The World's Greatest is Dead

I needed somewhere to corral the little brats.

I had stuck my nose into everything, but the household itself was poor.

So I had wondered if there was nowhere I could gather them in one place. Maybe I at least had to give them something like a hut.

That thought was how the Academy started.

It was not anything particularly impressive.

In this world, opening an Academy did not require anything that grand.

If I had to say—

The landowner’s permission.

A simple condition: you had to receive the owner’s permission before opening one on their land. That was all that was needed, and fortunately, I happened to know the largest landowner in this area.

The Mo Yong Family.

I received their help.

I said I would handle everything else on my own, so could they just lend me some land?

That was how I got it.

Mo Yong Yeongsun’s influence played a part, and White King had made arrangements as well. Thanks to that, the Academy opened.

But there was a problem.

Who do I make the headmaster?

To open an Academy, I needed a building and land, but I also needed a headmaster.

I could not do it myself. I was already busy to death making a living. Where would I find the time to teach children?

So I tried to find one.

And there happened to be someone in Liaoning.

An old woman who looked extraordinary at a glance.

So I asked her.

“Since you probably have nothing to do anyway, why don’t you just hold a position for me? Then I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

I still remembered it.

The way that old woman had stared at me, utterly dumbfounded.

And—

“You are always fascinating. What exactly have you been doing out there?”

Even now, years later, that old woman was looking at me with the exact same expression.

“It’s been a while, Headmaster.”

I ignored her words and greeted her first.

“I bought some tea and honey cookies. Should I put them here?”

“I do not need them.”

“I bought the ones you said were good last time.”

“I said I do not need them.”

“Ah, you should clean once in a while. What’s with all this dust?”

“.......”

“I’ll sit.”

This was getting dangerous.

If I scraped at her any more, that temper of hers would explode. Since I knew that very well, I sat down lightly in a chair.

Smoke rose from her pipe. The old woman was seated in her chair, busily smoking.

“I told you not to smoke that kind of thing when children are around, didn’t I?”

“The smoke does not leave anyway.”

Whooo.

As she said, the smoke she exhaled would not leave the room. That old woman would be controlling it on her own.

“Answer me. You and I both dislike wasting time with useless talk.”

“You’re still sharp as a blade. Why not do your job as headmaster with that mindset?”

“That was not part of the contract.”

The old woman gave a small laugh as she spoke.

“All I have to do is sit here. Was that not our contract?”

“That’s right. So it’s just a wish. I didn’t tell you to do it.”

“Your mouth...... Tch.”

Tap, tap.

Right after she emptied her pipe, her eyes grew rather cold.

“I learned it while going around the county town. Something interesting is wandering about.”

“......What might you be referring to?”

“North Sea filth is here. The reason is you, I assume?”

“.......”

North Sea filth.

Did she mean Bow Ghost?

Hearing that, I spun my thoughts around. I was trying to think whether this woman had any reason to bring up the North Sea.

“What happens if I say I don’t know?”

“Who knows. Do you want to find out?”

“No. Not particularly.”

“But I will tell you. First, I will tear through the Hao Clan. If I catch those bastards, they will talk. If I cannot find out even from there, then I can tear through the Bang Family.”

“The first one is dangerous, but I’d actually like you to do the second.”

If she tore through the Hao Clan, I would be in danger. I still had uses for them.

But I did want her to tear through the Bang Family a bit.

“If even that fails, I will have to tear through you.”

“That last one is the most unacceptable.”

I shrugged.

On the outside, I looked calm, but the truth was, I was not. Cold sweat was slowly soaking my back.

“So answer. Is she connected to you?”

“Yes. She is.”

I just answered confidently.

At that, the air shifted slightly. It grew heavy and stifling. Hmm. This was a very bad sign.

“How interesting.......”

The smoke from the old woman’s pipe gradually thickened.

“What happened?”

“Before that, let me ask something too. How did you know?”

Bow Ghost.

Her body had changed almost like a rebirth. She was younger, and at the moment she had no inner qi or anything else, so how had this old woman known?

When I asked that—

“What a ridiculous question. White hair and light-blue eyes. What else would a foreign-looking girl like that be, if not someone from the North Sea?”

“.......”

Ah.

I changed my thinking.

Hearing that, I understood. So Bow Ghost herself was not the issue right now.

She was simply questioning the fact that there was a person from the North Sea here.

“Moreover, being born with such distinct features means there is a high chance she is the Palace Lord’s bloodline, if things go wrong.”

“If by Palace Lord, you mean.......”

She seemed to be talking about the North Sea Ice Palace Lord.

I don’t know much about him.

I knew nothing about that world. I only knew that Bow Ghost was from the North Sea.

“Is there a problem if she is of the Palace Lord’s bloodline?”

“Of course there is. There is no way that demon of a Palace Lord would have allowed his own bloodline to come and go through the Central Plains. Even Bow Ghost, that damned woman under heaven, could not do it easily.”

“.......”

It seemed she was on bad terms with Bow Ghost too.

Was there anyone who liked that woman?

At this point, even compared to Yoo Cheongil, she was on a hopeless level.

“But, well...... she was just there, so I picked her up.”

“And now you have gone so far as to pick up North Sea seed?”

“When you live in this world, things like that just happen, don’t they?”

“What nonsense.”

The old woman gave a small laugh.

“You despise useless matters more than anyone, yet your actions never fail to be exactly this. Seeing you after so long, you have not changed.”

“If a person changes, they die.”

“For someone saying that, this part has changed quite a lot.”

Ping—!

“......!”

I turned my head and dodged.

THUNK—!!

Something embedded itself in the wall behind me.

It was a silver coin.

“Are you insane? That almost pierced my head.”

“It did not pierce you, did it?”

“Were you not trying to pierce it?”

“Surely not.”

Her smiling face was irritating.

“You have become an expert. I suppose the talk that you became the Sword Saint’s inheritor was not nonsense. What have you been doing?”

“......What you heard. That sort of thing.”

“You?”

“Yes. Well.”

“You?”

“Why are you asking again?”

“Because it is that absurd. Enough. I have decided not to care what you have been doing...... so that is fine. It was not what I was curious about to begin with.”

Creaaak.

The chair drew closer.

The old woman came right up in front of my nose.

“Bring the child from the North Sea here. I have things to ask her.”

“......Right now?”

“Yes. Immediately.”

“No...... even so, immediately is a bit.......”

“You know I can bring her myself.”

“......Tch.”

She was good at threats.

I let out a deep sigh.

“Not today. I’ll bring her tomorrow. I have to find her too.”

“Do it before noon. I need to move quickly as well.”

“Where are you going now?”

“I dislike staying in one place.”

“Is that something a headmaster should say?”

“I can resign and leave this instant.”

“Goddamn it.”

I spat the words and rose.

Nothing got through to this woman. It was a truly damnable thing.

“Tomorrow, before noon. I remember.”

“Good.”

She waved her hand as if telling me to leave.

Showing my disgust at that gesture, I went outside.

“Ah, damn it.”

This had gotten annoying.

What was I supposed to say to bring Bow Ghost here?

That side’s temper was no joke either.

To begin with—

I did not even know what kind of relationship those two had.

Bow Ghost seemed to have plenty of enemies, but this old woman seemed to have no interest in the affairs of the world.

Nearly ten years.

Even if we had spent that time like strangers, some things were visible. Especially when I looked at the shape of her soul.

No interest.

Someone who had no interest in people.

A person who had suffered every wound there was and no longer gave any interest to anyone.

That was why I had asked her.

If she would leave anyway, and if she had no interest in people, then I would provide a place and give her an identity, so she should stay for a while.

So nothing useless would happen.

I had asked her to help occasionally, that was all.

......The conditions were probably—

It had to be no problem no matter when she left.

I was not to ask her to look after the children or teach anything.

I was not to disclose her identity to anyone.

Those were what the old woman had asked for, and I had accepted them.

That was how I seated her in the headmaster’s position.

No less than—

Heavenly Fist.

Heavenly Fist.

A martial artist who had existed before the era Sword Saint lived in.

A walking corpse whose continued survival made me wonder how she was even still alive.

I had seated such a monster in the headmaster’s position.

*****

Our first meeting was several years ago.

I had simply been looking for someone to take the headmaster’s seat, and there was an old woman who always came to the inn.

An old woman who came, ordered only plain noodles and liquor, ate, and left.

Looking at her, I had not really thought much.

Just that she was an old woman.

And that I should absolutely never get involved with her.

That was all.

I could tell by looking.

Just from the quality of her soul, I could tell she was an expert.

That was why I had to avoid getting involved. Absolutely.

What old expert came all the way to Liaoning just to eat plain noodles and drink liquor at an inn?

That was clearly a human being with circumstances, and I had to avoid getting entangled in those circumstances.

Several days passed like that.

“Do not bother me.”

It was when I was simply passing through an alley.

I saw something inside.

The thugs who sometimes went around picking fights nearby.

Those bastards had been caught in the old woman’s hands and were crawling pathetically.

Behind her, I saw children.

They were even the children I had been looking for.

“Brother......!”

The children saw me and ran over.

I had told them not to go outside unless absolutely necessary, but they really did not listen worth a damn.

“Thank you.”

I showed courtesy to the old woman.

She stared at me.

“Your eyes are dead. Your life must be rough too.”

At her indifferent words, I laughed.

Then I said,

“Isn’t that better than having a dead soul?”

“.......”

That was a mistake.

The moment I mentioned her soul, the old woman’s eyes sharpened hard.

“You say interesting things.”

Still, I learned one thing.

This woman was not a bad person.

So I said it too.

“If you are planning to live hidden anyway, talk to me for a bit. I can help.”

“.......”

I almost died then.

Ah, it was not as if she hit me or anything, but even thinking about it now, I really did nearly die.

I had thought she was simply an expert, but she was not simply an expert.

And the fact that I had realized she was living in hiding was the problem.

After that, I reduced the number of times I ran my mouth to an extreme degree.

Well, anyway.

Several years passed after I seated that old woman as headmaster.

There was no reason to get deeply involved with her, and no accidents happened.

Even after I left for the Murim Alliance, that had remained true.

“......Who?”

This time, a problem had arisen.

“I asked if you knew about Heavenly Fist.”

“......Heavenly Fist...... Heavenly Fist?”

I asked Bow Ghost while she was secretly eating.

“Why is that...... damned thing’s name coming out of your mouth?”

Ah, damn it.

It seemed those two really did have an ill-fated relationship.