Three Flaws and One Ceremony
Jin Cheong-un gazed at the distant mountains with an expression of the utmost gravity.
"Beholding the lofty winter sky and the desolate ridgelines, the young master finds himself sunk in deep contemplation."
"……"
"Soon, the state of the Cheongun Martial Arts Academy flowed through his mind like a river. The villains who had tormented others under the pretext of debt were laid low by the hand of a passing hero. The long-delayed repairs to the crumbling halls were, at last, complete."
"……"
"Though a vile, wicked, and unspeakably despicable gang of rural ruffians and local tyrants once again blocked his path, the young master taught them with righteousness and virtue, and they awoke to their own shame and repented."
"……"
"The great problem was resolved, yet his worries only deepened. For he had become aware of another problem festering within his academy. And that was…"
Jin Cheong-un, who had been pacing back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back, stopped mid-sentence.
Because at that very moment, a pair of miserable groans interrupted his monologue.
"Uuunngh."
"Haah. Hah… uugh."
It was Jeong So-so and Jeong So-ryong, holding great boulders in their arms as they held their horse stance.
Jin Cheong-un clicked his tongue.
"Tsk. Your stances are breaking. Focus."
"……"
Every last trace of reverence vanished from Jeong So-so's eyes.
We're dying over here and you just keep muttering to yourself right next to us getting in the way, and now you want us to FOCUS?
Even a meditating Buddha would hurl his prayer beads at you!
"You've rested so comfortably that your edge has dulled, I see. So-ryong, you used to be so eager to train your outer strength too. You're struggling after just this much?"
"Rested? …We only just got back yesterday, Master."
"You rested on the road. You didn't train at all coming back, did you?"
"……"
In that moment, the light of reverence vanished from Jeong So-ryong's eyes as well.
Jin Cheong-un cleared his throat.
"Now, where was I? Hm, yes. The problem, in any case."
"……"
"Our academy lacked three things. What might those be?"
No answer came. No—there could be no answer.
Jin Cheong-un let out a sorrowful sigh.
"Well, if that's how it is. I was planning to end the training once the story was ov—"
"I'm curious! SO curious! Teach me! PLEASE! Hah—hahk!"
At Jeong So-so's desperate plea, Jin Cheong-un nodded with evident satisfaction.
"I picked up a few things while butting heads with the Martial Arts Academy Association this time."
Jin Cheong-un hadn't simply been idly enjoying the sights all this while, either.
He had watched and studied the martial artists of White Horse Academy and the Academy Association, quietly stealing the secrets of how they ran their schools.
"The problems of the Cheongun Martial Arts Academy. The first is that I am the only person here doing any teaching."
"Hahk. Hah—wh-what do you mean by that?"
"Looking closely, it turns out academies don't just teach martial arts."
They hired scholars to teach letters and etiquette, retired officers to teach horsemanship and military strategy. In some respects, they offered an education far more meticulous and specialized than the sects of the Jianghu.
According to Hwang Jong-baek, if an academy lacked such offerings, prospective students wouldn't even consider enrolling in the first place.
"But one can't rashly go recruiting teachers, so it's a rather thorny matter."
"R-right, of course. But Master, I'm really at my li—"
"The second problem, closely tied to the first, was the lack of a system."
"Uuungh!"
Even in the Jianghu, disciples were sorted and addressed by all manner of ranks.
Direct disciples of the main mountain, house disciples, inner disciples, named and unnamed disciples, immediate disciples… The precise meaning shifted with each sect's discipline and traditions, but the purpose was the same—to raise them all into martial artists of the Jianghu.
An academy, however, felt somewhat different.
Worldly, one might say.
"Students like you, with genuine ambitions toward the martial path and standing as direct disciples, are vanishingly rare. Most ordinary trainees have no intention of becoming warriors at all."
Of course, some remained ordinary trainees simply for want of talent…
But the overwhelming majority enrolled out of curiosity or hobby, or to learn self-defense good enough to protect their own bodies.
"And yet, it's precisely those ordinary trainees who… play the most important role in running an academy."
To put it bluntly:
They were the money.
Herein lay the subtle genius of the academy world.
By Jianghu logic, both casually picking up martial arts and a master charging his disciples fees were unthinkable. In the academy world, that was simply common sense.
"Ordinary trainees apparently come not every day, but every other day or once every three days. You'd naturally want to sort them into groups by level and schedule, but Cheongun Martial Arts Academy has nothing of the sort."
Thus the second problem shared its solution with the first.
I need people.
Jin Cheong-un knew he was not a man who excelled at everything.
He needed teachers for various disciplines, a steward to manage the household affairs, workers to run the academy, and even a physician to treat the patients that grueling training would inevitably produce.
It's not that there's absolutely no one I could call in…
But there was no guarantee they'd actually abandon what they were doing and come just because he asked. No—even if they did come, that would be its own problem, so for the moment there was no way to resolve it.
Therefore:
"We're taking a slightly different path."
"A different path… hahk! H-how… exactly…?"
"Quality over quantity."
Jin Cheong-un's eyes gleamed.
"We'll accept ordinary trainees as well, but fundamentally we'll be selective about who we take in. Like White Horse Academy over there."
When there was something to learn, you learned it.
White Horse Academy, surprisingly, didn't have all that many students. But each and every one of them was outstanding, and that reputation earned them plenty of money.
Cheongun Martial Arts Academy would adopt that very same approach.
"And lastly—"
At that moment—
Thud! Thud!
The great and small boulders the siblings had been hugging rolled across the ground. They had finally reached their limit and collapsed.
"I—I really… can't… anymore…"
"Sister. I—I think I've fallen ill again. Something's wrong with my body… my whole body keeps shaking on its own…"
"So-ryong, that's called muscle soreness…"
Jin Cheong-un clicked his tongue at his disciples sprawled on the ground.
Barely any time has passed and they're already this pathetic.
Then he happened to glance up at the sky and tilted his head.
They had started at sunrise, so why was the sun already high overhead?
Did I talk a bit long?
Hm. Well, plenty of training got done, so all's well. This sort of training has its place too.
Jin Cheong-un continued with the shamelessness of a stone face.
"The last problem is that our name remains unknown."
Thanks to Jeong So-so, they'd gained a bit of fame, but many still had no idea where the Cheongun Martial Arts Academy was, or when it had opened.
This problem was easy.
If no one knew, then you simply made them know.
"Therefore, we shall hold a grand opening ceremony. The importance of publicity. THIS is the enlightenment I gained from entangling with the Academy Association."
Truly, it was an awakening of the deepest order.
You might say the man who had been a first-rate academy master had ascended to become an academy master of the absolute summit.
Naturally, Jeong So-so nearly choked at those words.
I… told him ALL of this already…!
When she'd suggested handing out rice cakes or throwing an opening feast, he hadn't so much as let it touch one ear—only for him to start spouting it now as if he'd achieved enlightenment all on his own.
It stung, but she held her tongue.
After all, back then a feast wouldn't have helped much anyway.
And more importantly, that wasn't the point.
"Uuunngh. Th-then I'll help too!"
"Hm? You, So-so?"
"O-of course! You'd have a hard time preparing everything alone, so naturally I should help!"
Her mind spun at lightning speed.
At this very moment, if I play this right, I might just escape training until the ceremony!
"You two are supposed to be training. What on earth."
"B-but isn't assisting with academy matters also a disciple's duty?"
"It's not that you hate training?"
Jeong So-so's face turned dead serious.
"What are you saying, Master."
"Hm?"
"This unworthy disciple of yours obviously, tremendously, desperately WANTS to train. However! How exhausted would you be preparing everything alone? I will help you!"
That was it.
The single move for survival.
Jeong So-so read the room and threw herself into it with everything she had.
"Ho-ho. My, what an admirable sentiment. I've underestimated you terribly, So-so."
"…I'm sorry, what?"
"To think you wanted to train that badly!"
…Huh?
Why is the conversation going that way…?
"I was going to have you repeat only what you'd already learned for a while, since I'll need to be out and about on business, but I clearly wasn't thinking far enough ahead."
"……!"
"I'll teach you things you can manage on your own. I'll check your progress when I'm back from my errands. And of course, So-ryong, you'll be doing the same."
"……!!"
Jeong So-so's mouth fell wide open. Jeong So-ryong whipped his head around to glare at his sister, his face etched with betrayal.
Wh-what did I do?
Sister…!
Jin Cheong-un snorted at the sight of his disciples.
Not a chance. They've still got a long way to go.
His disciples' feints were far too clumsy to deceive a master's eyes.
Chuckling to himself, Jin Cheong-un set off for the village to prepare for the opening ceremony.
Jin Cheong-un bustled about Yichang, making his preparations for the ceremony.
What was the most important thing at a feast?
The food, without question.
He made his way to the Baekun Inn—the finest restaurant in Yinghua Village, and the place where Jeong So-so had once depended on others' charity.
"Could you prepare the feast food for us? I'm thinking of holding it around the Waking of Insects, after the new year."
Seo Do-seok, the proprietor of the Baekun Inn, broke into a wide grin and nodded.
"Ah, of course! Just leave it all to me! Allow me to show you what I can do!"
"Well, then, about the matter of payment…"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Given our history, and the sheer number of mouths I'll be having you feed—might you see your way to trimming the price a little?"
In an instant, Seo Do-seok's beaming face turned grave.
"Sir, I really must object."
"……"
Next came the government office.
Ordinarily a place common folk could not casually enter—but Jin Cheong-un was no ordinary commoner.
"Where's Chief Bailiff Geum?"
"Uh, w-well, that is…"
The gate guards who ought to have blocked him simply trembled and ushered him inside.
"D-Director Jin? What brings you here today?"
To a winded Geum Tae-bang, Jin Cheong-un held out an invitation.
"You'll be gracing the opening ceremony with your presence, of course, Chief Bailiff."
It was less an invitation than a command.
Cold sweat beading on his brow, Geum Tae-bang scrambled for an excuse.
"A-actually, I have an important engagement that day…"
"Ah, an engagement, you say."
"Y-yes! A regular gathering where the constables of Yichang assemble!"
"How dreadful. I suppose there's no help for it."
Jin Cheong-un looked appropriately disappointed.
But to Geum Tae-bang's ears, it sounded entirely different.
He's saying if I don't come, I'll be paying the price for the Wufu Guild affair!
For Geum Tae-bang, who knew exactly what had transpired at the Wufu Guild, refusal was never an option.
"I-I'll absolutely be there! Absolutely!"
Having secured the government officials, Jin Cheong-un carried his carefully written invitations off to meet the others.
"Y-you mean us as well?"
"That's right."
"It's an honor. We shall attend without fail."
Chosam and the Black Tiger Bandits received their invitations too—none left out.
"Ah, and there's one more favor I need."
"Just say the word."
"When you have the time, go around posting these notices. Announcements that we've opened. I don't have the hours to cover everywhere myself."
"Yes…?"
"Oh, and anyone with nothing to do on the day of the ceremony can come and put in some work."
"Will we, er… be paid by the day…?"
"Hm. Chosam, you're funnier than I gave you credit for."
"……"
The mouths of Chosam and the Black Tiger Bandits clamped firmly shut.
After that, he sent invitations by courier to those he could not visit in person, such as the escort bureau.
One went to Hwang Jong-baek, the senior peer who had shown him kindness before. After some deliberation, another went to White Horse Academy.
He addressed it to Baek Gun-ak deliberately—not Baek Un-seo. In his own way, it was meant as an olive branch, though how it would be received remained to be seen.
And then…
"I'm sorry—did you say where, exactly?"
"The Martial Arts Alliance Headquarters. This one goes to the Alliance Leader's office, this one to the Office of the Steward, and…"
Jin Cheong-un fiddled with the remaining invitations, then slipped them back into his robe.
Send those and all I'll get is an unnecessary commotion.
He spoke to the escort agent handling his deliveries.
"Just those two. And if you could hurry them along. They're busy people."
"Well, I never. I'll take the commission, mind you, but if they refuse to accept, you still pay in full. Are we clear?"
The escort agent who took the job wore a sour expression.
"If they don't accept, that's their loss."
"Well. I'll do what I can."
A few old acquaintances he ought to invite did come to mind, but something about it felt awkward, so he simply let it go.
After all, it was a bit strange to invite your former coworkers to the business you'd started after retiring, wasn't it?
"Is that everything, then?"
Days of scurrying about, and the preparations were complete.
On the way home, Jin Cheong-un headed for the Jin Manor with his arms full of meat and fine white rice—errands Jeong So-so had sent him on to use for dinner.
"Sending the master on errands. Is this right?"
But as he grumbled his way down the road, his steps soon stopped.
At some point, the street had emptied of passersby.
Suddenly, a smell reached him.
One he knew all too well.
The scent of blood.
Tap. Tap.
The sound of a staff rang out across the empty street.
Jin Cheong-un fixed his gaze slowly on the shadowed alley beyond.
"Heh heh heh. So these old eyes were not deceived. To meet the Black Asura himself, in a backwater village like this."
A hoarse old man's voice drifted out from within the alley.