Star Instructor, Master Baek

TL: FoodieMonster007

Baek Suryong frowned deeply. A demonic Horned Snake was beyond the students' capabilities, especially with their inner arts sealed. If they were unlucky enough to encounter it, even fleeing would be damned near impossible.

He quickly re-examined the mangled corpses, but it only added to his worries.

Judging by the traces left on the bodies, it's ridiculously big.If it's over a thousand years old, then it's less a snake and more a divine imoogi that failed to ascend to the heavens… Fuck, I'm not sure that even I could easily defeat it.

A chilling thought crept into his mind.

What if, after losing his home in the battle between the Night Emperor and the Blue Sky Sword King, an imoogi who failed to ascend transformed into a demonic beast out of anger and frustration? No… maybe it's the other way around. What if it failed to ascend precisely because of the fight?

If that were the case, then it would explain why its wrath was directed at humans.

It didn't kill these people to eat them, but purely for the sake of killing.

While the bodies were badly mangled and crushed, there were no signs of being eaten, and their distorted expressions testified to the immense suffering they had endured moments prior to death.

Having organized his thoughts, Baek Suryong barked, "First, we need to gather everyone here. Suhyeok!"

"Yes?"

"Take this."

Carefully handing the sleeping furball to Ya Suhyeok, Baek Suryong leapt high up into the sky, pulled a flare from his pocket, and fired it.

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WHISTLE… BOOM!

The red flare painted the sky with a crimson glow, signaling the students to regroup.

""Whoa…"" The bandits gawked at Baek Suryong as he descended slowly, as if defying gravity. To them, he resembled a deity descending from the heavens.

Baek Suryong beckoned to the Underboss. "The Horned Snake might come back here," he warned.

"Gasp!"

"Relax. It probably sustained some injuries while fighting the mother Silver Tiger, so it won't come back right away, at least…"

The Horned Snake hadn't been able to kill all the bandits due to the Silver Tiger mother's interference, so it was quite possible that it would return after killing the tiger to finish what it had started. The fact that it hadn't reappeared yet suggested that it had been injured, perhaps badly.

…Well, I'll confess there's a bit of wishful thinking mixed into that assessment.Anyway, I should use this place as my base while searching for the Horned Snake.

"Underboss. I intend to stay here for a few days. Are you okay with that?" Baek Suryong asked.

"O-Of course," the Underboss stammered, nodding fervently. After witnessing Baek Suryong's incomparable movement arts, he didn't dare to refuse even if he felt uncomfortable with the idea.

Baek Suryong nodded. Since the target was no longer a spirit beast, but a demonic beast, the spirit beast hunt would have to be canceled. From now on, he would have to proceed with much more caution and greater cunning.

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Having organized his thoughts, he turned to Ya Suhyeok and instructed, "I'm going to scout out the area. Please explain everything to the others when they arrive." ŖÃNỒ₿Εṡ

"Huh? Then what about this little one?" Ya Suhyeok asked, staring apprehensively at the furball nestled in his arms.

It was fast asleep, completely oblivious to the world, but every time its fur brushed against his skin, his face twitched in discomfort.

"Purr…"

Baek Suryong chuckled softly, "Please take care of it for now. It's a poor little thing that lost its mother, so don't bully it."

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"B-But wouldn't it be better if you took it…"

Before Ya Suhyeok could finish, Baek Suryong vanished, leaving only a series of afterimages in his wake.

"Damn, he's really fast," Ya Suhyeok exclaimed, staring blankly at the spot where his teacher had disappeared.

He looked down at the furball sleeping peacefully in his arms. "Shit…"

The horrifying scene of a tiger killing his father was something he could never forget. After that, he had vowed to kill every tiger he encountered, and he had already slain more than ten. Yet, when he looked at the tiny furball, he felt completely defeated.

"…Is it because it's so small and doesn't have stripes? It doesn't look like a tiger at all."

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How could this teeny tiny thing be a tiger?

Murmuring under his breath, Ya Suhyeok turned to face the scrawny bandits. As expected, it was much easier to deal with thugs than to think about what to do with the little tiger cub.

"Oi, hyungs," he called out roughly.

The bandits nervously approached Ya Suhyeok, their eyes wide with fear.

"Earlier, I saw a torn Viridian Forest Alliance flag. Is this mountain keep officially registered with the Viridian Forest Alliance?"

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"…Yes?"

"…You didn't hang up the Viridian Forest flag without permission, did you?"

Isn't this something only someone from the Viridian Forest Bandits would know? Confused, the Underboss hesitated for a moment, then hastily replied, "N-No, of course not! We're an officially registered business establishment under the Viridian Forest Bandit King!"

"Are you sure? I heard that there are a lot of fakes these days."

"Please believe me, we're legit! But, how did you know…"

"That's none of your business," Ya Suhyeok snapped. "If you're an official establishment, bring me the ledger."

The Underboss and his underlings eyed Ya Suhyeok suspiciously.

No way…

Isn't he too knowledgeable about bandit matters?

It was almost like he's one of us.

Suddenly, the furball stirred and began to squirm.

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"Tsk…" Ya Suhyeok stared at the squirming furball and licked his lips.

The blood drained from the bandits' faces. I-Is he going to eat it?

They were quite fond of the adorable Silver Tiger cub, and its mother had saved them from the Horned Snake.

What if this guy whose more bandit-like than us real bandits tries to eat the Silver Tiger?

W-We have to stop him…

But his fists are so big…

Seeing the bandits glance back and forth between him and the Silver Tiger anxiously, Ya Suhyeok scowled and snarled, "What are you looking at?"

""N-Nothing, sir!""

Thankfully, the reason Ya Suhyeok had licked his lips wasn't because he was craving some (tender?) tiger meat. He was looking at the cuts and scrapes on the furball's body.

"…Anyone have any Wound Healing Balm?" he grunted.

"Y-Yes, we have some, but…"

"Bring it here."

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A moment later, one of the bandits handed Ya Suhyeok the ointment.

"No wonder it was stumbling around so much," Ya Suhyeok mumbled, applying the ointment to the sleeping furball's wounds with a surprisingly gentle touch. "…Such a tiny thing, yet so high maintenance."

After applying the ointment, Ya Suhyeok gazed dazedly at the furball, whose labored breathing had eased considerably.

"Hey… I'm an orphan too," he whispered in a barely audible voice, before handing it over to the Underboss, annoyed by how the furball's now sticky fur tickled his skin.

Turning to the other bandits, he commanded, "Get to work. We need to bury the corpses and fix the fence before Mr. Baek comes back."

""Y-Yes, sir…"" the bandits replied meekly.

Ya Suhyeok scowled. "What's up with you pansies? How do you plan to get back to business with that shitty attitude?" he barked.

""YES, SIR!""

Finally satisfied, Ya Suhyeok nodded. "That's a bit better. Then, when you're done burying the bodies, go chop some wood."

""YES, SIR!""

Ya Suhyeok casually slung an axe, one that most men couldn't even lift with both hands, over his shoulder and took the lead.

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He looked exactly like a bandit heading out to do business.

Before the day was out, the students who had seen the flare began trickling into the bandit camp one by one.

Geo Sangwoong was the first to arrive, but since he had been through a lot in the forest, he was practically naked when he showed up. Seeing Ya Suhyeok with the bandits, though, his eyes went wide with surprise.

"You… Did you actually take over a bandit keep?" he exclaimed.

"Take over?" Ya Suhyeok scoffed. "What are you talking about? And what happened to your clothes?"

"My clothes were torn to shreds while I fought a bear," Geo Sangwoong explained. "At least I managed to protect my modesty. Phew!"

"As if that's something to be proud of… Someone get this man some clothes."

The bandits were terrified by the appearance of a man who was even bigger and burlier than Ya Suhyeok, but they really didn't have any clothes that would fit Geo Sangwoong. In the end, Geo Sangwoong had to make do with wrapping a large bearskin around himself like a robe.

It seemed that with each passing day, he was looking more and more like a bear.

"Senior! Suhyeok!"

Wiji Cheon was the second to arrive. Unlike Geo Sangwoong, his uniform was still neat and clean. Having lived in the mountains with his grandfather, he hadn't had much trouble navigating the unfamiliar forest.

Lastly, Hyonwon Kang and Yeo Min came running into the keep together, bickering.

"Hey! We're late because of you!"

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"What? You're the reason we got lost, Senior!"

Both of them seemed to have suffered quite a bit, as their bodies were covered with leaves and dirt.

"Hmm? What's that tiny thing?" Hyonwon Kang asked, staring at the furball in Ya Suhyeok's arms.

"Oh my, it's adorable!" At the sight of the white furball, Yeo Min squealed and rushed over to pet it, not at all minding that Wiji Cheon and Geo Sangwoong were already unconsciously petting it.

"Hiss!" The furball hissed and tried to get away, annoyed by all the attention, but it was futile. Humans were just too persistent and relentless when it came to adorable things.

So cute! So cute! So cute!

Yeo Min, Wiji Cheon, and Geo Sangwoong fought over who would get to pet the furball. Even Hyonwon Kang, who had been watching from the sidelines, eventually joined in the petting mania.

Ya Suhyeok shook his head in disbelief. "Seniors," he said, his voice serious. "Listen carefully, I'm only going to say this once. A demonic beast known as the Horned Snake has appeared on this mountain…"

Ya Suhyeok told them everything he had heard from the underboss. When he finished, the four of them turned somber, but they still didn't stop petting the furball.

"A demonic beast…"

"We have to catch it quickly."

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"So Mr. Baek went looking for it?"

The students turned their pitying gazes toward the baby Silver Tiger, now orphaned.

"Poor thing," Geo Sangwoong said, shaking his head sadly. "So young, yet it lost its mother…"

"Why don't we take it home and raise it?" Wiji Cheon suggested.

Yeo Min nodded eagerly. "I agree! What should we name it?"

"Hmm… Since it's a white tiger, how about Baekbeom1?" Hyonwon Kang suggested, but his proposal was immediately shot down.

Ya Suhyeok's jaw dropped. "You want to take this furball home and raise it? Are you guys all crazy?"

At that moment, the furball, which had been watching Ya Suhyeok like a predator observing its prey, seized the opportunity and jumped onto Ya Suhyeok's head.

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"GYAAAAH! Damn it! Get down from there!" Ya Suhyeok yelled, reaching out to grab the furball.

However, it quickly slipped off his head and clung to his back like a leech, demonstrating the uncanny agility of a spirit beast to the fullest. Annoyed by all the strangers trying to pet it, it had decided to stick to the most familiar and harmless one—Ya Suhyeok.

"Fuck!" Ya Suhyeok howled. "Someone get this thing off me!"

Unfortunately, no one helped him. His fellow students just stared at him enviously.

"I'm so jealous…"

"Lucky bastard. He got chosen…"

"As expected… It's all about the back muscles, huh?"

Unfortunately, Baek Suryong didn't return to the mountain keep until the next day… so Ya Suhyeok spent an entire day being harassed by a furball and his seniors.

Translator's Note: Manhwa chapter 100 is out! Su's identity was revealed right from the start, damn it!

1. Baekbeom literally meaning White Tiger. ↩

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