Chapter 43: Heartless (2)
Translator: Hwarang
Editor: coyo
Song Hwa Rin was sitting next to a mirror. Compared to the first day her swelling reduced a lot but her face was still swollen. This was a new experience for her. How can someone look so different when they are swollen?
From behind her Soo Ran said, “How can you smile right now?”
“Huh?”
It seemed like she was smiling without noticing.
“We are not kids anymore, I can’t cry just because I was beaten up.”
“I can’t forgive young master Byuk.”
“Really now?”
“Milady! Don’t say it as if it doesn’t concern you. This was a major event.”
“I don’t plan to bear a grudge against him because of this.”
Ever since that day Song Hwa Rin replayed that fight multiple times every day.
“Ever since I was little I learned martial arts and there were many times when I had an exchange of pointers. But this exchange of pointers was something else. This was, how should I say…”
Felt real. This felt like real fighting, no, it felt more real than actual fights.
“He is stronger than me. And by a lot.”
“He was just lucky.”
She just said that because she was sad, but she knew as well since she saw the fight that Byuk Lee Dan’s martial art was much stronger. He was stronger than her, and he was stronger than Song Hwa Rin.
“Do you know what I was thinking when I was lying on the floor?”
“What thoughts did you have?”
“Relief.”
Soo Ran said in a surprised tone, “What? You felt relieved? But why?”
“It felt as if the congestion in my chest was released. Do you understand how that feels? Imagine you have to do something but it doesn’t go so well. So you don’t want to do it anymore since it is a bother. But time keeps on ticking while you procrastinate. Then that day it felt like all those feelings were released and I felt refreshed. Like the feeling when you come out of a bath after you haven’t taken a bath in a month.”
“Oh my G.o.d! After being beaten up like that… I really don’t understand you.”
Then Song Hwa Rin made a smile. ‘Yes, I didn’t understand either…’
First she thought that the refreshing feeling was due to figuring out the flaw in her sword art. But then as the time went on she could tell that wasn’t the reason.
She remembered the words Byuk Lee Dan said before.
“There are times when you just have to accept it so that you can move on.”
That day she replied she couldn’t do it. She believed she could never change.
She looked at the mirror.
Her face was all swollen.
Maybe she was seeing a change through the mirror. If it was just like any other day she would have gotten mad like Soo Ran, but today she might be happy due to the change in her heart. The ‘change’ that she had been hoping for a long time.
Song Hwa Rin slowly walked to the window and almost stumbled. Soo Ran rushed to support her but Song Hwa Rin waved her off. With her own strength, she got to the window and opened it wide.
The hot summer weather was now gone and autumn winds were slowly blowing.
“The wind feels really nice.”
Kw.a.n.g Du finally returned.
Rather than his normal expression he had a heavy and serious expression. I could tell that the reason for this was because of his rage.
“Just as you told me Ma Jung s...o...b..ught a plot of land in Jae Nam for his Martial Arts School.
Since the contracts are already signed they will start construction soon.”
Kw.a.n.g Du was able to find out everything starting from the exact location, size, number of equipment needed for the construction, all the way to the number of workers that will be working on this.
But the reason why Kw.a.n.g Du was angry was because of this.
“But Ma Jung s...o...b..ught that land dirt cheap.”
“For how much?”
“He bought it for almost nothing.”
“The owner would have resisted in selling it.”
“Yes. Originally the owner didn’t want to sell it. But…”
Kw.a.n.g Du made an angry face and said, “A couple of days after the contract there was an accident and the owner’s youngest daughter died.”
“An accident?”
“The house caught on fire…”
Just thinking about it made Kw.a.n.g Du pause for a moment. With a stern face I waited for Kw.a.n.g Du’s next words.
“Not only that. The next day the eldest son was heavily injured due to a horse riding incident. And the owner’s old mother dropped dead because she ate something. It seemed the financial manager who declined the deal was stabbed to death. The Murim Alliance was contacted but it seemed as though they couldn’t find any evidence of a conspiracy. So in the end the owner sold the land, and left Jae Nam with his family.”
Kw.a.n.g Du had had tightened his fist and his hand was shaking, “How could they do this?”
All the accidents that Kw.a.n.g Du told me must have been intended. He was right. How can this have happened by fate?
Although my heart was already cold, but I didn’t show that anger.
“Did Ma Jung Soo sign the contract himself?”
“No. The person who signed the contract was someone called Old Man Flower Fan.
You heartless old man! I had a feeling about what took place here. He was an outsider. To receive the trust of Ma Jung Soo he must render some merit. To retain his trust and power, Old Man Flower Fan did something this inhumane.
“I was boiling all the way to my head but on the other hand I am really afraid. How can someone do something like this?”
“Because he is not a human being. How can someone like him be considered a human being.”
“Young master! Please punish him. Punish him. Since I am too weak I am asking you.”
There was truth in his eyes. After meeting Kw.a.n.g Du there were many instances like this but this time he was really angry. He was more angry than when he was humiliated.
“I will.”
These short words. They were more effective than a hundred words.
And he understood the meaning behind my sentence and said, “Thank you, young master.”
He was growing, he was becoming more and more like a real Kang Ho-In.
Yes, rage at them. You must realize why we strengthen ourselves. So that we can bring justice upon these evil people.
“I realized it this time. If you are weak you can’t do anything. I hate the fact that I can’t do anything.”
“Then I will help you ease some of that helplessness away.”
“What?”
I took out a wooden box.
“Open it”
“What is it?”
Kw.a.n.g Du opened the box. The content inside the box were three roots of thorowax.
“What are these roots?”
“In Kang Ho it is called cultivating medicine?”
“Eh?! This is cultivating medicine? Kw.a.n.g Du was surprised and his hands were trembling.
“Their quality isn’t the best. It a lower tier profound medicine.”
“But it still expensive, right?”
“Of course they are expensive.”
“How much?”
I truthfully reported their price to Kw.a.n.g Du. After hearing that each root costed nine thousand nyang...
“Oh my! They are very expensive! Where did you find these? I will enter a mountain and look for more. It guess it’s now time to show off my horse-riding skills”
I laughed. I remembered him coming back home riding a horse casually.
“It is not something that anyone can find just because they enter a mountain. If not then the price wouldn’t be as expensive.”
“I guess. But then these?”
“Yes, I bought them for you. Eat them.”
“Really?”
“Then do you think I showed them to you to show off or something?”
Kw.a.n.g Du flinched.
“No you can’t! You can’t do that! You must eat them young master. You can’t give them to me”
Kw.a.n.g Du became stiff again. This was just like the time when I said we were going to share a room.
He is probably like this since eating and sleeping is a basic human necessity.
“I am alright. If I eat this twenty seven thousand worth of nyang then my tongue will melt away.”
“I already ate. I bought them for you.”
“Then eat some more.”
“I cant eat anymore.”
“What?”
“They are just like food. Even if it is good food if you eat too much of it you will get sick. That is how it is for cultivating medicine.”
Even though it wasn’t literal, it had a similar meaning.
“Then give it to Gaju-nim and Madam.”
“I have something for them already so don’t worry about them.”
“But this expensive thing... I don’t know where you got it from but sell it”
“I can’t sell it. So hurry up and eat it”
“Young master”
Kw.a.n.g Du took breathed in and kept hesitating. He questioned me multiple times.
Since the time he started cultivating he would already know. How precious these profound medicine are and how much they can help you. Even though he knows about it he is still resisting. Even though he really wants to eat it. And because he is like this it is never a waste.
Kw.a.n.g Du looked at me dead in the eyes. He asked me if he could eat this with his eyes and I nodded.
“Fine, I will eat it. I will eat it and become more loyal to you.”
“Alright. Then become loyal until you die.”
Kw.a.n.g Du sat down after grabbing the contents of the box.
“How should I eat these?”
“You can just chew them and swallow them. After eating them you will feel hot energy inside your body. Use the cultivating technique that I taught you to absorb that energy.”
“Can I do it?”
“I will help you so don’t worry.”
“Then… alright. Do I eat all of them at the same time? Or do I eat them one at a time while using the technique.”
“Just eat them all.”
“Yes.”
If I wasn’t here eating one at a time would be safer since there was a possibility that he could fail.
But since I was beside him helping him absorb them, it was going to fine if he ate all three of them.
He ate all three roots.
Once those three roots entered his stomach I told him, “Now activate your cultivating technique.”
He activated his cultivating technique.
I sent my energy inside him and searched his body.
“Slowly, calmly.”
After activating his cultivating technique he started absorbing the energy of the roots. And the energy that I sent inside him helped him absorb it much easier.
Since Kw.a.n.g Du trained diligently, and was more intelligent than others he was able follow my guide.
WOooooohhh!!!
He was able to absorb most of the energy.
“Now, slowly circulate it throughout your body.”
He followed my instructions carefully and circulated the energy throughout his body.
After around four cycles he opened his eyes, “Is it over?”
I nodded my head. He made an expression as if he couldn’t believe it, ‘how could it be this simple’. Then his expression changed to that of worry.
“Did it go well?”
I gave a sigh and made a regretful expression.
Then he said in a sign of relief, “So it went well.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because if it didn’t go well then you wouldn’t make a serious expression. You would smile to comfort me.”
This punk, he knows me too well.
I said with a smile, “Yes you are right. It went well. Go and check you dantian.”
Kw.a.n.g Du closed his eyes and felt his dantian.
After some time Kw.a.n.g Du opened his eyes and exclaimed, “There is so much energy in it.”
“Haha, It’s not that much. How much do you have?”
“I don’t really know how much.”
“Yeah you wouldn’t know.”
I placed my hand over his dantian.
There were eight years of energy in his dantian. The total energy given off from the roots were three years, three years, and two years. If he did this by himself he would at most get five years of energy. Since I helped him he was able to get three more years.
“You gained eight years worth of energy from it.”
“Oh my! Eight years? Really? Are you for real? You are not going to say ‘oh I was wrong it was only eight days’ right? Hahahaha.”
Kw.a.n.g Du was truly happy.
I knew how he felt When I first learned martial arts, it was the feeling that you get after making a major breakthrough one step at a time.
“Thank you young master. Thank you very much!”
“You must be more careful now. Even though it’s only eight years if you use your techniques it will be incomparable to before. The people who would get hurt are now going to get killed.”
“I will be careful, especially careful.”
I told him if anyone asks to tell them that he met an expert on a mountain and that old expert gave him this.
Even without any energy, with the Seven Stance of the Northern Sea Kw.a.n.g Du was able to kill four bandits, but now with eight years of energy backing him up, in the Small Sword Sect even the Main Sect’s Seo Jung wouldn’t be able to deal with Kw.a.n.g Du.
With trembling voice Kw.a.n.g Du asked, “I know it seems obvious but, does having more energy make you stronger?”
“You could say that in a way it does. But just because you have twice the energy doesn’t mean you will get twice as strong.”
“Then?”
“The internal energy is a major factor influencing your techniques. But just because of that it doesn’t mean everything is dependent on this. You will be able to use more techniques if you have more energy. And you will even be able to use more advanced techniques. But there is also other factors like stamina, concentration, and experience.”
“Then we can say it allows you to fight longer.”
“Yeah. The more energy that you have the more techniques you can use.”
“Ah, I understand. But young master, why did you make me eat this?”
“That is…”
“Because you favor me?”
I jokingly said “No. because I was full.”
He said jokingly, “Not because you want to throw me in front of you when you are in danger?”
“There could be times when that happens.”
“So in other words I am a meat shield.”
“In Kang Ho terms it is sword fodder. Haha.”
As he was pouting, I told him, “Don’t worry I will make you into the invincible sword fodder. A sword fodder who will bring down even experts. For me, and for you.”
With that Kw.a.n.g Du smiled and said, “I will try my hardest.”
It was worth it to raise and nurture Kw.a.n.g Du.
I remember the time when the instructor at the Murim Alliance said something like this. The more it is worth nurturing that person the more they will grow. I think he was talking about someone like Kw.a.n.g Du.
And Kw.a.n.g Du, I will keep my promise.
Now which one of Ma Jung Soo’s wing should I break first?
Old Man Flower Fan.
This greedy old fart. He does something inhumane just to feed his greed.
Kw.a.n.g Du-Ya, just you watch. How I take care of this.