Chapter 44: One-Day Instructor (1)
The next day, Baek Socheon arrived at the Special Mechanism Training Grounds.
The reason the training grounds were called “Special” became obvious the moment one arrived. At the same time, it was possible to witness just how advanced the Martial Alliance’s mechanism formation techniques had become.
The training grounds were special not only because of the mechanisms’ exceptional craftsmanship, but more importantly because the difficulty level could be adjusted.
Because of that, everyone trained here, from the relatively weaker martial artists of the Administrative Squad and Support Squad to the elite martial artists of the Secret Pavilion and the Iron Sword Corps.
This was a practical combat training ground. There was no holding back. The attacks were even more dangerous than those encountered in actual combat, and one could be injured or even die here. In fact, every year, several people died while undergoing training.
The difficulty levels started from Low, then Medium, Medium-High, High, and finally Extreme. There were five levels in total. The intermediate difficulty had been divided into two because that was where the greatest number of martial artists fell.
The Iron Sword Corps usually trained at the High difficulty, while the martial artists of the Secret Pavilion trained at Extreme. They took great pride in training at those levels.
The martial artists gathered here today consisted of the remaining five units of the Iron Sword Corps, excluding the two that were currently away on operations.
As soon as Baek Socheon appeared, everyone’s attention turned toward him.
He slowly swept his gaze across them.
There was First Unit Leader Hwang Ilbi, and Third Squad Leader No Woong as well. Besides them, most of the people here were familiar faces.
Baek Socheon had served in the Iron Sword Corps before transferring to the Secret Pavilion, and then returned to the Iron Sword Corps again. This was also the place where he had spent the longest period of his life in the Martial Alliance.
“Have you all been well?”
“Yes!”
A resounding reply echoed back.
The atmosphere was not bad. Everyone had their own opinions about Baek Socheon, but no one held any serious grudge or resentment against him.
Baek Socheon had caused plenty of trouble over the years, but most of it had involved disobeying orders or expressing dissatisfaction toward his superiors. He had never once mistreated his subordinates.
Of course, there were those who had disapproved of his period of wandering. But because they had once admired him and regarded him as a hero, those conflicting feelings balanced each other out, leaving them somewhere in the middle.
“The Commander gave his permission, so I’ve come to serve as your one-day instructor.”
“Welcome!”
Another thunderous response rang out.
“All right, let’s begin.”
Mechanism training consisted of two stages in total: the First Horizontal Training and the Second Vertical Training.
The first, Horizontal Training, required passing through a corridor where hidden weapons flew from every direction. They had to advance while avoiding the barrage coming from the front, back, left, and right.
The second, Vertical Training, required climbing upward while hidden weapons rained down continuously. It was more difficult than the first, but situations like this occurred more frequently in real combat. Enemies usually ambushed from elevated positions and attacked those below.
Baek Socheon suddenly made an unexpected announcement.
“I’ll demonstrate.”
Everyone was startled. Not a single person had expected Baek Socheon to perform a demonstration. They believed no one could possibly clear this training ground without Internal Energy.
Hwang Ilbi immediately stepped forward.
“You can’t!”
He was constantly being scolded by Chung Yang for taking Baek Socheon’s side, so he normally avoided stepping in unless absolutely necessary.
But this was different. It directly concerned Baek Socheon’s life. Even he himself could die here if he let his guard down.
“Why? Because you think I’ll die in here?”
Faced with Baek Socheon’s question, Hwang Ilbi could not bring himself to admit it.
“It’s impossible to get through without Internal Energy.”
“It can be done.”
Baek Socheon turned to the martial artist managing the mechanisms.
“Please prepare it.”
“What difficulty level would you like?”
“The usual one.”
“The Iron Sword Corps trains at High. Will that be acceptable?”
The manager asked worriedly. He also knew Baek Socheon had lost his Internal Energy.
“It’ll be fine.”
At that moment—
“Since you’re already here, how about demonstrating at the Extreme difficulty instead?”
The one who spoke was Sixth Unit Leader Cheon Su.
Baek Socheon looked at him. Cheon Su was trying to remain composed, but there was an unmistakable stiffness in his expression.
They had never shared any particular grudge. Cheon Su had always been a man of few words, but he had followed Baek Socheon well. Baek Socheon remembered. He had always been the first to move at his command, and a single word of praise had brought an awkward smile to that normally expressionless face.
If that was the case, then the reason was simple.
Chung Yang had ordered him to do this.
“Fine.”
Baek Socheon accepted without hesitation, causing everyone to stir.
Extreme was a difficulty even they themselves could not overcome. Even the martial artists of the Secret Pavilion skipped the training whenever they were not in peak condition.
“Sixth Unit Leader!”
Hwang Ilbi angrily shouted at Cheon Su. Cheon Su was two years his junior.
“What kind of nonsense is this? He’s only just recovered from his injuries!”
He had already intended to stop Baek Socheon from demonstrating at High. Suggesting Extreme was no different from trying to get him killed.
“I merely made a suggestion.”
“Even suggestions require some thought.”
“If he believed it was impossible, Instructor would’ve refused.”
“You bastard! What exactly are you trying to do?”
“Watch your words!”
The two men confronted each other.
At that moment, Baek Socheon stepped in and spoke gently.
“It’s all right. Unit Leader Cheon is right. If I couldn’t do it, I should simply say so.”
Hwang Ilbi asked anxiously,
“Are you really sure?”
Everyone looked at Baek Socheon with similar concern in their eyes.
“Do you know why I accepted today’s role as special instructor?”
“I don’t.”
“I didn’t come to see familiar faces, nor to show everyone that I’m still standing strong.”
“Then why?”
“Because I wanted to help you as your instructor.”
Everyone was surprised once again.
Until now, they had all assumed today’s event was simply part of the political conflict between Baek Socheon and Chung Yang. Not one of them had imagined he had truly come intending to teach.
Baek Socheon spoke with complete sincerity.
“As you’ve already experienced, when war breaks out, you’ll be the ones fighting the most dangerous and important battles. I hope today’s training will help increase your chances of surviving. Yes… Seeing how to handle the Extreme level should be useful as well.”
He turned to the gate instructor.
“Set the difficulty to Extreme.”
“Understood.”
Amid the tense silence, the difficulty was adjusted to Extreme.
Baek Socheon walked over to the weapon rack, picked up a training sword and several training daggers, then stood before the entrance.
From his days in the Iron Sword Corps to his time in the Secret Pavilion, he had trained here countless times. This was a place he could once clear with his eyes closed.
Even now, he was confident.
If all the grueling physical training he had undergone and the miraculous footwork of the Overturning Heaven Nine Fists could compensate for the absence of Internal Energy, he could do it.
“Begin!”
The moment the gate instructor shouted, Baek Socheon launched himself inside without hesitation.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Hidden weapons shot toward him from both sides.
The opening attack was anything but light. It was swift, deadly, and aimed directly at the vital acupoints of anyone entering.
Even the martial artists watching nearby instinctively flinched.
Clang! Clang!
Baek Socheon deflected the hidden weapons and took a step forward.
Short gasps escaped the spectators.
It wasn’t simply because he had deflected them.
The hidden weapons had been fired from both sides at exactly the same speed, and the way he dealt with them was a textbook demonstration.
By shifting his body slightly to the left, he made it appear as though the left-side attack arrived first, allowing him to deflect the left and right attacks consecutively.
Clang! Clang!
The same applied to the three daggers that followed.
He demonstrated precisely how handling three differed from handling two.
He avoided one and deflected two.
Which one should be dodged, and why it should be dodged, became perfectly clear through Baek Socheon’s movements, flowing as naturally as water.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The hidden weapons became more varied, and their numbers steadily increased.
Baek Socheon’s movements resembled those of someone who still possessed Internal Energy.
They were fast, precise, and perfectly disciplined.
Above all else, he was performing his role as an instructor flawlessly.
Unlike other organisations, instructors in the Iron Sword Corps rotated among the Squad Leaders and Unit Leaders.
Yet Baek Socheon gave a better demonstration than any of them ever had.
Sometimes he deflected attacks with his sword.
Sometimes he evaded them with his footwork.
Sometimes he threw daggers to intercept them before they could even reach him.
The martial artist managing the mechanisms suddenly found himself thinking—
If only this scene could somehow be preserved, he wanted every martial artist who came here to watch it.
This…
This was the proper way to clear these mechanisms.
The final wave consisted of nine hidden weapons.
Whooshwhooshwhooshwhooshwhooshwhooshwhooshwhooshwhoosh!
It truly felt like a downpour.
An attack so overwhelming that it made one despair, believing they could only deflect three or four before being forced to take the rest with their body.
Baek Socheon’s figure moved with astonishing speed.
He deflected some with his sword, threw daggers with his free hand, dodged those that couldn’t be blocked, and even used the hidden weapons he had already deflected to knock aside others.
It was a defensive display incorporating every technique available.
Everyone’s first thought was,
‘So… it really is possible!’
Then came the desire.
They wanted to accomplish the same feat themselves.
Baek Socheon dealt with all nine hidden weapons and passed through the gate without a scratch.
Everyone stood there dumbfounded, unable to speak.
It was Hwang Ilbi who finally broke the silence.
“You really did lose your Internal Energy?”
“Actually, I didn’t. I’ve just been deceiving all of you.”
Everyone involuntarily swallowed.
“I wish I could say that.”
It should have been the sort of moment that drew laughter.
Instead, complete silence filled the training ground.
The joke was so unbelievable that they found themselves wondering whether he had truly been deceiving them all along.
“Judging by your reactions, I suppose my training wasn’t wasted. You may not know it, but for the past three years, I’ve truly trained as though my life depended on it. When life became unbearably difficult, I kept hoping my circumstances would change. But they only grew worse. They never improved. So I decided that instead of waiting for the situation to change, I would change myself. Every night, afraid people would see me fail despite all my effort, I trained where no one could watch.”
Baek Socheon neither concealed his abilities nor boasted before the martial artists of the Iron Sword Corps.
He simply spoke honestly.
Just as he held meaning for them, they also held meaning for him.
They had once been subordinates as precious to him as his own life.
“Never get yourselves injured. Recovering was… truly like living through hell.”
They all understood.
They knew exactly how much effort was required to move like that.
This wasn’t because he had once been the strongest man under heaven.
It was solely the result of relentless physical training.
Everyone silently looked at Baek Socheon.
Even those who had disliked him couldn’t help but feel respect for his effort at this moment.
“All right, the demonstration is over. Training begins.”
Baek Socheon lowered the difficulty back to High.
He had no intention of taking petty revenge by telling Cheon Su to clear the Extreme difficulty himself after asking for the demonstration.
Nor did he look at him with any particular expression.
He understood that Cheon Su had most likely been acting under Chung Yang’s orders.
It wasn’t as though Cheon Su had wanted to do it.
He had simply obeyed the command he had received.
These were veteran martial artists who had survived countless hardships.
Baek Socheon believed they each possessed their own judgment.
“All right, First Unit, First Squad begins. If you don’t stay focused, you’ll die! Begin!”
The martial artists of the First Unit entered the mechanisms first.
Like a true instructor, Baek Socheon shouted encouragement as they advanced.
“Stay focused!”
“Watch the hidden weapons!”
“Your hands and feet are too slow! Move faster!”
With so many participants, mistakes were inevitable.
“Watch out!”
Just as a hidden weapon was about to strike one of the Iron Sword Corps martial artists, Baek Socheon threw a training dagger that knocked it aside.
“Concentrate!”
Without even having time to thank him, the martial artist deflected the remaining hidden weapons and pressed onward.
In that way, everyone cleared the first mechanism.
There had been several close calls, and whenever someone was truly in danger, Baek Socheon stepped in and prevented the injury.
Once the first Horizontal Training stage ended, Baek Socheon stood before them.
“Well done, everyone.”
At least within these training grounds, it felt as though they were seeing the Baek Socheon of his prime once again.
It wasn’t because of overwhelming Internal Energy or an imposing aura.
Nor was it merely because of the astonishing demonstration they had just witnessed.
The passion now filling the training grounds came from something else.
It came from change.
From the transformation of Baek Socheon—from the man who had caused trouble and wandered aimlessly into someone who had returned with sincerity.
Chung Yang had intended to use today’s training to prove that Baek Socheon had become obsolete.
Instead, events were unfolding in the exact opposite direction.
Baek Socheon turned to the martial artist in charge of the mechanisms.
“Let’s move on to the second, Vertical Training.”
The attendant activated the mechanisms.
Rumble.
The surrounding walls rose high into the air, and the training grounds began to transform.
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