Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Training
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#037 Training
Peee, peeeep, peep.
A whistle made from an apricot pit, prepared just for today.
The sound echoing from the small hole filled the training grounds.
And in time with that signal.
“One thousand three hundred seventy-two!”
The last count rang out.
Aaaah! Who the hell was that?!
Screams mixed with blame erupted from all directions.
I shouted at my squad members.
“Who dares blame a comrade for their mistake?! The proud owls of the Outer Hall do not blame one another!”
As soon as I finished speaking, I grabbed the brim of my hat and pulled it down low, so my eyes couldn't be seen from the front.
It was to set the mood.
“This instructor is not a bad person. Depending on your actions, I can be as benevolent as the adepts of the Black Dragon Hall or as vicious as the fiends of the Ten Demon Alliance. Understood?!”
“Sir!”
“In that spirit, prepare for movement number eight!”
“Sir!”
“We will perform two thousand repetitions. How many?!”
“Two thousand!”
“We will omit the final count! Begin!”
“Sir!”
Peeep peep, peep. Peepeepeepeepeep.
Watching the ceaselessly moving squad members, I thought.
‘This is fun.’
I should do this again next year.
* * *
The effects of the physical training exercises conducted over the past two days were excellent.
Not only did their flagging discipline shoot up like a stock chart in a bull market, but all their complaints vanished as well.
The problem was, I didn't know a single move of the Shadow-Pinning Sword Art.
‘How am I supposed to teach it if I don't know it?’
And trying to correct each person's individual martial arts was impossible; fifteen days was far too short.
A total mess.
That was the only way to describe the situation unfolding in the training grounds.
In the end, there was only one thing I could do.
“The goal is the summit of Nine Dragons Mountain. First fifty to arrive. Go!”
Rumble.
Stamina training.
Watching the backs of the squad members as they ran off, a sigh escaped me.
‘What now...?’
Bukgung Baek's threat to cut my pay if there were no visible results came to mind, and fresh anger surged within me.
‘My monthly salary is already ridiculously low for supporting three wives and four concubines!’
Maybe I should report him to the Ministry of Labor... Ah, they don't have one of those here.
Just as I was about to plop down on the ground, grumbling about this hopeless martial world, I saw Wi Ji-pung approaching from a distance.
“There you are. I've been looking all over for you.”
“What's up?”
“The martial arts hall I mentioned before is finished, so I came to find you. You're an investor, after all. Shouldn't you come to the opening ceremony?”
“It's already finished?”
Some time ago, I had invested 250 nyang in the martial arts hall being built by the Black Dragon Hall and received a 10% stake.
The land was worth 20 gold nyang, or 2,000 silver nyang, so the calculation was roughly correct.
‘They must have been desperate for money...’
Given the leisurely nature of the adepts, I'd expected it to take at least a year to build and had forgotten all about it. To think it was already done.
It seemed that even for the Black Dragon Hall, the headquarters of the Sichuan Daoist arts, hunger was a great motivator.
“Yes, we're opening for business tomorrow at the Hour of the Dragon. Come and have a look.”
Wi Ji-pung's face was filled with happiness.
Right, use this chance to make a lot of money so you can stop bleeding me dry.
As I watched him with that thought in mind, he started muttering something strange.
“Hehe, we'll get at least a hundred students, right?”
It was the early stage of entrepreneur's fever.
A dangerous illness that, if left unchecked, could progress to the intermediate and even terminal stages.
“Um... Brother Wi, are you expecting students to flock here from the very beginning?”
“Isn't that obvious? Disciples of the Black Dragon Hall will be teaching here personally. Everyone will be lining up to become students. Yes, absolutely.”
What am I going to do with this guy?
“Have you advertised that instructors from the Black Dragon Hall will be teaching here? Have you researched how much other martial arts halls charge per month? Most importantly, have you thought about your teaching methods? Surely you're not planning to teach the same way you trained at the Black Dragon Hall, are you?”
“...Is that not allowed?”
My god, if I'd just let this slide, I would have lost my entire investment of 250 nyang.
“Let me ask one more thing.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do you still climb mountains every morning carrying a boulder?”
“...I do.”
This is insane.
In this high-tech martial world, who still uses such primitive methods?
“This won't do. Special training is required.”
* * *
The next day.
After assigning my squad members to self-training, I headed to the Black Dragon Martial Arts Hall.
When I arrived, I couldn't help but be surprised by the sight of the hall.
‘It's well-built.’
I'd expected to get ripped off, but it was much better than I thought.
“What do you think?”
“It's built quite well. Who did the construction?”
“Those men over there. They happen to be coming this way.”
Following Wi Ji-pung's pointing finger, I saw a group of men approaching us.
“Huh? You guys?”
Familiar faces.
“Eek!”
The men were startled the moment they saw me.
“Well, long time no see. I was wondering what you've been up to. Decided to become carpenters?”
These were the guys who had been squatting in my house before I beat them up and kicked them out.
“Y-yes, Great Warrior! After that day, we turned over a new leaf and have been living diligently.”
“You were always decent with your hands. Good call.”
“Th-thank you. We'll continue to live honestly.”
“Right, right. Work hard and be sure to become honest taxpayers.”
The more taxpayers there are, the higher the average salary in Nine Dragons Fortress will be, after all.
“Yessir!”
Anyway, to think I've reformed five people.
As expected, my fists are surely the Fists of Life.
Of course, they might also physically kill you halfway.
As I was admiring the well-built hall, Wi Ji-pung approached with five disciples from the Black Dragon Hall. These were the ones who would be running the hall from now on.
“I've gathered them all. Now, speak.”
I stood before them and spoke in the most serious tone I could muster.
“Why do you think people come to a martial arts hall and pay money to train?”
Wi Ji-pung answered my question as if it were absurd.
“To get closer to the Dao, of course.”
“...Brother Wi, from now on, don't even come near this hall.”
“What, why?!”
Ignoring the indignant Wi Ji-pung, I looked at the other disciples, but they were all silent.
‘Seriously, how can they be this clueless?’
It was a sight that made me sigh.
“Listen carefully. The reason people enroll in a martial arts hall is to make a name for themselves and succeed in life.”
That's right. In this harsh martial world, a commoner without money has only two paths to success.
One is to study literature, like Myo Hyang's younger brother, pass the civil service exam, and become a government official.
The other is to train in martial arts and become a martial artist or a military official.
Especially these days, with the country in shambles, people prefer to become martial artists—specifically, warriors of the Outer Hall in a major power like Nine Dragons Fortress—rather than military officials.
A position as a warrior in the main fortress is something only the Celestial Dragons with the right bloodline and talent can attain, but for the Outer Hall, as long as you pass the test, they don't really care about your background.
Besides, even considering the per capita GDP of this hellish martial world, it was a profession with a decent income.
However.
“They learn martial arts for such a trivial reason?”
“Hmph, martial arts are not meant for personal glory.”
“Do they not know that wealth and fame are but fleeting dust?”
Wi Ji-pung and his boys completely failed to understand the situation.
“It's because of that old-fashioned thinking that the children of the Black Dragon Hall go around in rags. Have you seen what the kids from the Gold Dragon Hall wear?! Even their servants wear silk!”
“Well, things have gotten much better than they used to be...”
“Better? They're still rags, aren't they?”
This was something I knew from spending my childhood in the Black Dragon Hall.
Their only clothes were single-layered garments made of thin cotton, they weren't even given underwear, and with no spare tops or bottoms, they couldn't even layer them.
If this weren't the warm province of Sichuan, there would have been a string of deaths from freezing every winter.
“...Ahem, it's not that bad.”
“And among the Hall Masters of the eight halls in the main fortress, the only one who wears patched-up clothes is the Master of the Black Dragon Hall.”
Struck by this factual assault, everyone fell silent.
It was only natural.
For these people, deeply ingrained with the ideology that the king, the teacher, and the father are one, failing to properly serve their master was no different from being an unfilial child.
Wi Ji-pung, with a shocked expression, managed to speak.
“Teach us... what we should do.”
“Of course, I'll tell you. No, I will personally set the Black Dragon Martial Arts Hall on the bedrock of success.”
“I-is that really true?”
“All of you just need to trust me and follow my lead.”
* * *
The next morning, at the Black Dragon Martial Arts Hall's training grounds.
Peepeepeep, peepeepeepeepeep.
Just like yesterday, the members of the Outer Hall squad moved in perfect sync to the sound of the piercing whistle.
However, there was one difference.
“Owl number 87! Is your form not incorrect?!”
“Owl number 9, do not lose the tension in your fingertips.”
“Owl number 36! Who just dropped their sword?!”
The disciples of the Black Dragon Hall, the copyright holders of the Shadow-Pinning series, were personally instructing the squad members.
“And you call yourselves proud warriors of Nine Dragons Fortress?!”
“No, sir!”
Seeing them work so hard, I couldn't help but laugh.
‘Hehehe, it's all going according to plan.’
That's right.
For the success of my investment... no, my special enhancement training, I had made the disciples of the Black Dragon Hall temporary instructors.
Thanks to this, the residents passing through the nearby fortress gate were busy peeking over the wall at the warriors, wondering what on earth was going on.
Normally, this was an act that should be stopped.
But I let the onlookers be.
“Wow. Dis. ci. ples. of. the. Black. Dra. gon. Hall. are. tea. ching. war. ri. ors. of. the. Ou. ter. Hall.”
“I. know. If. you. train. here. you. could. pro. bab. ly. get. in. to. the. Ou. ter. Hall.”
In fact, to promote the Black Dragon Martial Arts Hall, Wi Ji-pung and I even put on a masterful performance.
And there was a masterstroke that crowned this whole affair.
“Here's a brochure for the Black Dragon Martial Arts Hall. Please take a look.”
“The number one place for passing the Outer Hall exam, the Black Dragon Martial Arts Hall. Please give us your attention.”
It was the flyer distributors.
In an age where men and women were not to mingle after the age of seven, no man could refuse a flyer handed to them by two beautiful women.
For the record, those flyers were made by Yu So-pyeong the day before, in exchange for being excused from training.
‘He's a hopeless case anyway.’
In any case, if things continued like this, the Black Dragon Martial Arts Hall was sure to become the talk of the town by the time the special enhancement training was over.
A prime business location, top-tier instructors from the Black Dragon Hall, and a massive promotional campaign. It had all the ingredients for success.
‘There's no way this can fail.’
Of course, there was one concern.
That the disciples, who had learned the Black Dragon Hall way their entire lives, would insist on teaching the Black Dragon Hall way.
I'd warned them not to make the training too harsh, but it seemed continuous observation would be necessary.
People can't just abandon the methods they've used their whole lives.
‘For now, I've packaged it well. I'll have to wait and see.’
I wrote 'Only rigorous training will make you a warrior of Nine Dragons Fortress' on the flyers, so people who enroll should be somewhat prepared.
My work here is done.
Only one thing remained.
“Brother Wi, I'm counting on you. I'm busy, so I'll be heading off now.”
“Don't worry, go on. I'm truly grateful for today. I'll buy you a drink later.”
“Save that money and buy the kids some clothes.”
To go home and catch up on my missed morning sleep.
‘Good work, Mujeon.’
To think I solved the special enhancement training and the promotion for the Black Dragon Martial Arts Hall in one fell swoop.
A sense of pride swelled within me.
“So, when are you paying us for the day?”
“It's same-day pay, right?”
Cheong So-so and Myo Hyang held out their hands, pestering me.
Normally, I would have tried to haggle down the price or delay the payment, but how could I on such an auspicious day?
When I paid them the exact amount of silver I had prepared, their reactions were strange.
“Huh? You're paying us right away?”
“I know, right? This can't be... Oh my? The amount is correct too!”
A startled Cheong So-so placed her hand on my forehead and said.
“Squad Leader Jin, have you been seeing things or hearing voices lately? Or perhaps feeling weary of everything... If you have any of these symptoms, you must tell us right away. They're the early signs of madness.”
What do these women take me for?