Chapter 11 Flying Dragon Thirteenth Squad (1)

Chapter 11: Flying Dragon Thirteenth Squad (1)

“Follow me. This is the Seventh Squad’s barracks.”

We were all being led to the Seventh Squad’s barracks, following Squad Leader Seolpung and Deputy Squad Leader Naseoyu.

After the team assignments earlier, which had been quite eventful, Young-yeon, Cheon Ju-eun, and I were all assigned to Team Seven.

I had been thinking it would be fortunate just to avoid being placed in Ma Yugyeom’s Squad Four at worst, so being assigned to Squad Seven together was an unexpected and astonishing outcome.

The Seventh Squad’s barracks we arrived at shortly afterward were exactly as I remembered.

The place where I had lived for seven years in my past life, which had made me a warrior, and where I had gained and then lost many friends.

Suddenly, my heart felt wistful.

The long, rectangular barracks had a central integrated waiting area, with the men’s and women’s quarters at either end.

As Deputy Leader Lady Naseoyu led Lady Cheongyeon and Lady Cheonjuun toward the women’s quarters, Leader Seolpung addressed me.

“There will undoubtedly be those among the team members who try to assert their dominance. I hope you won’t take it too much to heart.”

A hint of worry lingered in Squad Leader Seolpung’s eyes as he spoke.

He couldn’t possibly not know what he was worried about.

He had already endured it harshly in his past life.

Suddenly, the memory of the first time he entered the lodging came back vividly.

‘What the hell? Pwahahaha! Is that a pig or a human? Are we supposed to throw it to the minions to eat? Surely they didn’t bring it here to fight alongside us?’

‘The third son of the Seonwoo family? Ah! I remember now. That disgrace of the Seonwoo family. But bringing such a disgrace into our squad? Is the squad leader out of his mind?’

‘Get lost! You disgusting piglet! Just looking at your face brings bad luck!’

I don’t know if you could call it bullying, but back then, in that unfamiliar place, facing the terrible hatred and exclusion from strangers, I would secretly cry every night.

How agonizing it was.

Of course, I eventually overcame all that pain and changed myself, but at least in that moment, it was true that I was so miserable I wanted to die.

But thinking about stepping back into that place now brought back a whole new wave of emotions.

With a fluttering heart, I opened the door to the dormitory, and they immediately caught my eye.

“Oh, squad leader! New recruit?”

“Hahaha! Judging by your build, you must eat as much as I do! Nice to meet you!”

The welcoming faces of my past-life friends, Biseyoung and Bae Jong-gwan, who greeted me warmly in their own way,

“What? A pig showed up?”

“What did you expect? Like a proper new recruit would show up? Our squad leader is our squad leader.”

“Heh heh heh, you’re right about that.”

The three fools, Hamujin, Jimangum, and Manguin, huddled together, mocking him just as he remembered.

Still, seeing their reactions were much milder than in the past, I felt all over again that losing weight had been the right choice.

As I looked around at them with a moved expression, Team Leader Seolpung introduced me.

“Alright, everyone. This is Master Seonwoo Jin, the third son of the prestigious Seonwoo family from Gwi-ju. He’s still new to the front lines, so please help him out.”

“Huh? The Seonwoo family?”

The expressions of Ha Moo-jin, Ji Man-geum, and Man Gu-in turned peculiar upon hearing my introduction.

They were well aware of the Sunwoo Clan, being from the Gui Zhou Ha Clan, the Mando Clan, and the Ji Clan respectively.

Ha Moo-jin approached me with a sly grin.

“What? You’re that disgrace to the Seonwoo family they talk about? The one they say isn’t human, but a pig?”

Ji Mang-geum chimed in with a sneering laugh.

“Yep, yep. That’s the Sunwoo family’s third son. I remember seeing him before. That cripple who got beaten by his own brother. But you’ve lost some weight since then, huh? Back then, I really wondered if you were even a proper martial artist.”

Hearing this, Hamujin stepped forward, tapped my chest, and said.

“Hey, was it tough getting here? A pig losing all its fat? Better fatten him up again soon. That way he can at least draw the demons’ attention, right? Heh heh heh.”

At their rude behavior, the smile vanished from Team Leader Seolpung’s face. Biseaeng and Bae Jong-gwan also scowled fiercely, about to step forward.

But I was still smiling brightly.

For one thing, the level of their speech was far below what I remembered, and to me, they were all already dead people.

Some were friends who died trying to save me, others were bastards who died trying to save themselves by running away. But regardless, they were all dead. So, even their behavior felt incredibly welcome.

With a bright smile, I firmly grasped Hamujin’s hand and said.

“It’s good to see you, Hamujin.”

He flinched in surprise and asked.

“Huh? You recognize me?”

I nodded and answered warmly.

“Yeah, I know you well. But first, let’s have a drink.”

“What?”

The next moment, his body flew through the air, spun around once, and slammed straight into the ground.

Thud!

“Gah!”

It was one move of the Whirlwind Eighteen Strikes, deployed with a golden water-like flow.

The tremendous impact made him foam at the mouth.

“Grrrrr!”

Jiman-geum, who had been laughing behind him, cried out in shock.

“Wh-what the hell?!”

Beaming, he charged at him too.

“What am I doing? You called me an idiot, didn’t you?”

“You, you bastard!”

He scrambled to his feet and swung a fist at me.

Shush!

But his fist, still that of a second-rate swordsman, was nothing but laughable to me.

My body might still be second-rate, but my mind was already top-tier, wasn’t it?

Moreover, the Whirlwind Eighteen Strikes was a first-rate striking technique that wouldn’t be outdone anywhere. My hand easily parried his fist and grabbed his throat.

Gasp!

“Guh! Guh!”

Then, yanking him close, I slammed my knee into his abdomen.

Thud!

“Gah!”

Finally, he spun him lightly in the air one last time and tossed him to the ground.

Thud!

“Guhhh!”

The feeling of finally repaying a debt I’d carried since my past life was incredibly refreshing.

Ah, what a relief.

I’m so glad I came back.

Filled with that refreshing feeling, I floated up into the air and landed lightly on Hamujin’s collapsed body.

Thud!

“Gah!”

Sorry, I’m still a bit heavy.

I haven’t lost enough weight yet.

Then, looking at Mangguin still sitting there with a dazed expression, he quickly shook his head with a frightened look.

“I, I didn’t say anything!”

He was definitely a bit slow-witted, and he wasn’t exactly the type to do anything underhanded.

So, while I was debating whether to just leave him alone or give him a fair beating, the door suddenly opened and someone entered the room, saying,

“What the hell is this?”

Seeing his face, a warm smile returned.

Finally, the leader had arrived.

Hamujin, Jimangum, Manguin. Ha. Ji. Man. Accompanied by those three fools, the shadowy figure within the Seventh Division who constantly picked fights with Seolpung Jojaeng, Jomchanggeombi Jutaekyung. He had belatedly entered the lodging.

Seeing two of his followers lying there in a pitiful state, he asked me with a sharp gaze.

“What the hell is this?”

I replied with a bright smile and a bow.

“Greetings, Captain. I’m Seon Woo-jin, newly joined to the Seventh Division today. The moment we met, these fellows kindly called me a pig and an idiot, so I thought I’d show a little kindness in return. But what about you, Captain?”

At my words, he narrowed his eyes slightly but answered coldly.

“I am Joo Tae-kyung of the Jeomchangpa.”

He was a man with immense pride in being a disciple of the Jemchangpa.

How great? So great he couldn’t stand being a mere member of Seolpung’s squad—a squad leader who was nothing but a nameless nobody with no real background—despite being a disciple of Jomchang. And yet, he was also so great that he absolutely refused to join in the low-level foolishness of those three idiots, even though they were his followers.

Therefore, upon hearing they had mocked me as a pig and an idiot, he seemed to have decided it wasn’t worth his time.

That was a relief for me too, at least for now.

His current power level was probably around upper-mid tier, making him a formidable opponent for someone like me, still stuck at lower-tier.

So I was about to just let him walk away arrogantly, leaving only his name behind, when Team Leader Seolpung suddenly smiled and spoke to him.

“Two female squad members have joined us. Would you care to join us for dinner tonight and introduce yourself?”

Without a word in reply, Joo Tae-kyung shot him a contemptuous glance and simply walked past.

His attitude suggested he didn’t even deem it worth a response.

That rude attitude made me choke up in that moment.

‘That bastard?!’

In his past life, he had persistently responded like that to Seolpung, the team leader who had tried his best to encourage and guide the team, constantly butting heads over every little thing.

In the end, he caused us to lose someone we absolutely shouldn’t have lost.

Only then did Squad Leader Seolpung finally lose patience and change his approach, but by then it was already too late.

That memory surfaced, causing him to hesitate for a moment.

If he was left alone, he would inevitably become a cancerous presence.

So, it was clear that the best course was to nip it in the bud somehow.

‘The problem is, a top-tier intermediate-level martial artist is a bit much for me to handle right now.’

But after deliberating, I finally made up my mind.

I could use Seolpung Jo-jang to crush him instead of doing it myself. And if that didn’t work, couldn’t I just provoke him now and crush him later?

In any case, my judgment was that leaving such a festering sore of a person alone would only cause it to rot further.

Besides, I already had experience stepping on the top tier of the elite class. So, if my body could just break through that elite barrier, I figured there might be a chance.

Alright then, shall we provoke him a little?

What was it that guy hated most?

A sudden memory made me smirk, and I opened my mouth in a mocking tone.

“Ah, now that I think of it, you’re Young Master Ju Tae-kyung, aren’t you? I’ve heard a lot about you. They call you the Worm-Snake Sword Demon, right?”

Jumchang Geombi (蜰). It meant insect, snake.

Among Jianchang’s disciples, nicknamed after animals like Jianchang Sword Dragon, Sword Tiger, and Sword Eagle, he was merely a snake. That was Ju Taekyung’s current position and the source of his inferiority complex.

Ju Tae-kyung whipped his head around at me with a look full of malice and asked.

“What did you just say?”

I smiled brightly, as if completely unaware of why he was angry, and asked back.

“Jumchang Sword Spirit. Wasn’t that your executioner’s nickname? That’s what I understood.”

He gripped his sword hilt and replied coldly.

“You’ve been too careless. That’s why you’re going to die.”

I pretended to be startled, quickly hiding behind Squad Leader Seolpung’s back and said.

“Oh my! Why are you doing this?! Young Master Jomchanggeombi, Joo Tae-kyung!”

Realizing I was openly mocking him now, he shouted with a face twisted in rage.

“Get out of the way, Seolpung! To dare mock me, a disciple of the Great Spear School—I absolutely cannot let you live!”

But Captain Seolpung still answered with a smile.

“You’ve just arrived and don’t know the situation yet, is that it? Just bear with it this once. Besides, if you don’t let go of that sword, you’ll cross the line. You don’t really want that, do you?”

His words seemed soothing, yet a heavy aura slowly emanated from Captain Seolpung’s body.

He faltered, clenching his teeth.

He knew all too well what kind of person Captain Seolpung became when he truly used his hands at the peak of his skill.

He clicked his tongue slightly at the sight.

He’d intended to provoke the squad leader into a confrontation, but just one stern look and the snake was already curling its tail.

A snake was still a snake, after all.

But perhaps conscious of the surrounding gazes, he didn’t retreat completely.

“If a second-rate scoundrel deceives a first-rate warrior, shouldn’t he pay the price?! Are you going to stop even that, Seolpung?”

I retorted immediately.

“Ah, my apologies. I was mistaken. I thought Young Master Joo Tae-kyung of the Pointing Sword Pavilion was too magnanimous to care about such trifles, since you dared to treat the squad leader—a peerless master—so casually?”

“Wh-what?!”

His face was now completely flushed crimson.

Beside him, his friend from a past life, Bi Sa-yeong, who had been watching with keen interest, burst into laughter and clapped.

“Hahahaha! What a character! A real character has arrived!”

Bisaeng, who had always been at odds with Joo Taekyung, seemed beside herself with delight.

He grinned at him and spoke again.

“Besides, from what I can see, Young Master Ju Tae-kyung of the Sword of the Pierced Window has absolutely no chance of catching up to the team leader’s skill. On the other hand, the gap between me and Young Master… seems like it could be closed in no time? A month or two at most?”

“…What?”

Now trembling all over, Zhu Taijing asked me with a gaze that could devour me.

“Are you prepared to take responsibility for those words?”

I grinned and countered.

“If I do, what will you do about it?”

Then Joo Tae-kyung spoke to me with eyes overflowing with venom.

“Three months. I’ll give you three months. After that, fight me and prove it. The price will be your life. Since it’s your own words, you won’t feel wronged, right?”

“Fine. If I win, what will you do?”

He answered, looking as if he might explode at any moment, while I grinned as if absolutely certain I wouldn’t lose.

“Ha! Then I’ll just have to die too, won’t I?!”

It was a solemn answer, but I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

“Ah, that won’t do. How could you let a precious comrade who fights the demons die like that? Let’s do this instead. If I win, from that moment on, you’ll treat me as your elder brother. How about it? That seems fair enough to me.”

He glared at me as if he might kill me, then shouted at Sergeant Seolpung.

“He brought this on himself! You won’t stop this, will you?!”

Without waiting for a reply, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Bang!

The three fools who had been watching the situation in silence beside me quickly followed him out.

“Ta, Taekyung! Wait!”

“Let’s go together!”

“Me too!”

Even after they left, Biseaeng couldn’t stop laughing.

“Hahahahaha! That was satisfying! So satisfying! You, you said your name was Seonwoojin? Let’s be friends. I think I might just fall for you. Hahahahaha!”

Biseoyoung was a disciple of the Biseong Sect, now nearly extinct.

And the reason the Biyong Sect was destroyed was because of the Blood Sacrifice of the Wuhuang Tomb, caused by the greed of the Zhanchang Sect.

Therefore, Bi Sa-yeong, who had never liked the Jianchang Sect to begin with, intensely hated Zhu Taijing, who was arrogant and despicable.

To him, this situation couldn’t be more satisfying.

Then, Bae Jong-gwan, a friend from the past standing beside him, also laughed heartily and said.

“Kekekeke! I liked this fellow from the very first time I saw him! Somehow, I knew we’d get along. Hey, you ever thought about getting tougher than the demons?! If you train that solid flesh, it’d make a splendid suit of armor, I tell you!”

Bae Jong-gwan, the only external martial arts practitioner of the Thirteenth Generation and a muscular giant, seemed equally thrilled by the recent events.

My heart felt heavy with emotion at the warm welcome from those who had been my close friends in my past life, who had saved me and died for me.

Only Seolpung, the squad leader, asked me with a worried look.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright? Though he’s called the Sword Demon, Ju Tae-kyung is no pushover. To me, you seem to be at the very edge of the second tier. Frankly, catching up to him—a mid-tier first-class practitioner—in just three months seems like a tall order.”

He chuckled at his concern and replied.

“Then wouldn’t it be fine if you, the team leader, trained me? Just push me hard enough that I don’t die. I’m already prepared for that. And please speak freely. I’m a team member now, and you’re older than me, aren’t you?”

At my refreshingly straightforward attitude, he gave a hollow laugh before speaking in a booming voice.

“Alright. So be it, Young Master Seonwoo. No, Seonwoo Jin. Since you’ve gone that far, you’d better be prepared. I’ll push you until you wish you were dead.”

“Yes! Thank you!”

Then, Bisea-yeong, who had been watching, exchanged glances with Bae Jong-gwan and interjected with a wary look.

“Hey. You’re joining the squad leader’s training? That’s really not a good idea, you know? I haven’t seen it yet, but from what I’ve heard, that’s only possible for the absolute best, buddy.”

Sorry, but I’ve done it before, you know?

And this time, I don’t plan on doing it alone either.

Alright, wanna try fishing?

He asked the squad leader with a smile.

“Only the highest masters can do it? Is that really true, Captain?”

“No, I’ve been doing it that way since I first started training martial arts?”

Hearing the squad leader’s answer, he looked at Bi Sa-yeong with a deeply disappointed expression and said.

“I see. So it’s not training only possible at the pinnacle, but training that can create the pinnacle. You seemed like a real man at first glance, but perhaps you lack confidence more than I thought?”

Though his skill was still only second-rate, Bi Sa-yeong’s pride reached the heavens. He hated being pitied or looked down upon by others more than death itself.

So the method to move him was quite simple.

And I had already mastered that method in my past life.

At my provocation, Biseoyoung immediately flew into a rage and charged forward.

“No way! I’m a man who has no lack of confidence in this world!”

Faced with his fierce denial, I couldn’t quite believe his words, but I gave him a half-hearted reply, my face plastered with an expression that said I’d let it slide.

“Oh, is that so? Hmm.”

Then, like an enraged fish, he leaped out of the water himself.

“Yee-ha! I’ll show you myself! I’ll gladly join you in that kind of training anytime!”

Of course.

Getting the hot-headed Biseyang involved was too easy.

Now the problem was this guy, the muscular giant Bae Jong-gwan beside him.

For this guy, who stubbornly forged his own path with unwavering conviction regardless of what others said, a more indirect approach was necessary.

He laughed heartily and said.

“Hahaha! I’d love to join you, but I have a grand dream of my own. A dream of crushing demons with my external martial arts, honed to the extreme. So, I don’t have time for other training…”

At that moment, interrupting him, I said with a look of admiration.

“Ooh! That sounds amazing! Crushing demons with extreme external martial arts! I really want to learn that too! Brother! Would you teach me some external martial arts?”

“Huh? What? You… really? Are you serious?”

Bae Jong-gwan, who had always been looked down upon for practicing external martial arts—the sort typically mastered by medicine peddlers—was startled by my request and grabbed my hand.

Then, Seolpung, the squad leader watching nearby, chimed in.

“Come to think of it, this guy was saying something similar to you earlier. Wanting to see whose skin is tougher, him or the demons?”

“What?! Did he really say that?!”

He really had said that.

It was a lie, though.

It was something I’d said earlier to avoid Mayu-gyeom, who was trying to put me in his squad during the squad assignments.

But Bae Jong-gwan, unaware of this, was so moved he looked like he might kiss me any second.

Scared by that, I quickly pulled my hand away and replied.

“Of course I did. But my goal is to fly like a hawk with that sturdy body and ram my torso into the demons. Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could fly like a cannonball and shatter the demons to pieces?”

“Fly like a cannonball… and shatter the demons?”

His eyes grew hazy as he echoed my words.

Thinking I had him almost hooked, I threw in one more line.

“Then wouldn’t the martial world call you something like… Iron God Meteor, or Diamond Rain Star?”

“Iron God Meteor… Diamond Rain Star?”

Now, the blazing fire in his eyes needed no explanation.

In the past, I had no intention of learning the hand-to-hand combat techniques that Seolpung Jo-jang offered to teach me, nor did I care to learn the external martial arts of this guy, my friend.

I even thought this guy was a bit pathetic.

I realized it far too late back then.

That there would come a moment when I had to keep fighting even after all my weapons were shattered.

That I should have trained every possible means at my disposal.

Bae Jong-gwan’s external skills were no different.

He was always dismissed as a quack for practicing external martial arts day and night, but later, by single-handedly holding off ten demonic beasts, he ultimately proved its worth.

Though he never returned, left behind in the end.

That’s why I intended to master everything in this life.

I also vowed never to let my friends die so miserably again.

‘Never losing my precious people again.’

That was the ultimate goal I set for my second life.

Compared to this goal, both my decision to become as strong as possible and my resolve to properly confront the Blood Cult were merely steps along the path to achieving it.

Of course, my power was still weak, so there wasn’t much I could do yet.

For now, I had to devote myself to training as if I were dead.

Suddenly, memories from my past life surfaced.

The front lines collapsed in the seventh year, but the collapse began in the fifth year, when the Blood Demons first appeared.

Therefore, before that happened, I had to regain my past life’s power as quickly as possible and, furthermore, enter the realm of the pinnacle, a place I had never set foot in before.

The pinnacle where he needn’t fear demons like Hyogui or Jugui—that was the bare minimum condition for him to take proactive action.

If only that could happen, then this time…

Gritting my teeth, I burned with resolve.

This time, it absolutely would not end like my past life,

he resolved firmly once more.

***

The squad leader’s training began the very next day.

The dawn training involved leaping like flying squirrels through the dense jungle canopy.

“Alright! Let’s go!”

The squad leader leapt onto the trees like a cat, then flew across the branches.

He was even wearing a steel vest that easily weighed thirty kan (one kan ≈ 3kg) and had his eyes covered with cloth.

Biseoyoung, watching with a grim expression, gritted his teeth and leaped forward.

“Hmph! That’s nothing to a disciple of the Biyong Sect like me!”

His words rang out, though his armor held about ten guan of steel.

Bae Jong-gwan, still carrying extra weight, and the muscular giant were bare-chested. Yet Bae Jong-gwan, his face grim, hesitated to start.

So, having already endured this training in a past life, I laughed boldly and started first.

“Nothing to it. I’ll go first!”

Then I climbed onto the tree and was about to start off…

Snap!

That is, until the branch I stepped on snapped cleanly.

Thud!

“Gulp!”

“Jin! Are you okay?!”

Sprawled flat on the ground like a frog, I suddenly remembered.

Ah, had I done this training after losing weight first?