Chapter 119: Chapter 119

Chapter 119: Reform (5)

Jin Hayeon returned to the infirmary about an hour after she’d stormed out.

"I'll perform another round of treatment on you, Young Master."

She was radiating an arctic chill, somehow even frostier than before.

‘Seriously? Is she really this pissed off?’

It was quite an unfair situation in many ways, but I was in no position to argue.

I don’t want the hassle of arguing with a person who radiates such a cold aura.

Not long after her acupuncture treatment began, I fell fast asleep.

Between my body being utterly wrecked from my Demonic Art’s rampage and my brain being fried from nonstop debates about disinfectant, educational reform, and Instructor Chu Il-hwan’s clusterfuck of a case, I was running on empty. The second her cool touch graced my skin, my body gave up the fight against exhaustion.

And the next day was no different.

I woke up to Jin Hayeon performing her treatment, having no clue when or where the woman ever slept.

Then the Demonic Physician showed up to poke me full of needles again.

Right after the morning treatment ended.

The short-fused boar—I mean, my Eldest Brother—came to visit.

“I heard the news from Master. You’re completely overhauling our Cult’s entire education system!”

"Well, things just kind of ended up that way, Eldest Brother.”

"Haha. Thanks to you, this Eldest Brother's workload has increased. I was planning to teach the children Demonic Arts after they finished their school in half a year, but now all those plans have been scrapped, so I'll have to start everything from scratch."

He’s pissed at me. This is him telling me he’s pissed, right?

Cold sweat naturally began trickling down my back.

A cold sweat trickled down my back. I’d just dropped a work-bomb of epic proportions on a man with a short fuse. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d decided to kill me right then and there.

"I'm, I'm sorry, Eldest Brother. Please, spare my life..." Thıs content belongs to NoveI-Fire.ɴet

"Life? What are you talking about? You’ve done something magnificent! Why in the world would I want to harm my brilliant, pride-and-joy of a younger brother? Mwahahaha!”

I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or sincere. Then, his voice dropped to a serious tone.

"The reason this foolish Eldest Brother came to see you today was partly because I was worried about your injuries, but truthfully, it was more to seek your advice."

"With this foolish Eldest Brother's dull mind, I cannot fully grasp our brilliant youngest's plan. So I thought it would be better to hear the story directly from you, which is why I came here."

"My plan? What do you mean by that?"

When I asked with a puzzled expression, Eldest Brother answered with a face that said it was obvious.

“Hahaha! No need to play dumb to spare my feelings, youngest. A genius like you must have planned out every last detail. So tell me. How do I teach these children the way you envisioned it?”

What the hell is this guy smoking?

‘Oh, for the love of all that is holy.’

That other part of me, the one I hated, started slyly kicking down the door to my consciousness.

"If we consider the school program as a type of basic education, then what Eldest Brother needs to prepare could be called elementary and middle school education. The Hall of the Demonic Way would then serve as our institution of higher learning.”

Having memories of the modern world was a goddamn curse for someone who’d learned the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword.

My mind was instantly flooded with the familiar structure of elementary, middle, high school, and university.

Combine that with all the administrative bullshit I’d learned as a civil servant, and my mouth started moving on its own.

"Since the schools are managed by the regional branches, we first need facilities to accommodate children who have completed their basic studies. However, realistically, it’s impossible to house and manage all the children from across Xinjiang. Moreover, continuously separating young children from their parents could be harmful to their mental health. So, to start, we should group the villages into clusters of four or five and build elementary education facilities in the largest village of each cluster.”

As my mouth began moving non-stop, Eldest Brother pulled out paper and brush from who knows where and began frantically writing everything down.

"Master's words were true. He said you'd give answers if I just asked. Hehehe."

He muttered a comment that made a vein throb in my forehead.

'So it was Master who told Eldest Brother about my side effects!'

But my anger was quickly overshadowed by a new horror. My eyes were glued to the tip of his brush. Soon, I fell silent, my eyes twitching as I stared at his calligraphy.

'Is this some new form of torture?'

How should I put it...

To put it nicely, it was bold and unrestrained handwriting. To be brutally honest, the man needed to be sent back to the academy for basic penmanship lessons.

With my side effect already rearing its ugly head, staring at that chaotic chicken scratch handwriting made me feel like I might suffer from Qi Deviation again.

‘Forget the fact that it looks like shit, why the hell is he writing so big?!’

I had plenty more to say due to the side effects, but already half the paper was filled, all because of his uselessly oversized handwriting.

"...What's wrong, youngest?"

Eldest Brother, who had been busily taking notes, looked at me with a puzzled expression when I fell silent.

But instead of immediately opening my mouth, I first raised my body from lying down.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Is there a problem!?”

Jin Hayeon and Eldest Brother, who had been watching from the side, looked at me with concern. I turned to Jin Hayeon first.

"Could you help me sit up? I think I need to sit for a bit."

“…Very well. The Elder Demonic Physician did say that moving a little would help with muscle recovery.”

Finally, with Jin Hayeon's support, I raised my upper body. Then I extended my right hand toward Eldest Brother.

"I'll write it myself, Eldest Brother."

“Nonsense. How could I let my injured brother handle such a task?”

His consideration made me want to puke.

‘Because what you’re doing is pure fucking TORTURE!’

But I couldn’t say that to the short-fused boar who could snap my neck at any moment.

“It would be far more accurate if I wrote it myself rather than having you transcribe my words, don’t you think? Besides, I need to move a little anyway to recover faster. I’ll just think of it as exercise.”

“Your consideration for your foolish Eldest Brother truly warms my heart.”

For some reason, Eldest Brother looked deeply moved as he handed me the brush and paper.

'I'd rather die than suffer . Ugh.'

After sighing inwardly, I moved my mouth while writing on the paper.

And Eldest Brother, who had been obediently listening to my words, soon looked back and forth between me and the paper with a surprised expression and exclaimed:

“I knew you were a genius, brother, but I never imagined you were also well-versed in calligraphy!”

“…I studied hard to enter the Hall of the Demonic Way. This just came naturally.”

The real reason was my damn side effect, but I just fed him a plausible lie.

As I explained the education system and wrote it all down in neat, orderly script, the muscle pain that had been plaguing me started to dull. I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad about it since it was all thanks to this goddamn side effect.

And so, I battled my side effect, blending modern knowledge with my own insights, and the time flew by.

“The Young Master’s body is still weak. I believe it would be best to rest for today.”

The moment Jin Hayeon gave her gentle but firm dismissal and my Eldest Brother left, she performed the acupressure on me again.

And thanks to my exhausted mind and body, I fell fast asleep again.

The next day, Eldest Brother came again.

"For middle school education, it would be best to select about thirty to fifty percent of the talented children among the sixteen-year-olds who have completed elementary education and gather them at headquarters."

Day after day, I was tormented by Eldest Brother, and I was forced to run my mouth and my brush nonstop.

How should I put it...

It felt like I had become a kind of knowledge dispenser, just eating meals and spitting out knowledge day after day.

Around the time Il-mok was being tormented by Wi Jin-hak.

Yeom Ga-hwi, who had returned to the Hall of the Demonic Way, was carrying out the Heavenly Demon's instructions.

"...You're saying it ends with dismissal from the instructor position?"

At Vice Hall Master Yu Geuk's question, Yeom Ga-hwi nodded with an impassive face.

"These are orders from the Supreme One. Since he couldn't control the side effects of demonic arts, he's not suitable as an instructor. However, since this happened due to side effects, he's been ordered to receive counseling and treatment to manage those side effects at the Pure Mind Hall."

Because it was an order from the Heavenly Demon himself, Yu Geuk didn’t argue further.

"Then we'll need to select a new instructor."

"Indeed. Do you have anyone you'd like to recommend?"

"...Having stayed at the Hall of the Demonic Way as a Vice Hall Master for so long, I'm not well-versed in the Cult's current situation. Rather than making an immediate recommendation, let me look into it."

“Do so. Also, until a new instructor arrives, you, Vice Hall Master, will be in charge of martial arts training in Instructor Chu’s stead.”

"I will do so, Hall Master."

After finishing his conversation with Yu Geuk, Yeom Ga-hwi headed to where Chu Il-hwan was being held.

At the sound of Yeom Ga-hwi opening the door and entering, Chu Il-hwan, who had been sitting bound to the chair with his head bowed, looked up.

“The verdict has been delivered.”

A complex expression washed over Chu Il-hwan’s face.

Yeom Ga-hwi looked at the man, who was now staring at him like a kicked puppy, and repeated what he had told Yu Geuk.

After hearing his sentence, Chu Il-hwan, still looking conflicted, asked, “…To the Pure Mind Hall?”

“…Do you believe me, Hall Master?"

“This wasn’t my decision. It was the decision of Disciple Il-mok and the Supreme One.”

As he answered, Yeom Ga-hwi recalled the events of the previous day.

‘The rumors called him a genius, but I never imagined it was to this extent.’

He’d already seen Il-mok’s talent in martial arts firsthand, having even observed one of his tests due to his doubts.

However, this was the first time he had directly experienced that widely rumored brilliance.

‘It was like he knew everything from the very start. Yes. As if he were speaking from knowledge rather than wisdom.'

From the educational system to the Hall of the Demonic Way reform plan—the words he spouted nonstop contained not a trace of weakness.

Even Yeom Ga-hwi himself, who had intended to voice strong opposition, found himself just silently listening at some point.

There wasn't even a flicker of hesitation in Il-mok’s eyes; it was as if he were simply reading facts from a scroll.

‘Now I think I understand why the Supreme One treasures his youngest disciple so much.’

The handling of Chu Il-hwan was the same.

It linked perfectly with his proposed reforms, making it feel like a natural, seamless solution.

Of course, contrary to Chu Il-hwan's thoughts, neither Il-mok nor the Heavenly Demon had completely trusted and forgiven him.

The process of receiving counseling at the Pure Mind Hall was closer to a ploy to get him to slip up and reveal something incriminating.

But Yeom Ga-hwi wasn’t stupid enough to tell Chu Il-hwan that.

‘If he’s innocent, he has nothing to fear.’

And if he was guilty, Yeom Ga-hwi believed, he deserved whatever punishment he got, even if he was a favored subordinate.

Oblivious to Yeom Ga-hwi’s true thoughts, Chu Il-hwan, who believed he was now in the clear, had a very different take on things.

‘A verdict delivered by the Supreme One and Disciple Il-mok?’

Chu Il-hwan felt as if he had been struck hard in the head.

‘I could understand our Lord, but Disciple Il-mok… I almost killed him.’

Even if it was because of his art’s side effects, for Il-mok to forgive him…

‘Perhaps… perhaps I have gravely misunderstood Disciple Il-mok.’

Everything he had observed while spying on Il-mok for the past month, he started to wonder if it was all a misunderstanding.

Things like his lecherous behavior in bringing swarms of female students, and even having some kind of scandal with Instructor Eun Ryeo. Or his laziness, how he’d just swing his sword half-assedly during training and spend the rest of his time napping or staring into space.

Maybe he had gotten it all wrong.

‘I almost spread baseless rumors…’

Chu Il-hwan had planned to report his findings to the Hall Master once the real mole was caught, but now he decided to take this secret to his grave.

For Il-mok, this was an unimaginable stroke of luck.

If those matters had been reported to the Heavenly Demon through the Hall Master, there was no telling what kind of fresh hell would have been unleashed upon him.