Chapter 146: Formation Arts (1)

A few days after the exam, the senior cadets returned from their practical training, and the Hall of the Demonic Way began to feel like its usual self again.

Things got a little louder with the return of Baek Cheon and Mak Ho-yeol, but otherwise, nothing too special happened.

Amidst this, Chu Il-hwan once again summoned Instructor Xiao Hong to his office.

“You wished to see me, Head Instructor?”

"Please, have a seat first."

Chu Il-hwan greeted her with a somewhat uncomfortable tone. He glanced at her, then quickly looked away.

'I was wrong. She didn’t get over her lovesickness; the nature of it just changed.'

After several days of lazing around, she had briefly returned to her former self.

But before he knew it, her face started getting puffy and oily, and her previously loose uniform began to fit around her form.

"Ahem. By any chance, have you been feeling unwell lately?" Chu Il-hwan finds it awkward to ask a lady whether or not she has gained weight, so he points it out in a roundabout way.

Xiao Hong hung her head low. "...Did it really show that much?"

“N-no, not at all!”

Chu Il-hwan waved his hands frantically and quickly made up an excuse.

“I-It’s fine now, but I was just concerned that if this continues, it might interfere with your duties as an instructor. That’s all.”

Xiao Hong blushed and lowered her head as hunger pangs hit her.

“I can only apologize for my incompetence.”

This wasn’t the first time she’d failed a mission, but every other failure had been a learning experience, a stepping stone for growth.

But this time, she couldn't see even a single clue.

As a result, her struggle with bulimia was getting worse by the day, and she often found herself binging late at night to soothe her hunger.

It was a vicious cycle.

Negative thoughts about whether it would even be possible to seduce the Eighth Young Master with this chubby body made her binge eating disorder worse.

Then came more negative thoughts about how it was pointless anyway, which brought on another bout of binge eating.

Seeing Xiao Hong's dejected state, Chu Il-hwan swallowed once and carefully asked.

"If Instructor Xiao doesn't mind, could you tell me what's troubling you so much?"

Xiao Hong thought for a moment.

She couldn't reveal that she had come to the Hall of the Demonic Way with a mission to seduce the Eighth Young Master.

But she felt like her side effects were already at her throat, and she couldn't just keep it all bottled up.

So she decided to open up about her feelings, leaving out the part about Il-mok.

"Actually, the side effect of the Demonic Art I learned is binge eating disorder."

"Oh my..."

Chu Il-hwan finally understood why Xiao Hong had been gaining weight lately.

“I tried my best to endure it, but I became so angry with my own incompetence that it got harder to resist every day. And when I see my pathetic reflection in the mirror, the anger surges again, and the bulimia returns.”

"Incompetent? Nonsense! Everyone struggles when they first take on instructor duties. I almost caused several accidents myself because I was constantly swayed by my side effects. The only reason I’ve lasted this long is because the Hall Master was always there to stop me.”

Hearing Chu Il-hwan's comfort, Xiao Hong hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

“But the students have already seen it all, haven’t they? The mistakes I made at the beginning, and this wretched state I’m in now.”

Chu Il-hwan shook his head at her complaint.

"Mistakes are forgotten with time. Especially here, at the Hall of the Demonic Way. In a year and four months, none of the current students will even remember you like this. The new students who arrive then will only know the skilful and magnificent Instructor Xiao Hong."

‘That is, if Instructor Xiao gets her act together.’ But he wisely kept this to himself.

His comfort left Xiao Hong with a strange feeling.

He was right, and his words were genuinely comforting, but there was still one problem.

'I don't need to look good to the disciples who'll come then...'

Her target was only one person, Il-mok.

Since she couldn't reveal her true intentions, she had to be vague.

“But… as a woman, how can I live in a body like this?”

Hearing this, Chu Il-hwan exclaimed urgently.

"What are you saying, Instructor Xiao! You are still… s-still very beautiful!”

The last thing he needed was an instructor offing herself out of despair over her Demonic Art’s side effects.

"M-me?"

“Yes! And besides, men who are blinded by looks can’t be trusted anyway! It’s what’s on the inside that counts, right? I thought the confident attitude you showed when you first came as an instructor was very impressive!"

He just started babbling, throwing whatever words he could find at the problem to stop her from spiraling.

“And I believe that confident person is still inside you! L-Looks aren’t what’s important! So please, bring back that confident attitude you showed us at the beginning!”

"......."

"......."

A strange silence filled the office after his barrage of compliments ended.

Chu Il-hwan, who had just unwittingly complimented his colleague’s appearance and charm, and Xiao Hong, who had been on the receiving end of the praise, kept awkwardly looking at each other, then quickly looking away.

Finding the silence unbearable, Chu Il-hwan was the first to crack.

"Ahem. N-now that I think about it, it's almost time for the club activities. I-I should get going now."

“R-Right, me too.”

They both shot up from their seats and practically bolted out of his office, splitting up the second they were through the door.

For the two who had no dating experience their entire lives, this situation was unfamiliar beyond measure.

'Whew. Why is my heart beating so fast all of a sudden? Is this also a side effect of my Demonic Art?'

'I want to eat! I'm so hungry I could go crazy!'

So much so that they mistook it for side effects of their Demonic Arts.

***

Maybe it was because his days were so peaceful, but for Il-mok, time was flying by. He’d mastered the art of flopping through his daily training like a wet noodle and using club time for a nice, long nap.

Meanwhile, Instructor Xiao Hong also gradually found stability, thanks to regular counseling sessions at the infirmary and Instructor Chu Il-hwan's continuous care.

Of course, Il-mok had no interest in the strange atmosphere developing between those two instructors.

He just had one lingering question.

‘Wait, so she wasn’t a pedophile?’

Why had she been hitting on him, a sixteen-year-old, only to now be cozying up to the forty-year-old Chu Il-hwan?

'Maybe she's not a pedophile, but her side effect is just an increased libido?'

As he recalled the side effects of White Hand Demonic Art, he just shook his head and dismissed the thought. He was content just being able to rest comfortably day by day.

But about a month later, two changes occurred in his routine.

"Please take care of me, Young Master!"

Il-mok frowned and pointed to a certain training ground.

"Shouldn't Disciple Ju be going over there?"

When he pointed to the opposite side of the training ground where the Lower Class's external arts training was taking place, Ju Seo-yeon smiled brightly and answered.

"Instructor Eun Ryeo told me that I should receive education in the Upper Class starting today.”

Her blissful response made it difficult for Il-mok to keep a straight face.

'Why? I even risked the danger of side effects and eliminated her first in two separate exams!'

Following the eighth test’s patterns, he had gone his way to hunt Ju Seo-yeon in the ninth test too.

The result was so baffling that he’d immediately asked Chu Il-hwan about it during his post-test meeting.

"It's all because of you, Disciple Il-mok," Chu Il-hwan answered as if it were no big deal.

"...Excuse me?"

“You are so outstanding that we had to make a slight change to the evaluation criteria."

Chu Il-hwan explained with a shrug.

"You were the best from the beginning, but around the fourth test, you became so good that other disciples couldn't even keep up. So we're treating evaluations of disciples you eliminated early in the tests as invalid."

Regular training was one thing, but during exams, Il-mok was nothing short of a natural disaster. It’s to the point where the result of the exams was irrelevant and the rankings came out based on the order in which Il-mok caught people instead of based on the skills they displayed in the exam.

“So we evaluated them based on their performance during regular training instead. In Disciple Ju Seo-yeon’s case, the skill she displayed in the seventh exam, combined with her performance in regular classes, indicated that she is up to par with students of the Upper Class, hence her promotion.”

Chu Il-hwan spoke as if comforting him.

“This decision was made for your sake.”

Il-mok scowled after hearing that.

“This is our way of telling you to do the exam without any worries. Don’t worry the other students too much, your instructors got it all handled well. So rest assured,” Chu Il-hwan comforted.

“…If you’re going to be that considerate, couldn’t you just excuse me from the exams entirely?”

His mastery of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword had become so advanced that every time he swung his sword, it felt like walking on thin ice. So he would have much preferred to be exempt, but…

"Sorry, but the Hall Master refused that. He said we can't give too many special privileges to one disciple."

Since it’s the Hall Master’s order, Il-mok had no choice but to give up.

Unless he borrowed his master's influence, it would be impossible to persuade that stubborn old man.

With a sigh, he left the hall and looked at the training ground.

‘How come everyone left is a familiar face now?’

Dokgo Pae and Gwak Sul. Bang Mi-hwa and Ha Young. Jeong Hyeon and Ju Seo-yeon.

Looking over those faces, Il-mok nodded in understanding.

'I guess it makes sense. The crazier you are, the better you are at Demonic Arts.'

He had completely forgotten the fact that he was the undisputed top among them all.

Then Il-mok's gaze reached the three stooges of his club.

'But how are those guys still here?'

Do they have some madness I don't know about?

As Il-mok stared at them suspiciously, the three nervously averted their gazes.

Just making eye contact with Il-mok made the trio break into cold sweats with a creeping sense of doom.

***

After the morning routine was done, the second change greeted Il-mok.

It was normally Instructor Eun Ryeo’s non-combat class time, but for some reason, a young man was standing beside her.

He looked to be around thirty and had a scholarly air about him.

"This is Acting Instructor An Jeok-un who has been dispatched from the Eight Trigrams Hall to conduct class on Formation Arts for the next three months."

The scholarly man stepped forward and spoke.

"I am An Jeok-un, Master of the Thunder Wind Chamber from the Eight Trigrams Hall. Thunder Wind Chamber Master, Chamber Master, Instructor, Acting Instructor—you can call me by any title, so feel free to use whatever is comfortable.”

At An Jeok-un's introduction, Il-mok raised his hand with a reluctant expression.

"I am Il-mok, a disciple of the Hall of the Demonic Way. I have one question, Thunder Wind Chamber Master."

Considering the attitude he usually showed during education time, this could be called a miraculous sight.

Il-mok was the one who usually attended class with the enthusiasm of a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.

And An Jeok-un, hearing Il-mok's name, instantly lit up his eyes.

'So this is the famous Eighth Young Master.'

You could say that the one who wielded the greatest influence within the cult after the Heavenly Demon was this young man before him, Il-mok.

An Jeok-un wondered what kind of question the famous Eighth Young Master would ask.

"Ask away."

“I am well aware of the importance of Formations. But why are we only learning about them now, nine months into our time at the Hall?”

No one in the entire Hall felt the importance of formations more keenly than Il-mok among his peers.

‘If I had known about Formations, I never would have ended up in the Peach Blossom Ridge!’

Il-mok was so frustrated about why they were only teaching Formation Arts now that he couldn't help but ask.

An Jeok-un hid his interest and answered in a nonchalant tone.

“First, I would like to correct one thing. I said I'd teach Formation arts, but I'm not teaching how to use Formation arts. I'm teaching how to notice and deal with Formations. Formation Arts are complex and mysterious; they're not something you can learn with just three months of classes."

Like a true scholar, he clarified the potential misunderstanding before answering Il-mok’s question.

“As for why the education on this subject was delayed, the reason is simple. First, many cadets, like that one over there, have no interest in formations,” he said while casually pointing to Dokgo Pae.

Dokgo Pae, who was openly yawning, had an attitude of 'If you're a man, you charge straight ahead! I don't need any damn Formations!’

But even though Dokgo Pae was being so brazenly disrespectful, An Jeok-un seemed completely unfazed and turned back to Il-mok. “And the second reason is that if we teach Formations from the beginning, accidents tend to happen frequently.”

"What kind of accidents?"

An Jeok-un answered, “There are always some who, in an attempt to use their half-baked knowledge of Formations, end up breaking the Formations laid out in the exam grounds.”

Basically, because the students kept breaking the exam Formations, they decided to teach it at the very end.

After these three months, they’d be second-year doing field training outside the Hall anyway.

At An Jeok-un's logical explanation, Il-mok nodded and thought.

‘I’ve felt this before, but this place is no different from the military. Damn it.’

It was the same boneheaded logic the military used when they’d ban chopsticks because someone tried to use them as a weapon, or take away your shoelaces because one guy tried to hang himself with them.