Chapter 138: Wandering Blade (1)
The cadets who were on the training ground all exited in a wobbly duck walk with their buttocks pulled back.
Because they ran so much while wearing heavy shackles, it seemed no strength remained in their legs.
Chui was thinking about many things in his heart as he watched them.
‘The sooner they become stronger, the greater the possibility of blocking the Blood Cult’s movements.’
Chui regarded each and every cadet of the Ascending Heaven Academy as a blade.
Those blades, which would become sharper the more they were forged, were inherently ‘possibilities’ aimed at Elder Hong.
Of course, the more Chui forged and refined them, the higher their individual survival rate would become, so in the end, it was mutually beneficial.
Meanwhile.
“…?”
“…?”
“…?”
The cadets returning to the dormitory had to shiver at the gaze of Chui felt from behind their backs.
Right then.
“Assistant Instructor Ximen.”
There were voices calling Chui from behind.
Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang. They were looking at Ximen Qing with sparkling eyes.
It was a gaze filled with curiosity and respect, completely different from when they first met in the classroom.
Namgung Yul opened her mouth first.
“Thanks to you, Assistant Instructor, I gained great enlightenment today. Thank you.”
“No need.”
Chui waved his hand.
But Namgung Yul was still staring intently at his face.
“Assistant Instructor.”
“…?”
“By any chance, have I… met you somewhere before?”
Namgung Yul gazed at Chui’s eyes, which were half-hidden by his bangs, beyond Ximen Qing’s mask.
An unfamiliar familiarity for some unknown reason.
She did not know whether it was a woman’s intuition, a martial artist’s sense, or both.
“It’s just that you look strangely familiar. Surely somewhere…”
If it were an ordinary man, all his armor would have been stripped away under her curious gaze, but for Chui, it was something that did not apply.
“If it is a job offer, I don’t need it.”
“Ah! H-how did you!?”
Chui turned his head away after those words.
In truth, familiarity was familiarity, but Namgung Yul, who had secretly intended to recruit Ximen Qing as an instructor for the Namgung Clan rather than the Ascending Heaven Academy, could only smack her lips in regret.
“Still, if you change your mind by any chance, please contact me. Our Namgung Clan is thirsty for external talents, so we always keep our doors open and offer generous treatment…”
Chui completely ignored Namgung Yul’s words and moved his steps.
At that moment, Ho Ye-yang popped up beside him.
“Assistant Instructor Ximen. Do you not recognize me by any chance?”
“What is it?”
“I asked because I wondered if I might have met you in the past. I feel somewhat familiar…”
“…”
In the short time they hadn’t met, her tone had become even stiffer.
And Chui knew the reason.
‘It must be because her father, Ho Yeon-am, was a soldier in his youth.’
Ho Ye-yang, whom Chui had met before his regression, had perhaps drifted to the battlefield of the distant frontier for that reason.
With a heart yearning for one’s roots, toward the land where her father once dedicated his youth in service.
“…”
Chui was lost in thought for a moment, so he could not reply to Ho Ye-yang’s question.
“Assistant Instructor?”
As Ho Ye-yang opened her mouth once again, Chui immediately spoke in a cold voice.
“No.”
“…”
To the question of whether they had met somewhere before, he didn’t even say ‘I don’t know’ but ‘No.’
At that decisive drawing of a line, Ho Ye-yang also shrank back and withdrew in a gloomy mood.
Meanwhile.
Leaving Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang behind, Chui walked and called out to stop a cadet ahead.
“Sima Yuli.”
“Yes? Yes!”
Sima Yuli, who was walking clumsily in a crooked posture in front, was startled and turned her head.
Chui asked in an ordinary manner.
“Are you eating well?”
“Ah, yes! Of course! Some grateful person sponsored me… so the tuition problem has been solved! However…”
“However?”
When Chui asked back, Sima Yuli spoke in an embarrassed manner.
“That person surely sponsored me for the sake of my studies. Therefore, I intend to use that sponsorship money only for tuition and textbook fees.”
“What about living expenses?”
“I will earn those by working occasionally! Because I shouldn’t get too used to being indebted to others!”
Chui nodded his head.
Although he wondered why she would walk such an inefficient path, that was also her choice.
“Right. Work hard.”
“…Yes!”
Looking at the departing Chui, Sima Yuli’s eyes were sparkling brilliantly.
‘Gentle. Sweet. Warm. A good person…’
Meanwhile.
Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang began to feel a strange emotion as they watched that spectacle.
‘What? Why is he only nice to that girl? Gasp? C-could this be that… ‘talent discrimination’ I’ve only heard about?’
‘I also want to be doted on by the assistant instructor like her.’
The three girls were flustered, regretful, or excited by emotions they had never felt even once during their lives at the Ascending Heaven Academy.
In that way, the atmosphere of the class was gradually flowing in a peculiar direction.
* * *
Chui returned to his official residence after finishing his daily routine.
The very top floor of the official residence building.
Since there was only the rooftop above, it was very convenient to slip in and out through the window.
Chui opened the door of the official residence and went inside.
Creeak…
Then, the glittering, polished furniture came into view.
“…?”
Chui looked at the nameplate hung on the door again.
<1504 Ximen Qing>
This was the correct room.
But why on earth was the state of the room so clean?
When Chui stepped into the living room.
“Ah! You’ve arrived, Assistant Instructor!”
The maid Yeong-ah called out happily as she came out of the bathroom.
As always, Yeong-ah chattered about this and that before Chui could even ask.
“I paid extra attention to details today! Though I will pay such attention every day from now on!”
“…”
Since there was nothing bad about clean cleaning, Chui did not say anything in particular.
But.
“There is about a month left now. I will work really hard during that time. Personally, I wanted to serve you much, much longer… I’m sad.”
“?”
Chui turned his head at Yeong-ah’s subsequent words.
At that, Yeong-ah opened her eyes wide.
“Did you not know?”
“…”
“I thought you knew. Sigh…”
Yeong-ah let out a sigh and continued speaking.
“I received contact this morning. They said the person I have to serve will change in the future.”
“…”
“One of my colleagues suddenly resigned… and according to the Maid Overseer, the person she used to serve pointed me out.”
The expression of Yeong-ah as she spoke kept darkening in real-time.
Chui asked.
“He specifically pointed you out?”
“Yes…”
“Why?”
It was out of pure curiosity.
It was difficult to find a maid like Yeong-ah who cleaned and did laundry well and was sincere in her duties.
Therefore, Chui asked in a bit more detail, unlike usual.
Soon, Yeong-ah opened her mouth hesitantly.
“May I speak about this matter…”
“Speak.”
Chui sat on a chair and offered Yeong-ah a chair as well.
If Gyeon Sul had seen this, it was a spectacle that would have made him jump up and down, complaining about what kind of discriminatory treatment this was.
Yeong-ah sat at the table with a dark face.
And she began to explain the detailed inside story.
“Actually… the reason my colleague suddenly left is because of the person she served.”
“Because of the person she served? Something must have happened.”
“Yes. That is… because she ended up carrying that person’s child…”
“?”
Despite the somewhat abrupt development, Chui still had no change in expression.
Yeong-ah continued speaking.
“Among my colleagues, there is a girl named Lanlan… and she kept saying she wasn’t feeling well since a few days ago. She is a girl who cannot buy and eat well because she has no money, but her stomach kept bulging… so everyone was worried, but we never imagined she would be pregnant. I heard later that she slept with the instructor she served.”
According to school rules, faculty members are not allowed to have physical contact with their assigned maids.
But despite that, these kinds of incidents and accidents kept occurring.
“At first, it was just asking her to scrub his back when taking a bath… but gradually that demand became more severe, and later he groped, touched, and fondled her body… and in the end, forcibly…”
“…”
“Since that day, she couldn’t tell anyone and kept serving his night bed. I wondered why the days she didn’t return to the dormitory were so unusually frequent, but I never dreamed she was suffering through such things.”
The hesitation she felt at first had by now gradually turned into anger.
Yeong-ah lowered her voice, yet continued speaking clearly with precise pronunciation.
“What followed was absurd. The instructor who got Lanlan pregnant later found out about that fact and presented some kind of paper to Lanlan.”
“What was it?”
“A marriage pledge. A pledge stating that he acknowledges the child Lanlan is carrying as his, and that they should marry in the future, raise the child, and live happily together. That instructor told Lanlan that they should each stamp their thumbprints on the marriage pledge. However…”
Yeong-ah’s anger reached its peak.
She looked around several times, then lowered her voice and said.
“The pledge Lanlan stamped her thumbprint on was actually… a pledge stating that she slept around with another man and carried a child whose father is unknown, and since she is ashamed, she is voluntarily leaving the Ascending Heaven Academy. She was completely deceived. Lanlan cannot read, you see.”
“I see.”
Chui nodded his head.
The story that an instructor used his position to violate a maid, and when she suddenly became pregnant, he exploited her illiteracy to frame her as a loose woman and kick her out.
Yeong-ah tightly clenched her cute two fists and trembled.
“That wicked instructor ruined both Lanlan’s chastity and honor. And now he is trying to make me his plaything as well…”
“Did you report this fact to the academy?”
“No… Honestly, what kind of power would maids like us have? Even if we report it, it will be cut off at the Maid Overseer’s level… and regardless, the one who stamped the thumbprint on that pledge was Lanlan herself…”
To Chui’s question, Yeong-ah shook her head and wore a sad expression.
“Actually, I have been a lucky one all this time. Assistant Instructor Ximen always treated me well. You never ordered me to do rough work, nor did you treat me like a plaything, and you even shared your portion of meals with me.”
“…”
“Thank you so, so much for everything. So that I can repay even a little of the grace you’ve bestowed upon me, I will do my best to assist you during the remaining time. So that no regrets remain after I leave.”
Yeong-ah’s expression was as if she had already resigned herself to her fate.
After all, since the one who wanted her was an instructor whose rank was far higher than an assistant instructor, it was natural that Ximen Qing would be helpless as well.
……However.
“Hmm.”
Chui merely swept his chin once.
Soon, Chui asked Yeong-ah.
“What is the name of that instructor who wants you?”
“…?”
To Chui’s question, Yeong-ah tilted her head and replied.
“…yo.”
Hearing Yeong-ah’s reply, Chui rummaged through his chest pocket.
Rustle…
A wrinkled piece of paper came out from his pocket.
It was a ‘roster’ written in a complex code.
It was of a similar nature to the one he had given to Gyeon Sul earlier, but it was a roster with far more names written on it.
Chui flipped through that roster, which he had compiled by fully mobilizing his memories before his regression.
And then he nodded his head.
“Indeed.”
Soon, Chui placed his hand on Yeong-ah’s head.
And then he said in a low voice.
“Do not worry. You do not have to go to another official residence.”
“…?”
Yeong-ah did not know what that meant, merely blinking her large eyes.
However, the addition that Chui made in his mind was filled with absolute certainty.
‘Because I will kill that fellow tonight.’
Of course, those were not words that came out of his mouth.