Bachelor Swordsmanship Remastered [EN]: Chapter 47

047. Self-Loathing

Yun-hyun’s monotonous life as a guest in the Moryong family took a slight turn.

It was that he would run into Sang-ah every time he went to the training grounds.

Whenever Yun-hyun sat in a corner of the training ground, Sang-ah would appear and ask a question or two that came to mind before disappearing somewhere.

She always said she was busy, but Yun-hyun couldn’t understand what a little girl could be so busy with.

No, Yun-hyun couldn’t figure out this girl named Sang-ah at all, who had only revealed her name.

Even as he felt pathetic for entertaining a child, Yun-hyun often answered Sang-ah’s questions.

“Doesn’t your head hurt from reading so many books?”

Sang-ah tilted her head and asked when Yun-hyun told her about preparing for the civil service exam.

“I can’t read for long because I get bored easily. It’s not fun either.”

Yun-hyun shrugged.

“Me too. But if you keep studying, it’s like you get used to it? There comes a time when it becomes fun.”

“Hmm, is that resignation?”

“It’s not like that…….”

Yun-hyun gave an awkward smile.

But Sang-ah moved on to the next topic without paying attention.

“So, Yun Oppa [older brother], is there anything else you can do besides study?”

“Well, I actually practiced swordsmanship a bit. I’m not a complete amateur.”

He wasn’t an amateur.

After all, the person who taught him was none other than a Gold Guard instructor, and Yun-hyun had practiced the White Tiger Training Sword to death for over ten years.

“Huh? Really? Show me, Yun Oppa.”

Like a daughter of a martial arts family, Sang-ah showed great interest in Yun-hyun’s swordsmanship.

It was a reaction anyone would have, but Yun-hyun was flustered by Sang-ah’s sudden request.

“N-now? Maybe some other time if there’s a chance…….”

As Yun-hyun tried to slip away, Sang-ah’s face quickly darkened.

“Tch, you’re just not going to show me in the end. Adults are all the same…….”

Yun-hyun’s heart ached at Sang-ah’s words as she pouted her small lips and muttered in a gloomy voice.

Inside the Moryong family, there were only busy adults and sturdy disciples.

It was hard to find someone Sang-ah’s age, so she must have been quite lonely.

How else would she come to him every day like this?

‘She’s still so young…….’

Yun-hyun suddenly felt like Sang-ah was like him.

It was probably because his own past as an orphan was reflected in Sang-ah’s appearance.

Yun-hyun stood up.

Tap, tap.

After roughly tidying up his clothes, Yun-hyun smiled at Sang-ah.

“I’ll show you.”

“Really?”

Sang-ah’s dark expression brightened instantly.

Yun-hyun walked to a corner of the training ground.

In the corner of the training ground, there was a rack with various weapons.

Among the weapons, the most numerous were swords.

This was the Moryong family, after all.

“Hmm…….”

Yun-hyun looked at the weapons and found a wooden sword in one corner.

You could train without a sword, but he couldn’t show a little girl empty-handed.

It would be rude to touch the weapons in someone else’s training ground without permission, but a wooden sword should be fine.

Swish.

Just as Yun-hyun’s hand reached for a wooden sword.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

Yun-hyun turned his head at the voice from behind.

All the disciples in the training ground were watching him.

He thought they were still training, but it seemed it was break time by coincidence.

Yun-hyun was momentarily flustered by the sudden attention, but then he heard the voice again.

“I’m asking what you’re doing?”

From their gazes, Yun-hyun could feel malice directed at him.

Their gazes seemed to be half hostility and half ridicule.

It was the same gaze he had encountered when he first went to the Gold Guard training ground.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was wondering if I could borrow a wooden sword for a moment…….”

However, Yun-hyun’s polite request didn’t even get to finish.

“Borrow a wooden sword? Don’t be ridiculous and step back.”

Sudden impudence and an overbearing tone.

Moreover, it was a situation that would make anyone feel bad, especially coming from people younger than him.

“I said step back! Can’t you hear?”

“Hehe.”

Laughter leaked out from behind the person shouting at Yun-hyun.

They already knew about Yun-hyun’s existence.

Well, they couldn’t not know since he had been watching their training for days.

The problem was that their feelings towards Yun-hyun were not good.

A spectator who was sitting and watching them sweat, especially Yun-hyun in his scholar’s attire, couldn’t be pleasing to them.

“You were trying to take it sneakily, but do we look like fools to you?”

“Hey, have you even touched a wooden sword? You might get cut if you’re not careful.”

“Hehehe.”

Laughter leaked out from here and there.

Yun-hyun stood with a stiff face, his mouth tightly shut.

It was the first time he had experienced such blatant humiliation.

No matter how much he was at fault, you shouldn’t make someone feel embarrassed like this.

It was then.

“What! That’s too much!”

The voice that suddenly popped out was Sang-ah’s.

She was shouting at the young disciples in the training ground in a clear voice.

“Why are you making such a fuss over one wooden sword? It’s not even yours anyway. You’re not even using it!”

Some of the disciples stopped laughing at Sang-ah’s voice.

However, other disciples teased Sang-ah mischievously.

“Hee. What, is the little missy protecting that scholar…….”

“Hey, hey.”

Some of the disciples seemed to recognize Sang-ah and poked the sides of those who were trying to tease her.

As they whispered in their ears in small voices, the faces of those who were trying to tease her changed slightly, and they shut their mouths.

“What’s with you men being so petty? Ganging up on one person!”

Sang-ah was angry.

However, the disciples in the training ground avoided Sang-ah’s gaze without saying anything.

“Sang-ah.”

It was Yun-hyun who stopped her.

Yun-hyun bowed to the disciples in the training ground.

“I apologize for touching it without permission.”

Yun-hyun bowed politely.

He had been angry a moment ago, but Sang-ah’s anger calmed him down instead.

Although the disciples’ reaction was excessive, he was the one who was at fault first.

Besides, getting angry here would only be playing into their hands.

Step.

Yun-hyun, who had calmly expressed his apology, returned to Sang-ah.

The people in the training ground seemed momentarily embarrassed, but only for a moment, they didn’t stop their sneering.

“He’s running away?”

“He doesn’t even have the guts, let alone the strength, hehe.”

The voice was clearly audible to Yun-hyun as well.

Sang-ah’s face turned red, and she was about to shout something, but Yun-hyun gently placed his hand on Sang-ah’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, Sang-ah. I’ll later…….”

“What’s okay!”

Sang-ah shouted in a sharp voice.

“You can’t even say a word after hearing that? If it were my sister, she would never have stood still. My sister went out bravely even when the Iron Palm Clan attacked and chased away all those bad guys!”

It wasn’t just the young disciples who had angered Sang-ah.

Sang-ah was also angry at Yun-hyun.

“Sang-ah.”

Yun-hyun tried to say something, but Sang-ah wouldn’t listen.

Sang-ah brushed off Yun-hyun’s hand on her shoulder.

Thwack.

“I really hate people like you, Oppa.”

The smile disappeared from Yun-hyun’s face. And before Yun-hyun could say anything, Sang-ah turned and ran.

Pat.

Sang-ah’s small back, with her hair fluttering as she ran, quickly disappeared between the buildings.

In the meantime, the young disciples’ shouts began to echo through the training ground as training resumed.

“Haa!”

The powerful shouts that echoed through the training ground. But Yun-hyun couldn’t hear the loud shouts at all.

Sang-ah’s small, angry voice was like a nail hammered into Yun-hyun’s chest.

***

“Ah, that story? It’s very famous here. I even saw it myself.”

One of the guests knew about the Iron Palm Clan.

“In short, they took the Moryong family’s pride too lightly. It was foolish of them to be so sure that they would give in if they gathered other sects and put pressure on them. Those Iron Palm Clan guys, they’ll all be exposed later…….”

He chuckled and shrugged.

“Maybe that’s why there are words like prestigious family and tradition, but it was really amazing. The Outer Hall Lord declared that she would rather die than be insulted, which is something a fledgling sect like the Iron Palm Clan can’t even imagine.”

“Rather die than be insulted…….”

As Yun-hyun muttered, the man nodded and continued.

“At that time, Lord Moryongmi was really cool. She stood in front of all those warriors and said in a voice that dripped with coldness, didn’t she?”

The man said with a serious expression.

“The Moryong family has already prepared for death. But how can it not be a laughingstock that those who represent the sects are gathered here and only talking?”

The man gave strength to his voice, even his eyes sparkling.

However, unlike his expectations, Yun-hyun didn’t show much reaction, so the man coughed awkwardly.

“Ahem. If you’re going to fight, hurry up and attack. We’re already prepared. Something like that.”

The man quickly wrapped up the story.

“It means that the Iron Palm Clan and the Moryong family’s resolve are different. Anyway, after that, no sect tried to challenge the Moryong family, and no one looked down on the Outer Hall Lord because she was a woman. Of course, the Iron Palm Clan couldn’t even show their face in Honam [a region in Korea].”

As the man seemed to have finished speaking, Yun-hyun bowed his head and expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you for telling me.”

The man waved his hand as if it was nothing.

As Yun-hyun walked towards his lodgings, he gave a bitter smile.

‘So, Sang-ah was the younger sister of Outer Hall Lord Moryongmi.’

Although the situation was a bit different, the Iron Palm Clan and the Moryong family’s incident had similarities to what he had experienced during the day.

In the sight of many people gathering and oppressing one person, Moryong Sang-ah naturally recalled the Iron Palm Clan’s incident.

So, there was no way that Moryongmi’s dignified appearance and Yun-hyun’s appearance wouldn’t be compared.

Click.

Yun-hyun returned to his small room and closed the door.

‘Is she very upset?’

It’s a child’s words, so there’s not much to worry about.

Children get upset easily and get over it quickly, and Sang-ah wouldn’t be much different.

However, Yun-hyun somehow kept dwelling on Sang-ah’s words.

At the same time, the image of the young disciples who had sent him contemptuous glances flickered before his eyes.

“Tsk.”

As a guest, his behavior was not wrong.

Yun-hyun thought so.

However, he couldn’t help but feel hurt.

‘If it weren’t for those rude guys…….’

Yun-hyun’s stomach churned as he thought of the young disciples who could be said to be the cause of the incident.

He felt frustrated with himself for bowing his head to them, and he regretted not saying even a word.

“Hoo, if only I could train at times like this…….”

Yun-hyun sighed.

In fact, Yun-hyun had tried to train in secret whenever he stayed at an inn.

However, it didn’t work out, so it only ended as an attempt, and he couldn’t actually train.

But now that he had entered the Moryong family, even that had become impossible.

If strange rumors spread or misunderstandings arose, he might be kicked out without even seeing the family head.

‘It’s been almost a month since I’ve been able to train.’

He was trying to appease himself by watching others train in the training ground, but that wasn’t enough.

Besides, what was most difficult was the indefinite waiting.

“What am I even hoping for here…….”

Yun-hyun was frustrated.

He came here thinking he was a guest, but they didn’t see him as a guest.

“I wish I could have a drink…….”

Yun-hyun muttered as he looked out the darkening window.

However, what he really missed was not alcohol but people.

People who could share stories and connect with each other.

For the first time since coming here, Yun-hyun missed the Forbidden City.

Yun-hyun unknowingly placed his hand on his chest and checked the feel of the small ring he wore around his neck.

After gazing at the night sky for a while, Yun-hyun finally let out a soft sigh.

“Okay, let’s leave now. Enough with this foolishness…….”

Looking back, it was a misguided visit from the start.

He had left the Forbidden City, only to hope to take on a job at a noble family?

“Hoo.”

As he made up his mind, he felt relieved, and a chuckle escaped his lips.

His heart was light after shaking off his lingering feelings. But his mouth was still bitter.

However, he couldn’t afford a drink, so Yun-hyun had no choice but to go to bed as he was.

Rustle.

Yun-hyun lay down on the bed, vowing to leave as soon as he woke up early tomorrow morning.

That’s how Yun-hyun spent his last night in the Moryong family.

Thud.

Yun-hyun, who had been sleeping, woke up in surprise.

“Ah, were you sleeping? I’m sorry.”

Someone apologized to Yun-hyun. Yun-hyun rubbed his eyes and looked around.

Light from outside streamed in through the wide-open door, and the pungent smell of alcohol stung his nose.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry. Just…….”

Flick.

The lamp was lit, and the figures of two young men came into view.