Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy
Chapter 19
I arrived at the sword training ground earlier than usual after leaving the faculty office.
After looking around once, I sat in a chair, immediately launched the stock app and logged in to see a screen beautifully dyed in red.
The profit rate shown in my stock account has already exceeded 80%.
My principal is only 300 million won, excluding loans and credit financing, so the actual profit rate has broken through 500%.
[Estimated assets: 1,486,531,250 won]
Even if I round it down from the millions, it’s still 1.48 billion won.
I checked yesterday too, but looking at it again makes me so happy.
I’ve really been struggling mentally, but this beautiful number feels like it wipes away all my hardships.
I plan to liquidate all these stocks today.
Though I know it’s meaningless because of the volatility, I’ve been browsing communities enough to learn some sayings in this field.
‘Good news that everyone knows isn’t good news.’
‘Buy on rumors, sell on news.’
Tomorrow is the presidential election, and Kim Chul-hwan is 99.99% confirmed to be the president.
There are other candidates, but neither the monk who wants to unite the country with Buddhist faith nor the guy who claims to levitate and teleport despite not being a hunter will win.
There’s a possibility stocks could rise more after he’s elected president, but they could also fall.
Of course, since they’ve already risen a lot, I could withstand a small drop, but I’ve personally learned through suffering that greed is forbidden.
In fact, I’ve already been quite greedy now.
Once I sell today, I don’t plan to even look at the stock window for a while.
Even if it rises more, I’ll think of it as not my money, but seeing it would definitely make my stomach hurt a lot.
***
“Master, I’m not going to take it away, so please eat slowly. Here, wet your throat with some alcohol too.”
Watching my master inhale food like a hungry ghost makes me feel both sorry and a bit proud.
The stock rose slightly on the day I sold everything, bringing my total profit to 1.5 billion won.
With a principal of 300 million, that’s a profit rate of 500%.
It hit the upper limit the day before the election, and if I hadn’t sold half right when the market opened, I could have earned more, but what can you do?
Actually, this is already profit far beyond my expectations.
“MMMMM… Dongpo pork with Jinzunchengjiu, there’s no need for the immortal realm. My disciple, I feel like Su Dongpo himself.”
“Do you like the food and alcohol?”
“Is that even a question? The alcohol is good, but especially this Dongpo pork seems even more delicious than the one from Huayuelu that I loved most where I used to live. What great chef made this?”
Didn’t you say your favorite food was noodles before? It changes every day.
I got the Dongpo pork to go from a Chinese restaurant called Hwaran, run by a star chef named Lee Yeon-bak who appears often on TV and is popular on YouTube.
The signature dishes are Dongpo pork and mantou shrimp, but the small size, which only has 7 pieces of meat, costs a wicked 45,000 won.
Of course, considering the complicated cooking process and the chef’s reputation, it’s not an unreasonable price.
Since I earned a lot of money, I wanted to bring a large size to my master, but they said the large size doesn’t have many more pieces of meat, so I got two orders to go.
“Would you know if I told you who it is? Just enjoy eating.”
“You brat, to your master who is like the sky…. Still, I’ll let it slide today.”
He would normally nag a bit more, but he seems to be in a really good mood.
Well, not only did I bring lots of food, but also plenty of ramen and snacks, a new solar-powered laptop, and Korean language textbooks full of pictures.
Even just the laptop cost quite a bit, but it’s nothing compared to the money I earned, so it doesn’t matter.
Rather than the money, bringing everything here was more of an issue.
There’s no delivery company that will deliver to Daesungryeong Pass on Mount Seorak.
“BURP— I ate well. I thought you weren’t coming today either, but now I see you were late because you were preparing all this. Indeed, I chose my disciple well.”
“Haha…. I’ll bring you more next time.”
Reservations might be competitive, but as I did this time, it’s not difficult if you pay extra.
“Really? Usually you always say you don’t have money. Wait, do you have some other scheme? Don’t tell me you’re buying me all this today and then planning not to come next week?”
As the master said, I did prepare this because I felt bad for not visiting, but I also had something to ask… The old man is as sharp with his intuition as he is with his martial arts.
“Of course not. I’ll bring you more next week. Actually, I have one favor to ask, would you look at this?”
I took out a small styrofoam box from the bag I brought.
“What’s that?”
The master, who had a curious expression, opened the box and made a surprised face.
Actually, the reason I came late today wasn’t because I was preparing the Dongpo pork or other things, but to buy this.
I bought the Dongpo pork with alcohol yesterday evening since they would get cold anyway, and the laptop and textbooks were delivered, while the snacks and ramen I bought on the way up.
“Isn’t this ginseng?”
What I took out was wild ginseng.
And not just one, but two roots.
“Yes. I was told both are over 100 years old and bought them at quite a high price. What do you think, Master?”
When buying wild ginseng, there’s a risk of being scammed or overcharged, so I bought them through a ginseng appraisal association and paid an appraisal fee, but still, just to be sure.
“In my younger days, I once ate a 300-year-old ginseng. Looking at the energy I feel, these seem a bit less potent than what I ate, but both roots definitely seem to be over 100 years old.”
Master ate medicinal herbs too?
This is the first time I’m hearing this.
He ate them himself but told me not to rely on medicinal herbs and just focus on training….
I felt a bit betrayed, but anyway, I’m glad they’re genuine.
No, wait. Somehow, Cho Yu-ryang’s eyes looking at the wild ginseng don’t seem normal.
“You brat, why are you making that expression? Don’t tell me you’re worried I’ll ask for one root?”
Well… Yes. I have neglected him for a while, and I did pay 120 million won per root, but without the master, I wouldn’t have learned martial arts.
…Like hell! Absolutely not.
How can I give away wild ginseng that I bought with money I earned through such effort?
For a month, I truly suffered, going between heaven and hell dozens of times each day with an anxious heart.
“No, no. Anyway, once you’ve already reached the level of a great master like yourself, you don’t need to eat such mediocre medicinal herbs, right?”
Most martial arts novels set it up that beyond a certain level, medicinal herbs aren’t much help.
“Who says that? Regardless of martial arts level, medicinal herbs are always good to take if available. I’ve been feeling a bit weak lately, so this is perfect.”
Damn those martial arts novel authors… It was all lies!
“So, you want to eat it… OW! Why are you hitting me?”
“Why am I hitting you? You brat! I hit you because I can see right through you. It probably wasn’t cheap, and what would I do eating this now?”
“Haha…. So you’re saying I can eat it all?”
“Yes, you brat. Actually, you’re right. At my level, such medicinal herbs would just be like taking a health supplement.”
“What? But if I was right, why did you hit me?”
Martial arts novel authors whom I just cursed in my mind, I’m truly sorry.
“Want another hit?”
“No, sir.”
“Stop talking nonsense and eat it, then circulate your energy. I’ll assist you.”
That’s exactly what I was going to ask for, as expected, our old man is sharp.
They say washing it with water would wash away its efficacy, so it’s best to just brush off the dirt well and chew it thoroughly.
He told me not to lie down as usual while circulating energy, saying he would regulate the energy for me, so I should sit. So I ate the ginseng as instructed and started circulating energy while sitting.
“M-Master, my stomach feels extremely hot!”
It feels like I swallowed fire, not ginseng.
“Energy is leaking out, so shut your mouth and just circulate. I’ll regulate the energy, so don’t try to resist it.”
As I closed my mouth and focused on my lower abdomen, I could feel energy entering through the master’s hand touching my back.
Perhaps because we practice the same method, the energy moves freely even though I didn’t intend it to.
Somehow it seems to be getting hotter… Is this going right?
“You brat, I told you not to think unnecessary thoughts and focus! Don’t answer!”
At the master’s shout, I focused again and felt the energy moving along familiar meridians gradually growing stronger.
It seems to strengthen with each circulation, and though I’ve heard that circulating energy normally has this effect, honestly, I couldn’t really feel it.
But not now.
If the amount of internal energy that increased when circulating without medicinal herbs was like adding a few drops of water, circulating after eating two roots of wild ginseng now feels like scooping at least a bucketful each time.
After several such circulations, what felt like a stream of internal energy now feels like a massive river.
“The ginseng is more effective than I thought. Normally it would end here, but there’s still medicinal efficacy left…. Disciple, from now on it might be a bit painful, but try to endure it.”
I thought it was about to end, but what more is he going to….
“AAAAARGH!”
I involuntarily screamed at the sudden surge of tremendous pain.
What is this old man doing right now?
“TSK, didn’t I tell you to endure! Don’t make noise and focus.”
You didn’t say it would hurt this badly….
I don’t know exactly what he’s trying to do, but even if I want to tell him to stop, the pain prevents me from speaking.
It’s so painful that I’m starting to think this man might actually be a villain trying to kill me here.
Of course, since he doesn’t even appear in the novel, that can’t be true, so I gritted my teeth and endured.
I don’t know who said it, but humans are creatures of adaptation, and that seems true.
Even pain that felt like death now seems to have adapted to the level of getting wisdom teeth pulled.
Of course, without anesthesia.
Still, with some energy to spare, I focused my mind and noticed that my internal energy was heading toward meridians different from the ones it usually follows.
There seems to be some kind of wall, and the master is moving my internal energy to try to break through it, and pain surges every time the internal energy hits the wall.
Wait, why is he sending internal energy through meridians not mentioned in the method….
Master, are you going with the mindset that wherever I go becomes the path?
If it’s not a path, you shouldn’t go there at all.
This is agonizing.
The master also seems to be concentrating without saying a word, so I’m stuck neither able to do this nor that, just grinding my teeth and enduring when I felt something crack with a CRUNCH sound.
“How can a young man’s body have so much stagnant energy? I finally broke through.”
Is it finally over?
I originally intended to get help from the master, and he didn’t intentionally make it painful… It must have all been for my benefit, but I really don’t think I could do this again.
Right. Doing this without proper explanation and so forcefully is a bit much.
I was just thinking that his sesame ramen should be confiscated for a week when once again, pain as intense as before returned.
“AAAAGH!”
“You brat, such whining from a man…. Just endure a little more. We just need to break through one more.”
I-It wasn’t over?
Could it be that what we’re doing isn’t much, but this old man is deliberately causing me pain because I’ve neglected him a bit?
As Cho Yu-ryang, he’s certainly capable of doing that and more….
“AAAAAAAGH!”
“I told you not to make noise.”
There’s no devil like my master.
Just kill me instead, you devil!
0 Comments