Age and Rank
“…….”
“…….”
The two of them left the bookstore and hailed a taxi, each still carrying a thick volume in his hands. The books were printed with Korean and Chinese characters side by side throughout, but James could understand them easily thanks to the tutor who had mastered Korean so thoroughly that he could even teach it as a language.
So I can read Chinese characters now too...
James, in particular, had already gone through the book that morning, and by then he was almost regretting not paying the tutor more for extra lessons.
Colt never took his eyes off the book, all the way from the taxi ride to the moment they got home.
“We’ve arrived, sir.”
“Ah. Yes.”
James was no different; aside from the moment he paid the fare, he had been absorbed in the book as well.
“Wow...”
Much later, Colt was still seated on the sofa, studying the book, when he finally looked up and let out an exclamation.
“So, how do you like the book you told me to throw away?”
“Why would I throw this away? How did Sooji even find a book that records swordsmanship in this much detail?”
“That’s what surprised me too. It’s exactly the kind of book we need.”
“If I learn everything in here, I feel like I could really master swordsmanship.”
James agreed with him.
“I think so too. If we get this down properly, we may not need anything else. It covers all kinds of martial arts, and the ways it uses different weapons are incredibly diverse.”
The book wasn’t limited to weapon techniques. It also recorded tactical formations for deploying troops in the past, which meant it had once been classified material that the state had strictly kept from leaking beyond its borders.
“There’s something I’m wondering about.”
“What is it?”
The bookstore where James had bought the book was the problem.
“If anyone can buy such a precious book... why doesn’t any Korean person actually learn it?”
“……”
James had no idea either.
“How should I know? They just weren’t interested, I guess.”
“Then what about Sooji?”
“Uh...”
Sooji had bought the book, saying it was connected to swordsmanship, and even had it shipped over for him. That was what had led James to the same question.
“Come to think of it... why didn’t Sooji learn this?”
“Shouldn’t they have learned it for the sake of their ancestors, who left behind such a good manual? It’s basically a traditional Korean martial art. And this seems like the only place where the state itself stepped in and produced a book like this.”
“Right...”
What we consider important... Koreans don’t care about at all? What’s the difference...? Ah!
James thought he had finally guessed the reason.
“I think it’s because of the knight’s vessel we made.”
“How so?”
“Colt and I created our knight’s vessel through violent mana. But ordinary people have to learn only the shape of the sword techniques themselves. That seems like a huge difference to me.”
The two of them had already prepared the vessel suited to swordsmanship, in other words, the foundation on which swordsmanship could be learned. That foundation was the knight’s fierce mana, the very base of swordsmanship. For them, the technical side of the art was all that really mattered.
“Ah... so we use the body’s mana as we learn swordsmanship, but other people only use muscle power?”
“Exactly. Their way of seeing swordsmanship is completely different. It comes down to mindset.”
To the two of them, who had mastered the knight’s fierce mana and forged a vessel for mana, swordsmanship felt precious. But to most people with no connection to martial arts, it was nothing more than an old relic of the past.
“Oh! And Colt!”
James suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to tell Colt something important.
“What is it?”
“Be careful what you say around Hojung from now on.”
“...Be careful what I say? Why?”
“Same with Sooji. Until yesterday, the only Korean they knew was ‘I love you’ and ‘hello,’ but if they suddenly become fluent, wouldn’t that look suspicious?”
“So I have to act like I know it all but can’t speak it?”
“Then how are you going to explain mastering Korean?”
“...There’s no way to explain it, I guess.”
It was Korean learned in one shot through James’s magic.
“I should’ve bought a Korean baby steps book at the bookstore.”
“Couldn’t you just say you learned from this?”
What Colt was holding was a travel booklet for foreigners that had been handed out at the airport. It printed common phrases in romanization so a foreigner could at least pronounce basic Korean conversation.
“...It doesn’t even have proper beginner Korean in there.”
As Colt flipped through the booklet, he agreed with James.
“‘Where is the hotel?’ ‘I’m lost.’ ‘Please help me. I can’t speak Korean.’ What am I supposed to do with sentences this easy?”
“You weren’t even looking at it before because you said you understood none of it.”
“That was then. People always forget their tadpole days.”
“……”
Colt was now so fluent in Korean that he could even twist old sayings to suit himself.
“Still, we need to pretend not to know for at least a few months.”
“And if we get caught?”
“...Right. Colt would be exposed in no time.”
“Hojung’s pretty sharp. You can fool other people, but not Hojung.”
“Then I’ll say I studied hard on my own. Just make sure to buy the textbooks in advance.”
“Damn it. Do I look like Hong Gil-dong?”
“Hong Gil-dong is the one who couldn’t acknowledge his own father because of class status.”
“If I learn Korean and still have to say I didn’t learn it, that’s basically the same thing!”
“Anyway! For now, keep it hidden. Even if you’re caught, just brush it off like you only know a little.”
“Wait...”
Colt realized that hiding his Korean from Hojung might not be so bad after all.
“That sounds fun.”
Hojung sometimes called people in Korean right in front of Colt. Since Colt had never understood a word, he had always asked what the calls were about, only to be told it was nothing and shut out of the conversation. That had been maddening.
Now I’ll understand everything.
But now it was impossible to hide it.
“Heh heh.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Just watch. I’m going to uncover all of Hojung’s secrets.”
“That’s your business...”
James had an overseas trip coming up soon. That was why he had crammed Korean into Colt in the first place, so the one left behind could study from books and keep training on his own.
“I’ve got to go to the Vatican this time.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. Again.”
James remembered what Colt had said when he came back from meeting the Pope. Colt had said that if he’d known James was going to meet the Pope, he would have gone too.
“I might get an audience with the Pope again this time. Want to come with me?”
“Oh.”
Back then, he hadn’t known any Korean, and he had had nothing to do except meet his lover, Hojung.
“Have a good trip. By the time you get back, I’ll be a Sword Master.”
It wasn’t only about learning swordsmanship.
Now I can go out on my own.
He had plans to wander around downtown Seoul by himself and look for a decent bar.
“Heh. There’s still some time before I leave, you know? And do you think I’ll just sit around while Colt improves?”
The two of them glared at each other.
“Jimjim. I don’t know about magic, but there’s no way you’ll ever beat me at swordsmanship.”
“Colcol. Whether it’s magic or swordsmanship, you’re still far behind.”
Competition was the basis of growth.
“And, Jimjim. I realized something while learning Korean today.”
“What?”
“What year were you born? Do you even know how many years apart we are? And yet you keep talking to your older brother in that casual tone?”
“...Ugh.”
It wasn’t that Colt had suddenly absorbed Korean social thinking, but hierarchy was built naturally into the language. Korean divided speech into honorifics, plain speech, and informal speech, and that was where the problem came from.
Ageist seniority bullshit.
James knew an effective way to solve the problem.
“Very well. Instead of calling me older brother, I’ll start charging rent at the proper rate. Colt, sir.”
“Huh?”
James’s house was the kind of luxury place that, by American standards, should have cost more than two thousand dollars a week in rent. But Colt had proposed a price even lower than what James had paid him in the United States, and James, who wasn’t short on money, had agreed and told him to do as he pleased.
“What kind of older brother does that to his little brother’s rent? Right, sir?”
“...We’re Americans! Since when have we cared about older brother, younger brother stuff? Put that away. Put it away.”
“Then rent stays fixed for ten years. Titles remain as they are. Call?”
“Call!”
Rank was a matter of money, not age.
“Colcol. In Korea, they say if you have money, you’re an older brother.”
“...Want me to call you older brother? Jimmy hyung? Then will you make the rent free?”
“Quit it, it’s disgusting. Colcol.”
“Heh heh.”
After reading a little longer, the two of them were going to head out into the garden and try practicing swordsmanship right away.
“Jimmy. Let’s go. I think I need to try it for myself.”
“Good. Colt!”
Tap. Pat-ter. Swoooosh.
“……”
“……”
But the weather had other ideas. A few scattered drops had become a steady rain, and now it was coming down in sheets.
“That’s a wrap for today.”
“Colt, that’s Japanese.”
“Did the tutor learn Japanese too?”
“I guess so.”
Two men holding heavy swords stood by the living-room window, staring out at the rain with deep regret.
“I dug a little deeper into the languages I got from the tutor, and... I found stuff like this too. Kimochi? Yamete? And then...”
“T-that’s...”
It turned out that foreign words the Korean tutor had learned from videos were also within the language-recognition range.
“I know. Hah. Your magic really does inject all kinds of nonsense.”
“Ahem.”
James’s criteria for what counted as language-recognition magic would need some revision.
* * *
A few days passed, and James sent a text.
[Departing tomorrow. Destination: the Vatican Apostolic Palace. How long I’ll stay there is still undecided, but I’ll let you know the return flight from there.]
Not long after he sent it, a reply arrived. It was from Park Jin-tae, the chief secretary at TY Telecom.
[I saw the Vatican event in the news. Have you been invited in connection with that?]
[That’s right. I was invited to an event related to the retrieval of the Holy Grail.]
The Vatican had announced that it had recovered the Holy Grail of Jesus and would unveil it for the first time at St. Peter’s Basilica.
[Since it’s an event drawing the world’s attention, that excuse should work.]
[So I don’t have to meet the mercenaries this time?]
[Yes. I’ll report back and let you know once new instructions come down.]
[Send me a text anytime.]
[And may I report on the foreigner you’re living with?]
James had already told him that he was living with a friend he’d worked with in Las Vegas, so Park Jin-tae knew about Colt. But up until now, he hadn’t reported it to Choi Jeong-san.
[Colt? Do whatever you want.]
Over the past few days, James had lived with Colt while they tried out the sword techniques from the book, along with all kinds of other martial arts.
Colt’s a genius.
He was so talented that James had started to wonder if the reason Colt couldn’t learn magic was simply that he was born with a gift tailored to using his body.
How can he learn everything after seeing it just once?
* * *
Colt could copy the techniques perfectly just by looking at a book of illustrations and explanations, and he never seemed to get bored of repeating the basics over and over. To James, every basic stance looked the same, but Colt would tell him no, they were clearly different, and then demonstrate the distinction himself.
“Here. Earlier I did the Admiral Sword, facing right to strike the enemy, and then I did it facing left. First right hand, right foot; then left hand, left foot.”
“Y-yeah. You did.”
“At first, both times my stepping foot twisted and wobbled. But after going back over the footwork and stance work, I could see where I’d been wrong. So then I did this—”
Shack. Shaaak!
Two clean, perfectly controlled downward strikes followed one after the other. They were so polished that James could only stand there with his mouth open.
“...That’s how the right-facing strike and the left-facing strike are getting close to complete.”
“Looks perfect to me from the start...”
“Not yet. I’m still shifting my center of gravity when I swing the sword. I need to lower my center and thrust out lightly so I can pull the blade back at any moment, but I was still a little off-balance. Still, it’s good. Every time I learn something, it feels new. Hahaha.”
“……”
* * *
That was why James didn’t worry about Colt. No matter who threatened him, Colt would have no trouble protecting himself. On top of that, James’s house was tightly protected by magic that no one could trace.
[Your friend may be in danger.]
[What, are they bringing a gun or something?]