By Zephyria A Teasing Taste (5)
Those words touched Gang Woong’s untouchable spot.
In Mount Hua, when new disciples arrived, they would receive basic training together for a few months. As time passed, they would catch the eye of a Master and be taken one by one.
However, while other boys were training with a Master, Gang Woong had nothing to do and hung around with Seong Mu-yeon. It meant he had not yet formed a Junior Brother relationship.
‘Oh dear.’
Seong Mu-yeon sighed.
Perhaps Gang Woong would not be a significant figure. He was an unfamiliar name to Seong Mu-yeon. He must have been one of the extras often referred to as ‘disciples’. His situation was unfortunate, but Seong Mu-yeon couldn’t rashly step in.
Eventually, a scuffle broke out. Since they were young disciples who had not been initiated long, it wasn’t a big fight. However, Gang Woong was helpless against the majority. The others surrounded him and pushed him around.
Thanks to this, Seong Mu-yeon’s presence was completely forgotten.
‘The kids are fighting…’
Fights other than formal sparring were forbidden, but no one paid attention to him, who wasn’t even a Sect elder. Not even Gang Woong.
How fortunate!
Seong Mu-yeon was in a situation where he shouldn’t get involved in even minor disputes. The fact that the Mount Hua people treated him like an unwanted guest could be helpful in this way.
“Eek! I won’t let you get away with this!”
The fight between the teenagers, who barely reached each other’s chests, was insignificant. They would grab each other’s hair or throw punches, often tripping over their own feet. To Seong Mu-yeon, who had received Jang Han-soo’s killing sword the day before, it was nothing more than a laughable squabble.
While he was thinking that, Gang Woong roughly tumbled to the ground.
‘Ouch.’
He tried hard, but the result wasn’t very good. Gang Woong was alone, and there were many opponents. Without any outstanding skills, numbers were indeed power.
“Senior Brother is nothing special either!”
The boys burst into laughter.
Gang Woong was a mess. His hair was sticking out, and his clothes were disheveled. Unable to contain his anger, he breathed heavily, sweat dripping down his cheeks.
“Hey, Gang Dojo.”
When Seong Mu-yeon approached, thinking he was going to stop him, he stood up on his own.
“Don’t worry and step back! I’ll take care of these guys!”
His eyes seemed to be burning with competitive spirit.
“No, that’s not it. Come here for a moment.”
“Yes?”
Seong Mu-yeon slightly grabbed his clothes and whispered a few steps back, so the other children couldn’t hear.
The boys were intoxicated with a sense of victory, busy praising each other.
“You’re amazing, Senior Brother!”
“The order of initiation isn’t everything!”
Meanwhile, Seong Mu-yeon finished speaking and brushed the dirt off Gang Woong’s shoulder.
“Do you understand what I mean?”
“…I understand, but what exactly.”
“Go on. Then.”
Seong Mu-yeon pushed Gang Woong towards the boys. Then, with his hands behind his back, he leisurely watched them.
Gang Woong tilted his head and stood in front of the boys again. The boys sneered at him.
“What? Are you trying to fight again?”
The boy mocked, but Gang Woong didn’t hear him. He lowered his gaze and clenched and unclenched his fists.
“No? It looks like Senior Brother is scared?”
The boy approached menacingly. Gang Woong, who had been standing still until then, punched the opponent the moment he pushed his shoulder.
“Ugh!”
Then, an amazing thing happened.
His fist, which had been weaker than a cotton swab and less accurate than a slingshot, accurately struck the boy’s cheek. With a dull thud, the boy fell backward. He slid across the ground for several feet.
Gang Woong, surprised himself, looked back and forth between his fist and the fallen boys, then turned to Seong Mu-yeon with a brightened face.
Gang Woong had only followed his words, but how could this have happened?
Seong Mu-yeon nodded slightly.
In Seong Mu-yeon’s view, Gang Woong had a sturdy build but didn’t know how to use inner force. He hadn’t been taught by Master yet, so it was inevitable…
However, when he watched him fight randomly, he noticed that he punched quite accurately. But because he lacked speed and power, the opponent was already out of range when he threw his fist.
So, a little while ago, Seong Mu-yeon taught him how to use inner force.
〈You’re right-handed, right? Use your inner force from the Kyungmoon blood point to the Geogeol blood point, and from there to the OeGwan blood point, and then throw your fist.〉
Inner force helps to overcome the limitations of the body and unleash explosive power. It compensates for weaknesses and strengthens strengths.
Since he didn’t directly participate in the fight, he didn’t break Ma Jin-cheon’s request.
The boy who was directly hit by Gang Woong’s fist screamed, clutching his jaw.
“Ugh! My jaw! My jaw!”
“Senior Brother! Are you okay!”
“Does it look like I’m okay?! I think my jawbone is broken!”
Hearing that, Seong Mu-yeon snorted.
‘Broken? He’ll just get a bruise. What an exaggeration.’
Unlike his bad attitude, his durability wasn’t very good. How strong could the attack of a child who had just entered the Sect and started building inner force be?
“Let’s go! We’ll take you to the Hall of Medicine!”
“I-I’ll get you back!”
The children supported the fallen boy and ran away in a hurry.
Seong Mu-yeon slowly approached and patted Gang Woong’s shoulder.
“Well done. Those kinds of kids need to be taught a lesson to come to their senses.”
“……”
Gang Woong was still dazed.
He couldn’t believe that the blow just now was really his doing.
Although he was lucky enough to be selected as the first disciple, he had never really felt a sense of efficacy about himself until now.
The Junior Brothers who came in one after another had received early education somewhere and wielded real swords they had brought from outside, ignoring him. In addition to the inferiority complex that he seemed to be far behind his peers, his Junior Brother relationship was delayed, so he had been worried a lot lately.
But…
Gang Woong tightly clenched his rough fist, which was full of small wounds.
“Thank you. Thanks to you…”
“What did I do? Dojo did it.”
Gang Woong looked at Seong Mu-yeon, who was wearing a relaxed smile, with new eyes. He hadn’t been able to learn proper moves because he hadn’t served a Master yet, but he was the first person to teach him how to fight.
‘Young master Seong is indeed an amazing person…’
To give teachings so simply.
“Oh, I’ll have to drink tea next time. You have some wounds.”
“I-It’s okay. It’s nothing.”
“What are you talking about! Even small wounds should be treated quickly to heal quickly. You’ll get hurt a lot more in the future, so how can you be negligent in taking care of your body from the start? Go to the Hall of Medicine quickly.”
“I understand…”
Unable to resist Seong Mu-yeon’s urging, Gang Woong reluctantly turned his feet. Even as he left, he kept looking back and dragging his feet.
‘…He seems like a good person.’
Although they had met by chance, Gang Woong felt a deep sense of familiarity with the Demonic Cult’s Seventh Young master for some reason.
Seeing him reminded him of when he first entered Mount Hua.
An unfamiliar place, an unfamiliar atmosphere.
Unable to adapt to the unfamiliar daily life, he was tormented by the sudden thought that he was not a person who belonged in Mount Hua.
It was as if everyone except him was a person prepared to become a swordsman of Mount Hua.
He felt like he was the only crow trying to pretend to be a stork in a place that wasn’t his destiny.
He was better now that he had some close peers, but inferiority and alienation still remained in his heart. Until he met Seong Mu-yeon.
Seong Mu-yeon was even more so than him. He was like a drop of oil floating on water, a person who couldn’t fit in at all. From his clothes to his speech, expression, and background, everything was too different from the average here.
But Seong Mu-yeon was not intimidated at all, and Gang Woong received a lot of comfort every time he saw him.
He had not yet served a Master. He had not yet fully taken root in Mount Hua. He had not found a fence to protect him.
It would be fortunate if some pitiful martial uncle reluctantly took him in.
But what if he couldn’t serve a Master until the end?
‘…It’ll be okay.’
As he comforted himself and walked heavily, Gang Woong suddenly felt a presence and raised his head. An unexpected person was sitting on the roof of the building, looking down at him. The two made eye contact.
“Baek, Baek Ryeo-il…”
Baek Ryeo-il lightly jumped off the roof. Despite falling from a high place, there was no sound when he landed.
Gang Woong’s face turned pale.
It was a disaster.
According to Mount Hua’s rules, fighting between disciples, except for formal sparring, was strictly prohibited. Judging from his position, there was no doubt that the scary Senior Uncle had witnessed the messy fight from beginning to end.
Gang Woong lowered his head, thinking that a stern order would be issued as Baek Ryeo-il strode closer.
“I-I’m sorry, Senior Uncle… I’ll accept any punishment…”
“Good job.”
“Yes, I did a good… Yes?”
However, contrary to what he had expected, Baek Ryeo-il heavily patted his shoulder.
“But it seems like your lower body is a bit weak. From now on, focus on training your lower body to balance it out.”
He messed up Gang Woong’s hair and strode away towards the Emerald Pavilion.
“……”
Gang Woong stared blankly at his receding figure for a while.