Solo Swordmaster

Chapter 66: Let's Do It the Old Fashioned Way

“Guardian? What’s that?”

“A startup company dedicated to the security, inspection, and auditing of Leviathan’s affiliates.”

“...I get the security and inspection, but what kind of company is dedicated to auditing? How does that even make sense?”

“It doesn’t. Especially if you know who the executive is.”

“Who is it?”

“That son of a bitch.”

“You mean… That mad dog?!”

“What other son of a bitch is there?”

“Why, that’s nonsense! How can that bastard, of all people, get our group’s prosecuting authority? How is that any different than giving him the permission to cut our throats?!”

“It is our princess’ order.”

“Even if it is…!”

“Enough. Don’t cross the line. She may not be the brightest, but our princess is still the princess.”

“But still, how could she fall in love with the enemy of our clan and sell us out?!”

“Just hold it in for now. I’m sure the elders won’t just allow this to happen.”

“Grrr! I can’t believe he would tempt our innocent princess and do something like this… That shameless, perverted old geezer!!!”

***

“My ears are really itchy for some reason.”

“I can make an appointment with the Intensive Care Unit if needed.”

“....I mean it feels like someone is talking about me. A lot… Not that I’m dying from itchy ears.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Just be honest and say you’re regretful. Don’t say stuff you don’t even mean, it’s giving me goosebumps.”

But she did not bat an eye. She only stopped herself from dialing 119 with what looked like genuine regret.

“If you don’t need anything else, may I leave?”

“What are you in such a hurry for?”

“It was the princess’ order to minimize interruptions to the Master of Swords’ personal time.” Wei-Ling, the female transvestite, added on with her cold voice. “Of course, if the Master of Swords wishes to review the security and inspection system and create a manual, I would be happy to give him the work.”

“…All right. You’re free to leave.”

“Excuse me, then.”

As if she knew what he was going to say, Wei-Ling turned around as soon as she heard his answer and rushed off.

Limon clicked his tongue.

“How uncompromising.”

“[That’s not uncompromising. I think she just really hates your guts, boss.]”

“Same thing. It’s a given rule in the workplace to not be obvious you hate your superior.”

“[It’s not very persuasive coming from someone who would grab the director by the neck whenever he got bored.]”

“And you’re definitely more persuasive, coming from someone who talks back to her boss all the time.”

The bluebird on his head, Yoo Na-kyung, paced back and forth between who was the better employee. She was the one to put an end to the futile debate.

“[Anyways, be grateful you got a good subordinate. Me included, but a competent secretary like Miss Wei-Ling is hard to come by.]”

“Well, you’re questionable. But I do agree she’s competent.”

It had already been a couple of days since Li Chingwei gave him the position of Guardian’s CEO, with Wei-Ling at his side as his secretary.

In that time, Limon had nothing to do. But a lot still went on in Guardian.

Official documents were distributed to Leviathan’s affiliates run by the Black Dragon Clan. General information for each subsidiary was organized, and immediate employees were recruited.

All these were practically all done by Wei-Ling alone in just a few short days.

“No wonder the princess picked her out.”

“[She’s an elite in the Black Dragon Clan, right? Then, she’s obviously going to be basically one of the best in the world.]”

“Well, that’s true. Martial artists who have reached the level capable of harnessing Psionics are skilled at everything, after all.”

“[Unlike you, right?]”

“…What are you coming at me for?”

“[Well, obviously…]”

Yoo Na-kyung didn’t flinch one bit seeing Limon clench his fists. Rather, she scoffed, and hit Limon with the cold hard truth.

“[It’s because you're still at the same place you started. Even with a first-class violinist like Julia as your teacher.]”

***

***

Limon furrowed his brows. Unlike how smoothly Guardian was going thanks to Wei-Ling, he was completely at a dead end with the violin. That was why moments later, Julia was looking at the young, black-haired man named ‘Li’ with a frustrated look.

“Li, can you still not do it?”

“Regretfully.”

“Are you sure you really reviewed and previewed the lessons? You weren’t being lazy, right?”

“I hate to be the one saying this, but I’ve only been sleeping one hour a day to make more time for practice.”

“But you don’t look very tired.”

“I’m naturally quite… Very healthy.”

She eyes him suspiciously as he answers brazenly, letting out a small sigh.

‘It doesn’t look like he’s lying.’

Sleeping one hour a day surely had to have been an exaggeration, but she knew that Limon was trying. Yes, he had a pompous attitude, but he was always focused during the lessons.

The problem came with his progress.

“Then why can you still not read notes?”

“It’s hard to learn new things with an old brain.”

“Putting aside the fact that you’re too young to be saying that, grandpas over the age of 80 can still learn to read notes easily.”

Julia looked dumbfounded. It would’ve been understandable if he was stuck on something specialized or difficult. But even after intensive instruction over several days, Li still couldn’t even read simple notes. It was baffling.

“What I don’t get is how you play while reading these things called ‘notes’. What kind of brain do you have to have to read those little tadpoles as sound?”

“Li… That means that the entire world has weird brains.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

How has his overinflated ego not burst yet?

The weird tadpoles were the ones at fault, not him.

Julia sighed. She expected that teaching a complete outsider to music would be difficult. But who could’ve known this outsider couldn’t even read music notes?! It was an obstacle she had never been faced with before.

‘Hm, this isn’t good.’

So was the case for Limon. Thanks to the cursed violin, the fragments of starlight in Limon had significantly decreased. And every time he played it, they dissolved a little bit more.

He wasn’t taking these violin lessons because he had an abundance of time. The intuition of a swordmaster who had been in countless life and death battles was telling him: this was more urgent than anything else.

But to add insult to injury, the speed at which the fragments dissolved slowed down with repeated music.

‘This won’t do.’

And yet, here he was, walking in place after passing all his work to someone else.

Limon was struggling—much more than how frustrated Julia was.

The problem was that no matter how many nights he spent forcing the material into his brain, these notes were just impossible to grasp.

‘Tsk. It’s not easy to learn something new at this age.’

Limon had always learned through practice—going into action first and then training his body. Trying to learn music, something he had never been interested in, wasn’t easy.

‘Geez. Troubadours and musicians in the past played just fine without notes in the past. Why does this even need to exist…’

Fitting for a stubborn, centuries-old man, Limon yearned for the past whilst complaining about the current generation. Just then, Limon blinked.

“But is reading all this really necessary?”

“What do you mean?”

“Notes or whatever they’re called. Can’t I just skip and learn the next thing instead?”

“…Li, do you think that’s actually possible?”

Julia, already annoyed and coming down with a headache, could feel her migraine get exponentially worse at Limon’s nonse.

“Notes are the basic fundamentals of all music. Learning the violin without knowing how to read notes is like growing a tree without roots.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t play without them.”

“I’m telling you, you can’t learn anything like that.”

“I think that would be the same if we go on like this, too.”

“…”

“Think about it. You know, there’s cases of people going into battle without an ounce of swordsmanship knowledge. And then they return from the battlefield a swordmaster."

Julia furrowed her brows at Limon’s morbid comparison. If this was a university of music and Limon was an average student, such wisdom would have been worthless.

But Limon’s learning ability was so devastatingly poor, it looked like she would only be teaching him how to read music notes for the entire lesson.

As an advocate for open education, it was a proposal she had to consider.

The problem was how.

‘Fine, then. Let’s say we go past reading music notes. Then, what and how are you going to learn, Li? Are you going to finally try playing the violin?”

“Not right now. It’ll all be over if you run away after listening to me play.”

“Then how do you expect me to teach you?”

Julia could not hide her expressions any longer. She didn’t know what utter mess Limon’s performance would be, but she couldn’t teach a student who couldn’t read notes and refused to play in front of her. Even the bluebird in the corner of the room shook its head as it ate biscuits.

But Limon answered nonchalantly, as if he’d thought of the answer beforehand.

“We’ll do it the old way.”

“The old way?”

“You’re a musikạntin(musician) before a teacher, Julia.”

“I’m more of a geigerin(violinist) than a rootless musician, but what about it?”

“What do you think a musician does?”

“…?”

Julia looked at Limon, perplexed. After a moment, she became aghast. She realized why Limon had chosen such an elegant word to describe her, and what the ‘old way’ was.

Limon stood up. Picking up the violin case next to Julia, he spoke.

“Let me hear the best performance from the best performer. I’ll do the rest.”

Long ago, before music notes were even created. Like musicians of the past who learned countless pieces by ear, he was going to watch and learn himself.

Julia could only look at him grinning stupidly, absolutely dumbstruck.

——

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