Chapter 10: Baek Family Escort Agency (2)
“Oh! Isn’t that Cheong-un? Hahaha! It has been a long time.”
Mister Baek Jin-seong, upon seeing me, immediately approached, hugged me tightly, and started by patting my back.
It was an action that threw ordinary etiquette out the window.
He was a man without any pretense.
Instead of looking down from a high and lofty place, he came down himself to welcome others warmly.
There were many people who maintained friendships with him because they fell for his character.
‘Although there seem to be some people who do not look very pleased.’
Over the shoulder of Mister Baek Jin-seong, who held me tightly, several people came into view. They were the escort warriors and porters checking the goods to be carried on this escort mission. Some of them were glaring at me with eyes that were not pleased at all.
Those around middle age, whom I had known since childhood, were at least better, but those with whom I had little acquaintance, especially the younger escort warriors and porters, openly exuded an air of dislike toward me.
They had faces that looked like they would have thrown punches without warning if we had met alone on the street.
‘This fellow Baek Mu-ho, he had already given them a heads-up before he came to see me.’
When I tried to guess why the escort warriors and porters were making such expressions, I could easily find the reason.
Without a doubt, Baek Mu-ho must have told them that I would participate in the escort mission even before receiving my permission.
Since the news of my return would have spread through word of mouth, anyone who knew even a little about the Martial World would know that my return was not normal.
To them, I was probably an idiot who was either kicked out of the position of a lay disciple that I entered through connections, or who kicked it away and returned.
For such a fellow to tag along on the escort mission meant he would become a nuisance who could make things more difficult.
If they thought so, it was natural for them to be annoyed.
Because an incompetent ally was more threatening than a competent enemy.
‘Seriously, that eyesore.’
I should make an opportunity later to beat him up a bit more.
I thought Sister Seol-ah would teach him a lesson later, so I also wondered if I should form an alliance with her to thrash him.
“Your body has gotten much sturdier.”
Mister Baek Jin-seong, who had been hugging and patting me, released his arms and met my eyes. Deep curiosity lay in his gaze.
“I’m hearing that a lot today.”
“Is that so? Haha!”
Thud! Thud!
Upon hearing my words, he slapped my back hard enough to make it hurt. It was to the extent that I wondered if he was trying to perform a durability test on me.
“Although I was a bit worried when I heard that you wanted to participate in the escort mission… you seem qualified enough?”
Should I say it was worth being hit? Mister Baek Jin-seong said so while looking at me as I frowned heavily.
The escort warriors and porters, who had been looking at me with disapproval as if his words were unexpected, widened their eyes in surprise.
However, some of them frowned again, no less than me, whose back was throbbing.
‘Those folks really can’t hide their thoughts, easily matching Baek Mu-ho.’
I could see right through what they were thinking.
And those people soon brightened up.
It was because of the words that followed from Mister Baek Jin-seong.
“But just my words alone won’t do, right? It also doesn’t fit my personality. Originally, it’s only right that one makes their own place.”
Make your own place.
I will see your qualification.
Those who understood what he meant by making my own place showed even more hostility toward me.
And I, too, fully understood Mister Baek Jin-seong’s words.
Someone said something very good, didn’t they?
If there is someone who hates you for an incomprehensible reason, give them a comprehensible reason to do so.
“Then, who should I beat up first?”
“Hahahahaha!”
As if my answer was highly to his liking, Mister Baek Jin-seong burst into a hearty laugh.
I slightly distanced myself from him.
Because it felt like he would pat my back once more.
Fortunately, his hand did not head toward my back.
“Well, of course…”
Did he have eyes on the back of his head? Mister Baek Jin-seong’s hand, gesturing with a flick of his finger toward the rear, pointed at those who were looking at me with disapproval.
“Those who do not welcome you.”
Surprisingly accurately.
***
Nam Dong-bak, a rookie escort warrior of the Baek Family Escort, glared at Yeon Cheong-un as if he were a man to be killed.
‘I don’t like him.’
People who encounter the Martial World through rumors generally hear grand stories. They say that when someone swung a sword, a mountain split; that someone crossed a river riding on a leaf; that there was a martial artist who faced an entire sect alone, and so on.
Those rumors are not fiction. They are all actually possible things.
However, those who make such things possible are only a few so-called chosen people.
Stories of a tiny minority.
Looking at things based on such stories, it was undeniable that the position of a mere escort warrior in an escort agency did not seem very grand.
However, when turning one’s eyes to realistic aspects, even a position like this becomes an object of yearning for someone.
Most people frequently live and die without ever taking a single step out of the village where they were born.
From the perspective of hot-blooded youths who live their entire lives bound to their villages like that, the position of an escort warrior who roams here and there under heaven is quite attractive.
Although danger is accompanied, it is precisely because of this that it has an aspect that stimulates youthful vigor.
Moreover, this is an era when the conflict among the Orthodox, the Evil, and the Demonic Paths has not ended. Although they entered a truce, localized conflicts are still occurring everywhere.
Naturally, once leaving villages and cities, one cannot know what might happen.
This meant it was an era when the standing of escort agencies that protect escort goods was strong.
Naturally, working at an escort agency was not something just anyone could do. One had to have skill, and talent and qualities were required. Only after competing did such people barely occupy a single spot.
From the perspective of Nam Dong-bak, who entered the Baek Family Escort through competition and obtained the position of a low-ranking escort warrior after much suffering, Yeon Cheong-un, who was crawling in through connections, was an annoying guy.
‘Although the seniors seemed to accept it…’
Because Nam Dong-bak was from a neighboring village, he had no particular connection with Yeon Cheong-un. Thus, he did not dare to openly contradict the opinions of the seniors who were favorable to Yeon Cheong-un on the grounds of having known him since childhood, but he harbored dissatisfaction.
‘Above all.’
One more part that grated on his nerves.
Perhaps this was the reason that took up the largest portion.
‘The young lady, toward that guy…’
If they had any quick wits, most would have noticed. That the young lady, who rarely went outside, had been lingering near the main gate entrance from time to time lately.
Most of the rookie escort warriors of a similar age, belonging to the youth category, made uncomfortable faces upon hearing about it.
How could they dare? They did not have thoughts of harboring the young lady in their hearts and trying to do something. There might be a crazy guy with different thoughts, but at least Nam Dong-bak was not like that.
However, it was also true that his stomach felt uncomfortable.
‘A guy who was kicked out.’
If he were truly a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect, he wouldn’t even say anything.
Didn’t they say he was a guy who was kicked out without even filling enough time to properly accumulate training?
This meant he was in a position where he could not call himself a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect.
‘I will show him a bitter taste.’
At least, he would not permit him crawling in through connections.
If the guy named Yeon Cheong-un was properly humiliated here, given the Chief’s personality, the petty guy’s opinion of wanting to participate in the escort mission would be rejected.
Therefore, Nam Dong-bak stepped forward the moment he saw the Chief flicking his finger.
Other escort warriors with similar thoughts strolled forward.
But Nam Dong-bak did not just stroll out.
His movement, lowering his body and approaching menacingly, was close to running.
‘In my youth, I was called Quick Wits, you bastard!’
Quick Wits because his name was Dong-bak. True to his nickname, when he used to fight with his peers in the neighborhood during his childhood, he had broken quite a few heads.
Nam Dong-bak, rushing fiercely, was saying so with his entire body.
I’ll knock your teeth out!
The moment he narrowed the distance to establish the spacing, Nam Dong-bak, stepping on the Sprint Step, sprang out like an arrow in a single step and swung his fist violently.
Although there were parts where the forms and postures were disordered because his emotions were loaded, a single fist containing a fierce momentum moved, aiming at Yeon Cheong-un’s head.
And.
“Argh!”
Nam Dong-bak felt his vision invert.
It felt as if the entire world was stretching long like a rubber band, and then.
‘Huh?’
By the time he regained his senses along with a strong impact, the sky was visible.
***
The number of escort warriors stepping forward at Mister Baek Jin-seong’s words was grasped at a single glance.
Twelve in total.
It was a number grasped at a single glance, but it was not a small number.
Most of them glared while gritting their teeth.
In that exchange of gazes, emotions throbbed to the point of pain.
As eyes met, each and every gaze seemed to strike my chest.
Before bodies touched, the emotions rushing through the gazes entered inside and collided.
‘I’m properly hated.’
They dislike me tremendously.
I knew it very well.
At the very least, it did not seem like it would end as a joke.
Since emotions were loaded in their hands, it meant they harbored the will to definitely injure the opponent.
In a way, it was a fight that could be called half real combat.
These guys were weaker than Baek Mu-ho, but unlike Baek Mu-ho, they were dead serious.
Perhaps because the emotions colliding before exchanging blows were intense, I caught my breath as I watched the first opponent narrow the distance.
Right now, rather than thinking about being hated by someone, courage was needed. This was not a matter of strength, but a matter of the mind.
Even if one has claws that can easily tear a person’s bones and flesh, a weak-hearted person cannot swing them.
Whether I get hurt, or the opponent gets hurt.
A fight that injures someone.
Since Yin Si-hoo and I had a grudge between us, I had no hesitation in using my hands, but I had no such grudge with these guys.
To what extent should I use my hands?
Thoughts gave birth to worry, and worry gave birth to hesitation.
A disturbance arose in my mind.
[You’re not even tensing up before a guy stronger than you, but you get tense over newborn pups yapping? Do you want to die?]
[Cultivating the self lies in rectifying the mind. If you make your mind clean, the body will move accordingly. Fist techniques are pure. If you wish to move your body fully, do not disrupt your rectified mind at any moment.]
Immediately, a scolding like autumn frost shook my head.
Master Zhang Sanfeng scolded fiercely, and Master Bodhidharma scolded solemnly.
It felt as if thunder had struck inside my head.
Hearing those words anew, I realized the fact that the people visible to the eyes were not the only ones watching this stage.
‘Fool.’
Just as there was something unacceptable by the standards of those escort warriors, there was also something unacceptable by my standards.
The attitude I showed just now was close to that unacceptable thing.
‘I am the one who inherited the strongest lineage of the Martial World.’
My unsightly behavior would soon reflect on the people who bestowed teachings upon me.
I cannot defile the names of my two masters with my mistake.
Even if it is a story that no one in the world would believe that the two of them are my teachers, I myself know it.
The moment I realized what I had to shoulder for a lifetime, my mind became as sharp as a keen blade.
Something clear and cool settled inside my body.
As I maintained my rectified mind, my mind remained calm even though I saw those rushing fiercely before my eyes.
It was as peaceful as a clear lake maintaining a mirror-like surface [Clear Mirror, Still Water / ].
Looking with eyes devoid of cloudiness.
The first rule that one who seeks to achieve martial arts must keep until the moment of death.
As I contemplated the world with those eyes, the figures of the people lunging at me began to appear solely as lines.
A person’s movement became a trajectory with only the skeleton remaining, and the trajectory became a simple line.
Reading everything simply.
I, too, became a single line and blended into that simplicity.
Thud!
“Argh!”
As a result, the very first one fell to the floor.
Grab, shake, and throw.
Handling the sturdily-built man like a jackstone in my hand, I slammed him onto the floor.
Since emotions were loaded in his fist, it was easy to read, and his balance was also disrupted.
For the current me, twisting him was easy enough to do with my eyes closed.
The moment he was thrown, I saw the eyes full of hatred turn into eyes of shock.
It was the moment of establishing the hierarchy among males.
A low-level pleasure that revealed itself when stepping over the opponent to occupy superiority rushed in.
I kept my mind pure and did not get excited or thrilled along with that pleasure. I merely felt that sensation.
It was not a bad feeling.
An excited mind flowed through the blood. It extended to the limbs.
The moment the skin’s sensation became vivid due to the blood vigorously circulating throughout the body.
“Hup!”
The next attack stretched before my eyes.
No, it poured.
When I avoided one, another came. And then another.
Every time I avoided and deflected, another backing it up overlapped and overlapped.
The remaining number was eleven in total.
To me, who did not see people as people but viewed things solely as lines, the movements of the eleven people looked like a storm where dozens of lines were disheveledly mingled.
Putting forward the clear mind and the bristling skin sensations, I threw my body into the storm.
‘Concisely.’
There was a part that I realized instinctively.
In real combat, there is no sloppy move.
To the point where it could be called ‘without fail’, every single movement had meaning. Even a single deep breath.
Crash!
“Keuk!”
If I grabbed, I definitely bent and threw.
The moment I grabbed, I decided the result. Otherwise, it was a failed move.
Just by grabbing the wrist and shaking it, a person became a scarecrow and rolled on the floor.
Moving like wind, permeating like water.
Walking inside the storm.
The body made a place on its own within that fight of fierce lines.
Hands stretched freely.
Even the breath entering through the nose and mouth could be felt fluctuating inside the stomach.
Whenever the fluctuating breath wriggled, something inside the body aligned. It felt as if things that had been blocked popped open one by one, and a path was opening.
Something was established at a rapid pace inside the body.
Upon the vast foundation carefully laid by my two masters, a path was created.
Along that path, something poured down.
A refreshing energy entering through the crown of the head. As if someone had poured cold water. Something entered inside through the head and flowed along the opened path.
What entered through the head swept through and ran wild inside the body.
The fluctuating breath and the divine power coming from the center of the head.
Power overflowed throughout the body.
The bristling sensations were telling me.
That strength was permeating each and every strand of my muscles.
It felt like coming out after unlocking heavy shackles.
A beast that broke out of a cage roared a long howl inside the body.
Something was accomplished within myself.
And Master Zhang Sanfeng’s voice was heard.
[You have awakened.]
I could not tell what had awakened.
But I understood those words instinctively.
Awakened.
Breaking the shell, I finally came out into the world.
A smile was drawn on my face on its own.
“Hmph!”
Perhaps stimulated by the smile I made, as if anger had suppressed his heavily shrinking mind, there was someone who extended a straight punch with the momentum to crush my head.
Only the momentum was good.
Thud!
The throw that Baek Mu-ho would stick out his tongue at every time he fell victim to it.
Throwing with that technique, where one is already thrown to the ground the moment they realize it.
“……!”
“Th-that!”
At a move that seemed to be lightly thrown, a person’s body soared above the head. A sturdily-built man was spinning like a top high above the head like a toy.
The trace of my strength remaining on the body spinning like a top was projected onto the wrinkles of the clothes he wore, vividly revealing the direction of the force, adding to the mystery.
Thud!
And he was slammed onto the floor.
The momentum of the rushing young escort warriors withered.
Jealousy changed to bewilderment, and bewilderment to fear.
An individual broke the momentum of the majority.
A predator ran wild alone.
***
The middle-aged and elderly escort warriors watched with dumbfounded eyes the spectacle of him driving twelve young escort warriors alone.
When Baek Mu-ho said to include Yeon Cheong-un in the escort mission, those who had eaten the food of the Baek Family Escort for a long time guessed that Yeon Cheong-un’s skill would be higher than expected.
Although Baek Mu-ho was slick and slippery in private settings, even such a Baek Mu-ho had areas where he did not compromise.
At the very least, Baek Mu-ho was not of a personality to insert someone into the escort agency carelessly.
In other words, given Baek Mu-ho’s character, the fact that he recommended him meant Yeon Cheong-un was sufficiently qualified.
However, there was almost no one who thought they would see a spectacle of this level.
“Grab, Shift, Block, and Ward Off. It’s Wudang martial arts. But to subdue them with only basic techniques… that is unexpected.”
Baek Jin-seong suddenly murmured.
Escort Leader Jeong Il-sang, who was in a position to receive those words, nodded his head.
“For basics to exert power means there is depth. Deep martial arts usually come from old moves… Who on earth passed it down to him?”
In Escort Leader Jeong Il-sang’s words, a surprise that could not be fully hidden lingered.
He was a person who knew Yeon Cheong-un’s past. Since in his very childhood, he was a person who had even given snacks to Yeon Cheong-un as he played with Baek Mu-ho.
Yet nowhere in the past was there an appearance capable of unfolding such martial arts.
That memory also corresponded to the meaning that the time it took to achieve martial arts of that caliber must have been very short.
Naturally, it was surprising.
“More than that, should I say it’s strange.”
On the other hand, rather than the thought of it being surprising, Baek Jin-seong was looking at something else.
Baek Jin-seong was also surprised while watching Yeon Cheong-un’s martial arts. However, what he felt even more strongly than that surprise was an emotion that felt strange even to himself.
“Yearning…”
Something precious lost long ago. However, because it was lost too long ago, that something whose very identity of what was lost had been forgotten.
A pure, orthodox martial art that was not distorted.
Feeling its lingering fragrance from Yeon Cheong-un’s martial arts, Baek Jin-seong’s eyes gradually deepened.