The Ugly Dog and the Bitten Tongue
Let’s train. In Cheong’s hometown, some funny fellow once said that life is a tragedy up close but a comedy from afar—Cheong’s situation was exactly that. From a distance, she was merely a fool who had been playing around at the dinner table and received a harsh lesson. But up close? It hurt. It hurt so much she was going mad.
“Well, since anesthesia doesn’t work on Cheong, there’s nothing I can really do…”
Because her tongue had been badly bitten, it should normally be stitched, but since anesthesia had no effect, that was impossible.
“So you’re saying we just leave it like that?”
Paeng Daesan asked while watching Cheong repeatedly gulp down her own blood. Dang Nan-a shook her head.
“Even Guan Yu would have obediently taken the paralytic and passed out if someone suggested stitching his tongue without anesthesia…”
The tongue was a vital point riddled with nerves; no matter how patient a person was, they couldn’t endure it while fully conscious. Moreover, the attempt itself was dangerous. When people were in pain, they clenched their teeth. If they bit down while the tongue was pulled out for stitching, they might end up severing the entire thing instead of reattaching it.
Thus, Dang Nan-a’s prescription was simple: pour hemostatic powder into her mouth. If they could just stop the bleeding, the tongue was an organ that regenerated quickly and would heal in no time. However, the hemostatic powder was extremely bitter and spicy… Cheong merely wore a miserable expression.
“Nanaya…”
“Hm? What?”
“At leasht wif dis, I, can’t ead dinner…”
Dang Nan-a smacked Cheong’s shoulder with a loud slap.
“No, you’ve practically split your tongue in half and you’re worried about dinner right now? Doesn’t your tongue hurt either?”
“It’s not even half…”
“Hmph. You’ll have to drink honey in goat’s milk for a while. Normally, when people chew, their tongue isn’t just sitting around doing nothing, you know?”
Since the tongue’s role was to diligently move food around and push it between the teeth while chewing, she absolutely mustn’t chew anything right now.
“Ah, no way…”
The light in Cheong’s eyes went out. It was the gaze of someone who had fallen into despair. It could also be described as dead eyes.
“And no sparring for a while either.”
“Why…”
“Because intense exercise is forbidden. What if it starts bleeding again? Then the period where you can’t eat the food you love will just start all over from the beginning.”
“I’ll be careful…”
“And don’t talk either. Every word you say adds one gak to your meal time.”
At that, Cheong nodded her head vigorously. Dang Nan-a had gained a great realization. Cheong listened well when threatened with food.
“Don’t let blood rush to your head—keep it below heart level. When you sleep, use a high pillow and lie on your back. Don’t lie on your side.”
Nod nod.
And so Cheong watched the sparring from a corner of the training ground with the expression of someone who had lost everything in the world. Then a thought suddenly occurred to her—perhaps that bookseller uncle would know a training method she could do even in this state. Wondering if he might be there, she headed toward the bathhouse. As expected, when she arrived, she saw Cheon Yuhak still lying on his mat. He seemed to be snoring, but the moment Cheong approached, he naturally opened his eyes and sat up.
“What? Finally feeling like paying respects to your master?”
Cheong shook her head. Cheon Yuhak frowned.
“What? Why are you shaking your head instead of using your mouth?”
“Bitten…”
Cheon Yuhak burst into laughter.
“I see. Looks like you bit it while eating. It’s a trial everyone goes through once. I’ve been stabbed quite a bit myself. Even had my lip split in half once.”
“……”
“What, why didn’t I tell you in advance? Because even if I warned you, it wouldn’t stop it from happening. If you don’t experience it yourself, a thousand words won’t prevent it from occurring eventually.”
“……?”
“How did I guess just from your expression? This is the wisdom of age, girl. Plus, your face is particularly easy to read.”
“……”
“I don’t know about that. Say it out loud.”
Cheong spoke slowly and deliberately.
“A training method… that doesn’t require… intense movement…”
“You’re asking if there’s a training method that doesn’t involve moving your body intensely? Ha, looks like you bit it pretty badly, yet you still want to train in that state?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, there is one that’s just right.”
Cheong’s expression brightened. Cheon Yuhak snorted.
“You’re not even my disciple, so why should I bother telling you? This girl is ridiculous. Or are you going to pay your respects now…”
Before he could finish, Cheong bowed at the waist. Since she had been told not to lower her head below heart level, the angle wasn’t deep.
“Your stubbornness is like iron tendons! Aish. Fine. Here. Take this.”
Cheon Yuhak pulled something from his robes and tossed it. When she caught it, she found a Buddha statue so intricately carved that even the smallest ornaments and folds of clothing were detailed. Even to Cheong, who knew nothing of Buddhist art, it looked precious.
“You have the Blue Jade Sword, right? Go to the kitchen, get a large radish, and try carving it exactly like this.”
“……”
“Will this help? Because you want to learn softness? Softness ultimately comes from precision and sensitivity. All that talk about moving flowers or lifting a thousand pounds with four ounces sounds grand, but in the end, it’s just the technique of finding a few precisely determined angles, deflecting, and returning.”
“……?”
“Strength is simply power. Stronger force, faster and harder. Of course, a person’s strength is ultimately limited and doesn’t increase indefinitely. So one hones technique to produce greater power with what they have. Still, it’s not as difficult as softness. That’s why there aren’t many martial arts that focus on softness as their essence.”
Martial arts that took softness as their essence were extremely difficult, and if one’s achievement was low, they produced almost no power and had little practical use.
“……!”
Cheon Yuhak continued to understand Cheong’s silence.
“What? Surprised because I seem like an expert? I’m just a light person. In the first place, isn’t it funny for someone claiming to be an expert to put on airs? Does face put food on the table?”
Cheong nodded vigorously at that. It was enthusiastic agreement. Cheon Yuhak grinned. The more he looked, the more he coveted this material.
“We’re quite compatible, despite me not being a Taoist. Originally, the ones most obsessed with face are the horses, aren’t they? So you really won’t become my disciple?”
Cheong bowed again. Cheon Yuhak clicked his tongue.
“Then don’t disturb an old man resting and get lost. Coming running only when you need something. Tsk.”
Feeling a twinge of guilt at those words, Cheong expressed her thanks with careful pronunciation.
“Ah. Thank you……”
“It’s nothing.”
Cheon Yuhak said that and lay back down, closing his eyes. Cheong stood there restlessly for a moment before realizing the snoring meant she should leave, and she quietly slipped away.
Thus Cheong returned to the training ground with an armful of radishes she had obtained from the kitchen. Paeng Daesan spotted her immediately.
“What! Cheong, I told you not to eat that.”
Cheong narrowed her eyes. Did this guy think she only ate people raw? Besides, if she were going to eat something, why would she chew on raw radish? Cheong gave him a look and began carving a radish after claiming a spot. However, it wasn’t going as planned. She had expected carving the Buddha statue to be difficult. After all, she had never sculpted before, and the statue’s level of detail was extraordinary. Still, she thought she might manage somehow, but that was nonsense.
First, the tools were a major problem. Carving knives weren’t made with finger-length blades angled in various ways for no reason. Each had its own purpose—different knives for planing surfaces, carving circles, and detailing. Moreover, since the work required precision, the blades were short so they could be held close to the work. But the Blue Jade Sword was quite long even among daggers, and it was disgustingly sharp—so sharp that it sliced through radishes like tofu the moment it touched them. So instead of a Buddha statue, she couldn’t even achieve the most basic shape and only wasted precious radishes.
“You keep playing around with eating.”
Cheong glared at him instead of replying. Paeng Daesan shrugged and resumed sparring with his sister. However, since Cheong wasn’t joining the sparring, only Dang Nan-a, who was stuck to her side, was in high spirits.
“I’ve done quite a bit of carving myself. It’s immediately effective for improving dexterity, so it’s really helpful when training hidden weapons.”
Hearing that made the bookseller uncle’s training method seem even more credible. Dang Nan-a took out her dagger and carved a radish into a plausible imitation of a Buddha statue in no time. Of course, it only matched the general shape and posture and didn’t come close to the intricate detail of the statue Cheon Yuhak had given her.
“There’s a trick to this too, you know? First, you have to establish the balance with the large mass. From here, head, body, feet. You have to think about the balance of the form first.”
After hearing the explanation, it made sense. And yet, if listening to an explanation could enable sculpting, there wouldn’t be any non-sculptors in the world. Still, Cheong didn’t give up. It wasn’t that she was an indomitable man, but rather that she couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. At a time when she needed to improve her skills even a little—when she had to improve them—she couldn’t stop just because her tongue had been slightly split.
----
Time rewinds to a few days ago—
Eon Yeonyeong wore an expression of utter distaste.
“Oh my, Master. You’re really going to bring that ugly, filthy dog with us?”
“It’s fate that we met, so why shouldn’t I take it in?”
“Dogs, once they become strays, will bite people, you know? They’re no different from wild beasts rather than livestock.”
“Heh heh, are you worried this old man might get bitten by a dog?”
Eon Yeonyeong tried persuading him again. She must have really hated it, because the usually quiet girl launched into an impassioned speech.
“Besides, dogs smell. And with all that long fur flying everywhere, when you take them for a walk, they’ll come back covered in fleas, ticks, bugs, and filth from the mountains and fields.”
“Ha. Who told you to raise it? I’m the one raising it in my house, so why is some random girl making a fuss?”
“Oh my, Master. Shouldn’t you consider the person living with you? I don’t like it. I absolutely detest animals.”
“A freeloading girl being so picky. If you really hate it, go live with the Poison Demon or the Sword Demon.”
“You’re being too much……. Having no home really does leave a person in such a pitiful state……”
Eon Yeonyeong made a show of wiping away tears, then her eyes filled with a fierce, murderous glint.
“If that’s how it’s going to be, make sure that thing never even pokes its snout near the annex. If it takes even one step inside, I’ll slaughter it and throw it in the six paths of reincarnation.”
And now—
“Oh my, Chugu! Goodness, did you roll in a mud puddle? No. Sit. You’re pretty and listen well too. Now, shall we go wash up?”
Chugu meant “ugly dog,” so it might seem a bit harsh as a name for a dog. However, since it was clearly an ugly dog, it was a perfectly fitting name at first glance.
“Chugu? It’s Daebok. Daebok, I said.”
“Oh my, Master. Chugu suits it much better, doesn’t it? Chugu, which name do you like better?”
Woof, woof. The dog barked and lay at Eon Yeonyeong’s feet, wagging its tail.
“See, Master? Chugu says it likes it too.”
The Poison Demon’s expression twisted.
“The girl who was talking about slaughtering it is now completely delighted and making a fuss.”
“Hmm. Shall I say my thoughts have changed a little?”
“Changed a little, yet your expression has completely changed. How shameless.”
Eon Yeonyeong gave a faint smile.
“Master, haven’t you ever felt that way? Even when you’re with someone, you’re still lonely—truly, bone-deep loneliness? Like you’ve been thrown alone into the world……”
“Hmph. Life is originally lived alone.”
“You wouldn’t understand, Master. Being different from others, that feeling of being the only loner in the world—you couldn’t possibly imagine it.”
“People are originally like that. You may know the ways of water, but you don’t know the hearts of people. No matter how well you think you know someone, there comes a moment when you realize you don’t know them at all.”
His voice was filled with regret. Eon Yeonyeong’s smile deepened.
“What I said wasn’t about feelings but about essence……. Anyway, being alone in the world is too cruel, isn’t it? I don’t have the confidence. So I changed it. Chugu, how about it? Now you can understand me, right?”
Woof, woof. The dog barked as if in understanding. Eon Yeonyeong’s smile grew even deeper.