The Heavenly Star Pavilion's lower class.
Divided by skill though it was, it was where children of roughly ten to twelve gathered for foundation training.
Taking advantage of the rest period, several children bearing the Jaegal name gathered in one place.
"That bastard is the scum, right?"
"Mm. The son of our uncle from the Military Stratagem Hall. The one who beat Mun-gi to a pulp."
"Mun-gi is still convalescing in the infirmary."
A rumor going round the Jaegal Clan.
That the Military Stratagem Hall Leader's son was scum unfit for company who knew nothing of rank.
"Damn it, a lowly bastard, and filthily full of himself."
"Just so."
"But his skill was respectable, was it not? To finish the basic form of the Heavenly Mystery Maze Step in a single day."
"What a stupid thing to say. Would it be just a single day?"
"Hm?"
"The Military Stratagem Hall Leader taught him in secret. The Myriad Books Pavilion business too. How could a mere seven-year-old beat a ten-year-old like Mun-gi to a pulp? It makes no sense."
"But the Head Instructor seemed quite astonished."
"Hmph! Our uncle from the Military Stratagem Hall has a silver tongue, as everyone knows. The way the Myriad Books Pavilion business simply passed over makes it obvious."
"Then he was taken in?"
"Of course. How does a martial artist win a war of words against a scholar?"
"But he is not the sort of man to lie."
"Is it because you do not know what sort of man our uncle from the Military Stratagem Hall is? He dotes on our aunt terribly. Which makes him rather sensitive to any talk about her origins."
"Hmm......."
"And how much more for his child? Born with that lowly blood."
"Is that how it is?"
"Are you doubting what I say?"
When Jaegal Mun-ho, who had been leading the conversation, screwed up his face, the children hurriedly waved their hands.
"No. Of course not....... What you say is always right, Mun-ho."
"Tsk."
"......Sorry."
When Jaegal Mun-ho clicked his tongue the children looked crestfallen and lowered their heads.
It was a moment that made perfectly clear who stood above whom.
"At any rate, he will need stamping on before long."
"Will you do it yourself?"
"Should I leave it to you lot? And have you end up like Mun-gi? You have barely finished the Heavenly Mystery Maze Step......."
***
The day the first lesson ended.
"What is all this?"
Jaegal Mun-hyeon, who had come home before supper, asked in surprise at the sight of a table laid full of food.
"What do you think? It is a place your mother prepared for you, for finishing your first lesson safely."
"Even so, this much?"
"Do you not know your mother's heart? She prepared it all day. She says martial training takes a great deal of stamina."
At his father's words Jaegal Mun-hyeon sighed.
A great deal was one thing, but this.
Though the table was already full, Mother was busy with So-hye bringing out steamed cuts of meat.
Stamina is not the problem; I shall get fat.
But at this joyful gathering there was someone present who ought not to have been.
The people who lived in the pavilion were his parents, So-hye his exclusive maidservant, and Jaegal Mun-hyeon, and that was all.
The other workers all returned to their own quarters once the working hours ended.
So why on earth.......
"What brings Master Han here?"
"What brings him? I invited him."
"Invited?"
"Of course. Is he not your first letters master?"
"Ah......."
At his father's words Jaegal Mun-hyeon narrowed his eyes.
The ulterior motive was so obvious it was hard even to play along.
"Is that truly the only reason?"
"Ah, that is...... well, you see......."
"How odd. What is poking out of that wrapping cloth over there looks like a book on formations."
"Ah, you saw it?"
At Jaegal Mun-hyeon's words his father laughed with a sheepish look.
"Surely you have not given it up yet? I told you I truly have no intention of becoming a formations master."
"Oh, who said anything of the sort? Not a thought of it. It is only...... that there is no harm in reading this, so I thought it would be good for you to give it a look...... and so, if there is anything you do not understand you might ask about it......."
At the sight of his father explaining with a nervous sweat breaking out, a sigh came of its own accord.
And he had explained it so plainly.
"Never mind that, just hear your father out a moment."
"......."
"From of old, is there any harm in learning? Think about it. Is there a law that says the world's best never gets sealed inside a formation? Should you ever face such a danger, this study of yours will be a great help, and it was out of such deliberation that......."
Well, it holds together.
There had in fact been many such occasions.
But he had no memory of nearly dying sealed in a formation.
A breaking method?
He had done fine without any such thing, forcing his way out by strength.
Is there not an old Demonic Cult maxim that when the body suffers, the head rests easy?
"Listen, Mun-hyeon. Never mind that, how would it be to take an interest just the once? What must your father be reduced to, to be doing this? It does seem your talent is not for martial learning alone...... and who knows? You may have been born with a talent for the Ten Perfections."
"The Ten Perfections?"
"Yes."
It was absurd.
Poetry, calligraphy, painting, music, the martial.......
The Ten Perfections need not be exactly ten; it is what one calls a man accomplished in many things.
What a grand dreamer his father was.
Even for a man who remembered a past life, it was nothing like that.
Everything apart from martial learning had been a pastime. It looked impressive only because he was seven; it was not at a level deserving the word 'peerless' attached to it.
Still, with the man putting pressure on him with eyes so bright and brimming with expectation...... as a son it seemed no bad thing to show a little interest.
So long as it also served his own training.
"Haa. Very well. Fine. Then is there perhaps a formation one can use to train the Heavenly Mystery Maze Step?"
"Hm?"
"It seems it would be good to train footwork in advance."
"But do you not do that at the Heavenly Star Pavilion?"
"I do. But their training course seems to be fixed in its own way. I can hardly ask to be taught ahead of it, and not reviewing what I have learned is its own problem. A suitable opponent would be good, but I can hardly learn it by brawling with the children either."
"That is......."
"And one ought to review what one has learned. Besides, doing that sort of training might even stir up a little interest in formations."
At the words slipped in so casually, Jaegal Do-yun and Han Si-heon stared with round eyes and answered at the same moment.
"There is! Of course there is! There is one called the Myriad Forms Infinite Formation!"
"Hall Leader, the Myriad Forms Infinite Formation, really? That is still too early. If what he needs is an opponent, the Cursed Dream Formation would be better."
"The Cursed Dream Formation? Now really, man! That one can bring on inner demons if things go badly! Do you mean to kill my son?"
"And you came up with an absolute formation like the Myriad Forms Infinite Formation......."
"Quiet. How about the Heaven-Bewildering Phantom Formation instead, which makes no materialized attacks?"
"That is not bad either, but what of the Utmost Bewilderment Eight Directions Formation?"
"Oho? That is good as well."
They were thoroughly delighted.
At that rate they looked ready to lay out every formation the Military Stratagem Hall possessed.
"Father, Master Han!"
"Hm?"
"What?"
"Which formation is the easiest to set up?"
"The Heaven-Bewildering Phantom Formation."
At his father's words Han Si-heon nodded hard in agreement.
"Then let us use that one. I shall train with it from tonight. And feel a little interest in formations too."
"Truly?"
"......Shall I not, then?"
When his expression turned listless all at once, his father cried out in great alarm.
"Section Chief Han! Why are you still standing there? Set up the Heaven-Bewildering Phantom Formation over in that open space at once......."
Before the words were out, Han Si-heon was already setting up the formation.
This was excellent.
What better training ground could there be?
He could train his footwork against phantoms without needing to duel a single person.
'Why did I never think of this fine idea in my past life?'
Study formations and train martial arts both; how good was that?
He had no intention of becoming a formations master, of course.
He would have to make frequent use of this from now on.
He is my very first master, after all; should I let him idle?
"Ah, and Father."
"Hm?"
"Might you be able to get hold of iron rings to fasten on the arms and legs?"
"Iron rings?"
"Yes. I think they would help build strength in the limbs. Something I could wear under my clothes would be best."
"Hmm......."
"Two catties (about one and a quarter kilograms) each should do for the weight."
"You mean to walk around with eight catties strapped to your body? And if you injure a wrist or an ankle? You are in the middle of growing, and if the weight presses you down and you fail to grow tall......."
Father's face was full of worry.
A mere eight catties.
It was the minimum weight he had settled on, taking into account that his body had not been properly trained yet and that he was young.
And a wrist or ankle that would go out at that much was hardly worth carrying about on the body.
"Mun-hyeon. Who on earth uses such a brutish training method?"
The traditional training method of the Demonic Cult.
He had once tied an enormous iron ball to his waist and climbed a cliff with nothing but the strength of his fingers.
Feeling the body's limits and surpassing them.
It is not brutish; it is a magnificent training method.
"Will you not get them for me?"
"That is not what I meant......."
"Come to think of it, there is really no need for formation training......."
"I shall visit the smithy tomorrow."
"Thank you."
Father was a truly easy man to read.
What on earth formations amounted to, that he should carry on like this.
His expression said he had staked his life on it.
***
From that day on, Jaegal Mun-hyeon's daily round settled into shape.
On rising, he accumulated inner arts through qi circulation. This did not improve at once.
When he asked whether there was perhaps a formation that let one accumulate qi quickly, the answer was a bellowing laugh.
Which meant there was no such thing.
After that, the morning was given to training at the Heavenly Star Pavilion.
Once he had shown his ability, it ended with astonishing Yu Gang-hu, who went frantic trying to teach him this and that.
The Fierce Fist?
Pfft!
After returning from the Heavenly Star Pavilion he ate supper, recited a few lines of letters, and trained footwork inside formations whose owner was itching to teach him, and so a day went by without a moment to breathe.
Training the body?
Thanks to the iron rings his father had procured, every moment of movement was training. Even lifting a spoon.
He fell asleep steeped in exhaustion every day, but what was that against the exhilaration of growing stronger?
But then.
"Mun-hyeon."
"......?"
It was during a rest period on a certain day, after he had entered the higher course of the Heavenly Mystery Maze Step and come to train together with the other trainees.
"You rascal, staring like that. I am Jaegal Mun-ho."
A boy with an expression brimming with confidence addressed him.
Jaegal Mun-hyeon, who had been sitting in the shade taking his rest, raised his head and looked up at him.
Jaegal...... and who is that, exactly?
This bastard, how am I supposed to know from a name alone?
He would have to say whose son he is for me to know.
"Hah, this fellow...... when you see your cousin, your elder brother, you greet him at once."
"......."
"I am five years older than you."
So he is twelve.
What of it, he had no idea.
Is he a fellow driven mad by a missed greeting?
"Tsk, tsk. You really have not learned a scrap of manners, have you?"
At the words laden with scorn Jaegal Mun-hyeon flared up for a moment, but for now he held it in.
He really had grown greatly in character.
Before, he would have planted a fist in the face first, kicked the fellow a few times to put him on his knees, and then begun the conversation.
"Go and fetch me some water."
"Water?"
"Yes. It is usually the youngest's job."
"Hmm......."
Jaegal Mun-hyeon glanced around.
Five of them.
Cousins of the same generation, presumably.
He had seen them gathered together any number of times during his time at the Heavenly Star Pavilion.
And since their faces were full of scorn, it was easy enough to tell that this was a quarrel picked for nothing.
After a moment's thought Jaegal Mun-hyeon rose without a word.
At the sight of him leaving the shade and walking off, Jaegal Mun-ho wore the smile of a victor.
'Whatever he does, he is a seven-year-old brat.'
But contrary to expectation, Jaegal Mun-hyeon did not go to fetch water; he flopped down in another patch of shade nearby.
Feeling himself ignored, Jaegal Mun-ho's face went bright red.
With the children watching.......
"He can go and guzzle his own water; why order someone else about and kick up this bullshit? A young fellow ought to learn something charming, like doing things by himself, instead of learning nothing but bad habits."
And on top of it he overheard the muttering to himself.
"You, you bastard! What did you just say!"
At Jaegal Mun-ho, who came running in a fury, Jaegal Mun-hyeon looked up irritably and said,
"You plainly heard all of it. Why ask again?"
"You wretch!"
Jaegal Mun-ho seized Jaegal Mun-hyeon by the collar and hauled him up.
Respectable arm strength.
And Jaegal Mun-hyeon, hauled up without resistance, stared at the hand gripping his collar.
This wrist of yours—!
But he knew now that he must not brawl thoughtlessly with the clan's brothers.
Even so.
A grip on my collar, for a man who has never in his life avoided a fight brought to him?
If I am to beat him legally.......
"Hmm, this is a duel request, yes?"