Chapter 17: Chapter 17
The boy sighed at Dang So-mun’s depressed demeanour.
‘You’ve always been so soft-hearted! But you know, I’m glad you’re like that.’
Baek Mun-ji felt that it would be best to change the subject for Dang So-mun’s sake.
“Did you know? This cla.s.s we’re attending is the first Horticulture cla.s.s in the Academy.”
“The first? So, this is the Academy’s new course?”
Baek Mun-ji quickly continued upon seeing Dang So-mun’s interested response.
“Yes. And, I’ve heard the new teacher is quite young.”
“I see…”
Baek Mun-ji felt Dang So-mun’ interest waning, and immediately spoke up again.
“Hey wait! As the master of information, I have some more details. The name of the teacher is Kang-hyuk.”
“Kang-hyuk?”
Dang So-mun’s thoughts immediately drifted to the man named Kang-hyuk he had travelled to Nakyang with.
But, he had heard that Kang-hyuk’s intentions were to stay in Nakyang for only a few days.
Whilst he thought that it was most likely a coincidence, he still had hopes.
“It would be great if our Horticulture teacher was really Kang Dae-Hyeop.”
“Kang Dae-Hyeop?”
Dang So-mun began to explain the events of his journey to Nakyang, and the circ.u.mstances under which he had met Kang-hyuk.
Baek Mun-ji nodded.
“Wow, that’s quite amazing! I wish I could have met him too! Anyway.”
Baek Mun-ji continued with his findings on the Horticulture teacher.
“His age is twenty four, and he must have pa.s.sed the teacher’s test with flying colours to now be the Horticulture teacher!”
They had now reached the building in which the Horticulture cla.s.s was taking place.
“Let’s go in!”
Dang So-mun nodded.
Inside, there were around twenty desks for the students evenly arranged around the room, and at the centre, facing the students’ desks was the teacher’s desk which was twice as high in height.
Whilst the pavilions of Benevolence and Righteousness were meant to be used for any cla.s.s that had to take place indoors, in reality, it was almost exclusively used for Liberal Arts subject cla.s.ses.
This was because all Martial Art subject cla.s.ses were held in the training grounds unless there were special circ.u.mstances preventing them from doing so.
The training grounds were used whether it rained, snowed, or even in the case of a typhoon.
Despite there being over 240 students, there was sufficient s.p.a.ce for them within all four buildings due to the usage of the training grounds.
The other students in the cla.s.s came in and chose their desk. They then began to look around the room in astonishment.
“Hey, look! The desks and chairs are made of steel!”
“Even the floor is steel!”
“Oh my! The walls and doors are made of steel as well.”
“It’s so that even If you guys make a mistake, the building won’t burn down.”
“…!”
The unexpected sound of a young man’s voice caused the students to turn their heads.
A young, handsome man who was wearing a teacher’s uniform walked in.
“Uniform?”
“It can’t be?”
The man nodded hearing the students’ queries.
“Yes, I am your Horticulture teacher. My name is Kang-hyuk.”
Kang-hyuk looked around at the students. His first cla.s.s was composed of eight first-year students.
Tapping his desk, he spoke to the cla.s.s.
“You can all sit down now.”
Dang So-mun was completely taken aback. His wish that his Horticulture teacher would be the ‘Kang Dae-Hyeop’ that he knew had actually come true.
“Kang Dae-Hyeop?”
Kang-hyuk turned his head to look at Dang So-mun, and laughed.
“It’s Dang So-mun from the Sacheon’s Dang Family. It’s good to meet you again. But from now on, it’s not Kang Dae-Hyeop, its Kang Seonsaengnim.”
“Oh. Yes, of course! Seonsaengnim!”
Baek Mun-ji grinned at Dang So-mun’s flushed face.
“We will now begin the cla.s.s. If any questions arise, please feel free to ask me. Also, if you have any urgent need to go somewhere whilst the cla.s.s is going on, you may do so, but come back within a good time. I will call the attendance register at the end of the cla.s.s.
He then sat down in front of his desk. Due to the height of the desk, the students were able to see him in close detail.
“As you know, the subject I am teaching is Horticulture. It’s common to think of Horticulture as simply growing plants for their appearance, but it also encompa.s.ses growing fruit trees and vegetables, not just flowers.
A student put up their hand. It was a pretty girl who looked as though she would become a flower of Moorim when she grew up.
‘She seems to have strong self-esteem.’
Her action had drawn the full attention of the whole cla.s.s.
“I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Are you really only going to be teaching us such ordinary things?”
Her question caused the whole cla.s.s to erupt in laughter.
“I guess so. My martial cultivation is weak.”
“Hahaha! I guess it can’t be helped then.”
Dang So-mun tilted his head to the side in confusion at Kang-hyuk’s explanation.
‘Weak martial cultivation?’
Dang So-mun was fully aware that Kang-hyuk didn’t have a weak cultivation. He had seen him wielding a sword with his own two eyes when he had protected him from the Am-gi weapon and when he was fighting off the bandits.
His movements were definitely not one of someone with a third rate level of cultivation.
Whilst he had only wielded his sword, and hadn’t used any extra-sensory cultivation abilities in front of him, Dang So-mun had seen those with various levels of cultivation, and to him, it felt as though Kang-hyuk definitely had a peak level of cultivation.
‘He has a minimum of a peak level of cultivation!”
Dang So-mun decided upon observing Kang-hyuk further and just letting it be for now.
Kang-hyuk, on the other hand clicked his tongue.
‘Tut tut, these kids…’
He knew that the girl hadn’t asked because she was actually curious, but with the intention of ridiculing him.
‘She seems to have learned the twisted ways of the adults already!’
However, her question was still a question, so he had to answer properly.
“It’s a good question! This is Hwacheon Clan’s Academy, which means that the Horticulture we will be learning will definitely not be ordinary.”
Even the test he had to take for him to be a teacher wasn’t ordinary in any way, but this was due to Mu-jin’s changing of the test. However, the students had no idea of this and simply saw him as an ordinary teacher who had most likely undergone an ordinary test.
Kang-hyuk continued to speak.
“We will begin with learning the foundations of gardening, and then move on to learning how to cultivate sacred herbs which will become medicines.”
“Wow, how do you cultivate sacred herbs?”
“You’re just making things up!”
“Hahaha!”
Kang-hyuk smashed his palm onto the desk at their taunts.
“Quiet!”
The students ignored Kang-hyuk and kept doing things as their wills wished.
Two of the eight students were already sleeping on their desks.
Kang-hyuk sighed.
‘Is this the grief of Liberal Arts teachers that Ju Seonsaeng spoke of?’
Most students thought of their Liberal Arts subject cla.s.ses as cla.s.ses they didn’t need to pay much attention in, therefore they primarily used them as a chance to sleep.
The students didn’t even receive any punishments for their behaviour as the motto that was widely spread within the Academy was, ‘It’s enough to learn the basics of Liberal arts subjects’.
Therefore, the unfortunate Liberal art subject teachers could only keep their grievances within themselves.
But Kang-hyuk was no ordinary Liberal arts teacher. He was a man that was the Clan Leader for fifty years and his fiery temper had earned him the nickname of ‘The Dragon’.
In addition, he was ninety eight years old and viewed the students’ arrogance as no more than a joke.
‘This is why I prepared the honey fried Baby Ginseng. Although they are in their youth, in Moorim, all people, whether they be adults or children, love to be rewarded.’
He opened up the bundle he had brought with him and took out a black box from within it.
The students’ attention perked up in curiosity at wondered what was inside the box.
Inside of the box was a small fragment of candied Baby Ginseng wrapped in oil paper that had been carefully prepared by Baek-gap.
It could be eaten without any side-effects as medicine, and the small fragment would increase one’s cultivation by a month.
“The student who asked me the question, what’s your name?”
At Kang-hyuk’s sudden question, the student looked surprised and quickly answered.
“It’s Yun Mi-ha!”
“You came up with a good question. You can receive a reward.”
“Sorry?”
“Despite your intentions behind it, it was still a good question. What are you doing? Quickly come up to receive your reward.”
Yun Mi-ha stood up nervously, and walked up to Kang-hyuk’s desk to receive the candied Baby ginseng piece.
“It’s candied Baby Ginseng.”
The student’s eyes became wide upon hearing the name. Whilst they were young, they were still children of Moorim that had been raised on its foodstuffs for fifteen years.
More than half of them had been fed a piece of its root at some point in their upbringing, and so, they were well aware of the properties of Baby Ginseng.
Yun Mi-ha was in disbelief.
“This is candied Baby Ginseng? Please say something that makes sense! Even if the roots resemble radish, Baby Ginseng isn’t something you can just plant and harvest from the land so easily!”
“But I did plant and harvest it from the land.”
“…..What do you mean?”
Yun Mi-ha had a dumb-founded expression on her face. On the other hand, Kang-hyuk was feeling confident.
‘Well it was due to my punishing of that lad that the land became forbidden, and I also went there frequently enough to infuse my energy into the place, so it’s not completely wrong of me to say I cultivated them is it?’
“A plant like the Baby Ginseng is relatively easy to cultivate. Why aren’t you eating it? It’s a reward for asking such a good question.”
“If this is really Baby Ginseng, then it’s too precious to be given as a reward for asking a simple question.”
Kang-hyuk laughed out loud at her response.
“Even if you think it’s too precious, it’s all I have with me. How can you refuse to accept it?”
His remark hurt Yun Mi-ha’s pride, and so she raised her eyes, and put the piece into her mouth.
Kang-hyuk laughed out loud again at the sight of her eating it.
“Oh my!”
An exclamation spilled out of her mouth as it was more delicious than she had antic.i.p.ated.
“I see you’re enjoying it. It’s not good manners to refuse something you have been offered as a reward. You can refuse something once out of courtesy, but not the second time or else you might die of hunger! The people of Moorim are still human after all!”
“….”
“You may return to your seat now.”
All of the students gazes were concentrated upon Yun Mi-ha.
Whilst she had eaten the candied root out of rage, she didn’t believe it was really Baby Ginseng.
At best, she thought it could be a bellflower root.
‘A real Baby Ginseng root isn’t cheap! What rubbish… oh?’
She blinked in surprise.
It was because she could feel a definite change in her body.
She could feel a sensation in her lower abdomen. It was expanding to encompa.s.s the extra flow of Qi that the Baby Ginseng root had brought on.
‘It was the real thing? Won’t I need to do a Qi-moving practice then?’
After ingesting any medicinal elixir, it was essential to do a Qi moving practice.
If the recipient was too young to move the Qi, an adult could transfer a ball of Qi to them to stimulate the movement. This was also necessary if one wanted to fully reap the medicinal benefits of the Baby Ginseng.
However, even if there was no Qi-moving practice done, Kang-hyuk’s candied root still had its full medicinal benefits.
Yun Mi-ha had an absent-minded expression on her face for some time, whilst Kang-hyuk simply smiled in satisfaction.
‘I must be the only teacher who thought of infusing a Qi circulating ball of energy within the candied root itself.’
Yun Mi-ha then spontaneously spoke.
‘It really is…. Baby Ginseng root.”
The students had a changed look in their eyes. It was a look of desire. Kang-hyuk was well aware of what it was they desired.
“The candied Baby Ginseng root will only be given to students that ask excellent questions or students that display a good att.i.tude in cla.s.s.”
In that instant, the students’ body language also changed.
They straightened their postures up, and those who had been sleeping on their desk got up, and began to look at Kang-hyuk.
‘Now they’ll want to concentrate in cla.s.s.’
Kang-hyuk continued speaking.
“I intend to teach you all the method of cultivating Baby Ginseng as well. If you aren’t fools, I’m sure you know what I mean by that right?”
“….”
“However, I have no intention of teaching this to those that don’t even know the basics of gardening. We will start with the basics!”
The students then began to fully concentrate on his teaching, and with that, Kang-hyuk’s first lesson had finished successfully.