Chapter 81
"So, you know what! Something happened at the academy today!"
Yul-i was excitedly explaining something, bouncing up and down with enthusiasm.
"Su-a and I were playing when suddenly Do-hoon appeared out of nowhere and startled us by going 'Wah!' We both screamed 'Ah!' Then Su-a got really angry and yelled 'Hey!' and Do-hoon ran away so fast. His retreating figure was really funny!"
"Is that so? Our Yul-i had a fun day at the academy?"
"Yes! It was so much fun! I love Sowol Academy so much!"
As Yul-i beamed brightly, both Yeo Un-hwi and Peng Seo-yeon couldn't help but smile as well.
It was fortunate.
That such a place existed and that Yul-i loved it so much.
And so, Yul-i's academy life began happily.
Yul-i was so happy attending Sowol Academy that she looked forward to going there every day.
All her friends were kind and fun, and the teacher was gentle and affectionate.
The lessons were also tailored to ensure Yul-i, who had started midway, wouldn't fall behind.
It was perfect in every way.
Then one day.
Something strange started happening to Yul-i.
"Huh?"
Just as she was leaving the academy after classes, Yul-i suddenly turned her head.
She thought she saw something big and black appear briefly in the bushes over there.
But when she turned her head, the big black thing had already disappeared.
Yul-i tilted her head curiously.
Did she see wrong?
But this wasn't the first time recently. No, it had been happening almost every day, more times than she could count.
"Could it be a ghost?"
Yul-i made a serious face and stroked her short chin, making quite a plausible deduction for her age.
But soon, Yul-i shook her head.
"No, no."
She didn't think it was a ghost after all.
Her friends had said that when ghosts appear, you get goosebumps, but Yul-i didn't feel anything like that.
Should I check it out?
It was a brave choice, befitting Yul-i who had smiled brightly even when first meeting Peng Mugang.
Just as she decided and was about to approach the bushes,
"Yul-ah!"
Peng Seo-yeon, who had just arrived to pick up Yul-i, called out to her.
At that sound, Yul-i immediately turned away from the bushes and ran towards Peng Seo-yeon.
"Mom!"
Soon, Yul-i threw herself into Peng Seo-yeon's arms with a bright smile.
The big black thing she had seen in the bushes had already vanished from Yul-i's mind.
Soon after, Peng Seo-yeon and Yul-i headed towards the Peng Family compound in a carriage.
And watching Yul-i's departing figure, the big black thing secretly let out a sigh of relief.
"Brother, this place is really lucrative, isn't it?"
On a forest path.
Men with large builds and fierce looks were walking along, jingling money pouches and snickering.
"It's incomparable to the village we were in before. How did we even survive in that rural backwater until now! Moving here was the right decision, Brother! I'm really glad we listened to you!"
"Hahaha! Right? See? I told you I had a plan when I suggested moving. There's no one here collecting protection money."
"Why is that? In such a profitable area."
"I heard there's some famous martial arts family here."
"What? Then shouldn't we be careful too, Brother?"
"Who cares? How well can they fight anyway? Martial arts or whatever, one hit from my fist and they'll all go down."
Kekeke.
The men laughed, agreeing that it was true.
Having lived only in rural areas, they had never encountered proper martial artists before.
"Those skinny, small guys calling themselves martial artists and pretending to be experts, it's not even convincing. Real strength comes from these muscles, right?"
The man who seemed to be the leader of the thugs boasted, thumping his muscles.
"So there's nothing to worry about. If they annoy us, we'll just beat them up. And if things go wrong, we can always run away. Right?"
"Oh, when you put it that way, Brother, it all makes sense."
"Right? Hehehe."
As they were chattering and walking along, they spotted a beautiful academy in the distance.
"Oh? An academy... Good. That's our next target."
"What? Is that okay? It's where children learn..."
Whack!
A fist suddenly flew into the face of the hesitating man.
"Ugh! Ouch!"
Looking at the fallen man, the thug leader sneered.
"You bastard. What's with the sudden act of kindness? Huh? Why are you pretending to be nice all of a sudden?"
"No, Brother, that's not what I..."
"Listen up, little brother. The more ruthless you are in this world, the more money you make. Got it?"
"Yes, Brother. I'll keep that in mind. I must have gone crazy for a moment."
"Good. Good. As long as you understand."
Thump, thump.
The thug leader turned towards the direction of the academy, laughing wickedly.
"Let's go see how much we can squeeze out of that academy. If the kids cry and fuss, we'll just kick their butts. Hehehe!"
It was then.
Swoosh.
Someone put their arm around the thug leader's shoulders.
"Hey. Shall we have a little chat?"
"Huh? What the... How dare you... Eek!"
"What? What did you just say? No brains?"
It was a truly terrifying sight.
One had a face that looked like a fierce wild boar, and his build was twice as large as the thug's.
It was the first time the thug, who considered himself quite big, felt small.
Next to him were two sharp-looking men who appeared to be twins, and a woman with gleaming eyes.
Where did these terrifying people suddenly appear from?
The aura they exuded was completely different.
"W-Why, why are you doing this?"
"Ah. It's nothing much. Were you just planning to do something to that academy over there?"
"What? No! We weren't planning anything..."
"Oh my. You're lying when we just heard everything? This won't do. There's an open space just over there, let's go there."
"Why do we need to go to that open space..."
"Why? To have a deep conversation, of course."
"No, no! We're fine!"
"Well, I'm not fine with it. Come here."
Eek!
And some time later.
The thugs who had been so arrogantly planning to extort people were now kneeling in a row with their hands up in the open space.
Their faces were swollen and bruised from the beating they had received.
It was quite a sight.
Usually, people stop beating someone when they faint, but these people brought water from the nearby stream to splash on them and continue the beating.
Terrifying humans.
These weren't people at all.
"You guys."
"Yes!"
"If I see you lurking around here one more time, it won't end as nicely as today, understand?"
This is considered nice?
"Answer."
"Yes!"
"Be good, okay?"
"Yes! We understand!"
"Good. Now go."
Soon, they hurriedly got up and started running away like mad.
Their bodies were creaking and aching all over, but that wasn't important.
For some reason, they were afraid of being called back, so their only thought was to get out of sight as quickly as possible.
When the thugs had disappeared from view,
"Do you think they understood?"
"Usually, this much is enough to get the message across."
"That's good then. Ah! To think those bastards would dare to... where our Young Lady Yul-i is! Wow, I'm getting fired up again. Should we bring them back?"
"That's enough. That should do it. They might die if we do more."
"Yeah. Let's just be content with the fact that we protected Young Lady Yul-i's academy today."
Woah!
The big black things, the White Wolf Unit members, let out a victory roar.
It was worth patrolling here every day since Young Lady Yul-i started attending the academy.
Ah, Commander. How could you let the young lady out into such a dangerous world!
The White Wolf Unit members writhed in agony.
It was then.
"What are you guys doing here?"
Gasp!
A familiar voice was heard from behind them.
The voice that absolutely should not have been heard at this moment.
But they couldn't ignore it, so they turned their heads with a creak, and sure enough, Yeo Un-hwi was standing there with an incredulous look on his face.
"I thought you guys seemed strangely busy lately."
"Hehe. Commander."
"You must have a lot of free time for training lately, huh? I was just thinking I should increase the intensity of the training soon. This works out well."
"Ah, no, Commander! We were just... for Young Lady Yul-i's safety!"
"Yul-i is safe without you guys, you know?"
"No, Commander! You're busy, and it's not enough to just assign one or two guards! The world is very dangerous! It's too early for young Yul-i!"
"Alright, alright. The person who says those exact same words without missing a single detail is secretly coming here to watch over Yul-i, so don't worry."
"What? What do you mean..."
The White Wolf Unit members tilted their heads in confusion.
There was someone else besides them secretly coming here to watch over...?
Meanwhile.
Eeeek!
The thugs who had been thoroughly beaten by the White Wolf Unit and had their faces swollen beyond recognition, finally stopped running after a long time and caught their breath, panting heavily.
"Huff. Huff. Who were those terrifying people, really?"
"I don't know either."
"They looked really scary."
"I've never seen such fierce-looking guys in my life. Ugh."
The thugs shuddered, still horrified at the memory.
They had heard there were no other organizations here, but to think such people existed. This was hopeless.
They thought they should leave this city.
Ah, if only they could extort just one more person before that, they thought.
They hadn't come to their senses yet.
At that moment,
Thud.
"Huh? Don't you watch where you're going? You'll die... Oh?"
The thugs who had bumped shoulders glared at the person they collided with, their faces scrunched up in anger.
But,
Wh-what?
The person was so large that even they, who considered themselves quite big, had to look up.
And as soon as the thugs saw the person's face, they couldn't help but collapse on the spot.
There, a man who looked like a giant tiger disguised as a human was looking down at them.
And with a very displeased expression.
"What are you?"
Just a twitch of his eye was enough to make the thugs nearly wet themselves.
"S-s-sorry!"
"We're sorry!"
The men bowed their heads so low they almost touched the ground, and then suddenly started running away.
"Aaaaah!"
What kind of crazy city was this?
They made up their minds.
They would never, ever come near this place again.
And,
"Hmm. This won't do. This won't do at all."
Completely ignoring the fleeing thugs, Peng Mugang, who had been secretly watching Yul-i from beyond the Sowol Academy wall, was lost in thought, fidgeting restlessly.
Everyone was quite worried about Yul-i in their own way.