17 Chapter 17 (2/2)
Even the test he had to take for him to be a teacher wasn't ordinary in any way, but this was due to Mu-jin's changing of the test. However, the students had no idea of this and simply saw him as an ordinary teacher who had most likely undergone an ordinary test.
Kang-hyuk continued to speak.
”We will begin with learning the foundations of gardening, and then move on to learning how to cultivate sacred herbs which will become medicines.”
”Wow, how do you cultivate sacred herbs?”
”You're just making things up!”
”Hahaha!”
Kang-hyuk smashed his palm onto the desk at their taunts.
”Quiet!”
The students ignored Kang-hyuk and kept doing things as their wills wished.
Two of the eight students were already sleeping on their desks.
Kang-hyuk sighed.
'Is this the grief of Liberal Arts teachers that Ju Seonsaeng spoke of?'
Most students thought of their Liberal Arts subject classes as classes they didn't need to pay much attention in, therefore they primarily used them as a chance to sleep.
The students didn't even receive any punishments for their behaviour as the motto that was widely spread within the Academy was, 'It's enough to learn the basics of Liberal arts subjects'.
Therefore, the unfortunate Liberal art subject teachers could only keep their grievances within themselves.
But Kang-hyuk was no ordinary Liberal arts teacher. He was a man that was the Clan Leader for fifty years and his fiery temper had earned him the nickname of 'The Dragon'.
In addition, he was ninety eight years old and viewed the students' arrogance as no more than a joke.
'This is why I prepared the honey fried Baby Ginseng. Although they are in their youth, in Moorim, all people, whether they be adults or children, love to be rewarded.'
He opened up the bundle he had brought with him and took out a black box from within it.
The students' attention perked up in curiosity at wondered what was inside the box.
Inside of the box was a small fragment of candied Baby Ginseng wrapped in oil paper that had been carefully prepared by Baek-gap.
It could be eaten without any side-effects as medicine, and the small fragment would increase one's cultivation by a month.
”The student who asked me the question, what's your name?”
At Kang-hyuk's sudden question, the student looked surprised and quickly answered.
”It's Yun Mi-ha!”
”You came up with a good question. You can receive a reward.”
”Sorry?”
”Despite your intentions behind it, it was still a good question. What are you doing? Quickly come up to receive your reward.”
Yun Mi-ha stood up nervously, and walked up to Kang-hyuk's desk to receive the candied Baby ginseng piece.
”It's candied Baby Ginseng.”
The student's eyes became wide upon hearing the name. Whilst they were young, they were still children of Moorim that had been raised on its foodstuffs for fifteen years.
More than half of them had been fed a piece of its root at some point in their upbringing, and so, they were well aware of the properties of Baby Ginseng.
Yun Mi-ha was in disbelief.
”This is candied Baby Ginseng? Please say something that makes sense! Even if the roots resemble radish, Baby Ginseng isn't something you can just plant and harvest from the land so easily!”
”But I did plant and harvest it from the land.”
”…..What do you mean?”
Yun Mi-ha had a dumb-founded expression on her face. On the other hand, Kang-hyuk was feeling confident.
'Well it was due to my punishing of that lad that the land became forbidden, and I also went there frequently enough to infuse my energy into the place, so it's not completely wrong of me to say I cultivated them is it?'
”A plant like the Baby Ginseng is relatively easy to cultivate. Why aren't you eating it? It's a reward for asking such a good question.”
”If this is really Baby Ginseng, then it's too precious to be given as a reward for asking a simple question.”
Kang-hyuk laughed out loud at her response.
”Even if you think it's too precious, it's all I have with me. How can you refuse to accept it?”
His remark hurt Yun Mi-ha's pride, and so she raised her eyes, and put the piece into her mouth.
Kang-hyuk laughed out loud again at the sight of her eating it.
”Oh my!”
An exclamation spilled out of her mouth as it was more delicious than she had anticipated.
”I see you're enjoying it. It's not good manners to refuse something you have been offered as a reward. You can refuse something once out of courtesy, but not the second time or else you might die of hunger! The people of Moorim are still human after all!”
”....”
”You may return to your seat now.”
All of the students gazes were concentrated upon Yun Mi-ha.
Whilst she had eaten the candied root out of rage, she didn't believe it was really Baby Ginseng.
At best, she thought it could be a bellflower root.
'A real Baby Ginseng root isn't cheap! What rubbish… oh?'
She blinked in surprise.
It was because she could feel a definite change in her body.
She could feel a sensation in her lower abdomen. It was expanding to encompass the extra flow of Qi that the Baby Ginseng root had brought on.
'It was the real thing? Won't I need to do a Qi-moving practice then?'
After ingesting any medicinal elixir, it was essential to do a Qi moving practice.
If the recipient was too young to move the Qi, an adult could transfer a ball of Qi to them to stimulate the movement. This was also necessary if one wanted to fully reap the medicinal benefits of the Baby Ginseng.
However, even if there was no Qi-moving practice done, Kang-hyuk's candied root still had its full medicinal benefits.
Yun Mi-ha had an absent-minded expression on her face for some time, whilst Kang-hyuk simply smiled in satisfaction.
'I must be the only teacher who thought of infusing a Qi circulating ball of energy within the candied root itself.'
Yun Mi-ha then spontaneously spoke.
'It really is…. Baby Ginseng root.”
The students had a changed look in their eyes. It was a look of desire. Kang-hyuk was well aware of what it was they desired.
”The candied Baby Ginseng root will only be given to students that ask excellent questions or students that display a good attitude in class.”
In that instant, the students' body language also changed.
They straightened their postures up, and those who had been sleeping on their desk got up, and began to look at Kang-hyuk.
'Now they'll want to concentrate in class.'
Kang-hyuk continued speaking.
”I intend to teach you all the method of cultivating Baby Ginseng as well. If you aren't fools, I'm sure you know what I mean by that right?”
”....”
”However, I have no intention of teaching this to those that don't even know the basics of gardening. We will start with the basics!”
The students then began to fully concentrate on his teaching, and with that, Kang-hyuk's first lesson had finished successfully.