Star Instructor, Master Baek

TL: FoodieMonster007

"Huff… huff… I'm gonna die, seriously." Gasping for breath, Hyonwon Kang scanned his surroundings, searching the shadows for any sign of his pursuers.

Thankfully, he could no longer sense any foes nearby. Hopes were slim, but maybe, just maybe, he'd finally lost them.

"Shit, where did all the others go?"

Earlier, several of them had broken through the encirclement together, but in the chaos of fighting and driving back their pursuers, they had gotten separated.

"No way… Could it be…?"

An unsettling thought gnawed at him. What if separating them and picking them off one by one was the enemy's plan all along?

Remembering the relentless pursuit, Hyonwon Kang shuddered. "…Fuck, I let my guard down."

If Baek Suryong had been the one chasing him, he would have pushed himself to the limit right from the beginning. When he saw the Rehabilitation Sect taking the lead, however, he underestimated their abilities and held back to avoid injuring them.

No, I shouldn't make excuses.

At least the exam wasn't over yet. There was still more than an hour left, so if he could just hang on, he'd pass. Still, running away didn't sit right with him.

I'll find an opportunity and target one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

After all, this was Baek Suryong's exam, not just any exam. If he was going to pass, he was going to do it with a perfect score.

Steeling himself, Hyonwon Kang murmured, "First, I should get to higher ground and assess the situation."

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The Qi Dispersing Poison was finally wearing off, and he could use qi again. Eyeing a nearby building, he clung to the wall, scaling it with the agility of a cockroach. Leaping up with movement arts would have been faster, but he didn't want to risk being spotted.

Fifteen minutes later, he peered over the edge of the roof and scanned the area carefully, making sure no one was around. Then, cautiously, he slowly crawled onto the roof, flattening his body as much as possible.

When he surveyed the ground below, though, a curse unconsciously slipped out, "Fuck! Just how many did they bring?"

Night had fallen and visibility was poor, but he could still make out more than fifty figures moving in the darkness. The Rehabilitation Sect had split into teams of four to search the Azure Dragon Academy, and scuffles and chases were already breaking out all over the school grounds.

"Damn it! Looks like they've already caught some of us."

Hyonwon Kang continued searching, but there was no sign of his true targets, the Four Heavenly Kings.

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They must be moving separately, he thought, extending his senses further.

Soon, he picked up on a powerful aura nearby.

Making sure to keep a low profile, he swiftly snuck from rooftop to rooftop toward the aura. After a while, he spotted one of the Four Heavenly Kings, alone.

Found you.

They wore a mask, so he couldn't be certain, but it was probably one of the instructors.

A frontal attack would be tricky, but if I catch them off guard, I can do it.

Hiding his presence, Hyonwon Kang waited for the perfect moment, and as if on cue, his target began to move in his direction.

When the enemy finally passed right below him, he jumped down from the roof without hesitation.

WHOOSH!

Using his qi to increase his weight, he dropped down like a rock. Below him, the Heavenly King still seemed oblivious, and was casually looking around.

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I'll swoop down and snatch the mask in one go!

However, a moment before he struck, the Heavenly King suddenly looked up and grinned, as if they'd been expecting him all along.

"Shit!" Cursing, Hyonwon Kang swung his blade with all his might.

CLANG!

Sparks flew as his blade struck the tip of a spear. Immediately, he tried to escape, but his opponent blocked him with a single, fluid step.

"Leaving already?" the Heavenly King mocked.

"Tsk…" Hyonwon Kang narrowed his eyes. Despite the mask, it wasn't hard to identify the slender, spear-wielding figure. There was only one person in the Academy who fit that description.

"Mr. Ak Yeonho?"

"Wrong! I am the Supreme Demon Spear! Muhahahaha!"

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…This is just sad. Hyonwon Kang looked at his opponent with pity. "Aren't you embarrassed, acting so ridiculous in front of a student? If you're going to put on a show, at least make it believable. Like this, you're just cringy."

"…S-Shut up!" the so-called Supreme Demon Spear snapped, unleashing a flurry of rapid spear thrusts.

SWOOSH! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

"Ugh!" Hyonwon Kang staggered back, his hands numb from blocking. The Supreme Demon Spear's attacks were much sharper and stronger than he'd expected from a skinny pretty boy.

Or is he strong because he's a pretty boy? Just like that other guy… What the fuck? Some people have everything…

Feeling suddenly aggrieved, Hyonwon Kang squeezed out all of his remaining inner qi, screaming, "TAKE THISSSSSS!"

The Supreme Demon Spear blinked in confusion. "Why are you suddenly getting all worked up?"

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"Die, pretty boy! Damn you all!" Hyonwon Kang roared, unleashing his blue blade qi.

The Supreme Demon Spear sighed. "Kid, you're nowhere near ready to use blade qi in real combat."

"It's do or die anyway!" Hyonwon Kang shot back. Running away was no longer an option, and if he got caught and lost his name tag here, he would fail the exam, so he decided to fight with all his might.

"You foolish brat." The Supreme Demon Spear's aura shifted ominously, and in a flash, he closed the distance and lightly tapped Hyonwon Kang's blade.

CLANG!

"Ugh!" Again, Hyonwon Kang fell backward, barely managing to stay on his feet. He opponent didn't appear to have used much strength, yet the force of the impact was brutal.

"Let me explain where you went wrong," the Supreme Demon Spear said, his weapon glowing fiercely as he activated the Ak Clan's signature spear technique.

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"What…?"

"First, in real combat, no one waits for you to gather your blade qi. They exploit the opening before you can finish, like this."

The spear shot at Hyonwon Kang's thigh like lightning. He just managed to raise his blade to block it, but that wasn't the end of it. Twisting like a living snake, the spear struck the back of his knees.

"Argh!" he screamed, nearly falling to his knees.

"Second, you let your emotions get the best of you against a stronger opponent. Remaining calm, especially when your life is on the line, is the key to survival," the Supreme Demon Spear lectured, approaching slowly and swinging his weapon casually.

Despite his nonchalance, however, the spear drew countless patterns in the air, easily driving Hyonwon Kang into a corner.

CLANG! THUD! SMACK!

Hyonwon Kang bit his lip as he defended frantically, only now realizing just how overwhelming the gap was between his skills and his opponent's.

Sighing, the Supreme Demon Spear continued, "Third, you should have found other students first, not me. If you'd teamed up to ambush me, your chances of winning might've increased slightly. Just slightly though."

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"……" Hyonwon Kang fell silent, regretting his arrogance. It wasn't just Baek Suryong; every instructor at the Azure Dragon Academy was far beyond his reach.

"Go home and reflect on your mistakes, okay?"

The Supreme Demon Spear's weapon whirled, forming an illusion of a rain of spears.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Gritting his teeth, Hyonwon Kang blocked desperately, but before he knew it, the Supreme Demon Spear had slipped behind him.

"I'll be taking your name tag now. Remember, if this were real, you'd already be dead," the Supreme Demon Spear chuckled, whispering into the panicked teenager's ear.

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"W-Wait…"

BONK!

The world went dark.

"Gyaaaah!" Hyonwon Kang jolted awake with a scream. He was in a pitch-black room. Squirming around, he found that he was tied to something like a pillar.

"…Where is this place?" he gasped.

"Senior, you're awake?"

"…Yeo Min?"

"I see you got caught too, Senior."

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"Ya Suhyeok, are you here as well?"

"Yup, I got caught too."

As Hyonwon Kang's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw that Yeo Min and Ya Suhyeok were tied to pillars just like he was.

"How did you two get caught?"

Yeo Min grimaced. "It was Ms. Jaegal Soyeong. She trapped me in some weird formation."

"I ran into the short instructor," Ya Suhyeok added.

Hyonwon Kang blinked in confusion. "Who's that?"

"Mr. Myeong Il'oh, probably," Yeo Min clarified.

The three shared their stories, and Hyonwon Kang realized that the so-called Four Heavenly Kings had to be Baek Suryong's rookie instructor friends.

…But who's the fourth?

For a moment, Hyonwon Kang wondered about the last Heavenly King's identity, but now wasn't the time. Looking down, he saw his name tag was gone.

"Shit…" he cursed.

Yeo Min sighed, "This isn't how I wanted it to end. I don't know how I'm going to face Mr. Baek after getting caught so embarrassingly…"

A heavy silence fell. All three students had prided themselves on their skills, yet they'd been humbled so easily.

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"If we give up like this, Mr. Baek will never let us live it down…" Hyonwon Kang began, when suddenly, an idea struck him.

"Why don't we take our name tags back?" he suggested.

""What?""

A mischievous grin spread across Hyonwon Kang's face. "I'm talking about the name tags. Shall we just snatch them back?"

"Are we allowed to do that?" Yeo Min asked.

"No one said we couldn't," Hyonwon Kang replied. "Think about it. If we were eliminated, wouldn't the instructors have thrown us out of school or something? Why tie us up here if they didn't want us to escape?"

"Huh?"

"What I mean is, aren't they practically begging us to break out and try to take our name tags back? I'm pretty sure there's still time left in the exam," Hyonwon Kang explained. He was just speculating, but knowing Baek Suryong's personality, he felt that his theory was reasonable.

"Hmm… Okay, let's give it a shot."

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"We have nothing to lose, anyway."

After pondering, Yeo Min and Ya Suhyeok looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

A huge grin spread across Hyonwon Kang's face. "Alright! First, we need to get rid of these ropes… Ya Suhyeok, can you break them?"

Ya Suhyeok shook his head. "If they were tight, maybe, but these ropes are too stretchy."

"So if the rope was rigid, you could break it?" Yeo Min asked.

"Probably."

"Hold still."

Yeo Min took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, releasing a cold, white breath that froze the ropes binding Ya Suhyeok. This was the ice technique she had started practicing after their trip to the Valley of Evil.

"C-Cold," Ya Suhyeok stammered, shivering.

"Bear with it," Yeo Min snapped, focusing on her work.

Soon, the ropes stiffened in the frost, and with a grunt, Ya Suhyeok shattered them. Although they were made to restrain martial artists, they were no match for his brute strength.

"Now hurry up and untie us," Hyonwon Kang urged.

Within seconds, all three students were free. They quickly grabbed their weapons, which, to their surprise, were just left lying around nearby.

Hyonwon Kang slung his blade over his shoulder, cracked his neck, and smirked. "Okay, guys. Time for our counterattack."

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