Chun Yuchan then told Bakgi that getting more yellow tags was going to be impossible and offered him to join his team. Bakgi refused without thinking and that’s when Ko Wanghur arrived.
“I didn’t know the 5th cadet wanted you. Is it because of the competition?”
Bakgi was a talented individual even among all these cadets. Chun Yuchan wanted to become the heir to the throne, so he was bound to want more talented individuals. However, Ko Wanghur was surprised that Bakgi didn’t even consider one of most probable future leader’s offer.
“...That doesn’t matter. What matters is that we don’t have a yellow tag and our hands are tied. Dammit!”
Bakgi slammed the ground with his fist. As of now, there were only two ways to get their hands on a yellow tag. One was to defeat the instructor Hou Jinchang, and the other was to attack the other groups to steal theirs, but both of the remaining choices didn’t seem to be realistic.
Who could possibly defeat the grandmaster level Hou Jinchang and take his tag? And the second option was impossible since they only had six members. Most of the groups moved in teams to protect their tags, meaning they would need at least an equal number of members to do it.
Ja Wumin, who just shook away his anger, asked, “How about we gather the other cadets and do the same thing?”
Ko Wanghur thought about it shook his head.
“If we gather additional teammates, then we will have to accept members who only seek to take advantage of us, not the ones who will want to follow our master’s ways.”
If they wanted help from other cadets, then they needed to give them something else instead. There were a lot of cadets who didn’t have teams yet, so recruiting them was easy, but that meant their team would be filled with members who weren’t ready to follow Chun Yeowun’s future path.
“Hm...”
The members all seemed to agree with Wanghur, but they all sighed in despair. As all of their faces became shadowed, Ko Wanghur shouted.
“We cannot just give up!”
Bakgi then looked up with eyes full of despair.
“And do what?”
“...There is still one way.”
“If you are talking about the senior instructor’s tag, then I’m sure you know that it’s not possible.”
Bakgi knew how powerful Hou Jinchang was since he had fought the man himself. He wasn’t someone a normal cadet would dare to defeat. Even those princes avoided fighting Hou Jinchang.
“We have no choice but to trust our master.”
“Master? The 7th cadet?”
Ko Wanghur thought the only hope remained in Chun Yeowun. As the only cadet who had perfectly countered an instructor, he might be their only hope to defeat Hou Jinchang. Perhaps he would at least be able to take the tag.
“And if he fails?”
“Then my decision to follow him fails also,” Bakgi smiled bitterly. As Wanghur said, if Chun Yeowun did not show them a miracle, they were going to fail the third test automatically. Was waiting for Chun Yeowun the only answer they had?
That’s when Hu Bong hoisted Ohjong up on his back. Everyone turned to Hu Bong.
“I’ll bring Ohjong up to the medical room.”
“I’ll help.”
Ja Wumin stood up and went to Hu Bong, and Hu Bong spoke to Wanghur with a disappointed voice.
“...I think I should say this. As you said, I trust the master more than anyone else. But I don’t think it is right to just wait for him to resolve our issue. If we are his servants, we must do something that only we can do. If we really don’t have a choice, then we should go recruit cadets who can join our group instead.”
“?!”
Hu Bong’s words shocked everyone, including Ko Wanghur. He was always rational and quick-thinking, but he almost put all the burden on his master, Chun Yeowun, without realizing it. Hu Bong was right. They should be ready with something at least.
“Uh... did I go too far?” Hu Bong asked squeamishly. Ko Wanghur then burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! You are right, Bong. We can’t just rely on our master. As his servants, we should do our best to work for him. Hu Bong, you definitely are his best servant.”
Wanghur laughed. Bakgi, Ja Wumin, and Machil also nodded in agreement. It was as Hu Bong said. If they trusted their master, they should do their best to be ready for the next step.
“We would have waited like sitting ducks if it wasn’t for you, Hu Bong.”
“That’s right!”
Hu Bong scratched his head while blushing. And with that, this event made the team even stronger.
And the next day, Ko Wanghur, Bakgi, Hu Bong, Machil, and Ja Wumin scoured around the dorm and entire the academy, searching for the right cadets to recruit. They realized that recruiting more cadets was the best thing they could do at the moment.
But it wasn’t easy. Chun Yeowun had proved that he was powerful by defeating an instructor, but he was now in prison. With the only tag remaining in the hands of Hou Jinchang, no one was willing to join Chun Yeowun’s group as it seemed like they had no chance.
The five members did not give up and continued to search for cadets. Hu Bong also met with various cadets to try to persuade them, but it wasn’t easy. As Hu Bong walked around with heavy footsteps after being rejected multiple times, he heard noises coming from the crowd.
‘Huh? Did something happen?’
Hu Bong then walked to the area where people had gathered. It was at middle of the stage on the training ground, and the main building where the cadets were watching something. As Hu Bong got closer to see what was going on, his eye grew large with shock.
“M-master!”
There was Chun Yeowun, Hu Bong’s awaited master. However, Chun Yeowun was fighting against someone in the middle of the crowd.
He was fighting Senior Instructor Hou Jinchang.