The Apostate Monk (4)
"Oh? Seems like you're quite eager to hear my story. Hehe,"
Hyu Gwan chuckled sarcastically, though inwardly he felt a sense of awe.
"Ha. Better than those guys in the Destroyer of Demons Division," he thought. It wasn't about skill. No matter how skilled Mu-Jin was, he was just a newly appointed third-generation disciple. His skill couldn't compare to those in the Destroyer of Demons Division.
What surprised Hyu Gwan was Mujin's patience. Usually, when people are hit repeatedly, they become filled with malice and venom and tend to lash out. Or they lose their spirit altogether and give up.
However, Mujin, while persistent, never succumbed to irrational anger or wild movements. Even when Hyu Gwan unexpectedly kicked sand at him or employed other dishonorable tactics, he didn't retaliate recklessly.
"Yet he continues to refine his martial arts," Hyu Gwan remarked to himself. Mujin made an effort to correct his mistakes every time he was hit. With each repetition of the spar, Mujin felt his vulnerabilities narrowing.
"Heh heh heh. Quite an intriguing fellow to torment," Hyu Gwan chuckled. The more he tormented, the more skilled Mujin became, making him even more eager to torment further.
* * *
Several times, actions ensued that could be deemed sparring or tormenting.
After pushing Mujin back once more, Hyu Gwan, holding a liquor bottle in his right hand, playfully licked his lips.
"Tsk. The fun's gone," he muttered. He had been so engrossed in teaching Mujin that he hadn't noticed the alcohol had run out.
Hyu Gwan then turned to his disciple who had been watching the spar.
"Beob Hye."
"Yes, Master."
"I'll leave the rest of the spar to you. It might be beneficial for you to spar with him."
"Understood, Master."
"And there, the one lying pretending to be unconscious, wake him up and have him join."
As soon as Hyu Gwan finished speaking, Mu Gyeong, who was sprawled on the floor, flinched.
"Heh heh heh. The cute Jeju is getting longer. Mu Gyeong."
"Uh, I was just lying down so as not to disturb the spar..."
Rising hastily, Mu Gyeong's words were met with a smirk and a laugh from Hyu Gwan as he leapt onto the rooftop of the pagoda.
"Mujin has sparred with me for quite some time now. First, Beob Hye and Mu Gyeong, then Beob Hye and Mujin, followed by Mujin and Mu Gyeong. Keep alternating like that."
As Hyu Gwan spoke, a new bottle of liquor appeared in his hand. He had hidden it in a crevice in the pagoda's roof.
"Let's begin."
As if delivering a judgment, he exclaimed and took a sip from the newly opened bottle. Then, as his command fell ominously, Beob Hye rushed towards Mu Gyeong.
"Euk."
Having rested lying down, Mu Gyeong effortlessly blocked Beob Hye's attacks with fluid martial art sequences rather than strange screams. When Beob Hye pressed him enough, Mu Gyeong's tense body relaxed, and he began to counterattack sporadically.
"Yugh!"
Eventually, a moment of madness ensued. With a loud thud, Beob Hye struck Mu Gyeong's abdomen.
Having received a proper blow, Mu Gyeong slumped to the ground once more.
"Tsk tsk. Still a long way to go."
The method Hyu Gwan and Beob Hye used to address Mu Gyeong's madness was straightforward. Through sparring, they developed practical instincts while simultaneously knocking him out whenever his madness surfaced.
Humans are ultimately animals. With repeated experiences, even they unconsciously become cautious.
However, it wasn't just brute force methods that were used. In addition, they primarily cultivated internal energy techniques and martial arts imbued with anti-demon powers.
This was a characteristic of the entire Destroyer of Demons Division, not only to deal with demons but also to fight their own demons.
Thanks to this, the Destroyer of Demons Division, the most peculiar group in Shaolin, often stood out among their peers in anti-demon martial arts.
Therefore, every time Mu Gyeong displayed madness and took a hit, and as he trained in anti-demon martial arts every day, eventually, he would learn to control his madness.
If not?
"Do you have any other choice but to keep taking hits until then, Mu Gyeong? Hehehe."
As Hyu Gwan smiled mischievously and took a sip of liquor, the spar between Beob Hye and Mujin began.
Perhaps due to their recent
intense exchange, Mujin's martial arts were a bit more refined than when they first sparred.
"What a ridiculous guy."
As Hyu Gwan muttered in a voice too low for those in the courtyard to hear, a voice replied from behind him.
"Hehehe. Even Master thinks so."
"!?"
Hyu Gwan, who hadn't even sensed someone approaching, instinctively turned around, feeling a presence he hadn't noticed.
"Hyun Kwang, I greet you."
Realizing that the presence behind him was Hyun Kwang, Hyu Gwan hurriedly straightened up and respectfully saluted. The vitality he had emitted unknowingly had been captured in an instant.
Whether Hyun Kwang felt that vitality or not, he just moved one step with a hearty smile and sat down beside Hyu Gwan.
"Hyu Gwan."
"Yes, Master Hyun Kwang."
Hyu Gwan responded very politely to Hyun Kwang's call. This was quite unusual. Since becoming the head of the Destroyer of Demons Division, Hyu Gwan had not shown such courtesy to anyone in Shaolin, not even to the Chief Master of the Hall, let alone to those who managed Shaolin's big and small affairs.
But no matter how disrespectful Hyu Gwan was, there was one person he couldn't be rude to: Hyun Kwang.
Hyu Gwan owed Hyun Kwang his life.
Thirty years ago, when the Demonic Cult's special forces came to Shaolin, Hyu Gwan had just been selected as the third disciple, a newly appointed junior. The level of the special forces was so high for him that their emitted vitality terrified the young Hyu Gwan.
Therefore, the back of Hyun Kwang, who single-handedly held off those formidable special forces, appeared as a hero to Hyu Gwan.
That day, the hero suffered serious injuries because of him. Hyun Kwang had flown in to protect Hyu Gwan from the attacks of the special forces targeting him.
Even now, Hyu Gwan vividly recalled that scene.
Hyun Kwang's figure, covered in blood as he fought desperately to protect Shaolin disciples, including Hyu Gwan, who had weak cultivation.
So, out of gratitude, to repent for his past self who was consumed by fear, to punish the vile demons who harmed the hero, and because Hyun Kwang, his savior and eternal hero, said to him,
"Hehehe. Could I have a drink with the Master?"
"As long as it's for you... Huh? You mean, alcohol?"
Responding reflexively without thinking, Hyu Gwan asked in a bewildered tone.
"Hmm? Was that alcohol? I've always known it as water."
Saying this, Hyun Kwang extended his hand, and the bottle of liquor wrapped in natural energy flew out of Hyu Gwan's hand and into Hyun Kwang's.
Glug, glug.
"Hehehe. Truly delicious water."
As Hyun Kwang, refreshed, took a hearty swig, Hyu Gwan looked at him with a mixture of expressions, unsure whether to laugh or cry. It was a face that seemed like it was about to laugh and cry at the same time.
Looking at Hyu Gwan, Hyun Kwang chuckled and said, "Are you alright?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"Anything."
"I can bear it."
In response to Hyu Gwan's answer, Hyun Kwang nodded slightly with a compassionate face.
"Alright. In that case, you can follow the path you want."
After that, they both drank in turn without further conversation.
In the meantime, the spar between Beob Hye and Mujin ended, and Mujin and Mu Gyeong began their spar.
"Hyu Gwan."
"Yes, Master Hyun Kwang."
"Can you occasionally look after that child in the future?"
"You mean Mujin?"
When Hyu Gwan asked with a puzzled tone, Hyun Kwang looked at the spar between Mujin and Mu Gyeong and replied,
"That child has learned Shaolin's martial arts but is walking his own path. It's a path no one has gone before, an unsafe one. There may be demons on the way.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to teach him, Master?"
Even when Hyun Kwang touched his back earlier, even when Hyu Gwan's hand was taken away with the liquor bottle, he hadn't resisted at all.
It's unclear how Hyun Kwang, who was once weak, regained such a lofty state, but it was easy to surmise that his level surpassed even Hyu Gwan's.
To Hyu Gwan's question, Hyun Kwang responded with a variety of mixed emotions on his face.
"It seems it's still too early for me to 'directly' teach that child."
"Ah..."
Hyu Gwan could easily understand Hyun Kwang's words. Even he couldn't fathom Hyun Kwang's current state. Even if Hyun Kwang were to teach Mujin, could Mujin accept his teachings?
Of course, he might understand and remember them 'mentally.' But true enlightenment is not something remembered by the mind but something followed by the heart and body. Enlightenment remembered only by the mind is just words, not enlightenment.
Hyun Kwang had other reasons for making such a request to Hyu Gwan.
For example, it was to solve the problem of that child spending too much time treating him and not being able to socialize with other Shaolin members.
Therefore, last time he had entrusted Hye Gul and Mu Yul, and this time, he intended to entrust Hyu Gwan and Mu Gyeong.
However, Hyun Kwang didn't explicitly mention such matters.
Instead, he watched the sparring between Mu Gyeong and Mujin with a content expression.
"Isn't it truly wonderful?"
"Yes, Master."
Hyu Gwan, who always had a playful, somewhat peculiar-looking face, looked at the children today with a similar expression to Hyun Kwang's.
In ten or twenty years, these children would inherit the spirits of Hyu Gwan and Hyun Kwang. They would become the pillars of Shaolin.
In the courtyard, Beob Hye, Mu Gyeong, and Mujin sparred. On the roof of the main hall, Hyun Kwang and Hyu Gwan exchanged liquor bottles and watched the scene.
It was like a painting.
...
Drinking alcohol at Shaolin Temple.
"Eeeek!"
The frenzied Mu Gyeong, who had gone insane, was knocked out by Mujin's fist, to omit only this detail.
Meanwhile, at that moment.
In a corner of Shaolin Temple, in the library.
In a place marked as the "Blacksmith Workshop," a middle-aged monk and an old monk were having a bitter conversation with solemn faces.
"Master, at this rate, our disciples may not have enough food to eat in the winter."
"Huh... Does that mean we shouldn't accept new novice disciples next year?"
The Blacksmith Workshop managed Shaolin's budget. And the two having this impoverished conversation were the owner of the Blacksmith Workshop, Hyeon Myeong, and his disciple, Hye Min.
A prestigious lineage. A branch that was called the Taesan Beokdu of the martial world, Shaolin.
Although it might seem unreasonable that there wasn't enough money to feed the disciples in Shaolin, compared to other sects, Shaolin was not particularly wealthy.
Due to their principled nature, they didn't have separate financial measures like other sects and clans.
They only received small donations from visitors to Shaolin and the money sent by the Lay Disciples sect. Especially, Shaolin didn't forcefully take money from the Lay Disciples sect, which was quite sufficient considering Shaolin's long-standing frugality and the large number of people sending money.
But if there weren't a few complications.
"More of a problem is that the money from the Lay Disciples sect sent this year is too little."
"...."
That was the donations sent from the Lay Disciples sect.
Last year, this amount had decreased, and this year, it had decreased even more, almost halving the amount of money coming in over the years.
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