TL: FoodieMonster007
BAM!
Baek Suryong slamd his wine cup down on the table. "Those brats are hopeless," he grumbled.
It had been a while since he'd t up with his fellow new instructors, Ak Yeonho, Myeong Il'oh, and Jaegal Soyeong. As they chatted and sipped their drinks, the conversation inevitably steered toward the new admission criteria for the Heavenly Martial Festival.
"Are the kids really that bad at studying?" Jaegal Soyeong asked, downing her liquor with more energy than anyone else at the table. As life at the academy was tough, drinking had beco her only pleasure, and she was gradually turning into a hopeless alcoholic.
Baek Suryong sighed, "Geo Sangwoong and Yeo Min are a bit better. They're extrely good at math and have a knack for studying."
Ironically, the two who were less gifted in martial arts excelled academically. The real problem was the martial arts prodigies.
Just thinking about them frustrated him.
"You wouldn't believe how empty Hyonwon Kang and Ya Suhyeok's heads are. Ya Suhyeok doesn't even know who Zhang Sanfeng is!"
"Wow, that's pretty severe."
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"How did they even pass the entrance exam?"
"I was wondering the sa thing…" Baek Suryong groaned.
Back when he was an instructor in the Blood Cult, these issues never crossed his mind. Over there, the students' upbringing and character didn't matter, only martial arts prowess. The cult even had a penchant for simpletons and homicidal maniacs.
Now that I think about it, maybe that's why those trainees turned out the way they did.
For a mont, a bitter expression crossed Baek Suryong's face. Knowing how intense competition could push martial artists to unbelievable extres, he understood the purpose of the new regulations for the Heavenly Martial Festival better than anyone else.
"Haa…" he sighed.
Refilling his wine cup, Ak Yeonho asked, "Setting those two aside, what about Wiji Cheon? He seems diligent, so I thought he'd be good at studying."
"He's a problem too. Wiji Cheon is…" Baek Suryong paused, searching for the right words. "I guess you could say he's excessively pure."
Wiji Cheon was undoubtedly a genius, but only when it ca to the sword. If you taught him one sword technique, he would master ten, but in all other aspects, he was practically a blank slate.
"Since he lived deep in the mountains with his grandfather from a young age, he lacks basic common sense. His concepts of good and evil are also a bit blurred."
On top of that, his grandfather was the head of one of the Blood Cult's Eight Great Clans, and Wiji Cheon himself had suffered from qi deviation that had turned him into a crazed serial killer until recently. If anyone needed basic moral education, it was him.
"Hyonwon Kang, Ya Suhyeok, Wiji Cheon… I can't believe I have to teach basic morals and etiquette to muscle-brained idiots and simple-minded kids…" Baek Suryong sighed yet again.
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Noticing his dejection, his colleagues offered words of comfort.
"Don't worry too much. There's still plenty of ti."
"You'll do just fine this ti too."
Unfortunately, their consolations didn't help much. With just over a month left until the first sester midterms, he needed to get the students up to a level where they could pass the Character Evaluation. At this rate, however, three out of five were sure to fail.
And if that wasn't bad enough…
Taking advantage of the alcohol, Baek Suryong confessed, "You might be surprised, but I recently discovered there's sothing I'm not good at."
"""WHAT?!""" Ak Yeonho, Myeong Il'oh, and Jaegal Soyeong exclaid in unison, staring at their colleague incredulously.
Ignoring them, Baek Suryong gazed dazedly into his wine cup. He was confident that he possessed a vast knowledge of martial arts, and it wasn't a stretch to say that he had morized most of the Blood Cult's techniques. He could even teach most of the secondary skills needed by martial artists, such as formations, poisons, acupoint sealing, hidden weapon techniques, and so on.
However, for soone with an unorthodox background like him, etiquette and moral education based on the righteousness and decorum of the orthodox sects were very unfamiliar. He could imitate it to a certain extent, but he was by no ans qualified to teach it to others.
With a solemn expression, he lanted, "I don't want to lie about it, so I'll be honest with you. When it cos to etiquette and common sense of the orthodox murim, I'm completely clueless. You're probably surprised. I was too. I never imagined there'd be sothing I couldn't teach. It really shocked , so it must be even more shocking for you."
Sighing bitterly, he emptied his cup in one gulp, his beautiful sorrowful eyes and slender fingers making him look as if he had just stepped out of a painting.
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Regardless, no one here was swayed by that image.
"Wow, how can soone be so arrogant…"
"My goodness, is shaless bragging this guy's version of drunken rambling?"
"Co to think of it, maybe Hyung-nim's narcissism is the biggest problem."
At the sight of Baek Suryong feigning humility while effortlessly boasting, his colleagues could only look on in exasperation.
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Baek Suryong grumbled, "What? Is being honest a cri now? As long as a martial artist fights well, who cares about manners? Does having a good upbringing help you dodge an attack?"
"Hyung-nim, have you thought about not trying to teach everything yourself and leaving the academic and etiquette classes to others?" Myeong Il'oh suggested.
"Huh?"
"Isn't just supervising the students' martial arts taking up all of your ti?"
"Well, yeah," Baek Suryong nodded reluctantly.
Right now, he was indeed swamped with work. He had to teach his class, supervise the martial arts training at the White Dragon Manor, make occasional trips to the Rehabilitation Sect, and keep in touch with the Valley of Evil. No matter how hard he worked, even three of him wouldn't be enough to handle it all.
"…But who should I ask?" he asked, perplexed.
Myeong Il'oh replied matter-of-factly, "Teachers who are good at that stuff, of course. For example, isn't Miss Jaegal here a specialist in murim history?"
"M-?" Suddenly singled out, Jaegal Soyeong looked flustered, but she quickly nodded with a determined expression. "I can spare about an hour a day. It would be such a waste if those kids couldn't participate in the Heavenly Martial Festival."
Myeong Il'oh then put his arm around Ak Yeonho's shoulder. "As for the etiquette of noble families, I'm sure Yeonho here knows it well."
"I know it upside down and inside out. I've been learning it since childhood, and even got whipped every ti I ssed up," Ak Yeonho acknowledged.
"And I have a keen interest in the murim's current affairs," Myeong Il'oh added.
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Baek Suryong was touched by his friends' offers of help, but there was still one problem. "Those kids have very poor concentration. They're fine during martial arts training, but their attention span in lectures is terrible," he explained.
"How bad is it?"
"Earlier, Wonkang kept dozing off so much that I tried teaching him while hanging him upside down from the ceiling, but he still fell asleep."
"""WHAT?!""" Ak Yeonho, Myeong Il'oh, and Jaegal Soyeong's jaws dropped in disbelief.
"Okay. First of all, I think we need to boost their motivation to study."
"Hmm…"
"Is there any way…"
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The four newbie instructors put their heads together to think of ways to get the students to study.
"How about this? First, we teachers can take turns tutoring them in their weak subjects, and in the evenings, we can set up a study group for them to revise what they've learned," Jaegal Soyeong suggested. As a prodigy who had recently graduated from the Heavenly Martial Academy, she knew best how to motivate students to study.
"A study group?"
"Yes. Studying with peers is really effective. Kids also feel more relaxed getting help from friends who are good at studying than from teachers who they see as above them."
"Oh…"
"It would be great if we could enlist the help of a model elite student with good etiquette, ethics and a strong sense of responsibility…"
A na instantly appeared in Baek Suryong's mind. Slapping his knee, he smirked, saying, "I know just the student."
An old man and a young boy sat down across from each other, leisurely sipping tea. Even though they were completely different, there was sothing about them that felt alike. Perhaps it was the way their swords lay neatly and identically across their laps.
"I received a special request from Mr. Baek to teach you," Mae Geuklyom said.
Wiji Cheon nodded. "Uh huh."
"Co see at this ti every day. I will teach you the proper etiquette of a swordsman for one hour a day."
"Okay. Uhm… I lived in the mountains with my grandfather since I was really small, so I don't know much about etiquette. Please forgive if I don't know sothing simple."
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"Ignorance is not a sin. If you don't know sothing, you can always learn. The real problem is when you consciously choose to do the wrong thing, even when you know what's right."
"…Understood."
Although he was usually very shy, Wiji Cheon felt strangely at ease with Mae Geuklyom, like he was looking at a well-honed sword. Interestingly enough, Mae Geuklyom felt the sa way.
"I will explain everything to you using the sword as an example. That should be convenient for both of us."
"Yes! Thank you!"
"Don't be so easily pleased."
"Ehehe…"
"Stop laughing foolishly."
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"Y-Yes!"
Just like that, an old man who had dedicated his life to the sword and a boy fascinated by the sword found their own way of communicating.
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