Bachelor Swordsmanship Remastered [EN]: Chapter 5

005. Gold Military Head Instructor, Il Chung-hyun

Un-hyun’s serious wrestling match with the books began the next day.

The scholar Un-hyun of Changryong Hall went to Munyeon Hall from the crack of dawn and spent the whole day there.

In the morning, he rummaged through the books, picking out anything even remotely related to the Murim [martial arts world].

Sorting through the books was a big task. He had to check the titles of dozens of books a day.

However, books about the Murim were not easy to find. Most were reports of unknown use, and many books didn’t even have clear authors.

Some even had titles so faint that he had to read the contents to understand them.

After spending the morning sorting, he spent the afternoon reading the books about the Murim that he had found earlier.

For Un-hyun, the subject of Murim was a field he had never dealt with before.

Naturally, he didn’t know where to start.

So, he had no choice but to read everything he could get his hands on.

He would understand a part that was incomprehensible in one book from another, and find what was not explained in one book in yet another.

After a month, all he had gained were a bunch of miscellaneous words that he didn’t even understand properly.

Un-hyun was getting tired.

“Hoo.”

Un-hyun sighed as he looked at the pile of books in front of him.

“What am I supposed to do…….”

The future is bleak.

He had tried hard for the past month, but his progress was less than a handful of sand. At this rate, pleasing His Highness the Crown Prince would become an impossible dream.

“Thirty-seven thousand volumes…….”

The problem was this enormous number of miscellaneous books.

The stories about the Murim that His Highness the Crown Prince wanted must be buried among them, but he didn’t have the talent to find them.

“Still, it must have decreased to about thirty-six thousand volumes.”

Un-hyun muttered. He thought that he had checked the titles and passed over at least a thousand books in the past month.

But saying that made him feel even more hopeless.

When he thought about it again, even if one percent of these were books about the Murim, that would be three hundred and sixty books, an amount that would take a full year to read if he read one book a day.

Un-hyun, who was counting on his fingers, suddenly stopped.

“If only I could read one book a day…….”

Un-hyun looked at the books he had set aside.

Seventeen books.

He had found seventeen books in the past month, and had only read nine of them.

And most of them were books that he had skipped over without understanding what they meant.

“At this rate, it will take more than three years just to read them.”

The problem isn’t reading them.

The problem is that he can’t understand them even if he reads them.

Moreover, understanding isn’t everything.

He has to turn this into a story that His Highness the Crown Prince would like, one that he would be quite pleased with.

He could write poetry with flair, but he had never touched such a story before.

“Hoo.”

Un-hyun sighed once more.

The more he thought about it, the more he lacked confidence.

“But what else can I do? I have nowhere else to turn in this world, so I have no choice but to settle down here somehow…….”

Thinking about his situation, Un-hyun suddenly felt sad.

He had managed to complete his studies thanks to the help of his economically stable uncle.

However, he couldn’t forget the face of his aunt, who looked at him with contempt.

To his aunt, he was nothing more than a good-for-nothing who wasted money.

One of the things he was most happy about after passing the state examination [a civil service exam in dynastic Korea] with honors was the expectation that his aunt’s view of him would change.

‘But that…….’

Un-hyun sighed again.

He thought it was a great stroke of luck, but suddenly everything went wrong.

He realized firsthand that things in the world don’t always go as planned.

“But I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

If he sat still, he would eventually rot away. Sighing won’t solve anything.

Thump.

Un-hyun got up from his seat.

The antique chair in Munyeon Hall made a sound as it slid back.

There was still one more thing he could do.

***

“Haaa! Haaap!”

Muscular young men shouted in unison.

In the plaza located in one corner of the Forbidden City, young men with their shirts off were sweating and focusing on their training.

“Fifth Form!”

At the shout from the man at the front, the young men moved in unison.

Thud.

“Haaaap!”

The sound of the young men stepping forward at once echoed on the stone floor, and the resounding shouts echoed everywhere.

The force was so grim that Un-hyun, who was watching from afar, flinched without realizing it.

‘T, this is more than I thought…….’

These men, stripped to the waist and sweating, were rookies who had just entered the Gold Military [elite imperial guard].

Just as Un-hyun had taken and passed the civil service examination, they were martial artists who had taken and passed the military examination this time.

In a way, it could be said that Un-hyun and they were classmates, but no one thought so.

The discrimination between military and civil officials is surprisingly deep-rooted.

‘Is that person the training instructor?’

The person commanding the young military officers was a large man with a full beard.

Even from a distance, he looked quite fierce.

‘……I can’t even talk to him.’

The reason Un-hyun came to this Gold Military training ground was simple.

He needed someone to teach him the basics of martial arts, at least the general outline.

If you were to think of someone in the Forbidden City who knew martial arts, it was natural to think of the Gold Military.

The problem was whether they would help Un-hyun.

‘My situation is truly miserable.’

When he thought about it, it was truly a sight to behold.

What was lacking in a scholar like himself that he had to be eavesdropping on the training of military officers, even novice ones?

“Hoo, damn it.”

Un-hyun was startled and covered his mouth at the words he had inadvertently uttered.

‘Damn it,’ was a word that a scholar should not dare to utter.

It was then.

“What’s going on?”

“Eek!”

Un-hyun was horrified by the voice that suddenly came from behind and fell forward.

Anyone would be surprised to hear a heavy voice from behind when they were already hiding.

“Oh, my. Well, I didn’t mean to startle you…….”

Un-hyun turned his head and found someone standing behind him.

He looked up, but the sunlight was so bright that he couldn’t see properly.

“Are you okay?”

He held out his hand to Un-hyun.

Un-hyun calmed his surprised heart and replied.

“Ah, I, I’m okay.”

He didn’t take the hand he offered.

But the man grabbed Un-hyun around the shoulders without paying attention.

And when he lifted his arm, Un-hyun’s body was surprisingly lifted up like a pebble.

Thud.

He lightly lifted Un-hyun and gently placed him on the ground.

Un-hyun, who had been forced to stand up in a daze, stared at the person standing in front of him with wide eyes.

He was a middle-aged military officer wearing light armor, who looked quite gentle.

He didn’t look like someone with tremendous strength, but his bronze-colored face and attire told him that he was a military officer.

“You seem to be a civil official, but what brings you here?”

His voice was dignified.

Un-hyun quickly came to his senses.

Quickly straightening his disheveled clothes, Un-hyun replied to the military officer.

“Ah, I am Un-hyun, a scholar from Changryong Hall. I was actually wondering if I could ask you something about martial arts…….”

Martial arts. It was one of the words Un-hyun had obtained after a month of struggle.

“Martial arts?”

The military officer tilted his head.

Usually, the scholars he knew were not interested in martial arts.

No, they even despised it. The young scholars like Un-hyun in front of him were even more so.

The military officer frowned slightly and asked Un-hyun with a sharp look.

“Is there a special place where martial arts are needed? There shouldn’t be anyone in the world brave enough to touch a scholar from the Forbidden City.”

Un-hyun didn’t understand the military officer’s words right away.

But he soon realized it.

This military officer thought that Un-hyun was being assaulted or threatened by someone.

Un-hyun waved his hand.

“Ah, it’s not like that. It’s not like I’m going to use it somewhere…….”

Before Un-hyun could finish speaking, a loud voice came from behind.

“Greetings, Head Instructor!”

Then, the voices of many people shouting at once followed like thunder.

“Greetings, Head Instructor!”

Un-hyun, who turned around, froze on the spot.

Not only the young military officers in the training ground, but also the burly military officer with a full beard were all looking at him.

Un-hyun stepped back without realizing it at their gleaming gazes, and a heavy voice brushed past Un-hyun.

“Continue training.”

It wasn’t a very loud voice.

However, everyone in the training ground reacted immediately.

“Attention!”

The military officer with a full beard shouted in a thunderous voice, and the young military officers straightened up in unison.

“Start again from the First Form. First Form!”

Thud, thud.

“Haaa!”

The young military officers began training in unison.

Un-hyun looked at the middle-aged military officer again.

In fact, Un-hyun thought that the middle-aged military officer looked a little easygoing, perhaps because his impression was so gentle.

But all the military officers paid their respects to him, and started training at his word.

‘Well, he seems to be someone high up…….’

In the meantime, another military officer ran towards Un-hyun.

“Head Instructor, have you arrived?”

The young military officer, who paid his respects to the middle-aged military officer, looked at Un-hyun.

“But who is this person……?”

His gaze towards Un-hyun was quite sharp.

Un-hyun flinched without realizing it, but the military officer called the Head Instructor replied.

“He is Scholar Un from Changryong Hall. He said he came to ask something. You don’t have to worry about this.”

“Yes!”

The young military officer saluted again with precision and turned around.

Of course, he didn’t forget to glare at Un-hyun once more before that.

Only after he ran to the training ground could Un-hyun finally relax a little.

“I’m late to introduce myself. I am Il Chung-hyun, the Gold Military Head Instructor.”

The military officer who identified himself as Il Chung-hyun lightly clenched his fist and showed his respect.

Un-hyun tried to follow him and show his respect without realizing it, but quickly stopped and bowed his head.

“Ah, I am a scholar from Changryong Hall…….”

A smile appeared on Il Chung-hyun’s lips.

“I heard the introduction earlier. More than that, how about we move to another place?”

“Ah! Y, yes, let’s do that.”

Un-hyun barely replied, trying to hold back the polite words that were about to come out without realizing it.

***

The place where the two moved was a small pavilion with open sides.

Although it was small, it was decorated with antique patterns everywhere, as expected of a place in the Forbidden City.

“Scholar Un’s situation is……, so it was.”

The Gold Military Head Instructor Il Chung-hyun, who had heard the story, nodded.

But his expression was not very bright.

Un-hyun looked at his expression with anxiety.

Even though it was for His Highness the Crown Prince, it was ultimately just a matter of interest.

Un-hyun’s request to be taught martial arts might have touched the pride of the proud Gold Military Head Instructor.

The Gold Military Head Instructor Il Chung-hyun, who had been lost in thought for a while, turned his gaze and looked at Un-hyun.

“I am also a member of the Imperial Family like Scholar Un. Besides, I have heard all the circumstances, so turning a blind eye now is not something a man should do.”

Un-hyun’s face brightened at once as he listened.

“So, I don’t think I can refuse Scholar Un’s request.”