The Farmer Who Ended Up Teaching the World’s Greatest Martial Artist - Chapter 15

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

| Chapter 15

“Is this the right place?”

Gu Jung-ho, the 3rd Squad Leader of Cheonhwang Paewundae, muttered while looking up at the high mountain from the foothills of Mount Taishan. Ho Won, the deputy squad leader standing beside him, answered.

“That’s correct. The path going up through the valley between the seventh and eighth peaks of Mount Taishan. Hey. Send about five men to scout ahead.”

At Ho Won’s command, five squad members quickly ran up the mountain path. Watching their retreating figures, Gu Jung-ho stroked the rough beard that had grown on his chin.

Though quite some time had passed since leaving Maegyo, he had been acting covertly all this while and couldn’t maintain his appearance, so he didn’t look particularly presentable.

“Hmm… it took quite a while, didn’t it.”

“It couldn’t be helped. With the Cheonmu Alliance bastards keeping their eyes wide open and watching, we had to leave as few traces as possible.”

“So? Is there no pursuit?”

“I can’t say there isn’t. You know it was impossible to come this far without being detected by the Cheonmu Alliance bastards in the first place.”

“But for that being the case, somehow the Cheonmu Alliance bastards aren’t approaching closely.”

“Well… I don’t know if they’re not coming or if they’re gathering their strength to come.”

While the two were having this conversation, the squad member who had gone scouting returned and reported.

“There are no abnormalities. As you mentioned, with fields spread out from the middle, this appears to be the correct place.”

“What else?”

“There are traces of another unit on the peak opposite to the entrance we came through.”

“Ah, this damn mouth of mine is going to get me killed. So, what kind of bastards are they? Obviously Cheonmu Alliance bastards, right?”

Ho Won said while tapping his mouth, but Gu Jung-ho who saw this just chuckled.

In fact, it wouldn’t be strange at all for Cheonmu Alliance warriors to appear at any time, so he wasn’t particularly surprised.

“We can’t know for certain, but that’s probably the case. And their numbers are estimated to be around 50.”

“As many as 50? What about the others?”

“There are none nearby.”

“This is… worrying.”

While Ho Won was worrying, Gu Jung-ho gestured as if that was enough, and the squad member returned to his formation. Then Gu Jung-ho, watching his retreating figure, muttered.

“The Cheonmu Alliance bastards… So they’re really going to move.”

“This isn’t a simple matter to discuss, is it? As many as 50 people. Won’t this interfere with our mission?”

“Our mission is to destroy the fields here, not to fight the Cheonmu Alliance bastards.”

“That’s true, but… According to what we heard from Mangakjibwondae, wasn’t it supposed to be a minimum of 5 people, maximum of 10? Those bastards couldn’t have just come for an outing.”

Mangakjibwondae was Maegyo’s intelligence organization, spread throughout the martial arts world to collect and supply information.

“They must have gotten it wrong. No matter how much Mangakjibwondae has ten thousand legs to gather information, it would be difficult to know everything happening in the martial arts world.”

“Hmm… Won’t this be dangerous?”

“Of course it’s dangerous. Did you think we came here to play?”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m always prepared to die in battle, but since the situation has changed, shouldn’t we report this separately?”

Ho Won’s words also made sense. Gu Jung-ho chuckled and said.

“Did you forget what kind of directive this is?”

“…I apologize.”

Gu Jung-ho was an experienced member who had been with Cheonhwang Paewundae for 20 years and had been the 3rd Squad Leader for about 5 years. On the other hand, Ho Won had only been with Cheonhwang Paewundae for 3 years and had been deputy squad leader for barely a month.

Of course, his martial arts skills were excellent enough to warrant such rapid promotion, but he was still quite lacking in detailed practical matters.

“This mission is none other than a Class A directive. If it had been a Class B or C directive, I would have reported the situation and waited for orders from above as you said. But this time, that’s not possible. Ho Won, is this your first time handling a Class A directive?”

“Yes… Well, I’ve handled Class B and C before.”

“Since nine out of ten directives are Class B or C, that’s obvious.”

“I’ve heard plenty about the harshness of Class A directives…”

In any case, preparations for departure were completed during this time.

The 3rd Squad of Cheonhwang Paewundae slowly began moving along the inner mountain path.

“The difficulty of Class A directives doesn’t arise simply from the mission content.”

As if answering Ho Won’s earlier question, Gu Jung-ho spoke, and Ho Won replied again.

“Squad Leader, you’ve handled Class A directives before, haven’t you?”

“This is the third time. The first was easy. But in the second, 70% of the squad members died. Thanks to that, I became squad leader though.”

“How… how can there be such extremes?”

Ho Won’s words made sense too. No matter how much the mission difficulty varied, unless Cheonhwang Paewundae was being used as expendable pawns, that shouldn’t happen.

Maegyo wasn’t stupid either. If a mission was difficult, they would naturally deploy more personnel, and in that case, there would be no reason for so many to die.

And even if an unexpected situation arose despite deploying few personnel, they could just retreat.

Even Maegyo wasn’t that inflexible.

How much effort and resources did it take to train masters? If members died, it would only be a loss for Maegyo as well.

But Class A directives were different from such circumstances.

“Class A directives are difficult because the orders are ambiguous. Class B has clear objectives and means, so you just push through, but Class A requires moving according to the responsible person’s interpretation. In some cases, even stopping the mission or abandoning it and returning is permitted.”

“Though such cases are rare in practice.”

“Heh heh. If you did that, you’d be laughed at by the other unit bastards.”

Having said that much, Gu Jung-ho paused briefly, swallowed, then continued speaking.

“In the end, accomplishing the assigned task depends on that person’s will. The main sect also considers scarecrows who only move as ordered to be useless at crucial moments, so it’s natural treatment.”

“But there are also many who disappeared without a trace after acting recklessly like thunder.”

“Of course, to avoid future accountability, you’d need to make appropriate excuses.”

“As far as I know, Class A directives also have clear and specific orders. And they must be resolved. So you can use any means necessary, which makes it no different from Class B directives, doesn’t it?”

Ho Won asked back. Gu Jung-ho stared at Ho Won for a moment, then let out a long, deep sigh.

“Phew… That’s typical talk from someone who only learned from books. Well, it’s not wrong, so I’m not reprimanding you. This is something you only understand by doing it. Right, I said earlier that puppets who only do as ordered are useless at important moments, didn’t I?”

“Yes… Perhaps…?”

Ho Won, who had been nodding, seemed to think of something and slightly raised his head to ask Gu Jung-ho. Then he nodded.

“That’s right. Most of the time it’s not like that, but sometimes puppets are needed too. Don’t think about anything and focus only on carrying out the mission. Kill your emotions and perform the mission. Whether the Cheonmu Alliance bastards are 50, 100, or 1,000, that’s not for us to think about. We are now tools to carry out the Sect Leader’s command, nothing more, nothing less. Understand?”

“…”

When Gu Jung-ho, who had been speaking somewhat lightly until now, spoke heavily and solemnly, Ho Won gulped. Until coming here, he hadn’t thought much of it.

Even though it was a Class A directive, since the directive’s content was to destroy some farm on a mountain, he thought it wouldn’t be difficult.

But hearing Gu Jung-ho’s words, wasn’t a Class A directive a command that directly manifested the will of the Sect Leader, the Thousand-Year-Old Demon Sa Un-sik?

Considering that Sa Un-sik reigned almost like a god in Maegyo, it wasn’t unreasonable for Gu Jung-ho to take it so seriously.

“What on earth is in this place…”

“There’s no need to have such doubts. They didn’t tell us in the first place, and even if we knew, what we have to do wouldn’t change one bit. Just focus on carrying out the mission.”

“…Yes.”

When Ho Won spoke in a somewhat dejected voice, Gu Jung-ho smiled slightly and lightly patted his shoulder.

“Don’t make such a serious expression. The mission hasn’t even started yet. And didn’t I say earlier? Not all Class A orders are difficult. They can be easy too. I just wanted to remind you that regardless of the mission’s difficulty, the weight is that much heavier. If this mission ends safely, it will be a great experience for you too.”

“Yes! Understood!”

At Gu Jung-ho’s comfort, Ho Won deliberately raised his voice loudly in response.

“The farm has appeared!”

Just then, a member who had gone ahead shouted. Gu Jung-ho gestured to call the member in front. The mission was starting now.

“From now on, we destroy all unnatural things we see as we advance.”

As Gu Jung-ho said this and drew his sword, heat haze began rising from his blade. Then Gu Jung-ho, who leaped into the nearby orchard, aimed at the base of a peach tree slightly below and swung his sword.

Swoosh!

Gu Jung-ho’s sword drew a large semicircle, cutting down the trees in its trajectory, and the sword energy emanating from the blade spread out, cutting down trees several rows behind as well.

Though Gu Jung-ho had cut down over 20 trees at once, there were still many trees to deal with.

“Handle this quickly!”

And as Gu Jung-ho swung his sword, he thought.

‘I wanted to finish up before the Cheonmu Alliance warriors arrived if possible… but that’s probably impossible.’

Though he had told Ho Won not to worry about it, Gu Jung-ho couldn’t help but be concerned either. Such things couldn’t be controlled at will anyway, and trying not to worry was itself proof that he was worrying.

The sight of Cheonhwang Paewundae, notorious for their fierce reputation in the martial arts world, cutting down trees and grass as if weeding might look ridiculous, but being a Class A directive, they were extremely serious.

And around that time, naturally, Yoo Eun-hyun, who had noticed the commotion, came running hurriedly.

Originally, this mountain had no human presence and rarely had noisy incidents, but with as many as 50 people indiscriminately destroying the forest, it was impossible not to notice.

“Wh-what are you people doing!?”

The voice of Yoo Eun-hyun who came running couldn’t possibly be pleasant either. When some crazy bastards were suddenly devastating farmland that had been cultivated for decades, how could pleasant words come out?

Looking at their movements, it was certain they were martial artists, but Yoo Eun-hyun was half out of his mind and couldn’t even think about such things.

The fact that he wasn’t swinging the sickle in his hand to attack them could be considered what remained of Yoo Eun-hyun’s rationality.

“Halt for a moment.”

At Yoo Eun-hyun’s appearance, Gu Jung-ho raised his hand to stop his members and approached Yoo Eun-hyun.

“Are you perhaps Young Master Yoo Eun-hyun?”

Gu Jung-ho’s voice as he asked carried no emotion whatsoever. And at this inhuman appearance, Yoo Eun-hyun, who was seeing such people for the first time, flinched but still nodded his head.

“But who are you people? Why did you come to someone else’s field and cause this chaos? This isn’t an ownerless field. If you’re bandits, you could just take the fruit and leave. There’s no reason to destroy the trees and devastate the field like this!”

It wasn’t unreasonable for Yoo Eun-hyun to burst out in anger. Even if all the fruit were stolen, it would only ruin one year’s harvest, but if the farmland itself was devastated like this, it would easily take several years to restore it to its original state.

No, to begin with, the farmland itself on this mountain was something achieved over three generations of the Yoo Family, so it might take decades.

Jung-ho silently watched Yoo Eun-hyun, who was breathing heavily and glaring with fury, then slowly sheathed his sword.

Then he sharply barked orders at his subordinates.

“He’s the target for capture. Don’t let him sustain a single injury.”

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