I Learned Martial Arts.
1.
When the battle that had begun at dawn finally ended, sunset had already unfurled across the sky like a carpet.
The battlefield, littered with broken weapons and corpses, was imbued with the crimson sunset, rendering a spectacle all the more ominous.
"Ojun, Geumilsan, Igyeong..."
Wicheonsaeng recited the names of his fallen comrades sprawled on the ground one by one.
Ojun, who had possessed an extraordinary talent for dice gambling.
Geumilsan, who had said he would return to his hometown and open an inn.
Igyeong, whose cooking skills had been exceptional.
"So this is how it is."
They had all been comrades praised for their considerable skill with the blade. But they were all dead.
"It's really not easy. Is it?"
The reason they had grown close was simple. Each had taken another's military service to feed one less mouth in their desperately poor families.
"Still, your bellies haven't been empty all this time."
He rummaged through Ganjeong's belongings and pulled out a gourd bottle. When he opened the stopper, the sharp scent of spirits stung his nose.
"Let's have a drink on the road."
Wicheonsaeng poured the bottle over his comrades, then drank the rest.
"Kkh... What kind of taste do people even drink this stuff for..."
He was still at an age where he didn't know the taste of liquor. But would he survive long enough to appreciate it? If so, he would simply be lucky...
"I don't want to leave it to luck alone."
Wicheonsaeng muttered to himself.
*
*
*
"You got that? If you meet a murim warrior, don't look back—just run. Think you can overwhelm them with numbers? You'll only pile up corpses."
At the words of Gujangwon, the squad leader of the 7th Hundred-Man Unit, his subordinates tilted their heads.
"Aren't you a murim warrior too, Squad Leader?"
"That's right. I saw it clearly! Last time, the squad leader used a stance and cut straight through the enemy along with his shield. I couldn't believe it even with my own eyes!"
"Yeah, I saw it too. And last time, without even a shield, he spun his blade like a windmill and deflected arrows. That's not human skill."
At his subordinates' words, Gujangwon smacked his lips and scratched his head. It was true that he had lived as a wandering martial artist in his youth, and it was true that he had learned a sword technique called the Samjae Sword Technique—a sword art too embarrassing to call true martial arts anywhere else.
But explaining the difference between a third-rate vagrant bum like himself and a real murim warrior to his subordinates was no easy task.
"No. Forget it. Pretend you didn't hear."
As Gujangwon waved his hand, the subordinates immediately began spouting vulgarities about the new courtesan at the brothel or chattering about gambling and drink. But not everyone was like that.
"I want to hear more."
"Hmm?"
The squad leader turned his head and looked at Wicheonsaeng.
"Was my story that interesting?"
He was by no means eloquent, even if he was skilled with a blade. But seeing Wicheonsaeng's eyes light up, he straightened his shoulders slightly.
"Squad Leader, the Samjae Sword Technique you've mastered. How can I learn it?"
"Interested?"
"Yes. Because I don't want to die."
At Wicheonsaeng's earnest gaze, Gujangwon stroked his chin and smacked his lips.
"I'll tell you now, the Samjae Sword Technique I learned is something too embarrassing to even call martial arts."
"But if I learn it, I can become as strong as the squad leader, can't I?"
"As strong as me..."
Among the soldiers, Gujangwon was an outstanding warrior. But even he was at best a third-rate vagrant by murim standards.
All he had learned was the Samjae Sword Technique, and even then, his attainment in the paired Samjae Heart Method was abysmal. The rural martial hall where he had been privately tutored had prioritized external arts over internal energy from the very beginning.
"I can teach you if you wish. But not for free."
It was his livelihood, after all.
"How much would it be?"
"Half your monthly pay!"
"Let's do that."
At Wicheonsaeng's momentum, charging in without hesitation, Gujangwon, the one who had brought it up, blinked. How could a soldier so readily offer up half of a military salary that was already meager?
Thanks to the grace of the Divine Dragon Emperor, even the lowliest soldier received a monthly wage enough to sustain himself, but it was by no means a generous amount.
"Are you truly going to do this?"
"Yes. So could you teach me one thing first?"
"What are you curious about?"
"I've been watching all this time... Every time you use a stance, your breathing changes."
"What?"
How in the world had he detected that? No, was it even possible to detect changes in another person's breathing on a battlefield where life and death crossed paths?
"I tried to imitate it, and for an instant, strength welled up, but I quickly ran out of breath."
"You tried to imitate it?"
Gujangwon's mouth hung open in disbelief.
*
*
*
"Fire!"
At the commander's shout, the cannons mounted on ox carts belched fire. In their wake, the limbs of enemy soldiers scattered in every direction.
"Kao! Kao!"
The lesser green demons likewise fired their catapults as if unwilling to be outdone.
Half of the catapults the lesser green demons had crafted shattered upon firing, but several boulders nonetheless soared toward their targets.
"Shields up!"
"Get down!"
—Kwa-kwa-kwang!
They raised their shields or bent their bodies by the manual, but it had little effect.
"Keuak!"
Those hit directly were crushed beyond recognition, and even nearby soldiers screamed as they were struck by flying debris.
"Spears!"
"Kwooooo!"
After the lesser green demons' catapults came the charge of the green demons.
There was no way to face the charge of the green demons, whose heads were two sizes larger than a human's, except to set spears like when facing cavalry, dull their momentum, and push the entire formation forward.
After all, a single green demon could easily take down four soldiers.
But regrettably, this time it was not easy.
"Kuuuuu..."
Among them was one whose head was especially larger than the other green demons. When it swung a crude blade that must have been looted from somewhere, the front line collapsed in an instant.
'Hup... huu...'
As the vanguard soldiers were trampled in an instant, it was soon Wicheonsaeng's turn.
He had been regulating his breath since the moment the green demons charged.
Unlike when he had mimicked Gujangwon's breathing alone, now that he had properly learned and practiced the formulas of the Samjae Heart Method, his breath had grown much longer.
"Kwooo!"
Finally, the situation reached the point where the soldier right in front of Wicheonsaeng had his head torn off. Wicheonsaeng straightened his slightly bent legs and leaped forward.
"Haat!"
The Samjae Sword Technique was divided into three stances: the Mount Tai Suppressing Peak, the Horizontal Sweep of Thousand Armies, and the Immortal's Guiding Path.
They were grandiose names, but in truth they were only three movements: a vertical slash, a horizontal slash, and a thrust.
Since he held a spear, there was only one choice: the Immortal's Guiding Path.
A simple strike hardly worth calling a stance. But the moment the stance refined for that singular purpose unfurled—
—Thwack!
Exaggerating only slightly, the spearhead shot forth like an arrow and accurately pierced the green demon's throat. The green demon could not react at all to the speed that exceeded expectations.
Without even enjoying the satisfaction of having shattered the battle line with its awesome might, it spewed black blood and toppled over.
"Kuwaaa!"
There was no time to let his guard down after felling one. Wicheonsaeng immediately picked up the crude blade that had fallen to the ground and unleashed the Horizontal Sweep of Thousand Armies. But this time, it was blocked at the forearm.
"Keuk!"
Was it because he was flustered at failing to fell it in one blow? His breathing faltered. Against the following counterattack, Wicheonsaeng rolled across the ground without hesitation.
"Chahat!"
Even while rolling on the ground, he nimbly circled to the left and swung the crude blade. The green demon, its ankle severed, could not bear its own weight and collapsed instantly.
"Die!"
Caught up in the exhilaration of battle, Wicheonsaeng now slashed the green demon with a blow bearing his full weight, paying no heed to stances or techniques.
"Hya! Truly astounding."
Gujangwon, who had been watching Wicheonsaeng's fight, let out a hollow laugh as if in admiration. All he had done was demonstrate a stance once and correct his posture.
Moreover, the Samjae Heart Method was so poorly taught that even he doubted whether he had instructed it properly.
"And yet... you're outright slaughtering green demons, are you?"
Already another green demon had its head torn off by Wicheonsaeng.
"I'll have to teach you external arts when we get back."
It was right when Gujangwon was thinking such stray thoughts.
"Hut!"
A lesser green demon that had been hiding among the green demons rushed at Gujangwon clutching a sharp dagger. He reflexively struck it down, but it was not alone.
"Damn!"
To let his mind wander in the middle of battle... He would have deserved death. But fortune was on Gujangwon's side.
—Shwaaaak!
A spear flew in from somewhere and skewered the lesser green demon whole.
"Are you alright?"
It was Wicheonsaeng. He had somehow sensed Gujangwon's peril and thrown his spear.
"...You're truly incredible, aren't you?"
"I still have a long way to go. The moment my focus wavers, even briefly, my breathing breaks."
"What an enviable fellow."
It had taken him half a year to see the effects of the Samjae Heart Method in the past. And even now, his breath would falter if he wasn't careful.
And yet this kid spoke such words after merely hearing the formulas and training for a few days to achieve such results.
'Isn't he stronger than me now?'
Gujangwon unknowingly gulped dryly.
"When we return, I shall guide you in external training. It is only natural to focus on external arts first. When your strength increases, you will gain more leeway in your breathing as well."
Things he had learned at the martial hall and long forgotten were now coming back to him.
Lessons that the Gujangwon of that time had let go in one ear and out the other.
But Wicheonsaeng's extraordinary talent brought those long-buried memories to the surface.
"Thank you."
"What thanks... Aren't I being paid for this?"
"Yes. That's true."
The two smiled wryly and swung their weapons at the green-skinned barbarians charging at them once more.
*
*
*
After the battle ended, Wicheonsaeng returned to the barracks and threw himself into earnest external arts training.
"Uuugh..."
"Don't move. For every stone you drop, I'm adding half a shichen."
Wicheonsaeng, arms fully outstretched in the horse stance. Stones were balanced on his knees, wrists, shoulders, and head.
"Squad Leader! Why are you tormenting our Cheonsaeng?"
"Cheonsaeng was amazing last time, wasn't he? I saw it—he took down a whole eight of those demons! Isn't he better than the squad leader now? Ah! Are you jealous?"
"Nonsense! The squad leader got eleven! He's not there yet!"
The squad members began chattering amongst themselves as they watched Wicheonsaeng training.
"Stop the nonsense and get lost! This is all for Cheonsaeng's sake!"
Gujangwon shouted and chased away those who were disturbing the training.
"It will be difficult... but this will surely help."
Even as he said so, Gujangwon glanced furtively at Wicheonsaeng's expression.
He had hated training in these foundational exercises as well.
But Wicheonsaeng thought nothing of the sort.
"I know. That it helps."
As his strength increased, so too would his capacity to store the power obtained through breathing. Growing stronger meant taking one more step away from death.
Thinking thus, the pain of training felt infinitely sweet.
"Besides, it's even a bit fun."
"Fun?"
Gujangwon made a disgusted expression.
'I can feel myself getting stronger.'
He could feel himself growing day by day, little by little.
To Wicheonsaeng, who had encountered martial arts for the first time in his life, every training session was simply a joyful and enjoyable experience.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────
Hya! That crazy bastard...