Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Shaolin Temple
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The next morning, when Dang Mujin returned to the guest hall, Hong Geolgae and Yi Chung simply turned their heads to look at him, still lounging in the same idle positions.
Hong Geolgae wrinkled his nose slightly and sniffed.
"What's that? You smell like booze. Did you go down to an inn at the foot of the mountain?"
Hong Geolgae gave a straightforward reaction.
But Yi Chung was not so pure-hearted, and his mind worked faster than Hong Geolgae's.
'The branch leader told us to check out the shed by the water wheel.'
'I think I glimpsed a woman swinging a pickaxe by the shed before entering Shaolin Temple.'
'Alcohol smell. And staying out overnight.'
Yi Chung grinned lewdly and made an obscene gesture with both hands.
"Had a fun night, did you...?"
Seeing the gesture, Dang Mujin cried out in horror.
"No, old man! Have you finally lost your mind?"
Hong Geolgae, unable to follow their conversation, asked back.
"What? What's going on?"
"What's going on? It means Dang Mujin is way ahead of you. Go peddle your nonsense somewhere else."
"That's not it!"
"Look at him brazenly denying it. Think about how hurt the girl must feel seeing that... Or maybe not. She might not even be intact. Didn't seem like the ordinary type."
There was something about Yi Chung's sly expression that instinctively made one clench their fist.
Dang Mujin didn't resist his instincts and swung his fist.
But Yi Chung casually extended his palm and caught Dang Mujin's punch. It was possible because Yi Chung's grasp of the secret palm technique ran deeper than Dang Mujin's punch.
Dang Mujin sighed deeply from his chest. He'd never felt the need for martial arts so acutely.
'I need to train harder from now on.'
Yi Chung cleared his throat a couple of times, then spoke with a serious expression.
"Anyway. Any gains?"
"Yes. Definitely."
"Did you exchange names?"
"Her name's Dan Seoryeong."
"Good job. Exchanging names is always basic. Especially if it's not a one- or two-day thing."
"Right. Even working day and night, it'll take months."
"Months? Just months?"
"Why?"
Yi Chung looked at Dang Mujin with a face full of disgust.
"Treating a woman with such trashy mindset. I need to tell her father about this before things get deeper."
"...Wasn't this about Mokin Harbor?"
"No. I was asking about this."
Yi Chung repeated the obscene gesture.
Dang Mujin felt a slight dizziness. He'd always thought the generals who fell for the goading tactic in old tales were fools, but that was a naive view.
As Dang Mujin's hand reached for his sword hilt, Yi Chung sidled over and pressed down on the tip of it.
"It was a joke, calm down. Anyway, since this'll take a while, I need to handle some business on my own for the time being."
"What business?"
Dang Mujin asked with a wary expression, expecting more nonsense. But unexpectedly, Yi Chung spoke of a sensible plan.
"I'm going to compile my knowledge into a medical text. I've been putting it off, vowing to do it someday, but the time has come."
Yi Chung getting busy was welcome news. When he idled, nine times out of ten he'd hover around Dang Mujin and Dan Seoryeong, playing mean pranks.
"Good. What about you, Hong Geolgae?"
"Me?"
Hong Geolgae jumped at the mention of his name.
As always, Hong Geolgae had no plans. The true life of a Beggars' Sect disciple.
If he had to do something, it would be begging or training, but neither suited Shaolin Temple.
He couldn't beg from monks he couldn't even offer alms to, and practicing foreign martial arts among Shaolin's warrior monks would be odd.
Hong Geolgae made his decision. He'd go where his heart felt at ease, whatever he did.
"I'm going down to the village below."
Plans that helped each other not at all. But their tasks were roughly set. Yi Chung clapped his hands.
"Alright, then. Everyone off to their own tasks. Dismissed."
*
Dang Mujin headed straight to find Dan Seoryeong. Wondering if she'd be swinging the pickaxe again today, he found her instead crouched on the ground, scribbling something.
"What're you doing?"
"You're here? I was thinking about the order of work."
"Hmm."
"First question: what's the internal state of Mokin Harbor? Anything worth salvaging? I've heard it's been in bad shape for a while."
Dang Mujin pondered briefly, then shrugged.
"Probably nothing worth salvaging. Everything's worn and rotted. Even the remaining stuff would crumble at a touch."
"The puppets too?"
Dang Mujin picked up a small twig and drew a puppet on the dirt floor. Since most puppets had simple shapes, it took no time.
"There are about thirty puppets shaped like this."
Dang Mujin roughly kicked the drawing away with his foot.
"But now they're at this level. Hard to guess how they even move."
"So the dock's structure is a mess, and no usable puppets."
Dan Seoryeong crossed her arms, thought, then nodded.
"Alright. For now, let's make one as a prototype. Better to run trials and errors beforehand. Sit there and wait."
When Dang Mujin sat, Dan Seoryeong went into the mine and brought out a carving knife and an armful of dried lumber.
She set the items down in front of Dang Mujin and crouched beside him.
"Forget the exterior for now—focus on the internals and make one. Need to check if it moves as I think first. Too big would be tough, so smaller? How small can you go?"
"Hmm."
Dang Mujin picked up a small wood scrap and in an instant carved two gears, slightly larger than a thumbnail.
He inserted a thin rod through the two gears, meshed them, and turned.
Rough-surfaced from lack of polishing, but they turned decently enough.
"I can make them this size easily. Smaller would take more care."
A bright smile bloomed on Dan Seoryeong's face.
"Impressive. Then we can scale down to knee or thigh height. Start with straight hexagonal rods. Half-inch thick, one-foot long—six of them."
Dang Mujin carved the parts as Dan Seoryeong directed. But the lengths and sizes she described didn't exactly match what he envisioned.
In the end, he made them a bit generously, then filed down ends and edges to fit.
After repeated filing and trimming, Dang Mujin changed his mind.
"Better make a ruler first."
Dang Mujin cut a long wood piece, then focused to carve grooves at as even intervals as possible. With a two-foot ruler done, the work eased somewhat.
Even with the ruler, though, it didn't progress as satisfyingly as hoped.
Precisely, part-making wasn't the issue—it just felt stifling somehow.
It took Dang Mujin a while to pinpoint the stifled feeling.
Until now, when making things, he'd clearly defined and understood what he was making before starting.
But not this time. Only Dan Seoryeong knew the finished structure.
He made parts without knowing why or where they went.
Like walking blindfolded, led by someone else's directions—not toward a visible goal.
Working that way felt frustrating at every moment, slowing his pace inevitably.
Finally, Dang Mujin stood and said,
"This is too slow."
Dan Seoryeong couldn't empathize.
"This is slow? At this rate, we could finish one puppet in two days."
"It's slow by my standards. No, forget slow—it's too frustrating. I need to know how the puppet moves first. The ones at Mokin Harbor all move differently, right?"
"Yeah. No two move the same."
"Which slot is this a sample for?"
"First in the right row."
"Can you describe how it moves?"
"Right arm doesn't fully extend—halfway out. At the same time, left leg slightly..."
Dan Seoryeong started to explain verbally, then changed tack. There was a much better way. She sprang to her feet.
"Here, watch. It'll move like this."
Dan Seoryeong alternately extended her right and left arms, bending and lifting her legs. Short, simple motions.
But Dang Mujin couldn't hold back his laughter.
Her stiff movements looked just like a string puppet from a shadow play flailing about. The serious expression contrasting the comical motions made it funnier.
Realizing too late how she must look, Dan Seoryeong flushed red in face and ears, grabbing her pickaxe.
"Why're you laughing? You asked me to show!"
"No, not mocking. Just a natural reaction."
"Same difference!"
After a brief spat, Dan Seoryeong's demonstration proved quite helpful. Dang Mujin's work speed picked up noticeably.
The difference was clear enough that Dan Seoryeong inwardly accepted her fate. To imitate puppet motions in front of Dang Mujin.
The prototype internals work, started early morning, didn't finish even after sunset. As it grew too dark, Dan Seoryeong stood and stretched.
"Too late. Finish tomorrow."
"No. Almost done—let's wrap today. Got a lamp?"
"No lamp, but I can make a torch."
"That work?"
"Sure."
Torches need oil. And oil's pricey. But Dan Seoryeong wanted to see the puppet today if possible.
She tore rags too worn to wear, soaked them in oil, wrapped cloth scraps around a stick for a small torch. Lit, it glowed decently.
Dang Mujin resumed work.
Dan Seoryeong watched the puppet take shape under the flickering torchlight. And watched Dang Mujin concentrate. It felt somehow fun.
The work ended even later than expected. Dan Seoryeong had to fetch oil-soaked cloth twice more.
Judging by the sky, it was around midnight.
Dan Seoryeong gazed at the completed puppet with eager anticipation.
Just a bony frame without human shape, but to her eyes, it was puppet enough—plenty cool.
"Now let's make it move. Me?"
"No. I'll do it."
The prototype wasn't linked to a water wheel. Dang Mujin gripped the small pillar beneath the puppet and slowly turned it rightward. The stiff meshing felt fun.
The puppet slowly moved its limbs as Dan Seoryeong had shown earlier. A bit unnatural, but satisfying enough.
"Looks good."
Dang Mujin smiled contentedly. He'd made all sorts of junk before, but this was his first moving thing.
No reply came. Dang Mujin glanced aside. Dan Seoryeong's face, staring fixedly at the puppet, came into view.
Dan Seoryeong reached out toward the puppet. Dang Mujin handed it over.
Dan Seoryeong moved it. The puppet slowly swung its limbs.
She stared blankly. Like a child with her first toy. Or an old woman whose final wish came true.
Dang Mujin watched her and the prototype puppet, then stood.
"I'll come back tomorrow. You head in and sleep. Got work tomorrow too."
"Mm."
Urged by Dang Mujin, Dan Seoryeong hugged the puppet and went home. Her expression said she'd fiddle with it all night.
Leaving Dan Seoryeong behind, Dang Mujin headed for Shaolin Temple's mountain gate.
But long after sunset, the gate was firmly shut.
He couldn't climb the wall stealthily, nor make a fuss to open it. Nor sleep sprawled before it.
Dang Mujin pondered briefly, then returned to Dan Seoryeong's house.
She'd gone inside, so no one was out front.
Under the star-spilled night sky, Dang Mujin was the only person.
Creak—creak—
The water wheel turned with a groan. Noisy crickets cried from Soribong Peak.
The weather wasn't cold yet, and the grass and dirt floor were soft.
Dang Mujin lay flat gazing at the moon, then closed his eyes to sleep.