Kuh—
Namgung Il was sleeping peacefully on his bed, snoring.
"Captain! Wake up!"
"..."
"If you don't wake up now, you won't even have ti to eat breakfast!"
Jong Seo-eon shouted at Namgung Il from the side.
But Namgung Il still showed no signs of waking up.
Seeing that, Jong Seo-eon's face beca quite troubled.
'Wh-what should I do?'
He really wanted to avoid being late today.
He already seed to have been marked by the seniors last night, so if he was late for class and was also marked by the teacher, how could he attend the academy now?
Although he wanted to leave this place alone if he could, he couldn't leave Namgung Il behind because he rembered his master's words.
'...It can't be helped.'
In the end, Jong Seo-eon decided to use his last resort.
Although it seed to be against the rules to do this to a benefactor who had the Benefactor Beggar Bamboo Plaque... wasn't this an unavoidable situation now?
No matter how much he shouted from the side, Namgung Il wouldn't wake up, so in the end, he had no choice but to do this.
Swoosh—
Jong Seo-eon stealthily raised his right hand over Namgung Il's head.
If he were to hit his forehead like this, no matter how much of a heavy sleeper a person was, he would jump up.
Since he had woken up beggars like this many tis in the Beggars' Sect in the past, he could guarantee its effect.
'I'm sorry!'
Jong Seo-eon closed his two eyes tightly and brought his palm down on Namgung Il's head.
Thwack—
At that mont, another hand that snatched Jong Seo-eon's right hand in the middle.
Because of that, Jong Seo-eon could no longer move his right hand.
'H-how?'
Discovering the hand that was holding his right hand, Jong Seo-eon couldn't help but be flustered.
Because the owner of that hand was none other than Namgung Il.
Just then, beyond the captured hand, Namgung Il opened his eyes.
"Jong Seo-eon, you're a much bolder brat than you look, huh?"
"...!"
"To think you would try to hit my head while I was sleeping. Is this a surprise attack?"
"N-no!"
Jong Seo-eon was flustered and hurriedly hid his right hand behind him.
"I was just trying to wake you up, Captain!"
"By hitting my head?"
"No matter how much I shouted from the side, you wouldn't wake up, so what could I do?"
"Then there's also the thod of shaking
to wake
up."
"Th-that's..."
Co to think of it, there was also that thod.
Jong Seo-eon was montarily at a loss for words at those words.
"If you had a grudge against , you should have said it with words. To do this when I'm sleeping is cowardly, isn't it?"
"I-it's a misunderstanding..."
"What do you an, a misunderstanding? If I hadn't pretended to be asleep, you would have sincerely hit my forehead."
"It's really not that... did you say you pretended to be asleep just now?"
"Unless you're deaf, it's normal to wake up when soone is shouting from the side like that."
"..."
Hearing those words, Jong Seo-eon couldn't help but have a blank face.
Why did he pretend to be asleep even though he had woken up...?
Jong Seo-eon cautiously asked Namgung Il the reason.
And so.
"I was just curious how you would wake
up."
"...Pardon?"
"I was thinking of just getting up if it had been a little longer. I didn't know you would aim for my forehead."
Namgung Il said very calmly.
'This... is this a part where I can get angry, right?'
No matter how much the opponent was a benefactor of the Beggars' Sect, it was a situation that was sufficiently infuriating.
To complain about it, Jong Seo-eon tried to get angry at Namgung Il for the first ti.
"Captain! You're too much..."
"Next ti, try to hit my forehead without getting caught."
"...Pardon?"
"If you succeed, I'll grant you one wish you want."
When Namgung Il suddenly made such a proposal, Jong Seo-eon's anger instantly subsided.
Does that an he wants
to wake him up by hitting his forehead from now on?
As to why Namgung Il was saying such a thing, Jong Seo-eon, of course, couldn't help but be curious.
'You don't know what's what now, right?'
Looking at Jong Seo-eon's bewildered expression, Namgung Il was laughing inwardly.
Waking soone up by hitting their forehead. This was a long tradition of the Beggars' Sect.
"Yeoksan-ah, from now on, when you co to wake
up, try to wake
up by hitting my forehead with your palm."
"Pardon? How can I dare to hit my master's forehead?"
"If you succeed without getting caught, I'll let you drink the special liquor I've hidden."
"I will definitely hit it."
Namgung Il had exchanged similar words with his master in the past.
'In the end, I couldn't drink that liquor.'
After that, he had tried to hit his master's forehead for several years, but in the end, Namgung Il had never once hit his master's forehead.
He was bound to be caught as soon as he crossed the threshold, and even if he had hit his forehead, it had all missed or had been caught in the middle.
'I didn't know it at that ti, but I later found out that that was also a kind of training.'
A master, even when sleeping, was bound to maintain a certain level of qi sense and beco sensitive to the surrounding environnt.
In other words, to hit a master's forehead, one had to, on the contrary, learn how to kill one's presence.
If this was trained to the extre, one would later reach a state where one could attack an opponent without any killing intent at all.
'An attack without killing intent. The higher the state, the more important this becos later.'
A true master does not grasp an opponent's moves with his eyes.
Not with his eyes, but with his qi sense.
He predicts the moves by sensing the opponent's qi, and also moves and deals with it instantly.
Of course, it was still a distant future for the current Jong Seo-eon to reach that state, but on the contrary, that was why he had to train that part little by little from now on.
'The more you get used to hiding your qi, the more it will beco an important weapon for you.'
Namgung Il thought to himself as he looked at Jong Seo-eon with a pleased expression.
Although he wouldn't understand at all now, wouldn't that also be youth?
Martial arts originally grow little by little as one goes through repeated agony.
Since Jong Seo-eon's current appearance was like seeing his past self, Namgung Il found this situation quite amusing.
"How about it? Are you a little tempted now?"
"...Do I have to hit only the forehead?"
"Huh?"
"If I were to hit the cheek or the solar plexus..."
"..."
What did you say, you bastard?
Namgung Il began to seriously think about whether Jong Seo-eon had sothing against him.
* * *
Before entering class, Namgung Il and Jong Seo-eon went to the dining hall to eat breakfast.
"Oh..."
Jong Seo-eon was letting out such an exclamation from a while ago as he looked around the inside of the dining hall.
A spaciousness that was on a different level compared to the dining hall at the headquarters. Of course, the food that ca out for breakfast was also luxurious to the point where it could not be compared to the headquarters.
"This place... is very spacious."
"To accommodate all the students in the academy, of course it has to be this big."
Although Namgung Il answered as if it were nothing, Jong Seo-eon seed to be experiencing a new world.
The level of the Flying Dragon Academy that could be felt from the size of the dining hall.
Jong Seo-eon once again realized that he had entered a trendous academy.
"I'm going first."
The student dining hall of the Flying Dragon Academy was a system where one could put the food one wanted to eat on a plate and eat at one's own seat.
Since Namgung Il had already put all the food on his plate, he said to Jong Seo-eon and was about to go to his seat and eat first.
"Y-you're already done?"
"Yes, I'll be sitting and eating, so co quickly."
"Ah, I understand!"
Leaving Jong Seo-eon, who still had an empty plate, behind, Namgung Il walked to an empty seat.
'Huh?'
Just then, a person ca into Namgung Il's view.
'Her na was surely Tang Wol-yeong, right?'
Namgung Il rembered Tang Wol-yeong's na clearly.
Because besides himself, she was the only first-year student who had shouted confidently at Hwang Dong-jae last night.
Also, as soon as he heard Tang Wol-yeong's na, Namgung Il couldn't help but automatically rember that na.
'Tang Wol-yeong... a person from the Sichuan Tang Clan?'
In the martial world, if one heard the na Tang, that family would imdiately co to mind.
Besides that, that green robe. Since it was a costu that could be said to be a characteristic of the Sichuan Tang Clan, Namgung Il could almost certainly specify Tang Wol-yeong's origin.
'The Sichuan Tang Clan... since there was that incident yesterday, should I at least say hello?'
In the past, Namgung Il had also had quite a connection with the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Moreover, wasn't Tang Wol-yeong the only person who had taken his side yesterday?
To express his gratitude for that, Namgung Il approached where Tang Wol-yeong was sitting.
"Can I sit next to you?"
"...?"
Discovering Namgung Il, Tang Wol-yeong's two eyes widened slightly.
In the past, if he had asked a female student like this, a bad answer would have mostly co out.
But his current self was a young master of the Namgung Clan.
Since he was also handso, there would be no woman who would refuse.
"No."
"...Huh?"
"If it's not right next to , you can sit."
"..."
Those words... do they an it's okay to share the sa table?
Namgung Il sat down on a chair one space away from where Tang Wol-yeong was sitting.
"I'll formally introduce myself. I'm Namgung Il."
"I'm Tang Wol-yeong."
When he greeted her, she accepted it very well.
Since she didn't seem to dislike him at least, Namgung Il decided to continue speaking with a comfortable heart.
"Thank you for yesterday."
"Thank you?"
"You took my side yesterday. I ca to express my gratitude for that."
"You don't have to thank ."
Tang Wol-yeong said in a rather cold tone.
"I just told the truth. On the contrary, it was my fault for not being able to say anything while watching the situation until then."
"..."
"I don't know what the other classmates think, but I don't think your actions were bad."
As he had said, Namgung Il thought that there would surely be people among his classmates who disliked him because of what had happened last night.
In the first place, hadn't his reputation been bad from the beginning because he had entered in a rather ambiguous way?
No matter how much Hwang Dong-jae had acted like that, there would surely be a brat who disliked the fact that a junior was confronting a senior like that.
'Does that an Tang Wol-yeong is not on that side?'
Judging by the way she spoke, she didn't seem to dislike him at least.
Besides that, the Sichuan Tang Clan... yes, should he try to get along with her on this occasion?
Since there was also a past connection, and since he also preferred to have more allies than enemies, it would not be bad to build a friendship with Tang Wol-yeong on this occasion.
"I'll be in your care from now on."
Namgung Il said and held out his right hand to Tang Wol-yeong.
And so, Tang Wol-yeong looked at him and asked with a puzzled gaze.
"Why are you holding out your hand?"
"It's a sign that we should get along from now on."
"..."
Just then, Tang Wol-yeong suddenly got up from her seat.
"I'm sorry, but I have no intention of getting along with you."
"...?"
"Enjoy your al."
Saying that, Tang Wol-yeong, who left the spot.
Namgung Il was still holding out his right hand in the empty spot where Tang Wol-yeong had left.
'...What is this?'
According to the flow, they should have shaken hands and he should have answered that he would also be in her care...
She was a woman who was quite hard to figure out.
'I can't understand a woman's heart.'
He had thought it would be easy to approach a woman with this face, but was that not the case?
Well, if she didn't want to, it couldn't be helped.
Namgung Il lowered his right hand and decided to just eat.
"Namgung Il."
"...?"
Just then, at the voice heard from behind, Namgung Il stopped his spoon.
A voice that felt familiar from sowhere.
Before he could even rember who the owner of that voice was, Namgung Il inadvertently looked back.
"...!"
The mont he turned his head back, Namgung Il couldn't hide his astonishnt.
"How have you been?"
The Ice Flower of the Cliff, Namgung Yeon.
She was saying to Namgung Il with a cold smile.
(End of Chapter)
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