Possessing Nothing Novel (쥐뿔도 없는 회귀)

Chapter 80 - Shaolin

Time flew by and he soon turned twenty.

He grew tall, and his body became healthy. He was worried that his body would be much weaker than the one he had in his previous life since he used to have a lot of irregular meals while living in Mush's mountain; but life in the temple had actually made Lee Sung-min's body stronger than his previous life.

Lee Sung-min had spent one and a half years in the Shaolin Temple so far.

Around three years were left before the events that lead to Baek Sogo's death began. If possible, he wanted to go to Drimoor to meet Denir, the god of time. But Lee Sung-min didn't want to leave the Shaolin temple yet. His daily life there was monotonous but peaceful. The time spent in Shaolin didn't make Lee Sung-min move forward.

But it made him realize what he had forgotten. What he hadn't done. He awakened the senses that were accustomed to being unused. He got used to wielding his spear smoothly with Qi, which he knew he couldn't do earlier because of his lack of experience. He improvised his techniques, combining his movements with the Qi flowing in his body.

"Aren't you bothered by me?"

One fine day, Lee Sung-min asked Jihak, sweat rolling off his face.

It was when the usual spar was over and they were taking a breather. Lee Sung-nim was no longer treated as a child by Jihak. Of course, that didn't mean that he could beat Jihak.

"Why do you think I would be bothered by you?"

"I'm... weak. And Jihak... you're strong. Practising with me won't be very helpful to you."

"Not necessarily."

Jihak's words from that time were engraved in Lee Sung-min's mind.

"When I practice against you, I'm also revising what I've learned in the past. I'm practising my basics at the same time as you."

"Is that necessary for a master like you?"

"The techniques of the Shaolin are difficult and deep. I've learned seventy such techniques so far, but I still need to learn more and devote myself to practice. There is no end to the path of martial arts. I want to go further."

That sentence again.

"The world is a vast place. The other-worlders who were summoned randomly from different places, have made the world of Eria too wide. And it will continue to expand. As long as talent like that exists, it will broaden even more. It's the same with martial arts."

Jihak's eyes gleamed as he spoke. He resembled a young, dreamy man dressed in the saffron-colored robes.

"I am grateful for this. Thank you for not being foolish enough to lament the narrowness of the world. There are many people who are better than me in this wide world. We only have one life. I'm just wondering how far I can go in the world. What kind of height can I reach?"

Lee Sung-min listened to it all blankly. In his eyes, Jihak was strong enough. He had a talent and courage that was incomparable to Lee Sung-min's. Such a person also said the world was wide and that he was small.

"Do you have a dream?"

Ah.

How small 'I' was.

He felt that his sense of inferiority was hilarious. He felt his frustration was hilarious too. He was being stumped by an inferiority complex, frustrated to the point of collapsing. He, who had said that he was used to getting back up whenever he fell down, was now thinking that it wasn't easy at all.