My Own Weapon
Before I knew it, my fifth birthday had arrived.
I woke earlier than usual that morning.
Full of more excitement than normal, I headed out to the training grounds.
There, my father was waiting for me, looking even more eager than I was.
“You’re up early? So the day has finally come when I get to teach you martial arts.”
Father spoke to me with a slightly moved expression.
“Then I’ll start by teaching you the inner method of our family. Come here and sit down.”
Even in my previous life, I’d only ever seen martial arts in comics, so I grinned from ear to ear and sat down in front of him.
“Yugang, from now on I’ll teach you the Ice Crystal Core Sutra, the inner method of our Han family. This inner method was created based on the Ice Crystal, the North Sea’s ancient divine relic, and it gathers the cold energy of nature within the body, building up one’s internal power in the dantian until it becomes as hard and cold as ice crystal...”
Father began his explanation with obvious enthusiasm, but none of it reached my ears.
After that lengthy lesson in history finally ended, Father at last settled into position as well.
“In other words, you absorb the cold energy of the North Sea into your body and must create your own ice crystal. Do you understand?”
I nodded vigorously.
“I understand everything. Let’s start already!”
“Good. Then feel how I inject my energy and guide it along the route. It may be difficult to learn all at once, so don’t be disappointed.”
Father came behind me, placed both hands on my back, and began to concentrate.
I closed my eyes too, and as I focused, I could feel something flowing in from Father’s side.
A cool current started from my back and ran through my whole body in places, as if my blood were flowing and my body was filling with new life.
A little later, Father withdrew his hands and spoke.
“Now, building up internal power along the path the energy flows is the Ice Crystal Core Sutra. Why don’t you try following the path that energy just took on your own?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
As I sensed a little of Father’s internal energy, I could feel traces of it scattered through the surrounding air as well.
I closed my eyes again, drew that energy into my body through my breathing, and then moved it along the path Father had taught me.
“Gather the cold energy in the chest through breathing, send it from the chest to the head, divide it again into both arms, then into both legs, and finally gather it once more in the lower abdomen, mixing the energy as if turning it in a circle.”
Fully focused, I kept circulating my energy over and over.
“Ho ho. To begin circulating energy on your own in a single try? Not only Yugyeom, the eldest, but even I needed a full day. Could Yugang actually be a genius of the century?”
A smile spread across Father’s face.
“Yugang, if you were to learn martial arts, what kind of weapon would you want to use?”
At Father’s question, I stopped circulating my energy and thought for a moment.
A weapon? If I was going to use martial arts, then I’d definitely need a weapon. Still, fighting with my fists sounded like it would hurt my hands, so I wasn’t fond of that idea.
“Why not fist techniques? A man should fight with his fists! Those happen to be this father’s best martial arts too, so I could teach you directly.”
“Fist techniques are... not for me. My hands would probably hurt.”
At my answer, Father’s face fell in utter disappointment.
“Fists... they have romance...”
While Father muttered in a thoroughly deflated voice, Mother approached from afar.
“Han Yugang! Come eat breakfast!”
Leaving behind my despondent father, I ran over to Mother.
“Mother, I learned martial arts!”
“Good, good. So our youngest has finally turned five? Since it’s your birthday, let’s eat lots of delicious food today~”
Holding Mother’s hand, I went into the dining hall, where my brothers had already arrived.
“Our youngest learned the inner method already? If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask this older brother anytime!”
My second brother, Han Yubyeok, said confidently.
“It’s only natural that it would be difficult at first, so there’s no need to rush. It took me about three days to learn it too.”
My eldest brother, Han Yugeom, said calmly. Just then, Father burst through the door and declared, “Our youngest is a genius!”
Father threw both hands up and laughed heartily.
With Father’s over-the-top entrance, everyone in the dining hall turned to look at him.
“He figured it out all at once and even circulated it on his own?!”
Then everyone started chiming in one after another in surprise.
“Brother, the successor’s seat is looking a little dangerous.”
Han Yubyeok said with a grin.
“If anyone wants the successor’s seat, they’ll have to compete for it.”
Han Yugeom smiled faintly and looked at me.
“I-I’m not interested in the successor’s seat! It sounds like a hassle, so I don’t want it.”
I denied it frantically and sat down.
Seeing Father, who had become so worked up over the fact that I had learned the inner method in one go that he wasn’t even eating, instead giving Mother a long-winded explanation, I could tell that this life might really be the one where I had talent.
After that noisy breakfast, I headed back to the training grounds.
The more I practiced the inner method I’d just learned, the more vitality filled my body, and the cooler it felt, which I liked.
Sitting down, I continued circulating my energy while thinking.
A weapon... The most basic one would be a sword, right? But a plain sword felt somehow bland. I wasn’t drawn to it.
After much deliberation, I reached a conclusion: if I really had talent, then a cool weapon would be better.
Thinking about cool weapons made me remember the comics I’d vaguely seen in my previous life.
Yes, if you’re talking about romance, then it has to be a samurai!
A samurai swordsman wandering the world with only a single sword at his waist.
I didn’t really know what a samurai was, but from my childhood memories, I only remembered that it had seemed incredibly cool.
I wanted to live a romantic life, drifting freely as a wandering swordsman.
But if it was a samurai, then that meant a Japanese sword. Did they have something like that here too?
I ran straight to Father.
He was still out there, boasting about me to his subordinates.
“Father! I picked my weapon!”
At my words, Father laughed loudly.
“Oh-ho, you’ve already chosen? Good, then what kind of weapon did our youngest pick?”
Based on my previous-life memories, I started explaining as best I could.
“Something light and sharp, but with a blade that’s a little curved! You wear it at your waist, then pull it out with a swish and slash, slash.”
I enthusiastically waved my hands through the air and acted it out.
“Do you have a sword like that?”
“Hmm...”
Father stroked his chin and thought hard.
“A curved blade? It only has an edge on one side? Then it’s not really a sword... and it doesn’t seem like a dao either...”
In this world, a sword meant a straight weapon with blades on both sides, while a dao referred to a blade with only one edge, but a thicker cutting edge suited for chopping down.
So the Japanese sword I’d described was a strange shape that was neither quite a sword nor quite a dao.
Father looked pained by my unexpected weapon request.
“There isn’t a sword like that?”
At my downcast question, Father answered in surprise, “If it doesn’t exist, then we’ll make it! Our youngest can draw me a picture, and I’ll make it for you!”
At Father’s reliable words, I immediately drew it out and handed it over before returning.
He said it would take some time to make, so until then I decided I might as well keep building my internal power through the inner method, and from that day on, aside from mealtimes, I spent most of my time reciting the Ice Crystal Core Sutra.
I had clearly decided in my previous life that I wouldn’t work hard anymore, but reciting the inner method wasn’t difficult at all; in fact, the more I practiced, the more refreshed and energized I felt.
While I kept circulating my energy and waited for the Japanese sword to be made, I eventually began to feel as though an ice crystal was forming near my lower abdomen.
Father had definitely said that through the inner method, one formed an ice crystal inside the body. This was my own ice crystal.
Just having something actually there made it even more enjoyable.
The more I recited the inner method, the harder and larger the ice crystal seemed to become, and I found that growth strangely rewarding.
How many days had passed like that? While I was reciting the inner method, Father called me to the forge, saying the weapon was finished.
When I entered the forge, thick with heat, Father was holding a single blade with a pleased expression.
“It’s finally done. Take a look. If it isn’t what you wanted, I’ll make it again.”
The sword Father showed me was exactly the same as the Japanese sword I had imagined and drawn.
“I love it. Father!”
“Then I’ll make you a few wooden practice swords in this shape too.”
I beamed, thanked the blacksmith who had made the sword, and ran to the training grounds.
As soon as I arrived, I strapped the Japanese sword to my waist and tried taking a stance.
“Wow. That stance is killer. Looks perfect.”
“You really like the sword, huh? You even look cool holding it.”
Father, who had followed after me, said with a laugh.
“It’s all good, but there’s one problem.”
“What is it? The sword was made properly, wasn’t it?”
“The sword itself was made well. But I don’t know what kind of sword technique, or dao technique, should go with it. The Ice Palace doesn’t exactly have many martial arts to begin with, and I can’t think of any I know that would suit it either.”
Father thought hard for a long moment, then opened his mouth.
“Fine. Our youngest is a genius, so take this chance to create a martial art that suits that sword.”
Father had only said it as a joke, figuring I was still very young and might lose interest soon anyway, but the idea of creating my own martial art was oddly fascinating.
If I really did have talent in martial arts, maybe I’d be good at making one too?
Starting that day, I locked myself away in the Ice Palace library and studied various sword manuals and dao manuals.
What I learned from reading all those books was that every martial art had its own goal.
Some martial arts valued speed, some valued flashiness, and some valued overwhelming force.
Then what should I focus on when making mine...?
I stared at the Japanese sword and thought deeply.
It’s thin and light, so raw force is out... then should I make it flashy? Or fast?
As I mulled it over, a thought suddenly came to me.
A Japanese sword means iaido, right? A fast draw and a clean slash in one motion.
Having decided on my goal, I headed to the training grounds.