snippet from:
Vol.1 - 9: Chicken Soup (part 2)
Once, when he was only eleven, he had been practicing swordsmanship with the other students. By then, Uncle Hwang had already taken him in and taught him the ways of a Hwachon soldier. During a sparring match with a boy a year older than him, his opponent resorted to dirty tricks.
Their swords were wooden, yet for some reason, the other boy's felt sharper than Dohyun's.
The intent had been clear:
He doesn't belong here. Let's show him his place.
Dohyun knew he was being bullied. He didn't care.
He gave it everything he had.
Uncle Hwang was watching. Dohyun had to prove he was capable.
Despite the tricks and the cuts that followed, Dohyun didn't give up. He lunged forward and attacked. In the end, he won.
Unable to accept defeat, the boy and his friends ganged up on him after the match. They beat him until he bled. They crushed his lungs and struck him repeatedly with an iron rod - his back, his head, his stomach.
Pain stabbed through every inch of his body.
Dohyun didn't make a sound.
Why?
Because he knew the truth. No one would side with him. And Uncle Hwang could not be troubled over such matters again and again. He had to endure it. Endure it now, and repay it all once he grew stronger than them all.
When they finally tired of his unresponsive body, they discarded him like trash on the street, tossing the bloodied iron rod into the river.
As the sun set, its fading rays reflected off the trickling saltwater that dripped from Dohyun's swollen, bloodied eye.
Finally, it was over.
But⌠how do I go back?
I can't moveâŚ
And so he lay there, soaked in blood and dust, quietly enduring the pain as he slipped into sleep⌠or perhaps into death.
Back then, he had survived because of Uncle Hwang.
Now, the same scene repeated itself.
But this time, who would save him? Was there anyone he could call his own here?
No.
No one would come. No one would save him.
So he had to endure. Endure and endure and endure. Don't worry. It will end soon. Just bite your tongue and endure it. No one's going to-
"What is the meaning of this?"
An icy voice rang through the court.
