In the chilled atmosphere of the inn, only my voice echoed quietly.

“The prestige of the Geummun Merchant Guild is truly great. To think you’d eliminate a blood relative of the Zhuge family.”

With a cold smile, I slowly approached Geum Chanbok and spoke. The justification was now completely on my side.

“Th-that’s a lie! Where are you joking from?”

He reacted that way, but seeing that his speech had already switched to honorifics, he was already half-intimidated.

No matter how great the influence of the Geummun Merchant Guild was, it was not as great as the Zhuge family’s.

“It seems you still haven’t grasped the situation. Even if you’re crazy, you should be crazy in a good way. Isn’t that right?”

As I said that, I poked his forehead.

Perhaps thanks to my original personality, it was a gesture maximized to provoke the opponent.

“What are you doing!”

The Geummun Merchant Guild’s escort belatedly stepped forward, but my escort was faster.

“You should manage your escort well. Or is it because the master is like that?”

Even at my words, Geum Chanbok couldn’t answer and just gritted his teeth. It seemed he had recognized the Zhuge family crest embroidered on my clothes.

“I… will not forget this humiliation.”

“Get lost.”

I ended the conversation with a nod of my head.

As Geum Chanbok left the inn with his escort as if fleeing, the old man who had been humiliated looked at me and expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you.”

From now on is what’s important.

I looked at the old man for a moment to choose my words. But his eyes were seething with an utmost calm.

Right now, because of [Anger Management Issues], the fact that I was provoked was an unpleasant situation. I had to control my emotions well.

Because what I was about to do was an act that would be extremely misunderstood. But reality was different.

‘Ah, I’m getting angry?’

The activation of [Anger Management Issues] was unusual. The emotion, amplified by [Intermittent Debuff Enhancement], did not easily subside.

That’s why. These words came out.

“What are you so proud of?”

“Pardon?”

At my sudden change in attitude, the old man looked at me with trembling eyes. It was a gaze that induced contempt rather than pity.

‘Damn it.’

My patience had run out. I struck the old man just like that.

* * *

While playing ‘Murim Academy’, I had seen a guide like this.

[If you save the old man at the inn on the day the exam starts, you can get a secret manual.]

[But the peculiar thing is that if you perform an action other than the choices when saving him, the reward changes.]

Just like in ‘Magic Knight Academy’, it was possible to interact with objects and people in ‘Murim Academy’.

Things like throwing a punch, starting to talk and then stopping, or circling around them.

The difference was that in ‘Magic Knight Academy’, doing so would open a sub-quest, whereas in ‘Murim Academy’, it was a shortcut to getting stabbed by a master or being assassinated.

I thought it was the developer’s action to block freedom.

However, this guide was different.

[When you save the old man, if you interact by throwing a punch or something, the old man will fall. If you repeat this, people around will stop you and the old man will run away.]

[The important point here is that you have to pretend to hit him, not actually hit him.]

[The protagonist, Baek Hasin, throws a punch according to the user’s command, but he himself refuses and does not attack the old man strongly.]

[Pretending to hit, but not actually hitting. That is the point of the guide.]

It was a psycho play that turned what should have been a good deed into an evil one.

Of course, it was a choice no one would make because it changed one’s reputation or alignment to the evil side.

Who would solve a good deed event in such a way? But when you play games, there are all sorts of people.

What was noteworthy was what happened after.

[But if you later encounter that old man while walking through an alley, the reward he gives has changed.]

[Not a secret manual, but a single silver plaque.]

[And that is….]

I came out of my thoughts and faced reality. The old man was lying on the floor.

I’m screwed.

‘According to that guide, I was only supposed to pretend to hit him!’

The original protagonist character, Baek Hasin, only pretends to attack even when ordered to.

But I had actually hit him.

I felt a sense of bewilderment inwardly even as I didn’t stop kicking.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Since it has come to this. I have to become a scoundrel who pretends to be crazy.

Otherwise, I’ll be killed by this monster!

I continued the assault with a sense of injustice.

‘To live, I have to become a scoundrel.’

My legs, which I had kicked out with my dwindling stamina, trembled, and I felt dizzy. Nevertheless, I continued to kick.

“Shouldn’t we stop him?”

“Shh! Just bear with it, he’s from the Zhuge family!”

The surroundings instantly became noisy.

To cause such a scene after already revealing my family name.

After today, I would be treated as a scoundrel wherever I went, but for now, I had to complete the hidden event even if it meant doing this.

Just then, a sharp voice came from behind me.

“Stop! What is this outrage?”

It was a woman with a slender build. Skin so white it was almost transparent. Her delicate features, harmonious eyes and lips made her a considerable beauty, but her presence was no less than that of a fierce beast.

As she approached, my escort stepped forward, but she subdued the escort with her bare hands.

‘Finally, someone came to stop me.’

It was a relief since I had run out of strength to hit.

To hide the fact that I was half-exhausted, I deliberately pretended to be angry, breathing heavily, and said.

“Who are you?”

“I have no name to give to you.”

Of course, I knew her name. Namgung Bihwa. In terms of class year, she was one of the strong ones in the year right above me.

‘My escort is probably at the entry-level of the first-rate, but to think she can subdue him.’

It made me think once again that this was a world with many masters.

“To think a person from a prestigious family would oppress the weak. Apologize and step back immediately.”

I answered calmly, trying my best to even my breathing.

“And if I say I can’t?”

“Then I have no choice but to use force.”

Namgung Bihwa’s sharp eyes stared as if to pierce through me. This was enough. It was probably time to back down.

“Hmph, I’ll let you go.”

As I stepped back and said that, the old man staggered to his feet and went outside.

Namgung Bihwa was about to walk over to help the old man up, but she glared at me and threatened.

“I didn’t know a young master of the Zhuge family would be a ruffian who only picks on the weak. I’m disappointed.”

The weak. If she knew the old man’s true identity, she wouldn’t have said such a thing.

As their figures disappeared, I walked out of the inn as if my fun had been spoiled. The old man and Namgung Bihwa had disappeared.

Conscious of this, I turned into a deserted alley.

‘It should be around here.’

As I thought that and took a step, the air changed. At the same time, the body of my escort standing behind me collapsed.

“You beat me up pretty well earlier.”

I raised my gaze at the voice that suddenly came from the front. The old man from before was there.

His appearance was the same, but his presence was distinctly different.

In fact, he was a master too famous to be simply called an old man.

‘Hundred Arms Freak, Mi Tae-eul.’

He was a strong man who once held a position among the top ten masters of the Central Plains and was the former headmaster of Murim Academy.

* * *

“A martial artist shouldn’t swing his fists recklessly.”

It was an immense killing intent.

To the point where my stomach churned and my hands and feet trembled on their own. An oppressive pressure crushed my entire body, as if my limbs would be torn apart if I moved even a single step.

Nevertheless, my mind was still working. If it weren’t for [Will of the Extreme], I would have already collapsed on the ground, crying and sniffling.

‘It’s already happened.’

Since I had already thrown a punch, proceeding according to the guide was out of the question.

But that didn’t mean there was no way out. Before entering this alley, I had already made numerous calculations. His identity. His purpose. His disposition. Thinking about that….

“You were able to be safe thanks to me, so let’s not get angry for no reason.”

“What did you say?”

Mi Tae-eul let out a dry laugh when, in the midst of the suffocating pressure, not only did I open my mouth, but a shamelessly brazen answer came out.

“This one’s a real piece of work.”

Currently, Mi Tae-eul was contemplating.

Whether to address this guy’s true identity or just ignore it. In fact, what he had been doing until just now was part of a test he was conducting to find the hidden forces within Murim Academy.

A test to find the master in the marketplace, aimed at intermediate students including Namgung Bihwa. And the one who led it was Mi Tae-eul.

If any of the intermediate students were tracking someone and obtaining information in an overly natural or suspicious way, that person was the spy.

But he didn’t expect to be suspected by Namgung Bihwa in return. He hadn’t anticipated that her intuition would be that good.

If his identity had been revealed there, the hidden forces would have become more cautious and hidden their tails.

So he had grabbed a scoundrel who was distracted by Namgung Bihwa’s beauty and tried to pass it off by pretending to be a frail old man, but he never expected an even bigger one to appear.

‘He said his name was Zhuge Cheonwu.’

A brazen fellow with a fiery temper, unlike his pale face.

Unlike the terrible rumors surrounding him, the reality of Zhuge Cheonwu, whom he had met in person, was completely different.

First of all, his very existence was unusual. He really couldn’t feel any energy at all. To the point where he automatically thought he was like a living corpse.

If it weren’t for the energy he felt from his heart, he might have thought he was a jiangshi [Chinese hopping zombie].

‘It means he’s that accustomed to hiding himself.’

He thought that perhaps the rumors of him being a scoundrel were also different. It might be different elsewhere, but wasn’t this the Zhuge family?

As a descendant of a strategist who had served as the Grand Marshal of the Murim Alliance, he might have something hidden.

Mi Tae-eul’s intuition hit the mark when he defeated the Geummun family guy. Zhuge Cheonwu had accurately witnessed his footwork, which no one else in the inn had seen.

As a master, he could feel it. That gaze was definitely staring at his movements.

Most of all, when Zhuge Cheonwu became enraged and kicked him, Mi Tae-eul was certain.

‘This guy definitely knows I’m a master.’

Otherwise, such a weak kick would have been impossible.

On the outside, it looked violent, but the power contained within was not just weak, but faint.

Mi Tae-eul was so impressed even while being hit.

It was an eccentric act that would have been impossible unless he had noticed that he had deliberately picked a fight with the Geummun family guy and stepped in to help.

‘He helped me even at the cost of his own reputation.’

So he had deliberately ambushed him in the alley and applied pressure, but the answer was a masterpiece.

“You were able to be safe thanks to me, so let’s not get angry for no reason.”

It was absurd. But it was also an impressive answer. It meant that his prediction that the opponent was an unusual rising star was correct.

That’s why Mi Tae-eul had no choice but to confess his honest feelings.

“This one’s a real piece of work.”

With a faint smile, what he took out from his bosom was a platinum recommendation plaque.

Not the silver plaque mentioned in the guide, but a platinum plaque. And unlike the silver plaque, the platinum plaque was a universal check that allowed one to pass any one stage of the entrance exam immediately.

At its brilliant sparkle, my expression hardened for a moment.

‘He’s giving me, a platinum plaque?’

This was an item that could be a landmine if used incorrectly.

Mi Tae-eul had only ever given out silver plaques, and he rarely gave out platinum plaques. The scoundrel Zhuge Cheonwu showing up with such a precious platinum plaque? It was no different from a bomb that you didn’t know how the examiners would react to.

‘But it’s true that it’s higher than a silver plaque.’

If used well, it’s not entirely bad.

This was proof that Mi Tae-eul’s evaluation of me was higher than those who usually received silver plaques.

‘But why did he give me this?’

To give me something like this after I actually hit him.

The guide said I should only pretend to hit.

Does this happen if you actually hit?

‘What a relief.’

That was almost dangerous.

I almost had to face a former top ten master. If that had happened, I was seriously confident I would have become minced meat in one second.

But after all this, he’s not going to turn around and say my whole body is covered in countless cuts and that I’m already dead, right?

I couldn’t help but ask out of the anxiety rising from deep within.

“Why are you giving me this?”

“It’s just my personal interest.”

“To a scoundrel like me?”

I asked with a deliberate double meaning.

There is no such thing as a favor without a price. No matter how much I had helped him in some way, there was no way he would give me something so precious so readily.

Then Mi Tae-eul laughed lightly and added.

“You deliberately went easy on me, didn’t you? It’s difficult for a martial artist to control their strength so weakly.”

“……Pardon?”

No. I’m just weak.

However, Mi Tae-eul continued his deduction on his own.

“And you can’t fool my eyes. No matter how much of a normal person you are, you possess innate true qi. A human can’t have this little true qi.”

“…….”

No. My true qi is really dried up.

I was so dumbfounded that I didn’t answer. Then, thinking he had hit the core of the matter, Mi Tae-eul continued his explanation.

“So there’s no need to pretend to be weak. A person with such a body wouldn’t be able to walk around so normally either.”

“……Hmph.”

No. I really can’t even walk properly.

It seemed my ruined body condition was being interpreted that way.

“It’s not strange to give a platinum plaque to someone with this level of skill.”

Mi Tae-eul patted my shoulder with a kind face.

Every time his thick palm touched my shoulder, my joints ached.

“Then, I’ll see you at the academy.”

With those words, Mi Tae-eul disappeared from before my eyes in an instant.

Standing alone in the alley, I lowered my head in bewilderment.

“Ha….”

My leg, which I had kicked with all my might, didn’t even feel a thing.

My breath, which ran out after walking just a little.

I knew it, but being officially recognized by a master made me feel even more miserable.

“Damn it….”

I received something better than I expected, but for some reason, I was on the verge of tears.

* * *

“I’ve brought it! Young Master.”

After finally waking up my collapsed escort and arriving at the lodging, the servant brought out a luxurious-looking wooden box.

I looked at the spiritual herb inside, which was glowing with a mysterious light.

A fifty-year-old He Shou Wu. It was an elixir that could grant 15 to 25 years’ worth of internal energy if consumed correctly.

‘It contains a considerable amount of mana.’

As expected of an elixir, the aura it exuded was different.

“Hoo.”

I took a deep breath before consuming it.

Perhaps thanks to [Absolute Magic], I could intuitively understand how to handle mana and construct a circle.

I formulated a concrete plan in my head.

‘First, I will overcome [Mana Severance].’

[Mana Severance] refers to a debuff where the energy veins, that is, the passages for mana, are congenitally dried up.

Normally, it was a curse close to an incurable disease, but it could be overcome by combining the talent of [Absolute Magic] and the ability of [Transcendent Growth].

‘Of course, it will be damn hard.’

In the game, I just threw it around recklessly. This was reality. It meant I had to actually feel the pain of my blood vessels tearing and my flesh burning.

But even so, I had to do it. That’s how I could live.

I dismissed everyone around me and sat cross-legged alone in the room. Then, I swallowed the fifty-year-old He Shou Wu.

The energy of the five elements, including mana, began to overflow like a waterfall through my already narrow energy veins.

It felt as if my weak and withered blood vessels would burst at any moment. It was an excruciating pain as if my whole body was shattering like porcelain and burning.

I felt like I would faint at any moment, but I endured it with superhuman patience.

Soon, I slowly infused mana between each blood vessel as if pulling out a thread. It was a task that required an unbelievably delicate sense.

Finally, I rotated the mana pooled in my heart to create a passage for external mana to enter.

A feat impossible without [Will of the Extreme] and [Absolute Magic]. My whole body pulsed as if it would explode.

‘Hold on!’

As the mana that entered through the energy veins began to meet the flow of mana pooled in my heart, the blood vessels throughout my body swelled up as if the water pressure had burst.

‘……!’

If it weren’t for [Will of the Extreme], I would have fainted long ago. In the pain that turned my mind white, I gritted my teeth.

A level of immersion where I even forgot to breathe continued.

Finally, when I gathered the mana enveloping my entire body to create a core, all the mana pooled in my heart was sucked into the torrent of the ring.

‘Not enough.’

To form a circle, I needed more mana.

Due to the mana consumed in clearing the energy veins, only the minimum amount of mana to create a circle remained.

I gathered even the scarce mana from my surroundings.

‘Just a little more!’

A small amount of mana quickly gathered. They began to clump together and rotate as if they were one from the beginning.

In an instant, the internal energy condensed, and a circular ring was created in my heart.

“Keoheok!”

As soon as the whole process was over, I spat out the black blood pooled in my mouth and took a breath.

It was the impurities that had been blocking my energy veins and the dead blood that had come out in the process of clearing the mana circuit.

“…I’d die if I did that twice.”

I had only just created the first circle.

I gently closed my eyes. A clear, pure energy circulated within my body. The [Mana Severance] phenomenon had clearly improved.

The first peace I had felt since coming here.

Feeling this, I fainted just like that.

No. It would have been nice if I had fainted.

‘I can’t sleep.’

I was so tired that I felt like my consciousness would fly away at any moment, but I couldn’t fall asleep. It was because of the effect of [Insomnia], one of the debuffs I had set.

‘Damn it.’

I vowed to be sure to prepare incense and medicine with a sleep effect next time.

And so, unable to even lift a finger, I suffered for a long time before finally losing consciousness.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep