Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 38 - Martial Talent (5)
Chapter 38 – Martial Talent (5)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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‘Will this work?’
As he was feeling uneasy, Mok Gyeong-un said casually,
“You heard me. I want the cultivation methods and
martial formulas relating to
Yeon Mok Sword Manor’s basic art.”
-At those words,
Mok Yu-cheon responded in a tone of incomprehension.
“You already know them, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Then why ask for that? There is no need to….”
“To be honest, I don’t actually need the third demand.”
-‘Huh?’
Gochan stared at the back of Mok Gyeong-un’s head,
wondering what this was.
No, what was he doing?
He did not need it?
Just like Gochan,
Mok Yu-cheon also found it strange and asked back,
“You don’t need it?”
“That’s right. The first two are what I truly want.
But the third is only something I want because
I have something I personally wish to confirm.”
At those words, Mok Yu-cheon’s frown eased.
Then he tilted his head and said,
“What are you trying to confirm?”
“It’s nothing special.
I only want to confirm whether what I know is correct.”
“Confirm whether what you know is correct?”
“Yes. There is no other reason.”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un,
Mok Yu-cheon let out a faint, mocking laugh.
At the sight, Gochan was puzzled.
He could not understand why Mok Yu-cheon reacted like that
instead of becoming suspicious
at Mok Gyeong-un’s vague words.
But then he understood from what Mok Yu-cheon said next.
“Do you suspect Father, perhaps?”
‘!?’
“Do you think Father taught me differently?”
‘No?’
At those words, Gochan’s eyes widened.
No, this was a completely unexpected approach.
Rather than becoming suspicious,
Mok Yu-cheon had jumped to
conclusions on his own like that.
Matching that, Mok Gyeong-un said casually,
“I simply want to confirm it.”
“It won’t be any different.”
-“I’ll be able to tell once I hear you say it.”
At those words, Mok Yu-cheon snorted.
Then he shook his head and said,
“You’re doing something pointless.
Even if you confirm it, it means nothing.”
“If there is nothing different,
then you can simply tell me.
Whether it is different or not,
I can confirm it immediately just by hearing you say it.”
“You really are asking for something ridiculous.”
“You won’t lose anything from it anyway.”
“…….Well, that’s true enough.”
“Then you can tell me the formulas of
the basic art right here on the spot.
And after you tell me,
I’ll inform you immediately as well.”
“What? Here?”
Mok Yu-cheon glanced around and frowned as he asked back.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un shrugged and said,
“Why? Are you worried someone might overhear?
Or are you saying you don’t have the
confidence to memorize it if it is spoken aloud?”
At those words, Mok Yu-cheon replied in an irritated voice,
“You’re only in the position of
confirming something you already know,
while I have to memorize the formulas of higher
martial arts that I am hearing for the first time.
That’s different!”
“Ah…..Is that so.
Then would it be better if I wrote it down and sent it?”
At those words, Mok Yu-cheon paused for a moment.
It would certainly be easier if it were written down and
sent, but after thinking about it, that did not seem right.
‘I should hear it here.’
One never knew.
He had checked the manual, but
there was still a chance that Mok Gyeong-un
might intentionally recite the formulas incorrectly.
If that happened,
it would be better to hear them here on the spot.
That way, if there were anything wrong
when he made him repeat them several times,
he would be able to tell.
Thinking it a good idea, Mok Yu-cheon said,
“No, let’s do it here.
But you will keep reciting them
until I memorize all of the formulas.”
“That much is hardly difficult.”
Thus, the transaction between the two was concluded.
* * *
Two shijin and another two gak had passed.
On the way back to the medicine hall.
Guard Gochan clicked his tongue as
he looked at Mok Gyeong-un’s back,
his steps light.
‘He really is incredible.’
This time, he had no choice but to admit it.
He already knew that Mok Gyeong-un was clever,
having experienced it repeatedly,
but he had not known it would be to this extent.
From the beginning,
the only thing Mok Gyeong-un
truly wanted was the basic art.
Yet he first brought up plausible demands in
advance to lower Mok Yu-cheon’s suspicion.
Moreover, as for the basic art,
he framed it as merely wanting to confirm
whether it matched what he already knew,
and naturally guided the atmosphere that way.
‘Ha……truly……’
He was sly to the extreme.
In truth, luck had also played some part.
Mok Yu-cheon had jumped to conclusions
and fitted the pieces together on his own,
and Mok Gyeong-un had used that situation well.
That was possible only because
his sense for reading the situation was frighteningly sharp.
‘It would be hard for it to look more natural than this.’
He was an impressive fellow.
Still, there was one thing he was curious about.
It seemed that he had indeed heard the
formulas of the basic art from Mok Yu-cheon,
but
because it was supposedly only for confirmation,
it felt like he had heard them no more than once.
Was it really possible to memorize that
many formulas after hearing them only once?
After wavering over whether to ask or not,
Gochan finally asked.
“…….Young Master.
But it seemed you heard the formulas only once.
Are you truly all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“There are far too many formulas to
memorize in a single hearing……”
“What is difficult about that?”
“Pardon?”
“Isn’t that something you can
memorize after hearing it just once?”
‘!?’
At those words, Gochan’s eyes widened.
No, had he memorized all those
many formulas of the basic art,
nearly half a shijin’s worth, from hearing them only once?
The basic art included everything,
fist techniques, sword techniques,
the basic circulation method, and even the lightness skill.
It was by no means an amount one
could memorize by hearing it only once.
Had not even Mok Yu-cheon,
the one called naturally blessed with martial talent,
needed Mok Gyeong-un to repeat it nearly eight or nine
times aloud before he barely managed to memorize it?
“……..Did you truly memorize it all in one go?”
“Yes. It isn’t especially difficult,
so what is strange about it?”
“……….”
Not especially difficult?
Then did that mean he and
Young Master Mok Yu-cheon were fools?
He had thought it impressive enough that the young master
memorized it through spoken recitation in about two shijin.
‘Ha.’
If those words were true, then
this fellow’s mind was truly extraordinary.
Stunned inwardly, Gochan shook his head.
This fellow could not be judged by ordinary common sense.
So he figured it would be better simply to adjust himself.
“…….No. I only asked because
I wouldn’t be able to memorize it in one hearing.
In any case,
it is fortunate that the transaction ended safely.
But will it really be all right?”
“What will?”
“It was a transaction, but
is it really fine to tell Young
Master Mok Yu-cheon the manual so
readily?”
Judging from Mok Yu-cheon’s nature,
he was indeed better than the other young masters.
He would probably keep the promise they had
made unless something extraordinary happened.
Still, it did feel somewhat wasteful.
Had they not effectively yielded the
chance to receive the retainers’support?
To him, Mok Gyeong-un said casually,
“Since it isn’t a proper set of formulas anyway,
there is no problem with telling him.”
“………Pardon?”
Gochan frowned.
What was this supposed to mean now?
“Young Master……what exactly do you mean by that?”
“Ah. Perhaps I should have kept that to myself.”
“Pardon?”
Mok Gyeong-un slung an arm over
the questioning Gochan’s shoulder,
grinned, and whispered into his ear.
“It’s a secret, so only Guard Gochan should know.
In the formulas for the
Wood-Transforming Heart Cultivation Method and
the Yeon Mok Star Sword Formula,
I changed the characters backward or altered the
meaning once every thirteen or fourteen characters.
I was nervous in case he noticed,
but somehow it passed well.”
‘!?’
Hearing those words,
Gochan could not help but become flustered.
He had thought it strange that this
fellow was handing over the manual so
readily.
But he was saying that instead of teaching the
correct formulas for the cultivation method and
sword formula, he had arbitrarily altered them?
If someone learned something like that incorrectly,
they could suffer qi deviation and be crippled, or even die.
“Young Master, if you do that……”
“Why?”
Mok Gyeong-un asked with that signature cold smile of his.
‘!!!!!!’
At that, goosebumps rose all over Gochan’s body.
This fellow had no concern whatsoever
over whether the youngest young master,
Mok Yu-cheon, would go wrong or not.
‘………This bastard truly is a devil.’
The atmosphere earlier had been rather warm,
all things considered.
He had thought it was a transaction
both sides could be satisfied with,
but that was not true at all.
The winner of the transaction
had been this devil of a bastard.
-Hoo.
Yet there was another being
looking down on them from the air and
clicking her tongue.
It was Blue Spirit.
Blue Spirit smoked her pipe as she looked at Mok Gyeong-un.
‘That mad sentient creature.’
-It was truly absurd.
That sentient creature named
Gochan was entirely unaware of this.
Namely, that Mok Gyeong-un had, on the spot, improvised and
altered around eighty characters of the formulas,
and then recited them to Mok Yu-cheon nine
whole times without missing even a single syllable.
This went beyond merely saying
that his mind was exceptional.
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