It had been fifty years since the land had been cla.s.sified as banned on the grounds of the presence of Wailing Gra.s.s.

At that time, there were a few people that would create issues out of nothing.

One of them was a man known today by the grand name of River Sword King.

But at the time, he was only an arrogant child.

Kang-hyuk, being unable to stand the child's att.i.tude, had dragged him to this place by the neck and gave him a thorough beating.

He recalled how the boy had screamed back then.

"Hahaha!"

Kang-hyuk burst out in laughter at the recollection of the ridiculous situation.

'Maybe the rumours of Wailing Gra.s.s became more confirmed from people hearing the boy's screams.'

Baek-gap looked up anxiously at Kang-hyuk's sudden burst of laughter.

"Wh-what's the matter?"

Unfortunately, this matter wasn't something Kang-hyuk could disclose to him.

"It's nothing. We should quickly get to work now."

"Yes, I understand. But what are your intentions for the Baby Ginseng? Are you going to sell it?"

"I'm going to feed it to the kids."

"What?"

"Why are you so surprised? Isn't it a common practice to give the students that answer a question correctly some sort of sweet or snack?"

"Well, isn't that only for little kids…"

"Whether you are an adult or a child, all people have increased motivation when there is a reward of some sort. Anyway, my idea is to candy them in honey and give them to the students."

"Is that why you bought honey yesterday?"

At that moment, Baek-gap had an unfortunate premonition.

"Then, who is going to be making these? You and I are the only people who know about there being Baby Ginseng here."

"You think I'm going to do it?"

"...."

His premonition came to fruition.

***

Around half a day had pa.s.sed.

Soon enough, the practice plot was ready. However, Baek-gap was still busy in action.

As he was taking 150 Baby Ginseng roots to the kitchen, he felt that they were in need of a maid.

He had also been given the task of transporting the remaining compost from the White Sun Valley to the practice plot.

Observing Baek-gap's state, Kang-hyuk stroked his chin habitually, but he still found it odd stroking such a smooth chin.

'I'm sure I could hire a few more workers.'

He remembered that the Academy did have a teaching a.s.sistant system. Each teacher could have up to three a.s.sistants.

After thinking about finding a good a.s.sistant, Kang-hyuk returned to finishing off the practice plot.

***

It was evening, and Baek-gap was headed to Jimilgak for reporting. It was the first visit to Jimilgak for the Leader, Mu-jin since the banquet incident.

"I've come to see the Leader!"

Baek-gap instantly prostrated before Mu-jin.

"You may stand up."

"Yes!"

Baek-gap quickly got up.

"What's happened to you? It's only been a few days and your complexion has turned pale."

Baek-gap lowered his head at Mu-jin's question.

"I apologize. I've been busy all day with clearing the practice plot and preparing the Baby Ginseng roots…"

"Practice plot? Baby Ginseng?"

Baek-gap relayed the full details to Mu-jin. Upon hearing the story, Mu-jin was unable to stop laughing.

"Hahahaha!"

"...?"

Mu-jin wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.

He couldn't believe that not only was Kang-hyuk making the forbidden land into a practice plot, but he was intending on giving the precious Baby Ginseng he found to the students as candied treats!

But, Mu-jin felt Kang-hyuk must have made these decisions after careful thought.

The real reason for Mu-jin's laughter was because he too was aware of the truth behind the screams of the 'Wailing Gra.s.s'.

'When that boy screamed, he really screamed. Noonim had to spread rumours about a non-existent Wailing Gra.s.s to cover up his screaming.'

All of a sudden, Baek-gap fell onto his knees.

"Leader!"

"What's wrong?"

"Do I have to keep on doing this mission?"

Upon hearing Baek-gap's words, the head of the Jimilgak, who was standing in the background, scolded Baek-gap fiercely.

"Stop spouting c.r.a.p! Are you saying that you want to disobey the Leader's orders? d.a.m.n it!"

Baek-gap flinched, whilst Mu-jin held his hand up at the Jimilgak head, then looked at Baek-gap.

"I understand what you mean."

"...!"

"You don't even know what to think, and you feel as though you may lose your life at least four times in a day, am I right?"

"Yes, that's it!"

"But do you really think there's any other attendant that would be able to cope with him? There's no one else who has your level of patience, which is why I a.s.signed you to this particular mission."

"...."

"There will definitely be hardships, but if you are able to endure past them, there will be good days. But no matter what the situation is, I will protect your life, so don't worry about dying. I request that you keep on with your mission."

Baek-gap was unable to fathom how the Leader hadn't given him an order, but a request!

"I, I accept your order!"

The Jimilgak head blinked in astoundment.

Mu-jin sighed inwardly. He had attempted to calm Baek-gap down, but he was well of aware of how Baek-gap felt.

He recalled his memories of serving underneath Kang-hyuk.

'Ah, d.a.m.n it! Even thinking about it now makes me want to vomit!'

***

It was the next day.

After eating breakfast, Kang-hyuk put on his uniform.

The new uniform was a little stiff, but it still felt good to wear it.

He closed his eyes, and thought of his brother.

"We're officially starting today, Kang-Jae!"

The sound of a drum beating from afar could be heard. The drum was to mark that it was 7.30.

Kang-hyuk headed over to the Cheongpunggwan with the candied Baby Ginseng they had made the day before.

He had to attend the morning meeting.

Kang-hyuk entered the conference room within Cheongpunggwan.

"Good Morning, Kang Seonsaeng."

Ju Gung-wol, the music teacher, greeted him.

"Good morning."

Soon, all of teachers had arrived, and the meeting began.

The first issue to be discussed was a dispute between two new students from the Namgoong and Jaegal families respectively.

The conclusion was to give them both penalty points and to watch over their behaviour for the time being.

Despite the school having autonomy, the punishment was light due to their distinguished families. As time went on, various issues were discussed, and the meeting seemed to be in its completion until someone spoke up.

"Kang Seongsaeng, you seemed to be diligently working away in the forbidden land yesterday, were you successful in its preparation?"

It was a question asked by the Swordsmanship teacher, Oh-Tae. Kang-hyuk nodded his head in response.

"Yes, the land was more fertile than I thought it would be. I think it will become a perfect practice plot."

"Is that so?"

Oh-Tae, disappointed at his success, had a bitter expression on his face. The princ.i.p.al, Eun Myeong-myeong looked a little strange as well.

"Did you look all over the forbidden land yesterday?"

"I did. I looked everywhere and felt it would be a great place for practising horticulture."

"….You encountered no problems whatsoever?"

"Yes. Yesterday, we cleared the weeds and planted trees and flowers without any problems at all."

The teachers were in confusion. If he had cleared the weeds, he would have inevitably triggered the Wailing Gra.s.s, but he seemed completely unharmed.

'Were the rumours about the Wailing Gra.s.s false? If he went there, he would have definitely encountered the Wailing Gra.s.s. I only looked at the site from far away but there definitely seemed to be Wailing Gra.s.s growing there. He can't have disposed of all the gra.s.s and escaped unharmed.'

The land had really gone to waste all of this time.

Kang-hyuk looked towards Eun Myeong-myeong and spoke, "Princ.i.p.al, I have a request."

"What is it?"

"Now that we are using the land as a practice plot, could we change the name?"

"What name would you suggest?"

"I would like to call It Yeonkyowon."

"The meaning of the name is a garden cultivated by teaching, is it not?"

Kang-hyuk smiled brightly at Eun Myeong-myeong's query.

"That is indeed the meaning."

Kang-hyuk then directed his words towards the dejected-looking martial arts teachers.

"The permit that the Princ.i.p.al gave for the use of the land is only under the name of Yeongyowon."

The implication of this was not to have their eyes on the land now that it seemed to be safe. But Kang-hyuk intuited that the martial teachers and the Princ.i.p.al might take his words as a threat.

"However."

"...?"

"You are welcome to come any time with a pot full of tea. And if you could bring a bottle of wine, that would be even better!"

"Hahaha!"

He had successfully broken the ice, and laughter rang out of the room.

With that, the meeting was over.

After the meeting, Ok Hae-mi approached Kang-hyuk.

"Kang Seonsaeng, this is your attendance book."

She handed him a thin black book.

"You probably already know, but the book contains a list of the students that will be attending your cla.s.s. Also, you can find your daily schedule on the front page of the book."

Kang-hyuk went through the attendance book.

He had cla.s.ses once a day for one hour. He would be teaching the first-year students on the first day of the week, the second-year students on the second day and the third and fourth-year students on the third and fourth days respectively.

He had no cla.s.ses on the other three days of the week.

Kang-hyuk thought this was odd and double-checked his timetable with the music teacher Ju Gung-wol's, but found it to be the same.

'This must be why the Liberal Art's teachers have a lower salary.'

It was widely known that the salary of the Academy teachers was two silver coins, however, this was just the salary of the Martial subject teachers.

As the Liberal art's teachers had fewer cla.s.ses than the Martial teachers, their salary of one silver coin reflected this.

This was still a large amount, considering that the living expenses for an average person was one silver coin a year, but it was still half the pay of the martial subject teachers.

However, Kang-hyuk didn't really care as he hadn't become a teacher for the money anyway.

'I should go to my cla.s.s now.'

Looking at the attendance book, he saw that he would be teaching eight first-year students.

He felt a flutter of excitement at the thought of teaching his first cla.s.s.

***

"H"

A boy sighed.

The boy was wearing a black belt that marked he was a first-year student. He seemed to be walking somewhere.

"It's that guy over there, isn't it?"

"The guy called Dang So-mun?"

"He's the guy who fell over in today's Swordsmanship cla.s.s."

"My word! He still has no dignity!"

"The Dang Family name is crying right now!"

"Didn't he lose all his dignity before he was ten anyway?"

"He's such a dimwit! Hahaha!"

The taunts were aimed at the boy wearing the black belt.

'Oh my, am I really beyond redemption?'

Dang So-mun looked down at his legs. Ever since he could remember, he had been learning martial arts.

He was from Sacheon's Dang Family.

Being from a family famed for its use of the Am-gi weapon and Poison b.a.l.l.s, he could throw the Am-gi and Poison b.a.l.l.s with almost perfect execution.

But for whatever reason, his legs wouldn't move as he wanted them to.

His legs had twisted, causing him to fall onto his behind during the Swordsmanship cla.s.s.

"Ah…"

He sighed again.

"Hey, what are you doing? You'd better move along!"

Dang So-mun turned around. A boy with abundant freckles on his face was standing there.

"Mun-ji!"

The boy looked at Dang So-mun and clicked his tongue.

"You look like you're about to die!"

He was aware of why Dang So-mun looked so dejected.

"These things happen to the best of us! Just forget about it, we still have the Horticulture cla.s.s to attend. It's far away as well, so let's get moving!"

Dang So-mun nodded.

The boy known as Mun-ji was a child of the Baek household that served the Dang Family, and so he had been acquainted with Dang So-mun from a young age.

Mun-ji being at the Academy was of great relief to Dang So-mun, as he would have otherwise been alone.

Initially, they were placed together as play-mates by Dang So-mun's father. As time went by, Mun-ji began to feel sorry for him, and thought that he was quite pitiful.

The Baek Family had access to a lot of the Dang Family's inside information, and therefore Mun-ji too was aware of many of their hidden secrets.

This, however, was all in the past, and at present, Mun-ji considered Dang So-mun to be his very best friend.