WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
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◈ Martial Arts Survival Guide ◈
Chapter 10: From Now On
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During his twenty years in the Peach Blossom Realm, Baek Hyun had eaten nothing but a single immortal peach. As a soul, he had never felt hungry, but that didn’t mean he had never wanted something to eat or drink. So when he heard the word “liquor,” his lips stuck out in a great pout.
“Don’t be so upset.”
Ju Han-o sat down with a wry smile.
“There was never much cause for celebration, and you never asked for any, did you?”
“That’s because I didn’t know you had any.”
Grumbling, Baek Hyun sat across from Ju Han-o. His disciple’s complaints did nothing to wipe the smile from Ju Han-o’s face.
“Since this is the first and last time, it had better be good liquor, right?”
“I don’t know your tastes, but it’s a drink I’m quite fond of.”
Ju Han-o waved a hand as he answered. A table laden with food and drink appeared where there had been nothing. The sight made Baek Hyun angry all over again.
“If you could do this, why didn’t you give me a single bowl of rice in twenty years?”
“You never said you were hungry.”
“Do people have to be hungry to eat?”
“Why would you eat if you weren’t hungry?”
Ju Han-o looked puzzled as he asked. Baek Hyun silently glared at him. He was truly grateful to his master, but he bitterly resented him over things like this. Seeing the resentment in Baek Hyun’s eyes, Ju Han-o gave a helpless chuckle and picked up the bottle on the table.
“Let me pour you a drink.”
“Yeees.”
Baek Hyun drew out his answer to show just how annoyed he was. In truth, though, he simply didn’t want to show how sad he felt.
Twenty years. It was a long time, yet why did it seem so short now that he looked back on it?
Baek Hyun watched the golden liquor fill his cup. Even its color looked far more refined than the soju he used to drink outside, and for booze, it smelled damn good.
“Shall we say cheers?”
“Cheers?”
When Ju Han-o failed to understand, Baek Hyun grinned and held out his cup. Ju Han-o stared blankly at it, then finally realized what “cheers” meant and chuckled.
Their cups met. Baek Hyun emptied his in one gulp. The liquor was as smooth and delicious as its color and scent promised.
“If you had liquor this good, you should’ve opened it ages ago.”
“How many times are you going to complain?”
Ju Han-o chuckled. Once Baek Hyun’s cup was empty, he filled it again. Baek Hyun picked up his chopsticks and tried one dish after another. It was his first food and drink in over ten years. Sweet, salty, delicious.
Yet he couldn’t simply enjoy the taste. He knew this was the last time.
Baek Hyun glanced at the master sitting across from him. His master, the Martial God Demon, Ju Han-o. He was watching Baek Hyun with a gentle smile. Seeing that smile brought a dull ache to Baek Hyun’s chest.
Twenty years, both short and long. During that time... he had talked about so many things with his master. He had heard so much and learned so much. He had learned more from Ju Han-o than he had in his entire life before that. His master had given him trust, care, and guidance that no one else ever had.
‘Ah.’
He drank cup after cup. He had always been a fairly good drinker, but never this good. Despite drinking without a break, he didn’t feel drunk at all. His body was holding the effects of the liquor in check.
“Having a martial artist’s body is a pain.”
“You don’t have to get drunk, do you? If you truly wish to, you need only will it.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot? I know I could clear my head whenever I wanted if I got drunk that way. That’s not really getting drunk.”
“Losing yourself to drink is an ugly thing.”
“But aren’t there times when you want to do just that?”
“It seems you want to get drunk.”
“That’s how I feel right now. This is the last time, after all. Aren’t you sad to part with me, Master?”
“Do you take me for a coldhearted man?”
Ju Han-o burst into hearty laughter at Baek Hyun’s sulky question.
“Hyun... you are the only person to whom I have given everything.”
“...”
“I never had children, but you were like a child to me. You alone share a part of my past and memories that no one else knows. You are another part of me, my son, and my disciple. How could I not be sorry to part with you?”
“...Damn it.”
At Ju Han-o’s words, Baek Hyun felt a sting in his nose.
“Then why didn’t you show it sooner?”
“I thought I showed it quite often. Did you not feel it?”
“I did.”
It would have been a lie to say he hadn’t. The Ju Han-o he knew wasn’t coldhearted. Nor was he stern all the time. If anything, he was the sort of person who worried that Baek Hyun trained too hard.
“Do you hate saying goodbye?”
“Would you expect me to enjoy it?”
“But you know it cannot be helped.”
Ju Han-o murmured those words as he looked down at his cup.
It couldn’t be helped. Baek Hyun knew that. And because he knew, he couldn’t stubbornly insist otherwise. He had accepted that long ago.
Just as Baek Hyun had his own life, Ju Han-o had his. Just as Baek Hyun had decided to walk his own martial path, Ju Han-o had a martial path he wished to pursue.
“I have no intention of standing in the way of the path you want to take, Master.”
The bottle floated into the air. Baek Hyun had used Remote Object Manipulation. As he poured liquor into Ju Han-o’s cup, he spoke in a thick voice.
“Go ahead and ascend to immortality.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
A faint smile crossed Ju Han-o’s face.
“What happens after your ascension to immortality?”
“I suppose I will enter a world where the physical body has no meaning.”
Ju Han-o raised his eyes. A ceiling blocked the view above him, but he wasn’t looking at it. His gaze reached somewhere far, far higher.
“I don’t believe that place is the end of the martial path. It, too... will be another beginning. Though I won’t know until I get there.”
“Is it like a world of immortals? What if you get there and the other immortals start giving you a hard time?”
“Who knows? I’m not certain, but I have caught a faint glimpse of the Immortal Realm. There were quite a few people there. I doubt I’ll be lonely.”
“Be honest. There are immortals stronger than you, aren’t there?”
“It would be a lie to say there aren’t. But there weren’t many. Seeing that made me quite proud.”
His words were filled with pride. Hearing them, Baek Hyun felt pleased as though it were his own achievement, and he smiled.
They ate all the food on the table and emptied several more bottles. As they did, they talked about many things. They talked about the twenty years they had spent together as master and disciple.
Baek Hyun talked about himself, and after listening, Ju Han-o shared stories of his own. Baek Hyun had met the ten-year-old Ju Han-o and the fifteen-year-old Ju Han-o. He had met his thirty-year-old and forty-year-old selves, too. He had even met the countless people Ju Han-o had fought. Even so, there was still so much to talk about.
“When we first met, I thought you were a crazy old man.”
“And I thought the disciple I had gone to such trouble to summon was worth less than dog shit.”
“Surely I was better than dog shit?”
“Far better.”
“And you weren’t a crazy old man either, Master.”
They laughed together over their silly talk.
“When you have the chance, find someone with Innate Martial Genius to take as your disciple. Don’t leave it until later and put yourself through the trouble I did because I couldn’t find one.”
“I don’t know if anyone in my world has Innate Martial Genius.”
“Promise me. Promise you’ll take a worthy disciple.”
“What counts as a worthy disciple?”
“Someone better than you, Hyun.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone like that.”
They made promises, too.
“Hyun.”
Ju Han-o poured liquor into Baek Hyun’s cup.
“Yes, Master.”
“Long ago... when we went to find an immortal peach together, do you remember what we talked about?”
“I do.”
“Are immortals gods?”
“I believe it is the stage a human reaches before becoming a god. Do you understand what I mean?”
“...Not really.”
“I said that learning the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art could make one a god, but I failed to become a god and only became an immortal.”
“...What does that mean?”
“It is too soon for you to understand, Hyun.”
He remembered. The day he had left the mansion with Ju Han-o for the first time. The day he had first eaten something in the Peach Blossom Realm. The day he had eaten an immortal peach that gave him a hundred years’ worth of internal energy. The day he had first met Snowfire Phoenix Yu Un-ryeo and her disciple, Sara.
“The Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art is incomplete.”
Ju Han-o spoke with a bitter smile. He slowly brought his cup to his lips. Watching his master drink, Baek Hyun nodded.
“I know.”
“...A martial art that only those with Innate Martial Genius can learn. That was no lie. But even with my Innate Martial Genius... I could not complete the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art.”
Though he called it incomplete, there was nothing wrong with using the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art. Strictly speaking, the art itself wasn’t incomplete.
“It was my own shortcomings that kept me from reaching the end of the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art.”
He had created it himself, yet he had failed to reach its end. How absurd was that?
“The Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art is a martial art, yet it is not. It is your own mind, qi, and body. It is martial arts themselves. I sought to place martial arts within the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art, and somehow, beyond what I deserved, I succeeded. But... though I sought to shatter heaven and become a god, I only became an immortal.”
“...Then couldn’t you train more and try to become a god?”
“...Heh. I have devoted a hundred and twenty years to the martial path. Arrogant all my life, I prided myself on never once having struggled with martial arts. But the Central Plains were too small for me. That is why I intend to ascend to immortality and go to the Immortal Realm.”
As he spoke, Ju Han-o once again looked into the distance.
“That place is certain to be wider than the Central Plains. ...Are you disappointed in your inadequate master?”
“Why would I be disappointed in you? Honestly, calling it incomplete is ridiculous. The Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art is a complete martial art. You just haven’t reached peak mastery of it.”
“Isn’t that even more absurd?”
“No, that wasn’t how I meant it... Anyway, I’m not disappointed in you at all. To me, you’re a great man, the best under heaven, and... well, you’re amazing.”
Baek Hyun emptied his cup after saying that.
“...When I was young... I lost my parents in a major accident. After that, I never had anyone who could take their place. There was no one who truly believed in me, helped me, or taught me. You were that person for me, Master. At first, I was a little annoyed that you suddenly brought me here without asking, but anyway... If I was your child and disciple, then you were my parent and master.”
“Then why didn’t you show it sooner?”
Ju Han-o chuckled as he spoke. They were the exact words Baek Hyun had said earlier. Baek Hyun blinked, then laughed out loud.
“I thought I showed it quite often.”
Master and disciple looked at each other and laughed.
“Hyun.”
“Yes, Master.”
“One day, if you can, complete the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art.”
“How could I do something even you couldn’t do?”
“I only created the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art late in life, but you have already learned it from me, haven’t you? You have more than enough time, so at least give it a try.”
“I’ll try.”
There was little liquor left in the bottle. Ju Han-o picked it up himself and filled Baek Hyun’s cup.
“Hyun.”
“Yes, Master.”
Their cups were filled for the last time.
“Do you now understand what martial arts are?”
From Ju Han-o’s lips came a question Baek Hyun had heard long ago, and again as he gained enlightenment.
“I intend to learn little by little.”
Baek Hyun answered with a smile. Ju Han-o smiled in satisfaction.
“There is no single right answer in martial arts.”
They both emptied their cups.
“Even I... still cannot define what martial arts are.”
As he spoke, Ju Han-o slowly rose to his feet.
“So don’t be impatient. Take your time finding the answer, and enjoy martial arts themselves along the way.”
“Yes.”
Baek Hyun looked up at his standing master, then quietly rose as well. After that, he knelt on the spot.
“...Thank you for everything.”
With those words, Baek Hyun bowed deeply to the floor before Ju Han-o. Watching him, Ju Han-o clasped his hands behind his back and smiled warmly.
“Having you as my disciple brought me joy, Hyun.”
A faint light surrounded Ju Han-o’s body.
“From now on... you shall carry on the name of the Martial God Demon, Hyun.”
“...Yes.”
With those final words, Ju Han-o’s body was completely swallowed by light.
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