The New Vice Captain Of The Third Platoon Of The Thirteenth Flying Dragon Unit (2)

The first person to draw his saber against me was, unsurprisingly, the man who had mocked me first.

“I am Gang Socheol of the Black Crow Manor of Guizhou! Seonu Jin, I have long known how you were treated within the Seonu Clan! Today, I’ll expose how worthless you truly are! Draw your sword!”

“Hmm, the Black Crow Manor.”

The Black Crow Manor of Guizhou was one of the Eight Houses of Guizhou.

It should have belonged to the unorthodox path, yet strangely enough, it seemed to have dispatched warriors to the front.

I chuckled and crooked a finger at him.

“Just come at me. If you see my sword, you’ll die.”

Enraged, the man immediately charged.

“You bastard!”

Whoosh!

He swung his saber diagonally with all his strength.

Unfortunately for him, it was far too slow for me to let it hit.

After watching him begin his swing, I launched my fist like a ray of light and struck him squarely in the face.

Smack!

“Keugh!”

He failed even to complete his swing and tumbled backward disgracefully.

“Ugh! You bastard!”

I had not hit him hard enough to knock him unconscious, so despite staggering, he immediately stood again.

I approached him with a cold gaze and said.

“You swung your saber so widely without even understanding your opponent’s ability. It is almost miraculous that you are still alive.”

At that, he ground his teeth and charged again.

“Shut up!”

However, the result was no different from before.

Thud!

“Keugh!”

Watching him roll across the ground again, I spoke with a contemptuous expression.

“You’re weak and stupid besides. Did the Black Crow Manor send you because they would not care if you died?”

The man charged once again.

“You son of a bitch!”

Thud!

“Keugh!”

Although I had not struck particularly hard, he had taken three clean blows and was still grinding his teeth as he forced himself upright.

I chuckled and said.

“At least your fighting spirit is somewhat useful. The problem is that it’s the only useful thing you possess.”

“Y-You bastard…!”

This time, I did not wait and immediately rushed forward to strike him.

Smaack!

At last, he collapsed flat on his back.

I had hit him somewhat harder that time, so he would not be getting back up.

When I looked over the other platoon members, they were now watching me with tense gazes, unlike before.

I looked at the man who had agreed with Gang Socheol when he mocked me and said.

“Next.”

The man ground his teeth and drew his sword.

“I am from the Mok Manor of Guangxi…!”

I interrupted him while digging into my ear as though bored.

“I’m not curious. Just hurry and come at me.”

Provoked, the man immediately thrust his sword.

“You bastard!”

Swish!

However, in the next instant, his eyes nearly popped out in shock.

That was because I had lightly caught his sword between my index finger and thumb.

The sword trembled in midair, trapped between my fingers.

“Th-This…”

The other platoon members watching also shouted in astonishment.

“H-He caught a sword with his fingers?!”

“H-How can that be?!”

I chuckled and released the sword.

“You already died once. But I’ll give you one more opportunity. This time, come at me properly.”

The man swallowed and carefully searched for an opening in my stance.

However, I had not adopted any defensive posture in the first place, so there was no meaning to it.

After hesitating briefly, he charged once more.

“Haaap!”

This time, he chose a variation.

He feigned a rapid thrust, added two false moves to confuse me, then linked them into a slash toward my neck.

I smiled and said.

“That was somewhat better.”

However, in the next instant, his sword was once again caught firmly in my palm.

Clack!

I had blocked the blade with my palm and even closed my hand around it.

Seeing that not even a single drop of blood emerged from my hand, the man asked in a trembling voice.

“H-How?!”

“I trained in external arts. Surely you knew that?”

Then I kicked him away.

Thud!

“Keuugh!”

I swept a cold gaze over the remaining platoon members and said.

“You’re weak, slow, and stupid besides. This is so boring that I’m about to yawn. Is this truly all the Third Platoon amounts to?”

The members of the Third Platoon, who had begun losing their fighting spirit after witnessing the overwhelming difference in ability, once again developed vicious glints in their eyes.

“Do not insult us!”

I chuckled and replied.

“Insult you? In what way? I merely stated the facts as they are. The one who was truly insulted was me, for coming here to serve as vice-captain to the likes of you. And Lady Tang Yeo-eun, who has been forced to manage people like you as her platoon members.”

“What did you say?!”

“You son of a bitch!”

I had done it deliberately, but as expected, mentioning Lady Tang was extremely effective against her followers.

They were now even emitting killing intent, so I smiled fiercely and crooked my finger.

“Come at me together, you pieces of trash.”

For some time afterward, the front of the Third Platoon’s quarters was filled with loud impacts and screams.

Thud! Smack! Wham! Thump! Crack!

“Keugh!”

“Ugh!”

“Aaagh!”

“Aaaaagh!”

A short while later, every male member of the Third Platoon lay on the ground groaning.

I had beaten them until every trace of hostility drained out of them, so naturally, they had become limp.

When I looked to the side, Lady Song Yeong-yeong and the other woman were also staring at me with appalled expressions.

A faint trace of fear had even appeared in the eyes of the woman other than Lady Song.

I felt as though I had become a villain, but it did not feel particularly bad.

‘The atmosphere seems to have been established well enough now.’

Simply beating them would have made me feel refreshed for a moment, but there was no way I could properly fulfill my role as vice-captain through that alone.

Thus, from the beginning, I had intended to beat them to an appropriate extent and then attempt to connect with them.

A carrot always tasted sweeter after the whip.

After looking over them briefly, I slowly opened my mouth.

“I respected Myeong Sahyeon, the former vice-captain of the Third Platoon. Regardless of the level of his martial arts, I sincerely admired the kind of person he showed himself to be. He was cheerful yet sincere, bold yet considerate. Above all, he possessed the mental strength to preserve his will even after being subjected to the Blood Cult’s Soul-Seizing Art. Until then, I had never even heard that such a thing was possible. That was why I held expectations—for the Third Platoon he had commanded, and for the platoon members who had fought beside him. But…”

After saying that much, I silently swept my gaze over them.

They could no longer raise their heads and merely stared at the ground.

Although I could not see their faces directly, it was easy to tell that each one had become twisted with longing for Myeong Sahyeon and shame.

Everyone in the Thirteenth Unit knew that Myeong Sahyeon had been someone special to them.

Thus, although their hostility toward me had certainly been partly because of Lady Tang, I believed the greater reason was that someone other than Myeong Sahyeon had taken his position.

That was why I had deliberately brought up Myeong Sahyeon.

I wanted to tell them that I had come to this position because I respected and missed him, and therefore was no different from them.

And it was not entirely a lie.

I truly did respect him.

I continued speaking.

“Before criticizing me for coming from outside to become your vice-captain, you should have criticized yourselves first! You should have condemned your own incompetence for lacking the ability to become vice-captain yourselves and forcing an outsider like me to be brought in! And before becoming angry at my insults, you should have become angry at yourselves—for your own helplessness in lacking even the strength to repay those insults!”

As I rebuked them while releasing a suitable amount of pressure, none of them could offer a rebuttal.

That was only natural.

They were martial artists as well.

Although their twisted feelings had led them to provoke me, they were not wicked people.

Finally, I enunciated each word clearly.

“Struggle before you become angry. At least, if you truly are martial artists.”

One by one, the platoon members lying on the ground began clenching their teeth.

Their fighting spirit was returning to their eyes.

And it was not a fighting spirit directed toward me, but a desire to improve.

By using Myeong Sahyeon’s memory, I had succeeded in redirecting their hostility into ambition.

A slight smile escaped me.

I had felt the same when I served as the head of the Seonu Clan in my previous life, but it seemed I possessed a subtle talent for leadership.

It seemed time to conclude matters.

And to pour a little more oil onto the fire while I was at it.

After lowering my pressure, I spoke to them in a solemn voice.

“I will make you one promise here. If one of you develops enough ability to fulfill the role of vice-captain, I will return to the Seventh Platoon without hesitation. But until then, I am your vice-captain. I hope you never forget that again.”

They gave no answer, but I could clearly sense that they had accepted it.

I shouted crisply.

“Third Platoon, assemble!”

The Third Platoon members who had been lying on the ground immediately sprang up and began forming a single-file line.

Some grimaced from the pain of their beatings, but at least none of them moved sluggishly.

I was highly satisfied.

Looking at the line they had formed before me in an instant, I said.

“My name is Seonu Jin. But I have not yet heard your names.”

Starting with the person on the far left, they shouted energetically.

“I am Gang Socheol from the Black Crow Manor of Guizhou!”

He had been the first to mock me and the first to be beaten.

However, there was no longer any trace of that attitude in his expression or tone.

“I am Mok Gyeongjin from the Mok Manor of Guangxi!”

“I am from the Jindo Sect of Sichuan…!”

After receiving introductions from all the platoon members, I dismissed them with a brief greeting.

Then I entered the quarters, roughly unpacked my belongings, and came back outside.

I intended to meet the person who had been watching from the forest for some time.

When I quietly entered the undergrowth alone, the person there looked at me in surprise.

“Y-Young Master Seonu?”

“Everything is already over. Why are you still hiding here?”

It was Lady Tang Yeo-eun.

Lady Tang had already returned and begun watching from the forest while I was still beating the platoon members.

I had sensed her presence from that point onward but pretended not to notice. Since she still had not emerged even after everything ended, I had come to see her.

She gave me a bashful smile and shook her head.

“I was just thinking about various things.”

The expression she showed only when the two of us were alone was this adorable.

Her appearance as a cold beauty was certainly impressive as well, but personally, I found this side of her far more pleasant to see.

“What were you thinking about?”

She smiled somewhat bitterly and answered.

“Hmm, that despite this being Young Master Seonu’s first time, you are already very good at acting as a captain. Yet I still find it so difficult. Something like that?”

I smiled at her slightly self-deprecating tone and shook my head.

“That is not true. Even I was surprised when I saw you shouting earlier. I thought, ‘As expected, a captain truly is different. Lady Tang is doing an excellent job.’”

Lady Tang’s face reddened slightly.

I already knew that words of encouragement assuring her she was doing well brought her tremendous comfort.

Several things had happened before that taught me as much.

That was why I consciously tried to say such things to her often.

Even so, her expression did not brighten completely today.

Finding that somewhat strange, I asked.

“What did the letter from the Tang Clan say? Was there something important?”

Her expression grew even darker as she shook her head.

“The letter itself contained no details. It only said… that I must return to the main family as quickly as possible.”

“To your main family, the Sichuan Tang Clan?”

“Yes. Nothing like this has happened even once in the past four years…”

I felt I could understand somewhat why her expression had darkened.

She was afraid of the very situation of having to return to the Tang Clan.

I did not know the details, but I suspected it was related to her mother, whom she had spoken of unconsciously.

When she had fallen under Ma Yugyeom’s Suggestion Arts, she had continued apologizing through her tears even while unconscious…

After watching her dark expression for a moment, I asked again.

“Could you not simply refuse to go? A person stationed at the front cannot leave whenever they please anyway.”

She shook her head and replied.

“They said we can exchange our leave rotation with the Fifth Platoon. The Fifth Platoon has many new recruits and cannot take leave immediately anyway. And… members of the Sichuan Tang Clan can never disobey the Clan Head’s command.”

“Hmm.”

It seemed Dok Sugwang’s Fifth Platoon would once again be unable to take leave.

Then again, many of its members had died during the previous Iron Fiend incident, and the vacant positions had been filled with new recruits. It would certainly have been difficult for them to take leave under those circumstances.

Still, for that issue to continue affecting them like this…

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘Huh? Would that mean I’m going on leave again this time?’

That appeared likely.

After all, I now belonged to the Third Platoon.

‘What is this? Recently, it feels as though I’ve spent more time outside than actually performing my duties. Then what am I supposed to do during this leave?’

While thinking that, I glanced at Lady Tang, who remained deep in thought with a dark expression.

Seeing her worrying over problems involving her main family suddenly reminded me of Lady Na not long ago.

Of the woman I had wanted to approach and help with all my strength, but could not—and whom I could no longer allow myself to treat that way.

Perhaps that was why.

Why I impulsively asked her.

“Shall I go with you?”

Startled by my sudden words, she asked again.

“What?! Go… where?”

I grinned at her wide-eyed expression and answered.

“To your main family, the Sichuan Tang Clan. Would it not help somewhat if I accompanied you? Ah, of course, if that would make things difficult for you…”

I had intended to say that I naturally would not go if it caused her trouble, but her large eyes had already filled with tears as she stared at me.

Wiping away the tears that streamed down her cheeks, she spoke.

“Thank you. Truly… thank you, Young Master Seonu.”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

It seemed I really would be going to the Sichuan Tang Clan during this leave.