Hyeonjilmusin - Chapter 10



Only Krnovel

10. Gokjeongak (3)

Climbing the rock was not as difficult as I thought. At first, I almost slipped and fell many times, but my agile movements prevented all of that.

My hands and feet moved ahead of my will and sank into the rock’s unevenness. As one hand reached up, the other three limbs formed a triangle for balance, and when they found a place to hold on, they formed another triangle and began to slowly climb upward.

It wasn’t without ups and downs. Not knowing that something like this would happen, my uncut fingernails broke when they were lifted, my clothes were torn when they were rubbed against the rocks, and I had scratches all over my body.

Sometimes, when I looked down without realizing it, I would feel dizzy. Only then did I realize that I was hanging from a cliff dozens of feet above. Every time, I would grit my teeth and crane my neck to look up.

By the time I reached the top of the cliff, the sun was already setting in the distance.

I was overwhelmed with emotion as I looked at the orange-tinted Samcheong-gwan. Not only was the building pretty, but I was also proud that I had climbed that cliff.

Of course, that feeling of satisfaction did not last long. The elder who received the letter grumbled about why it was so late, and coming down the cliff was more difficult than going up.

When I came down to Gokjeongak, Mt. Mudang was already covered in darkness. There was no one there, as people had already returned to their respective places of work. When I was thinking, “What should I do?”, someone flashed out of the darkness.

“Eww!”

I ended up falling backwards and landing on my butt. Normally I should have just stepped back, but all the strength in my legs had left me.

“You damn punk! What the hell are you doing that’s keeping you so late!”

The one who appeared in front of me was Gokjeongakju Cheongsu. I was very dissatisfied with why this gentleman was the only one who was not leaving work when everyone else had already left.

I stood up on my hands and the floor, dusting off my pants.

“Didn’t the messenger go and come back?”

“The messenger that was supposed to arrive at Samcheonggwan today hasn’t even reached halfway there! Do you know how much trouble I went through listening to the people at Samcheonggwan complaining that the messenger was late?”

“That’s why I told you I was going to be late.”

“Do you think that’s an excuse?”

Cheongsu was yelling at me. Honestly, I couldn’t go any faster than this.

“You can leave work only after you finish all the documents to be sent to Samcheonggwan.”

“yes?”

What is this sudden, bolt from the blue sound? When I looked outside, it was already so dark that I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.

“Are you telling me to climb the cliff in this darkness?”

“That’s what you have to do.”

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“If you can’t even do that, you should die. Does it make sense that a disciple of the head temple of the shaman sect would fall off a cliff and die?”

“What if you don’t like it?”

“I will personally close the Danjeon and then kick you out.”

“I’m sure the Master Qinghua would really like it.”

“You are still a temporary disciple of the main temple, and not a disciple of Cheonghwa. What can you say to the death penalty for kicking out a guy like that?”

I had nothing to say. Honestly, even for me, a guy who became a disciple of the main temple wouldn’t seem that valuable.

“……All right.”

“Okay, then go to work. I guess I have to get off work.”

That son of a bitch. I cursed inwardly as I watched Cheongsu leave work.

I returned to the messenger’s office, where a very faint flickering lamp illuminated the room.

There was still a pile of letters that had to be sent to Samcheonggwan. It seemed like they piled up even more while I was going to and coming from Samcheonggwan.

“Fuck.”

Looking at the piled up books, it wasn’t an amount that could be processed just by going during the day. It would definitely pile up like this again tomorrow.

Since it was like this, I thought it would be better to just move around at night. Fortunately, my eyes had somewhat adapted to the night. I had stayed up all night trying to escape.

I filled my backpack with bamboo tubes and carried it on my back.

Still, it was easy to climb up to the cliff in front of Samcheonggwan. I had become accustomed to the path of the shamans. A merchant had to have a good memory and a keen sense of direction. I have never forgotten a path that I have taken once.

“The problem is the cliff.”

The cliff was a pitch-black wall. The moonlight was against the cliff.

But I believed in agility. If I didn’t believe in it, I wouldn’t have come this far.

“Phew.”

I took a deep breath and grabbed the same spot I had grabbed during the day. For a moment, I was overcome by a strange feeling.

Surprisingly, I seemed to remember the entire route up the rock face. It was my body, not my head, that remembered. No matter how good my memory was, I couldn’t memorize the route up the rock face. This was clearly a function of agile movement.

I slowly groped my way up the rock face. In fact, I didn’t grope that much. Even in this darkness, my hands knew where to go, and my feet naturally stepped on the uneven surfaces.

When I actually got halfway up, I discovered that there were rules to climbing this rock face.

I was just so busy looking ahead and climbing that I didn’t notice it. Once I had some time to spare, I could see that I had been climbing in the same posture and using the same strength in the same areas.

Once I knew the rules, climbing the cliff became dramatically easier.

I went up and handed the bamboo tube containing the letter to the officer on duty at Samcheonggwan. The officer on duty at Samcheonggwan opened his eyes wide and wondered why a messenger was coming at this hour.

That way, I was able to climb the cliff three times in one night. Considering that I spent all day climbing it once, it was truly a tremendous growth.

“ha.”

I checked that there was no bamboo tube with the words “Samcheong-gwan” written on it in the messenger room and leaned against the wall. Thinking that I had finished my work, I felt all my strength drain away.

Feeling the morning sun shining through the window, I fell into a deep sleep.

***

Cheongsu encountered Cheonghwa in front of Gokjeongak. Cheongsu pretended not to see Cheonghwa, who was politely giving him a lottery ticket, and passed by. Cheonghwa smiled and immediately followed behind Cheongsu.

“I told you to do it yourself, so why didn’t you like it?”

“How can I not believe in the death penalty? I am just curious.”

“You asked me to roll it? That’s why I’m rolling it a lot.”

“You can push him a little harder. He’s talented, so he’ll do well.”

Last time, when Cheonghwa came to visit, I told her that a friend who had talent but lacked the basics would come.

Even if you are a naturally gifted martial artist, if you lack basic physical strength and your stomach is bulging, it will be difficult for you to learn martial arts. In that sense, it seemed like Cheonghwa was sincerely trying to raise that guy named Mokhwiyeong.

‘The shaman’s fortune is a blessing.’

Cheonghwa was famous for having few disciples compared to the power he possessed. He did not teach martial arts to anyone who did not catch his eye. Since he had captured Cheonghwa at first sight, he thought he was no ordinary person.

“He really is a talented guy. He climbed the Samcheong-gwan cliff on the first day. He must have crawled up there with great effort. He knows how to use his body.”

“Huh? Is that so? That’s great.”

He stayed up all day, but that wasn’t important. What was important was that he climbed the cliff of Samcheonggwan without learning a single martial art.

“He’s probably climbing the Samcheonggwan cliff right now. I told him to climb it once at night. He must have just started.”

Cheongsu said while looking at the morning sun. At least, in order to climb the Samcheong-gwan cliff at night, you had to understand the martial arts contained in the cliff. The Samcheong-gwan cliff was not just a simple cliff, but a martial arts secret created by nature.

“I guess you’re expecting the death penalty. You’re telling me to come up at night from the first day.”

“Huh. What are your expectations? Not many people get on the first day, so I just threw it out there once. Even geniuses need to have their noses broken.”

Cheonghwa agreed with Cheongsu’s words. There were many geniuses in the Central Plains, and the shaman was one of the places where many geniuses gathered.

Some geniuses think they are the best, but when they see the sky outside of heaven, they get frustrated. The way to teach them is to throw them early frustration. So that they get used to frustration.

It was impossible to climb the Samcheonggwan cliff in the dark at night because the moonlight did not shine on it. Perhaps even Mukhwiyeong did not dare to climb it, and he just loitered around in front of the cliff, and only started to move after seeing the sunlight.

“I guess there are a lot of letters piling up to go to Samcheonggwan.”

“I’m getting a lot of hate for that.”

“I’m sorry. Death penalty.”

Cheongsu sighed as he watched Cheonghwa grumbling and apologizing. Even though he couldn’t spit in a smiling face, he wanted to punch her when she grumbled like that.

“I have some business to attend to at Samcheonggwan. If you give me the letter, I will take care of it. It is the law that the master must take care of the disciple’s karma.”

“Oh my. You’re already a master? I thought it was temporary.”

“Hehehe. I’m telling you this in advance in case you’re even tempted to take the death penalty. That guy is mine.”

“This is ridiculous.”

Cheongsu shook his head and opened the door to the messenger room. As soon as he entered, he was startled. There was someone leaning against the wall next to him with his head bowed.

What caught his eye more than anything was that the place where the Samcheonggwan’s books were kept was neatly emptied.

“her.”

Cheonghwa, who followed in, also saw it.

“He’s not dead, is he?”

At the same time, shallow breathing escaped from Muk Hwi-yeong’s mouth. The one sleeping with his head down was none other than Muk Hwi-yeong, who had been the topic of their conversation just a moment ago.

“… … There is no preface.”

Cheonghwa pointed that out. The two listeners were momentarily speechless at the unbelievable sight of the distribution.

The shaman is a place where only the most geniuses gather. There is a reason why it is considered the best among the many sects scattered throughout the central plains.

But even they had never seen anyone learn the Cheongunbo (靑雲步) carved on the cliff of Samcheong-gwan on the first day.

Besides, Cheongsu knew how much of Samcheonggwan’s envoys had piled up.

“It wasn’t something that could be done in one go. It must have been done at least three times.”

Cheongsu saw exactly how many times Mukhwiyoung had climbed up. Cheonghwa clicked her tongue again after hearing that. Did she mean that she had climbed up and down three times, not just once?

Cheonghwa felt that she needed to redefine the word genius that she knew. In shamanism, everyone was called a genius, so the word genius had faded away.

Genius. The words “talent given by heaven” were only suitable for someone like Muk Hwi-yeong.

“What a pity. If I had come to the shaman world ten years earlier, I would have become a pillar of the martial arts world… … .”

Cheongsu clicked his tongue. Cheonghwa also agreed with that statement enthusiastically.

He already showed this level of talent when his bones and energy were already strong. If he had entered the shamanic world ten years earlier, he would have absorbed all the teachings at once like cotton taking water.

“……capital punishment.”

“huh?”

Cheongsu looked at Cheonghwa. Cheonghwa’s eyes were filled with regret, greed, excitement, and joy.

“Let’s roll it some more.”