“Anyway! We have to find out. They say it might not have been completely eradicated.”
“Ah. Then they are enemies of your family too, Nui?”
“I doubt there’s a place in Murim that isn’t enemies with them. Anyway, they say you have to know history to prepare for the future. So, Ryeon-ah, you need to study hard, too.”
At Ryeon’s words, Hwaryun shook his head with a look of pure disgust, though he didn’t run away.
Instead, he removed the cloth covering the bowl he had brought. At the same time, Ryeon shot up from her seat.
“Whoa! It’s ice!”
Hwaryun expertly rummaged through Ryeon’s drawers to find a fan, then placed the ice in front of her and began fanning it.
As the cold breeze brushed past the ice and touched her cheeks, Ryeon’s expression melted into bliss.
“Hyaaaah… Where did you get the ice?”
“I helped out with some work outside and got it.”
“Huh? What kind of work did you help with to get ice in return?”
“Mr. Ju, the fabric store owner, bought ice because his son was sick. I told him I’d find an herb that would cure him quickly if he gave me the ice instead.”
Ryeon’s eyes widened. Hwaryun spoke nonchalantly as he fanned her, but his gaze remained fixed on Ryeon’s complexion, checking her condition.
“You found… herbs? How…?”
“His symptoms were exactly the same as a kid I used to roll around with in the slums. He suddenly lost a ton of weight, turned super pale, and wouldn’t get better no matter what he ate. I thought he was going to die. But then a passing Taoist said to dig up Blackstone Herb from the mountain and feed it to him. We did, and he got better.”
“Is that so…”
Ryeon noticed that Hwaryun’s sleeves were stained a faint yellow and were damp. It looked as if he had gotten mud on them and washed it off.
Looking closely, she could see scratches between Hwaryun’s fingers. As if he had dug through soil and stones with his bare hands…
“Are you still hot even with the ice?”
“N-No. It’s cool! It’s really cool. It’s so nice. B-But, Ryeon-ah. Are you really not going to learn martial arts?”
“Suddenly bringing that up now?”
Hwaryun stopped fanning and looked at her. Ryeon quickly nodded.
“I haven’t even finished memorizing the characters yet, have I? You said I had to memorize the characters before learning anything.”
Ryeon snatched the fan from Hwaryun’s hand and fanned him while grumbling. She made an effort to gently infuse some Spiritual Energy into the breeze.
“Don’t lie. You already memorized everything.”
But despite Ryeon’s words, the boy just stuck out his lips and shrugged. That was what his gesture meant.
Ryeon was about to press him further but decided to drop it.
Even if he wasn’t interested in martial arts right now, watching others learn beside him might spark his interest.
Especially since Danmok Bi was around the same age; seeing him train might change Hwaryun’s mind.
If he realized he had talent, he might find it fun. But if he still wasn’t interested…
If his interest wasn’t piqued, it would mean the Hwaryun in this timeline wouldn’t be forced to do something he hated so much, unlike the future she had seen.
Being able to live without doing something he detested so deeply would be a good thing this time around.
“Then why do you want to learn martial arts, Nui? To become the Strongest Under the Heavens?”
Hwaryun took the fan back and asked as he fanned Ryeon again.
Ryeon, who had been inwardly worrying about what to teach Hwaryun—now a dependent of a Murim clan who hated learning martial arts—to help his future, widened her eyes.
Hwaryun blinked, waiting for her answer. Ryeon shook her head.
“No.”
“No?”
“You don’t just become the Strongest Under the Heavens because you want to.”
“Why can’t you do as you please? You just have to become the strongest among all martial artists.”
“Huh? Uh… well, that is true, but…”
Is this the caliber of the former Young Leader of the Demonic Heavenly Cult?
Ryeon stared wide-eyed in surprise, then slowly crinkled her eyes and smiled as if soothing a child.
“It doesn’t work out just because you want it to.”
“Then why learn martial arts? To make the clan the greatest in the world?”
“…Why are you so obsessed with being the greatest in the world?”
Hwaryun blinked his large eyes and stared at her quietly.
His face seemed to say,
Ryeon clenched her fists and spoke calmly.
“Ryeon-ah, of course, working hard to become strong is really good, but you don’t necessarily have to be the Strongest Under the Heavens. For me, it’s enough if we can just live happily together for a long, long time.”
“And if someone takes that away from you?”
“That’s why… I’ll work hard to become strong enough to protect those around me…”
“What if the Strongest Under the Heavens tries to take it?”
Is a kid just a kid? Thinking that competing over who is stronger was exactly what a child his age would do, Ryeon smiled brightly and gently stroked Hwaryun’s cheek.
“Then I’ll ask my friends to help.”
“You don’t have any friends, Nui.”
“…Uh… What do you mean I don’t?”
“I’ve never seen one.”
“I’ll make some in the future. And I have you. My friend.”
Hwaryun looked amused yet slightly sulky—an expression that was hard to read.
“You said we were like siblings before?”
“Th-that’s right. Since we’re siblings, we help each other even more… right?”
“Even though I don’t know martial arts?”
“It has nothing to do with knowing martial arts.”
“How can I help you if I don’t even know martial arts?”
“Just having you by my side helps, Ryeon-ah! Because you give me strength.”
“No, I told you I haven’t learned martial arts?”
“I told you, it doesn’t matter.”
Just the fact that you are alive and with me gives me strength. Ryeon enunciated each word clearly.
However, seeing her like this, Hwaryun’s eyes grew dim. He looked almost pitying.
As if watching a naive child trying to scoop the moon out of a pond, or someone praying to the Lady of the Moon in vain belief…
“Ryu-Ryeon-ah?”
“Sigh…”
“Why! Why are you making that face?”
“It’s nothing.”
Hwaryun shook his head from side to side. It was a rather adult-like gesture.
*
Time passed; the sound of cicadas faded, leaves fell, and the sweet scent of golden osmanthus began to bloom around Ryeon’s quarters. One morning, Ryeon rose from her bed after some deliberation.
Since the sun was barely rising, the clan estate was completely silent.
She quietly opened the door to find no one around. Her Nanny was likely preparing her breakfast.
Only Jeong Yeong, the warrior guarding Ryeon’s quarters, looked at her in slight surprise. Ryeon put a finger to her lips and went, ‘Shh.’
“Young Lady… Where are you going? Nanny hasn’t arrived yet.”
Looking down at Ryeon, the anxious warrior Jeong Yeong took off his vest and gave it to her.
It wasn’t a vest of particularly high quality, but since he couldn’t enter the Young Lady’s room to fetch a coat, nor could he tell her to go back inside, it was the best he could do.
Ryeon adjusted the vest, which seemed to reach all the way down to her legs. She didn’t tend to get cold, so she didn’t really need it, but she didn’t refuse his sincerity and held out her hand to him. Jeong Yeong made a bewildered expression.
“Pardon?”
“Hand.”
“Ah! Yes!”
“I want to go to the Scripture Pavilion.”
“Um, now? To the Scripture Pavilion, you mean?”
Ryeon nodded, gently shaking the hand she held with Jeong Yeong, and took the lead.
Jeong Yeong looked back at the quarters, not knowing what to do, but eventually held her hand tightly and followed her.
Although Jeong Yeong stammered, not knowing how to deal with a child, Ryeon did not think him clumsy.
The letters that shimmered softly on the sleeve of the uniform she had briefly touched proved it.
Name: Jeong Yeong
Traits: Honest / Tenacious / Seeing things through / Grit
Falling Star Twelve Swords: 5 Stars
Limitless Steps: 3 Stars
Meteor True Formula: 3 Stars
Aptitude and Comprehension: Medium-High
Current Worry: The reason Danmok Ryeon woke up at dawn
Hint: Trust in grit and tenacity. They sometimes overwhelm natural talent.
The hand she held had calluses, and his eyes shone clearly even at this early hour.
Glancing down, she saw that even while walking slowly like this, he was training his footwork. He was someone who did not neglect his cultivation.
Shouldn’t someone like this be devoting himself to training to secure a spot in the Meteor Eighteen Constellations, the Danmok Clan’s elite of elite strike force?
The clan’s situation was too much in decline for there to be power struggles.
Ryeon secretly activated her Mind’s Eye. Fragments twinkling like starlight floated above Ryeon’s pupils.
And at the same time, Ryeon realized what the message she had seen the day she first met Hwaryun meant.
Mind’s Eye (4 Stars) is the ability to see flaws, and Harmony (4 Stars) is the ability to break discord. The fact that these can blend together means…
She could see the trajectory following Jeong Yeong’s steps, revealing what was wrong with his footwork and why his progress had been slow.
And also, how those flaws could be eliminated.
