This is the Side Story included in the physical release of Volume 7. It will be released in three parts and posted on Sundays. So expect two more parts of this SS. The story is set at Jongnam Sect, before Jin Dongryong joins Hwasan.
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An ink-soaked brush traced elegant words across the paper.
⠀
A leader strives for harmony but not conformity. A petty person strives for conformity but not harmony.*
⠀
An exemplary person maintains harmonious relations with others without blindly copying them, while the petty man may be identical with others, yet cannot live in harmony with them…
“Fine, you’re so great!”
The brush tip, which had been moving smoothly, slipped. The characters that had been flowing so well were smeared. Worse still, the commotion was only just beginning. At the crash and shattering sound of something breaking, the second son of the Jin family [진가(秦家)], Jin Eunryong, squeezed his eyes shut.
“To say ‘you’……. You dare use such rude words towards your elder brother. You truly do show how poorly you have been raised.”
“You and I learned the exact same things, so why am I the one who was poorly raised?”
“Even when people learn and experience the same things, what they take in differs according to their innate talent. So, the fact that you were poorly raised is not a problem of the teaching, but a problem of the one receiving it, would you not say so?”
“What? Are you done talking?”
Ink spread in dark spots across the white paper. With sorrowful eyes, Jin Eunryong stared blankly down at the writing he had ruined.
‘Here they go again.’
The sages said that being filial to one’s parents and living in affection with one’s siblings is the same as carrying out proper governance [惟孝友于兄弟施於有政]. But as is often the case with the words of ancient sages, they emphasized that one should practice it precisely because it was difficult to actually keep.
Well, in truth, brothers fighting frequently was probably nothing particularly special in any household. Even the way they snarled whenever their eyes met, poured out insults and mockery too vile to speak aloud, and, when things displeased them, drew their swords first and ran wild was not especially…
‘No, that is a little special.’
A little…. No, quite a lot, actually, but still, if one searched every corner of the Central Plains thoroughly enough, surely there must be at least one other family like this. So that was not the problem. The real problem was…
Jin Eunryong turned his sorrowful gaze away. He saw one boy snarling as if he might leap forward at any moment, and one young man looking down at him as though in contempt.
‘Why…… Why on earth do those people always have to come fight in front of me?’
If they were going to fight anyway, would it not be better for them to go outside and fight in peace before coming back? Why was it that they stayed quiet with each other until they entered the house, only to run wild like that the moment they came to where he was? This was something that truly required serious contemplation.
“If you wish to live a long life, you had best lower that fist.”
“What did you say?”
However, Jin Eunryong had no time for serious contemplation. Even at that very moment, the mockery and fighting were growing more and more violent. Unable to overcome the bare minimum sense of duty expected of a brother, Jin Eunryong spoke in a hollow, half-dead voice.
“Um….. How about you both calm down a little. Apologize to each other, and…….”
The gazes of the two turned to Jin Eunryong. A strange silence swept coldly down his spine. As expected, the two spoke at the same time.
“No!”
“No.”
Right. Of course.
“Hyeong-nim, why are you doing this too? Is this really something that should drag me into it as well? Please say something to that person first!”
“Your heart in cherishing your younger brother is admirable, but in all things under heaven one must distinguish right from wrong with precision. If one ignores cause and effect and merely smooths things over by saying everyone is at fault, in the end it does nothing at all to solve the problem. Do you not even know that?”
After pouring their reproaches onto the innocent Jin Eunryong, the two abruptly turned their gazes back towards each other.
“You say I’m at fault?”
“You mean it’s my fault?”
Jin Eunryong’s stomach began to throb painfully.
‘They look exactly alike, and yet…….’
No matter how he looked at them, watching those two, who seemed like the big and small versions of the same person, growl and fight with each other was enough to make him dizzy. If the sages of old had seen this sight, they would surely have exclaimed, ‘In the end, the study of a noble man is an endless exchange of questions and answers with oneself!’…
Jin Eunryong soon shook his head. What nonsense was he even thinking? After seeing that bizarre sight countless times, it seemed his own mind had grown a little strange along with it.
“The problem is the way you talk in the first place!”
Just look at that young brat, snapping back at his elder brother without yielding a step. He looked almost ready to spew fire from his eyes. They had grown up in the same house, eating the same things, so why was his temper so fiery?
“The way one speaks, hm. The fact that such a phrase came out of your mouth is truly astonishing. It is common, by nature, for a frog to forget when it was a tadpole, but for a tadpole not to know its own place is both strange and foolish. Is it not?”
That one had an even more serious problem. He would not yield a single word and kept sneering even at a child who was still not fully grown and only half his size. If one had lived even a year longer, should one not possess at least some measure of maturity? In size he might have been the large version, but the more one watched, the more it seemed the essence of his belonged to the small version instead.
“Are you done talking?”
“Seeing as you keep asking whether I am done, your patience is lacking as well. I still have a great deal more to say. Would you like to hear it?”
Jin Eunryong silently rubbed the pit of his stomach. As he did, he tried to remember whether any of the medicine he had received last time was still left.
The expression on the physician’s face had truly been something to see when the second son of the Jin family, said to be fairly prominent in Jongnam, came to get medicine because he was suffering from a stress-induced stomach ailment. But dignity or whatever else was not the important thing. At this rate, he would soon get a hole in his stomach and die young, so he resolved that he would have to get more medicine.
Even in the midst of all this, Jin Geumryong’s cold sarcasm continued.
“If you wish to hear it, I can recite more for you as much as you like. How lacking a brat you are, and how impertinent you are in comparison, as well.”
Sparks flew from Jin Dongryong’s eyes. This was a bad sign. His small hand clutched tightly at the hilt of the sword worn at his waist. But the gaze with which Jin Geumryong looked down at him was full of composure.
“Why? Are you going to draw it?”
“Grrrrr!”
“Go on, try drawing it. But this time, it will not end as easily as last time. After lying bedridden for about half a month, perhaps you will finally come to realize something.”
Jin Dongryong trembled, still gripping the sword hilt tightly.
“Yes. Enduring it may be good too. But if you are going to endure it, endure it properly. For the rest of your life. In any case, no matter how much you train from now on, the day that sword of yours defeats me will never come.”
At Jin Geumryong’s mocking sneer, Jin Dongryong clenched his teeth.
“Do you think I’ll be scared just because you say that?”
It was the very moment Jin Dongryong was about to draw his sword in one swift motion.
“What is this commotion!”
All of a sudden, the door flew open, and someone strode inside. Seeing him, Jin Geumryong and Jin Eunryong quickly corrected their postures, and Jin Dongryong too flinched in surprise and took his hand off his sword. However, just because he let go quickly did not mean the movement could have escaped Jin Chobaek’s [진초백(秦初伯)] eyes. Jin Chobaek’s sharp gaze fixed upon Jin Dongryong. Under his father’s heavy stare, Jin Dongryong’s shoulders gradually drooped.
“You disgraceful fool. Have you gone so far as to think of drawing swords now?”
“T-That’s not…….”
“Silence!”
Jin Dongryong’s head lowered further. Many emotions seeped from his slightly trembling shoulders. But Jin Chobaek merely glanced at him with cold eyes.
“This is your punishment. You will fast for three days.”
As though unable to bear this one thing, Jin Dongryong abruptly raised his head. The fasting was not the issue. What truly filled him with resentment was something else entirely.
“Father! Why am I the only one being punished! Hyeong also……”
“Shut your mouth! It can be said that an elder brother failing to embrace his younger brother is also at fault, but it cannot compare to a younger brother defying his seniors.”
Jin Chobaek’s fury blazed so fiercely that it seemed there was not even room for a single needle to slip through. Jin Dongryong bit down hard on his lip.
“And on top of that, the crime of daring to grasp a sword inside the house! With what shame does one who tried to draw his sword against his own elder brother attempt to make excuses?”
No matter what he said, it would not get through anyway. Whatever he said, it would only be taken as an excuse. Because Jin Chobaek was that sort of person. A powerless sigh escaped Jin Dongryong’s mouth.
“Go to your room and reflect on your conduct.”
“…”
“Your answer?”
“…Yes.“
Still looking displeased with Jin Dongryong, Jin Chobaek sharply flicked his sleeve and strode out. No sooner had he disappeared than Jin Dongryong let out a sigh deep enough to sink the ground. Jin Geumryong looked down at this and wore a strange smile.
“Serves you right.”
“Damn it!”
Jin Dongryong glared at Jin Geumryong as though he would kill him, then roughly opened the door and left. At the sound of the door slamming shut violently, Jin Geumryong clicked his tongue briefly.
“Tsk. That rotten temper of his.”
Once Jin Dongryong had left, Jin Geumryong’s face had somehow grown considerably softer. Jin Eunryong, who had been staring at that sight, opened his mouth with a dissatisfied expression.
“Why on earth do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Is he not a child?”
“If you want to argue it that way, then in my eyes you are a child as well. And at that age, he is more than capable of distinguishing right from wrong.”
“That is only your standard, Hyeong-nim. Dongryong is not yet of an age to properly understand the world. Could you not treat him a little better? Is there truly a need to suppress him to that extent?”
“Bring me some tea.”
“You rotten…….”
“Hm? What did you say?”
“……Nothing.”
‘I have to endure it. I must endure it.…’
It was said that an exemplary person does not fight with petty people. Even if he cursed here, it would only break his own composure……. Ah, my stomach!
Grumbling inwardly, Jin Eunryong silently preparing the tea set [다기(茶器)].
⠀
Jin Geumryong lifted the steaming teacup and slowly savored its fragrance. Even the light movement of tilting the teacup was truly refined, without a single unnecessary flourish. Jin Eunryong unconsciously shook his head lightly.
‘He really is handsome.’
It was not easy for a face one saw every day to still appear handsome. But Jin Geumryong’s face had the power to make that difficult thing possible.
Regrettably, Jin Eunryong had not been born with the same looks as Jin Geumryong. Of course, they were brothers, so they did resemble each other, but how should one put it – he looked somewhat delicate, and maybe even slightly unfairly aggrieved. It was not that his appearance would fall short anywhere, but it certainly did not have the ability of seizing people’s gazes the way Jin Geumryong’s did.
On the other hand, Dongryong, the third son, looked disturbingly identical to Jin Geumryong. As though they had been stamped out from the same mold. And Jin Geumryong was the very image of their father, Jin Chobaek.
Still, perhaps it was fortunate that he had at least not inherited the hellish sense for naming one’s children ‘Gold, Silver, and Bronze***.’
“The taste of the tea is truly excellent.”
“…Is that so.”
“This is why I cannot help but seek you out.”
Jin Eunryong fell into brief contemplation. Should he burn all those tea utensils to ashes? Just as he was preparing himself to completely give up half of the only joys in his life, calligraphy and the tea ceremony…
“That younger brother of yours ought to learn something like this too.”
At the calm, passing remark, he blinked.
“…Do you not remember, when Dongryong said before that he would try learning the tea ceremony, you laughed at him and said, ‘As if someone like you could possibly manage something so refined’?”
“I did?”
“The tea set broken that day was quite expensive.”
“Hm. Was that so?”
In his heart, Jin Eunryong carved the character for ‘endurance’ about ten times. They said that three times was enough to avoid even murder, but when dealing with this person, three times was nowhere near enough.
“The one who threw the tea utensils was at fault, but Hyeong-nim, you were not exactly in the right either, laughing at a child who was trying to learn something.”
Jin Geumryong’s eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure.
“Has that fool’s inadequacy rubbed off on you as well?”
“Am I not right?”
This time, Jin Eunryong did not back down either. Lately, he had been thinking that Jin Geumryong’s attitude towards Jin Dongryong was somewhat excessive. Especially considering the boy was at an age where he was just entering adolescence.
“Could you not look at him a little more kindly? From what I can see, it is not as though Dongryong is doing anything so terribly wrong…”
Jin Eunryong stopped speaking midway and shut his mouth. Jin Geumryong looked at him with a strange gaze and asked.
“Where did the person who was speaking just now go?”
“Ha! Fine! Honestly, he does do wrong! I too, once in a while, want to sling that brat over my shoulder and throw him off the peak of Wutaishan [남오대(南五臺) – or Mount Wutai]. But even so, is he not still our younger brother?!”
And one who looks exactly like you! Jin Eunryong pressed down hard on the words that were trying to force their way past his lips. However, the words that came back from Jin Geumryong were not the obvious answer Jin Eunryong had expected.
“If treating him kindly… If that were enough to solve it, I would not be going through all this trouble either.”
“Pardon?”
“How do you see your younger brother?”
“Are you referring to his personality?”
At the unexpected question, Jin Eunryong narrowed his eyes and asked in return. Jin Geumryong took a sip of tea, then shook his head slightly.
“Rather than personality, I suppose disposition [기질(器質)] would be the more fitting word.”
Jin Eunryong could not immediately understand what Jin Geumryong wanted to say, but since the question had been asked, he answered nonetheless.
“Well. I have never thought about it that deeply, but even if not as a person, but as a martial artist, he seems to have been born with an extremely good disposition. He knows how to compete fiercely, he does not know how to give up, and he is diligent as well, so all the more so.”
“Hmm…”
“Even at his young age, he has remarkable grit, so I believe he will become a good swordsman. One day, will he not become a pillar [동량(棟梁)] who spreads Jongnam’s name far and wide? He has more than enough talent, after all.”
This time as well, Jin Eunryong swallowed the words he had almost let slip without realizing it. The words, ‘Unlike me.’ He knew it himself very well. The fact that even if he died and came back to life, he would never be able to become like Jin Geumryong or Jin Dongryong. For now, he was older and had more years of training behind him, so he was stronger than Jin Dongryong, but he would probably be overtaken soon, and that gap would only grow more and more impossibly wide. A strange bitterness filled his mouth.
But then Jin Geumryong stared silently at Jin Eunryong with an expression difficult to describe, and asked.
“…You?”
“…”
“Did something get into your eyes?”
Jin Eunryong wanted to cry. Resentment surged all the way up to his throat. Why ask, why! If you were going to react like that, why ask in the first place! Even snakes coiled together in an earthen cave to hibernate through winter would not be as twisted as he was!
Jin Geumryong, who had been drinking his tea while sending him a look as though he found it absurd, set the teacup down with a sharp tap and opened his mouth in a low voice.
“To your eyes, he may look that way. But not to mine.”
Given Jin Geumryong’s nature, those words meant, ‘You are so wrong about that boy it is not even worth discussing.’ Because he was a person who did not even consider, from the beginning, that he himself might be mistaken. Jin Eunryong asked with a weary expression.
“Then how does he appear in your eyes, Hyeong-nim?”
“Do you perhaps remember Lee Mugun [이무군(李懋郡)]?”
“Lee Mugun, you mean… Are you speaking of Cheongyang Ilgeom [청양일검(淸揚一劍)****], Hyeong-nim? Is he not your friend? Of course I remember him.”
Cheongyang Ilgeom Lee Mugun was one of Jin Geumryong’s few friends, which was rare considering his terrible personality. Of course he could not help but remember him.
Unlike Jin Eunryong – who was still young and lacking in skill compared to others, and thus had not been permitted to venture into Gangho – Jin Geumryong had already completed several journeys through it. It was during those travels that Jin Geumryong met Lee Mugun.
Lee Mugun, a man of unsurpassed chivalry, became close with Jin Geumryong, who, no matter how one looked at him, could only be called prickly. He would even visit Jongnam from time to time and cross swords with Jin Geumryong. The result always ended in a one-sided defeat, but Lee Mugun was the sort of person who would grin every time and boast.
“Next time, I will definitely win.”
“He is a good person.”
Jin Geumryong nodded a little bitterly.
“Yes. He was a good man.”
“Pardon?”
“…What?”
“No, nothing.”
For a moment, Jin Eunryong was greatly flustered, and needlessly scratched the bridge of his nose. It was because he had never heard Jin Geumryong evaluate someone in this way. Had he not, even when speaking of Lee Mugun in the past, mockingly judged him as ‘a man with no skill but overflowing grit,’ and ‘a man who, even knowing he will fail to climb and fall anyway, will insist on climbing a tall tree if he sees one, just to check where he falls from’?
Of course, Jin Geumryong did not truly look down on Lee Mugun. At least, Jin Eunryong knew. Within Jin Geumryong’s feelings towards Lee Mugun, the two characters [우정] for ‘friendship’ certainly existed.
“But why are you suddenly bringing him up in the middle of talking about Dongryong?”
“He died.”
“Pardon?”
“I said he died.”
Jin Eunryong was at a loss for words for a moment. Was that the sort of story one should speak of so calmly in the first place? He calmed his startled heart and watched Jin Geumryong’s expression. Jin Geumryong merely held the teacup in silence and looked out the window for a while. Jin Eunryong could not tell whether he was thinking of Lee Mugun, or whether he did not want Jin Eunryong to see the expression he was wearing now.
Jin Eunryong asked again carefully.
“Is that really true?”
“Yes.”
“No, how did……”
Why on earth would someone that strong…?
“It seems he encountered a demonic master [마두(魔頭)*****].”
“Then, while fighting that demonic master…….”
Without explaining any further, Jin Geumryong merely gave a short nod. After hesitating, Jin Eunryong forced out something to say.
“Given his nature… it must have been a righteous death. It is truly regrettable.”
“It was not a righteous death, but a stupid one.”
“Huh?”
Jin Eunryong was startled, while Jin Geumryong spoke with an expression a little colder than before.
“From what I heard, he had more than enough time to flee. If he had only made up his mind to, he could easily have survived. If he had preserved his life that way, he could have pursued that demonic master together with others and cut off his head. And yet they say he insisted on charging in alone right there and then. Saying he would not forgive such evil deeds.”
Jin Eunryong closed his mouth. He could imagine it well enough. Lee Mugun was not someone who gave up easily. Even when he challenged Jin Geumryong, he was someone who sincerely believed that this time, he could win. That point had been part of his charm, but…
“If it had been a duel, it would have been something to laugh off and end there. His honor may have been damaged, but his life would not have been. But Gangho is different. If one cannot properly measure one’s own skill and charges at a tree one cannot climb, one does not simply fall and get hurt. They have their head cut off and die.”
Jin Eunryong could say nothing at all. Because he did not know much about Gangho. But Jin Geumryong had already gone on several journeys through it. He surely knew far better than Jin Eunryong how merciless a place Gangho was.
“Does it seem to you that Dongryong has talent?”
“…He is not a lacking child.”
No, in truth, Jin Dongryong’s talent was unmistakably outstanding. Even among Jongnam’s many disciples, he was counted among the foremost in terms of talent. But this time as well, Jin Geumryong denied it coldly.
“You are wrong. Talent can only be called talent when it is properly realized.”
“Ah, no… Hyeong-nim.”
“Do you think that boy can surpass me?”
“…No, I do not.”
Jin Eunryong shook his head. No matter how pitiful he found his younger brother, what was not true was not true. He could imagine a future in which Jin Dongryong became an unparalleled swordsman. But a future in which Jin Dongryong surpassed Jin Geumryong? That was something he could not imagine even as a joke. No matter how strong Jin Dongryong became, Jin Geumryong would always stand above him. Because what they had been born with was different.
“Yes. He cannot. The boy has talent, but not the kind of talent that can dominate the world beneath the heavens. At most, he will amount to someone who can use a sword fairly well. And yet he acts as though he were destined to become an unparalleled swordsman. Without even thinking to measure how large the tree before him is, he is blindly trying to climb it.”
Jin Geumryong looked straight at Jin Eunryong and said.
“That boy seriously believes he will be able to defeat me someday.”
Jin Eunryong knew that those words were not an exaggeration either. Jin Dongryong charging at Jin Geumryong did not arise from simple mischief or petulance. Everyone in Jongnam would not even think of it, but one person alone. Jin Dongryong himself probably believed that one day, he could become the greatest master of Jongnam. Of course, having great ambition was not a bad thing. However…
“Do you think that is right?”
“That is…”
“A child’s foolish bravado? That, I can look upon fondly. But that boy is no longer a child. And in Gangho, the price of indulging in foolish bravado is one’s life. If that reckless fool is left as he is, someday he will return with his head being cut off.”
Jin Geumryong laughed coldly.
“If that is how it will be, then it would be better for him to be broken by my hand instead. Then at least he will preserve his life. And we will not have to hear that someone of Jongnam’s Jin family was killed by some mediocre nobody.”
“…”
Jin Eunryong let out a deep sigh.
Should this be called genuine concern born from true affection for his younger brother?
It was a self-centered sort of logic, but at the very least, he could clearly understand what part Jin Geumryong was worried about.
“So that is why you are trying to break his spirit.”
“That is one way to put it.”
Jin Geumryong shrugged.
“You say I am excessive, but in truth I am already showing that boy as much consideration as possible.”
“Consideration?”
Jin Eunryong wondered for a moment whether Jin Geumryong did not know the meaning of the word consideration. Jin Geumryong said.
“If he were your age already, I would have broken his arms and legs to teach him a lesson. Then at least he would understand his own place. He would also learn not to recklessly provoke or pick at the nerves of someone clearly stronger than himself.”
Ah… Jin Eunryong swallowed a groan and smiled bitterly. In Gangho, that was only natural, but Dongryong was the person least capable of keeping to that common sense. In that regard, Jin Geumryong’s words were not wrong.
If he was not the very best, he could not endure it. That was Jin Dongryong’s nature. Jin Eunryong let out a sigh.
“I understand what you mean. But Hyeong-nim, your methods are far too extreme. I am worried that if this goes on, Dongryong will go astray.”
“Going astray would be better than dying.”
“No, Hyeong-nim!”
“Am I wrong?”
Faced with that arrogant, unwavering gaze that seemed utterly convinced there could not possibly be a flaw in his reasoning, Jin Eunryong felt his stomach begin to ache once more.
“Th-That…… Hyeong-nim. No matter how good the words are, if you do it that way, they will be of no use, and no matter how good the purpose is, if the method is like that…”
“Then is there another way?”
Jin Eunryong faltered. It was not because he could not think of another way, but because he could clearly see that Jin Geumryong truly, wholeheartedly believed that this oppressive method was the only correct path.
“H-Hyeong-nim. If Dongryong really does go astray…”
“There is only one way to straighten a bent sword.”
“It will break!”
“Then it can be melted down again and forged anew.”
He was not as stubborn as a brick wall. He was the wall itself. When Jin Eunryong wore a stunned expression, Jin Geumryong cut him off firmly.
“Do not concern yourself with pointless worries. If he is the sort who cannot endure even this much, then he would only invite even greater calamities upon himself in Gangho anyway. If he is truly a man of the Jin Family, he can endure it. No, he must endure it.”
“Hyeong-nim….”
“What you should do is not merely shield him and worry over him. Rather, your duty is to stop indulging his childishness.”
There was nothing more Jin Eunryong could say. In truth, not everything Jin Geumryong said was wrong. Certainly, his methods were extreme, yet in another sense they were realistic. Even a peerless sword of all under heaven, one spoken of only in legends, would eventually bend and have its edge dulled if it were hammered without rest for years, would it not? No matter how straight and unyielding Dongryong was, in the end, he would bend in the direction Jin Geumryong wanted.
And if even Jin Geumryong could not change Dongryong? Then no one in the world would be able to change that boy’s nature.
‘I only hope my stomach holds out until then.’
Jin Eunryong let out a sigh heavy enough to make the ground sink, while only the leisurely sound of Jin Geumryong sipping tea echoed softly through the room.
Special Spinoff Chapter 37 >>>
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*출가(出家) – ‘leaving the household’, but not in a sense of just leaving, but leaving with a purpose to become a monk. Could be applied to both Taoism and Buddhism.
**Analects, Book 13, Chapter 23. 子曰：「君子和而不同，小人同而不和。」
***금은동 – first syllables of their names meaning gold, silver and bronze. The last syllables -ryong meaning a dragon.
****청양일검(淸揚一劍) – the one sword/peerless sword of pure ascend, I’d say.
*****마두(魔頭) – ‘demonic head’ – a notorious figure/fiend/someone very strong, usually associated with demonic arts.
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