Chapter 8. It Felt Good to Be Hit

‘Bumong was right. Damn it, why do I feel so good.’

Yun lay in bed with a smile on his face.

He had been beaten up, but his eldest brother’s words kept coming to mind, and a smile naturally formed.

Of course, there were still things he couldn’t believe.

He had never even imagined that he would be beaten up by his eldest brother, who had been in a vegetative state.

‘How could I not avoid it?’

Yun had learned two martial arts.

Hwiryunsu (Revolving Wheel Hand).

Paokgwon (Jade Breaking Fist).

Hwiryunsu was a joint-locking technique from the Geumnasu style.

The moment he grabbed an opponent’s hand, arm, or even just the collar of their clothes, he could break and shatter it. For the fist art, Paokgwon, one punch was usually enough.

He was confident that he could handle not only ordinary thugs but also low-level martial artists without much difficulty.

‘Is it the talent of my eldest brother, who was called a genius among geniuses?’

From a young age, his eldest brother had been called the greatest talent in the history of the Cheonhwa Library. He never had to look at a book or anything else twice.

Whether it was mechanisms, formations, poetry, calligraphy, or painting, he was the brother who understood ten things by knowing one, and had received everyone’s expectations.

Still, how could he with martial arts…

Just as Yun was wandering between admiration and doubt.

“Brother.”

Bumong came in.

“Welcome.”

Yun tilted his head.

Bumong, who was entering, was crying.

Not only were his eyes swollen, but tears were continuously streaming down.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Brother, I’m sorry. Please forgive this younger brother.”

“Why you… You did nothing wrong.”

Even while groaning, Yun smiled and held his younger brother’s hand.

“Don’t say that. You’re better than me.”

“No, brother. I was foolish. I was immature. I resented you without knowing anything. I couldn’t even fathom your deep intentions.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Please don’t be humble. This younger brother saw everything.”

Yun frowned.

The conversation was subtly going off track.

The frown pulled at his bruised area, and Yun frowned even more.

Bumong wiped his tears with his sleeve.

“I know everything. You took the beating on purpose to encourage eldest brother, to help him face the world, didn’t you? Eldest brother’s clubbing was child’s play. You could have avoided it with your eyes closed, yet you took it all.”

“…?”

Yun stared blankly, unable to understand immediately.

Bumong’s words continued.

“Didn’t you throw your body into the direction the club was coming from? You got hit like that, and again, and again in the same spot… sob sob sob. Is that all? At the end, you even offered your groin to eldest brother’s randomly swung club. Every man knows that pain. If that breaks, you become a eunuch… Anyway, I burst into tears at that sight. Who in the world would offer their own groin to be hit? And with a club, too. Sob sob sob…”

“…”

Yun tilted his head.

He thought it was a joke, but his younger brother was crying so sorrowfully that it was difficult to say it wasn’t so.

He didn’t fully understand it himself yet, but he had to set the record straight. It wasn’t that he took the beating; he just got hit. He didn’t know how hard he had tried to avoid it.

“No, so you’re saying I took the beating on purpose?”

“Of course.”

“That’s how it looked to you?”

“Brother! You, of all people!”

“Cut the ‘of all people’ crap. Just answer me. That’s how it looked to you?”

“Yes, and not just me. The guard, Dangyeong, was even more surprised than me and couldn’t close his mouth. He was marveling at how you were originally such a deep person.”

“…”

Yun was at a loss for words.

What was going on?

His head was throbbing.

Eldest brother’s clubbing was no joke.

There was nothing about eldest brother’s movements that wasn’t exquisite.

He thought he had deflected it and twisted his body to dodge, but each time, the club would suddenly appear in front of his eyes. It struck as if it had been heading in that direction from the beginning. It strangely hit only his joints, and his body creaked from the start.

When he thought it was impossible to dodge and tried to grab the club with Hwiryunsu and shake it off, he couldn’t even reach it.

The club slipped in like a flash and wrapped around his wrist, foot, and calf. It moved like an eel, not a hard piece of wood. In the process, the soft flesh on the inside of his thighs and under his armpits was hit and swelled up.

The final choice was to take one hit and end it with a decisive blow.

The opportunity to attack never came.

The area he was going to take a hit on was a vital point every single time.

When he backed away in fright, it followed and hit him again and again.

He was often hit in the same places again.

The problem was that even though he was being hit by a trivial club, they were all pain points, and his strength drained away.

And then he was hit in the groin.

The whole world turned white, and a bell rang in his head.

‘But to others, it looked like a mess?’

When Yun’s thoughts reached that point, his hair stood on end.

This had another meaning. It wasn’t a simple matter of a gap in skill; it meant that eldest brother was on a different level.

He couldn’t even fathom how much of a skill gap was needed to make it look like that.

‘What is this? It’s getting cold.’

Yun suddenly felt a chill and hunched his body.

Had the genius of the Cheonhwa Library truly stretched his wings?

Bumong, unaware of such thoughts, sobbed even more.

“Brother, it’s the groin, the groin! To take such a risk where you might have to give up being a man. Was your heart for eldest brother that great? At this point, I resent eldest brother. He hit you in the groin, and yet he told you to lie down and hit you again. When I think of the shock to your groin when you were hit on the buttocks, I can’t help but cry…”

“Bumong.”

“Yes, brother.”

“Go.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, get out!”

“Pardon?”

“Get out, you bastard! Groin, groin! Are you going to make a song about the groin all night! Disappear from my sight right now!”

“…”

***

Songhwa was making a fuss since morning.

“Young master, last night was really amazing.”

“Huk-huk-huk!”

Hugong couldn’t care less.

“One person beating, and one person desperately taking the beating.”

“Huk-huk-huk!”

He was just diligently doing push-ups.

There was a problem with the clubbing last night.

His physical strength had improved enough, but he couldn’t properly execute even a simple clubbing.

It was only about 30% of his physical strength, which meant that his consciousness and Beomhang’s body had not yet fully united.

Therefore, he first needed to push his physical strength to the limit.

“Wow, it was so cool and overwhelming that a wave of emotion washed over me, and it was almost unbearable. I was especially impressed with the Second Young Master. How could he do that? He was throwing his body to get hit by the club, and I thought, ‘So this is the kind of person he was.’ I felt like I had misjudged him, and it made me reflect.”

Although Hugong had intended for it to look that way, it was something that only Beomyun could know, so Songhwa couldn’t stop praising Beomyun.

“Huk-huk, so that’s what it is.”

“Pardon?”

“You must like Yun.”

“Ehe? No way.”

“Then you must like Bumong.”

“Not at all.”

“Really? Then why do you keep looking at the door?”

It had been about ten days.

Bumong had been coming to pay his morning respects every day without fail. He would bow with a neat and shy face, watch him train for a while, and then quietly leave.

“The Third Young Master is somehow lovable, isn’t he?”

“Love?”

“Not that kind of love. Hmm… it’s like a maternal instinct. You know, young master. The clear eyes, the gentle impression, and the shy smile of the Third Young Master are strangely addictive.”

Songhwa smiled a warm, motherly smile.

“Hehe, that boy is like that.”

“But he won’t come today, right?”

“He’s probably just late.”

“No. He’s definitely upset because of what happened yesterday. His own brother was beaten like that.”

“You don’t know how to read people.”

“Otherwise, there’s no reason for him not to come.”

“He’ll be here soon. Bumong is a child with a righteous character. I’ve never seen anyone with eyes as clear as Bumong’s among the many people I’ve met.”

“When did you meet so many people?”

Songhwa tilted her head, unable to understand what he was talking about.

Her master rarely went outside.

“In books.”

“Haha, how can you know from books? You’re good at bluffing now.”

“Anyway, Bumong is different, so he’ll probably be grateful to me for what happened yesterday.”

“Huh?”

Songhwa looked surprised, then immediately smiled.

“It seems the Third Young Master is coming, just as you said, young master. I hear footsteps.”

Hugong chuckled.

“See? What did I tell you? Bumong is fundamentally different from Yun. Because his basic character is good, he’ll be happy about what happened yesterday…”

It was then.

Bang!

The door opened as if it would be shattered.

The one who shattered it was Bumong.

“…”

“…”

Both Hugong and Songhwa were dumbfounded.

Bumong’s complexion, who had appeared after kicking the door down, was no joke. He was clearly angry, with his hands on his hips, panting. His fiercely glaring eyes were red and full of anger.

‘The discerning and good-natured Bumong…’

Hugong, who had been dazed, forced a smile.

“Bumong, you’re here.”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

Bumong shouted as he strode with large steps.

At his momentum, Songhwa’s eyes widened.

Bumong shouted.

“Hey, Beomhang! Are you even human! How can an eldest brother do that! Can’t you tell at a glance that Brother Yun took the beating on purpose? But what are you going to do if you hit him like you’re going to break his groin? And with a club, too. What would have happened if his balls had broken and he couldn’t have children, you bad bastard!”

“Bumong, calm down.”

“I can’t calm down! You’re not the only one who’s been training. I’ll show you how scary the world is if you mess with me today. I’ll pay you back several times, several tens of times for what my brother got.”

Bumong pulled out a weapon from behind his back like lightning.

The chain flashed in the light.

Hugong frowned.

‘Hmm, are those nunchucks?’

It was a weapon suitable for close combat, with two short wooden sticks connected by a chain.

Hugong had never even seen anyone wield them and had only heard about them, so it was surprising that Bumong was training with them.

Whir-whir-whir.

Bumong held out the nunchucks in front of him. Then he suddenly started spinning them. It was so fierce that only the afterimage of the sticks could be seen.

“A-ooh! A-ooh-a-ooh!”

He made chicken noises and moved them from his right shoulder to his waist, then to his left shoulder and under his armpit dozens of times, and the chicken kept crowing.

However, it didn’t last long.

Thwack!

Someone kicked Bumong’s buttocks from behind, and Bumong was thrown forward, clutching his nunchucks.

“Move. You idiot!”

“Ugh!”

The one who kicked him was Beomyun.

Beomyun clicked his tongue, looking at Bumong as if he were pathetic.

“When were nunchucks ever a thing? How many times do I have to tell you that all the guys who used to wield nunchucks in the martial world were killed by swords?”

Beomyun, who had been limping with a crutch under one arm, came closer, and when the fallen Bumong got in his way, he pushed him aside and approached.

Then he bowed his head politely towards Hugong.