That’s Not How You Use Martial Arts

Chapter 15
Entering the Jianghu (4)

『 Translator – Divinity 』

The forest path leading to my personal training ground in the back mountain.

I walked side by side with Hwa-ryeon.

“……”

“……”

It was difficult to start a conversation after being caught in such an embarrassing situation.

It was like being caught by my younger sister watching… well, you know.

Anyway, an indescribable awkwardness hung between us.

And it was Hwa-ryeon who first found the courage to break the silence.

“The ‘trial’… you were talking about your family, weren’t you?”

“Oh? Uh… yeah. Especially my eldest sister, you know her. How protective she is of me. Remember that time about six years ago? I stayed late at the school, and she barged in with a bunch of people?”

“Of course I do. I could never forget that. Especially considering my situation.”

“Hmm? Your situation?… Ah.”

Right, she was in hiding.

And suddenly, people barged in like that…

“…Sorry. I apologize, even though it’s late.”

“No. We’re not in a position to receive your apology. We’re the ones who should be apologizing.”

“What do you mean?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, Hwa-ryeon, who had been staring at me intently, burst into laughter.

“Ahaha… You’re making me embarrassed.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one embarrassed?”

I grumbled and scratched my head.

Then, Hwa-ryeon’s subdued voice reached my ears.

“I’m sorry.”

“…For what? I need to know what you’re apologizing for before I can accept it.”

“For using you all this time.”

“…”

Using me… huh.

She must be talking about that.

How they only taught me the Three Talents Technique, a third-rate street martial art, for the past ten years while putting me forward as the chief disciple.

They probably used me as a front to divert the attention of those Paecheon Fortress bastards who were after them.

They must have taught me only the Three Talents Technique to make Cheonpung Martial Arts School seem like a shabby school established by an insignificant third-rate martial artist.

Well, it seemed like she thought I would feel betrayed after learning the truth, but…

“I don’t particularly feel betrayed. I don’t think it’s something to be betrayed over.”

“…Why?”

Hwa-ryeon seemed completely baffled by my reaction.

But I thought she was overreacting.

“I already knew that Cheonpung Martial Arts School was a shabby place that only taught third-rate martial arts. I knew it all, and I went there to learn even those third-rate techniques.”

Back then, as a ten-year-old, I was consumed by impatience.

The fateful encounter I had been waiting for years never came, and ten years old was already a borderline age to start learning martial arts.

It’s a common trope in martial arts novels, isn’t it? That someone is too old to start learning martial arts.

Of course, the protagonists in those novels become peerless masters despite such unfavorable conditions, but I was starting to realize that I wasn’t a protagonist in a novel.

Once I snapped out of my narcissistic delusion of being the main character, I couldn’t help but feel impatient.

So, I turned my attention to my surroundings.

To Cheonpung Martial Arts School, the one and only martial arts school in Gun-gang County.

Of course, I had some wild fantasies at first.

Fantasies that Master Wang-sam, the owner of Cheonpung Martial Arts School, might be a hidden master in disguise.

But those fantasies were shattered when I heard he was teaching the Three Talents Technique.

I was a bit disappointed, thinking, “Figures.”

But thinking back now, that fantasy wasn’t entirely wrong, was it?

He wasn’t a hidden master in disguise, but Master was a renowned expert in the Jianghu.

Of course, he was a fake expert who didn’t know how to use his internal energy properly.

Anyway,

“I decided to learn the Three Talents Technique, so I paid for it, and Master taught me martial arts in exchange for the money I paid. Is there anything to feel betrayed about?”

“…So you’re saying you don’t feel betrayed because you didn’t have any expectations from the beginning.”

Hwa-ryeon sounded a bit gloomy.

Glancing at her profile, I subtly added,

“And well… I could tell that you guys didn’t really want to use me.”

“…Yes?”

Hwa-ryeon looked at me with slightly widened eyes.

Meeting her clear gaze, I continued,

“You and Seol-i, you never treated me like a senior brother and were always eager to kick me out. You kept asking me when I was going to quit, and you even played pranks on me by putting a ton of salt in my food.”

“T-that was a genuine mistake…!”

Hwa-ryeon’s face flushed red as she hurriedly made excuses.

I chuckled at her cute reaction, and she pouted.

Her emotions were usually hard to read, but we had been seeing each other for ten years.

After all that time, I had become able to notice even the slightest changes in her expression.

Hmm, now that I looked closely, her eyes weren’t twitching, were they?

“You’re not lying. Alright, I’ll believe you.”

“…It’s true that I’m not lying, but how can you be so sure?”

“Your face gives you away when you lie.”

“…”

She looked at me as if I had just spouted the most ridiculous nonsense she had ever heard.

That reaction was a bit unfair, wasn’t it?

“It’s true! Your expression doesn’t change much, but I can tell when you’re lying!”

“…Let’s just say that’s the case.”

She didn’t believe me?

I tried to convince her further, but Hwa-ryeon didn’t believe my words until the very end.

In the end, I gave up on persuading her.

Thinking that she would realize it someday, I returned to the main topic.

“Anyway, that’s how you were. And Seol-i was a bit worse than you. No, rather than worse, should I say she was more creative in her attempts to prank me?”

I could think of many instances right away.

She wouldn’t bring me the warm water I had prepared beforehand to wash my sweat-soaked body after training under the scorching summer sun, and she would hide my wooden sword so I couldn’t train.

Hmm, thinking back, maybe she didn’t try to kick me out, but just didn’t like me…?

Hwa-ryeon flatly denied my thoughts.

“You were partly to blame for that. You tormented Seol-i quite a bit.”

“Torment? I was just being affectionate towards Seol-i! I took care of her so much. I gave her piggyback rides, bought her sweets…”

“You poked her cheeks, messed up her hair by petting her, and threw her around while playing with her.”

“……”

At Hwa-ryeon’s cold response, I became speechless.

Uh, didn’t Seol-i like that? I thought she did.

“Every time I threw her up high, she would squeal with delight…”

“I don’t think most people would consider that enjoyable.”

“…I apologize.”

I obediently apologized.

I also quietly nodded when Hwa-ryeon told me to apologize to Seol-i later.

We had arrived at my personal training ground (which was really just an empty lot in the forest).

And then, a belated thought came to mind.

“What were we talking about again?”

“……”

It had definitely started as a serious conversation where Hwa-ryeon was apologizing for using me, but somehow, it had turned into me being scolded for tormenting Seol-i.

Hwa-ryeon also seemed to realize this, her expression turning blank for a moment.

Seeing that, I grinned and said,

“Yep, you forgot, didn’t you?”

“Kyaaagh! That tone really…!”

I burst into laughter at Hwa-ryeon’s reflexive outburst.

***

“Pffft…”

Hwa-ryeon sighed deeply as she watched the man clutching his stomach and laughing.

Why did she always lose her composure and get dragged around whenever she was with this man?

“That ‘aren’t you?’ thing. Can you please stop doing that?”

“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. You’re just too much fun to tease.”

What did he mean by “fun to tease”?

Did he mean it was fun to make her lose her cool?

Hwa-ryeon glared at the man with a cold gaze.

He tried to suppress his laughter, but the corners of his mouth kept twitching.

Thinking that his reaction was even more infuriating, Hwa-ryeon sighed again.

‘He’s like a clueless child sometimes.’

She couldn’t understand this man named Gun Ja-seong at all.

Sometimes, he acted younger than his twenty years, playful and naive.

Especially that “~aren’t you? ~aren’t you?” thing; it annoyed her every time she heard it.

But at other times, he acted incredibly mature, far beyond what she would expect from someone only a year older than her.

‘Like just now.’

To be so considerate of someone who had used him for ten years without even teaching him proper martial arts.

At least she wouldn’t have reacted this way if she were in his position.

She would have grabbed the other person by the collar and punched them in the face.

Honestly, she had even been prepared to be hit when she went to the Gun family estate alone…

‘…No.’

Hwa-ryeon shook her head.

It was a lie that she had been prepared to be hit.

In truth, she already knew. That Ja-seong was this kind of person.

Because he was this kind of person, she had wished for him to join them.

Because he was someone who could sometimes make her forget the grim reality and someone she could lean on, she…

“…Huh?”

What was I thinking just now…?

“What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

Hwa-ryeon snapped back to reality at Ja-seong’s call.

And then, startled by Ja-seong’s face right in front of her, she instinctively pushed him away.

“Wh-why are you so close?!”

“Well, you suddenly went silent without saying anything…!”

Ja-seong grumbled as if he felt wronged, and Hwa-ryeon turned away, as if to ignore him.

Her face felt hot for some reason.

Thump

Clutching her heart, which was beating fast and hard even without her consciously feeling it, Hwa-ryeon was bewildered by the unfamiliar emotion.