Chapter 112: A Coveted Beast It was the tenth day since they had started training at the dojo upon Yeon-woo's recommendation.
Rio and Masayoshi were experiencing a living hell.
"Ho ho ho! You really are hideous. You've got such a petty face; even among the ugly, yours looks the most pitiful. From now on, I shall call you 'Filthy Face.'"
The training itself was grueling, but the verbal abuse from Master Chen, their instructor, was even worse.
He didn't hold back—casual body shaming, character assassination, sarcasm, and insults they had never even heard of. He did everything short of insulting their parents.
As Rio, drenched in sweat and barely holding on, forced a distorted smile, Master Chen furrowed his white eyebrows and approached Masayoshi, who was collapsed on the floor.
"What did I tell you? I told you that since you're so ugly, your face is unbearable to look at unless you're constantly smiling."
"…I am smiling right now…"
"Ho ho… To think this is a smiling face. What a truly peculiar visage you have."
Master Chen looked up at the sky as if in pity and clicked his tongue.
If he were just foul-mouthed, it wouldn't have hurt this much. But it was impossible to tell if Master Chen's words were mere insults or if he truly felt sorry for them, which made it feel even worse.
Master Chen shook his head and sat down on the fallen Masayoshi's back.
"Urgh—!"
"Is it hard?"
"No, it's not hard at all…"
"Then get up, you vermin. Do you really feel like resting with your current level of skill? If I were you, I would have committed suicide out of self-loathing by now."
On the first day, when asked if it was hard, they had said yes and were met with a barrage of insults.
After having insults screamed into their ears for over an hour, Rio and Masayoshi never said the word "hard" again.
Of course, that didn't mean the unpleasant verbal abuse stopped.
Masayoshi groaned as he tried to stand, but the weight suddenly increased, pinning him flat against the floor like a frog crushed by a truck.
This was also the reason why the two continued to attend the dojo despite the constant humiliation.
Though he was thin, small, and had a hunched back—looking like an old man with not much time left—Master Chen was incredibly skilled.
Being a good fighter didn't necessarily mean one was a good teacher. In fact, the more talented or genius-like a person was, the more often they failed to teach because they couldn't understand the struggles of the mediocre.
However, on the very first day, Master Chen had identified their strengths, weaknesses, and skill levels just by scanning their bodies with his eyes.
The training he assigned was grueling, but it was so effective that they felt themselves changing day by day. For the first time in a long while, the two were experiencing the joy of growth.
It was a feeling from a distant, fading memory.
Both of them had been accepted into Yggdrasil at a relatively young age, so they couldn't be without talent.
It was just that the people gathered at Yggdrasil were so extraordinary; back in their respective hometowns, they had been the most outstanding prodigies.
Both remembered being called child prodigies for their magical talent and how they used to absorb anything they were taught like a sponge.
However, as their achievements grew, their growth slowed. Comparing themselves to the monsters at Yggdrasil who grew without limits, they had half-given up on themselves.
Having tasted the joy of growth again, passion began to stir within them. They were working hard, just like in their childhood when they were full of dreams and felt they could do anything.
"I know you belong on the ground, but do you intend to lie there forever?"
"Ngggh— Just a little… if you could just reduce the weight a little… ugh…"
"Hey! Are you going to beg your enemies to hit you softly when you fight, too? It's a mindset befitting a pride-less vermin, but isn't it about time you stopped being a bug and became a human?"
"Uuuh— Uuuuugh!"
"Now you can't even speak human language. Tsk, tsk. Well, since you've abandoned humanity, if you can't get up now, you can eat your dinner lying right there. A table is a luxury for the likes of you."
Master Chen was foul-mouthed, but he wasn't a man of empty words.
If he said to eat off the floor, he would literally make them eat off the floor. Since he called a table a luxury, he probably wouldn't even give them utensils and would just throw the food on the ground for them to scavenge.
Having grasped Master Chen's personality during their training, Masayoshi strained with all his might to stand.
Mealtime was one of the few moments of happiness while at the dojo.
Another reason the two didn't run away despite the grueling training and harsh insults was because of mealtime.
To be precise, it was because of Master Chen's beautiful granddaughter, who did the cooking.
"Kieeeeek—!"
"Ho ho ho! That beastly cry is loud and clear. Struggle more! Vermin like you are nothing if you don't at least struggle."
Master Chen chuckled as he sat on Masayoshi's heaving back.
Masayoshi lost his strength several times due to Master Chen's increasing weight, eating mouthfuls of dust and dirt, but he didn't give up until the end and forced his body up.
It would have been nice to receive some praise, but Master Chen ignored the standing Masayoshi and walked away, striking the abdomen of Rio, who was hanging upside down from a tree, with his cane.
"I told you to keep your core tight, didn't I? Are you deaf despite being young? Have you developed dementia? If it's neither, then you must be lacking intelligence. A beast lacking intelligence needs the rod as medicine; shall I write you a prescription today?"
"No! I'll work harder!"
"Seeing a beast speak human words, it seems you really do need that medicine. Hmph— I'll decide whether to beat you senseless after we eat. Even for a beast, feeding it is a matter of human decency."
Master Chen left them with an order to go wash off their stinking sweat and entered the annex.
Once he was gone, Rio and Masayoshi, who had been quietly watching his every move, exhaled in unison.
"Help me… help me down."
"I'm sorry, but I can't move right now either."
Masayoshi, who had spent all his strength just standing up, couldn't move his trembling legs.
Rio, hanging upside down, tried to lift his body to untie the rope around his legs, but he couldn't even get halfway before his abdomen flared with pain, and he went limp again.
"Looks like everyone's working hard?"
"Yeon-woo…? You piece of trash! To throw us into this hell and slip away yourself!"
Rio flailed as he saw Yeon-woo suddenly appear and speak to them, but he just looked like an upside-down caterpillar; nothing improved.
Yeon-woo chuckled at the sight and rested his elbow on Masayoshi's shoulder. Unable to withstand the weight, Masayoshi collapsed straight back onto the ground.
"…Sorry."
"I want to hit you too, but I don't have the strength…"
Yeon-woo rescued the panting Masayoshi and the limp Rio, propping them up against a tree, and looked around the dojo with curiosity.
As he surveyed the traditional-style houses divided into several sections around the wide yard used for training, Masayoshi, having caught his breath, asked.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to see if you guys were doing well."
"To see us die?"
"That geezer is surprisingly delicate; he only pushes you just enough so you won't die."
At his nonchalant remark, Rio and Masayoshi nodded slightly in agreement.
Master Chen pushed them exactly to their limits and then forced them to surpass them.
Perhaps the insulting language was also a teaching method intended to provoke them and boost their motivation.
'No… that can't be it.'
Masayoshi, who had briefly thought positively, shook his head, thinking there was no way.
Then he looked at Yeon-woo, who seemed to know Master Chen well.
Clearly, Master Chen hadn't known Yeon-woo. When they first came to learn and mentioned Yeon-woo's name when asked who sent them, they only received a response that he had no idea who that was.
So why did Yeon-woo seem to know Master Chen so well?
It wasn't like he had heard about him from someone else; Yeon-woo seemed as if he had spent a long time with Master Chen and experienced him firsthand. Everything about it was strange.
While Masayoshi was harboring doubts, Rio spoke up as if he had remembered something.
"Oh, come to think of it, that secret medicine you gave us to take during training… I heard it's really expensive?"
"Where'd you hear that?"
"Master Chen said so. Is it okay to give us something that expensive?"
"Money isn't important. There are many things in this world that you can't buy even with money."
Thinking of the ingredients for the secret medicine that treats the Whitening Phenomenon, Yeon-woo gave a bitter smile.
Masayoshi, who had been watching closely, noticed he was hiding something and considerately changed the subject.
"So, why are you really here?"
"I told you, I came to see if you were doing well… or at least that's what I was going to say. Is it that obvious?"
"There's no way you'd just drop by."
Yeon-woo shrugged at Masayoshi's words.
"We're going on a request during the last week before vacation ends, so be ready. Tell the geezer, too."
"A mission? What kind of mission?"
"It hasn't been decided yet. It'll be determined by what Akito chooses. I have to pick up whatever he discards."
Masayoshi, unable to understand why Akito's name was coming up here, exchanged a glance with Rio and was about to ask.
"The beast's friend has arrived, I see."
But at the sudden voice, Masayoshi jumped and shut his mouth.
Yeon-woo turned around to see Master Chen and his granddaughter already sitting on the veranda, watching them.
"Bukgeuk-jwa…"
"Bukgeuk?"
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing."
Yeon-woo, who had muttered something strange, told Rio not to worry about it and bowed to Master Chen.
"Hello."
"So you're the one called Seo Yeon-woo."
"Yes, I'm Seo Yeon-woo. I'm sure you've heard from these guys."
"You have the face of a gigolo. You wear a disgusting smile, but inside you're dark and only think about swinging your pathetic dick around."
Rio and Masayoshi were appalled by Master Chen's blatant rudeness in insulting someone he was meeting for the first time, but Yeon-woo just laughed it off.
"First of all, my smile isn't disgusting. It's the most handsome in the world. And my dick is fucking huge. It's definitely not pathetic."
"Hahahat! You truly are a friend of beasts."
Master Chen roared with laughter at Yeon-woo's response, but his granddaughter scowled, her fine eyebrows furrowing in disgust.
It was the first time Rio and Masayoshi had seen her make such a face.
Unlike the damn Master Chen, Fei was someone who was always smiling, kind, and full of consideration.
Even though the two had shown their pathetic and dirty sides during training, she had always smiled and treated them kindly.
Seeing Fei respond gently even when they blurted out nonsense to impress her, both Rio and Masayoshi had indulged in fantasies like, 'Does she like me?' That had been one of the reasons they hadn't run away.
But that kind girl was currently wearing a more terrifying expression than anyone else.
Seeing Fei's face full of hostility, even Master Chen glanced at her in surprise before looking at Yeon-woo with interest.
Rio and Masayoshi felt that same skin-crawling gaze they had felt on the first day, as if their entire bodies were being scanned.
After scanning Yeon-woo from head to toe, Master Chen curled his lips into an amused smile.
"You're an interesting fellow."
"I hear that often."
It had been a long time since Master Chen had seen a brat act so bold in front of him.
Even Andreya, who was currently one of the 12 Zodiacs and had been his disciple, couldn't even lift her head properly before Master Chen when she was that age.
Part of it was because Andreya was naturally shy around people, but the fact that this boy could withstand the pressure Master Chen radiated so nonchalantly was extraordinary.
At first, he thought the boy just couldn't feel it because he was a novice without even a glimmer of talent, but Master Chen soon changed his mind.
It was bothersome that the scent of several women was so deeply ingrained in his body that it wouldn't wash off, but the mana surrounding his body was refined and orderly.
Usually, at that age, people foolishly focus only on increasing their mana and fail to gather it properly, making it unstable. But this fellow was as smooth as well-polished porcelain.
"Gigolo, do you have any intention of learning from me?"
"No."
"… …"
Master Chen's foul mouth momentarily stalled, perhaps not expecting such a blunt and immediate refusal.
"You might not know this, but—"
"No, I know very well. But I don't want to."
"… …"
Rio and Masayoshi, who had suffered much from Master Chen's sharp tongue, rejoiced inwardly at the sight of him repeatedly being silenced.
As the two felt a sense of vicarious satisfaction, the aura emanating from Fei's body grew turbulent.
Then, noticing Master Chen's gaze, she flustered and reined in her aura.
"Child, do you know this beast in heat?"
"No. He is a man I am seeing for the first time, Grandfather."
Master Chen was about to ask why she was showing such hostility then, but he stopped.
It didn't seem like she was lying about it being the first time they met, so why was his granddaughter, who usually hid her emotions well, acting like this?
The problem wasn't his granddaughter, but that gigolo.
'What kind of fellow is he…?'
Master Chen, watching Yeon-woo intently, soon curled his lips.
To Rio and Masayoshi, it looked like a demon was smiling. Having spent a grueling time under him, the two immediately grew timid and slunk behind Yeon-woo's back.
"Do you really hate the idea of learning from me that much?"
"Ah, well, for starters, I already have a master. I don't want to get in trouble."
"Ho ho, having only one master in this day and age… your thinking is more old-fashioned than I thought. Then, how about this? This child is my granddaughter. Duel her, and if you lose, become my disciple."
"This isn't a bride-kidnapping; what kind of way is that to decide on a disciple?"
Yeon-woo looked at him as if he were absurd, but Master Chen pushed forward relentlessly.
"That is how the world works—the superior and stronger get what they want."
"Wow, we're not in the age of romance; what kind of barbarism is this?"
"Consider it a mercy that I am not facing you myself."
"It would be cheating if a geezer like you stepped in. Besides, I have no intention of fighting."
As soon as Yeon-woo finished speaking, a stick appeared in Master Chen's hand, and a bluish barrier formed around the dojo.
When he showed that he had absolutely no intention of letting him leave, Yeon-woo let out a hollow laugh of exasperation.
"You know this is a crime, right? I'm going to go out and report this."
"Do as you wish after the duel. Isn't it good that this child also seems full of motivation, unlike her usual self?"
"You really don't listen, do you?"
At Master Chen's words, Fei, who had been showing her emotions through her killing intent, hid her aura again as if embarrassed. Yeon-woo sighed.
"Don't blame me if your precious granddaughter gets hurt."
"Do your worst, if you can."
As the stick slid from his sleeve and into his hand, Master Chen watched with eyes full of anticipation.
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