They were the group of customers and the thief who had just left the inn.
"You guys were together as I had suspected."
They clearly looked like thugs, and he could sense they had a dark energy emanating around them. There was no need for him to speak respectfully to these sorts of people.
"You pieces of trash! Where did you think you could steal from…?"
As Kang-hyuk spoke, the thief cried out loudly to another member of the group.
"Hyung-nim, it was him! It's because of him I couldn't finish the job…"
A man who looked like he could use his fists well swaggered up to Kang-hyuk threateningly.
"What kind of b.a.s.t.a.r.d dares to interrupt our operations? Who do you think you are, interfering with the Ten Tigers?"
Kang-hyuk heartily laughed at this.
"Haha! The tigers of the world would drop dead hearing you using their name in vain. You couldn't even be compared to wild dogs, let alone tigers!"
"What? Is this guy crazy?"
"Come on! Let's kill him!"
Picking up their weapons, they edged towards Kang-hyuk.
Kang-hyuk's eyes glinted.
"I'm merciful, so I'll take you all as tigers seeing as that's what you think you are."
As he said this, Kang-Hyuk moved without hesitation.
Pak!
Pak!
Pak!
It only took Kang-hyuk three movements for the thieves to be lying on the ground.
"Haha, what kind of tigers are this weak?"
"What, what kind of special martial skill are you using!?"
Kang-hyuk laughed loudly at the bandit's question.
"Special skill? If you entered the territory of the Ami-pa Clan, you would be in for it. This is Ami-pa's Tiger Boxing skill, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!"
The thugs tilted their heads to the side upon hearing this.
It was because Ami-pa was a women-only clan. And if the Tiger Boxing Skill came from Ami-pa…
"It can't be, you surely aren't a woman…?"
Pak!
Kang-hyuk kicked the man who dared to suggest this.
"I'm a man!"
"Ouch! Then, then how are you able to execute the Tiger Boxing Skill…?"
"It was a skill I learned from observation."
Kang-hyuk's words seemed unbelievable to the thugs.
To have mastered one of Ami-pa's special martial skills just by observation was completely unheard of.
The martial skill Kang-Hyuk had used was really Tiger Boxing. And he had really mastered the skill by observing it on just one occasion.
Kang-hyuk smiled at the group of thugs in front of him.
"So, out of all of you, who's going to speak up first?"
"What, what do you mean?!"
"What's your reason behind using the Silent Footstep skill to steal from the inn?"
"...."
The thugs were completely silent. Kang-hyuk punched the ground.
*Thud*
The dust on the ground flew in all directions, and when it settled, it left a 1cm layer on the ground.
The thugs' eyes popped out at this.
"If you don't speak, I'll mince all of you up. Starting from your feet!"
The thugs had no choice but to confess their intentions.
"So you're saying that the inn was in debt, and the payback date was today?"
"Yes, that's right."
"You a.s.sumed that they wouldn't pay their debt back today, so you guys instead thought you would ruin the inn by pocketing all the money in its cash register?"
"Th-That's right."
"These darned b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Who on earth are you all?"
"What?"
The five thugs shrank at Kang-hyuk's question.
"It's obvious that you are all far too stupid to have come up with this plan."
"We, we did come up with this plan…"
"Didn't you say you were the Ten Tigers? There are only five of you right now, where are the others?
"...."
"Do you really want me to break all of your bones?"
"….I really can't say anything….Ouch…!"
Out of the thugs, one who wasn't fearful of Kang-hyuk's threats threw his fist into the man who spoke.
"I guess I'm going to have to beat you all up again."
The thugs confessed reluctantly. But in the end, it was better than being robbed of their souls.
***
After some time, they stood in front of a building.
"Is this the place?" Kang-hyuk asked the thugs standing next to him. They hurriedly nodded in response.
The outer appearance of the thugs looked uninjured, but they wouldn't last long.
He had beaten them in such a way that their innards, sinews, and intestines were completely twisted from within as if they were a cat's cradle. But outwardly, not even a bruise could be seen.
Kang-hyuk jutted his chin in the direction of the door, indicating one of the thugs to knock. The thug hesitatingly knocked on the door.
*Knock knock knock-!*
A man came out from the building, looked at the thugs standing and asked, "Were you successful?"
At that question, the five thugs shiftily looked around, unable to answer his question. The man could sense something amiss and suddenly discovered Kang-hyuk within the group.
"Who are you…..Aah-!"
His words halted to a stop. It was because Kang-hyuk was holding his hands to his throat.
"You don't need to know who I am, but for now, you're going to be beaten!"
As soon as Kang-hyuk entered the building, he started looking for the other five in the group.
"Aaaargh-! Bang-!"
"Uuugh-!"
Out of the five men he was searching for, two had quickly hidden: the leader of the Ten Tigers and the deputy-leader.
They were hiding in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the building, getting there through a secret pa.s.sageway
Any ordinary warrior would have been unable to find the place. It was well hidden under layers of steel.
But unfortunately for them, Kang-hyuk wasn't any ordinary warrior.
"Oh my, look who's here!"
Kang-hyuk had found the exact spot under which they were hiding. He thumped his feet on that exact spot.
*Bang-!*
Kang-hyuk merely thumping his feet caused a powerful vibration to reverberate throughout the whole building. In a few minutes, the layers of steel sheets under which the boss and underboss were hiding were torn beyond recognition. The two hiding men could now be clearly seen.
"So you were here all along?"
The sight of Kang-hyuk's furious eyes had such a fear-inducing effect on the two men that they wet their pants a little.
Kang-hyuk had gathered the Ten Tigers. He had them kneeling on the ground of the main courtyard of the building.
He had given all of them a good blow to the back of their heads but hadn't killed them.
It was one of Kang-hyuk's principles to always give another chance to those that hadn't directly harmed him or those close to him.
However, he would show no mercy to those who acted up after the chance had been given.
This warning was not to be forgotten.
"There's nothing wrong with lending money. Claiming interest on loans isn't too bad either. But what's with claiming interest over the agreed amount? What makes it worse is that your targets are average people who are working hard to pay off their debts! Are you people even human?"
"...."
"If I ever hear that you people are robbing people like this again, I won't let you off like I have today!"
"Of-of course, we won't be doing this again-!"
Kang-hyuk didn't stop at just giving them a lecture. He asked for their debt ledgers.
Whilst they tried to trick him with a fake ledger, the trick was absurdly obvious to Kang-hyuk.
In the end, they had to be beaten a few more times before they handed over the real ledger.
"Let's have a look…"
Kang-hyuk carefully reviewed the Debt ledger page-by-page. Reviewing doc.u.ments was an old frequent past time of his so it took no time at all to discover the discrepancy in accounts.
"What? This man borrowed three silver pieces and he has to repay it all within a month? You dirty b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!"
*Whack!*
Whenever he found a dirty dealing in the ledger, Kang-hyuk whacked the back of the Boss' head.
He then ordered them to return all of the money they had acc.u.mulated throughout the years to those they had short-changed.
All that was left was to burn the debt ledgers.
By the time Kang-hyuk had finished with the Ten Tigers, it was already evening.
"Ah! My lunch was ruined by those rascals!"
The couple who ran the inn greeted Kang-hyuk as he entered.
"Dae-Hyeop, you've returned!"
The couple had changed their addressing of him from customer to Dae-Hyeop.
"We heard that you taught those thugs a lesson! We are truly grateful that they will no longer trouble our inn thanks to you."
"There's no need to thank me. I was just fulfilling a basic duty of being human."
"We also have some food for you. Please accept it as our grat.i.tude."
The inn-keepers clearly had large hearts. However, Kang-hyuk couldn't bring himself to accept their favours.
It was because he felt that accepting favours would mean that he would be indebted once more.
'Ahh… dealing with this aspect of things is rather troublesome as well!'
He sat at the table and ordered noodles. The female innkeeper brought him a bowl of noodles filled to the brim within minutes.
The noodles were delicious.
A figure walked into the inn.
"Is there by any chance someone named Kang-hyuk here?'
Kang-hyuk lifted his head upon hearing his name and saw a man. He was in a blue uniform and had the character 'Maeng' embroidered on the back of his robe. He was almost certainly a man sent by the Hwacheon Clan.
"I am Kang-hyuk."
At Kang-hyuk's response, the man reached into his sleeve and pulled something out.
"The Clan Leader has sent this for you."
The man left the inn after delivering the letter to Kang-hyuk.
After completely cleaning out his bowl of noodles, and being the recipient of other guests' stares, Kang-hyuk went up to his room.
*Snap.*
Upon entering his room, Kang-hyuk lay down on the bed and slowly began reading the letter.
The letter was outlining details on the test he would be taking to be appointed as a teacher at the Academy.
The test would be divided into two parts. It so happened that part one of the test was scheduled for tomorrow.
Kang-hyuk hadn't been expecting such a tight deadline.
Kang-hyuk was suddenly struck by a realization. Certain details in the letter seemed a little strange.
That which was written in the test details was: 'For those who are hoping to teach the newly established course of Horticulture.'
'A teacher of Horticulture? Was the new course Mu-jin had spoken of a Horticulture course?'
Since his return to Nakyang, this was the first time he felt alarmed.
***
The bright morning of the test-day had arrived. Dressed in newly-bought clothing, Kang-hyuk left for the Academy.
"What business are you here for Sir?"
The guards at the gate spoke courteously, as expected for a lofty inst.i.tution like the Hwacheon Academy. Kang-hyuk took out the wooden ident.i.ty tag which had been enclosed with the letter and displayed it to them.
"I've come to take the test for appointment."
After the guard had verified his wooden ident.i.ty tag, he pointed towards the inside of the Academy complex.
"The tallest building within the complex is where you need to go. There will be someone to guide you further within there."
"Many thanks."
Kang-hyuk entered the Academy complex.
The Academy's appearance hadn't varied at all from how Kang-hyuk had last remembered it.
As within the Hwacheon Clan's Headquarters, beginning with the training hall, everything within the Academy was also large in size.
There was a quiet atmosphere, owing to the fact that the students were still in their vacation period. The academy gave a month's vacation for each season.
"Are you here for the appointment test?"
As per the guard's instruction, he had entered the tallest building, and a woman politely approached him.
As Kang-hyuk turned his head, his eyes fell upon a beauty.
"It's nice to meet you. My name is Ok Hae-mi, and I'm the Whip martial teacher."
Kang-hyuk reflected that her clothes were slightly different in appearance than the uniform of the Hwacheon Warriors. Her uniform was known as Kyojeong-ae and was blue in colour.
It was a modest uniform usually worn by teachers to avoid any scandals.
Teachers collectively wore blue to distinguish themselves as such.
His eyes were caught by her curvaceous figure.
"It's nice to meet you too. I'm Kang-hyuk."
Kang-hyuk serenely bowed. Ok Hae-mi smiled upon seeing this.
"You are going to be taking an interview first, which is happening on a first-come basis. Just stick this name tag on the left side of your chest, and proceed to that room at the end."
"Thank you for letting me know."
Kang-hyuk headed towards the room. Ok Hae-mi stared at Kang-Hyuk's back, with an odd expression on her face.
He had a unique gaze. It felt refreshingly honest and penetrated through to her heart.
'I don't want to have any personal attachments to the results of his interview but I really hope he becomes the new horticulture teacher."
