Eh, No Way!

I threw on a loose top and dashed outside.

"Master! Help!"

The desperate cry came from the direction of my father, Baek Muheon's room. It was a familiar voice.

'What's happening at this late hour?'

Most people should be in bed at this time but for someone to come looking for my father at this hour was highly unusual. Moments later, as I reached my father's quarters, I saw a young boy kneeling under the lantern and sobbing in front of my father.

'Who's that?'

It was Jang-Yi, the second son of the Jang family from the clothing shop, and the leader of the little rascals I taught. He was the same boy who had come to me this morning, sulking and begging me to teach him martial arts faster.

Suddenly, I recalled what my father had mentioned earlier:

"The Jang family had visited earlier, saying their son had returned home in a dreadful state."

Could it be that… he came to complain because he was angry about being used as a training dummy?

"Such a despicable little…"

Just as I was about to utter a word in frustration, the little rascal sniffled and shouted.

"Please! Save my older brother!"

"Master Baek! Please save our son!"

Looking again, I saw that behind the young boy, Mr. Jang from the cloth shop was carrying a bloodied young boy.

"What happened?"

The expression on my father's face became rigid as he checked the condition of the bloodied boy. He took the boy from Mr. Jang and laid him on the floor, examining him.

'The injuries are from martial arts.'

I quietly approached my father and examined the boy's condition. Despite being somewhat crude, it was clearly an injury from martial arts.

"Ugh…"

As my father touched and examined the boy's body, the boy squirmed and moaned. Seeing this, the little brother cried and snot flowed from his nose beside his brother. Mr. Jang, the boy's father, also had a desperate expression.

"Please, save our eldest son!"

The bloodied boy was Mr. Jang's eldest son, who was five years older than the young boy I taught. After examining the boy's body, my father let out a sigh of relief.

"Several bones are broken, but the internal organs are intact. His life should be safe. I'll perform emergency treatment now, and you should take him to a proper physician tomorrow for a thorough check-up."

As my father touched several of the boy's acupoints, his expression relaxed, and he fell asleep peacefully.

Due to his extensive efforts to find doctors and herbalists for his sick wife and son, my father had become well-versed in medicine. Especially when it came to external injuries, he was better than most physicians, and the villagers would often turn to him first in case of injuries.

"Thank you so much! Really, thank you!"

"Master Baek, my brother won't die, will he? He's really going to be okay, right?"

Mr. Jang bowed repeatedly, and the young boy continued to cling to my father's clothes with a worried face.

"Don't worry. After a few days of rest, he'll be fine."

My father lifted the young boy and patted his head. The boy cried in his arms and then fell asleep. After leaving the sleeping boy with me, my father turned to Mr. Jang with a cold, steely expression.

"Who did this?"

The chilling hostility in my father's tone made the hairs on my arms stand on end.

'It was expected, but...'

Though he claimed to be just an unremarkable martial artist without a reputation, it was clear to me that he was far from ordinary.

"W-well…"

As Mr. Jang continued to hesitate, the snot-nosed kid, now awake, shouted with a fierce expression from my arms.

"It was Jin Academy's doing!"

"They picked a fight with my brother first! They said the martial arts taught at Baek Muheon's place were cheap and looked down on us!"

"Jin Academy?"

Jin Academy was a martial arts school that had recently opened in a neighboring village a few months ago.

Rumor had it that the head of Jin Academy was a distant relative of the Namgung family.

'Probably an exaggeration. No matter how distant, why would someone from one of the Five Great Families set up a martial arts school in such a far out village?'

Baek Muheon had no interest in the new martial arts school in the neighboring village while the Baek Academy had been a respected institution in the region for over 20 years.

But that indifference ended today. They had clearly crossed the line.

"Did they really say that?"

At father's coldly glaring question, Jang Yi nodded vigorously.

"Yes! They said Baek Academy's martial arts are terrible and that their own martial arts are far superior!"

"Did several disciples from Jin Academy attack Jang Il?"

"No, it was just one person…"

Jang Yi stammered, then shouted angrily.

"But it was still cowardly! Yang Sam knows all about our martial arts!"

"...So it was Yang Sam, that bastard."

Even though the academy was financially strained, father had a principle of not teaching martial arts to those he considered morally corrupt. Yang Sam was one such person—once a kind and diligent child, he had grown into someone who had been expelled from the academy after showing troubling behavior. It seemed Yang Sam had recently learned martial arts at Jin Academy.

"That bastard picked a fight with our brother! He tried to avoid a fight, but Yang Sam even insulted Master and our parents…"

Indeed, even a perfect person wouldn't tolerate insults against their parents.

It seemed that Yang Sam held a grudge against the disciples of Baek Academy who had expelled him. However, I had one question.

'Did Yang Sam act alone?'

The wounds on Jang Il's bloodied body made me notice something while examining the injuries beside father.

'He used a killing technique.'

If Yang Sam had been even a bit more ruthless, the eldest son of the Jang family could have been permanently disabled. The methods used were excessively brutal for a rural academy.

"Hmm…"

Father, too, appeared to be deep in thought, his handsome forehead creased with worry.

"It was just a fight between kids. As long as my son is safe, I am content."

Seeing father's serious expression, Mr. Jang seemed to sense that the situation might escalate, and he waved his hands in a panic.

He was a simple rural man. Just seeing his son so badly beaten was enough to make his heart race, and he feared that a real conflict among martial artists might bring trouble to him.

"Regarding today's incident…"

Father, who had been lost in thought, finally looked up and spoke to Mr. Jang.

"Tomorrow morning, I will personally meet with the head of Jin Academy to resolve this matter."

Mr. Jang, who looked extremely worried, voiced his concern. "Isn't this going to make things worse?"

Father smiled reassuringly and said, "Don't worry. I will address this as a friendly piece of advice."

"Okay. I'll trust Master Baek…"

"It's late, so you should head home for the night. I will take care of Jang Il until morning."

"Thank you so much! Really, thank you!"

Mr. Jang repeatedly thanked father with deep bows, while the young Jang-Yi, who was still asking for revenge for his older brother, was dragged away by his father.

I escorted the two of them to the door in place of father.

In my mind, the killing techniques taught by Jin Academy's disciples kept replaying.

'Will it really end with just a warning?'

Although father said he would resolve it through conversation, I had a feeling that the situation wouldn't end so simply.

✧

My intuition turned out to be correct.

"What's all this commotion about so early in the morning?"

The man speaking with an arrogant attitude was a giant, at least a head taller than father.

'This mountain bandit-like guy is supposed to be a distant relative of the Namgung family?'

Just from his stride, I could tell a lot. I could discern what kind of martial arts he practiced, his physical condition, his habits in a fight, and his level of skill. Having taught countless disciples of the Blood Demon Sect and observed many masters, something like this became natural to me.

In light of my experience, this bandit-like man before me was at best a second-rate practitioner.

The problem is this guy...

"Last night, one of our academy's disciples fought with a disciple from Jin Academy and was badly injured."

"Why make such a fuss over a children's fight?"

Although father spoke politely, Namgung Wook spoke with sarcasm, picking his ears nonchalantly.

"...The injuries on Jang Il's body are too severe for a mere children's fight."

"Boys will fight and get hurt as they grow. If a man is afraid of getting hurt like a girl, how can he become a true man?"

Namgung Wook was clearly disrespecting Baek Muheon implying that coming to argue about such matters was unmanly. Although father must have understood the contempt behind the smile, his expression remained unchanged.

Calmly, with his hands behind his back, father replied, "I don't know if the Jin Academy's goal is to turn children into 'real men' through martial arts, but I teach to ensure that children grow up healthy and can protect themselves from bandits. Therefore, I do not teach methods that can severely harm others."

Father then turned and addressed one of the young men standing behind Namgung Wook.

"Yang Sam. Do you know that you almost killed your friend last night?"

The young man, unable to meet father's cold gaze, looked away and clenched his teeth before responding, "It was a legitimate sparring match!"

"Is that what you really think?"

"Well, um…"

"Hey, just what are you doing to our student?"

Namgung Wook, with his massive build, blocked the space between father and Yang Sam. He glared at father with a fierce expression.

"If your student loses, just go and teach your student properly. How dare you come to someone else's establishment and cause a fuss over a child getting beaten up?"

"Hey, watch what you say."

"Well, if the teacher's martial arts are inadequate, then of course the student gets beaten."

"Ha…"

Namgung Wook openly provoked father.

By now, a crowd of onlookers had gathered around us. 'It's a trap, he planned this.'

It was clear now. The Jin Academy had set up this situation, using Yang Sam to attack Jang Il. And now that father had come, they were seizing the opportunity to publicly humiliate him and stir up trouble.

If father backed down here, he would be labeled a coward, and The Baek Academy's reputation would suffer, leading to a drop in students.

"Hey, Baek Academy's master. If a mere children's fight turns into an adult confrontation, what's the point? Just leave now. I'll tell our students not to bully the weak in the future."

Namgung Wook was taunting father with his words but did not directly challenge him. If father acted on his anger, and were to initiate a martial arts duel…

'He'd only be seen as a petty person seeking revenge for a children's fight.'

Even if father won in a duel, it wouldn't result in favorable rumors.

'This bandit-like guy is quite cunning. Or is someone else pulling the strings?'

The Jin Academy was still establishing itself and had few students. However, today's events would certainly spread as rumors.

Perhaps… as the Baek Academy's reputation declined, the Jin Academy's would rise.

"Ahem! It seems that not everyone knows."

Taking the opportunity, a man with a goat-like beard who had been quietly standing next to Namgung Wook spoke loudly, as if to make sure everyone heard.

"Here, we have the great Namgung Wook, who is the cousin of the legendary Heavenly Sword King, Namgung Jehak, and a member of the illustrious Namgung family!"

The names from the Heavenly Martial Academy and the Namgung family stirred a murmur among the onlookers. Even in this countryside, the names of the Five Great Families were impressive.

Namgung Wook cleared his throat loudly and waved his hand dismissively.

"Ahem! It's merely a distant branch. I'm just living diligently so as not to bring shame to the Namgung name."

I doubt he's actually from the Namgung clan, I bet my life on it.

In any case, whatever choice Father made here, it would only lead to a disadvantage.

Unless I do something about it.

"Wow. So, does that mean the martial arts taught at The Jin Academy are also from the Namgung family?"

"Hm?"

Namgung Wook glanced at me with a look as if to say, "Why are you even here?"

I hunched my shoulders, pretending to be nervous, and spoke.

"This is the first time I've seen the martial arts of the Five Great Families. Is it really true that Jin Academy teaches the Namgung family's martial arts?"

He chuckled at my awkward expression and tone, then puffed up his chest, "Technically, you could say so. Of course, it's not exactly the same as the main sect's techniques, but if you trace its roots, it's the same martial art…"

The onlookers murmured in amazement, "Ooooh."

Noticing something odd, the bearded man's expression slightly faltered, but before that, I continued.

"Ah! No wonder. The power is truly impressive. It seems Yang Sam's skills have improved tremendously in just a few months!"

"You…"

Father looked at me as if to ask what I was doing, but I silenced him with a glance and continued speaking.

"To think I would get such an opportunity! Now I can say I've seen the martial arts of one of the Five Great Families!"

"Haha! You have quite the discerning eye. If you wish, I can teach you too!"

Smirk.

Unable to hold it in any longer, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

"Yes, I never imagined there would be such deadly techniques in the Namgung family's martial arts. I thought it was such a fierce technique that it must have been from the demonic sect."

"...What?"

Namgung Wook and the bearded man's expressions hardened, and the laughter from the Jin Academy students who had been subtly mocking us stopped abruptly.

Namgung Wook's face twisted slowly into a scowl.

"What did you just say? You should watch your words…"

"I said, it seems like demonic sect martial arts. You know, the ones that are very quick and easy to learn at the beginning, but if you continue practicing, they're just perfect to come back and cripple you."

"Wh-what!"

The onlookers, who had been watching with puzzled expressions, now looked horrified.

The bearded man next to Namgung Wook's face turned red with rage, and he trembled violently.

And the more they flustered, the more my smile deepened.

"Oh, surely not? You wouldn't teach such demonic techniques under the prestigious Namgung name, would you?"

For the record, not all demonic sect martial arts are evil and dangerous.

Among them, there were some demonic sect techniques just as profound as righteous sect techniques, and some with minimal side effects.

Of course what the public perceives is vastly different.

Just like now.

"From now on, can I boast to everyone I meet that I've witnessed the Namgung family's secret arts? I'll put in a word of recommendation to your name with the Martial Arts Alliance as well."

The color drained completely from Namgung Wook's face.