Chapter 37. Twin Swords of the Wind and Clouds (12)
“What, back then? I wasn’t the one in the wrong there! You’re the one who came out of the red-light district! What, you go straight to chasing after harlots right after you recover from being an idiot? Do you expect me to greet you with a smile after seeing something like that?”
“That’s your reason? So that’s why you would go so far as to pretend not to know your own hyung, your flesh and blood? Is that really what family does? Also, I entered the red-light district by complete accident. I didn’t even do anything while I was there, either. Wait, no! You know what, let’s say I did it! Let’s assume I went out drinking and whoring! Do you really think that being a family means ignoring each other and turning away from your kin because they did something wrong?”
“N...no, that’s not it...”
“These days, you don’t even call me hyung anymore. Where’s the respect for your elder brother?”
Not knowing what to say, Woo-Gang just kept his mouth shut.
“No, no, no, it makes sense. Because I’m the hyung that goes to the red-light district and is an embarrassment to you, and that’s why you’ve been keeping me a secret from your amazing Mount Hua brothers, right? You probably hate me for having been a fool and you’re ashamed that I even exist, so how could you consider me your brother anymore?”
Listening to Woo-Moon’s harsh words, Woo-Gang strangely felt strangely stuffy and uncomfortable inside, even though he was no longer being beaten physically, and tears once more spilled out from his eyes. He wanted to refute something, anything, but he couldn’t find a single thing he could say. So he just cried, his mouth clamped shut.
The stark, cold voice of his elder brother continued to enter his ears and pierce through his heart.
“No, you’re right, Woo-Gang. If you really think that way, there’s nothing I can do. Let’s not be siblings anymore. I’m just sorry that I failed you. The only thing I can do now is sever our brotherly ties like you wished.”
Woo-Gang had been listening to Woo-Moon’s words in a daze, and it took a moment for their frightening meaning to sink in. Then, his face instantly turned pale.
“Wh...what? What the hell are you talking about?”
Ignoring Woo-Gang's startled cry, Woo-Moon mercilessly turned around and returned to the inn.
'Let's break our brotherly ties.'
Those words shook Woo-Gang's heart.
‘Is that really what I wanted? N... no. That’s... that’s not it.’
He remembered when he and his brother would play happily when they were little—his hyung scolding the children who bullied him, and himself later beating up the same children, who now teased his brother for becoming weak.
He recalled all of the memories of the days when they were young, eating together, running around together, doing anything and everything together.
He remembered the sight of his brother, who had become a fool by that point, running around excitedly like a child on the rare occasions he would come home from training at the Mount Hua Sect, greeting him with the biggest smile.
All of these memories passed through Woo-Gang’s mind in but moments, and before Woo-Moon had even taken ten steps, tears cascaded from Woo-Gang’s eyes.
“No, no, that’s not it. Don’t be like that...” said Woo-Gang, Woo-Moon’s dear little brother, as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
“Don’t go, hyung-ah.[1] I’m sorry. I’m the one who was wrong. That’s not what I meant. Don’t be like this. I'm sorry...please, please don’t go.”
At his younger brother’s tearful voice, Woo-Moon stopped in place and sighed. He looked back, his eyes also red.
“Hyung, please don’t go. Please. I’m sorry. I won’t...I won’t ever be disrespectful anymore, hyung. I won’t ever pretend not to know you anymore. I was wrong, it was all me.”
“Whew... you stupid little tyke.
Woo-Moon walked up to Woo-Gang and hugged him tightly.
“You little brat. How could such a manly man cry like this? There, there, stop crying.”
In an instant, Woo-Gang’s mind was once more flooded by the forgotten memories of his childhood.
He had been a troublemaker when he was young, and whenever he had done something wrong, his older brother had scolded him like this.
Of course, there had been times when Woo-Gang had been stronger than Woo-Moon. However, for younger brothers, there was always something more than just strength that lay in the fists of their older siblings.
That was why, to Woo-Gang, his older brother had always seemed bigger and more scary than anyone else.
Back then, whenever he would finally burst into tears after being scolded like this, his older brother would always stop scolding him, then gently hug him and soothe him, calming him down. And now, he was doing the same.
Even after all this time, nothing had changed.
The moment Woo-Gang realized that, he burst into tears again.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry... hicc, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. It’s fine, Woo-Gang. I’ve already forgotten everything.”
It seemed that Woo-Gang had been hurt so much from being neglected by his older brother for so long that it had turned to resentment. Fortunately, things seemed to be getting back into place.
Woo-Moon patted his younger brother on the back as he waited for him to calm down. He had gone for this shameless and abrupt approach as he had wanted Woo-Gang to come to his senses as soon as possible. Luckily, it had worked out.
Seeing how Woo-Gang responded, Woo-Moon was very happy, and he felt that his brother hadn’t changed at all from when he was younger. His own eyes stung a little as he looked at Woo-Gang.
After some time, Woo-Gang finally calmed down enough to ask his brother what had happened to him.
“By the way, hyung, how did you learn martial arts? I heard that there were some martial arts hidden within the strokes of the landscape painting, but I don’t know anything more.”
As there hadn’t been much conversation between the two, there were many things that Woo-Gang still was curious about.
“Okay. I’ll explain it.”
Woo-Moon slowly talked about what he had been through—how he had met with the Daoist immortal, how he had become a fool, and how he had come back to his senses. As he listened to the story, Woo-Gang shook his head with a blank look in his eyes.
“How crazy. To think you learned martial arts from a landscape painting you received from a legendary immortal who walked through the air... that really is a story that no one would ever believe.”
Woo-Gang was really surprised by the opportunity that had come to this brother and admittedly somewhat envious, but more importantly, he was filled with gratitude for it all.
Gratitude that this opportunity had come to his older brother and not to anyone else.
“That’s enough about me, I want to hear about what happened to you. How have you been holding up at the Mount Hua Sect?”
“Ah...well, about that....”
Woo-Gang told him the entire story. Everything from when he had first joined Mount Hua to the kind of relationship he had with his fellow disciples.
‘Those motherfuckers!’
Listening to his younger brother's story, Woo-Moon felt rage growing inside him. Woo-Gang deliberately tried to leave out the more damning parts of the story, as he expected such a reaction from Woo-Moon, but because of Woo-Moon’s persistence, he couldn’t help but explain it all in detail.
After much questioning, he uncovered the names of the two disciples who had taken the initiative to harass and bully him, Yu Cho and Hyeon Mu-Cheol.
Thinking about them, Woo-Moon ground his teeth.
‘Fine, Yu Cho and Hyeon Mu-Cheol, was it? I’ll remember you. You dare touch my little brother? I’ll make you pay for it in teeth.’
Making sure to etch their names in his mind, Woo-Moon got up from his seat.
“It’s time, let’s go back. The adults must be worried.”
“Yeah, hyung.”
Upon returning home, they found their parents and grandfather waiting for them.
“Ah, how good, you came right on time. Your grandfather says he has something he wanted to tell us.”
“It’s nothing too serious, I just wanted to ask how you all would feel about moving out of here.”
“Pardon? Moving?”
Dae-Woong made a puzzled expression, while Woo-Moon asked, “Are you talking about going to the Iron Sword Baek Family?”
“Yes, that’s right. Rumors travel fast in tge gangho, so the fact that the Palm Martial Emperor’s family lives in Unhan will eventually be revealed one day. If that happens, it’ll become inconvenient to live here, in more ways than one. There will be those who visit you with malicious intentions, those who come over just to see what sort of family the Palm Martial Emperor has, and even those who would come snooping around and asking you to teach them martial arts. Really, all kinds of idiots are going to come here for you.”
Sang-Woon wasn’t wrong.
Woo-Gang, who had been worried about this and tried to hide the fact that his family lived in Unhan as much as possible, understood what his grandfather was saying right away. Just the fact that they were the family of a Mount Hua disciple was enough to cause a storm of trouble, much less being the family of the Palm Martial Emperor...
That was why when his grandfather brought up possibly moving them all into his mother’s ancestral home, the home of the Iron Sword Baek Family, Woo-Gang nodded enthusiastically.
As one of the Three Great Sword Families, the Iron Sword Baek Family had been renowned for a long time. Although it was now in a state of decline compared to the past, it would still be much better to be with the Iron Sword Baek Family than to stay in Unhan.
“Most importantly, are you not my daughter, are you not my son-in-law, and are you two not my grandsons? It only makes sense for you all to come to my family.”
Dae-Woong blinked and looked over at his wife.
‘What do you want to do?’
Jin-Jin, thinking for a moment, answered her husband’s unspoken question.
“It’s difficult for us to decide just like that. Can we take some time to think?”
“Sure. We can stay here for a few weeks anyway, so think about it in the meantime.”
“Yes, father.”
The next morning, after a good conversation with Dae-Woong, Jin-Jin agreed to move to the Baek Family. Although there were some things she was uncomfortable about, now that her two sons had become people of the murim, there was no avoiding it, and they couldn’t live a normal life in the countryside any longer.
Woo-Moon mused to himself as he swept the front of the inn with a broom.
‘So, we’re going to the Iron Sword Baek Family, then...’
A little bit of excitement and anticipation bloomed within him. However, it wasn’t because his mother’s family was called a Great Family and had incredible wealth and power. No, it was more than that—his excitement and anticipation stemmed from a pure curiosity regarding martial arts.
‘It’s supposed to be a place for people like me—for swordsmen! What kind of sword art does my mother’s family use? I can’t wait to see it...’
At that time, the sound of a thunderous roar came to Woo-Moon’s ears.
“Ha-a-eup!”
Following the roar was the sound of a heavy blow.
Woo-Moon went out to the small vacant lot behind the inn, where the sound was coming from.
“You stupid brat, don’t just use your strength recklessly and actually think carefully about what I said as you move.”
“Understood, Father-in-law!”
In front of Sang-Woon’s watchful gaze, Dae-Woong was punching a large rice straw doll.
‘So he’s practicing a fist art, then.’
“Everything in the world is built upon a strong foundation. Woo-Gang did the same, and so did I. Well, everyone but Woo-Moon, but he’s a special case. Moreover, judging from your aptitude, rather than a sword, it seems the fist will bring out...Oi, straighten your back! Stop being lazy!”
“I will fix it, Father-in-law!”
Although Dae-Woong had entered the world of martial arts late, Woo-Moon still expected that his father would achieve outstanding results in the future, as his grandfather had already explained everything to him.
‘Grandfather said something about a tremendous amount of energy from an elixir hidden deep within father’s body, right? On top of that, although his veins and such are a mess right now, his veins will be cleared quickly because of the bone and marrow cleansing he had when he was younger.’
Although he looked dull on the outside, in truth, Dae-Woong wasn’t dumb in the slightest; it was just that his reckless, clumsy demeanor and his sheer dislike of social complexities made him seem that way.
As evidence of this, Dae-Woong showed a remarkable memory when his father-in-law asked him to memorize a qi cultivation method. Of course, compared to Jin-Jin, or the two brothers who inherited her blood, Woo-Moon and Woo-Gang, Dae-Woong was somewhat inferior, but he was by no means untalented.
With the Palm Martial Emperor agreeing to teach him, Dae-Woong had thus begun to learn martial arts from his father-in-law.
The qi cultivation method he had been taught was the Titan Qi Art, the qi cultivation method of the Mountain-Splitting Woodcutter, who was said to have been an Absolute Master two centuries back, while the martial art he was learning was the Thirty-Six Iron-Shattering Fists, a close-combat art that had been created by the Palm Martial Emperor Baek Sang-Woon himself.
The Titan Qi Art and the Thirty-Six Iron-Shattering Fists were both arts of the highest level, incredible methods that could even surpass the Absolute realm.
Woo-Moon and Woo-Gang also learned the foundations behind the Titan Qi Art and the Thirty-Six Iron Shattering Fists alongside their father, with significant gains.
Woo-Moon, who had been watching his father’s training, eventually asked Sang-Woon something he had been curious about for some time.
“By the way, Grandfather, when will you give me back the Pure Stalactite Milk?”
Sang-Woon glared at Woo-Moon.
“You little brat! What, are you already thinking of cutting corners and using the elixir to grow stronger?”
“Didn’t you say that it would be useless by the time I got to your level, grandfather? If that’s the case, then it makes sense to use it while I’m still weak, no?”
1. Growing up, a lot of children can’t properly pronounce “hyung” as it is, and they compensate by adding an -ah to most words that end in -g. Woo-Gang here is reverting to his childhood self, who would call out to his elder brother this way. ☜