It was simply latent, not yet manifested.
"Starting tomorrow, the training for the twenty new members will begin."
"What? Already?"
"Didn't you all start training almost as soon as you arrived?"
"Well, that's true… but those men looked very weak."
Does she mean she's already figured them all out?
Indeed, in this respect, this child is a bud no less promising than Jeon Rahwa.
No, in this regard, I should say she is somewhat different from me.
Whether that's good or bad is still impossible to tell.
"I'm thinking of giving you a role as well."
"What? Me?!"
"Yes. You."
Looking straight into Hoae's trembling eyes, Dong Bongsu asked with certainty.
"Can you do it?"
The child's eyes were filled half with nervousness and half with anticipation.
"What kind of role is it?"
"Instructor."
"Instructor? What's that?"
"Someone who beats up people who don't listen and makes them stronger."
"Ah? I beat them up? Those men? Me?"
"Yes. You have to beat them up."
"…Why?"
"Because those men have all become family members of this Hero's Sect now."
"Family… members."
"No need to be scared. Just do the same thing you did with the children. The only difference is that the number of people will be a bit larger."
Family members.
People who eat together.
Hoae, who repeated this word several times, firmly pressed her lips together in a determined manner before nodding her head.
"…Yes! I can do it. I will do it."
"Good. Come to the Training Ground before sunrise tomorrow."
Hoae bowed deeply and disappeared with quick steps.
Her back, though still small, was straight.
Just then, Jeon Rahwa, who had been watching from a distance to see what Kim Rae-won would do, approached.
She was still gazing at Hoae's retreating back as she muttered.
"You really… Do you even know how old she is?"
"Age doesn't matter when it comes to skill."
"That's true, but…"
"You've already agreed."
"What?"
"You said, 'That's true, but,' didn't you?"
"…"
"Watch carefully. You'll be surprised when you see how strong that child already is."
He was the one who had actually taught the child martial arts.
Although he hadn't passed them down thoroughly and persistently, Dong Bongsu could feel it.
If his judgment was correct, she was already…
Click.
He opened Hoae's individual Status Window.
The numbers were much higher than he remembered.
The last time he checked was only a few days ago.
Interesting.
'I'll find out for sure if I check properly over the next week.'
"In any case, this is a field she was already specializing in."
A smirk.
"All I did was give it a fancy name."
"Yes, I understand. Still, if it seems like the child can't handle it, I'm going to make her stop immediately."
"Just try not to push her to work even harder."
"Tch. As if."
Watching Jeon Rahwa's back recede into the distance, Dong Bongsu opened the Quest Window again.
Progress: 12%.
Seven days.
The words 'making sure they don't die' were quite plausible for something said as Kim Rae-won.
Not only had Jeon Rahwa and Hoae been convinced, but it was also a line that Dong Bongsu himself could have said.
'The surest way to teach someone how to survive is…'
Dong Bongsu also turned his body.
"To make them cross the threshold of death countless times."
Because the driving force of evolution is always, inevitably, survival.
● ● ●
The next day, just before sunrise.
About thirty people were gathered in the Training Ground.
The children had already been arranged into two squads by Hoae.
The new members were restless.
The heat from last night's interview had cooled, and only the chilly dawn air weighed on their shoulders.
They glanced at each other or looked down at their feet.
Dong Bongsu stood in the middle of the Training Ground, scanning each and every one of them.
'Seven days.'
Arithmetically, it was entirely possible.
After all, it's much easier to raise a 10-point person to 50 points in a short period than to educate a 90-point person to become 91.
However, it couldn't be done here.
"Attention."
It wasn't intentional, but 'Faith Weight' naturally spread beneath his voice.
The effect, however, was clear.
The backs of the thirty people straightened all at once.
It must have been because they felt an indescribable weight pressing down on the air.
"You are all new recruits. We are a new sect. And as such, we are weak. But!"
Dong Bongsu continued speaking as he calmly looked at each person one by one.
"The Jianghu is old, and as such, it is rotten."
His outstretched index finger pointed to the sky outside the Hero's Sect.
"Out there! The Murim! The Murim! The Jianghu, for all its long history and the foul, rotten stench it gives off, is stronger than us."
At his speech, the entire Hero's Sect was enveloped in silence.
"As you all know, our Hero's Sect will venture out into the Jianghu. And soon, at that."
"…"
"..."
"Then what is it that you need right now?"
The area around the Training Ground remained silent.
However, an unknown resolve began to flow from their bodies.
It was all a natural atmosphere that Dong Bongsu had drawn out.
He slowly approached, passing by the children and then each of the new members as he continued to speak.
"Pack your bags immediately to last for seven days and nights."
Silence.
Thirty pairs of eyes widened simultaneously.
All the new members looked at the person next to them, and the children looked at Hoae.
The meaning of packing their bags was all too clear.
"What you need is strength. Skill."
Of course, this was the first time Hoae had heard of this, too.
"I, this Kim Rae-won, will make you strong. Strong enough not to get beaten up easily wherever you go."
● ● ●
Jeon Rahwa came running, panting for breath.
She was hugging a register tightly, suggesting she had been pondering what roles to assign to each of the new members.
"You're taking everyone outside this time?"
"Yes. Everyone."
"But if everyone leaves the Hero's Sect, who will guard this place?"
"Why guard it?"
"…What?"
"If no one's here, we don't have to guard it."
"…"
"The people are the Hero's Sect. Not some buildings and land."
Jeon Rahwa's mouth closed.
A moment of silence.
Just then.
"…Then what about us?"
A sharp voice was heard.
It was Yan Bilyeong, standing with her arms crossed under the eaves of the Training Ground.
Myo Jinheo stood next to her, holding a fan.
Dong Bongsu nonchalantly turned his head in their direction.
As if he had only just seen them.
"Oh? You were still here?"
"…"
The corner of Yan Bilyeong's eye twitched.
Myo Jinheo, who glanced at her, covered his mouth with his fan and spoke softly.
"Hasn't Trigram Master Dongmun returned yet?"
"Ah, that? Is that why you're still here?"
"For now, yes?"
"Then you should come with us."
"…What do you mean by that?"
"If two Trigram Masters of the Formation Tower are left alone in an empty house, wouldn't it become the River Capital branch office of the Formation Tower, not the Hero's Sect?"
Dong Bongsu, faithfully wearing the persona of Kim Rae-won, raised the corners of his mouth and said.
"You've been eating for free all this time, so you should at least play the part of a houseguest. Don't you think?"
After a brief silence.
Yan Bilyeong smirked, and Myo Jinheo folded his fan.
For now, it was a sign of affirmation.
Jeon Rahwa, who had watched it all, approached, shaking her head.
"But."
"Yeah. What?"
"Have you decided where we'll be training?"
"Of course…"
"Ah, so you did have a plan?"
"I haven't decided."
"…You're joking, right?"
"Of course…"
Dong Bongsu smiled.
"I'm not."
It wasn't a joke.
Outside the River Capital was a vast, empty plain.
And lions are originally raised in such places.
A lion becomes a lion by running and rolling, getting broken and battered tirelessly on the vast plains.
If it's raised in a zoo, it becomes no different from a large cat.
"We'll start with a run."
"No, I mean, if we're going to run, there needs to be a destination, right?"
"Ah, that?"
"Yes, that."
"There is one, that."
"…Ah, I'm seriously considering not packing your lunch."
The Kim Rae-won mask is certainly not bad for having this kind of fun.
But that's enough.
Dong Bongsu looked in one direction and said.
"The place where we first met."
"…?"
"The Colorful Lake."
"The Colorful Lake?"
"Yes. There."
Unlike the first time, it was now a completely quiet place.
"Even if the mountain bandits have been wiped out… It's extremely far from here."
"That's why it's good."
"…?"
"It only counts as training if it's far enough for dozens of people to drop dead from running."
"…"
● ● ●
One meal's time later.
The entire group from before stood in front of the Hero's Sect's main gate, carrying their belongings.
Their baggage consisted of little more than provisions, water, and a change of outer clothes.
Even then, most didn't know how to pack, so Jeon Rahwa had to hand things out to each of them.
The faces of the new members were filled with half nervousness and half bewilderment.
The children were different.
Hoae had already divided them into two squads and positioned them at the front and back.
Without even being told.
"The men will feel less anxious if they see familiar faces at the front and back."
That's what Hoae had told Jeon Rahwa.
On the other side, Yan Bilyeong came out with a sword strapped to her back.
Myo Jinheo silently unfolded his fan and stood with her at the rear of the formation.
Both of them had an attitude that suggested walking itself was nothing to them.
The moment the two Trigram Masters' participation was confirmed, a murmur arose among the new members.
Rumors had spread so much that their identities were no longer a surprise in the River Capital.
It was just surprising that such masters of the Jianghu were coming along.
Dong Bongsu let the murmurs pass him by.
It wasn't bad.
It was another reason that added to the authority of the Sect Leader.
Of course, he wasn't very interested in that at the moment.
Somewhere in the middle of the formation.
A man named Seok Gyeong was standing there.
The two hundred and fifteenth, and last, applicant from last night's interview.
— I don't know what righteousness is.
— I do know that doing nothing when my sister was dragged away was not righteousness.
A man whose arrow of emotion was aimed not outward, but inward at himself.
This type of person grows quickly when they start to stretch out.
Because the one they have to prove themselves to is not others, but themselves.
'I'll remember that,' was not part of Dong Bongsu's calculation, but a line from Kim Rae-won, an ad-lib of sorts.
It came out very naturally as he became the persona itself and acted.
Nevertheless, it was quite effective.
Because Seok Gyeong's eyes had changed at that moment.
Right now, Seok Gyeong was standing without any particular expression.
His baggage was tied to his back.
It was on the lighter side compared to the others.
It seemed he was a man who originally traveled light.
His eyes were deep.
A transparent gaze.
This man had broad shoulders and thick hands, yet his movements had no scent of martial arts.
'Below third-rate. A body that has not even properly learned basic internal energy.'
Nevertheless, there was a point worth noting.
That physique was a practical 'body' forged through all sorts of life experiences.
The way his muscles were built was not from training, but from work and a proper daily life.
A man over twenty.
By the standards of this place, one might think it was impossible to achieve anything by teaching him martial arts, but not Dong Bongsu.
It was quite the opposite.
'He has no martial arts, but his foundation is solid.'
A clean, empty vessel that held nothing else.
'All I have to do is fill it, and fill it again.'
However, it was necessary to drastically shorten that period.
Dong Bongsu's gaze moved away from Seok Gyeong.
In any case, he could confirm it sufficiently over the next seven days.
For now, departure came first.
"Let's go."
Kim Rae-won threw out a single word and started walking.
With his steps as the start, the entire group began to move.
As they passed through the gates of the River Capital, a wide plain unfolded.
The morning sun was still low, and a light fog hung over the distant mountain ridges.
What on earth did she eat, and how did she grow up for this to be so natural?
Hoae had already tightened the formation and brought it into overall balance.
The two groups of children formed a shape that enveloped the adults from the front and back.
The march began, and Kim Rae-won gradually increased his pace.
When the formation began to stretch out in less than a meal's time, Seok Gyeong moved.
He silently took the baggage from an older member who was staggering at the back.
Without anyone telling him to.
He was now carrying the baggage of two people.
Yet, his pace did not slow.
Because his basic physical strength was outstanding.
Hoae saw the scene.
Their eyes met.
Seok Gyeong nodded, and Hoae nodded back.
They didn't know each other's names.
They had never exchanged words.
Yet, it seemed as if something had been communicated between them.
'There are always two types of people.'
Dong Bongsu thought as he walked.
The strong and the weak.
The rich and the poor.
The ruler and the ruled.
In this way, everything could fundamentally be created with two contrasts.
And among them, naturally.
There are those who do what they are told, and those who do things without being told.
Hoae had proven it among the children.
And Seok Gyeong was now demonstrating it with his own body.
'Interesting.'
The march continued.
It was still a long way to the Colorful Lake.