Chapter 151: Field Training (1)

Just as everyone was staring at him with expressions of pure, unadulterated admiration, a hero stepped forward to save him from his impending death by public humiliation.

"O Lord of Ten Thousand Demons! Though it may be presumptuous of me to say, please grant our Bodybuilding Club the opportunity to showcase what we've been dedicating to all this time!"

The man who cried out while performing a full-body prostration was none other than Instructor Cheok Il-so.

Naturally, all eyes turned to him.

Tears of emotion glistened in the eyes of Mak Ho-yeol and Dokgo Pae.

After all, this might be their chance to display their hard work before this great personage.

"Since this wasn't scheduled beforehand, Instructor Cheok should step back for now."

The one who replied was Hall Master Yeom Ga-hwi. The old man was trying his best not to inconvenience the Heavenly Demon after this commotion.

"Hahaha. This old man doesn't mind at all, so let's give them a chance. After watching the Theater Club's performance, I find myself quite curious about what the other clubs have been practicing."

Once the Heavenly Demon gave his permission, Instructor Cheok Il-so bowed again and called out the students.

“Mak Ho-yeol! Dokgo Pae! Gwak Sul! To the front!”

As if their bodies had been itching for this moment, Mak Ho-yeol and Dokgo Pae practically flew forward the instant their names were called, followed by Gwak Sul waddling out reluctantly behind them.

Seeing the face Gwak Sul made, Jeong Hyeon and Il-mok felt an odd sense of kinship.

That was the face of an ox being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

As if flaunting their bonds, Cheok Il-so, Mak Ho-yeol, and Dokgo Pae exchanged glances and without words—

RIIIIIP!

They suddenly flexed and tore their martial uniforms to shreds.

“To achieve perfect martial form, external cultivation is every bit as crucial as internal energy! As martial artists, we shall display the bodies we've forged over the past six months to complete our Demonic Arts!"

With that proclamation, he began striking a series of poses to showcase his musculature.

They weren't the modern bodybuilding poses Il-mok was familiar with.

Instead, the three of them brandished their weapons—a spear, a saber, and a sword—and moved through their forms with much care and as slowly as possible without channeling any internal energy.

Flex. Flex.

With every deliberate motion, their obscenely overdeveloped muscles seemed to squirm and pulse in a grotesque ballet of bulging sinew.

'Ugh.'

Il-mok unconsciously scrunched his face at the grotesque sight.

***

After the eventful graduation ceremony ended, the Heavenly Demon and Hall Master Yeom Ga-hwi were having a private meeting in the Hall Master's quarters.

"I apologize for taking up so much of the Supreme One’s time."

The Heavenly Demon just smiled like a countryside elder.

"Haha, think nothing of it. The students of this Hall are the future of our Divine Cult. Watching them blossom is one of this old man’s greatest joys.”

After consoling the Hall Master, the Heavenly Demon stroked his beard and brought up something curious.

"Actually, watching today's ceremony gave me an idea. What if we continue holding graduation ceremonies like this in the future?"

“…From now on, my lord?”

When the Hall Master asked with a puzzled expression, the Heavenly Demon elaborated.

"Precisely. That boy from the Baek Family said it himself, didn’t he? That he would spread the greatness of our cult through the acting he honed in his club. The clubs are clearly bearing fruit. It would be wonderful if all the students could present their accomplishments in their graduation ceremony."

Yeom Ga-hwi bowed.

“I will see to it that starting next year, all clubs are prepared to perform.”

At the Hall Master's answer, the Heavenly Demon stroked his beard with satisfaction.

And thus, a new tradition was born at the Hall of the Demonic Way.

A tradition that was nothing short of a disaster for all introverted students, that is, student performance.

***

With the graduation of Baek Cheon and Mak Ho-yeol’s year, the Hall of the Demonic Way was once again filled with a quiet atmosphere.

But this was only from the students' perspective. For the instructors, this was their busiest time.

Instructor Cha Eun-young and others in charge of the second year were preparing entrance examinations to select new cadets, while the instructors teaching Il-mok's year had to prepare for the upcoming field training schedule.

“Are we really going out for field training?”

“I can’t believe we are already second-year students. The newbies will be here before we know it.”

"Huhu, we must show them something impressive."

That was the chatter from the Meditation Club trio hovering around me.

“Bwahaha! Field training! At last! I finally get to leave this place and unleash my martial arts to the fullest!”

"President Dokgo, this is a training. We have to follow the lead of the seniors from the martial divisions.”

That one was from Dokgo Pae, whose only concern was to charge like a wild boar, and Gwak Sul, who was trying to rein him in.

“Ohohoho, my only concern is that the senior might fall so hopelessly in love with my beauty.”

"Huhuhu, then they'll keep following Mi-hwa around, right? Begging her to join their unit after graduating from the Hall."

And that was Bang Mi-hwa and her partner-in-delusion, Ha Young.

"A-aren't you nervous, Miss Ju? W-we're going to meet new people again..."

"I am nervous! Graduation is only a year away! I have to make Young Master Il-mok notice me by then!”

Even Ju Seo-yeon and Jeong Hyeon who had grown somewhat close over their long time together were caught up in the atmosphere.

The entire class was practically vibrating with excitement.

Except for Il-mok.

"Tsk tsk."

Il-mok clicked his tongue while scanning his classmates with pitying eyes.

His attitude apparently piqued the interest of their instructor, Chu Il-hwan.

"You don't seem excited about the upcoming field training, Disciple Il-mok."

Predictably, every eye in the class turned to him. But after surviving that cringe-pocalypse of a play, a little bit of staring was nothing.

Il-mok answered in a deadpan tone.

"Isn't it obvious? They say leaving home leads to hardship. This will be much harder than training at the Hall, so why should I be excited when I should be worried?"

These guys seemed were probably feeling cooped up, but Il-mok felt completely different.

He didn't even need to recall the experiences he'd had since opening his eyes in this damned world.

'Training trips are absolutely horrible.'

He'd already experienced it plenty during his time as Seo Ji-hoon in the South Korean military.

Military life was shitty. Really fucking shitty. But among all of it, the worst was definitely training. Especially, field training exercises conducted outside the base.

'Can't eat properly, doing all sorts of pointless shit, no bathrooms. Can't even wash.'

The last two points bothered Il-mok most. Not only was it hard to properly handle bodily functions, but he couldn't even wash.

'Urgh.'

It was enough for someone suffering from a hygiene obsession like him to make him dry heave and break out in cold sweats.

"I need to find a solution..."

For Il-mok, this was a matter directly tied to survival. If he couldn't find a solution, he might actually have a panic attack and pass out.

As Il-mok muttered "solution, solution" with a tense face, Chu Il-hwan let out a curious “Hoh.” Then he puffed out his chest and yelled—

“Hahaha! Everyone should learn from Disciple Il-mok!"

—and started spouting absolute nonsense.

"As Disciple Il-mok said, you must realize that the field training you're undertaking as second-year students is not child's play! This is training, and it will be much harder than living at the Hall!"

Words are all about who says them. If some bottom-ranking loser had said what Il-mok said, he’d be branded a coward.

"Each of you should ponder deeply like Disciple Il-mok about how to learn more during field training!"

But because it came from me, the untouchable top student, my near-crippling anxiety wasn't seen as fear, but as a mindset that’s always ready for trouble.

While everyone looked at Il-mok with admiration in their faces—

'Damn it. Should I ask Physician Seo to pack me a whole jar of disinfectant alcohol?'

Il-mok was starting to lose his mind and couldn’t give a fuck to how they saw him.

***

While the Hall was consumed with thoughts of the upcoming training, a shouting match echoed through a grand estate on the Cult’s main grounds, one marked with a plaque reading [Baek Family].

"What did you just say?!"

Baek Un-hak, the patriarch of the Baek Family, roared at his second son, Baek Cheon.

"I said I'm applying to the cult's branch in the Central Plains, Father."

"The second son of our Baek Family, called one of the Demonic Way's founding families, wants to become a common grunt at a branch office instead of joining a martial unit?! Does that sound remotely sane to you?!”

For a man whose name meant “White and Untainted”, Baek Un-hak’s face was anything but that.

Sure, his son had been known as the Baek Family’s wastrel before entering the Hall, but he had always believed in the boy’s talent. In fact, he’d always thought the people calling his son a disaster were idiots.

The Baek Family's signature art, the Hundred Flower Demonic Art, inherently contained the side effect of craving others' attention.

As a result, most second sons who practiced it inevitably acted out to get their fix.

‘I was so proud of how fast he was mastering the art…’

That’s why he’d never been disappointed by his son's antics. He’d been expectant.

‘I’m going to give that Hall Master Yeom a piece of my mind!’

Judging that all of this must be because something went wrong at the Hall of the Demonic Way, Baek Un-hak barely calmed his anger and said.

"Think carefully, Cheon-ah. If you become a warrior of a branch office, you won't be able to receive attention anymore. I will even stop paying attention to you. The Supreme One, the elders they will all forget you even exist.”

He tried to sound like he was reasoning with him but the content was no different from a threat.

He was telling a kid whose entire martial art was fueled by attention that he was about to lose his fix.

But Baek Cheon’s reaction was not what he expected.

“Hahaha. Father, even if you stop paying me any mind, I don't mind."

Baek Un-hak's face nearly went white with shock.

‘My son… a son of the Baek Family… just said he doesn’t need ATTENTION!?!?’

Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

"D-did you perhaps injure your dantian during your time at the Hall? O-or did you hurt your head?"

He wondered if his son had lost the Hundred Flower Demonic Art due to damage to his dantian or head.

But Baek Cheon simply spread his fan with a confident snap.

"I've simply realized that the Baek Family is too small a stage to contain me. And I have Young Master Il-mok to thank for that.”

With that, Baek Cheon turned with exaggerated theatrical movements and gazed somewhere with distant eyes.

Toward the direction where the Hall of the Demonic Way was located.

"Young Master Il-mok? Did you just say Young Master Il-mok?"

"Yes, Father."

"Is this Young Master Il-mok you speak of the same one I know?"

Baek Un-hak was asking who this damned friend was who had led his properly attention-seeking son astray.

Of course, it wasn't like Baek Un-hak had never heard Il-mok's name.

The name had been popping up all over the headquarters for these past two years that he couldn’t forget even when he wanted to.

But he didn’t expect to hear that name from his son's mouth.

And as the culprit who led his son astray at that.

Baek Cheon had no interest in his father’s inner turmoil and answered with a face full of pride.

"If the Young Master Il-mok that Father refers to is the Supreme One's eighth disciple and heaven-sent genius, then yes. Thanks to Young Master Il-mok's advice, my eyes were opened, and I realized how shallow the well that I had been living in. Hahahaha."

Hearing that answer, Baek Un-hak's gaze also followed Baek Cheon's toward the Hall.

'...The Eighth Young Master entered the Hall a year ago, so he'll graduate next year.'

The head of the Baek Family, one of the Five Great Demonic Families, Baek Un-hak, thought to himself.

He will have a talk with this Young Master Il-mok a year from now on.