The Eccentric Hidden Master's Doubts
"Master. Martial World Debut (2)" "For what reason do you think so?"
All sorts of thoughts raced through my mind. The words themselves weren't wrong. I had been in seclusion for a long time, and even I knew I was a bit strange, so being called an eccentric wasn't entirely off the mark. The problem lay in the nuance behind them. While "secluded eccentric" wasn't a term used only in the martial world, suggesting I help with the merchant alliance's affairs sounded like something only someone who had martial arts in mind would say. Or was I overthinking it? Maybe they simply wanted me to ghostwrite documents. Perhaps they were just teasing me about writing martial arts novels in the mountains. If they truly believed I was a master, I wondered where that certainty came from.
Fortunately, I was accustomed to hiding my emotions. Being thought of as eccentric was preferable to being seen as blunt, so I had practiced this for a long time.
"Well, it's because the Director of the Office of Martial Affairs praised your writing as a qishu, a remarkable book. Surely you haven't missed that rumor as well?"
Who on earth was that?
* * *
It felt oddly isolating that everyone except me, including Yang So-chang, knew who the Director of the Office of Martial Affairs was. From what I heard, he wasn't a practitioner himself, but he had been the first to analyze martial arts logically, founded the Jipmudang research institute, and exerted tremendous influence on the martial world for decades. So, essentially, martial arts version of sports science. I often thought how useful it would be if such systematic knowledge existed during my own training.
"Hahaha, in any case, you must have found it puzzling as well, Author Yu."
"Indeed. I wondered how my insignificant writing had gained such undeserved fame, but now I see there was a reason behind it."
From what I learned while partnering with Yang So-chang on the serialized novel business, this field was a ruthless winner-takes-all game. Though paper had become much cheaper over the past century, printing technology remained a different matter. To commercially sell books written in Chinese characters, one first had to carve the entire content onto wooden printing blocks. Naturally, books were expensive enough that buying multiple copies at once was burdensome. City libraries and professional storytellers in places where stories sold well stocked everything from the most popular to the less popular titles, but gentlemen, noblewomen who had to hide books they read in secret because openly reading them would damage their dignity, and rural folk who had to travel for days to find a decent library, along with the traveling merchants who sold serialized novels to them, naturally sought out only the single most popular title. Thus, only one or two serialized novels gained massive popularity each year according to trends, while the rest either barely made money by supplying libraries in bulk or failed to even recover the cost of the wooden blocks. In such an environment, it made no sense for a serialized novel that had already been released once and faded into obscurity to suddenly become a topic again—unless there was a special catalyst.
"That's right. Honestly, it's nothing particularly special. I love martial arts novels myself, so I read most new releases and occasionally write some too, but to be honest, I think I could write better ones."
For a moment, I couldn't comprehend what I had just heard. Once I did, a gasp of admiration escaped me. I wasn't angry. I was simply astonished. The ever-present gentle smile on Manager Gong's lips trembled slightly. Just as he was about to speak, I asked first.
"Then why ask me for manuscripts instead of writing them yourself? If all you need is the Director's evaluation, neither I nor this man will say a word, so just have Jo Yeopgeum continue writing."
"If we needed an entertaining martial arts novel, we would have done that. But what we need right now is your unentertaining writing, Author."
At a loss for how to respond, I trailed off, and Jo Jae-ui gave me a meaningful smile, as if he had interpreted my silence in some particular way.
"Would you like to hear my plan for how to turn the unentertaining writing of a secluded eccentric into profit? I'm certain you'll be surprised."
Even if I had felt the slightest curiosity, I would rather not have heard it from his mouth. "No, that's enough. More importantly, you've been calling me a secluded eccentric this whole time. Regardless of what this Director said, I have no confidence in my own martial prowess. Even if my skills fall short of expectations, don't be disappointed."
"Don't worry. Even if your martial arts don't meet expectations, the fact that the Director was impressed means there must be something there, doesn't it?"
"Have you considered it might simply be luck?"
"Haha, this is not something that could happen by mere luck. You'll understand once you meet him. So, what can our alliance do to help?"
He seemed already certain I would agree. Though I wanted to see his face twist in frustration, I doubted dragging this out for a few more hours would accomplish anything, so I gave up.
"Find someone for me."
"Aha. That won't be difficult. What are their age and characteristics?"
"They're about half a cheok and one chi taller than me, with pale skin and black eyes. Their age is..."
Wait a moment, how old was that kid again? Since he was an orphan, we didn't know exactly, but thinking back to when I first found him, he could already speak well and showed signs of thinking for himself, so he must have been around elementary school age. Adding nine years to that, he had to be at least seventeen. He was older than I thought. No wonder he had been so frustrated.
"...Somewhere between the age of capping and twenty."
Still, I felt like I was forgetting something. What was it?
"How close are you to this person?"
"I'd probably get angry if even a single hair on that brat's head was touched."
"Are they a martial artist? If so, what is their level?"
Level? How far had Yu Baek advanced? "Level, that's quite a profound question."
Of course, I knew as well as he did, but understanding something and putting it into words were two different things. If it were Baek, or at least a martial artist, I could just demonstrate and make them understand.
"?"
"??"
"Uh... I mean, their level of martial arts. Are they third-class, first-class, or perhaps peak or supreme peak?"
"What is third-class, what is first-class, and what is peak or supreme peak?"
"??"
"???"
* * *
The deal went smoothly. Of the ten gwan of gold received in kind, I gave three-tenths to Yang So-chang and returned the rest to Jo Jae-ui, as I had nowhere suitable to store it. Since Hangzhou was a long journey, we decided to eat and depart immediately. Yang So-chang would follow in half a month, as he needed to wrap up his work in Xining and find someone to handle Old Man Hwang's affairs in his stead.
Neither the Gold Tripod Merchant Alliance people nor I knew anything about Qinghai cuisine, so while Jo Jae-ui paid, Yang So-chang chose the menu. The spicy stir-fried noodles with thick noodles and the heavily seasoned skewered kebabs were so delicious they cleared my mind. But I couldn't focus entirely on the food. These people held a terrible misunderstanding about martial arts training, and I felt a sense of mission to correct it.
"...So that standard must be the peak realm."
"No, it's not something that can be divided so clearly in the first place."
They said one was first-class if they could freely control and circulate their inner force, and peak if they could project it outside the body to injure others. I felt great discomfort at the crudeness of this classification system. Martial arts had always been a matter of methodology. It was about how one managed their mind and body and what problems they sought to solve through it. Since everyone had different problems and different approaches, comparing who was better or worse between different people held no meaning. Only in the rare cases where both the problem and the approach were the same could one compare who had advanced further, or declare superiority when one person's reasoning perfectly encompassed and reduced the other's. But how often did such cases occur?
"It's rare in martial history for someone who hasn't reached the peak to defeat a peak master. Doesn't that mean the distinction is clear enough?"
"Well, about that..."
Even I thought that, under the limited condition of people who had learned martial arts to fight well, if you randomly picked one person who could project their qi outside the body and one who couldn't and made them fight, the former's win rate would be much higher. But that was just... just...
"...Such an ugly way of thinking."
"What did you say? I couldn't hear you clearly."
"I didn't say anything."
Still, there were a few gains. I learned that both Baek and I were at least peak masters by the world's standards. And since our skills weren't equal, unless there was an absurd gap between the peak masters these people spoke of, I was probably in the supreme peak realm. I still didn't know what meaning that held.
"Is it finally over?"
"I don't think you'll understand even if I explain more."
"That hurts my feelings. First you said the distinction between realms was unclear, so I confirmed that most could be sufficiently distinguished. Then you said it was useless, so I confirmed that it wasn't. Then you said it was too limited a distinction, so I confirmed that cases deviating from it were rare..."
Just as I opened my mouth to reply, Manager Gong grabbed both of Jo Jae-ui's hands and met his eyes. With his usual gentle smile gone, his imposing physique became noticeable. His shoulders seemed to fill an entire side of the carriage.
"I beg you."
"...Understood."
When Jo Jae-ui closed his mouth, the smile returned to Manager Gong's lips. For a while, only the sound of hoofbeats echoed in the silence. Though it looked no different from Yang So-chang's carriage on the outside, it shook remarkably little.
"Hoho, both of you have truly remarkable passion for martial arts. You've been talking for two whole sijin since the restaurant. I could never do that even if I tried."
Hearing that, a way to repay even a fraction of the suffering I had endured today to Jo Jae-ui flashed through my mind. I spoke without hesitation.
"...Come to think of it, you mentioned earlier that you occasionally write martial arts novels as a hobby. May I ask what the title is?"
It was obvious he would claim it wasn't ready to show the world yet. In that case, I should mock him for having such confidence despite never having shown it to anyone. Then, after hearing the content, I could pick it apart piece by piece, and tonight's sleep would be all the more comfortable.
"I've written several volumes. The most recent one is Record of a Third-Class Warrior's Return to the Ancient Zhao Era to Conquer the Barbarians."
"...And here I was wondering what kind of madman wrote it."
"What did you say? I couldn't hear you clearly again."
"It was admiration. It must have been quite popular."
"Thank you. Still, it can't compare to your Biography of Yu Baek, Author."
I quickly abandoned my revenge against Jo Jae-ui. What point was there in saying anything to someone who proudly admitted to writing that third-class nonsense? Once again, only the sound of hoofbeats filled the silence.
...I felt like I had missed something. Wait, ah, right. The title.