"Brother! Are you really crazy?"
"Whoa, you scared me."
As soon as I stepped down from the martial arts stage, I thought I was being attacked by Ahn Yeon-ho.
Whoosh!
The guy who flew at me in an instant using light footwork seemed like he wanted to grab me by the collar and shake me, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Instead, he shoved his face close to mine and spoke as if he was about to burst.
"Winning the Cheonmu Academy? How could you make such a promise you can't keep!"
"Why can't I keep it? I meant it sincerely."
At my answer, Ahn Yeon-ho's mouth dropped open.
It looked like he could fit a whole melon in there.
"Wow. This brother really is a lunatic..."
"Are you not going to the restroom anymore?"
"The urge disappeared as soon as I heard what you said."
"That's a relief."
As I was walking with Ahn Yeon-ho, exchanging silly jokes, Jegal So-young approached us quickly.
Jegal So-young, who was coming towards me, paused for a moment and then stopped completely.
Her expression was, how should I put it, as if she had found an interesting madman but was hesitating whether to talk to him because he seemed too crazy.
"... You said you'd make Cheongryong Academy win the Cheonmu Festival? Are you serious?"
In the end, curiosity seemed to win, and Jegal So-young, who had been standing still for a moment, approached me and asked.
"That's right. Miss, you said you were from Cheonmu Academy, right? Can I ask you about this and that later?"
"I can teach you, but... you'll regret it."
"Why?"
"... Because you'll painfully realize that it's absolutely impossible for Cheongryong Academy to win."
Her expression seemed to state an unchangeable fact, and I shrugged lightly.
"Geez. I don't understand why everyone says it's impossible without even trying."
"Brother, look around you."
At Ahn Yeon-ho's words, I turned my head and looked around.
I could feel the countless gazes directed at us, or more precisely, at me.
"What did he just say?"
"Winning the Cheonmu Festival?"
"He's just a madman..."
The faces of the murmuring students were mostly filled with disbelief, ridicule, and anger.
'A madman, huh...'
The situation was a bit different, but I had heard such words often in the Blood Sect as well.
However, most of the trainees who used to say such things to me called me by a different name a few months later.
'They called me a mad dog.'
...
But this time is different.
Unlike my days as a demon instructor in the Blood Sect, in this life, I have decided to become a top-notch teacher and a good instructor.
"Even the instructors are all glaring at us."
"Because I said something they couldn't."
Especially Namgung Soo was glaring at me as if he had met his father's enemy on a narrow bridge.
'What? Want to have a go?'
When I didn't avoid his gaze and stared back, Noh Gun-sang naturally intervened between us.
"You..."
"Sir. It seems it's not easy to become a good teacher."
"Haha. Is this your answer to my words..."
With his hands behind his back, Noh Gun-sang looked up at the students filling the audience seats.
His eyes, looking at the students, were filled with pity.
"... Cheongryong Academy has been at the bottom of the Cheonmu Festival for the past ten years. Did you know that?"
"Yes."
"And suddenly you say you'll make them win. Isn't it natural for them to think you're mocking them beyond being absurd?"
"Should I go back up and take it back?"
"... Are you serious?"
"Of course not. I said everything I meant and came down."
I grinned, and Noh Gun-sang laughed heartily as if he couldn't help it.
Then, suddenly, he spoke to me in a serious voice.
"Even if you are sincere, it might have become difficult to get good scores in the student evaluation because of those words. To those students, the Cheonmu Festival is an uncomfortable word just by hearing it."
"It seems so."
Considering the hostility and anger I felt from the gazes pouring down on me now, it was a reasonable statement.
I had turned most of the instructors and students into enemies today.
But I don't regret it.
I expected it to turn out like this from the beginning.
"But what if you fail after boasting so much?"
"As I mentioned before, I'm thinking of opening Baekryong Academy across the street. Within ten years, my students will probably be beating up the Cheongryong Academy kids."
"Oh dear. I should take that into account for your evaluation too."
"I'd appreciate it if you did."
After exchanging jokes with me for a while, Noh Gun-sang returned to his seat at the call of Vice Director Gwak Cheol-woo.
"Director, you have to give the closing ceremony speech."
"... It's bothersome, but I should go. See you again."
"Yes. See you next time."
Since my sparring was the last, the closing ceremony followed.
However, the students couldn't properly focus on the closing ceremony events.
Most of their gazes were directed at me, and they kept whispering among themselves.
"You guys! Can't you concentrate?"
Usually, Student Director Maek Geuk-ryeom would have controlled the chaotic atmosphere, but now even Maek Geuk-ryeom couldn't handle the situation.
"At this rate, your face will have a hole in it, brother."
"Get used to it. You'll experience it often from now on. By the way, if you fail with me, do you want to be an instructor at Baekryong Academy?"
"Why are you tying me with you? I might pass while you fail!"
"Tsk tsk. Talk some sense."
After all the events ended, I left Cheongryong Academy with Ahn Yeon-ho, who somehow seemed more exhausted than I was.
"The results will come out in a few days, so let's go have a drink. Oh, Miss Jegal, would you like to join us?"
Since she was nearby, I asked Jegal So-young without much expectation.
Jegal So-young hugged the book in her arms tightly, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded slightly.
"... Alright. I'm not good at drinking, though."
At her words, Ahn Yeon-ho's tired expression brightened up.
"Miss Jegal, I know all the good restaurants with a nice atmosphere around here. Is there any food you want to eat?"
"Oh, well... I eat anything."
When Ahn Yeon-ho spoke to Jegal So-young in a slick voice, Jegal So-young looked quite uncomfortable.
Yeon-ho, it seems like it's not going to work this time either.
"Oh, but what about Il-oh?"
Suddenly, I thought of Myeong Il-oh, who would be lying in the clinic, but at that moment, Ahn Yeon-ho waved his hand.
"What can a sick person do? We should go drink by ourselves."
"Still, we should at least see his face before we go..."
"Why see a face you see every day? If we go late today, there won't be any seats."
"True."
Thinking about it, that made sense, so we followed Ahn Yeon-ho without further words to go drink.
A few days later.
In front of Cheongryong Academy's main gate.
Jamyong Restaurant, known among students for its affordable and large portions.
"Did you hear about the lunatic among this year's new instructor applicants?"
During a quiet time with few customers, the owner and the waiter of Jamyong Restaurant were having a late lunch, using the rumors they heard from recent customers as side dishes.
"They say he declared in front of everyone that he'd make Cheongryong Academy win the Cheonmu Festival?"
"Win? We'll be lucky if we don't come last again this year."
"Exactly. Last year, the score difference with Baekho Academy was twice as much."
"It was a sight to see. The ones who confidently participated saying it would be different this year came back looking like drenched dogs... Some of them even cried, you know?"
"I remember. They act all high and mighty around here, but they just get beaten up when they go outside."
"That's what I'm saying."
Even though most of Jamyong Restaurant's sales came from Cheongryong Academy students, they felt no guilt in gossiping about the students.
The waiter slurped his noodles and asked.
"So, did that lunatic pass?"
"The results are out tomorrow, but... I doubt they'd hire such a braggart."
"You never know. They might hire him in desperation."
"Tsk tsk. If they hire an instructor based on such words, Cheongryong Academy really has hit rock bottom."
After finishing his meal, the restaurant owner lit a cigarette and exhaled a long puff of smoke.
The waiter, with small eyes, glanced at the owner and spoke cautiously.
"But maybe he said that because he's confident in his skills?"
"People will say anything to get hired. Being an instructor at Cheongryong Academy pays well... And the kids there aren't very motivated these days, so you can teach them half-heartedly."
"Owner, sir..."
"Ah, I want to earn money easily too."
The owner of Jamyong Restaurant exhaled smoke towards the ceiling.
Because of that, he didn't notice the waiter's pale face.
"Owner, sir..."
"Honestly, I wonder how many more years Cheongryong Academy will last. Maybe I should close this place and find something else to do... Hm? Why do you look like that? What? Behind? Look behind?"
The waiter had been silently mouthing 'behind you! behind you!' for a while, but by the time the owner realized it, it was already too late.
"It seems we've come at a bad time while you're resting."
"Eek!"
At the moment a cold voice came from behind, the restaurant owner quickly put out his cigarette and stood up like lightning, turning around.
There stood the student council executives, regulars at Jamyong Restaurant.
Seeing Dokgo Jun's cold face, sweat trickled down the owner's forehead.
"Oh, my, our student council members... When did you arrive?"
"We came in when you said we were kids you could teach half-heartedly because we lack motivation."
Oh no! The owner immediately bent over and apologized.
"I misspoke. I must have lost my mind from drinking during the day... As an apology, I won't charge you for today's meal!"
"Do we look like beggars to you?"
"You know that's not what I meant..."
Seeing the restaurant owner on the verge of tears, Dokgo Jun clicked his tongue.
In fact, similar stories were everywhere these days, so it was bothersome to move to another place.
"Is there a seat on the second floor?"
"Of course! Jang Sam-ah, what are you doing? Hurry and guide these people!"
"Yes!"
The waiter hurriedly went up to the second floor, wiping the tables with a cloth, and the owner went into the kitchen, urging the resting cook and personally starting to cook.
"Baek Soo-ryong, these days, it's all about that man wherever you go."
Dokgo Jun sighed softly as he sat down.
The student council executives gathered around him.
A few days ago, the practical tests for new instructor applicants were all over, and tomorrow was the day the final results would be announced.
"It was such a shocking declaration of war. It's no wonder the whole city is talking about it."
Everyone nodded at Dang So-so's words.
The waiter with small eyes glanced at the students as he brought the food.
"Winning the Cheonmu Festival..."
"By now, the rumor must have spread to other academies too."
"Sigh..."
There were troubled expressions and sighs all around.
Because of Baek Soo-ryong's bombshell declaration on the martial arts stage that he would make Cheongryong Academy win the Cheonmu Festival, the student council was in a tricky situation.
"You should make promises you can keep. Winning? What a joke."
"Saying such unrealistic things will only lose points in the student evaluation..."
"Provocation should be moderate. Now the student council is getting criticized too."
For a new instructor applicant to boldly declare his aspirations, winning the Cheonmu Festival was too unrealistic a goal.
From the student council's perspective, which had a similar but much more realistic goal, it was quite burdensome.
There were even students who mocked the student council by associating them with Baek Soo-ryong...
At that moment, Dokgo Jun spoke up.
"I don't think we can win the Cheonmu Festival."
"..."
The atmosphere became solemn for a moment.
Dokgo Jun, unaffected by the atmosphere, continued speaking while looking out the window.
"... This will be my third participation."
Dokgo Jun, who was considered the greatest talent in the Dokgo family in the past hundred years, had the rare opportunity to participate in the Cheonmu Festival as a representative of Cheongryong Academy since his first year.
Three participations.
The result was overwhelmingly last place every year.
He always felt the gap with the other five major academies and saw his seniors despair in front of that huge wall.
And winning?
Even if Dokgo Jun was an idealist, it was a goal he couldn't dream of.
'Even if we could somehow handle the other academies... we can't surpass Cheonmu Academy.'
If Cheongryong Academy was always last, Cheonmu Academy was always the winner.
A place where only the chosen talents from good families could enter after rigorous efforts.
The goal of all young martial artists born in the righteous martial world.
The best under heaven, Cheonmu Academy.
Recalling the young martial artists he met there, Dokgo Jun clenched his fists.
Thinking of the contempt and humiliation he suffered then still made his teeth grind.
Dokgo Jun looked at the executives with slightly bloodshot eyes.
"The executives probably think the same as I do. As long as Cheonmu Academy exists, it's impossible for any other academy to win the Cheonmu Festival. Even if the other four major academies join forces... it would be difficult."
The few first-year students in the student council had expressions like 'Is it really that bad?' but the second and third-year students who had experienced the Cheonmu Festival nodded with gloomy faces.
Dokgo Jun continued.
"But."
Even knowing that winning was impossible, Baek Soo-ryong's declaration on the martial arts stage a few days ago lingered in Dokgo Jun's mind.
-This year's Cheonmu Festival.
I'll take responsibility and make Cheongryong Academy win.
His tone, as if it was only natural he could do it if he set his mind to it, and his attitude, which was confident to the point of arrogance.
Who in Cheongryong Academy could say such a thing with such confidence?
Not the student council president, not the academy director, not even Namgung Soo, the only top instructor in Cheongryong Academy, could say that.
'He can say that because he doesn't know anything, because he's never seen it.'
It's possible because he has the boldness of a new instructor.
And now is the time when such boldness is needed, Dokgo Jun judged.
"In a good or bad way, since that day, there's been a vitality in the academy that wasn't there before."
"... There's never been a time when so many people talked about the Cheonmu Festival. It was almost a taboo before."
Vice President Dang So-so responded to Dokgo Jun's words.
Everyone in the student council nodded.
'If Baek Soo-ryong intended even this...
No way.'
Dokgo Jun shook his head and then spoke to Dang So-so.
"Vice President. Have you submitted the student council's evaluation documents for the new instructor applicants to the academy?"
"Not yet. Today is the deadline for submission."
"Then..."
As if knowing what Dokgo Jun was going to say, Dang So-so smiled with her eyes.
After a moment of thought, Dokgo Jun spoke.
"Formally convey the student council's opinion that we actively recommend Baek Soo-ryong's employment. Even if his student evaluation scores are lacking, make sure that part is reflected."
"Yes! I'll make sure to convey it clearly."
"... Don't write any unnecessary comments."
"Hehe. I've already prepared everything."
Seeing Dang So-so's mischievous smile, Dokgo Jun felt an ominous premonition, but he didn't say anything further.
"Let's eat now."
After finishing their meal quickly, Dokgo Jun was the first to stand up.
It was time to go for afternoon training.
To prepare for the Cheonmu Festival while handling the student council work, there was no time to waste.
"Vice President. Make sure we pay for all the food we ate. Instead... find another place for our next gathering."
Vice President Dang So-so nodded as if it was only natural.
"I'll find a better restaurant. This place seems like it will go out of business soon."
"The food wasn't that great."
"The owner and the waiter are unfriendly too."
"We should make sure no students suffer in the future."
"Of course."
They were in perfect sync at times like this.
After that day, Jamyong Restaurant gradually lost customers and eventually closed down.
And the Jamyong Restaurant, which was sold at a low price, was later bought by a merchant named Heo Cheon and reopened under the name Baekryong Inn.