Surviving as a Cripple in Murim

3 – 10,000 ask the teacher (2)

Criminal – An ordinary person with no special abilities. A word that refers to anything. However, Gein, standing behind me, did not look like a normal person by any means.

“Take a good look. This is how you wield a staff.”

The Gi-gi, who calls himself a criminal, stretched out his long arms and picked up my cane that had fallen to the ground. Really excitedly, I hit the large dog so much that the word “As if a dog’s wings are broken” Comes to mind.

I played with it by hitting it with the tip of a stick, stabbing it, whipping it, blocking it, hitting it, pressing it, and beating it in all kinds of ways.

What was surprising was that the ferocious dog was not able to fight back properly and was being played like a monkey who climbed into the hands of the Buddha while whimpering. It was almost at the level of asking to be hit with a cane.

The large dog rolled around to avoid the cane, and suddenly it couldn’t tell which way it was and pushed its butt against the cane.

“If you’ve been scolded like this, you won’t bite people for a while. Go home now.”

Tak!

“Ki~ying!!”

Gi-in hit the big dog’s butt with a cane, making a loud noise. Like a rabbit running away from a tiger, the large dog ran swiftly without looking back.

I… What did you just see?

A large man chased the dog away with a cane. Looking at the situation, it’s not particularly a strange sight. However, the bongsul that the man showed was a mysterious sight that opened his mouth for the first time by combining his previous and present lives.

If violence is sublimated into art, won’t the bongsul used by a big man come out? It was a mysterious magic trick.

And the desire to learn that wriggled from within me. Since he has crippled legs anyway, he has to live with a cane for the rest of his life.

“Ah, sir, thank you for saving me. But where did you learn that strange sticking technique?”

“It is not a strange baton technique, but a martial art called the tagubongbeop (打狗棒法). Do you want to learn?”

The batting stick method. If you interpret the meaning as it is in Chinese characters, it is a dog beating method. It’s a really well-made name when you think of the old man beating a dog. There could be no name more fitting than this.

However, judging from the fact that it was named Bongbeop for beating a dog, it doesn’t seem to be a high-level martial art. Is it martial arts for self-defense? Can you tell me where to go to the nearest martial arts dojo?

“Yes! I want to learn. Where can I go to learn? Or is it a bonbeop made by you?”

“… Stamp? Do i make it Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

The elderly man laughed loudly while moving his body to see what was funny. He gently stroked my hair with a hand as large as his size.

I was not in a hurry and saw the face of the elder for the first time at this time. The forehead was broad, the eyebrows were long like a brush, and the lips were thick and plump on a blunt nose. He was a really ugly old man.

However, he was a strange old man who did not feel ugly because of the strange atmosphere that flowed from his body.

“Looks like you don’t know how to bat. You are not a child of the samurai family. Good night. It’s fate that we met like this, so let me know. Instead, there are conditions.”

“Conditions?”

“Prepare a bundle of beef jerky and offer it as a tribute to me. That is the condition.”

Jerky? Jerky is the jerky I know, right? Jerky, not money? It’s not difficult, but it’s rather easy, so I doubt it.

“When a disciple asks for instruction from his master, it is polite to tie up ten pieces of beef jerky and offer it.”

Soksujirye (束脩之禮) – Etiquette for beef jerky. It refers to an offering given to a teacher when he or she is to become a disciple for the first time. This is what I saw while studying the scriptures.

But it’s just rudeness, and usually everything is paid for. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a real keeper.

“I’m staying for a while in an abandoned house on the eastern outskirts of town. If you are willing to be taught, prepare a gift and come to me.”

The big old man left those words and walked away as if he had suddenly appeared. It looks like he’s walking normally, but he’s lightly teasing his steps. Disappeared before my eyes

I rubbed my eyes and looked at the place where the old man was. I also pinched my thighs to see if I was dreaming, but it wasn’t a dream.

I was completely dumbfounded, but I still knew what was frozen in me. Even I, who don’t know much about martial arts, can understand it.

Just a power-up event. It’s a coincidence A chance came to me.

***

It wasn’t even a fuss after breaking up with the old man. Seeing me lying around, my mother started a game and declared a curfew.

Since my father is a boy, he says that I can get hurt and sets me free, but my mother is sensitive to my wounds or injuries.

Maybe it’s because I’m responsible for being born lame. It’s a problem that you don’t have to feel responsible for at all.

As a child of Dori, I feel grateful for her mother’s consideration and kindness, but she is so stupidly nice that I don’t get along well with her.

Maybe it’s because I’m a twisted person. I had a stomach ache at best and got better. Where did the cute Aga-chan go?

… But I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I need to go outside and learn how to bat. I will live on my own now, and I will be filial when I grow up later.

Normally, it’s time to have a hearty lunch and take a nap after playing. I packed the bundle of beef jerky I had prepared for Jangsam and left the house without my parents’ knowledge.

I limped out through the back door and walked toward an abandoned house on the eastern outskirts of town.

When I first found out that I was lame, I was quite devastated, but since humans are animals of adaptation, I have gotten used to walking with a cane.

If you overdo it, you can speed up quite a bit. Well, even if you speed up, it’s at the level of normal people walking fast.

An abandoned house on the eastern outskirts of town. Even though it was an abandoned house, it was an acceptable place for people to stay because it was a place where wealthy people used to live and abandoned it for some reason.

Of course, this is only a story when I went in the morning. It’s just a haunted house in the evening.

Let’s walk through the half-broken gate and carefully walk inside. An old man came out to meet me with a benevolent smile on his face.

“You really came. If I’m a bad person, why did I come here alone in a remote place like this?”

Rather than really trying to harm me, it was an adult teasing a child, throwing a joke, so I replied in moderation.

“I just seemed like a nice person. Don’t expect logical reasons for what a child at this age does.”

The old man laughed out loud at my words. He sat cross-legged in front of me.

“If you came this far, you must really want to learn martial arts. Bow down once, offer an offering, and show the example of a disciple.”

I scratched my head at a phrase I had heard somewhere or seen in the scriptures.

“Uh, isn’t it normal to bow nine times in the Gubaejirye (九拜之禮) instead of just once when asking a teacher to become a disciple?”

The reason I asked about the Gubaejirye was not because I wanted to bow nine times. I was worried that since this old man bowed only once, he might be playing with words saying that he would only teach me as much as I bowed once.

In response to my doubts, the old man taught me with a benevolent yet strong voice, as if he had already become my teacher.

“Gubaejirye is not bowing down to the teacher nine times. An invitation from a disciple, three times to a patriarch. Three times to the teacher’s teacher Saya. Finally, bow to your master three times.”

Oh, that’s right. I first knew

“… Then, even if you skip the patriarchal and saaya, shouldn’t you bow three times to the teacher? But why only once?”

“Doesn’t your leg hurt? It’s hard, so just do it once.”

If it’s valid, it’s a really good reason, but it was a reason I didn’t think of, so I was dumbfounded and asked in an absurd voice.

“No? Will it work? Didn’t you emphasize etiquette and tell me to prepare a bundle of beef jerky?”

“Did you have a hard time preparing the bundle of beef jerky?”

“Yes? It wasn’t particularly difficult.”

“Then don’t you think it would be difficult to bow three times while limping on a sore leg? Or do you think it would be uncomfortable and painful?”

“… Of course, it will be difficult and painful.”

After several questions and answers, I realized the meaning of Master’s words. Did Master notice that too? He finished his teaching with his characteristic benevolent and upright voice.

“That’s it. Maintaining etiquette is important. But rites should not bother people.”

If you hold on to the horse and argue, you can argue as much as you like. But I didn’t really want to.

“Tell me your name. As a disciple, shouldn’t we know Master’s name?”

“I’ve said it before, but I’m not really a person worth mentioning. Just a passing criminal.”

Ah~ I will. Raising one eyebrow, he stared at Master’s ugly face for a moment, then stood upright and put down his wand.

Let the support that used to support the body disappear. The disabled right leg trembles like crazy, throwing the body off balance.

What are you doing? Get something right now. Or rather, fall toward the floor. The right leg trembles like crazy and sends a signal.

Gritting your teeth, sweating, and ignoring your body’s signals. Kneel with your left leg out first.

Puck!

In the middle, my right leg gave out strength and I slammed it on the floor as if I was about to hit my knee. In any case, the posture is roughly finished.

I brought his hands together and bowed down to show Master the example of a disciple.

“Samamancheon (司馬瞞天) asks for a lesson from someone passing by.”