Chapter 24
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Martial Arts Scam
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A few days later, the moment the weekend arrived, I hopped on an intercity bus to Gyeongju.
'Gumi Mountain, was it?'
It hadn't looked that far on the map at the clinic, but when I got off at the terminal and punched it into the navigation, no decent public transport options came up.
'Ten kilometers? That's nothing. I'll just walk!'
Is he training in a spot that's hard for ordinary folks to reach? Was Grandpa from some sect?
I skipped the hiking trails and climbed straight up the shortest path. With hardly anyone around, the overflowing pure energy felt incredibly refreshing.
'From some valley, veer right...'
But the hand-drawn map was so convoluted that I wandered around for ages even after getting close.
"Ah, here... Huh?"
Finally arriving, what do I find? A perfectly normal house with a house number plate, and a car parked right out front. Why not just give me the address? Why tell me to come all this way like this?
I circled the house once, wondering if this really was where a Taoist lived.
'A BMW?'
Spotting the car hidden behind the house only amplified my suspicions.
Well, I'd come this far, so I might as well go in. I walked back to the front gate and rang the doorbell.
"Hello, I'm Han Yeowon. I called a few days ago."
"You've had a hard journey here. I've prepared some cool sikhye—have a drink. It must have been tough, but think of it as part of your training."
An ordinary person would have been wiped out hiking here, but to me, it was just a stroll.
'Still, I should drink it out of politeness.'
Hmm, no poison.
I took the sikhye and sipped it, and a man in some bizarre outfit led me somewhere.
It wasn't Silla hanbok, nor the usual Ming or Song dynasty robes you see.
"You train here...?"
"Indeed."
His speech was odd too. The interior was a mishmash—no cohesive style, with wuxia props mixed in alongside Indian and Mexican decorations. Had he been to some fantasy world or what?
"What kind of person was Grandpa?"
"A man who devoted his life to martial arts scholarship. He spent his days perfecting the techniques he passed down to you, compiling them into this manual."
"I see."
"I know you came all this way for the manual, but first, show some respect."
In one corner of the house was what looked like a Taoist shrine with a portrait. ...But isn't that Guan Yu? Where'd he get that?
The man lit incense in a Buddhist offering. I followed his lead for now.
"This is the martial arts manual your grandfather created."
After giving me the full house tour, he finally led me to the study. Maybe he thought I couldn't read the hanja, because he slowly flipped through the pages, showing me the contents.
I took the book and speed-read it.
I opened to the section labeled "Circulating Qi and Regulating Breath" first, but it was hardly a breathing method... just a list of a few acupoints. Flipping to the external arts section, dozens of pages detailed something called the Three Disasters Sword Technique in convoluted writing.
'No way.'
No way. Could this just be...
"Of course, grasping the essence from words alone isn't easy. For a modest fee, I can guide you."
"How much?"
"The basic course to master Circulating Qi and Regulating Breath takes three months for 890,000 won. Intermediate and beyond is 490,000 won per month. You came here today to feel the grace firsthand, but after this, we can do it remotely."
Scammer!
"If learning martial arts takes too long and feels burdensome, there's a faster way: elixirs. Wild ginseng dug from Namsan in Gyeongju and bear bile infused with the energy from Tohamsan—it's even cured cancer."
"That's deodeok root. And that's pig bile."
No matter how I looked at him, "scammer" was the only word that fit.
'...Was it all lies from the start?'
All that about Grandpa and training?
"Blasphemy! What nonsense is this!"
The man slammed the desk a beat too late. I'd already spotted the panic on his face.
"Ahahaha."
Suddenly, I recalled what Seo In-ae had told me about that voice phishing scammer who asked who was really fooling whom.
Hah! I'd fallen for an even more outdated con than modern tech scams and come all this way.
"How many people have you sold that manual to so far?"
I smiled brightly as I said it.
Is he targeting one sucker at a time like this to afford that car outside?
In the Murim world, his face would already be sliced up... No, I'm not my master. At least he'd have taken a fist to the face.
He should be grateful he was born in a rule-of-law state with strict penalties for violence.
Whoosh!
Instead of punching the scammer, I threw a fist at the empty air.
In simple terms, palm wind. No, fist wind?
Kaboom!
With a massive roar, one of the bookshelves lining three walls of the study collapsed in a heap.
"Wha—what?!"
The man whipped around in shock.
"If that was a real martial arts manual, you could block something like this, right?"
This time, I spread my hand for a palm strike, slowly moving it toward his forehead.
"M-mer-mercy! Spare me!"
"Try pushing it away. Succeed, and I'll buy out your whole course."
"Aaaagh!"
Wham!
The wind from my palm shot toward the wall.
It grazed past him, clipping a bit of his hair, but he lost it completely, trembling uncontrollably.
"Don't overdo it. You have a tiny bit of inner energy—not like some street-side third-rate hack—but did it never occur to you that you might run into the real deal doing this crap?"
He had a faint aura different from an ordinary person. It couldn't be from practicing something worse than low-grade techniques hawked in markets.
His senses must be above average, and he was hyper-sensitive to my killing intent.
His face drained pale as he gaped wordlessly.
He'd twisted at first to escape my grip, but soon his legs gave out completely, and he slumped down.
"Can't move, huh? I win, so bring the ledger."
"Wh-what?"
"Bring the list of everyone you've sold this junk to, and the ledger."
We'd never agreed to a bet, but I demanded it anyway.
This wasn't personal venting. It was upholding justice, or whatever.
"H-heuk..."
I snatched his smartphone, unlocked it with his fingerprint. He kept good records— a quick search turned up the list of suckers he'd fleeced.
"Sigh."
Fortunately or not, there weren't that many victims of his bogus training courses or elixirs. Who'd fall for this garbage anyway?
"This all of them? Enough here to buy a Benz?"
"It's... leased."
...Oh. Right.
I nodded pityingly and opened KakaoTalk.
"Th-the roots really are from the mountains, it's not all lies!"
"Huh?"
I was checking numbers one by one to make a group chat when the man yelled at me.
What? Still talking nonsense? Hasn't he learned his lesson?
"Grandpa really gained martial arts power from eating ginseng! He trained here his whole life and could even unleash palm winds like you!"
As if insisting now would stop me from reporting him. The manual and herbs being worthless didn't change.
I added all the victims to the group chat and explained the scam. I didn't forget to offer evidence to anyone wanting to sue.
"Yeah, yeah. Live your life right from now on."
Ugh!
Even after leaving the scammer's house, my anger hadn't subsided, and I stomped my foot.
Han Yeowon, you've really gone and done it now?
I'd resisted my master's temptation to join the Tang family for their secret arts! And I fell for cheap scam like this!
"Gotta report this to the MFDS too."
Come to think of it, I'd learned in medical law class that making and selling unlicensed herbal meds is illegal.
I could spot fakes instantly, but ordinary folks eating unmanaged weeds sold as herbs could drop dead. All for public health.
On a whim, I left comments calling him a scammer on his NewTube channel too, to warn off more victims.
'Heh... heh.'
Still in disbelief, I chuckled as I climbed the mountain.
Why climb?
Waste not to come all this way!
Since I'd made the trip, might as well circulate some qi before leaving.
It was a famous mountain, ancient capital of Silla—the qi flow was excellent. Better than the hill behind our neighborhood that had surprised me at first glance. That said it all.
If the scammer's last words were true, even without a circulation method, just being here would build a bit of inner energy.
"Rawr!"
One step, punch the air.
Another step up, fling acupuncture needles at a tree for no reason.
I kept heading to a secluded spot, repeating this.
"Oh, perfect."
Following the mountain's pure energy a bit, I spotted a suitable rock.
I leaped onto it and sat cross-legged.
First, open the acupoints to absorb external pure energy.
The pent-up energy from all that stress dispersed, flowing along the Conception and Governing Vessels.
The qi circulated smoothly, swirling vibrantly before settling in my lower dantian...
"Quack! Quack quack!"
...or trying to, when some animal cry interrupted.
"No water around—where's the duck?"
What the hell? My luck today was rotten.
If I'd been fully focused, I wouldn't have heard it, but without a guardian, I couldn't let my guard down completely.
I'd finally found an empty spot. Restart? Day's not great—maybe just head back?
"Huh?"
I took a step to check the animal.
It fled exactly as I approached.
"A squirrel?"
Whoosh!
Barely glimpsing it, I closed the distance with lightness skill.
'No way it escapes me.'
But strangely, it darted ahead again.
"This feels familiar... like before?"
Déjà vu hit me.
Definitely—qi circulation interrupted just like this, chasing an animal... Ah!
I remembered.
In the wuxia world, you had to forage your own herbs.
Now I bought verified ones from the MFDS, and while with the Tangs, I selected from their gatherers, but at first, no choice.
Back then, I'd chased a rabbit exactly like this.
"Divine Spirit Grass."
Following it led to ginseng bursting with condensed spiritual energy.
It revived an old man dying of exhaustion and powered me until I learned martial arts.
Without that Divine Spirit Grass, treating patients amid thug-like Murim folk would've been impossible without fear.
This time too?
Was today's rotten luck just to pave the way for this?
Please!
If so, this trip wasn't folly—it was a windfall.
Heart pounding with anticipation, I chased the squirrel.
"No way!"
Finally arriving, I gaped at the sight.
Deep in Gumi Mountain's foothills.
A massive pine, easily over a thousand years old, loomed dead, casting its shadow.
"How did this...?"
No recent disasters—why?
The tree that withstood unimaginable time now lost all vitality, reduced to a withered pine.
Its once-graceful branches reaching for the sky and green leaves had embraced death long ago.
Anyone seeing this would sigh deeply.
Chitter-chitter.
But the squirrel had no regrets for the ancient tree.
It slipped casually between the pine's roots, thick enough to pierce rock.
Pluck.
The squirrel nibbled a mushroom on the root, then emerged with it in its mouth.
"Huh?"
Something was off.
In that split second before it entered the squirrel's belly, I sensed a subtle energy.
I hurriedly brushed away the soil and examined the pine root.
Thud, thump!
Kicking wasn't enough; I channeled inner energy to dig.
The deathly aura shrouding the surface had blinded me to what lay below.
The deeper I dug, the more extraordinary energy revealed itself.
"...No more worries about running low on inner power."
If the pine lived, at best I'd circulate qi beneath it.
But this was more.
A massive Poria had formed underground, absorbing every drop of the dead pine's spiritual energy.