Chapter 370: Chapter 370
“……And so, we plan to provide Student Jin So-un with private quarters.”
This was strange.
No, something strange was happening.
“If there’s anything else you might need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
The clerk before me had introduced himself as the personnel officer from the Black Martial Pavilion.
But everything he’d said after that, frankly, didn’t make sense.
“So…… you’re saying those benefits come with applying to the Black Martial Pavilion?”
“That’s right!”
The clerk clapped enthusiastically, but I was anything but enthused.
Because I still didn’t understand why this was happening.
“Hmm…… hasn’t the application period for Academy graduates already closed?”
“Ah! The Personnel Hall will be issuing a new notification. They’ll be accepting second and third choices for personnel adjustments.”
“……Why?”
The Murim Alliance’s Personnel Hall was not a lenient department.
It was infamous for being more strict and uncompromising about personnel matters than anyone else……
And now it was accepting second and third choices?
“Well…… how should I put it? To facilitate smoother personnel assignments across the Murim Alliance’s departments, perhaps……?”
The clerk before me seemed equally baffled by the current situation.
He clearly had no idea what he was saying.
This was a man who was used to watching applicants line up and grovel to get into the Black Martial Pavilion.
Yet here he was, personally visiting a student to recruit him, pitching benefits and welfare packages. The whole thing was bizarre beyond belief.
“Hmm…… understood. I’ll think it over.”
Given this unprecedented situation, I sent the Black Martial Pavilion’s visitor away to get my bearings first—only for the attendant to immediately announce another guest.
“They say they’re the personnel officer from the Red Dragon Pavilion.”
“What?”
From where?
The officer had evidently been making his rounds already—despite the winter chill not yet having faded, beads of sweat dotted his forehead as he entered.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m the personnel officer for the Red Dragon Pav……”
“Yes, so I’ve heard. The Personnel Hall is reopening applications for second and third choices.”
“Ah…… did someone else come by before me?”
“The Black Martial Pavilion’s officer was just here.”
“Ha! That sneaky bast—…… ah, my apologies. In any case, this should make our conversation quick. If Student Jin So-un were to join our Red Dragon Pavilion……”
“Before that, may I ask one question?”
“Oh! Ask anything. Whether it’s the Red Dragon Pavilion’s welfare programs, leave days, or off-base overnight allowances—I’ll answer it all.”
To the Red Dragon Pavilion officer, whose face had brightened considerably, I asked bluntly.
“What exactly is going on here?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Normally, the Red Dragon Pavilion and the Azure Dragon Pavilion have more applicants than they can handle, don’t they?”
“……Ha ha. Well, th-that’s true, yes.”
“Then why are personnel officers of your stature personally visiting students to recruit them?”
Was it too warm in here?
The clerk began sweating profusely again.
“Ahem……! The truth is, the Red Dragon Pavilion spares no expense in recruiting superior talent. Of course, our current applicants have us bustling…… with activity, but, well…… how should I put it—we’d like to recruit more elite personnel?”
“……”
“And among them, Student Jin So-un, as the former Academy Representative, is naturally our top recruitment priority.”
That explanation didn’t clarify anything.
Because.
“……Hasn’t the Red Dragon Pavilion traditionally had a strong Orthodox Path Association presence?”
The officer flinched as though he’d been jabbed in the ribs.
“Th-that’s ancient history. Discrimination based on sect affiliation was eliminated ages ago.”
“……”
“I-it’s true……? Ha ha……”
The way he mopped his brow while talking inspired absolutely no confidence.
Well, pressing further wouldn’t yield any useful answers.
I politely showed him the door.
“Understood. I’ll think it over.”
“Oh! So you’ll be applying?”
“I said I’ll think it over.”
“Ah…… that’s a bit of a problem……”
What was the problem?
Just then, a knock came at the door.
Followed by the attendant’s voice: “You can’t go in, sir.”
But—
The door swung open and another clerk strode in.
“You…… you……!”
The newcomer glared at the Red Dragon Pavilion clerk as though he’d caught someone red-handed in an act of betrayal.
“You faithless snake……! How! How could you do this!”
The Red Dragon officer, blindsided by the sudden insult, reeled in confusion.
“I-I’m sorry. I had no choice. You know what our Great Hall Master’s like…… he said if I didn’t bring Young Lord Jin back, I’d never hold a brush again!”
“Even so! How can a gentleman speak with two tongues from one mouth? How can he cast aside a solemn oath so lightly?”
As I listened to their heated argument, one thought crossed my mind.
I had no idea what was going on.
But I wished they’d all just get the hell out.
Why were they coming here to raise hell?
***
“You too?”
At my question, Geum-pyo’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper.
“Why are you so surprised? Am I not allowed to be recruited by the Red Dragon Pavilion?”
Ah…… I must not have managed my expression very well.
I rushed to do damage control.
“N-no, that’s not it…… right! I was just shocked that the Azure Dragon Pavilion didn’t send someone. Someone of your caliber should be getting scouted by them too……”
“Forget it. You don’t have to make excuses.”
Hah…… the junior brothers’ insolence was growing by the day. Considering the boundless, ocean-like generosity I’d shown them all this time—
“Anyway, Eun-ho and Dong-ryong all met with personnel officers too. Oh, and for Eun-ho, the Mantongbu Department Head came in person.”
“……What in the world is going on?”
Eun-ho had previously told me he intended to apply to Mantongbu.
The idea was so absurd that I’d clung to his trouser legs trying to talk him out of it, but—
[I’m…… going to be really fucking cool.]
The spectacularly idiotic declaration showed his resolve was unshakable.
I couldn’t fathom why he’d willingly walk into that death trap, but since Mantongbu’s staff would need to deploy to the battlefield after the war began anyway—and I’d need someone to serve as the White Wolf Pavilion’s strategist—I’d relented and told him to go ahead.
Given the exam’s notorious difficulty, the plan had been for him to stay at the White Wolf Pavilion first, then take the exam and transfer to Mantongbu later.
“Mantongbu announced they’d be holding the exam to coincide with this cohort’s graduation. It’s obviously meant to poach a few students.”
Watching an exam conveniently appear as if on cue left me no closer to understanding what was going on.
“What about the other students?”
“The other students are probably meeting with personnel officers right now too.”
“This has never happened before……”
Just then, Geum-pyo smacked his fist into his palm as though he’d remembered something.
“Oh! And seniors and elders from each student’s sect have come to the dormitory area and are scolding the students.”
“Why?”
“Because the students submitted their applications on their own.”
“On their own……”
Normally, after graduating from the Academy, you’d go wherever your seniors or sect’s influence was strongest.
Walking the path your predecessors had paved was the fastest and surest route to promotion.
Yet now they were being scolded for applying on their own? What on earth……
“Where did they apply?”
“The White Wolf Pavilion.”
I nearly spat out the tea in my mouth.
What kind of absurdity was this?
Why would Academy graduates apply to the White Wolf Pavilion? That was where you ended up only after being rejected from every other option—
“You didn’t know? This whole mess is because of you, Senior Brother.”
“……”
Had I unknowingly held a sword to the students’ throats and threatened them?
Apply to the White Wolf Pavilion, or else?
“What?”
“……You really didn’t know? You kept insisting on the White Wolf Pavilion, so the other students followed suit and started applying there too.”
“But why?!”
“Because you’re going, Senior Brother.”
“You little…… why have you been talking in circles this whole time?”
When I raised my fist, Geum-pyo flinched and took a step back.
“Ahem, what I mean is, Senior Brother.”
“Spit it out straight before I knock it out of you. What happened?”
Geum-pyo rolled his eyes as though choosing his words, then began cautiously.
“Presumably, the students—deeply moved by the senior brother they’ve long admired—have applied to the White Wolf Pavilion in order to serve alongside you.”
I told him to talk straight, and he gives me a fairy tale about a tiger eating grass.
“Anyway, because of that, every other department has been bled dry of applicants, and the White Wolf Pavilion—for the first time since its founding—is in the position of having to turn people away. That’s why the Personnel Hall started asking for second and third choices.”
“……”
I’d expected that taking a bold step would change my future in bold ways.
But I never imagined I’d be competing with other students for a spot in the White Wolf Pavilion.
Still, I was the top student. Surely they wouldn’t reject me?
Come on, no way……
While I sat mulling over this unexpected turn, Geum-pyo asked cautiously.
“Senior Brother, is there a specific reason you must go to the White Wolf Pavilion?”
“Hm?”
“Honestly, the Red Dragon Pavilion invited me, but I don’t have the confidence to survive there. I agree with you that going to the White Wolf Pavilion and establishing ourselves quickly is the right call.”
A certain hunger burned in Geum-pyo’s eyes.
“But you’re different, Senior Brother. Even setting aside the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly…… you could get into the Azure Dragon Pavilion or Red Dragon Pavilion easily enough. If it’s about protecting the Taeul Sect disciples who’ll come later, Sa-ryeon and I alone could handle that.”
“……”
“Are you…… sacrificing yourself for us again? Are you still worried about us?”
It seemed Geum-pyo had a serious misunderstanding.
“Or is there some other reason you absolutely have to join?”
“……”
As he said, I could go somewhere else first and transfer to the White Wolf Pavilion later.
As Seong Mo-ran suggested, I could gallivant around the martial world with the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, enjoy everything there was to enjoy, and still receive at least a Sojeong Squad Captain position when I finally went in.
But.
“I have to go to the White Wolf Pavilion.”
If I went ‘now,’ I’d be the Sojeong Squad’s direct superior until the war began.
That’s why I had to go.
“No matter what happens, I have to go ‘now.'”
Because going ‘now’ meant I could gleefully run those bastards into the ground until the war started.
Collecting every last debt from what they’d put me through in my previous life—all at once.
“So don’t say another word.”
There was no way—absolutely no way—I was letting this opportunity slip.
***
The thing I’d been dreading finally happened.
“……What is this……”
Even Eun-ho, watching from the side, was too dumbfounded to contain a groan.
“So…… the White Wolf Pavilion actually has people with good judgment.”
I think I misheard that? Anyway, that wasn’t the point right now.
“……Does this make any sense to you?”
I showed him the application I was holding.
“Hmm…… ultimately, the choice is theirs, isn’t it?”
That was right.
My application to the White Wolf Pavilion had been sent back to me.
Along with a reply saying they couldn’t accept me.
“I’m the Academy’s top student! The top student has the right to enter any unit he chooses!!”
“……That’s true.”
“What?? They’re full and can’t accept anyone else? Then cut someone with lower grades—why are they cutting from the top?! Don’t you think?!”
“That’s also true.”
I shot to my feet at the absurdity of this situation.
I, Jin So-un, could not stand idly by in the face of such injustice.
“Don’t try to stop me.”
“I won’t.”
Hm?
“I have to go prepare for my exam, so I’m busy.”
“……Is that so?”
Leaving behind an Eun-ho who seemed oddly distant, I headed straight for the White Wolf Pavilion.
The moment I arrived, I asked to see the personnel officer.
“What? Who?”
“I’m here to see the personnel officer.”
“……We don’t have one.”
“You don’t?”
“Our Pavilion Master handles all of it. If you really want to meet someone, go find the Pavilion Master.”
“……”
What? In my past life, the structure hadn’t been this much of a shambles.
Normally, meeting the head of a department directly was no easy task.
But the White Wolf Pavilion warrior before me gave directions to the Pavilion Master’s office as casually as if pointing to the neighbor’s house.
“……Is it really all right to just go?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? That bastard’s always crashing our drinking sessions.”
After hearing all that, there was no reason to hesitate.
I headed straight for the White Wolf Pavilion Master’s office.
As expected, no one stopped me along the way. In fact, despite it being the dead of winter, the office door was wide open.
And inside the office—
“Yaaawwn……”
A man sat with his feet propped on the desk, stretching out an enormous yawn.
He spotted me and asked.
“Got any booze on you?”
Asking a first-time visitor to his own office for alcohol.
Was this man really the Pavilion Master?
“Why would I?”
“If you don’t, just say so. Why the attitude?”
The man scratched his back roughly, then peered into several empty bottles as he spoke.
“You from Yanggaru? Or did Cheongbinru send you?”
Both were cheap taverns near Wuhan famous for their low prices. Had he run up tabs at those too?
“Neither. ……Are you truly the Pavilion Master?”
I asked cautiously, and a blunt answer came back.
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
Not at all.
He seemed like the kind of person who’d only get more irritating the longer I talked, so I cut straight to the point.
“I’m from the Murim Academy.”
“Murim Academy? I’ve got no clue what’s going on over there lately. Have they all lost their minds? Saying they want to come here?”
“……”
“And you? Having regrets? Application returns aren’t accepted. I forwarded everything to the Personnel Hall because I couldn’t be bothered.”
A man too lazy to even sort applications had specifically singled out mine to send back?
The inexplicable rejection sent flames roaring through my chest.
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“Then?”
“You returned my application, so I’ve come to resubmit it.”
“Returned? ……You that Black Flame Dragon kid?”
“Jin…… So-un.”
The man gave a cavernous yawn, then nodded.
“Right, the Black Path’s rising star, the Black Flame Dragon.”
He seemed to have finally found a bottle with something left in it—his face brightened as he tipped it back.
“Sorry, but I can’t take you.”
“……If it’s about my grades, they should be more than……”
“Grades aren’t the problem.”
The man cut me off and wiped the spilled drink from his chin with the back of his hand.
Then.
“You.”
He fixed me with bloodshot eyes.
What? My memory of the next-generation White Wolf Pavilion Master was that he wasn’t this much of a wreck……
“Urghh……! You’re a real pain in the ass. Too many people trying to poach you.”
“……”
He waved me off as though there was nothing more to discuss.
“I can’t stand the hassle. So turn around and go home. I’m not accepting you.”
……Was this man insane?