Kang-hyuk moved as he spoke.
And…
*Bbak!*
*Pok!*
*Po-ok!*
The mere sound of Kang-hyuk's strike was enough to make someone flinch. The students screamed out since being hit with the attendance book was more painful than expected.
"Argh!"
"Seo-seonsaengnim! We surrender! Surrender!"
"There's no such thing as surrendering! Why aren't you attacking me when I've told you to attack?"
"Arghhh!"
It wasn't that the students didn't want to attack, but it was that they couldn't attack.
They missed each time they attempted to strike Kang-hyuk.
It also didn't help that their physical stamina was almost completely exhausted from the journey to the mountain.
While the students were enduring Kang-hyuk's violent attacks, Shim-gu and Byeok Ae-rin were in stealthy movement.
Their goal was the rotting powder in the students' luggage.
They were both hidden under the invisibility technique, and the students were busy being beaten up, so they had no idea that their rotting powder had disappeared.
It soon grew dark.
"Ahh….I can't move anymore…."
"This is enough for today…."
The exhausted five students were sprawled out on the floor near the bonfire.
The power of Kang-hyuk's attendance book had taken them by surprise.
Whilst the pain ran throughout their entire body, there was no sign of bruising.
Moreover, they felt strangely refreshed and pleasant.
'Cou, could it be?'
'How could I feel this despite being beaten…'
'Am I pervert?'
'Arghhhh! That's not it!'
The students fell asleep whilst denying their sudden thoughts, but all five of them were sleeping with their arms wrapped around their luggage.
Byeok Ae-rin burst into laughter as she watched over them. "Ah really, it's cute. Hahaha."
It was obvious why they were sleeping with their arms tightly clasped over their luggage.
'The rotting powder has already left your luggage bags though.'
Byeok Ae-rin looked back as she heard Kang-hyuk approaching.
"What happened regarding what I said earlier?"
"They've all been collected."
"Good work."
They were referring to having taken the rotting powder out the students' luggage, and collecting them all elsewhere.
"Tomorrow morning, I'm going to have to see their expressions."
"Go ahead."
Morning had finally arrived.
The students practised Qigong as soon as they woke up, then went to the nearby valley to wash up.
Su Seon-tae too was headed to the valley, with his luggage bag in his hands.
He found a secluded location, and after hurriedly washing himself, he searched his bag for the rotting powder.
Unfortunately, he was unable to find it.
The rotting powder had disappeared.
"Wh-where is it? Where has it gone? I definitely brought it here with me!"
His face had completely paled.
He ransacked through his luggage, but the rotting powder was nowhere to be found.
'I-if it's gone, then I….'
He became desperate, merely contemplating living without the rotting powder for three days.
The other four students were in a similar state.
Therefore, they felt as though they had no choice but to give up on the training they had begun with great hopes.
"Hoh? Are you saying that you're giving up on the training?"
A student nodded in response to Kang-hyuk's question.
"I am."
The other students likewise stepped forward, saying that they likewise were giving up on the training.
"What's your reason?"
The students hesitated as they attempted to concoct a reason.
"Well, that...the thing is…"
"Is it because you're finding the training difficult?"
"Y-yes, that's it."
Kang-hyuk clicked his tongue.
"If you were successful with this task, all of you would have obtained a great amount of points."
"...."
The students had nothing to say.
It wasn't as though they didn't wish to obtain the points, but it was that they had no faith in their abilities without the rotting powder.
Kang-hyuk looked at them pitifully.
"You can't even handle this level of difficulty. I thought you were all fellows that were crazed after success."
"Pardon?"
"Isn't it because you were all crazy for success that you consumed the rotting powder despite being aware of its dangers?"
"...!"
The five students were taken aback.
They hadn't expected their secret, which they had put all efforts towards concealing, to have been found out.
"I noticed it during yesterday's training- that your internal energies aren't harmonious and consistent."
"...."
"And so, I searched through your luggage and found this."
Kang-hyuk unfurled his hand. Standing atop his palm was a bamboo container containing the rotting powder.
"I have confiscated your supplies of the rotting powder. If you have any excuses, you can try them out right now."
The students had no excuses in mind. They flopped down onto the ground, realizing that the situation they had feared had now arrived.
They were each surprised at the discovery that every student present was also utilizing the powder, but that wasn't the most pressing issue on their minds.
The issue of the rotting powder was an extremely sensitive one.
Despite knowing this, they chose to consume it. Nonetheless, all that filled the students' thoughts was the dishonourable expulsion they were now likely to experience. They knew that if they were expelled, their lives were essentially over.
Therefore, they began to beg.
"We're sorry, Seonsaengnim!"
"Please help us!"
"We don't want to die!"
Kang-hyuk responded to them with anger.
"I don't know how I'm going to face Shim Jangro-nim like this, finding that all five of you that he personally selected for this task are consuming the rotting powder!"
"I have wronged!"
"Please don't let us be expelled!"
Kang-hyuk clicked his tongue as he stared at the students.
"If this issue gets out, it will damage the honour of Shim Jangro-nim. Therefore, I'll cover it up. However!"
He spoke with an expression of intense disapproval.
"Now that this has happened, I'm going to have to make sure that none of you touch the rotting powder again!"
"What do you mean?"
"The intensity of the training will increase from today. So be prepared to endure it for three days! In the case that you can't endure it for three days, be prepared for a dishonourable expulsion!"
The students hardened their resolve. They felt that no matter what, they had to get through these three days.
"Keep the memory of this training that you are to endure deeply engraved in your body and mind. If any of you touch the rotting powder again, remember that I will personally roll out this training once more, with double the intensity."
Kang-hyuk shouted out sternly, "Begin to run around the s.p.a.ce! Now!"
Byeok Ae-rin, who was watching from behind, smiled at the scene.
'Ah! As expected of my lord! That acting fooled all of those old men of the Clan.'
The students would have never dreamed of the truth behind what they were currently experiencing.
That this training was something that had been planned from the very beginning, precisely because Kang-hyuk had been aware of their use of the rotting powder.
'I-I can't stand anymore!'
Su Seon-tae had fallen to the ground.
After the students ran one hundred laps around the s.p.a.ce, their training afterward was similar to the day before. They attempted to attack Kang-hyuk, while he struck back with his attendance book.
They had initially doubted how much being attacked with a thin stack of paper would hurt, but they soon realized that they had thought wrong.
One strike from the attendance book made them recall the faces of their parents whom they didn't usually think about.
But the current training was somewhat different from the training of the previous day.
Kang-hyuk said that he would increase the intensity of the training, but in actuality, this meant that he would increase the power with which he beat the students with his attendance book.
Yesterday, they remembered their parents' faces. But today, the G.o.d of death flickered before their eyes.
They couldn't even sit down and whine that they were in pain.
If they stopped attacking, they would receive concentrated blows.
And on top of all of that, Kang-hyuk would repeat the same phrases as he beat them with his book.
"If you ever touch the White Tiger Spirit Powder, aka the rotting powder again, you'll be beaten exactly like this once more. Do you want that to happen again?"
"If you don't want to be beaten again, don't even think of touching the rotting powder!"
"The reason why you're all in so much pain is because of the rotting powder!"
The students were fed up of repeatedly hearing the same thing whilst they were experiencing great pain.
"Could you please stop?"
"It's like we're being brainwashed."
"I'll never think of the rotting powder again, so please stop!"
Kang-hyuk shook his head, speaking as he wielded his attendance book.
"Stop spouting rubbish and just focus on the training! And it's not like you're being brainwashed, you must be brainwashed, that is the intention!"
*Pok!* *Pok Pok!*
"Why aren't you attacking? Attack!"
"Ahh! I- I am!"
"I am attacking! Ahhh!"
The students were so exhausted that they were gasping for their breaths. Kang-hyuk's training wasn't easy.
The pain from being struck by his attendance book was at an intense level that the students weren't even able to shed tears.
Kang-hyuk did have a slight ulterior motive in bothering the students a little more since they caused him extra botheration.
The students had no break time.
Drinking water had to be done whilst in action.
They could only eat after finishing their training, and the only food they had been given from the moment they had arrived was a tasteless Byeokgokdan [1].
They also only had two hours to rest and sleep.
The first and second days went by.
The third and last day had finally arrived.
The students were lying on the floor, muttering away amongst themselves at the slight rest they were now experiencing.
"I- I don't like the rotting powder…."
"Tell them to give the White Tiger Spirit Powder to the dogs!"
"I would be the son of a b.i.t.c.h if I ever touched the rotting powder again!"
"Uhuhuhuh. The rotting powder is scary!"
"We have to stop the seed of the rotting powder from spreading! s.h.i.t!"
The students' minds were now deeply embedded with a negative impression of the rotting powder.
This was thanks to Kang-hyuk's nonstop training they had experienced for the past three days.
Baek-gap spoke up with a quiet voice, "Seonsaengnim, is the treatment now over?"
Kang-hyuk shook his head.
"Not yet."
"Sorry? There's more?"
Byeok Ae-rin and Shim-gu clicked their tongues and looked at the students with a pitiful gaze.
They had already experienced the h.e.l.l-like training of Kang-hyuk. Even recalling those times sent shivers down their spines.
Unfortunately for them, the students' training was for a more severe reason. It was a drug addiction treatment.
Kang-hyuk then addressed the students, "Right, we're going to start our final training. This training will be a simple, but traditional training."
He grinned.
"It's climbing up the precipice of the mountain."
***
The students blinked as they heard what Kang-hyuk said.
It wasn't because they did not understand what climbing up a precipice meant.
It was because they had already trained so much that their consciousness itself was becoming fuzzy.
For them, climbing up a precipice in this state of being was akin to death by falling from the mountain.
Kang-hyuk continued to speak, "The real training for this task is climbing up the precipice. Now, you can tie each other up well with this rope."
Kang-hyuk held out a rope, before the students tied themselves to one another in a state of bewilderment.
Shim-gu and Byeok Ae-rin looked at the students with compa.s.sion.
They knew what Kang-hyuk's intention was behind asking them to tie themselves to one another with the rope.
It was a training method known as the collective responsibility precipice climb where all of the people climbing the precipice were connected with a single rope, and their task was to climb upwards with collective cooperation.
Therefore, the possibility that a single person would slip and die from the fall wasn't present, but there was a possibility that all the team members would slip and potentially die together.
This was of course due to the single rope that bound them all together.
If a single person happened to let go of the rope, the entire team would have to bear that person's weight.
So, for the collective safety of the team, it was necessary for all members to hold on tightly to the rope, and onto the precipice.
It was an excellent training method for fostering cooperation and team spirit between fellow colleagues.
However, the task itself wasn't easy in any way.
"Right, let's all get moving!"
Kang-hyuk led the students away from the training s.p.a.ce he had created towards the nearby mountain precipice.
"Ah…."
"Good…good G.o.d…."
"Huh!?"
The students' mouths were agape at the mere sight of the precipice.
It was just as they had imagined.
It was steep and high, so high that one was sure to die if they fell.
[1] Byeokgokdan - a fasting food taken to cleanse and strengthen the body for training, usually composed of grain powder, pine needle powder and pine nut powder which is combined into a ball with honey.
