57 Chapter 56

So Woo-jae looked around.

He was the best spy amongst all of the spies his group had trained. He was also extremely confident in his own abilities.

It was So Woo-jae who had been responsible for leaking out the information about the Academy's field trip.

After confirming that no one was present within the library, he flew in.

*Sususu!*

He moved nimbly, in a way that his footsteps were completely silent. He couldn't be seen as he was perfectly hidden by a tunnel he had made that ran throughout the library.

As it was the end of the working day, the library was completely silent.

He grumbled to himself.

"Damn it! Why did they suddenly bother me that I even have to deal with the library? If they hadn't given me the library to deal with, I could have left a little earlier."

He headed towards a corner of the library, and plucked a book out.

Unfortunately, at that moment.

*Pok!*

Along with the feeling of abrupt yet severe pain, he had lost consciousness.

"What is this?"

Shim-gu gazed upon So Woo-jae, who collapsed before his feet and clicked his tongue. His eyes were suddenly drawn towards the book So Woo-jae was holding in his hands.

He immediately took the book, and opened it.

The book was entitled 'The Secret Methods of Yin and Yang for Men and Women'. It also had a sign on it, indicating that it was forbidden for students to read.

Shim-gu reflected that the particular corner of the library they were in was a part of the library that was restricted to underage students.

As he opened the book, he saw that the pages were filled with explicit drawings of undressed men and women, connected to one another with their bodies.

Any ordinary adult male would have been glued to the images, but Shim-gu's eyes pierced beyond them.

He had noticed that certain pages of the book were thicker than other pages.

It was a detail so minute that it would have gone unnoticed by most, but Shim-gu was a man who had been at the centre of intelligence warfare for fifty years!

Shim-gu was a master at noticing minute differences, and the thousands of ways that one could convey and receive information were already deeply imbued within his brain.

Shim-gu unhesitatingly picked apart the suspiciously thick page.

*Suk-*

As he had expected, within the page was yet another page.

As Shim-gu read through the page, wrinkles began to form on his forehead.

"What a sight!"

Angry words spewed out of Shim-gu's mouth.

Written on the page was detailed inside information of Hwacheon Academy.

He felt that it was impossible that So Woo-jae, the man that he had temporarily sent to sleep, was a man from Hyeonmugak or Jimilgak.

He could only feel a faint energetic trace from the man, but the faint energy he could feel was that of a swindler.

"What a scumbag, I'll chew on your bones!"

"Er, I-I apologize."

Shim-gu turned around, as he heard an urgent cry from a man who had just entered the library.

Standing there with a paled face was none other than Shi Gong-bak, the school administrator.

"That, who is that?"

Shim-gu immediately changed his expression upon seeing that the man was Shi Gong-bak.

"I-I'm the school administrator, Shi Gong-bak. My greetings to you, Shim Jangro-nim."

As he nervously bowed, Shim-gu scratched his cheek.

"You knew who I was?"

"Yes. It was from seeing the birthmarks behind your ear, and the Hidden Qi Stone…"

"So that's why you asked me to meet you?"

Shi Gong-bak immediately nodded his head.

"Your memory is excellent. You noticed that even though I had changed my outer appearance with the Byeonyeongsul technique."

Shim-gu was one of the few people who was aware of Shi Gong-bak's memorization abilities.

"But why are you so late?"

"I-I apologize! Some work suddenly came up, I-I truly regret making you wait! Please don't eat my bones!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Shim-gu responded to Shi Gong-bak's plea.

"Well, I guess you can't do anything about having been busy owing to your position, but still. Do you really think of me as such a merciless person?"

"Sorry?"

"The person whose bones I said I would eat is this bastard here!"

Shim-gu pointed to the unconscious man before his feet.

"This fellow, do you know who he is?"

Shi Gong-bak carefully edged forward, and nodded after looking at the man.

"I know him. He's a man that works in the school canteen."

"No wonder, I could smell food on him."

"But why is he here?"

Shim-gu handed the book over to Shi Gong-bak at his question.

"This is what the bastard was holding."

"...?"

Shi Gong-bak flicked through the book.

Despite his face growing red, he soon noticed that something was amiss about the book. It was the page that Shim-gu had examined.

"Th-this!"

He was taken aback at the information about the Academy written on the page, information that was known to only a select few.

For example…

The secretary of the managerial department, Yu Han-woong, embezzled public funds.

The administrator had already imprisoned that man, and is waiting until the Principal returns so that his punishment can be given.

To avoid damage from scandalous rumours, this happening has been kept secret.

Information of this nature was revealed.

Shi Gong-bak's face had instantly changed, a terrifying expression now adorning it.

"This bastard!"

"Wait a moment."

Shim-gu immediately pressed one of So Woo-jae's blood vessels, and examined his mouth for poison.

He then slapped his cheek.

*Slap!*

As So Woo-jae regained consciousness, he discovered Shim-gu, staring at him with a vicious energy.

Shim-gu abruptly performed a martial technique on him.

It was a technique that had been improved by Byeok Ae-rin. As Shim-gu had pressed a particular pressure point on his body that would prevent him from speaking, he was unable to even cry out at the unbearable pain he was experiencing.

He had barely experienced the agony for ten seconds, but the pain was truly overwhelming.

The technique was the infamous God of Death Burning Bone technique.

As the name suggested, So Woo-jae felt like he was being burned alive, as though he was receiving personal judgement by the God of Death in hell.

As Shim-gu stopped the technique, So Woo-jae gasped in relief.

Shim-gu looked at him and asked, "How do you feel? Was the pain bearable?"

"...."

"I won't drag my words out. If you hesitate or make up lies, you will experience what you've just experienced once more."

So Woo-jae nodded.

Shim-gu then released the silencing pressure point, and began asking questions.

"Your name?"

"I-It's So, So Woo-jae!"

"Which group are you affiliated with?"

"Secret Blood Scented Rat."

The Secret Blood Scented Rat group was a group that found out information for others as long as money was given to them.

"It's the Dark Cultivators, just as I expected! So why have you come here?"

"Th-that….."

"If you hesitate, it will be as I promised. More torture."

"Ah, arghhhh!"

Without an ounce of sympathy, Shim-gu immediately began the technique once more, and silenced So Woo-jae by pressing his pressure point. So Woo-jae writhed around in pain.

Shim-gu then released the silencing pressure point.

"Ahhh!"

So Woo-jae gasped for air.

"So, why did you come here?"

"I came here as a spy to collect information!"

From that point in time, the interrogation flowed quickly, and recognizing the urgency of the situation, Shi Gong-bak promptly sent two messengers to Eun Myeong-myeong to inform him of the happening.

***

Eun Myeong-myeong had arrived at the front gates of the Academy. \t

"Greetings to you, Principal!"

Surprised at seeing him, the warriors guarding the front gate rushed towards him and bowed. Eun Myeong-myeong raised his hand up and spoke.

"That's enough, there's no need to make a fuss. You can go back to work."

"Yes!"

As the warriors went back to their original positions, Eun Myeong-myeong entered the Academy with his guard.

He soon reached his office.

As he sat down at his desk, he asked an attendant to fetch him a bowl of cold water, as well as call Shi Gong-bak.

Sometime later.

As a guard outside the office door announced the arrival of Shi Gong-bak, the door to the office opened.

"Greetings to you, Principal."

Shi Gong-bak bowed, showing respect towards Eun Myeong-myeong. Eun Myeong-myeong hurriedly spoke up.

"What on earth is going on?"

"So, what happened is…"

Shi Gong-bak then explained the events to Eun Myeong-myeong.

His explanation differed slightly from what had actually occurred, but the story began from Shim-gu being under disguise as a cleaner in order to catch a spy.

***

At the same time.

Shim-gu was at Kang-hyuk's personal residence.

As he had arrived, the morning glory vines had waved at him in welcome. The morning glory vines had been a little wary of him when he had first visited Kang-hyuk's residence.

However, Shim-gu had never harmed the vines. He would never dare to harm vines growing in Kang-hyuk's yard.

He had simply played with them a little and watered them. From this, the vines had identified that he wasn't a bad person, and with that, the vines swayed and played with him as well.

"Okay, okay."

Shim-gu felt that the morning glory vine was like his granddaughter.

It was a similar experience to when a grandfather meets their granddaughter after a while, he firstly feeds his granddaughter sweet cookies, then he plays with her for a while, and then after some time, the granddaughter begins to cling to her grandfather.

He had two sons.

A false rumour had once spread that his second son had used his father's name to pass an exam that would enable him to receive a promotion within the Hwacheon Clan, but the promotion was truly down to his son's own talent and ability.

Shim-gu had made it so that everyone who was taking the exam would wear a mask, so that he himself would have no idea who was his son amongst them.

This method of examination had continued on to the present day.

Currently, his sons had received acknowledgement as being honourable and talented men, and his two sons held great respect for their father within their hearts.

Therefore, Shim-gu had no concerns for his sons.

But this was not always the case. He had felt that something was going wrong in the way his sons were being educated.

So, he had gone to Kang-hyuk in search of advice.

"Your sons are suffering because your expectations are too high? And so, you're worried? Hahaha! Isn't that obvious? It's a known fact that parents always have high expectations for their offspring."

"It's easy to say that. I'm seriously worried right now. I'm even thinking of sending my sons away to study elsewhere. I'm afraid that things will be more difficult for them if I don't send them away."

*Pok!*

Kang-hyuk hit the back of Shim-gu's head upon hearing his words.

"Ah! Why did you hit me?"

"I hit you because you're thinking foolishly!"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you have first-hand experience? How difficult and sad a child feels when their parent isn't with them?"

"Of-of course, I know."

He was well aware of how it felt to be away from one's parents. He lost his own parents at the tender age of fifteen, and had been left to face the harshness of society alone.

"So, how can you still spew crap like that?"

"That, well…."

"Now that we're on the subject, why do you have an attitude of complete indifference whenever one of your sons achieve anything? Don't you think you should be praising them properly?"

"...."

"And to top it off, you even compare them to others! Tsk tsk! Don't you know how hurtful that is?"

Shim-gu had nothing to say.

Kang-hyuk had spoken correctly.

Whenever his sons had done something to increase their cultivation, his only reaction would be 'Of course it should be at such a level!', and 'Can't you even reach such a minimum level?'

To add to that, he would also say 'that fellow of the Black Snake Sect I saw earlier had already reached that level of cultivation three years ago!' 'What are you in want of in comparison to that fellow that you can't get to his level? Do you not have enough to eat? Do you not have good clothes to wear?'

Kang-hyuk grinned.

"Did I do that when I was training all of you?"

"O-of course not!"

This was most definitely not the case.

Whilst he had trained them to the point that they would vomit, whenever any of them had achieved something worthy, or had increased their cultivation and skill in any way, he would give them praise.

This praise acted as a stepping stone, enabling them to achieve yet another success.

He would also never compare one member to another member.

"Your son is your son, and the son of another household is the son of another household. The creator has made all of nature varied and unique in every way. And out of all that the creator has made, are humans not the best creation? You're the head of Hyeonmugak, aren't you?"

"Indeed."

"So you must know it well. Amongst the people you've seen thus far, are there any two people that are completely alike?"

Shim-gu shook his head.

Even in the case of twins, there were always slight differences between them.

"Bu-but even if I praise them, my face will go red in embarrassment and so…."

Kang-hyuk raised his fist.

"Was my face not flushed in embarrassment when I was praising you all?"