When Does a Trainee Think of the Future?
Trainees never think about the future. But looking back, it was clearly a massive blunder. Right now, precisely the moment to glance back in horror.
"Run! You little punks, run!"
It had only been a few days since he'd started meddling in our training like it was his own business, but Dang Jeongseok was chasing us from behind like a goddamn steam locomotive.
"Uncle, why are you running?!"
"You brat! Save that breath for running faster!"
Under the pressure from that uncle bastard, Dang Jihwan and I had escalated from jogging to sprinting, and now straight into lightness skill training. With our pitch-black Tang Family Fist at the strong point stage, lightness skills were obviously off-limits.
Seeing Dang Jihwan bolt ahead first, I gritted my teeth.
"Old enough to be called 'hyung,' and you're ditching your little brother...?"
"Heh, Yohwan, your ass is calling my foot again today!"
"What kind of uncle kicks his nephew—"
"Hahaha, you don't even know what 'nephew at my feet' means!!!"
And then came the ace-level toe kick from the early morning soccer club, aimed squarely at my butt—a shock too much for a five-year-old body to handle. I veered off course and tumbled toward the wild hills.
'Tumbling's fine! I've learned falling techniques, after all!'
"Huh?"
That's when it hit me: the falling techniques I'd learned were for flat ground. Instinctively, I curled into a ball as the dirt rushed up.
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!"
The spin was enough to turn Yohwan into a top! With acceleration ballooning like a snowball, my soul nearly fled my body. When the whirling world finally stopped, a familiar face entered my wobbly vision as I popped up like a roly-poly toy.
"Huh? Pavilion Master of Bi Yeon Pavilion?"
I should have stood and bowed properly, but with my back trembling like I'd swallowed four electric eels, I just craned my neck up and asked. She clicked her tongue.
"...At this point, nothing you do surprises me anymore."
I'd landed in Myeong Gyeong Hall, located in the back mountains. The training route was the back mountain course, and that mountain was Myeong Gyeong Hall's backyard, after all.
Not forgetting how I'd ended up in this mess, I clung to the hem of the Bi Yeon Pavilion Master's skirt.
"Pavilion Master, please save me. Uncle—no, that bastard Dang Jeongseok—"
That guy's name is straight-up villainous. How does someone end up named 'Jeongseok'? If he were a teacher, he'd probably force lame math puns while shoving Math Essentials down kids' throats. I should've known he was trouble ever since he tried turning the punishment hall master into a sundial.
"That's what you get for setting fire to the punishment hall."
'This old hag, ditching her longtime chat buddy now that Sohee's around?'
I shot her a resentful glare, but only for a moment before brushing myself off and shaking the dirt from the poison grass patch. Luckily, Dang Jeongseok hadn't followed right away. Well, someone my age might get a fond reception from the Pavilion Master, but what grown nephew is cute?
"Why's Sohee over there?"
The Pavilion Master was resetting tea time in the pavilion, but Sohee was at the restored pond. Not feeding fish or skipping stones, but standing with her lower body submerged, arms extended into the air.
"Is that Tang Family Fist too?"
"What else would it be?"
Last time with the grain-grabbing drill, and now this—the Pavilion Master's special lectures were surprisingly packed. Uncle and the punishment hall master were skilled, sure, but considering seniority, they couldn't compare.
I examined Sohee closely. The water only reached her thighs, but her training clothes were soaked all the way up top. That's when I got the old lady's intent.
"Wet clothes acting like sandbags, huh."
Water's surprisingly heavy. Balconies in apartments with kids' pools don't collapse for nothing in my past life. Moving in soaked clothes is a hassle, and in this case, that seemed to be the point.
Sipping tea she'd offered, I watched Sohee.
"Her lips look blue. What if she catches a cold?"
Thinking about it, swimsuits are made to retain body heat as they dry. Even on a warm autumn day, Sohee looked chilly after so long.
"Afterward, I have her circulate her qi, so no worries."
"Ah, got it."
Circulating qi apparently prevents colds too.
"Plenty of physicians in Tang Family Village."
"...What was that?"
A grumble slipped out, but I decided not to dwell. It wasn't just me suffering under Jeongseok's tyranny—Sohee was getting pushed hard by the Pavilion Master too. So, like true Tangs, we'd endure. Once I grew up, I'd wipe out these family bad habits, I vowed, then turned back to the Pavilion Master.
"...So when does Sohee get a break? Ideally on the same day as me—good for me, good for her, right? Pavilion Master?"
"...That's how those training-filled days passed."
<Looks like it's working, seeing you come back battered.>
Right now, the soreness and ass-whooping pissed me off, but Dang Jeongseok's training was effective. At least among my peers, I no longer feared anyone in stamina.
Mentioning Sohee's training piqued the Mirror Ghost's interest.
"Didn't you do any special training, Mirror Senior?"
"...Wasn't your master a physician?"
Sand out of nowhere? What next, sand crotch?
<...I learned it where I stayed before that.>
Sounds like the Mirror Ghost had a rough, varied background.
"Speaking of, living in Myeong Gyeong Hall, you must know these surrounding mountains well?"
She talked like she'd done it all herself—exaggerated, but probably true. The Pavilion Master said she was from when the Tangs first settled in Sichuan.
"Now they grow poison herbs on other mountains, and the back ones are for kids' training—no real dangers."
<Number Five.>
I jolted! Not some Chinese virus, but if thoughts leaked that much, my reincarnation was busted.
<...Dunno the language, but doesn't it mean Fifth Young Master? Anyway, since we're on it, let's head to the back mountains.>
"Back mountains? I practically live there now... why go with you?"
Ah! As former owner of Myeong Gyeong Hall, she managed the surrounding hills too. Makes sense for a poison master!
<Hmph, weren't you begging for my teachings?>
'Pass. You said you don't teach males.'
<Curious if my hidden weapons are still intact.>
'If Senior speaks, I could climb a tree in my sleep!'
I scooped up the mirror and bolted out. Under the cloudy, dim moonlight, the Mirror Ghost—with her ghostly night vision—and I navigated the wild hills.
'This the spot?'
No loss if nothing, but rationally, even cherished hidden weapons might not survive the years.
The bright-eyed ghost scouted the terrain and stopped at a uniquely shaped rock.
<Dig around this rock here.>
'On it.'
Grabbing the trowel from flowerbed work at Myeong Gyeong Hall, I dug as directed. The deeper I went, the damper the soil.
'What? It's here! Real deal!'
Excited, I pulled out the box.
"Weird mud inside?"
<The clay's deliberate.>
"Single iron, right?"
No martial arts beyond Tang Family Fist, but I had plenty of other experience. Even non-heir Tang kids tour the forges. Crude compared to clan masters' work.
<Single iron? Better materials exist.>
The Mirror Ghost's shrug didn't irk me today. Like a Joseon dude bragging spice tolerance without trying fire noodles—petty. Single iron's precious, like mithril, but a master craftsman's skill seals the deal. Tang kids learn early to spot it.
To me, who'd handled priceless treasures and special darksteel sinks, her spit wasn't impressive. Not as thin or flexible as darksteel. Still, top-tier for her era, and Tang metallurgy had advanced since.
'You found it for me, so teach this junior some acupuncture...'
Ultimate pragmatist here. Poison needles or medicine, whatever. I was about to kneel in full disciple bow to lock it in, but my body rebelled.
<Oh?>
A floating transcendence, vision widening like a fisheye lens, seeing everything clearly. Not just seeing—knowing?
The Mirror Ghost tested my arms and legs freely.
"As expected of a famed clan kid—decent muscles and bones."
<You damn ghost bitch!!! Get out of my body NOW!!!>
Never pick up random stuff from old buildings. In my case, a centuries-old mirror ghost hijacked me.
"I'll return it after handling business."
<What business do you even have!!!>