not appear in the northwestern exam zone this time?”
“…….”
“I believe investigating that area must come first.”
Jegal So-myeong was also aware that, during this exam, there had been a clash between examinees and a group presumed to belong to the Unorthodox Path around Kunlun Mountain.
However, because of the traces of the Demonic Cult that had appeared on the Puyang Plains, the investigation had been postponed again and again.
“Mantongbu is also aware of that matter and is preparing an investigation.”
“Is that so? But I have not heard that the investigation has actually begun.”
“We are handling matters according to their importance.”
“Hoho, are you saying there is something more important than the appearance of the Unorthodox Path?”
Across the entire murim, things that appeared to be traces of the Demonic Cult were appearing one after another.
However, that was only circumstantial evidence that held together when the target was narrowed down to the Demonic Cult. To prove their true identity, a more detailed investigation was needed. The Alliance’s investigators were all concentrated there.
“We should be able to handle it in the near future, so please do not worry too much.”
“Hoho, I cannot trust that. To think the Grand Strategist, who should stand foremost in Purging Demons and Destroying Evil, is so distracted by other matters.”
“…….”
Just as Jegal So-myeong was thinking that Myeonghyeon might be trying to take revenge in this fashion over Jin So-un’s matter, and was about to quietly bring out a few of Daoist Master Myeonghyeon’s dirty secrets that he had obtained from Sim Hyeon-gak—
“……However, I suppose the Grand Strategist has his own difficulties.”
“…….”
“So I thought about it for a bit. What do you think about entrusting this matter to the students of Murim Academy?”
“…….”
He had heard that Jin So-un had ultimately failed to appoint the executive staff. He had filled half the positions, but even they were all his own acquaintances.
Everyone who should have lent strength to Jin So-un was ignoring him.
And Jegal So-myeong believed that the influence of Daoist Master Myeonghyeon before him had been involved in that matter.
“Though they are Academy students, in terms of martial skill, they are already at Deputy Captain level, are they not? It will likely be a valuable experience for the Academy students as well.”
It was not rare for Murim Academy students to build experience in the murim as practical training, but Jin So-un had failed to bring the Academy students under control.
‘So this is how he is going to play it in the end.’
If the Academy students moved in their current state, problems would eventually arise due to the disunited command structure, and that problem would hasten Jin So-un’s impeachment.
However, Jegal So-myeong also could not simply reject Daoist Master Myeonghyeon when he had prepared this diligently and secured a justification.
“I do not like the idea of entrusting such a major task to Academy students when they have not even adapted yet.”
“Adapted? Such a thing is…….”
“Ah, of course, I am not saying they cannot do it. If it is that level of task, the Academy students should be able to do it. However, I am saying we should give them a little time. Only once a proper system is established and things are sorted out will those youngsters be able to move, no?”
“…….”
All Jegal So-myeong could do for Jin So-un was buy him time. Without even that, Jin So-un would certainly be impeached for lack of ability after going out to investigate before he had the room to get the Academy students under control.
In the end, Daoist Master Myeonghyeon also withdrew at that point.
“My head truly hurts when I have to deal with bastards who have spent their whole lives scheming petty tricks.”
As he returned to Mantongbu, Jegal So-myeong pressed hard against his temples.
If only someone could handle all those old foxes, sly as serpents, in his place, he would feel completely refreshed.
The one fellow whose mind seemed capable of that was currently in the Academy with his own neck in danger.
“Heeheehee…… You stupid bastard. I will make you cling to my trouser leg and beg. Ehehehe.”
“…….”
For the past few days, Maeng Ju-won had lived as if dead, muttering weakly, “My youth… my rabbit-like wife… my fox-like brats….” But now, his eyes were burning as he worked on something.
“What is that bastard doing?”
A passing department member let out a small sigh and pointed at the regulation book Maeng Ju-won had tucked under his arm.
“The executive staff of the Murim Academy Representative Delegation ended up collapsing, did it not?”
“Yes.”
“In any case, the moment he heard that news, he started making work like that, saying he had another chance to get married.”
Judging by the sight, he seemed to be planning to inflate the documents sent by the Murim Alliance to several times their usual volume.
It was a strategy to create a situation where Jin So-un, who could not immediately receive help from the executive staff or the Academy students, would have no choice but to desperately need Maeng Ju-won’s help.
“Should I stop him?”
“Leave him be.”
“Pardon?”
The department member could not hide his surprise when Jegal So-myeong, who normally would never have forgiven this sort of behavior from Maeng Ju-won, permitted it.
“In any case, Jin So-un is in a situation where he desperately needs someone’s help. No matter how crooked the road, as long as it reaches Jiangnan, it is fine.”
Moreover, if Maeng Ju-won caused Jin So-un to place one foot in Mantongbu, Jegal So-myeong’s own work would likely become far easier.
The Academy students were divided into a total of ten classes according to their grades.
Classes were limited to no more than three morning periods, leaving time open for the Academy Representative Delegation’s later lessons, and the Academy students were each given enough time for personal training.
“What is martial power?”
I was the only one in our group assigned to Class A, and now, it was the first class period of that Class A.
“In the end, martial power is only one kind of strength. No matter how powerful a martial artist is, he cannot withstand the power of the state, and even absolute authority cannot endure ten years when set against financial power. However, the power of money is ultimately indirect, so it has no choice but to tuck its tail before martial force.”
“I have a question.”
The instructor who had been lecturing looked at the Academy student who had raised his hand.
“Are there only those three kinds of power? I believe there are other kinds of power as well.”
“Other kinds?”
“Yes. Among our cohort, there is someone who earned excellent results through outstanding people power, so I ask.”
“People power?”
“Yes. I mean someone who passed the exam because his personal connections spread widely even into the Black Path.”
“……Puhahahaha.”
“Kahahahaha.”
Loud laughter burst out among the Academy students, where silence had been hanging until then. And naturally, their gazes turned toward me.
“…….”
The instructor was no different. He too laughed until his stomach tightened, then finally recovered his expression and spoke.
“Tsk! You must not scorn a comrade-in-arms who will be with you from now on like that.”
“I am not so sure. I think I would feel more uneasy instead. Who knows when he might turn and stab us in the back?”
“Pfft, yes. Then what do you think about what that friend said?”
In the end, the instructor pointed to me.
I rose from my seat and looked at the one who had asked the question.
“I am not sure. If you think I earned good results through people power alone, then I cannot help wondering whether your intellect is far too lacking for you to learn martial arts. This certainly tells me that Murim Academy does not test intelligence.”
“…….”
I had joined their joke with a joke of my own, but those fellows looked as if they had seen a corpse.
Honestly, this was too damn dirty to put up with.
“Then are you saying you possess enough of those other kinds of power as well?”
“I do not know whether it is enough, but the Academy is a place with far too high a threshold to enter through people power alone, is it not?”
“Hmm…… That is true. From what I hear, the other Academy students do not acknowledge you?”
“It seems I am lacking in many ways.”
“I will create a place for you to prove yourself. At the very least, do you not need to show that you are not lacking in martial force?”
“Are you telling me to have a martial duel?”
“Would measuring you by having you expound martial theory work?”
“…….”
The instructor looked at the one who had asked the question.
“When you wagged your tongue so recklessly, surely you were prepared for this much?”
“Of course!”
The instructor looked back at me.
“What do you say? Will you do it?”
“I think that will make it rather difficult to prove myself.”
Sneers appeared on the Academy students’ faces, and snickers broke out here and there.
Regardless of what they did, I stepped forward and said,
“I think I will need at least five people to prove it.”