Boring time it is.

Cha Cha Seok, Cha Seok, Su Seok.

Despite having picked three, Cheonghae Ilgeom seems to have no intention of stopping his mouth.

He keeps spewing out stories.

– And thus, from now on…

‘Old man really talks too much, huh.’

The meaning of his words is fine.

No matter how the future turns out.

Risks could arise, so one must keep honing their skills.

A martial artist must temper themselves to truly become a martial artist.

Do not lose sight of negotiations under the label of Righteous Faction.

Having entered Shinryong Temple,

even if negotiations alone cannot protect the entire territory,

at the very least, one must become someone who can defend their own region.

That was the gist of the speech by Cheonghae Ilgeom, but…

‘Sounds nice to hear, but…’

He’s been rambling for dozens of minutes now.

How could it not be boring?

I heard that the first day was supposed to be just the welcome ceremony and lodging.

And yet, the schedule seemed remarkably simple.

‘Was half of this guy’s speech just filler?’

Experiencing it, I realized it was indeed a grueling schedule.

How ridiculous.

– Lastly, may light shine upon your futures…

By the way, I’ve already heard that ‘lastly’ five times.

This is driving me crazy…

This was one of the toughest days I’ve had in a long time.

Standing on the podium,

I could feel the gazes of the Late-Stage Talents from below.

Particularly,

I knew exactly where those gazes from the guys were directed.

‘They’re openly staring at her!’

All the stares were fixed on Wi Seol-Ah.

Honestly, even if I were there, I would have looked at Wi Seol-Ah.

With her beauty radiant, she had that kind of allure.

If possible, I wanted to hide my face with a bet.

But my internal injuries weren’t fully healed yet,

and making a reckless move in front of Cheonghae Ilgeom could lead to trouble.

All I could do was

remember the faces of those staring with my eyes.

‘…There are so many; I can’t remember them all, can I?’

Most of the male Late-Stage Talents were like that.

Now that I’ve noticed, it seemed like they had no interest in Cheonghae Ilgeom’s words at all.

The same seemed to go for the female Late-Stage Talents.

Unaware of this or not, Cheonghae Ilgeom was the only one excitedly continuing to speak.

While glancing around,

I spotted someone who was particularly wide-eyed.

Gotcha, remember you.

I didn’t know their name or who they were,

but I remembered the face.

Muttering their face in my mind, I observed Wi Seol-Ah beside me.

Wi Seol-Ah was quietly standing with half-open eyes.

Her perfectly upright posture caught my attention.

If this were the old days, she would’ve been bouncing around,

and Cheonghae Ilgeom wouldn’t have paid her any mind, speaking to me instead.

In that case,

what would I tell her to be quiet?

We would have just exchanged casual banter and moved on.

‘But right now.’

Right now?

Gazing into her half-open eyes, I saw her golden eyes.

Her tightly pursed lips gave even breaths.

Where had the lively Wi Seol-Ah gone?

She felt more like a well-groomed heir of a noble family.

It was unique but felt a little distant.

‘This is closer to the Wi Seol-Ah I know.’

Her expression was devoid of emotion, as if everything had melted away.

Eyes resembling the cold winter,

closer to the time before, yet

for some reason, it felt regretful.

As I secretly watched Wi Seol-Ah,

did she sense my gaze? She looked toward me.

Our eyes met.

Her large eyes popped slightly open.

The golden within them.

They looked like the moon.

Or perhaps the sun.

Which is it?

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Either way, it doesn’t matter.

Because all of that was Wi Seol-Ah.

She looked at me like that,

her lips twitching.

It seemed she was about to say something.

Focusing on her lips,

– Thus, we conclude the welcome ceremony.

I heard Cheonghae Ilgeom’s concluding words.

Though it felt tiring to listen to, it seemed it finally ended.

Guided by those who looked like instructors,

the Late-Stage Talents began to move,

and so Wi Seol-Ah began to move again,

but I grabbed her wrist as she tried to leave.

The cold sensation of her wrist grasped my palm.

“You should finish what you wanted to say.”

It felt disappointing to cut it off like this.

If you wanted to say something, go ahead till the end.

“Ah, no, um….”

Wi Seol-Ah seemed flustered, as if she didn’t expect to be caught.

Looking into her big eyes, fortunately, her expression hadn’t changed much.

Should I consider that fortunate?

“About dinner….”

“Hmm?”

“I was going to ask if you had eaten…”

•••You asked if I’ve eaten?

That was a rather unexpected question.

“I did eat. Why?”

“•••Just… Just wanted to ask.”

Wi Seol-Ah stuttered, as if she was more flustered herself.

She seemed a little broken, like something was off.

“Oh, today’s weather is nice, huh…?”

“Does that look nice to you?”

The sky was filled with dark clouds.

No matter how you look at it, it seemed quite unreasonable to say the weather was nice.

She might not have looked at the sky while speaking.

Wi Seol-Ah finally looked at the sky and tightly shut her mouth.

Maybe because even she knew that wasn’t the case.

After a moment, Wi Seol-Ah tightly closed her mouth and swiftly walked away.

“Hey, where are you going!”

I called out, but she left without looking back.

Watching her retreating figure, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

What in the world did she want?

Now that the welcome ceremony was over, the next thing left was lodging arrangements.

What crazy thoughts were in store for just spending so long on a speech?

‘Four to five people in one room.’

Written on a large wooden board were

the room locations and the names of those assigned.

The lodging, meant to be my accommodation, was considerably large.

More than six floors at least.

Honestly, even if we only considered the male martial artists’ lodging,

the size was almost like the entire Gu Clan.

It was indeed an enormous scale.

‘Though my house is small.’

Even so, if the lodging was that big,

that’s unnecessary extravagance!

Strangely, it was odd that the rooms weren’t single.

With such size, one would think everyone could have a room of their own.

While I was looking at the floor plan beside me, I asked Gu Jeolyub.

“How many floors up are you?”

“Third floor.”

“Third, huh… Seems they gathered sword users on the third and fourth floors.”

It wasn’t just Gu Jeolyub.

Those who had names you might have heard of, the Sword Masters, were gathered on specific floors.

This seemed somewhat deliberate.

‘Am I on the fifth floor?’

It seemed they had divided the ratio for arrangements. You’d think a room would suffice, but

there would be some reason behind it.

The stairs were so high up, it felt annoying.

As I confirmed that,

I asked another guy.

“Hey, buddy, where are you?”

“…F-fifth floor.”

Cheol Jiseon stuttered as he responded.

It seemed he was on the fourth floor.

Surprisingly, he was a sword user after all.

Though I’ve seen him wearing a sword at his waist, I’ve never seen him draw it.

“Do you know what’s happening tomorrow?”

“I’ve heard it’s just a light introduction.”

“Intro with the Demons?”

“With the instructor…”

“Boring. What kind of introduction is that?”

Seems like a waste of time.

Why are they saying pointless greetings?

We should jump straight to the main topic.

Time is money, after all.

As I sighed and looked at the assigned personnel by floor,

‘Hmm?’

I noticed a peculiar difference.

‘They spread everyone out, huh?’

The names that stood out.

Sleeping Dragons, Sword Dragons, and most of the Six Dragons were separated.

Is this a misunderstanding, or is it coincidence?

‘Why separate them on purpose?’

In the midst of that, a familiar name caught my eye.

‘Oh? That guy came too? I feel like I haven’t seen him until now.’

Huangbo Cheolwi.

I quickly glimpsed the name of the wild boar from the Huangbo Clan.

He could enter as a Late-Stage Talent, sure,

but did I not see him during the exam because he was in Group 1?

That could’ve been.

But given that he hadn’t shown his face so far,

could it be that he’s been avoiding me on purpose?

‘Is he having a hard time?’

I’ve been neglecting the matters related to the Huangbo Clan since a while back.

I didn’t really care how things turned out.

I’d just focused on Huangbo Seon and overlooked the rest of it.

I’d need to look into this aspect later.

I guess it’s urgent regarding Huangbo Cheolwi.

‘Other kids seem to have been separated too.’

The likes of Mo Yonghui or Tang Soyeol. The Nangong Bi and Wi Seol-Ah, among others.

Just like the male lodging.

It appeared that the female side was also quite separated.

The only notable point was that Gu Yeonseo was placed alongside Nangong Bi.

What could the intent behind this be?

Was there an intent at all?

For now, I set that aside and spoke to Cheol Jiseon, who was flustered next to me.

“Buddy.”

“Yes? Uh, huh.”

“If someone is pestering you, speak up. Don’t wait till later.”

“…Ah, alright.”

Cheol Jiseon’s expression seemed odd as he replied.

He looked like he was wondering if I was being strange.

“Look at your eyes? Did I bully you? Why’s your face like that?”

“No, no… You didn’t bully me…”

“Right. Let’s be friends, okay?”

I playfully patted Cheol Jiseon’s shoulder.

He nodded.

This guy, just making jokes. Heh heh.

…

“What? It’s nothing.” “I’m not saying anything…” When I glanced at Gu Jeolyub who was looking at me blankly,

he shook his head.

That rascal… Such a lack of gratitude.

‘Having picked a weakling off the ground and cleaned him up to walk again…’

Ingrate to the max.

I’ll need to teach him a lesson later.

While Gu Jeolyub’s body was trembling from some unknown chill,

I felt it was about time to move.

I could see the rest tomorrow.

Moving my tired body around, I headed to find my room.

Having Shinryong Temple as my lodging was a decent plan,

but it wasn’t all good.

Squeak.

As I opened the assigned room, the first thing that caught my eye was

a large room, and a warm atmosphere.

“How dare this pathetic fool speak back to anyone…”

“Shall we have a go at it?”

Just then, cliché exchanges I’d heard somewhere echoed back in.

Seriously, do these people study these lines beforehand?

“Competing to see who’s superior before even gauging it isn’t too bad, huh?”

Oh my goodness.

What a sight this is.

Inside the room were several guys who seemed to have already been there,

growling at each other.

‘Hah.’

The moment I assessed the situation, a sigh escaped my lips.

Five.

That was the number of male martial artists in the room, including myself.

It was at that moment I realized the unspoken reason we were here.

‘No wonder.’

As I keep mentioning,

Shinryong Temple is a gathering of Late-Stage Talents from noble families and prestigious lineages.

Moreover, these are genuine elites who have been filtered through a selection process.

What this implies is that

the presence of self-proclaimed geniuses was abundant,

and since they were aware of their remarkable skills, most of them were filled with pride.

There probably isn’t a place they were scared to enter.

The key feature of such guys is that

amazing ones instead act like they don’t care.

Suggestions of the Six Dragons or otherwise.

Those about to take their flight to the heavens started to think of themselves as living in a world different from others,

wanting to be the boss of their own little universe.

These are the kinds of folks.

Put four or five of such wolves together in one place?

“This punk…!”

Amidst such competition over who’s on top,

the power struggle had begun to shake the room before any real combat had even taken place.

With no hierarchy to speak of,

they’d begun to weigh their ranks among one another now that they’ll be cohabitating for some time.

‘Ah… Tiring from the first day.’

Watching these guys raising stakes with their bets gave me a headache almost immediately.

Finally, a few answers seemed to fall into place.

Why was the accommodation arranged like this?

Considering the size of the building,

it would suffice to give everyone their own single rooms.

Instead, they deliberately created larger rooms to cram multiple individuals inside them,

and to boot, they were scattered to mix the elite names together,

the ones flaunting their titles.

‘Is it necessary to organize for such a large gathering?’

Too much seems unnecessary.

To control the strong, it may be a regular thing.

But is that truly the best way?

Ah, just give us our individual rooms already.

What kind of foolishness is this?

Sure, they’ll preach fairness, that in Shinryong Temple, clans and factions don’t matter.

There’s no such thing as favoritism, or whatever jargon they spew, but—

they all know who holds the power.

And can this system hold?

!

….

..

Could the Martial Alliance be unaware of this?

No, they know and allow it; that’d be more convenient.

The sharp-minded ones were already checking their standings or building connections from day one.

When I took a quick look earlier, they all were fast-paced.

These youngsters really are quick.

Back in my time… Or was I the slow one? Sighing bitterly as I thought that.

Even if all these guys were just Gwandosaengs,

out in the world, they wouldn’t remain the same.

This was essentially the prime spot for networking.

And,

‘A good place to act tough, too.’

If one shines a little here,

that would also impact their fame positively.

Those likely trying to level up felt totally at ease in this environment.

Particularly on my floor,

only the tough brawlers were crammed together,

so there’s no way their tempers would be any good.

It’s probably my martial arts lineage that led to me being like this.

Given how bad the character of all those I’d met had been in recent fights.

It must be a difference in martial arts styles.

Had I been a Sword Master, I would have been such a sweet person instead.

[Growl?]

‘What do you mean, suddenly standing up to rebut? Go back to sleep.’

[•••Growl.]

The clueless beast had interrupted and pushed me to look over the room minutes before any incident flared up.

“Where, do I need to puncture your nose to get you to shut up…”

“Shut up, you bastard. Lower your voice, it’s making my head ache. Honestly, those without manners think just raising their voices makes them strong.”

“What?”

The one who had been screeching earlier quickly toned down as I cut in.

His gaze bore into me like a death glare.

From just the look, he looked like he could kill someone, seriously.

“What did you just say…?”

“I tend to be a heavy sleeper, so wake me at the very end. And while you’re at it, memorize what’s being served at the dining hall tomorrow.”

“Who the hell do you think you are…”

As he approached me, it seemed another one noticed something and shouted.

“Wait, that guy…!”

Before the fellow’s voice faded,

my hands were faster.

“Crack…!”

The jaw of the guy who had pulled up his fist and was about to shout swung slightly.

It would’ve hurt if I had clenched, now that I expected pain from below as my Lower Dantian ached.

Hitting lightly sounds reasonable when we still need to maintain our strength.

He probably wouldn’t wake until tomorrow morning.

Honestly, I just wanted to clear the scenery.

I was exhausted and wanted to take a break.

Thud.

As that nameless giant falls to the ground limply,

the guys who had been fighting words fell silent.

“Hey.”

In that gap, I turned to the one who had been arguing with the giant.

“…Are you calling me?”

From their speech pattern and appearance, it seemed he wasn’t a clan member.

He seemed more like someone from a faction.

“Then, besides you, is there anyone else?”

“Wh-what is it?”

“What’s this guy’s name?”

“…Paewoocheol.”

Paewoocheol, an unfamiliar name.

Looking as strong as a mountain, he seemed weaker than expected.

I swiftly booted the unconscious guy to the corner, kicking him like a ball.

“If you need anything starting tomorrow, tell Ucheol here; he’ll be the youngest in this room from now on.”

The one who had been acting annoyingly loud upon entering was the problem.

“…What does that mean?”

When the fellow who was answering me questioned back,

I scrunched my face.

“I’m not fond of the clueless. If you don’t understand, do you want to take the role of the youngest?”

“I-I will take care of my little brother as an elder.”

“Not bad, your instincts aren’t terrible. You’re the second.”

“Thank you, brother.”

Unlike the folks around me, he seemed quite sharp.

Not too shabby.

After knocking Paewoocheol out, the atmosphere calmed a bit.

Seeing the others realize I’d be sharing a room with them likely grew puzzling for them.

I wonder why they were making such a fuss.

To avoid trouble later,

it’s probably better if I let them know what the situation will be now.

Grinning widely, I addressed the housemates.

“Let’s all get along from now on? Anyone having a problem with this situation?”

At my inquiry, they exchanged glances, silently communicating.

If anyone had a problem, I was willing to address it kindly.

“If you have a problem, say it quickly; let’s let our friends sleep so I can rest too.”

Resting, of course, was about needing to recuperate physically.

That might hurt a little because of my strength control.

I’m sure it’d be alright; it’s not like this pain would affect me.

Lucky for me, it seems they quickly shook their heads, indicating no objections.

Seeing that, I smiled and nodded.

I’m relieved to know they are good-natured friends.