The middle-aged martial artist and Jang Childeuk were staring at the sky again today—or rather, at the cliff.
“Say, Brother Jang. Have you ever trained in the Wall Lizard Technique?”
“The Wall Lizard Technique? Good heavens, a coward like me would never dare. What about you, hyung?”
“Once, about five years ago.”
“Why did you stop?”
“I’d been training for about three months when I lost my footing, fell, and broke my ankle.”
“Oof. You must have fallen from pretty high up.”
“Barely five jang or so. I trained for three months without missing a single day, only to break my ankle.”
“That’s a shame.”
“A shame?”
“Who knows? If you’d kept at it, you might have become a master of the Wall Lizard Technique…”
“A master of the Wall Lizard Technique? Me? I’ve practiced sword techniques my entire life and still haven’t made it past Second Rate.”
The middle-aged martial artist let out a quiet laugh and pointed at the cliff.
“Whatever the martial art, you need talent to be called a master. Don’t you feel anything when you look at those two?”
“That’s certainly true.”
The two men watched the figures rapidly climbing the cliff.
There was no mistaking them. Jin Taekyung and Hyuk Mujin were dedicating themselves to Wall Lizard Technique training again today.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Stones and snowballs came tumbling down from far above.
At that very moment, both men were thinking the same thing.
Are those people or lizards?
Their hands and feet moved without hesitation as they scaled the nearly vertical cliff.
There was a considerable difference in their speed, but given how little time they had spent training, their progress was truly remarkable.
“How many days has it been?”
“Let’s see. This is our third shift, so… exactly three days.”
“Only three days. If I’d trained for a year instead of three months, could I have learned the Wall Lizard Technique that well?”
“…”
Both the middle-aged martial artist and Jang Childeuk knew the answer.
After a brief silence, Childeuk spoke.
“Hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“What can people without martial talent do?”
“We’re useless. Get out the jerky.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jang Childeuk promptly pulled some jerky and a bottle of liquor from his robes. He was quickly adapting to duty at the training hall, reputedly the cushiest assignment in the Jin Family of Taiyuan.
Whoooosh!
I flattened myself against the cliff and dodged the boulder plummeting past at terrifying speed. Far above, Cheongpung smacked his lips in disappointment.
I knew you’d pull this, you bastard.
It wasn’t like this was the first or second time he’d done it.
I might have been bad at studying as a kid, but when it came to learning with my body, I had been second to none.
“Haaaargh!”
Hyuk Mujin, on the other hand, was a little slower. Then again, there was a clear difference between his level and mine now, so perhaps that was only natural.
I shouted down at Hyuk Mujin, who was crawling up from far below.
“Mujin, you okay?”
“No!”
“…Oh. Right.”
What a brutally quick answer.
Of course he wasn’t okay, but most people would at least pretend they were. Hyuk Mujin didn’t bother.
“Quit whining and get up here!”
“My whole body is cramping! I barely dodged that last one!”
For all his complaining, he was keeping up fairly well. This training had confirmed it once again: Hyuk Mujin had a fair amount of grit and martial talent.
“We’re almost there. Grit your teeth and climb!”
I wedged myself into a hollow in the cliff and took a moment to catch my breath.
Open the Quest window.
Ding.
System
Quest
Sword Saint Training: A Secondhand Experience
A master is forged through countless rounds of tempering and hammering.
Cheongpung, who received harsh training from the Sword Saint, will revive his childhood memories and put you through training!
Grade: Peak
Restriction: Those who have Cheongpung’s permission
Mission: Climb the cliff 10 times (9/10)
Reward: Acquire Wall Lizard Technique
Cheongpung is extremely pleased.
???
Failure: Injury or death
Cheongpung is extremely saddened.
Today marked exactly three days since we started climbing this damned cliff.
We had only one climb left before completing the Quest, but I still couldn’t let my guard down.
Because…
“Benefactor! Where are you? Poke your head out!”
“No! Get lost!”
“Oh, there you are! I ran out of things to throw nearby, so it took me a while to find more!”
Because of this psychopath who wanted to drop a boulder straight onto my face at any moment.
The first climb had been hard enough, but Cheongpung’s interference had grown more intense with every round.
I curled up as tightly as I could and shouted.
“Why would you go looking for more? If you run out of rocks, just stop throwing them!”
“But… if I don’t do this, you won’t be able to learn the Wall Lizard Technique properly, Benefactor!”
“…”
Was this guy insane?
How many people in the world learned the Wall Lizard Technique by getting pelted with boulders?
Just as I was rendered speechless by the sheer absurdity of it, a battered hand shot up into the hollow where I was hiding.
It wasn’t the hand of some ghost who had died here long ago while training in the Wall Lizard Technique.
Naturally, it was Hyuk Mujin.
“Haaaargh. I’m dying.”
When you were truly exhausted, you couldn’t even speak. You got so out of breath that your head rang, and merely breathing made your chest ache.
Even so, Mujin still looked like he had plenty of life left in him. He crawled in beside me and spread his legs wide.
“Hey, it’s cramped in here.”
“You think you’re the only one cramped, Captain? So am I.”
“Pull your legs in or move over. This is basically a one-person seat.”
“Ah, I’m exhausted. You move over, Captain. Aren’t you being too harsh on your right-hand man after he worked so hard to get up here?”
“I treat my right arm well. But you’re my little toe, so I can be a little harsh.”
“Wow, you’re really going to be like this? This is the only place we can hide from the rocks. Would you feel better if I jumped out and took one straight to the face?”
I answered with a perfectly serious expression.
“Why would you say that? Of course not.”
“Oh, wow. What’s gotten into you all of a sudden, Captain…”
“I’d feel stifled and guilty for a while. But after a year or so, I’d be fine. After ten years or so, I’d have forgotten your face.”
“…That’s awfully realistic.”
“That’s life, punk. Now pull your legs in before you give me something to feel guilty about.”
“Yes, sir.”
I didn’t care if a manspreader got his skull cracked by a rock. That was what he got for manspreading.
Hyuk Mujin pulled his legs tightly together, caught his breath, and sighed.
“No matter how I think about it, this is insane.”
“What is?”
“Cheongpung is insane for making us do this, and I’m insane for doing it just because he told me to.”
“You’re doing pretty well for someone who thinks it’s insane.”
“I’m just going at it like it’s do or die.”
“That’s the answer.”
“What?”
“Going at it like it’s do or die. That’s the answer. Later, when death really is staring you in the face, you’ll regret this moment.”
I tied back my disheveled hair and continued.
“Ah, I should’ve worked harder back then. You know, that kind of regret.”
I prided myself on having worked hard enough as a Hunter to practically shit blood. But even after all that, I was still left with regrets.
Regret always came too late. It only sank bone-deep after you had lost something precious.
“Your life, your wealth, or someone you care about. If you don’t want to lose something precious, put your life on the line now. Working yourself to death while you’re alive is still better than actually dying, isn’t it?”
“Uh…”
Hyuk Mujin stared at me with round eyes.
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
“Why? Is that strange?”
“Words feel different depending on who says them. The Captain I know is, um…”
“Not exactly someone who should be saying that, having grown up as a young master who never wanted for anything?”
“If I had to put it that way, then yes. You look like someone who’s never lost anything precious in his life, but you talk like a battle-hardened veteran who’s been through every possible hardship.”
This guy had pretty good instincts.
Or maybe that was how I looked to everyone else, too.
I simply let out a quiet laugh without answering. Hyuk Mujin eyed me suspiciously.
“What’s with that laugh?”
“I was just thinking you’re pretty perceptive.”
“Captain, you’re not a fake, are you?”
“What?”
“It’s a little late to bring this up, but… you’ve changed too much. Your personality, your martial arts—everything. It’s like you’ve become a completely different person.”
“Haven’t you heard the rumors? I’m a secret weapon raised in secret by the Jin Family of Taiyuan.”
“Rumors are just rumors. Unverified rumors. Plenty of people saw you carousing and wasting your days, Captain.”
“You were one of them?”
“Yes. At first, I thought you might be wearing a human-skin mask, but that doesn’t seem to be it.”
“A human-skin mask? The kind where you peel the skin off someone’s face and wear it?”
“See? You ask again as if you’re hearing about it for the first time. You also say things that make no sense all the time.”
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it, at some point I had stopped worrying so much about avoiding suspicion. Everyone around me thought I was Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. I had also long since accepted my Murim self as part of who I was.
“If you’re some kind of double put forward by a shadowy organization like the ones in novels, tell me now. I’ll quietly let it slide.”
“What an absurd thing to say. Then you should report me immediately.”
“Well, I like you much better now than before. And I owe you my life. Hehe.”
His lips were smiling, but he wasn’t joking. The subtle bob of his throat and the slight tremor in his eyes proved it.
I thought for a moment, then spoke.
“Want me to tell you honestly?”
“H-honestly?”
“I’ve been itching to tell someone anyway, so this works out. The location is perfect, too.”
Hyuk Mujin glanced around anxiously.
The hollow in the cliff was just large enough for two people to plant their backsides. As luck would have it, the lunatic who would drop a rock on us the moment we stuck our faces outside was waiting nearby, too.
It was the perfect spot for two people to sit together until one of them died, with no one the wiser.
“You really are stupid, aren’t you?”
Hyuk Mujin swallowed hard.
“C-C-Captain. I don’t care who you are.”
“Too late.”
“Gasp! I won’t say anything! I meant what I said earlier!”
“Even if I belonged to the Demonic Cult?”
“The Demonic Cult!”
“I’m only going to say this once. Listen carefully.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it. No, I won’t listen!”
Hyuk Mujin’s face turned deathly pale as he tried to cover his ears, but my words came a moment faster.
“I’m actually from another world.”
“…?”
“People can talk to each other even when they’re ten thousand li apart, and monsters with horns or wings roam everywhere. If you put it in Murim terms, I suppose you’d call them evil spirits.”
“…What?”
“Anyway, somehow I ended up here from that kind of world. Then strange things started appearing before my eyes, and suddenly—Level Up! Bam! Points! Boom! Ding-ding-ding inside my head!”
“…”
“Anyway, I only entered the world of martial arts two or three months ago. I’ve wiped the floor with dozens of First Rate masters and taken down three Peak masters. So, any questions?”
Hyuk Mujin slowly lowered the hands that had been half-covering his ears.
His expression was a complicated mixture of irritation and relief.
“Whew. Let’s just say I was wrong. Happy now?”
“Why? It’s true. You don’t believe me?”
“Not even a stray dog would believe that. If only my martial arts were stronger…”
Smack!
I smacked him on the back of the head, then stood up.
It was a true story, but it didn’t sound true.
Of course, I had expected Hyuk Mujin to react this way. That was precisely why I had told him.
Someone coming from another world? Anyone would think it was ridiculous.
“Nevel-up? Poin-two? Good grief. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I don’t know what I expected from you, Captain.”
“What did you expect? The Demonic Cult? The Blood Cult?”
“Oh, come on! Just stop!”
I grabbed Hyuk Mujin by the shoulder as he stood up. The next instant, a boulder as tall as a grown man shot past us with a murderous shriek of displaced air.
“Watch yourself. We still have a long way to go.”
I patted him on the back and resumed climbing.
We were only halfway to the summit.
The moment Hyuk Mujin and I finally reached the summit, System notifications erupted like celebratory cannon fire.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
System
Cliff climb: 10 times (10/10)
Quest successfully completed!
New martial art, Wall Lizard Technique, is now activated!
You have achieved outstanding results beyond expectations. An additional Reward will be granted!
Level Up!
You have acquired 10 Stat Points and 10 Skill Points!
The Title Beginner Trainee has been upgraded to Intermediate Trainee!
Open the relevant System window to check and apply the changes.
Cheongpung beamed at us.
“Wow! You really did it!”
“…What’s that supposed to mean?”
“By any chance—”
This bastard. Don’t tell me…
At the sharp looks we gave him, Cheongpung shook his head.
“It’s nothing. It took me fifteen days, you see. I didn’t expect you to finish so quickly.”
“Fifteen days?”
Hyuk Mujin repeated the number, then stared at me in disbelief.
Who was Cheongpung? The Sword Saint’s successor and a Peak master who had defeated Jin Mukyung. Mujin must have found it hard to believe that we had achieved this faster than he had.
But…
“What are you so happy about, punk? We’re not the same age. Right?”
“I wasn’t even that young! I was already ten years old!”
“…Isn’t ten usually considered young?”
Cheongpung smiled brightly as he reminisced about those days.
“Back then, climbing up Falling Goose Peak and falling back down was part of my daily routine. It was so much fun.”
“Falling Goose Peak?”
“It’s a peak on Huashan. It’s easily more than five hundred jang high. Oh, of course, I couldn’t make it all the way to the top until I was eighteen.”
“…”
“…”
Wasn’t ten too young even to watch a movie rated fifteen-plus?
At that age, he would’ve only been in third grade—barely old enough to count as a snot-nosed schoolkid.
When I was that age, I played on the jungle gym in the schoolyard…
That bastard Cheongpung had played on the peaks of Huashan.
As expected of the continent. Everything was on a different scale.
“Anyway, thank you both so, so much for your hard work. You achieved something amazing!”
Cheongpung clapped excitedly all by himself, then continued.
“So, about that…”
Sensing something ominous, Hyuk Mujin hurriedly cut in.
“No. Hold on. Wait just a second.”
“I know lots of even more fun training exercises.”
“Hey! I said wait a second!”
Hyuk Mujin lunged at him with a shout, but it was already too late. Cheongpung effortlessly subdued him with a grappling technique and called out energetically,
“Let’s all give it our best!”
Ding.
System
Cheongpung is in extremely high spirits over your outstanding achievement!
As a special Reward, the linked Quest Sword Saint Training: A Secondhand Experience—2 has been generated!
“You bastard! Let go of my arm right now!”
As I listened to Hyuk Mujin shout, a question suddenly occurred to me.
How many linked Quests are there?
One thing was certain.
There was no way Cheongpung would stop at a measly two.
He’s going to work us into the ground.
Leaving Hyuk Mujin’s squawking behind me, I looked up at the sky.
The vast sky was a brilliant blue. The air was cool, and several hawks drifted overhead with their enormous wings spread wide.
New Year’s Day was ten days away.
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