WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 296: The Commoner's Return Home (4)
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Before we could enter the banquet hall, we had to head straight for the baths.
Each time we scrubbed ourselves with powder made from ground red beans and mung beans, filthy water ran off us. Only after emptying the bathwater three times could we finally change into fresh clothes and head to the banquet hall.
When we entered...
“Head Disciple!!”
“Sowoon!”
The Taeul Sect members, who had initially kept their distance, came over with delighted expressions and began greeting us.
This was too much.
I'd even bathed in a stream before coming here.
Meanwhile, Geum, Eun, and Dong, who had been surrounded by their fellow disciples, went over to their parents and greeted them proudly.
“Ho ho... The children who left have returned as men.”
“...Sob, sniff.”
Their parents tried to hide their tears as they saw how much the children had grown over the past year.
Nearby...
“You've worked hard. You really have.”
Hong Mungi was tightly embracing Saryeon.
Emotional reunions continued throughout the banquet hall.
For some reason, my nose felt strangely prickly.
Then a familiar voice reached me.
“You were impossible to predict when you left, and you're just as impossible to predict now that you've returned...”
When I turned, Wang Geumsan was approaching with Wang Soso.
“Have you been well?”
“Well... I've had so much work that I feel like I'll die before my allotted time.”
“I heard the Wang Family Estate's prosperity has spread beyond Jiangnan and into the northern regions as well.”
“Ha ha, don't say that. Things are still difficult.”
Wang Geumsan looked at me strangely.
Then he spoke rather subtly.
“Still... The dividend payments you bring in are far too large. Couldn't you take it a little easier?”
His eyes were filled with desperate pleading.
But desperation was desperation, and business was business.
“Clan Head, that's a little...”
Before I could even shake my head, Wang Soso scolded him.
“Father, honestly! Wasn't your dream to build the greatest merchant group under heaven? Thanks to Brother, you've come even closer to that dream. Isn't that wonderful?”
“Well... that was a dream from my younger days. Now I'd rather retire, rest, and watch my grandchildren play.”
Wang Soso pushed her father aside and stood before me.
“Brother. While you, Senior Sister, and Senior Brother Geumpyo were away, I worked hard to take care of the Taeul Sect members.”
Like a child seeking praise, Wang Soso leaned forward.
I snorted and ruffled her hair.
“Thank you.”
“Hehe.”
Saryeon always hated this. Strange.
The people I saw again after a year looked different from how they had a year ago.
Their anxiety was gone, replaced by ease.
They could openly rejoice at happy occasions without forcing themselves to hide their feelings.
It was completely different from my previous life, when they had been forced to cater to the Gyerong Merchant Group as it gradually reduced its support and threw its weight around.
“Does it please you too?”
At the sudden question, I turned and saw Hong Mungi looking at the same scene.
When our eyes met, he smiled.
“You made this. You achieved it.”
“What did I do? Everyone worked hard.”
He was thinner than in my previous life.
His firm muscles showed just how grueling his training had been.
And there was a strength in his eyes that I had never once seen in my previous life.
He looked warmly at me with those steady eyes.
Things were changing.
I was changing, and so was the Taeul Sect.
We were clearly changing from my previous life.
“Thank you.”
Hong Mungi looked around.
“Where did Taesan go? His son has returned looking so fine.”
“Exactly. His admirable son has returned.”
I had a rough idea where he would be, so I picked up a bottle of liquor and a cup before leaving the banquet hall.
#
I left the banquet hall and headed to one side.
The night was dark, with no light to guide me, but finding the way wasn't difficult.
I'd seen it earlier while heading to the baths.
Sure enough, Father stood in a small landscaped space with a pond, looking at the moonlight resting on the water.
“You started indulging in hobbies like this just because you made a little money?”
Father glanced at me at my joke, then looked back at the pond.
“It is for guests. Anyone who comes to see me has to wait a long time. Wouldn't they get bored without little pleasures like this?”
“Having a pond on the Taeul Sect's grounds was your dream too.”
Ponds cost a great deal of money.
Being able to maintain one was a symbol of having enough to spare.
And Father had always wanted one badly.
“Yes. The Taeul Sect can finally afford to build a pond.”
“We still have a long way to go. There should be one for every hall.”
Father shifted his gaze from the pond to me and gave a short laugh.
“Is that so?”
“Of course, I'm not saying you should actually build them. There are few better ways to waste money.”
“What do you take the Outer Hall Lord for?”
I studied Father carefully.
Like Hong Mungi, he had grown much thinner, but there was no sign of muscle.
He must not have had any time to take care of himself because he had been so busy working.
“...Why have you lost so much weight?”
I suddenly worried that Father might have spent the past year living too frantically.
He answered playfully.
“I heard being thin is fashionable these days.”
“...Clan Head Wang has a fine build.”
“He's someone who doesn't need to follow fashion.”
“Are you not at that level yet?”
“No.”
“You'll have to work harder.”
“That's right.”
We exchanged meaningless words, but neither Father nor I thought the time was wasted.
I held out the bottle of liquor I had brought.
“Let's have a dri...”
“You little bastard, are you openly saying you want to drink now?”
“W-Well, I'm an adult now, Father.”
Father's widened eyes wavered.
“...I see.”
He accepted the cup, emptied it in one gulp, then held it out to me.
“How have you been?”
I looked back over everything I had gone through since regressing.
The Demon Spirit Plateau. The Martial Arts Academy's regular examination. The Sichuan Bloodbath. The hostility of the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans.
There had been countless times when I had nearly lost my life.
This damned curse that made me remember everything so clearly made every one of those events feel as vivid as if it had happened moments ago.
As I recalled those memories, I honestly voiced what I had felt.
“Nothing much happened.”
“...”
Father's hand paused as he poured liquor into the cup.
His hand trembled for a moment.
I spoke calmly.
“Nothing really happened.”
“...Is that so?”
No matter how happy he was, I didn't think Father had ever filled a cup to the brim before.
“You returned safely.”
“Yes, Father.”
“You really... returned safely.”
Without speaking, we watched the carp splashing in the pond.
#
After the banquet ended, most people returned to their homes or to the Taeul Sect.
Only six people remained in Jin Taesan's office: Hong Mungi, Gang Chaeseok, Jin Taesan, Jin Sowoon, Saryeon, and Sama Jeong.
“...Gulp. So... this is...”
Hong Mungi swallowed his words as though he was wary of even speaking them aloud.
“It's Five-Spirit Flower Dew, Father.”
“...Yes. The thing that has been shaking the martial world...”
Mount Zhongnan Sect had missed it, sealed off Xi'an, and drawn a flood of complaints from martial artists. How had this item ended up in faraway Hefei?
“Just what have you two been doing out there...?”
Gang Chaeseok stared blankly at Sowoon and Saryeon.
Then the image of the children returning dressed like beggars suddenly connected in his mind with the Five-Spirit Flower Dew.
“Don't tell me... You returned looking like that because of this?”
Saryeon lightly cleared her throat while rubbing the bridge of her nose.
“Isn't the important thing that Five-Spirit Flower Dew has come to the Taeul Sect?”
“...We need to be careful about security first.”
A single precious spiritual medicine could ruin an entire village.
Whenever treasures and spiritual medicines appeared throughout history, hadn't bloodshed followed?
“Rather than refining the medicine right away... we should wait for some time.”
“What are you saying, Senior Brother? We finally obtained something so precious! Didn't you say before that we should give it to the children right away...?”
Hong Mungi firmly shook his head.
“If we move hastily, word will get out.”
Obtaining a precious spiritual medicine was important, but protecting it was even more important.
Gang Chaeseok understood the ways of the martial world as well, so he pressed his lips tightly together despite the dissatisfaction on his face.
Breaking the silence that had settled over the room, Jin Taesan cautiously spoke.
“Why don't we hear Councilor Sama's opinion first? What the children said must be true, of course, but we should also determine just what level of spiritual medicine it is...”
He turned toward Sama Jeong, who was seated beside him.
As everyone's gaze focused on him, Sama Jeong placed a hand on the table.
“I'll take a look.”
He took the flask and opened its stopper.
“...!”
A strange fragrance instantly filled the entire office.
Drip.
He carefully tilted the flask and caught a single drop of Five-Spirit Flower Dew in a liquor cup, examining its color.
The Taeul Sect members watched Sama Jeong's face with the tense expressions of people having an inherited family antique appraised.
After some time, Sama Jeong set the cup down on the table with an impressed expression.
“It is genuine... And it is Flower Dew of high purity.”
“What does high purity mean?”
“The Martial Alliance usually mixes camphorwood oil into Five-Spirit Flower Dew.”
“You mean it hasn't been mixed with camphorwood oil...”
Sama Jeong nodded and added, “Its effects will be stronger.”
At Sama Jeong's words, Gang Chaeseok anxiously shifted in his seat.
“Senior Brother, no, Sect Leader. Let's make it, please. Isn't this a medicine even the Martial Alliance cannot use easily?”
“But...”
Jin Taesan spoke to the conflicted Hong Mungi.
“I also think it would be fine to make it right away.”
“Hm?”
Gang Chaeseok was even more surprised because Jin Taesan usually took a cautious stance in matters like this, just as Hong Mungi did.
Jin Taesan tapped the table and continued.
“Weren't we already gathering ingredients to give to the children? The rumor won't spread far. What do you think, Councilor?”
At Jin Taesan's question, Sama Jeong nodded.
“As the Merchant Group Leader said, we already have all the main herbs. Even if we seek out and gather the remaining herbs, it won't draw much attention.”
“Is that so...”
Hong Mungi's gaze slowly turned toward Jin Sowoon.
“Sowoon, what do you think?”
It might have seemed strange to ask a young disciple's opinion on a matter of such importance to the sect, yet no one in the room questioned it.
“I think we should make it right away.”
“Hm...? Why?”
Jin Sowoon pointed at the bottle containing the Five-Spirit Flower Dew.
“There's a saying that what you save too long turns to shit.”
Jin Taesan frowned as if to say he had expected nothing less.
“And the Taeul Sect isn't the Taeul Sect it used to be.”
Hong Mungi looked blank for a moment, then gave a short laugh.
“Yes, you're right. The Taeul Sect is no longer the sect it was in the past.”
He looked over everyone in the room one by one, then gave the order.
“Then let us make it at once.”
#
After spending one night at the Great Heaven Merchant Group, I visited the Taeul Sect the next day.
The first person to welcome me was none other than...
“Big Brotheeer!!!!!!”
...Jegal Cheongi.
He had shot up over the past year, and there was no trace of the childlike appearance he once had.
Still, his disheveled clothes and the grease smudged across his face somehow reminded me of Jegal Cheongi from my previous life.
“Have you been well?”
He had grown much taller, yet he still pushed his head toward me like a puppy, so I vigorously ruffled his hair.
Only after wagging his tail around for a while did he seem satisfied enough to grin.
I looked at the hammer in Cheongi's hand and asked, “Is the Mechanism Formation still unfinished?”
In my previous life, the Mechanism Formation had never been completed in the end.
After meeting the spirit practitioners of Mount Mao Sect, Jegal Cheongi, who had intended to build it, had begun devising a new Mechanism Formation.
“Of course not. I've been installing a Mechanism Formation at the Wang Family Estate lately, so I look like this.”
“At the Wang Family Estate?”
“Yes. After seeing the formation installed at the Taeul Sect, they asked me to install one at the Wang Family Estate too. But the land is so vast that it'll take a long time to finish.”
The Wang Family Estate's Clan Head could have hired the Jegal Clan or Mount Mao Sect directly to install one...
Yet they had specifically chosen Jegal Cheongi's Mechanism Formation. I couldn't even imagine what an incredible thing he must have created.
A genius really was a genius.
Yeongyeong, who stood beside Cheongi, bowed.
“I have heard news of Young Master through the rumors.”
I couldn't hide my surprise at the unexpected sight.
“Can you show yourself now?”
Yeongyeong glanced at Jegal Cheongi, then nodded.
“Yes.”
That meant Jegal Cheongi had reached a level where he could protect himself.
This kid had grown a lot, hadn't he?
“Hehe!”
Jegal Cheongi rubbed the bridge of his nose awkwardly.
“I worked hard.”
Seeing him smile so brightly, I thought it was about time to return what belonged to him.
“Do you have time now?”
“Hm? Right now?”
“Yes.”
“...What is this about?”
I ruffled his hair once more.
“There's something I want to give you.”
I took the puzzled Cheongi to the training ground.
“B-Big Brother... No matter how diligently I've trained, defeating you is still... impossible.”
Hah, he had trained a little and already grown arrogant. He was already thinking about defeating me.
I looked straight into his flustered eyes.
The time had come.
“There's something I need to teach you.”
The Jegal Three Forms originally belonged to Jegal Cheongi.
It was time to return them to him.
“Think of this as part of your training.”
“Y-Yes.”
I gripped the Black Dragon Sword.
As he had said, he must not have neglected his training. He took up his sword and faced me in a proper stance.
Tremble. Tremble.
Though his sword was shaking constantly, as if he was afraid of something.
“All right, I'm starting.”
“Y-Yes!”
A moment later...
Clang.
The Black Dragon Sword hit the ground with a loud crash.
“...”
“H-Huh?”
Jegal Cheongi still held his sword, looking as though he had no idea what had happened.
Haa, was my grip weak because I drank too much last night...?
“Ah! Sorry, Cheongi. I think I drank too much last night.”
“...R-Right?”
“Yes. Let's... Let's try again.”
The fastest and most efficient way to teach the Jegal Three Forms was to alternate between showing the original sword art and its form transformed through the Jegal Three Forms.
That was why I intended to first demonstrate the Lesser Heaven Sword Art and Greater Heaven Sword Art, Taeul Sect martial arts he knew as well.
Clang.
The Black Dragon Sword hit the ground again with a loud crash.
...What?
“...B-Big Brother? You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?”
“...”
Cheongi was already using the Shattering Form.
“Big Brother?”
Fuck. What the hell was going on?
Footnotes:
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