Where Am I Now?
That day plays in my mind almost every night, and never is a single detail changed. Every thought, every movement, even the timing of the breeze is the same every night in that memory.
Ten years of the same memory playing over and over gets boring. I'd rather not think in my sleep like I used to, but my mind isn't the same as before.
Ten years of time is enough to realize all the changes between my present and previous body.
Many things are the same, many things are similar, but this new body has one big difference from my previous one.
My mind is whole, yet my thoughts still remain crazy. The voices and people I would see are gone, but the scars they left on how I think remain.
Though my hair color did change, from brown to a deep black. It's quite refreshing, my brown hair stuck out like a sore thumb in my previous life.
And now ten years later, a special day has arrived.
Not special to me, but special to my family in this life.
As much as I loathe it, and as much as I protest against it, my father in this life insists that I undergo martial arts training.
Even as I lay in my bed as the full moon's silver light illuminates my room, I desperately wanted to run away to not learn martial arts.
Only hypocrites talk trash on martial arts when they themselves are trash at martial arts. So to talk trash on martial arts I mustn't learn them.
From what I can tell, it isn't just my body that's changed.
Time has changed considerably too, since the only record book about my previous life, or rather the crimes of my previous life, was made over fifty years ago.
No wonder I didn't know who my new father was despite his strength. He's only in his thirties after all.
My new father, Lee Seok, is what most in Murim would call a hidden dragon. Hiding his strength from the world and only revealing it when he has to, leaving no survivors to speak of his secrets.
He poses as the Leader of a lumberjack sect during the day, which fits his massive body and the two axes he carries on his waist.
Though, this lumberjack sect doesn't approve of the family I'm now a part of. Almost going as far as getting the sect disbanded by having everyone leave it. But with this lumberjack sect being an Unorthodox Sect in disguise, Lee Seok was able to pressure them to stay.
I only know this because Lee Seok talked about it over dinner with his wife, Lee Hae-Won. Though I don't know how exactly old this new body of mine is, I only knew three years had passed when I heard that story at dinner.
.
.
.
As the early morning sun shone on my back I slid my basic training robes over my shoulder. Today is the day I learn the dreaded martial arts I despise.
A forceful knock came from the other side of my door as I finished tying my robes together. It must have been one of my brothers.
"Haneul, hurry up and get outside! You know how much father stresses us about being on time!"
The voice of my eldest brother, Lee Yongsun, was the one on the other side of the door. His scruffy tone made it easy to identify him by voice alone, the only person in the family with a deeper and scruffier tone is Lee Seok.
I let out a groan before pulling open the door to my room. Taking my time is something I would have liked to do, but Lee Seok would end up dragging me out anyways. After all, the only reason I'm starting training after ten years of aging is because my mother forced Lee Seok to wait.
I quickly trailed after Yongsun as he walked through the halls of the large building we called home. Lee Seok built this building with his bare hands according to our mother, but I hardly believe her. If he built this place with his bare hands he would brag about it.
That's just how sane people are, bragging about their deeds that seem good to brag about. Crazy fools like me brag about things that shouldn't be bragged about.
A panicky voice called out from behind me and Yongsun as we approached a door leading outside.
"You guys haven't started yet right?!"
Only my second brother would be concerned about something so trivial as starting training early. Being blunt doesn't give justice to how mindless he is when it comes to training, all it takes is one whisper. One whisper, and he's already out of the house with his training robes on.
Lee Kyu-Bong, my second brother, barreled down the hallway after me and Yongsun as we stepped outside to await our training. His training robes were tied too loosely, as they exposed his chest and the upper half flopped side to side with each step he took.
What a sight, if I had seen such a thing in my past life he would have been cut down where he stood just for being a fool. I'm very tempted to end him right now too, such disrespect for good robes is a travesty that should be snipped out.
Robes determine how people see and treat you in Jianghu. Walk into any restaurant or brothel with worn down robes and you'll be treated like scum for looking poor, but if you walk into those places wearing extravagant robes they'll treat you like the emperor.
His robes were good enough to be treated as a moderately successful merchant in a brothel, I really should kill him for disrespecting them.
Yongsun spoke agitatedly from behind me as Kyu-Bong came within a few steps of the doorway leading outside.
"Move Haneul, quit spacing out like a dumbass!"
A simple tug on the collar of my robes from Yongsun pulled me out of the doorway, giving Kyu-Bong room to speed by us. But it's weird, even though he's eccentric about training, he's never tried to get to the training grounds this fast.
Is it because it's my first day training with my brothers? Or maybe he gets to learn something new toda-
A feminine roar erupted from down the hallway and interrupted my thoughts. I turned my head to the left, only to see a cloud of dust running down the hall.
"Kyu-Bong you bastard! Get back here!"
My sister, Lee Eun-Kyung, was the one making the cloud as she ran after Kyu-Bong. I guess that's why he was in such a hurry, it seems like he pissed her off. Sister Eun-Kyung and brother Kyu-Bong would argue often, but in rare cases Kyu-Bong's stupidity knew no bounds and pissed sister Eun-Kyung off so much that she would beat him until he passed out.
Sister Eun-Kyung doesn't receive training from our father, I guess it's since she's the only daughter this family has.
"Sigh… What am I going to do with those two? At least you're decently mannered compared to them, Haneul."
Yongsun palmed his face and sighed, but signaled me to follow him a few seconds later. If we waited any longer we'd be late to training, I don't care about the training, but I don't dare to piss off our father by being late.
The day he stopped my Formless Sword Unification after I awoke in this body scared me to my core. Even in my previous life nobody could stop it from reaching them, but he stopped it with pure internal energy.
Yongsun and I followed the path leading to what martial artists would call an external arts clearing, but my brothers called it something else entirely, despite being martial artists. Every day they returned to their rooms with the skin around their eyes and around their cheeks sunken into their faces, showing the outlines of their skulls with ease.
Every time they opened the doors to their room after training, they uttered a singular phrase.
'Fruitful are the Ironwood Splitters under the moon.'
That phrase made no sense to me the first time I heard it. Who were the Ironwood Splitters, and why were they only fruitful under the moon?
But the phrase has stuck with me until today, as I'm seeing the external arts clearing for the first time in this new life. In fact, this is the first time in this new life I've been allowed to walk along the path leading to the external arts clearing.
Every time I tried before today, I would instantly be found out by my mother and dragged back into the house. Apparently if I stepped anywhere near the external arts clearing, my father would try to put me through the training as well.
Further along the path we walked on stood a small stone building, surely that isn't the training place, it was only wide enough to fit three people standing shoulder to shoulder. Maybe it was a restroom, it's conveniently placed near an open area with a few tree stumps left in the ground.
Yongsun halted in the middle of the path as I mindlessly followed him, only giving me a second or two to not bump into him. Was this open field our stop? Why else would he stop here?
I looked up to Yongsun and questioned him.
"Why are we stopped here brother?"
"This is where brother Kyu-Bong and I will be training. Continue down the path to the building on the left, father is waiting for you there."
Ah, such a perfect place for me to learn… Studying martial arts in a restroom, that suits who I am. Someone who talks shit on martial arts while learning them in a shitter.
With all the enthusiasm in the world I walked to the restroom at the end of the path. I hate martial arts, but learning them in a restroom genuinely seems fun. Every step I take gives me more excitement, I wonder what will happen when I open the restroom door.
Soon enough I stood outside the restroom door, yet the fragrance the building gave off was weirdly pleasant for a restroom. I guess they use some good smelling perfumes to make this restroom high quality.
I pushed open the door and walked in with all the excitement in the world. Surely I could become the best in the world if I trained in a restroom.
Only dismay awaited in that building, this is why I hate martial arts. Teasing such a good way to learn only to strip it away and give me something fancy. Fuck off with fancy stuff, I just want to learn on the shitter.
Lee Seok's booming voice echoed up the lavish staircase that filled the entire building.
"Haneul! Come down the stairs, your training will commence down here!"
A lavish staircase that leads into the ground, like a secret bunker for keeping precious items in it. Of course something like this exists here, it's my fathers spoils of combat. I begrudgingly trudged down the stairs, dragging my feet on each step down. I wanted to train in a restroom, not some fancy treasure room.
At the bottom of the stairs I met my father, his back was turned toward me as he overlooked the underground room. I couldn't see the room, this overgrown oaf I call father was blocking the view.
"Haneul, are you impressed with the cultivation grounds?"
Seriously, does he not know I can't see?
"I can't see the cultivation grounds."
"Get bigger then, you pesky brat!"
Lee Seok stepped to the side, revealing the massive underground room he called a cultivation center. It took me a minute or two to see it though, I was blinded by the numerous Nightglow Gems that lined the roof and high edges of the walls.
Only after my eyes were adjusted to the absurd amount of light did I see the cultivation grounds. A large room that seemed to be half a Li in both directions, yet instead of traditional infrastructure, a grassy field lined with trees and flowers filled the room. There were even a pair of deer and some rabbits in a far corner grazing freely.
The only infrastructure I could see was near the blinding roof, where stone walls driven into the dirt held the dirt above the room from collapsing.
"Father, what is this place? How long has it been here?"
Lee Seok only smirked before responding.
"This place is where you will form your dantian, this is the place where you will do any cultivation training, this is where you will spend the next ten weeks of your life."
Ten weeks? No, he wouldn't keep me from my comfortable bed for ten weeks, he's not that cruel. I won't have to sleep on rocks right? Right?
The reflection of myself that I saw in Lee Seok's eyes was that of horror, my eyes shrank until they were smaller than a grain of rice and goosebumps began to crawl across my whole body.
Where am I now you ask?
I'm in hell!
Author's notes:
Nightglow Gem: A gem that glows brighter than a lamp with natural light, even in the dark.
Li: A measure of distance, 1 Li is 500 meters