Chapter: 579
After the Heavenly Dragon left.
When I wrapped up the random chitchat and returned, Paejon was already inside the guest house.
There was even a mountain of stuff spread out on the table.
“What is this?”
“Can’t you tell just by looking?”
I know.
I know very well that this is a problem.
“Why did you order so much food?”
“There’s some food to take away too. Aren’t you curious?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Even monks eat dumplings. I can’t help but be curious.”
“…”
I had to pause for a moment after hearing that.
‘You’ve caught on.’
This old man. As expected, he seemed to have noticed.
The guy who was eating dumplings at the inn was the Shaolin dragon.
Well, I figured it out, but there’s no way Paejon wouldn’t have noticed.
With a sheepish expression, I pulled out a chair and sat down.
I picked up a dumpling from the table and asked, “Can I eat this?”
“Why are you asking after touching it with dirty hands?”
“You say it’s dirty? I wash well and go out.”
“You should wash well before going out. If you don’t do that, what are you planning to do?”
“…”
What is this annoying conversation?
With my nose wrinkled, I took a bite of the dumpling.
Yep, the dumplings are still delicious.
It was the taste I had Mo Yong-hee bring me.
The flavor is rich.
It smells good, and it tastes even better.
Well, I don’t know about anything else, but I think it would be annoying if this place disappeared.
After stuffing the remaining dumplings into my mouth, I asked Paejon.
“So, what happened?”
In response to my question, Paejon crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
“What are you talking about?”
“That thing that happened earlier. What happened after that?”
The dragon was silent… what was it again?
Anyway, this was about what happened right after I knocked that guy out.
“What could possibly happen? All that happened was that the Meng people came and took it.”
As expected, it seems there wasn’t anything special that happened there.
‘So, the Maeng took it.’
If you say that Maeng dragged away a top-notch martial artist who was drunk and causing a scene.
I didn’t think it would end well.
Maybe I can’t.
‘I probably won’t be seeing him around here for a while.’
That was fortunate.
I was watching the troublemakers in the guest house…
‘I was thinking of handling it quietly.’
I felt like I wouldn’t need to get my hands dirty.
In that spirit, should I eat one more dumpling?
As I was thinking that, I reached out.
“Did you have a good conversation?”
Paejon asked the question.
The appetite that was stirred by those words suddenly vanished.
“Yeah, whatever.”
“The child didn’t cry?”
“…?”
I frowned, as if I had heard a bizarre question.
“What are you talking about, you fool? If someone heard you say that, it would be a big problem.”
This is ridiculous.
Who do you think I am, some neighborhood punk? What kind of a punk do you think I am?
“I wasn’t the type to get beaten just because I was a fan.”
“Hmm.”
In response to my words, Paejon didn’t really show any negativity. It’s no wonder.
The dragon was obviously an absurd being.
“Certainly. Cheonan has created a strange guy.”
A strange guy.
The fact that such words came out of the Emperor’s mouth was extraordinary.
When I heard that, I couldn’t help but smile and say.
“Did you like it?”
When I asked if he liked it, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
“Why, are you jealous?”
What the heck? What kind of crazy talk is this?
“Old man, you’re going crazy…!”
As soon as I blurted that out, something suddenly came close to my eyes and stopped.
I checked what it was, and it turned out to be chopsticks.
“Should I swap your eyeball for the dumpling? It looks like your eyeball is broken.”
“… Sorry.”
After giving a quick apology, only then did Paejon take back his chopsticks.
Seeing this, I had to suppress the uneasy feelings welling up inside me.
The reason is very simple.
‘I couldn’t see it.’
The problem is even if I don’t switch on my mind,
I couldn’t catch the movements of Paejon properly.
Did Paejon’s movements speed up as he ascended higher?
I don’t know. I really don’t. But if there’s one thing I can say for sure…
‘I probably won’t be able to mess around for a while.’
I thought I was barely catching up, but now I found out that isn’t the case.
Even so, it was irritating enough that I couldn’t just let it slide.
“What kind of jealousy is this? There’s nothing I need to be jealous of.”
Groan.
Paejon chuckled at my emotive words.
“It’s true you have a good body, but that’s worthless.”
“Why? Didn’t I say this body is amazing?”
“That’s true. But you’re not the only one who meets that standard.”
That’s true.
It’s a body created through regression and various coincidences.
There were many people who possessed the minimum qualifications to learn the Tuapacheonmu.
Oh, it’s not exactly that there are tons of them, but it’s not impossible to find if you look.
‘I figured it out better by learning.’
Unlike Paejon, who was searching for someone with tremendous physique and talent,
The Tuapacheonmu isn’t a martial art that requires that much talent.
Unlike when I was anxious about how difficult the martial art might be.
When I learned it, it wasn’t that hard of a technique.
At first, I felt that way, but as I kept learning, I understood more.
The fact that I, who had zero talent, wasn’t having trouble learning it is proof enough.
‘Honestly, I think it’s mostly because of Paejon’s influence.’
If it can’t be done, you just keep trying until it is.
If that still doesn’t work, you adapt and try again.
There’s nothing in this world that can’t be done.
That was the gospel of the unfit.
‘And when I finally decided to move according to his will, it really worked.’
What an unfortunate term it is.
When I pondered the situation, it dawned on me, counter to Paejon’s claim, that maybe the Tuapacheonmu isn’t such a difficult martial art after all.
“You hopeless disciple. You’re under a big misconception.”
Paejon clicked his tongue lightly and said to me.
“As you said, there are many people whose physical condition matches.”
There was a look of pity in his gaze.
“How many people at your age do you think match those criteria?”
“That’s true.”
A body having the conditions to learn the Tuapacheonmu may be numerous,
But how many have achieved that at a young age?
By the standards I’ve thought of, it won’t be many.
If I were to tally the names that come to my mind right now, it would be four?
Meaning four including me.
“There. The most crucial talent for mastering martial arts is neither strength nor talent.”
“Really?”
“It’s patience.”
Patience?
Looking at Paejon’s expression, he seemed to be sincere, but it wasn’t something I could fully relate to.
That patience is the utmost necessity.
Isn’t that just naturally a part of learning martial arts?
If the obvious is the most important thing, I clearly couldn’t see where I could relate to that.
As if my thoughts were plastered all over my face, Paejon looked at me and clicked his tongue again.
“Do you think that isn’t true?”
“… I don’t really relate to that idea.”
I already understood what he meant.
The pain I felt while practicing the Tuapacheonmu.
It involved moving bones and stimulating blood vessels beyond the muscles to alter the body artificially.
Because of this, I experienced pain as if someone was performing a sword dance within me.
When expressing the movements, there could be no sloppiness or even the slightest errors.
I had to endure that pain while repeating the same movements thousands of times.
‘Once I finished one step, I had to move to the next right away.’
When things piled up like that, there was no way I could count how many times I had moved.
If I were to count, I should do it by the day.
I spent ten days honing my punches.
For another fifteen days, I worked on twisting my waist.
That kind of pace.
That’s how it brought me to this moment.
The slow progress didn’t bother Paejon, so I repeated it until it was perfect.
Nobody was in a hurry or frustrated.
While time felt perpetually tight and lacking.
If someone was to be blamed, it would just be me for living poorly in my past life; I never cursed anyone.
So now it has come to this.
That is.
“What’s so hard about it?”
What on earth was so difficult?
If you want to learn martial arts, you gotta have patience.
I lived my past life like a worm without even realizing it.
Now, I’m just trying not to repeat that.
Pain is something that can be endured.
Feeling frustrated is something you just have to bear.
So why is it that we call it talent just because it’s that difficult?
You just have to keep enduring.
“…”
As I said this nonchalantly, Paejon stared at me in silence.
After a moment of deep thought, Paejon finally spoke.
“You foolish one.”
“Why are you suddenly cursing at me?”
“You just look particularly dimwitted today.”
The demon who had just spoken straightened his posture.
Then he grabbed the food prepared on the table quite carelessly.
“Let’s go now. It’s getting late.”
With those words, I also got up.
“So, what exactly did you want to say?”
“Hmm? Ah.”
I followed Paejon and asked.
I wondered about what he was going to say earlier.
“It was nothing. You’ll know later anyway, so don’t worry about it now.”
“… Now I’m more worried.”
How can you tell me not to care after saying something like that?
Especially when Paejon was the one who said it.
This guy tells me every day to not cause trouble.
‘I bet he ain’t as calm himself as he pretends.’
In Paejon’s youth, he famously laid waste to a school just to test his martial arts skills.
The stories of him hunting down Sapa masters and reassembling opponents are still infamous.
No wonder one of his nicknames during his younger years was Mad Dog.
In my eyes, that guy is indeed crazy about martial arts.
‘More like he’s just plain crazy…’
Whoosh-!
“…!”
Suddenly, chopsticks came digging into my eye again.
I quickly twisted my head to evade it, but it was honestly very close.
Seeing that, I gasped in shock and shouted at Paejon.
“What the heck are you doing all of a sudden?”
“I thought I saw you mumbling nonsense, so I couldn’t help myself.”
“…”
Damn.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
He’s still sharp as a tack.
When I lifted my head again, Paejon had long gone out of the guest house.
I quietly followed in his footsteps.
At that moment.
“Um, um…. Excuse me…”
Someone approached me.
When I looked, it was the woman who was being harassed earlier.
Was it Misun or Misuk? Something like that?
‘Doesn’t really matter.’
I looked at the woman and said, “What is it?”
Having a non-martial artist speak to me was a novel experience.
I answered, slightly widening my eyes.
“EEK…!”
The woman stepped back in fear as she looked at me.
“…”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Normally, I’d just let most things slide, but that was genuinely hurtful.
Is my face that problematic?
The kids all said I looked fine.
Anyway, no matter how annoyed I was, I couldn’t snap at an ordinary person, so I barely managed to hold it in and asked back.
“… So, what is it?”
“Ah, ah… um, um… that…”
The woman pointed somewhere.
By this point, Paejon had already slipped out of the guest house.
With hurried steps, he disappeared from sight.
What, is he that hungry?
I was surprised to think that Paejon, of all people, might have such a big appetite.
“… Ah, not yet…”
The woman said to me.
“You didn’t… settle the payment…”
“…?”
You didn’t settle the payment?
I just brought some food, didn’t I?
As I heard those words, my eyes narrowed.
‘Wait a minute, no way…’
The moment I shot a chill thought back at the woman.
“The same… group member… will pay the bill.”
“…”
The woman said tearily.
Ha ha.
What a sick old man…
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