Chapter 110 : What Are You Hiding? (1)
Namgung Il was walking somewhere with a displeased expression.
Thud— Thud—.
A much slower gait than usual.
Although it was not known where he was heading, the feeling that Namgung Il really did not want to go there was clearly felt from his gait.
“Haaah—.”
Namgung Il eventually stopped in his tracks for a moment.
At that moment, a deep sigh automatically escaped.
Cha Yul-ryeong's office was just a little further from here, so Namgung Il couldn't bring himself to take another step.
‘I’m already worried.’
Namgung Il couldn't even guess what kind of work Cha Yul-ryeong would make him do.
Still, one thing he could be sure of was that it would by no means be an easy task.
Cha Yul-ryeong was the type to find fault with him for no reason, so if an opportunity like this came up, he would surely use all sorts of means to torment him.
‘That brat, Seo Saeng-won… What if he really punishes me!’
Until a little while ago, he had thought of it as just a vacation, but now it had become a real punishment.
If it was going to be like this, it would be much better to just be cooped up in his room.
Namgung Il had that thought belatedly, but it didn't change the current situation.
‘…It can’t be helped.’
It was the order of the president, not just anyone.
If he disobeyed this, he might receive a greater punishment than just a suspension.
Since he wanted to avoid expulsion at all costs, Namgung Il had no choice but to start walking again.
“……”
A moment later, Namgung Il arrived in front of a certain room.
Swoosh—.
Turning his head slightly, he saw a nameplate with ‘Cha Yul-ryeong’ written on it next to the door.
Seeing that, it seemed he had found the right place.
At that fact, Namgung Il sighed once more.
“…Are you in?”
“……”
“Teacher Cha Yul-ryeong?”
Standing outside the door, Namgung Il cautiously called for Cha Yul-ryeong.
This voice should be loud enough to be heard inside.
Although he repeated the same words several times, no answer came from inside.
‘…Is he not here?’
With no response to this extent, it seemed safe to assume that no one was inside.
Still, just in case, Namgung Il checked once more before opening the door.
“Teacher Cha Yul-ryeong, I’m coming in?”
“……”
“I said I’m coming in, right? So don’t say anything else later.”
Still no answer.
Namgung Il paused with his hand on the door for a moment, then flung it open all at once.
“……”
As expected, there was no one in the room.
Namgung Il entered the ownerless room and closed the door.
Only after confirming once more that there was no one in the room did Namgung Il relax.
‘What a relief.’
Although he had come to find Cha Yul-ryeong, Namgung Il was relieved by the fact that Cha Yul-ryeong was not there.
Was he in class since he wasn't in his office at this time?
Whatever the reason, Namgung Il hoped that Cha Yul-ryeong would not return here for as long as possible.
“It would be even better if he doesn’t come.”
Namgung Il muttered and went inside.
If he waited here, he would come on his own.
Since he didn't want to go all the way to where he was teaching, Namgung Il decided to wait for Cha Yul-ryeong here.
Flop—.
Namgung Il went to a nearby chair and sat down appropriately.
‘Why are there so many books?’
He didn't know if all the other teachers' rooms were like this, but Cha Yul-ryeong's office was almost filled with books on both walls.
Other than that, it was just an ordinary office with nothing else particularly noticeable.
As they say, you can tell a person's personality by looking at their room. It seemed that Cha Yul-ryeong's personality was reflected in this office as it was.
‘…It’s too neat.’
Should he say that it was so tidy that he hesitated to mess it up carelessly?
Recalling Cha Yul-ryeong's personality, it could be said that it was a fitting room, but to be honest, Namgung Il didn't like a room that was this tidy.
‘Not only his personality, but his room doesn’t suit me either.’
Namgung Il thought so inwardly and continued to look around the room.
At that moment, his gaze changed subtly.
As if an interesting thought had come to mind, Namgung Il was smiling meaningfully.
‘This… if I think about it differently, isn’t this a really good opportunity?’
A student is alone in the office of a class head. An opportunity like this did not come easily.
Moreover, didn't he currently have the justification of volunteer work?
Since there was the justification of the president's order, it probably wouldn't be a problem even if Cha Yul-ryeong caught him being alone.
“……”
A room was a place where a person's traces remained the most.
The place where Cha Yul-ryeong stayed the longest in the academy would be this office.
Then, Namgung Il thought that there might be a trace that he couldn't let others know about.
‘No, there must be.’
The fact that the room was so neatly organized felt even more suspicious.
Because people usually package things on the outside as if they weren't there when they have something to hide.
Especially a brat like Cha Yul-ryeong, who didn't properly reveal his inner thoughts, would surely have something to hide.
‘Let’s search.’
As soon as he made that decision, Namgung Il got up from his seat.
The first place Namgung Il headed was the desk placed inside.
It was the place where Cha Yul-ryeong sat for the longest time to do his work.
‘If I find even one weakness, I can use it usefully later.’
This was, after all, insurance to protect himself.
If Cha Yul-ryeong didn't touch him first, he wouldn't bring it out even if he found a weakness, but if the opposite happened, he would mercilessly take it out and use it as a weapon.
Wouldn't a mere student have to do this to protect his own body?
Namgung Il was making such excuses, but his expression was quite wicked for that.
‘What are you hiding, Cha Yul-ryeong!’
Namgung Il looked through everything on the desk without missing anything.
Of course, in order not to leave any traces, he did not forget to look at each one and put it back as it was.
A truly perfect crime.
No matter how much it was Cha Yul-ryeong, he would not be able to notice this easily.
“Hmm…”
Although he had searched through everything on the desk, he could not find anything that felt particularly suspicious.
Namgung Il put down the document he was holding in his hand in its original position with a rather disappointed face.
‘No, it’s too early to give up.’
Besides the desk, there was a bookshelf in the office with numerous books.
If anything was suspicious, wouldn't that place be more suspicious than the desk?
As they say, if you want to hide a tree, hide it in the forest. The possibility that there was a book with Cha Yul-ryeong's weakness among those numerous books was also quite high.
‘Let’s search as much as possible for now.’
He didn't know when Cha Yul-ryeong would arrive here, but he wouldn't be able to search through all the books here before then.
Still, with the intention of searching as much as possible, Namgung Il picked up a book from what he could see.
“…Hmm.”
A groan of agony flowed from Namgung Il's mouth as he looked at the book.
The letters were so densely packed that just looking at them made him dizzy.
Since he was not on friendly terms with books other than martial arts manuals, Namgung Il was looking down at the book with a deep frown.
Swoosh—.
Namgung Il put the book he was holding back in its original position.
‘If I read all the contents, my head will explode first.’
So Namgung Il decided to just skim through the cover and the contents.
If he found something suspicious then, it wouldn't matter if he looked at it in detail then.
It seemed that doing so would also increase the efficiency of the work.
“……”
How much time had passed like that?
Although he had looked through quite a lot of books, Namgung Il could not find anything that felt particularly suspicious.
‘I’ve read so much… I don’t think I’ve even seen two-tenths of it.’
Had Cha Yul-ryeong read all the books here?
As he got tired of the sheer number of books, a slight suspicion arose that he might have just displayed books he hadn't read to look good.
“Haaah—.”
It's really hard to find a person's weakness.
Namgung Il sighed and picked out a random book as his hand went.
“Hmm…?”
Looking at the cover of the book he had picked out, Namgung Il's expression changed slightly.
‘This one has no title?’
All the books he had picked out so far had titles on their covers.
But the book he was holding now was just a black cover.
Namgung Il instinctively felt something suspicious about that book.
Swoosh—.
As soon as he got that feeling, Namgung Il, unlike before, began to carefully look at the book from the first page.
‘This is…’
The first page contained information about a certain medicinal herb.
Although Namgung Il also had knowledge of medicinal herbs to the point where it could be called professional, the medicinal herb written here was something he had never heard of in his life.
‘Blood Rice Herb…?’
The name was written on the first line of the first page.
And below that, the description of the Blood Rice Herb's appearance continued.
The appearance of the Blood Rice Herb is not accurately known. Some say it has a length of several feet, and some say its leaves are dark black and its stem is white in contrast.
As such, the information known about the Blood Rice Herb is extremely rare, but the facts established based on the investigation so far are as follows.
The next page had a picture drawn on it.
Judging by the contents so far, this picture seemed to be the Blood Rice Herb.
Namgung Il looked at the picture for a moment and then moved his gaze to the content that continued on the next page.
The leaves of the Blood Rice Herb are a deep red color reminiscent of blood. It is said that the stem and roots are also the same, but that is not yet clear.
The smell is also said to be similar to the blood shed by a living person, and it is said that the Blood Rice Herb blooms by using human blood as a nutrient.
Reading that part, Namgung Il's eyes widened slightly.
‘A plant that uses human blood as a nutrient…?’
Just hearing about it made him feel quite uneasy.
Moreover, not only its appearance but even its smell was similar to blood… Namgung Il even doubted whether that was a plant that really existed in reality.
‘Why is Cha Yul-ryeong investigating a plant like this?’
If you listened to his classes, you could tell that Cha Yul-ryeong had a rich knowledge of medicinal herbs.
He had heard that he was also conducting a separate class on herbalism.
He didn't know if he was investigating the plant called Blood Rice Herb just for the knowledge for his class, but for now, Namgung Il could not hide his uneasy feeling about this book.
“……”
The content continued.
Namgung Il held his breath and turned to the next page.
“…!”
At that moment, Namgung Il's two eyes widened in surprise.
A sentence that stood out among the contents that occupied one side.
Namgung Il's gaze was fixed on that sentence and did not move for a while.
If you use the Blood Rice Herb, you can bring the dead back to life.
A medicinal herb that can bring the dead back to life.
Namgung Il did not know how he should accept this content.
‘What on earth is this… Does such a medicinal herb really exist in the world?’
If this content was true, it seemed that a huge storm of blood would rage the moment the medicinal herb called Blood Rice Herb appeared in the world.
Just as insects are attracted to beautiful flowers, people blinded by desire flock to treasures of great value.
Since there had actually been several times when a storm of blood had raged in the martial world just with the news that a secret manual of a famous master in the past had been discovered, this thought was by no means an exaggeration.
‘…It might be more than that.’
Immortality was something that all people had dreamed of since ancient times.
No matter how much money one had or how much of a master one was, comparable to the best in the world, one could not avoid death.
Something that even the emperor, the master of this country, could not avoid. That was death.
“……”
As of yet, he could not make any judgment about the Blood Rice Herb.
Even at this moment, Namgung Il thought that this was just a baseless novel, but still, in a corner of his heart, he also had the thought that this might be real.
Swoosh—.
As if to make that fact clear, Namgung Il's hand was turning to the next page without him realizing it.
But at that moment.
Creak—.
A presence was felt approaching from this side, and the office door suddenly opened.
“…What are you doing here now?”
A person who was asking Namgung Il from between the open doors.
At the appearance of Cha Yul-ryeong, the atmosphere of the office instantly became cold.
(End of Chapter)