Second Day of Training (3)

Noticing a broken wooden sword in the corner of the room, Myeol Mang walked over and stood in front of it with a burning anger in his eyes.

'This is the wooden sword that Master Tang was hitting me with yesterday! Wait, why is it broken?' Myeol Mang thought as he picked up both pieces of the wooden sword.

As Myeol Mang examined the broken blade of the wooden sword, he subconsciously zoned out of his surroundings to try and find the reason for the wooden sword's destruction.

"You broke that wooden sword, Myeol Mang."

Jumping at the sound of Jin Tang speaking behind him, Myeol Mang slowly turned around with the fragments of the wooden sword in hand and saw Jin Tang and Sung Ho standing right behind him.

"Master Tang! I didn't hear you come in, and what do you mean I broke the wooden sword?"

"Relax, Myeol Mang. That wooden sword broke yesterday evening during your training. The wooden sword broke upon contact with your right leg."

"Huh, there must have been something wrong with the wood, either way we should start training again." Myeol Mang said as he looked at Sung Ho.

"I think we should too." Sung Ho replied as a fierce look spread across his face.

"Well then, Myeol Mang, you know what to do," Jin Tang turned and faced Sung Ho, "Sung Ho, follow along with Myeol Mang."

Watching as Myeol Mang walked closer to Jin Tang and got down onto the floor in a pushup position, Sung Ho moved next to Myeol Mang and dropped into the same position.

"Begin." Jin Tang said as he watched Myeol Mang start performing pushups with Sung Ho doing the same after watching Myeol Mang.

'Wait, this is way easier than yesterday! Is it just my body's normal healing that made it like this? Or was it the toxic stuff that came out of my veins? Or was it both?' Myeol Mang thought, five minutes into doing pushups.

THUD!

Looking to his right and noticing Sung Ho lying face first on the ground, Myeol Mang chuckled for a moment before continuing his pushups.

'I probably should have told him that this would be harder than the running….' Myeol Mang thought with a hint of regret being visible on his face.

"Myeol Mang."

"Yes Master?" Myeol Mang replied as he looked up at Jin Tang.

However, the sight that greeted Myeol Mang's eyes was not a pleasant one, as Jin Tang was holding a new wooden sword in his hand.

"Uhmmm Master? Are you going to be hitting me with that?" Myeol Mang asked as he tensed his back in preparation to be hit.

"Focus on your exercise Myeol Mang, what I do is none of your concern." Jin Tang said as he lifted the wooden sword into the air.

Myeol Mang continued to do pushups with his back tensed in preparation to be hit. However, he was surprised when the painful sensation of the wooden sword's rough yet sharp edge didn't come, even after what seemed like the entire workout.

'I guess he's not going to hit me?' Myeol Mang thought as he sped up the pace of his pushups after letting the tension out of his back.

CRACK!

"ARGHHHHHHH!!"

Dropping to the floor after being hit with the wooden sword, Myeol Mang looked up at Jin Tang with confusion lingering in his eyes.

"I thought you weren't going to hit me!"

"Didn't I tell you not to worry about what I was doing as it was none of your concern? Get back to work, you still have half an hour of time left."

Quickly getting back into position and starting to do pushups again, Myeol Mang was suddenly struck by the wooden sword again, knocking him back down onto the floor.

"Cough cough... Uggghhh."

"I said get back to work, you still have half an hour of time left." Jin Tang said as he struck the ground with the wooden sword.

After returning to doing pushups as fast as he could, Myeol Mang tensed up his back in preparation to be hit again while trying to ignore the burning pain in his arms and his back.

Jin Tang repeatedly smacked Myeol Mang on the back with the wooden sword, not allowing him to get back up after the initial hit that knocked him down once more.

"Do you think the path of the sword is an easy one!? The sword is the hardest of all the weapons to learn and it requires the most talent, so do you think you'll be able to go down this path easily!?"

Jin Tang continued to harass Myeol Mang verbally as he beat him repeatedly with the wooden sword.

SNAP!

Clatter!

Looking down at Myeol Mang's curled up body then at the broken wooden sword in his hand, Jin Tang dropped the broken wooden sword and picked up Myeol Mang by his clothes.

However, the sight of an unconscious Myeol Mang was not what greeted Jin Tang, as Myeol Mang's face was crimson red and his eyes were strained to the point of craziness.

"Myeol Mang, are you alright?" Jin Tang said as he waved his hand in front of Myeol Mang's unwavering expression.

"....."

While waiting for Myeol Mang to break out of what seemed to be an anger fueled trance, Jin Tang walked over to Sung Ho's unconscious body and tried to set Myeol Mang down next to him.

However, as Myeol Mang's feet touched the ground something Jin Tang didn't expect occurred, as Myeol Mang had grabbed onto his robes sleeve and wouldn't let go.

"So you still have the energy to move huh? Get back into position and continue then." Jin Tang said as he tried to remove Myeol Mang's hand from his sleeve.

However, when Jin Tang grabbed Myeol Mang's left hand, Myeol Mang suddenly threw a punch at Jin Tang with his other arm. Jin Tang blocked the incoming fist easily with his other hand and began pushing Myeol Mang down onto the ground.

Yet when Myeol Mang suddenly let go of his footing and accelerated his falling, he dragged Jin Tang along with him and threw him away just before his back hit the ground.

'He threw me?' Jin Tang thought as he flipped midair and landed on his feet.

As Jin Tang looked back up at where Myeol Mang landed, he noticed Myeol Mang already standing up and staring directly into Jin Tang's eyes.

"So you got so angry you lost control of yourself. Bring it Myeol Mang, I'll get rid of your anger." Jin Tang said as he readied a defensive position.

Myeol Mang suddenly dashed directly towards Jin Tang with his fists clenched to the point of paleness. However, when he got within punching range of Jin Tang and raised his right fist to swing, he suddenly dropped down and kicked out Jin Tang's left leg, knocking him off balance.

"Not bad, but still far from being able to match me," Jin Tang said as he flipped off his right leg and landed a few feet away from Myeol Mang. "Now come again, I want to see more."

Suddenly clenching his fists even more than they already were as his eyes slowly turned blood red and became even more deranged, Myeol Mang bolted towards Jin Tang even faster than the previous attempt.

However, Jin Tang noticed the sudden increase in rage within Myeol Mang and focused on Myeol Mang, 'if I don't stop him soon, he'll start bleeding out internally.' Jin Tang thought as he suddenly vanished from where he was standing and appeared behind Myeol Mang.

As Myeol Mang swiftly turned around to try and punch Jin Tang, he was suddenly hit on several spots across his body, which stopped him from moving any further.

"Myeol Mang, calm yourself, you've gotten too angry." Jin Tang said as he pressed down on one of the veins in Myeol Mang's neck, causing his face to slowly return back to its regular pink as he fell onto the training hall floor.

---

Suddenly shooting up off the ground and looking around him, Myeol Mang let out a sigh of relief when he woke up in the training hall instead of his bedroom in Texas.

'What the hell even happened to me? I remember getting hit a crap ton by Master Tang, but after that it's all blank.'

Noticing Jin Tang standing in front of the training hall doors, Myeol Mang tried to use his arms to stand up off the ground. However, when he managed to push himself up onto his legs they suddenly gave out.

"Master Tang! What happened to me?" Myeol Mang exclaimed after trying to stand up three more times to no avail.

"You gave into your anger and attacked me, but there were two surprising things that I noticed."

"What were they?"

"First, the amount of hatred and anger that you have stored deep within you is tremendous, especially for a boy of your age. Second, you already seem to have a unique fighting style that you are used to."

"Would you like me to explain both of those topics, Master?" Myeol Mang asked as he rotated his body into a more relaxed position.

"I already understand why you have a unique fighting style, I saw back when I first met you that you've been fighting every day at that inn, however I would like to know why you have so much anger built up within you."

"..... Every day they would attack us at that inn, every damn day for three years, me and Sung Ho were brutalized in that place. Of course I'd have pent up hatred, I never had the chance to pay them back for everything they've done to us."

"Myeol Mang, you must let go of your past and free yourself of hatred and anger."

"Master Tang, I've lived like this for three years, I'm not going to be able to completely remove the hatred or anger until I've given them the same amount of pain they've given me."

"Myeol Mang, as a martial artist you will come across countless situations just like your past, you will be wronged or you will do wrong to others, but if you seek revenge for being wronged or seek revenge on those who sought revenge on you, you will only destroy yourself with hatred."