A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 19

19. Mysterious Heavenly Great River Art

Cheep cheep.

Son Bin woke to the sound of birds chirping at dawn. As always, he quickly washed his face, straightened his clothes, and sat at his desk.

Usually, he would study a classic text, but today was different. Instead, Son Bin gathered the books and scrolls he had been writing in.

Rummage.

As he pulled them out, quite a few books piled up on his desk. Son Bin picked up the first book and opened it.

‘What terrible handwriting.’

Son Bin frowned.

‘It’s my writing, but it’s a mess.’

The handwriting was not to his liking. Since he was mainly jotting down notes on the fly, he hadn’t had time to pay attention to his penmanship. Moreover, he had even written some of it while walking, so it was bound to be like this.

Son Bin opened a clean book he had prepared. Then, he picked up a small, fine brush.

Swish, swish.

Rustle.

Turning the pages, he examined the contents and transcribed the important parts. To avoid getting lost in the data later, it was essential to sort and organize it in advance.

“Hmm.”

Son Bin, who was moving his brush, tilted his head.

‘Should I write this down?’

The passage that caught Son Bin’s attention was the part where Saja Hyuk talked about his martial arts, mainly the key points of the Mysterious Heaven.

‘Key points of the Mysterious Heaven… To be honest, it’s too vague, and I don’t think people would be very interested in it. Besides, considering the theme and content of the book, it doesn’t seem necessary.’

Of course, it made sense to skip it. But there was a reason why Son Bin hesitated.

‘Still, if I don’t know this….’

It wasn’t just about martial arts. These key points were essential to understanding Saja Hyuk’s inner self. Without understanding this, one could not truly know Saja Hyuk.

‘Hmm. Even if I don’t write it in the book, I should at least write it down separately.’

Pushing aside the book he was working in, Son Bin took out a new scroll.

Swish, swish.

Son Bin’s slender brush flowed across the scroll, leaving traces of ink.

‘It was here too.’

Flipping through the book, Son Bin found the part where Saja Hyuk spoke and wrote down that content as well.

‘It was here too.’

With a wry smile, Son Bin thought.

‘He was more talkative than I thought.’

Saja Hyuk always seemed so stoic. But as he collected these spoken parts, he realized that he was more talkative than he had imagined.

Clack.

Changing the book, he looked for parts where similar mentions appeared again. Even if the exact phrase “key points of the Mysterious Heaven” wasn’t there, he didn’t miss any part that seemed important.

‘He said this before, but he said it again.’

Swish, swish.

Turning the pages, Son Bin wrote down the content as it came. After finishing the accumulated books one by one and covering all the scrolls, the so-called key points of the Mysterious Heaven that Saja Hyuk had spoken of were complete.

“Hmm.”

Son Bin scanned the contents he had organized. It wasn’t as long as he had thought, but the contents weren’t connected at all. It was only natural since he had simply collected words spoken here and there.

‘Huh?’

Son Bin, who was looking over the organized contents, tilted his head.

‘If I connect this part to this later….’

Among the disconnected contents, there were parts that seemed to connect somewhere. Son Bin read the different parts connected together.

‘It sounds like it makes sense?’

Son Bin picked up his brush and began to mark various places.

‘This is like this… This doesn’t seem to connect to anything else. And this is….’

Swish, swish.

Muttering, Son Bin moved his brush back and forth. How long had it been?

“Is this about it…?”

Rustle.

Son Bin held up the scroll, which was a mess of various markings from being connected here and there. It was supposed to be a way to organize the contents that were connected, but it looked even more complicated.

“This doesn’t look good at all. Would it be better if I rewrote it neatly….”

Son Bin, who was dipping his brush into the small ink bottle, suddenly realized that there was no ink left.

‘I’ve used up all the ink too.’

Letting out a small sigh, Son Bin took out the ink stick and inkstone. Then, he straightened his posture, took a deep breath, and slowly began to grind the ink.

Deeply, slowly, but constantly, he moved his entire arm as if riding a current. It was a method that had become a habit.

Scratch, scratch.

With the scratching sensation transmitted to his fingertips, he felt his mind calming down.

As he slowly ground the ink, thoughts suddenly came to Son Bin’s mind. Those were the key points of the Mysterious Heaven that he had connected earlier.

‘Hmm, now that I think about it, it should be connected like this?’

Son Bin raised his head and looked at the scroll. As expected, the sentences shouldn’t be connected like that.

Swish, swish.

Moving his brush, Son Bin made simple marks. And then he started grinding the ink again.

Scratch, scratch.

‘No. Then that part is strange, right?’

It could be strange. After all, this was just Saja Hyuk’s fragmentary remarks about the key points of the Mysterious Heaven.

But somehow, those fragments felt like they would fit together.

‘Hmm.’

Son Bin frowned. It felt like something was about to be revealed—something that definitely existed but hadn’t yet been revealed.

‘First, should I reduce the unnecessary parts?’

Maybe it was because it was written too cluttered. Son Bin picked up his brush, dipped it in the freshly ground ink, and began to erase the written words.

‘This is just an explanation, so I’ll leave it out.’

He had already heard it, so there was no need for an explanation. He wasn’t writing to teach anyone, so there was no need to be detailed. He extracted the important and core themes and summarized them simply.

Rustle.

‘If I extract only the core content, is this about it….’

The greatly reduced sentences were placed in front of Son Bin. But the connection was still awkward, and the sentences were unsatisfactory.

‘How do I… Ah!’

At that moment, a truly convincing idea came to Son Bin.

‘Yes, let’s organize it according to the flow of the Mysterious Heaven Swordplay.’

The key points of the Mysterious Heaven were the core of the Mysterious Heaven Swordplay, so it was natural and right to follow that flow.

‘So, the Mysterious Heaven Swordplay is….’

Son Bin recalled Saja Hyuk’s swordplay. The image of the Great Sword Dividing the Moon, drawing a trajectory like a meteor in the still moonlit night sky, naturally appeared before his eyes.

The amazing scenes he had seen every day without fail, and through the last sparring match, flashed before Son Bin’s eyes like flowing water.

And at that moment, Son Bin experienced a strange sensation he had never experienced before.

‘Ah.’

It was a truly mysterious experience. The ordinary written words began to show their presence clearly, as if they were written by a master calligrapher, as if they were about to jump out of the book right now.

And at the same time, Son Bin could clearly see how each word should originally be connected.

‘This is here.’

Swish, swish.

Son Bin moved his brush. It was like the scattered fragments were taking on a life of their own and finding their place.

A sensation as if something other than himself was guiding Son Bin’s brush.

‘And this is, here.’

There was no room for doubt, and there was no need to think again. It was such a natural and obvious fact as it had been from the beginning that it was strange that he hadn’t seen it until now.

So it was an experience that could be called an awakening.

Swish, swish.

Son Bin’s brush raced across the paper in a single stroke. Before he knew it, his brush stopped, the connection of the sentences complete.

Thud.

Setting down the brush, Son Bin picked up the paper, not caring about the still-wet ink.

‘Done.’

Reading it over slowly, a satisfied smile spread across Son Bin’s face. The content flowed naturally, and the sentences were pleasing to him. There was nothing more to fix.

‘Good.’

With a satisfied smile, Son Bin opened the last page of a newly prepared, clean booklet and transcribed the organized sentences he had completed.

Pausing, brush in hand, at the end of the sentence, about to write something, Son Bin hesitated.

‘Wait a minute. Should I call it a summary of the Hyeoncheon [Mysterious Heaven] Essentials, or a summary of the Hyeoncheon Essentials…’

The word ‘essentials’ itself means the core, so it overlaps in meaning with the word ‘summary’.

‘Hmm… Ah! Yes, it would be better to write Hyeoncheon Grand Summary.’

Hyeoncheon Grand Summary. It captured the content of the summary well, and the nuance was pleasing. Son Bin wrote at the end of the sentence, ‘Hyeoncheon Grand Summary, compiled by Son Bin.’

He felt strangely gratified, as if he had accomplished something he was destined to do.

***

Saja Hyuk, holding the booklet, frowned slightly.

“Was I this verbose?”

“That’s after reducing it as much as possible.”

At Son Bin’s reply, Saja Hyuk let out a soft groan.

“So, what do you think?”

A review from the original author was essential for a summary. Moreover, Son Bin was curious to see how Saja Hyuk would view the Hyeoncheon Grand Summary he had organized in his own way.

“Did you come up with the term Hyeoncheon Grand Summary?”

Son Bin nodded. Saja Hyuk put down the booklet with a displeased look.

“It’s not far off,” Saja Hyuk said.

“It is good that you have grasped the main points of the Hyeoncheon Arts. However, it is too brief. There are no details or specifics, so it is like saying you know all the mountains after climbing Mount Tai [a famous mountain in China, symbolizing a limited perspective].”

Son Bin shrugged.

“We’re not going to use this to train anyway, are we?”

“Of course not.”

“Then this is enough,” Son Bin said.

“This level of detail is necessary for the readers to find it convincing. Those who aren’t interested will skip over it, so it doesn’t matter, does it?”

“Hmm.”

Saja Hyuk crossed his arms and frowned.

“I have delegated everything about the book to you, but…”

The look in Saja Hyuk’s eyes as he looked at Son Bin shone intensely.

“Never treat the Hyeoncheon Arts lightly. Even if you can write with a light stroke of the brush, the meaning and weight contained within are never light.”

“I understand.”

Son Bin nodded seriously. Saja Hyuk sighed softly and returned the booklet to Son Bin.

“Well done.”

It was a very brief, perhaps perfunctory, greeting, but it made Son Bin smile involuntarily.

“Let’s go.”

Saja Hyuk turned and went outside. Son Bin also took the booklet and followed him out of the inn. It was a new moon, the sky dark, but his training continued as usual.

∴

Whoosh.

Saja Hyuk’s blue-glowing sword cut through the air. Son Bin watched the training with a neat posture.

Whoo-oong.

Saja Hyuk’s sword, Pa Yue [Eight Peaks], drew a blue trail in the dark night sky. He had lost count of how many times he had watched this training, but it was a sight that always made Son Bin’s heart race.

Whir.

Before he knew it, Saja Hyuk’s sword, which had soared high into the sky, fell as if to divide the heavens and the earth.

Thud.

Feeling a subtle tremor in the ground, Son Bin felt chills all over his body.

‘Amazing.’

At first, he was just amazed, but now, he was able to feel his greatness little by little.

Whir.

Before he knew it, the Hyeoncheon Sword Technique was over, and Saja Hyuk lightly turned his sword and put it back into its sheath. The huge black greatsword, Pa Yue, which had been emitting a blue aura, obediently concealed itself at Saja Hyuk’s gesture.

Click.

Saja Hyuk, who had been standing for a moment as if savoring the afterglow of his training, slowly walked towards Son Bin. But Son Bin’s work was just beginning, and his brush was diligently racing across the booklet.

Swish, swish.

Saja Hyuk stood silently, waiting for Son Bin to finish. After a while, Son Bin’s brush stopped. Saja Hyuk said, “Let’s go.”

Nodding, Son Bin was organizing his brush when he suddenly had a strange thought.

“Aren’t you going to ask?”

Saja Hyuk frowned slightly.

“Ask what?”

“Well, you know? What did you see, or something like that…”

“There’s no need,” Saja Hyuk said.

“You knew for yourself what you had to see, so how far you can see is now up to you.”

‘Me? When?’

Perhaps Son Bin’s bewildered thoughts were written all over his face; Saja Hyuk chuckled.

“Let’s go.”

Leaving the bewildered Son Bin behind, Saja Hyuk moved on.

“Wait, just let me write this down…”

Son Bin, who was writing down Saja Hyuk’s words, said in a fluster. But Saja Hyuk did not stop.

‘Damn it.’

Son Bin hurriedly wrapped the brush in a cotton cloth. After sealing the mouth of the ink bottle with oiled paper, he blew on the booklet once and hurriedly got up and followed Saja Hyuk.

A crescent moon quietly illuminated Son Bin.

***

Chirp, chirp.

It was dawn, and the surroundings were still dim. Son Bin was sitting at his desk, listening to the sound of birds chirping outside the window. Spread out on the desk was the Hyeoncheon Grand Summary he had written yesterday.

‘This turned out pretty good.’

Saja Hyuk’s reaction was also good. His impression was just a short ‘Well done,’ but it was clear that he liked it.

‘Hmm.’

Son Bin slowly and carefully read the Hyeoncheon Grand Summary. It was not a long passage, so he finished quickly.

‘Good.’

The sentences were concise, and the rhythm wasn’t too strange, so it was quite enjoyable to read. Son Bin nodded.

‘Good.’

A smile unknowingly appeared on Son Bin’s face. It was a sentence that he liked, and Saja Hyuk had praised it, so it was inevitable.

‘Where.’

Again, from the beginning, Son Bin read it slowly and carefully. He did not make a sound, but he moved his lips as if he were reciting the sentences. It ended quickly as expected, but he never got tired of it, no matter how many times he did it.

‘So this is why writers try so hard to publish their writings.’

He felt like he knew why writers published their sentences, even at the risk of losing their lives because of their writings.

With a satisfied expression, Son Bin closed the booklet. But the Hyeoncheon Grand Summary was still constantly circling in Son Bin’s head.