Possessing Nothing Novel (쥐뿔도 없는 회귀)

Chapter 80 - Shaolin

It was no joke.

He had been living under a delusion. He wasn't not talented. His starting point was different. He was given another chance. A chance to live a different life than before. Indeed, such an opportunity was given. But did he live a different life? You can say that he was alive... But was he any better?

Lee Sung-min couldn't answer the question. Six years had passed since he was summoned. In those six years, how hard had he tried? How enthusiastic had he been about it?

Had he tried harder than those countless 'geniuses' out there? Was he more focused? More hardworking?

Was he more devoted?

No.

He had no choice but to be that way. He lost to Namgong Hee-won, the Sword Dragon. He was defeated by Shaolin's Jihak. The sense of defeat he felt when he was defeated by them was overwhelming. Frustration clouded his mind. A sense of shame was engraved in his mind for being weak. It wasn't just them. Even when he was overpowered by Prescan in the dungeon, he had been trembling, his emotions constraining him.

He wasn't completely committed to martial arts.

Jihak, who had lived in Shaolin since he was young, was an unmistakable genius. He had consumed all kinds of spiritual medicine and was educated by the powerful Masters of the Shaolin Temple. But Jihak wasn't arrogant. He never got conceited about his strength, talent, and resources. Ji-hak was more devoted, hardworking, absorbed, and desperate than Lee Sung-min.

It was the same for Namgong Hee-won. Namgung Hee-won, who was born in Namgong Household, lived in a more meaningful way than Lee Sung-min. This was true for Prescan as well, who looked crazy. His desire for the ultimate life had rendered him crazy, but his life as Prescan, after abandoning his body to become a lich and committing taboos, was more purposeful.

Their starting point was clearly different.

He didn't have the same talent they had.

He couldn't master or learn their martial arts.

He couldn't take cultivation pills.

It was all just an excuse. A lame excuse. Lee Sung-min knew that better than anyone else.

He had finally returned to the past. He couldn't give that excuse anymore.

He had mastered different martial arts. He had taken some medicinal pills. He'd been running away for too long.

Yes.

It had been too long.

"What is your dream?"

The Grandmaster, who didn't have a habit of leaving the cave, had been coming out of the cave recently. Lee Sung-min, who was watching the twilight sky, stared blankly at him and opened his mouth.

"I don't know."

If it had been a year ago, there would have been something to answer.

'I want to catch up with Wijihyeon. I want to see the end to the path of martial arts.'

But not now.

"A year ago you answered that you wanted to dream. You said you wanted to fly, and that you've learned to crawl. Have you learned how to walk?"

"I learned..."

He gave a short laugh, "Aha, you've only taken the steps you needed to take. Do you get it now? Did you try to fly?"

'Did you try to fly?'

Lee Sung-min shook his head at the sudden question.

"... Grandmaster. You... Do you know about my body's contradiction?"