Coincidence
Where am I? (6)
EP.34 Coincidence.
It refers to something that happens unexpectedly, without any causal relationship. Yet there was a causal relationship. Still, the event unfolded without warning. So was it coincidence, or inevitability?
“They said you were getting bullied, but did you really come back beaten up from outside? Oh ho? And there’s even a stab wound?”
Perhaps because he had been visiting the medical hall for quite a long time, Dang Huiso’s speech had, at some point, shed its formal haoche tone. But right now, his noticeably lighter way of speaking was the least of my concerns.
‘Dang Huiso’ was feeling bored when he discovered you injured.
‘Dang Huiso’’s favorability is now ‘Glad to See You.’
The hidden piece of Jeongmu Academy physician ‘Dang Huiso’ has been activated.
Master and Disciple — Valuable Research Material
Category: Hidden / Linked
Difficulty: A
Description: Jeongmu Academy physician ‘Dang Huiso’ is displeased that his one and only research subject has been damaged. Perhaps that is why he hopes you will no longer be beaten by third-rate idiots. Ask him for instruction.
Mission: Receive ten days of instruction from Dang Huiso. (The type of instruction will vary depending on his mood.)
Restriction: Those who have helped with Dang Huiso’s research, those he pities, those with visible wounds.
Reward: Dang Huiso’s recognition / Acquisition of Sichuan Tang Clan martial arts (D~A)
Failure Penalty: Dang Huiso’s disappointment (Depending on the degree, he may refuse to treat you any longer or may even destroy your dantian.)
After reading every line of the quest alert, I inwardly cheered at the unexpected opportunity. Of course, he had openly called me “research material” and “idiot,” but those weren’t particularly important issues.
“Not answering? I asked if you got beaten up.”
Dang Huiso frowned at me as if frustrated. Naturally, I knew full well that the expression wasn’t genuine irritation. Even so, I had no choice but to play along with his words. After all, one of the conditions for this quest to appear was that he saw me as a “helpless weakling.”
Is this what they call the righteous path?
The “Jeong” in Jeongmu Academy naturally meant “righteousness.” And the physicians working there would, true to the righteous faction, possess a sense of chivalry and tend to value justice. In other words, he wasn’t the type to stand by and watch an innocent weakling being tormented by the strong.
“Yes… well…”
I deliberately trailed off and avoided Dang Huiso’s eyes. Yet my gaze still held an unyielding conviction. It was the best bluff I could muster.
“You don’t need to concern yourself. I’ll handle it with my own strength.”
They revered martial prowess. They respected righteousness and treasured chivalry. The words I had just spoken demonstrated the value of my own martial strength while stimulating the righteousness and chivalry within Dang Huiso.
Twitch.
A thin vein throbbed on Dang Huiso’s forehead at my words. A powerless fool claiming he would solve his problems with his own strength. He must have imagined it—the day I would prove myself to everyone who had looked down on me through my own training. And the countless trials and suffering I would endure along the way, all for the sake of my conviction.
“Your name was Kim Siin, right?”
“……Yes? That is correct, but?”
I answered his question with a slight delay. Seeing my reaction, Dang Huiso put on a deliberately serious expression and made me an offer.
“Hey, kid. Want to learn something from me?”
‘Dang Huiso’ is offering to teach you first.
Accepting will begin the quest.
The quest description had said to ask him for instruction. But the feeling of me bowing my head first to request teaching and him offering to teach me were completely different.
If I had asked him to teach me something first, I would have just looked like another pathetic guy.
Wanting strength wasn’t a bad thing. But craving power for bloody revenge definitely didn’t seem like a good thing. And once I had left a favorable impression, that was when the real game began.
“It’s fine. I couldn’t possibly take up your time, Physician Dang. I’ll strive to gain enlightenment on my own.”
Reject once.
“Hmph. So you do have some thoughts in that head. Still, back in my prime I was quite famous as a member of the Sichuan Tang Clan. If you want, I can at least teach you some self-defense techniques.”
His favorability was already up. At times like this, giving a new stimulus wasn’t bad either.
“It’s really fine. You’re a physician, after all. There’s no need to overexert yourself. Even the Jeongmu Academy’s martial arts would be too much for someone like me.”
Polite. But it was a remark that slightly disregarded him. To put it more plainly, the nuance was, “Oh, what kind of amazing change could I possibly get from learning from a mere physician?”
At my last words, the vein on Dang Huiso’s forehead grew a little thicker. His pride must have been wounded. But even if it killed him, this was still the Murim world, so it seemed he was willing to go as far as the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage.
“I’ll ask one last time. Do you have any intention of learning something from me? I’m only saying this because I truly feel it would be a waste to let you stay like this.”
At his words, I stroked my chin, pretending to agonize over it as much as possible. But the answer had already been decided. Finally, I carefully lifted my head and gave him the most polite reply I could.
“Since you’ve gone this far, it would be rude of me to keep refusing. Then I’ll be in your care. But if you ever grow tired of me, please feel free to say so.”
“Tsk tsk… Fine! I was planning to stop anyway the moment I think you’re slacking off. And don’t you dare give up just because it gets hard.”
“I won’t be the first one to give up.”
Quest accepted.
I checked the system window where the new quest had been added.
Master and Disciple — Moonlight (B)
Master and Disciple — Valuable Research Material (A)
A newly arrived quest. Of course, the quest name and the failure penalty felt a bit ominous, but I decided not to worry about it too much. It was do or die anyway. I had to keep climbing the Tower, and growing stronger now was far safer than risking my life against the unknown later.
***
An A-rank difficulty quest was demanding something that completely defied my common sense, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Smack!
“I told you not to let your mind wander!”
“Ow! How would you even know what I’m thinking, old man?”
“You damn brat, talking back to your master?! And call me Master or Teacher!”
Smack!
It was the third hour since dawn, sitting in the lotus position and doing nothing but breathing. I had thought I would at least be learning something that involved moving my body, but I was too busy clutching my head from the continuous beating.
“You idiot! I’m not telling you to just breathe!”
“Then what the hell am I supposed to do?!”
“You can’t even do this? Sit properly, huh? Inhale the energy through your nose, slowly, slowly, and then exhale it through your mouth!”
Wait, if that’s not breathing, then what exactly is it? Am I doing some kind of bowel movement right now?
“You’re thinking about something else again?!”
Smack!
Tears welled up. How humiliating to cry from being beaten at my age. In truth, I knew exactly what Dang Huiso was asking of me. The critical problem was that I, someone who wasn’t a real Murim inhabitant, simply couldn’t perform the “circulation of qi” he wanted.
What on earth is this inner energy supposed to be?
It couldn’t be seen. Naturally, it couldn’t be felt either. Normally, when a person wants to move their right arm, the brain sends a signal and the muscles twitch and move the arm. Input something, and the appropriate output follows. That was how we understood controlling the body.
But what I was doing now was like placing a cup in front of me and ordering, “Come on, move it with telekinesis already!”
Damn it, I can’t even get a feel for it.
I had expected it wouldn’t be easy. But I never imagined I would be completely blocked from the very beginning. I closed my eyes again and pictured the image in my mind.
Inhale. Even though I couldn’t feel it, I slowly guided the energy contained in the air. Link the energy taken into the lungs with the blood. Then carefully move the energy that reached the heart down to the dantian. Push out the accumulated impurities in the dantian with pure energy. Leave the settled energy as it is and expel the turbid qi that emerges in reverse order.
“Huu…”
In the end, I couldn’t feel anything. Damn it.
***
Night had fallen. After sparring fiercely with Hwayeong last night and then practicing the difficult breathing method at the medical hall, my eyes were now filled with exhaustion.
“She hasn’t come yet?”
Maybe because I had always arrived earlier than Hwayeong to secretly watch her training, I once again reached the clearing first today. With nothing to do, I naturally sat down in the lotus position on the ground.
“Hss.”
The night air filled my lungs. It definitely felt easier to breathe out here, where the air was clear, compared to the medical hall that reeked of medicinal herbs.
The air is cold.
Perhaps because cold energy was flowing into my body, I seemed to be able to concentrate better than during the daytime “qi circulation.” It was like drinking ice-cold water in the middle of summer. The path the cold air took felt more distinct within my body, and I indifferently moved that energy along the exact same route.
But then—
You have learned the first form of the Moonlight Sword Art.
The Moonlit Night Heart Method has been activated.
“Huh?”
A status message floated up in my mind while my eyes were still closed. In the corner of my status window, the Moonlight Sword Art that I had learned from Hwayeong had appeared.