CHAPTER 128

“Why are you keeping it a secret?”

The Student Council president, Hae-Yul, tilted her head this way and that. No matter how she moved, not a strand of hair came loose from her tightly bound bun.

“Doesn’t the Yaksha’s son plan to make a grand announcement of the Kang family’s resurrection? From Kang Jae-Hyeok’s perspective, the world knowing of his achievements should be a good thing, right? He could reclaim some of his family’s lost honor. We should help him spread the word.”

After learning who was responsible for killing the Berserker and Mudal, Hae-Yul was excited. She was ready to spread fliers to make sure the whole school knew the truth of today’s events.

Mun Jong-Pil thought differently.

“Think about the past. Before the Yaksha fell, the whole world had to move carefully around the Kang family. Now that they are in ruin, many forces will be wary of Kang Jae-Hyeok if word gets out that he’s already so skilled at sixteen years old.”

“So what? Let them be wary. You said yourself that Kang Jae-Hyeok is strong.”

“Sure, he’s strong, but that doesn’t mean he’s as strong as you; there are few people in the world who have enough power to overcome everything like you.”

Hae-Yul regained her sense of reality and calmed down. “Ugh, fine.”

Truth be told, she’d had her doubts about what really happened to the Kang family ever since Kang Jae-Hyeok’s admission re-examination. After all, since when were admission re-examinations live news events? And that day, Jae-Hyeok had proven himself both innocent and talented, which should have been big news, but the media had instantly dropped the story after that.

Hae-Yul had looked into the Kang family and done some reading since then. One plausible conspiracy theory was that the Yaksha was actually a great man, contrary to recorded history, and that Kang Dae-Seong and Kang Hyeon-Ah’s acts of terror came about as they attempted to clear their father’s name.

If that was true, then the truth of today really was problematic.

The forces that benefited from the destruction of the Kang family would become obsessed with ‘solving’ Jae-Hyeok before he could grow.

Hae-Yul clicked her tongue. Mun Jong-Pil was right, Jae-Hyeok might be in danger.

“Fine, fine, I’ll just watch quietly. In any case, talent will reveal itself eventually. Kang Jae-Hyeok will reveal himself when the time is right.” At that time, Hae-Yul was sure countless truths would come to light.

She thought again about Kang Jae-Hyeok’s performance and felt a little excited. The Kang family had birthed and raised such a genius; how could they not be a great family?

***

Bae Eo-Jin returned to headquarters, exhausted. That raid boss was a pain. Just thinking about the drake’s face spewing endless fire made him grit his teeth. But what’s done is done. Bae Eo-Jin intended to go straight to his room and collapse on his bed without washing up.

That was until he heard his colleagues talking about a very interesting topic.

Bald beastmen? Mudal?

Bringing over several cans of beer, Bae Eo-Jin asked his colleagues, “Was Kang Jae-Hyeok there?”

"Who’s that?" one asked.

These were the same people who’d arrived to help the Student Council with the beastmen. At that time, they had been rather dissatisfied having to work on their day off. However, after seeing Mudal’s corpse, their attitudes had changed. They’d witnessed a scene that would go down in history. Naturally, they were excited and celebrating.

As for this Kang Jae-Hyeok, who was that?

Bae Eo-Jin saw their drunken faces, shrugged, and explained, “He’s the Yaksha’s son.”

“The Yaksha? Ah, the kid from the admission re-examination? Was he also part of the Student Council?”

“Not exactly... ” Bae Eo-Jin scratched his cheek. “It just feels like that kid has been at the scene of every major incident recently.”

“Pfft!”

They burst out in laughter.

“What? You think that little kid is some type of mastermind?”

“Not necessarily, but listen to me seriously. That Kang Jae-Hyeok isn’t an ordinary kid. Not long ago, he grabbed Ban Hee-Yeol by the ear and dragged him around like a dog.”

“That arrogant young master? Ah, you bastard. If you’re that drunk, you should go sleep it off.”

“Forget it if you don’t believe me. In any case, I take it that Kang Jae-Hyeok wasn’t there, then?”

“Yes.”

The more Bae Eo-Jin brought up Kang Jae-Hyeok, the more his colleagues ignored him. They went back to chattering about Mudal’s death and speculating on Lee So-Yeong’s great power.

They sound like parrots.

Bae Eo-Jin shook his head and went back to his room.

Still, it really is a bit excessive to suspect that Kang Jae-Hyeok is lurking at the scene of every big incident. Bae Eo-Jin chuckled. It seemed he was unknowingly overestimating Kang Jae-Hyeok.

***

“Do you want to go out this weekend?” Hae-Rin asked.

Her big eyes were a bit puffy, but that was expected since she’d just woken up. Hae-Rin had slept through the entire morning class. Moreover, she’d done so in a perfect upright posture, looking like a powered-down robot. It was a strange sight, so everyone had been glancing her way.

They hadn’t expected that the first thing she’d do after waking would be to ask Jae-Hyeok to go out on the weekend.

The entire class fell silent.

Park Hae-Rin, the most beautiful student among the freshmen, had actually asked a boy out?

“It is said that it’s the quiet ones you have to watch!”

“How bold.”

Lee Jin-Seong and Du Bae-Su whispered back and forth. Then, they both seemed to remember something and slowly turned to Cheon Hye-Ji. From the way she was glaring at Hae-Rin... they wondered if lasers might shoot from her eyes.

Wisely, Lee Jin-Seong and Du Bae-Su kept silent.

Jae-Hyeok replied to Hae-Rin, “Going out? I don’t want to unless it is something important.”

Thump!

A few male students jumped out of their seats. Their expressions were a mixture of joy and anger.

Meanwhile, the female students clicked their tongues in disapproval.

“Didn’t I tell you? Kang Jae-Hyeok’s personality is so bad that he is destined to stay single forever.”

“That’s true. He is so pitiful that I almost want to take him with me.”

Looks weren’t everything, but they were a powerful weapon—they caused the boys to fall for Park Hae-Rin without even speaking to her, and the girls to have a vague crush on Kang Jae-Hyeok despite cursing him every day.

Of course, Jae-Hyeok also had a personality that took care of the people around him, so there were many female students who claimed that his kindness was attractive. But still, looks played half the role.

Meanwhile, Jae-Hyeok was different. For him, appearance played no role when evaluating a person.

In other words, Hae-Rin was just Hae-Rin. He couldn’t understand why people made such a fuss about the girls around him. Was talking to one person different from talking to another? Why would anyone feel jealous or envious about it?

Ultimately, Jae-Hyeok could only conclude that they hadn’t been training hard enough: Negative emotions are a sign of excess energy. It made sense; now that it was exam season, they had fewer physical classes and more theory classes. I’ll have to push them harder during afternoon training.

Seeing Jae-Hyeok lost in thought, Hae-Rin replied, “Hmm... It isn’t important.”

She walked back to her seat. But surprisingly, Cheon Hye-Ji came up and grabbed her hand.

“What are you doing?”

Cheon Hye-Ji dragged Hae-Rin back in front of Jae-Hyeok as she raised her voice, “With your personality, there’s absolutely no way you would casually ask someone on a date—I mean, outing! You must have some business! Whether or not it’s important is something that you should discuss before deciding. And you”—Cheon Hye-Ji glared at Jae-Hyeok.

“You’re also a problem. You know full well that Park Hae-Rin struggles to get along with other people. And now that she’s raised the courage to ask you for something, you cut her off immediately? During training, you always take care of those around you; if something happens, you notice it and run over immediately! So why are you so dull when it comes to things like this? You need to care for people on a daily basis, not just when something big happens, idiot.”

“......”

“Now talk! Stop acting like strangers.”

“......”

The classroom went silent, watching the show.

Cheon Hye-Ji’s personality was like this: she was someone who was honest and felt the need to speak her mind. Unfortunately, her honesty often came across as rude, which had caused many arguments at the beginning of the semester. But as time passed, the other Class B students had come to know Cheon Hye-Ji, and many had gathered around her.

Most of the Class B girls knew Cheon Hye-Ji well; they also knew she disliked Hae-Rin, who was close to Jae-Hyeok. So they were especially baffled to see Cheon Hye-Ji inserting herself between Jae-Hyeok and Hae-Rin, giving relationship advice.

What is Hye-Ji doing?

......

Meanwhile, Ah, shit.What am I doing... Cheon Hye-Ji came to her senses and realized her mistake. Why was she helping an enemy? She was so flustered that she subconsciously clutched her head, messing up her hair, which she spent hours styling every morning.

Her hair! By the time she realized what she had done, she could only sink further into the abyss.

Hae-Rin stared at her and took out a comb.

“Here.”

“You’re giving this to me?”

“Use it. Your hair is messed up.”

“...Bah! I don’t need it. My comb is better.” Cheon Hye-Ji snorted and turned away.

Hae-Rin blinked before realizing her mistake: “Thank you,” she said.

“I criticized you out of frustration, but you actually thanked me. What the hell?” Cheon Hye-Ji laughed in a dumbfounded manner. Never mind this crazy girl. I need to fix my hair. She rushed out of the classroom with slightly red ears.

“...Can you tell me why you want to go out?” Jae-Hyeok asked, having immediately accepted Cheon Hye-Ji’s advice.

Hae-Rin hesitated, “It’s for a birthday present... I want to buy a present for my father. I thought he would like the gift you chose... ”

He sighed. He knew enough to know that her words touched on many sad things. No matter how reluctant he was to go out, how could he say no? He would be a villain if he refused.

Feeling the hot gazes of the other students, Jae-Hyeok scratched his head and said, “Alright. That’s not a big deal. We’ll go to a nearby city, and I’ll pick something.”

“Yes, anywhere near the gate is fine.”

There was a small city near Lion’s Castle gate. There were so many people active on campus, such as faculty members, students, and the armed forces, that it was natural for a bustling commercial area to form around it.

A gift for her father... Jae-Hyeok thought about his own father’s tastes. Something like snake wine should be good enough, right?