Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 61

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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 61
The location of the Student Council Building was marked on the map, so I had no trouble finding the structure.
Wow, the student council gets an entire building to itself?
Knock, knock.
I tapped on the door.
Classes had ended, and I’d spent a while lingering in the Geunh Aeng Gak before coming here, so I wasn’t sure if anyone would still be inside—but the door opened almost immediately.
“Who’s there? Oh! Seol!”
Moreover, the senior who opened the door greeted me with genuine enthusiasm.
“You know me?”
“I saw you sparring with Young Hu this morning. Wow, it was so cool!”
“Ah, um. Yeah.”
She seemed quite flustered.
Cool? The match was cool?
I’d wondered if the satisfaction came from crushing a cadet I usually disliked, but she went further—praising my swordsmanship with specifics.
“The insight to pierce through the critical points of force application! The exquisite swordsmanship that cuts off attacks smoothly yet swiftly! You’re completely my ideal type!”
I nodded awkwardly.
She seemed eager to welcome me, spouting flattering remarks.
“But what brings you to the Student Council Building?”
“Ah. I want to enter Gujoong Hwangcheon, and I was told I need the Student Council’s approval.”
As I stated my business, the senior’s bright expression stiffened slightly.
Her pupils quivered.
“Gujoong Hwangcheon? ……Why would you want to go there?”
“I heard it grants a lot of Merit Points?”
“That…… well…… you see…… it’s not really that kind of place……. Actually, if it’s you, maybe it’d be all right…… no, wait. Let me talk to the council head first! Please wait here for a moment!”
Did she seem like she wanted to discourage me?
Since the director of Geunh Aeng Gak, who’d informed me about Gujoong Hwangcheon, had also discouraged it, I simply nodded without concern.
I took the seat she offered and waited without complaint.
She headed up to the second floor, then came back down shortly and asked me to follow her to the council head’s office.
When the senior opened the door, a fairly spacious room appeared.
There was a large desk facing forward, but the space was wide enough to practice martial arts.
A man seated at the desk stood up abruptly, as if he’d been waiting.
“Oh.”
He was quite tall and wore glasses.
That wasn’t why I was surprised—it was a face I’d seen once this morning.
He’d come out to watch my sparring match and was surrounded by several cadets; apparently, he was the Student Council head.
I couldn’t remember the faces of all his hangers-on, but I do remember a handsome man.
“Welcome. Have a seat over here. Is it all right if I call you Seol informally? I’ve been wanting to meet you anyway, so this works out perfectly.”
The Student Council head smiled warmly.
He greeted me with the kind of familiarity one might show a childhood friend of ten years’ standing.
“Of course. I’ll be informal too.”
So I returned his friendliness in kind, but for some reason, the council head looked flustered.
“Well, then…… I’m Je Gal Mun Yu of the Jejaelseoga clan. I’m serving as Student Council head, though I’m hardly worthy of the position.”
“Right. I already figured that much, but I’m Seol So Ryeo of the Buk Hae Ice Palace.”
So the Student Council head was a member of the Jejaelseoga clan?
I’d heard from Yeon Mu Jin that Je Gal Mun Yu had placed in the top ranks during the last Rank Promotion Martial Arts Tournament.
Though the Long Robe that Jejaelseoga members wear is a similar color, I hadn’t realized they were from the same clan because he was dressed in practical martial robes for activity.
But now I could see that, like the scholars, he had half his hair pinned with a Jade Hairpin, wore glasses, and had a fan placed on one corner of his desk.
His expression was gentle, though he seemed to have an intellectual impression beneath it all.
Truly of the Jejaelseoga clan.
Unlike Gwak Do Cheon, who appeared to be a rare beauty carefully sculpted by an artist, Je Gal Mun Yu was an uncommon type of handsome man for Cheonmu Academy, and I took the effort to commit him to memory.
“Of course I do. No cadet in Cheonmu Academy’s history has accumulated merit so quickly as you.”
“That much? I simply worked hard at Near-Walking.”
“…….”
Je Gal Mun Yu’s soft smile deepened as his eyes crinkled.
Oh, he’s handsome. Pity I can’t take a photograph.
“In any case, you seem to have earned considerable Merit Points in the Martial Hall.”
“Ah, it just worked out that way.”
I couldn’t tell whether he was offering praise or criticism for causing a commotion.
But truthfully, I didn’t particularly care.
“May I state my business now?”
“Right, I heard from the secretary. You want to get into Gujoong Hwangcheon?”
The senior on the first floor must have been the secretary.
I nodded.
“Yeah. The Dormitory Supervisor told me I need approval from him or the Student Council, but since the supervisor is Master Muk and I don’t know where he is, I came looking for him.”
“Ha, I understand. Master Muk’s eccentricities are legendary. You showed more than enough martial ability this morning when you defeated Young Hu, so that won’t be difficult.”
I’d expected this to be annoying with all the questions about skill and ability, but he just agreed right away?
I was about to bow in thanks.
“But here’s the thing—there’s something far more important I wanted to discuss.”
So it wasn’t going to be that easy after all.
Right, he’d said just now that he wanted to meet me.
Did he have questions about the Buk Hae Ice Palace?
When I blinked, inviting him to speak, Je Gal Mun Yu broke into a grin.
“How about joining the Student Council?”
Surprisingly, it was a scouting offer.
He was asking me to join the student government?
Did he think I’d be good at work because I diligently practice Near-Walking?
“What’s in it for me?”
“We oversee the Cheonmu Council, the Museong Festival, Samjae Combat, the Rank Promotion Martial Arts Tournament—all kinds of events. We also manage restricted areas. Gujoong Hwangcheon is one of them.”
“Ah, I don’t mean the work itself. I’m asking what benefits come with it.”
Student Council work was just taking on a mess of tedious duties, as far as I could tell.
I wasn’t interested in responsibility without reward.
I wouldn’t have bothered with Near-Walking if it didn’t earn Merit Points.
Convinced that compensation was what mattered, I asked plainly.
Je Gal Mun Yu smiled for a moment, then answered after a pause.
“Ha, so you’re more practical than you look? You get free use of the council building. You’re provided with a private training hall for personal use. You can propose special meals to Jinmi Hall once a month, join Murim Alliance training during breaks, and participate in operations as well.”
He spoke with considerable pride.
The Academy didn’t lack training space, and he wouldn’t boast about suggesting menu items.
The core benefit seemed to be something like a Murim Alliance internship.
Hmm… not really compelling.
“How many Merit Points do I get credited?”
I asked to calculate the net gain and loss for myself.
Confusion flashed across Je Gal Mun Yu’s face.
“Merit Points? You get five hundred a year.”
“Same as the Dormitory Student Leader, then?”
“Each dormitory’s student leader automatically joins the Student Council. The rest of our members—I choose them myself. We normally don’t recruit new cadets, but in your case, I thought both your martial ability and character were suited for the Council, so I’m extending the offer. What do you say?”
So this was selection without a shred of democracy involved.
It seemed he was scouting me because the match with Yeon Mu Jin had made a decent impression.
And he’d spoken well of my character too… I wondered if there was some kind of understanding between me and the Jejaelseoga about using cunning as strategy.
The secretary had called me cool earlier too, and if I joined the Student Council, it felt like I’d get along well with everyone.
But I couldn’t decide to join based on these reasons alone.
“Is the Merit Point payment upfront or deferred?”
“…?”
Je Gal Mun Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Hmm, was that not common terminology in the Jianghu world?
I rephrased it more clearly.
“If I join today, do I get the five hundred points right now, or after a year?”
“…Ah, so that’s what you meant. Merit Points are credited after you complete your service as a Student Council member. Sometimes cadets can’t follow through to the end.”
“What do you mean they can’t follow through?”
“Sometimes before an event, a student has personal matters or needs to train elsewhere and has to leave his post. Of course I understand circumstances, but opportunities to train with the Murim Alliance are rare, so there’s no choice but to dismiss them and bring in another cadet.”
Je Gal Mun Yu emphasized the part about “training with the Murim Alliance.”
But hearing this, my interest dropped by half.
My priority was treating my Severed Meridian.
If Yak Seon asked me to source materials, I’d have to leave my post.
Plus, with deferred payment, the Merit Points wouldn’t be much help anyway.
I was planning to scrape together two thousand points right now and buy a Daecheon Dan to make a deal with Yak Seon—what use would points I got after a year be?
It would just waste time I could spend on other work that paid Merit Points the same day.
Sure, joining the Student Council sounded like a model student activity.
Getting close to Je Gal Mun Yu and the other seniors would’ve been fun too.
“I’m sorry, but I have to decline.”
Je Gal Mun Yu’s eyes went wide.
He hadn’t expected me to refuse.
“Merit Points might seem impressive right now, but with your abilities, you’ll earn strong results at the Rank Promotion Martial Arts Tournament or the Cheonmu Council anyway. More than that, making a good impression with the instructors from the Murim Alliance will be far more valuable in the long run.”
He continued, sounding a bit exasperated.
He explained that I seemed unfamiliar with the martial world of Joong Won, and that being a cadet at Cheonmu Academy was an extremely prestigious position.
He also mentioned that people in the Murim Alliance had a very favorable view of anyone who came from the Student Council.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested in joining the Murim Alliance, so it’s fine.”
Maeng Ryeong Ji’s brother and Nam Goong Min’s brother both graduated from the Academy and joined the Murim Alliance, didn’t they?
I’d wondered whether most cadets aspired to the Murim Alliance, but at present, I had no such intentions.
I hadn’t even planned out my future five or ten years ahead.
If my Severed Meridian were fully healed… well, wouldn’t I return to Buk Hae with some handsome man at my side?
Of course, if a husband as lovely as a fawn proposed joining the Murim Alliance together with those sweet, round eyes, my future plans could change.
But that wasn’t a reason to join the Student Council now.
……
Je Gal Mun Yu looked genuinely shocked.
After a moment, he spoke.
“I see. If you’re truly unwilling, then so be it. While I serve as Student Council President, the offer remains open, so if you change your mind, feel free to visit anytime.”
It was like telling a student desperately building credentials for university entrance that I wasn’t going to university at all.
Yet Je Gal Mun Yu grasped this different way of living right away.
“Thanks! Oh, I can still enter Gujoong Hwangcheon even without joining the Student Council, right?”
“……Yes. If you wish, it could even be tomorrow. However, group expeditions organized by the Student Council and official expeditions with cadets from the Punishment Hall won’t apply, so there could be delays in rescue if something happens. Keep that in mind.”
“Mm-mm. I’m all about safety first. Don’t worry.”
“If you truly valued safety, you wouldn’t enter at all… but well, some firsthand experience wouldn’t be so bad. Before entering, stop by the Student Council Building and write down your entry time and how many people are in your group. Once you gather your members, I’ll explain how to read the map and what precautions to take.”
“Oh, I can’t go alone?”
“According to regulations, at least four cadets must enter together.”
Four people…? This was an unforeseen problem. Who should I bring?
Maeng Ryeong Ji would probably want to go, but I was uncertain about who to fill the remaining two spots with.
Eun Hyun would likely follow if I asked him to come, but putting him in the same party as Maeng Ryeong Ji seemed like it would cause trouble.
“Do the cadets entering together need to have over 500 Merit Points?”
“It’s better if they do. However, I don’t mention the five-hundred-point threshold publicly because foolish children might rush to enter without thinking, but it’s not technically forbidden.”
Je Gal Mun Yu added that it would be fine if a martial instructor or the Student Council President approved.
Wow, what a considerate senior, despite being busy with his own affairs.
Even though his stated goal was to look good to the Murim Alliance, his sense of service must be strong to take on something like the Student Council President position.
I thanked him once more.
Then I headed up to Inbon Hall to start assembling my party.
Surviving as a Young Lady of Buk Hae Ice Palace with Limited Time (Serialized)
Author │ Sachyang Noru
Published by │ Kim Ju Hyung
Publisher │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae Hyuk
Address │ 401, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Sachyang Noru 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder. The contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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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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