"I'm out."
It was Ok Hae-mi.
She purposely yawned.
"I've said this before, a lack of sleep is the enemy of good skin. I'll see you all tomorrow."
A teacher retorted, looking displeased.
"You dropped out last time and you're dropping out again! You think your beauty is more important than the task at hand! This is why women shouldn't be martial arts teachers…"
Ok Hae-mi smiled, unconcerned by his taunts, and smoothly spoke, "As it is, my martial skills are lacking, so my beauty is the only thing I've got going for me, no?"
"If you invested the time you spent worrying about your skin in cultivation, you would be at a peak skill level by now…tsk tsk."
"Thanks for your advice. Anyway, good luck with your endeavour. Hahaha."
Ok Hae-mi smiled and left the drinking shop.
Whilst she seemed composed, her hands were curled into fists and trembling.
"Those mannerless teachers!"
She already had a peak level of cultivation.
If she wished so, she could have crushed them in an instant.
But, she was restraining herself.
If word slipped out that her cultivation was at a peak level, it was almost certain that someone from her 'family' would seek her out.
That would be a fiery situation.
'I….don't want to fight.'
She sighed and looked behind. The other teachers were discussing how they were going to storm Kang-hyuk's residence.
There were ten martial teachers gathered.
They said that they were intending on conveying their feelings to Kang-hyuk, but it was obvious to her what sort of method they were going to utilize to do so.
She could imagine what kind of state Kang-hyuk was going to be left in.
For whatever reason, her intuition was telling her to keep away from the situation as it would be dangerous.
She recalled Kang-hyuk's words of warning to her.
'If they intend on tormenting innocent teachers and it doesn't work out… well, wouldn't that be karma?"
***
Kang-hyuk proudly gazed upon the practice plot, newly named Yeongyowon.
'Now it's perfect for practicing.'
Thanks to his hard work, Yeongyowon had become a site full of potential for the Horticultural training of his students.
He straightened up his posture and looked around, noticing that night had already fallen.
Most people would have stopped working as soon as it started becoming dark, but Kang-hyuk had no issues working whether it was night or day.
Kang-hyuk suddenly felt something touching his back. He turned his head at the sensation. It was a tree branch that had stretched out towards him, touching his back.
"Huh?
Kang-hyuk wasn't alarmed.
"Why did you do that?"
At his question, the branch pointed in a direction. It was the direction of Kang-hyuk's residence.
Kang-hyuk smiled.
"You needn't have worried. I already know."
Kang-hyuk straightened out his clothes.
"I should probably go then."
He slowly began to walk towards his residence.
***
Inside the kitchen of Kang-hyuk's residence, Baek-gap sighed as he was stirring a pot with a long silver rod.
Inside the pot were pieces of Baby Ginseng root being boiled in honey. Most people have felt joyous at seeing such large quant.i.ties of such a precious medicine, but this was not the case with Baek-gap. He sighed once more.
"d.a.m.n it! I've been in this kitchen for two days now, but I haven't gotten through candying half of them yet!"
He cried out without even realizing it at the recollection of the piles of Baby Ginseng root stacked up in the store room.
"Aaaaggghhhh!"
"I'm a rank of seventy three in Jimilgak!"
The ranking system in Jimilgak had a numerical a.s.signment. The head of Jimilgak was a rank of one, the second in command was ranked two and so on.
If your rank was below one hundred, you were recognized as outstandingly qualified and were also able to meet the Clan Leader.
Baek-gap always had high self-esteem and confidence in his skills, but in recent times, this was rapidly eroding.
One of the contributing reasons was linked to the pot he was stirring with the silver rod.
"Hahaha! d.a.m.n it! How am I, a Jimilgak warrior, being used as a cook?"
Baek-gap could hear the sound of footsteps coming towards the residence.
'Do we have a guest?'
But given the light, almost soundless footsteps, he felt that it was unlikely to be a guest.
'Who could it be?'
The kitchen door suddenly burst open, and a loud, threatening voice rang out.
"Kang Seonsaeng! I know you're in here, so you'd better come out quickly…."
Baek-gap blankly stared at the person who had burst through the door.
It was the martial teacher, Paeng-ji, and behind him were other martial arts teachers.
Whilst Baek-gap was unable to ascertain why they would burst in, he felt that it would be best to remain vigilant.
He greeted them politely, while consciously boosting his Qi energy from within.
"What business are you here for so late at night?"
"Who are you?"
"I'm Baek-gap, Kang Seonsaeng's servant."
"Servant?"
"Yes."
"Where is Kang Seonsaeng?"
"He went to the Yeongyowon site."
"You aren't lying, are you?"
Baek-gap inwardly sighed. He was already in a state of frustration, and now he had to deal with these teachers that had burst in.
"I'm only a servant. What would I achieve by lying? Although honestly speaking, it's quite odd for people to be coming here so late at night."
"What? You're quite rude, aren't you?!"
"So what if I'm rude, what are you going to do? Are you going to kill me?"
"It's illegal to kill within the school grounds, but it isn't illegal to beat someone!"
As the teachers gathered together in preparation of attack, Paeng-ji stepped forward.
"Why would we all need to beat him? I can deal with this arrogant fellow alone!"
Paeng-ji's clothes swelled with the rise in his energy.
"The master is arrogant, so it's unsurprising that the servant is the same. You will soon regret your rudeness!"
Paeng-ji was drawing up the energy within him into his fists, and threw them towards Baek-gap in attack.
Baek-gap observed Paeng-ji's attack.
'He is using peak cultivation energy to attack!'
Seeing as Baek-gap too had a peak level of cultivation, he was more than capable of blocking the attack. But if they both engaged in a peak level of combat, there's no guarantee that the building would stay standing.
'Oh my, why did I do that?'
He regretted his rage at Paeng-ji.
It was because if he blocked the attack, it would reveal that he was no ordinary servant.
'I even pa.s.sed the tests of self-restraint at Jimilgak, I should have controlled myself!'
However, if he allowed the attack, it was obvious that he would be injured.
'Ah! If I'm injured, doesn't that mean I can't work as a servant for the time being?'
He then remembered who he was working for. Kang-hyuk was the type of man that would feed him medicine that would cause him to have an instantaneous recovery, and then set him back to work.
He looked at the silver rod in his hand, and thought he could put it to good use.
Baek-gap moved quickly, and blocked Paeng-ji's attack with the rod he was using to stir the candied roots.
The sound of iron clashing against the palm of Paeng-ji's hand was heard.
The martial teachers in the background blinked at the unexpected sight of an ordinary servant blocking the attack of a master with peak cultivation with the use of a kitchen utensil.
They were also surprised that there were no energetic after-shocks from the collision.
The wicker basket, rice scoop and ladle hanging on the kitchen wall hadn't even trembled in movement.
Paeng-ji too, was rather taken aback by the situation.
'That lad was able to stop my attack by scattering my energy?'
His attack wasn't an attack that a mere servant would be able to block so easily.
'Who is this guy?'
Baek-gap paid no attention to Paeng-ji, but was instead looking at the silver rod in his hands.
"d.a.m.n it! It was the real thing!"
At that moment, another teacher cried out in astonishment.
"Aaahhh!"
The sound attracted the attention of everyone in the room.
"That, that rod, is it the Silver Tear Rod?"
"Silver Tear Rod?"
The teachers were completely taken aback.
In the past, there was a monk of the Shaolin temple that had quelled the whole of Moorim with a single rod. He was known to have had a pure heart and an unyielding spirit.
The emperor, impressed by this feat, commissioned a rod to be made with materials of the highest quality and presented it to that monk. That rod was known as the Silver Tear Rod.
The rod was renowed for its ability for being able to scatter away the energy of malicious attacks.
It was rumoured that after his death, the monk had given the rod to his disciple, but it had never been openly seen for many centuries.
It was ridiculous to the teachers that such an artefact was in the hands of a mere servant.
Baek-gap replied to the question.
"Yes, this is indeed the Silver Tear Rod."
There was a gasp.
"Oh my word!"
The man who was able to recognize the Silver Tear Rod taught the stick martial arts, and his name was Cheong-gyeong.
"Why do you have such a precious stick!"
"I was using this to stir the Baby Ginseng roots boiling in the honey so the pot wouldn't overflow."
"What?"
They then noticed a yellow coloured sticky liquid at the end of the rod.
Cheong-gyeong spoke again, enraged.
"This crazy guy! I'm going to fix his…"
"I know right, it is unbelievable! Such an artefact can't even be bought with money and I'm having to use it for stirring the candying roots!"
Suddenly, a voice was finally heard. It was a familiar, yet slightly terrifying voice.
"You aren't calling me a mad man, are you?"
"Huh!"
Baek-gap flinched in fear. It was from the sight of Kang-hyuk who could be seen standing behind the teachers.
Kang-hyuk moved through the teachers to enter into the kitchen, and after peering into the pot, slapped Baek-gap's back.
"Ah! Why did you hit me?"
"The candying roots are overflowing! Hurry and stir them now!"
"Oh…"
"You don't want to do it?"
"Not, not at all! I will stir it right away!"
Baek-gap took the Silver Tear Rod, and immediately began stirring the pot full of the candying roots. Most people wouldn't have been able to even touch the rod from its heat, but Baek-gap was a peak warrior.
He protected his hands with his Qi to stir the pot with the rod.
Kang-hyuk then turned his attention to the group of teachers that had gathered in his kitchen.
"Anyway, what are you all here for so late at night?"
"That, well….."
The dagger teacher was about to speak, but someone spoke before him.
"You! Are you in your right mind?"
It was the stick martial arts teacher, Cheong-gyeong.
"What do you mean?"
"You're using the Silver Tear Rod to stir candied roots!"
"Are you saying I shouldn't?"
"Of course you shouldn't!"
"Why shouldn't I use it?"
"Well…"
Kang-hyuk smiled at Cheong-gyong who was unable to think of a response.
"I'm using the rod for a task for which it will have the greatest effect."
"What kind of rubbish are you saying…!"
"The Silver Tear Rod has the ability to disperse malicious energy, and there may be some undesirable energy within the Baby Ginseng roots! Don't you think it is my duty to make candied roots of the best quality to feed the students?"
The swordsmanship teacher, Oh-Tae stepped out.
"It's good that this has come up. We're unhappy that you are feeding the students the candied Baby Ginseng roots."
"What's your reason?"
"You are a liberal arts subject teacher. You don't have the right to interfere in the students' martial cultivation."
"But I want to do it anyway."
"What did you just say?"
Oh-Tae backed away with widened eyes. He thought he must have misheard him. But, this was not so.
"I told you that this is my wish. Do you have any issues with it?"
