Actually, it's better. (3)

The day's grueling routine, which was hellish for the entry-level disciples, finally came to an end. After the incident involving Mu Gyeong, Beob Gang kept his promise to Hyun Song and Hyu Jong. It was said that he had pushed the entry-level disciples extremely hard.

The training intensity had increased beyond normal, and what used to be an hour and a half of free time now included an additional hour of "afternoon training." As a result, the time they had for washing up and resting was reduced to barely half an hour.

Mu Gyeong, who had rinsed off his sweat with cold water, crawled back to the dormitory in a state resembling a corpse.

"Don't fall asleep just yet, Mu Gyeong Sahyung!"

Mu Yul, who had been helping him since dawn training, now began to prevent him from entering the room to rest.

"Why can't I sleep…?" Mu Gyeong asked, looking like he was about to cry. Mu Yul, putting on an uncharacteristically solemn expression, replied,

"Mu Jin said, 'Hey, if you sleep like that, you'll end up with serious health problems.'"

As it turned out, Mu Yul was mimicking Mu Jin.

"Mu Jin Sajae said that?"

"Yes! So now I'll teach you what Mu Jin taught me. Ah! Mu Gung Sahyung, you join us too!"

Mu Yul grabbed Mu Gung, who was heading back to the dormitory after his bath.

"Join you? In what?"

"In what Mu Jin taught me! After doing it, your body feels sooo much better."

"Something Mu Jin taught you?"

Intrigued by the idea of a technique taught by Mu Jin, Mu Gung approached with a skeptical expression.

"Let's start with the legs!"

Mu Yul, having roped in both Mu Gung and Mu Gyeong, began to demonstrate the Muscle Stretching Technique he had learned from Mu Jin. Despite his simple mind, Mu Yul had a knack for physical activities and could perform most of the Muscle Stretching Technique movements perfectly.

"Um. Was this the next move?"

However, there was the problem that he had the order mixed up.

Regardless, after each demonstration, Mu Yul adjusted Mu Gyeong's posture.

"Mu Gyeong Sahyung! Spread your legs more! And use your upper body to press down on your legs to stretch them further!"

"Ugh. Mu Yul Sajae! What did I do wrong? I'm sorry! Please, just spare me!!"

From Mu Gyeong's perspective, it felt like a new form of torture. However, he couldn't bring himself to stop because of a simple reason: he felt too timid to refuse, as if he was being bullied.

But that feeling didn't last long.

"Huh?"

After forcibly repeating some movements of the Muscle Stretching Technique in pain, his tense muscles began to relax, bringing a strange comfort.

"See? It feels good, right?"

"Y-Yeah. It feels good."

Watching them for a moment, Mu Gung also became curious and tried to mimic one of the postures.

"Mu Gung Sahyung, what are you doing?"

Mu Yul asked, puzzled by Mu Gung's awkward posture.

"What do you think? I'm trying it out."

"Spread your legs more!"

"...This is the best I can do."

"Mu Jin said that if you press down, you'll stretch more!"

To help Mu Gung, Mu Yul pressed down on him with his full weight.

"Arghhhh!!!"

Even with just a slight increase in the stretch, Mu Gung let out an immense groan. Despite his large build and strength for his age, Mu Gung's body was incredibly stiff.

Feeling intense pain, similar to when he was subjected to Mu Jin's strange techniques, Mu Gung practically begged,

"Stop!! Please stop!!!"

"Aw, but it feels really good."

In response to Mu Gung's desperate cries, Mu Yul reluctantly stood up, looking dejected.

'Damn. Now that I think about it, Mu Jin must have used Yul to practice these techniques.'

Having narrowly escaped the ordeal, Mu Gung realized that Mu Jin had probably deceived the simple-minded Mu Yul into thinking these techniques were beneficial.

At that moment, a solemn voice spoke from behind them.

"It looks like you are practicing the Muscle Stretching Technique."

The voice belonged to Beob Gang. He had come to check on Mu Gyeong, the victim of the recent incident, and had taken an interest in their practice.

"Do you mean the Muscle Stretching Technique?"

When Beob Gang, who appeared from the back, spoke, Mu Gung asked in a puzzled voice.

"Yes. I also learned it from Mu-Jin. It's a very useful skill."

As he said that, Beob Gang started demonstrating the Muscle Stretching Technique he had learned from Mu-Jin.

'That Mu-Jin guy... Did he really deceive even Sasuk Beob Gang?'

Mu Gung was the only one who deduced that Mu-Jin had tricked Beob Gang. The fact that the contents were entirely different was a bit of a problem, though.

While Beob Gang was practicing the Muscle Stretching Technique with the children, he suddenly called out to Mu Gyeong, as if he remembered something.

"Yes, Sasuk Beob Gang."

"In fact, I came here to tell you something."

As Mu Gyeong looked puzzled, Beob Gang told him about what had happened in Icheon County.

He explained that Seobeol Pyo-guk, run by Mu Tae's parents who had been harassing him, was completely shut down and that he had introduced a new job to Mu Gyeong's father.

"So don't worry about worldly matters and do your best to become a disciple of Jinshan(True Disciple)."

At Beob Gang's final words, Mu Gyeong responded with a tearful face.

"I will do my best, Master!"

As Mu-Jin had said, Shaolin was a place that didn't abandon its disciples.

* * *

On the morning of the seventh day of Mu-Jin's wall-gazing training.

As always, Beob Gang came to the cave before the morning bell of Shaolin rang.

However, unlike before, Beob Gang approached openly this time.

"Today marks the end of your wall-gazing training, so rise up."

At Beob Gang's words, Mu-Jin, who was looking at the wall, stood up and turned around.

"So now I can speak?"

"Yes. It's almost time for the morning training of the entry-level disciples, so let's head to the training ground."

"Yes."

Mu-Jin lightly bowed and moved towards Shaolin with Beob Gang.

After walking for a while, Mu-Jin asked Beob Gang something he had been curious about.

"What happened with that incident, Sasuk?"

"Are you talking about Mu Gyeong's matter?"

"Yes."

At Mu-Jin's question, Beob Gang explained what had happened in Icheon County.

'It seems like a clean resolution, but also not quite...'

They had taken away the wrongdoers' ability to commit further crimes and returned the stolen goods.

However, it didn't feel completely satisfying.

'Is this the spirit of Shaolin?'

They avoided unnecessary killing and made them pay only for their crimes.

Mu-Jin felt it was right, but at the same time, a bit stifling.

'Well, that's why I'm still alive.'

Having accepted that this wasn't a dream, Mu-Jin started to understand that his initial mistakes would have led to his death in any other sect.

While Mu-Jin was thinking about this, Beob Gang spoke to him in a casual tone.

"Ah, and the intensity of the training has increased over the past seven days."

"Is that so?"

"Up until now, we've let you train on your own according to our agreement, but from now on, to maintain fairness with the other children, you will have to follow Shaolin's training."

To Mu-Jin, it seemed unreasonable. And he wasn't someone to accept unfair exercises just because he was told to.

"Can't we just increase the intensity of my training? I will try more difficult exercises on my own. If you think it's still unfair, then I will follow your instructions, Sasuk Beob Gang."

"…I will keep an eye on you."

With that, the two reached the training ground of The Hall of Arhats.

As always, dozens of entry-level disciples were already in place early in the morning.

"Mu-Jin-ah~!!"

Seeing Mu-Jin entering the training ground, Mu Yul waved his arms cheerfully, with Mu Gung and Mu Gyeong standing beside him.

"How have you all been?"

"Hehe. It was really tough. The training suddenly got harder."

"I almost gave up."

"Hmph. It was a piece of cake for me."

Hearing the responses from Mu Yul, Mu Gyeong, and Mu Gung, Mu-Jin realized that the training had indeed been tough.

"Get ready!!"

As the four of them were chatting, Hyu Jong's commanding voice echoed from the front.

"Morning training will begin now!"

At Hyu Jong's shout, the entry-level disciples, with faces like corpses, trudged to a certain area.

There, sandbags were piled up.

"Since six days ago, we've suddenly had to train with those. It's really tough. Hehe."

Having heard from Beob Gang that the training intensity had increased, Mu-Jin followed Mu Yul to the pile of sandbags, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Seeing the sandbags, countless exercise ideas popped into his head.

"Disciples with sandbags, return to your places!"

"Anyone dawdling will have to carry extra sandbags!"

Right after Mu-Jin picked a sandbag, the shouts of the second disciples prompted the kids to return to their places.

"Take your stances!"

The typical simple yet tough morning training began.

And once again, Mu-Jin was doing his own exercises instead of the usual stance training.

The only difference from a week ago was that he was carrying a sandbag in each hand.

Indeed, Mu-Jin was treating the sandbags like dumbbells, enjoying free weights.

After a few repetitions of bending and straightening his arms while holding the sandbags,

'The balance and grip aren't great, so it's harder.'

Mu-Jin realized that lifting and lowering the sandbags was much more uncomfortable compared to using dumbbells.

'Well, I'm not trying to become a bodybuilder anyway, so this might actually be better.'

Since the grip and weight distribution were messy, lifting and lowering the sandbags required exertion from various parts of his body.

On the flip side, it meant using the entire arm and shoulder muscles evenly.

To the current Mu-Jin, this could be considered more helpful. Mu-Jin was a disciple of Shaolin, not a gym trainer. In modern terms, he was like a prospective martial artist.

In other words, overall balance was more important than the size or shape of visible muscles. Mu-Jin had invested time in the Muscle Stretching Technique not only to build muscle but also to maintain flexibility.

For a martial artist, it was essential to be able to strike or exert force freely in various positions.

"Hiss, hoo."

As Mu-Jin lightly warmed up with a sandbag, this time he increased the number of sandbags, holding two in each hand and repeating the exercise.

Then, after training his triceps with the sandbags, Mu-Jin took a moment to catch his breath and changed his posture. He repeatedly lifted his arms holding the sandbags up above his head and then lowered them behind his head, performing overhead extensions.

He also performed exercises such as raising both arms holding sandbags to the side, known as side lateral raises, to work his lateral deltoids.

Using the sandbags, he went through various dumbbell exercises he knew.

'Ugh. Hand-to-hand exercises were boring enough, and now they're even giving us dumbbells.'

While all the other entry-level disciples wore expressions as if they were dying, Mu-Jin was exercising with an ecstatic expression.

Naturally, the eyes of the entry-level disciples, who were doing horse stance training with sandbags tied to their arms and legs, couldn't help but be drawn to Mu-Jin.

"Ahem."

The eyes of the second disciples and Hyu Jong also turned towards Mu-Jin.

However, due to the agreement made about two weeks ago, the second disciples inadvertently looked towards Beob Gang.

They were afraid that if they left it alone, Beob Gang might cause another commotion, but at the same time, they hoped that Beob Gang might know of a solution.

"Hoo."

Beob Gang, exhaling with the gaze mixed with their expectations, approached Mu-Jin.

He was thinking of telling Mu-Jin to receive the same training as the other entry-level disciples.

Considering that Mu-Jin seemed much more comfortable than the other entry-level disciples simply raising and lowering his arms, and unlike the other children who were struggling, Mu-Jin's expression somehow looked joyful.

However, when Beob Gang approached Mu-Jin, he couldn't help but reconsider his thoughts.

From a distance, he hadn't noticed, but up close, Mu-Jin's face was already drenched in sweat.

The sandbags, which were quite heavy for children, combined with the fact that unlike dumbbells, the grip and weight distribution were not ideal, made the exercise twice as difficult.

Despite Mu-Jin's ecstatic expression, his arms were shouting for mercy, with veins bulging.

But what really surprised Beob Gang wasn't the sweat dripping from Mu-Jin's face or his biceps.

"Hae, Haeng-gong?"

A child who had just learned the Buddha's Heart Technique and hadn't even passed two weeks was already at the stage of Haeng-gong, which surprised Beob Gang.