Baek Woo Jin’s decision threw the academy into chaos.
“How does this even make sense? Only four members for the Divine Dragon Team?”
“We need to fill the vacancies immediately!”
“What kind of tasks can they possibly accomplish with just four people?”
Whenever the instructors gathered, the topic always turned to Baek Woo Jin and the Divine Dragon Team. It was even brought up in official meetings, where many agreed they should call him in and try to persuade him again.
“I don’t want to.”
But when Baek Woo Jin showed up, reeking of alcohol, his curt refusal ended the matter.
No matter how desperate they felt, the authority over team assignments rested entirely with the Dragons and Phoenixes, so all the instructors could do was summon Baek Woo Jin and try to reason with him. Most people wouldn’t want to get on anyone’s bad side, so they would at least pretend to listen, but Baek Woo Jin didn’t care about such things, and that was the problem.
Even after this, the instructors tried to subtly pressure him and coax him, but it was all in vain.
“That kid is too stubborn.”
“He won’t listen to a word we say!”
In the end, the instructors gave up completely and raised both hands in surrender.
However, it wasn’t entirely ineffective. Yeom Cheol Jin who was one of the few people Baek Woo Jin remembered fondly managed to sway his heart just a little.
Baek Woo Jin, who had spent many years on battlefields in the fantasy world, was somewhat superstitious.
Unsettled by the ominous feeling that the number four carried, Baek Woo Jin finally decided to add another member at the last moment. This brought the Divine Dragon Team to a final count of five.
“Oh, it’s big.”
Baek Woo Jin was the first to arrive at the meeting room provided to each team. He looked surprised at the size, which could easily accommodate thirty people.
“I prefer something small and cozy.”
The larger the space, the emptier, colder, and lonelier it felt. That’s why Baek Woo Jin always preferred spaces that matched the right scale.
“Well, I guess I can just fill it up with various things.”
With fewer people, he thought about decorating the room with different items to make it feel more like a hideout.
He sat at the end of the oval table and began sipping from the gourd.
Then he suddenly heard the sound of someone taking a deep breath just beyond the meeting room door.
“Oh.”
With a faint smile on his lips, Baek Woo Jin used his internal energy to open the door from where he sat, even though it was some distance away.
“Eek!”
Jegal Yeon Ji who was standing at the door was startled and stumbled back when the door swung open.
“What are you doing, not coming in?”
Jegal Yeon Ji puffed her cheeks as she looked at Baek Woo Jin, who was watching her with a sly smile.
“Young master Baek …!”
Perhaps because they had trained together all winter, her way of speaking to Baek Woo Jin had become much more natural than before.
“Hurry and come in.”
“Yes.”
With a pout on her lips, she walked in and naturally pulled out the chair that was closest to where Baek Woo Jin was sitting and sat down on it.
He watched her and quietly smiled, then handed her a small iron plate that was a little smaller than his palm.
“This is…”
“It’s the badge that proves you belong to the Divine Dragon Team.”
Jegal Yeon Ji examined the iron token in her hand. On one side, the word “Divine Dragon” was engraved, and on the other side was her name.
“Hehe.”
A small smile appeared on her lips.
Baek Woo Jin looked at her with a serious expression and said,
“From now on, Miss Jegal, you are our strategist.”
Her face immediately fell into a frown.
“C-Couldn’t I just not do that…?”
A typical team consisted of twenty members, with a team leader at the top and a vice team leader appointed by the team leader. Depending on the leader’s discretion, there could also be a strategist.
“I believe Miss Jegal will do an excellent job.”
Ever since she had volunteered to meet the governor to efficiently capture the White Snake Bandits, Baek Woo Jin had already set his mind on appointing her as his strategist.
“Ugh…”
Jegal Yeon Ji felt a mix of slight burden and gratitude for Baek Woo Jin’s heavy trust in her.
Even among her clan, there was no one who believed in her this much. Though she sighed in exasperation, she repeatedly vowed to herself that she would try her best, if only for Baek Woo Jin.
Knock, knock!
Just as the conversation about the strategist was wrapping up, someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
The words had barely left his mouth when the door swung open and a bright, cheerful voice echoed through the meeting room.
“Hello!”
It was Shin Ye Hwa.
She was the one Baek Woo Jin had agonized over the most when forming the team.
I’m not sure if this is the right decision.
After much deliberation until the very last moment, Baek Woo Jin had finally decided to include her in his team.
There is a saying: keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Of course, she wasn’t an enemy, but he judged that it was better to keep her nearby than to worry about what she might be plotting from afar.
On top of that, Baek Moo Hyeok’s advice—don’t think that distance of the body equates to distance of the heart—also played a role.
I’ll make sure she gives up on her own.
The longer they spent time together, the more she would naturally realize that the Baek Woo Jin she had shared memories with in the past was completely different from the Baek Woo Jin of now.
When that happened, her feelings would naturally drift away too.
“Wow, so this is the Divine Dragon token!”
Shin Ye Hwa’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the Divine Dragon token held in Jegal Yeon Ji’s hand. Without hesitation, she reached out to Baek Woo Jin.
“Give me one too!”
Baek Woo Jin lightly pushed her hand away.
“I’ll give you one later, so just sit down.”
His tone was slightly cold.
Shin Ye Hwa pouted and sat directly opposite Jegal Yeon Ji, in the closest seat to Baek Woo Jin. She then started fidgeting with her feet as she wondered who the other team members would be.
Knock, knock.
As if on cue, there was a faint sound of someone knocking on the door.
“I’ll get it!”
Shin Ye Hwa, who had been sitting quietly, stood up and opened the door herself.
“Eek!”
And then she shouted with a startled face.
Standing at the door was none other than Gu Wang Soo.
“W-Why are you here?!”
“I’m part of the Divine Dragon Team too.”
“What?!”
Shin Ye Hwa turned her head and looked at Baek Woo Jin.
“Is he really in our team too…?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Baek Woo Jin beamed and called out to Gu Wang Soo.
“Gwang Soo-ah! Come on in!”
His smile was even brighter than when he greeted Jegal Yeon Ji and Shin Ye Hwa.
Gu Wang Soo let out a small sigh and stepped inside. He trudged forward and stood in front of Baek Woo Jin.
“Glad you made it, Gwang Soo-ah.”
Baek Woo Jin got up, gave him a light pat on the shoulder, and handed him the Divine Dragon Token.
“Here, this is yours. Pretty cool, isn’t it?”
With trembling hands, Gu Wang Soo took the Divine Dragon Token and quickly checked the other side to find his name engraved on it.
Seeing the three characters “Gu Wang Soo” fully engraved, he sighed in relief.
Baek Woo Jin who saw this laughed even louder and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
“Come on, did you really think I’d spell your name as ‘Gwang Soo’ on the Divine Dragon Token?”
“H-Haha, of course not.”
Gu Wang Soo chuckled awkwardly and nodded along.
“Hey, let me ask you one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Why… did you put me in the Divine Dragon Team?”
Baek Woo Jin and Gu Wang Soo. No matter how you tried to spin it, their relationship could only be described as a bad one.
To avoid getting on Namgong Soo’s bad side, Gu Wang Soo would harass Baek Woo Jin whenever they crossed paths.
“Don’t tell me… you did this for revenge…”
When Gu Wang Soo who was trembling all over asked cautiously, Baek Woo Jin waved his hands with a shocked expression.
“Revenge? Gwang Soo-ah, you’ve got it all wrong!”
“T-Then, why on earth…?”
“I called you because I needed you, dummy.”
“You… need me?”
“Of course. There’s no one else I need as much as you.”
People often find small and trivial tasks the most bothersome.
Baek Woo Jin intended to dump all those tasks on Gwang Soo—no, on Gu Wang Soo.
“T-That can’t be…”
Hearing this, Gu Wang Soo looked deeply moved.
“Uh… Gwang Soo-ah?”
As Baek Woo Jin called out to him in confusion, Gu Wang Soo suddenly collapsed to the floor and knelt before Baek Woo Jin.
“I’m sorry for harassing you all this time!”
“Hey, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
Baek Woo Jin tried to grab his arm and help him up, but he wouldn’t budge.
“From now on, I will serve you with the utmost respect as our leader! No, as my leader!”
“Uh… hmm.”
It seemed he was seriously misunderstanding something.
Baek Woo Jin quickly changed his stance and knelt down before grabbing Gu Wang Soo’s shoulder.
“Gwang Soo-ah, let’s do well together from now on.”
“Yes!”
“You can speak casually, you know.”
“C-Can I really…?”
“Of course!”
“…….”
We’re friends, after all!
“F-Friends…!”
“Of course.”
Their friendship was somewhat hierarchical.
“As you know, our team is going to have a tough time. Since we have fewer members, each person will have to do more.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
“You’re going to have a lot of work, too. It’ll be really hard, exhausting, and tiring. But!”
Baek Woo Jin grabbed Gu Wang Soo’s cheeks with both hands.
Smack!
“Ugh!”
“But Gwang Soo-ah! Whenever you feel like giving up, let’s think about our brilliant future that’s waiting for us beyond it!”
A vision of the near future appeared in Gu Wang Soo’s mind. He saw himself as a member of the Divine Dragon team, overcoming countless challenges and achieving great success. He also imagined Namgong Su’s group looking at him with envy.
“Y-Yeah. We have a brighter future ahead…!”
“That’s exactly it!”
Determination filled Gu Wang Soo’s eyes.
“Just give me anything to do! If it’s something I can handle, if it’s something I can help with, I’ll do whatever it takes!”
“Gwang Soo-ah!”
The two of them embraced each other energetically.
Grin.
Baek Woo Jin was smiling.
That’s how he secured a willing slave.
Leave a Reply