Chapter 9: The Academy's Bully

Next to Baek Iljin's name, no sect was listed. This was because he had left the section for his sect of origin blank.

'I should have at least written my grandfather’s name.'

Hwangbo Cheolsu jumped around excitedly, congratulating Baek Iljin on his special admission.

"Iljin! Special admission is really something special!"

Special admission was an extremely prestigious way of being admitted to the academy, granted only to those who demonstrated overwhelming ability during the entrance exam.

To give an idea of how rare it was, there was a joke that if you couldn't show abilities beyond the level of a sword aura or handle more than five magic arrays, you shouldn't even dream of special admission.

Moreover, since the written exam was introduced 150 years ago, no one had ever been specially admitted through it. In other words, Baek Iljin was the first to achieve this.

Hwangbo Cheolsu cheered as if he himself had been admitted, congratulating Baek Iljin.

"Iljin! Congratulations!"

"Thank you."

The twins from the Hwangbo family were also on the list of successful candidates. Hwangbo Cheolsu ranked 67th, and Hwangbo Sejeong ranked 35th.

After quickly scanning the martial arts exam rankings, he was looking at the magic exam rankings when familiar names caught his eye.

'3rd place, Elia; 4th place, Hae-rin.'

Elia being in 3rd place suggested she had grown even more since then. The image of her running with emerald tears naturally came to mind.

'Still, for Elia to be 3rd place, it’s surprising...'

While he was lost in thought, the bulletin board area had become divided into gloomy students and those celebrating.

Among them, the students who had failed the martial arts and magic exams were glaring at the written exam qualifiers with sharp eyes.

Despite the ominous atmosphere they were creating, he calmly looked around the bulletin board as if nothing was wrong. Hwangbo Cheolsu approached him and said in a low voice,

"Iljin, the atmosphere here is getting hostile. Let's get out of here."

"Got it."

At that moment,

Bang!

A student flew over and crashed next to Baek Iljin. The student who had flown over was covered in blood, having been severely beaten.

"How can these weaklings who only passed the written exam get in, while I fail? This is ridiculous!"

The person who had thrown the student was as big as Hwangbo Cheolsu, with a face full of scars and arms as thick as pine trees visible through his rolled-up sleeves.

However, unlike Hwangbo Cheolsu's youthful face, his particularly weathered appearance made it hard to believe he was the same age as someone entering the academy.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Ugh."

Hwangbo Cheolsu helped the fallen student up and checked his condition, but the student, who was vomiting blood, could only groan and tremble without answering.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!"

"Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah, I'm talking to you."

Hwangbo Cheolsu glared at the large martial arts exam candidate, Bang Geochung, who rolled up his sleeves and faced him.

"Huh, really."

Bang Geochung, looking exasperated, cracked his neck and asked again,

"I'll ask you one more time. Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah, I'm talking to you. What do you think you're doing?"

Bang Geochung, pretending to loosen up, showed a high-handed attitude, but he didn't feel confident he could beat Hwangbo Cheolsu.

'Ah, Hwangbo Cheolsu is intimidating...'

Bang Geochung knew Hwangbo Cheolsu. He had been watching him since the exam because he was the first person he had seen who was as big as himself, and he had felt the gap between them when he saw Hwangbo Cheolsu destroy a stone bench with his bare hands.

'Ah, what should I do? I didn't expect that guy to get involved...'

While trying to think of a way out, his eyes fell on Baek Iljin. He seemed to have a solid build, but there were no signs that he had learned martial arts.

'Right.'

Bang Geochung was confident that Baek Iljin had not learned martial arts. If he had, he would have stood out in the exam.

"I just can't stand the sight of written exam qualifiers entering the academy. Move aside."

"What?"

Ignoring Hwangbo Cheolsu, Bang Geochung approached Baek Iljin and put his face in front of his.

"Are you a written exam qualifier too?"

The foul smell from Bang Geochung's yellowed teeth suddenly stung Baek Iljin's nose, making him wrinkle his face.

"Move your face away."

Seeing Bang Geochung picking a fight with Baek Iljin, Hwangbo Cheolsu gently put the student he was helping down and clenched his fists, approaching them.

A menacing aura gathered around his clenched fists.

"Wait!"

"..."

"If you come any closer, this long-haired guy is going to be in trouble."

"What?!"

Even if the line between the righteous and the unrighteous had become blurred, he had never seen someone act so brazenly in the territory of the righteous.

'What is this? What kind of trash is this?'

Hwangbo Cheolsu, unable to hide his shock, unclenched his fists and tried to stop Bang Geochung.

"Alright, just stay away from Iljin."

"You go away first, then I'll just leave."

It was a difficult situation. He didn't know what harm Bang Geochung might do if he left, but he was also worried about Baek Iljin if he continued to confront him.

"You can go first."

"No, I want you to go first."

While they were having this subtle power struggle, Baek Iljin spoke again.

"Your face stinks, move it away."

"What? Is this kid really asking for it? Do you want to end up like him?"

Students had gathered around by now.

The written exam qualifiers didn't dare to intervene, and the magic and martial arts exam qualifiers just saw it as good entertainment and didn't help them.

"Looks like they're fighting."

"Isn't that Bang Geochung? He was like this last year too... He's really embarrassing the retakers."

"Still, it's entertaining."

Bang Geochung was also feeling frustrated. However, with students gathering, his pride wouldn't allow him to back down.

'Ugh, I'm going crazy. I can't stop in front of so many people...'

With the crowd gathered, there was no turning back. Bang Geochung pointed at Baek Iljin and said,

"If you kneel and apologize now, I'll forgive you."

"What? You did this and now you're asking for an apology!"

Hwangbo Cheolsu, enraged by the absurdity, retorted, but Bang Geochung only raised his fist, filled with inner energy.

Whoosh—

It seemed he hadn't neglected his martial arts training, as a faint blue aura wrapped around Bang Geochung's fist like mist.

Bang Geochung, with a smug look, glared at Baek Iljin with purple eyes and repeated,

"Kneel."

"For the third time, your face stinks, move it away."

The students watching laughed at the comment about the stinky face, and some even mocked Bang Geochung.

"Given that face, it's no wonder it stinks."

"Heh, he does look like he doesn't wash."

Bang Geochung, now the target of ridicule, turned red with anger and swung his fist filled with inner energy.

"Argh, you're going to regret this today."

"No!"

Seeing Bang Geochung swing his fist, Hwangbo Cheolsu, with inner energy in his Yongquan point, leaped to block it but was a step too late.

Smack—

Unable to bear the sight of his friend being hit by a fist filled with inner energy, Hwangbo Cheolsu closed his eyes tightly.

Whoa!

Opening his eyes to the loud cheers of the students, Hwangbo Cheolsu's eyes widened at the scene before him.

Baek Iljin was unharmed, and instead, Bang Geochung was holding his wrist, which he had extended.

'What's going on here?'

While Hwangbo Cheolsu was trying to understand the situation, one of the students watching shouted,

"It's an artifact!"

An artifact.

The term for objects containing magical spells.

While air conditioners and refrigerators were also a type of artifact, the term "artifact" generally referred to powerful magical weapons.

'An artifact?'

However, artifacts require the user's mana to activate, so to use a high-level artifact, one must have a certain level of mana.

'But Iljin only learned a light inner energy technique...'

The shining necklace Baek Iljin was wearing was clearly a top-tier artifact. Moreover, an artifact that activated automatically was something money couldn't buy.

The owner of the artifact, Baek Iljin, looked up at Bang Geochung with his usual expressionless face.

"I've told you three times."

Despite the situation, his voice remained emotionless.

'Should I kill him?'

While considering whether to kill Bang Geochung, as he had done with the bandits last time, Baek Iljin remembered a conversation he had with his grandfather before he turned ten.

'Iljin, remember this. Every life is precious.'

'What if I'm in danger? What would you do, Grandfather?'

'If you're in danger? I'd destroy the world to save my precious grandson.'

'What? That's a contradiction, isn't it?'

'Hehe, I see. But in front of you, I can't always be a hypocrite. Still, you must always remember that every life is precious.'

'So, what should I do when I'm considering whether to kill someone?'

'Hmm, in that case, don't kill them. Just beat them up a little, but not to the point of death. Hehe.'

The conversation was long, but in summary:

Every life is precious.

'Don't kill. Beat them up a little.'

Seeing Baek Iljin lost in thought, Bang Geochung thought this was his chance and attacked again.

'How many times can he use that artifact?'

This time, it was a kick. His specialty was always kicking, not punching.

Iron Sinew Kick

The secret kicking technique of the Bang family was unleashed through Bang Geochung's leg.

Unexpectedly, Hwangbo Cheolsu missed the chance to stop him again.

'Ah, no. I was distracted by the artifact and failed to stop him.'

Hwangbo Cheolsu, rushing over, called out to Baek Iljin.

"Iljin!"

Baek Iljin, as if telling Hwangbo Cheolsu not to worry, raised his hand and looked at Bang Geochung's kick indifferently.

'What is he planning?'

At the same time, the necklace was enveloped in a burst of light. The light was so bright that Baek Iljin's figure became blurry.

The eight magic arrays drawn by the light from the necklace instantly linked together, forming a barrier that repelled all offensive attacks.

Seeing the dark blue barrier surrounding Baek Iljin, Bang Geochung tried to pull back his leg, but it was too late.

Thud— Thud— Thud—

Bounced off by the shock, Bang Geochung skidded across the ground like a skipping stone, stopping with a landing technique.

'This is wrong...'

After his two all-out attacks were blocked, Bang Geochung lost his fighting spirit. Moreover, he felt a bitter taste of blood in his mouth, indicating internal injuries.

Before he could think further, Baek Iljin's hand, which had approached, slapped his cheek mercilessly.

"Hey, wait!"

Crack— Crack—

"Ugh."

Bang Geochung, feeling the blood in his mouth, rolled over.

"You're not going to die. Get up."

"Wait, I'm sorry..."

Crack—

Tears welled up in his eyes. The inside of his mouth was torn, and he could feel his front teeth wobbling.

"Th-That's enough."

"I won't kill you, don't worry."

Crack—

It was just a hand, without any inner energy. Just a random slap, but he couldn't avoid it. It was so painful, it felt like being hit with a club.

Crack—

His brain was shaking, making it hard to think properly. Only the instinct to 'hurt, don't want to be hit, want to live' remained.

"Ugh... Wait, I'm sorry."

The students watching, Hwangbo Cheolsu trying to stop the fight, and the student who had been beaten by Bang Geochung all shared the same emotion.

Fear.

The primal, ruthless fear that comes from witnessing such a violent scene.

Of course, it was just fear of the scene, not of Baek Iljin himself. But why, they all remained silent.

"Get up. You're not going to die."

Baek Iljin, grabbing Bang Geochung, whose eyes were half-closed, swung his hand. His hand, now red, didn't even register with him.

'Five more slaps should be enough.'

At that moment, someone grabbed Baek Iljin's wrist. Ice flowers bloomed from the grabbed wrist, tightly binding Baek Iljin's wrist.

The owner of the hand was a girl with shining silver hair and skin whiter than snow. Her deep black eyes suggested her hair was originally white.

"..."

"Stop."

While most boys would be captivated by her beauty, Baek Iljin's deep, dark eyes showed no reaction.

"What."

The grabbed wrist was freezing cold.

But the owner of the hand spoke in an even colder voice.

"You'll kill him."