The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Jang So-gil looked out the window at the bustling streets of Luoyang and smiled with satisfaction.

The ownership of the Gentleman's Academy building was rightfully acknowledged to Jang So-gil, and although Gwon Cheonhui called Jang So-gil his younger brother, he actually thought of him as a son and showed him much consideration so that he could be even a little more comfortable.

He had no intention of properly setting up an academy, but he still needed a household to live. He needed someone to cook for him, and someone to buy and organize groceries and daily necessities. Cleaning was, of course, necessary.

Such people could not be hired without basic trust, so even Jang So-gil had been struggling for a long time to find someone he could trust. Gwon Cheonhui scratched that itchy spot for him. An old cook who had lost his inn due to the tyranny of the Hakseo Escort Agency in the past came with a letter of introduction from the government office. And a young man with a good physique, but who could no longer be a constable because of a knee injury, also came. Jang So-gil happily hired them all.

Gwon Cheonhui's consideration did not end there. As Jang So-gil was renovating the building with hired workers, a gift he had sent arrived. The gifts were truly practical things. They were furniture.

Thanks to that, the old and shabby furniture disappeared, and shiny furniture that a high-ranking official would use filled the empty space. A good-looking rice cake also tastes good. Since the house he would live in from now on looked good, Jang So-gil's heart naturally became full. So a benevolent smile appeared, and seeing Jang So-gil in a good mood, Yang Gwan's insides twisted.

"What's the point of a martial artist being on good terms with an imperial official?"

"It's good to be friendly with everyone. Why are you so prickly?"

"But there's a line that should be kept, isn't there?"

"I told you I'm not a martial artist."

"But didn't Strategist Sama say he would personally create and weave a martial art for you? Then you're a martial artist."

"That's true, but... why are you so twisted?"

"Twisted? Me?"

"Your whole attitude is all twisted. What's wrong? Are you perhaps jealous?"

"..."

Yang Gwan's expression crumpled. It was like a piece of fire paper soaked in water. Anyone could see that he was quite upset. Jang So-gil was surprised.

"Are you really sulking because you're jealous?"

"Aish! Who's sulking!"

"Look at your own face and say that. Here."

Jang So-gil held up a mirror to show Yang Gwan's face. Even to Yang Gwan, it was a truly ugly face. His expression was so caked with ill temper that he was startled by his own reflection and fell on his butt.

"Th-this is not my face! Namu Amitabha Namu Amitabha..."

"Just like a guy who learned martial arts from a bald monk, spouting Buddhist scriptures..."

"Hey! What do you mean, bald monk!"

"Anyway, I've decided to learn martial arts from Sama Hwi, but I'm a little anxious. I don't know if it will go well."

"What?! Guild Master So, you don't seem to know what kind of opportunity you've seized. The creation of a martial art by the Sama family is a great thing that is rarely seen."

"But that bastard, the way he keeps changing the subject, it seems like he's going to make a mess of the martial art."

Yang Gwan's face turned red.

"That's impossible. He is the face of the Orthodox faction. If he hadn't made a promise about the martial art, it would be a different story, but since he has made a promise, he will do his best to create it."

"Why?"

"Because that is the honor and prestige of his family! If the Sama Hwi that the Sama family boasts of were to create a worthless martial art, he would become a laughingstock of the world! He is a descendant of a noble family of high status, and a genius of the world. He would never let his talent and his family's honor fall to the ground! Do you understand?!"

Jang So-gil grinned.

"Yes. I know."

"..."

"Because I knew, I went through all that trouble and ran my mouth."

"..."

"You're jealous, aren't you? You must be."

"Ughhhhhh!"

Yang Gwan let out a groan and turned his head away. It was a gesture of not wanting to be bothered. Jang So-gil smiled brightly and continued to organize his materials as he had been doing. But Yang Gwan, who had been staring blankly at the distant mountains, asked casually.

"So what did Strategist Sama do?"

"Are you that curious?"

"To be honest, it would be a lie to say I'm not interested as a martial artist. That's right. I'm incredibly curious."

To the majority of martial artists who learn martial arts only through tradition and senses, the creation of martial arts by the Zhuge family and the Sama family was truly incomprehensible, a divine skill reminiscent of divine beasts like the blue dragon and the phoenix. They created, learned, and taught martial arts in a completely different way from them, so it was impossible not to be curious. Seeing Yang Gwan's frustrated expression, Jang So-gil put down his brush, ground new ink, and began to speak.

"First, he took my pulse. Then he put several needles in me that made me tingle."

"A diagnosis of your constitution?"

"That's what he said."

"What were the results?"

"He said I'm not without talent. He said I'm about a medium among high, medium, and low."

"I see. And after that..."

"He continued to put hundreds of needles in me from head to toe."

"Hundreds!"

"And in that state, he made me do all sorts of things. He suddenly told me to bend and straighten my arms, to jump in place several times, to jump repeatedly from side to side, and even forcibly twisted my body. It was quite a sight."

Yes, it was truly a sight.

Jang So-gil closed his eyes and recalled that time.

* * *

"Strange. Strange."

Sama Hwi put needles in Jang So-gil and performed various tests on him. He was measuring his athletic ability, checking his constitution, and precisely observing whether there were any abnormalities in his body and what his body balance was like.

The method was bizarre, and he was made to do all sorts of things, but Jang So-gil couldn't resist in any way. Because he didn't know, because he didn't even know if it was the right method or not, he had no choice but to do as he was told.

Still, he endured it, but Sama Hwi kept saying strange things.

"Strange..."

Sama Hwi kept muttering like that.

Jang So-gil, who had become like a cactus with hundreds of needles stuck all over his body, dropped his shoulders while doing the side-to-side jumps as he was told.

"Hey. I'm getting incredibly anxious, so could you please tell me why it's strange?"

"I'll ask you one thing. You said you were an orphan, right?"

"That's right."

"Do you remember anything about your parents?"

"My parents..."

"I heard you lived as an orphan until you were sixteen. Do you have no memory of your parents at all?"

It was a rather sensitive topic, so Jang So-gil kept his mouth shut. Sama Hwi, knowing full well how rude his remark was, silently waited for his answer.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Jang So-gil opened his mouth.

"I have no parents. If I do, it's only Lord Jang. How about we end this conversation here?"

"Hmm, is that so? You were found in Sichuan, right? Which town in Sichuan was it? Did you travel on foot? What is the oldest place you remember? How old do you remember being?"

It was getting worse and worse. Knowing he was being rude, he asked so aggressively, and even interrogated him after being told to stop, so it was like he was interrogating a criminal. Jang So-gil's anger naturally flared up.

"Damn it. What does that have to do with martial arts! What does it matter where I was born or if I became an orphan!"

"It's because it's strange!"

"I don't know what the hell is so strange-!"

"Your constitution, no matter how I look at it, seems like one of our people!"

As Sama Hwi said that, Jang So-gil was also at a loss for words.

"One of our people?"

"Your talent for martial arts is ordinary, but your intelligence is extraordinary and you're quick with numbers. On top of that, you seem calm with little emotional fluctuation, but you can't easily suppress your anger, and once a grudge is engraved in your head, you never forget it even if you die, constantly dwelling on it and building up your anger. In terms of the five elements, the energies of fire and metal are strong, and between yin and yang, the yang energy is so fierce that it makes the action of metal and fire even more intense."

"...I feel like I understand, but I don't."

"Just listen quietly. The small vessels leading to your heart are too thin, so your strength is not that strong, and the vessels of your lower and middle dantians are weak, so your innate true qi is small, making it difficult to store internal energy. On the other hand, the vessel of your upper dantian is large, and since your yang meridians are open from the start, your internal energy accumulates in your head instead of your dantian. The training of the upper dantian is originally a difficult and arduous task, so a person with this kind of constitution cannot even gather internal energy with a mediocre martial art, and they won't even feel that they are training in martial arts."

"So you can't even train without a supreme martial art?"

"That's right. That's the result of diagnosing your body, but do you know what this means?"

"I don't know."

"There are two families in the world with these characteristics. One is the Sama family, and the other is the Zhuge family."

Jang So-gil's mouth hung open. It was because he had properly understood Sama Hwi's words.

Sama Hwi narrowed his eyes and said.

"But as far as I know, I haven't heard of any direct or collateral descendants of the Sama family being lost in the last 30 years. The same goes for the Zhuge family. They are in a key position managing the imperial family's astronomy, so there's no way they would lose a descendant. So I'm asking. Where in the world did you come from?"

"I don't know. I'm actually more curious myself..."

"My, my, this is a case for the ghosts to cry about..."

"Are people with such characteristics only born in the Zhuge family and the Sama family?"

"At least as far as I know. But who knows. The world is wide, so I can't assert that there's no possibility of being born."

Jang So-gil nodded his head. His face was much more relaxed.

"Then well, let's just go with that."

"Go with what?"

"I mean, let's just say I'm not from the Sama family or the Zhuge family, but just happen to have a similar constitution by chance."

"No, it's not something to be passed over so easily..."

"Not something to be passed over easily? What, so you want me to treat you like an uncle? Then will you accept me into the Sama family? Will you give your nephew some pocket money as an uncle? Are you going to buy me a house? Huh? Uncle Hwi, what do you say?"

The moment Jang So-gil called him Uncle Hwi, Sama Hwi felt like cockroaches were crawling all over his body and wanted to scream. The thought of this fellow being his nephew was utterly horrifying.

"Stop it!"

"See, see. You're not even going to treat me like one, so I don't know why you're doing a background check."

"Alright, alright. I was wrong. It was a good thing after all. Yes. Yesss."

"This is all because you have too many idle thoughts."

"I see! That's it! Alright, let's not mention this matter."

"Alright. Anyway, then this must be good news."

It was good news if it was good news. If his constitution was exactly the same as the people of the Sama family, he could easily obtain a modified version of the martial arts they used.

Sama Hwi, whose thoughts had also reached that point, nodded his head.

"In the case of the internal energy cultivation method that is the foundation of martial arts, it's a major work that takes at least 10 years if you start from scratch, but since we only need to modify my family's cultivation method a little, we can finish it within ten days."

He could save a revolutionary amount of time.

Jang So-gil smiled, rejoicing.

"Ten days sounds good."

"After that, you can go into the martial library and find a suitable martial art. Hmm. Inspector So has long legs, so it would be fine to train in foot techniques. First, it would be better to practice something that satisfies both lightness skill and foot techniques."

"I'll leave that to you, Uncle Hwi."

"...Didn't we agree not to do that?"

"Just, for fun."

"Don't."

Sama Hwi's face became serious and he broke his fan.

Finding that sight amusing, Jang So-gil called him uncle several more times.

Later, Sama Hwi even put needles in himself to seal his hearing, so it was clear that he genuinely disliked it.

"I'm doing it because I find your dislike amusing, but I don't know why you keep provoking me."

"...I can't hear you."

"How can you understand my words if you can't hear me?"

"Lip-reading."

"My, my, my. Our Uncle Hwi knows how to lip-read too?"

"..."

Only when Sama Hwi was about to poke the pressure point to seal his vision did Jang So-gil stop his chattering mouth.

It was because he didn't have the courage to be diagnosed by a blind man.