Two hours ago...
There was a big open space at the back of the larger training room building on the northeastern side of the academy. And in that space, about twenty cadets had gathered to practice Seven Demon Sword. They were not powerful like the other cadets, but they helped each other complete their sword skills. They were cadets from the former 12th group. They used to practice formations under Bakgi’s guidance before the second test, but after the test, Bakgi left them.
That’s why they were now here without Bakgi and Chun Jongsum.
“Penghak, is it really okay for you to go alone?” the 670th cadet, Gallen asked as he was worried. Penghak was the one who attacked Bakgi from behind while fighting against Ha Ilming last night. Wu Penghak was the leader of the group now.
“I was told to go alone. We have no choice.”
Wu Penghak was also worried, but he couldn’t ignore Chun Yuchan’s warning. He had made a deal, so he had to go to receive the payment for keeping the promise.
“If we get the tag, we can create a team.”
“...Yes, but one tag will only make us fight against each other...”
They had twenty members, so having one yellow tag meant that eight of them had to be cast out. This would surely create turmoil. Gallen was right to be worried, but Penghak shook his head.
“But we can’t just stand around and do nothing.”
“Yeah.”
“We have to do whatever it takes to survive. If we give up because we’re weak, then it’s over.”
Gallen couldn’t object to those words. They had contacted other group leaders with yellow tags, but it wasn’t possible to join their groups. Most of them just accepted their former group members, so it was hard to find any empty spots in the first place.
“So, you think about looking after yourself too.”
“Yes... but to sell out our former leader... I don’t think it’s right.”
“The water has been spilled. There’s no going back. And don’t worry about the group. If I become a leader, I will ensure your spot,” Penghak whispered and Gallen frowned.
It seemed that Penghak had misunderstood.
‘Ah...’
Penghak then tried to walk out to meet with Yuchan. While he was trying to leave, someone came up to block him.
“Wait.”
“Y-you!?”
It was Chun Yeowun. He was now the most famous cadet within the academy. Yeowun was also responsible for destroying Chun Jongsum’s internal energy. Penghak was shocked to see Yeowun.
“W-why are you...!”
“What’s the surprise?”
They didn’t know Yeowun was out of prison yet. But there was more. Seven more cadets appeared from the corner of the building.
“Hiiiek!”
Wu Penghak was startled and he stumbled back a few steps. Ko Wanghur, Bakgi, Hou Sangwha, Ja Wumin, Hu Bong, Machil, and Jin Guuk were standing behind Yeowun. Except for Hou Sangwha and Jin Guuk who had joined the team today, the other five were furious.
“B-Bakgi!”
Penghak was mostly afraid of Bakgi. With a horrific look from his scar that ran across his eye, Bakgi’s glare made it even more terrifying.
“Did you sell me out?”
Bakgi looked at Penghak with disappointment. They had overheard the conversation between Penghak and Gallen from behind the building. It was understandable that they had launched an ambush to get the yellow tag since they were desperate to survive. But selling Bakgi out when he was their former teammate was something he couldn’t accept. And Ohjong had been severely injured in the process.
“Stop!”
Former 12th group members quickly ran up after realizing that Yeowun and his members had appeared.
“B-Bakgi!”
Gallen and the other cadets were also shocked to see Bakgi. They were worried as Bakgi was not badly injured, and there he was with his teammates.
“Are you here for revenge?!” Gallen shouted while biting his lips. However, Ko Wanghur answered instead.
“You ambushed us and thought you would not pay the price?!”
Ko Wanghur, who was almost twice as large as most of the cadets, roared at them. The 12th group cadets outnumbered Yeowun’s team, but they were afraid.
“W-we have more! We can win this!”
Penghak shouted at his members. Even yesterday, they were able to hurt Bakgi after outnumbering them. There was no way Bakgi would have recovered, so there was no reason for them to lose.
‘But Chun Yeowun is here too!’
The cadets couldn’t attack however. This was different from yesterday. It was hard enough to deal with Bakgi alone, but they were now facing Chun Yeowun who had crushed an instructor’s rib cage. And Yeowun was also infamous within the academy.
‘I heard he destroys the internal energy if he gets pissed off!’
‘We can’t fight him!’
‘He’s sent so many people to the medical room! He’s evil!’
It wasn’t on purpose, but there were a lot of cadets who were afraid of Chun Yeowun. And the cadets of the 12th group knew that one of their members, Chun Jongsum, had his internal energy destroyed. That was what made them even more afraid.
“Fools! We have much more people than them!”
Penghak became frustrated at his members. Yeowun then spoke to him coldly.
“You are the foolish one. How dare you say such a thing in front of me?”
“What?!”
At that instance, Yeowun quickly closed in on Penghak. It was so quick that Penghak couldn’t do anything as Yeowun grabbed his wrist. Yeowun then grabbed the right wrist with his left and punched Penghak’s stomach.
‘Control! Control!’
He tried to go easy as best as he could, but...
“ARGH!”
As his fist struck the stomach, Penghak’s eyes grew wide and he spat blood out from his mouth. His body was also thrown up about three meters into the air, and flew all the way back.
‘Ugh... I tried.’