Chapter 273: Child, Cries
Formal martial arts training began the following day.
“If it is too difficult, you can quit.”
At Lee Jaseung's words, Cho Somi, who looked as if she might collapse at any mont, corrected her posture.
She had already been standing in a sword-thrusting stance for an hour. At first, she thought it was nothing, but the wooden sword she held gradually grew heavier until it now felt like a thousand pounds.
“……It is not difficult.”
Cho Somi bit her lip.
She possessed a stubbornness and determination unbefitting a child.
What on earth could have happened to that child?
In her face, one could occasionally sense a sorrow that did not match her age at all, or a pity that the people around her would briefly reveal.
Clearly, sothing had happened to the child.
He could have found out quickly by asking Gao Ying or Elder Cho, but Lee Jaseung did not. He waited for the ti he would find out naturally.
Who would have known that he would end up teaching martial arts to that young child here?
His life until now had been the sa.
eting his subordinates, becoming the Black Way Alliance Leader, eting Baek Seolyoung and marrying her, becoming the Murim Alliance Leader, and fighting the Demonic Cult again.
Everything seed to have progressed according to plan, but it was a continuous series of nurous coincidences and uncertainties.
When he first t Yim Sayeon, had he even thought he would learn martial arts from her?
Likewise, he could not know what else would happen afterward.
Could he defeat the Heavenly Demon Soul? If he won, what kind of life would unfold?
“Stop. That is enough for now.”
As soon as Lee Jaseung's words fell, Cho Somi slumped down in her spot.
“Ah! How exhausting.”
The martial art he was teaching Cho Somi was a general basic swordsmanship. It was a style commonly found in the marketplace, but it was ultimately a matter of who was teaching it.
Even an ordinary swordsmanship, if properly taught by Lee Jaseung, could display skill as great as the swordsmanship of a famous family.
“Big Brother.”
“Yes.”
“Big Brother, have you ever hated soone so much you wanted to kill them?”
“I have.”
“So what happened?”
A certain heat was contained in the child's eyes toward Lee Jaseung.
Lee Jaseung said calmly.
“I killed them.”
Cho Somi was startled.
“Liar!”
When Lee Jaseung said nothing, she realized that the words were the truth.
“Really? You killed a person? How?”
The fact that Lee Jaseung had killed a person seed shocking.
“I learned martial arts and killed them.”
A mont of silence followed.
Cho Somi asked again.
“How did it feel then?”
“It felt good.”
Had the opponent been an adult, it would be different, but he could not end the conversation like this.
“They were soone who deserved to die.”
“What is the criteria for deserving to die?”
Lee Jaseung hesitated for a mont to answer. It was not because the answer was difficult.
Cho Somi, who asked such a question, had clearly experienced sothing bad, and that was why she was asking this. Because he did not know exactly what this child had experienced, the answer was difficult.
“Exactly as it sounds. They committed a mortal sin. Killing a person, or harassing them to the point of causing their death. Even if they did not commit murder, there are mortal sins.”
Cho Somi said nothing more. Looking at her expression, she was clearly preparing revenge against soone.
“Now, rest is over.”
“Let rest for just fifteen minutes more!”
“No! Then it will be harder and you will not be able to do it. Get up!”
Cho Somi rose from her spot as if unable to win.
She took her previous stance. The hand holding the wooden sword soon trembled violently. The child bit her lip and tried her best to hold out.
Just where was that heavy sword aiming?
* * *
“You seem to have changed sowhat.”
A few days later, these were the words Yim Sayeon said at the spot where they finished morning training.
“In what aspect do you an?”
“How should I put it? Shall I say you have beco more llow?”
Lee Jaseung gave a short laugh. What exactly did it an for a person to beco llow, and how would they change?
The only things that had changed were the people he had newly t.
At any rate, hearing that there was a change was a welco thing.
It was the fifth day since they switched from using only the left hand to a duel using only the right hand.
Lee Jaseung showed an appearance of perfectly adapting to the right hand on the first day. Just as when he used his left hand, he dealt with Yim Sayeon skillfully with his right hand.
Rather, on the first day, he held out for twenty-five moves.
On the second day, he began to get beaten after twenty-two moves, and on the third day, he broke all records by holding out for thirty moves. Afterward, it decreased again, and today he held out for twenty-five moves.
Others might ask what aning that had, but considering the martial arts skill of Yim Sayeon and Lee Jaseung, everything related to this duel was important.
Why the number of moves he held out fluctuated, why there was no difference between the left and right hand, why it went from thirty moves to twenty-five moves.
At any rate, one thing was certain: for Lee Jaseung, there was no difference at all between the right and left hand.
“Being llow is not necessarily a bad thing.”
After saying one word, Yim Sayeon entered her room. Lately, she was organizing her realizations into a manual. Lee Jaseung was not the only one learning from the duels.
“Load the wooden swords here.”
Gao Ying pulled a small cart over.
Lee Jaseung loaded the wooden swords he had sanded into the cart.
“Where are we taking them?”
“Yanghwa Martial Arts Hall.”
Yanghwa Martial Arts Hall was located about five li away from the village. It was said to be the largest among the places the Gao Family Woodworking Shop supplied goods to.
And at the entrance of the martial arts hall, Gao Ying added a word.
“Somi suffered a terrible thing here.”
Lee Jaseung's footsteps stopped.
Gao Ying's complexion was dark. He could tell without being told.
It seed the villagers also roughly knew everything.
“Whose doing was it?”
“It was the Hall Master’s son. Somi’s father went to argue about the matter and was gravely injured. Now he just lies in his room.”
“Why are you telling this?”
“Well. I don't know either.”
It was because he felt like he had to tell Lee Jaseung for so reason.
Lee Jaseung pushed the cart into the martial arts hall without saying a word.
From children Cho Somi’s age to youths in their late teens and early twenties, they were practicing martial arts, and the training grounds divided into several sections were classified by skill level.
Gao Ying entered a building on one side.
A mont later, Gao Ying ca out with a man. As soon as he saw Lee Jaseung, the man asked with an abrupt gesture of his chin.
“Who is this?”
“He is a new friend.”
The man scanned Lee Jaseung from top to bottom. He was a person who lacked the basics of treating people.
Lee Jaseung could tell. That this man was the son of the Hall Master.
Just as Lee Jaseung expected, the man was Yang Jong, the son of the Hall Master.
Yang Jong picked up one of the wooden swords loaded in the cart, swung it around, and then.
“The count should be correct. Here, here is the paynt.”
Gao Ying counted the money Yang Jong held out.
“The money is not right.”
Exactly two taels were missing.
“That cannot be possible.”
While saying that, Yang Jong frowned slightly. He rely made a rough gesture of counting the money again and then held it out again.
“It is correct, is it not?”
Yang Jong’s gaze had beco extrely fierce.
Gao Ying took the money back. After looking down at the money he received for a mont, Gao Ying said obediently.
“I must have counted wrong.”
“Hehe, of course you did.”
Yang Jong snickered and laughed.
Lee Jaseung knew. That Yang Jong had snatched the money. It was not a matter of whether to supply the goods or not. Because if it were Gao Ying, he would not put wooden swords here even if he did not earn money.
The Yang Jong family was undoubtedly dominating the village by exercising influence beyond that. Through evil deeds like expelling people from the village or killing them if they did not listen.
After moving the wooden swords to a warehouse on one side, the two n pulled the empty cart out.
At that ti, about ten children were standing in a circle around soone next to the building.
Thud, thud!
Soone was being beaten inside the circle, but their form was not visible.
The children standing at the edge glanced toward Lee Jaseung and scowled.
Lee Jaseung pushed the cart again. Gao Ying followed silently behind him. This martial arts hall was truly a ss. Well, with the Hall Master’s son being like that, it was natural for the atmosphere to be this way.
After leaving the hall and walking for a long ti, Gao Ying asked.
“Were you not angry upon seeing him?”
“No.”
“Hm, I see.”
Because it was an answer different from his expectation, Gao Ying said nothing more. He had sohow thought that Lee Jaseung might step forward for Cho Somi.
‘Well, it is natural to be afraid. I have only burdened you unnecessarily.’
He had briefly misjudged because of the uniqueness Lee Jaseung gave off.
It had not been long since they t, but strangely, when looking at Lee Jaseung, a certain feeling of trust arose. A reliability that made it seem like he could solve anything entrusted to him. Lee Jaseung certainly had that kind of trust.
But that was rely an atmosphere. It was a matter that no one in the village could step forward and resolve. While he himself was a pathetic bastard who could not even properly receive the money he deserved…… he felt sorry toward Lee Jaseung.
He did not know.
That Lee Jaseung’s anger was so cold it did not show. What it ant for him to step forward. What the result would be.
But at least right now, Lee Jaseung’s thought was this.
That it was not his place to step forward.
The person to resolve this matter was already determined.
* * *
Cho Somi’s training continued.
Now, in addition to basic stance training, they had started basic swordsmanship.
While teaching a young child, pushing basic skills too far forward could make them grow tired of martial arts itself.
Would it not be an opportunity to develop patience?
Of course it could be. In Cho Somi’s case, he just did not feel the necessity for it.
Whish. Whoosh.
It looked as if she were swinging the sword here and there, but she was performing footwork quite plausibly.
When a set of forms he taught was finished, Lee Jaseung praised her.
“You did well.”
At Lee Jaseung’s praise, Cho Somi asked with a surprised and flustered face.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Then, tears imdiately welled up in Cho Somi’s eyes. She tried to hold them back but was unable.
Tears flowed down the child's small cheeks.
Lee Jaseung approached and wiped the child's cheeks. Then the child fell into his embrace. Her height did not even reach his chest. A single word of praise shook the child's heart and opened the tightly closed door.
Since she had started learning martial arts, these were also words she had intended to say to Lee Jaseung soday.
“……There is soone I want to kill.”
Cho Somi continued while crying.
“It was a day when it rained a lot. They told to run an errand……”
Her voice choked up, and she could not continue for a mont.
Lee Jaseung just listened quietly. If a deep wound in the heart cannot be revealed outwardly, the wound will fester and burst.
rely speaking would not heal that wound, but at least the deathly frustration might subside.
The child told the events of that day through her tears. How that bastard had so cruelly trampled an eleven-year-old child.
After finishing her story, Cho Somi burst into sobs.
“Uwaaaaaah.”
The child clutched her chest and wailed like an old woman.
“He said if I told anyone, he would kill Grandpa, Mom, and Dad. I was going to not say anything…… but there was blood on my clothes…… Mom saw it…… And Dad…… because of …… Ughghgh.”
Lee Jaseung just held her quietly and listened to the words that the child spat out like sighs. The tears flowing from the child's eyes soaked Lee Jaseung's chest.
The image of Yang Jong, who had been snickering and laughing during the day, ca to mind.
It is a wrong world.
The child is crying while the one who made her cry is laughing.
He could run there imdiately and tear him into a hundred pieces, but.
Lee Jaseung said calmly.
“Kill him with your own hands.”
Cho Somi raised her head with a face covered in tears. Looking down into the young eyes full of doubt whether that was allowed, Lee Jaseung nodded and said.
“He deserves to die a hundred tis over.”
He thought that taking revenge on her behalf was aningless.
“Train hard and…… kill him with your own hands!”
What if soone said the child might be even more hurt?
There are no more wounds that can be inflicted on this tiny chest.
If soone said revenge breeds revenge?
Do not worry, as for those who interfere, I will not even leave behind their seeds.
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