The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything - Chapter 318

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 318: The Matter of Responsibility

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It took less than half a day for news of Jin Sowoon's incident to spread throughout the Academy.

Compared to the three or four days it usually took for rumors about who had become involved with whom to circulate, everyone agreed that this incident was exceptionally explosive.

The reactions split into two camps.

Those who had been dissatisfied with the sudden replacement of the lecturers and their treatment of Academy students found it deeply satisfying.

Others considered assaulting a lecturer a serious matter.

The Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans largely fell into the latter group.

“Of all things, that madman dared assault a lecturer!”

“Shouldn't we refuse to let this slide?”

“Of course! But... how do we make an issue of it?”

It was not solely the authority of the Academy Representative's position that made the outraged students suddenly fall silent.

The new lecturer was Hall Master-level.

And Jin Sowoon had crushed that Hall Master-level lecturer with internal energy until he vomited blood.

“Good grief...”

Few Academy students could even hold their own against a Hall Master-level martial artist in a contest of internal energy.

Since he had overwhelmed one, they concluded that confronting him themselves was impossible.

“We should... we should talk to the lecturers and instructors!”

“Yes, exactly! How can we receive an education when the authority of the instructors has fallen this low?”

“But... I heard it was a fair contest of internal energy. Is that really a problem?”

That was why the Academic Affairs Department could not immediately step in despite the lecturer's injury.

It had, after all, been a fair contest of internal energy.

More importantly, the lecturer had been the one to provoke him first.

They could hardly reprimand an outstanding student for being outstanding.

Still, since the injured lecturer belonged to Qingcheng Sect, the members of the Nine Sects One Gang and Five Great Clans could not remain idle.

They could not simply stand by and watch Jin Sowoon, who had already been an eyesore, humiliate one of their seniors as well.

“Shouldn't we at least inform our seniors in the Martial Alliance? Then they can...”

“Didn't those seniors already come to punish Jin Sowoon and get beaten by him? What can even higher-ranking seniors do?”

“What the hell is wrong with you? You've been saying nothing but useless things this whole time.”

“No, I was only speaking objectively about the current situation...”

Their frustration remained unresolved, yet they had no immediate way to deal with Jin Sowoon. Whether the Academy students wanted it or not, word naturally made its way to the Martial Alliance.

“Goodness, my head...”

Buk Wonpyeong pressed hard against his temples.

“How can you frown when such fine tea is right in front of you...?”

Needless to say, the source of his headache was the bastard calmly drinking tea in front of him.

Buk Wonpyeong was nearly at the point of laughing helplessly.

“How can you drink that right now?”

“The Academy Head uses very fine tea.”

“I asked how you can drink that right now!”

Unable to restrain his anger any longer, Buk Wonpyeong reached for the teacup.

Jin Sowoon swiftly moved it out of reach.

‘Look at this bastard.’

Buk Wonpyeong used the Supreme Clarity Water-Repelling Art and reached out again.

But...

Tap. Tap tap.

Jin Sowoon casually extended a hand and protected his teacup.

‘Good grief...’

The Supreme Clarity Water-Repelling Art was among the most formidable seizing arts.

It was the technique that had instantly subdued a Black Path martial artist notorious for the Floating Killing Claw.

Yet this boy, barely past twenty, had blocked the Supreme Clarity Water-Repelling Art without using any special technique.

Then he continued drinking tea as though nothing had happened.

“Urgh...”

Buk Wonpyeong had personally instructed Jin Sowoon before, and through that process, he had learned that Jin Sowoon possessed considerable internal energy.

‘Though I didn't realize he had such a ridiculous amount.’

Still, judging by that exchange just now, Jin Sowoon had advanced once again since Buk Wonpyeong last assessed him.

Jin Sowoon savored the tea at ease, looking at him with eyes that gleamed with the clear brightness of a madman.

Buk Wonpyeong studied his face and recalled those idiotic lecturers.

They should have chosen their target more carefully. Wasn't it obvious this was not someone they could afford to provoke?

It was not just a matter of internal energy.

One could tell from the move he used to block the technique. His understanding of martial principles had already surpassed the Hall Master level.

Had they provoked him through a spar, they would have been reduced to pulp. Had they tried to pressure him with theory, they would not have escaped a difficult struggle either.

‘If they had instead picked on his attitude or expression...’

Buk Wonpyeong, who had somehow begun thinking like one of the lecturers and considering ways to scold Jin Sowoon, soon frowned.

Hadn't this boy entered the Academy with Black Path bastards from the start?

What could they possibly accomplish by provoking someone with nothing to lose?

“Haah...”

“As I have repeatedly said, the lecturer started it first...”

“Be quiet.”

There was no need to hear any more pointless explanations.

“Yes! I'll be quiet.”

“...”

Yet Jin Sowoon was grinning as though to taunt him, and Buk Wonpyeong could not bear it.

Wanting to see even the slightest frown on the boy's face, he continued.

“Do you not realize what kind of harm this could cause you in the future?”

“What kind of harm?”

“You could receive subtly lowered scores or fail to obtain recommendation letters from the lecturers. Then you might not be assigned to the pavilion you want later.”

Jin Sowoon still replied while leisurely savoring the fragrance of the tea.

“But if I place in the top ten, I'll be assigned wherever I want, won't I? Just like the current Dragon-Phoenix Association members.”

“Hmph. You think you'll place in the top ten?”

“All my evaluations so far have been among the highest. No matter how poorly I do, I won't fall out of the top ten.”

“...”

Wasn't the world supposed to be fair?

If someone lacked intelligence, they had a strong body. If they had a strong body, they were usually supposed to lack intelligence.

Why was this damned bastard smart enough to calculate even that so quickly?

“Hehe, thank you for the compliment.”

“...I didn't say anything!”

“That expression you just made. It's the expression people wear when they can't help praising their enemies.”

Buk Wonpyeong drew a long breath and looked up at the ceiling.

How was he supposed to speak so this bastard would understand?

One of life's three great misfortunes was achieving success too young.

People who became intoxicated by the genius they were born with, forgetting the vastness of the world and the terror of the heavens.

They rose higher than anyone else, then one small mistake sent them falling endlessly.

Buk Wonpyeong did not want Jin Sowoon to fall.

At the same time, he knew the boy would eventually fall.

That was why the more brightly he shone, the more Buk Wonpyeong worried.

“Listen carefully. The lecturers and instructors may bind you with methods far more petty and filthy than you expect. No, from now on, they certainly will.”

Just as they had done to Buk Wonpyeong and every senior who had shone alone like him.

Before the long span of five hundred years, even extraordinary genius was nothing more than a brief flash of light.

“If they cannot get to you, they will drag in your junior disciples. If that does not work, they will involve your sect and your friends.”

“...”

“Of course, the first few may confront you and fall. But you cannot be replaced and must keep facing them, while they will continue changing people and harassing you.”

Buk Wonpyeong had only endured that after joining the Martial Alliance, but for Jin Sowoon, it would begin at the Academy.

“This unjust structure has not been broken even once in the last five hundred years.”

An egg striking a great boulder.

No matter how many times it tried, an egg could never break a boulder.

Had Jin Sowoon finally grasped reality?

The smile vanished from his grinning face, replaced by a cold sneer.

“...If that's the case.”

At least to Buk Wonpyeong, this was far better than how he had looked a moment ago.

So he had gained at least some understanding of reality...

“Then I should just quit the Academy.”

Huh? What kind of absurd nonsense was that?

“Quit? Even if you do, you'll return through mandatory service anyway...”

“It can't be helped if they harass us like that. I'll take everyone from Taeul Sect active in the Martial Alliance, including myself and my junior disciples, and return to Taeul Sect.”

He really was still full of youthful vigor.

Buk Wonpyeong clicked his tongue at Jin Sowoon's foolish answer, then noticed something strange.

“...Taeul Sect has no executive active in the Martial Alliance, does it?”

“Of course, that is true if you count only direct disciples. But there is one if you include lay disciples.”

“...”

Jin Sowoon, who had been looking down at his teacup, raised his gaze directly ahead.

Blink blink.

Buk Wonpyeong's eyes blinked slowly, like a cow's.

What was with that bastard's gaze...?

“...Don't tell me you mean me?”

“Yes.”

“You mad bastard...!”

“If someone of the Three Pure Supreme Sword's stature withdraws from the Martial Alliance, won't they restrain themselves?”

Buk Wonpyeong knew Jin Sowoon was not in his right mind, but he had not expected him to be this far gone.

His face flushed red as he shouted.

“W-what if I say I won't leave?”

“You can't do that. Even if you are older than me, the order of Taeul Sect's Head Disciple is absolute.”

Damn it, nobody told him that when he became a lay disciple!

“It must have been written in the agreement. Didn't you know? You should have read it carefully before stamping the document.”

He had never stamped any document in the first place!

The cold sneer on Jin Sowoon's face disappeared, and his eyes curved into crescents again.

“Anyway, work hard so it doesn't come to that, Junior Brother.”

He was back to his usual mischievous self.

Seeing that brought Buk Wonpyeong a small measure of relief.

It meant Jin Sowoon properly understood what Buk Wonpyeong had been concerned about.

Still, Buk Wonpyeong asked once more.

“So as long as your Academy life goes smoothly, I won't have to leave the Martial Alliance with you?”

“Of course.”

Buk Wonpyeong let out a long sigh.

Then he suddenly thought that Jin Sowoon's excessive use of force against the lecturer might not have been an emotional response alone.

Was it not reasonable to suspect that he had acted rather violently because he was confident he could escape the consequences?

“Did you do it deliberately?”

Jin Sowoon readily admitted it.

“To some extent.”

“Why go that far?”

Taeul Sect was already steadily building its strength.

If they had hidden their power and risen step by step, they would surely have achieved what they wanted someday.

Yet because they had already taken an openly confrontational stance, the future might become more difficult.

But not a trace of fear could be found on Jin Sowoon's face.

“Because we have already become targets of their vigilance.”

“...”

“If they came at us this openly, it would only have become harder to endure later.”

His familiar cold smile returned.

“And Taeul Sect has already become a sharp awl, too dangerous for them to ignore.”

“...”

Had Buk Wonpyeong been the one thinking too simply?

“...Still, couldn't you have endured at least until you entered the Martial Alliance? If things go wrong, you may all be scattered.”

Unlike Buk Wonpyeong, who had established himself alone, Taeul Sect had many people together.

Now that Taeul Sect had emerged as such a threatening presence, those above would never allow its talented people to gather in one place.

Jin Sowoon's face turned cold for the first time.

That chilling expression bore the deep, desperate traces of years that did not seem possible for someone so young.

“...”

He looked displeased, as though his pride had been hurt.

His face was full of dissatisfaction, as though asking whether Buk Wonpyeong truly thought so little of him.

Buk Wonpyeong realized he had judged wrongly.

“...Right. You must have prepared for that as well.”

What on earth was inside that bastard's head?

Early success?

Jin Sowoon was not someone who knew nothing of the world, drunk on his own genius as he made a name for himself.

He understood the world, and from within its cracks, he had begun to make his own name known.

By his own will.

If that was the case, Buk Wonpyeong's words no longer had meaning.

Whether they were rebukes or advice.

“Fine. I will use my influence regarding the Academy, so do not worry.”

All he needed to do was what he could for the boy.

...Well, he was an imposing eldest senior brother to Buk Wonpyeong, his youngest junior brother, after all.

After leaving the Academy Head's office, I was walking toward the Representative's office when I suddenly stopped.

‘I'm screwed.’

I had been so focused on the blade at my throat that I had not considered the Martial Alliance.

It was obvious that my junior disciples would be assigned to the Martial Alliance after graduating from the Academy.

‘How could I forget that...?’

Now that we had caught their attention, they would certainly not leave us alone to gather in one place.

‘And if they wanted to crush us, it would be easier to split us apart and defeat us one by one.’

In my previous life, Taeul Sect had been a worthless third-rate sect, so they did not care even if we gathered together. But things were different now.

Ha, why did those damned bastards have to pick a fight for no reason?

After cursing the lecturers and instructors for a while, I cleared my head.

This would have happened eventually even if I had endured it.

No, this might actually be better.

It would be better than staying together from the beginning, only to be scattered when war broke out.

They could work separately, then gather as one when the war unit was formed.

‘Right. This is definitely for the best. Yes, it is.’

The problem was how to respond if the kids, scattered across different units, were harassed.

‘This is really filthy.’

They would have to follow the rules of their position within the Martial Alliance and the pavilion to which they belonged.

In principle, mutual contact and interference would be impossible.

That meant I would no longer be able to protect the Taeul Sect kids under my wing.

At least, not unless I received an extraordinary promotion and forced the matter through rank.

But there was a limit to the time available.

Before then, I needed to find a way to protect the kids.

Hm, how should I... Wait?

‘Do I really need to protect them?’

Once I entered the White Wolf Pavilion, I would be swamped with the work assigned to me.

I would have to turn a group of worthless bastards with no foundations into a proper unit.

Would I have time to watch over every one of my junior disciples on top of that?

In the end, it came down to whether my junior disciples would get beaten up at their assigned posts, like I had in my previous life.

‘Then they just shouldn't get beaten up.’

They had found our great-grandmaster's martial arts, and to address the lack of internal energy that had been identified as their weakness, they had also taken Five-Spirit Flower Dew.

The greatest effect of Five-Spirit Flower Dew was stabilizing the dantian.

Having taken both Heart-Calming Pellets and Five-Spirit Flower Dew, they should have no problems even if they consumed a decent spiritual medicine.

‘We can address their lack of internal energy at the Academy event six months from now...’

Once they had internal energy and martial arts under control, there would be no reason for them to get beaten up.

We could not help the fact that our sect was still weak, but if a person was strong enough, it became difficult for a superior to treat them like an inferior.

They might receive a few unfair orders, but if they could live comfortably without even that, I would feel a little cheated.

I got worked over so much in my previous life...!

“Where did you go?”

“Huh? Ahem.”

Saryeon, who was about to enter the Representative's office, saw me and asked.

I answered calmly.

“I went to see the Academy Head.”

“Was it... resolved?”

I nodded vigorously.

“Really?”

Saryeon's eyes made it clear she did not believe me.

Ahem. Why had her trust in her eldest senior brother fallen so low?