〈 Episode 547 〉 Sword Demon (劍魔).
[Stop trying to feel it pointlessly and try to see it.]
It was around the time when roughly half a year had passed since training had begun in earnest.
Having just been beaten and knocked down, Paejon was looking at me with a frown.
[How many times have I told you that moving by instinct alone is why you end up like that?]
At Paejon's words, I had to frown as well.
[If I move after seeing, isn't it too late?]
The purpose of this training was to block Paejon's movements.
Only by succeeding in that could I begin training in the Second Form of Tuapacheonmu.
However.
[Isn't moving by instinct faster in the first place?]
To act by predicting the opponent's movements.
It was obvious that moving after predicting was faster than moving after seeing.
Even then, I still couldn't understand Paejon's method.
[Tsk tsk.]
Paejon clicked his tongue at my words.
[A prediction is merely a prediction. How can you move with certainty about something you have not seen directly?]
Paejon extended his hand.
Groaning, I grabbed it and stood up.
Ah, fuck… My ribs that just got hit were aching like crazy.
Holding my ribs, I asked Paejon.
[Then, are you saying I should move after seeing, even if it's late?]
[Wrong. As you said, moving after seeing with the eyes is late, so it's meaningless.]
I had to furrow my brows at Paejon's words. It was absurd.
[Then what the hell am I supposed to do?]
To my question, Paejon pointed at my eyes with his finger.
[Don't look with your eyes.]
Then he pointed at my chest.
[Look with your chest.]
[…Huh? What kind of crazy talk… No, bullshit—]
Schwack—!
[Gah!]
I had to stagger after getting smacked on the head.
[The thorns in your mouth grow bigger by the day. Should this old man snap them once?]
[…Ngh…]
Though I was in the wrong for blurting it out, I felt unjust about this too.
[You tell me to look, and now you say look with my chest? How is that different from feeling with instinct?]
[It is different. 'Seeing' and 'feeling' are distinctly different.]
[It's not just wordplay?]
[No.]
Paejon broke into a slight smile.
I always found that self-assured smile of his so unpleasant.
I really hate people who know exactly how great they are.
[Every movement has a preparatory motion. Do you know this?]
[…I know.]
I nodded at Paejon's words. It was a natural principle.
The shoulder moves to throw a punch.
Before that, the upper body moves.
Based on that, where and how the punch extends.
When the eyes watching this became skilled, I would watch and predict, then move.
Thus, to sever the flow and block it was ultimately—
to predict the opponent's movement and cut it off beforehand.
At least by my standards, that was it.
But Paejon's words now meant—
[That's not it?]
[That too is ultimately a prediction.]
[…Then… what am I supposed to do?]
No matter how much I listened, I couldn't understand.
What the hell was I supposed to do?
I'd been training while getting beaten for half a year, but I still couldn't grasp it.
At my frustration, Paejon stroked his chin—though he had no beard—and continued his explanation.
[Do you know what the most honest thing in this world is?]
[Who knows? Me?]
[Hehe, you speak madness.]
I'd tried to joke, but it didn't work.
As I was regretting it, Paejon let out a slight sigh and resumed.
[If we must split hairs, there would be many answers. But the answer right now is 'wager'.]
[Wager?]
[Yes, there is no friend as honest and plain as a wager. Try using a feint on me.]
At Paejon's words, I immediately moved my shoulders.
The preparatory motion aimed at the face, but I made as if to extend.
Paejon moved slightly at this. Aiming for that, I shifted my line and angled for the neck…
Bang—!
[Ugh!?]
The arm I extended as a feint was effortlessly deflected.
I couldn't even extend it properly in the first place.
Blocked before strength could even be applied.
Every moment of sparring with Paejon was like this.
Cradling my tingling wrist, I looked at Paejon.
[What do you think the problem was?]
Asked for my thoughts on the failure, I pondered briefly and answered.
[…Who knows. Did the feint show?]
[Unfortunately, fitting your eccentric disposition, you are quite good at using feints.]
[You just want to curse at me while pretending to compliment me, right?]
[If I did it openly, you'd be hurt.]
I wish that old man knew this hurt more.
[Then what?]
[I merely saw. Where and how you would move.]
[So that's…]
How is that different from predicting.
I held back the words that were about to leap out of my throat.
It was already a back-and-forth repeated countless times over half a year.
[As I keep saying, moving by predicting from preparatory motions is not a bad thing. However, once you start mixing in feints, you inevitably get caught.]
Those skilled in combat mix feints in among countless movements.
Only then is it possible to beat predictions.
[When certainty is low, useless thoughts increase. Then the body grows sluggish.]
Because you must process many thoughts in an instant, the slightest hesitation can make everything collapse.
[Therefore, you must see. To reduce useless thoughts and gain greater certainty.]
[…If I'm not looking at preparatory motions, then what am I supposed to look at?]
I still couldn't understand.
No matter how hard I tried to understand, I ended up going in circles back to the same place.
It was a repetition of such questions and answers.
[What you should be looking at is not the opponent's body. You deficient disciple.]
Paejon kept emphasizing one thing.
[As I said earlier, I believe the most honest thing is a 'wager'. Wagers do not lie. Rather, they are transparent.]
Shwik.
Paejon extended his fist forward and spoke.
[What do you think reacts first when a martial artist takes action?]
While I was thinking briefly. Paejon gave his answer without listening to mine.
[It is the wager. The wager has already reached the result that the owner of the body intends.]
I didn't understand well.
[What do you mean by—!]
A fist approached right before my nose. I hurriedly turned my head to avoid it.
Bang—! As I barely dodged, a sonic boom tore through the air.
While I was flustered by the sudden surprise attack, Paejon spoke to me with his characteristic smile.
[If I intend to thrust my fist at you, it means the wager in my body has already taken that action.]
[Huh?]
[The wager is the path. Martial arts is the act of a martial artist using their body to ascend upon a path created by the wager.]
Listening to Paejon's explanation, I felt like I was beginning to understand something.
If, before a martial artist takes action, the wager has already created that result—
[Then… you mean…]
[Yes.]
Paejon smiled, looking satisfied at my reaction.
[If the opponent first shows you the path, would it not be exceedingly easy to turn them away before they ascend it?]
[…]
It was an incredible thing just to hear.
Whether the opponent used a feint or attempted any action.
If the opponent tried to do something, it meant the wager had already expressed that path first.
'Since I know the opponent is trying to do something.'
It meant I could preemptively cut off and block it.
Thinking that far, I finally felt like I understood.
The meaning of Paejon's words telling me not to feel but to see.
[…Are you telling me to see the opponent's wager?]
[Correct.]
Do not predict what they will do by watching preparatory motions.
The opponent is already telling you what they will do through their wager. See that.
That must have been what Paejon wanted to say all this time.
Realizing that, words I wanted to ask came out naturally.
[Excuse me, Elder.]
[Speak.]
[…If you were going to explain it like this from the beginning, why did you make me do this until now?]
What was the reason for only explaining it now, after never properly explaining it all this time while being cryptic about it?
I asked slightly dumbfounded.
And hearing this, Paejon said to me.
[At first, it was a time when telling you would have been meaningless. Now, it is simply a situation where telling you will suffice.]
[Are you saying I've gotten smarter?]
[Hehe, your arrogance pierces the heavens. You may as well shatter the heavens. Your current appearance is not confidence, but arrogance. You deficient disciple.]
[…Tsk.]
I rubbed my nose in embarrassment.
[Though your head understood, your flesh lacked the time to understand. Now is a situation where you can understand to some degree, thus I explain with words.]
A situation where the flesh could understand.
They were rather difficult words.
[So you're saying that time has now come?]
[Yes.]
I nodded at Paejon's answer.
Anyway, it was fortunate that it seemed I had met the condition, but—
doubts still remained.
[…But Elder.]
[Speak.]
[I understand everything, but.]
The words that before a martial artist takes action, the wager first creates the path.
I should have been overwhelmed by the words that I simply needed to see it and neutralize it.
Despite this tremendous truth, the most important problem remained unsolved.
It was a very fundamental matter.
[In the end, what am I supposed to do about what I can't see?]
That damned wager still couldn't be seen. That was the problem.
Paejon said he moved by seeing that.
So that was why he wrecked all my movements, speed or whatever.
It meant he knew in advance how I would move.
Paejon said he could see it.
[I can't see it.]
I couldn't do that.
Unless the wager was materialized, how was I supposed to see formless energy?
Haha—!
Did my words amuse him?
Paejon laughed aloud.
[No, my disciple. You can see.]
[No, I'm telling you I can't see.]
[You can see. You simply do not look.]
[…Elder, have you perhaps gone senile…]
[Shall I make it so you truly cannot see?]
[It was a joke.]
I quickly changed my words because Paejon raised his fist.
[You fail to see because you try to see with your eyes. Did I not say so earlier?]
His finger pointed toward my chest.
[I told you to look with this place.]
[…I'm going crazy.]
It was still abstract. Damnably so.
Looking at the situation just now, he should have been able to explain it intuitively.
Now I saw he was doing it on purpose.
[I have planted an eye in your chest. Not the eyes on your face, but the eye in that place—look with it.]
[Where is there an eye in my chest?]
[Why would there not be? I clearly planted a seed in you.]
[A seed?]
[Yes, the seed that serves as the foundation to reach transcendence, and that continuously rebuilds your body.]
[…]
Listening to Paejon's words, I thought deeply and recalled.
[…Tuapacheonmu?]
At the words I let flow out, Paejon made a satisfied expression.
[Correct. That is the Eye you must look with.]
Paejon's words meant, in the end, that Tuapacheonmu would resolve all of that.
Was the body's understanding mentioned earlier also related to this?
[That's insane.]
I spat out unconsciously.
And then spat out again.
[Can that actually work?]
Artificial Bone Transformation and Rebirth.
Forced Egoless State.
Even those were astounding. And now it will let me see the path of the wager too?
[What on earth…]
If that were really true.
I wondered if it was acceptable to contain this degree of power within the word 'martial arts.'
Moreover, to think that this old man created it by himself?
[There is nothing in this world that cannot be done.]
Paejon's smile was deep.
And I was entangled in that smile.
[If you wish to do it, you simply do it until it works. At least, that is what I did.]
What you wish to be will be.
If there is something you wish to create, you create it.
It was a sentence that seemed so easy.
[And I shall make you that way as well.]
[That…]
[That your eyes have not yet opened simply means they must be made to open.]
Madness seeped into his voice.
The more we trained, the clearer it became that Paejon was getting excited.
Words Paejon had said when training began came to mind.
—There is nothing that cannot be done. I will make you into it.
If it doesn't work, he makes it work.
Such was the conviction of that damned Paejon.
[Fuck…]
Feeling that, I spat out a curse.
And yet, my body was slowly moving.
If I didn't understand, then until I did.
That was Paejon's teaching method.
The annoying part was that he actually made things work that seemed impossible.
That damned fact kept making me move.
[Half a year remains.]
—A year should suffice.
It overlapped with words he had spoken long ago.
His declaration that he would make it work within a year.
Recalling that, I moved my body.
Perhaps having given me all the rest I needed, Paejon began to move again.
After being beaten for another half year like that, right when exactly one year had passed.
As Paejon had said, I achieved the Eye-Opening (開眼).