Chapter 3
Translator: True Detective
I Created Martial Arts (3)
Originally, my plan for today was simple.
To attend my lecture and then go see the club president senior, who would invariably be lounging in the club room.
Since classes had started, I intended to say hello for the first time in a while and, if there were any usable wooden swords left, pick one up for a cheap price.
'Though I failed spectacularly.'
Generally, Kendo in Korea does not use a double-edged sword. Bamboo swords are used in most training and matches, and even in live-blade demonstrations, single-edged swords are almost exclusively used.
On the other hand, my weapon of choice is the straight-bladed, double-edged sword commonly found in martial arts novels. As is the background of martial arts novels to begin with, it is closer to a Chinese sword than Japanese or Korean ones.
Therefore, it was virtually impossible to find a wooden sword I could use at the university kendo club.
'Then again, come to think of it, the wooden sword I originally used was given to me by the club president as a birthday present last year.'
It was quite an eventful story.
Around the time I first entered university, harboring romanticized ideals about college life, I searched for various advice posts on the internet.
Things like what freshmen should do, or which clubs are easygoing to join.
'What decisively tricked me was definitely that post saying I shouldn't be looked down upon.'
I still remember it vividly.
The post spouted nonsense about how freshmen could face hazing if they joined a sports club, so they should absolutely never let themselves be looked down upon.
I know now that it's absurd nonsense, but being ignorant about college life back then, I fell hook, line, and sinker for that bullshit.
The events that unfolded because of that are now passed down by word of mouth in our kendo club as the so-called 'Coup d'état incident'.
'Because I completely thrashed not only my peers but also the seniors, one after another like a string of sausages.'
The rest of the story is simple.
Having instantly risen to the status of a national-team-level prospect, I participated in a kendo tournament that year bearing the name and honor of our university's kendo club, and I won.
The club president gifting me the wooden sword was a sort of reward for enhancing national prestige... no, since it was a club, it felt like a reward for enhancing club prestige.
Because a freshman with no kendo experience or anything suddenly entered and swept the tournament, the internet was noisy for a while speculating about my identity.
I couldn't exactly go around revealing my martial arts, so I've maintained the shameless stance that I just tried it out as a hobby and got lucky up until now.
'Anyway, then I end up having to buy a sword with my own money.'
Reminiscing about last year's memories brought me back to the problem of reality. The wooden sword I received last year had already vanished into a handful of ashes.
'...Do I really have to go around looking for martial arts tournaments and act as a prize hunter?'
Honestly, even if it wasn't kendo, I felt like I could win any kind of tournament that involved physical sparring.
Even excluding swordsmanship, I am someone who has extensively trained in various fields of martial arts, including Footwork, Movement Skills, Fist and Kick Techniques, and Qigong.
Not only did I feel I wouldn't lose to anyone in terms of technique, but if I really felt in danger, I could easily secure a victory by using just a tiny bit of Inner Qi.
'That would be a somewhat unchivalrous action, though...'
Letting my imagination run wild with hypothetical possibilities, it wasn't long before I let out a sigh.
'Setting everything else aside, it's too dangerous.'
There's no benefit to standing out excessively.
Beyond simply finding the attention that would pour onto me annoying, the problem was that I couldn't openly reveal the power of martial arts.
Above all, the highly probable existence of secret societies dealing with anomalous phenomena. It would be quite troublesome if they found me suspicious and came looking for me.
If a national-level organization tried to bury me, how could I, a mere young man with some strength, possibly survive?
'Ultimately, it means I have to earn money honestly.'
I need to add one more part-time job on top of the study room job I'm already doing. Otherwise, I won't be able to afford a new sword while covering my living expenses.
The problem is what kind of part-time job I should start anew.
I obviously can't do a job that overlaps with my university lectures. A job requiring such long hours that I have no time to train in martial arts is also impossible.
Trusting my sturdy body and applying for a logistics center job would be the easiest and fastest, but.
'Hmm, isn't there a job with short hours, little work, and high pay?'
The inner thief that anyone living in modern society harbors in their heart quietly reared its head.
I want to earn a lot of money easily and quickly. With such a typical thief's mentality, I idly scrolled through a part-time job platform app.
"...Oh?"
How long had I been scrolling down and swiping the screen with my finger like that?
"This is pretty good, isn't it?"
I found a rather interesting job posting.
《Urgently hiring a night guard part-timer.》
Night guard part-time job. It was a job I had wanted to try at least once in my life.
There wasn't any special reason. It was simply because the hourly wage was quite lucrative while the work itself wasn't too demanding.
Didn't they say extra pay is legally required for night shifts?
I didn't know the laws in detail, but anyway, most night guard jobs paid well.
'There was a strong tendency among people around me to avoid it, saying it ruins your sleep schedule.'
Night shifts start in earnest just when everyone else finishes work and goes home.
Naturally, since you have to work at night, you have to sleep during the day, and your lifestyle automatically changes, flipping day and night.
That's why most people I asked didn't really prefer night jobs, but...
'It's a different story for me, since I can feel refreshed even with just a short nap.'
I haven't slept for more than six hours since middle school. It wasn't for any special reason; I simply didn't need to sleep that long.
Energy Circulation. The act of absorbing the energy of nature through breathing and circulating it within the body.
Its main purpose is to accumulate Inner Qi in the Dantian and cleanse the acupoints to prevent impure energy from building up, but apart from that, it secretly has quite a variety of effects.
'One of them is fatigue recovery.'
Washing away impure energy with Energy Circulation gradually slows down the rate at which fatigue accumulates. When the acupoints become clean, the depth of accumulated fatigue lessens, leading to faster recovery.
Sleep quality and efficiency improve along with it. You can sleep less than others and wake up feeling more refreshed. You rarely ever have to suffer from fatigue.
Of course, that doesn't mean Energy Circulation can completely replace sleep. It just means sleeping less is fine; not sleeping at all will cause problems.
'Since reaching the Peak Realm, even just sleeping three hours a day left me feeling as refreshed as if I had slept soundly for half a day.'
I reached the Peak Realm during my third year of high school.
It was also the secret to how a guy who used to maniacally focus only on martial arts suddenly studied like a changed person and got into university.
Because studying alone with a refreshed body and a clear mind while everyone else is sleeping yields a different level of efficiency.
'When I reach the Transformation Realm, wouldn't I not need to sleep at all?'
With those thoughts in mind, I took my eyes off the phone I was looking at. Having arrived at my destination, there was no reason to keep staring intently at the map app.
'Wow, look at this atmosphere.'
The place I arrived at looked like a fairly old, abandoned school even at a glance.
The fences were rusted or faded, and the flower beds at the entrance were overgrown with weeds. The condition of the building, visible at a glance with broken windows and the like, was absolutely not intact.
I had heard the gist of it in a brief chat before coming, but it was certainly a difficult place to work easily without considerable courage.
Because the dreary atmosphere of the abandoned school looked like it could conjure up ghosts that weren't even there.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Kim Sihyeon?"
As I let out a hollow laugh at the building's state, which was even more dismal than I expected, a man standing in front of the school gate approached me.
"Yes, I heard you were looking for a night guard part-timer today?" "Haha, that's right. I was worried because I couldn't find anyone at all, but you saved me."
The man, dressed quite neatly even if not in a full suit, smiled awkwardly as he greeted me. His expression looked as if he was trying to hide a mix of anxiety and worry with a smile.
Instead of going out of my way to point that out, I gazed intently at the abandoned school I would be guarding starting today.
'Why hire a night guard for a completely ruined abandoned school that no one would visit?'
They weren't posting a guard at a functioning school, but hiring a guard—and a night guard who only works at night, at that—for an abandoned school that had already failed and closed its doors.
It was something that couldn't be understood through common sense. Honestly, no matter who else in the world you brought here, they would likely think the same.
Perhaps conscious of my suspicion-filled gaze, the man, who briefly looked back and forth between me and the abandoned school, sighed and quietly opened his mouth.
"Actually, a troublesome matter has come up lately." "A troublesome matter?" "Yes. You know, those people who target abandoned or haunted houses, coming in to film videos or broadcast."
The story that came out of the man's mouth was simple.
"Not long ago, a streamer sneaked in here, and while broadcasting a live exploration of the school, he saw something and ran away crying and with a runny nose."
Screaming like someone who truly felt their life was threatened, he ran desperately and fled without even looking at the chat.
"Since then, rumors must have spread that this abandoned school is a famous paranormal spot, because the number of streamers coming here trying to salvage some video material has increased."
As if he had been heavily stressed because of the streamers, the man spoke in a grumbling tone and scratched his head.
"So, you hired me as a night guard to prevent such streamers from trespassing?" "That's correct."
It was a story that was bizarre if you considered it bizarre, and realistic if you considered it realistic.
"We plan to reconstruct the abandoned school into a science experience center starting next month, so I just need your help until then." "That's fine by me."
The pay is good, and aside from a few troublemakers, no one else is going to go out of their way to come here.
Besides, it's spacious, making it quite good for practicing martial arts, and the employment period is just one month?
Honestly speaking, at least for me, it was the perfect cushy job.
"Then, please start working from today. If anyone approaches for no reason, try talking them out of it first, and if they still try to enter, you can just threaten them by saying I'll take legal action."
The few instructions I received at the end weren't difficult, either.
When I nodded with a nonchalant expression, the man let out a chuckle and lightly patted my shoulder.
"Take it easy. It's only called guarding. You just need to keep a good eye out so homeless people or streamers can't enter, and occasionally walk around the building to check if anyone sneaked in."
As long as I do that well, he doesn't care whether I study or eat inside.
With those final words, the man turned and walked past me, getting into his car parked in front of the school gate and driving away.
'It's not a difficult job.'
It is currently mid-March, a time when winter has not yet ended.
It might be different before sunset, but it gets extremely cold after the sun goes down.
Besides, creepy content like ghost stories or abandoned house explorations usually come out in the summer as horror specials, don't they?
'Would there really be anyone willing to climb over the wall of an abandoned school on this cold winter night just to see a ghost that might not even be there?'
Maybe if it were summer, but not now.
I believed that without a doubt, and it was actually true, but...
"P-please save me...!" "God damn it, really."
As if I were cursed, I was swept up in another anomalous phenomenon.