The Genius Martial Artist Who Remembers Everything [Novel] Chapter 202

Chapter 202. Musical Chairs

After finishing things with Ak Byeongbi and Ak Jupyeong.
My plan to spend the rest of the day off leisurely was ruined when the old senior brother caught me.

“Do you know what this is?”

The old senior brother pulled out the premium liquor he’d stashed in the Academy Director’s office to tempt me, and I had no choice but to drink with him right then and there.

“Slurp… I’m not usually a lightweight. This premium liquor is really strong. Ahem.”

I’m not sure how I got back to the dorm last night, but when I opened my eyes, a maddening thirst and a pounding headache washed over me, preventing me from sleeping any longer.

As I drank the honey water the Head Maid had prepared and told her about last night, she let out a sigh as if I were pathetic.

“Even the world’s finest liquor turns into a body-destroying poison if you mix it like that.”

“…Did I say I mixed them?”

“You listed all the different liquors you drank when the old senior brother treated you.”

“…”

Just how much did I drink yesterday?

“I heard that martial artists can expel drunkenness with their internal energy…”

A cold glare flew at me like a dagger.

“Why didn’t you do that?”

But I wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.

“…Because it would be a waste.”

That’s right. It was a waste.
I don’t drink often, but I can’t pass up an opportunity to drink premium liquor.

Wouldn’t it be an absolute waste to use internal energy to dispel the natural buzz of the premium liquor I so rarely get to taste?

The Head Maid shook her head as she looked at my shameless expression.

“Go wash your face first.”

“Underst—”

Splash.

The washbasin the Head Maid brought was filled with water cold enough to jolt anyone awake.

She’s not usually like this…

“…Um, didn’t you usually prepare lukewarm water for me?”

The Head Maid replied without even meeting my eyes.

“I wasn’t able to heat the morning water, so there’s only cold water. Just use it.”

“…”

To think the Head Maid, who had always supported me flawlessly until now, couldn’t heat the water.

Is it just my imagination that the Head Maid’s glare feels colder than the water in the basin?

I thought it was a ridiculous excuse, but somehow the atmosphere was too strict for me to argue further, so I just washed my face with the cold water.

“Ugh…”

After splashing my face with water so cold it chilled my bones, my senses returned a bit.

Soon, the Head Maid came in carrying a tray full of food.

“It’s breakfast. Please eat before it gets cold.”

My stomach was so nauseous that it was hard to put anything in.

Just as I was about to tell her to take it away, the Head Maid offered me a bowl.

“It’s hot chicken soup. Use this to soothe your stomach a bit.”

“…”

Seeing the steaming chicken soup with its savory aroma, I unknowingly gulped.

As I slurped the chicken soup, my stomach settled, and the other dishes began to stimulate my appetite. I ate a little bit of everything.

The Head Maid stood by my side, moving the side dishes I was enjoying closer to me.

“I trust you won’t binge drink like this next time.”

Her tone was definitely chilly, but concern seeped through it.

She was nagging, but I could feel her consideration.

It’s like a mother dealing with her immature child.

Sensing her feelings, I simply nodded.

“I’ll be careful.”

After finishing the meal.
I put on the new clothes the maid brought.

I really suffered a lot of losses in various ways because of the fight with the Ak Family yesterday.
The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

‘I need to make them pay for the clothes, too.’

With firm resolve, I headed to the training grounds with the Head Maid.

“Huh…”

The situation was more serious than I thought.

Not only the marble flooring of the training grounds, but also the small hill surrounding it and the wall separating the Executive Representative’s dormitory from the main building were all destroyed.

Even the Head Maid couldn’t easily speak.

“…This is the first time since the Academy was founded.”

“…”

“To think they’d turn the most traditional place in the Murim Academy into this.”

Is it my imagination that her eyes seem slightly teary?

“Perhaps… are you blaming me?”

“…”

At my question, the Head Maid quickly turned her head away.

No, that Ak Byeongbi guy was the one who did wrong, so why am I the one getting scolded?

“Ahem… wow, won’t it be nice to remodel it since we have the chance?”

At my optimistic reaction, the Head Maid’s glare became sharper.

“Remodel? It costs more than a few pennies, so the Academy won’t easily permit it.”

Under her scary glare, I slightly averted my eyes and waved my hand in the air.

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that. The Ak Family agreed to compensate for everything.”

“…”

I’m not the type to just take it lying down, am I?

At my confident attitude, the Head Maid’s face began to soften a bit.

“Someone from the Ak Family will probably come this afternoon. If you tell them what’s broken, they’ll fix it all, so just demand everything without holding back.”

“That’s a relief.”

I nodded and swept my hand over the floor of the training grounds once.

This, this won’t do.

“Hmm… First, please ask them to restore the training ground floor with ‘Blue Steel Stone’ like before.”

At my words, confusion washed over the Head Maid’s face.

“Blue Steel Stone? Originally, there was marble on this training ground…”

I immediately shook my head.

“Ahem. Head Maid, it seems you haven’t visited the training grounds often.”

“Yes…?”

“The training ground floor was definitely paved with Blue Steel Stone.”

“…”

That expression, it clearly says ‘What kind of bullshit is that?’

I looked straight into her eyes and said.

“It’s true.”

In the end, the Head Maid let out a small sigh.

“I will pass that on.”

“Oh, right!”

“What else…”

“Didn’t you say before that the servants’ quarters were a bit small?”

“Excuse me?”

I looked at the servants’ quarters attached to one side of the pavilion.

Since the building was originally built as a detached house, the servants’ building was makeshift, so it was cramped and old.

I racked my brain to see if there was anything else I could squeeze out of them.

“Hmm, now that I think about it, the bathtub I use seems a bit small too. And you said the kitchen is too small for many people to use, right?”

The Head Maid just blinked without answering.

Can’t be helped.

I swung my hand and blew the roof off the servants’ building attached to the pavilion.

CRASH.

There, now there’s no roof.

“W-what are you doing right no—”

“Oh my! The roof disappeared! What should we do… I’m pretty sure the Ak Family guys stepped all over the roof yesterday.”

“…”

I held my chin and pretended to agonize.

“It’s definitely their fault anyway, wouldn’t it be nice to build a new one this time? Tell the person from the Ak Family.”

The Head Maid showed a slight hint of anxiety.

“…Will they do everything as we wish?”

A valid concern.
But I have a tremendous weapon.

“Ah! If by any chance they don’t listen, you can just say this.”

“…?”

“Ak Jupyeong.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a name that makes the impossible possible.”

I’ll squeeze out as much as I can. Hehe.

After telling the Head Maid everything that needed to be fixed. I headed straight for the Executive Representative’s office.

No, I tried to.

“Huh?”

Something stuck in a corner of the ruined training grounds caught my eye.
My brow furrowed deeply at the sight of it lying motionless like a corpse.

‘I’m sure no one died in yesterday’s battle.’

As I approached where the figure lay, I began to hear ominous muttering.

“Ak Family… I’ll kill you. Jin Soun… I won’t let you get away with this. Leaving me behind.”

“…”

“Ak Family… I’ll kill you. Jin Soun… I won’t let you get away with this. Leaving me behind.”

A familiar voice continued like a Buddhist chant.

Sigh.
Why is he doing this here?

“Ak Family… I’ll kill you. Jin Soun… I won’t let you get away with this. Leaving me behind.”

He must have heard my footsteps; the figure, lying paralyzed on the floor, rolled his eyes around.

Soon, his bloodshot eyes fixed on me.

“…What are you doing here?”

The figure was none other than Yayul Geuk.

He struggled with his unmoving body.

“W-what am I doing? Who do you think left me here…?!!!”

“Didn’t the Ak Family warriors release you?”

“Crazy! Are you kidding me…!”

Yayul Geuk, whose blood points were still sealed, had spent the whole night cursing the Ak Family in the training grounds.

I forgot about him.
No wonder it felt like I’d forgotten something.

“Tsk… anyway, it was the Ak Family who sealed your blood points and left you here. You know that, right?”

I tried to pacify him in my own way.

Glaring!

Yayul Geuk’s eyes widened as if they were going to pop out.

“Jin Soun! Don’t you remember! You walked past here singing last night!!!”

I did?
Wait, when?

“I… I called out to you like that! You looked at me and just kept going!”

“…”

Hearing Yayul Geuk’s inexplicably tearful voice, memories of last night began to surface.

Soon, the scene from yesterday was vividly drawn in my mind.

Yeah, I definitely smirked at Yayul Geuk lying pathetically on the training ground floor…

[How much evil is there in the martial world~♩󰁜]
[Trying to protect the world with a single sword~♪♩]

…The image of me walking past singing came to mind vividly.

‘Ugh. Why did I just walk past him?’

Even I think this is something to be upset about.

“But the song was pretty good, wasn’t it?”

“Fuck, are you kidding me!”

Looking at Yayul Geuk growling like a wounded wildcat, I seriously debated whether it was the right time to unseal his blood points.

“I won’t touch Ak Jupyeong anymore.”

Thinking I’d soothe Yayul Geuk’s hurt feelings a bit, I told him everything that happened with the Ak Family.

But it seemed to have provoked him instead.

“I’m disappointed you made such a dirty deal!”

The sulking Yayul Geuk was already glaring at me with fierce eyes.

“Do you think I’ll just sit still because you made that deal?!”

“Of course not.”

“Huh?”

For a moment, he looked dumbfounded.
I smiled at him.

“And you shouldn’t.”

I crouched in front of Yayul Geuk and continued explaining.

“What I promised was just that ‘I’ wouldn’t touch him anymore.”

“S-so?”

“What do you mean, ‘so’?”

I patted his shoulder.

“Since you didn’t promise not to touch him, it means there was no agreement to begin with.”

“…!”

Yayul Geuk’s expression changed strangely.
I couldn’t tell if he was happy or angry.

“Anyway, don’t overdo it. You saw it yesterday, right? The Ak Family people mobilized right away to drag me to the Inspection Pavilion.”

“…F-fuck! I’m not scared of that at all! Once I complete the Flowing Cloud Divine Art anyway…!”

“Yeah, yeah. You wouldn’t be scared. But if the Inspection Pavilion tries to arrest you, come to me. I can at least block that much.”

Yayul Geuk didn’t answer.

What’s with that slightly moved expression on his face?

After rolling his eyes for a long time, Yayul Geuk finally spoke.

“…W-why?”

“Why what?”

“W-why are you helping me!”

I chuckled and ruffled his hair.

“When have I ever not helped you?”

“…!”

His expression became even more subtle.
Seeing him make such a stupid face, it seems he does resemble Yayul Jae a bit.

“Anyway, if you want to complete the Flowing Cloud Divine Art quickly and take revenge on Ak Jupyeong, you won’t have time to dwell on small grudges, right?”

“…”

Yayul Geuk, who was rolling his eyes, looked at me with a slightly softened gaze.

“…So you’re saying I should forget that you ignored me and walked past singing yesterday?”

Wow, this kid catches on quick.

Feeling like I connected with Yayul Geuk for the first time, I shouted.

“So you do understand what I’m saying!”

“…”

But Yayul Geuk was still staring at me with cold eyes.

Contrary to our agreement, the sneaky brat lunged at me as soon as his blood points were unsealed.

I had no choice but to seal his sleep point to put him to sleep.

I sealed it lightly, but seeing how he immediately fell asleep, it seems he didn’t sleep a wink all night while his blood points were sealed.

‘Persistent bastard… he could have slept. To think he was cursing all night.’

He’ll probably just sleep through the whole day today.

‘Well, it’s not like he cares about skipping classes anyway.’

So I headed to the Executive Representative’s office.

“Representative Jin.”

I met Jang Woojae on the way.
Then Namgung Seonhwa, Seong Moran, Eunho, and Hong Saryeon joined us.

“Why do you look half-dead?”

Eunho, whose complexion was terrible, sighed and spoke.

“I listened to Nam Hwaseong complain until dawn.”

“Complain?”

“About how he’s not a spy.”

At Eunho’s words, people giggled.
Only Eunho couldn’t unfurrow his brow as he spoke.

“Senior Brother, can we stop teasing him about being a spy? I’m scared he’ll keep holding onto me.”

“Tsk. If he keeps bothering you, just kick him.”

At my aggressive response, Eunho scratched his head.

“Do you think I can handle Nam Hwaseong alone? Besides, he doesn’t seem like that bad of a person.”

Since when did these two get so close?

As we approached the building where the Executive Representative team was, Nam Hwaseong was waiting at the entrance.

“Spy! You’re out early.”

“…”

Whether Nam Hwaseong and Eunho grimaced or not, I was about to enter the building.

“Huh?”

A group of Academy students was gathered on the side of the road.
Then, as soon as they saw me, they started approaching straight away.

“Representative!”

The students cupped their fists as soon as they saw me.

Looking at their faces,
Some were members of the Righteous Faction.
Some were Jang Woojae’s friends.
Some were even members of the 108 Peaks.
It was a strange combination.

What the hell is this combination?

When I cupped my fists in reply with a confused expression, a smile spread across the face of the one who had called me first.

“Did we startle you by visiting so suddenly?”

“Well, is it something to be startled about?”

“Actually, we wanted to arrange a separate meeting to apologize for our rudeness all this time.”

I tilted my head.

“Haven’t we shown a lot of behavior that didn’t acknowledge you as the Representative?”

As he scratched his head in embarrassment, the others either coughed awkwardly or blushed.

Come to think of it, looking at their faces again.

Some were disciples of Layman Factions,
Some were disciples of weak factions, here at the Academy.

They are in a position where they naturally have no choice but to be mindful of those around them.

“You all had your reasons, didn’t you? I understand.”

It’s always been like this.
Those without power can’t help but be swept up in the situation.

I was the same in my past life.
Because I couldn’t help it. Because I thought there was nothing I could do.

But if these weak people muster the courage to take just one step forward, they can become the main characters who stir up the winds of change.

That’s why I was happy about their courage.

However, despite my consolation, they couldn’t easily raise their heads.

“We will make up for our past wrongful actions over time.”

The Academy student continued, lowering his voice.

“…More than that, something strange has happened, which is why we came to see you.”

“Something strange?”

He nodded with a serious expression.

“Yes. There’s talk that people claiming to be the new Executive Representative team are hosting an event and telling everyone to attend.”

“A new Executive Representative team?”

The Academy Representative is right here in plain sight, what do they mean by a new Executive Representative team?

Just then,

“The first academic schedule for the second semester has been finalized!”

“The list of candidates for the second academic schedule, ‘Renowned Guest Invitation’, is out.”

“I’ll go to the All-Knowing Pavilion to get the budget approved.”

Noisy sounds began to echo from one side.

We watched the people working as if they were the Academy Representative team.

“No, what is this…”

“Who in the world…?”

Looking at the emblems on their clothes, Jang Woojae let out a groan.

“It’s the White Faction…”

“The White Faction?”

Why are those bastards suddenly acting up?