The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything - Chapter 370

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 370: The Swirling Current (2)

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“…and so, we intend to provide Academy student Jin Sowoon with private quarters this time.”

Something was strange.

No, something strange was happening.

“If there is anything else you need, please don't hesitate to ask.”

The Academy official before me had introduced themself as the Black Martial Pavilion’s personnel officer.

Honestly, I hadn't understood much of what they said afterward.

“So… you mean those are the benefits if I apply to the Black Martial Pavilion?”

“That’s right!”

The official clapped enthusiastically, but I wasn't enthusiastic in the slightest.

I still had no idea why any of this was happening.

“Hmm… hasn't the application period for Academy students already closed?”

“Ah! The Talent Office will send another notice. To adjust the numbers, they'll be accepting second and third choices as well.”

“…Why?”

The Martial Alliance’s Talent Office was no easygoing department.

It was famous for being stricter and less willing to compromise than anyone else when it came to personnel matters.

And that place was accepting second and third choices?

“Um… how should I put this? It's to ensure smooth personnel assignments across the Martial Alliance’s various departments…”

It seemed the official before me didn't understand the current situation either.

They looked like they had no idea what they were saying.

This was someone who usually watched applicants line up and beg to enter the Black Martial Pavilion.

Yet here they were, personally visiting an Academy student to advertise benefits and special treatment. It was bizarre beyond words.

“Hmm… I understand. I'll think about it.”

As soon as I sent the person from the Black Martial Pavilion away so I could figure out what was going on, a servant informed me that another guest had arrived.

“They say they're the personnel officer of the Red Dragon Pavilion.”

“What?”

Where had they come from?

The personnel officer who entered looked as though they had been running all over the place. Beads of sweat covered their forehead despite the lingering winter chill.

“Nice to meet you. I am the personnel officer of the Red Dragon Pavilion…”

“Yes, I've already heard. The Talent Office is accepting applications for second and third choices again.”

“Ah… has someone already visited you?”

“Someone from the Black Martial Pavilion came and left.”

“Ha! That underhanded bastard… Ah, my apologies. In any case, that makes this easier. If Academy student Jin Sowoon joins our Red Dragon Pavilion…”

“May I ask something first?”

“Ah! Please ask anything. I can answer any questions about the Red Dragon Pavilion’s benefits, vacation days, overnight leave, and so on.”

I asked the Red Dragon Pavilion personnel officer, whose face had brightened, a straightforward question.

“What exactly is going on?”

“Pardon?”

“Shouldn't the Red Dragon Pavilion and Azure Dragon Pavilion normally have so many applicants that they need to select among them?”

“…Haha. W-well, yes.”

“Then I don't understand why personnel officers such as yourselves are personally going around meeting Academy students.”

Was the room too warm?

The official began sweating profusely again.

“Ahem… In truth, the Red Dragon Pavilion spares no expense in recruiting even more talented individuals. Of course, we're already overflowing with Academy students who have applied, but, um… how should I put it? We'd like to recruit a more elite group.”

“…”

“And among them, Academy student Jin Sowoon, a former Academy Representative, is naturally our highest-priority target.”

That explanation didn't make the situation any easier to understand.

After all…

“…Hasn't the Red Dragon Pavilion traditionally accepted many members of the White Path Society?”

The personnel officer panicked as though I had struck a nerve.

“T-that is all in the past. It's been a long time since discrimination based on martial affiliation disappeared.”

“…”

“I-it's true… Haha…”

I didn't know why watching them wipe away sweat as they spoke made them seem so untrustworthy.

There was probably no point in asking any more questions.

I politely asked them to leave.

“I understand. I'll think about it.”

“Oh! Then will you apply?”

“I said I'd think about it.”

“Ah… that's a little troublesome…”

What was troublesome about that?

Then someone knocked on the door.

A servant’s voice followed, saying, “You can't go in,” but…

The door flew open, and another Academy official strode in.

“Y-you…!”

The newcomer glared murderously at the Red Dragon Pavilion official, as if they had caught the official in an act of betrayal.

“You sneaky little…! How could you do this to me?!”

The Red Dragon Pavilion official, who had suddenly been cursed at, couldn't hide their confusion.

“S-sorry. I had no choice. You know what our Great Hall Master is like… They said that if I didn't bring Young Master Jin in, I'd never be allowed to hold a brush again!”

“Even so! How can a gentleman speak twice with one mouth and cast aside a promise so lightly?”

Listening to their fierce argument, I thought to myself.

I didn't know what was going on.

But I wished they'd all get out.

Why the hell were they coming here and causing a scene?

“They came to you too?”

At my question, Geumpyo’s face crumpled like paper.

“Why are you so surprised? Is it wrong for the Red Dragon Pavilion to want me?”

Ah… I must not have controlled my expression very well.

I quickly tried to recover.

“N-no… it's just… right! I was surprised the Azure Dragon Pavilion didn't send anyone. Someone like you should be recruited by the Azure Dragon Pavilion too…”

“Forget it. You don't need to make excuses.”

Sigh… Looking at how my junior brothers grew more insolent by the day, I wondered if I had been far too tolerant with them.

“Anyway, Eunho and Dongryong both met personnel officers too. Ah, the Head of the Mantong Office personally visited Eunho.”

“What the hell is going on?”

Eunho had previously told me that he intended to apply to the Mantong Office.

I had been so dumbfounded that I nearly grabbed his trouser leg to stop him.

【I'm… going to become fucking cool.】

Eunho had said something unbelievably idiotic, but his resolve had been firm.

I didn't know why he insisted on walking into that deathtrap.

Still, Mantong Office personnel would enter the battlefield once the war began anyway, and the White Wolf Pavilion needed someone to serve as a strategist. So I had readily allowed it.

The examination was notoriously brutal, though, so the plan had been for him to remain at the White Wolf Pavilion first, then take the test and enter the Mantong Office later.

“The Mantong Office says it'll hold an examination to coincide with this Academy class’s graduation. They clearly intend to choose several people from among the Academy students.”

Seeing an examination open as though it had been waiting for this moment, I couldn't understand any part of the situation.

“What about the other Academy students?”

“They're all meeting personnel officers from their respective departments right now.”

“This has never happened before…”

Then Geumpyo struck their palm with a fist as though they had remembered something.

“Ah! Senior brothers and elders from the various martial lineages have also gathered around the dormitories and are scolding their affiliated Academy students.”

“Why?”

“They say the Academy students applied wherever they pleased.”

“Wherever they pleased…”

After graduating from the Academy, people normally went where their senior brothers or martial lineage held influence.

Walking the silk road paved by one’s predecessors was the quickest and surest route to advancement.

Yet they were being scolded for applying wherever they wanted? What on earth…

“Where did they apply?”

“The White Wolf Pavilion.”

I nearly spat out the tea in my mouth.

What kind of insane nonsense was that?

Why would Academy students apply to the White Wolf Pavilion? It was a place you went only after failing every preference…

“You didn't know? This whole situation is happening because of you, Senior Brother.”

“…”

Had I unknowingly threatened Academy students at swordpoint?

Had I told them to go to the White Wolf Pavilion?

“What did you say?”

“…You really didn't know? Since you insisted on the White Wolf Pavilion, other Academy students started applying there too.”

“No, why?!”

“Because the Eldest Senior Brother is going there.”

“You little… Why have you been talking like complete trash since earlier?”

When I raised my fist, Geumpyo flinched and took a small step back.

“Ahem, that's not what I mean, Senior Brother.”

“Explain properly before you get hit. What happened?”

Geumpyo moved their lips, their eyes darting around as though choosing their words. Then they began carefully.

“I believe that Academy students who have long admired you were moved by your example and applied to the White Wolf Pavilion so they could be with you.”

I told Geumpyo to explain properly, and they started talking nonsense.

“Anyway, because of that, every department has been left with barely any applicants, while the White Wolf Pavilion is facing the unprecedented situation of having to turn applicants away. That's why the Talent Office began asking for second and third choices.”

“…”

I had expected that my decisive steps would significantly change my future as well.

Still, I never imagined I would have to compete with other Academy students for an executive position in the White Wolf Pavilion.

But I was the top student. They wouldn't reject me in name only, would they?

No way…

As I considered the unexpected situation, Geumpyo cautiously asked me something.

“Senior Brother, is there a reason you absolutely must join the White Wolf Pavilion?”

“Hm?”

“To be honest, the Red Dragon Pavilion asked me to join them, but I have no confidence that I could endure there. As you said, I think it'd be better to go to the White Wolf Pavilion and establish myself quickly.”

There was a certain longing in Geumpyo’s eyes.

“But you're different, aren't you? Even if you turned down the Dragon-Phoenix Association… surely you could go to the Azure Dragon Pavilion or Red Dragon Pavilion whenever you wished? If it's because of the Taeul Sect children who will join later, Saryeon and I can protect them well enough.”

“…”

“Could it be… that you're trying to sacrifice yourself for us again? Are you still worried about us?”

Geumpyo seemed to be under a serious misunderstanding.

“Or do you have another reason you must enter it?”

“…”

As Geumpyo said, it wouldn't matter if I went somewhere else and joined the White Wolf Pavilion later.

As Seong Moran said, even if I wandered the martial world with the Dragon-Phoenix Association and enjoyed everything I could, I would probably still receive a position as the Sojeong Unit Leader.

But…

“I have to join the White Wolf Pavilion.”

If I went now, I would become the direct superior of those Sojeong Unit bastards until the war.

That was why I had to go.

“No matter what, I have to go now.”

Because…

If I went now, I could work those bastards to the bone until the war.

And I could make them repay every bit of what they had put me through in my previous life.

“So don't speak of this again.”

I could never, ever let this opportunity slip away.

The thing I had hoped would never happen finally did.

“…What the…”

Even Eunho, who stood beside me, let out a sigh as if he couldn't believe what had happened to me.

“It seems the White Wolf Pavilion has someone capable of recognizing talent.”

Something sounded wrong there, but that wasn't important right now.

“…Do you think this makes any sense?”

I held up the application form I had received.

“Hmm… In the end, isn't the choice theirs to make?”

That was right.

The application I had sent to the White Wolf Pavilion had been returned to me.

Along with a reply saying they couldn't accept me.

“I'm the top student of the Martial Arts Academy! The top student has the right to enter wherever he wants!”

“…That's true.”

“What? They say they can't accept anyone else because they're full? Then cut someone with worse grades. Why are you rejecting people from the top? Isn't that right?!”

“That is true as well.”

I shot to my feet at the absurdity of the current situation.

I, Jin Sowoon, could not stand by and watch this injustice.

“Don't try to stop me.”

“I won't.”

Hm?

“I need to prepare for the examination now, so I'm busy.”

“…Is that so?”

Leaving the strangely distant Eunho behind, I headed straight for the White Wolf Pavilion.

As soon as I arrived, I asked for the personnel officer.

“What? Who?”

“I came to meet the personnel officer.”

“…We don't have someone like that.”

“You don't?”

“Our Pavilion Master handles all that. If you really want to meet someone, go find the Pavilion Master.”

“…”

What was this? The White Wolf Pavilion hadn't been this much of a disaster in my previous life.

Normally, it was difficult to meet the head of a department directly.

Yet the martial artist, who appeared to belong to the White Wolf Pavilion, even told me where the Pavilion Master’s office was as though they were some neighborhood uncle.

“…Can I really go?”

“What is there not to allow? That bastard always joins our drinking parties anyway.”

After hearing that much, there was no reason to delay any longer.

I headed straight for the White Wolf Pavilion Master’s office.

As expected, no one stopped me on the way, and despite it being the middle of winter, the entrance to the office stood wide open.

Inside the office…

“Yaaawn…”

A man sat with his feet on the desk, letting out a long yawn.

He spotted me and asked, “Did you bring alcohol?”

He was asking for alcohol from someone who had come to his office for the first time.

Was this man really the Pavilion Master?

“How could I possibly have any?”

“If you don't have any, then say so. Why are you giving me a smart-ass answer?”

The man scratched his back, then rummaged through several empty bottles.

“Did Yanggaru send you? Or did Cheongbinru send you?”

Both were taverns near Wuhan famous for their cheap drinks. Did he owe them money too?

“Neither. …Are you the Pavilion Master?”

When I asked cautiously, a blunt reply came back.

“Can't you tell at a glance?”

Not at all.

He seemed like the sort of person who would become more irritating the more we spoke, so I immediately got to the point.

“I came from the Martial Arts Academy.”

“The Martial Arts Academy? I have no idea what the hell is going on there lately. Have they all gone crazy? They're all saying they want to come here.”

“…”

“Why are you here? Did you regret it? You can't withdraw your application. I handed all that over to the Talent Office because it was too much trouble.”

Had this man really singled out my application and sent it back just because he couldn't be bothered to sort applications?

Anger began rising in my chest over the unexplained rejection.

“I didn't come because of that.”

“Then why?”

“You returned my application, so I came to submit it again.”

“Returned it? …Are you that Black Flame Dragon?”

“Jin… Sowoon.”

The man yawned widely, then nodded.

“Right, the Black Path divine prodigy, Black Flame Dragon.”

He finally seemed to have found a bottle with alcohol in it, because his face brightened as he tipped it up.

“Sorry, but I can't accept you.”

“…My grades should be more than enough…”