Another full month have passed since she started training with her sunsengnim, and Honoka was limping to the nurse office after she fell and scratched her knee.

As Honoka opened the door to the infirmary she saw once more the beautiful school nurse, looking at something on her hand, before she almost jumped and turned towards the girl. "Oh, hello there. Do you need something?"

"I scrapped my knee. Can you take a look?"

"Of course", said Shiho, "come in and I will disinfect it."

In no time the nurse had taken the necessary instruments and started to clean up the wound. "How did you got wounded?" She asked the girl trying to make some small talk.

"I was running and I slipped", replied Honoka as she winced at the disinfectant burning sensation. "It hurts."

"There, there", said the older woman while patting Honoka in the head, "it's alright now, I'm done. I need to take some bandages from the storage room so wait here for me, alright? Also there are some dango on that plate over there", she pointed at the table nearby, "help yourself to some if you want. I will be back in a minute."

As the nurse left, she didn't realized the small box she was looking before had fallen over, and a small white ball eerily familiar with a common dango had rolled near the front of the plate.

~~O~~

"So this is where you were hiding yourself Chun-Woo Han", said Shiho Lee of the Black Forest Alliance to the Nine Arts Dragon and current substitute english teacher of Shinohara Primary School, "I never thought you would go as far as travel to Japan to hide."

"My sunsengnim mentioned that his former disciple was japanese, so I decided to see what the country looked like", he replied without looking down from the tree branch he was sitting which had a good view of the field, "I never thought you would track me down across the sea just to see my handsome face. Did you miss me so much?"

"As if", she said with a scoff before leaning against the tree. "Thinking on taking roots here? You even took on an apprentice…"

He dropped from the tree almost instantly, right in front of her with a glare that could kill lesser men. Considering some of the techniques the Nine Arts Dragon learned over the years, he probably could do that unironically.

"I told the brat not to babble to others", he said with a snarl before he properly looked at the woman in front of him, who had a wide smile on her face. His eyes narrowed for a moment before he took the cigar from his mouth. "You set me up."

She didn't answer immediately, only smiling meaningfully before continuing. "I admit I'm curious about what that girl have in special to make the Goomoonryong train her. You're probably very confident in her ability if you're willing to risk her existence to the Martial Arts Alliance."

This time it was Chun-Woo Han who scoffed. "She's my apprentice on the account that I will teach her [I]something[/I], but not [I]the[/I] most important something. She's barely able to conclude the physical training, and by the time she's fit to learn some actual martial arts I will be out of the country once more. If she manages to impress me I might leave her a few advanced techniques, but not [I]that[/I]."

At the admission the school nurse pouted. "Awww, and here I thought someone else had cracked that black hole you call a heart. It would be so cute for you to fuss over a girl who could be your little sister or even your daughter."

The substitute english teacher turned around and took another drag from his cigar, careful not to let how those words and the image they evoked had affected him. "Stop talking nonsense and tell me why you came all the way from Korea to this school. It's not like I dropped entirely from the radar to the Black Forest Alliance."

"No, you just did the next best thing and went straight into the city Ryozanpaku is located."

Chun-Woo Han blinked at that information. "They're HERE? Why nobody told me that?"

"You didn't know?" This time it was Shiho who was surprised, "but our informant told us you knew exactly where you were going."

The Nine Arts Dragon frowned, wracking his brain for the memories and but being unable to remember talking with anyone about his next destination, only getting the tip that this city was 'safe enough for his purposes', "what this informant looked like?"

"I think I have a photo of him here…"

They both looked at the photo, of a tall muscled man in a white hooded cloak with long clear hair, an almost white purple color, and he had a confident smirk on his face.

"Really now?" He asked incredulously, "doesn't he look the least bit familiar to you? Like how he's supposed to be this really important figure in the parent organization?"

Shiho was silent for a few moments before sighing, "I really should have paid more attention when I meet with him. Guess he was just playing a prank on us all…" After a few moments she shook her head. "Well, I guess most of my plans are useless now, unless..."

At this her smile returned, taking a teasing air to it, "could you take me to dinner this weekend? For old times sake?"

"Sure", he replied with a smile of his own, "you're paying though, I still remember the time you stood me up."

Not one of my best ideas, thought the woman before reluctantly nodding. "It will allow us to talk more in deep about business at the very least. I wanted you to take a look at the prototype I have with me."

"Prototype?"

"Of the Il-Wol Sin-Dan, the prototype of the first of the three future planned spirit medicines we will produce. It's yours if you want, I'm sure it will help you with your revenge."

He knew of the reputation of the clan that made those spirit medicines, and he also knew they were basically tailor made for his martial art due to it's strong ki production potential, but he wasn't aware they were so far away in the research. "I will think about it."

"Good. If you want, I have it in my office right now, right next… to…"

Realization dawned on Shiho and her face became pale, before she turned around and grabbed on Chun-Woo's hand dragging him along for the ride.

"What's going on?"

"I think I screwed up. Now hurry or else we will have to explain away a corpse on the infirmary!"

They turned a corner quickly, and soon they entered the room to the sight of Honoka clutching her stomach and a plate almost empty of dango. "I think I ate too much."

Shiho looked around the table, finding the box with the spirit medicine empty. After quickly checking the remaining sweets, she let out a curse. "She ate it."

Chun-Woo Han turned around instantly. "Spit it out, now!"

Honoka tried to reply, but her world had turned red for a moment, before darkness claimed her.