Chapter 5: The Inn Waiter Hides His Magic (5)
"You look like a total weakling, the kind who’ll get kicked out of the Demonic Path Academy in no time! Hahaha."
He blocked Hajin’s path and started picking a fight without any preamble. Every word, expression, and gesture was a blatant provocation.
Hajin looked the man over, feeling dumbfounded. Then, he spotted a few cadets huddled in a corner far away, their faces covered in bruises. In an instant, he grasped the situation.
‘These guys, are they trying to haze me? Is this like the military, where the seniors break in the new recruits?’
Even if he didn't look like it, Hajin had served in the military before he became a hunter. He knew exactly what this was.
‘But wait, that’s usually done by seniors. Aren’t these guys all fellow cadets?’
Honestly, it was absurd on so many levels. Hajin sighed inwardly. He had wanted to stay quiet and keep a low profile, but to have such unnecessary friction right from the start?
‘Should I just play along and act weak? Maybe that’ll make me look less capable and keep me out of trouble later?’
But a different thought soon followed. Just as it was for martial artists, it was the same for hunters. In conflicts between hunters, if you let yourself be looked down upon from the start, things only get harder later.
‘No, that’s not right. To maintain a smooth relationship, I don’t need to just bow down. If I’m seen as too much of a pushover, it’ll be hard to build connections later. I’ll just give him a light lesson.’
Hajin slowly raised his hand. Then, he whispered toward the giant man in a voice so quiet it was as if he were talking to himself.
"Knockback."
The moment his palm lightly touched the man’s heavy chest, it happened.
The man’s body lifted like a feather. His massive frame flew across the air and slammed straight into the wall of the training ground.
*Boom!*
With a dull thud, the wall cracked like a spiderweb. Dust billowed up, and a chilling silence descended upon the training ground.
"……!"
It had happened in an instant. The sight of the giant, who had been acting so cocky just a moment ago, flying like a sheet of paper and crashing into the wall so miserably. *Wait, why did you fly all the way over there?*
The other cadets in the training ground looked at Hajin in unison, unable to believe what they had just seen, and began to murmur.
"What is that guy?"
"What did he just do? I didn't even see it properly!"
"He didn't even draw his sword! How did he do that?"
The murmurs were filled with bewilderment and a hint of wariness. Hajin inwardly regretted it, wondering if he had gone too far, but the water had already been spilled.
Just then, two men who appeared to be martial arts instructors rushed over from one side of the training ground. One of them shouted in a stern voice.
"Cadet number 400! That’s enough!"
"I didn't do it on purpose!"
"Are you really going to play dumb? The cadet lying there is plain to see! Even if you are a disciple of the Ghost Soul Hand, remember that your status outside means nothing here."
"……."
"Since the official training of the Demonic Path Academy hasn't begun yet, I will overlook this once, but any further incidents will be punished severely!"
It was unfair. But if he talked back, he might stand out even more for the wrong reasons. With no other choice, Hajin bowed his head and replied.
"……I will keep that in mind and be careful from now on."
The martial arts instructors nodded at Hajin’s polite response, then warned the other cadets and dispersed.
However, after the instructors disappeared, the murmurs in the training ground grew even louder. This time, it was a stir that went beyond simple bewilderment—it was bordering on shock.
"A disciple of the Ghost Soul Hand? That guy?!"
"I’ve never heard of that man taking on a disciple……?"
The cadets glanced at Hajin with surprised expressions. From this moment on, Hajin was no longer the invisible cadet number 400.
He had become a figure who had caused a stir as the disciple of the Ghost Soul Hand. It was the very thing he had wanted to avoid.
‘Ugh? Something seems to be going wrong, doesn't it?’
Hajin’s brow furrowed. And in the corner of the training ground, a little way off from the commotion, there was one cadet who was staring daggers at Hajin with cold eyes, unlike the others.
Her shoulders trembled slightly.
‘A disciple of the Ghost Soul Hand……?’
Without taking her eyes off Hajin, the woman muttered under her breath. It felt as if the air around her was turning cold.
* * *
The number assigned to a Demonic Path Academy cadet. It was an important indicator that hinted at the cadet’s skill and their potential position within the cult.
And now, the woman staring at Hajin with sharp eyes from the corner of the training ground. Her name was Cheon Ha-rin, the one and only apple of the current Cult Leader’s eye.
Cheon Ha-rin had strived to prove her skills within the academy and challenge the position of the Heavenly Demon herself. As a result, she had proudly secured the number one spot.
In a way, it proved she was currently the closest to being the top graduate of the academy. What she had secretly hoped for was, naturally, the undivided attention of all the cadets.
-As expected of the Cult Leader’s daughter, her skills are incredible!
-I knew the top cadet of the academy would be Cheon Ha-rin!
She had expected such voices of admiration and awe to fill the training ground.
But the reality was different. No one in the training ground mentioned her name.
Instead of the title of the number one cadet who passed the entrance exam in first place, a mysterious man who had suddenly appeared as the ‘disciple of the Ghost Soul Hand’ had stolen all the attention.
Cheon Ha-rin looked coldly at Hajin, who was nonchalantly receiving all the attention that should have been hers. His relaxed expression, his somewhat dazed eyes—everything about him grated on her nerves.
‘I don’t like him, that guy.’
She muttered to herself. Her jawline, as she bit her lip, stood out sharply.
It was a situation where she needed to get off to a good start, yet it felt as if all the effort she had put in until now had been overshadowed in an instant by some guy with an unclear identity.
A sense of unpleasantness and competitiveness, subtly different from mere jealousy, began to burn in her chest.
Cheon Ha-rin continued to stare at Hajin, glaring at him clearly. Her brow furrowed even deeper.
‘What is so great about him that he became the disciple of the Ghost Soul Hand?’
Ghost Soul Hand, the greatest assassin of the Heavenly Demonic Cult in the past. As that name came to mind, a scene from the past she had forgotten vividly returned to her mind.
Several years ago. When she was still a young girl, before she had learned any proper martial arts, she had always seen the white-haired old man whose eyes were piercingly sharp.
The young Cheon Ha-rin had bold aspirations. The ambition to one day follow in her father’s footsteps and ascend to the position of the Heavenly Demon. She thought that to do so, she had to be taught by the best master, and naturally, the first target was the Ghost Soul Hand, the greatest assassin of the Demonic Cult.
Having served since the previous Cult Leader, it was no exaggeration to say he was the greatest martial artist of the Heavenly Demonic Cult.
She had gathered her courage and begged him to take her as his disciple. But the Ghost Soul Hand’s answer was firm. His answer was still unforgettable.
-I have no intention of taking anyone as a disciple. Even if you are the young lady, there are no exceptions.
The Ghost Soul Hand had politely declined Cheon Ha-rin’s proposal. No matter how much she was the apple of the Cult Leader’s eye, his resolve seemed firm.
Cheon Ha-rin remembered reading the unyielding will of a martial artist in his eyes, and she recalled clearly how she had swallowed her disappointment and stepped back, realizing she could no longer force him.
Years later, the Ghost Soul Hand had cut off his own wrist and announced his retirement. It meant he was quitting his life as an assassin. No one in the cult could stop him.
‘But that guy is the disciple of the retired Ghost Soul Hand?! A disciple after more than ten years? That’s nonsense!’
As the memories of the past collided with the reality before her eyes, a strong doubt rose in Cheon Ha-rin’s heart. If he was going to take a disciple anyway, why hadn't he taken her?
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't find a reasonable answer. Then, suddenly, one plausible reason occurred to her.
‘Could it be because he was dissatisfied with me?’
Perhaps the Ghost Soul Hand’s eyes that day weren't just the eyes of someone who wouldn't take a disciple.
If she had been a little more talented, would the result have been different? Such questions began to consume her mind.
As this thought took hold, her gaze toward Hajin became even sharper and more persistent.
‘Why? Why did he refuse me and accept a guy who looks so dim-witted? What is so great about that guy?’
She felt that she wouldn't be able to find peace of mind unless she found out why the Ghost Soul Hand, who had been so stubborn, had broken his long-held resolve before his retirement to take him as a disciple.
Along with an uncontrollable impulse, a strange sense of competition and anger began to boil in her chest. She clenched her fists tightly.
‘This won’t do. I will see for myself exactly how capable you are.’
* * *
Seven days and nights later, the first stage of the exam would begin, and the instructors told them to prepare as the cadets dispersed.
Hajin headed straight to a corner of the training ground. It was to maximize and train the magic that was his ability.
‘Since coming to this world, I haven't really used magic in various ways. I’ve mastered the basic spells, but I need to revive my senses for more complex and powerful magic.’
He still hadn't found a clue to increasing his mana. Therefore, it was optimal to train in fire-attribute magic, which could produce strong destructive power while using mana most efficiently.
As Hajin headed to the training ground, Cheon Ha-rin’s footsteps naturally followed him.
Afterward, Cheon Ha-rin began to observe him from a reasonable distance. As if she wouldn't miss a single move he made.
‘Is he practicing martial arts?’
Originally, peeking at someone else’s martial arts practice was one of the greatest taboos in the martial world.
The act of spying on someone else’s secret techniques without the master’s permission, or outside of a legitimate duel, was treated as a serious crime that could cost one their life if discovered.
Cheon Ha-rin knew this fact as well. Her conscience as a martial artist pricked at her from within her chest.
But her competitiveness toward Hajin forcibly suppressed the voice of her conscience.
‘I am not trying to steal and learn his martial arts. It is obvious that what I have already mastered is far superior, isn’t it? This is merely observation. Simple observation.’
Rationalizing it to herself, Cheon Ha-rin focused on every single movement of Hajin’s body. However, the more she watched, the stranger it seemed. There were almost no traces of a martial artist who had undergone long, grueling training on his physique.
Far from having lean muscle, his build was actually slightly thinner than that of an average person. His posture also appeared somewhat clumsy, and his lower body seemed unstable.
‘No matter how I look at it, this is strange! What on earth was it that overturned the decision of the Ghost Soul Hand!’
It was right at that moment, as her suspicions deepened, that Hajin slowly reached out toward a wooden dummy set up on one side of the training ground. And the next instant, Cheon Ha-rin had no choice but to doubt her own eyes.
Without any warning, a red flame flared up from the tips of Hajin’s fingers.
‘Fire Arts?’
That was the first thought that crossed her mind. But she soon shook her head. If one had mastered Natural Arts, there would inevitably be changes, such as the color of one’s hair or eyes.
There was no such trace to be found on Hajin at all.
‘Could it be the Samadhi True Fire?!’
It was a realm where one could ignite flames solely through the power of pure internal energy. It meant he was, at the very least, a master of the Peak Realm or higher.
‘This is impossible. He can’t be much older than twenty, so to have reached the Peak Realm at that age……?’
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