Chapter 68
Translator: uly
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: The Safe House in Chilgok County - 4
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Sohui's expression was quite stormy.
It felt like she was interrogating me, asking who I was thinking about even though she probably already knew what I was thinking.
For a moment, I recalled the woman I hadn't seen in over a year. If it had been ten thousand years, I wouldn't have remembered her face, voice, or scent.
But it's only been a little over a year now. The moment she clumsily yet passionately invaded my mouth is still vivid.
It's not like I'm talking about an ex-girlfriend to my current girlfriend, so there's no need to hide it.
"I was thinking about the martial art she taught me. I had no idea she would teach me a supreme secret technique like that."
I boldly stated, concealing the truth.
I was thinking about her while also thinking about how good the breathing technique was.
Sohui, you're a martial artist too, so you understand how amazing it is to learn a supreme secret technique, right? Understand that your oppa was a bit distracted.
Contrary to my expectations, Sohui narrowed her eyes after hearing my words, stared intently at my lower abdomen, and her cheek twitched slightly.
"The internal energy method that woman taught you. It's not a supreme secret technique."
She informed me of a fact in a displeased voice.
"Last time, you said it was a supreme secret technique, didn't you?"
"It is a supreme martial art. But it's not at the level of a secret technique."
If it's a supreme martial art, it's a secret technique. But now you say it's not a secret technique.
[Thinking about rerolling, but you pulled a Tier 1 right from the start, huh? Should I just raise this character first?]
[It's a character that belongs to Tier 1. It's S-Rank, not SS-Rank. Go for a 24-hour reroll.]
Is that the feeling? Seeing my unconvinced expression, she continued, as if to provide further explanation.
"The original of that internal energy method is a supreme martial study, but the breathing technique Yun-ho learned is nothing more than a half-baked technique with only good functionality. The essential process of energy accumulation is clumsily omitted, and you don't even know the mantra of the internal energy method."
"She told me it was a technique for children, a breathing technique where internal energy doesn't accumulate."
"That's nonsense. The younger you are, the faster internal energy accumulates, so energy accumulation should be done as early as possible."
Huh? What?
Murong Sang-ah told me it was a method for three-foot-tall children where internal energy doesn't accumulate.
"So, you're saying she deliberately removed the process where internal energy accumulates and then taught it to me?"
"Only a genius of the ages could intentionally tamper with a supreme martial art. It's probably that there was a half-baked technique like that prepared in case the martial art was leaked."
Since Murong Sang-ah is a genius of the ages in this martial arts dating sim world, she must have tampered with it herself.
She probably modified it on the spot and taught it to me, saying that as an interpreter's family, I shouldn't accumulate internal energy.
"What if it's not a supreme secret technique? What if it's a half-baked technique? I'm still alive thanks to this breathing technique. I should always be grateful to her."
You said you'd teach me martial arts, but you still haven't. You shouldn't disparage someone else's gift when you haven't given me anything.
"Always?"
"Teaching martial arts is not an act of charity. Oppa doesn't forget favors easily."
My name is Kang Yun-ho. I'm a man who doesn't forget favors. Nor the sensation on my tongue.
So hurry up and teach me too.
Hearing my words, she pouted her lips slightly with a displeased expression.
"Yun-ho."
Her voice was cold.
"Yeah?"
"Don't use that breathing technique anymore."
What is this overstepping talk now?
"I need to use this to recover my body. What should I do if I don't use it?"
"From now on, I'll teach you a version of the breathing technique you use, improved my way. Assume the lotus position."
"Alright. I'll do it."
Improved? The utility is so good, I wonder if improvement is even necessary.
"I'll help you accumulate energy in your dantian, so focus from now on."
Energy accumulation! If I can build up internal energy in my dantian, I have to learn it!
I assumed the lotus position and prepared to use the breathing technique.
She placed her hand on my back and slowly began to channel her internal energy into me.
'This is the internal energy of the Heavenly Slaughter Star.'
If Murong Sang-ah's internal energy felt like a truck driving safely, the energy of the Heavenly Slaughter Star felt like a fierce and sharp modified vehicle that seemed ready to shout 'Full throttle! Full throttle!'.
Hello. The energy entering my body, you are the second one. Let me introduce you to the blue spearhead riding my internal energy, a tricycle. It's nothing compared to a truck or a modified vehicle, but it's the internal energy that has been traveling through my body for over a year. Though it's a friend that heartlessly returns to its own home when the breathing technique ends.
Her energy ignored the blue spearhead and flowed into my dantian, creating something like an iron arena.
What's this. It feels like we're about to have a royal rumble.
"Flow your energy into it."
Following her words, I flowed the energy I had absorbed into the iron arena she created in my dantian.
Normally, the vital energy should briefly gather in the dantian and then flow back through the meridians of the whole body, but it was blocked by her iron arena and couldn't escape.
"Compress the vital energy into a single point."
If that were easy, I would have done it long ago. My vital energy is like that of an elementary school student; if you open a path, it runs that way, but it doesn't stay gathered in an orderly fashion.
As I struggled, she gradually narrowed the iron formation she had created in my dantian.
Like elementary school students being herded to the center during a dodgeball game when a five-star pass is thrown from the outfield, the vital energy began to gather into a single point.
This might work?
As I diligently gathered the vital energy, I felt it solidly coalescing into a single point.
Is it done?
"Not yet. You need to circulate the internal energy to increase its size. Follow me."
I began to move along with the flow of her internal energy.
A path similar to, yet different from, the secret breathing technique of the Murong Family Head.
The path she led me on was the same as before, but at the end, instead of sending the internal energy to the meridians, it returned to the dantian.
The internal energy that returned to the dantian for the first time had clearly increased in quantity.
"Rotate it and gather it again."
Is this the final fusion approval? I rotated the increased internal energy and slowly attached it to the solidly gathered energy in my dantian.
"Keep repeating it."
Following her words, I began circulating my internal energy in a small heavenly cycle until I was tired.
-----
"Congratulations."
When I opened my eyes after performing the small heavenly cycle until my internal energy no longer increased, she congratulated me calmly.
"Did I really accumulate internal energy?"
I asked her in a daze. I can definitely feel it in my dantian, but I can't believe it. Me, accumulating internal energy.
"Roughly two years' worth of internal energy has accumulated. Yun-ho, have you ever taken medicinal herbs?"
"I drank ginseng tea fairly often."
The Kang Yun-ho of Joseon was the type to casually drink expensive ginseng as tea. Of course, since I didn't learn martial arts, most of it was probably expelled, but it seems some of it remained in my body.
Even though I haven't taken ten-year-old Polygonum multiflorum, I've accumulated two years of internal energy in my body.
It feels like being hired as a 9th-grade civil servant but getting credit for two years of military service and receiving a higher salary.
"That half-baked martial art you were using."
"Yeah?"
"I improved it by borrowing a part of the Life-Severing Asura Art that I learned."
"Didn't you say I shouldn't learn the martial arts of the Assassin's Den?"
Won't I be chased by assassins if I use this?
"Only my master and I have learned the Life-Severing Asura Art in the Assassin's Den. I only borrowed the energy accumulation part and a small part for the small heavenly cycle. Absolutely. No one. Will be able to notice."
She emphasized her words to convey that it was safe.
In machine terms, did she replace the missing parts with compatible substitute components?
"That's a relief then."
"Since it's not a complete method, the energy accumulation speed will be slow. But the functionality is so excellent that you should continue using that method."
"I shall do so."
I have no desire to become the greatest under heaven by learning martial arts. I just want to say goodbye to a life of being beaten by third-rate thugs.
By the way, if only two people in the Assassin's Den have learned it, isn't it a secret technique of the Heavenly Slaughter Star? To teach me something so amazing.
Looking at her, she was staring at me intently as if expecting something.
Should I at least thank her? That probably wouldn't be enough to repay such a secret technique.
Ah! I suddenly had a good idea.
"Sohui. Thank you so much. By the way, have you thought of a name for this internal energy method?"
"No."
"Then how about we name it 'Soyun Simsang Gyeol' after Sohui and Oppa?"
Soyun means beautiful truth. It's a name that resembles the relationship between me and her, where there is nothing but truth.
"After my name and Yun-ho's name?"
Her pupils widened slightly.
"You don't like it?"
"No. It's fine."
She shook her head with a small smile. Good. I was going to change it if she didn't like it since I came up with it on the spot.
"Then the name of this internal energy method shall be Soyun Simsang..."
"But Yun-ho."
Suddenly, her voice sank heavily.
"Yeah?"
"Why is 'Simsang' in it?"
This is why I dislike perceptive people from the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Of course, the 'Sang' character is for her. She makes up 80% of this internal energy method, so I can't leave her out. But telling the truth here is a beginner's move.
"I named it Simsang Gyeol because I sense the flow of internal energy with my mind and use it for the small heavenly cycle. Is it awkward?"
I used images like the blue spearhead and the truck.
"No. It's fine."
She withdrew her suspicious gaze and smiled again.
Phew. If I had named it something like Soyun Sang-ah Gong, I would have been in big trouble.
"Thanks to Sohui, my long-cherished wish has finally come true."
I smiled brightly and thanked her once more.
"From now on, use what I taught you, not what you used before."
"Of course. Whenever I use this internal energy method, I will always think of Sohui."
I'll think of her sometimes too.
"Okay."
Seeming satisfied, she gave me a small smile.
After I learned the internal energy method, Sohui began my martial arts education in earnest.
"Starting today, I'll teach you one martial art and a self-defense technique."
She took me to the training ground and began explaining what we would do from today.
"Is that medicinal liquid in the basin for the martial art?"
"Yes. The name of the martial art I'll teach you is the Jade-Faced Tiger Body Art."
Somehow, it sounds like a name a disgustingly handsome guy would use.
She began explaining the Jade-Faced Tiger Body Art to me.
Listening to her explanation, the true nature of this martial art, which seemed like something a disgustingly handsome guy would use, was an external martial art.
To be precise, an external energy art.
Most martial arts are internal energy arts that use internal energy to unleash superhuman attacks, but the Jade-Faced Tiger Body Art is an external energy art that strengthens the skin.
"A martial art where you apply a medicinal liquid and absorb it to harden your skin."
If properly mastered, she said clumsy slashes won't pierce the skin.
I said I didn't want to get hit, and she really brought out an external art where I won't feel pain even if third-rate thugs beat me.
Sohui taught me the mantra of the Jade-Faced Tiger Body Art, showed me how to circulate my internal energy, and then began applying the prepared medicinal liquid to my body.
It feels like Tiger Balm is being applied all over my body. My mind is feeling sharp and clear.
And so, I began learning an external art and self-defense techniques from the Heavenly Slaughter Star to protect my body.
One day, while focusing on recovery and martial arts training.
"You're working hard!"
Who's that? While learning self-defense from Sohui, a middle-aged man I hadn't seen before appeared.
"What's the matter?"
Sohui spoke to the suddenly appeared middle-aged man in a businesslike tone.
Is he an acquaintance of the Heavenly Slaughter Star?
"I see. So this is what you look like. Hmm. Indeed. You look good enough to hang."
Ignoring Sohui's words, the man looked me over, chuckled inexplicably, and spoke. What is he talking about?
"If you don't want to be hanged, just state your business."
"You're so harsh, even when I'm asking a favor."
They seem to know each other well.
He seems accustomed to brushing off Sohui's sharp attitude with a nonchalant air.
"......"
Sohui seemed to have something bothering her, as she didn't retort to the man's words.
"Actually, I came because of an important matter."
The man put away his smile and spoke to Sohui with a serious face.
"What is it?"
Sohui said that while glancing at me.
Should I step aside?
"I'll give you some privacy."
"You need to hear this too."
"Then I will listen attentively."
I stopped moving and looked at the middle-aged man.
"A polite young man indeed."
The man complimented me, then straightened his back, looked back and forth between the two of us, and paused for a moment.
Uneasily, what's this about?
Perhaps thinking we were ready to listen, the man opened his mouth in a rather serious tone.
"I came because of the Cheongsapa massacre incident."