WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 101: When Young, I Knew Not Sorrow's Taste (6)
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Moyong Ha sent word to each of the rising young talents who had agreed to join her.
She asked them to gather at a specified place, on a specified day and at a specified hour.
The responses split broadly into two groups.
“Uh. Sounds like a hassle.”
They had stepped forward boldly at the time because they had been drinking and there were people watching, but now they had no motivation at all.
They boldly decided to pretend they knew nothing about it.
“I’m a little busy that day, too...”
Still, not everyone was like that.
“Oh, right. We agreed to do that. I should go.”
“She’s really going through with it. As expected...”
“Hmm. Would it look bad if I didn’t go?”
“It’s not like I have anything else to do.”
Though they were few, some truly supported Moyong Ha’s cause.
Some admired her.
Some were simply reading the room.
Others were just bored.
People of all kinds answered Moyong Ha’s call.
As for Namgung Ujin, the fourth young master of the Namgung Family, he could be said to belong to both groups.
“Ah. I need to study...”
Whatever else he did, he was preparing for the civil service examination.
He had remained here by order of the Namgung Family Head, who had told him to settle by Dongting Lake, where great writers from across the land gathered, meet many people, exchange ideas, and learn from them.
Every night, he went out into the streets to drink. Sometimes that led to fights, and eventually he even earned the reputation of being Yuezhou’s foremost rising young talent.
Still, he studied during the day.
Going out at night was only to relieve the pent-up frustration that built from studying all day...
“What a headache.”
As Namgung Ujin agonized over it, his friends asked him,
“You should still go. You like Young Lady Moyong.”
“Yeah. You love her.”
Namgung Ujin’s thick brows drew together.
“It’s not like that.”
“What do you mean, it’s not like that? You totally like Young Lady Moyong.”
“That’s right. You love her.”
“I said it’s not that serious.”
“So you hate her?”
“Is there anyone who hates a beautiful woman?”
Namgung Ujin tipped back his cup and swallowed the liquor.
“I just feel good when I see her, and she’s fun to be around. That’s all. It’s not that I like her or love her.”
“That means you like her.”
“That means you love her.”
Namgung Ujin scoffed at his friends’ words.
“What do you idiots know? Do you think love between great families is that simple? Moyong is in Liaoning and Namgung is in Anhui. What would either side gain if we got together? There are plenty of beautiful women in Anhui, too. I’m just having fun here. That’s all, having fun.”
“So Young Lady Moyong called for you, and you’re not going?”
“...I’m thinking about it.”
Namgung Ujin quickly drained another cup.
* * *
At last, the day arrived.
Yuezhou’s rising young talents gathered in front of Yueyang Tower.
There were just under half the number who had originally agreed to come.
Moyong Ha was delighted to see them.
“Sowol, nearly half came. Isn’t that amazing? I guess I’ve been doing pretty well since I came to Yuezhou.”
Yeon Sowol agreed.
‘Even when people make plans to go hang out, tons of them cancel on the day itself. Half showing up really is impressive.’
Moyong Ha approached each person, cupped her hands, and greeted them.
“Young Master Namgung, you came. You must have been busy studying for the civil service examination... Thank you so much.”
“Don’t say that. Isn’t taking the examination and entering office meant to make the people’s lives easier? There is a chance to help the people even before I enter office, so how could I refuse?”
“As expected...!”
“By the way, it seems that Hwangbo bastard didn’t come. He swore he would be here that day.”
“He must have had something urgent to do.”
“Ha! Urgent business, my foot. For a child of a great family to take his own word so lightly.”
For some reason, Namgung Ujin looked pleased as he thumped his chest.
“Anyway, do not worry, Young Lady. I have learned martial arts, but I also study Nature Learning. Once one learns Nature Learning, one can see a thousand li even while sitting in a room sealed on all sides. Whatever you seek, I will find it.”
“That is reassuring, Young Master.”
Namgung Ujin spoke boldly.
Yeon Sowol listened with interest from a short distance away.
‘Nature Learning. Right. If he’s preparing for the civil service examination, of course he’d study Nature Learning.’
He recalled the day he had first met Seo Myeongeum, Governor-General of Liangguang.
Where the heart reached, nature’s qi stirred. That day, Seo Myeongeum’s heart had seemed to cover the broad river and every mountain in the area.
It was more diffuse than a martial artist’s qi sense, but in return it was infinitely broad, a vast awareness that covered heaven and earth.
A miraculous ability born from cultivating the spirit before essence and qi.
What would happen if someone learned Nature Learning alongside martial arts?
With that question in mind, Yeon Sowol looked at Namgung Ujin.
Sure enough, nature’s qi around Namgung Ujin stirred in a slightly unusual way.
A martial artist’s qi sense usually swept over the surroundings quickly and sharply.
At the same time, a broad, diffuse awareness slowly enveloped the area and surveyed it.
It was as if martial learning and Nature Learning complemented each other.
But...
‘It’s too narrow. He may have trained his spirit through Nature Learning, but it doesn’t seem very expansive.’
It could not compare to Seo Myeongeum, whose awareness had covered heaven and earth.
At best, it might cover Yueyang Tower.
‘Well. It might still help us track down the Demonic Path bastards.’
Yeon Sowol was not especially close to Namgung Ujin, but he still held some expectations.
‘Just how much synergy can martial learning and Nature Learning create?’
By then, Moyong Ha had finished explaining the plan.
Some would spread out through Yuezhou, looking for cries for help and peddlers in the back alleys. Others would leave Yuezhou and search along Dongting Lake.
“I’m going to Dongting Lake. They say a dragon lives there.”
“I’ll go toward Dongting Lake as well.”
Won Huiseung and So Hye both headed toward the lake, leaving only Yeon Sowol behind.
Jin Geol had already started early that morning, visiting inns all over Yuezhou in search of places offering chili pork.
And so, the young martial artists began probing Yuezhou’s darkness.
“This is kind of fun.”
“I wonder what we’ll turn up.”
Their youthful vigor overflowed.
* * *
People say youthful vigor burns hot.
Sometimes so hot that it could not be contained.
But in truth, there was a very simple way to cool it down.
“...Anything?”
“...Nothing. What about your side?”
“...Nothing here either.”
“...Tch.”
Nothing had to happen.
No excitement, nothing stirring.
All it took was a boring repetition that went on and on.
“Are we sure we can trust this? That <Yuezhou Guide to Avoiding Danger> or whatever it’s called, wasn’t it a record left by merchants in the first place?”
“Young Lady Moyong must have thought it through.”
“I don’t think she thought about us. This is hopeless. How long are we supposed to keep wandering around?”
“...That’s true.”
Wander around Yuezhou until they heard someone crying for help.
Or wander around Yuezhou until they spotted a peddler in a back alley.
Yuezhou’s rising young talents quickly tired of this open-ended task.
Of course, from Yeon Sowol’s perspective, their complaints were pretty ridiculous.
Whenever Yeon Sowol ran into one of them while making the rounds, he asked a question.
“Why did you bring a sword?”
“You expect me to leave it behind? A weapon is an extension of a martial artist.”
“No. Didn’t Young Lady Moyong say earlier that suspicious people would approach only if we went around pretending to be ordinary? If you walk around looking threatening with a sword in hand, they’ll all run away.”
“You have a point, but I need to carry my weapon.”
“...”
That was how it went.
There were all kinds, too.
“Why are you wearing such expensive clothes?”
“Don’t I look good?”
“...”
“Why are you drinking?”
“I’m still not sober from yesterday’s drinking...”
“...”
Yeon Sowol could not understand them.
‘Do these people even intend to find anyone?’
Yet they kept grumbling as they went about things that way.
“Not even a hair in sight!”
“Could Young Lady Moyong have been mistaken?”
“Ah... I really wanted to find traces of the Demonic Path... This is too difficult.”
What was difficult about it?! Even if Demonic Path practitioners were swarming everywhere, they would never find them searching like that!
Yeon Sowol barely swallowed the irritation rising in his throat.
Not every rising young talent in Yuezhou was like that, of course.
“...Young Hero Yeon, you have been working hard.”
“...Young Hero Seong, you have been working hard as well.”
There were some who took the search seriously, just like Yeon Sowol.
They deliberately wore shabby clothes, smeared a little soot on their faces, went without weapons, and wandered the back alleys to lure suspicious figures out.
Whenever such people ran into each other, they exchanged meaningful looks.
‘Most of them are useless.’
‘Hah. What can we do? Let’s work harder.’
They looked at one another with pity before passing by.
How much time had passed?
A rising young talent appeared, saying they had heard someone cry, “Help me!” in an alley.
By chance, Yeon Sowol and Namgung Ujin were passing nearby when they heard the story.
“It sounded like a little child, maybe five or seven years old.”
“So? Did you follow the voice?”
Namgung Ujin asked impatiently.
“Of course I did.”
“Was anyone there?”
“No.”
Namgung Ujin frowned.
“No?”
“There were only three or four people passing through. I asked whether there was a child crying for help, and they said the child was a well-known pickpocket in the neighborhood. Whenever the child thought they were about to get caught, they pretended to be innocent and cried for help.”
Namgung Ujin clicked his tongue.
“That’s what I’m saying. I think Young Lady Moyong made a mistake.”
He looked around.
Several rising young talents who had been casually searching were gathering nearby.
“Isn’t that how merchants’ rumors work? They exaggerate things that never happened to make them seem creepy. In reality, it was probably just a pickpocket child crying, ‘Help me!’ The person who heard it must have let their imagination run wild.”
As Namgung Ujin said that, the bored rising young talents quickly agreed.
“I think you’re right!”
“You can’t trust rumors going around anyway.”
With a fair number of people agreeing, Namgung Ujin became even more animated.
“Confucius himself did not speak of strange phenomena, feats of strength, disorder, or spirits. Why do you think that was? Because most of those things are nonsense. Truth is often simple. If you hear someone crying for help in an alley, it is probably someone truly asking for help. Or it is the trick of a bad child. Not some trap laid by a Demonic Path faction.”
“Exactly! Exactly!”
Namgung Ujin smirked and looked around.
Everyone looked bored.
“Well, we did search hard, so shouldn’t we have a drink? I’ll count today as a day off from my studies. Let’s go drink.”
“Let’s do that!”
The rising young talents poured out of the area.
Yeon Sowol was dumbfounded.
‘Could they be this completely useless and unhelpful?!’
He had expected Namgung Ujin to show something impressive after hearing that he studied both Nature Learning and martial learning...
Yeon Sowol’s disappointment ran deep.
Still, they had gathered out of goodwill, so he could not say much.
He only shook his head and continued searching with the few rising young talents who had not yet left.
It was around the time the sun began to sink low.
“Help me!”
Yeon Sowol heard it too.
From an alley.
The scream of a child who sounded about five years old.
Whoosh!
Yeon Sowol rushed into the alley in an instant.
But there was no child there.
He could see only three men who seemed to be passing through the alley, trudging along in different directions.
“Hm.”
Yeon Sowol narrowed his eyes.
He stepped forward.
His body swayed until it blurred.
Willow Leaf Steps.
He swayed like a reed as he surged forward and changed direction.
In an instant, he kicked each of the three men passing through the alley in the shins.
Bang! Crack! Snap!
“Argh!”
“Gah!”
“Urk!”
With sickening sounds, the three men were almost simultaneously hurled into the air before crashing to the ground.
“Ugh...”
“W-What was that...?”
“Cough! Cough!”
Yeon Sowol grabbed their ankles while they were still dazed, tossed them roughly to one side, and stood before them.
“W-What is this?!”
One of the men asked, his face pale.
With a blank expression, Yeon Sowol gave him an order.
“Do a child’s voice. Three. Two...”
“N-No, what are you...!”
“One.”
Bam!
His fist slammed into the area around the eye of the man who had tried to protest.
The back of the man’s head struck the alley wall, and he crumpled to the ground.
He looked dead.
“Eek!”
“Gah!”
The remaining two men turned deathly pale.
Still expressionless, Yeon Sowol approached another man.
“Do a child’s voice. Three. Two...”
“H-Help me!”
The man spoke.
In the perfect voice of a five-year-old child.
A smile appeared on Yeon Sowol’s lips, his face having been terrifyingly blank until then.
“So you’re the one?”
* * *
Namgung Ujin sat drinking and talking with Yuezhou’s rising young talents.
“What a shame... It would have been nice if there really were suspicious bastards around. I would have found every last one of them, made them kneel, and eased Young Lady Moyong’s worries!”
“Exactly. What a waste! If it had not been a false rumor, Young Hero Namgung surely would have found them.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
Namgung Ujin smacked his lips regretfully as he drank.
Then,
Bang!
The inn’s door burst open, and several men bound with rope staggered inside.
“What?”
Namgung Ujin frowned.
His eyes met Yeon Sowol’s as Yeon Sowol entered the inn. He held the rope binding the three men in his hand.
“What?”
“Who did he bring in?”
As everyone murmured, Yeon Sowol said,
“Could someone call Young Lady Moyong?”
One of the rising young talents asked,
“Who are they?”
Yeon Sowol did not answer.
He only tugged on the rope in his hand.
One of the bound men, who looked to be in his late thirties, spoke.
“H-Help me!”
In the unmistakable voice of a five-year-old.
!!!
Those who understood the implication set down their cups and widened their eyes.
Yeon Sowol asked the person who had said they heard a child’s voice earlier.
“Were these the people you saw when you entered that alley?”
“I-I think so.”
That settled it.
It proved that Yeon Sowol had truly caught suspicious people.
Yeon Sowol said,
“Sometimes truth is simple. You clearly heard a child’s voice, but there was no child there, only adults. Then one of the adults must have imitated a child.”
A child could not possibly run fast enough to escape a martial artist’s qi sense.
Nor would a ghost made of spirit have any reason to linger in such an alley.
It was simple elimination.
“Good heavens...”
“He found them like that?”
“There really were people...”
Yuezhou’s rising young talents each let out exclamations.
Some were impressed. Others were ashamed.
Yeon Sowol spoke again.
“Honestly, it was a petty trick. Anyone could have found them if they had put their mind to it and truly wanted to search. This Yeon only paid a little more attention.”
The rising young talents became even more ashamed.
“...”
Tap.
Namgung Ujin set down his cup.
His face was burning red.
Footnotes:
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