12 Chapter 12 (1/2)

One of the teachers stood up, and asked Ok Hae-mi.

”How could a man who isn't even at peak cultivation beat us in drinking?”

”He said that his nickname was Heavy Drinker.”

”What about the payment? How did he afford fifty six silver pieces?”

”Well...he seems to have some wealth.”

”But...but still, seeing as he took my signature whilst I was unconscious, it's an invalid contract!”

Ok Hae-mi shrugged her shoulders at the teacher's protests.

”If you have an issue, you can just confront him directly.”

Another teacher then spoke, ”In that case, we will have to protest. Having us sign the contract without our conscious agreement is immoral and invalid!”

The remaining teachers nodded in agreement.

Hwacheon Academy was an academy in Moorim.

The unspoken law of Moorim was that the strongest person reigns as the winner. Therefore, the martial art teachers were confident in their ability to nullify the contract by force.

They weren't going to hold back even if their opponent's cultivation was weak.

Their justification for this was for self-defense.

”Alright! We'll find Kang Seonsaeng and confront him directly. When should we go?”

”I think this evening would be a good time.”

”Fine. Let's all meet at his residence this evening.”

The teachers collectively nodded with optimism for their victory. Ok Hae-mi looked upon them and sighed.

She recalled her warning to Kang-hyuk about the contract last night.

She had a strong intuition for sensing danger from a young age. It was why she was still alive.

She could feel her intuition warning her all over again.

She sensed that if she got too involved with Kang-hyuk and slipped up, there would be great consequences.

'I even told him to come and find me if he had any problems. I'm done for.'

She raised her hand slightly and spoke, ”I'm not going to interfere. This will interrupt my beauty sleep.”

***

Kang-hyuk had finished his morning tasks and returned to his residence. As soon as he arrived, he looked over the books that had arrived last evening.

”I'm going to have to study more than I expected I would for this subject.”

He began reading book after book, going over every detail meticulously. With each book, his rate of reading accelerated.

His fast-reading ability was thanks to a method he had learned whilst having to go through hundreds of documents as the Clan Leader.

By lunchtime, he had gotten through all of the books. His outlook on this was a little underrated.

”Well, that was easy.”

After eating the meat dumpling that Baek-gap had brought him, he stepped out of his residence and looked out at the courtyard.

”Ahhh...”

His official job was that of a Horticulture teacher, yet his yard did not even have a single flower nor a tree in sight. He felt that this was rather unseemly.

'Let's not be over ambitious with the entire yard. I'll practice with a small garden instead.'

It was just the right time of year to be sowing seeds and planting trees.

He called Baek-gap over.

”I'm going to Jungcheon so you can accompany me.”

”That's fine.”

Kang-hyuk and Baek-gap left, heading for the shops of Jungcheon. Kang-hyuk had asked for Baek-gap's accompaniment as he would need a porter for this visit.

Some time had passed.

Kang-hyuk returned to his residence with Baek-gap following behind. Baek-gap was carrying on his back three small seedlings, a hoe, and a sickle.

”Shall I put them here?”

”Yes, there should do.”

Kang-hyuk was holding a small pouch containing flower seeds. He was planning on establishing his garden by first planting out some trees, then sowing flower seeds after.

”Well, let's start by preparing the soil.”

He picked up a hoe and recalled the words of the man that had first taught him how to garden.

Gardening was not in any way new to Kang-hyuk. It was just that he wasn't a technical expert in the field.

'When cultivating the ground, cultivate deep enough that the soil is soft and crumbly!'

He began to dig the ground with the hoe.

Blimey-!

The hoe, not being able to withstand Kang-hyuk's force, began to crack.

”Ah, I should have held back a little! I'm too busy right now to go and get a new one.'

Nonetheless, Kang-hyuk came up with his own solution. He made an invincible hoe by infusing the hoe with his energy.

With this hoe, he would be able to cultivate the ground using all of his strength.

He recalled the words of his gardening teacher once more.

'Aigoo! Didn't I tell you cultivate the ground with the same feeling with which you would prepare bedding for your family!'

He closed his eyes and thought of his family.

He sighed sadly, being unmarried, his only family were his dead parents and brother.

'How would I lay out the bedding for my parents and brother if they were still alive?'

Without him realizing it, a warm loving energy was seeping into the ground as he hoed it.

'The next step is to apply compost.'

He recalled what he had read about compost.

There were many varieties of compost that one could utilize, but animal manure, unless it had sufficiently decomposed, wasn't recommended for use on flower beds, owing to the foul smell it emitted.

'Should I use some neutral smelling decomposed leaf litter?'

The function of compost was to provide nutrients to the plants to ensure their plentiful and healthy growth.

With this in mind, Kang-hyuk felt that it was important to choose a compost that had high Qi energy. After wondering where he could obtain decomposed leaf litter, Kang-hyuk smiled after receiving some inspiration.

'That place has definitely has good energy, and it has plenty of decomposing leaves.”

He had no intention of fetching the decomposing leaves by himself. He looked at Baek-gap, who was busy cleaning the house.

”Baek-gap.”

”Yes, Seonsaengnim!”

”You can continue with the cleaning later. Fetch a small sickle and a sack, then follow me.”

”Yes!”

***

Half an hour had passed, and Baek-gap had a frightened expression on his face.

It was due to the destination at which they had arrived.

”Isn't this a forbidden location within the Sung Mountain?”

Kang-hyuk nodded at his question.

”It is forbidden.”

”If it's forbidden, doesn't it mean that we shouldn't be here?”

”No, it doesn't. It only means that those who are unqualified to enter shouldn't enter.”

”So doesn't that mean the same thing — which we shouldn't enter?!”