Chapter 19
"Huh...?!"
Okgiljin-in stood up from his seat with a surprised sound.
Because Un Chi's sword had grazed the head of the youngest disciple, Unhwi, and blood had seeped out.
Hyeon Cheong, who was refereeing between Unhwi and Un Chi, turned his head to Okgiljin-in.
He was probably asking him to judge whether to continue the match or stop it.
'The blood is flowing, but the wound itself is shallow. In a real battle, it wouldn't hinder the fight at all.'
After a moment of contemplation, he finally nodded his head.
It was a sign to continue as it was. Hyeon Cheong, as if he understood the meaning, nodded his head and took no further action.
Okgiljin-in, who had quietly sat back down, stared intently at Unhwi.
'That movement just now... it was so exquisite, could it have been on purpose...?'
But, he soon let out a small laugh and shook his head.
Because it was impossible for a third-generation disciple who had just started learning martial arts to have such eyes, body movements, and decisiveness.
'His basics seem very solid. It must be a coincidence created by his basics and youthful spirit.'
He relaxed his mind again and decided to focus on watching the match.
But, he didn't see it.
That Unhwi, who was watching his actions with a sidelong glance, had smiled faintly.
***
'Good. It passed. I was worried he might tell us to stop fighting because of the blood.'
Fortunately, that didn't happen.
At first, I was going to take the wooden sword head-on with my head.
But if I had done that, he might have declared my defeat immediately.
Saying that if it had been a real sword, my head would have been split open.
So what I came up with was this.
To dodge it so narrowly that it just grazes me.
It was a last resort because if I won too overwhelmingly, I would surely receive the concentrated attention of the senior brothers and Martial Uncles.
And as a bonus, I acquired a clear justification for self-defense. Killing two birds with one stone.
'Now is not the time for me to rise to the surface yet.'
I plan to step forward a little later, when I have control over more than half of the third-generation disciples.
Because no matter how big a tree the seed will become, when it's a young leaf, it's easy to be stepped on and die.
Swoosh—
I slowly raised my sword and assumed a starting posture.
The sword art I was about to display was the most basic of basic sword arts, the Three Talents Sword Art.
Of course, I also know more advanced sword arts, but I deliberately chose the Three Talents Sword Art.
What I want to show is not a flashy sword art, nor a profound internal energy.
'Basics.'
Here, it's enough to show that my basics are incredibly solid.
Because by doing so, I can prove that the training I and my room's senior brothers are doing is meaningful.
"Just the Three Talents Sword Art? I only tore your skin a moment ago, but now I'll properly blow your head off!"
"You're bad at everything, Senior Brother, and you talk too much."
"Wh-What? You brat...!"
Paat—
I didn't listen to the end of Un Chi's words and kicked off the ground, rushing forward.
A straightforward footwork with no tricks or gimmicks.
But the Chilseongbo, if displayed properly, creates the illusion of momentarily disappearing from the opponent's sight. Just like now.
Whoosh—!
Even though I quickly stepped on the footwork and moved to Un Chi's side, Un Chi doesn't immediately turn his head in my direction. He has definitely lost my movement.
The most important principle of the Chilseongbo is to find the opponent's blind spot and jump into that blind spot.
The reason why such a good footwork is treated as the most basic footwork is just one.
'Because it's too easy to counter if you know it.'
If you know your own blind spot, the person displaying the Chilseongbo will unconditionally enter the blind spot, so you just have to block that place first. In other words, the movement path is obvious.
But, Un Chi isn't even thinking of catching my movement.
This is all because he didn't properly learn the basics.
CRACK—!
Before he could catch my movement, I raised my leg and kicked his butt.
"Keuk—!"
Un Chi let out a pained groan and fell forward.
His butt probably stings a little.
Because I put a little emotion into it and couldn't control my strength properly.
"You brat!"
"Oh-ho."
His endurance is quite good, as he shoots up like a roly-poly toy.
Seeing that, a smile spread across my lips.
Because good endurance means I can enjoy it for that much longer.
Whoosh!
Un Chi swung his sword without a second thought.
He seems to have put a lot of internal energy into it, as it looks quite powerful.
But I have no intention of getting hit twice by such a clumsy sword.
I jumped back before the sword was even fully swung.
Whoosh— Thud!
And when Un Chi hadn't yet recovered his swung sword, I used the force of my landing to leap forward again and extended my left hand, which wasn't holding the wooden sword.
Thwack!
My fist lodged itself in Un Chi's abdomen, and Un Chi clutched his stomach and fell forward.
"Ugh, keok, keok!"
Un Chi, who couldn't breathe for a moment, choked.
I spoke quietly enough for Un Chi to hear, but not for Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong.
"How bland. Is this all you've got?"
"......!"
As Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong approached to check on Un Chi's situation, I said nothing and took a couple of steps back.
"Un Chi. Are you okay? It seems the blow just now was quite severe."
"...I'm fine. In a real battle, you don't die from this much, do you? I can do more!"
Un Chi said in a harsh voice, wiping the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.
"I understand. If you're not feeling well, forfeit. Don't hurt yourself."
"Yes, Martial Uncle."
Hyeon Cheong spoke and then moved far away again.
It wasn't like he was stabbed with a sword and fatally wounded, and since he himself said he would continue, there was no reason to forcibly stop him here.
"...I underestimated you. I'll acknowledge you a little now."
Un Chi said, glaring at me with fire in his eyes.
I gave him a bright smile and said, "You have more grit than I thought. I thought you'd cry and forfeit after getting hit a couple of times."
"...I won't be played by your silver tongue anymore. To think I got excited by your provocation."
"You're only realizing that now? No, should I say you've finally realized it?"
"......"
Un Chi didn't answer my words.
He just glared at me with a much more serious expression than before and slowly gathered his internal energy into his sword.
'Good. Show me everything you've got.'
The attack that comes this time is the chance to see Un Chi's true skills.
I don't know if he has noticed my skills, or if he really wants to kill me, but I could feel that he was taking the match seriously.
'Should I get a little serious too?'
It's not because I don't think I can block Un Chi's sword.
It's the minimum courtesy as a martial artist to treat an opponent who comes at you with all their might seriously.
Whoooosh—
As I also raised my energy following Un Chi, a strong wind blew and my sleeves fluttered.
I could attack first, but I didn't.
I was planning to wait until Un Chi had gathered enough energy to his satisfaction.
A person of Un Chi's type has to be broken head-on like this.
When the best move he can make, with not a shred of regret, is broken, Un Chi's hard pride and vanity will also be broken.
Woooong—
Un Chi's wooden sword trembled slightly.
At that level, he can be considered to be skillfully handling the sword imbued with qi.
He really wasn't all talk.
Of course, he's no match for me.
"Don't blame me if you die!"
Bwoooang—!
Un Chi swung his sword at me with great force.
A sword with quite a bit of destructive power, as he had spent a long time on it.
'Still too clumsy.'
In an instant, my brow furrowed without my knowledge.
His way of handling internal energy and the total amount of his internal energy are decent, but the rest is not good at all.
His body balance is twisted, and he's dragging his feet, spilling precious energy onto the ground as he approaches.
It's a sight that clearly shows his lack of basics.
'I'll have to make Un Chi train only his basics until he satisfies me.'
Having decided on Un Chi's future training direction, I also extend my sword towards him.
I could easily dodge it if I wanted to, but I have no desire to do so.
Because no matter how full of energy it is, I can easily break an attack like this.
Whoosh— CRACK!! Whoosh!
As my sword and Un Chi's sword clashed, a loud noise erupted and a gust of wind blew, messing up my hair.
"......!"
Un Chi's eyes were filled with astonishment.
It's understandable. He had just gathered his lifelong internal energy and unleashed the best sword strike he could.
His expression showed that he had never thought that sword strike would be blocked so easily.
'For a third-generation disciple, he's decent.'
But, that's as far as it goes.
Fwoosh—!!
I raised my energy even further and pushed Un Chi back by infusing energy into the clashing swords.
Slide—
Thanks to that, Un Chi's body began to be pushed back.
Un Chi, who came to his senses late, also put in strength to not be pushed back by me, but perhaps because his internal energy wasn't properly controlled, he was no match for me.
Just then.
Stop!
I instantly withdrew the force I was using to push Un Chi, and at the same time, I pulled my sword back and spun around once.
"Huh...?!"
Then, Un Chi couldn't overcome his own force and lost his balance, starting to fall forward.
And I, towards Un Chi's defenseless back... no, I changed direction and swung my sword towards his butt again.
Because if I hit his back, I could injure his spine.
CRACK!
"Keuaak!"
It's not a great form.
The second form of the Three Talents Sword Art, Mount Tai Crushing the Top.
The name is grand, but it's just a simple downward strike.
But, the pain won't be so simple.
Because I generously put in all the internal energy I had gathered earlier.
"Ugh—!"
Un Chi clutched his butt and couldn't move properly or even scream, just rolling on the floor.
I looked at Un Chi for a moment and then turned my head to look at Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong.
Perhaps because he had been concentrating on our match, the Martial Uncle, who was blankly looking at us, had his eyes wide open as if he had just come to his senses when our eyes met, and he shouted.
"Un Chi is unable to continue. Unhwi's victory!"
I bowed my head once to Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong, and once again to Martial Granduncle Okgil in the distance, and then came down from the sparring stage with light steps.
Un Chi is still unable to get up.
I feel like a ten-year-old indigestion has been cleared.
"Unhwi, you worked hard."
"Worked hard, what. It was just this much."
When I returned to my spot, the senior brothers in my room greeted me.
Perhaps because they were deeply impressed by my match with Un Chi, they all looked quite excited.
"Hwi-ya. You were amazing. You were completely flying around."
"These are all things you can do too, Senior Brothers. I deliberately didn't use any advanced martial arts. You saw well, right? This is the importance of basics."
"Yes. I saw well. Actually, that Un Chi fellow is quite strong even though he talks obnoxiously, but it's useless without basics."
"That's right. What's the use of having a lot of internal energy. His basics are so bad. On the other hand, our senior brothers may have a little less internal energy, but we've been solidifying our basics with me until now. You're all much stronger than the senior brothers in that room."
"Right! We've trained that much, so it would be unfair if we were weaker than them."
The tension in the senior brothers' hearts had disappeared, and the space that the tension had occupied was now filled with confidence.
The fact that I went out first unintentionally brought about this effect.
'We won.'
I had already confirmed the victory in my mind.
The senior brothers' skills had already improved a lot, and the only thing they lacked was confidence, which was now filled.
***
After Un Chi, who couldn't get up on his own, was carried away on a stretcher, the matches continued.
I was leisurely feeling the atmosphere of this place.
As the matches continued, the heat of the venue didn't get hotter, but rather, it became quieter.
"Fourth match. Room number nine, Unmi's victory!"
Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong's shout echoed quietly on the sparring stage.
After my match, Senior Brothers Unjeong, Unshik, and Unmi.
All the senior brothers won their matches against the senior brothers from room number eight.
"Since when was room number nine so strong?"
"You were envying room number eight, saying room number nine was a free win, right? But what is this?"
"By any chance... was that strange and loud training method they did every day really effective?"
Instead of cheers, I heard murmurs.
Everyone couldn't believe what they were seeing with their own eyes.
It's understandable. Our room, which everyone had evaluated as the weakest, was overwhelming room number eight, which was evaluated as quite strong.
"Then it's the last turn. The last turn, come up to the sparring stage."
When Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong shouted, Senior Brother Uncheol shot up.
The purpose of holding the martial arts competition periodically is to see with your own eyes how much the disciples have become stronger, so it's a rule to have matches until the very end even if the outcome is decided.
And the last turn is... the match between Senior Brother Uncheol and Senior Brother Unjihak.
"Senior Brother. You're not nervous, are you?"
"Nervous?"
As if he had a funny thought, he looked at me, let out a small laugh, and then continued.
"It's not like I'm fighting you, so why would I be nervous?"
Uncheol walked towards the sparring stage with confident steps.
The fact that the outcome was already decided didn't seem to matter to him at all.
To show Unjihak his skills now without any regrets.
It seemed that was the only thing on his mind right now.
(End of Chapter)