Chapter Text
Cheong Myeong froze in place, looking away from the mooncakes to look at his Sahyeong. A couple of crumbs escaped from his mouth, falling into his lap.
Cheong Mun's serious face told him that this was not a bad joke. He seemed serious, resigned, and a little uncomfortable. That was not the expression of a person who wanted to play a joke nor was it the type of action typical of his Sahyeong.
Maybe he heard wrong.
Cheong Myeong chewed the cake in his mouth, deciding that if they were going to have a serious conversation, he should swallow before speaking or his Sahyeong wouldn't listen just out of sheer frustration.
“Sahyeong, I think I heard wrong. Do you want me to take disciples?"
“You misheard, Cheong Myeong-ah. I want you to take a master."
"Ha ha ha... For a moment I thought I heard that you want me to take a master. That's why you have to speak correctly, Sahyeong, speak correctly."
"He is an Elder; he has the right to ask for disciples, even from our generation," Cheong Mun informed him. "And what's more, I've already given my authorization."
"It can't be!" Cheong Myeong exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table. "How could I take a master at this point? Even if he is an Elder, what could they teach me? Back then I already hit all of our Sahyeong and Sasuk."
Cheong Mun frowned. "For the moment let's not talk about the people you hit in the past," he relented. "This Elder is several ranks higher than us, I don't think you've met him, but I'm sure there will be a lot you can learn from him."
"Multiple ranks?" Cheong Myeong made a mental tally of his elders. "Besides the disciples of generation Un, is there anyone of higher rank? If there was someone like that..."
Cheong Mun looked uncomfortable. "He is from the Cheong generation above. He has been in isolated training for these years, but recently came out after advancing his cultivation, looking for a disciple to pass on knowledge to him."
“Previous generation Cheong!? Sahyeong, that isn't an Elder, he is an ancestor!"
He almost said, “From the same generation as Laozi himself!"
"And that's why it's hard to refuse, being our elder," Cheong Mun replied. "You're free all day anyway, why don't you see if you can learn something from him?"
Cheong Myeong sighed, turning his head from side to side grimacing. "Sahyeong always leaves me this kind of annoying work…"
"No, did you hear right? Anyone would drop to their knees to learn from him in your place..."
"Then they could do it!"
"What more would I want," Cheong Mun sighed. "But he asked that it be you. So how could I refuse? Perhaps they met with you by accident since he finished his secluded training."
“Haaah, I guess if he gets annoying i might beat…” Cheong Myeong's voice became inaudible. "It seems like Sahyeong has already met him."
"That's right," Cheong Mun replied with a nod, in a much better mood now that Cheong Myeong was cooperating. "The elder's name is Cheong Myeong, just like you, with the same characters. He recently turned one hundred and ninety years old, so I ask for a little consideration when speaking with him."
Cheong Myeong swallowed hard.
"Maybe it's not a bad idea to take a look at this elder..." he muttered to himself. "How advanced must his techniques be to be one hundred and ninety years old?"
"Actually, he will be here soon," Cheong Mun admitted with an unrepentant smile. "So you can make a judgment for yourself. Oh, here it is."
Cheong Myeong quickly turned around, sensing the person who stopped hiding his presence, casually standing against the door frame.
"You!"
"Me," Elder Cheong greeted him. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, the manners of the young these days. In my day they bowed to their elders while introducing themselves, I should hit you on the head to learn some manners!"
Cheong Myeong gaped at the Elder Cheong.
He wondered, with some level of disbelief, if this person could be called his eldest when he looked like a child barely past twenty, like any other third class disciple. And yet, his four-layered uniform was that of a decorated elder.
Even if he looked more like a well-dressed doll.
“We are honored to welcome our esteemed senior with us today,” Cheong Mun greeted him, in his Sect Leader best appearance. "Would you like to join us for afternoon tea? I was discussing with my Sajae about the arrangements for his discipleship."
Elder Cheong bowed his head. "I see. Sounds good, let me join you."
Even as he casually approached their table, Cheong Myeong felt the aura of a dangerous predator lurking around him, much bigger than his own, like a leopard that walked with its claws retracted but could still decide to whimsically attack it. For the first time since he was an innocent child, a person's aura managed to give him goosebumps.
"Ah, mooncakes," Elder Cheong murmured with a smirk. "For a while, it was all Byeokgokdan. I missed these cakes so much..."
Almost as if mirroring the earlier scene of Cheong Myeong leisurely eating his mooncakes, the Elder Cheong stuffed the food into his mouth, showering his face with crumbs, then narrowed his eyes in delight, savoring the crispy dough and sweet filling.
Cheong Myeong fidgeted in his place, but waited for the mysterious man to speak first, as if he subconsciously didn't want to reveal anything about himself to this person, erring on caution.
At the same time, the hand holding the cake slowly squeezed the dough into mush.
"After training hard, I have come to a great revelation that has allowed me to advance my cultivation, and at the same time, motivate me to approach the Sect again to train a disciple," Elder Cheong stated, shooting him a look before turning back. his gaze down to his lap. "It's my duty to participate in the great flow that unites us all! That way, my contribution... My contribution will be a... A-an, ummm..."
Elder Cheong narrowed his eyes at his lap, slowly moving the hand that wasn't holding the food across the table to his lap. The rustle of paper was faintly heard.
Cheong Mun coughed loudly, placing his hand on the older man's arm. "I'm glad you decided to train a disciple. This is my Sajae, Cheong Myeong, who we talked about earlier this morning.
"I see, I see," Elder Cheong murmured, covering his face with the wide sleeve of his fist. 'Ahem, very good, boy. You must know that you have been personally chosen by this, this elder, not, ahem, by this master to receive my teachings."
Cheong Myeong had given up all hope for this senior of his.
"Ah yes, Sect Leader Sahyeong mentioned it," he replied shortly.
Elder Cheong didn't appear to be deterred.
"So from now on I expect to see you from sunrise until you're completely exhausted from training," he announced as if it were a no-brainer. "The moment you can beat me, the training is over."
The last sentence was thrown dismissively, as if the probability of said event was so low that it wasn't worth mentioning but he was doing it anyway out of duty.
Cheong Myeong's face grew darker and darker.
Isn't this old man too arrogant?
If he wanted to be beaten to a pulp, then Cheong Myeong could do it. As long as those old bones aren't ground to dust by rough treatment.
"Until then I'll be your master," Elder Cheong finished. "The Sect Leader has offered a new pavilion for us to stay in until then."
Cheong Mun nodded encouragingly. “I have allowed you to stay in the pavilion where we completed our discipleship with our former master."
Cheong Myeong was full of complaints, but he smiled through a clenched jaw.
"Oh, I'll be so happy to accompany Sajon until i can beat him to the— ahem, until I can defeat him."
Cheong Myeong and Elder Cheong, his new master, stared at each other with a mischievous smile.