Shim-gu inwardly clicked his tongue.

'Tsk tsk tsk. Just let it go. Even if you investigate for a hundred more days, you won't find any worthy evidence.'

Shim-gu was certain.

He knew that Kang-hyuk had something to do with the matter, and he knew that Kang-hyuk was thorough with these sorts of things.

'I remember Byeok Ae-rin telling me that they all ate the Immortal Peach.'

A single portion of the Immortal Peach was enough to completely satiate one's appet.i.te, as well as provide the consumer with strength, but it also had a certain side effect.

It blurred the memory of what had transpired an hour before, and what happened an hour after having consumed the fruit.

Therefore, those on the journey back to the academy, who had eaten the fruit, couldn't clearly remember the events that had transpired.

Eun Myeong-myeong offered Shim-gu a seat, then served him some tea.

He then spoke up cautiously, "Well, so…er…what brings you here?"

Shim-gu coughed.

"Ahem. Ahem ahem. About that. Could I borrow a few of the students?"

"Sorry? What do you mean by borrow?"

"I'm thinking of exploring the area around Seung Mountain. It's a task that's quite important, but not difficult, so I wanted to provide some of the students with the experience."

"Ah! In that case, how could I refuse you if it's for the sake of the students' development? But if that's the case, who do you have in mind to take?"

Shim-gu replied coolly, "All the students should be given a fair chance, so I'll select five at random."

"Please do so."

Shim-gu chose five students without much difficulty.

But internally, he felt a little apologetic to the five he had 'randomly' selected.

'It'll be painful, but they won't die at least...ahem ahem.'

***

Su Seon-tae was in a state of disbelief.

"What? I'm going to be temporarily transferred? But I'm only a first-year student?"

His expression was one of immense confusion.

Oh-Tae clearly repeated himself once more seeing his confusion.

"Students have been picked randomly across the year groups. I'll repeat myself one more time. Today, after you eat breakfast, go to Cheongpungwan. Shim-gu Jangro-nim [1] wants to give you students the experience of inspection."

"Okay, I understand."

"Keep this a secret from the other students."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Su Seon-tae was incredibly elated.

This random happening was like a blessing of luck for him. He didn't know how he had been picked, but he was aware that whenever a student was temporarily transferred, their points would acc.u.mulate, and these points would have an effect on their overall success.

More specifically, their success in gaining a position within the Clan.

He hurriedly began to pack his luggage.

"Ah! I almost forgot!"

Su Seon-tae packed his fragrance oil, as well as the rotting powder into his bag.

The fragrance oil was to conceal the smell of his rotting body parts, and the rotting powder, or the White Tiger Spirit Powder was to...

'Now…I can't live without this….'

After finishing his breakfast, while carrying his luggage, Su Seon-tae headed over to Cheongpungwan.

"Huh?"

He noticed that he wasn't the only person waiting. There were four other students standing there.

"h.e.l.lo?"

Only one amongst the students waiting was a fellow first year student. The rest were all senior to Su Seon-tae.

There were two second-year students, and one third-year student.

"Ah, yes, nice to meet you."

After greeting the students, Su Seon-tae realized that something was a little odd. All of them exuded a strong fragrance.

It was almost as though they had bathed in fragrance oil, just like him.

A man walked up to them. It was Shim-gu, without the youthful guise of the Byeonyeongsul technique.

"So, is everyone here?"

Surprised by Shim-gu's sudden appearance, the students began to straighten their postures.

They recognized him because Shim-gu had visited the academy once before, and also because the students were taught about the important figureheads of Moorim.

"Greetings to you, Shim Jangro-nim!"

They bowed with immense respect.

Shim-gu was also known as the Black Fan Emperor.

It was a nickname that had stuck to him owing to his constantly black attire, as well as his black fan. Then again, Shim-gu wasn't particularly fond of the nickname.

The students were aware of this, and so, they addressed him as 'Shim Jangro-nim', and not with his nickname.

"Yes, it's good to meet you all. I see that all five of you are here. Well then, let's get going. Follow me."

"Yes!"

As Shim-gu began to move, the five students followed behind him.

As they were initially walking at a steady pace, the students began to introduce themselves to one another.

The first year students were Su Seon-tae and Eon Gmin.

The second year students were Go-yul and Pyeong Hae-hae, while the remaining third year student was called So Gyeong-bu.

As Shim-gu overheard what year each student was in, he began to wonder. 'Seeing as there aren't any fourth-year students, I guess the Dark Medicine Valley wasn't able to reach them. Or maybe it was a little more difficult to approach the fourth-year students?'

As Shim-gu was also a graduate of the academy, he was to some extent aware of the mentality of the students.

From autumn, third-year students were usually temporarily transferred from the academy to be a.s.signed to a task of some sort. This task usually involved a.s.sisting the warriors of the Clan.

Shim-gu found out himself at that time in his life- how dangerous the drugs that had been prohibited by the clan really were.

He had seen the damage they caused with his own two eyes.

And so, he used whatever other various methods there were to success, but never touched drugs.

'Those five fellows are fools who haven't realized these things yet.'

He recalled the words of Kang-hyuk, who was waiting at the drug addiction treatment centre he had created near Seung Mountain.

Kang-hyuk had requested something of him.

"It would be good if they completely ran out of stamina and qi on the way to the mountain."

Shim-gu grinned.

'It's a request from my Hyung-nim, how could I fail to follow?'

He had a good method in mind to squeeze out all of their stamina.

Shim-gu stopped all of a sudden, then turned to look at the students who were following behind him.

"Right. From now on, we'll be travelling by Gyeonggong."

"Sorry? Did you say Gyeonggong?"

Shim-gu responded to Go-yun's reaction with some force.

"Are you trying to question me right now?"

"No-no! Not at all!"

"Then I'll take it that you're all ready."

The students hurried behind Shim-gu as he began to travel with Gyeonggong.

He moved at a speed that the students could follow with some exertion.

If they traveled all the way to Seung Mountain like this, they would be in the type of state that Kang-hyuk was wanting them to be in.

***

The name 'Kang-hyuk's drug addiction treatment centre' sounded quite grandiose, but in reality, this wasn't so.

All that was needed for the treatment centre was a wide empty s.p.a.ce.

Therefore, an appropriate valley was chosen for the centre, and an empty s.p.a.ce was created by clearing away some trees.

"This will be sufficient."

This wasn't a task that Kang-hyuk was executing on his own. He had his servant, Baek-gap, by his side.

Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g was at the academy. As a teaching a.s.sistant, he was taking care of Kang-hyuk's duties while he was out.

"Seonsaengnim, I've made the firewood as you've instructed."

"You've worked hard."

Kang-hyuk praised Baek-gap for his labours. He had already cut down four trees, and also made firewood out of the cut trees.

"But what exactly are you planning to do here by creating such a wide empty s.p.a.ce?"

Kang-hyuk replied to Baek-gap's query, "It's a drug addiction treatment centre."

"Pardon?"

"Are you familiar with the White Tiger Spirit Powder?"

Being by Kang-hyuk's side, Baek-gap had already heard about the students' usage of the powder.

"I am."

"Let's call it the rotting powder, the other name is too grand for its reality. Anyway, as the powder is a type of poison, as the consumer continuously intakes it, the poison builds up within their system, which in turn make their body rot gradually. So, how would you detoxify this poison?"

Baek-gap was a man that had read all of the books in Jimilgak's library. Therefore, he had a fairly fast response to Kang-hyuk's question.

"Nothing other than the Great Illness Pill, or possibly the Eternal Snow Ginseng, could detoxify this poison. It can't be naturally flushed out by the body."

"You know well."

Baek-gap spoke carefully, "are you…by any chance…going to use the Great Illness Pill or the Eternal Snow Ginseng on the students?"

"Why would I?!"

Baek-gap abruptly blinked at Kang-hyuk's unexpected reaction.

"Those fellows haven't done anything good for me to use those expensive medicines on them. Do you think I'm some pushover?"

Kang-hyuk had piles of those medicines stacked up in his warehouse, but had no intention, or any reason, to use them on the students.

The students weren't even forced to consume the rotting powder, it was something they chose to take out of their own free will. Therefore, they were in the wrong.

Kang-hyuk felt that their usage of the powder was quite hidden from the school authorities, thus preventing their expulsion was already a sufficient blessing for the students.

"Then, how are you going to detoxify the poison?"

"The method is a little bothersome, but it isn't complicated. It involves inflicting external shocks to their entire body, thereby crushing and burning up the internal poison."

"I…I see," Baek-gap scratched his head while replying.

Kang-hyuk's explanation seemed plausible. It essentially meant that the poison of the rotting powder would be detoxified by jolting all parts of the body.

'In the end, he's going to beat them up.'

As Baek-gap realized the truth behind Kang-hyuk's words, he felt a chill run through his body. He suddenly understood why this particular site had been chosen for the drug addiction treatment centre.

And also why a large empty s.p.a.ce was required.

"It'll hurt, won't it?"

"Well, they won't die at the very least."

This most likely meant that they'd be beaten to the brink of death.

Despite this being a natural consequence of their own actions, Baek-gap began to pity the students that were soon to arrive.

Suddenly, Byeok Ae-rin's voice resounded out from afar.

"Seonsaengnim."

She spoke with a bright voice.

"Shim-gu Orabeoni and the students are coming. They'll most likely reach the area in around fifteen minutes."

"Thanks for letting me know."

Soon, fifteen minutes went by, and Shim-gu, along with the students, had arrived.

"Right, we have arrived at our destination."

The students looked puzzled. As far as they had been aware, the reason they had been temporarily taken out of the academy was to inspect the area around the Seung Mountain with Shim-gu.

But the location at which they had arrived was a large, empty s.p.a.ce with a bonfire burning at its centre.

It looked just like a training ground.

Moreover, there were also people they hadn't antic.i.p.ated to be present there.

"Kang-hyuk Seonsaengnim?"

"Why is the horticulture teacher here?"

Kang-hyuk walked up to them and spoke, addressing their queries.

"Firstly, I extend a warm welcome to the students that have arrived. As you all know, my name is Kang-hyuk, and I'm a horticulture teacher."

He then continued.

"I too am involved in this task, and my task over the next three days is to raise your standards."

"To raise our standards?"

"Yes. Shim-gu Jangronim didn't elaborate on the matter as it's quite confidential, but this task is of great importance."

The students gulped at Kang-hyuk's words, suddenly looking grim.

They had heard of this happening before.

That when being transferred, the task was explained as a simple one, but when the student arrived, the actual task was a stark contrast to that which had been initially explained.

And, that if they successfully accomplished this task, they would earn a great amount of points.

They could even be specially recruited into the Hwacheon Clan.

The eyes of the students shined in antic.i.p.ation.

Kang-hyuk carried on, "But before the task, you all need to raise your standards and train."

A student raised their hand in question. It was the third-year student, So Gyeong-bu.

"Are you going to be training us, Kang Seonsaengnim?"

"I am."

"But aren't you a horticulture teacher…."

The student was doubting whether a teacher that taught a liberal arts subject, that wasn't even a martial arts subject teacher, could even lead them in training.

Kang-hyuk responded, "When walking along the path of life, you should never believe a person's external appearance as their reality. A reality that you are yet unaware of can make things hard for you."

Another student raised their hand. It was a first-year student, Eon Gmin.

"Could I understand then, that Seonsaengnim's true ident.i.ty is confidential?"

"You're quite quick-witted."

Kang-hyuk addressed the five students.

"Right, you can all place your luggage near the bonfire and gather there."

"Yes!"

The students all answered in unison and placed their luggage by the bonfire.

They then stood in front of Kang-hyuk in joyous antic.i.p.ation.

They had no idea of what they would soon be experiencing.

"My training will involve developing your patience, tenacity, and overall skills. You can begin by attacking me."

"Sorry?"

"Attack you?"

"Yes."

Kang-hyuk took his attendance book out his sleeve. He then spoke while rolling up the thin attendance book in his hands.

[1] Jangro-nim - Korean for the word 'elder'.