Chapter 6
Pae Maseong, who had been listening to the other children talk, relayed the information to me in that way.
When Son Eun first came to Eumyeong Valley, I felt a shock as if my heart had frozen upon hearing his name.
It was the moment I realized again that I had entered this novel, and that the curse of fate hanging over Pae Maseong was not yet over.
Son Eun was the man who would teach Pae Maseong, send him on an assassination mission, and ultimately lead him to his death.
There was nothing wrong with what Pae Maseong was saying about Son Eun now, but no matter how skilled Son Eun was, there was no reason to learn from someone who would drive him to his death.
And it wasn't as if there was no one among the instructors more skilled than Son Eun.
Son Eun had risen through the ranks in Cheonrim through his political skills, but there was someone who had dedicated himself to honing his own skills regardless of such things.
"I'm going to learn from Instructor Yeon Cheongha."
"Instructor Yeon Cheongha? Why him? The kids say he's probably the weakest among the instructors. They say he's never taught children before, so he probably doesn't even know how to teach well. But do you really have to learn from him, Socheong? Is it because he has a gentle face and seems kind? That might be true, but wouldn't it be more important for us to become strong later, even if it's hard to learn now? I think having skills is more important than being comfortable and not getting hurt now."
Pae Maseong was desperate to persuade me somehow.
The reason he was doing so was probably because he had already decided that if I chose to learn from Yeon Cheongha, he would join the same class as me.
I had said it with that in mind.
Pae Maseong must not enter Son Eun's class, and among the people other than Son Eun, the one who could teach Pae Maseong well was Yeon Cheongha.
If Yeon Cheongha and Son Eun were to fight purely based on skill, Yeon Cheongha would never lose to Son Eun.
Yeon Cheongha's fight scenes often appeared in the novel, and Yeon Cheongha was one of the people I liked the most in the novel.
Not much of Yeon Cheongha's backstory was revealed, and he had a strong sense of being a mysterious character, but whenever the protagonist's fight felt tense, I would find myself hoping for Yeon Cheongha to appear.
Once Yeon Cheongha appeared, he was so strong that the tension would disappear, so I had no intention of changing my mind, no matter what.
"You learn from Instructor Son Eun. I'll learn from Instructor Yeon Cheongha."
However, I already knew that Pae Maseong would not do that.
Pae Maseong sighed and made a face as if he had no choice.
"Then we don't have to worry about being separated. There are no kids who want to learn from Instructor Yeon Cheongha. Still, that's one less thing to worry about."
I laughed at his words.
I knew what worry Pae Maseong was talking about.
The current Pae Maseong was a trainee who stood out the most in Eumyeong Valley, having mastered all the training courses well.
He was no longer the kid who couldn't do what the instructors taught him properly and fumbled around, earning the glares of the other children.
But I was struggling so much that I wondered how I had survived until now. I was thinking it was strange myself. It was probably because Pae Maseong had put in a good word for me here and there.
Because of the fact that I handled Pae Maseong well.
Still, I was definitely not good enough to get into Son Eun's class, so he must have been worried that I wouldn't be able to learn from Son Eun. But if I decided to learn from Yeon Cheongha, he was relieved that we wouldn't have to worry about being in different classes.
The children who were going to find the instructor they wanted to learn from were surprised to see that Pae Maseong was not going to Son Eun.
Some children even told Pae Maseong where Son Eun was.
The children were not the only ones who were surprised; Yeon Cheongha, who received our visit, seemed even more surprised.
When we went to Yeon Cheongha, there were no other children who had come to learn from him.
"You two... are you sure you came to learn from me?"
"Yes, instructor."
When I spoke confidently first, Pae Maseong reluctantly agreed.
"Did you already get rejected by Instructor Son Eun? Or did you come to me to avoid wasting time, anticipating that you would be rejected?"
He seemed to be unable to think of anything else, so I said to him.
"I know that your strikes are the best. I believe that the most important thing in an assassination is the strike. Please teach me how to learn the fastest strike. I believe that the one who can teach me how to survive is the best."
He looked at me with a blank expression, as if he hadn't expected me to say such a thing.
It was understandable, as not much was known about Yeon Cheongha, and the fact that his strikes were fast was something I couldn't have known.
Pae Maseong probably didn't know that I was telling the truth.
"Is that what you want to learn from me?"
"Yes. What's the use of becoming the number one under heaven if you die? If you just stay alive, you can train more and become stronger."
"Do you think the same?"
When Yeon Cheongha asked, Pae Maseong said yes.
In fact, he had just followed me, but Pae Maseong was not so dense as to say that he had just come along in that situation.
Yeon Cheongha seemed to be deep in thought.
It seemed to be because no one had expected Pae Maseong to go to him.
In the end, Yeon Cheongha brought it up himself.
"Grandmaster Son was not originally scheduled to come here. It's not just Grandmaster Son; many of the people who came here as instructors were like that. To be honest, it's largely because of Pae Maseong."
Since he was a grandmaster in Cheonrim, the title of grandmaster seemed to be more familiar to him than the title of instructor, so he kept saying that.
I was really curious about that.
What had everyone discovered in Pae Maseong from such a trivial thing?
When I asked, wondering if Yeon Cheongha could give me an answer, he smiled.
"You might think it's not even a technique, but it's not. It doesn't match the internal art taught in Eumyeong Valley. So it's right that everyone, like Pae Maseong, can't do it. But everyone did it without any discomfort. That means they were just doing the motion without thinking about imbuing it with internal energy. Pae Maseong was thinking about when to imbue it with internal energy."
I looked at Pae Maseong with a face that said, 'Really?', but Pae Maseong didn't seem to understand what he was saying.
It was as if he had no thoughts at all.
"He probably doesn't know the reason for that discomfort himself. It's instinct and feeling. The people who are interested in Pae Maseong think it's important that Pae Maseong felt that. That's not something you can learn just by being taught."
When I asked what had changed when Pae Maseong broke through that wall, Pae Maseong had a face as if he had realized something.
"He must have found a way to avoid what he couldn't do. He probably trained his internal energy harder than others for that."
"I think that's right, instructor."
When Pae Maseong said in surprise, Yeon Cheongha nodded.
"It's natural that many people are interested in Pae Maseong, seeing a young child who had never learned martial arts before coming to Eumyeong Valley, whose dantian was not formed, and who did not know how to gather internal energy, solve that problem on his own. But that's not necessarily a good thing. There are plenty of people who think it's better to kill him if they can't draw him to their side."
It seemed I had come to the right place.
If I had done this much for Pae Maseong, it seemed that he would be able to pave his own way from now on.
Pae Maseong's face changed when he heard what Yeon Cheongha said.
"What... what do you mean?"
"I mean that other people might be after you. If I were to teach you, I would teach you how to protect yourself. But the other instructors would want to use you to succeed in their assassinations. They would teach you for that purpose. If you stay by my side, you won't shine. But I can protect you safely until you bloom and bear fruit."
Pae Maseong seemed to be gradually grasping the situation.
"I beg you, instructor."
"But I don't know if I can protect you from Grandmaster Son. You'll have to solve that problem yourself. If Grandmaster Son doesn't want to give up on you, then I have no way. If Grandmaster Son persuades the Valley Lord to take you, then I can't stop that either."
Pae Maseong had a worried face, and Yeon Cheongha also seemed to feel bad seeing him like that.
"Isn't the reason why you have a lower reputation than Instructor Son Eun until now because you don't want to reveal yourself to others? If you let them know from now on that you are not inferior to Instructor Son Eun, I don't think even the Valley Lord would try to take Pae Maseong from you and give him to Instructor Son Eun."
I thought I had to step up one more time, so I said that, and his eyes widened.
"You. Have you seen me before, Yasocheong?"
"No, but I'm a good judge of character."
At those words, Pae Maseong nodded and said he could guarantee that.
"Socheong is a really good judge of character, instructor."
Yeon Cheongha seemed to be thinking about something and looked at me and Pae Maseong alternately.
At first, he was focused on Pae Maseong, but at some point, I felt his gaze linger on me longer.
"I understand. If you trust me that much, I will try my best from now on. There is no one who dislikes being recognized. As long as there is someone who recognizes them."
For a moment, I wondered if I was changing the course of this novel.
I didn't think Yeon Cheongha was originally such a motivated person...
Well, I thought it would work out somehow, so I just kept my mouth shut.
"Then what will we be learning from now on, instructor? Will we continue to learn only the sword? Or will we learn other weapons as well? Should we continue with the internal art we learned in Eumyeong Valley? Do you have any special martial arts you will teach us?"
Pae Maseong was not originally a talkative child, but he must have felt a sense of closeness to Yeon Cheongha, as he started asking all sorts of questions.
I didn't know why, but when I heard him talk later, he said that he had developed trust after hearing me talk about Yeon Cheongha.
From what I said, it seemed that Yeon Cheongha was better than Son Eun, and that Yeon Cheongha was also a great person, so he thought that if he learned well by Yeon Cheongha's side from now on, it would definitely be helpful.
As Pae Maseong showed great enthusiasm, Yeon Cheongha seemed to feel a lot of pressure and started to think about what he should teach among the things he knew.
It seemed that I would get a windfall thanks to being next to Pae Maseong.