The Beggar Young Master of the Namgung Clan

After a series of commotions, Namgung Il belatedly came up to the sparring stage.

Tsk—

The man clicked his tongue as he looked at Namgung Il, who had come up to the sparring stage.

The opponent who had suddenly changed.

Of course, it didn't really matter to the man who his opponent was, but he was in a bad mood about this situation itself.

'Is he looking down on me?'

So wasn't it because he had volunteered to change the order and had come up here now?

The man was now very displeased with that fact.

"I don't know which noble family's young master you are, but you'll regret it later."

"..."

"If you hadn't changed the order, you could have gotten a better score."

"Alright, are you done talking now?"

When Namgung Il suddenly said that, the man was slightly dumbfounded.

"If you have more, say it quickly now."

"What...?"

"I'm a busy person. You won't have time to talk once the spar starts."

Namgung Il was saying so without any change in his expression.

The man's right hand, which was trembling as he looked at him.

Just then, Cha Yul-ryeong came up to the sparring stage and stopped between the two.

"For weapons, you can only use the ones provided by our academy or those that are not sharp."

"..."

"When the opponent shouts surrender or leaves the stage, and also when I judge that the spar can no longer continue, it is a victory. Do you all understand?"

When Cha Yul-ryeong asked, the two lightly nodded their heads.

At the same time, the man's hand moved to his waist. His two eyes were still glaring fiercely at Namgung Il.

'I'll settle this as soon as the spar starts!'

If he was so short on time, then fine. The man was thinking that he would defeat Namgung Il in an instant.

"Begin."

Cha Yul-ryeong said to the two.

At that moment, the man was about to draw the wooden sword he had put in his waist early on.

However.

Phat—

In the brief moment that the man was drawing his wooden sword, Namgung Il's figure had already gotten close to his nose.

'Wh-what is this?'

When did this brat get so close... before he could even finish that thought, the man's two feet left the sparring stage at the same time.

Clatter-clatter-clatter—!

As if he were a ball, the man's body rolled mercilessly on the sparring stage.

The place he arrived at was outside the sparring stage.

Although the man was barely raising his trembling hand, that hand soon fell powerlessly to the floor.

"...!"

Everyone was looking at the man who had fallen outside the stage with surprised eyes.

What on earth had happened just now?

There were only a very few people here who knew exactly what the reason was.

'Wh-what on earth was that just now?'

'This is as soon as the spar started... did I see that correctly?'

People's gazes immediately turned to Namgung Il, who was standing on the sparring stage.

Namgung Il, who was still holding out his right hand towards the air.

Although most of them did not know exactly what had happened, anyone could tell that Namgung Il had won this spar.

Swoosh—

Receiving the attention of the people, Namgung Il quietly lowered his right hand.

"Out of bounds."

"..."

"I have a long way to go, so please call the next person right away."

Namgung Il said to Cha Yul-ryeong.

A clear victory and defeat of the spar that anyone could see.

Cha Yul-ryeong announced the result to the people in a low voice.

"The winner, examinee number ten thousand."

"..."

"The next opponent, examinee number two hundred and thirty-two, please come up to the sparring stage."

Examinee number two hundred and thirty-two.

One could tell who that person was just by looking at his expression now.

* * *

"Ha..."

Jeong Dae-woong burst out laughing while sitting in his seat.

The reason he was sitting here now was to watch the examinees' spars and evaluate their skills with a score.

However.

Jeong Dae-woong's right hand had been stopped ever since the spar had started.

"..."

The reason was very simple.

Because he couldn't evaluate even if he wanted to.

Even now, on that sparring stage, a similar pattern to when the spar had first started was taking place again.

"Begin."

With the signal, a figure flew quickly on the sparring stage.

The person who had been Namgung Il's opponent was flying out of the sparring stage in an instant like a paper doll.

Seeing that, Jeong Dae-woong muttered to himself, as if he were dumbfounded.

"Well, I'll be... one side is so overwhelming that I can't evaluate even if I want to."

Most of them were knocked out on the first move as soon as the spar started like that.

Even if the opponent held out to some extent, if Namgung Il drew his wooden sword, the match would be decided within a few moves.

So it was bound to be ambiguous to evaluate.

To some extent, there had to be a balance to evaluate the opponent, but now, since it was so one-sided like this, he could not make a proper evaluation.

"So I gave one point to the person who blocked number ten thousand's attack even once, and two points to the person who made him draw his wooden sword."

Just then, Han Yu-wol said to Jeong Dae-woong from the side.

A score that changed depending on how much one had blocked Namgung Il's attack.

Although it was a very strange scoring method, at present, there was no other way to evaluate the opponent if they didn't do that.

"Hoho, I guess I'll have to do that too."

"So far, two points is the highest score."

"That examinee has a lot of energy. It seems he has already defeated two hundred people, but he doesn't seem to be tired yet."

"That's true, but... that number ten thousand, it seems he hasn't even brought out his true skills yet."

"That's the biggest problem."

At present, no one among the examinees seemed to be able to stop Namgung Il.

Namgung Il now felt like a predator among herbivores.

On the other hand, Jeong Dae-woong could not understand why Namgung Il was continuing to fight like that now.

"This, shouldn't we stop him now?"

"..."

"I think we've seen enough of number ten thousand's skills, so let's have the next person..."

"Let's watch a little more."

Just then, Ho Jeong-won cut off Jeong Dae-woong's words and said.

"Isn't it the rule of this exam to continue fighting until one loses?"

"..."

"I think it's wrong to break that as one pleases."

Even at this moment, Ho Jeong-won could not take his eyes off Namgung Il.

An examinee who had overwhelmingly defeated more than two hundred people.

Of course, he was a talent that was bound to catch one's eye.

"...For you to say that, it seems you like that examinee quite a lot."

"Yes, that's right. So I've already set my eyes on that number ten thousand, so don't even think about snatching him."

Just then, an answer was heard from another side.

"I don't think that's possible."

Han Yu-wol, who was smiling with her eyes, with her face half-covered by a fan.

When Ho Jeong-won looked at her with a frown, Han Yu-wol smiled even more and said.

"I also liked that child."

"..."

"I really want to bring him into the White Tiger class."

The reason the three were sitting here as supervisors was twofold.

One was to evaluate the examinees. And the other was to find the examinees they liked early on.

To draw the examinees they had set their eyes on into their own class. That was the final purpose of the three sitting here now.

"Hoho, why are you trying to exclude me?"

Jeong Dae-woong also said to the two with a light laugh.

Glare—

The atmosphere became murderous in an instant.

Although the other two besides Ho Jeong-won were smiling, a nerve-wracking battle of nerves was felt between the three.

"...Hoo."

Whether they were doing that about him over there or not, Namgung Il was waiting for the next spar as if he didn't care.

'It's getting a little tiring at this point.'

It would be stranger if it weren't tiring.

The fact that he had already faced more than two hundred people by himself was by no means an ordinary thing.

If he hadn't continued to defeat his opponents with a minimum of stamina and internal energy, it would have been absolutely impossible for even Namgung Il to endure this far.

Thud— Thud—.

It was then.

The next opponent who was coming up to the sparring stage.

The opponent facing Namgung Il naturally had a very tense expression.

"Begin."

Cha Yul-ryeong announced the start of the spar.

At that moment, Namgung Il instantly approached the opponent and threw a palm strike, just as he had done until now.

Thwack—

But the palm strike that Namgung Il had thrown did not reach the opponent's abdomen.

At that moment, Namgung Il quickly drew his wooden sword and swung it.

The opponent avoided even that and on the contrary, counterattacked towards Namgung Il.

"Oh!"

A cheer erupted from the mouths of the examinees who were watching.

An opponent who had made Namgung Il draw his wooden sword after a long time.

Moreover, the opponent who was even properly counterattacking was the first in dozens of people.

'Please just fall!'

Most of the examinees were now looking at Namgung Il and thinking that.

Because they didn't want to fight a brat who had defeated more than two hundred people.

Everyone was hoping inwardly that someone would please drag that monster down from the sparring stage before their turn came.

However.

Thwack—!

A sound that shattered people's expectations was heard on the sparring stage.

"...The winner, examinee number ten thousand."

Cha Yul-ryeong said, glancing at the opponent who had been sent flying out of bounds.

As expected, the one who remained on the sparring stage this time was also Namgung Il.

Seeing that, some examinees let out a sigh of regret.

'...This is a big problem.'

After this spar was over, Namgung Il was feeling a slight sense of crisis.

To be honest, he didn't need to draw his wooden sword for that opponent just now.

But the reason why he couldn't finish it on the first move and the spar had dragged on.

As fatigue continued to accumulate, Namgung Il's body was now not moving as well as usual.

'I think the next one will be the last opponent.'

If he had defeated this many, wouldn't it be okay to go down now?

While Namgung Il was thinking that in his heart, Cha Yul-ryeong called the next opponent.

"Examinee number nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, please come up to the sparring stage."

Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine?

Feeling that that number was somewhat familiar, Namgung Il looked at the opponent who had just come up to the sparring stage.

Creak— Creak—.

As if he were a broken device, Jong Seo-eon was walking with a stiff movement.

Seeing that, Namgung Il's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

He had wondered why the number that Cha Yul-ryeong had just called was familiar, and it was because it was one before his own examinee number.

'Have we come this far already?'

At this point, it was safe to say that he had defeated at least more than half of the examinees here.

So to be honest, it didn't matter if he went down right here without fighting Jong Seo-eon, but a meaningful smile soon appeared on Namgung Il's lips.

'The last opponent is the current Hougai of the Beggars' Sect... not bad.'

Should he check a little how well that brat Du-sik had educated his disciple?

Among the opponents so far, he seemed to be the most interesting and also the most difficult opponent.

(End of Chapter)