WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 279: Those Who Break Walls (5)
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Sama Jeong submitted his resignation at once.
Though he was nominally the physician assigned to the Taeul Sect, he had been told no one would interfere with his relief work and promised ample support for the necessary herbs and funds.
Not only had he been given the remarkable medical text known as the Myriad Herbs Compendium, but he would also be able to produce the elixir pellets he had devoted so much effort to researching. It was an opportunity beyond compare.
On the very day he submitted his resignation, the Divine Physician Pavilion accepted it in a single day, an unusually swift decision.
Apparently, they were overjoyed that the thorn in their side, who had endured even after being pushed into an idle post, had finally walked out of his own accord.
Rumor had it that every physician in the Divine Physician Pavilion gathered for a banquet that night.
Regardless, Sama Jeong sold off what little he owned and met Jin Sowoon.
“What is this?”
“Travel expenses. It won’t be easy getting to Hefei in the dead of winter.”
“...”
Sama Jeong stared at the banknote Jin Sowoon held out.
Who gave this much money as “travel expenses”?
“Do you not understand the concept of travel expenses?”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand, Physician. Even if the Taeul Sect prepares what it can before you arrive, do you think we’ll have all the herbs and people needed to help with the work? Naturally, we need to procure what we can in a major city before we leave.”
“...Even so, what if I take this money and run away?”
“What can I do then? I’ll put a bounty on you and consider the money lost. It would mean I misjudged you.”
Sama Jeong truly could not understand Jin Sowoon.
It was strange enough for someone who had only just come of age to possess two thousand nyang in gold. Yet Jin Sowoon showed no hesitation in spending it.
No, it went beyond that. He seemed certain he would never lose it.
Jin Sowoon even shrugged, as if he had already seen several moves ahead.
“Even if you ran off with that money, you’d spend it all on relief work and helping people. What would you do about relief efforts afterward?”
“So I’d be better off staying with the Taeul Sect?”
“As long as the Taeul Sect doesn’t fall, you’ll be able to keep doing what you want.”
What he wanted to do.
It was strange.
For some reason, he wanted to believe this strange young man’s absurd words.
“Then I should do my part to ensure the Taeul Sect does not fall.”
“If you make us good elixir pellets, the Taeul Sect won’t collapse so easily.”
...Though Sama Jeong had a feeling Jin Sowoon would squeeze far more out of him than expected.
Shaking his head, he brushed away that ominous feeling.
“Ahem. About those elixir pellets. Will the Heart-Calming Pellet really do? If we’re spending the same amount, another elixir pellet might be better...”
Now that he knew the Heart-Calming Pellet had failed, continuing to make it would be nothing but a waste of time and money.
Yet Jin Sowoon, the investor, was firm.
“We need the Heart-Calming Pellet first. Once everyone in the sect has taken it, please make new elixir pellets. We’ll need to research internal energy anyway if we want to create something compatible with the Taeul True Scripture.”
Sama Jeong nodded as he listened.
“Very well. But there is another problem. It was an issue when I made the Heart-Calming Pellet before. The ingredients are difficult to obtain.”
It was not because they were too rare or expensive.
Rather, few people sought them out and they were not especially costly, so apothecaries did not stock them.
There were many substitute ingredients when compounding ordinary medicine, but those herbs were essential for creating elixir pellets.
Still, Jin Sowoon answered lightly, as though it were no concern at all.
“Once you’ve set up your practice in Hefei, I’ll find the herbs and bring them to you.”
“You will?”
“Yes.”
Sama Jeong had no idea how Jin Sowoon intended to obtain herbs that even seasoned herb gatherers struggled to find, but all he could do was nod.
He had much to prepare himself.
“Then I’ll begin making the preparations I can, as you said.”
Hefei was a major city, but it could not compare to Wuhan. Sama Jeong bought the herbs and tools available only in Wuhan, then sent them to the Great Heaven Merchant Group in Hefei.
After completing all his preparations for the move to Hefei, a problem arose.
It was the winter recess.
Not only were the regular routes operated by escort agencies fully booked, even the group travel packages specially offered during the winter recess had sold out.
Just as Sama Jeong was worrying that he might have to lead a horse to Hefei alone despite the unfamiliar journey, the Yoo Han Escort Agency contacted him.
“You’re lucky. Five seats happened to be canceled all at once.”
“Five seats?”
One or two seats would be understandable, but how could five be vacant at once?
“Well, what was it they said? Their Head Disciple decided to walk there... In any case, they looked terribly gloomy when they canceled.”
“All the way to Hefei?”
“That’s right. I knew martial artists attending the Academy were odd, but do they really have to be this odd? Walking all the way to Hefei in the middle of winter...”
Sama Jeong felt he knew exactly who the Academy students the escort warrior was talking about.
“...You’re right.”
Unaware of the ominous feeling rising in Sama Jeong’s heart again, the escort warrior added generously.
“Physician, if you ever meet people like that, run as fast as you can. The best thing is not to associate with them.”
“...”
Sama Jeong rubbed the two-thousand-nyang banknote inside his robes and seriously wondered whether he had made a terrible mistake.
“...”
No answer came, no matter how hard he thought.
#
“Hah... hah...”
She was gasping for breath.
Steps that had never felt difficult before now felt foreign and exhausting.
She knew exactly why.
‘This is insane. Moving while circulating my qi...’
Hong Saryeon had never cursed in her life, no matter what hardship she faced. Yet since leaving Wuhan, she had cursed inwardly every single day.
Then...
“Hey! It’s slipping again!”
Before she could even curse, a harsh shout rang out. The killing intent that gripped her whole body made every hair stand on end.
She had never faced killing intent like this, not even during sparring matches at the Academy.
Perhaps this was what someone would feel after killing another person’s parents for no reason.
Yet it made no sense.
She had never even been disrespectful to Hall Lord Jin Taesan, so why was that insane senior brother directing such killing intent at her?
“Are you not going to do it properly?”
“...”
When they were younger, he had clearly been a gentle and considerate person.
Whenever she comforted him during difficult times, he would force a smile with that unbearably fragile face of his...
“Hey! Can’t you hear me? You little brats! Start again!”
For some reason, he had become so vicious that if there were demons in hell, they might look like him.
‘Hah...’
Earlier this year, the movements of the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers at the Academy had been so strange that she asked them what was going on.
That was when she first learned of Dynamic Practice.
Qi-regulating breathing that accumulated internal energy little by little throughout the day.
She could not help being tempted.
But when she first tried it, the danger and fear that she might die from the slightest mistake overwhelmed her. Her whole body went limp, as though all strength had drained from her muscles.
She had been convinced it was impossible to live an ordinary life while doing something like this.
‘I definitely thought that...’
As she let out another deep sigh, sweating profusely and gasping in the middle of winter, Eunho handed her a water flask.
“Senior Sister, have some water.”
Saryeon stared blankly at the flask Eunho offered.
Eunho had trained so hard that steam rose from the hand holding it.
Saryeon was exhausted. She wanted to seize her Head Disciple by the collar and make him stop right away.
But she could not bring herself to quit.
Because of them.
“Hy-hyung... Bleurgh.”
“Huff! We have to endure...!”
The three brothers wore iron rings around their arms and legs, while their leather vests were packed with countless steel plates.
Even now, the vests were only half full, but that demon of a senior brother seemed intent on filling the rest soon enough.
“...”
Seeing her junior brothers follow without complaint despite suffering more than she was made her too ashamed to say she could not continue.
Saryeon barely shook her stiff neck.
“I’m fine. Drinking water is difficult right now too.”
Adding unnecessary movements while maintaining Dynamic Practice was madness.
Reducing every movement as much as possible was what mattered most right now.
“You should still drink. You need to if you want to endure.”
“Hmm?”
Eunho drooped his shoulders with a gloomy expression.
“The intensity of training isn’t going to decrease anyway.”
That expression, as though he had already lived through an entire lifetime...
She suddenly became curious.
“You did this training during the regular examination too?”
“Yes.”
“This is crazy. Completely crazy...”
While everyone else fussed that even devoting their full attention to the regular examination was not enough, he had taught them Dynamic Practice as training.
Her demon of a senior brother had clearly gone mad at some point.
No, she was certain of it. A person’s mind must break when their memory is too good.
When he was young, his poor memory must have crushed him and made him fragile. Now, those bad memories had driven him mad.
There was no other explanation.
As Hong Saryeon formed her own theory, Eunho added, “But thanks to it, we survived the regular examination and made it here.”
“...”
“I only learned after entering the Academy that sects like the Taeul Sect... Ah, sorry, Senior Sister. ...Anyway, a sect like ours can barely get even one person admitted.”
Otherwise, people would not go so far as to deliberately join insignificant sects in order to enter the Academy through special admission, like Gye Cheolyeong.
“Four of us entered through the regular examination from a sect like ours. It was difficult, but I think our Head Disciple had a deeper purpose. It must be the same now too.”
“...”
Saryeon could not say anything else.
Those were words that should have come from her own mouth.
Whether he knew of her frustration and shame or not, her Head Disciple’s shout echoed all around them.
“Eunho! Do you want to start all over again?”
“Ah! Yes! I’m going! I’m going! ...Senior Sister, hang in there a little longer.”
Eunho hurriedly handed her the flask, then began running while tracing complicated directions.
Saryeon clenched her teeth.
Eunho had come to deliver water to her while learning the impossibly complex Peerless Wanderer Divine Art.
‘I can’t fall behind. I can’t...’
She had not entered the Academy through special admission because of her skill.
It had been consideration.
A burdensome concession granted because she was the Sect Leader’s daughter.
If she had not been the Sect Leader’s daughter, could she have stood in the same place as them?
For a moment, Jin Sowoon, who had once seemed closer to her than anyone, appeared terribly distant.
‘The distance... is too great.’
#
“Snore...”
“Whew...”
“Cough! Cough, cough!”
“Isn’t that kid going to die like that?”
Jin Sowoon watched Geumpyo snore, then tossed a small log into the campfire.
A tiny blaze rose, and sparks drifted briefly through the air before vanishing.
“You’re not sleeping?”
When Jin Sowoon turned his head, he saw Saryeon staring intently at the flames.
“Senior Brother.”
“Yes.”
A flying spark landed on Saryeon’s sleeve, leaving behind a soot mark.
“Why did you yield to me?”
Jin Sowoon tilted his head at the sudden question.
“What are you talking about?”
“The special admission... Why did you give it to me?”
Jin Sowoon’s lips pressed tightly together.
At that silence, Saryeon’s heart sank.
Once she realized the truth, a hollow laugh escaped her.
“So that was it... Because I’m the Sect Leader’s daughter... You didn’t have to do that.”
The cruel truth tore through her heart.
The soot on her sleeve seemed to darken further.
“If I was going to fall this far behind, you should have sent Yuseong or another disciple instead. Then I wouldn’t have held all of you back...”
She had been full of determination when she first entered the Academy.
After receiving Marrow Cleansing and instruction from the Divine Sword, she had been certain she could protect her fellow disciples.
Yet when she came to her senses after time had passed, she was still receiving their consideration.
“You should have given another disciple the chance...”
“What are you talking about?”
Jin Sowoon’s sharp voice cut her off.
“The special admission was neither a concession nor consideration. That opportunity went to the person who deserved it.”
“...But, during the final sparring match...”
“You don’t know!”
“...?”
A complicated light filled Jin Sowoon’s eyes. Longing, regret, even anger...
As if he remembered something she did not know.
Saryeon’s mind went blank beneath that gaze, too complicated to describe.
“It was... unquestionably yours.”
“...Senior Brother?”
“Hoo...”
A sorrowful memory surfaced.
“You came out two hours before training began to train first, then swung your sword until dinner after training ended.”
“...”
“You even considered marrying Gye Cheolyeong, whom you hated, for the sake of the Taeul Sect...”
Saryeon’s face flushed hotly.
“If... if things had gone as planned, it would have been Gye Cheolyeong who came to the Academy.”
“What does that...”
“You would later have led your junior disciples as a low-ranking martial artist during compulsory service in the Martial Alliance.”
“...Senior Brother?”
Saryeon could not know.
That this was not a possibility, but fact.
That he had experienced all of it himself.
“Gye Cheolyeong would have treated the Taeul Sect’s disciples like slaves while pursuing his own interests. You would have confronted him to stop it.”
“...”
“Then, in the end, your engagement would have been broken and you would have suffered terribly. Even then, you would have done everything you could to protect the Taeul Sect...”
Words Saryeon could not understand kept flowing from Jin Sowoon’s mouth.
As she listened, she felt something strange.
Everything Jin Sowoon said was hypothetical. Yet for some reason, her heart ached.
More than anything, his face twisted with such anger and sorrow that it looked ready to collapse, like someone who had truly experienced it all.
Saryeon could not bring herself to say a word.
“This pathetic senior brother...”
Jin Sowoon bit down on his lip hard enough to draw blood.
“...would have done nothing but run away to avoid Gye Cheolyeong. Because of that, you would have suffered.”
“...”
“Because I failed to do what I should have done, in the end, you...”
Jin Sowoon swallowed the rest of his words and sighed.
Before she knew it, his eyes had returned to normal.
“...Anyway, the special admission was originally yours. It was neither a concession nor consideration.”
What had that been just now?
It felt as though she had heard about a life of her own that she did not remember.
While Saryeon could not say anything, Jin Sowoon continued.
“Recovering the Taeul True Scripture was pure luck. Without it, I would not have even dared to take the regular examination. Then you would still have lived desperately to protect the Taeul Sect’s disciples. Isn’t that right?”
“...”
“Don’t grow impatient because you’re a little behind. I know how much you care about the Taeul Sect. But if that concern goes too far and eats away at you, it will not help anyone in the end.”
Jin Sowoon’s hardened face soon formed a forced smile.
That thin smile he had shown so often in the past.
“Don’t worry. You’ve always done well, no matter when it was. Of course, you’ll continue to do well. I know that better than anyone.”
The words, “I believe in you,” which she had always heard from her father, had felt like a burden on her shoulders.
But her senior brother saying, “I know,” made her heart swell.
That only made her want reassurance more.
“Do you really think I can do well?”
If her Head Disciple said so, perhaps it might truly be possible.
“Of course! You can’t help but do well.”
“But I’m not confident.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Jin Sowoon spoke with more certainty than ever.
“You can’t help but do well.”
“What kind of thing is that to say...?”
She complained for no reason, but the truth was, she felt relieved.
Her Head Disciple had become a pillar supporting the Taeul Sect.
If he said so, perhaps it really would be...
“Put this on first.”
What?
Thud.
As though it were nothing, Jin Sowoon casually tossed something in front of Saryeon.
What fell at her feet was...
“It’s nothing special. The same thing those guys are wearing.”
Iron rings and a leather vest fitted with steel plates. Their weight had driven them into the ground.
“Wh-what is this...?”
“You seem to have a lot on your mind, so I suppose you’ve grown accustomed to Dynamic Practice. Put those on first, then let’s start learning the Peerless Wanderer Divine Art.”
Saryeon’s face turned pale.
After such a warm conversation, he was suddenly doing this?
“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll make sure you can’t possibly fail. Just focus on training and nothing else. Don’t worry about a thing.”
“...”
The thin smile that had rested on Jin Sowoon’s face vanished without a trace.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you putting them on?”
...A smile like a demon’s had appeared on his face.
It was a bitterly cold winter day.
Footnotes:
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