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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Granddaughter's Return
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Namgung Jipyeong panted, tilting his head to look at the child who had approached him.
“Are you all done?”
“Yes… a thousand… I finished them all….”
“Naturally, a thousand is easy for you.”
“…Huh…?”
Namgung Jipyeong and the panting squad members’ eyes widened.
Can’t she see how incredibly difficult that was?
Don’t we look like we’re on the verge of death?
Even if she’s just a child!
“Next time, it would be better to put weights on your backs. At this rate, it doesn’t look like your muscles and bones will be properly strengthened.”
At her words, spoken with a serious expression, Namgung Jipyeong and the squad members’ mouths dropped open.
“Weights, weights… on our backs… you mean…? Fifty geun…?”
That… is possible…?
“Wearing them on your arms and legs when doing push-ups is pointless.”
Seolhwa said to the sprawled-out squad members.
“For horse stance, too, wearing them on your legs is pointless, so from next time, it would be better to place them on your thighs.”
The squad members’ mouths fell open.
They had only endured the death-like horse stance for an hour because the weights on their legs helped them maintain balance. What?
Take them off their legs and put them on their thighs?
“W-won’t we die if we do that…?”
They gathered their courage to voice a single protest, but.
“You won’t die from just that.”
Seolhwa did not back down.
The utterly cheerful expression on her face as she said it made them feel even more wronged.
‘She’s a demon.’
‘I knew it ever since she knocked out the squad leader.’
‘She’s trying to kill us all!’
‘I’m quitting…!’
I’m definitely quitting!
It’s better than dying from ruptured muscles!
As if by unspoken agreement, the squad members vowed not to show up starting tomorrow.
But then.
“If you just do this, you can all quickly become Inner Hall Warriors.”
“…!”
“…!”
The squad members’ eyes sparkled.
The dream of Outer Hall Warriors was to become Inner Hall Warriors.
To become an Inner Hall Warrior, considered the elite of the Namgung Sega, to learn the martial arts passed down only to Inner Hall Warriors, to grow stronger, and to make their names known in the Jianghu.
“Can we really become Inner Hall Warriors just by doing this?”
Though it was a child speaking, wasn’t she a distinguished guest of the Cheongaekwon?
So, shouldn’t they believe her?
“Of course. It’s entirely possible.”
Seolhwa nodded without hesitation.
The warriors’ expressions brightened even further.
They soon grew even more excited, as if they had already become Inner Hall Warriors, and started chatting amongst themselves.
Even during their training, they occasionally asked Seolhwa if it was true, as if to confirm, and each time, Seolhwa affirmed it with a nod.
Each time, the squad members put even more effort into continuing their training.
Except for one person, Squad Leader Namgung Jipyeong.
On the way back after finishing their training.
Though exhausted, the squad members, now filled with a sliver of hope, returned to their quarters with bright faces.
After seeing them off, Seolhwa spoke to Namgung Jipyeong, who had remained until the end.
“From tomorrow, I’ll see you at the Jeokryongdan training grounds.”
Namgung Jipyeong asked back, slightly surprised.
“Our training grounds, you mean?”
“Yes. It seems I won’t be staying here anymore.”
“Are you leaving…?”
“I’m not leaving. I’m just moving out of the Cheongaekwon.”
Today, she would be officially announced as a child of the Namgung Sega, leave the Cheongaekwon, and move into the Inner Hall residence.
If that happened, she wouldn’t be able to use the Cheongaekwon’s training grounds.
“Consistent training yields results. So how can one be lazy? I’ll see you at the Jeokryongdan training grounds from tomorrow.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“Please convey that to the other warriors as well.”
“…Yes.”
Having conveyed what needed to be said, she was about to turn away, but Namgung Jipyeong, for some reason, didn’t move.
He had an expression that suggested he had a lot to say.
“If you have something to say, please say it.”
Hesitating slightly at Seolhwa’s words, he sighed and spoke.
“It probably won’t work.”
“Won’t work for what?”
“Becoming Inner Hall Warriors, I mean. No matter how strong we get, we won’t be able to.”
Namgung Jipyeong had agonized over whether or not to say this.
He had even considered not saying anything for the sake of his squad members, who had regained their will to train, excited by the mention of becoming Inner Hall Warriors. But.
‘The greater the hope, the greater the despair.’
He had to speak, for the sake of their future.
Even if it was to prevent his squad members from harboring vain dreams, swayed by the words of a master.
“Why?”
The child asked innocently.
No matter how formidable a master she was, she was still a child. She might not know. No, it was natural for her not to know.
Namgung Jipyeong calmly began his story.
“I too have pursued the dream of becoming an Inner Hall Warrior for over ten years. In the Outer Hall, I’m considered quite skilled.”
Seolhwa listened in silence.
“I rose to the position of squad leader faster than others, and I thought I would quickly become an Inner Hall Warrior.”
His peers who had passed the warrior examination with him, unanimously praised him, saying he would soon become an Inner Hall Warrior.
“When a junior with less skill than me was selected, at first, I thought something was wrong. The second time, I thought I had been arrogant, and the third time, I thought I was making some mistake.”
Perhaps there was a major flaw in his stance when performing sword techniques, or perhaps he had misunderstood the oral tradition of the Heart Method.
He tried to find and correct his shortcomings, devoting himself even more to training.
However, as he repeatedly failed the promotion examinations, not only Namgung Jipyeong but also those who had praised him realized.
“It was only after failing ten promotion examinations that I realized the reason I was failing wasn’t due to my skill. And I only learned that because someone told me.”
‘Namgung Jipyeong will never become an Inner Hall Warrior, no matter how hard he tries.’
‘Will his turn ever come?’
‘It’s a waste for such skill to rot in the Outer Hall… but what can be done? He has no connections.’
Namgung Jipyeong let out a weak laugh, his expression one of resignation.
Only after facing his situation squarely did he finally feel at ease.
“I was merely a frog trapped in a well.”
He looked at the sky and climbed the well walls again and again, but escaping the well by his own strength had been impossible from the start.
As long as he was born a frog, he was destined never to leave the well unless someone pulled him out.
“So I hope you don’t give the squad members too much hope. Those children haven’t been inducted long and don’t yet know the Namgung Sega’s circumstances well.”
Namgung Jipyeong scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly.
It felt awkward to talk about the Namgung Sega’s internal affairs and power to a young child; it seemed ridiculous.
“Things will change now.”
“…Huh?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
Namgung Jipyeong blinked blankly.
He had spoken of the family’s vested interests, yet she was telling him to simply trust her, an outsider.
Having a Peak Master oversee their training was certainly an unparalleled opportunity. But.
‘Just because the training intensity increased, there’s no way they’d suddenly gain power and become Inner Hall Warriors….’
She really didn’t know because she was just a child.
She was so mature that he seemed to have overlooked that fact. Such adult matters would be difficult for her to understand.
Namgung Jipyeong smiled faintly and played along with her words.
“Yes. I will work hard.”
Seolhwa gazed at him silently.
“Will you promise me one thing?”
“What kind of promise are you talking about?”
“That you will never give up.”
No matter how difficult it gets, no matter how overwhelming the feeling that you can achieve nothing becomes.
“That you will do your best until the very end.”
Her gaze was incredibly resolute.
Faced with her firm gaze, devoid of any playfulness, Namgung Jipyeong could only nod.
“…Yes. Understood. Isn’t that precisely my specialty?”
He’d been doing this for over a decade; what were a few more years?
It was already a blessing just to have regained his lost passion by meeting a Peak Master and receiving guidance.
“I’ve been slacking for years, so I should work hard now. At least so I can seize the opportunity if it ever comes.”
Seolhwa nodded.
“Yes. It will surely come.”
An opportunity. An opportunity to change one’s life.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that must not be missed.
Some say that those who seize such opportunities and rise higher were ‘lucky.’
However, that is never achieved by luck or coincidence.
Those who are unprepared cannot even grasp the opportunity that falls into their hands; thus, opportunity is, in fact, a certainty forged by one’s own effort and skill.
Seolhwa smiled back at him.
“I will help you.”
Certainty (必然) smiled at him.
