Bachelor Swordsmanship Remastered [EN]: Chapter 6

006. Bureaucrat Martial Arts Trainee (1)

Yun-hyun immediately bowed.

“Th, thank you, Instructor Il.”

Finally, he had a foothold to conquer those thirty-seven thousand, no, thirty-six thousand volumes of miscellaneous books.

However, Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun’s words were not over yet.

“However, there is one problem.”

The color that had returned to Yun-hyun’s face vanished instantly.

“A, a problem? What kind of…”

Yun-hyun stammered as he asked, and Il Chung-hyun stared straight at Yun-hyun.

“I am a Gold Guard Instructor. I only know one way to teach martial arts.”

Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun said with a firm look in his eyes.

“If Scholar Yun wants to know about martial arts, the only way is to learn it directly.”

The blood drained from Yun-hyun’s face.

“B, but I just want to know a little about martial arts…”

Yun-hyun stammered as he looked at Il Chung-hyun, but Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun had no intention of backing down.

“I am a Gold Guard Instructor, not a storyteller. I don’t have the talent to express the Eighteen Martial Arts of the Imperial Palace in words. And a Gold Guard Instructor can’t become a clown, can he? Do you understand what I mean, Scholar Yun?”

Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun was smiling, but his eyes were firm.

Yun-hyun could understand what he was saying.

‘Tch.’

Yun-hyun sighed inwardly.

As the Gold Guard Instructor said, how could one learn martial arts through words? Eventually, a demonstration would be necessary.

However, demonstrating for teaching and demonstrating to satisfy curiosity are completely different matters.

This proud martial artist was firmly refusing to become a spectacle.

Even if it was for the Crown Prince.

‘If I want to know, I have to learn it directly?’

That was not a simple matter at all.

Yun-hyun, a scholar and a bureaucrat, would have to move his body and sweat.

Moreover, there was another problem.

“Um, then does that mean we’ll be in a master-disciple relationship…?”

“Of course not.”

Il Chung-hyun replied immediately.

“I am merely providing some help as an imperial martial artist, so don’t misunderstand.”

It was clearly a line being drawn, but Yun-hyun breathed a sigh of relief.

And soon, he nodded.

“…I understand. Ah, right.”

Yun-hyun looked at Il Chung-hyun and asked with anxious eyes.

“Do I have to learn with those young Gold Guard trainees?”

“Are you ashamed to learn martial arts?”

The Gold Guard Instructor’s reaction was surprisingly sharp.

Yun-hyun quickly waved his hands.

“Of course not. Especially since you, Instructor, are personally taking the trouble… I’m just a little worried if I have to take off my clothes like them.”

Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun gave a bitter smile.

“I won’t necessarily tell you to dress like them.”

Il Chung-hyun said.

“But perhaps in less than an hour, you will understand why they dress like that.”

“R, really? Still…”

Seeing Yun-hyun fidgeting, Il Chung-hyun sighed inwardly.

People who had read a bit were all similar.

They always judged people by their slick appearance and eloquence.

So how ridiculous must the sight of martial artists sweating with their shirts off have seemed?

‘This scholar may say he’ll learn martial arts right now, but…’

Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun looked at Yun-hyun, who was still uneasy.

‘It won’t last long anyway.’

Il Chung-hyun decided to ease this fledgling scholar’s worries.

“I will make time separately in the morning.”

Il Chung-hyun said.

“Come here tomorrow. You don’t have to worry about anyone else.”

Yun-hyun’s face brightened instantly, and he nodded.

“Thank you, thank you so much. I will definitely do that.”

Yun-hyun’s face was radiant.

He looked like he was about to grab the Gold Guard Instructor’s hand and shake it.

“Then, goodbye.”

Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun got up from his seat and bowed to Yun-hyun.

Yun-hyun quickly followed suit, bowing his head in return.

Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun left the place without looking back.

Left alone, Yun-hyun stood there, watching his departing figure, before collapsing back down.

“Whew.”

Yun-hyun let out a long breath.

Yun-hyun had been constantly tense while talking to the Gold Guard Instructor.

This was partly because he was worried about whether he could get his help, but also because the Gold Guard Instructor’s aura was more difficult to bear than he had thought.

‘Is it because he’s a Gold Guard Instructor? His aura is really something.’

Instructor Il Chung-hyun had maintained a consistently gentle attitude.

However, he couldn’t hide the martial artist’s gaze that emanated from him.

So Yun-hyun had no choice but to be nervous.

“But at least it seems like I succeeded.”

He succeeded.

He succeeded in getting help from the Gold Guard Instructor, and he also avoided being publicly humiliated.

To take off his scholar’s robes and expose his bare skin, and to learn martial arts with the new Gold Guard trainees, just imagining it made him shudder.

“Now, shall I return to the Munyeon Pavilion?”

Yun-hyun’s voice was much more lively.

Those thirty-seven thousand, no, thirty-six thousand books piled up in the Munyeon Pavilion no longer frightened him.

Looking back, wasn’t reading books his specialty?

As long as there was someone to help him with martial arts, there was nothing to worry about.

Clang.

The sound of the wind chime hanging from the eaves of the pavilion echoed softly.

Leaving behind the elegant pavilion where the wind was blowing, Yun-hyun’s steps towards the Munyeon Pavilion were as light as a feather.

However, his lively steps did not last long.

“Hoo.”

Thud, thud.

Yun-hyun’s steps as he climbed the stairs towards the Munyeon Pavilion were weak.

The bright expression he had just had was nowhere to be seen.

Thump.

Yun-hyun returned to the Munyeon Pavilion, sat down, and sighed so hard that the table seemed to sink.

“Is this how I have to live…?”

Looking back, he hadn’t had a single comfortable day since entering the Forbidden Palace.

The more Yun-hyun thought about it, the more suffocated he felt.

“A scholar now has to learn martial arts.”

Until a little while ago, he had been relieved at the thought of getting help.

But as he walked, he thought calmly and felt pathetic.

In the first place, he had visited the Gold Guard training ground to get advice, not to actually learn martial arts.

But somehow, it had been decided that he would learn martial arts.

He had avoided the worst-case scenario, but strictly speaking, nothing had changed.

A scholar learning martial arts, that is.

“Would it have been better to just keep wrestling with books?”

Regret arose in a corner of his mind.

It might have been better to just keep digging into books, even if it was frustrating.

Then at least he wouldn’t have looked so unsightly learning martial arts.

‘What kind of life is this?’

Suddenly, gloomy thoughts began to overflow.

Yun-hyun jumped up.

“No, I can’t give up like this!”

Yun-hyun said, clenching his fist.

“Anyway, I am the Crown Prince’s scholar, am I not? I must complete my work excellently and gain His Highness’s recognition!”

It was common for a scholar who taught the Crown Prince to become the core of the next power.

He would be the most knowledgeable and trustworthy person the Crown Prince knew.

“The core of power…?”

Considering his current situation, even he himself found it unconvincing.

As if to represent his feelings, Yun-hyun’s clenched fist was limply falling.

“Right now, I’d be lucky if I wasn’t kicked out…”

Saying it made him feel pathetic.

Sighing, Yun-hyun raised his head and looked at the bookshelves full of books in front of him.

His future seemed as 답답 [frustrating/suffocating] as the bookshelves that were filled to the brim.

“Come on, there’s a path in books, isn’t there? There’s a house of gold and a beautiful lady in books.”

Yun-hyun approached the bookshelves.

Yun-hyun pulled out as many books as he could grab and muttered to himself.

“Of course, there’s no guarantee that it’s mine, though. Damn it!”

Thud.

Yun-hyun piled the books on the table and sat down.

And he began to check the titles one by one.

After repeatedly sorting through the books for a while, Yun-hyun suddenly chuckled.

“What? There was another person just like me.”

Yun-hyun picked up a book.

And he read the title that had made him laugh again.

“‘A Report on the Comprehensive Approach to the Origin of Martial Arts Transmitted in Murim Factions.’ Geez, the title is really long.”

Yun-hyun picked up the book and looked at it from side to side.

The book, which felt a little thick, was quite heavy for a report.

Yun-hyun lightly flipped through the book.

The neatly written letters and clean paper caught his eye at once.

Even though the cover looked quite old, the inner pages were so clean that it was clear that the book had never been properly opened.

“It seems to be a report written in the Imperial Palace, but what should I say, the book is very clean.”

Surely this thick report had not been read.

Before the ink of the last letter had even dried, this book had been placed here, leaving only a line of record in the book storage book, and had been forgotten.

The reason Yun-hyun sighed in the middle was because he thought that the fate of this book was similar to his own.

“It would have hurt quite a bit if I had been hit with this, wouldn’t it?”

The image of the superior who received this report throwing the book came to mind as if it were right in front of him.

Yun-hyun smiled self-deprecatingly and mourned the unknown author.

“Anyway, it’s clear that this is also a book about Murim [martial arts world]…”

Yun-hyun placed the book he was holding on top of the separately organized books.

Thud.

A new book was placed on top of the seventeen books about Murim that had been found so far.

And Yun-hyun returned to the monotonous task of checking the titles of the other books one by one.

***

“The training of martial arts begins with forms.”

Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun said in a deep voice.

Yun-hyun pricked up his ears so as not to miss a single word and focused all his attention on that voice.

“The purpose of training in forms is to increase the elasticity and flexibility of the body and to learn a sense of balance. However, these three are not the entirety of martial arts.”

Gold Guard Instructor Il Chung-hyun continued to speak calmly, looking at Yun-hyun standing in front of him.

Yun-hyun appeared exactly on time as promised.

As Il Chung-hyun had expected, he was wearing his scholar’s robes very neatly.

However, there was one thing that Il Chung-hyun had not anticipated.

Yun-hyun had appeared with a brush, ink, and a thick book in one hand.

Rustle.

The sound of paper turning was faintly heard.

Yun-hyun was diligently moving his brush, turning the pages while focusing all his attention on Il Chung-hyun.

His appearance of diligently writing down every word so as not to miss a single one was the attitude of a scholar seriously taking a class, that was it.

‘I’ve never seen anyone taking notes while learning martial arts before.’

Il Chung-hyun was inwardly dumbfounded.

It was unheard of to write down the words of the person teaching when learning martial arts.

That’s not because the people learning martial arts don’t know how to write, but because they believe that true enlightenment is naturally achieved on one’s own.

‘I can’t really say anything about him diligently taking notes, though…’

Certainly, Yun-hyun’s attitude was a bit difficult to see as an attitude of learning martial arts.

However, the other person had lived his entire life—of course, it was not a long number of years, but he had lived his entire life as a scholar and became a scholar.

He was diligently trying to learn in his own way, so it was hard to say anything in particular.