Chapter 134 – Witchcraft…! (4)

I know for sure that I have no talent in martial arts. But what about other fields?

My heart was pounding with anticipation.

Jinbeop is a skill that even touches on academics. Then, as someone who had completed higher education in my past life, I can’t be bad at it.

Yeah. Come to think of it, it’s strange. It’s common sense that when you regress, reincarnate, or transmigrate, your talent or luck is adjusted, right?

I don’t lack talent! I just haven’t found it yet!

Was my dramatic change in attitude pleasing to Samamaeng? She covered her mouth with her hand and smiled slyly.

“Are you that curious?”

“Of course. Who knows, maybe I have talent in Jinbeop?”

Jin Sochan, a genius in Jinbeop… How beautiful that sounds.

As I imagined myself striking a cool pose while fluttering my sleeves, I heard Samayeryeong laughing beside me.

“Ow! Don’t make me laugh when I’m concentrating. You made my hand shake, and the angle is a bit off!”

“Why is that my fault? You laughed on your own. Besides, you don’t know if you have talent or not since you haven’t tried it yet.”

“What? Do you really think that way? Fine. Then let’s try it once. If I can learn the basics until I finish installing all the pieces today, I’ll teach you some Jinbeop that can be considered top-notch in martial arts.”

Ha! Did she think I couldn’t do it?

“Don’t distract me because you’re scared.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t disturb you.”

Alright. Then I’ll really give it a try.

I sent a message to Hong Yeon-hwa that my training was over for the day, and I’ll spend the remaining time learning about Jinbeop from Samamaeng and her daughter.

“When Sohyeop started learning martial arts, what was the first thing she learned?”

“The Mabo stance and the Tonap method.”

“Correct. Although there are countless martial arts in the world, unless it’s a very special case, everyone starts with those.”

Train your body and make nature your own. That’s the basics of martial arts.

“There’s something similar in Jinbeop as well. It’s about looking at the world from a slightly different perspective, and that’s what the basics of Jinbeop are.”

“Looking at it differently?”

“Yes. Have you heard of the Eight Trigrams?”

“I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know exactly what it is.”

“The basics of Jinbeop start with interpreting the world through the Eight Trigrams.”

“It sounds like divination.”

Is it because I recently visited Mosanpa? I suddenly had that thought.

“You’re sharp. That’s right. In fact, Jinbeop… no, not just Jinbeop, but also Sasul has its roots in Dosul. It has been distorted in many ways in pursuit of practicality, but it’s still there.”

Come to think of it, I heard a similar story from Myeongwoljin, who is a master of Mosanpa.

Did martial arts split from Dosul a long time ago? It was so long ago that it became practically a different field.

Of course, it could be that they, like the Hwasanpa or Mudangpa, claimed to be the only legitimate martial arts school in the modern era, even though their name was not a recognized Dosul school.

As I told her that, Samamaeng nodded her head slightly, as if impressed.

“If what Sohyeop said is true, then there are things that I understand now.”

“What?”

“Martial arts, Ju Busul, Jinbeop, and Sasul. Since they all came from the same root, it’s possible to combine them… that’s what I’m thinking.”

With a slightly excited expression, Samamaeng began to give some examples.

The special defensive techniques of the giant martial arts schools, the unique martial arts of Jegalsega that use brushes and ink, and the martial arts of Gyeongshisul that apply the principles of Jinju Eonga, and so on.

“And our Samasega martial arts were created on the premise of using Jinbeop with our sleeves and fingertips and Sasul with our eyes.”

“Ah. When I fought with the Salsoos, their illusions made the enemies fly back, and they stopped when I looked at them?”

Jegal Yeongyeong, whom I faced at Yongbongjihoe, also blew away the wind of the century that couldn’t be done with a simple fan.

They were not pure martial artists, but rather those who mixed the power of Jinbeop.

… Wait a minute. But didn’t Samamaeng fight beautifully like Samayeryeong?

Certainly, the martial arts that were imbued with the power of the brain were beautiful and destructive, but that was only in the realm of martial arts.

Is it because of her eyes? Didn’t she say earlier that she couldn’t handle Jinbeop properly because she couldn’t make precise movements?

And Samasega’s Sasul was said to be used with the eyes.

“But if the roots are the same, we can mix them together in the right place, beyond just unfolding them separately…”

Samamaeng, who was muttering to herself, didn’t seem to know whether I was staring at her keenly or not.

She seems to have thought of something from the conversation just now.

After a while, Samamaeng, who belatedly regained her senses after turning the wind that blew from behind me, flipped it over, and realized my presence.

“I’m sorry. I talked too much about myself.”

“Did you have any enlightenment or something?”

“It’s not that big of a deal. But a few things came to mind that we could try.”

“Oh….”

As I lightly applauded, Samamaeng still blushed and coughed awkwardly, bowing her head.

“Ahem. Anyway, to get back to the point, the basic principle of Jinbeop is to interpret everything in the world as an eight trigrams.”

“Oh, I see.”

“To briefly explain how that’s possible….”

Samamaeng spoke in a soft voice, as smooth as a rolling jade bead.

“Wuji gives birth to Taiji, Taiji gives birth to Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang create the Four Symbols, and the Four Symbols complete the eight trigrams by overlapping each other. So, if you know the eight trigrams, you know everything in the world.”

Her attitude exuded a sense of confidence that there was no better summary than this.

But….

“Um, hold on. Taiji? Yin and Yang? Isn’t that related to Mudangpa?”

I had no idea what she was talking about.

As I was taken aback by my sudden excess of knowledge, Samamaeng seemed even more flustered than me, tilting her head.

“Yes? This is Jinbeop. The teachings of Mudangpa are, to put it simply, closer to the moral teachings of the Tao Te Ching….”

“…Isn’t Jinbeop a book about fortune-telling? And the Tao Te Ching is just a book that tells you to be good.”

Living a righteous and wise life, or something like that.

“Well…that’s not entirely wrong, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“I see. …I should learn Jinbeop too?”

“You don’t need to delve too deeply, but it’s good to read it once.”

If you couldn’t read, you learned the Thousand Character Classic from your teacher because you had no education. But I only learned that much.

I had shouted at Samayeryeong, but I was starting to feel uneasy. Is it really possible to learn the basics within today…?

It’s a relief that I didn’t set any conditions for failure!

As I let out a sigh of relief, either because of the daunting task or because of Samamaeng’s comforting atmosphere, she began to soothe me, flailing her arms around.

“Don’t worry too much about it. I’ll explain it in the easiest way possible.”

“Really?”

Maybe it was because of Samamaeng’s cozy atmosphere, or maybe I was just half out of my mind. Probably both.

Samamaeng reacted strongly to my weak voice that came out without me realizing it, waving her hands around to try to reassure me.

“Of course. And even with the eight trigrams, you don’t need to deeply understand all of them. The Qian and Kun trigrams are the essence and parents of all things, while the Kan and Li trigrams simply help create the 64 hexagrams to aid in the operation of all things. So just properly understanding two of them is enough. Oh! Did you mention the Sangmun and Samun before? The Qian trigram is associated with the Sangmun, and the Kun trigram is associated with the Samun. How about it? Aren’t you curious?”

“….”

No, not really.

But I couldn’t bring myself to firmly shake my head.

Again, I must emphasize that knowledge transmission in this era is incredibly closed off. In such a world, it’s rare for someone who isn’t even in a relationship like a disciple to a master or something similar to explain things to me in such detail.

Even if it’s just the basics, even if I want to establish a good relationship with Hong Yeon-hwa through me, the fact that Samamaeng is showing me such great kindness remains unchanged.

So I can’t just give up because it’s difficult. Let’s do what we can for now. If we don’t know, we can just memorize it.

…

“I don’t get it…”

“Um, should I explain it again?”

“Actually, I memorized it all, but I still don’t understand.”

“Oh, um…”

Samamaeng looked embarrassed. Even in her short sigh, I could feel her thinking, “How can you not understand this?”.

Yeah, I was too short-sighted. Samamaeng is not as talented as Samasega, but she’s still someone who heard the genius’s words.

I shouldn’t have believed her when she said that anything could work.

The day was gradually getting darker. Today was the day we promised to install the equipment, and we were almost done.

“We’re done!”

No, it’s not over yet.

Samayeryeong turned towards me, not bothering to hide her smugness.

“Fool! Fool! This stupid Geomryong! In the end, it was just as I thought, right? Look at you. You don’t fit in here, do you? What was the basis for thinking you had any talent in the first place?”

“Ugh…”

Ah, they say they give special benefits when you’re reborn! Why am I the only one left out? Of course, the blessings of Inbok were good! The existence of Muryeongsingong and Hong Yeon-hwa itself is a blessing! But still, it’s unfair!

Of course, I can’t say anything about the rebirth-related things, so I just grind my teeth to suppress my anger.

Although Samamaeng patted my back lightly to comfort me…isn’t there something where if someone tells you not to cry when you’re about to cry, you end up crying even more?

Samamaeng’s patting only made my self-loathing grow even larger.

It wasn’t until I reached that point that I realized it.

I harbor a greater sense of inferiority about my lack of talent than I thought I would.

No matter how high I rise or how much I surpass others in the later stages, it doesn’t matter.

Because I can’t gain talent that I never had.

Even if I reach the highest level, plum blossoms won’t bloom from my sword.

I can’t draw the Taeguk, embrace the sky, or shoot down the sun.

Before meeting Hong Yeon-hwa, I didn’t realize how familiar I was with my own shortcomings. And after meeting her, I was too focused on rapid growth and repeated victories to notice.

A sudden attack of self-loathing, like an ambush. Is this what they call simma? Or is it some kind of regret?

I tried to hide it as much as possible, but it was unexpected, and I couldn’t help but show a little bit of it. Samayeryeong, who had been teasing me for a while, flinched.

“W-what’s wrong? Why is the atmosphere suddenly so scary?”

“…It’s nothing.”

“What do you mean it’s nothing?”

After grumbling for a moment, Samayeryeong flicked her finger and said, “Stupid Geomryong, come with me.”

“What? Where?”

“If you can’t do divination, you should try the shamanism side too. This is something that can be done as long as you have good natural talent, even if you don’t have complex knowledge.”

As she spoke, Samayeryeong walked ahead towards the training ground. I stared blankly at her retreating figure through the dim darkness, but Samamaeng pushed me forward with a nudge.

“Let’s go.”

Her voice was still soft, as if trying to comfort me. But her touch was firm. She didn’t continue her sentence, but it wasn’t difficult to guess what she meant.

Thunk.

I pretended to be pushed forward by Samamaeng’s hand and followed behind Samayeryeong.