### The Demon Lord of the Swordsmanship Family Chapter 17
After successfully completing our mission, quite some time has passed.
A week.
It may seem short, but it was extremely eventful as if something extraordinary was constantly happening.
The reason is obvious: it was because of the clubs.
“Cancel this immediately. Do you even realize what you’ve done? The management of the Academy is strictly within the jurisdiction of the professors. Including Yggdrasil in this?! Are you mad?”
“Park Ki-hyuk, isn’t this a bit much? There’s no need to escalate the situation. This isn’t beneficial to you at all.”
“Think carefully, Ki-hyuk. This has crossed the line. This is disrespect. Even with Optimum backing you, it’s unacceptable.”
Crossing the line, unprecedented actions, and pleas for compromise…
To put it humorously, it felt like I’d met every single professor in the Academy.
As for me, I just kept muttering “Yeah, sure,” absentmindedly.
And that wasn’t all—every club started sending people.
As I’d mentioned before, clubs are places people join to form networks or alliances. They’re inherently authoritative.
To put it simply, they’re extremely pretentious.
But it seemed like they’d all gone mad, approaching us with wide smiles.
“Hey, junior, you know, if I may talk about our club, Gurmri…”
“We’ll take full responsibility for all support. You like hunting Gates, don’t you? Let us handle all the formalities. You just show up.”
“Ki-hyuk, you’re like a younger sibling to me, so I’ll drop the formalities. Ki-hyuk, join our band club. Anyway, it’s an Optimum-connected line, so you can do whatever you want. Why make enemies with professors?”
“Get along with the professors,” “If you conflict with them, it’s only you who’ll suffer,” etc. Every senior I met said something.
Not wanting to make the conversation drag on, I stayed silent.
But when I thought about it later, it was funny.
I hadn’t attacked the professors or anything, and just creating a club caused all this fuss.
At this point, I was curious. Why were they reacting so intensely to just creating a club?
So, I asked.
To whom?
To the leading expert in this area—my mother.
“Hmm, it seems like Ki-hyuk has misunderstood. The club itself isn’t the issue anymore. The issue is Yggdrasil’s participation in the school’s operations. That’s what’s causing problems.”
“Why? Naturally, professors are scared because their long-held authorities, such as respect and precedents, are now being threatened by Yggdrasil’s presence. This situation won’t end here.”
Yggdrasil is soon to be the Academy, and the Academy is Yggdrasil.
The moment Yggdrasil takes the forefront, all the systems and regulations professors have established mean nothing.
In comparison, the club becomes an insignificant matter.
And as my mother predicted, things didn’t end here. Eventually, I ended up in a private meeting with Dean Cheon Su-man.
“Student Park Ki-hyuk, the current situation is quite complicated.”
“I’ve heard the professors have been rather critical of Park Ki-hyuk. I understand how frustrating that must be. But this is too much. Yggdrasil, really?”
“I will personally handle this for you, student. I’ll do my best to provide convenience. So, why don’t we just stop this matter here?”
That was Dean Cheon Su-man’s final mediation.
And my answer?
“No thank you.”
I declined.
It’s funny—just a club, not like I’m trying to conquer the world. Why is everyone interfering just because I want to establish a club?
What? You say the club isn’t the real issue?
What do you want me to do? A club is the most important thing to me.
Why should I care about your worries about Yggdrasil? Why should I consider your situation?
People sometimes confuse things. Calling it an academy, and labeling people with “professors” and “students” makes it feel like a proper school.
Principles, etiquette, respect, admiration…
A firmly established hierarchy where the teacher’s grace equals the heavens…
Such soft, gooey ideas about school education. In my view, it’s all nonsense.
What school in the world teaches you how to k*ll?
Look at the truth. As I said before, this is a place where we learn about killing—killing life (살생), killing (살륙). In other words, it’s like a “warrior training camp.”
But why involve politics? What’s with all the scheming?
Fine by me. If you want to play politics, I won’t interfere. But why involve me in such childish politics?
If you want to play pretend, play among yourselves. I’m busy training.
Here’s a warning: don’t provoke me.
I summarized my feelings and told this to Dean Cheon Su-man.
He had quite the reaction on his face.
One thing became clear: my relationship with the professors had crossed a point of no return.
To be honest, I don’t care in the slightest. I’d already mentally prepared myself for how impossible it was to live quietly after dismantling that… what was it called again? Something important.
People should live as they were born to live. Since when have I walked on eggshells? Right?
After that stormy week, we finally stood in front of the clubhouse.
Still, it was odd.
How much further down do we have to go?
*
Basement Level 4.
After descending to a depth that would astonish even beetles, flickering lights greeted us.
Click-click…
When were these things last maintained?
Noticing my curiosity, a senior from the student council nervously laughed and said: “Ho ho… I swear, they were fixed recently, but why are they acting up today…”
She seemed embarrassed as well, trying to brush off dust with her hands.
“Stop that. You’re just making it dirtier.”
“Ahem, ahem. It’s a bit decrepit, isn’t it? There’s nothing we can do. This is the only place that meets your requested conditions, Junior. It was originally designated as a performance hall but got rejected. It’s probably the largest club space in the Academy.”
She tried to reassure us that the facilities weren’t too bad and hastily exited, signing some papers before quickly disappearing upstairs.
The flickering lights that were annoyingly glaring.
The accumulated dust in chunks.
Peeling walls, doors that looked like they had become one with the walls. Even the doorknob seemed questionable.
“…”
“…”
“…”
In the end, I…
Got my collar grabbed by Mary.
“d*e! Just d*e already!!”
Ah, her hands are strong.
…
…
A while later.
Once Mary’s anger subsided, we grabbed the “hell with no way out” doorknob.
We turned it.
Crack!
Thud! Bang!
“The exit really is gone. Ki-hyuk’s foresight is truly remarkable.”
Mary’s sarcasm cuts like a blade.
The moment I turned the doorknob, the door caved in.
But I wasn’t fazed. Why? Because reality told me that a collapsed door was child’s play compared to what was ahead.
“How is it so messed up?”
The visible dust was one thing we expected before, but there were piles of old garbage everywhere. What seemed to be an unknown storage rack appeared as well, a cabinet that reminded me of a mimic from an ancient dungeon…
I couldn’t even continue explaining. It was simply chaotic.
Worse than imagination. Truly indescribable by human language.
“Enough is enough.”
Even Han Jun-woo, usually unfazed by hygiene, stuck out his tongue.
“I might get sick.”
Mary already had her handkerchief over her mouth.
No choice. We moved around, searching for a slightly better spot, but ended up having to step outside again.
“Looks clean from this angle.”
“Agreed.”
“Relatively cleaner. Let’s sit here.”
We sat on the stairs.
“Sorry. I didn’t expect things would turn out this way. Tsk.”
Even if we were hostile toward one another, who would have thought that these professors would stoop this low?
Embarrassing to show our faces in front of the kids.
However, Mary consoled me:
“You made them angry, but turning a small matter into a big deal is something to apologize for. However, you shouldn’t apologize for this situation.”
“Is that supposed to be comforting?”
“No, it’s a judgment of the situation.”
Suddenly, Mary’s gaze, which had been looking into a mirror, turned cold.
“Everything has limits, doesn’t it? This is crossing the line. I have one question. Are you the only one in this group?”
“Of course not.”
“Jun-woo is here too. I’m here too. And Merhem. We have Merhem here. And yet, they treat us like this?”
Merhem, someone who’s constantly put down by our group, is actually royalty.
Royalty who values pride and honor more than their lives.
“I didn’t ask for special treatment. But I didn’t come here to be treated like this. I will file an official complaint immediately.”
She was ready to storm in, but I stopped her with a bitter laugh.
“I know you’re angry, but it’s better to hold back.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the smarter choice.”
In my experience, civil strife can be dealt with through negotiation or conflict, but it must be settled internally. Once external forces get involved, it becomes catastrophic.
“What can you do if you complain? At the end of the day, it’s just ‘dad’s advantage.’ What happens then? It becomes an international issue.”
Do you think this academy will back down because of that? No, not at all. The authority of the academy is much stronger than we think. It would not bend under external pressure so easily.
And that’s also why I don’t use “mom’s advantage.”
Frankly, even I couldn’t act this independently like a despot if it weren’t for Uigdrasil standing with me.
“Does that mean I have to keep suffering? This insult?”
“Surely you don’t think I’d let that happen, do you? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you’re wronged, you have to return it. But do it smartly.”
“Smartly?”
“Are we talking about ‘midterms’?”
“Jun-woo, you’ve got it.”
Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding.
The surest way to shut up the jabbering crowd is to show them. Break their so-called principles and etiquette in front of their eyes, and they’ll never dare to raise such trivial matters.
“Here’s my declaration. I will be number one in the midterms. And the next one is…”
My finger pointed at Han Jun-woo.
“Jun-woo.”
And then I gently patted Mary on the head.
“Mary, aim for tenth place.”
“…Am I being disrespected? Why me at tenth?”
“Hey, is tenth place so bad? How long has it been since you started using spells and you’re already being greedy? Our Mary has no shame.”
“Hmph.”
If we all reach the top, what will they do? If they keep fussing even after proving ourselves, then it’s game on.
If I’ve treated them as humans and they act like dogs, I’ll act like a dog too.
And as someone born from the back alleys, I’ve never lost a dogfight.
“Alright, I understand Ki-hyuk’s point. So what should we focus on immediately? That?”
“Exactly, we need to fix that first.”
Even with grand visions, solving the current unsolvable club room is the first step.
At that moment, Mary spoke up.
“Phew, let me handle it.”
“Huh?”
Mary picked up her phone.
And shortly after, who arrived?
“Ho ho. What a nasty joke.”
Mary’s butler, the grandfather. I mentioned this “not-so-easy-to-deal-with” elder before.
“Grandfather, how long will it take to clean this place?”
“Hmm…”
The grandfather looked around with his usual gentle smile. Even after seeing this horrifying mess and maintaining his composure, it was evident he wasn’t ordinary.
After a long inspection, the grandfather extended his fingers.
Three fingers? Three days?
But the subsequent words from the grandfather surprised me, making me realize I had underestimated him.
“Three hours.”
“…”
“Perfect timing—it’s lunch hour. Enjoy your meal and come back with a cup of tea. I’ll have it cleaned up by then.”
The grandfather gave a polite bow.
And three hours later.
After devouring eight servings of salty fried chicken, barbecue pork, and sushi, and enjoying a cup of caramel macchiato at the café in front of the academy…
…Am I seeing things? Is this the same place from before?
“…”
“…”
“Unbelievable.”
“…”
Mary saw our surprised expressions and proudly puffed up her nose.
“See? This is my grandfather. Thank you, grandfather.”
“Hehehe. Don’t mention it.”
What lay before us wasn’t just cleaned…
It had been completely renewed.
