Surviving as a Cripple in Murim – Chapter 8

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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Time flew by in the blink of an eye. I’d felt it before, but now that my body was younger, I felt it even more keenly. I was already thirteen years old.

It felt like just yesterday I was eleven. Another two years had passed. More precisely, it had been two years and a few months.

It was early spring, still carrying remnants of the chilly winter. Lying down inside a swaying carriage, I tried to kill time by sleeping, but the jolting made it difficult.

“Jang-sam, how much longer until we reach the Jegal Clan?” I asked.

“Well… I’m not sure. This is my first time going to the Jegal Clan,” he replied.

“You don’t know? Are you done with your military service or something? You’re having a good time now that I’m being nice to you, aren’t you? Want to try being uncomfortable?”

At my grumbling, Jang-sam looked around as if he couldn’t help it, then pulled a book hidden in his waistband.

“Do you want to read this to pass the time?” he offered.

“What kind of interesting novel is it that you’re hiding it in your clothes?”

As I opened the book, illustrations of naked men and women in sexual acts unfolded. It was a collection of erotic art. Certainly something that shouldn’t be seen by others.

“Just in case, I have to ask. You didn’t… um… use this… on the book, did you?”

“What do you take me for? You’re the one who should refrain from such acts, Young Master.”

“Don’t worry. I have higher standards. I wouldn’t use this kind of thing.”

Despite my words, I was genuinely impressed by the surprisingly high quality of the art as I began to appreciate the illustrations. I especially liked that it was focused on innocent love.

I hadn’t expected someone in the martial world to possess such artistic talent. I had assumed it would be a work that relied solely on explicit imagery, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Having enjoyed manga in my previous life, I was delighted by the appearance of this work, which could be considered a primitive comic book. My mood lifted as I turned the pages and quietly read on.

Normally, this would have been the time for diligent martial arts training at home, hidden from my parents. However, following my father’s belief that one must leave home and meet various people to grow, I was being sent to study with an acquaintance of his in the Jegal Clan for a while.

It was a study trip (Yuhak – 유학) to the renowned Jegal Clan, one of the Five Great Clans, but unfortunately, it wasn’t for martial arts training. I was going to prepare for the civil service exam under the tutelage of a renowned scholar, Elder Jegal Hwi.

In the first place, the so-called Five Great Clans were bloodline-centric organizations, so outsiders couldn’t learn their martial arts unless they married into the family.

Stingy bastards. What’s the big deal about sharing some martial arts?

Oh, and also, my older brother, Sima Rang, had gotten married. One might wonder what my brother’s marriage had to do with my studies, but in this society that valued bloodlines and continuing the family lineage, it was all connected.

In other words, to have children, to engage in the very acts explicitly depicted in the erotic art book I was currently reading, they needed me out of the house. Apparently, having a child around while engaging in “vigorous lovemaking” made things awkward.

Even though I, at the ripe old age of thirteen, knew everything there was to know…

Lost in these random thoughts, I started to feel drowsy, my eyelids growing heavy. A young body tires easily. I considered this a blessing, having suffered from insomnia in my previous life.

I returned the book to Jang-sam, pulled the blanket over me, curled up like a caterpillar, and drifted off to sleep.

Sway… sway… sway… sway…

After some time, I woke up to someone calling my name and shaking me.

“Young Master… Young Master. Wake up.”

“Huh? Uh… what? Where am I?”

As I came to my senses, I realized I was being carried on Jang-sam’s back. Wiping away the drool trickling down my chin, I lifted my head and saw a magnificent gate, so grand that I could only describe it as spectacular.

Even though I considered my family wealthy, this was on a completely different level. The gate alone was overwhelmingly impressive. It wasn’t just a mansion; it was practically a fortress.

I had imagined the clan to be something like a family-run small business, but I clearly needed to revise my assessment. This was more akin to a massive mafia family cartel.

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Ah… I’m bored. So bored.

I had hoped that the unfamiliar environment, away from my familiar home, would offer some excitement, but there was none to be found. It was even more tedious than being at home.

Study. Eat. Study. Eat. Study… It was a monotonous cycle. I’d expected this much, since I had come here to study, but this was excessive.

I was so bored that I even tried to coax the other children studying at the Jegal Clan into playing Yut Nori, but they treated me like a child. To look down on Yut Nori… They didn’t know the meaning of fun.

If they were going to be cooped up in their rooms studying all day, why even bother coming here? They could have just stayed home.

Lying in my room and grumbling was equally boring, so I dragged my aching leg out for a walk.

The Jegal Clan was divided into three classes.

The highest, upper class, needless to say, consisted of the clan elders, the clan leader, and his immediate family, collectively referred to as the “main family.”

The middle class comprised distant relatives, illegitimate children, and guests.

Guests, as the name suggested, included martial artists, physicians, wealthy merchants, and retainers with special skills invited by the Jegal Clan.

Thanks to my father being a friend of a member of the Jegal Clan’s main family, I also belonged to this class.

The last, and lowest, class consisted mainly of servants who performed various chores, and low-ranking martial artists whose skills were not yet highly developed.

And right now, before my eyes, a filthy child who didn’t belong to any of the three classes was curled up on the ground, being beaten by the children of the Jegal Clan’s branch families.

She was probably Jegal “So-and-so” I wasn’t forgetting his name; his name actually was “So-and-so.” He had a family name but no given name. (So-and-so: Nobody in English)

Curious, I had Jang-sam ask the servants about him, and learned a complicated story.

It began with the current leader of the Jegal Clan, Jegal Gyugun’s most beloved youngest daughter, Jegal Sowol, going missing at sea after being swept away by a wave during a boat trip.

Because she had always been frail and cherished, Jegal Gyugun poured all the clan’s resources, even enlisting the help of other clans, into searching for the missing Sowol. They searched because they were told to, but everyone assumed she was dead.

She had disappeared at sea. They were just looking for a corpse now, and the clan’s resources were being wasted on it. Though unspoken out of deference to Jegal Gyugun, there was much discontent amongst the clan members.

Then, suddenly, Jegal Sowol reappeared. And not as a corpse, but alive.

The fisherman who first discovered her said that at dawn, a small boat laden with precious treasures appeared, sailing towards the shore with the rising sun, escorted by a school of fish.

His beloved daughter, whom he had believed dead, had returned with treasures! There could be no greater joy… or so he thought, until he saw Sowol’s swollen belly.

His beloved daughter, during her disappearance, had become pregnant with the child of someone he didn’t even know. Any parent with a daughter would be furious.

Jegal Gyugun, enraged, demanded to know who the father was, who had done this to his daughter. Sowol, with a smile so beautiful it seemed inhuman, replied:

“This is the child of the North Sea Dragon King, Ao Shun.”

Whether her words were true or false, no one would ever know. Sowol died giving birth to Jegal So-and-so. And so, the child, who might truly have been the child of the Dragon King, was left in this state.

She was given the Jegal family name because she was the only thing left of his beloved daughter, but she was effectively nameless, left to be abused and neglected.

The grief of losing his daughter had turned into misplaced resentment. What a pathetic man, taking his anger out on an innocent child.

“Give it back! Give it back, I said!”

Despite the punches and kicks from the children who had learned martial arts, Jegal So-and-so didn’t cry or get angry, she simply endured the beating while remaining curled up.

Her calm demeanor seemed to enrage her attackers even more.

“Let’s just crush her with a rock. Let’s see if she moves then.”

I hadn’t intended to intervene, but I couldn’t ignore those words. I turned towards the group of children.

“Hey, cut it out. You’re going to kill her.”

Startled by the sudden voice, the children flinched and trembled, but then they scowled as they realized it was only a cripple hobbling towards them with a staff.

“You crippled bastard! Mind your own business and get lost!”

Crippled bastard, right off the bat? What kind of upbringing did these kids have? Then again, if they had been raised properly, they wouldn’t be trying to crush a defenseless child with a rock.

I confirmed that there were no other people around, then held up three fingers.

“Three seconds. Bow your heads. The first one to bow will only get nine hits instead of ten.”

A moment later…

There was no need for the Dog Beating Staff Technique. The arrogant brats ran away screaming and crying after I swung my staff at them, their buttocks and thighs stinging.

Serves them right for acting tough and getting what they deserved.

With his tormentors gone, Jegal So-and-so uncurled and stood up.

This was my first time seeing her up close. Honestly, she didn’t look anything like the child of the North Sea Dragon King. She was just an ordinary child.

She wasn’t the sea monster, the harbinger of the Jegal Clan’s downfall, or the viper that killed its mother that the rumors described.

Through her messy, tangled black hair, I saw a pair of clear, beautiful blue eyes, as pure as the morning sea. Despite her dirty appearance, her eyes were strikingly beautiful.

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