Ohjong and Hu Bong quickly caught up to Bakgi who was walking alone toward the private training room. Bakgi looked at them weirdly.
“Didn’t you guys go to eat?”
“Well, I can skip a meal. We are here because you are our leader. We can’t let you get beaten up, you see?”
“…Well, if you are so concerned, then you won’t eat anything even if the 7th cadet returns,” Bakgi replied, and Ohjong laughed. Hu Bong frowned but followed wordlessly. It was his protest for not asking him if he wanted to eat.
“Hmph!”
Ohjong coughed and pretended as if he didn’t know. The three of them then walked toward the private training room. Bakgi had internal energy that was just a bit under the sixty-year mark, but his skills rivaled that of a master-level warrior. Therefore, he was allowed to use the wider room.
“I use the other building, so you don’t need to follow me.”
“Who knows?”
Ohjong and Hu Bong followed him until they reached the entrance. Bakgi said this wasn’t necessary, but he was thankful for such action. This was very different when he was alone in the 12th group. The three of them walked up to the front entrance of the building.
“We are here now, so you don’t… huh?”
Bakgi frowned. It was due to the fact that he sensed people around them.
“What’s going on?’
Ohjong then looked around. He recently had become a high level warrior, so he also felt the people approached from behind. Soon, people charged out from the back of the building. There were about twenty cadets.
‘Dammit…’
Ohjong and Hu Bong were shocked. It seemed that these cadets had been waiting for them since they all had wooden swords in their hands. Ohjong turned to Bakgi to signal for him to run away.
‘They’ve been waiting here. They must be ready.’
Bakgi also agreed and nodded. As they turned immediately to run away, another group of cadets ran up from behind, blocking their path.
“What?!”
Hu Bong was shocked to see a familiar face. There was a total of ten cadets behind them and in front of them, was the sharped-eyed cadet with slickback hair. It was the 108 cadet, Ha Ilming.
‘Ha Ilming?’
Most of the cadets remembered him because he passed the second test solely with his own power. He had to stay in the medical room because he got hurt by the rocks that fell on top of him from the ceiling in the training room, but it seemed like he had been discharged now.
“You guys…”
Bakgi looked at the cadets blocking the back. They were the cadets from the 12th group. Bakgi was confused.
“Leader, you look good these days?”
“How does it feel to betray your old group and group up with new friends?”
Bakgi frowned at the sarcasm. He only sided with them since they were together solely for the second test, and most of them followed Chun Jongsum anyway, so Bakgi always kept his distance.
“What’s up with this?” Ohjong shouted at cadets surrounding them. He had no way to run, so he decided to at least determine their motive. Of course, he knew what it was for.
“Hah, you really don’t know?” Ha Ilming taunted as he walked up. He then pointed at the yellow tag that Bakgi had on his chest.
“Give me that yellow tag.”
That was the reason for the attack. For the past few days, members of the 12th group found out that Bakgi usually went out alone during dinner time when he went to the training room. That’s why they were here to attack. Twenty cadets at the front of the training room were from the 6th group, and the others blocking the way back were from the 12th group.
“You think I will just hand it over to you?” Bakgi retorted as he readied himself. Ha Ilming grinned.
“Well, this won’t end nicely if you don’t. Oh, but nevermind. It won’t end nicely even if you hand it over.”
Ha Ilming gritted his teeth as he said. Why was he so angry? It was because of the incident a few days ago. Ha Ilming’s head was damaged because Chun Yeowun had destroyed the floor and he had to stay at the hospital. When he went to the hospital, he was dumbfounded.
Starting from Chun Mukeum who was sent there by Ha Ilming himself, there was also Instructor Sang Munyo who had his ribcage broken and Chun Jongsum who had his internal energy damaged. They were all patients who were either brought in because of Ha Ilming himself, or Chun Yeowun.
‘…What is this bastard?’
He couldn’t understand what Chun Yeowun was doing, but he just had to keep quiet. He didn’t want to risk letting Chun Mukuem know that he was the one who ambushed him.
‘Dammit!’
After spending a few terrifying days in the medical room, he just got released yesterday morning and he saw all tags in the hands of other leaders. Ha Ilming, who now had internal energy at the cusp of becoming a master, went to challenge the only instructor who had a yellow tag.
‘Dammit!’
After beating up by Hou Jinchang, Ha Ilming had to rest for a full day. There was only one way left for him to get a yellow tag, and it was to take it from another group.
‘Which group should I go for?’
While he thought about it, the former 12th group cadets offered to work together with him to attack Bakgi.
‘That group has fewer members in it, so it’s easier to fight them.’
“Oh? That’s good.’
Most groups had already gathered most of their group members. The only group that was not fully yet was Bakgi’s group.
‘They are originally members of the 7th cadet party, so they are waiting for him to come out.’
‘Good. Let’s do it.’
There was no need to think twice. He wanted to avenge Chun Yeowun for being interrupted twice so it was the perfect opportunity.
“You all are cronies of that damn 7th cadet, aren’t you?” Ha Ilming growled. If these cadets were really related to Chun Yeowun, taking their yellow tag was the best vengeance Ha Ilming could think of.
“What? Cronies?”
Hu Bong’s eyebow went up. They were servants so that wasn’t wrong, but it didn’t feel good to hear it like that.
“Today is your unlucky day.”
Ha Ilming’s goal wasn’t just to take tags. He was going to break their arms or legs. Bakgi felt the hostility and began to think.
‘What should I do?’
Even if he was at the master level, the cadets surrounding them were also at a high level. And there was a total of thirty of them, so Bakgi’s team was hugely outnumbered. In addition, Ha Ilming didn’t seem like he was weak.
‘There is no way to move on if the others get hurt.’
He had to escape and make his way to the cafeteria, but Ohjong and Hu Bong would get hurt. Bakgi then sent Ohjong a telepathic message.
[Ohjong, I’ll give you the yellow tag. You escape with Hu Bong.]
[What? What about you?]
[We can’t all run together. I’ll hold them down here.]
[What?! We will stand together!]
[Don’t be foolish. If we lose the yellow tag here, our group will be disbanded. If that happens, it will be too late even if the 7th cadet returns tomorrow.]
There was one tag remaining, but everyone had given up on that already. Taking it from a grandmaster level warrior was just impossible. Ohjong then nodded bitterly and sent the same words to Hu Bong.
‘They must be thinking of a plan.’
Ha Ilming realized they were sending messages and waved for his group to attack. The cadets then charged.
“Dammit!”
Bakgi gritted his teeth and took the tag to give it to the person next to him.
“Huh?”
They had decided to give the tag to Ohjong, but it was passed over to Hu Bong. Bakgi then jumped to charge at Ha Ilming since this was the only way out of the situation. The 12th group cadets swung their wooden sword without hesitation.
‘I’m sorry if you didn’t like me as a leader but…’
There was no mercy for this trickery. Bakgi’s foot left a trace he kicked multiple times at the cadets. His movement was much more powerful than when he fought Hou Jinchang. The cadets each tried to defend, but the qi that Bakgi’s foot wielded destroyed their swords and kicked them backwards.
“Ugh!”
“M-my sword!”
They were told to never break their swords and they were shocked when they saw it get destroyed. Ha Ilming glared as he saw Bakgi’s leg glowing. It seemed like that faint color verified the fact that Baki was equally matched with Ha Ilming.
‘Master level, huh?’
Bakgi quickly overpowered three cadets and charged at Ha Ilming. He then shouted through his telepathic message.
[Run! Now!]
Ohjong and Hubong then quickly charged forward. Bakgi’s path was the only path they could have taken to run. The two of them quickly moved through.
Blue clothes dropped to the ground and two of them shot passed Bakgi and Ha Ilming to run, and the cadets shouted, “Get him! It’s him! That bald guy has the tag!”
“What?! Who called me a bald guy!”
Hu Bong shouted as he ran. He didn’t know, but the clothes that covered his bald head had been pulled off as he charged out.
“Baldy! Stop!”
“Dammit!”
Hu Bong was slow with his running skill, so the cadets began to catch up to him. Ohjong then turned to get the tag from Hu Bong.
“Grab it!” Hu Bong shouted as he threw the tag.
“Hu Bong! Keep running!”
“I know!”
Hu Bong knew that he mustn’t get caught. He used all his internal energy to get to the cafeteria. After running away for a quite some time to get to the cafeteria, he realized that no one had chased him after he handed over the yellow tag.
“….God dammit,” Hu Bong spat with an incredulous look.
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