Book 1-1.2 Master and Disciple
The old man was running next to a Pirma running at full speed. In fact, he even had a relaxed look on his face.
“Are you a wizard?”
(TL Note: Anybody else think of Hagrid telling Harry he’s a wizard? No? Maybe I’m just weird)
Yulian thought that the continent must have magic, similar to the spells of the Desert Tribes, and asked the old man. The old man only smiled back at him.
‘Ah! I forgot he could not understand me. But I heard that there was a spell for translating, if he is a wizard, why is he not using that spell?’
Yulian was curious but as they could not communicate, it would be a wasted effort to continue. Staring at the old man continuing to keep up, Yulian pushed the Pirma forward at full speed.
A short time later, Yulian arrived at his village and invited the old man to stay in his Paoe (term for the homes in the desert, approximately 2 meters tall with cylindrical walls and a round roof. The walls and roof were made with the branches of durable trees growing in the desert, with a white cloth on top, making it easy to disassemble and reassemble on the move).
The desert tribes enjoyed having guests and would treat them with the utmost care. Being a member of the tribe himself, Yulian decided to take care of the old man for the time being and invited him to stay in his Paoe.
That night, he introduced the old man to his family and the tribe’s warriors and urged them to let him stay there for a while. However, he did not say a word about the old man’s magical running abilities. The fact that he followed a Pirma at full speed was something he himself could not believe after seeing it with his own eyes. He also could not be rude and ask a guest to show others his abilities (TL: Not like he can talk to him anyways…)
Yulian and the old man started to live together in the Paoe.
The old man was a mysterious person. Most of the time, he just sat there with his eyes closed and breathing, but at night, he would go outside the Paoe and showed Yulian a lot of different things.
This was the first time Yulian learned that a person could move that quickly, that high, and that far.
None of the warriors he knew of in the desert could move in that fashion. Oddly, he only showed it to Yulian and nobody else.
During the day all he did was walk around the village observing various things or sit in the Paoe.
Yulian knew that this old man was not an ordinary person. He asked the old man to teach him things like the movement skills.
Although they could not communicate, in the last few days, he was able to develop some level of communication with the man through hand gestures and body movement. Smiling, the old man nodded his head and indicated that he wanted to learn how to read, write, and speak the language.
“We can teach each other.”
Yulian was delighted and started to teach the old man the language of the desert. And although he wanted to learn the old man’s movement skills, all the old man did was open his mouth. He did not show any intentions of teaching Yulian.
“Oh! You can’t teach me unless we can communicate!”
Yulian quickly understood the old man’s intentions and fully devoted himself to teaching the old man the language.
The old man was very smart. No, he was a genius. If you taught him something once, not only did he never forget, when it came to writing, he learned it even faster than speaking.
Exactly one moon cycle (TL: approximately a month) after Yulian started to teach the old man, the two of them were able to start having brief conversations. The only thing left for the old man to learn was figuring out where to use which word.
“Thank You.”
That was the first thing the old man said.
“Senior, you are very wise. You learned very quickly.”
“It’s because you were a good teacher.”
“That was just the desert language. If Senior would like, I can also teach you the languages of the Northern and Southern continents.”
“Right, there’s a lot more for me to learn.”
With the old man’s reply, Yulian slyly asked.
“Senior, I wish to learn the movement skills you demonstrated…”
“I could not teach you because we could not communicate. It’s difficult to teach what I know without being able to explain.”
“I look forward to it.”
The old man responded to Yulian with a smile.
“You have a sturdy foundation that is suitable for learning martial arts. How old are you?”
“I am thirteen years old.”
The old man was delighted at Yulian’s answer.
“Looking at your physique, I thought you would be much older. Thank goodness. When it comes to martial arts, it is better to learn it from a young age. The mental art is less effective the later you start.”
Yulian could not understand some of the terms the old man was using, but seeing the excitement in the old man, he just thought it must be good.
“Hmm…what kind of relationship should we have?”
The old man was seriously worrying about what kind of relationship to have with the boy in front of him. It seems like nothing, but it was a serious concern.
‘In this world, there is a different religion and even the race is different. There will be a lot of difficulties taking him as a disciple…’
The old man did not take any disciples even in his own world. At that time, everything was annoying.
‘But I also don’t want to teach him half-heartedly. After all, this boy has saved my life…’
It’s not like he could be angry at the Goddess who threw him in this world, but he had been lost in the desert for three days.
At first, he was confident. ‘I just need to use the movement of the stars to figure out where people live.’ But soon he learned that wasn’t the case. In a place where he could not get a good sense of direction, he pretty much ended up just going around in circles. Astrology was no help, and there was a limit to using his martial arts to search the whole desert.
On the first day, there were two suns, on the second day there were three, and on the third day, it went back to just one. Even the location of the sun continued to change and the moon was the same at night.
It was impossible to determine a sense of direction.
He thought that ‘the Goddess must have had a reason to send me here so I know I won’t die like this,’ but he was so irritated that he just sat down and spent another three days sitting there. After all that, Yulian was the first person he met in this world.
‘When did I, Chun Myung Hoon care about such a thing? If I like it I like it, if I don’t, I don’t. Since he helped me, I should help fulfill his wish.’
Chun Myung Hoon made the decision to make this young boy his disciple.
“You cannot pass on martial arts to just anyone. You must show me proper etiquette as your master. Will you become my disciple?”
Because Chun Myung Hoon used Chinese for terms he did not know, Yulian was unable to completely understand what he was saying. (TL: The term used in the raws is 중원, which can mean Center, but it is also the name of a place in China, Zhōngyuán, so I’m going to go with China/Chinese when I see the term. If you have other thoughts, do let me know.)
“Master… etiquette… disciple… what does that mean?”
“The person who teaches is the master, the one learning is the disciple, and etiquette is the manner in which a disciple serves his master.”
Yulian nodded his head happily to Chun Myung Hoon’s answer.
“I wish to be your disciple.”
“Do you have a religion?”
“No.”
“Okay. From here on, you must kowtow to me nine times, kowtow to the founder, and accept a new religion.”
Quickly, Yulian kowtowed to Chun Myung Hoon, kowtowed towards the East, and first learned the doctrine. Only then could he learn the martial arts and mental arts. (TL: I’m guessing CMH assumed his world is to the East? Not sure of why he kowtowed that way)
“Hmm…my last name is Chun and my name is Myung Hoon. What is your name?”
“My name is Yulian Provoke.”
“Then should I call you Provoke?”
“Provoke is my last name. You can call me Yulian.”
“Your name is quite odd.”
To Yulian, Chun Myung Hoon was even more peculiar.
So the old man and the young boy became Master and Disciple.
