Bachelor Swordsmanship Remastered [EN]: Chapter 52

052. The True Master…

“Hoo…”

Moyong Jin sighed.

As the back of the carriage carrying Unhyun disappeared, Moyong Jin turned and entered the family estate.

Step, step.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t hide his disappointment.

Unhyun was the first person since the family head, Moyong Dancheon, to impress Moyong Jin so deeply.

If he hadn’t been a guest, Moyong Jin would have wanted to take him as his teacher immediately. Seeing him off like this only amplified his regret.

“Hoo…”

Just then, a clear, young girl’s voice reached Moyong Jin’s ear.

“Oppa!”

Moyong Jin raised his head, his face softening into a smile.

“Sanga!”

His younger sister, Moyong Sanga, stood before him.

Seeing Sanga’s bright face after so long, Moyong Jin felt his heavy mood lift.

“So you were here, Oppa.”

Moyong Sanga’s face was flushed. She must have been running around looking for him.

“Grandfather said you’d be at the estate, so I was searching everywhere.”

“Grandfather said that?”

“Yes.”

Moyong Sanga looked at Moyong Jin with sparkling eyes.

“Are you feeling better now, Oppa?”

“Yes, I’m fine now.”

“Wow, that’s a relief!”

Moyong Jin smiled, pleased by Moyong Sanga’s cheerful demeanor.

He realized once again how much he had worried his family.

Regret pricked at his heart again.

“Where’s Mia?”

“Unni [older sister] went to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering. She left quite a while ago.”

“The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?”

Moyong Jin frowned, lost in thought.

While he had been wallowing in the brothel, it seemed many things had changed at the estate.

“But, Oppa, why were you sighing so much? Is something bothering you?”

Moyong Jin stroked Sanga’s hair, finding her worried expression endearing.

“No, it’s nothing like that. Just…”

Moyong Jin tried to brush it off, but then he looked at Sanga.

Seeing her looking up at him with her big, attentive eyes, Moyong Jin smiled.

He wanted to be honest with her.

“Actually, last night…”

Moyong Jin told Moyong Sanga everything that had happened the previous night and concluded, “So, I was just coming back from seeing Un Grand Master off. I thought Grandfather could become good friends with him, but I guess I was wrong.”

Sanga, who had been listening intently, suddenly brightened.

“Un Grand Master? Is his name Unhyun by any chance?”

Moyong Jin was taken aback.

He turned to Sanga, a surprised expression on his face.

“Do you know Un Grand Master?”

“Yes.”

Sanga nodded.

“Un Oppa [term of endearment for older brother or male friend] used to come to the training grounds every day and watch us train. He’s supposed to be a scholar, but he seems to like swords. He even said he’d show me some moves, but yesterday…”

Sanga leaned closer to Moyong Jin and whispered something in his ear.

Moyong Jin’s eyes narrowed slightly as he listened.

“I went to the training grounds today, but he wasn’t there. I think I was too harsh. Ah, geez. That’s not what I meant…”

Moyong Jin stroked Sanga’s hair, who was clearly feeling guilty, and muttered, “I see, so that’s what happened.”

“But is Un Oppa really that amazing?”

Moyong Jin nodded without hesitation.

“Then why did you just stand there after being humiliated like that?”

Moyong Sanga tilted her head, still skeptical.

Moyong Jin smiled.

“A true master doesn’t draw his sword carelessly. The mindset of one who wields a sword carries the weight of the world.”

“Really?”

Sanga still looked unconvinced.

Moyong Jin, still smiling gently, asked, “By the way, who were those rude young punks?”

Moyong Jin’s fist tightened slightly.

***

A few days after Unhyun’s departure, the head of the Moyong family, Moyong Dancheon, headed to his usual training grounds early in the morning.

“Taha!”

He smiled at the spirited shout of his eldest disciple, Moyong Jin, a sound he heard every day.

Moyong Dancheon made his way to the training grounds where Moyong Jin was practicing.

“Haa!”

Moyong Dancheon nodded as he watched Moyong Jin, who had removed his shirt and was deep in training, from afar.

The movement of his sword tip was improving daily.

At this rate, there might not be much left for him to teach.

‘Well, who needs help finding their own sword path?’

One must forge their own path. Otherwise, they will never progress beyond their current level.

All he had to do was trust and watch over his eldest disciple and grandson, Moyong Jin.

Meanwhile, Moyong Jin stopped training and was catching his breath.

He had just completed a series of sword forms and seemed to be deep in thought.

That sight pleased Moyong Dancheon, and he smiled.

He was about to turn away, not wanting to disturb his grandson’s training any further.

Just then…

Whoosh.

There was no spirited shout, no powerful leap.

Moyong Jin tensed his entire body and slowly executed a smooth sword movement.

That was all.

However, at that moment, Moyong Dancheon felt as if he had been struck on the head.

Thud.

Without hesitation, Moyong Dancheon rushed towards Moyong Jin.

“Jin!”

“Grandfather!”

Moyong Jin was startled.

Moyong Jin, who had just finished his sword form, was surprised by Moyong Dancheon’s sudden appearance.

Even more bewildering was the expression on Moyong Dancheon’s face.

He looked shocked, as if he had witnessed something impossible.

Moyong Jin quickly sheathed his sword and bowed his head.

However, Moyong Dancheon had no time for formalities.

“Where did you learn that sword path? Or rather, from whom did you learn it?”

Moyong Dancheon’s voice trembled.

The sword path his grandson had just demonstrated was known to only three people in the world: the Azure Dragon Sword Master, himself, and Moyong Mi.

Moyong Dancheon’s voice trembled as that sword path suddenly appeared before his eyes.

However, Moyong Jin misinterpreted that trembling as anger.

‘Of all times…’

Moyong Jin bit his lip.

It was the sword path Unhyun had shown him last.

The very sword path that seemed to belong to the Moyong family, yet didn’t.

He hadn’t mastered it yet, but he had tried to imitate it out of admiration, and now it had led to this.

Moyong Jin knelt down.

Thump.

“This disciple has committed a great sin.”

Learning swordsmanship from someone outside the family was a grave betrayal.

Moyong Jin knelt with a mournful face and lowered his head.

Since Moyong Dancheon had seen the sword form, there was no room for excuses.

Because there was no such sword form in the Moyong family’s swordsmanship.

“Are you going to tell me from whom you learned it?!”

Moyong Dancheon’s voice grew louder at the irrelevant answer.

Moyong Jin flinched at the harsh reaction.

Moyong Jin, who hadn’t even noticed that Moyong Dancheon was using formal language, replied in a mournful voice, “I didn’t learn it. Grand Master Un, who stayed at the estate, showed it to me.”

“Grand Master Un?”

Numerous names with the surname Un flashed through Moyong Dancheon’s mind.

However, no name came to mind.

Then he realized Moyong Jin had said something else.

“Stayed at the estate? Here?”

“Yes. Grand Master Un said he was a scholar, but in my opinion…”

The rest of the words didn’t register.

The scholar he had met a few days ago was clearly a former scholar.

And he was the person Moyong Jin had recommended.

‘Unhyun!’

His name, which he hadn’t considered until now, suddenly came to mind.

Moyong Dancheon asked Moyong Jin urgently, “Where is he now?”

“He left a few days ago.”

“Left? Where to?”

“I provided a carriage and escorted him to Gaebong City, but I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Hoo…”

A long sigh escaped Moyong Dancheon’s lips.

If he had gone to Gaebong City, it would be difficult to track him down. Moreover, it had already been several days.

“Summon the chief manager! No, I’ll go myself.”

Moyong Dancheon turned to leave.

However, Moyong Jin interpreted his actions differently.

“Grandfather!”

Moyong Dancheon turned his head at Moyong Jin’s mournful voice.

“Please hold me responsible for everything. He only showed me that sword path.”

Moyong Jin was biting his lip and begging for punishment.

Only then did Moyong Dancheon realize his grandson was misunderstanding.

He stopped.

Come to think of it, even if he searched Gaebong now, it wouldn’t be easy to find him.

Gaebong was not a small rural village.

“Hoo…”

After another long sigh, he said to his kneeling grandson, “Jin, get up.”

Moyong Jin was bewildered by the sudden gentleness.

He had been prepared for the worst, but Moyong Dancheon’s reaction was completely unexpected.

Moyong Dancheon shook his head.

“You’re misunderstanding. I’m not looking for him to interrogate him.”

“Yes?”

Moyong Dancheon let out another long sigh.

Moyong Jin sensed a situation he didn’t understand.

“Grandfather, who is he…?”

Moyong Dancheon’s brow furrowed.

His regret was profound.

“He’s probably…”

At first, he instinctively thought he was the Azure Dragon Sword Master.

However, his past and age gave him pause.

He needed more details, but for now, he thought his guess was probably close to the truth.

“He seems to be a disciple or acquaintance of the person I’m looking for.”

Moyong Jin’s eyes flashed.

There weren’t many people his grandfather respected so highly.

“The person Grandfather is looking for…”

“Yes. To have such a person right in front of me and not realize it…”

More than the regret of missing him, was the fact that he had treated him poorly.

It was even more regrettable to think that the Moyong family had made a bad impression.

Moyong Dancheon turned to Moyong Jin, his expression filled with regret.

“Get up, Jin. We need to go somewhere else. This is a story you need to know…”

Moyong Jin nodded.

He was also curious about the identity of Grand Master Un.

The two men left.

However, Moyong Dancheon’s regretful sighs continued.

That day, the head of the family, Moyong Dancheon, questioned the coachman about Unhyun’s whereabouts.

However, the coachman had only dropped him off in Gaebong City and knew nothing else.

Just in case, he even searched Gaebong City with his disciples, but Moyong Dancheon and Moyong Jin couldn’t find Unhyun.

The only thing they learned was that he had stayed in Gaebong for one night and left early the next morning.

Moyong Dancheon, comforted by Moyong Jin’s words that he would return since he had made a promise, had to give up searching for the ‘disciple or acquaintance of the Azure Dragon Sword Master’.