WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 59: When Water Is Too Clear, There Are No Fish (7)

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Yeon Sowol had only just learned that a game called a contest of martial skills even existed.

It was a game where both sides decided in advance which martial arts they would use, then matched moves against each other based on the compatibilities and traits of those arts.

'Is this basically like a Yu-Gi-Oh card game...?'

On one side, someone would say, "I shall attack with Northern Advance Flash from the Four Directions Sword Art!"

Then the other side would answer, "Then I shall knock it aside with Fire Wind Sweeps All Under Heaven, the seventh form of the Great Saber Art, flowing straight out of my previous middle stance. Northern Advance Flash is a move that values speed and precision, while Fire Wind Sweeps All Under Heaven is both swift and powerfully forceful. You have been overwhelmed in sword force and lost your balance!"

Then it would continue again... "What! Then I'll open the distance with Illusion and Reality, the third form of Jugeol Step..."

"Haha! I knew you would do that. So you didn't know what move comes after Fire Wind Sweeps All Under Heaven!"

"Gah! Don't tell me!"

That was the sort of game it was. Trading imaginary sword exchanges back and forth according to each other's knowledge, the common sense of the Jianghu, and mutual agreement.

"That's why it's ridiculous. No, seriously. I clearly said at the start of the contest of martial skills that I'd be using the Soaring Wing Sword, so how can he start insisting on things later when he didn't even know what that was?"

Upstairs at the inn, in Jin Geol's room.

In the little room that was barely ten square meters, Jin Geol thumped his chest in frustration.

At the cramped table in that cramped room, Yeon Sowol poured cheap liquor into Jin Geol's cup.

"But Jin Geol, there's something I'm curious about."

"Hm?"

"When people do one of these contests of martial skills, is it... normal to slip in moves they can't actually use?"

"Uh, no. If you pull something like that, you usually can't complain even if someone slaps you across the face."

"..."

Looking at Yeon Sowol's cold eyes, Jin Geol waved both hands.

"But I didn't have a choice."

"...Because you had to make money?"

"Exactly! Look. I'm a little strapped right now, all right? If I didn't cover my living expenses somehow, I was in trouble. Even a wager on a contest of martial skills was better than nothing."

Jin Geol glanced around his own narrow, dark room.

"...Then you should've just said something to me."

"Come on. How could I do that? I've got all four limbs working just fine! I should make money properly, by working honestly and within my own abilities. If I've got a friend and the first thing I do is hold out my hand, then that's not friendship."

"..."

Yeon Sowol was conflicted. He couldn't decide whether he should admire Jin Geol's proper idea of friendship or pick a fight with his crooked idea of labor.

"No. More importantly, why are you out of money in the first place? You had one gold tael."

"I did."

"Don't tell me you spent all of it."

"I did."

Yeon Sowol stared right at Jin Geol's face.

'He already spent an entire gold tael?'

It wasn't impossible. From what Yeon Sowol had heard before about Jin Geol's spending habits, he was absolutely the sort of person who could burn through one gold tael in barely half a month.

Still.

'For that to be true, he looks like he's been living like this for quite a while.'

Yeon Sowol quietly looked around Jin Geol's room. This wasn't the trace of someone who had stayed there for a day or two.

Right. It looked more like at least half a month.

If that was true, then it meant he'd spent the gold at least half a month ago, and that timing was strange too. If Jin Geol had been splashing money around like that back then, there was no way Yeon Sowol wouldn't have noticed.

So the time he spent that gold tael was...

Yeon Sowol's eyes narrowed.

"Jin Geol."

"Yeah."

"Back then. That day. The day Hang Inwoo betrayed us. The person who brought me the news that day looked like they'd run until they were drenched in sweat."

"I-Is that so? Sounds like a helpful person."

"They said they'd been paid."

"Ah. Right, did they?"

Watching Jin Geol quietly avoid his gaze, Yeon Sowol became certain.

He let out a long sigh.

"Did you spend a whole gold tael just to have that message delivered?"

"No. No, I didn't."

"That must've been all the money you had."

"Well, what good was all my money back then? I thought you'd died. Anyway, that's not it."

Jin Geol denied it to the bitter end.

Yeon Sowol felt something hot surge up inside his chest.

Now he could no longer treat Jin Geol's affairs like they were someone else's business. He had already been that way before, but now it became even more certain.

Yeon Sowol let out another long sigh.

"So what are you going to do? It seems that Hero Seong is really holding a grudge against you."

"...Well. I'll just have to keep avoiding him."

"And if he catches you?"

"Then it'll get ugly. If he finds out I can't actually use the Soaring Wing Sword, he'll start screaming that I humiliated him and demand that I draw steel. And if I draw steel, obviously I'll lose."

"You'd lose?"

"I would. Other than my inner cultivation method and archery, my martial arts are third-rate. Even against a fairly strong second-rate fighter, I'd probably lose in close combat. Like Brother Seon Jehun from your academy, or Mo Cheong."

Yeon Sowol's eyes widened.

He had only heard that Jin Geol had played a big role in the fight with Hang Inwoo, so he'd vaguely assumed Jin Geol was a master and hadn't known the details.

But his internal energy was first-rate while his martial arts were third-rate? Was that possible?

Jin Geol smiled.

"My parents were a little unusual. Our family had elders who served in office, and elders who learned martial arts and lived as people of the Jianghu, that sort of family... but my father and mother absolutely wanted me to take the civil service exam. At least the inner cultivation method was allowed as a kind of health-preserving art, but..."

Jin Geol said that he had been able to learn an inner cultivation method from other elders in the family and had been fed spiritual elixirs, but had never been taught proper martial arts like fist techniques or swordsmanship.

Yeon Sowol asked,

"Did you hate taking the exam that much? From what I saw back then, you seemed good enough."

"I've got a dream."

Jin Geol grinned.

"To see every spectacular sight under heaven, and share drinks with beautiful women, and with good friends too. That's always been my dream."

So Jin Geol had left home and thrown himself into the Jianghu.

Breaking the fate laid out for him, stepping beyond a mold and beyond his limits.

'He really is one of the Jianghu.'

With a strangely bittersweet feeling, Yeon Sowol said,

"Then how about leaving Shinheung County for a while?"

It was a delicate problem.

There wasn't anyone who didn't know Jin Geol was Yeon Sowol's friend.

If that Jin Geol got humiliated by Hero Seong?

Then Yeon Sowol's face would be dragged through the mud with him, and if Yeon Sowol lost face, Yi Yubaek's face would be damaged too.

Right now, all the people of the Jianghu gathered in Shinheung County were people who had come after hearing the names of Yi Yubaek and Yeon Sowol.

In that kind of situation, if Yeon Sowol and Yi Yubaek lost face, then, well... it would take the energy out of things. It might not ruin the larger undertaking all by itself, but there was no helping the fact that the mood would sour.

Even so, Jin Geol remained stubborn.

"I can't do that. My friend's doing something important. I can't just duck out without helping!"

'No. I think ducking out would be helping...'

Yeon Sowol couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. He owed too much to Jin Geol's loyalty for that.

Of course, Jin Geol knew Yeon Sowol was worried. He was a clever man too.

"I'll do my best to stay out of his way. Don't worry too much."

Yeon Sowol stared at Jin Geol. How was he supposed not to worry?

Jin Geol smiled awkwardly.

"Actually... there is one way."

Had he read Yeon Sowol's heart?

After hesitating a little, Jin Geol lowered his voice.

"If it really comes to that, there is something we can do. It's just very difficult."

"What is it?"

"I actually do have a Soaring Wing Sword manual."

Jin Geol spun around in his chair, pulled out his travel bag, and rummaged through it. The room was so small that if he just stretched out an arm, most things were within reach.

Thump!

He dropped a worn book onto the table.

"This is it. Since I need some martial arts of my own, I tend to buy up manuals whenever I get the chance. The Soaring Wing Sword is a pretty lofty sword art, but it's also widely known, so it's relatively easy to find manuals for it on the market. That's how I got one too."

"No, then why haven't you learned it up to now?"

"Well... I don't think this is a complete manual."

"It's incomplete?"

"Yeah. Some parts just don't make sense. There are sections that look like they'd cause serious trouble if you practiced them as written."

"What?"

Yeon Sowol was startled. No, the thought made his skin crawl.

From his point of view, knowing very well how dangerous it was to learn martial arts in this world, a flawed manual was something horrifying enough to send chills through him just imagining it.

"No. Someone sold a manual like that for money? Were they trying to get somebody killed...?!"

"Uh... I didn't buy it with money."

"Hm?"

"Yeah. More exactly, I got it through a wager, and the original owner wasn't someone who practiced martial arts in the first place... That person said they copied it from somewhere because they thought it might be worth money."

"No, what do you mean they copied martial arts from somewhere? Someone who's not even a martial artist?"

At that, Jin Geol said with a smug look,

"My friend, all sorts of things happen in the Jianghu."

"..."

Yeon Sowol no longer even had the strength to sigh.

"Anyway, because of that, I think a few characters are wrong here and there."

"...Are you sure it's even the Soaring Wing Sword?"

"It is. I checked! I may not be good at martial arts, but I'm rock solid on theory. I just can't learn it until it's corrected properly."

After saying that much, Jin Geol suddenly grabbed Yeon Sowol by the shoulder.

"But right here in front of me is a martial arts genius famous for astonishing comprehension! So what do you say, won't you help me out a bit? Sowol. If you help, maybe the parts that had me stumped will get sorted out in no time! Then I can learn the Soaring Wing Sword and show it to Hero Seong, and the whole problem is solved!"

There were two problems.

First, if Yeon Sowol helped, could they really correct the mistaken parts of the manual that quickly?

Second, even if they did, could Jin Geol really learn it that quickly?

When it came to that, Jin Geol was full of confidence.

"For sure! Once the manual's fixed, learning it is nothing! Even if I'm like this, my fundamentals are solid. Fundamentals are the one thing I had. There wasn't anything else I was allowed to do!"

Looking at those burning eyes, Yeon Sowol had no choice but to nod.

"Whew. Fine. I was planning to rest from training until tomorrow anyway... so let's take a look at this."

"Kuh! Good! Yeon Sowol! If it's you, you might fix the whole thing in a single day!"

The two of them filled each other's cups and, brimming with momentum, drained them in one long gulp.

"Hoo!"

"Huaa!"

Breathing out hotly through their mouths, they opened the Soaring Wing Sword manual together.

* * *

"...Jin Geol."

"...Yeah?"

"Just give back the silver and apologize."

"...Should I?"

"Yes. If you keep dodging him and get caught, it'll turn into something we can't handle again. Just apologize. I'm asking you. I'll lend you the silver for now too. All right? Please."

"...Should I...?"

The two young men walked through the night streets of Shinheung County, completely deflated.

The lantern in their hand swayed this way and that with their steps, casting wavering shadows.

It was the Hour of the Tiger, between three and five in the morning.

There wasn't a single person on the street.

The whole world was quiet and dark.

Even in this sultry southern land, the air was fairly cool at that hour before dawn.

Yeon Sowol and Jin Geol's eyes were red.

They had struggled for too long with a manual that refused to yield an answer.

"There was definitely progress..."

Jin Geol sounded regretful, but Yeon Sowol was firm.

"There was progress. We found a way to set it right for real. But we also came to a conclusion there, didn't we? We'd have to spend at least a full month doing nothing but digging into that."

"...That's true."

"We don't have that kind of time right now."

"...Right."

"And when I told you to skip the bandit subjugation and study that instead, our Jin Geol didn't want to do that either."

"That wouldn't be cool."

"...Just apologize."

"...Should I?"

The two of them had spent several hours holed up in that cramped little room doing nothing but stare at the book.

Now they were wandering the night streets aimlessly, trying to loosen up their stiff bodies and cool down their overheated heads.

"But Jin Geol."

"What is it, Sowol?"

"...Do you smell alcohol somewhere?"

"Hm?"

Yeon Sowol stopped in place.

There was no mistake.

The smell of alcohol.

He couldn't tell exactly when it had started, but once he noticed it, the scent of liquor was overpoweringly strong.

"Huh? You're right."

Only then did Jin Geol realize it and start sniffing the air.

Yeon Sowol felt his mind snap clear. The fatigue that had built up from poring over the book, even the buzz from the cheap liquor he'd had earlier, all vanished at once.

He looked around.

Before they knew it, thick fog had settled around them.

"What is this? Fog in the middle of the night? Damn. What kind of trick is this?"

Jin Geol swung the lantern around, but the thick fog blocked the light from reaching very far.

Just as Jin Geol's voice was starting to rise,

"Shh."

Yeon Sowol warned in a low voice.

"Hm?"

Jin Geol still had no idea what was going on, but Yeon Sowol did.

Right now, a passage he had once read in the Shinheung Danger-Avoidance Manual rose vividly in his mind.

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1.

If thick fog suddenly fills the streets and you smell alcohol, never raise your voice. Walk quickly as though you are in urgent business and leave the fog. You must neither earn anger nor invite favor.

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'What is this now...?'

Yeon Sowol swallowed once.

Then he spread his qi sense as far as it would go.

Footnotes:

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