The Fist of Shaolin

After the sutra class, which felt like a war against sleep, ended:

"Wow, Mu-Jin, how did you not doze off even once?"

Mu Yul, who was sitting next to him and had been hit at least twenty times with the bamboo stick, asked with sparkling eyes.

Mu Yul, with his bright mind, found the sutra class, full of difficult Chinese characters, the hardest part. He was always getting hit with the bamboo stick, but today the number of hits had doubled.

This was because the senior disciples were determined to scold Mu-Jin for causing trouble during morning training and breakfast. 

However, Mu-Jin, busy analyzing the situation and planning his next steps, didn't show any signs of dozing off during the sutra class, while unfortunately, Mu Yul, who was sitting next to him, took all the hits that were supposed to go to Mu-Jin.

In his innocence, Mu Yul didn't realize the situation and simply admired Mu-Jin for not dozing off even once while he got hit over twenty times.

"Huh? How did I not doze off?"

"Yeah, yeah! I always get scolded. No matter how many times I listen to the sutras, they make me so sleepy. They're sleepier than the lullabies my mom used to sing when I was little. Hehehe."

Seeing Mu Yul laugh innocently despite being hit so many times with the bamboo stick, Mu-Jin couldn't help but chuckle.

He had been single until thirty-seven, living a life dedicated to work, but he thought this might be what it would have been like if he had married early and had a child.

"How did I stay awake?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"It's simple. You just listen with one ear and let it out the other."

"Huh? But both ears are open, how do I listen with just one ear? Should I block one?"

At Mu-Jin's playful response, Mu Yul seriously blocked his right ear and started mumbling to himself.

"Ah, ah, Namu Amitabha. Huh? Can I only hear with my left ear? No, I can hear with my right ear too."

"..."

Watching the scene for a moment, Mu-Jin decided to adjust his thoughts about Mu Yul.

'Not a son, but a nephew, maybe.'

No matter what, my future son wouldn't be this dumb. Definitely not.

"Ah, but Mu Yul, what's next after the sutra class?"

"Next is morning training, of course! It's already the third day, did you forget the schedule again? Hehe. I guess Mu-Jin isn't that smart either."

"..."

Thinking that if it weren't his nephew, he would have hit him once, Mu-Jin sighed and said:

"Then, let's head to the training ground."

"Huh? But we still have some time left."

"I have something to do there beforehand."

"Huh? Something to do beforehand?"

Instead of answering, Mu-Jin headed to the training ground with brisk steps.

"What is it you have to do beforehand?"

Mu Yul, with his innocent face, followed behind Mu-Jin.

As they exchanged light chatter and arrived at the training ground, a few young monks were already there, moving their bodies here and there.

Even though they were beginner disciples of the Shaolin Temple, most of them were still children who hadn't even reached puberty, so they wanted to play whenever they had the chance.

Only a handful would come out to the training ground to practice even in their spare time.

Among the few exemplary young monks, some were repeating the intense training they had done at dawn, while others were in horse stance, punching the air.

"Tsk, tsk."

Mu-Jin glanced over the scene and, clicking his tongue in pity, plopped down onto the stone floor. He slowly spread his legs out to the sides and leaned his upper body towards his left leg.

'Oh, is it because this body is young? It's really flexible,' he thought. As he stretched, feeling his body extend without any pain, Mu-Jin couldn't help but be impressed.

The reason Mu-Jin had headed to the training ground early was to stretch beforehand. Stretching before and after exercise was a basic necessity. It prevented suffering later in life and protected the body from the damage of excessive exercise.

"Sss."

"Hoo."

As he continued to stretch his leg muscles, taking deep breaths, he noticed Mu Yul standing awkwardly and watching him.

"Yul, do you want to join me?"

"Huh? Doing what you're doing?"

"Yeah. You should start early. If you don't, you'll suffer from joint problems later."

After a moment of hesitation, Mu Yul, with a determined look, plopped down on the ground like Mu-Jin.

"Do I just stretch my legs like this?"

"Oh, right. Good job. Now, want to try this too?"

As Mu-Jin leaned his body forward with his legs stretched out and exhaled, Mu Yul imitated the stretching movements naturally.

'Is it because he's young? He picks up stretching easily,' thought Mu-Jin, wondering if exercise really should be learned from a young age.

At that moment, Mu Gung, who had rushed to the training ground to train right after sutra time, clicked his tongue and glanced at the two.

"Hoo."

After taking a deep breath, Mu Gung focused on his own body, ignoring Mu-Jin and Mu Yul. Mu Gung had no particular interest in Mu-Jin. He thought Mu-Jin was pathetic for making lame excuses to skip training, but unlike the other young monks, he didn't intend to mock him.

Mu Gung understood that it was more beneficial for him to throw even one more punch than to spend time ridiculing the two.

Despite being only thirteen years old, Mu Gung had grown both physically and mentally faster than his peers. He understood that focusing on training and earning recognition from his masters was far more important than getting involved in childish squabbles. Mu Gung's dream was to become a renowned disciple of Shaolin and make a name for himself in the martial world. To him, Mu-Jin was merely a stepping stone towards achieving this dream.

"Hah!"

Mu Gung let out a loud cheer as he continued to punch the air with all his might. His goal was to be recognized by the senior disciples and Hyu Jong and become a named disciple. For the past three months, he had been learning the basic martial arts of Shaolin, including the initial techniques of the Chain-Linked Fist.

"Wow, he's got quite the voice."

Mu-Jin, who had been stretching with Mu Yul, couldn't help but express his admiration at Mu Gung's powerful kiai.

"Hehe, Mu Gung hyung is amazing, right? His voice is loud, and his punches are super strong! They even make a whooshing sound."

Mu Yul, who was following Mu-Jin's stretches, chimed in with excitement. He seemed to have forgotten that Mu-Jin would have to spar with Mu Gung in a week, speaking with an innocent enthusiasm.

"Mu Gung hyung?"

"Yeah, of course, he's my senior. He joined two months before me. Oh, that reminds me, since you joined a month after me, you should call me hyung too."

"Let's leave that aside. So, this Mu Gung has been training for over three months?"

"Yeah. He was one of the first to join. Plus, he's so much better than the other seniors who joined around the same time, so the masters and even Master Hye-Gwang praise him every day, saying his Chain-Linked Fist is the best."

"Really?"

After hearing Mu Yul's explanation, Mu-Jin couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.

'He's like a monk with the stature of a soy sauce jar.'

He had assumed they paired him with a slightly larger kid, but it turned out they paired him with the most exceptional peer. And they gave him just a week to prepare.

'It's just a kids' fight, so I won't lose...'

Voom!

As Mu Gung repeatedly punched the air with strikes that produced a wind noise, Mu-Jin's mind drifted to the upcoming fight in a week. Winning wasn't the problem; it was the process.

'The physical difference is too big.'

Mu-Jin was sure he would win, but he was concerned it would look unsightly. If he had been in his original body, Cho Kang-hyuk, it would have been different, but now he was Mu-Jin, a twelve-year-old boy.

'Fighting a kid more than twenty years younger than me with everything I've got is embarrassing. Sigh.'

As Mu-Jin pondered this dilemma, the training ground gradually became noisy. During the break between the sutra time and morning training, young monks who had been playing started to gather in the training ground one by one.

As the young monks approached the training ground, the bell signaling the start of the hour (11 AM to 1 PM) rang throughout Shaolin Temple, and soon Hyu Jong and the senior disciples appeared at the training ground.

"We will begin our morning training with the basics of Shaolin's foundational martial art, the Chain-Linked Fist!" Hyu Jong announced solemnly after briefly glancing at Mu-Jin.

For some reason, Mu-Jin's eyes sparkled upon hearing this. It was an opportunity to learn Shaolin's basic martial arts. As a former avid reader of martial arts novels, this was a dream come true. Unlike the physical training he did earlier, which he was already familiar with and thus resisted, learning martial arts was a different story. Mu-Jin wasn't one to pretend expertise in areas he was only somewhat knowledgeable about; he was eager to learn.

Moreover, he thought, 'Chain-Linked Fist... that's the technique that kid Mu Gung was using earlier, right?' Since Mu Gung was his opponent in the upcoming sparring match, learning his martial art would be beneficial. The ancient wisdom held true: "Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles." Learning Chain-Linked Fist would help Mu-Jin easily defeat the burly kid.

"First Form! Heart Fist!"

"Ha!"

"Ha!"

At Hyu Jong's command, the young monks began to practice the moves sequentially, while the senior disciples moved around the training ground, correcting the children's postures.

"Fourth Form!"

As Hyu Jong called out commands with vigorous energy, he started to frown slightly. He was puzzled by Mu-Jin's unexpectedly obedient and diligent training. The same kid who caused trouble during the early morning training and breakfast was now participating earnestly. As a Buddhist disciple, Hyu Jong couldn't persecute a child showing repentance.

If it hadn't been for the fact that Mu-Jin had dared to criticize the thousand-year-old Shaolin training methods, Hyu Jong might have forgiven him for showing remorse. No sect would tolerate someone who disrespected their training methods. It was only because this was Shaolin, and because Mu-Jin was a child, that they planned to punish him with a sparring match after a week of reflection.

Hyu Jong wasn't the only one with such thoughts. The senior disciples, who were correcting the young monks' stances, were also bewildered by Mu-Jin's unexpectedly compliant behavior. They noticed that Mu-Jin's practice of Chain-Linked Fist was on par with the other children, despite being the latest to join. Unbeknownst to them, it was Mu-Jin's first day learning the technique since Cho Kang-hyuk had replaced the original Mu-Jin. His performance was commendable due to his keen observation of Mu Gung's movements earlier and the exceptional talent of his new body.

'Why is this so easy?'

Mu-Jin's body, inhabited by the spirit of Cho Kang-hyuk, found the movements of Chain-Linked Fist very straightforward. Having worked in physical jobs for ten years and possessing experience in practical martial arts from his time in the special forces, these basic techniques seemed overly simple.

The senior disciples, unaware of this, were stunned by Mu-Jin's talent. They didn't want to praise a troublesome student, especially one who had caused such a commotion earlier.

Regardless of their surprise, Mu-Jin was lost in thought while practicing Chain-Linked Fist.

'Fighting that kid with this technique is the most foolish thing ever.'

Chain-Linked Fist's simplicity meant its effectiveness heavily relied on physical strength. Fighting the physically superior Mu Gung with this technique would be like handicapping himself.

'How can I defeat that bulky kid cleanly?'

As he observed Mu Gung's punches, an idea suddenly struck him.

'Ah! I can use that technique!'

A strategy to quickly subdue Mu Gung formed in Mu-Jin's mind.