Star Instructor, Master Baek

The man with the umbrella peered down at Hyonwon Kang, who was soaked to the bone, and asked, “Hyonwon Kang, what are you doing right now?’”

His face remained as expressionless as a brick wall, despite the downpour. He was a man of precision, impeccable grooming, and unyielding demeanor, as was natural for the one and only Star Instructor at the Azure Dragon Academy.

“Namgoong Su…”

“‘That’s Mr. Namgoong for you.’”

“……”

Namgoong Su furrowed his brow as he scrutinized Hyonwon Kang’s battered condition. “Looks like you’ve seen better days… A brawl, perhaps? But not many students can rough you up like this. Did you have multiple opponents?”

“Quit pestering me and scram,” Hyonwon Kang retorted bluntly. He remembered a time when Namgoong Su had shown genuine interest in him during his early days at the academy, but those days were long over now.

“You’re talented, so why aren’t you training harder?”

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“Because I don’t feel like it.”

“Why?”

“Hey teacher, what do you say when someone asks you why you don’t feel like doing something?”

“……”

Hyonwon Kang’s journey at the academy had gotten off to a rocky start when he resisted Namgoong Su’s initial attempts to motivate him, which eventually led to him being labeled as an unruly problem child. When that happened, Namgoong Su, being the rational man that he was, had moved on and concentrated on other students, leaving Hyonwon Kang to fend for himself.

“Just pretend you didn’t see me. You’re too busy to waste your time on someone like me.”

Namgoong Su narrowed his eyes, annoyed. “Hyonwon Kang, seventeen years old, third year student.”

“……”

“Don’t you think that seventeen is an age where a martial artist should take responsibility for his words and actions?”

“……”

“Why did you enroll in the Azure Dragon Academy? Did your parents force you? Are you just after a graduation certificate? Or did you just follow the crowd?”

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“……” Hyonwon Kang glared at Namgoong Su, clenching his teeth.

Undeterred, Namgoong Su continued his tirade, “For three years now, you’ve let down not only me, but all the instructors. Even though you’re talented, you’re lazy, and you keep getting involved in violent incidents. And yet, we’ve always looked the other way. Why do you think that is? It’s because we believed that you would grow up and come to your senses.”

“……”

“But even our patience has its limits.” Namgoong Su, shielding Hyonwon Kang from the rain with his umbrella, coldly said the words he knew would hurt Hyonwon Kang the most, “Please drop out.”

“……”

“I will no longer allow you to dishonor the Azure Dragon Academy. If you’re going to act like this in the future, I suggest you drop out before you get expelled.”

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“Who are you to tell me to drop out…!”

“Hyonwon Kang.”

For a moment, Hyonwon Kang felt a suffocating killing intent tighten around his throat.

Namgoong Su stared down at the disheveled Hyonwon Kang with a contemptuous glint in his eyes. “Do you think the world’s a cakewalk? If you want to achieve something, you’ve got to fight tooth and nail. You can’t achieve anything if you laze around and then whine when you lose.”

He extended his hand. “I’ll give you one last chance to turn your life around. Take my hand and join my class starting tomorrow.”

Had anyone else witnessed this, they’d have been astounded. Namgoong Su rarely extended such opportunities to individual students, no matter how talented they were.

That look in his eyes is exactly the same as the Peng Clan Head back then. He can’t be trusted. Hyonwon Kang gritted his teeth, stared defiantly at him, and said, “I don’t need it, you hypocrite.”

“As expected,” Namgoong Su said in a mocking tone. “Then, right now, I’ve decided that you won’t graduate.”

As the Azure Dragon Academy’s sole Star Instructor, Namgoong Su held influence second only to Principal Noh Gun-Sang. When he set his mind on something, very few at the academy could oppose him.

“Enjoy your remaining time before expulsion.”

“…Whatever.”

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“As a parting gift, I’ll leave my umbrella here.” Namgoong Su placed the umbrella beside Hyonwon Kang.

He then pulled out a second umbrella and opened it. “I always carry a spare,” he explained.

“…I didn’t say anything.”

Namgoong Su strode away into the rain.

As he left, Hyonwon Kang swore under his breath, “Son of a bitch…”

The contempt in Namgoong Su’s eyes infuriated him, but at the same time, regret gnawed away at him. Should I have taken that offer? Should I have accepted that last chance and given it my all?

…No, it’s pointless.

Although Namgoong Su excelled in many types of martial arts, earning him the title of Star Instructor, but in the end, his specialty was swordsmanship. On the other hand, the Hyonwon Clan’s martial arts revolved around the dao.

The biggest problem lies in our defective martial arts.

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“With our current martial arts… No matter how hard we try, we can only reach the peak level.”

When his father had first told him the truth about their martial arts, the young Hyonwon Kang had been left frustrated. His father, the Clan Head of Hyonwon Clan, was only comparable in strength to a Hall Leader in the Peng Clan.

“If only the Heaven Splitting Blade, or even the Earth Shattering Blade, could be completely restored…”

“…Damn it! I need to stop making excuses.”

I’m the one who has never tried pushing past the limits before. If I had… maybe I could have shattered them.

SHWAAA…

The rain showed no sign of relenting. Namgoong Su’s umbrella shielded Hyonwon Kang’s face, but his body was soaked through and his mind was a mess.

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“Do I seem like that kind of person to you?”

“I’m so sorry, I can’t do anything for you…”

“…Did you use a lethal technique on my son?”

“You’re talented, so why aren’t you training harder?”

Peng Sa-Hyuk, his father, the Peng Clan Head, and Namgoong Su’s words echoed relentlessly in his mind.

Please, stop!

Hyonwon Kang closed his eyes. An inexplicable fatigue washed over him, his wounds from Peng Sa-Hyuk’s beating ached, and the cold rainwater made his body stiff.

“Hah…” He exhaled, and a frosty plume escaped his lips. His strength was slowly draining away.

I might freeze to death… An apt end for a wretch.

“Oi, punk, why are you sprawled out like that? Is it comfortable?”

Am I hearing things at my deathbed?

“Wake up, dumbass. What the fuck are you doing in the middle of the training grounds?”

Shit, this is the last voice I wanted to hear in my final moments.

“Are you seriously sleeping in a place like this?”

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Namgoong Su is overbearing, but at least he’s prim and proper, like a teacher should be. This guy? He’s more vulgar than a thug!

“I know you can hear me, and don’t think I’ll just leave if you keep ignoring me. Nuh uh, not a chance~”

“Fuck…” Hyonwon Kang opened his eyes to glare at the irritating bastard who couldn’t even let him rest in peace.

SWOOSH!

Namgoong Su’s umbrella went flying, drenching him.

“Ahh, damn it!” Hyonwon Kang sat bolt upright and bellowed, “BAEK SU-RYONG!!!”

“That’s Mr. Baek for you,” Baek Su-Ryong sneered, squatting down in front of Hyonwon Kang.

“Ugh…” Hyonwon Kang shivered. Even though he was wrapped in a warm blanket, lying in the winter rain for hours had taken its toll.

“Drink this. It’ll warm you up.” I handed Hyonwon Kang a cup of hot tea.

Trembling, he took the cup and sipped some tea. Then, in a hoarse voice, he mumbled, “I was never a genius.”

I stared at him incredulously. Oh no, did Peng Sa-Hyuk damage his brain?

“…Why the sudden confession?” I asked. The whole school already knows what happened, but I guess I should act stupid just this once for his sake…

Hyonwon Kang bit his lip and began recounting the events that led him to this sorry state. “…So, I ended up in a brawl with Peng Sa-Hyuk and couldn’t do anything against him…”

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“Tsk tsk, so what if you’re a genius? You think you can just coast through life without putting in any effort? And don’t underestimate that Peng Clan Young Master, he’s no pushover.” I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

“……”

Woah, his eyes look dead. It seems that he hasn’t fully recovered from the shock of his humiliating defeat. I sighed and continued, “It’d be great if you could gain inner qi just by eating and become a master bladesman by randomly flailing your limbs, but even geniuses need to work hard to reach their goals. The only difference is the speed of improvement.”

“There’s no future for me here…” Hyonwon Kang began.

He looks like he just made up his mind about something, but in my experience, he’s about to make a grave mistake…

“… So I’m dropping out of the Azure Dragon Academy.”

THWACK!

I promptly smacked him on the head.

“Oww! Why did you hit me?” Hyonwon Kang whined.

Annoyed, I raised my hand, and he flinched. If I keep going, he might break…

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I lowered my arm and said nicely, “Because you needed a wake-up call. Your father bent over backwards for the Peng Clan to feed and clothe you and send you to the Azure Dragon Academy, but now you want to drop out?”

“It’s not like that!” Hyonwon Kang protested. “I won’t be a burden, and I won’t live like trash. I’m going to become a freelancer.”

Freelancer? What kind of newfangled bullshit is this? I had plenty more to say, but Hyonwon Kang appeared quite determined, so I decided to hear him out first.

“I thought about a lot of things as I lay there in the rain. Where I went wrong, why I’ve been wasting my life away… Fuck, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, but it all comes back to martial arts.”

“What about martial arts?”

Hyonwon Kang smiled bitterly. “How much do you know about the Hyonwon Clan’s martial arts?”

“I know they’re famous for Blade Arts, especially the Earth Shattering Blade and the Heaven Splitting Blade.”

…It’s probably better to keep the other blade art to myself for now.

Hyonwon Kang nodded somberly. “That’s right, but because of the… Crazy Demon’s massacre, all that’s left in my family is a defective Earth Shattering Blade.”

“What does that have to do with becoming a freelancer? Wait, are you thinking of…”

Hyonwon Kang nodded again, his eyes glittering with tenacity. “You guessed right. Through real combat, I’ll develop my own martial art based on the Earth Shattering Blade and revive the Hyonwon Clan.”

Holy shit… I thought, barely managing to maintain a poker face.

“Namgoong Su has already told me that he won’t let me graduate. All right then, I’m not going to waste any more time. I’ll become a freelancer, travel around the world and gain practical experience…”

WHAM!

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I smacked Hyonwon Kang again, this time with purpose.

“Damn it, why’d you hit me again?” Hyonwon Kang rolled on the floor, tears welling up.

“You asked for it,” I sighed. It’s good that he’s finally seeing the light, but deciding to be a freelancer really…

“…I don’t regret it. I did it to perfect my martial arts.”

…Sounds like something Master Crazy Demon would do.

Back then, in order to perfect his martial arts, Master Crazy Demon had embarked on the Hundred Duels Trial, a self-inflicted ordeal which involved dueling masters to the death a hundred times over. It did not end well for him.

I sighed. “Stop thinking about this and go back to school.”

“I told you, there’s nothing more I can learn there. If I want to perfect my martial arts…”

“Hold it right there and finish listening to me before you continue. First of all, your idea of perfecting martial arts by risking your life is outdated. What you need is a good training environment and a skilled instructor.”

Of course, for a master martial artist, there was nothing better than life-and-death combat, but Hyonwon Kang was far from that level.

“Second, you don’t need to create your own martial arts. You already have plenty to learn.”

“…What the hell are you talking about?” Hyonwon Kang made a skeptical face.

A wave of nostalgia suddenly swept over me, as if I were transported back decades into the past. For a moment, Hyonwon Kang and Master Crazy Demon’s faces overlapped.

“I’m going to teach you a new blade art, one that belonged to a deceased master. It’s the only one of its kind in the world, and I promise you, it’s on par with the Earth Shattering Blade, if not the Heaven Splitting Blade of the Hyonwon Clan.”

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Hyonwon Kang’s eyes widened. In the murim, teaching a martial art without the permission of the original faction or martial artist was considered a serious offense, so much so that even the Five Great Academies, including the Azure Dragon Academy, focused on teaching students when and how to use a martial art they already learned rather than teaching them brand new martial arts.

“Y-You’re going to teach me a master’s martial art?” Hyonwon Kang stuttered.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Because I believe that this is what the creator of this technique would want.

Well, I couldn’t exactly tell him that, so I came up with another reason. “Because I need to win the Heavenly Martial Festival.”

“AHAHAHAHAHA!” Hyonwon Kang burst into uncontrollable laughter.

When he finally sobered up, he said, “ Still, it is never easy to learn a new martial art, let alone master it well enough in a year to put it into practice…”

“Is that your excuse for not learning?”

“…As long as I can get stronger, I’m willing to try, no matter how difficult it is.”

Good. It seems that his encounter with Peng Sa-Hyuk has jolted him back to reality. I smirked and said, “Adapting won’t be as hard as you think.”

Because the martial art I’m going to teach you has its roots in the Hyonwon Clan.

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I remembered a conversation I had with Master Crazy Demon long ago.

“By the way, Master Crazy Demon, what’s the name of your martial art?”

“…The Asura Blood Heaven Blade.”

The Asura Blood Heaven Blade (修羅血天刀) – a martial art perfected by the Crazy Demon Hyonwon Hu through his Hundred Duels Trial.

This was the technique that I decided to pass down to his descendant, Hyonwon Kang.

Hyonwon Kang, I’ll make you the world’s greatest blademaster.