Chapter 67
Translator: uly
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: The Inn of Chilgok County - 3
Martial arts.
It is an essential element in the martial arts genre.
If there is a difference between martial arts and real-world combat techniques, it's that martial arts are a form of martial study that combines academic learning and enlightenment, unlike combat techniques that emphasize physical training.
Most martial arts accumulate internal energy, the fuel for martial arts, in the dantian through internal energy methods, and then unleash various superhuman techniques using that internal energy.
I want to learn such martial arts too.
Someone might say that if you don't learn martial arts, you're just an ordinary person, so martial artists won't bother you, and it's better to live without learning martial arts.
Then, weren't the Cheongsa Sect members who beat me to a pulp martial artists?
The difficulty of living in this world as a black-haired, black-eyed barbarian without learning martial arts is simply hell.
If I were drunk and chose the tutorial hell difficulty, I could at least understand it.
Rather than enduring the contempt and disdain received for being a black-haired, black-eyed barbarian with just my bare body, it's better to learn martial arts.
Until now, I had no master and no money, so I couldn't learn martial arts, but now I have Cheon Sal-seong in front of me, who can teach me martial arts.
The woman I told So-hee was a passing acquaintance also taught me martial arts.
So-hee. You're closer to me than her. Teach me some martial arts.
"Why?"
Her response to my request was a question.
Fortunately, an immediate refusal didn't pop out.
"I'm worried something like this might happen again."
"I won't make that mistake again."
No, it's a mistake precisely because you can make it more than once.
Should I tell her the story about how I said I wasn't human if I stepped on an instant-death trap twice in a row during an RPG game raid, and got called a beast that day?
"Wouldn't it be good for Oppa to learn enough to protect himself?"
"I'll protect Yun-ho."
She said firmly. I'm so grateful it brings tears to my eyes. Really.
I think I took the wrong angle. I asked her to teach me because I wanted to save my own skin, but she seems to have taken it as me pointing out her mistake.
"I'm always grateful that So-hee protects Oppa, but I'm worried I might be a hindrance when being protected."
"Yun-ho is not a hindrance."
Please think of me as a hindrance.
You're not invincible either. What if ninjas suddenly appear and try to massacre everyone?
Come to think of it, she's the strongest ninja in this martial arts dating sim worldview. That wasn't a good analogy.
As I was pondering what reason to give, So-hee spoke again.
"Yun-ho isn't a member of the Sal Mak, right? Martial arts originally shouldn't be taught to outsiders."
Unexpectedly, she stated a firm, correct principle.
I let my guard down because it's a martial arts dating sim worldview, but here too, martial arts are martial arts.
A martial sect's arts being leaked to outsiders is on the level of a 50-year-old restaurant's secret recipe getting out.
In martial arts, to prevent such things, they shatter the dantian of the person who leaked the martial arts, cut the tendons in their hands and feet, or even kill them.
But I can't back down easily.
"Outsider... Right, I'm an outsider to So-hee."
I said, making it obvious I was hurt.
"It's not about our relationship, it's about the Sal Mak's..."
"Oppa understands. She must have just treated me specially."
I quickly cut off her words and mentioned Murong Sang-ah again.
I avoided meeting So-hee's gaze and exuded an atmosphere of reminiscing about the past with a longing face. Then, after a pause, I subtly looked at So-hee's face.
Her eyebrows were trembling slightly. She seemed troubled by something.
"...I can teach you self-defense techniques."
See. You have something to teach. Self-defense techniques are certainly attractive, but a bit lacking.
I also don't want to learn the Sal Mak's martial arts because it's dangerous, but it's not like she has nothing she can teach me.
I need to dig a little deeper.
"Ugh!"
I suddenly grabbed my head, pretending to feel a burning pain in the back of my head.
When I brought my hand to the back of my head, I felt something like thread. Did the doctor grandfather suture it while I was unconscious?
"Does your head hurt?"
Worry was evident in So-hee's voice.
"It does hurt. But they said I won't become a cripple from the beating, so I should consider myself lucky."
"...I'm sorry."
So-hee's shoulders slumped a little. So-hee seemed to think this was all her fault, even lowering her gaze.
If you're sorry, teach me martial arts.
"Don't blame yourself. It's not So-hee's fault, and this isn't the first time something like this has happened."
"It's not the first time?"
"So-hee might not know well because she learned martial arts, but black-haired barbarians are objects of contempt and disdain to the people of the Central Plains. Being insulted for being a barbarian, being weak and beaten, being robbed because you have money... such things were commonplace."
I said, looking sorrowfully at the bruises on my arm.
"..."
So-hee silently followed my gaze and looked at the wounds.
"Whenever something like this happened, I used to think, if only I had learned martial arts, I wouldn't have been beaten like this. That's why I asked you. Don't think too much of it."
Please think much of it.
Is what you've learned really only the Sal Mak's martial arts?
You must have at least one thing you can teach me.
"You don't want to become strong, you just don't want to get hit?"
Good reaction.
"Becoming the best in the world... I don't even dream of such things. Oppa just hopes he can at least avoid blind blades when So-hee is protecting him."
I looked at So-hee with a pitiful expression like a beaten husband. She was frowning slightly, making an expression as if she was debating whether to give me something or not.
"...If the goal is self-protection, not becoming strong, there is one martial art I can teach you."
"If I learn that, assassins won't come to kill me, right?"
If I shake her heart too much and she offers to teach me the Sal Mak's martial arts, I'm in big trouble.
I'd rather not have a Sal Mak assassin visiting me while I'm sleeping.
"It's not the Sal Mak's martial arts, so it's fine. I'll teach you when your body recovers. I need to prepare too."
"Thank you, So-hee."
As expected, there was something.
Great. Finally, I can learn martial arts!
"I'll nurse you for a while. Recover quietly."
Nursing by Cheon Sal-seong.
How many people have received nursing from Cheon Sal-seong, who only goes around killing people?
I lay back down again and decided to focus on recovery for now, under her worried gaze.
-----
My physical condition was such that, while no bones were broken or tendons cut, if this were reality, I would have to sue the bastard who did this to me all the way to the district court, high court, and supreme court—it was that bad.
So-hee was extremely devoted to nursing me, perhaps because she thought my injuries were her fault. Though the direction seemed a bit off.
"Take it off. Yun-ho."
"So-hee. Oppa can handle his own body."
"Take it off."
"Wait a minute! Ugh."
I wasn't even forcibly stripped on my wedding night.
"I'll wipe you down. Spread your arms."
So-hee's nursing was more rough than I expected.
She wiped my body three times a day as if she wouldn't tolerate a single speck of impurity, with an enthusiasm on par with a bathhouse scrubbing uncle.
"I'll apply the Golden Sore Medicine too."
"So-hee. I told you last time, you don't need to slather it on so thickly."
"You still have a lot of wounds and bruises."
She started coating my entire body with Golden Sore Medicine, just like yesterday.
It smells really strong.
This Golden Sore Medicine is expensive, is it okay to use this much? If it were me, I'd have used it only on wounds that looked like they'd leave big scars, my hands trembling.
The nursing she gave me was overflowing with sincerity and passion, but somehow lacked consideration.
It must be due to lack of experience.
Of course, she was overflowing with consideration in strange places too.
"Yun-ho. I brewed the decoction. Take it with the pills."
She personally brewed the decoction and brought it before me.
"The pills are too big."
I said, looking at pills that looked bigger than ping-pong balls on the tray. Are they rice balls or what?
Speaking isn't too difficult, but my jaw and cheek are injured, so chewing something like that is a problem.
So-hee looked back and forth between my face, which was staring at the pills incredulously, and the pills, then made an expression as if hesitating about something.
Why are you making me uneasy?
"...I'll chew and break them for you."
Huh?
So-hee made a resolute face and tried to pick up a pill.
"So-hee!"
I called out to her, startled.
"Hmm?"
"Can't you just mix it into the decoction and give it to me?"
It's not like some shaman family's wine made by chewing, there's no need to chew the pills for me. Just mix them into the decoction and that's it.
"...Ah."
Whether she was embarrassed for making a thoughtless remark or not, she hurriedly started mixing the pills into the decoction.
I can't tell if she's overly considerate or just oblivious.
----
To recover my body, I diligently used the Tona Technique as well as medicine.
The Tona Technique, which showed great effect in restoring my body even when I had no money for medicine. Used together with medicine, my body recovered really quickly.
I only realized it now, but Murong Sang-ah taught me an incredible Tona Technique.
I thought it was just an easy and stable Tona Technique because it was a family head's secret, but I had no idea it was such a special Tona Technique.
If someone from the Murong Family had found out I learned this Tona Technique, it could have caused harm to Murong Sang-ah as well. Yet, she taught me this supreme secret art when we were merely fiancés.
She probably taught me because I was the only ally who appeared in a moment of crisis, but the fact remains that she taught me martial arts that shouldn't be leaked to the outside.
一 Isn't it my family's technique?
After finishing the Tona Technique, I thought of Murong Sang-ah and tenderly touched the dantian area, the starting point for circulating true energy.
She is the woman who took everything from Joseon's Kang Yun-ho, but ironically, she is also the woman who taught the Tona Technique, the only thing the possessor Kang Yun-ho can rely on.
Strange Fate.
A power-up chance everyone desires in the martial arts world. Considering the original meaning is a strange connection, isn't it the perfect word for the relationship between me and Murong Sang-ah?
Murong Sang-ah. I'll make good use of it from now on too.
By the way, if there were something like a martial arts online community in this world, I'd like to write a post.
The Tona Technique I thought was just a health preservation method is actually a supreme secret art.
[I pulled a martial art given for free, is this any good?]
ㄴYou know and you're just showing off.
ㄴIt's trash. Bye.
ㄴShow-off post. I'll block you for 7 days.
That's the kind of response I'd get.
As a martial otaku, thinking that I got something only the martial arts protagonist gets makes me unable to stop the corners of my mouth from rising.
The sight of me touching my lower abdomen and giggling right now would look suspicious, like a female character near the ending of an NTR story.
But I'm the only one in this house right now, so what does it matter?
"Yun-ho."
It mattered.
"Huh? So-hee. Didn't you say you were stepping out for a bit?"
It's cold. Her gaze flies at me like a flying dagger and stabs in.
To hide my embarrassing behavior, I awkwardly smiled and asked why she appeared now.
"I finished my business and came back."
In her hand, which was glaring coldly at me, was a large basin filled with a strange liquid.
Is it a decoction? That's a lot for that.
"Right. Then you should rest."
Like an older brother caught watching porn by his younger sister opening the door, trying to awkwardly change the subject to resolve the situation.
"It's fine. But, Yun-ho."
"Hmm?"
"What were you thinking about just now?"
So-hee's displeased voice stabbed into my chest like a dagger.