Shaolin Temple
The next morning, when Tang Mujin returned to the Guest Hall, Hong Geolgae and Goiyi, who had been lazing about, only turned their heads to look at him.
Hong Geolgae frowned faintly and sniffed.
"What's this? Why do you reek of liquor? Did you sneak off to a tavern at the foot of the mountain?"
It was a simple reaction.
But Goiyi was not such a simple man, and his mind worked much faster than Hong Geolgae's.
The Sub-Master told him to check the hut…
Before we entered Shaolin, I glimpsed a hut near the waterwheel.
And there was a woman there, swinging a pickaxe.
Now there's a smell of liquor. And he spent the night out…
An insidious smile spread across Goiyi's face. He raised both hands and made a lewd gesture.
"Looks like you had yourself quite the night, eh…?"
Seeing the gesture, Tang Mujin blanched and shouted.
"What the—old man, have you finally lost your mind?"
Hong Geolgae, who hadn't understood a word, asked in confusion.
"What? What is it? What happened?"
"What happened is—Tang Mujin has gone far ahead of you, that's what. That rascal."
"That's not what happened at all!"
"Listen to him brazenly deny it. Do you realize how upset the other party must be, seeing you like this? No—perhaps she isn't in one piece anymore. Didn't she seem rather fiery?"
There was something in Goiyi's sly expression that made people instinctively want to clench their fists.
Tang Mujin didn't resist that instinct—he swung a punch.
But Goiyi calmly raised his palm and caught it with ease. His understanding of the Palm Scripture ran deeper than Tang Mujin's raw force.
Tang let out a deep sigh from his chest. Never before had he felt so acutely the need to train martial arts.
I really must train harder from now on.
After clearing his throat twice, Goiyi spoke more seriously.
"Anyway, did you gain anything?"
"Yes. Definitely."
"Exchanged names?"
"She said her name is Dan Seol-yeong."
"Well done. Names are always the foundation. All the more so if you're not just going to part ways after a day or two."
"True. Even if we work night and day, this'll take months."
"Months? You call that 'just months'?"
"Why? What's wrong?"
Goiyi looked at him with a face full of disgust.
"To treat a young lady with such a trashy mindset… Before your relationship deepens, I should go inform Lady Dan of this fact myself."
"…Weren't we talking about the Wooden Men Alley?"
"No. I was asking about this."
He made the same obscene gesture again.
Tang Mujin felt lightheaded. He had always thought those old war stories about generals falling for provocation tactics were foolish. But no—it wasn't foolishness at all.
His hand went to his sword hilt, but Goiyi casually pressed down on the pommel with his fingers.
"Calm down. It was a joke. Anyway, since this job is going to drag on, I'll need to get busy myself."
"Busy with what?"
Fearing more nonsense, Tang asked with a crooked look. But unexpectedly, Goiyi gave a serious answer.
"I'm going to compile my knowledge into a medical text. I've been putting it off for years, but the time has come."
The thought of Goiyi being occupied was a relief. If left idle, he would only hover around Tang and Dan Seol-yeong, causing mischief.
"That's good. Hong Geolgae, what about you?"
"Me?"
Startled at hearing his name, Hong Geolgae had nothing in mind, as usual. The true carefree life of a Beggar Sect disciple.
If he had to do something, it would be either begging or training—but neither was suitable here at Shaolin.
It was unthinkable to beg from monks, and it would be awkward to practice the Beggar Sect's strange techniques among Shaolin's martial monks.
So Hong Geolgae decided he'd simply go somewhere he felt at ease.
"I'll head down to the village."
It was hardly a plan that helped anyone. Still, their tasks were loosely decided. Goiyi clapped his hands.
"Alright then, let's each go about our business. Dismissed!"
***
Tang Mujin immediately went to find Dan Seol-yeong. He half expected her to be swinging a pickaxe again, but instead she was squatting on the ground, scribbling something.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, you're here? Just thinking through what order the work should be done in."
"Hmm."
"First, I need to ask: what's the condition inside the Wooden Men Alley? Is there anything salvageable? I'd heard it was already in bad shape long ago."
Tang thought for a moment before shrugging.
"There's almost nothing to salvage. It's all rotted and decayed. The few things left will crumble at the slightest touch."
"And the wooden men themselves?"
Tang picked up a small stick and sketched one on the dirt floor. Their designs were simple enough that he drew it in moments.
"There are about thirty of these. But now…"
He erased the drawing with his foot.
"They're basically like this—worthless. It's hard to even guess how they once moved."
"So the Alley's structure is a wreck, and the wooden men are beyond saving."
Dan Seol-yeong folded her arms, thought a while, then nodded.
"Alright. Then let's just make a single prototype first. Better to go through the trial and error now. Sit there and wait."
Tang sat down while she went into the shed and returned with carving knives and a bundle of dried wood.
She set them before him and crouched at his side.
"Forget appearances for now—just focus on the internal structure. We need to confirm whether the wooden man will move as I expect. Better to build it at a smaller scale, otherwise it'll be too hard. How small can you make it?"
"Hmm."
Tang quickly whittled two little gears, each just bigger than his thumbnail.
He fixed them onto a thin rod, meshed the teeth, and spun them.
Though unpolished and rough, the gears turned well enough.
"This small is easy. Any smaller and it'll take more care."
A bright smile spread across Dan Seol-yeong's face.
"Impressive. Then let's scale the wooden man down to about knee or thigh height. First, let's make six straight hexagonal rods. Half a ch'i thick, one ch'ok long."
Tang carved the parts as instructed. But the dimensions she gave didn't quite match what he had in mind.
In the end, he had to make them slightly larger, then shave and trim the ends and corners down to size.
After doing this several times, Tang finally changed his approach.
"I should make a ruler first."
Tang Mujin cut a long piece of wood, then focused all his attention on carving evenly spaced grooves. When he was done, he had a ruler about two ch'ok long. With that, the work became a little easier.
But even with the ruler, things didn't go as smoothly as he'd hoped.
To be precise, making the parts themselves wasn't the problem—it was the nagging frustration he felt.
Only after some time did Tang realize the source of that feeling.
Until now, whenever he made something, he always began with a clear understanding of what it was and how it worked.
But this time was different. The only one who knew the finished structure was Dan Seol-yeong.
He didn't know why he was carving each piece, or where it would fit.
It felt less like walking toward a destination and more like walking blindfolded, led along by someone else's hand.
That constant lack of clarity made the work stifling, and it naturally slowed him down.
At last, Tang rose to his feet and spoke.
"This pace won't do. It's too slow."
Dan Seol-yeong didn't agree.
"Slow? At this rate we could finish a wooden man in two days."
"Maybe by your standard, but for me, it's slow. No, more than slow—it's suffocating. I need to know how the wooden men move first. They don't all move the same way, right?"
"Mm. Right. Not a single one moves alike."
"Then which one are we working on now?"
"The first in the right-hand row."
"Can you explain how it moves?"
"It doesn't fully extend its right arm—just stretches it partway. At the same time, it lifts its left leg a little…"
Dan began describing it but then stopped. She realized there was a better way. She jumped to her feet.
"Here, look. Like this."
She thrust her arms out one after another, then bent and lifted her leg. The movements were short and simple.
But Tang couldn't hold back his laughter.
Her motions were so stiff, she looked like one of those string-puppets used in shadow plays, jerking about awkwardly. The silly gestures, paired with her serious expression, made it even funnier.
Realizing how she must have looked, Dan's face and ears flushed red. She raised her pickaxe as if to strike.
"What are you laughing at? You asked me to show you!"
"I wasn't mocking you. It just slipped out."
"That's the same thing!"
Their spat was short-lived. In the end, Dan's demonstration proved helpful—Tang's pace picked up significantly.
The improvement was clear enough that Dan resigned herself to her fate: acting out the wooden men's motions in front of Tang Mujin.
The prototype's internal structure work, which began early in the morning, still wasn't done by nightfall. Once it became too dark to continue, Dan stood up and stretched.
"It's too late. Let's finish tomorrow."
"No. It looks close to done. Let's wrap it up tonight. Do you have a lamp?"
"No lamp, but I could make a torch."
"Would that work?"
"Of course."
Torches required oil, and oil was expensive. But Dan wanted to see the wooden man today, if possible.
She tore up some worn-out clothes, soaked the rags in oil, and wrapped them around a stick, making a small torch. When she lit it, it gave off enough light.
Tang's hands got moving again.
Dan watched the wooden man take shape under the wavering torchlight. Then her gaze lingered on Tang, focused and absorbed in his work. Something about it made her feel happy.
The work dragged on even later than expected—Dan had to fetch more oil-soaked cloth twice.
By the time they finished, it was probably around midnight.
Dan stared at the completed wooden man with excitement.
It didn't yet have the look of a human—just a bare framework—but to her eyes, that alone was wonderful.
"Let's see it move. Want me to try?"
"No. I'll do it."
The prototype wasn't connected to the waterwheel system. Tang grasped the small rod beneath it and slowly turned it to the right. The stiff feel of the gears meshing was oddly satisfying.
The wooden man moved as Dan had demonstrated earlier, stretching and bending its limbs. The motion was a little awkward, but good enough.
"Not bad at all."
Tang smiled, pleased. He had made all kinds of contraptions before, but this was his first time creating something that actually moved.
But there was no reply. He turned his head.
Dan was staring at the wooden man, transfixed.
She reached out instinctively, and Tang handed it to her.
She worked the little mechanism herself, and the wooden man slowly waved its limbs.
Dan gazed at it blankly, like a child with their first toy—or like an old woman seeing a final wish fulfilled.
Tang watched her and the prototype a moment, then stood up.
"I'll be back tomorrow. You should get some sleep—we've got more work ahead."
"Mm."
Hugging the wooden man close, Dan walked home. Judging from her expression, she would probably fiddle with it all night.
Tang turned toward Shaolin's gate.
But long past sundown, the monastery's great doors were locked tight.
He couldn't very well climb the wall in secret, nor shout to be let in. Sleeping outside the gate was no option either.
After a moment's thought, he went back to Dan's house.
She had already gone inside, leaving no one out front.
Under the star-scattered sky, Tang Mujin was alone.
Creak, creak—
The waterwheel groaned as it turned. The grasshoppers on Soshil Peak chirped noisily.
The air wasn't cold, and the ground was soft with grass and dirt.
Tang sprawled on his back, gazing up at the moon. Before long, his eyes closed, and he drifted into sleep.