Chapter 8
Now, it seemed that only the sound of dry saliva being swallowed could be heard.
Son Eun glared at Yeon Cheongha as if he would kill him.
It seemed that only Son Eun was being damaged by the conversation between the two.
Watching that, I thought it would be better if the two of them stopped fighting with their mouths and just got on with it properly.
As if he knew my thoughts, Yeon Cheongha spoke.
"How about we go to the training ground instead of doing this here? We started fighting in front of the children, so we can't just let it go, can we? Come to the grand training ground."
Yeon Cheongha said that and left the dining hall first.
Now that things had come to this, Son Eun had no choice but to follow his words.
Neither the instructors nor the trainees could make a sound at those words.
If it weren't for Son Eun, they would have been murmuring and talking loudly, but since their opponent was Son Eun, they couldn't even make a small sound.
When I got up from my seat and followed Yeon Cheongha out, Pae Maseong also followed me.
Then the others followed us.
It seemed that Son Eun had started to move.
"Socheong, what should we do? Isn't Instructor Yeon in danger? Shouldn't we tell Instructor Son that we were wrong?"
Pae Maseong asked in a small voice as he walked with me.
If he thought that Son Eun and Yeon Cheongha would fight and Yeon Cheongha would die, it was natural for him to say that.
Seeing him not ashamed to kneel before Son Eun to save Yeon Cheongha, Pae Maseong was truly kind.
"I don't think the instructor would like that. Do you think he made such a big deal out of this just for us to do that? We have to think about why the instructor made this scene like this."
"But there's no chance our instructor will win. Do you think differently?"
"Yes."
Pae Maseong shook his head.
He probably did so because he couldn't believe it himself.
When we went to the grand training ground, Yeon Cheongha was waiting there.
It was a training platform raised higher than other places.
Yeon Cheongha seemed to think that it was not only meaningful to settle the score with Son Eun there, but also important to announce the result of the match in front of others.
Son Eun's expression, who arrived there shortly after, was definitely not good.
When he first picked a fight with us in the dining hall, he would not have expected this result.
If he had known it would turn out like this, he would never have done such a thing.
There was nothing to be gained from it, so why would he do such a thing?
People were now standing around the training platform where Yeon Cheongha was standing, preparing to watch the duel between the two.
Finally, Son Eun went up there.
"Pae Maseong, are you really not going to stop your instructor?"
Cho Yusan, who had approached at some point, said.
I thought Cho Yusan had used his head properly.
He must have thought that the only way to resolve this situation in Son Eun's favor was to persuade Pae Maseong.
However, Pae Maseong looked at me once and then kept his mouth shut.
He must have thought that since Yeon Cheongha had made his decision, he had no choice but to accept whatever result came from now on.
* * *
Kwakwakwakwang-!
It was just the clash of sword against sword.
Just a moment ago, it was a sword in its scabbard.
I hadn't even seen when it had come out of the scabbard, so when had he imbued it with internal energy?
What was surprising was not just the speed.
To imbue that much internal energy, how great must one's ability to operate internal energy be, and how vast must one's internal energy be?
Son Eun was one thing, but how much had Yeon Cheongha been hiding himself?
Once again, sword and sword clashed, and both were pushed back.
However, unlike Yeon Cheongha who stopped in his tracks quickly, Son Eun was pushed back several feet before he barely stopped.
How far one was pushed back after a clash of swords was not an absolute standard, but people were already looking at Yeon Cheongha in great surprise.
Moreover, blood was flowing from the corner of Son Eun's mouth. Son Eun retched a few more times, and each time he coughed up thick blood.
On the other hand, other than being pushed back a little, nothing had changed about Yeon Cheongha.
His eyes were sharper than before, and he became calmer as time went on.
The instructors were more shocked than the trainees.
The trainees didn't know Son Eun well, nor did they know about Yeon Cheongha.
They only knew that Son Eun was well-regarded for his skills among the instructors and was a famous grandmaster in Cheonrim, but they had no occasion to experience him in detail.
However, among the instructors, there would have been those who had gone on assassination missions with Son Eun, and there would have been not a few who had confirmed his skills with their own eyes.
But Yeon Cheongha was overwhelming that Son Eun.
I thought Yeon Cheongha would stop there.
I thought that since he had shown what he wanted to show, he would not attack Son Eun anymore.
It didn't take long for me to realize that was my misunderstanding.
Yeon Cheongha approached Son Eun, who was dripping with blood, again.
Seeing that, Son Eun was surprised and hastily took a defensive stance.
A few instructors murmured, wondering if they should stop the two, but they couldn't easily step between them.
If they stepped forward, they might have to take over Son Eun's fight from then on, and they probably didn't have the confidence to do so.
Yeon Cheongha, seeing that Son Eun couldn't take a proper defensive stance, sheathed his sword.
Some people seemed to be relieved, thinking that Yeon Cheongha would stop at that, but he had only decided to stop using his sword.
From then on, he landed a series of fast and sharp punches.
And he kept a certain distance, preventing Son Eun from completely escaping.
Son Eun was hit by a continuous stream of punches and spewed out a fountain of blood.
To be able to keep punching someone like that seemed to be by no means an ordinary thing.
However, even as Son Eun shouted for his life and completely lost his will to fight, Yeon Cheongha continued to punch without stopping.
Eventually, someone stepped between the two.
It was Cho Yusan.
I hadn't expected him to step forward, but I belatedly thought that the only person who could stop Yeon Cheongha at that moment was Cho Yusan.
As a collateral branch of the Cho family, he had some justification to protect Son Eun, and no matter how much he was trying to protect me and Pae Maseong, it would have been difficult for Yeon Cheongha to attack Cho Yusan, who was still a trainee.
"Let's stop here, Instructor Yeon."
At Cho Yusan's words, Yeon Cheongha stopped, looked at Cho Yusan once, and then turned around.
Son Eun collapsed to the ground as if he were melting.
He was so battered that he couldn't even launch a surprise attack on Yeon Cheongha as he turned away.
No one could make a sound.
However, that did not mean that it was Yeon Cheongha's victory, or that our lives would become easier from now on.
A solid order had been established around Son Eun, and Yeon Cheongha had caused chaos in it.
Pae Maseong looked at me with a dazed face.
It was a face that said, 'Can you believe this?'
"Let's go."
Yeon Cheongha, who had come down from the training platform, said to me and Pae Maseong.
As we left the grand training ground, people made way for us.
We didn't say anything as we walked.
I don't know what to say in a situation like this.
"It might get harder for you from now on."
Yeon Cheongha said after a long time.
I nodded, and Pae Maseong asked, "What?"
"Why aren't you surprised?"
Yeon Cheongha asked me with a chuckle.
"I just thought it would be like that. But I think it was unavoidable. If you hadn't cut him off like this once, Instructor Son would have tormented us endlessly."
"From now on, tell me even if it's a trivial matter. If you had told me earlier, things wouldn't have gotten this far."
I said I would.
"I didn't know you were that strong, instructor."
When Pae Maseong said with admiration, Yeon Cheongha nodded.
"I think I didn't know much about you either. I didn't know that you could endure the training load even after getting up at that hour and working."
"...What?"
"I'm saying that I think I can increase the training load from now on."
It seemed that more harsh days would follow, but I decided to accept it obediently, as it might be difficult to survive without doing so.
It seemed that every day was a series of hardships.
* * *
After that, Son Eun did not appear in front of us directly to torment us.
The other instructors were the same.
However, that did not mean that they did nothing.
"Hey, Yasocheong."
Cho Yusan came running from behind and called me.
It was when Pae Maseong had gone back, saying he had left his clothes at the training ground.
Since Pae Maseong and I rarely went anywhere separately, I wondered if he had been aiming for that moment from the beginning.
"Yasocheong, let's talk for a moment."
"What about? Say it here."
"I have something to talk about quietly."
"Then say it quietly here."
Cho Yusan grabbed my arm and dragged me away.
"Hey, let go!"
"I'm not going to do anything. It's not bad news for you either. I'm just making a proposal."
Cho Yusan said hastily, as if he thought I would scream.
"You can make a proposal here too."
"You're so noisy!"
He kept dragging me, but it didn't seem like he was trying to deceive me.
Still, because I didn't want to be dragged away obediently, we didn't go far and stopped at a suitable place to start talking.
"You probably know that many places are greedy for Pae Maseong. You probably know as much as you need to know about Cheonrim by now. Cheonrim is an assassin organization run by our Cho family. But until now, only Cheonrim has shown interest in Pae Maseong, but now there are elders in the family who want to take Pae Maseong."
"Pae Maseong? Why? Not our instructor, but Pae Maseong?"
"Yes, until now, Instructor Yeon had never properly revealed his skills, but when people saw him reveal his skills this time because of Pae Maseong, they started to see Pae Maseong's true value again. The prevailing opinion is that if they hadn't had high expectations for Pae Maseong, Instructor Yeon wouldn't have gone that far with Instructor Son."
Ah... so that's what they thought.
It seemed possible.
But I didn't understand why Cho Yusan had come to me.
"My uncle from the main family is coming tomorrow. He wants to meet you. If things go well, you can leave this place. I'll probably leave this place too."
Suddenly, my mind cleared.