Kang-hyuk went into various bookstores and bought all the books he could find related to Horticulture.
There of course wasn't any need for him to personally take the books back to his residence.
'If they can deliver the books to my residence for me, why should I undertake the additional burden?'
He had the intention to return to his residence and study the books one by one. Even though the subject was Horticulture, he had no intention of teaching the students carelessly.
He had finished what he had come for, and was journeying home when he b.u.mped into a young man. He was wearing the blue teacher's uniform of Hwacheon Academy.
He immediately bowed to Kang-hyuk, and then asked, "Are you the new Horticulture teacher?"
"I am."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Geum-hang and I teach the subject of Spearmanship at the Academy. I've come to take you back."
Kang-hyuk was a little taken and pointed at himself.
"Pick me up?"
"Before the beginning of the school year, there's a banquet for the teachers. I've come to pick you up for the banquet."
It was a situation which Kang-hyuk hadn't expected.
"Is it compulsory to attend the banquet? Seeing as I'm only a Liberal Arts subject teacher."
"It's not at all compulsory to attend, but it would be a good opportunity to get to know all of the staff you will be working with for the rest of the year."
Kang-hyuk thought that he had a point.
"Okay, I'll attend. Where's the banquet?"
"I'll take you there."
"Ah, but before that, I'll need to stop at my residence."
"Your residence….?"
For some reason, it seemed as though Geum-hang wasn't too happy with Kang-hyuk wanting to stop at his residence first.
"My servant is waiting for me, so I need to go by my residence to tell him I'm going to be late."
"If that's all it is, then there's no need to stop by. Your servant Baek-gap is already aware of the banquet."
"Ah, I see."
"In that case, let's get going."
***
The venue of the banquet was already familiar with Kang-hyuk. It was known as Wolsoru.
Kang-hyuk tilted his head to one side.
'Huh? This place is known to be pretty expensive. Even though the monthly pay of the teachers is quite high, this isn't a place that their salaries can afford.'
Moreover, they were headed towards the fifth floor of the building.
The prices to hire the venue increased by the storey you wanted to hire. It's said that the price to hire the top floor of the building was beyond imagination.
Nonetheless, many hired the uppermost floor out. They were mostly people wanting to boast of their wealth through having their events at such an esteemed venue.
"Oh, you've finally arrived!"
"Come in!"
The teachers, dressed in their blue uniform, welcomed them in, but Kang-hyuk felt something a little awkward about their welcome.
Their expressions reminded of him when he was the Clan Leader, being greeted by people that didn't like him that had a forced smile on their faces.
These were the expressions Kang-hyuk had to look at for fifty years, therefore there was no way he wouldn't have been able to sense the awkwardness.
'Something's not quite right.'
He felt that it would be best to keep on guard.
Kang-hyuk sat down at the large table. The teachers began introducing themselves one by one.
There were an array of teachers; Teacher of Swordsmanship, Teacher of Stick Fighting, Teacher of Memorization.
Among the teachers was also the Whip teacher he had already been acquainted with, Ok Hae-mi. However, she had a strange apologetic expression on her face.
Kang-hyuk was now sure that something untoward was going on here.
What was also unusual was that he was the only teacher of a liberal arts subject present there.
As Kang-hyuk's suspicions grew, the cup in front of him was filled up with alcohol, and the teachers started to drink.
***
Baek-gap was diligently sweeping the courtyard in front of Kang-hyuk's residence.
When he had first joined the Jimilgak, his rank was of 500, but through his sustained efforts, his present rank was of 73.
The Jimilgak differentiated from the Hwacheon Clan in that it had a ranking system.
The closer one's ranking was to 1 was indicative of the strength and skill of the warrior.
Baek-gap had successfully completed the task he had been given previously, and during his break, he had been given another one.
But he felt a little strange.
He hadn't questioned the task of dutifully serving the youthful teacher known as Kang-hyuk, or even the order to observe his every move and to report them back to the Clan Leader.
It was because whilst he was serving Kang-hyuk, he couldn't help but feel a nervousness in his being.
He wasn't intimidated by Kang-hyuk's outward appearance as he looked as though he was younger than him in age, and he didn't seem to have much martial strength either.
However, he felt a powerful vital energy exuding from him, which overpowered even a peak-level warrior like himself.
'Who on earth is he really?'
He also found it strange how the Clan Leader looked fl.u.s.tered whenever he encountered Kang-hyuk.
He recalled the words of the Clan Leader.
"Be sure not to do anything that would anger him. Perform your task of serving and watching over him well, but if you go beyond that and end up angering him, you'll be sure to find yourself in h.e.l.l."
Baek-gap sighed, and thought to let it go. He would perform his task dutifully.
He was in the midst of combing his hair when he felt a presence by the front-gate of the house.
It was a slightly dopey looking man. But as he was wearing a blue uniform, Baek-gap was sure that the man was a teacher.
Baek-gap bowed his head and gave his greetings to the man.
"Greetings. For what business have you come for?"
"May I ask, who are you?"
"I am the servant of Kang-hyuk Seonsaeng. My name is Baek-gap."
"I see. I'm Ju Gung-wol, and I'm the music teacher."
"Nice to meet you. So what have you come by here for?"
"This is the residence of the Horticulture teacher Kang-hyuk, right?"
"Indeed."
"I wanted to meet him."
Baek-gap looked a little troubled at his request.
"I apologize. He is currently at the banquet hosted for the teachers. Did you not wish to attend?"
"...!"
Ju Gung-wol hit his thigh in exclamation.
"Oh my! What a pity!"
"Why do you say so?"
Ju Gung-wol replied fervently.
"Kang Seongsaeng shouldn't have attended such an event!"
Baek-gap's face turned pale.
It was a situation of great emergency.
He suddenly remembered something else the Clan Leader had said to him.
"If anything happens to him whilst you are present, report it to me immediately, and in the case that you hear of something happening to him from someone else…"
He didn't wish to recall the rest of the Clan Leader's sentence.
When the music teacher left after sighing, Baek-gap immediately left for the forest behind the house. Hidden in the forest was a trap door, under which there was a secret pa.s.sage that led to the Jimilgak within the Hwacheon Clan Headquarters.
As soon as he entered to Jimilgak, he presented his ident.i.ty tag, and using a secret language, spoke of his mission to the man sitting there.
"The crickets in the water are flapping their wings! It's an urgent situation, I have to see the Clan Leader."
"I understand."
His request was immediately conveyed, and soon the Clan Leader was standing in the Jimilgak.
"My greetings to you, Leader."
Baek-gap was trembling.
"For what purpose did you wish to meet me?"
Baek-gap exclaimed.
"Please, please kill me!"
"What happened?"
"That- well, Kang-hyuk Seongsaengnim went to the banquet for the teachers today…"
"He went and...?"
"Well….I found out that the banquet was hosted by martial arts teachers with the purpose of causing injury to Liberal Arts teachers."
"What?!"
Mu-jin expression grew fierce, causing Baek-gap to shrink even more.
Mu-jin calmed his expression upon seeing Baek-gap's fear.
"There's more to this, isn't there."
"Yes, well, the event is held at the top floor of Wolsoru. After the martial arts teachers feed the Liberal arts teacher a huge amount of alcohol, they are expected to collapse, and they then leave the collapsed teacher at the venue and leave."
"….they were able to afford Wolsuru?"
"It seems to be the case."
Mu-jin momentarily closed his eyes. He remembered that he had been to the venue together with Kang-hyuk once.
Whilst the banquet was held under the guise of forming friendships, its true purpose was far from it.
However, as the clan leader, it would most likely cause complications if he stepped in.
"Hahahaha!"
Mu-jin burst into laughter.
Whilst Baek-gap and the other warriors present began to look increasingly confused, Mu-jin kept on laughing.
After his laughing fit, Mu-jin finally spoke.
"Don't worry and go back. When he returns, give him a bowl of refreshing honey water."
"What? There's nothing to worry about?"
"Yes, don't worry. But as a warrior of Jimilgak, shouldn't you have been able to predict the situations he might befall, before they occur?"
Baek-gap had no choice but to admit his mistake.
'd.a.m.n it! I was so relieved when I found out I was only being a.s.signed to Hwacheon Academy. How could I have messed up on my first day?'
The clan leader told Baek-gap to raise his head.
"I'll decide your punishment for this mistake of yours later. But in the future, never let your guard down."
"I'm sorry!"
"You can return now."
Baek-gap breathed a sigh of relief and returned to Kang-hyuk's residence. Mu-jin gazed at his departing figure and stroked his beard.
His face ached from laughing too much.
'Anyway, in matters involving alcohol…. it's unlikely there's anyone in this world who could beat Hyung-nim in a round of drinking.'
***
Kang-hyuk sipped his wine and looked around the table.
It had only been an hour and a half since the banquet had begun, but the teachers after drinking gla.s.s after gla.s.s were completely hammered with their heads dropping to the table one-by one.
'Am I the only sober person here?'
Kang-hyuk rose from his seat. The liquor of Wolsoru was known to have an exquisite flavour whilst also being expensive.
However, he felt that it would be a little strange for him to sip it alone whilst everyone surrounding him had collapsed from drunkenness.
'Ah, so I'm not alone.'
Kang-hyuk walked towards a woman who was enjoying the evening views from the balcony.
The woman wore a blue uniform, and had a whip attached to her waist.
It was Ok Hae-mi.
"It seems as though Kang Seonsaeng is the winner."
Kang-hyuk tilted his head to the side. He was unable to smell any trace of alcohol on her person.
Seeing his confused expression, she laughed.
"To be honest, I didn't really want to come today. But they suggested that if I didn't want to partic.i.p.ate, I could be the judge instead. Which is why I haven't drank any alcohol."
As she was the judge, and had declared him as the winner, she spoke with authority.
"You can go leave to your residence."
Kang-hyuk nodded his head, but hesitated before turning to leave.
"But, what should we do about the collapsed teachers?"
Ok Hae-mi laughed at his question.
"Don't worry about that, you can just leave."
"Is it really okay? But they may be endangered in this state…"
"Its fine, Wolsoru has excellent guards, and this is a trustworthy venue."
"Hmm.."
"Moreover, although they're teachers, they are also Moorim Folk. Once they regain consciousness, they'll be able to release the drunken energy from their body."
Moorim folk indeed had the ability to move the Qi within their body to bring about a release of all drunkenness and a return to normal consciousness within a short period of time.
However, this was only possible when they were somewhat conscious.
Kang-hyuk was unable to comprehend the sight of the collapsed teachers.
'Any normal Moorim person would know to control the amount they drank if they were going to drink as not to completely lose consciousness. Tsk tsk. They've lost it."
In truth, the teachers had no intention of becoming drunk.
However, the sight of Kang-hyuk completely emptying gla.s.s after gla.s.s without becoming intoxicated hurt the pride of the martial arts teachers.
In order to protect their ego, they too began to drink. But alas, they were unable to surpa.s.s Kang-hyuk's drinking ability.
In the end, they became drunken to the extent of becoming unconscious and were unable to release the drunken energy from their body.
