“Huff…! Huff…!”
I could hear Chun-bong panting and muttering under his breath.
“Y-you…! Huff…! Can’t you do even one thing right?!”
“Hey…! Cough…! This is my first time…! Huff…! What do you want me to do?!”
I was gasping as if I was about to pass out, extending my hand. In my hand was a steaming dumpling, still puffing away.
“When did you even grab that?”
“Shut it, you punk. I snatched it while I was running.”
Ignoring my burning throat, I shoved the dumpling into my mouth.
“Ah… sweet nectar.”
Yeah, this was it. This heavenly taste, so different from the lump of dough. I finally understood the expression: the savory flavor of meat dancing in my mouth.
“Wow… you got a meat dumpling in that moment? That’s not easy to manage.”
“Of course. What do you take me for?”
Maybe it was thanks to becoming a martial artist? It felt like my Qi was circulating through my body, rapidly restoring my energy.
Honestly, I felt like I could keep running for another thirty minutes like this.
“Shut up already. What’s so impressive about a newbie who just started?”
“No, I’m serious!”
Chun-bong didn’t believe me? This wasn’t a joke; my stamina really had improved a lot.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just show me your mastery of the Three Calamities Sword Technique first.”
“Ugh… It’s not like I can prove anything right now.”
We returned to the half-collapsed building we called home, and I grabbed a rare twig in my hand.
Was it because I met Chun-bong that life hadn’t been too tough since dropping into this world? I thought I’d die of boredom with nothing to do, but this situation was like a sudden rain blessing my martial arts training.
“The forms of the Three Calamities Sword Technique really don’t have much to them. It’s just vertical cuts, horizontal cuts, and thrusts.”
Chun-bong demonstrated. It literally was vertical cuts, horizontal cuts, and thrusts.
But there was something stylish in his posture that made it clear he had learned something after all.
“Since the Three Calamities Sword Technique has been spread around too much, each region has slightly different names, but usually, they call it Taishan Crush, Horizontal Yasogami, or Celestial Slice. You can also just call them Sky, Earth, and Human for short.”
Chun-bong flicked the twig he held and urged me.
“Now you try it. It won’t be difficult, right?”
“Of course. It’s nothing much.”
Vertical cut. So, I just need to swing down from above, right?
Tightly gripping the twig, I brought it down.
Swoosh—!
The sound of cutting through the air was refreshing.
“How was that? Pretty impressive, eh?”
“Buddy, your skills aren’t anything special, huh?”
Chun-bong sighed as he stepped closer, adjusting my stance. From how to grip the stick properly to foot placement, lowering the arm, handling gaze, and so much more.
There were surprisingly many things to learn just from swinging a twig once.
“Oh.”
But being this close, I noticed the kid’s head bobbing in front of me.
“Wow, you little cheater. What did you clean up with?”
“W-what…? What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Come here. Why do you smell so good? There’s no way you’d smell like that without using shampoo in these dumpy conditions!”
“Eek…!”
As I reached out to grab him, Chun-bong panicked and swung his twig around.
“Whoa…!”
I barely dodged and backed up with the twig pointed at him. It was a tense moment.
Chun-bong, blushing, was definitely the one in control.
“Die, you little perv!”
“What’s your problem?!”
I couldn’t put up with that kind of insult. I charged at him.
What felt like a sparring match went on for about ten minutes.
*
“Ack, I’m dying…”
“Ha, you’re just acting out.”
Every part of me ached. Chun-bong might not have been fast, but as a local, his sword skills were no joke. If he had a bit more strength, I’d probably have a few broken bones by now.
“But you…”
Chun-bong narrowed his eyes and stared at me.
“Why did you stop earlier?”
That was a clean Taishan Crush. And above all, it was a proper strike infused with Qi. It was absurd. How could a kid who hasn’t even mastered the form yet move Qi like that? I hadn’t even been taught how to circulate Qi yet.
“Were you really going to smack a kid’s head with it? What good would that do?”
“What are you talking about? You’re a kid too!”
Hmph, Chun-bong snorted, thought for a moment, and then spoke.
“Somehow, I think you’re suited for Qi arts. You seem to have a talent for it.”
“Qi arts?”
I knew a thing or two about martial arts from my readings. But would the knowledge from my original world hold up here? Sometimes having half-baked knowledge is worse than knowing nothing at all. I might as well start from scratch with an empty mind.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a martial art that directly uses Qi. Um… how should I put it? To ordinary people, it’s closer to sorcery than typical martial arts.”
Chun-bong waved his hands around to explain.
“You can shoot fire or ice from your hands, or you can shape Qi into different forms and manipulate it.”
“Oh… a wizard.”
“…That kind of guy is fundamentally different from martial arts. I’m talking about real martial arts here. You still need to train your body for Qi arts.”
Chun-bong casually dropped that bombshell while clicking his tongue.
“Alright, so why don’t we just get some sleep? I’m exhausted from actually moving for the first time in ages.”
—
A few days passed.
Having received Chun-bong’s teachings on the Three Calamity Mental Technique and the Three Calamity Sword Technique, I finally felt like I wasn’t doing too badly. That day, just like any other, I set out on a journey to grab a meal.
“Be careful to keep your face hidden. Now you’re recognizable enough that traders might spot you.”
“Ha! Who do you think I am?”
I cracked my knuckles.
“I’m a MUGONG master!”
“Yeah, right.”
Ignoring Chun-bong’s whining, I blended into the crowd as per usual. Having learned martial arts, I had figured out how to control my body. But more importantly, the fact that I had become a young version of my original self played a huge role in making it easier to adjust.
This current form was just like how I used to look as a kid in my original world, which made adapting much easier. Had I been in my original adult body when I first faced off against the criminals that day, I might have been able to avoid it.
But that’s just an empty assumption. Whether it was good fortune or not, I also met Chun-bong. And today, I was reborn as a master of the martial world.
Tactics, food thieving.
Spotting a dopey-looking guy holding skewers, I swiped them.
Now, eating someone else’s leftover food didn’t bother me anymore. This was a luxurious meal to me.
With two dumplings, two skewers, and even a pair of delicious candy-coated fruits in hand, I slipped into an alley.
‘Is there no turning back now?’
I, Lee Seo-jun, had stepped onto the path of wicked crime.
Lost in thought, I noticed Chun-bong, who had been keeping an eye out, rushing over.
“Whoa, you’ve really leveled up. Your stealing skills are on another level!”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Sort of?”
“Am I supposed to be thankful?”
“Why are you asking me?”
As I stuffed a dumpling into Chun-bong’s mouth, he chewed it slowly.
“Wow, meat dumplings!”
Exactly. My thieving skills had surpassed Chun-bong’s prowess. Snatching the meat dumplings inside was now a piece of cake.
“Later, you might make quite a name for yourself in the martial world as a master thief!”
“I won’t forget about you by then.”
“That’s not a compliment, you idiot.”
“Hand it over, punk.”
As I reached to snatch the half-eaten dumpling, Chun-bong clung to it fiercely.
“There’s no way a gift can be taken back!”
“Ha, but here it is.”
“I won’t give it! No way!”
But little did he know, I had already handed over the skewers, yet hadn’t revealed the candy-coated fruits.
“Look! Check this out!”
“Huff…! T-that’s…!”
It was a candied fruit, coated in what seemed like sugar. Just a simple tanghulu. But for those who had to steal one meal, having such a treat was an unspeakable luxury!
Chun-bong’s eyes began to tremble.
“Don’t you want it?”
“Ugh… what do you want?”
“Ha-ha, bow your head. Then I might gift you one of my candy-coated fruits.”
Just as we were joking and heading home,
“Yikes!”
When turning a corner, I bumped into someone.
“Ack…! No…! My candy-coated fruit!”
Chun-bong screamed. The candy-coated fruit had fallen to the ground, now covered in dirt.
Quickly, Chun-bong dashed to carefully brush off the dirt from the fruit.
“Hey, there’s not much dirt on it… wait, what?”
I wasn’t worried about the candy-coated fruit right now. The guy I bumped into. And another guy lurking behind him.
“Oh ho, look who’s still kicking? You really have a tough life.”
It was my old criminal pals. I casually glanced around and picked up a twig that had been lying around.
‘This should be rare, no, unique?’
Not bad at all. I wasn’t the same as before.
I narrowed my eyes.
“I will avenge my belly!”
Swoosh—! Thud—!
The twig swung out swiftly but hit a barrier. Naturally, the twig broke.
“…Huh?”
Did they just block that?