The Green Forest (4)
The Green Forest (4)
"Take this."
The next day, the Chieftain tossed a book at me. The old, worn volume had been passed around and read by many hands; its cover read Mount Tai Axe Technique. The Chieftain swirled his cup and spoke.
"That's a very basic martial art. Now that someone who's dabbled in martial arts has shown up, you'd better put it to proper use. For the time being, focus on mastering that. Once your axe work is decent enough, I'll let you fight outside."
And the Chieftain downed more liquor. He seemed to spend most of his day with a drink in hand. Even as he drank, his eyes stared into empty air, and it looked like he was racking his brain over how to make use of the useful newcomer who'd landed in his lap.
He poured himself another drink and said,
"A real man knows how to seize the opportunity when heaven moves. Sannyeo is in my hands, and a clever young man who's learned martial arts crawls in on his own—this means the time has come to raise my ranking among the Green Forest chieftains."
Do you know the story of the flea? Originally, fleas can jump as high as a person is tall, but if you raise a flea inside a cup, even after the cup is removed, it can only jump that high. For all his talk of seizing some grand, fateful encounter, his only ambition was to nudge up his ranking among the Green Forest chieftains.
He pretended to be an opportunist, but he didn't even know how to seize an opportunity properly, and he pretended to be magnanimous, but he was just a man who fell short in every way.
Staying under him for long would poison me too. The thought crossed my mind that it would be better to quickly get rid of this man—at best a petty bandit—and flee from here with Sannyeo.
But there were still plenty of things I needed to ask even such a man. Taking advantage of the Chieftain's good mood, I asked,
"By the way, just what kind of woman is Sannyeo? From the way you talk about her, she doesn't seem like an ordinary woman."
The Sannyeo I'd met last night was a woman shrouded in mystery. I needed to learn at least a little about who she really was.
The Chieftain rubbed his flushed face and looked at me.
"You don't know about Sannyeo? Seems you haven't paid attention to the rumors floating around the martial world."
"I was tricked by a con man and did nothing but train."
The Chieftain made an awkward expression. I continued without minding it.
"Something like a monster from folklore?"
The Chieftain shook his head.
"The name comes from that, but the Sannyeo over there is called Sannyeo because she came from Sannyeo Valley. It's just what she asked to be called. No one knows her real name. The important thing isn't that the woman took the name of a monster. It's that she's a survivor who lived through that valley."
"So something happened at Sannyeo Valley."
The Chieftain nodded.
"The Murim Alliance always denies it, but everyone knows the truth. The people who lived in Sannyeo Valley were annihilated by the Murim Alliance. And here—there's a survivor who made it out of that Sannyeo Valley."
If she was a survivor of a village annihilated by the Murim Alliance, wouldn't she be a toxin rather than a boon? Why would the Chieftain see this as an opportunity?
"Then isn't that a crisis? How does a survivor of Sannyeo Valley become an opportunity?"
The Chieftain shrugged his shoulders.
"Isn't her beauty outstanding? The people of Sannyeo Valley were always renowned for their striking looks. Especially those red eyes—they're captivating. Plenty of men wanted to take them as concubines. There were even rumors that a surviving child from Sannyeo Valley was once sold for a high price as a concubine. I plan to offer Sannyeo to the Green Forest Supreme Chieftain and raise my rank."
"Truly a wise idea."
Thinking of simply handing over a woman who knew martial arts and had a sharp mind to someone else—he was a rotten human being. But since I didn't intend to voice that right now, I just half-heartedly praised the Chieftain and left it at that.
The Chieftain made a truly proud expression.
"Alright. Hurry up and train, get your basics in order. If there's something you don't know, I'll supervise your training."
He didn't seem like a man with a quick mind.
******
"How good is the Chieftain's martial skill, anyway?"
As I tested the Mount Tai Axe Technique stances one by one, I asked Sannyeo. She'd said she wouldn't do anything until our escape, but because it would be troublesome if I picked up bad habits at the start, she'd agreed to at least watch my posture while I learned the stances.
Sannyeo watched my posture intently.
"He could beat a typical third-rate martial artist, but he's a half-assed fighter who hasn't reached second-rate. The Deputy Chieftain is about the same level. The Chieftain is a bit stronger, but the difference isn't big."
"Then isn't he terribly weak? How does he hold onto the chieftain position?"
Sannyeo shook her head at my question.
"Bandits run rampant because there's no will to catch them. In terrain beyond the reach of government troops, if the surrounding sects are all corrupt, not just third-rates—even an ordinary person who's never learned martial arts can form a bandit gang and run wild. To put it simply, they make deals. The sects claim the bandit gangs fear their emblem. They stick that emblem on a merchant guild and do some minor business in return. And the bandits just pick on the truly weak and make a living."
"A good method. Even if it's no fun."
With such methods, one could live long but never rise high. Sannyeo nodded as if she understood the true meaning behind my words, then she flipped through the Mount Tai Axe Technique manual I'd set down.
"Want to take that stance again?"
"Like this?"
"You're watching yourself do it, so your posture's off balance. Bend your right knee a bit more, and stretch out your left leg. And straighten your back. It says here you must keep your back in a straight line, but your back is bent right now."
"Like this, you mean?"
"Right. Like that."
Sannyeo carefully turned the page with her manacled hands. I repeated the stance a few more times, trying to drill it into my body. Since it was my first real training, every single stance felt unfamiliar.
From its name alone, the Mount Tai Axe Technique seemed like it would be a straightforward and dull martial art, but because it was based on using a hand axe, it actually presupposed striking quickly and withdrawing at high speed.
Instead of delivering each blow with weight, it reduced the impact the axe absorbed through posture and inner energy, retrieving it faster. The faster the retrieval and the less shock I took, the easier it became to regain my stance, and the easier it was to regain my stance, the faster the follow-up strikes became.
Thus, contrary to its solid name, the Mount Tai Axe Technique was a martial art that placed great importance on swift stance transitions.
I repeated the stances and spoke.
"The Chieftain said he plans to offer you to the Green Forest Supreme Chieftain."
Sannyeo shrugged her shoulders at the news.
"I know. But you don't need to worry. The Green Forest Supreme Chieftain is a busy man. For our Chieftain to get a message to the Supreme Chieftain directly, he'll have to wait until the Supreme Chieftain comes this winter. I don't think you're so weak, Docheol, that you couldn't get me out before then."
Having said that, she winked at me. She didn't ask directly, but her tone implied, do you have an escape plan? I swung the axe through the air.
"Just wait for now. We have time, don't we? I'll get a handle on this Mount Tai Axe Technique. You figure out what to do once we're out—make some plans. And get a grasp of the internal situation here. Everything in the world needs a process."
"I agree."
She said that and smiled with her eyes. Looking at those bewitchingly gleaming eyes, I could kind of understand why her people had been sold for high prices. Of course, that wasn't a topic to bring up to her face, so I averted my gaze and changed the subject.
"Anyway. Why is this martial art called Mount Tai Axe Technique? It seems to place such great importance on rapid, continuous attacks."
"I wonder?"
Sannyeo's tone sounded like she knew something, which irritated me, but I didn't press further. Because what she would answer was obvious.
"If you can't grasp the profound principle yourself, what meaning is there in martial training? How can I expect the destruction of the martial world from someone who can't even understand the reasoning behind this simple martial art?"
Just as I thought.
Sannyeo delivered the words I'd expected in a bright, melodious tone I hadn't anticipated, as if singing them.
******
"The Chieftain has no ambition."
A few days later.
The Deputy Chieftain, who'd been itching to see the new recruit's face for himself, finally summoned me over drinks. Beside him, his wife, wearing a coquettish smile, kept sending me signals, while the Deputy Chieftain, like a man blind to his own wife's nature, fixed his gaze solely on me.
His conversation, too, focused more on grand ambitions than lamenting his own lot.
"Think about it. The Chieftain is always just drinking, always scheming about how to nudge up his own rank in this Green Forest stronghold. Born a real man, thrown into the martial world—should you live as nothing more than that kind of person? A guy ranked sixtieth-something jumping around like a child just because his ranking crept up a notch! Is there any future in that?"
I didn't answer. The Deputy Chieftain hugged his wife tightly.
"Of course, this isn't to say we should dethrone the Chieftain right away... But if you're going to follow someone, it's obvious who you should follow."
"I see."
"Take a good look. That Chieftain bastard lusts after women but lives alone empty-handed, while I've got myself a pretty wife like this and live well, don't I? Huh? That's the difference in ability! The breadth of a man's ambition is what separates men!"
In his tent lay a large iron club—a weapon that suited his style of winning through brute force perfectly.
And he shook his drinking cup, flaunting his strength.
All the while, the Deputy Chieftain's wife kept winking at me.
The rift between the Chieftain and Deputy Chieftain.
The Deputy Chieftain loved his wife, but his wife was busy seducing other men.
And I had a skill that was perfect for situations like this.
I laughed pleasantly. Seeing me laugh, the Deputy Chieftain snorted, smirked, and filled my cup to the brim with liquor.
"Alright! Drink up! Wahahaha!"
I downed the cup and racked my brain.
The groundwork for a plan was laid. I just needed to observe the internal atmosphere a bit more.