Jin Cheong-un buried his nose in his collar and sniffed.
'That should do.'
It had taken scrubbing himself raw at the well in the backyard before the smell finally disappeared.
Having changed into fresh clothes, he was about to leave the room when he paused.
"Master, I trust you slept well. I offer my morning greetings."
Jeong So-ryong stood waiting with his hands neatly clasped, poised in a manner far too proper for his age.
"......What are you doing?"
"I read in a book that you should always show your master proper courtesy, so I thought I'd try it."
Jin Cheong-un nodded, expression stiff.
"R-right. Thank you."
"I shall offer my morning greetings every day from now on."
Every day?
And then silence descended.
"......"
"......"
Jin Cheong-un felt cold sweat trickling down.
'How am I supposed to look after a kid?'
It dawned on him that he had never actually had a proper conversation with Jeong So-ryong.
It was Jeong So-ryong who broke the silence first.
"Master."
"Mm?"
"I've memorized everything you taught me the other day. Could you check?"
"You've memorized the mnemonic verses already?"
"Yes."
Watching Jeong So-ryong answer with such confidence, Jin Cheong-un did not expect much.
No matter how bright the boy was, there was no way he could memorize over three hundred characters' worth of verses and the precise locations of every meridian point in just a few days.
"Alright, let me hear it."
A moment later, Jin Cheong-un could not believe his ears.
"It begins at the lower qi center. The lower center corresponds to essence among essence, qi, and spirit. The acupoint is the Sea of Qi......"
"......"
"......Exhale the stale breath and draw in the new to build inner power. With a mind of utmost sincerity, body and spirit......"
Not a single stumble.
Seated in the lotus position in the rear garden, Jeong So-ryong recited the verses without so much as a pause to search for words.
He was not merely parroting them, either—he was paraphrasing on the fly. That was impossible without complete comprehension.
"That's enough. Hold on a moment. Let me check your body."
Jin Cheong-un placed his hand on Jeong So-ryong's Mingmen acupoint and sent a thread of energy through.
His eyes went wide.
'There's improvement?'
A faint trickle of energy was flowing through meridian channels that had been completely blocked.
He had only just taught the boy breathing—the method of inhalation and exhalation—and already a trace amount of turbid qi had been expelled.
"Hmm."
"Master, is something wrong?"
"No, it's not that, but......"
He trailed off, then asked abruptly.
"Have you ever felt anything strange inside your body while memorizing the verses?"
Jeong So-ryong tilted his head.
"Hmm. I don't know about my own body, but I've felt things from other people a lot."
"......!"
"Everyone feels a little different. You feel solid, Master, and my sister...... She used to be faint, but lately I can sense her more and more clearly."
He had awakened his qi sense. A mere ten-year-old, before he had even formally begun cultivation!
'Martial talent!'
A prodigy?
My student is a prodigy!
"Well done! Magnificent! You've awakened that already?"
"What? Huh?"
Jin Cheong-un beamed and ruffled Jeong So-ryong's hair vigorously.
"Focus even harder on that feeling from now on. Understood?"
"Yes!"
"Then let's have a chat, shall we?"
Jin Cheong-un nodded with a satisfied air.
"Come to think of it, I've become a master and never once had a proper conversation with my student. Well, this chance won't come every day. If there's anything you want to know about this master, ask away."
"Something I want to know......"
After a brief deliberation, Jeong So-ryong cautiously spoke.
"How strong were you in the martial world, Master?"
Jin Cheong-un chuckled.
Finally the boy was acting his age.
"I don't know the exact ranking, but I'd say I was among the strong."
"Really?"
"I was even chosen as a secret guard—a position only the most select warriors in the Alliance could hold. A hidden master among the countless experts of the martial world, as plentiful as grains of sand. That was this master of yours."
"Wow."
Then Jeong So-ryong tilted his head.
"But is it okay to tell me? You were a secret guard, after all."
"No secret in this world is truly complete."
"I see."
Anyone else would have scoffed, but Jeong So-ryong simply murmured, 'That's so cool.'
"Well, I was fairly strong once."
"Once?"
"I got hurt and retired, didn't I?"
"Oh......"
Seeing the boy's face fall, Jin Cheong-un chuckled again.
"I'm all healed up now, so don't worry. You'll get better just as quickly, So-ryong."
He had meant it as encouragement, but the reaction was oddly muted. The boy smiled bashfully and spoke.
"This is just between us, Master, but...... the truth is, I would have been fine even if my illness never got cured."
"What?"
Jin Cheong-un's eyes went round.
"I already know, you see. That the family went poor because of me. That my sister works herself to the bone without a day off because of me."
An expression appeared on Jeong So-ryong's face that was nothing like his usual self.
"A physician once told me that treating me would cost a lot of money. If the treatment is going to make things harder for my sister, I'd rather just live like this."
"Even though you'd keep being sick?"
"Being sick just means you deal with it. I'm really good at that."
The child smiled. Jin Cheong-un could not smile back.
"I've been pretending not to notice all this time. That my sister says she's going to draw water from the well but comes back having cried. That she says she already ate at work and skips her meals."
In that instant, the siblings' past painted itself in Jin Cheong-un's mind.
A younger brother who pretended to be fine despite his pain, so his sister would not worry. A sister who swallowed her tears and went to work, even as her heart was breaking.
Those two children must have endured the hard days on lies told for each other's sake.
"Actually, my sister's real reason for not selling the estate is a lie too. You've already figured that out, haven't you, Master?"
"Yes."
"She talks about resenting Father, but deep down she believes he'll come back someday."
"......"
"I think she's keeping the estate so he'll have a place to return to. Even though it's obvious he's not coming back."
How is he supposed to react to this?
Jin Cheong-un wore an awkward expression and told a clumsy lie.
"......Your father just went far away for a while to find medicine for you. He'll come back someday."
To which Jeong So-ryong answered flatly.
"I may be young, but I know what I know. Father abandoned us and ran away. Thank you for trying to comfort me, though."
"R-right."
A brief silence fell.
Jin Cheong-un asked, on an impulse.
"Is that also why you want to learn martial arts?"
"Yes. Now I want to be the one protecting my sister. I want to rebuild our family and become strong."
Jeong So-ryong spoke with force behind each word.
His speech alone made him a full-fledged man already.
"I want to become like you, Master. Can I?"
Only then did Jin Cheong-un realize that this child's intelligence was not merely a symptom of severed meridian syndrome.
Jeong So-ryong had simply grown up too fast. Or rather, he was trying to.
It was always that way.
Adults are more childish than children imagine, and children are more grown-up than adults assume.
If there was a difference, perhaps it was this: when adults become children to comfort themselves, children become adults to soothe someone else's sorrow.
Jeong So-ryong had learned to endure before he learned to whine. He had learned to mask things with a smile before he learned to cry.
A boy of barely ten, trying to shoulder an adult's burden on those small shoulders.
"I hope you don't turn out like me."
"What?"
"You should become someone better than this master."
It was an odd feeling.
What was this emotion, exactly?
"I'm heading out, so get ready and come to the annex. This master has a full day ahead."
Jin Cheong-un scratched the back of his head roughly as he left the garden.
'Master.'
Then, on a whim, he looked up at the sky and murmured quietly to himself.
'Is this how you felt?'
What a strange feeling.
Something about it genuinely felt like being a master.
***
Jin Cheong-un gathered a pack from his room—contracts, receipts, and other documents.
'I'll finish up here and head straight for the Black Tiger Gang.'
He was reaching for the sword propped against the wall, about to slip it into his belt out of habit.
"They say martial artists treasure their weapons like their own bodies, and it's really true."
Jeong So-ryong said, eyes wide.
"Hm?"
"You never take that sword off, Master."
Did he?
Surely not. He had even considered throwing the thing away.
"Nonsense. I'm human too—when I go to the outhouse, or when I eat......"
"You had it on then, too. You were always touching the hilt as well."
"I was?"
He felt oddly unsettled.
If the boy remarked on it that specifically, he must truly have been gripping it without thinking.
CLINK!
Jin Cheong-un looked down at the scabbard—a murky blue.
The sword, so familiar in his hand, looked especially old today. In places it looked downright grimy with accumulated wear.
'It's not exactly clean, no.'
At first glance, a battered, cheap iron sword. But anyone with a keen eye would see from the hilt alone that this was no ordinary blade.
The day he had left the school.
While the others had each grabbed something different, Jin Cheong-un had taken this one thing and thrown himself into the Martial Arts Alliance.
The Blue Cloud Sword was a piece of himself—a companion through all those years.
'I told the Alliance Leader I'd set this aside the moment I retired.'
He had said as much while handing off every other signature weapon he owned.
And yet, had he been unconsciously putting it off?
"......"
After standing there blankly for a while, Jin Cheong-un let out a long, slow breath.
Then, very slowly—truly slowly—he placed the sword on the stand at the side of the room. It was nothing more than setting it down, yet the act took a remarkably long time.
"Let's go."
"Hm? What about the sword?"
"A master of my caliber is not bound to any single weapon."
"But didn't you say the other day that a martial artist must treat his weapon like his own body?"
"Did I?"
"Yes."
Jin Cheong-un replied without a hint of shame.
"That changes depending on the situation."
"Oh! It changes depending on the situation!"
"If you want to become a great martial artist, adaptability is key."
"Adaptability is key!"
"Exactly."
Jin Cheong-un set off for the White Cloud Inn with Jeong So-ryong in tow.
Whenever the boy struggled to breathe along the way, Jin Cheong-un offered to carry him on his back, but Jeong So-ryong insisted on walking by himself, stubbornly plodding forward.
'Good kid.'
When they arrived at the White Cloud Inn.
"Oh my! So-ryong! Come on in! How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
"I set up bedding on a spare room's cot. Go right on in and rest."
Seo Do-seok, the owner of the White Cloud Inn, doted on Jeong So-ryong as if he were a real nephew.
"So-so told me this morning. Seo Do-seok's the name."
Jin Cheong-un offered him a clasped hands greeting and a brief introduction.
"Jin Cheong-un. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
"Inconvenience? Those kids are like family to me."
"I hear you've been looking after the Jeong siblings and giving them work. That's very kind of you."
"Speaking of which, I heard you're fixing up that old school. You're going to be a school master?"
"That's right."
Seo Do-seok murmured with a peculiar expression.
"The Blue Cloud Martial Arts School. That place used to be crawling with little terrors. Ha ha."
Jin Cheong-un's eyes went round before he could stop himself.
"You know the Blue Cloud Martial Arts School?"
"Of course I do. Anyone who's spent their life in Yinghua Village remembers."
"Is that so?"
Jin Cheong-un felt a quiet surge of pride.
'Right, our school did have a lot of talented kids.'
But then, Seo Do-seok shuddered.
"How could I forget? Those little demons!"
Hm?
What did he say?
"You have no idea what those brats did before the school suddenly closed. Humans shouldn't be capable of such things! Humans!"
"......"
"One time they knocked a wall of our inn clean down. Then they started a wildfire on the mountain behind the school...... Don't get me started. I still have nightmares about it."
Jin Cheong-un quietly averted his eyes.
"Surely not. They were just children—they must have had their reasons."
"Reasons? Hardly! That—that what-do-you-call-it. The idea that human nature is inherently wicked, the......"
"The doctrine of innate evil?"
"That's it! The location must have been cursed. The master himself seemed like a fine person, but those kids were the living proof of it!"
"......It wasn't that bad."
"Hm? What was that?"
"Nothing at all."
Could the man have some memory issues? He was clearly remembering things wrong.
SWISH!
Just then, the sound of a curtain being drawn aside reached his ears.
His gaze naturally followed, and Jin Cheong-un locked eyes with a group of men who had just entered the inn. The men glanced at him, then quickly turned their attention to Seo Do-seok.
"Not serving dinner yet?"
"Of course we are! Come right in! Oh, customers!"
The men took their seats haphazardly.
It was a bit early for dinner, yet customers were already arriving—business must have been good.
"I've kept a busy man too long. You should get going as well."
"Mm, true, but......"
Jin Cheong-un scratched the back of his head.
"Since I'm here, I might as well eat before I go."
"Oh, would you? Sit wherever you'd like."
"Sure."
He walked over at a leisurely pace.
THUMP!
And sat down squarely across from the men who had just walked in.
"......"
The men regarded Jin Cheong-un with strange expressions.
Jin Cheong-un spoke flatly.
"Black Tiger Gang?"
Every face at the table went rigid.