Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 97

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Chapter 97: When Young, I Knew Not Sorrow's Taste (2)

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The Xiao-Xiang River, the symbol of Hunan, eventually flowed into Dongting Lake. Such was the way of all under heaven.

Rumors of Yeon Sowol followed the Xiang River north and eventually reached Yuezhou, the great city beside Dongting Lake.

“They say a fellow named Yeon Sowol from the Guangdong Martial Alliance has been making quite a name for himself lately. A rising young talent.”

“Guangdong? There are martial artists in Guangdong?”

“They say something comes flying at your nose if you say that. His alias is Featherless Arrow, apparently.”

“Let him throw something. I’ll just throw it back.”

“I hear he’s an amazing fighter. Won Huiseung of Zhongnan got beaten by him.”

“Won Huiseung? The Dragon-Seeking Wanderer?”

“Yeah.”

“A rising young talent of the Zhongnan Sect isn’t easy to beat...”

“I told you, he’s good. There’s even a rumor that the Soaring Xiang Sword Wolf lost to him.”

“The Soaring Xiang Sword Wolf?”

“Yeah.”

“How is some guy from Guangdong so good at fighting...?”

“I told you, you’ll get hit saying stuff like that.”

People whispered among themselves.

A young man listening to them suddenly turned his head. He looked barely twenty.

“Namgung! Did you hear that?”

The young man called Namgung twitched a brow.

“Heard what?”

“They say he’s a great fighter.”

“Who is?”

“Yeon Sowol.”

“So what?”

“You’re the strongest man in Yuezhou.”

“Quit talking nonsense and drink. There are plenty of seniors around, so what do you mean, strongest man in Yuezhou...”

“I mean among the younger generation. Seriously, is there anyone under thirty who can beat you?”

“I’m a man of letters.”

“Honestly, the Namgung Family head is too much. Making someone destined to become the strongest under heaven prepare for the civil service examination. Not even as a military official, but as a civil official!”

“Did you just insult my father...?”

“N-no, that isn’t what I meant...”

Crash!

The cup Namgung threw slammed into the other young man’s nose.

Bang! Crash!

“Argh! Sorry! I’m sorry! I misspoke! Argh!”

The inn erupted as one young man lunged forward while the other fled, getting beaten all the way.

A handsome young man seated on the second floor watched them with a sneer.

“Ugh. Look at those smelly men tangling all over each other.”

“You’re not worried?”

“Hm? About what?”

“Yeon Sowol. They say he’s ridiculously handsome. Once he comes to Yuezhou, won’t all the women throw away trash like you and flock to him instead?”

“Huh? Why am I trash?”

The handsome young man looked genuinely confused, and the young man across from him frowned.

“You really don’t know, you Hwangbo bastard?”

“What?”

“Who did you sleep with yesterday?”

“Yesterday?”

The young man called Hwangbo began counting on his fingers. One, two, three...

“You bastard.”

He easily dodged the cup thrown by the man across from him, then asked, “Ah. Why?”

“Why? Why? Hey, don’t you realize something is wrong when you have to count them on your fingers?”

“Is love a crime?”

“Love? Looove? You call it love when you don’t even look at them after sleeping with them once? How many women have I seen crying because of you?”

“Does it have to last for it to be love? I loved them at the time. That’s why I bought them meals and jewelry. Do you know how much gold I’ve spent?”

“Die. Just die.”

The second floor of the inn was just as noisy.

In a corner on the first floor, a young martial artist sat with a sword propped beside him, shoulders drawn in.

He, too, was thinking of the name he had just heard.

“Yeon Sowol...”

A martial artist not yet twenty, who had come up from Guangdong to Hunan.

Yet he was already famous.

They said he threw rocks at anyone who insulted Guangdong.

They said he was handsome enough to make Pan An and Song Yu weep.

They said he had played a major role in wiping out a group of fallen Daoists in Hengyang.

Some people had already begun calling him a great hero.

“...How strange. I came all the way from Shaanxi through Hubei to Hunan, and nothing happened to me.”

The young martial artist quietly ate his meal. Plum blossoms were embroidered on his sleeve.

Then someone backed up and stepped on his foot. It happened because of the commotion caused by those young masters called Namgung and Hwangbo.

The person who stepped on him spun around in alarm, then went pale upon seeing the sword beside the young martial artist.

“Uh. Uh. Young Hero, I, um...”

If they had run into a foul-tempered martial artist, they might have suffered terribly.

But the youth in plum-blossom robes bowed first, despite having had his foot stepped on. He drew in on himself as he spoke.

“Ah, ah. S-sorry. I was l-lost in thought and couldn’t move out of the way...”

He could not even meet the person’s eyes, stumbling over an apology.

The person who had stepped on him was flustered instead.

“I-it’s all right.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Oh, don’t mention it.”

The other person had somehow ended up accepting the youth’s apology.

As they awkwardly left, they glanced back at the young martial artist.

‘There are timid martial artists like that, too?’

The young martial artist kept his head down and picked at his meal.

“Ugh... I think I’m going to get indigestion...”

The youth muttered under his breath.

* * *

After leaving Hengyang, Yeon Sowol traveled along the Xiang River toward Yuezhou.

The boat creaked over the rippling water, and the wind blowing along the river carried a definite hint of autumn.

Yeon Sowol faced Jin Geol, who sat by the rail, and made a request.

“You want me to teach you poetry?”

“Yeah. You’re well-read, Jin Geol.”

He was remembering when he first met Jin Geol at Governor-General Seo Myeongeum's drinking party.

‘They say people from all under heaven gather at Yueyang Tower. They might gather there and compose poems again, so it’d be better to prepare in advance.’

Jin Geol grinned.

“That’s true. I wouldn’t say my learning is shallow. My family originally wanted to make me a civil official. But poetry...”

Snap!

Jin Geol opened his fan. The lines of verse written by a Chenzhou courtesan appeared in elegant strokes.

“Why didn’t I think of this first? It’d be good for people of the Jianghu to know poetry too. When they meet officials, they might avoid being called ignorant Jianghu louts. And they could easily become friendly with people in the Jianghu who enjoy poetry. Sowol, that’s a truly good idea.”

Jin Geol immediately grew enthusiastic and lectured on poetry the entire way.

“What is most important in poetry? Everyone has a different answer, but personally, I think it is implication.”

“Implication?”

Yeon Sowol thought about it.

‘Ah, we learned this in Korean class.’

It was a way of conveying meaning indirectly and in a condensed form instead of saying it outright.

From Jin Geol’s explanation, it seemed to mean much the same thing.

“Without writing a single word, one fully captures the charm.”

“Words may end, but meaning has no end.”

An image beyond the image.

A landscape beyond the landscape.

“Not saying it directly, but conveying the subtle and complicated meaning held within. I think that is the essence of poetry.”

Yeon Sowol turned Jin Geol’s words over in his mind. He did not fully understand yet, but they somehow felt profound.

‘As expected, asking Jin Geol to teach me was a good call.’

They were friends, but Yeon Sowol asked respectfully in that moment.

“Could you give me an example?”

Jin Geol snapped his fan shut and immediately recited a poem. He did not hesitate even once, as though he had prepared it beforehand.

When young, I knew not sorrow’s taste,

Yet loved to climb the lofty tower.

To compose new verses, I forced myself to speak of sorrow.

Yeon Sowol quietly considered the poem’s meaning, then asked, “Is there implication in that?”

“Not really.”

Yeon Sowol tilted his head, and Jin Geol snickered.

“Listen to the latter half.”

Now I know sorrow’s taste in full,

I mean to speak, yet stop myself.

Instead I say, the weather’s cool. What a lovely autumn.

“Ah,” Yeon Sowol murmured.

“You get it?”

“I think so.”

“Explain it, then.”

“Hmm. He doesn’t speak directly of his sorrow. He hides it by saying that the weather is cool and autumn is lovely. But because of that, you can feel how immeasurably deep and heavy his sorrow is. Is that implication?”

Jin Geol grinned.

“As expected, you would have passed even if you’d taken the civil service examination. That’s right. That’s implication.”

Yeon Sowol silently reflected on what Jin Geol had said.

Without writing a single word, one fully captures the charm.

Words may end, but meaning has no end.

Then a thought suddenly came to him.

“But Jin Geol.”

“Yeah?”

“Who wrote that poem again?”

“A man named Xin Qiji.”

“There’s something wrong with that guy.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

Bang!

Yeon Sowol struck the prow of the boat.

“Think about it. Why wouldn’t a young person know sorrow? We all know it.”

A flood of memories came back to him.

A young person usually meant someone younger from the perspective of a middle-aged man, so Yeon Sowol, who was nearly twenty, counted as one too.

The more he thought about it, the more unfair it felt.

‘Haven't I tasted every kind of sorrow there is?’

Jin Geol burst into laughter.

“You lunatic. You’re probably the first person to nitpick that poem like this.”

Yeon Sowol frowned.

“Jin Geol, hearing you call me a lunatic doesn’t feel very good.”

“Huh? Why?”

Jin Geol’s eyes widened.

He looked honestly unable to understand.

For some reason, Yeon Sowol found himself at a loss for words.

As they studied poetry, the journey quickly passed, and the Xiang River eventually joined Dongting Lake.

“Dongting Lake! From here on, this is Yuezhou. Our destination.”

Jin Geol’s voice did not reach Yeon Sowol.

“Ah...”

He was overwhelmed by the scenery stretching before him.

Clear and tranquil.

A vast lake that seemed to hold the sky whole, its surface without a single ripple.

The lake stretched so far that the horizon was visible, and a single green mountain rose from it like a world apart.

A line of poetry Jin Geol murmured sank into Yeon Sowol’s stunned ears.

“A single green snail in a silver plate.”

One green snail within a white silver plate.

“Sowol.”

“...Huh?”

“Pull yourself together.”

Jin Geol stretched out a hand toward Dongting Lake.

“The ten-thousand-li Yangtze. The eight-hundred-li Dongting.”

The Yangtze was ten thousand li long.

Dongting was eight hundred li wide.

“Since ancient times, they took the character for river from the Yangtze and the character for lake from Dongting Lake, and called it Jianghu.”

Jin Geol’s eyes glittered with excitement.

They grew clear with nervous anticipation.

“From here on, this is the real Jianghu.”

* * *

As soon as they arrived in Yuezhou, Yeon Sowol’s group split up.

Jin Geol had declared that he and Won Huiseung would go their own way.

“You want me to go up Yueyang Tower alone?”

“Not alone. I told you to go with Lady So Hye.”

“Why aren’t you coming too?”

“So you’ll stand out, of course.”

Jin Geol patted Yeon Sowol’s shoulder, speaking like an elder.

“Your reputation is sufficient now. And I’ve taught you a fair amount about how to conduct yourself in the Jianghu. Do well on your own today. Rather than the four of us going together, it will draw more attention if you go with an unrivaled beauty at your side, even if she is a little young.”

Yeon Sowol thought Jin Geol’s way of speaking was remarkably irritating, but the words themselves made sense.

Jin Geol was deliberately trying to give him a push. It was Yeon Sowol’s first time ascending Yueyang Tower, and Jin Geol wanted him to leave a strong impression.

“Fine. I understand.”

“Hehe. Good. Won Huiseung and I will relax and get a feel for Yuezhou’s atmosphere our own way.”

Jin Geol and Won Huiseung waved and walked away.

Yeon Sowol sighed quietly and turned to So Hye.

“Lady So Hye. Let’s go.”

“...Unrivaled beauty... Hehe...”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, it’s nothing! Let’s go!”

For some reason, So Hye looked extremely pleased.

Yueyang Tower was a tall pavilion overlooking Dongting Lake.

It had originally begun as a watchtower for military purposes, so it rose from a high stone platform like a fortress, with several stories of pavilions built above.

It was remarkably high. From the top floor, the view opened far into the distance.

Golden tiled roofs, raised like birds spreading their wings, lined the stories one after another, as though they were all about to fly toward Dongting Lake.

‘This is one of the Three Great Pavilions Under Heaven!’

One of the three pavilions said to be the finest in all the world.

Yeon Sowol and So Hye looked around constantly as they entered Yueyang Tower.

People gathered in small groups inside, admiring the scenery and drinking.

‘...Where should we sit? Can we just sit anywhere?’

It was awkward for someone visiting for the first time.

This was neither an inn nor a pleasure house, so there was no attendant to guide them. They had to find a place and enjoy themselves on their own, but people filled every spot. Yeon Sowol had no idea where they were supposed to fit in.

He and So Hye were hovering awkwardly when someone addressed him.

“Could you be Young Hero Yeon from Guangdong?”

The voice came from someone he did not know at all.

“Yes, that’s right. Do you know me?”

Yeon Sowol hurriedly cupped his fists, and the other person returned the gesture with a broad smile.

“Ah! I’ve heard so much about you. They say you distinguished yourself greatly in Hengyang? If you are Young Hero Yeon, then the lady beside you must be Lady So Hye, the flower of the Hengshan Sect. I recognized you both at once.”

“Th-thank you.”

So Hye blushed as she returned the salute.

“Please come this way. Fellow travelers of the Jianghu have gathered on the top floor. They will all be glad to hear that Young Hero Yeon has arrived.”

Yeon Sowol happily followed.

‘So this is why Jin Geol said I had to build my reputation first!’

The top floor of Yueyang Tower was a cozy and beautiful space with an unobstructed view.

At the moment, young martial artists had practically taken over the whole floor.

When Yeon Sowol followed his guide upstairs, a conversation was already in full swing.

Several people did most of the talking. Whenever they spoke, others applauded and exclaimed in admiration, making it clear they were especially well-known.

“Do you know how hard it is to prepare for the civil service examination? There are so many classics to memorize, and writing the eight-legged essay is no easy task either.”

“My goodness. Young Master Namgung excels in martial arts and is accomplished in learning as well. You are truly skilled in both literary and martial pursuits. How admirable.”

“Ha... It isn’t such a great feat. What does it matter if this body suffers? I only fear failing to live up to my father’s expectations. I only fear being unable to contribute to this country.”

“Ooh...”

“As expected, an educated man speaks differently.”

As Yeon Sowol watched the man called Young Master Namgung speak bitterly, he thought,

‘Why is someone who studies coming to a place like this?’

The moment Young Master Namgung finished speaking, someone immediately seized on his words. He wore flamboyant, flowing robes and had a mischievous face. He was an exceptionally handsome man.

“Study, study. Brother Namgung, the world isn’t found inside books. You need to learn a little about love. The burning love of a single night. Then the heart-rending sorrow when those feelings cool... How can you hope to become an official governing the people without knowing that?”

“What did you say, you punk?”

Yeon Sowol watched the two bicker and thought again,

‘He looks like some flashy womanizer.’

Then the man who had brought Yeon Sowol interrupted the conversation.

“Everyone, look here. I have brought Young Hero Yeon Sowol from Guangdong and Lady So Hye of the Hengshan Sect.”

Every gaze turned toward them at once.

“Yeon Sowol? That Yeon Sowol?”

“Wow... He really is handsome.”

“Lady So Hye. They called her the flower of the Hengshan Sect, and there was not even the slightest exaggeration in her reputation.”

People whispered.

Then someone among them mischievously called out,

“Young Hero Yeon! We were just discussing rather bitter matters. The hardship of quietly sitting down to read while the world rushes on. Thirst born of love. The pain of separation. Has Young Hero Yeon ever experienced such things?”

Yeon Sowol reflexively searched his memories.

Bitterness.

The first thing that came to mind was a small fist striking the back of his head and a fading voice murmuring that things were complicated.

Lady Eun-yeong.

“...”

Yeon Sowol's heart sank in an instant.

“Ooh, looks like there is, looks like there is.”

“There is, isn't there?”

“What a complicated expression.”

“A woman. It must be a woman.”

The young martial artists erupted in teasing chatter.

Then another voice asked mischievously,

“If you came from Guangdong, this must be your first time seeing Dongting Lake. What do you think of it? If you were to tell the person you're thinking of about Dongting Lake, what would you say?”

It was a casual question.

He could answer or not. He could give a vague answer or make something up.

But the face that suddenly came to mind was Eun-yeong’s.

The light question became heavy.

Had Eun-yeong ever seen Dongting Lake?

What would it have been like if they had come here together?

Would it have felt complicated to her then, too?

“Young Hero Yeon?”

So Hye looked up at him, as if she had sensed something strange.

Yeon Sowol’s lips parted, then closed, then parted again.

At a breath of cool wind blowing from the lake, he finally smiled and spoke.

“The weather’s cool. What a lovely autumn.”