Episode 5: Was I Really Talented in Ten Fields?
I caught sight of No. Ninety-Two's pale face, hair still wet, as if she had drowned. Her unusually large, bright eyes were closed. For a moment, Won Seung was dazed. Just this morning, No. Ninety-Two had been smiling and eating with him.
"Hey, open your eyes. You're joking, right?"
Won Seung tried to pry open No. Ninety-Two's eyelids, but suddenly, a blow to his side knocked the wind out of him. As he tumbled to the ground, a harsh voice from the instructor boomed above him.
"What the hell is this brat doing?"
The instructor had kicked Won Seung when he saw him running toward No. Ninety-Two. Won Seung, who had been thrown to the side, sprang up and charged at the instructor.
"You bastards!"
Several instructors rushed over, and Won Seung was beaten until he lost consciousness.
"Throw these brats in solitary."
As his consciousness faded, he heard the voice of Chief Instructor Jang.
*
"Where am I?"
He opened his eyes in the darkness. His whole body ached, reminding him of the beating from the instructors and the dead face of No. Ninety-Two. His body trembled uncontrollably.
Then, somewhere in the darkness, he heard a sobbing sound.
"Chilho?"
There was no answer. Won Seung realized he was in the solitary confinement he'd only heard about—a place where disobedient kids were punished during training.
The solitary cells were also made of logs, so he could faintly hear sobbing from the next room.
"She slipped at the waterfall… They said she couldn't escape the whirlpool. If the instructors had gone in, they might have saved her."
During the ten days of confinement, Jang Chil frequently sobbed.
Jang Chil had a tender heart.
In contrast, Won Seung's heart grew cold. In the darkness, he repeatedly slashed at Chief Instructor Jang and the instructors with the frozen blade of his heart.
'I will… avenge you with my own hands, No. Ninety-Two. I promise.'
It was a horrific memory from when he was ten.
After that, Won Seung kept his distance from the other kids, except for Jang Chil. Watching one child after another die during training, he thought it was the right decision. Losing a friend was a huge shock to the kids. Some even committed suicide after their friends died.
*
After the basic poison techniques were completed, a new Poison Master arrived.
“This is the Poison Master who will teach you intermediate and advanced poison techniques. Consider it an honor, as he is a very esteemed person.”
For some reason, Chief Instructor Jang introduced the Poison Master with a very satisfied expression.
The Poison Master was an old man with disheveled hair, a massive build, and very dark skin. He walked with a staff. The kids whispered that the Poison Master’s skin had turned dark from exposure to all kinds of poisons.
On the first day, the Poison Master chuckled and said, “Heh heh. You think you’ve learned poison techniques just from theory? Even if it’s basic poison techniques, that’s not how you truly learn. You must handle poison directly.”
Unlike before, the Poison Master’s lessons involved real poison. On the tenth day, a bowl of poison powder was spilled, nearly killing six or seven kids, making it the most terrifying subject.
Won Seung was extremely cautious during poison classes. Extracting venom from the gaping mouth of a terrifying snake or wandering the mountains to pick and taste poisonous mushrooms to identify their components was truly a life-and-death task.
That day, while he was focused on extracting poison from a toad’s skin, someone approached and watched him work.
When Won Seung turned around, it was the Poison Master.
“You’ve got some skill with your hands?”
Won Seung said nothing and simply bowed his head politely. As usual, he planned to quietly slip away without drawing attention.
The Poison Master seemed pleased with Won Seung’s silence.
“Quiet for a youngster.”
His unexpected praise made Won Seung uneasy.
That evening, as he was heading back to his quarters, the supervising instructor called him.
“From today, you’ll stay at the Poison Master’s residence and assist him.”
“What?”
“The Poison Master’s assistant died from poisoning a few days ago. But the Poison Master said he liked you. Pack your things and go to the upper grounds.”
“But I’m… not really qualified…”
Won Seung, his face pale, tried to protest, but the instructor’s expression turned menacing, so he shut his mouth.
Refusing was pointless. In this merciless hellhole, he was no more than a fly that could be swatted at any time.
Won Seung asked, just in case.
“What about the other training…?”
“You’ll only stay at the upper grounds, but your training remains the same. You’ll just assist the Poison Master morning and evening, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”
‘So it’s training plus assisting the Poison Master.’
As he grumbled internally, the instructor added with a hint of pride, “Chief Instructor Jang arranged this for you, so you should work hard.”
‘Arranged, my foot!’
Frustrated but with no choice, he packed his things and headed to the upper grounds.
The upper grounds were on a flat area above the valley, lined with log houses. These were the offices of Chief Instructor Jang, the instructors’ quarters, and the dining hall.
The Poison Master’s residence was a wooden house slightly apart on a slanted hill near the upper grounds.
As he approached, he saw a fence around the house and a garden inside. It was the largest and nicest house in the upper grounds.
When Won Seung entered through the gate, the pungent smell of poisonous herbs made him dizzy.
As he hesitated in the yard, the Poison Master’s cold voice came from inside.
“If you’re here, come in already. What are you waiting for?”
Won Seung quickly went inside.
The interior of the wooden house was a space with a large table. The Poison Master sat at the table, grinding a small white crystal into powder.
The walls were lined with cabinets, each shelf filled with various bottles.
‘Are all those poisons?’
Won Seung thought he understood why the previous assistant had died. Just breathing the air in the living room felt like it could poison him.
The massive Poison Master looked at Won Seung with bulging eyes and then blew the white powder he was grinding.
“Gah!”
Startled, Won Seung dropped his bundle and covered his nose and mouth with his hands, even closing his eyes. It felt like he was falling off a cliff, and his legs trembled.
‘I’m going to die now! Using poison the moment we meet—what am I, a sworn enemy from a past life?’
As he cursed internally, he heard the Poison Master’s laughter.
“Heh heh, don’t worry. This is a medicine that calms the mind and body.”
Won Seung opened his eyes but still kept his nose covered as he asked, “You don’t only make poisons?”
“Poison and medicine are the same. Medicine can be poison, and poison can be medicine.”
Won Seung wore a dumbfounded expression as if he didn’t understand.
He wanted to act foolishly enough to be dismissed, but the Poison Master’s next words snapped him back to attention.
“The last assistant was truly stupid. I got so frustrated I fed him Black Death Poison and killed him.”
Won Seung quickly replied, “Right. I heard that even a death sentence can be a good medicine for some people.”
He recalled a story from the capital where a government official who received a death sentence actually got healthier after taking it, leading to a change to execution by beheading.
“Oh? I’ve known you were a clever one from the start. So don’t think you can act in front of me. I hear you received top grades in scriptures, poetry, calligraphy, painting, music, and basic poison techniques?”
The Poison Master smiled, seemingly satisfied, but to Won Seung, he looked like the Grim Reaper.
Trainees were unaware of their own grades. So Won Seung assumed he was around tenth place, matching the average kid’s level. Hearing the Poison Master’s words made him furious.
‘Idiots! I deliberately made mistakes, and they still did worse? How is that possible?’
Kids sold due to poverty and those from noble families who learned to read from a young age started on different footings.
The literature and music instructors couldn’t have missed Won Seung’s skills. Yet, Won Seung blamed the other kids.
“Chief Instructor Jang seems to be grooming you to become a Ten Talents Assassin. To do that, you need to master martial arts and poison techniques.”
Listening to the Poison Master, Won Seung realized that his vague suspicions were correct. They were being trained as assassins. At the same time, he had a question.
“What makes them think I can become a Ten Talents Assassin?”
“Heh heh, what does ‘Ten Talents’ mean? To be called that, you must excel in ten fields, including literature, martial arts, etiquette, and poison. Among them, martial arts, poison techniques, and strategy are essential.”
‘Was I really talented in ten fields?’
As Won Seung mentally counted how many things he was good at, the Poison Master laughed as if reading his mind and said, “With focused training in these mountains, you can reach a decent level in martial arts. But what about poetry, calligraphy, and music? Most kids here picked up a brush for the first time, so few truly master it. That’s why they chose you, with your exceptional literary talent.”
“Hmm. I just happen to like writing, drawing, and music, so my grades were good. But I’m not particularly outstanding in martial arts. How can I become a Ten Talents Assassin?”
He wondered how one person could excel in both literature and martial arts, let alone ten fields. That would be inhuman.
“That’s up to Chief Instructor Jang. Once you start serious martial arts training, he’ll probably treat you especially harshly.”
Won Seung’s hair stood on end.
Being treated harshly meant the likelihood of dying was just as high. All his subtle tricks had been in vain.
Unconsciously, his face turned pale as he asked again, “What happens if I can’t become a Ten Talents Assassin?”
“Even if you become just a top-tier assassin, you’ll be well-treated, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Won Seung cursed internally. How well could an assassin be treated for killing people?
Someday, he would fail in his assassin duties and die miserably.
‘Once I get out of here, I’ll disappear. I’ll go somewhere no one knows me. Or maybe… I’ll hide in my room at the capital. They won’t be able to find me there.’
He felt fortunate for claiming to be an orphan from Hagok County on the first day.
The Poison Master grunted, shifted his massive body, and said, “It’s dinner time. Go to the dining hall and bring the meal.”
The Poison Master was quite lazy, preferring to have meals brought to him.
When Won Seung took the lunchbox to the upper grounds dining hall, a fragrant aroma wafted through the air.
“Oh, this is on a different level.”
The food the kids ate was decent, but the upper grounds dining hall, used by the instructors, was like a renowned restaurant.
‘So they were eating this kind of stuff?’
The instructors, confined to the mountains to teach the kids, had nothing but food to enjoy, so they put great effort into hiring a skilled chef, making the food delicious.
The mountain training ground was quite large, with a basin below where they farmed wheat, millet, and vegetables. Below that were barns for raising chickens, ducks, and pigs. The training ground people were self-sufficient with the produce from these resources.
With fresh ingredients and a skilled chef, the upper grounds food was good enough to be served in the capital.
The only joy Won Seung found after becoming the Poison Master’s assistant was being able to eat the delicious food from the upper grounds kitchen to his heart’s content.
Lunch wasn’t brought due to training schedules, but Won Seung volunteered to deliver meals three times a day.