Do It. Don’t Waver. (4)

The Mount Hua disciples were at a loss for words as they stared blankly at Im So-Byeong.

“…A scholar?”

“Is that right? Not a bandit?”

“I think it is, at least….”

“Didn’t they say that man even passed the provincial examination…?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah.”

Come to think of it, all the conditions fit.

Im So-Byeong had, in fact, passed the provincial examination. By status alone, he was someone who could not even sit at the same table as the Mount Hua disciples.

And his martial ability? No one knew exactly how strong Im So-Byeong was, but….

“He could steam Han-Bin and eat him with just one finger.”

“Rather than that, we should probably ask whether Han-Bin would survive a single blow.”

To exaggerate only slightly, they might have to worry whether Yu Han-Bin would be beaten to death by the blood Im So-Byeong spat out while coughing.

“Besides, if he’s really the Green Forest King, dealing with alley thugs would be nothing.”

“That’s what he makes his living doing.”

No matter how rough the black-road thugs of Jinan were, could they compare to the bandits of the Green Forest? Yet Im So-Byeong was a man who had unified even those Green Forest bandits, sometimes by soothing and placating them, sometimes by beating them into submission. Even if there were a hundred Yu Han-Bins, he was the kind of man who could handle them as easily as a snack after a meal.

So… in conclusion, when it came to teaching Yu Han-Bin, there was no one in the world who could compare to Im So-Byeong.

Yes. That much was certainly true, but….

Jo Gul pointed at Im So-Byeong with a trembling hand and said,

“I-is this really okay?”

“Why?”

“No, is it just me who’s weird? Am I the only one who thinks it’s strange to learn scholarship from a bandit?!”

Yoon Jong silently placed a hand on Jo Gul’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t cry—go on and say it.”

“…I hope everyone dies. Really.”

The other disciples also looked at Im So-Byeong with uneasy faces. But even under their gazes, Im So-Byeong only smiled brightly.

“Heh-heh-heh. What an amusing situation.”

“What is?”

“People who only know how to swing a sword like brutes are talking about ‘instruction’ in front of me. Is this what it feels like to watch an ignorant bumpkin recite the Analects before Confucius and Mencius?”

“…Sahyung. Can’t I just hit that man once? Just once.”

“Endure it, Gul. I want to too, but to be blunt, we can’t beat him.”

“Then let’s all gang up on him. He’s Evil Sect scum anyway.”

“Heh-heh-heh.”

Im So-Byeong snapped his fan open, then closed it again.

“Be quiet. You ignorant, unlearned fools.”

“Grrrgh.”

“So, Taoist.”

Im So-Byeong’s gaze turned to Chung Myung.

Chung Myung, who had at least been addressed but was still wearing a sour expression, answered curtly.

“What.”

“Do I only need to teach one person?”

Chung Myung nodded.

“Yeah. Just get him into the exam by any means.”

“Hm, the state exam isn’t that easy. But.”

“Shaaak!”

Im So-Byeong violently unfurled his fan. It was a little worn, but perhaps he had chosen it on purpose, because an elegant Chinese poem was engraved on it. Fanning his face lightly with it as if to show it off, Im So-Byeong gave a smug smile.

“That depends on the person. If I take the field myself, there should be nothing impossible.”

“…That old man seems to have changed a bit.”

“Leave him be. He’s just excited.”

Since Im So-Byeong, the Green Forest King, had long been bitter about being treated like a bandit, how thrilled must he have been to play the role of a scholar again after so long? So when he received the message, he must have run all the way here to distant Jinan as if he were flying.

Im So-Byeong whipped his head around, eyes sparkling.

“Is this the one?”

“….”

Yu Han-Bin flinched at Im So-Byeong’s gaze. Outwardly, he looked like he would spit blood and collapse if punched once, but something instinctive repelled him….

“That one. He looks sharp. Then let’s see….”

With a face that looked as though he might start dancing any second from excitement, Im So-Byeong smiled brightly.

“Shall we first see how clever this experiment is… no, this student is?”

“….”

Before the unease seeping into Yu Han-Bin’s face could even fully show, Im So-Byeong untied the large bundle he had brought and tipped it over onto the desk.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

In an instant, dozens of books spilled out.

“W-what is this?”

“Let’s see. This is the Analects. Twenty volumes… and this is the Elementary Learning. Six volumes. Two each of the Doctrine of the Mean and the Great Learning. Good. Thirty volumes.”

“….”

Yu Han-Bin’s eyes, now perfectly round, trembled as though an earthquake had struck.

“Now. These are the books you need to learn as a basic foundation. Basic in the literal sense.”

“Then… I just need to learn these?”

“Learn?”

Im So-Byeong smiled even brighter.

“That’s a bit of a different word.”

“Huh?”

“Memorize them.”

“….”

“Three days should be enough? I heard you’re pretty sharp.”

Yu Han-Bin’s mouth fell open.

“Th-three days? Three days? Not thirty days, but you’re saying three days? Memorize thirty books in three days?”

At that, Im So-Byeong narrowed his brow, slipped the tip of his fan into the ribbon of his scholar’s cap, and scratched his head.

“Hm, three days is indeed….”

“R-right?”

“It is a bit too long, isn’t it? Then would two days do?”

“No!”

Yu Han-Bin shouted in fright.

“How is a person supposed to memorize over ten books a day! It’s hard enough just looking through ten books!”

“Can’t you?”

“Of course not!”

At that moment, Im So-Byeong tilted his head slightly.

“…Why?”

“….”

Yu Han-Bin’s pupils trembled, not knowing where to focus.

“W-what do you mean, why….”

“Aha! You misunderstood. What I mean is, don’t try to understand or interpret them; just memorize them by rote. You understand now? Then that’s fine, isn’t it?”

“I’m saying how is a person supposed to do that!”

“You can’t even do that?”

Im So-Byeong kept tilting his head, as if he truly couldn’t understand.

“…Is this hard? Why is it hard?”

“….”

“No, if a person can’t even do this, what are they going to do? Can someone really be that stupid? No, that can’t be right.”

Tears welled up in Yu Han-Bin’s eyes.

Where had this lunatic come from now? It was already hard enough with maniacs everywhere around him these days, and now an even worse one had appeared.

“Ah, are you rebelling because you don’t want to study right now? Then you should have said so earlier.”

“That’s not it! A person simply can’t memorize this in one day!”

“Why not? I could.”

“Ah.”

And at that moment, the Mount Hua disciples all clutched their faces at once.

“Ah… I’ve heard this somewhere a lot before.”

“My, my stomach feels sick.”

“I ran out crying after hearing that line.”

And at the same time, everyone there realized it.

“‘Ah… that man is a genius too.’”

Come to think of it, Im So-Byeong suffered from blocked meridians… though not quite the Nine Yin, but anyway. They said that when heaven bestows a curse along with talent on a prodigy of unprecedented genius, one is born with blocked meridians. In terms of talent alone, it meant he was someone even that Chung Myung bastard or Hae Yeon had to yield several moves to.

“Hm. You can’t memorize this. Ngh, troublesome. Your talent is far worse than I expected. I thought you’d at least be at a human level.”

Sad tears gathered in Yu Han-Bin’s eyes.

He had grown up hearing all sorts of insults as if they were nagging, but being treated like a deficient human being was a first in his life.

“But it doesn’t particularly matter.”

“Huh?”

Im So-Byeong smiled faintly.

“Whether it’s impossible or not isn’t for you to decide.”

“W-what do you mean? I’m saying I can’t do it.”

“Ah, no. That’s how it always is. When you set the tribute for the bandit stronghold, everyone says that at first. Can’t do it, impossible. But… strangely enough, they all somehow manage it.”

“….”

“Why do you think that is?”

Im So-Byeong’s white teeth flashed.

---

“Let’s see. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Lift.”

“Heave-ho!”

“Puwaaaaaah! Hahk! Hahk! Hahk! Hahk!”

A book was thrust right up in front of Yu Han-Bin’s face, while he twisted his whole body and spewed out clear river water.

“Now.”

“Hey, you lunatics! Is this something a human being does! Does that even make sense….”

“Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.”

Im So-Byeong closed the book with a snap and smiled serenely.

“Now, let’s memorize it.”

“Co, Confucius said… that… uh, what was it?”

“Right. Lower him.”

“Aaaaargh! Even ghosts won’t take you… gurgle.”

With both feet tightly bound, Yu Han-Bin, submerged in the stream, thrashed about like a flopping fish.

“Hm.”

Im So-Byeong slowly opened his fan and fanned his face lightly.

“Since he’s still flopping, he still has strength left. He’s good for a long while yet.”

“…Um, but, Green Forest King.”

“Yes?”

“I-is this really okay?”

Jo Gul and Yoon Jong, each holding one end of the rope, asked with pale faces. Seeing that, Im So-Byeong chuckled softly.

“My, my. As expected of Taoists, your hearts are soft. Why worry about such things? Originally, to pass the Dragon Gate, one must overcome the current.”

“…I don’t think that’s what it means.”

“Just watch. This is a time-honored Green Forest method for improving ability. I hear that the Green Forest King of the previous generation used this method to make those red-haired Western barbarians spit out Chinese they had never even learned.”

“How pitiful….”

“…If you want to live, you have to.”

“Now. So lift him up.”

“Grrrnh.”

When Jo Gul and Yoon Jong pulled the rope hard, Yu Han-Bin, who had been plunged into the stream, was dragged up in a rush.

“Gurrrrrrk.”

River water poured out of his mouth. Ah, and a single minnow too….

“Now, again. One, two….”

“Aaaaah! Zigong said, ‘Poor without flattery and rich without arrogance, how is this?’ The Master said, ‘It is acceptable, but not as good as being poor and content, and rich and loving ritual!’”

“Wow!”

“It works.”

The Mount Hua disciples watching all rose to their feet in admiration and applauded.

“I don’t know what he’s saying, but he memorized it, all right.”

“As expected of the historic and traditional Green Forest! There’s a method for everything!”

“…Isn’t this just torture?”

“Shh.”

Im So-Byeong also nodded, looking pleased.

“Then the next section. Read it for ten counts….”

“S-stop it… you lunatics….”

“Now, lower him.”

“Why aren’t you telling me to memorize it this time! Hey, you dog-… gurgle!”

Before the protest was even finished, Yu Han-Bin was submerged in the water again. Im So-Byeong tapped his own head with his fan as if he had overlooked something.

“Well, he probably couldn’t have memorized it anyway, so it’s fine.”

“….”

Baek Cheon looked up at the distant sky with dazed eyes.

“…Mount Hua may not necessarily be bad.”

“I was just thinking the same.”

Perhaps it might be fortunate that they had entered Mount Hua.

---

“If… the people of the realm become impoverished, then even the blessings bestowed by heaven will ultimately be severed!”

The Mount Hua disciples stared at Yu Han-Bin with blank faces.

After a long while of being unable to speak, groan-like voices leaked from their mouths.

“…Did this really get done in three days?”

“I mean, no matter what, how can a person do thirty books….”

“It’s only the Analects, so it’s twenty volumes. Even that doesn’t make sense.”

“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.”

Im So-Byeong spread his fan with a swaggering expression.

“Didn’t I say he could do it! Heh-heh-heh. As expected, a good teacher is important in learning.”

The faces of the Mount Hua disciples soured. Jo Gul in particular seemed unable to hold it in.

“No, isn’t this just memorizing it? Establishing meaning, interpretation, and one’s own perspective is the foundation of scholarship!”

“Tsk tsk. That’s the kind of thing someone who has only learned half of scholarship would say.”

Jo Gul flinched at those words. He hadn’t even learned half of it.

“Interpretation and meaning come from knowing something first. How can you discuss the Analects with someone who doesn’t even know what the Analects are?”

“….”

“First, you stuff it in. Into your head. Confucius himself said in ‘To Learn and Then Practice What Is Learned’ that one should repeatedly review what one has learned. What do you think that means?”

“Uh….”

“Learning—that is, memorizing—comes first, and mastering it comes later. So stop spouting nonsense and memorize the classics by rote first. That’s the secret!”

“B-bullshit! That’s bullshit!”

“Quiet down. What do you, with nothing more than the final education of a neighborhood village school, know in front of a great man?”

“Grrr….”

Under the overwhelming authority of a provincial examination pass-holder, Jo Gul shrank back.

“Let’s see. Then if we finish the remaining parts within seven days and nights, and after that beat him until proper words come out of his mouth.”

“Clack!”

Im So-Byeong closed his fan and smiled faintly.

“In a month, he’ll be treated roughly like a person. Heh. After that, whether he passes or fails will depend on what he does himself.”

The Mount Hua disciples stared at Im So-Byeong with dazed faces.

“Is this the power of an expert?”

“…It must be the realm of scholars that bumpkins like us can’t understand.”

“Honestly, you seem like a different person, Green Forest King.”

“Who would’ve thought the cap on your head wasn’t just decoration.”

Chung Myung, who had been staring at the entire scene, opened his mouth blankly.

“…It works?”

• Indeed…

Even after going through so much, the world was still full of astonishing things.