I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. (1)
“G-Great… Hwasan Sect?”
Jwa Gohak narrowed his eyes and looked at him.
“…Will that do?”
“Of course.”
Chung Myung answered firmly, as if there was no need to say it twice.
“Hmm.”
The more calmly he acted, the sharper Jwa Gohak’s gaze became. But even under that scrutiny, Chung Myung merely kept smiling calmly.
‘What is he thinking?’
He was certain there had to be some kind of trick behind this. Because if they competed fair and square, there was no way these people could win. But Great Hwasan Sect? Even if they chose that as the phrase, what exactly could they possibly do with it?
Jwa Gohak glanced sideways at the other disciples of Hwasan, just in case. But they, too, were wearing expressions that said they had no idea what was going on. No, perhaps they looked even more flustered than Jwa Gohak himself.
“Great Hwasan Sect?”
“What on earth is that guy thinking?”
“Right…”
At that moment, Tang Soso, who had been pondering the matter, suddenly clapped her hands.
“I think I get it.”
“Huh?”
“Maybe he’s aiming for something else. At this rate, we’re going to lose anyway, but at least we can take home a ‘Great Hwasan Sect’ inscription painstakingly written by the scholars.”
“…Is there any point in getting that?”
Jo Geol answered in her stead.
“Hmm. Watching Confucian scholars who look down on Taoists like dirt under their fingernails write the name of a Taoist sect with all their heart and soul would be quite a sight in its own way.”
“Now that you mention it……”
Jwa Gohak’s face, as he listened to Hwasan’s disciples’ conversation, twisted violently.
“What kind of nonsensical……”
Thinking of it that way made him feel somewhat uneasy as well, but that was a small matter, and winning the match was a greater one. Who would invite defeat upon themselves merely because they found a few Taoists annoying?
In any case, it was certain that even his fellow Taoists did not understand Chung Myung’s actions. In that case, there was no need to agonize over it.
“We accept.”
After some deliberation, Jwa Gohak nodded. The fact that the phrase they had to write was short bothered him a little. After all, in calligraphy, the more characters one wrote, the more clearly the difference in skill was revealed.
But if the opponents were these people, that was hardly a matter worth considering.
“Dan Jayeong [단자영(段字瑛)].”
“Yes, Sahyeong!”
At Jwa Gohak’s call, one of the Confucian scholars stepped forward. He was the very picture of a Confucian scholar, a man whose large eyes left a strong impression.
He looked around once, then opened his mouth.
“Please prepare the paper, brush, ink, and inkstone.”
No sooner had those words fallen than the other scholars brought out a huge scroll, large enough for a person to lie down on with room to spare, and spread it out on the floor. Then they poured water into a large inkstone and began grinding the ink with practiced hands.
Before long, beside that inkstone, a giant brush [거필(巨筆)] as thick as a man’s forearm had been placed.
Perhaps because they were Confucian scholars who had spent their entire lives writing, they finished this whole sequence of preparations in an instant, as smoothly as flowing water. Dan Jayeong, who had been watching the scene, slowly nodded and looked at Jwa Gohak.
“Should I go first? Or should we do it at the same time?”
“Proceeding simultaneously would be fairest, but is there any need to go that far? If you are ready, begin.”
“Understood.”
Dan Jayeong strode forward, sat before the scroll with a straight posture, and took up the large brush with practiced hands. After dipping it deep into the ink and shaping the brush against the inkstone, he looked at the scroll before him and let out a short breath.
And then.
Swoooooooosh.
Dan Jayeong’s brush swept across the paper as if dancing. At times forcefully, at times slowly, and at times almost as if toying with it.
Though the phrase was not very long, even that brief movement alone was enough to make the words ‘a single stroke swept forth*’ seem entirely deserved.
“Oh.”
“Splendid.”
The old scholars watching Dan Jayeong could not hold back their admiration.
It was handwriting so beautiful that it was almost mesmerizing.
“To think that such a young junior has already reached the level of completing a style entirely his own.”
“Splendid indeed. At this rate, he will become a master calligrapher whose name will be left in history.”
“He is certainly unrivaled among the young ones. No, even across the whole world, there cannot be many who could show a hand like that.”
The old scholars nodded again and again, as if deeply impressed.
It was calligraphy so excellent that, despite being in a position where they had to judge objectively, they could not stop praising it. While following the calligraphic forms of the past, he was also walking his own path. That was truly the very image a Confucian scholar ought to pursue.
“I wonder if we have underestimated these children too much.”
“I was thinking the same. I am ashamed to face our juniors.”
To the eyes of their predecessors, the younger generation always seemed lacking and incompetent. But now, Dan Jayeong had proved, merely by writing four characters, that his own learning was by no means lacking.
“If he is at that level…”
“Then we must say that Sodojang has no chance of winning.”
“Regrettable, but that is likely the reality.”
The disciples of Hwasan were not much different in their assessment.
“Wow…….”
“He really writes well. The characters are dancing, aren’t they?”
“…..That’s amazing.”
Even they had no way to deny it.
They lacked the knowledge to understand why exactly that calligraphic style was so remarkable, but at the very least, they could feel that it was anything but ordinary.
“It’s over.”
“I told you, we should just wrap this up quickly.”
“I just hope we don’t end up humiliating ourselves…”
The disciples of Hwasan looked at Chung Myung with sour expressions. Considering his handwriting, this was a match that had been impossible from the start.
“Maybe it’s actually a relief that Chung Myung Sahyeong went out. If someone tried to do a half-decent job, they might only get laughed at more.”
“True. If he completely ruins it instead, we can at least laugh it off and move on. Maybe that’s why Chung Myung went out?”
“Maybe.”
The disciples of Hwasan whispered among themselves and nodded. But Baek Cheon alone did not move hastily.
What his Sajils said had a point. Looking only at the situation, it certainly sounded plausible. But…
‘That bastard?’
Ridiculous. Baek Cheon knew. The concept of a ‘good loss**’ did not exist for Chung Myung. Even if the situation came to competing with a bird in flight, Chung Myung was the sort of bastard who would first leap off a cliff in order to win.
There was no way a guy like that had stepped forward merely to lose in a less embarrassing way.
But if so, what was it? This method that bastard had thought of.
While Baek Cheon sank into thought, Dan Jaeyong finished writing all four characters of ‘Great Hwasan Sect’ and set down his brush.
“Wow……”
“That’s impressive.”
“Can we take that with us? If the Sect Leader sees it, I think he’ll grin from ear to ear.”
“…Should we really be admiring our opponent right now?”
They were competitors, but it was such splendid handwriting that they could not stop admiring it.
Dan Jayeong carefully looked over the phrase he had written. Then he nodded, seemingly satisfied.
“I have finished writing. There are parts that are lacking, but I can say that, as I am now, I did my best.”
“Hmm.”
“Then, should I wait for you longer?”
The pride in his voice was impossible to conceal. It was the unwavering confidence of a man who trusted in the skill he had honed over many long years.
Chung Myung, noticing this, let out a small chuckle.
“You do write well.”
“Thank you.”
Dan Jayeong bowed politely.
Chung Myung did not dislike people like this. Humility? Humility was good. But excessive humility was little different from belittling one’s own hard work.
‘I really am too kind for my own good.’
When he saw a sprout growing so well like this, did it not make him want to step on it firmly just once? That way, it would grow even better in the future.
“Good. Then watch carefully. This will probably be an eye-opening experience for you.”
“I look forward to it.”
“You seem to think I’m joking?”
“….Pardon?”
Chung Myung wore a strange smile.
“When you climb a mountain, you come to know how high the sky is. The reason you feel you’re impressive is because you haven’t yet finished climbing the mountain. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Is that a teaching of the Tao?”
“No. It’s a lesson from an adult.”
Chung Myung grinned and took hold of the brush. Then, just as Dan Jayeong had done, he dipped the brush into the ink and brushed it lightly against the inkstone, smoothing the tip.
In its own way, the movement looked fairly convincing, but it could not deceive Dan Jayeong’s eyes.
‘No matter how I look at it, he seems like an amateur.’
It was not that he had never written anything before. But it was clear he had never learned proper brushwork. If he had learned it, it would have shown from the way he ground the ink and held the brush.
But then what on earth was that confidence? Mere arrogance? Or the baseless inadequacy of someone who did not know his own place?
“I can tell you’re certainly impressive. You write well.***”
“…”
“But even so, all that means is that you write fairly well among the Confucian scholars of the present day.”
“……What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that if you look back into the past, there are plenty who wrote better than you. Just like in every field.”
At that moment, Chung Myung’s brush began to move.
“He’s writing?”
“He really is writing.”
Just then, Baek Cheon, who had been about to say something, suddenly held his breath.
‘What is that?’
He could feel it coming from Chung Myung. Even though there was quite a distance between them, crossing that distance, an absurd concentration could be felt.
“……That bastard.”
As if he were unfolding his sword before a mortal enemy, Chung Myung, brush in hand, was radiating an overwhelming aura.
‘What on earth is he trying to do?’
At that moment, Chung Myung’s brush touched the paper. Slowly, so very slowly, Chung Myung began writing the characters.
It was a terrifying concentration, enough to choke the breath of those watching. The brush moved slowly, as if a slug were crawling. And the tip of that brush was gradually engraving something onto the pristine white paper.
“Th-That…”
Baek Cheon realized it instantly. No, by that point, all the disciples of Hwasan had realized what Chung Myung was doing.
Because the phrase Chung Myung was writing – no, to be precise, the calligraphic style of the phrase Chung Myung was writing right now – was far too familiar to them.
One character. Then another character. And then another.
Chung Myung slowly wrote the characters down. The Confucian scholars, who at first had been watching the scene with mocking expressions, at some point lost all trace of laughter.
“……Th-That cannot be.”
“How can a Taoist……”
The scholars stared speechlessly at the phrase taking shape before them.
Great Hwasan Sect [大華山派].
The four characters were inscribed upon the paper in a vigorous, soaring handwriting.
Characters so full of power they seemed not merely to overflow, but to surge upward, and yet, even so, they held within them the ease of something resting above the clouds.
This was not on a level where one could discuss the splendor or elegance of brushwork. It was impossible to take one’s eyes off the characters. The more versed one was in calligraphy, the more impossible it was not to lose one’s words at the sight of Chung Myung’s calligraphy now.
Tak.
At last, having completed the final character, Chung Myung set the brush down on the inkstone and picked up the scroll from the ground.
Swoosh!
As he lifted it high, the four characters – Great Hwasan Sect – were displayed perfectly upon the scroll.
The scholars stared fixedly at the inscription, unable to utter a word.
“B-But that…”
And within that strange silence, the disciples of Hwasan tilted their heads to the side.
“Haven’t we seen that somewhere quite a lot…?”
“It’s the signboard. The script carved into Hwasan’s signboard.”
“Ah, I knew it. No wonder it felt familiar. That bastard, acting like that was some amazing trick.”
“At best, it’s probably just some decent writing from a backwater village in Shaanxi. Can that really stand up against them? He did use his head, in his own way, but still.”
As the disciples of Hwasan were sending him looks that said, ‘still, you fought well,’ Yu Hanbin looked at them with an utterly dumbfounded expression.
“What are you talking about right now?”
“Hm?”
“A backwater village in Shaanxi? Can’t you see that calligraphy? You’re looking at the work of a peerless master calligrapher!”
“….Huuuuh?”
The disciples of Hwasan stared at Yu Hanbin with bewildered expressions.
“I have never in my life seen handwriting so overflowing with power. Heavens, who on earth could have created such an astonishing style….”
“…”
The disciples of Hwasan quickly exchanged glances.
“Come on, that’s just because you spent too little time studying and too much time playing around. To those people, it probably…”
It was then.
“This cannot be…….”
“Hm?”
The Confucian scholars, who had been staring blankly at the calligraphy, opened their mouths as if bewitched.
“H-how can a Taoist write something like this…?”
“In all my life, I have never seen such a majestic brushwork.”
“How can this be. Is this truly what one calls a divine brush?”
“…”
The disciples of Hwasan quickly exchanged glances again. Then, as if nothing had happened, they nodded with pleased expressions.
“It was written by one of Hwasan’s revered predecessors.”
“I-Indeed, Hwasan is an extraordinary sect. To think there was someone there with such a style.”
“Exactly, exactly. Of course.”
The disciples of Hwasan smiled and traded meaningful looks.
‘Do you understand what’s so amazing about it?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Hahaha. Right?’
Everyone’s smiles grew even deeper.
‘I have absolutely no idea what’s going on.’
I’d better just keep nodding along.
Special Spinoff Chapter 47 >>>
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*일필휘지(一筆揮之) – the philosophy of ilpilhwiji – the idea of classical approach to Calligraphy, completing a stroke in one motion.
**좋은 패배 – good defeat – the concept of taking something out of the loss. An honorable loss/learning from a loss/getting a strategical gain etc.
***When Chung Myung says “you write well” here – it doesn’t sound polite, like he said it previously. It sounds like an adult is praising a child. That’s likely while Dan Jayeong went “…”
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