Bachelor Swordsmanship Remastered [EN]: Chapter 14

“Today’s assembly is unusual.”

Sa Ilcheon had already lowered his gaze and opened his book.

Yunhyun sighed softly.

He had more to say, but as a manager, he had to obey orders. There was nothing he could do if Sa Ilcheon had no further business.

Bowing his head in respect, Yunhyun left Changryong Hall.

Sa Ilcheon subtly raised his head and watched Yunhyun’s retreating figure.

‘It’s been five years already… He’s quite persistent.’

Sa Ilcheon was lost in thought.

When Yunhyun first came, he didn’t expect him to last even a month.

He thought he would either quit and return to his hometown or use all sorts of connections to transfer elsewhere.

However, Yunhyun exceeded Sa Ilcheon’s expectations.

He seemed to be wrestling with miscellaneous books in Munyeon Hall, but before he knew it, he was learning martial arts from the Geumgun instructor and now producing quite useful reports.

Now, Yunhyun is an indispensable person in Changryong Hall.

Of course, whether becoming a necessary person in Changryong Hall is a good thing or a bad thing is unknown.

Sa Ilcheon shook his head and turned his gaze back to the book.

Then, he frowned and raised his head, looking at Yunhyun’s receding figure.

‘Come to think of it, he’s grown a lot. Now he even knows how to resist.’

Whether he knew Sa Ilcheon was glaring at him or not, Yunhyun was trudging out of Changryong Hall with a dejected look.

***

Habitually walking towards Munyeon Hall, Yunhyun sighed.

“Hoo, at least I don’t have to worry about being kicked out anymore…”

When he first submitted a report to Sa Ilcheon and heard the words ‘Not bad,’ he felt like he was soaring into the sky.

He believed that the more frequent the report requests, the closer his success was.

However, that success, which seemed within reach, has now disappeared into the mist.

Now, all that remains is being urged for reports by Sa Ilcheon every morning assembly, so it’s no wonder he sighs.

“The only remaining pleasure is grabbing a branch and swinging it around.”

Yunhyun muttered as he entered Munyeon Hall.

The Munyeon Hall manager no longer pays attention to Yunhyun.

Yunhyun simply bowed his head out of habit and moved to his seat.

Click.

As he sat down, seven neatly arranged books on his desk caught his eye.

These are records about the Murim [martial arts world] that Yunhyun has been reading lately.

“The old saying goes that if you read it a hundred times, you will naturally understand its meaning…”

Yunhyun reached for the books on the table.

These books are from the Murim records in Munyeon Hall that he still doesn’t understand.

It doesn’t mean the content is difficult.

The Murim records in this Munyeon Hall have already been read and reread to the point of almost memorization, and their contents are also clearly in his head.

“I feel like I’ve read it more than a hundred times, but why don’t I understand it?”

He muttered as he opened a book.

What he didn’t understand was something else.

“Why did this martial artist use this technique here?”

A scene from the distant past began to unfold in his mind.

Two swordsmen stand facing each other in a windy wilderness. The bleak wind shakes the reeds as it passes, and the surroundings are silent.

And in a fleeting moment, the swords of the two men begin to emit a sharp aura.

A clash of swords that allows neither an inch of compromise nor a moment of carelessness.

Sword lights flash, and techniques intersect as if according to a predetermined sequence.

And at the decisive moment, one man’s sword begins to draw an incomprehensible curve.

‘Right here!’

Yunhyun flinched without realizing it.

‘What on earth? Why did this technique come out here?’

He couldn’t figure it out.

Instead of the technique that should have come out according to the development, a completely different sword path appeared.

And that sword path completely subdued the opponent.

After agonizing over the unresolved question for several days, he eventually asked Instructor Ilchunghyun.

However, the answer he received was the very obvious ‘You can’t accurately know the actual sword path from just the text.’

When he asked if he could at least understand the flow of the sword path, that is, the intention of unfolding that sword style in that situation, Instructor Ilchunghyun said this:

‘We can’t understand it, so they are called masters.’

His expression looked so desolate that Yunhyun couldn’t say anything.

Still, he didn’t give up.

Yunhyun delved even deeper into the martial arts records.

But he couldn’t figure it out.

No matter how much he looked, read, or even dreamed about it, he couldn’t understand it at all.

Those blocked books were the seven books placed on the table.

‘Hmm.’

Yunhyun was lost in thought for quite a while.

Himself sitting alone, sometimes frowning, sometimes opening his mouth as if he had realized something, Yunhyun’s appearance looked very strange.

However, what leaked out of his mouth after a long time was a low groan.

“Ugh, I don’t get it. It’s not this either…”

Closing the book, Yunhyun frowned.

Unresolved mysteries are always attractive, but they require a lot of time and concentration.

Noticing that training time was approaching, Yunhyun began to gather his writing tools.

“If I can’t understand it after a hundred times, I’ll just have to read it ten thousand times, or until I understand it.”

Click.

Yunhyun got up from his seat.

Passing through the familiar bookshelves, the early summer sunlight was warmly falling on Yunhyun’s shoulders as he left Munyeon Hall with light steps.

***

Instructor Ilchunghyun was already at the hall Yunhyun was heading to.

Confirming his appearance, Yunhyun quickened his pace.

“Instructor Ilchunghyun.”

As Yunhyun approached and bowed politely, Instructor Ilchunghyun smiled and replied.

“You’ve come, Scholar Yun.”

Yunhyun put down the writing tools and books he had brought on one side of the hall and returned to Instructor Ilchunghyun.

Instructor Ilchunghyun handed Yunhyun the spear and sword he was holding.

“Today, we will train spear techniques and sword techniques.”

Yunhyun carefully received the spear and sword that Ilchunghyun handed him with both hands, stepped back a little, and bowed to Instructor Ilchunghyun.

‘Scholar Yun is also getting into shape.’

A smile hung on Ilchunghyun’s lips.

Yunhyun carefully placed the sword where he had put the books, then took the spear and returned to take his stance.

“Haa!”

Yunhyun, holding the spear, let out a shout.

The shout reminded Instructor Ilchunghyun of what Instructor Dojin had said before.

―That shout never gets any better, even after years.

Remembering Instructor Dojin’s expression as he frowned and looked at Yunhyun, Instructor Ilchunghyun unknowingly let out a slight chuckle.

Instructor Ilchunghyun also acknowledged that Yunhyun’s shout lacked spirit.

However, if Yunhyun were to let out a murderous shout like them, it would somehow feel more awkward.

‘The scholar is most natural as a scholar.’

The basic forms of the Imperial Guard’s Eighteen Martial Arts have already been completed.

However, further training was impossible for Yunhyun, who was neither a martial artist nor had the physique to support it.

In the end, the training time for Yunhyun and Instructor Ilchunghyun mostly consisted of sharing stories about martial arts and the Murim.

Scholar Yun always had plenty of questions.

At first, there were questions about martial arts and the Murim itself, and for several years, questions about the martial arts records he read in Munyeon Hall poured out.

These days, he tends to ask about various events happening in the Murim, but occasionally, questions about the world or life pop out of nowhere.

‘Hehe.’

Instructor Ilchunghyun liked those times.

Seeing Instructor Dojin, who had declined, occasionally come to help Yunhyun’s training, it seemed that he didn’t dislike it either.

The fact that Yunhyun is training with the spear and sword now is really just a repetition to avoid forgetting what he has learned.

Instructor Ilchunghyun stood silently and waited for Yunhyun’s training to end.

‘Huh?’

Instructor Ilchunghyun felt something strange while Yunhyun was training with the sword.

An alien sensation brushed past Instructor Ilchunghyun’s ear.

Instructor Ilchunghyun’s nerves instantly tensed up.

This is the Forbidden City, the red-lighted forbidden city, and Instructor Ilchunghyun is a Geumuiwi [Imperial Guard] guarding this place.

He can’t easily overlook even the smallest sign.

One of Instructor Ilchunghyun’s hands was already on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

“Haa!”

Ignoring Yunhyun’s shout, who was focused on training without knowing anything, Instructor Ilchunghyun sharpened all his senses.

However, the alien feeling that had awakened his nerves did not easily reveal itself again.

How much time had passed?

Just as Instructor Ilchunghyun, who had been unable to catch anything, was about to relax his guard, and when Yunhyun’s sword drew another trajectory.

Buzz.

Suddenly, Instructor Ilchunghyun’s head snapped around.

The place his gaze was directed at was the sword Yunhyun was holding.

“Sword Resonance?”

Ilchunghyun muttered without realizing it.

What had sharply heightened his senses was a very subtle sword’s cry [劍鳴 – Jian Ming].

‘Could it be…’

Unable to take his suspicious gaze away from Yunhyun’s sword, Instructor Ilchunghyun remembered what Instructor Dojin had said a while ago.

―Instructor Il, just now, from Scholar Yun’s sword…, didn’t it sound like a sword resonance?

Dojin’s words, which he had hesitated to say, were thought to be a mistake at the time.

He himself, and Instructor Dojin, had watched carefully, but had not heard any sound from Yunhyun’s sword.

―I must have been mistaken.

Instructor Dojin scratched his head and said shyly.

But now, after several months, Instructor Ilchunghyun himself heard a cry from the sword style Yunhyun was unfolding.

‘Sword Resonance, huh…’

In fact, it is not so strange for a sword resonance to come from the Geumuiwi.

The faint sound heard when unfolding a sword style means that internal energy has begun to be imbued into the sword.

It just means that they have gone beyond the realm of wielding it with only strength, so it is not something that the Geumuiwi would bother to be nervous about.

But a sword resonance from a scholar’s sword style.

It is absolutely impossible for a sword resonance to come from Yunhyun’s sword style, who shouldn’t even have a handful of internal energy.

Not to mention that the sword he gave him is not some divine sword.

“Scholar Yun!”

Instructor Ilchunghyun called Yunhyun in a strong voice.

Yunhyun, who was focused on swordsmanship, stopped his movements at Instructor Ilchunghyun’s shout and looked at Instructor Ilchunghyun with a puzzled look.

“Yes?”

Instructor Ilchunghyun looked straight at Yunhyun and asked in a stern voice.

“Do you happen to have any martial arts or internal energy cultivation methods that you are training separately now?”

Yunhyun flinched.

This is because he had not yet told Ilchunghyun that he had been secretly practicing the ‘Report Sword Style’.

Instructor Ilchunghyun was convinced that his thoughts were correct and frowned.

“Scholar Yun! Didn’t I tell you that you can’t trust everything just because you’re in Munyeon Hall?”

Yunhyun couldn’t say anything at the sharp voice of Geumgun Instructor Ilchunghyun.

“What if you recklessly train something you don’t even know and suffer from inner demons!”

Instructor Ilchunghyun was really angry.

That’s because he was genuinely worried about Yunhyun.

“No, well, actually that’s…”

Yunhyun opened his mouth stammeringly with a troubled face.

Judging from Instructor Ilchunghyun’s anger, it seemed that the ‘secret pleasure of grabbing a branch and swinging it around’ that he had been secretly doing would come to an end today.