Book 1 Chapter 4

The Dreadful Steel Laundry Bat

Along with chopping wood, what my master taught me was laundry.

About thirty minutes' walk from the thatched-roof house would lead to a stream with clear water. The master took me there, dumped a load of smelly laundry on me, and told me to wash it all. I endured it. After all, he was my master…! 'Alright, I'll do the laundry for my poor (?) master!'

Thinking this, I readily complied with my master's instructions.

"Hmph, fine. I'll do it."

"Hey, why the long face? Got a problem? If not, take this!"

And then he handed me a black club. It was about the length of a grown man's forearm, rounded, and slightly curved like a crescent moon.

"What is this, Master?"

"Can't you tell by looking? It's a laundry bat. You'll know when you use it, but it's an essential item for doing laundry. What are you waiting for? My arm hurts, take it already!"

'Hmph, why a laundry bat….'

I thought to myself and took the laundry bat in question.

"Ugh!"

Just like the axe, the laundry bat was ridiculously heavy. It turned out to be a steel laundry bat. It was a moment where my shoulder could have popped out if I wasn't careful.

"M-Master! W-why is this laundry bat so unbelievably heavy? How much does it weigh?"

I yelled at my master with a flushed face. My master's voice was a distant echo. At that moment, I was focusing all my attention on the laundry bat, so I couldn't hear my master's voice clearly.

"What do you mean heavy? It only weighs 50 geun. That's only half the weight of an iron axe."

"What? It weighs 80 ri (30kg)! What is this? My frail body can barely handle a single heavy iron axe. How am I supposed to do laundry with such a crude laundry bat? If I wash with this, it won't be laundry, it'll just be rags!"

I yelled at my master, my face now looking as if I was suffocating.

"Hey! I told you not to inflate the numbers unnecessarily. Of course, if you wash normally, it won't be laundry, just rags. Would a thin piece of cloth survive being struck with an iron bar weighing tens of geun? To prevent that, you must master the mantra of 'Yoo' (softness). Only when you can incorporate softness within strength will you be able to properly do laundry. Furthermore, this laundry also develops your shoulders and wrists, giving it a synergistic effect of one stone, three birds. This training method is the official designated training method of our Birai Sect (Flying Thunder Sect), passed down through generations and called Secret Laundry Method. Stop complaining and just do your laundry diligently!"

My master tried to persuade me with all sorts of flowery language. It was an unusually elaborate speech for persuading someone to do laundry. It didn't fit the current situation at all. However, if it was part of my training, what could I say? I had no choice but to submit to my fate. I felt pathetic for my powerlessness and resented my master. As my heart settled into accepting my fate, I asked my master about the question I had when I first held the black steel laundry bat.

"Master! Does this steel laundry bat have a legend like Geumbuyeon's iron axe? For example, a story about how an ancestor was doing laundry in the stream with this steel laundry bat, then a celestial maiden came down to bathe in the stream, and he beat her to death with the steel laundry bat and stole her valuables?"

To me, who asked with innocent curiosity, my eyes shining like the Milky Way, my master threw a gruff answer along with a chestnut to the head.

"Such a story is not passed down in our sect. If you really want to create one, go ahead and do it yourself. Anyway, don't think such useless thoughts and just focus on your laundry."

With that, my master left the laundry spot.

At first, the steel laundry bat was so heavy that I had to use both hands to hold it while doing laundry. Even though I was supposed to hold the laundry with one hand and the laundry bat with the other. Furthermore, the foolish master just spouted nonsense and didn't teach me the crucial 'Yoo' mantra, just left. So, there was no way I could do laundry properly. Later, it reached a point where I couldn't tell if the clothes had turned into butterflies in a dream or if rags had turned into clothes in a dream.

That day, I returned home and was severely beaten by my master. I had to bleed profusely because of it. It's a bitter memory I don't want to recall, and thinking about it still makes my thumb and index finger tingle. And all night, I had to mend the clothes that had become rags, stitch by stitch. I suggested that buying new ones would be faster and more economical, but my master, a dictator and tyrant, lacked the broad generosity to listen to the counsel of a loyal subject. He only spewed useless sophistry, saying that sewing would help develop delicate hand skills. Regardless, I had to sew, and those rags truly became rags imbued with my sweat and blood. I named those rags 'Mangyeolbok' (Garment of Ten Thousand Stitches). It means clothes that have been sewn ten thousand times.

Wearing the Mangyeolbok, I went to the stream every day and continued to do laundry. And after a month, I was finally able to hold the clothes with my left hand and do laundry. It took about a month to be able to hold the steel laundry bat with one hand. I alternated weekly, doing laundry with the laundry bat in my right hand for one week, and in my left hand for the next.

The Mangyeolbok served as my practice partners. It took about a year and six months for the ten thousand stitches to become a thousand, a thousand to become a hundred, a hundred to become ten, ten to become one, and one to become none.

From then on, I was able to do laundry naturally and comfortably, and I was able to incorporate softness (Yoo) within strength. By then, my sewing skills had already reached a divine level.