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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: An Uninvited Disaster
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When Geum Si-hyun was fervently devoting himself to exorcising the demon known as 'final exams.'
"Hmm. The tea has a good aroma."
Wi Ji-ryang was peacefully sipping tea again today.
Lately, Wi Ji-ryang's life had been the epitome of leisure.
Unlike his days in the Demonic Cult, when he was constantly bothered by summons for 'regular meetings' and scolded with questions like, "Why haven't you written that report? Are you just eating our food? What exactly do you do here?",
now he slept when he wanted, woke when he wanted. He ate when he wanted, drank when he wanted.
If he was bored, he'd queue for an Imaginary Sword Debate or play Go with the Divine Doctor. If he felt stiff, he'd beat up his disciple, or if his disciple wasn't around, he'd go out for a stroll and thrash the ruffians of Xi'an.
When he needed a change, he'd sneak into the academy to see Ru-ri's face, or grab a Green Forest Chief or an instructor and get into a brawl.
"Is there any other kind of immortal? This is an immortal's life, haha." Such leisurely words flowed from his lips, words that, if Geum Si-hyun had heard them, would have been corrected with, "That's not an immortal, that's a life of pure indulgence."
While a typical house guest was often expected to perform some tasks in exchange for room and board, even if it wasn't officially stated, rumors had spread far and wide that he was the master served by the third young master of the Man-Geum Pavilion, and that he was, by all accounts, from the Demonic Cult.
So today, too, he idled about. Despite his infamous title, the Sword Demon, Wi Ji-ryang enjoyed a life closer to that of a noble loafer than a mere neighborhood bum.
But storms, by nature, strike without warning.
"Hey, you!"
A clear, unfamiliar voice echoed from a short distance away.
Wi Ji-ryang, so accustomed to being called 'Master Wi,' didn't react immediately.
"You there, scary-looking mister!"
But to the word "Mister," he couldn't help but respond.
What a violent expression! Though in essence, he was an old man over a hundred years old, Wi Ji-ryang, stung by the word "Mister," subtly turned his head.
A girl stood there, unfamiliar yet somehow oddly familiar.
"Nice to meet you. Are you a new bodyguard? Or a servant? Or has my mother finally taken a concubine?!"
A smiling face, clearly showing she'd been raised with care. Wi Ji-ryang instantly recognized the sense of déjà vu. A face resembling the lady of the house, whom he'd encountered a few times in passing. 'This must be that precious youngest daughter Geum Si-hyun grumbled about.'
'...But does one usually suggest a concubine to their own mother?' Staring at the girl, whose thought process was no less unusual than her older brother's, Wi Ji-ryang gently admonished her.
"This one is neither a bodyguard, nor a servant, nor a concubine. I am merely a house guest."
"Heh."
Geum Si-yu's gaze swept over Wi Ji-ryang from head to toe.
"Don't you look a bit too young to refer to yourself as 'this one'? A house guest? Then are you a physician? Hmm, well, it doesn't matter anyway. You look like you have nothing to do, right?"
"...?"
"Come on, follow me... uh, follow this maiden!"
Geum Si-yu spun around and walked off confidently.
The conversation had moved so fast that Wi Ji-ryang couldn't even properly retort, and found himself swept along, following her.
Even as they walked,
"Did you train your external martial arts separately? Your muscles are incredibly firm. Your bone structure looks good too; it's a shame you didn't learn martial arts. Is it too late since you're already an old man?"
"..."
"It's fine! My dad and my brothers don't know any martial arts either, but they live well, don't they? Ah! This maiden, ah, darn, it doesn't stick, anyway, I wanted to learn martial arts. That way, if I meet bad guys later, I can teach them a lesson. Like the Demonic Cult? Do you know the Demonic Cult? They say they kidnap people and train them, and all that! My master told me!"
"..."
Slander against Wi Ji-ryang, who had reached the state of Returning to Simplicity, began to pour out in a chatter.
Wi Ji-ryang, who was indeed a kidnapped child by origin and, if categorized, one of the "bad guys" of the Demonic Cult, could only remain silent, having lost even the will to retort.
"Oh, Young Lady! When did you return?"
"Wow! Isn't that So-hyang? You've gotten so pretty since I last saw you! Yes, yes, I just got back!"
She seemed to be quite popular within the family; seeing how everyone she met greeted her warmly, she likely wasn't a bad child by nature.
"But the one accompanying you..."
"The self-proclaimed 'this one' mister? I borrowed him for a bit!"
"Th-that's not 'self-proclaimed this one'..."
"Tsk!"
Geum Si-yu held a finger up to Wi Ji-ryang's lips, cutting him off.
"My master said that using words that are too strong can make you seem weak instead. If you misuse 'this one,' and you get caught by bad demonic cult leaders or Green Forest bosses, you'll be in big trouble! Be careful!"
'...Just like that Geum Si-hyun brat.' Wi Ji-ryang, recalling his useless disciple who sometimes called him 'Old Man' when he was annoyed, let out an involuntary sigh.
Indeed, blood was thicker than water.
* * *
Whenever he tried to retort, a torrent of chatter, even more relentless than her brother's, would pour out. Wi Ji-ryang, his energy completely drained, simply followed silently behind Geum Si-yu.
However.
When Geum Si-yu's steps halted in front of Xi'an's largest four-story fabric shop,
"...Why have we come here?"
Wi Ji-ryang had no choice but to break his silence.
"Of course. We came to shop. Oh, 'this one' mister, you probably don't know Western languages, do you? Shopping, that is, we came to buy clothes!"
"But th... *Sigh*, why did you bring me?"
But Geum Si-yu simply smiled sweetly at Wi Ji-ryang, as if asking why he'd even ask such a question.
"To carry my things."
"...?"
The Demonic Cult's enforcer, the world's greatest swordsman acknowledged by the Wudang Sect Leader, had suddenly been reduced to a mere porter, and his brows furrowed.
"No backing out now that we're here! Come on, come on, let's go! It's been ages since I last came, so I have to buy a lot!"
Geum Si-yu, having failed to grasp any of this, simply smiled brightly and pushed Wi Ji-ryang's back.
In that sight,
Geum Si-hyun, who would always cry out "Oh, my god, my beloved robe!" like a madman whenever his clothes tore during training, once again overlapped.
Wi Ji-ryang shook his head.
Still, he wasn't so ungrateful as to forget the kindness of being well-fed and housed as a guest. 'For today, I suppose I should humor this precious young lady.'
He, who had just thought something that would make anyone who knew Wi Ji-ryang in the Demonic Cult believe he had finally gone senile, let go of everything and followed behind Geum Si-yu like a porter.
They say enemies meet on a narrow bridge.
"Ah, what is that...!"
Geum Si-yu suddenly looked somewhere and flared up, causing Wi Ji-ryang's gaze to snap in that direction too.
There,
as if it were a work of art, stood Geum Si-hyun, examining a scandalous piece of fabric, something akin to women's underwear, with a strict, solemn, and serious expression.
*Thump, thump, thump.* Geum Si-yu advanced majestically, as if treading on solid ground.
And then,
"Take this! Divine Maiden's Hand!"
She mercilessly unleashed a hidden attack on Geum Si-hyun, who had his back turned, with a ferocity quite shocking for a first-rate practitioner.
*Smack!*
"Cough—"
Even a master who had reached the peak could not help but fall helplessly to a sneak attack from a first-rate novice, especially one of his own blood.
With a lingering ache in his back,
Geum Si-hyun barely managed to turn his head and identify the assassin.
"Ah, shi... uh...?"
Geum Si-hyun's heavily furrowed eyes met Wi Ji-ryang's face and underwent a myriad of changes.
: : Silence. : :
Wi Ji-ryang, who had unconsciously become engrossed in his role-play as 'this one' mister, enforced silence.
While Geum Si-hyun was experiencing cognitive dissonance,
"Hmph, what's this? They said he was a peak master, but he's just a pushover!"
Geum Si-yu smiled brightly and delivered another Divine Maiden's Hand to Geum Si-hyun's side.
"Ah, damn it. You crazy bitch...!"
Unable to raise his voice, Geum Si-hyun growled in a low tone.
Ignoring him,
"Hmm, 'this one' house guest mister? This stupid-looking kid is my blood relative, hmm, to be precise, he's my third older brother. Have you seen him before?"
"Hmm, 'stupid-looking,' you say... There's some truth to that. Unfortunately, I happen to be the master of that stupid third brother of yours."
"Eh?"
Geum Si-yu alternated her gaze between Wi Ji-ryang and Geum Si-hyun.
Her look subtly implied, 'You, of all people?' which caused even Wi Ji-ryang, who had just delivered a sneaky insult, to feel a crack in his composure.
Wi Ji-ryang sighed deeply.
"Now that I see them together, they certainly do resemble each other."
If you removed all the arrogant confidence from Geum Si-hyun's face and replaced it with arrogant cheerfulness, then slightly shaved down the bones and applied makeup, he would become Geum Si-yu.
With skill, it seemed entirely possible to create a strong resemblance using only bone-shrinking techniques and makeup.
However.
Wi Ji-ryang's honest observation was immediately met with fierce opposition.
Geum Si-hyun made a retching sound, wearing a menacing expression as if he was on the verge of betraying his master and annihilating his ancestors.
"Me, with this half-baked thing?"
Geum Si-yu also retorted venomously.
Wi Ji-ryang turned his head away, averting his eyes from the horror of sibling hatred.
* * *
While the two proud, idiotic siblings were showering each other with habitual insults,
even though the final exams were all over, the instructors' meeting room at Baekhwa Academy was heated.
"We cannot ignore regional ties. Are you planning to send a disciple whose family is in Sichuan to Shandong? The round trip alone would exhaust the training period."
"As the saying goes, 'the elbow bends inward.' If we prioritize regional ties, what's the meaning of training? It should be determined randomly and fairly, without discrimination. A lottery is appropriate."
The year-end graduation assignment, which ran from September of the current year to January of the following year, had been the same since the academy's opening.
It involved designating one of the Nine Great Sects and One Great Clan and performing the tasks assigned there.
However, the method of implementation was debated heatedly every year, just like this.
"Amitabha."
The Academy Head, who held the final say, Grandmaster Wol-song, recited a Buddhist chant to calm the room.
"Instructor Baek's words have merit, and the process of traveling through the Central Plains can also be considered part of the training. However, making the disciples travel excessively long distances can also be a burden. This time, I will accept Instructor Namgung's opinion and decide on locations close to their regional ties. However, based on the disciples' personal details, it would be best to avoid places where they are deemed to have existing connections."
There was no one brave enough to defy the Academy Head, a true old stick-in-the-mud who spoke at such tiresome length, so it seemed the matter was settled.
"Um, that..."
Hwangbo Yun cautiously raised his hand, requesting permission to speak.
And then.
"What about Cheon... Ru-ri, the disciple?"
"Amitabha. This monk has momentarily forgotten something and will step out for a moment."
Only the lingering golden afterglow of the profound Buddhist Shadow Immortal Cloud Steps, scattered for a brief moment, remained as the sole clue that Grandmaster Wol-song had been present there for a short time.
Eventually, at the end of the heated discussion,
it was concluded that, just like the disciples from border regions such as the Murong Clan and the Shandong Ak Clan, who were treated as 'remote areas,'
Disciple Cheon Ru-ri would also undertake her year-end graduation assignment at her main family—the Demonic Cult.
After the meeting concluded,
the final bulletin board listing the destinations for the disciples' year-end graduation exams was completed.
First Year
...
Geum Si-hyun ── Sichuan Tang Family
...
Murong Taek ── Murong Clan (Remote Area)
...
Myeong Na-rang ── Mount Qingcheng Sect
...
Un Hak ─── Sichuan Tang Family
...
...
Cheon Ru-ri ── Demonic Cult (Study Abroad)