Chapter 20: Chapter 20
“Oh my!”
Oh-Tae drew his sword at Kang-hyuk’s cross-question.
He pointed his sword at Kang-hyuk.
“As I had suspected, you won’t be suitable for this school. I won’t say anything else! You must immediately resign as a teacher!”
“I don’t want to.”
“What did you just say?”
“I said, I don’t want to. I don’t know why you keep on asking me to repeat myself. Is there something stuck in your ears?”
“….”
Oh-Tae questioned what Kang-hyuk was relying on which made him speak so fearlessly.
“Since you and I are colleagues, I have shown you some mercy. Then again, if you’re asking for punishment, I’ll have no other choice. If you don’t want to resign, we’ll have to forcefully expel you!”
There was a difference between resigning and being expelled.
In Hwacheon Academy, if a teacher resigned, they would still have some honour remaining.
On the other hand, if they were forcefully expelled, their honour would be non-existent, and their very existence would become shameful to their family and martial sect.
Therefore, a teacher’s only remaining option was to resign.
The situation would be a little better for the Liberal Arts teachers than the Martial teachers but one would still be disgraced.
Oh-Tae glared at Kang-hyuk.
If Kang-hyuk chose to resign, he wouldn’t have to take any action, but Oh-Tae still felt a little annoyed at the thought of having to back down.
Suddenly, something began to twist around Oh-Tae’s sword.
“Wh-what on earth is that!”
“Aaaahh!”
The teachers cried out in surprise. The ident.i.ty of the twisting substance was soon clear to everyone — it was the Morning glory vine from the garden.
The teachers continued on screaming as the vine continued to expand in size, with a tough exterior.
The Morning glory vine then proceeded to wrap all the way around Oh-Tae, essentially tying him up.
Oh-Tae attempted to break out of the vine using the Qi in his hands, but it didn’t even budge a smidgen.
Kang-hyuk was nonchalant at the spectacle, and then spoke calmly, “Ah, sorry about that. My house’s morning glory vine really dislikes people attempting to attack me. It’s usually quite calm, but if anyone threatens me, it gets a little annoyed and will take action.”
Baek-gap sighed at the nonsensical situation in front of him.
‘Whatever, I guess I’ll just concentrate on stirring the Baby Ginseng roots.”
The other martial teachers cried out in anger, “Immediately release Oh Seonsaeng!”
“If you keep acting like this, you all won’t be safe either.”
“This is termed as attacking your fellow colleagues, and there are many witnesses. We will have a disciplinary meeting on this…”
“Before you have a disciplinary meeting about me, don’t you think you should consider what you’re saying? Barging into my residence late at night and threatening me with weapons on top of that?”
“….”
Kang-hyuk faced the morning glory vine.
“You can let them go now. Be good, I’ll give you some delicious compost later.”
The vine slowly unfurled.
Oh-Tae, who had finally become free from the vine, gritted his teeth, and sheathed his sword once more.
Kang-hyuk addressed him.
“I would advise you not to think about breaking into my residence again, because that vine might rip your heart out before I even have a chance to stop it.”
“Hmph!”
“You can leave now.”
The martial arts teachers had no choice but to swiftly depart.
“Tsk tsk!”
Kang hyuk clicked his tongue and took a handful of compost from the storage room to the Morning glory plant.
“Those teachers are so foolish, don’t you think?”
The vine nodded, and shrank to its original size.
Baek-gap yelled out from behind.
“Seonsaengnim, the roots are all candied and ready.”
“Okay, let them set for some time, then wrap them in oil paper.”
“Yes. But….”
Baek-gap spoke whilst scratching his head.
“Aren’t you worried?”
“About what?”
“About being forcibly removed.”
Kang-hyuk laughed.
“Hahaha! There’s nothing for me to worry about! It won’t work out how they want anyway.”
“What do you mean?
“The truth is, I always give people one chance. And they have just exhausted their first chance.”
“Huh? You give people a chance but they exhausted it already? How does that make sense?”
Kang-hyuk grinned.
“I decided to be a little more generous, seeing as this is a school, hence I gave them two chances. But in the case they exhaust my second chance…”
Baek-gap involuntarily became numb at the sight of Kang-hyuk’s laughter.
‘I, I almost peed my pants!’
Whilst he couldn’t understand why a refined warrior like himself felt this way, he recalled that he still had something important to convey to Kang-hyuk.
“By the way, have you considered hiring a maid or two?”
“A maid?”
“Yes. I thought if you had a maid, the meals would be a lot tastier than anything I could whip up.”
Kang-hyuk nodded.
“I’ll think about it.”
Baek-gap was elated at the potential prospect of having a maid since he also had an ulterior motive.
‘If we have a maid, I won’t have to candy any more Baby Ginseng roots! Hahaha!’
Kang-hyuk stared at the students standing in front of him.
Whilst they were second year students and more mature than their first-year counterparts, in Kang-hyuk’s eyes, they were still babies.
“Today’s cla.s.s is a practical lesson. We will be learning how to cultivate flowers.”
“When will you be teaching us the cultivation of sacred herbs?”
Kang-hyuk called out the name of the student who had asked the question.
“It’s Dang Cheol-mun!”
Kang-hyuk was aware that Dang Cheol-mun was Dang So-mun’s older brother. They did however, have different mothers.
Kang-hyuk could see the burning desire in his eyes.
Kang-hyuk’s experience had found that those with such a gaze usually caused huge accidents.
“You’re in too much of a rush.”
“I’m afraid that if we don’t learn how to cultivate in time, it won’t be the right season for growing sacred herbs.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”
“You always have to begin with the basics. Now, let’s get back to the lesson.”
Kang-hyuk paired the students, and distributed pouches filled with flower seeds amongst them.
“The task is to sow the flower seeds in the pouches I have given you. I hope you remember the method I taught you last lesson.”
The students immediately began their a.s.signed task.
They were a little clumsy as the work was still unfamiliar, but the students whole-heartedly cultivated the land, and sowed the flower seeds.
“You will need to come and check on the flower seeds you have sowed daily.”
“What? Daily? I don’t have enough time to do that.”
“You really don’t have enough time?”
The student couldn’t find an excuse.
“I guess I have some time in the morning before I do my Qigong practice. And after my daily schedule, I have some time before the night roll call.”
“But even so…”
“It’s good to be sincere in all of your works, and this is especially important for gardening. I am also including sincerity in your overall grade a.s.sessment. Whoever has the highest grade a.s.sessment before winter vacation will receive five candied Baby Ginseng roots.”
A fire had been lit in the students’ hearts at the thought of five Baby Ginseng roots.
One root would increase one’s cultivation by a year. Therefore, none of the students were able to resist the thought of being able to obtain five roots!
The location was deep within the forests of Sacheon.
A shadowed figure was darting through the forest. Its movements were so fast that a person would be unable to clearly see its presence.
The shadow had arrived at a certain location.
The person was wearing clothes made of black leather, and wore a wide-brimmed bamboo hat, making it impossible to ascertain their gender.
They were standing in front of the large courtyard of a small cottage. The cottage was Kang-hyuk’s previous mountain residence.
The person attempted to reach their hands out in front of them.
But alas, an energy field instantly blocked them, and they were unable to reach any further. It was something they had expected. The shadow sighed deeply.
“He must not be here.”
Even though they knew the house was empty, they didn’t turn back, and continued walking forward.
All of a sudden, huge flames jumped up.
The shadowed figure had barely gotten in with the side-effect of their leather clothes and bamboo hat having being turned to ash.
“Oh dear.”
It was only then that the shadow’s ident.i.ty as a woman was revealed.
Her hair was a fiery red colour and its shine could be seen from a distance.
She grumbled as she entered the cottage, and began to look around.
“But where on earth has he gone….”
Her answer was found in a letter lying on the bed. The message was succinct- ‘I’ve gone to the Hwacheon Clan.’
‘Hmmm…there’s a layer of dust on the letter.’
She looked around once more.
‘Judging by the layer of dust, he must have been gone for around a month by now. Why hasn’t he returned yet? What could have happened?’
There were many questions, but no concern. She knew that nothing in the world could be dangerous to Kang-hyuk.
A curiosity arose within her.
‘Should I go?’
The situation was too intriguing for her not to personally go and find out the details.
Four days had pa.s.sed, and the young woman had arrived in Nakyang. She immediately headed to the Hwacheon Clan Headquarters.
“What business are you here for?”
The gatekeeper enquired.
She reached into her sleeves, and took out an ident.i.ty tag as she knew it was unlikely he would recognize her.
The ident.i.ty tag read: Hwacheon Clan Elder, Byeok Ae-rin.
The gatekeeper looked at her, and then back again at the name-tag a few times until he made a conclusion.
“This b.i.t.c.h! Are you asking to die? I don’t know how you obtained that tag, but how dare you impersonate an elder of the Clan!”
“….”
Byeok Ae-rin blinked, astonished at the gatekeeper’s fury.
‘Impersonate?’
The gatekeeper, unaware of her disconcertment continued in his rage.
“The Elder, Byeok Ae-rin is over eighty! If you were going to attempt an impersonation, you should have at least found out some background details! How could a person clearly in their youth even dare to….
“Ahh….”
She had finally realized what the problem was.
“It’s been a while since I last used the Red Youth Technique….”
She immediately moved her Qi to disable the effects of the technique.
“Do you recognize me now?”
The gatekeeper’s mouth hung open. The young woman standing in front of him had instantaneously transformed into an eighty year old woman.
Her face clearly matched the face of Byeok Ae-rin in the guidance book which had been distributed to all of the gatekeepers.
The gatekeeper slumped down onto the ground and began to tremble.
Tears were welling up in his eyes, snot began to drip from his nose, and he was even drooling from the mouth.
There had also been a line of advice written next to Byeok Ae-rin’s profile in the guidance book- ‘Never annoy unless you wish to shed tears of blood.’
“Aaaaghhh!”
In that moment, a high-pitched cry rang out, and a man came running towards them, panting for his breath.
“El-elder, it’s you!”
She looked at the man and observed he was wearing an armband which signified he was a gatekeeper. “I apologize. I left my position as the paper in my diary had ran out, so I had gone inside to replenish it.”
“It’s fine.”
“Has my junior colleague done a mishap by any chance?”
He asked the question after his eyes had fallen upon the pitiful sight of his colleague, who was still slumped on the ground.
Byeok Ae-rin simply smiled.
“It was nothing much.”
“Oh, really?”
“Well then, keep with the good work, I’ll be going.”
The gatekeeper bowed his head, as she entered the headquarters.
When her figure was completely out of sight, he glared at his colleague on the floor.
“What on earth happened?”
“That….well…”
He began to explain slowly with a stammer. When his senior colleague had come to understand the unfortunate misunderstanding, he exhaled a deep sigh.