The Secret Hidden in True Qi
"Hanmuk, Seonu, Rani. Let's go!"
The Flag Bearer Corps' annex hall.
The corps members had gathered in small clusters inside a room that looked more like a schoolhouse than a training hall, and Wang Yeomsu, seated at the head of the room, took a sip of tea before speaking.
"Does anyone here know what Innate True Qi is?"
My hand shot up the moment the words left his mouth. After all, I was the one who had drawn on Innate True Qi in my final moments of my past life. Chances were I understood it better than Wang Yeomsu himself.
"Go ahead, Young Lord. What exactly is Innate True Qi?"
"Qi one is born with. In plain terms, you might call it life force itself."
Wang Yeomsu nodded at my answer.
"Just as the Young Lord says, this Innate True Qi cannot be recovered once spent. Which is why the comparison to life force is the most fitting one."
Having actually used the stuff and felt my body dying bit by bit as I did, I couldn't imagine a better description. I was still shuddering at the memory when Wang Yeomsu said something strange.
"However, there is a secret hidden within this true qi."
A secret? True qi was true qi — what else could there possibly be?
Martial arts had been studied naturally over centuries of use, but true qi was something one couldn't even use before reaching a certain realm, and using it killed you. So no one had ever researched it.
At least, that was how it was in my time, and I'd assumed six hundred years hadn't changed a thing.
"On very rare occasions, someone is born whose true qi carries an attribute. I, and the Master of the Vermilion Bird Pavilion, are examples standing in this very room."
Ah.
Only then did I understand why Wang Yeomsu's Blazing Yang Qi and Seolha's Frigid Yin Qi had struck me as odd.
The so-called Blazing Yang Qi or Frigid Yin Qi people usually spoke of were internal energy that had been reforged through mind methods or elixirs. But true qi born with an attribute was an entirely different beast.
Say you set a forest ablaze with Blazing Yang Qi. The trees would burn, certainly, but exposed internal energy couldn't sustain itself in the open air for long — the flames would die out quickly.
But if someone whose true qi carried the fire attribute set that same forest alight? You'd get an ordinary wildfire. The difference between converting internal energy into fire, and internal energy that simply *was* fire.
That was precisely where my sense of unease about Wang Yeomsu and Seolha had come from. Wang Yeomsu, evidently eager to talk about it, continued the lecture on Innate True Qi.
"As those of you who know will understand, an attribute within true qi is a concept entirely distinct from something like Blazing Yang Qi. We call this Five Elements Qi."
He spent a full hour explaining that difference, and in the end, it matched exactly what I'd reasoned out myself.
To think something like that even existed.
But why don't *I* have it?
Somehow, Seolha was starting to seem more talented than I was. Just as I was beginning to worry I'd end up married and living under her thumb—
"That concludes the lesson on Five Elements Qi. Next period is the team battle. Everyone to the training grounds."
Following Wang Yeomsu out to the training grounds, we agreed to form teams before the team battle began. I was about to pair up with Seolha when—
"The Young Lord, the Brigade Commander, and the Vice-Commander will be assigned to separate teams. Also, teams will be four members, not two. All of you will keep that in mind."
Wang Yeomsu shut me down immediately. I was just trying to get a little engaged-couple benefit here. Harsh, man.
Resigned, I threw together a three-man team with a few suitable classmates. I still needed a fourth, but the others kept wandering around so much that I couldn't tell who had a team and who didn't.
I'll just grab whoever's left once things settle down.
Before that, though, I figured I needed to know my teammates' martial arts if this was a team battle, so I decided to share techniques with them first.
But something was off about these kids.
"What martial arts do you use?"
The moment I asked, the guy dropped straight to one knee. While I stood there dumbfounded, wondering what was happening, he spoke in a grave voice.
"Young Lord. Simply give the word."
"Huh? Word?"
"That's right. Name the dangerous elements who threaten you, my Lord. I shall bury every last one of them in the back mountain."
No, are you kidding me? Why am I your lord?
Unable to refuse the boy gazing up at me with wide, sparkling eyes, I gave the order in the end.
"Then listen carefully to what I say. That's your order."
"Understood! I, Wang Hanmuk, shall devote this one life to carrying out my Lord's command!"
Goddammit.
Swept up in his own emotion, Hanmuk whirled his wooden sword around, burning with fighting spirit. Watching him with somewhat tired eyes, I turned to the other one.
"What about you? What do you use?"
The guy, who'd been fidgeting, snapped to attention and bellowed back with military-grade volume.
"Yessir! I use the Wind and Snow Sword Technique!"
Good grief, my ears are going to die.
"Relax a little. So what kind of technique is this Wind and Snow Sword Technique?"
"Yessir! The Wind and Snow Sword Technique is a sword technique like a blizzard!"
"Yeah, but what kind of sword technique *is* it?"
"Yessir! I shall explain right now! First of all, its strength is the swift downward strike! Beyond that, there's also the thrust, which—"
I let it go in one ear and out the other. This was Wang Seonu — the guy who'd kept count during my sparring match with Wang Ojong.
We'd sort of half-conversed back then, so I'd picked him hoping to get friendlier, but this was a complete bust.
So who's left....
Where my gaze landed, a single girl stood all alone.
An outcast, huh? I walked closer and, well, she was actually quite pretty — the popular type, by the looks of her.
Then why did nobody pick her?
Something felt off. Leaving a girl this pretty unpicked could only mean she had some flaw to match.
Still, clinging to a sliver of hope, I spoke to her.
"Haven't found a team yet? If not, team up with us."
Just then, a white butterfly drifted past overhead.
"Wow! A butterfly!"
She cried out and flailed her hands this way and that after the white butterfly. She was the very picture of a carefree child.
Wow. I'm doomed.
"Aww! The butterfly flew away...."
The instant the butterfly vanished, her mood crashed. Then her eyes actually began welling up.
"Uuu."
Certain she was about to cry, I hurried to speak.
"Um. Excuse me."
"Mm? Who are you?"
Looking up at me as she said it, her eyes were pure innocence incarnate. They were so bright and clear that I felt an absurd urge to pat her head and hand her a sweet rice cake.
I shook my head once and answered her question.
"My name is Wang Mujin."
"Mujin? Hmmm. You're like the person Mommy told me about!"
"Your mother told you about me?"
"Yup! But I don't remember...."
"Probably because I'm the Young Lord. She must have mentioned it."
"Oh! Right! The Young Lord! Are you my big brother, Young Lord?"
Big brother? My heart fluttered at a word I hadn't heard once in two lifetimes. Still, as much as it pained me, I decided to set the record straight.
"I'm the Young Lord, but I'm not your big brother. We're probably the same age — or you might even be older than me."
"Big Brother Young Lord!"
She flung herself at me without warning.
Whoa.
Hugging me out of nowhere, she rubbed her head against my chest. I'd been too slow to react, and I hastily peeled her off.
Because at that very moment, I felt a gaze frostbitten with cold glaring at the back of my skull. Deliberately not letting my eyes drift anywhere near that direction, I calmed her down.
"You can't just hug a strange boy like that! People will get the wrong idea!"
"But Mommy told Rani to do well when she meets the Young Lord big brother!"
What on earth was this girl's mother thinking? Or is the problem just Rani herself? By the way, Seolha — could you maybe stop staring at me? At this rate I'm going to freeze solid from sheer eye contact.
"Ahem. In any case, the team battle is about to start. Get over to our team, quick."
"Okay! But what are we doing~?"
I'm only letting this slide because you're genuinely adorable. *Genuinely.*
One way or another, all the four-man teams were formed. Great — so far, so good. The problem was that no one had actually managed a proper exchange of techniques.
All our time had gone into forming the teams. Though honestly, even if we had shared, I doubt it would've helped much. Because:
"Just give the order, my Lord!"
"I'll do my best, sir!"
"Big Brother Young Lord. Rani wants candy."
That was the state of my team.
Hanmuk at least seemed to follow my instructions well, so he was fine — but looking at the other two made my head throb.
Seonu claimed to use that Wind-and-Something sword technique, but he was so wound up with nerves that I had no idea whether any of his actual skill would come out. And Rani.... I honestly wasn't sure she knew how to use martial arts at all.
On a hunch, I asked Rani whether she could use any techniques, and all I got back was "Rani's really good at games!"
Yeah, this first lesson is well and truly ruined.
"Then we shall begin the team battle. The last team standing wins. And—"
Wang Yeomsu, on the verge of starting things off, abruptly stopped and grinned.
"A win without stakes is boring, isn't it? The winning team gets private, personal instruction in their training from me."
What did he say?
Ever since joining the Flag Bearer Corps, neither Wang Inho nor Moyong Hu had taught me a single martial technique, and I'd been struggling with exactly that.
As I resolved that I absolutely had to win, the other corps members around me began to burn with competitive spirit too.
I did have the tiniest flicker of doubt about whether I could survive even a single clash carrying these three, but no matter.
With my past-life war experience, I'd seen comrades in far more hopeless states. Granted, most of those men were missing limbs, not brains.
I spoke once more, clinging to hope.
"Kids, ready?"
"Yes, my Lord!"
"Huh? Did it already start?"
"Rani wants to play something else. Fireworks Man is scary."
Son of a—