Yun Mi-ha also stood there with a group of female students gathered around her.
"Mi-ha, was it really Baby Ginseng root?"
"How is your Qi capacity? Has it expanded?"
She nodded at her peers' excited questioning.
"It was the real Baby Ginseng and my Qi capacity has expanded to a month's worth of cultivation."
"Oh wow!"
"That's amazing!"
"I'm already looking forward to the next cla.s.s!"
"I'm going to ask a good question next time as well."
"But I'll have to ask a relevant question, not just any random thing."
"Of course. Hahaha."
Yun Mi-ha turned her head to look at Kang-hyuk and saw that he was currently conversing with Dang So-mun.
'What are they talking about?'
She became curious and turned her ears in their direction in an attempt to hear their conversation.
"I can't believe that Kang Dae-Hyeop, I mean, Kang Seonsaengnim is working as a teacher here! I'm so glad to see you again!"
"I too am glad to see you again."
"I guess I'm addressing you with the right level of formality now, right?"
"You are…. these things are all dependent on one's position. Anyway, I'm glad that you are my student now. Who's the lad next to you?"
"He's my friend, Baek Mun-ji."
"He's from the Baek family…."
"Sorry?"
"Nothing. Anyway, I'll see you at the next cla.s.s."
"Yes, we'll see you then."
Kang-hyuk didn't converse with them for long and headed off to his next destination. He was heading in the direction of a signboard which was stuck onto a tree trunk that read 'Yeongyowon'.
Kang-hyuk's words were repeatedly circulating in her mind.
"Even if you think it's too precious, it's all I have with me. How can you refuse to accept it?"
He had spoken to her in a firm and cold manner, but for some reason, she didn't feel bad.
She then realized why.
'It felt as though I was talking to my grandfather…'
***
After the cla.s.s had finished, Kang-hyuk was heading over to the practice plot when he heard a voice calling his name.
"Kang Seonsaeng!"
It was Ju Gung-wol, the music teacher. Kang-hyuk turned around.
"Your cla.s.s has finished as well?"
Ju Gung-wol nodded his head, and spoke with an urgent voice.
"Was the candied root really Baby Ginseng?"
In the morning, before the cla.s.ses had started, Kang-hyuk had given each of the Liberal Arts subject teachers a fistful of the candied Baby Ginseng.
He predicted that there would be conflict if he was the only teacher that distributed the candied root. The students would most likely protest to the other teachers that 'The other teacher is distributing them, so why aren't you?' Thus, he had made sure to give the other teachers some candied root of their own. "Do you not trust in my words?"
"I'm sorry."
Ju Gung-wol looked a little ashamed at doubting Kang-hyuk and quickly apologized.
"I thought you might have been joking when you said it was Baby Ginseng, as you gave us a whole fistful of such a precious root."
"I understand why you would think that."
"But where did you obtain the root from?"
Kang-hyuk couldn't tell him the truth. If he said that he had dug the roots up from the forbidden land, it would be highly suspicious.
"I had cultivated it on some of my land, and I dug those up to make the candied root."
"So you grew them yourself?"
"I did."
"That's incredible! I didn't even know you could cultivate Baby Ginseng."
"I'll make sure to supply the Liberal arts teachers with the candied root from now on."
"Are you serious?"
"You'll be able to increase the students' concentration using them."
"Ah…"
Ju Gung-wol smiled happily.
Kang-hyuk had refrained from distributing any of the candied root to the martial arts teachers.
One of the reasons was the reduced salary of the Liberal arts teachers in comparison to them, but the main reason was that the students already paid full concentration in their Martial cla.s.ses.
On the other hand, the students used the time in their Liberal arts subject cla.s.ses to do as they pleased, as it caused no disadvantage to them.
This was why Kang-hyuk's candied Baby Ginseng root was akin to rain falling in a desert to the Liberal Arts teachers.
Whilst martial skills were important to the people of Moorim, they considered the expansion of Qi within the body to be of greater importance.
The different levels of cultivation, from third-rate to beyond the peak level were all distinguished by the level of Qi one could hold within the body.
In addition, even if two people had the same level of martial skills physically, their abilities as a whole depended on their levels of Qi and could differ considerably.
Kang-hyuk was using the fact that the students were of Moorim as bait for their concentration. He knew that they wouldn't want to have a smaller Qi capacity than their cla.s.smates, and therefore would work hard to earn the candied root.
"By the way…"
Ju Gung-wol looked concerned.
"What if the martial teachers retaliate in some way because of this?"
Kang-hyuk smiled.
"Don't worry. Even if something does happen, we can think about it then."
"….Okay then. Anyway, seeing as you were walking in this direction, are you going to Yeongyowon?"
Kang-hyuk nodded.
"I'm going to finish the little bits that are left."
Ju Gung-wol tilted his head to the side.
"Are you going to do it yourself? Don't you have an attendant?"
"I haven't been able to find a reliable one yet."
"In that case, seeing as I've received help from you today, I'll come and help you finish preparing the plot."
"I won't refuse you."t
"I guess we'll have lunch after that…"
"Ah! Don't worry about that. My servant has packed lunch. He usually packs too much, so we can share the lunch there and eat at the practice plot."
"Well, that's a relief."
Ju Gung-wol and Kang-hyuk headed towards Yeongyowon.
***
"Come on, let's eat lunch."
Dang So-mun looked up at Baek Mun-ji who had slapped his shoulder.
"Yes, yes let's eat."
Baek Mun-ji looked at Dang So-mun's expression and smiled.
"What are you thinking?"
"Huh?"
"I've told you so many times! You can't keep a stoic face at all!"
"…..Does it show on my face?"
"Yeah."
Baek Mun-ji sighed inwardly.
'It's a good thing anyway.'
He continued talking.
"So anyways, what are you thinking about?"
"….I'm thinking about the cultivation of sacred herbs. You know that my family's been researching into the cultivation of sacred herbs, right?"
"I know. A lot of money was spent in the research too, right? Didn't the artificially cultivated sacred herb plants have a poisonous effect as opposed to a medicinal one?"
"That's why I want to help my family by learning how to cultivate sacred herbs."
Baek Mun-ji bit his lip at Dang So-mun's words.
'You want to be of help? This is just too much…'
Baek Mun-ji forced a smile and spoke.
"You could, of course, do that. But you aren't the only one in your family that has signed up for the Horticulture cla.s.s."
"What do you mean?"
"Your second older sister and fourth older brother are also taking Horticulture."
"They...they are?"
Dang So-mun's expression immediately became sullen.
"In that case…. I'm sure they will be of help to the family."
Baek Mun-ji slapped his shoulder again.
"Right, let's go and eat lunch!"
"Ok."
Baek Mun-ji was walking in front of Dang So-mun with a downcast expression. He was recalling the conversation he had had with the head of the Dang Family.
"Seeing as you're a child of the Baek family, you must have figured out by now why So-mun is known as being a dimwit right?"
"I know why. My family already informed me. But about him being a dimwit…"
"Of course he's not actually a dimwit. His martial skills are better than any boy his age. But, he has to be known as a dimwit."
"Is that why you purposely cut off the blood circulation on his legs so that he wouldn't be able to make full use of them?"
"You're quite sharp. He's only fifteen years old. But you must hide at least thirty percent of your skills in front of others."
"Please give me your command."
"Does this mean you trust me? Hahaha, I give you my thanks for that. So you've figured out why I called you here by now, right?"
"It's because So-mun was admitted into Hwacheon Academy, right?"
"I had no choice but to send him due to the family's honour. However, you must make sure he never enters the Hwacheon Clan's inner circle."
"I know that much."
"You must have also already figured out what I'm going to a.s.sign to you."
"You want me to interfere so that he is never shown to be an outstanding student."
"In the case that this doesn't work, if you are able to save the child's life at the very least, I won't punish you."
"….I understand."
Baek Mun-ji looked at Dang So-mun's back.
'Why did such a nice boy meet this kind of fate?'
He blamed the perpetrator that has twisted Dang So-mun's fate.
'My lord, I don't know whether you are aware of this or not but I'm not hiding thirty percent of my skills. I'm only showing thirty percent of my skills.'
He sighed.
'Not only that, but he's already my best friend that I would risk my life for.'
***
A few days had pa.s.sed.
In this time, strange stories had begun to spread amongst the students.
Those stories were about the rewards that the Liberal Arts teachers were throwing at the students in their cla.s.ses.
Initially, the students were skeptical that the candied root was really Baby Ginseng.
But after the confirmation of the effects of ingesting the root from various children of esteemed families, their doubts were alleviated.
The Liberal Arts cla.s.ses were no longer cla.s.ses in which they would simply do as they pleased.
The cla.s.ses were now seen as an opportunity to increase their cultivation by a month.
This situation did not go unnoticed by the martial teachers.
A group of people wearing blue uniforms were gathered in a drinking shop.
They were martial arts teachers that were in charge of teaching the first year students.
A teacher slammed his fist on the table.
"Really! This is quite unbelievable! Candied Baby Ginseng root?"
He was a teacher of the martial art of the fist, and his name was Hw.a.n.g Bo-yeong. The teacher next to him named Paeng-ji spoke with indignation.
"Well if they didn't do that, the kids wouldn't listen."
"That's true!"
"I heard that the Baby Ginseng was personally cultivated."
"How could they have been successful in cultivating it when even the Dang family was unable to do so? That's just ridiculous."
Dang Du-go, a teacher of the Am-gi weapon from the Dang Family snorted.
"If he has enough money to pay for the Wolsoru bill in one go, he must have just bought the roots in bulk."
At the mention of the Wolsoru bill, the atmosphere stiffened as the teachers were reminded of the debt contract that Kang-hyuk still had in his possession.
"Even so."
The group's attention was drawn to the new voice that had spoken.
"It clearly doesn't feel good that the Liberal Arts teachers are getting involved in martial skills, does it?"
The swordsmanship teacher, Oh-Tae had spoken.
As he was the head of all of the martial arts subjects, they were unable to ignore his words.
"What are you thinking of doing?"
Ok Hae-mi, the writing teacher had asked the question. Oh-Tae smiled at her question.
"We'll obviously have to kick him out."
"….. Is there really a need to go so far?"
"It's fine that they dare to interfere in the matters of martial arts, but they dare to try and have a higher position of importance than us! It's going beyond the school's policies as well!"
The other teachers nodded in agreement.
Oh-Tae stood up resolutely.
"Let us all go to that man's residence and give him a piece of our mind!"
"Right!"
"Let's do that!"
The other teachers followed Oh-Tae, and rose from their seats in preparation for leaving.
