Chapter 84: Hwangbo Seryeong
by AfuhfuihgsHwangbo Seryeong
It was Monday, the 5th day since summer vacation started.
The sun had risen not long ago.
Lee Dojin was sitting in a proper posture in the dormitory, doing his morning meditation.
At that moment, the phone placed on the desk let out a ringtone.
“Hello.”
-Kid.
It was Choi Cheolhyeon, the blacksmith who had made wooden swords for Lee Dojin.
“Yes, Elder.”
-Your wooden sword made of black wood. It looks like it’ll take another week from today.
“That’s fine.”
There was no need to rush anyway.
“Is there a problem?”
-No, it’s just that the refining was harder than I thought. I’m at the stage where I’ve almost figured out the method now.
“That’s good to hear.”
-Yeah, I called today to notify you of the delay and to confirm your order once more. You want it to not look like a wooden sword, right?
“Yes, please make it with a completely sharp blade no different from other swords.”
The wooden sword he was using now still had a bit of the characteristic thickness of wooden swords. Even that becomes no different from other swords when overlaid with sword energy, but what Lee Dojin wanted now was to make a sword that couldn’t be recognized as a wooden sword at all.
-Alright. Well, since it’s an Upper Tree wooden sword, it wouldn’t be much different from a real sword anyway. The color is black too. Moreover, this black wood is lighter and harder than existing Upper Trees. It’s a very strange material.
“Is that so?”
-Yeah, so you can look forward to it.
“I understand.”
Lee Dojin entered Mistilteinn’s world.
There were connections that had to be ended here too.
“You’ve come?”
A voice that had become very familiar now echoed in his ears.
“Yes, I’ve come.”
Hwangbo Seryeong, with her lion’s mane-like hair, was standing there. She was wearing pure white martial arts clothes, different from before.
“I need to leave something behind, and wearing black clothes might not be good for that, so I changed.”
“White clothes suit you well too.”
Hwangbo Seryeong twisted her mouth.
“After my family was exterminated, I didn’t welcome such words from anyone after I turned 20. It was mostly used by those trying to somehow make me their ally and manipulate me.”
Hwangbo Seryeong began to utilize her inner power.
“But after rebuilding the family and bringing in children with nowhere to go and teaching them martial arts, one day one of those children said, ‘The family head is beautiful today too.'”
Golden radiance began to rise like steam from Hwangbo Seryeong’s entire body.
“At that time, it didn’t feel too bad. And even now, it doesn’t feel too bad.”
Hwangbo Seryeong continued speaking.
“Thanks to you suddenly being able to handle Nature’s Energy, it’s become quite easy for me to pass on martial arts to you.”
“That’s fortunate.”
Hwangbo Seryeong cackled at Lee Dojin’s nonchalant words.
“I have two martial arts to give you. One is a fist technique. One is a palm technique.”
Standing next to Lee Dojin, Hwangbo Seryeong slowly extended her fist.
A brilliant golden fist path pushed the air.
A golden sonic boom slowly materialized in the air. Lee Dojin took in that heavy path with his eyes.
“Thunderbolt Divine Fist (벽력신권) and Reverse Scale Palm (역린장).”
Hwangbo Seryeong’s entire body was covered in golden haze.
“Thunderbolt.”
She took a step forward while uttering those words in a low voice.
Kwa-roong!
The sound of thunder striking exploded in front. A gust of wind bleakly covered the forest.
“If you concentrate your Heaven Defying Divine Technique and Nature’s Energy in your right hand, you should be able to imitate it. I’ll show you that flow.”
Hwangbo Seryeong continued her movements.
“Reverse Scale Palm is far from the existing Hwangbo family martial arts. Because I wasn’t born with the family’s physique, I had to create a martial art that mixed the elegance of deflecting or reversing the opponent’s attacks into the palm technique.”
Hwangbo Seryeong’s straight-out palm moved the air. Golden air currents clung like stems to the tips of each finger.
“It’s about reversing the properties of the air. Making the opponent’s attacks slow and my attacks fast. It’s a palm technique without a fixed form. It’s focused more on counterattacking than initiating attacks.”
Counter.
And it looked close to jujutsu.
Lee Dojin understood Hwangbo Seryeong’s explanation correctly.
“You handle Nature’s Energy. Nature’s Energy is ultimately air. This atmosphere itself. When you reach the level where you can focus all your nerves to the end of each finger joint like me, you might be able to display a Reverse Scale Palm even better than mine.”
That path still felt far away.
Currently, the best he could do was to cover himself with it as protective strong energy.
“All achievements come with pain.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Lee Dojin could agree with that a hundred, a thousand times. To draw one proper sword path, one had to swing thousands of incorrect sword paths before.
“So let’s get hit a bit.”
Hwangbo Seryeong took a step towards Lee Dojin.
Their fists and palm techniques accumulated countless exchanges.
Half a day.
And all day long.
Lee Dojin’s body had long since been exhausted. Sweat was running down his solid muscular upper body. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it was not his body moving, but his mind.
“Isn’t your mind clear?”
Hwangbo Seryeong’s voice was heard. He freshly felt that she was a monster.
“Go beyond no-self (무아).”
Lee Dojin moved his hand. At the tips of his five fingers, Nature’s Energy that created five small whirlwinds was wrapped around each.
Hwangbo Seryeong raised the corners of her mouth.
“As expected, geniuses are unlucky.”
Unlike her words, her voice was full of affection.
Colorless whirlwinds and golden whirlwinds clashed towards each other.
Kwa-deu-deuk!
It was a natural result for the golden reverse scales to devour Lee Dojin’s colorless whirlwinds.
But the important thing is not the result.
Looking at Lee Dojin sprawled out on the ground, Hwangbo Seryeong said,
“Congratulations on taking your first step, kid.”
“Thank you.”
Getting a grasp of it is what’s important.
Four days passed like that. Lee Dojin received three martial arts manuals from Hwangbo Seryeong.
“Thunderbolt Divine Fist, Reverse Scale Palm, and the last one is Golden Snake Hand and a few footwork techniques. You should be able to learn those on your own.”
These were martial arts tailored for Lee Dojin that she had created during the semester. Lee Dojin bowed his waist.
Then, he raised it completely.
He couldn’t know how the original Hwangbo Seryeong would think, and he would never know in the future.
But the Hwangbo Seryeong summoned in this world of Mistilteinn was clearly a teacher. Even if she was just a fragment of a soul residing in the huge tree before his eyes, the Taesan tree.
“Stop it, it’s disgusting.”
Hwangbo Seryeong smiled while slightly furrowing her brow.
“It’s just my choice to not want to linger anymore.”
Hwangbo Seryeong originally hated being called a ‘teacher’ terribly, even while continuously teaching something.
Three months in Mistilteinn’s world time.
Hwangbo Seryeong still had three months of time left. But she was trying to disappear faster than that.
“I’ve fulfilled my duty summoned here. I set my duty as giving you martial arts that would be helpful to you.”
There were tears pooled in Mistilteinn’s eyes.
Considering that Hwangbo Seryeong had been the one constantly by Mistilteinn’s side all day while Lee Dojin was caught up in academy life or various other incidents, it was not strange emotion.
“Stop.”
Hwangbo Seryeong patted Mistilteinn’s snow-white hair with an affectionate face that Lee Dojin couldn’t see.
“…Stop.”
Mistilteinn said, slowly nodding her head.
Hwangbo Seryeong continued to stroke Mistilteinn’s hair with her rough hand.
“You said you had a taboo that prevented you from telling your own story with your own mouth, so you just recited my story. Wasn’t it boring?”
“It was fun. The story that left the biggest impression was when you tore off the Apostle Leader’s head and were standing blankly, then suddenly heavy rain poured down, and a child who had been kidnapped by the Apostles approached and put a bamboo hat on Fist King’s head. And that child…”
“Became the first member of the Hwangbo family I rebuilt. You remember it all.”
“Of course. It was interesting.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
Hwangbo Seryeong was wearing a bright smile that didn’t match her lion’s mane-like hair at all.
And for a brief moment, she embraced Mistilteinn’s frail body.
“Now, it’s time to say goodbye.”
There were still tears in Mistilteinn’s eyes, but her voice had become calm.
“Yes, it was enjoyable.”
Hwangbo Seryeong stood in front of Lee Dojin again.
“Don’t live a life with as many lingering attachments as I did.”
“I’ll try.”
Though I’m not sure if that’s something that can be achieved by trying.
“I heard you might be able to bring Mistilteinn out into the real world someday, is that right?”
“Yes, it should be possible.”
“Show that child the outside world to her heart’s content.”
“I wish for that too.”
“If you just refine your Nature’s Energy a bit more, you should be able to be called a master with just fist techniques. Keep working hard.”
Hwangbo Seryeong embraced Lee Dojin’s upper body. Something she would never do normally, saying it was disgusting. The fact that she was doing it so casually now showed that she had completely made up her mind.
“Thank you for everything.”
“How about that, our hearts are in sync. Because I’m grateful for many things too.”
Hwangbo Seryeong approached the side of the Taesan tree.
“Be thorough with your debts of gratitude and grudges. So that you have no regrets, that’s my last advice. Repay kindness clearly. And crush grudges clearly. So that they can’t even rise again.”
That advice contained Hwangbo Seryeong’s life.
“Farewell, Teacher. It was enjoyable.”
Hwangbo Seryeong laughed with a guttural sound.
It was probably because he ended up calling her teacher after all, when she had insisted so much on not being called that.
The laughter slowly stopped.
“…Yes, you damn disciple.”
Hwangbo Seryeong stared at the Taesan tree. The giant tree that had always been in front of the family house.
And lowering her gaze, she looked at Lee Dojin and Mistilteinn again.
Hwangbo Seryeong’s body slowly began to disappear from her feet.
“I enjoyed it too.”
Hwangbo Seryeong completely disappeared.
“……”
Lee Dojin and Mistilteinn silently stared at the Taesan tree that Hwangbo Seryeong had touched last. Next to it stood the Moonlight Tree that had summoned Sword Emperor Dan Cheonwoo. They looked at the two giant trees for a long time.
A deep silence came to Mistilteinn’s world after a long time.
No matter what anyone said, his second undisputed teacher had left. Lee Dojin’s mood couldn’t be entirely good.
At that moment, his phone rang.
-Examinee Lee Dojin, you have become an A-rank Hunter. Congratulations. Please come pick up your Hunter certificate.
The maximum initial registration rank of A-rank had been confirmed.
0 Comments