Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 75

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 75
Gwi-ya-gaek pondered the matter.
Compared to Spiritual Medicine or martial texts, providing food was hardly difficult.
But.
“Differentiating by rank is a regulation established for this training class alone. I understand your concern for the trainees, but I cannot go further than that.”
He could not tear up rules set before the Entry Examination merely to satisfy a trainee’s request.
So he offered a compromise by setting a time limit.
Yeon-woo, who had been blinking, soon broke into a satisfied smile and nodded vigorously.
“Perfect! That’s exactly what I wanted!”
Truth be told, the meal Yeon-woo had spoken of was just one.
If he could eat his fill once, there was nothing happier than that.
But a whole month!
“You really know what’s what, Hall Master!”
Satisfied, Yeon-woo suddenly seized Gwi-ya-gaek’s hand and shook it vigorously back and forth.
Gwi-ya-gaek’s movements froze for a moment at Yeon-woo’s sudden action.
Then he let the strength drain from his arm as it dangled in the boy’s grip, limp as paper.
Chapter 8. Taking a Step Forward
* * *
“Honestly, I was so shocked! I really thought I’d eaten poison! Ha ha!”
Baek Yeol-han appeared in neat clothes, brighter than he had been in days.
He had thought himself dead after swallowing poison, only to awaken and find himself alive and unharmed.
Not merely alive, but to learn it wasn’t even poison—how light his heart must feel.
“At least it wasn’t real poison, that’s a relief! You two…”
Baek Yeol-han’s eyes moved slowly between Sa-ma Hyeon’s and Yeon-woo’s wounds.
He realized then that he alone was unmarked.
Embarrassed by his own cheerfulness, he scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.
“I should have waited a bit longer if I’d known. Sorry for being the only one happy. Are both your injuries alright?”
“How quickly you ask.”
Sa-ma Hyeon fixed him with a cold stare.
“Ha ha, I just came out of the Medical Chamber. I got excited without meaning to. But anyway, why are you injured?”
You were keeping watch, weren’t you?
There shouldn’t have been any need to fight.
“Hmph.”
Sa-ma Hyeon adjusted the Small Crown on his head with a meaningful expression.
Then he said nothing more.
“Why, why? What is it? What happened while I was unconscious? What happened?”
“Hmph.”
“?”
As confusion, bewilderment, and remorse spread across Baek Yeol-han’s face.
“He brought his own hand down on himself, apparently.”
Yeon-woo blurted out the truth.
Sa-ma Hyeon was taken aback.
“Ah, benefactor…!”
If you say it like that…! Well, it’s true, but…!
“…Huh?”
“O-of course, there’s an enormously complex reason behind it…!”
“So that’s what happened?”
Baek Yeol-han burst out laughing.
Sa-ma Hyeon tried quickly to explain the situation, but his words scattered uselessly into the air.
“What, did you trip or something?”
Baek Yeol-han doubled over, shaking with laughter.
Sa-ma Hyeon, whose face had flushed red and purple, finally.
Smack!
“Ow!”
Baek Yeol-han yelped and jumped, clutching his shin.
Sharp pain radiated through his entire body.
“Are you truly an idiot? Is there nothing but stone in that head of yours? How can that not be poison? Then was everything with Instructor Baek just an illusion? Is it all like a dream now that you’ve woken up? This senseless fool!”
Then he huffed indignantly and spun away, walking off.
“W-what? What are you talking about…?!”
Baek Yeol-han turned to Yeon-woo with eyes pleading for an explanation.
Yeon-woo yawned widely and spoke without particular interest.
“Yeah, I heard. Poison.”
Then he followed after Sa-ma Hyeon, who had gone ahead.
“Are you going to eat? I’ll come too.”
“Wait, hold on…!”
Baek Yeol-han stood stupefied, clutching only at his tingling shins as he watched the two of them depart.
“What the…?”
Damn it all.
“So it’s just me again? I’m the only one who doesn’t understand? What gives?!”
* * *
The Master of Maryong Hall kept his word.
Until the trainees took their second examination, they would go to the Kitchen Quarters instead of the Dormitory to receive their meals and eat.
The trainees did not know it, but today’s meals contained an antidote mixed in to counteract the sleep poison.
In granting Yeon-woo’s request, the Master also purged the poison that lingered in the trainees’ bodies.
“Ugh—I thought I’d be stuck eating nothing but rice balls for days. Thank goodness.”
“But why did he suddenly lift it? Didn’t he say the rules required differential treatment based on test order?”
“I guess the Entry Examination wasn’t enough to determine rankings after all. The second test is the real one, they say.”
Oblivious to the existence of the sleep poison, the trainees came and went through Maryong Hall, all equally delighted by the abundance of food.
Hearing their cheerful reactions, Yeon-woo’s lips curved into a pleased smile.
“Benefactor, you seem to be in a good mood.”
At Sa-ma Hyeon’s question, Yeon-woo nodded.
“Yeah. The food was delicious today.”
“It was a satisfying meal for me as well. Where do you intend to go next?”
“Ah, I’m thinking of heading to the Swordsmanship Training Ground today.”
Baek Yeol-han answered first, a beat ahead.
“I think it’ll be good to practice swordsmanship a bit more over the month. I’d also like to get some advice from the Swordsmanship Instructor.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
Sa-ma Hyeon glared at him sharply, then turned back to Yeon-woo.
“There’s no Archery Instructor now, is there? Because of what happened yesterday.”
The Archery Instructor and the Head Chef vanished overnight.
Yeon-woo and his companions had no knowledge of what became of them.
They could only vaguely guess that the two were gone because of yesterday’s incident.
Yeon-woo, who had been pondering, spoke.
“Spear Arts.”
“Spear Arts?”
“Spear Arts today?”
Yeon-woo nodded.
“I think I can learn about closing distance there too.”
Last night, during the confrontation at the Instructor’s Quarters, Yeon-woo had watched.
He had seen Gu-yeong maintain his distance from his opponent using a spear.
Thinking back on it, what Yeon-woo had wanted to learn wasn’t really how to catch a long-range martial artist.
It was how to press in against an opponent who wielded a weapon longer than his own—like Gu-yeong.
And so he had made his decision.
He would learn from Gu-yeong.
Hearing Yeon-woo’s destination, Baek Yeol-han asked worriedly.
“But will it be all right? The Archery Instructor didn’t really seem to like it, honestly.”
Though he had said he would teach Yeon-woo how to close distance, in truth that had been nothing more than sport.
A martial artist of Byeok Sa-an’s caliber could hardly have failed to recognize Yeon-woo’s ability, yet the fact that he had assigned such a trivial exercise suggested otherwise.
It meant he hadn’t been pleased.
A long-range martial artist had been asked to reveal the weaknesses of long-range combat.
“But that man was never even an instructor to begin with, was he?”
“That’s true.”
A man who tried to kill a trainee was no instructor.
“Well, in any case, the Master did tell us to learn from the instructors. And besides, you’re close with Gu-yeong anyway, aren’t you?”
A brief, satisfied smile bloomed across Yeon-woo’s lips as his eyes widened.
“Yeah!”
We’re close!
“Really close friends!”
“Then you should be fine. Ask him to teach you. He’ll probably give better advice than the Archery Instructor would, all things considered. Anyway, I’m off to train!”
Baek Yeol-han left his words of encouragement behind and departed first for the Swordsmanship Training Ground.
“Then we’ll be on our way—”
“So here you were?”
At the voice from behind, Sa-ma Hyeon’s movements froze mid-step.
“…?”
Yeon-woo’s expression crumpled at the sight of the newcomer.
Sa-ryeon.
The instructor from the Martial Training Ground who had never given Yeon-woo the lotus leaf rice.
“Ah, so Trainee Yeon-woo is here too.”
Sa-ryeon, upon noticing Yeon-woo, pulled something from his robes.
It was a rice ball wrapped in lotus leaves.
“Since there’s no need to share it now, I have some left over. Would you like it?”
“Yes!”
Yeon-woo accepted the lotus leaf rice without hesitation.
Instructor Sa-ryeon’s lotus leaf rice was truly delicious.
The seasoning was perfectly balanced, as if made with great care.
‘I should save this for a snack!’
Watching Yeon-woo, Sa-ryeon smiled slightly and then grabbed Sa-ma Hyeon’s shoulder firmly.
Sa-ma Hyeon let out a startled yelp, shrinking back.
“Where were you heading, Trainee Hyeon?”
Sa-ma Hyeon adjusted the small crown on his head with parched lips and answered in a forced voice.
“Spear Arts…”
“Do you truly believe that starting now will change anything in a month’s time?”
“Still, if I could learn even a little martial ability…”
“That would be a waste of time. Why don’t you come with me instead, Trainee Hyeon? I’ve actually been waiting since yesterday.”
Sa-ryeon was an instructor skilled in Formation Technique and Cavalry Arts.
In other words, he was one who relied on intellect rather than brute strength, and he had recognized that Sa-ma Hyeon was of a similar bent.
Thus, he naturally expected the trainee would seek him out, but when Sa-ryeon encountered Sa-ma Hyeon the previous night, he came to understand something.
Sa-ma Hyeon would never come looking for him of his own accord.
Of course, there was no need to actively search out a trainee who didn’t come to you.
Yet that display last night—the way he had mercilessly stamped his own hand against the ground, declaring he would summon the hall master—had piqued Sa-ryeon’s interest.
So he had made his decision.
‘Time to reel him in.’
“I am the only instructor who can truly help you, you see? Come now, shall we go?”
Sa-ma Hyeon shook his head quickly and looked toward Yeon-woo.
‘Please help me!’
Yeon-woo stared at Sa-ma Hyeon for a moment.
Then he slowly raised a hand and waved it calmly.
Goodbye.
At the shape of those words on his lips, Sa-ma Hyeon’s expression crumbled into an agony of betrayal for a brief moment.
Then his gaze shifted to the lotus leaf rice held in Yeon-woo’s hand.
At that instant, Sa-ma Hyeon’s eyes went wide with sudden realization.
‘This… cunning instructor…!’
So that was why he had handed the lotus leaf rice to that strong, benevolent trainee!
It was all for this moment…!
“Take care, Trainee Yeon-woo.”
“Nooooooo—!”
Yeon-woo continued waving politely until Sa-ma Hyeon was out of sight.
Once his figure had disappeared,
“Let’s go.”
He turned around without a second thought.
Yeon-woo headed straight for the Spear Training Ground.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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