Star Instructor, Master Baek-Chapter 393: Until I Graduate

The Silver Scale Lake earned its name because moonlight shattering upon its waves resembled shimmering silver scales, earning it a place as one of Nanchang's most beautiful and famous lakes.
Naturally, it was visited by people of all ages. Since the lake was not far from the Azure Dragon Academy, during the annual sky lantern event, large crowds would flock to the lake. That number, of course, included students from the academy.
"Woooow...!"
"It's so pretty!"
Young children, who had followed their parents, jumped up and down in excitement as they watched the sky lanterns rise into the sky. Their parents, in turn, smiled with contentment.
"Buy a sky lantern! The highest-flying sky lantern!"
"Buy an extra-large sky lantern that flies for an hour!"
"Sky lanterns that make your wishes come true!"
While some people brought and flew their own handmade sky lanterns, most purchased premade ones from merchants on the outskirts of Silver Scale Lake.
Of course, before releasing a lantern, they carefully wrote a wish on the thin paper. These wishes could be prayers for family health, unchanging love, wealth, or achievement in martial arts.
After writing their wishes, they attached the paper to a woven bamboo and wire frame that formed the lantern's shade. Then, they lit the oil-soaked wick and waited a moment for heat to build up inside the lantern.
Once the paper was properly inflated, they released the lantern into the sky.
The lantern bobbed as it rose into the heavens, emitting a gentle light like a firefly.
"I've heard a lot about it, but this is my first time seeing it in person."
"Me too..."
Hyonwon Kang and Yeo Min also made their way to Silver Scale Lake. Due to an order from the authorities forbidding boating on the lake, a large crowd had gathered on its banks, marveling at the numerous sky lanterns ascending above the water.
Hyonwon Kang now understood why everyone insisted that one must go to Silver Scale Lake to release a sky lantern. The reflection of the lanterns' light on the lake's surface created the illusion of hundreds of floating candles.
"It's beautiful..." Yeo Min gasped, her eyes sparkling with wonder.
Hyonwon Kang snuck a glance at her.
"What?" she asked, noticing his gaze right away.
"Ah, no, it's just..." Hyonwon Kang panicked like a child caught doing something wrong, but he quickly gathered his resolve. "Since we've come all this way, shall we release one too?"
Yeo Min nodded readily. "Shall we?"
"Hold on, I'll go buy one right now!"
"Senior! Don't go too far!"
Hyonwon Kang pushed through the crowd and ran to the nearest merchant to buy a sky lantern.
"Give me the biggest one! Put double the oil on the wick!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, customer. There's only one extra-large one left, and the price is..."
A moment later, Yeo Min sighed as she looked at the fool who had returned triumphantly after being thoroughly ripped off.
"Seriously? You paid that much for this one thing?"
"Why spend money on two of them when one will do the trick? We can write our wishes together!"
Since it wasn't the first time Hyonwon Kang had done something foolish, Yeo Min just laughed, finding it absurd.
However, Hyonwon Kang had an ulterior motive.
"If two people release a sky lantern together at Silver Scale Lake, they will become lovers and live happily ever after."
This was one of the superstitions circulating at the Azure Dragon Academy. Hyonwon Kang had previously dismissed the claim, but now he couldn't get it out of his mind.
"Let's write our wishes together here. The paper is big, so there'll be space left even after we both write."
"You go first, Senior."
Hyonwon Kang nodded obediently and began to write his wishes.
Several seconds later, Yeo Min's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Why are you writing so much?"
"I'm going to write down everything I can think of. Otherwise, it's a waste of my money."
Please let my parents, teachers, seniors, juniors, and friends all stay healthy.
Please let me crush that bastard Peng Sahyuk's nose at the Heavenly Martial Festival.
Please let me beat Wiji Cheon, too.
Please let me land one hit on Baek Suryong! Please! PLEASE!
Please let us all meet often, even after we graduate.
Hyonwon Kang wrote a lot of wishes, almost completely filling the extra-large sky lantern. Finally, he handed the brush to Yeo Min.
Yeo Min wrote a short sentence.
"What did you write?" Hyonwon Kang asked, leaning over curiously.
Yeo Min grinned as she covered her wish with her palm. "A wish only comes true if you keep it a secret."
"What? Then what about mine?"
"I'll pretend I didn't see a few of yours."
After bickering for a bit, the two of them decided to release the lantern together.
FLICK! SPARK!
Hyonwon Kang held the lantern while Yeo Min lit the wick with a tinderbox. The lantern slowly inflated from the heat.
"If two people release a sky lantern together at Silver Scale Lake, they will become lovers and live happily ever after."
Hyonwon Kang closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the old Azure Dragon Academy superstition. He prayed to the gods of heaven and earth to grant the wish which he could not bring himself to write on the lantern.
Finally, he opened his eyes and released the lantern with grim resolve.
"Go! Fly high!"
"Wait! It's too early... Fuck."
Unfortunately, Hyonwon Kang was so excited that he released the lantern too early, before it had fully inflated. The lantern initially flew by the force with which it was released, but it could not go far before tilting to the side. The fire from the oil-soaked wick then spread to the paper.
FWOOOSH!
In an instant, the fire spread across the entire lantern. After shining brighter than any other lantern for a moment, it burned out completely.
"You brainless idiot!" Yeo Min screamed, smacking Hyonwon Kang's back.
"N-No!" Hyonwon Kang instinctively rushed toward the lantern to put out the fire, but it had already flown above the lake.
"Oops...!"
According to the laws of nature, stepping on water was impossible unless one had reached the ultimate realm of movement arts, Flying Over Water.
Hyonwon Kang flailed desperately in midair for a moment, but soon resigned himself to his fate and plunged downward.
SPLASH!
A massive ripple spread across the calm lake. The lights on the lake's surface swayed with it, and the onlookers murmured while watching the strange spectacle.
"Pfft... Ahaha! YOU ARE SO DUMB!"
Yeo Min rolled over on the grass, laughing and holding her stomach for a long time.
"You just laughed instead of saving your senior who fell into the lake?" Hyonwon Kang grumbled, pouting like a drowned rat. He had taken care to wear nice clothes and had even slicked back his hair with oil, but it had all been ruined by his fall into the lake.
"Who told you to jump into the lake?" Yeo Min giggled, handing Hyonwon Kang a towel.
The two had returned to the White Dragon Manor. Despite Hyonwon Kang's shamelessness, jumping into the lake in front of a crowd was still massively embarrassing. Therefore, he had returned home as soon as he got out of the water.
RUSTLE, RUSTLE...
Hyonwon Kang roughly dried his hair with the towel Yeo Min had given him, then went to his room to change his clothes.
When he came out, he found Yeo Min sitting alone on the veranda, looking up at the night sky, which was still dotted with lanterns carrying people's wishes far away like moving stars.
He sat down next to Yeo Min, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry. Because of me, you couldn't enjoy the festival properly."
"...Watching from here is quite nice too. It's not crowded, so my mind is much more at ease," Yeo Min replied, grinning at Hyonwon Kang.
"Ah..."
Suddenly, Hyonwon Kang remembered that there was something he wanted to tell Yeo Min today.
I don't know when I'll have another chance to be alone with her.
Hyonwon Kang swallowed dryly to calm his nerves, then began, "There's something I want to tell you. I..."
"Sorry, but can I go first?" Yeo Min interjected. Although there was a smile on her face, her eyes looked strangely sad.
Hyonwon Kang nodded slowly. "Uh... alright. You go first."
Yeo Min turned and looked straight at Hyonwon Kang. The boy's cheeks were flushed red, and he subtly avoided her gaze. His breathing was uneven, which was unbecoming of someone who had trained in martial arts.
Most importantly, the distance that would have felt normal on any other day felt particularly close today.
She would be a fool not to notice after seeing such an obvious reaction.
She smirked playfully. "First, try calling me Noona."
"W-What?" Hyonwon Kang blinked in confusion for a moment before glaring fiercely at Yeo Min.
"Did I say something wrong? I'm much older than you, you know. Don't tell me you forgot?"
"......"
Of course, Hyonwon Kang remembered. This was the part that troubled him the most.
He was seventeen, while Yeo Min was twenty-two. She was five years older than him! He tried his best to ignore it, but couldn't help worrying that she would see him as a kid.
"...What does age have to do with it?" he muttered. "I'm your senior at the Azure Dragon Academy, and I even spoke informally to a sixty-five year old junior, though he's on a leave of absence and not here right now. Twenty-two is nothing!"
"...Is that something to be proud of?" Yeo Min sighed and shook her head.
And then she dropped a bombshell.
"But, actually, I'm not twenty-two either."
Hyonwon Kang's pupils wavered. "...You're older?"
Yeo Min narrowed her eyes. "Hey... Do I look that old to you?"
"No, absolutely not."
In fact, Yeo Min looked to be around the same age as Hyonwon Kang. Never mind twenty-two, she could have easily passed for the same age as Hyonwon Kang, or even a year or two younger. That was why he often forgot that she was older.
"Actually, I'm nineteen."
"What? Nineteen?"
Yeo Min nodded. With a bitter smile on her lips, she calmly began her story. "When I was working, people often looked down on me or tried to scam me when they found out my real age. That's why I always told people I was three years older."
Having lost her mother at a young age, Yeo Min had no choice but to lie about her age just to earn money. Starting as a waitress, she had done every job under the sun.
When she was very young, she dug up wild greens in the mountains to sell. She even slept in barns so dirty that beggars avoided them.
"Until I was fifteen, I always dressed as a man. It was more convenient in many ways."
"......"
Fortunately, she had learned basic martial arts from her mother when she was young. She was also quick-witted, so she did whatever she did well and earned money tenaciously.
For a long time, she thought the only thing she, a person without family, could believe in was money.
When she entered the Azure Dragon Academy, she had naturally lied about her age. Since then, there had been no reason to reveal her true age, so she had lived with the lie until now.
"......" Hyonwon Kang was silent. He had known that Yeo Min had a difficult childhood, but he had not known it was that bad.
Yeo Min smiled faintly. "Well, that's all in the past. Now I know I have an aunt, though she lives far away. I also have Mr. Baek and you guys, right?"
"...Does Mr. Baek know about this?"
"Yes, I told him a while ago. Among us students though,
you're
the first. Still, I'm going to tell everyone soon. You guys have never respected me as a noona, but I don't want to lie anymore."
"I..."
Just as Hyonwon Kang was about to speak, Yeo Min reached out and placed her hand over the boy's lips. Her fingers twitched for a moment, as if an electric current had flowed through them, but she steeled her wavering heart.
"You know," she said firmly. "I really like things just the way they are right now."
It was a gentle rejection.
To Yeo Min, the White Dragon Manor was her first family, and she was afraid of this relationship changing. She knew about Hyonwon Kang's feelings for her, but she wanted to confess her own feelings first, even if she might regret it later.
"I'm sorry, but to me, you're... just like a younger brother, so..."
"I don't want to be your younger brother," Hyonwon Kang cut in, gently pushing away Yeo Min's hand and rising to his feet.
"...Until I graduate."
Hyonwon Kang did not get angry or throw a tantrum. On the contrary, with a calm expression that would surprise anyone who knew him, he met Yeo Min's gaze directly.
"I'll keep liking you until I graduate, and I don't care whether you think of me as a younger brother or not."
"......"
"I don't want you to just accept me under pressure. I have my pride too. Instead, I'll make you fall for me before I graduate."
Yeo Min's eyes widened in shock. "What are you talking about..."
Hyonwon Kang grinned. "Yeo Min. Don't draw a line so clearly right now, okay? What are you going to do if you end up liking me later?"
"Did you fall into a vat of oil instead of the lake?"
Yeo Min shook her head and turned her back to Hyonwon Kang, as if she didn't want to reply anymore. In truth, though, she just didn't want him to see her gradually reddening face.
"...Fine, just do whatever you want!"
An awkward silence fell over the two... or not.
"Hey!"
"You felt that too, right?"
VWOOOOM!
The walls lit up as the intruder detection sorcery spread over the White Dragon Manor was activated. At the same time, the enchanted Azure Dragon Emblems in their pockets vibrated.
A human-shaped shadow smoothly leaped over the wall from outside.
An assassin, and a master at that!
Even though an assassin had scaled the wall, however, there was no sign of tension on the two students' faces.
"I was just wondering when they'd come."
"I never thought I'd ever welcome the arrival of an assassin, but this is perfect timing."
If anything, Yeo Min and Hyonwon Kang were glad for the uninvited guest who had arrived just as the atmosphere was about to get really awkward.
Translator's Note:
And so this week ends in heartbreak for Wonkang. See you next week!