“Brother Ryun and I saved this to give to you, Sister…….”
Ryeon looked deeply touched for a moment, then placed a piece of Dragon Beard Candy into the mouth of Danmok Bi, who was mumbling something.
“Ah! No, that was meant for you, Sister. I didn’t mean for me to eat it…….”
Ryeon chuckled slightly as she watched Danmok Bi struggle to look upset while the sweetness spreading in his mouth made him smile involuntarily. She then beckoned to Hwaryun. Hwaryun shook his head.
“No, Sister, I’m fine.”
“Oh, hush! Come here, quickly.”
Hwaryun looked like he wanted to scowl at her tone, which treated him like a toddler. However, he eventually trudged over to her. Ryeon fairly popped a piece of Dragon Beard Candy into Hwaryun’s mouth as well.
“Here. Is it good?”
“…….”
Hwaryun, looking like he had a lot to say, nodded his head with an expression that suggested he had swallowed his words along with the candy.
In the meantime, Danmok Bi, who had cleanly finished his piece, rubbed his lips against Ryeon’s cheek in a kiss. A sweet scent wafted from the child’s breath.
Ryeon burst into laughter when she saw Hwaryun looking utterly appalled by Danmok Bi’s affection.
“Does Ryun hate sweet things?”
Ryeon thought she understood why there were three pieces of Dragon Beard Candy. Danmok Hyeonu likely gave them two each. If Danmok Bi had struggled to eat only one and brought the remainder, then Hwaryun must have saved both of his to offer them up.
Danmok Bi looked at Hwaryun with disbelief. Hwaryun finished the candy and rolled his eyes.
“No, well. It’s good. But Sister should eat the last one.”
“Right! You eat it, Sister.”
The boys chattered away. Ryeon quietly observed the two, who seemed to get along strangely well.
Compared to others his age, Danmok Bi was exceptionally mature, yet when he was with Hwaryun, he seemed like a spoiled youngest child. That wasn’t to say Hwaryun acted incredibly grown-up, either…….
“So, you didn’t just come here to give me this candy, right?”
“Ehehe…….”
Danmok Bi puffed out his cheeks in a spoiled expression and smiled. Ryeon headed toward a small basket near the stove.
“Woaaaah…….”
A small white kitten with a round, full belly was sleeping soundly inside the cozy basket, which even had a Tangpa tucked inside. It didn’t even notice the three children burying their heads together to stare at it.
The kitten’s soft downy fur stuck up in tufts, making it look like a stuffed doll.
“What did you name it?”
“I was thinking of ‘Whitey,’ but Mother suggested ‘Baekryeon’…….”
Calling it Baekryeon just because it was a white thing brought by Ryeon? It made her wonder if parental love could go too far, but she couldn’t bring herself to say she disliked it.
Even Nanny Jang had clapped her hands in approval, and even this little kitten perked its ears up only when called ‘Baekryeon’ rather than ‘Whitey.’
“I like it too!”
The kitten’s ears twitched at Danmok Bi’s excited shout. Seeing that, Danmok Bi quickly covered his mouth with both hands.
“What about you, Ryun? do you like that name, too?”
Hwaryun, who evidently hadn’t expected to be asked, flinched his shoulders. He looked back at Ryeon, then quickly nodded with a nonchalant face.
“Wouldn’t anything be better than ‘Whitey’?”
“You really are the type to accrue a thousand-nyang debt with a single word. Really.”
Hwaryun stared blankly for a moment before laughing loudly.
While Ryeon looked at him in disbelief, the baby kitten woke from its sleep and began to mewl.
Ryeon pushed aside the still-laughing Hwaryun, picked up the kitten, and began to soothe it. Danmok Bi also moved his hands this way and that, trying to help comfort the animal.
“You come here and do something, too.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
Hwaryun hesitated and stepped back. Ryeon made a mischievous face, grabbed his hand, and pulled him closer.
“You just stroke it gently. Okay? Softly. Like you’re touching a flower petal.”
Hwaryun looked at her as if to ask why anyone would touch a flower petal, but he couldn’t shake off Ryeon’s hand. He placed a finger on the top of Baekryeon’s head. His hand trembled slightly, making Ryeon chuckle.
“Why are you so scared?”
“I’m not scared!”
Hwaryun shouted with an aggrieved expression and jutted out his lip.
“If I touch it for no reason and something goes wrong with this thing, Sister will…….”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong. And even if you caused a little trouble, it’s not like I’d hit you.”
“No, who’s worried about that right now?”
Hwaryun looked back at Ryeon with an absurd expression, sighed in a very un-childlike manner, and then gently stroked the kitten, Baekryeon.
A strange light hovered over the boy’s face—something between unfamiliarity and bitterness.
The kitten chirped and leaned its body into Hwaryun’s hand. Then, as if it had never been fussy at all, it fell back into a peaceful sleep.
“It’s sleeping…….”
“Sister, when do you feed this kid?”
“I fed it just before you arrived, so later. Do you want to feed it together?”
“Yes!”
“But you can’t just play with the cat. I’m going to learn martial arts now. You two need to memorize all your characters quickly so we can learn martial arts together, right?”
“Uh-huh! I’m going to go memorize my characters right now!”
Danmok Bi whined enthusiastically, saying he wanted to learn together with his sister.
Meanwhile, Hwaryun simply savored the lingering sweetness of the Dragon Beard Candy in his mouth and picked a white hair off his fingertip, looking entirely uninterested.
*
Some days later, after news arrived that the first snow had fallen in the north.
“Young Lady, Young Lady!”
“Nanny? What’s the matter?”
“The Head Shopkeeper of the Mansong Merchant Guild is here…… I mean, the Guild Leader has arrived. So, the Retired Patriarch has ordered that you be brought to him. Right now.”
“The Mansong Merchant Guild Leader?”
Ryeon’s eyes sparkled at the mention of the Mansong Merchant Guild. Last week, Danmok Hyeonu had suggested sending Cheongryeonsu to the Guild Leader of the Mansong Merchant Guild, so they had packed and sent it together.
While Nanny Jang looked for Ryeon’s cloak, Danmok Bi asked the Chief Manager what a ‘Daejanggae’ was. While the Chief Manager explained to Danmok Bi that a ‘Daejanggwe’ referred to the supreme boss of a merchant house, Hwaryun quietly approached Ryeon and whispered.
“By the way, Young Lady, are you really going to learn martial arts now?”
Hwaryun always made sure to call her ‘Young Lady’ when others were present.
“Yeah. It’s been a month since I memorized the Thousand Character Classic. I’ve been training my stamina diligently during that time, too. I was originally going to start today, but since a guest has arrived, maybe tomorrow…….”
“Will you be okay?”
Ryeon’s eyes went round.
“Me?”
Hwaryun nodded.
“Even a while ago, when we went up the mountain to find Heukwol. You were panting and making a fuss all by yourself, Sister.”
“I’ve gotten better since then! And I…….”
Ryeon mumbled before finally blurring out.
“It’s because I’m young. I’m still…… still a baby, you know.”
“You’re eight years old?”
“So…… I mean, I have to learn so I can become an adult and get stronger…….”
“Didn’t you say someone from the Mansong Merchant Guild came? How about learning business from him instead?”
Ryeon narrowed her eyes. Hwaryun’s words were ultimately leading in one direction.
He wasn’t genuinely interested in business itself; it was clear he just disliked martial arts. To the point where he wanted her to learn something else.
“Ryun, why do you hate martial arts so much?”
“Even if you learn it, isn’t it just swinging swords around?”
“But our family is a Murim Clan, so we can’t learn it.”
“Is there any difference between a Murim Clan and a powerful Merchant House?”
Honestly, it wasn’t an incorrect statement.
Why was a Clan considered a Clan? They were called a Clan not because they trained in martial arts to attain enlightenment through the Tao, but because they used it for personal success, family honor, and wealth.
However…….
“You’ll be in big trouble if you say things like that somewhere else.”
Since it was Ryeon hearing this, she just shook her head, but if he said such things in another clan, he might have been beaten severely.
“Where would I go to talk to anyone else?”
Hwaryun retorted sullenly despite Ryeon’s concern. He was then dragged away by the wrist by Danmok Bi, who declared he would memorize the Thousand Character Classic so he could learn martial arts.
The Mansong Merchant Guild was the premier guild in Zhejiang Province. Their prestige was such that people said one could not tour West Lake without stepping on the shadow of the Mansong Merchant Guild.
At the same time, they were one of the sturdy pillars that had once allowed the Danmok Clan to become the overlords of Zhejiang Province.
The connection began when the current Guild Leader was just a boy. On his way to Hangzhou, he had nearly fallen victim to bandits, only to be saved by a young man named Danmok Cheongi who happened to be nearby.
Even now, while the Danmok Clan was declining due to a series of tragedies, the Mansong Merchant Guild was spreading its wings further.
And this was the limitation of a Murim Clan. Because it was a family raised on martial arts, if they could not prove the clan’s physical strength, they could not establish their dignity with anything else.
If the strongmen of the Clan fell, the family fell with them. Even if a worldly Murim Clan was no different from a merchant house, they could not be entirely the same.
When she entered Wolyeongjae, two old men were tilting their teacups.
“Pay your respects. This is the Head Shopkeeper and Leader of the Mansong Merchant Guild. He is an old friend of this grandfather.”
Ryeon approached with quick, short steps, bent her knees slightly, and bowed.
“I am called Danmok Ryeon.”
Gyeon Eonjo
Falling Star Twelve Swords: 5 Stars
Worries: Cannot decide whether to make the first son, Gyeon Wijeong, or the second son, Gyeon Wiun, his successor. Heartbroken seeing his lacking first son. Worried about his third son’s provincial examination. Waiting for the time to repay the grace of the Danmok Clan.
Ryeon glanced at the Head Shopkeeper of the Mansong Merchant Guild and nearly fell over in surprise.
