16 Chapter 16 (2/2)
Ju Gung-wol, the music teacher, greeted him.
”Good morning.”
Soon, all of teachers had arrived, and the meeting began.
The first issue to be discussed was a dispute between two new students from the Namgoong and Jaegal families respectively.
The conclusion was to give them both penalty points and to watch over their behaviour for the time being.
Despite the school having autonomy, the punishment was light due to their distinguished families. As time went on, various issues were discussed, and the meeting seemed to be in its completion until someone spoke up.
”Kang Seongsaeng, you seemed to be diligently working away in the forbidden land yesterday, were you successful in its preparation?”
It was a question asked by the Swordsmanship teacher, Oh-Tae. Kang-hyuk nodded his head in response.
”Yes, the land was more fertile than I thought it would be. I think it will become a perfect practice plot.”
”Is that so?”
Oh-Tae, disappointed at his success, had a bitter expression on his face. The principal, Eun Myeong-myeong looked a little strange as well.
”Did you look all over the forbidden land yesterday?”
”I did. I looked everywhere and felt it would be a great place for practising horticulture.”
”….You encountered no problems whatsoever?”
”Yes. Yesterday, we cleared the weeds and planted trees and flowers without any problems at all.”
The teachers were in confusion. If he had cleared the weeds, he would have inevitably triggered the Wailing Grass, but he seemed completely unharmed.
'Were the rumours about the Wailing Grass false? If he went there, he would have definitely encountered the Wailing Grass. I only looked at the site from far away but there definitely seemed to be Wailing Grass growing there. He can't have disposed of all the grass and escaped unharmed.'
The land had really gone to waste all of this time.
Kang-hyuk looked towards Eun Myeong-myeong and spoke, ”Principal, I have a request.”
”What is it?”
”Now that we are using the land as a practice plot, could we change the name?”
”What name would you suggest?”
”I would like to call It Yeonkyowon.”
”The meaning of the name is a garden cultivated by teaching, is it not?”
Kang-hyuk smiled brightly at Eun Myeong-myeong's query.
”That is indeed the meaning.”
Kang-hyuk then directed his words towards the dejected-looking martial arts teachers.
”The permit that the Principal gave for the use of the land is only under the name of Yeongyowon.”
The implication of this was not to have their eyes on the land now that it seemed to be safe. But Kang-hyuk intuited that the martial teachers and the Principal might take his words as a threat.
”However.”
”...?”
”You are welcome to come any time with a pot full of tea. And if you could bring a bottle of wine, that would be even better!”
”Hahaha!”
He had successfully broken the ice, and laughter rang out of the room.
With that, the meeting was over.
After the meeting, Ok Hae-mi approached Kang-hyuk.
”Kang Seonsaeng, this is your attendance book.”
She handed him a thin black book.
”You probably already know, but the book contains a list of the students that will be attending your class. Also, you can find your daily schedule on the front page of the book.”
Kang-hyuk went through the attendance book.
He had classes once a day for one hour. He would be teaching the first-year students on the first day of the week, the second-year students on the second day and the third and fourth-year students on the third and fourth days respectively.
He had no classes on the other three days of the week.
Kang-hyuk thought this was odd and double-checked his timetable with the music teacher Ju Gung-wol's, but found it to be the same.
'This must be why the Liberal Art's teachers have a lower salary.'
It was widely known that the salary of the Academy teachers was two silver coins, however, this was just the salary of the Martial subject teachers.
As the Liberal art's teachers had fewer classes than the Martial teachers, their salary of one silver coin reflected this.
This was still a large amount, considering that the living expenses for an average person was one silver coin a year, but it was still half the pay of the martial subject teachers.
However, Kang-hyuk didn't really care as he hadn't become a teacher for the money anyway.
'I should go to my class now.'
Looking at the attendance book, he saw that he would be teaching eight first-year students.
He felt a flutter of excitement at the thought of teaching his first class.
***
”Ha-”
A boy sighed.
The boy was wearing a black belt that marked he was a first-year student. He seemed to be walking somewhere.
”It's that guy over there, isn't it?”
”The guy called Dang So-mun?”
”He's the guy who fell over in today's Swordsmanship class.”
”My word! He still has no dignity!”
”The Dang Family name is crying right now!”
”Didn't he lose all his dignity before he was ten anyway?”
”He's such a dimwit! Hahaha!”
The taunts were aimed at the boy wearing the black belt.
'Oh my, am I really beyond redemption?'
Dang So-mun looked down at his legs. Ever since he could remember, he had been learning martial arts.
He was from Sacheon's Dang Family.
Being from a family famed for its use of the Am-gi weapon and Poison balls, he could throw the Am-gi and Poison balls with almost perfect execution.
But for whatever reason, his legs wouldn't move as he wanted them to.
His legs had twisted, causing him to fall onto his behind during the Swordsmanship class.
”Ah…”
He sighed again.
”Hey, what are you doing? You'd better move along!”
Dang So-mun turned around. A boy with abundant freckles on his face was standing there.
”Mun-ji!”
The boy looked at Dang So-mun and clicked his tongue.
”You look like you're about to die!”
He was aware of why Dang So-mun looked so dejected.
”These things happen to the best of us! Just forget about it, we still have the Horticulture class to attend. It's far away as well, so let's get moving!”
Dang So-mun nodded.
The boy known as Mun-ji was a child of the Baek household that served the Dang Family, and so he had been acquainted with Dang So-mun from a young age.
Mun-ji being at the Academy was of great relief to Dang So-mun, as he would have otherwise been alone.
Initially, they were placed together as play-mates by Dang So-mun's father. As time went by, Mun-ji began to feel sorry for him, and thought that he was quite pitiful.
The Baek Family had access to a lot of the Dang Family's inside information, and therefore Mun-ji too was aware of many of their hidden secrets.
This, however, was all in the past, and at present, Mun-ji considered Dang So-mun to be his very best friend.