Is It Going to Rain Tomorrow?
The clouds hung thicker than usual that night, completely swallowing the moonlight over the capital. It was late—well past the hour when most of Raymond’s National Park fell into silence.
Tang!Tang!Taang!
The flashy sounds of impact echoed loudly through the quiet grounds. Screams slipped in between the blows like a heavy drumbeat, creating a strangely harmonious rhythm.
For some reason, the beating felt even more savage than usual. The violence Jealousy unleashed on Togun was packed full of his personal feelings.
If only Togun knew why he was being punished, it might have felt a little less unfair.
“You! Dare! Touch! Our! Lady’s! Citation!”
Even the dramatic lines spilling out amid the indiscriminate assault were completely incomprehensible from Togun’s perspective. He twisted and turned, trying to dodge, but his pathetic struggles couldn’t possibly stop Jealousy’s venting.
“Oh? You little shit! Where do you think you’re going!”
Maybe those clumsy attempts at resistance only fueled Jealousy’s irritation even more. His fists flew faster than before, snaking like a serpent gliding across a lake—following utterly unpredictable, bizarre trajectories. All Togun could do was endure and wait for the merciless beating to end, just like every other night.
This must be what a master’s fists feel like.
After taking hits like this for several days straight, his body should have grown tougher… yet somehow, every punch still felt fresh and electrifying. There was no sign his body was getting used to the pain at all.
Still, there was one silver lining. Lately, there were no lingering effects. The first day, his whole body had stayed sore and aching until the next morning. Now the pain only lasted through the day itself, vanishing completely after a few hours. The only traces left behind were a few small bruises.
But can I really get stronger just by getting beaten like this?
He wasn’t sure if his skills were actually improving. The only thing that kept growing was his admiration for the nameless opponent who kept pummeling him. Honestly, he had no idea what the man was even trying to teach him.
“Tsk.”
Another night of counting invisible stars in the dark sky, patiently waiting for the ordeal to end. Jealousy, who had been swinging his fists with even more ferocity than usual, suddenly made a face like something displeased him. He withdrew his fist and stepped back.
The violence had ended earlier than normal. Togun stopped screaming and looked at him with puzzled eyes. Jealousy muttered in an irritated tone.
“Already over?”
Over? What’s over?
Seeing Togun stare at him with wide, clueless eyes, Jealousy scowled fiercely.
“What are you looking at?”
Togun quietly lowered his gaze. He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he could tell the man’s mood was extremely foul. Maybe even worse than before. Just what was the problem?
“Well, it went faster than I expected. I thought it’d take longer since you’re a magic rejector.”
Whether Togun understood or not, Jealousy kept talking to himself. By now, Togun had grown used to this one-sided conversation style and simply stayed silent. That handsome-faced, rotten-tempered punk would explain anything truly important in his own blunt way.
“Hey. Draw your sword.”
Exactly like that.
Since Professor Karlsen had already explained things, it wasn’t strange that this man knew about the Masao family heirloom.
Paahk!
The heirloom appeared at his command. At the same moment, Togun’s eyes widened in surprise.
“How is it? Feels easier to handle now, right?”
Jealousy wore a bored expression that said he’d known this would happen. He absentmindedly twirled a lock of hair around his finger—a habitual gesture—then continued speaking without even glancing at Togun. His eyes stayed fixed on his nails, checking for any chips in his manicure.
“Of course it does. I purged all the impurities that had built up in your body with magic power.”
Directly interfering with someone else’s body by injecting pure magic power—like a magic blood transfusion—was an advanced technique that even experts in magic manipulation found difficult to use. This held true even for martial artists who handled magic power through pure sensation.
“Be grateful. What you just received is something only the greatest noble houses—those that produce one supreme martial artist per generation—bother to perform.”
Marrow Cleansing. The term referred to a technique that drove magic power into another person’s acupoints to purge accumulated turbidity and cleanse the meridians completely. It was usually performed occasionally on newborn babies, whose bodies still held very little impurity. It was like giving the inside of a car a thorough cleaning. The difference it made when later learning martial arts was enormous, so prestigious families treated it like a monthly ritual.
But starting Marrow Cleansing on a child over ten years old is almost unheard of.
The reason was simple. By that age, if the procedure had never been done, the body would be packed solid with hardened turbidity. A careless attempt could rupture the meridians along with the impurities, leaving no choice but to hope the child would later achieve Hwan-Gol-Tal-Tae—rebirthing the body—through their own training.
In short, the difficulty skyrocketed. In Togun’s case, his magic rejection trait raised the difficulty exponentially. But that didn’t apply to Jealousy. Someone as knowledgeable about the human body as he was would never fail at something as basic as a child’s Marrow Cleansing.
“By continuously striking the muscles and joints to soften them, then driving magic power inside through the subtle art of penetrating force, the hardened impurities are forcibly shattered.”
It was a crude, brute-force method, but as the results showed, it worked like a charm.
“You have zero talent for accumulating magic power anyway. If you want to get stronger in a short time, you have to push your physical performance to its absolute limit.”
The only way the Masao family could become strong was through endless physical training. With that, Jealousy waved his hand lazily, as if the topic bored him.
“Stop playing around. If you’re done checking, put the sword away. Don’t waste your stamina and collapse.”
“……”
Togun sheathed the heirloom and fell silent for a moment. Then he stared straight at Jealousy and slowly bowed his head.
“I’m sorry.”
Had the constant beating finally broken his mind? Why the sudden apology? As far as Jealousy remembered, he hadn’t hit the boy in the head even once.
Jealousy stared at him with an expression that didn’t bother hiding how insane he thought the kid was. Ignoring that look, Togun continued.
“To be honest, I misunderstood you. I thought you were just venting your anger by beating me without teaching me anything.”
“Well, that’s half right. So what?”
“No matter how ignorant I am, I know what Marrow Cleansing is. I also know how difficult it is for someone from our family to receive it.”
That made sense. The Masao family had originally come from the Fan Empire, so it wasn’t strange they knew about the technique.
“Thank you.”
While accepting the apology, Jealousy’s only thought was that the boy was annoyingly upright. In summary, what Togun was saying amounted to this:
I misunderstood and thought you were only beating me without teaching anything, but that wasn’t the case, so I’m sorry. Thank you for giving me such a tremendous gift.
‘If it were me, I’d be grinding my teeth in rage over getting beaten, planning my revenge later.’
A personality like that would never survive in the underworld, where only selfishness and venom allowed one to live. He was the kind of pure-hearted fool who would get scammed in a heartbeat by someone like Greed. If Jealousy tried to think positively, the boy reminded him a little of their lady.
That just makes me even more irritated.
How dare you imitate our lady? You want to die?
As if reflecting that displeasure, one corner of Jealousy’s mouth twisted upward in a crooked smirk.
“Then I guess it’s fine if I work you even harder?”
Even harder?
Togun, who had been bowing his head, jerked it up sharply.
“Listen carefully. There’s one thing you’re misunderstanding.”
The reason he was teaching the boy had nothing to do with kindness. From the very beginning until now, it had been nothing but coercion and orders.
“As long as I’m teaching you, if you fail to win, I’ll kill you.”
If the boy couldn’t even win a mere children’s tournament and ended up making their lady sad, he didn’t deserve to keep living. An absurdly childish reason, yet the thick, chilling killing intent that crawled out from around him was anything but.
“So learn more desperately than before. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes!”
Judging by that energetic reply, it was obvious he hadn’t properly understood. Or perhaps he thought the death threat was an exaggeration and took it as simple motivation to work harder. Either way, it didn’t matter.
In the end, all those grim hypotheticals were just assumptions for the case where he failed to win.
Having some motivation is better than getting beaten like before with zero drive.
And if he still failed to win… well, Jealousy could just snap that frail neck later.
“Now that your body is complete, next I’ll teach you how to walk.”
What people in the Fan Empire commonly called footwork. There were also lightness techniques for running, but those were ultimately just advanced forms of footwork.
“What do you think techniques are?”
Jealousy asked while stepping one foot back. He didn’t seem to expect an answer; the correct response immediately left his lips.
“Techniques are nothing but petty tricks created by the weak to oppose the power of the strong.”
To those born strong, techniques were unnecessary steps. An attack swung faster and harder was already a lethal weapon capable of taking a life without needing anything extra. Techniques were the survival methods the weak had created to resist that merciless violence.
“Techniques began from imitating the strong.”
Just as ancient ancestors had sharpened wood and stone to counter the sharp claws of beasts. Or as they had worn the pelts of other animals to survive winter’s cold. Imitation was one of the most important footprints in human history.
“The same goes for martial arts.”
No—it wasn’t limited to martial arts. Whether magic, dark magic, or spirit arts, their origins all stemmed from humanity’s desire to imitate something else. Animals, plants, monsters, or the phenomena of nature itself.
“Open your eyes wide and watch carefully. Imitating these crude movements isn’t really my taste.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Jealousy vanished from Togun’s sight.
Paahk!
At the same time, the sound of air being torn apart exploded from directly ahead. Jealousy reappeared right in front of Togun. Seeing the index and middle fingers stopped just before his eyes, Togun instinctively flinched backward in shock.
“Did you see it? If you didn’t, say so now. I won’t show you again even if you beg later.”
Beast Imitation Footwork. Footwork that copied the gait of animals. What Jealousy had just demonstrated was the step of the mountain lord—the tiger. A ferocious assault charging toward its prey.
“You don’t need to infuse it with magic power. Just imitate the form. That alone is enough.”
Even in Jealousy’s eyes, the Masao family’s physique was excellent. But no matter how good the ingredients, the final dish could differ drastically depending on whether they were handled efficiently. What he was teaching now was equivalent to showing a chef how to wield the knife.
“Please show me one more time.”
Seemingly captivated by that explosive movement, Togun answered with sparkling eyes. Perhaps that challenging gaze was somewhat pleasing. Jealousy, who had been frowning the entire time, let out a small chuckle for the first time.
“Fine.”
Jealousy slowly stepped back. At the same time, the thick clouds that had been covering the sky parted, allowing faint moonlight to pour down into the center of the park.
“But if you’re going to learn it, you’d better learn it as fast as possible. If you want to steal from me not only how to walk, run, and move, but even how to wield a sword before the tournament…”
For the first time since he had begun learning from Jealousy, a competitive spirit ignited inside Togun’s heart.