Chapter 113: There's No Other Sect Like This
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The training grounds within White Peak Sword Sect had an unusually quiet atmosphere with few people around, unlike normal times.
Only some of the disciples had come here to lightly limber up their bodies or sat in pairs under tree shade chatting, while the remaining personnel were nowhere to be seen.
Moreover, even the executives like Yeop Hwon, Hyeop Mu-geuk, and Guyang Cheon seemed to have gone to their quarters, with not even their noses visible.
There was a reason for this.
It was because Cheol Ryu-heun had instructed at this morning’s roll call to spend the entire morning freely.
For the sect’s people, it was an unexpectedly obtained rest.
So now, like this, everyone was freely doing what they wanted to do, enjoying leisure time after a long while.
Before long, just as it was entering noon.
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG-
Three or four workers went around the grounds, striking the small notification bells in their hands with metal rods.
“All personnel assemble at the training grounds, all personnel assemble at the training grounds!”
“Free activities terminated, terminated as of the current hour!”
“Repeating the notice! Free activities have been terminated as of the current hour!”
“It is the Sect Master’s order! Everyone is to gather at the training grounds!”
Immediately after, disciples revealed themselves one by one, emerging from hiding places here and there like ants crawling out from the ground.
Shortly after, all roughly one hundred people assembled in front of the platform at the training grounds and formed five rows.
Following that, the moment all eleven workers had also gathered, Hyeop Mu-geuk, Yeop Hwon, and the three Guyang brothers appeared from yonder.
As soon as everyone naturally turned their gazes that way, they all tilted their heads in unison.
‘Huh? What’s that?’
Because they had spotted the bundles each executive held in both hands.
Before long, Hyeop Mu-geuk and the others approached and set them all down on the platform.
THUD- CLINK-
A brief sound of something heavy was heard.
Amid everyone’s curiosity about what was inside.
“Is everyone here?”
Cheol Ryu-heun casually tossed out an indifferent voice with hands clasped behind his back as he walked into the training grounds.
“Yes!”
When the assembled personnel answered in unison, Cheol Ryu-heun immediately went up onto the platform.
“I assume none of you are dissatisfied with the results of last night’s bath?”
“Yes, Sect Master!”
“Good. Now that you’ve all been washed clean, I should send you home.”
Yeop Hwon and Hyeop Mu-geuk, who had been standing to one side, looked at Cheol Ryu-heun with startled expressions.
“Huh?”
“Sect Master…?”
The hall immediately buzzed at the unexpected words.
What did that mean?
Could it be a shocking declaration that he was giving up the dream of White Peak Sword Sect’s revival and completely closing its doors?
Wait, then was yesterday’s bath a kind of farewell gift…?
Since he was such an expressionless person, they couldn’t feel his emotions outwardly, so groundless anxiety suddenly struck them.
“Sect Master, please don’t abandon us!”
“Yes! Please… Haven’t we all held on well!”
“We’ve devoted our youth until now, and we’re prepared to gladly devote our remaining time as well!”
“I-if there’s something we’re lacking, we will work more diligently!”
“No matter what anyone says, I will bury my bones in this sect!”
“Sect Master is a golden lifeline! I’ve already decided to hold on tight and never let go!”
“As a swordsman of the martial world, I still haven’t even done any proper activities, so I can’t return home so futilely like this!”
“That’s right! I will absolutely not break my sword until the day I earn a proper alias!”
“Think of the Fourth Sect Master’s wrongful death! If the culprit learns of this, they will mock our sect!”
“Sect Master, I earnestly beg you! Please take back those words!”
“Yes, we cannot leave the sect so futilely like this! We thought we were finally seeing a small light…!”
As the disciples’ desperate pleas exploded out all at once, the air in the hall churned.
But Cheol Ryu-heun was picking his ear as if annoyed.
“Noisy. Shut your mouths.”
He only responded bluntly like that.
Simultaneously, the noisy space became quiet.
“…!”
Everyone looked toward the platform with somewhat resentful gazes, as if dumbfounded.
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun again spoke in an indifferent tone.
“You’re all jumping to conclusions – I literally just mean sending you home.”
Pupils wavering transparently.
“…!”
Everyone including the executives finally immediately understood what he meant.
Hyeop Mu-geuk asked with a somewhat brightened face.
“Ah! Sect Master, so you mean for the time being…?”
Cheol Ryu-heun nodded and continued his voice.
“Consider it a reward vacation.”
At that, everyone released their stiffened expressions and let out sighs of relief.
Meanwhile, Hyeop Mu-geuk and Yeop Hwon quietly exchanged glances and wore faint smiles at the corners of their mouths.
As if roughly guessing why he had ordered the executives to prepare such bundles earlier.
Cheol Ryu-heun stood with hands clasped behind his back and looked over the disciples standing in front of the platform below.
Exactly one hundred and ten people, excluding the executives and workers.
Even knowing the sect’s difficult circumstances, and even experiencing them firsthand, they were the personnel who had believed in and followed the previous Sect Master Sagong Woon completely and remained to the end.
Through harsh trials, the wheat had naturally been separated from the chaff.
Setting aside the prerequisites of a martial artist like aptitude and talent, they were precious members who had devoted body and mind to White Peak Sword Sect, difficult to find again.
However.
It would be absurd to keep enduring without any compensation.
The martial development of those personnel was rightfully the sect’s basic responsibility, and furthermore, the sect should consider the realistic concerns each person held in their hearts.
Therefore, the time had come to give them compensation that no other existing force could easily provide.
During the era when Sagong Woon was Sect Master, the circumstances didn’t allow for more than barely paying living expenses, but the environment was no longer the same as before.
“Forget living like beggars – now you all need to taste what it feels like to return home in glory.”
Cheol Ryu-heun sent a chin gesture toward the executives positioned to the side of the platform along with those words.
“Distribute the vacation pay.”
At that, Yeop Hwon, Hyeop Mu-geuk, Guyang Cheon, and the others quickly opened several bundles.
Thick money pouches that appeared to have been prepared according to the number of people.
Sure enough, Cheol Ryu-heun added brief words with an expressionless face.
“Take as much as you want. It’s five hundred nyang of silver per person.”
The complexions of the disciples who heard those words turned pale white.
ACK! J-just now… What did he say? Five hundred nyang of silver?
‘This is crazy!’
Shocked speechless, everyone momentarily felt their minds go blank.
Were they dreaming?
Five hundred nyang of silver – it was truly an enormous sum.
With that much money, you could buy a house, buy a carriage, and anyway do anything you wanted.
If they didn’t make stupid mistakes, they wouldn’t have to worry about money until they retired in old age.
Before long, Hyeop Mu-geuk smiled pleasantly and gestured.
“Now, everyone line up first.”
Only then did the disciples gather themselves and went to one side of the platform to form several lines.
“Thank you!”
“We are sincerely grateful!”
Each time everyone received a money pouch, they shouted their thanks in loud voices, overcome with joy.
Before long, the distribution was finished.
The disciples who had formed five rows again each examined the contents of their pouches and wore moved expressions.
“I can’t tell if this is a dream or reality, wow…”
“Already I can see my parents’ faces when they’re happy to see this.”
“Phew… This is the first time in my life I’ve touched such a large sum, my heart is pounding.”
“My only younger sibling can finally stop the hard field work and just study in peace.”
“I need to get Mother a new house right away.”
“Darling… Just wait a little. I’m coming soon. The hardship is over now.”
“Sob… I really did well to hold on and endure.”
Amid all that, Cheol Ryu-heun’s voice reached their ears.
“Satisfied?”
“Yes!”
“As I said earlier, this is just vacation pay – the money you receive at the beginning of each month will change going forward too.”
“…!”
The startled disciples were swept up in a thrilling sensation.
Those words just now meant that the five hundred nyang of silver was merely a one-time bonus, and even the official training stipend paid monthly would be increased.
“You learned sword wind and sword energy in just ten days, so I should give you at least this much. Money exists to be spent anyway.”
Having said that, Cheol Ryu-heun immediately instructed the executives to open all the remaining bundles while looking at them.
When the disciples confirmed what was inside, their eyes went wide.
Small bead-like fruits tinged with jade color.
It was fully one hundred or so Jade Dew Fruits – which, if boiled into a decoction and steadily consumed for three or four days, would improve almost any common illness.
“Health is as important as money. Take them home and have the sick consume them. Well, if there are no patients, you can just sell them.”
It meant everyone should handle them as they saw fit.
The disciples were shocked speechless again.
‘Good heavens, even Jade Dew Fruits…!’
The value of a single Jade Dew Fruit was on par with the vacation pay.
Everyone’s minds were spinning.
Not lightning from a clear sky, but a money-bolt had fallen.
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun released the hands clasped behind his back and opened his mouth again.
“Keep the money safe on your own, but make sure you don’t get it taken by others. If such a thing happens…”
The moment everyone watched carefully with slightly tense faces.
“Don’t worry about appearances and tell me, understood?”
At that, all the disciples showed faces as if this was unexpected.
‘Huh?’
They had expected to hear something like ‘If you foolishly get your money taken, you’ll get beaten…’
“What are you looking bewildered about? Remember – having a strong Sect Master but suffering in silence isn’t being good, it’s being stupid. Like I was before I changed.”
“Yes, we shall remember!”
“Straighten your shoulders. I take care of all the aftermath. You only need to think about developing your martial prowess. That’s why I’m giving generously.”
At Cheol Ryu-heun’s refreshing words, the disciples clenched both fists and answered vigorously again.
“Yes, Sect Master!”
“The vacation period is fifteen days. Within that time, do everything you can do, want to do, and need to do, empty out everything that’s been weighing on your hearts, and come back. That’s all – dismissed.”
Simultaneously, the disciples cheered while beaming brightly and moved to immediately pack their bags.
Cheol Ryu-heun suddenly beckoned one disciple over with a light gesture.
He was a young man with an innocent and delicate appearance.
Gwak Woon-bi.
A disciple the same age as Cheol Ryu-heun, turning twenty this year.
“You called, Sect Master?”
“Are you heading straight home?”
“Ah, yes. Since the distance is so far, it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen Mother. Honestly… There’s no one else I want to meet.”
“I heard you were the first to successfully release sword energy.”
“Yes, though I’m embarrassed to admit it… That’s right. I was lucky.”
There was one reason why Cheol Ryu-heun had specifically called Gwak Woon-bi aside.
Because he had something prepared in advance through Red Cat Merchant Guild for him before he left for home.
In truth, before becoming a vegetable, Cheol Ryu-heun had ordinarily held special regard for Gwak Woon-bi, the youngest among the disciples.
Why? Because he understood the pain of his life.
Gwak Woon-bi’s only family was his mother.
Yet.
His single mother had been born unable to hear in both ears and thus couldn’t even speak, and their household circumstances remained continuously difficult.
To make matters worse, Gwak Woon-bi had regularly been made fun of because of that environment since childhood, and had even experienced malicious ostracism and bullying.
Eventually, his mother barely managed to scrape together money from their destitute household and sent him as a lower-level disciple to White Peak Sword Sect.
Please learn martial arts and become strong, don’t worry about money, she would take care of all support while he was there.
Gwak Woon-bi had thus gritted his teeth and continued training, finally officially obtaining the qualification of upper-level disciple.
From then on, he carefully saved whatever monthly stipend came out and steadily sent it home.
Though it wasn’t much, he wanted to contribute to his mother’s livelihood.
At that time, Cheol Ryu-heun had been so moved by that life attitude that he held a small wish deep in his heart.
That when the financial situation improved, he would take care of Gwak Woon-bi first, who had the most difficult household circumstances of anyone in the sect, that he would definitely grant him at least one thing he wanted…
That’s right.
The time had finally come.
Though now he was not Cheol Ryu-heun but the Divine Martial Sword.
“I’ll give you a separate reward.”
“Pardon?”
“When you go home, tell your Mother. That a new house has been arranged in Baizhou, close to our sect. Now you’ll be able to see her often.”
“…!”
“I’ve already paid for the house. The Red Cat Merchant Guild handled the rest. You just need to move in.”
“Sect… Sect Master…”
Gwak Woon-bi’s heart welled up at the great consideration he never expected, and tears brimmed in his eyes.
Yet Cheol Ryu-heun’s face held no light of any emotion.
“Don’t live taking whatever comes your way. Being trampled all this time is enough.”
At that, Gwak Woon-bi’s tears finally burst forth.
“Keu… Sob… Sect, Sect Master… Really… Thank you. This… This grace… I will never… Forget until I die…”
But still, Cheol Ryu-heun only tossed out a bland voice without any reaction.
“Go on. I’m busy too.”