You Know What I'm Saying?
This time, he didn't have to strike it many times before a spark appeared.
He pushed the ember into the stove and blew on it with steady breaths.
Only then did the flames begin to rise.
“Phew!”
As Dan Yeop let out a sigh of relief, Ma-deung asked him.
“First time starting a fire?”
“Yes.”
“What are you making? Flatbread?”
“Yes…”
“While you’re at it, can you make some for me too? I’ll give you the flour later.”
“Yes.”
“Do you add salt to your flatbread?”
“No.”
Dan Yeop shook his head. Simma had never mentioned salt in the recipe.
“Add a little and it tastes much better. The world of flatbread is endless. Spread it thinner than usual and fry it, and you get jeonbyeong. Stuff it with meat filling and it becomes yukhyupmak. So, what should you mix into the flour if you want it to taste good?”
“Salt?”
“Exactly. Try adding a pinch when you knead the dough. It’ll taste better than plain. Wealthy families even mix in eggs or cow’s milk. When you do that, it melts in your mouth. You’ve never had anything like that, have you?”
“No.”
“Once you succeed, make sure to try it. And invite me over when you do.”
“Yes.”
Dan Yeop began kneading the dough. Ma-deung, who had been watching from the side, offered more advice.
“Dough tastes better if you knead it the night before and let it rest. People like us make it roughly, but proper restaurants age their dough before baking. That’s why the flavor is completely different even with the same flour.”
“Ah, yes…”
Dan Yeop was a little tired, but he took every word to heart. This was knowledge that would become his blood and flesh.
A little later, when he made the white vegetable soup, the storm of advice continued without pause.
After many twists and turns, once the food was finished, Dan Yeop carried the flatbread and soup out to the table in the yard.
He ate the flatbread and soup he had made himself with a heart full of pride. Compared to the first day when he hadn’t known what to do, the change was dramatic.
When the meal ended, Ma-deung picked up a water jar and left. Watching him walk away, Dan Yeop muttered to himself.
Um… you never gave me the flour…
He made up his mind to ask for it the next time they met that evening.
Posibang. Yang Family Fabric Shop.
Dan Yeop, who had arrived early, finished cleaning first. Afterward, he lingered awkwardly in front of the shop.
The note in his pocket said, I won the bet and can go wherever I want, but the timid part of him felt too self-conscious to actually do it.
Around the hour of the horse, just before eleven in the morning, someone called out to him as he paced back and forth.
“Yeop-ah!”
Dan Yeop turned to see Dan Bul-wi, the Hyangju, standing there.
“Ah, Elder Dan.”
Before leaving Byeongmachong, the instructors of the Six Gates had taught all the trainees to address the higher-ranking members of Haomun as “Elder.”
Dan Bul-wi nodded with a warm smile.
“Yes, have you been well? I heard you were here, so I came to see you. Can you spare a little time?”
“Yes? Yes, I can, but please wait a moment.”
Dan Yeop went back inside the shop and reported to the head of the Yang family.
“Master Yang, an elder from my hometown has come looking for me. I’ll step out briefly.”
“Do as you like.”
Yang Bok’s reply was curt. He had clearly been uncomfortable with Dan Yeop hovering in front of the shop.
Dan Bul-wi, true to his reputation as a master of Amun, took Dan Yeop to a nearby tavern.
When the waiter brought the ordered wine and snacks, Dan Bul-wi smiled and said,
“You rascal. Are you planning to make me fill your empty cup?”
“Ah, no, sir.”
Dan Yeop carefully filled the cup. Dan Bul-wi let out a small chuckle.
So this is the dunce, Dan Yeop.
The hesitant tone and timid behavior were exactly the same as what he had seen in Byeongmachong.
Dan Bul-wi emptied the cup in one gulp and asked,
“How have you been all this time?”
“A man named Yang Hwe found me a room at the Bosun Bang and arranged a position for me at the Yang family fabric shop.”
Dan Yeop did not mention that he had woken Simma on the first night to quickly learn the White Flow Blade Technique. It felt too transparent.
“Have you tried cultivating your inner energy?”
“Once.”
“Good. Have you made any progress in martial arts this time?”
“Ah, I haven’t had a chance to check because of work at the fabric shop.”
“I see. Is the work at the shop difficult? You look a little thinner.”
Dan Yeop answered with an embarrassed expression.
“I haven’t received my monthly pay yet, so my meals have been rather meager.”
The words slipped out unconsciously, triggered by the memory of not being able to eat freely at the Hyangman Pavilion on his first day.
Dan Bul-wi let out a sigh.
“Oh no! I’ve made a big mistake.”
Dan Yeop had no one else to rely on. As his adoptive father, Dan Bul-wi had overlooked that fact. The boy must have gone hungry ever since leaving Byeongmachong.
“I only thought about sending you to the Jeommun branch and forgot about the settling-in process. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine.”
Flustered, Dan Yeop waved his hands, but Dan Bul-wi did not stop. He took out two nyang of silver from his money pouch and held it out.
“Use this to buy whatever you need for now.”
“It’s all right…”
Even as he said it was fine, Dan Yeop did not refuse strongly. He had already tasted the bitterness of having no money.
In the end, he accepted the silver.
Dan Bul-wi looked at him with a satisfied expression.
“There’s a manor nearby that belongs to someone I know. Let’s go there and check your progress with the White Flow Blade Technique.”
“Yes… But there’s one thing I’m curious about.”
“Go ahead.”
“Have all the people who went to Hadong Island returned?”
“They should all be back in their proper places by now. Why? Is there someone whose whereabouts you want to know?”
“Ah, no.”
“How boring.”
Dan Bul-wi chuckled and poured himself another cup.
Sitting face to face with Dan Yeop after coming out into the world felt strange. Was this what meeting family felt like?
Dan Bul-wi and Dan Yeop rose from their seats after finishing an entire bottle of wine.
They began walking along the main road. After about one meal’s worth of time—roughly thirty minutes—Dan Bul-wi stopped in front of a gate with a signboard that read “Gosanjang.”
“This is the manor of a friend from my hometown. I became a martial artist, but he made a fortune through business.”
“Ah…”
For a brief moment, Dan Yeop—who lived in a small room—dreamed of becoming a merchant.
Dan Bul-wi knocked on the gate. Soon an old man cautiously opened it and poked his head out.
“Who is… Oh! If it isn’t Elder Dan!”
The old man hurriedly ushered Dan Bul-wi and Dan Yeop inside, then quickly closed and barred the gate.
“Is the master inside?”
At Dan Bul-wi’s question, the old man bowed deeply.
“The master is away on business and is not at Gosanjang.”
“I heard he retired last year. He went on a business trip?”
“I don’t know the details. Perhaps you should ask the young miss?”
Just then, a young girl walked out from the inner courtyard and greeted them.
“Uncle Dan, you’ve come?”
“Yes. Your father went on a business trip?”
When the young miss appeared, the old man discreetly withdrew.
“Yes. His old trading company asked him to help them just once.”
As she finished speaking, Seol Yeon-hui glanced at the young man. It seemed she had more to say but was holding back because of the uninvited guest.
Dan Bul-wi smiled and introduced Dan Yeop to her.
“This is my adopted son, Dan Yeop. He’s three years older than you. Yeop-ah, this child is the only daughter of my close friend. Her name is Yeon-hui.”
Seol Yeon-hui greeted him first.
“I’m Seol Yeon-hui. Please call me Yeon-hui, Orabeoni.”
“I’m… Dan Yeop.”
When Seol Yeon-hui smiled brightly at him, Dan Yeop couldn’t bear the awkwardness and turned his head away.
“You’re older than me, so please speak comfortably, Orabeoni.”
“R-right…”
At her request, Dan Yeop reluctantly nodded. He knew that if he kept using formal speech when she spoke so casually, the mood would become strange.
Only then did Seol Yeon-hui add a few more words while looking at Dan Bul-wi.
“The trading company asked Father to help because he knows Baekwol Kingdom (Guizhou) well.”
“So he went to Baekwol Kingdom?”
“Yes, about two weeks ago.”
“Then he won’t be back for at least another month.”
It took a generous twenty days by carriage from Chang’an Castle to Baekwol Kingdom. If he finished his work and returned, it would be at least a month.
“That’s probably right.”
“Understood. I came to use the training ground. Would that be all right?”
“Of course. Since you’ve come after so long, please stay for lunch as well. If I let you leave without eating, Father will scold me later.”
“Hahaha! All right. We’ll see you later, then.”
“Yes.”
Seol Yeon-hui bowed politely to Dan Bul-wi before disappearing back into the inner courtyard.
As they walked toward the training ground, Dan Bul-wi spoke to Dan Yeop.
“Three years ago, my close friend retired after his wife passed away from illness. He wanted to take care of his daughter. If he hadn’t retired, I wouldn’t be coming and going here like this.”
Dan Bul-wi’s expression looked somewhat bitter.
“Is there a reason you can only visit after he retired?”
“Because I belong to Haomun. If someone from Haomun frequently visits the home of a person holding an important position in a trading company, people would talk behind his back.”
Dan Yeop’s mouth tasted bitter at those words. Even a childhood friend could not be met comfortably because of his faction…
They soon arrived at the training ground. On one side, a rack held swords, blades, staffs, and other weapons.
Dan Bul-wi spoke to Dan Yeop, who stood there awkwardly.
“Bring out a blade.”
“Yes.”
Dan Yeop took a single blade from the rack.
“This is a merchant’s home, yet the training ground has quite a few weapons?”
“They were prepared for Yeon-hui.”
“Is that child learning martial arts?”
“She has been attending the Hyunmu Hall since she was ten. Come to think of it, it’s already been five years since she started. Now, show me your achievement. How far did you comprehend the White Flow Blade Technique before?”
“Up to the second form.”
Dan Bul-wi gestured for him to begin.
Dan Yeop slowly unfolded the White Flow Blade Technique. His movements flowed without hesitation from the first form, Water Sky Fall, to the second form, Water Thunder Station.
Even after completing Water Thunder Station, he did not stop. Though he had never learned it, he naturally transitioned into the third form, Water Wind Vast.
Following the principle that water and wind meet and become boundless, every time the blade moved, the wind of the blade stretched out in all directions.
At the ferocious momentum of the technique, Dan Bul-wi unconsciously let out a low groan.
Hmm!
No one knew better than him that the dunce Dan Yeop’s martial talent was worthless. Yet the blade technique he displayed now was no different from that of the genius Dan Yeop.
Is the distance between the two personalities narrowing the more they interact?
Otherwise, it was difficult to explain the dramatic change in the dunce Dan Yeop.
After completing Water Wind Vast to the end, Dan Yeop sheathed the blade.
“I don’t know the fourth form.”
“If you call out the other personality one more time, even the White Flow Blade Technique will be complete. I’m watching with my own eyes, yet I still can’t believe it.”
“I don’t really feel it either.”
Dan Yeop scratched his head with an awkward expression. Since he received it for free every time he woke up, he felt a bit embarrassed.
“Show me the Heaven Earth Blade Technique as well.”
“Yes.”
Dan Yeop unfolded the Heaven Earth Blade Technique with the mindset of training. The first form, Heavenly Thunder Falling Slash, the second form, Horizontal Sweep Mountain Cut, and the third form, Wind Cloud Rising Fire, flowed elegantly into one another.
Dan Bul-wi thought Dan Yeop’s blade technique was beautiful. He even felt a mysterious aura from it and could not look away.
An aura from the Jeommun’s martial arts? That’s impossible…
Perhaps because his own martial prowess had increased