Chapter 103: Misunderstanding (3)

'They don't know what they are talking about.'

Martial arts were relative. They varied depending on compatibility and circumstances, making it nearly impossible to precisely quantify someone's true skill level.

Especially since the martial art Jeong Hyeon had learned was archery, which was bound to change greatly depending on conditions and situations.

Even accounting for that, Il-mok didn't think Jeong Hyeon was inferior to those guys.

Moreover.

'Unlike these brutes who only know how to charge straight ahead, Jeong Hyeon actually has skills that matter in real combat.'

These fools thought Jeong Hyeon only succeeded because of his help. In reality, all he'd done was give him the right opportunities to showcase his existing talents.

'Tsk. Morons. They treat Jeong Hyeon's versatility as nothing more than petty tricks.'

Whether it was because of their ignorant fanaticism or because they were still young, there was a persistent prejudice against archery and hidden weapons in the cult.

The petty gossip of young and pathetic fools. Il-mok felt there was no need to bother dealing with them.

The real concern would be if this escalated beyond mere gossip into actual bullying.

While Il-mok pondered his next move, something interesting caught his attention.

"We were planning to confront him about it, but he's been clever, staying close to 'that person' ever since the Young Master disappeared."

"I saw them myself just yesterday. Practically joined at the hip."

"Exactly. Getting involved with 'that person' is... well, it's problematic for obvious reasons."

Who was this 'that person' they couldn't bring themselves to name?

The answer came quickly.

'Right... sticking close to that deranged attention-seeker would definitely make things complicated.'

They were talking about Baek Cheon.

Jeong Hyeon had only sought Baek Cheon's help to learn basic social skills, but these idiots assumed he was using him as a human shield.

'At least that lunatic is keeping the bullies at bay.'

Even dog shit had its uses, as Il-mok was learning.

He simply turned away from the gossiping quartet and walked off.

He concluded that he saw no reason to intervene as long as there was no actual bullying.

As he walked away from the pathetic quartet, Il-mok found himself thinking about Jeong Hyeon and Baek Cheon.

'Come to think of it, those two really are an odd pair.'

Both were outcasts, but for entirely different reasons.

One avoided people due to crippling social anxiety. The other craved attention from anyone willing to give it.

The problem was that Baek Cheon didn't discriminate between types of attention, which led people to treat him like a complete lunatic and keep their distance.

'...Ahem. Well, he was probably always like that.'

Il-mok felt a twinge of guilt. His advice had transformed Baek Cheon into a lunatic who didn't care about others' gazes at all.

Another thing they had in common was that both had learned archery and hidden weapon techniques, which were looked down upon by the Demonic Cult's warriors.

While this made Jeong Hyeon even more self-conscious, it only seemed to fuel Baek Cheon's craziness. That lunatic apparently believed nothing drew attention quite like flashy hidden weapon techniques.

'Strange how they both complement and clash with each other.'

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Il-mok shuddered violently and shook his head.

"Great. Now I'm going insane from dealing with these lunatics too much. Here I am thinking about two men being suited for each other."

Rubbing away the goosebumps on his arms, Il-mok quickly activated his stealth technique to avoid the perverted trio.

Meanwhile, back at the gossip session.

"First clinging to the Young Master, and now to that person. As a fellow woman, her behavior is absolutely shameless."

But Il-mok had already moved too far away to hear this revelation.

***

The next morning brought Instructor Chu Il-hwan's regular martial arts class.

Il-mok maintained his usual routine.

During Instructor Chu Il-hwan's usual martial arts class, Il-mok, as always, used the idiot trio to create a human barrier around himself while half-heartedly swinging his sword.

But he wasn't dozing off today. Unlike the usual, he kept stealing glances somewhere through gaps in his living shield.

After several careful observations, Il-mok reached a conclusion.

'This is actually concerning.'

He finally understood why those quartets had been trash-talking Jeong Hyeon.

Of course, he had no intention of justifying their gossip.

It's just that.

'Is he really this bad?'

Jeong Hyeon's archery was genuinely awful.

One side of the training ground had been set up with various targets specifically for his archery practice, courtesy of the instructor and his assistant.

Every arrow Jeong Hyeon released crawled through the air at pathetic speeds with equally pathetic accuracy. He rarely came close to hitting the center of any target.

This was baffling.

The archery Jeong Hyeon had shown when they were alone in the clearing or when they were partnered during the exam was nothing like this disaster.

It didn’t take long for Il-mok to understand why his archery level had dropped this disastrously.

‘...It’s because people are watching.’

There is a phenomenon known as stage confidence in this world.

There are some people who could display their abilities to the fullest even when countless people’s gazes focused on them. And there are even people who could show better skills than usual when more eyes were watching.

Then there is also the opposite.

Cases where one couldn't even display half their abilities once they got on stage.

He'd heard of countless talented singers, actors, and athletes whose careers died because they couldn't perform when it mattered. All the skills in the world meant nothing if you couldn't display them when people were watching.

Jeong Hyeon clearly fell into the latter category.

'He must have been like this throughout his time in the Lower Class.'

No wonder his classmates thought he was hopeless. Three months of watching this level of performance would convince anyone that he lacked talent.

Until now, Il-mok had only seen his archery during the practical test and their time at the clearing. So he couldn't have imagined Jeong Hyeon would be in such a state.

While Il-mok diagnosed the problem, Jeong Hyeon was struggling with her own thoughts.

'Why, why, why does he keep looking at me?'

Il-mok's persistent gaze was destroying what little focus she had left.

She was already nervous enough with her classmates watching during every training session. Now Il-mok's scrutiny made everything exponentially worse.

Twang!

Her hand trembled and caused her to release the bowstring prematurely. More embarrassingly, the awkward sound of the bowstring snapping echoed through the training ground.

Thud.

The arrow bounced off the string and landed with a pathetic plop at her feet.

"Pfft..."

Someone's snickering pierced Jeong Hyeon's ears.

Choi Woong was curious about what had captured Il-mok's attention, and he followed his gaze just in time to witness the spectacular failure.

He couldn’t contain his laughter.

Jeong Hyeon's face went white as paper as she heard that laugh. Her hands shook so violently that she could barely bend down to retrieve the fallen arrow.

"Tsk."

Il-mok clicked his tongue lightly and struck the back of Choi Woong's skull with his sword sheath.

"Focus on your own training instead of gawking during class."

"Ugh..."

Choi Woong bit back his response and tried his best to keep his mouth shut even as tears welled up in his eyes.

He wasn't holding back from pain.

'Damn it!'

He was terrified that if he didn’t hold himself back, curses would spill from his mouth and that would guarantee another round of beating.

***

That afternoon, Il-mok returned to the secluded clearing.

He'd worried that the morning's humiliation might have driven Jeong Hyeon into hiding, but fortunately, he was there.

"Hahahaha!"

"Ahaha... hahaha."

He was, once again, going through that bizarre routine with Baek Cheon under the guise of practising abdominal breathing.

'...It seems less like he came out voluntarily and more like he was dragged here by that attention-seeker.'

Il-mok had such suspicions, but since it wasn't an immediately important issue, he decided to let it pass.

"Ahem."

When Il-mok cleared his throat to announce his presence, the two who had been laughing together turned their gazes toward him.

"Young Master Il-mok! Perfect timing!"

"Y-Young Master?"

Il-mok ignored Baek Cheon who was enthusiastically welcoming him and addressed Jeong Hyeon directly.

"Jeong Hyeon, let me ask you one thing."

"P-please ask."

Facing the trembling Jeong Hyeon, Il-mok calmly opened his mouth.

"What do you think you're best at?"

"Pardon...?"

Unable to grasp the intent of the question, Jeong Hyeon reflexively asked back. But when Il-mok just stared at her intently without saying anything else, she quickly lowered her head to avoid his gaze and fell into thought.

'What am I best at?'

Honestly, nothing came to mind immediately. Since nothing came to mind on her own, she fell back on what others had told her.

Specifically, what her only friend had praised her for.

"A-archery and stealth techniques. T-Then tracking, I'm good at th-those."

Il-mok felt a wave of relief at her response before asking his follow-up question.

"Then, what about talking with people? Is that something you're confident in?"

"N-no..."

Jeong Hyeon answered with her shoulders completely drooped, looking utterly dejected.

But Il-mok’s next words made her raise her head again with a surprised expression.

"You're training with Baek Cheon because social interaction is difficult, right? Instead of practicing something you struggle with, why not start with something you're good at?"

"I-I don't understand what you m-mean?"

"It's simple. Getting frightened when performing before others is normal, so why bother making it more difficult for yourself?”

“Th-Then, are you saying I should sp-spar?”

Il-mok shook his head.

"Sparring could work, but let's start with archery. Just practice your archery while Baek Cheon and I watch."

"...?"

"We'll observe your training, so ignore our presence and focus on your practice."

Il-mok's reasoning was straightforward. If she could not even bring herself to perform archery in front of a dozen or so observers, how about starting with just two?

Honestly, Il-mok preferred not to meddle in other people's problems. But this situation required minimal effort on his part.

'All I have to do is watch.'

He had no intention of training seriously after his torment at the Peach Blossom Ridge anyway. Watching Jeong Hyeon practice archery was hardly a burden.

He could treat it like watching a performance.

Better yet, he wouldn't need to provide instruction or analysis.

"Also, Baek Cheon, you'll teach her while we watch."

Because there was Baek Cheon to teach Jeong Hyeon in his place.

'Even dog shit can serve a purpose.'

And Baek Cheon was proving to be a surprisingly useful dog shit.