Generally, what students are primarily taught at the Cheonmu Academy are the Eighteen Martial Arts and Martial Philosophy.
Since one teacher instructs many students at once, it isn’t quite the same as receiving one-on-one guidance, but being trained in the basics by various skilled masters from different backgrounds makes it meaningful in itself.
Of course, because it’s called an academy, students also receive basic academic education, which is said to have had a significant impact on the overall literacy level in the martial world.
In the pre-Gyeongsa era of the old martial world, there were supposedly a lot of martial artists who couldn’t even write their names, so thinking about that, the universalization of education can be seen as a positive change.
Anyway, the reason I suddenly brought this up is that although the average literacy level of martial artists has risen considerably, compared to me, who has completed higher education in the modern era, my classmates’ knowledge level was one of elementary or middle school students.
Naturally, there was no way they could compete with me, and due to the nerdy image I solidified from the beginning of the semester, most of the class had come to accept that I would always come in first place whenever I took a simple quiz.
However, there was one guy who couldn’t accept this outcome and always threw a fit, and that was Samajak.
“Damn it! I lost again!”
Samajak, trembling with rage over the quiz paper, clutched his head and wailed.
“I studied all night to beat you! Why can’t I win just once?!”
Well, even if he said that…
“If I deliberately lost, you wouldn’t believe me anyway. You.”
“Of course not! I want to win through my own effort!”
As he said this, his eyes were filled with tears as he glared at me, perhaps out of frustration.
That look triggered a protective instinct in the girls around us, who gasped, but to me, he just seemed like a kid throwing a tantrum because he was losing.
“Well, you felt it was a shame this time, but you’ll have a chance to win next time.”
“Receiving encouragement from you doesn’t bring me any joy?!”
Samajak glared at me again and then stomped back to his designated seat at the front of the classroom.
Seeing him like that, Tang Sosu, who was sitting nearby, asked, “Chilbok, aren’t you bothered by this?”
“Bothered by what?”
“That Samajak always takes out his frustration on you whenever he loses a quiz. Honestly, I’d be pretty annoyed.”
“Oh, that?”
I glanced at the back of Samajak’s head in his seat and said, “You know we share the same room, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So I know well how hard he works. Maybe because of that, I don’t really feel that annoyed.”
I shrugged my shoulders and put on a nonchalant expression.
At that, Tang Sosu looked at me with surprise and said, “That’s surprisingly generous of you.”
“Should I be annoyed or something?”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
Tang Sosu shrugged her shoulders and stated that class was about to begin, so she’d be heading back to her seat.
“Such a dry response.”
Muttering that under my breath, I saw one of the academy teachers, the sword master Un Giik, enter through the front door of the classroom and pulled out the textbook from my desk drawer.
*
That day at lunch.
“Samajak, don’t you have any friends?”
After morning classes ended, I found time to grab a meal in the dormitory cafeteria and asked my roommate Samajak.
He glanced at me with a somewhat annoyed expression while eating.
“What’s that out of the blue?”
“You usually eat alone unless it’s with me. It’s been two weeks since we came into the academy, so I wondered if you still hadn’t made any friends yet.”
“…I don’t really need friends.”
“But wouldn’t it be better to get along with lots of people?”
If we were going to be attending this academy for a month or two, it wouldn’t just be a passing relationship.
As I said this, Samajak hesitated, his expression faltering as he set down his chopsticks.
He seemed somewhat dejected.
It was a sight I couldn’t have imagined from the usual confident Samajak.
Wasn’t this his original personality that only I, his roommate, knew?
From my private conversations with him, he once mentioned that he was self-conscious about his smaller stature compared to his peers, and he carried himself more confidently, fearing he’d be looked down upon if he appeared weak.
However, due to his not-so-great social skills, he ended up looking like a hedgehog with its quills all raised, which earned him quite a few disapproving stares from classmates.
The earlier response from Tang Sosu likely indicated she would have said something if I hadn’t assured her I was fine, but if this continued, he’d surely explode someday.
When I pointed this out and recommended he make friends in class ASAP, Samajak hesitated and asked, “Um, how do you make friends?”
Wait, you didn’t know that from the get-go?
As I looked at him with a sympathetic expression, Samajak hurriedly waved his hands in denial.
“No! I have at least a few friends! But most of them are girls, so I don’t know how to be friends with guys!”
“Must be nice.”
“You trickster!”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
I hurriedly brushed off my slip of the tongue and decided to take his concerns seriously.
“Hmm, as for making male friends…”
Honestly speaking, I couldn’t think of any surefire methods for making friends.
I’ve never made friends just because I wanted to like Namgoong Ruby!
Still, let’s at least talk about it in a common-sense sort of way.
“Usually, if you have something in common, it’s easier to become friends.”
“Something in common?”
“For example, if someone likes reading, then you can talk about that. If someone is interested in swordsmanship, you can chat about fencing. Or you could talk about something suggestive since you’re a guy?”
“Wha—suggestive talk?!”
“Quite a few people like that, you know. Oh, but I’m not saying that’s my thing.”
There’s a reason why dirty jokes exist; in ancient China with limited entertainment, risqué tales were intriguing topics of conversation for everyone, young and old.
Of course, I didn’t expect Samajak to be the type to resort to sharing lewd stories to make friends.
But contrary to my expectations, Samajak was leaning forward with great interest, gulping.
“What sort of conversations would that involve?”
“Um, usually asking about their type of girls, or something like that?”
As I stumbled over myself with embarrassment at the vague answer, Samajak nodded with a serious expression.
Seeing him like that, I quickly corrected myself.
“No, don’t take this too seriously.”
He tilted his head in confusion.
“Why?”
I chuckled sheepishly and said, “Just because you became friends over that sort of thing doesn’t mean they’re good people.”
“Oh…”
Looks like he understood.
I let out a sigh of relief and continued, “Or you could just approach someone who’s naturally sociable and strike up a conversation. They usually respond nicely even if you’re not close.”
“Does such a person exist in our class?”
“Yeah, there’s Namgoong Ruby; she aims to make 100 friends.”
At that, Samajak frowned.
“The class president is a bit…”
Looks like Namgoong Ruby truly was a nemesis of the anti-socials, going by his reaction.
I pondered for a moment and then said, “Then for starters, think about befriending the people closest to you. Moving too quickly often leads to mistakes.”
“Closest people?”
“Yeah, like sitting next to you, for instance?”
Suddenly, as I was speaking, Samajak stared at me intently.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
“But what exactly does being friends mean?”
“Um… Eating together, studying together, hanging out together?”
“In that case, we’re already friends?”
“Well, if you want to put it that way, I guess so?”
If I weren’t a friend, I wouldn’t have even bothered with this counseling.
“Then it’s settled.”
Saying that, Samajak wore a strangely proud expression.
I was unsure how we ended up discussing this, but regardless, I told him to pay more attention to his reputation before returning to my meal.
*
That evening.
“See you tomorrow!”
“Have a safe trip home.”
After classes ended at the academy, I parted ways with Dokgorin and Tang Sosu at the fork in the road.
Because boys’ and girls’ dormitories are fundamentally separated, we typically split up here.
Now alone, I felt a bit lonely as I headed towards the boys’ dormitory, Tamrang Hall, but something unusual happened today.
What was it, you ask? I witnessed Samajak slipping into the Pagu Hall, which was supposed to be off-limits.
‘Wasn’t Pagu Hall supposed to be a restricted area?’
I found myself tempted to follow him but decided against it since I was tired from the day and could just ask him about it when he returned to the room anyway.
There must be some pressing reason for him to enter a restricted area.
Thinking that, I let out a big yawn and hurried back to the dormitory, carrying my backpack filled with textbooks.
