"Oh my! Teasing such a cute puppy? What kind of awful person would do such a thing?"
"Exactly!"
"Deuki-ya! Come over here!"
"No! Come to me!"
As the students began to play with Deuk, Kang-hyuk then sat down.
"So, what are going to do about the night watching schedule? Oh Seonsaeng, weren't you going to organize it?"
Oh-Tae then removed a piece of paper from his sleeve.
"Here you go."
Kang-hyuk scanned through the paper. Written on the paper was the night watching schedule.
The first one scheduled to night-watch was Kang-hyuk, and the one scheduled last was Oh-Tae. In between the two were Kang-hyuk and Oh-Tae's a.s.sistants, while some of the students were also scheduled to watch.
As promised, Oh-Tae added half of Kang-hyuk's night watching time to his own.
'At the very least, he's a man who lives up to his word!'
Kang-hyuk nodded.
"Well, goodnight then."
He then addressed the students.
"You should all go to sleep now. You can play with Deuk tomorrow. Tomorrow's activities won't run as smoothly if all of you are tired."
"Yes, Seonsaengnim."
***
*Crackle* *Crackle* *Crackle*
The sound of fire crackling could be heard.
The experience of night within the cave was calmingly quiet.
Despite the large, deep interior of the cave and the rainy weather, due to the crackle of the fire, it was warm and cozy inside.
Holes on the ceiling of the cave near the cave mouth, as well as the cave ending, enabled the fire's smoke to escape, avoiding any build-up of smoke.
'These are optimum conditions to be in on a rainy night!'
Kang-hyuk smiled as he looked at his group, all deep in slumber.
Having adapted to his new, smaller body, Deuk ran around as though he was hopping.
But despite him running around, he was careful not to touch the sleeping students.
"You're quite talented."
Kang-hyuk threw additional firewood into the fire.
The flames instantly rose up. Then, within a few moments, died down to its original size.
The atmosphere and situation didn't feel unfamiliar to Kang-hyuk.
'Thinking about it, we stayed in this cave before as well.'
Without realizing it, Kang-hyuk dived deep into the realm of his old memories.
"Daechu-nim (1), really! I honestly can't agree with that. There are so many foods in the world that are better than noodles, so how can you say that there's nothing better than Ilmibanjeon's noodles!"
"Orabeoni, how dare you question Daechu-nim's opinion?"
"Oh my! Daechu-nim must really love noodles then! If so, should we have noodles for tomorrow's lunch then?"
"Uh...do you want me to help you with that?"
"That would be great, Eonni (2)!"
"I'm a terrible cook, so I'll just eat whatever you guys make. Hahaha."
"Anyways, why are we still talking about noodles?"
"Hahaha! If we survive this mission, I'll buy everyone a bowl of noodles."
"Hey! Daechu-nim! Why are you being so stingy where you're only offering to buy us a bowl of noodles? If you're thinking of treating us, you should add in some alcohol as well!"
"Exactly!"
"You! Are you planning to completely empty Daechu-nim's pockets?! I won't let that happen! Let's have a bout!"
"Ahhh! Noonim's punches really hurt! Save me! Daechu-nim!"
"Mu-jin did something that's worthy of being punched!"
"Ah, all of you are really too much!"
"Hahaha!"
Kang-hyuk could still dimly hear the sound of their past laughter ringing in his ears.
'Am I still longing for those days?'
Kang-hyuk's eyes drooped downwards.
It was so. He did miss those days. He didn't know why, but even when he had been the Clan Leader, he still longed for those days.
'If only I could go back…..'
Kang-hyuk smiled, and then shook his head.
At the same time, he didn't want to go back to those times. He knew that he was glorifying those days within his memories, and was glazing over the rough moments.
There were a lot of moments that had been hard to endure through.
'Nonetheless, despite all of that, I've survived, and even gone through reverse aging! It's actually more of a miracle that I'm still alive, rather than the occurrence of my age reversal.'
Kang-hyuk shifted his gaze forwards. Deuk was hanging onto his knee.
"What's wrong?"
Deuk pointed towards a particular student. This student was Baek Mun-ji. He was the student scheduled to be on night watching duty after Kang-hyuk.
"I see what you mean. Time has pa.s.sed by so quickly."
Before waking Baek Mun-ji up, he decided to give a special gift to the whole Samjo group.
He took out a small but ong square box from his packed luggage.
Within the box were evenly s.p.a.ced compartments, all compartments containing pills.
Deuk's nose twitched, as he could sense that the pills were not ordinary.
"Hm, this should be enough."
Kang-hyuk took out a green pill, and tossed it into the fire.
Within a few moments, the energy of the surroundings received a boost, and a fatigue relieving scent filled the air.
The name of the pill was 'Quickly Clearing Pill'.
It was a medicine made by Ho-sung from the Mysterious Medicine Valley. When burnt, it had the effect of revitalising those in its surroundings.
"I'll have to wake Baek Mun-ji now."
At Kang-hyuk's words, Deuk immediately ran up to Baek Mun-ji and shook him with his front paws.
"Ummm…."
Kang-hyuk spoke as Baek Mun-ji began to open his eyes.
"It's your turn for the night guarding."
"Ah!"
Baek Mun-ji immediately stood up.
"You know what to do when night guarding right?"
Despite night guarding only being done as a formality, it also served to remind the group to always be on alert in the case of a situation in which they were under attack.
"I'm aware of what to do."
"Great. I'll hand the duties over to you then."
"Yes. Have a good night."
Kang-hyuk laid down at his sleeping s.p.a.ce, whilst Deuk took the spot beside him, stretching out completely.
Baek Mun-ji tilted his head.
After having awoken from a deep sleep, he had expected to be tired, but strangely enough, he didn't feel any sense of fatigue at all. On the contrary, he felt incredibly renewed.
The effect was of course due to Kang-hyuk's 'Quickly Clearing Pill', but since he was unaware of this, Baek Mun-ji simply thought it was due to him having a sound sleep.
As time went by, Baek Mun-ji's night guarding slot pa.s.sed by, and Oh-Tae, whose turn it was to guard last, got up.
"Umm…"
He looked around.
Each person in the other groups, who were night guarding, seemed to be in a complete daze of exhaustion. It was only him who seemed to be feeling clear and refreshed.
'Is it because of the pure energy of the place? No wonder, since it's the Clan Leader's private property!'
Oh-Tae looked around once more.
His eyes halted as he came across the sight of Deuk, who was peacefully sleeping next to Kang-hyuk.
He then recalled Kang-hyuk's words.
''I'm warning you to not tease, or provoke him because he has a strong protective instinct? What ridiculousness! It's just a puppy."
He scoured the surroundings once more.
A good opportunity for him had arisen, as no one seemed to be paying attention to him.
He stood up, his gaze fixed on Deuk.
Oh-Tae's feeling towards Deuk was similar to the saying, 'If one hates their daughter in law, they even hate what is at the daughter in law's heels'. He felt bothered whenever he heard Deuk being praised as 'cute'.
'Well, I don't think that there'll be much upheaval if a dog dies. If there's an unfortunate incident, it's Kang Seonsaeng's problem. He shouldn't have picked up a random beast on the holy occasion of the Academy's field trip.'
With these intentions in mind, Oh-Tae reached his hand out towards Deuk.
*Huh?*
It was then.
Deuk, who Oh-Tae had thought was in deep sleep, suddenly raised his head and stared at him.
But Oh-Tae wasn't bothered by the fact that he was awake. He felt that he only needed to squeeze the tiny fellow's neck before it was all over.
'This dog b.a.s.t.a.r.d…..ah!'
Within moments, Oh-Tae's movement came to a halt.
A powerful ferocious energy that emanated from Deuk had surrounded him.
*Flop*
Oh-Tae sank down at the force of the energy.
*Tremble tremble tremble*
His body began spontaneously shaking.
He was now certain that the small beast had the ability to take his own life with its own two paws!
His instincts were screaming out, telling him to run away, that the beast was definitely not just a mere puppy.
'It's a deadly beast! That thing is a dangerous beast!'
Suddenly.
"Uhh, what's wrong? There's still a lot of time before you need to wake up, go to sleep."
Kang-hyuk seemed to be talking in his sleep, as he reached his arm out and embraced Deuk.
It was only then that the ferocious energy that had been enveloping Oh-Tae began to disappear.
Oh Tae, having regained some sense of consciousness, took a deep breath.
He was now able to fully comprehend Kang-hyuk's warning of Deuk's protective instincts.
He realized that this meant that Kang-hyuk was aware of Deuk's true ident.i.ty.
'Kang Seonsaeng wants to raise such...such a vicious beast?'
It was only then that Oh-Tae began to feel that something was a little strange.
But suddenly, he began to feel a ferocious energy from somewhere else. The energy was pressing down on him, and was of a totally different cla.s.s in comparison to Deuk's energy.
'Is no one else able to feel this intense energy?'
The night watchers of the other groups seemed to be sitting peacefully, completely unperturbed.
'Ho-how can they not feel it? It's such a huge wave of ferocious energy.'
His sight was becoming blurry, and he felt as though he couldn't breathe.
If this huge force of energy continued to press down onto him, he could almost certainly guarantee a particular occurrence.
That he would…
Pee his pants.
'd.a.m.n it! d.a.m.n it! Daammnn it!'
He didn't even want to imagine the awful situation he would be in if word got out that he peed his pants whilst being on night watching duty.
Then again, he was in a situation where he couldn't even move his fingers.
Kang-hyuk was in a bad mood.
'Tsk tsk, how can a man take his anger out on an innocent animal? How can he call himself a teacher? Pitiful, truly pitiful!'
He sighed inwardly, and then looked up at the roof of the cave.
Byeok Ae-rin was standing on a crevice of the cave's roof, invisible to all others, glaring intently at Oh-Tae.
A ferocious energy was being emitted from her eyes, and it was precisely this energy that was causing Oh-Tae to feel as though he was going to die.
'Ha…..'
Kang-hyuk sighed, and then sent her a telepathic message.
-Aerin-ah.
-Yes?
-Why are you there?
-Of course, it's to protect you.
-You are fully aware that I'm not in need of protection.
-I was considering all possibilities, just in case.
-Is it because of the bandits I came across earlier?
- ....
Her silence gave the answer away.
-There's no need to blame yourself.
-I apologize.
-But why are you sending your ferocious energy towards Oh-Tae? It was Deuk that almost died.
-I can't forgive someone who tries to hurt cute and innocent animals.
Kang-hyuk inwardly sighed once more at her answer.
'Thinking about it, Ae-rin has always loved cute things.'
He then sent Byeok Ae-rin another telepathic message.
-You can stop the energy now. Ho back to your place.
-Bu-but...
-It's an order. If you don't like it, you can stop being my maid.
Byeok Ae-rin replied begrudgingly.
-Understood.
With that, the flow of ferocious energy halted as Oh-Tae was able to breathe once more.
Kang-hyuk smiled bitterly.
He wasn't concerned about Oh-Tae speaking of the unusual situation he had just encountered.
Unless he was a complete fool, he wouldn't bother to share the story, as no one would believe him without proof.
Moreover, he would most likely be feeling shame at this point.
The shame of attempting to hurt Deuk for the purpose of his own twisted interests.
'You should be thanking me for saving you from peeing your pants. It's due to my benevolent heart that you were prevented from falling into an unfortunate situation.'
Kang-hyuk grinned as he stroked Deuk's back. He liked the soft feeling of Deuk's fur.
(1) Daechu-nim - an honorific referring to the head of a group.
(2) Eonni - a Korean honorific that a female uses to address another close female who is older than her with.
