The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 106

"W-What did you just say?"

"I said that you don't seem to be as good as your passion for mapmaking."

Looking at him, who spoke to me in a slightly low voice, I answered with an innocent face as if I knew nothing.

So not only Zhuge Yun, but even Zhuge Ling's gaze towards me began to turn fierce.

'No way, they're not going to attack me, are they? Why are they so clueless... there's no way I would sincerely think that.'

I have a thought that I should have discussed this with Zhuge Ling in advance before coming in.

To be honest, Zhuge Yun's map is very excellent.

Even though it hasn't been many years since he started drawing maps, to be able to draw like this already means that he has a great talent for mapmaking.

'Has Zhuge Myeong-hyeon ever seen Zhuge Yun's map even once?'

Although I had this question in my mind, to be honest, it seems that he has never seen it properly.

So he probably didn't even recognize this talent.

And what's even more amazing is that these maps were not drawn by Zhuge Yun moving his body, measuring the distance, and looking at the terrain, but by being trapped in this small room and drawing based on the information he had only encountered through books.

It's a quality that makes me exclaim in admiration, as he must have made it by comparing various geography books, finding errors, and correcting mistakes.

'But, that's why there's no choice but to have limitations.'

The meaning of my saying it's shabby is precisely this.

No matter how elaborately you draw a map through books and information, it can't be as accurate as running with your own feet and seeing with your own eyes.

That's why there is no map of the entire Central Plains.

Because there would be no madman in the world who would travel the entire Central Plains and make a map with his own eyes.

Ah, there might be one. Zhuge Yun, who is in front of me.

"If Taoist Master Unhwi is also interested in mapmaking, I thought you would recognize how well-made this map is... why do you say such a thing?"

"It is well-drawn. This line, and the drawings of the rivers and mountains are full of sincerity. Perhaps if the young master had been a painter, he would have made a name for himself."

"What...?"

"Ah, if my words were rude, I apologize. I said it out of envy because I can't draw as well as the young master, so please understand."

Zhuge Yun's face turned red.

Since I was belittling the field he was most interested in and the only one he was confident in, he couldn't help but get angry.

Looking at that, I was rather relieved.

If his heart had completely hidden in the darkness as Zhuge Myeong-hyeon or Zhuge Bang-ju were worried, even if I said this, his heart would not have been greatly shaken, but it seems that Zhuge Yun is not like that.

A little while ago, he didn't stutter to Zhuge Ling, and now, he doesn't show any signs of being timid like before.

Perhaps... maybe Zhuge Yun is not really closing his heart, but is pretending to be so.

Because in a great family like the Zhuge family, he might have to do this much to be left alone to do what he wants.

"Where and how is my map lacking? If you know so well, I would like you to teach me a lesson."

"As I said a little while ago, almost all parts are excellent. You have expressed the official roads and small roads, and even the waterways, and the drawings that distinguish between mountains, fields, and rice paddies are also excellent. But this map has one very big problem."

"A big problem...?"

"That problem is very small, but it is also everything about the map."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's the error with the actual terrain."

"......?"

Zhuge Yun made a blank expression.

That's right. The biggest problem with this map is that although this map is a very well-drawn map, it is a map that has quite a few differences from the actual terrain.

But this is unavoidable.

It may be natural because it is a map drawn by relying only on other maps and geography books without leaving the room.

But Zhuge Yun seemed to be greatly shocked.

I decided to drive a wedge into his shock.

"So to put it simply. This map may have value as a wonderful drawing, but it is difficult to use it for practical purposes. A map is ultimately not for appreciation, but it is only meaningful if it is made so that someone who sees this map can find their way, isn't it?"

"So... this map has lost its function as a map?"

"That's what I wanted to say, but..."

I deliberately trailed off.

It's to prevent Zhuge Yun from immediately refuting me while I'm saying what I want to say.

As I intended, Zhuge Yun couldn't immediately refute me and was lost in thought for a moment.

'It's okay. It's okay.'

I made eye contact with Zhuge Ling, who was looking at me and Zhuge Yun alternately with an anxious expression, and conveyed my meaning with a look.

She was very surprised when I suddenly appeared and picked a fight with her older brother, and her eyes were welling up.

Since that incident three years ago, there must have been no one who spoke to Zhuge Yun like this.

So it seems that she was engulfed in the anxiety that Zhuge Yun might suddenly act out again.

'That won't happen.'

But, I don't think Zhuge Yun will do that.

Because for some reason, I felt like I knew the biggest reason why Zhuge Yun made such an extreme choice three years ago.

'No one took his dream seriously, and they just ignored it. He might have felt that his dream being denied was the same as himself being denied.'

The reason I know that feeling so well is... as I said once before, because I was like that.

The people around me saw me, who was training martial arts to death, as a weirdo.

They often treated me as a strange person, and they ignored me, saying that I could never do it with the martial arts I had.

So I can understand to some extent the feelings of Zhuge Yun, who is being treated similarly.

But why was I able to work hard to death, and why did Zhuge Yun even try to commit suicide?

The reason is nothing special. Because the field I was interested in was mainstream, and the field Zhuge Yun is interested in is non-mainstream.

Currently, learning martial arts and becoming a martial artist in the Central Plains is the mainstream of the mainstream.

I had countless ways to prove myself to the people who had ignored me by working hard.

Making a name for myself as a renowned hero, participating in numerous martial arts competitions and winning to raise my fame, entering the Martial Arts Alliance and proving my martial arts... I did all of them.

And by the time I got the nickname 'Self-Taught Swordsman', although there were guys from prestigious families who ignored me because of my origin, there was not a single guy who looked down on me for my skills.

'But, there's no way to prove something like mapmaking...'

This is the problem of the non-mainstream.

No matter how hard you try, there is no way to prove that your path was right.

What about completing the best map and selling it to people?

Of course, there is such a method, but a map is not the kind of thing that one person buys ten or a hundred of.

Is that all? Due to the nature of a map being drawn on paper, it is easy to copy and plagiarize.

In the end, even if he becomes the best mapmaker, all that will be left for him is the satisfaction of having distributed the best map to people.

'Of course, Zhuge Yun might think that's enough. But...'

Doing what you want to do and meeting the expectations of your family are two different stories.

That's why he gave up everything. Because he probably couldn't see any solution.

"Th-That's a lie. I compared over a hundred geography books. And I also created a method to roughly calculate the distance using the movement of the sun and the moon. So there can't be any errors..."

"Have you ever seen it with your own eyes?"

"That's..."

"You haven't, have you? Can you give me that brush? And if you have a map of Hubei Province and Anhui Province, bring that too and spread it out."

As soon as my words fell, Zhuge Yun, with a bewildered expression, brought a neatly folded map and a brush.

When I spread the map on the floor, a fairly large map of Hubei Province appeared. I spread the map of Anhui Province next to it and laid it on the floor, and then I took the brush and first began to draw a long line on the map of Hubei Province.

"Wh-What are you doing!"

The loudest voice I had heard so far burst out from Zhuge Yun.

It seems he thought I was ruining the map he had worked so hard to draw.

But, I raised my hand and stopped him, and then, after calmly finishing the line I was drawing, I said.

After drawing a few more lines like that, I stood up and said, "Now. Look here. From here to here. Young Master, you expressed this distance as about two finger joints, but in fact, it should be three. And this road doesn't go around along the river like this... now a road has been made through the river like this. Do you know why?"

"Perhaps... a delta?"

"You got it right in one go. That's right. The sediment that has accumulated over the years has blocked from here to here, and people can now go through the river without having to go around this road. And here. Young Master, you drew the mountain going down and meeting this road, but this road collapsed due to a landslide a few years ago and can't be used. Instead, the people of this nearby village gathered their strength and paved a new road on top."

"Ah......"

"Finally, there is a big error in this map where Anhui Province and Hubei Province meet. The problem here is the road itself... you have connected two roads that are not connected as if they were one."

I twisted the map of Anhui Province a little and matched the existing road with a different road, and then continued, "It should be like this here. The overall picture needs to be twisted a little."

"......"

He didn't answer and opened a drawer with a clatter, and then began to diligently write down what I had said.

In Zhuge Yun's eyes, there is a vitality and enthusiasm that could not be found before.

The one who was most surprised by his behavior was Zhuge Ling.

"And, and what else is wrong?"

"If I were to say it in words, there would be no end. There are already several parts that I have pointed out. What should we do to correct these errors?"

"I have to go to the area myself and see with my own eyes..."

I smiled brightly and nodded my head.

Because it seemed that he also realized what I wanted to say.

"The reason I said your map was impractical is precisely that. There's not much you can do sitting in your room. Go outside. And see for yourself. The family is stopping you? Then fight back."

"......"

"And resume the martial arts training you had quit."

"Why is that?"

"If you go out into the Central Plains to make a map with such clumsy martial arts, you'll be a perfect target for mountain bandits or thieves. If you only get robbed of your money, you'll be lucky. You'll get robbed of your life at once. And in the end, if you want to draw a map of the entire Central Plains, you'll have to go around the Central Plains once, and if you walk slowly, you don't know how many days it will take. But think about unfolding your footwork. That time will be greatly reduced. The stronger your martial arts become, the faster the completion of the map will be. For sure."

At my words full of conviction, Zhuge Yun's expression gradually changes.

His face, which had been like that of a weak child, began to be filled with will.

"And... look carefully at the place I touched."

At my words, Zhuge Ling and Zhuge Yun looked at the map at the same time, and I immediately continued, "If you look carefully, you started from Mount Longzhong, where the Zhuge family is, and followed the road, passed Hubei Province, and drew only up to the place where you go to Anhui Province, right?"

Zhuge Yun looked at me and nodded his head.

"You'll have to see with your own eyes whether what I said just now is true or not, right? So let's go together. To the Nangong family. Let's go together and see with your own eyes how wrong the young master's map is."

(End of Chapter)