Murim Troubleshooter Dan Mujin

Chapter 48: Dog-Beating Staff Technique

“You little punk, Dan Mujin.”

The next morning, after a tense standoff with the Heaven-Slaying Star all night, I barely managed to fall asleep.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw Hwang Geolgae’s wrinkled face looming over me, and I screamed.

“Shit, damn it.”

The crude words popped out of my mouth instinctively.

One of Hwang Geolgae’s eyebrows raised crookedly.

“Surely, you’re not saying that looking at my face?”

“Oh, no way.”

I almost got smacked on the crown of my head first thing in the morning.

What kind of old man shoves his face right up to someone’s to wake them up? I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

“If you’re awake, follow me to the training ground.”

He just showed up out of nowhere, didn’t even wait for me to say I’d go, and left the lodging on his own.

“Ugh.”

This is what life’s like when you’ve got a leash around your neck.

In the end, I had to drag my exhausted body to the training ground, which was full of traces of previous training.

And there he was, waiting for me in the center of the ground, holding a club, tapping it against his shoulder.

There was something ominous in the way he looked at me. I flinched—his expression reminded me of the time I got caught ditching school by the principal.

What’s this about? Could it be… did he find out about last time?

“I’m sorry.”

“…For what, you brat?”

Hwang Geolgae looked bewildered when I suddenly apologized.

“I’m the one who raided your food last time.”

“So that was you…? You crazy bastard, why do you keep laying your hands on your master’s meals?”

So it wasn’t that? Looks like I guessed wrong. Then why the hell did he drag me out here at the crack of dawn, all serious like this?

Could it be he noticed something strange about the Heaven-Slaying Star? But it doesn’t really feel like that.

“If you go to Eun Hwaran’s Trading Lord’s Office, she’ll lay out expensive dishes for you. Why do you keep stealing food?”

“Ah, that’s…”

I know why. It’s just that when you keep getting treated to expensive meals, it starts to feel like you’re building up a debt.

Later on, even if I do something nice, the thought “well, I paid for the meals” will be the first to come to mind. That doesn’t really build up much Good Karma.

And lastly, stolen food just weirdly tastes better than food you’re given.

“Hmm, I somewhat agree with that last part.”

Hwang Geolgae nodded, seemingly empathizing with my explanation.

This beggar instinct really is hard to shake off.

“So, why did you call me? If you’re about to make me do something, can we do it tomorrow instead? I’ve got somewhere to go today.”

“Where to, you brat?”

“Thought I’d take the kids from the beggar days to eat something nice at the inn. It’s been a while.”

Back then, always dressed like beggars, we’d get thrown out of every inn in Beijing. But this time’s different. We all have proper jobs now.

“Huh? What’s gotten into a penny-pincher like you, opening your wallet?”

“Just suddenly felt like doing something nice. Got a problem with that?”

My coin pouch was full from the bonus, and I kept feeling like something red and ominous was chasing me.

Gotta start stacking up that Good Karma quick.

“Hehe, like I’d stop you. You’re looking after the kids on behalf of the Beggars’ Union, after all.”

This guy always liked it when I took care of the young beggars.

Maybe he’s got a guilty conscience.

“You should try making up with the Emperor by now, don’t you think, Noya?”

“You brat, you think I don’t want to?”

A beggar being friends with the Emperor—sounds like something straight out of a fairytale.

“Just one win, and you called him trash. That was a bit much.”

“Quiet, I endured 30 losses and all kinds of mockery.”

According to Hwang Geolgae, the Emperor was a master at taunting, befitting the head of a nation.

He still looked a little bitter, must’ve been scratched at just the right places.

“And if he was pissed off, he could’ve taken it out on me. He’s got so much, but such a tiny heart…”

Clearly, Hwang Geolgae had a lot to unload whenever the Emperor was mentioned.

Anyway, the conversation kept veering off track.

“So, what’s with the staff, Noya? And why’d you call me out here?”

At my question, Hwang Geolgae stopped grumbling and slammed the club into the ground with a thud—hard enough to dent someone’s skull if it landed on them.

He leaned on the staff like a cane and stroked his beard.

He wore the face of someone facing a big decision, eyes deep in thought.

“Do you know? I’ve met countless people in my life, but never anyone as strange and complicated as you.”

Calling me strange right to my face, huh.

“Isn’t every person complex and multi-dimensional? I’ve accepted that from the start.”

I learned a lot working as a troubleshooter back in the day.

Even people who seemed irredeemable had their reasons when you dug deep. And those who appeared saintly often had shady sides too.

The line between good and evil is blurred. Truly good people, and truly evil ones, are rare.

Take Murong Cheonghye for example—she’s a would-be murderer of my little brother, but to her family, she’s probably a reliable sister and eldest daughter.

“So, what’s with all this setup talk?”

You’re not going to say I’m dangerous and should be eliminated, are you? Doesn’t feel like that, but his face was awfully stiff.

“Did you know I’ve been watching you closely lately?”

“Yeah, I’ve felt that creepy gaze on me.”

Thanks to the Heaven-Slaying Star passive, I’d feel someone watching me, and sure enough, it was always that old man’s face.

It’s hard to forget the feeling of being stalked so relentlessly.

“At first, I just wanted to observe you. Then I was unsure. But after what happened during the escort trip, my opinion changed.”

He must be referring to when I and Tang Yeo-hye confronted the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord.

I jumped in to save myself, but others survived because of it. Despite it being my first kill, it counted as Good Karma, and I stayed sane thanks to that, resisting the Heaven-Slaying Star’s influence.

“If I teach you martial arts, can you promise to use them not for evil, but to help others?”

“Promise or not, that’s the only way I’ll survive, right?”

Stacking Good Karma, suppressing the Heaven-Slaying Star with the internal energy from the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method, and stealing its power.

“I’m not asking about your situation. I’m asking your intent, you brat.”

Hwang Geolgae asked, looking uncharacteristically serious, like a Taoist Immortal.

“I’ll look after myself, but I won’t do evil for it. I thought that way even before I knew about the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method.”

Even when I was stabbed and thrown off a cliff, I couldn’t bring myself to rob weaker, younger beggars.

That’d make me less than human. I’d be no different from that goat-bearded merchant who openly insulted me—just another beast.

Better to help each other out in the gray areas than fall into absolute evil like the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord.

Whether stars exploded in my head or not, this was my bottom-line conviction as Dan Mujin.

“That’s the kind of answer I’d expect from you. I like it a lot, you rascal.”

Hwang Geolgae grinned in satisfaction and kicked a club off the ground, tossing it my way.

“What is this?”

“Didn’t you ask this old man to teach you once before? Dog-Beating Staff Technique.”

Dog-Beating Staff Technique, a martial art I had seen now and then in those martial arts novels I used to read.

I knew it belonged to the Beggars’ Union and, thinking it was some flashy weapon technique, I’d blindly asked to learn it.

At the time, he’d flatly refused, saying I needed at least fifteen years of Internal Energy first. Did something change in his mindset?

I hadn’t even told him how much Internal Energy I had accumulated.

“Oh, you’re putting on this whole act just to teach me a technique to beat dogs?”

As soon as I said that, the club in Hwang Geolgae’s hand gleamed.

SMAACK—!

“Ack!”

A strike that shut someone’s mouth with a single blow. It was the most painful hit I’d ever taken.

This time it really felt like the crown of my head had been dented.

“Argh! Damn it! Why do you keep hitting me there!”

I hurriedly felt the spot with my hand—thankfully, it wasn’t sunken. The durability of the Heaven-Slaying Star’s body really was something else.

“Heh heh, a martial art for beating dogs, you say. Is that what you thought when you asked me to teach you?”

“Well, what else would it be!”

Dog-Beating Staff Technique. The name itself says it’s a method to beat dogs with a staff.

Its bluntness made it memorable, even though I only ever glanced at it.

“This martial art isn’t meant for street dogs, but for scumbags worse than beasts—dogs in human skin.”

“…Ah.”

That made sense. Beating down those worse than beasts—that’s the idea.

I’d seen far too many of those kinds of bastards in my time in the Murim.

“So how do I train in it?”

I asked while gripping the long staff he’d thrown me with one hand.

But there was this instinctive sense of unease.

“Heh heh, how do you think training is done?”

Sigh, of course.

I had a bad feeling about this.

“Ah, shit.”

It was the moment I realized a long road of pain was ahead.

“Evil Dog Blocks the Road!”

A fierce dog blocks the way.

Hwang Geolgae unleashed the staff technique like slicing the wind.

Whoosh—

The tip of the staff, powerful enough to split logs, brushed just above my forehead, grazing my hair, and I, Dan Mujin, shouted wide-eyed,

“You’ll kill someone, you crazy old man!”

The red tint flickering in my eyes meant I felt a threat to my life, and my instinct was reading his movement, just like that time.

“Strike the Twin Dogs!”

A technique that struck down two dogs with a single swing of the staff.

Whack! Smack!

One hit I took with my body, but I barely managed to block the second strike by swinging my own staff.

“Heh heh.”

Truly worthy of the Heaven-Slaying Star. When I exuded Killing Intent to threaten his life just slightly, he absorbed the technique as if dry soil soaking up water.

Such a convenient disciple to teach. Other disciples take forever to memorize techniques, key points, and even visualization.

But this guy—just beat him while pouring in Killing Intent, and his body memorized it automatically.

“Slant Strike to Dog’s Back!”

The staff flew after its prey, then suddenly bent like a snake and smacked him squarely on the back.

Crack!

“Aaaooow!”

Dan Mujin howled. Hwang Geolgae shouted the technique name loudly while delivering pain, helping the move stick better in memory.

“No Dogs Under Heaven!”

Strike down all dogs in the surroundings—so that none remain under the heavens.

“These technique names are utter crap!”

It was the final move of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, infused with fierce power that made something burst upon impact.

Sensing it instinctively, I spread Whirlwind Steps to the limit.

Hwang Geolgae looked slightly surprised at the footwork that slipped like water, almost ghost-like.

Seems my desperate fight with the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord pushed me up another level.

But no matter how far the flea jumps, it’s still a flea. Showing off Whirlwind Steps in front of the one who taught it won’t get me anywhere.

Thwack!

The long staff swept both my legs. I spun and fell flat onto the ground.

“Ugh!”

I cried out and dry-heaved from the dizziness.

Must’ve hurt a lot—rolling on the ground, groaning, then suddenly getting up while cursing.

“Shiiit!”

This one just wouldn’t break, no matter how many times he got beat. His eyes were burning even fiercer.

Truly, a beggar’s tenacity lived on in this guy—he was worth teaching.

“Hey, old man.”

Once the rage kicks in and the eyes roll back, the title ‘Noya’ disappears, and words like ‘old man’ or ‘geezer’ come flying out.

It’s one of this punk’s arrogant habits.

“What, you brat.”

“What’s your exact level?”

Hwang Geolgae smirked, knowing why I asked.

“What, planning to get revenge after surpassing me?”

“Damn right, how’d you know? Sometimes you’re uncannily Daoist-like.”

“Heh heh heh. This old man is at the Transformation Realm, so go ahead and try me, brat.”

How did I end up with a disciple like this at the end of my life?

Surely, this too is the arrangement of the Primordial Heavenly Lord.

With a chuckle, Hwang Geolgae resumed swinging the staff endlessly.

Whooom—Whack!

“Aaagh!”

Like the sound of thrashing a mad dog.

They say the sound of strikes and someone’s screams echoed across the training ground for quite some time.

That crazy old man didn’t let me go until well into the late afternoon.

“Boss, you okay?”

“Krrrrggh, do I look okay to you?”

It’d been a while since I faced the kids, and I wanted to keep up appearances. But my whole body was a mess of bumps and bruises.

“…Transformation Realm, huh?”

Well, that’s some motivation.

I’ll get revenge. Someday—I don’t know when, but I will.

I clenched my fist and made that vow.