HWARANG Rewritten✅

5. Reading lessons

Chapter 5.
Reading lessons.

When they were waiting for Poong Wol Joo in the classroom on the first day, a fight broke out because of Ban-ryu indirectly insulting Seon-woo's sister. Sa-do watched agape as everyone in the classroom started fighting with each other for no specific reason.

Yeo-wool tugged at her collar and pulled her back, out of the way of everyone, as he fanned himself and watched the battle unfold with an entertained smile. It didn't last long though and they all got scolded. When Poong Wol Joo asked who was responsible Seon-woo stepped up to receive the punishment.

Sa-do watched Ban-ryu with heavy disappointment. So, this was the man who was supposed to be her brother? Someone who held on to the bone rank system with unclenching fingers and didn't know how to respect women and didn't take accountability for their actions. If Ban-ryu couldn't respect someone else's sister, what chance did Sa-do stand? Her heart went out for Seon-woo but she was happy that his sister had someone to defend her even in her absence.

As she was walking around the grounds later on while everyone got treated, she bumped into a girl. The other apologized before quickly making to leave in a rush but was stopped. "Are you Seon-woo's sister by any chance?" Sa-do asked the girl who only nodded.

Sa-do took in her worried eyes before grabbing her arm and leading towards the warehouse where Seon-woo was being detained, for punishment. "He's in there," she said stopping outside the door. Ah-ro nodded gratefully before rushing inside.

...

In their first class, Poong Wol Joo asked them about water. Soo-ho said it was strong, Ban-ryu contradictorily said weak and Ji-dwi said kind. Raising her hand Sa-do added that water is merciful which earned her a few questioning looks.

"Humans make mistakes but water doesn't hold a grudge. Even if we misuse it or waste it or make it dirty and ruin it, it still flows down to the sea and comes back to us as rain forgiving all our naïve or intentional errors to give us yet another chance. It continues to cycle through nature, repeatedly with infinite patience, giving life to everything in its path, without questions or complains. Water is merciful."

Poong Wol Joo smiled to himself as he accepted her answer before turning to Seon-woo next, who said that water was exhausted. The old man then walked took center stage and tugged on a rope, drawing down the second scroll which had another unfamiliar letter painted on it. "King," a few people murmured. "This is your first assignment. Your first task is to debate about what water means for a King. But first you need to have knowledge about the Tao Te Ching."

There was a wave of simultaneous unhappy groans from the class. They would have three tasks and failure in any two would lead to them being expelled from Hwarang. And their first challenge was a written exam.

"Tao Te Ching is so hard to understand."

"I know. The characters are so confusing."

"The concept itself is difficult."

"Am I going to fail?"

Sa-do gulped. If these people were so afraid of this exam, then how would she cope? She didn't even know the first thing about reading. After class she unconsciously headed to the library. On realizing where she was Sa-do sighed. It was a rather imposing challenge, but she had to at least try. She didn't want to go back to her solitary room in her father's house. She would try to learn as much as possible in the short preparation time she had before the exam.