Ten Paths of the Master - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 14. I’ll teach you.
Dan Yeop has the sort of delicate features that earn him comparisons to a courtesan’s younger brother.
Pressed firmly against such a boy, Baek Yu Hwa had gone rigid as a log.
Dan Yeop, too, stood frozen in shock.
At a distance barely a hand’s breadth from Baek Yu Hwa’s face—so close he could feel her breath—his thoughts simply ceased.
Or rather, in terms of martial discipline, it was stillness within motion.
Though the moment lasted only a heartbeat, his mind blazed with countless thoughts in rapid succession.
Her eyes, black and white in sharp contrast, had widened fully, and each delicate flutter of her long lashes seemed almost like a whisper.
Her breath carried something sweet, floral, and with each inhale his chest tightened pleasantly.
Hao Mun had initially recruited a large cohort of young children from outside—ages four to seven—to the organization.
When the first cohort settled well into Byeong Ma Chong, the next year they filled the ranks with children from Yuk Mun.
The second cohort sent from Yuk Mun ranged from six to eight years old.
The third cohort was seven to nine, and as time went on, new recruits tended to be slightly older.
This came about simply because Yuk Mun ran short of children to send.
Baek Yu Hwa, of the third cohort, had entered at nine and spent seven years at Byeong Ma Chong.
Dan Yeop, recruited at four and having spent twelve years there, was technically a different generation, but both were sixteen years old.
Baek Yu Hwa, collecting herself, spoke with studied nonchalance.
“You’re crushing me. Would you mind moving?”
“Huh? Oh!”
Dan Yeop scrambled backward, and Baek Yu Hwa rose to her feet.
Baek Yu Hwa regarded Dan Yeop, who stood there with an awkward expression, and posed a question.
“So—what’s your answer?”
“M-my answer to what?”
“You said you’d go into partnership with me.”
“A misunderstanding—truly, there’s nothing to it.”
Baek Yu Hwa fixed her gaze on Dan Yeop’s face.
Those blank eyes, touched even with a hint of foolishness, didn’t seem to harbor a lie.
Now that she thought on it, just moments ago he’d failed to dodge her Beom Cheon Soo and had offered his wrist to her instead.
That Yu Ja Cho had fallen to it helplessly seemed almost unbelievable.
Was he truly mad?
Or was he feigning madness to deceive those around him?
Either way, since he’d already rejected her proposal, keeping distance was the prudent choice.
‘Tch. He’s got the looks for it, though….’
If his talent had been even half as striking as his face, he’d have left a trail of weeping women behind him.
“We’ll see how it plays out. That’s all.”
Baek Yu Hwa gave a small nod and turned sharply to leave.
After she vanished, Dan Yeop stood motionless for some time, his expression vacant.
***
Shortly after.
Back in his quarters, Dan Yeop retrieved the Haeng Nang from beneath his bedframe—the one Baek Yu Hwa had mentioned—and examined it.
“There’s nothing inside.”
He shook it out and turned it inside out, but no dust even fell.
He couldn’t fathom why his other self had carried it around.
“Could it be…?”
Had he, as Baek Yu Hwa suggested, packed away some treasure?
Even if he had, there was no way for him to know.
But there was something else that seemed odd.
The letter stated that the Haeng Nang was necessary for treating Ju Hwa Ip Ma.
That meant the bag wasn’t needed for treasure at all.
“I don’t understand.”
Dan Yeop shook his head and stuffed the Haeng Nang back under the bed, then stepped outside.
He was heading for the Jeom Mun Training Hall.
With his Chul Gwan day drawing near, he meant to dedicate himself entirely to the Cheonji Dohbeop.
Unlike the genius Dan Yeop, the blockhead Dan Yeop’s target was Chul Gwan alone.
***
Jeom Mun Training Hall.
Hour of the Sheep, early (five in the afternoon).
As Dan Yeop entered hesitantly, Go Muk, the instructor, suddenly asked him a question.
“You planning to challenge with the Cheonji Dohbeop again this year?”
“Yes.”
“If you want to learn properly, you should’ve come when the other trainees were here.”
Go Muk’s tone was glacial.
Unless Dan Yeop were the Jeom Mun Mun Ju’s son, of course—
but he wasn’t the sort of man to lavish his time on just anyone.
Least of all on a dull talent like Dan Yeop.
Without another word, Dan Yeop turned to leave.
Go Muk, the Gyodoo, called him back before he could go.
“Where are you headed?”
“The A Mun Training Hall, sir.”
“You mean to ask Dan Gyodoo to teach you the Cheonji Dohbeop?”
“Yes…”
The Cheonji Dohbeop was a secret art of Jeom Mun, but Dan Bul Wui, the Gyodoo, knew it as well.
So it had seemed natural to seek him out.
Go Muk’s brow darkened in displeasure.
A Mun trafficked in human flesh and dabbled in the Heuk Do, and among their ranks, Dan Bul Wui was notorious for his cruelty.
Yet not long ago, this same man had made a startling announcement to the Gyodoos over a bottle of Ma Yu Podo Ju.
—Dan Yeop is my adopted son. I ask that you look after him kindly.
Long ago, when Dan Bul Wui had been a Mun Ju, he’d given several children names and been called “father” in jest.
They’d thought it a joke—but the fact that he’d distributed that precious Ma Yu Podo Ju showed Dan Bul Wui was serious.
And now he meant to let Dan Yeop walk away empty-handed?
Dan Bul Wui would have ground the Jeom Mun trainees under his heel and still had fury left over.
“Hmph! You won’t learn Jeom Mun’s secret arts from an A Mun Gyodoo. Bring a sword.”
“Yes, sir!”
At Go Muk’s sudden demand, Dan Yeop hurried to the weapon rack and seized a Jik Do.
When he returned, Go Muk nodded curtly toward him.
It meant: begin.
Dan Yeop immediately deployed the first form of the Cheonji Dohbeop: the Cheon Roe Nak Cham.
But he stumbled when he reached the second form, the Hoeng So San Jeol.
Seeing his struggle, Go Muk barked out instructions.
“Pivot left—strike upward once, downward once—face front and slash both sides. Snap! Snap!”
Falteringly, Dan Yeop mimicked the movements as the Gyodoo described them.
“No, damn it, face front while you slash! Why do you keep gouging at the left? What’s over there?”
Belatedly, Dan Yeop turned to face forward, completed the slash, and stopped.
“Is that correct?”
“Correct? Of course it’s not correct! You haven’t finished the form. You’ve taken three steps—you need six more before you’re done.”
As Dan Yeop stepped forward, Go Muk’s voice exploded through the hall.
“No! Who told you to go that way? Six steps means six more steps forward! Are you deliberately trying to give me an apoplexy?”
“I didn’t mean to, sir.”
“You didn’t mean to? Christ! If you’d pulled this in the In Ma school, you’d have been minced into dumplings by now. Count yourself lucky you’re here at Hao Mun.”
“Yes…”
As Dan Yeop scratched his head, a young woman entered the training hall.
It was Baek Yu Hwa, a rising star from Jeom Mun.
Just as Dan Yeop regularly sought out Dan Bul Wui for counsel, she had come to receive comprehensive martial instruction from Go Muk.
The moment Go Muk saw her, his expression brightened with relief.
“Yu Hwa, perfect timing. I’m too frustrated to continue. Teach Dan Yeop the Cheonji Dohbeop, will you?”
At this unexpected command, Baek Yu Hwa’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Me, sir?”
“Yes—you can execute it in your sleep. Just teach him the first and third forms.”
“I… yes, of course.”
Go Muk handed off the burden and slipped away with casual grace.
Baek Yu Hwa approached Dan Yeop, who stood with his shoulders sagging.
“Did you really come to learn the Cheonji Dohbeop?”
“Yes…”
Baek Yu Hwa, who’d been regarding him with skepticism, spoke without hesitation.
“Show me what you know.”
……
Dan Yeop felt a peculiar sting to his pride, but he slowly deployed the Cheonji Dohbeop.
After the first form of the Cheon Roe Nak Cham, he stopped.
“You don’t know how to do the Hoeng So San Jeol?”
“I know it, but I can’t quite remember—do you start from the left or the right?”
Dan Yeop’s voice dropped to a whisper, and his face flushed crimson.
“Go Muk sings the same song every day, doesn’t he? Turn left while striking heaven once, earth once, then facing forward with left and right cuts—slash! Slash!”
“Ah, it was left, wasn’t it…….”
Dan Yeop shuffled through the footwork hesitantly, his blade carving through the air.
Each time his movements stalled, Baek Yu Hwa called out the next form.
“Facing forward with left and right cuts—slash! Slash!”
“Advance to the right with a left cut, a right cut, then draw the blade across your chest!”
When the Hoeng So San Jeol form finally ended, Baek Yu Hwa’s voice had grown slightly hoarse.
“Senior, you really did beat Deung Pyeong and Yu Ja Cho? However I look at it, you’re not at that level? Is everyone in on some joke to mock me?”
As she taught, her manner had grown more familiar—her honorific for him shifting from “senior” to something less formal.
“No, listen. I told you—there’s another me inside me. That one did it.”
“Ah, you mean the personality you call ‘A’?”
“No, ‘A’ is me. That one is ‘B.’ ‘B’ did those things.”
“But the one who beat Yu Ja Cho said they were the real ‘A’…….”
“Maybe ‘B’ wants to be ‘A.’ But the real ‘A’ is me. I’m the master of this body. That’s why I’m ‘A.'”
Dan Yeop grew so animated in his explanation that he even struck his own chest repeatedly—thump-thump!
It was somehow pitiful, so Baek Yu Hwa didn’t press the matter of ‘A’ and ‘B’ any further.
‘Looking at him like this, it does seem like he’s fallen into Ju Hwa Ip Ma…….’
Baek Yu Hwa, studying him intently, spoke.
“I think you can do it, Senior.”
“W-what did you just say? That you like me?”
In an instant, Dan Yeop’s face, which had been faintly pale, turned a deep scarlet.
“When did I say I like you? Don’t twist my words with that nonsense.”
“Ah, sorry. I misheard.”
If you pass the Chul Gwan exam with the third-year students this time, I’ll believe you’ve truly been afflicted by Ju Hwa Ip Ma and that your personality fractured.”
“And if I fail the Chul Gwan?”
“Then you stayed at Byeong Ma Chong because you had something you needed to tend to—meaning you lied to everyone.”
“It could be that my skill just didn’t meet expectations.”
“That won’t happen.”
“Why?”
“Because this year, I’m going to teach you the Cheonji Dohbeop so you can pass the examination.”
“R-really?”
Under the weight of Baek Yu Hwa’s relentless pressure, Dan Yeop’s downturned face suddenly brightened.
“From today on, come straight to the Jeom Mun Training Hall after class. During class itself, learn the Cheonji Dohbeop with everyone else, and afterward I’ll teach you personally.”
“I’d be grateful for that. If you help me, I won’t forget the debt.”
“I’m going this far for you—if you still fail the exam, it means you’re hiding something. You understand?”
“That seems a bit extreme…….”
“Why? Don’t you believe in yourself?”
“My heart wants it desperately, but my mind won’t cooperate.”
“Why? From the way you speak, you sound perfectly capable. By today, I’ll have you master this form. But first, you need to shed that defeatist thinking—that ‘I can’t.’ Come on, say it with me: ‘When the mind is unified, nothing remains impossible!'”
Baek Yu Hwa was determined to rebuild Dan Yeop’s spirit the way her father had taught her.
“When the mind is unified, nothing remains impossible.”
Dan Yeop obediently repeated after her.
Part of it was his desperate longing for the Chul Gwan exam, but mostly it was because he couldn’t bear to defy her.
She had become the closest person in his entire life.
“Louder!”
“When the mind is unified, nothing remains impossible!”
“Excellent. Now I’ll teach you this form of the Cheonji Dohbeop. Don’t try to memorize it all at once. Just repeat it ten times, a hundred times, and your body will learn it naturally.”
“Yes!”
Dan Yeop nodded vigorously.
Now that he thought about it, this echoed what Dan Bul Wui had once told him.
—If your head won’t work, make your body remember!
Two hours flickered past like lightning.
Dan Yeop’s entire body was drenched in sweat, and exhaustion was written plainly across Baek Yu Hwa’s face.
“……You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
Baek Yu Hwa’s voice was hoarse, nearly raw.
“I’m not…….”
“We’ve repeated it hundreds of times together. So how can you not know it? It’s only nine movements! How?!”
“I told you—the more I concentrate, the foggier my mind gets…….”
“It’s not your mind that’s the problem. With that much effort, you’d have carved it into stone itself.”
“……”
“Ha! You can’t expect to be satisfied on the first attempt. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
“But……”
“That’s enough. You’ve done well. Go rest now.”
Baek Yu Hwa cut short Dan Yeop’s words and shuffled back to her quarters.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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