“Yeong.”
“Ye-Yes? Yes!”
Jeong Yeong, who had been walking along, was startled and looked at Ryeon. He seemed to have never imagined that Ryeon would know his name.
“Do you practice Footwork?”
“Ah… I-I apologize. I am still lacking in many ways…”
Jeong Yeong was doubly surprised and spoke hurriedly. Since he was essentially caught distracted while escorting his master, it was natural for him to be startled.
“No, no, I’m not scolding you. It’s just that…”
Ryeon trailed off for a moment before letting go of Jeong Yeong’s hand. Although she had never properly learned martial arts in this life, she had lived in a Murim clan her entire previous life. Naturally, she knew the clan’s basic Footwork.
Usually, when demonstrating something with the body for the first time, one would be lucky just not to trip over their own feet. But Ryeon possessed Harmony, didn’t she?
Ryeon’s footsteps moved cheerfully and lightly.
“This isn’t just about getting away from the enemy. It’s a movement used to dodge momentarily, but it’s good to use when you want to advance again. So, you put firm strength into the back of your retreating left foot, pulling your body back to gain the elasticity to spring forward.”
“Pardon?”
“Since you use your left foot as an axis to drag your right leg in before extending it again, it might be better to move without fearing that momentary tilt of your body.”
The movement of stepping away from Jeong Yeong and then closing the distance again was as light as a child playing a prank on an older relative, yet there was a profound principle contained within the tips of her toes.
“Ah… Ah, yes! I will take it to heart. Thank you for your teachings.”
Jeong Yeong clasped his hands together and bowed deeply. When Jeong Yeong accepted it so meekly, Ryeon actually felt embarrassed and scratched her cheek.
Feeling awkward and regretting that she had spoken up for no reason, Ryeon fell silent.
Since the estate was large enough to take a full hour to tour properly, the morning sun had risen brightly by the time the two quietly arrived at the Scripture Pavilion.
“You mean… the Scripture Pavilion library right now?”
“You’re saying the exact same thing as Yeong. Is it not allowed?”
At Ryeon’s smiling question, the Head of the Scripture Pavilion flinched in surprise and looked at the warrior holding her hand.
Seol Gwanhui, the Head of the Scripture Pavilion, was a middle-aged man who had just passed forty. However, while his hair was already turning grey, his face was free of wrinkles, making him look like a young man with a baby face.
“Oh my, what are you saying? Of course you may enter. You certainly may.”
The Head of the Scripture Pavilion desperately retraced the state of the library from when he last entered ten days ago as he guided Ryeon toward it.
He wondered what a child like Danmok Ryeon—who was barely eight years old and had only been ‘awake’ for barely a year—could possibly understand even if she saw it. Yet, he felt anxious and concerned for no reason.
Ryeon left the Head of the Scripture Pavilion, who looked as if he might fall ill from curiosity about what was going on, standing in front of the library door and went inside.
She could sense the Head of the Scripture Pavilion stretching his neck like a rooster, trying to peek inside to gauge the situation.
She already knew the family was in decline.
The fact that her aunt, Danmok Hyeonyo, who was acting as the substitute patriarch, couldn’t stay at home and was out at the Murim Alliance was proof enough.
To stand up, you first need to know where you are sitting. If you are sitting on eggs, you’ll only break them if you stand up rashly; if you are sitting on sand, your feet will sink.
Ryeon took a deep breath and began to look around with sparkling eyes.
*
“Is my sister… really sick?”
“I don’t think it’s that…”
Two boys were peeking inside near Danmok Ryeon’s quarters. Jeong Yeong, standing guard at the quarters, sensed their presence and turned his eyes toward them, a smile forming on his lips at the sight of the young boys whispering.
But that smile soon faded.
A few days ago, in the early dawn, Danmok Ryeon had visited the Scripture Pavilion.
Everyone was puzzled, but they soon understood. Since she had learned almost all of the , they assumed she wanted to try reading various other texts.
The problem was that from that day on, a dark cloud had cast over the small girl’s face.
Her smiles faded, and her laughter died down. She even seemed to have lost her appetite, as her food intake decreased significantly. The entire clan was in a state of emergency.
Everyone was so worried that even the girl’s young brothers came in droves to hold their breath and peek inside.
“Should I go pick some plum blossoms? Would seeing flowers make Sister feel better?”
Danmok Bi mumbled. The short boy, who couldn’t even reach the tree branches, craned his neck back as if to break it, glaring at the plum tree where not a single bud could be found no matter how hard one looked.
The other boy standing next to him shook his head with a cynical expression.
“You can’t pick them with your height, and it’ll be a long time before the flowers bloom.”
“But there are already plenty of sweet osmanthus flowers around.”
“I doubt something like that would cheer her up.”
“Then what should I bring?”
“Hmm… Maybe a bundle of banknotes or something.”
“Banknotes? What’s that?”
Jeong Yeong, eavesdropping on the boys’ conversation, glanced at Hwaryun, who had mentioned ‘banknotes’.
With large, distinct eyes and features for a child, anyone seeing him side-by-side with Danmok Bi would think they were two young masters, not a young master and a servant.
From what he heard, Hwaryun was a boy who had accidentally caught Danmok Ryeon’s eye. Since the child seemed very bright, she intended to raise him like a friend from a young age and make him a close aide.
“Banknotes, is that all she needs? Where can I get them? Should I tell Mother?”
“I was just saying. If those were easy to get, Sister wouldn’t be acting like that.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Exactly… Why on earth is she acting like that? , although I think I might know why…”
The low voice muttering like a sigh didn’t feel like that of a child at all.
Jeong Yeong had started to be wary of Hwaryun not long after the boy entered the Danmok Clan.
Although he was just a servant boy, Jeong Yeong thought he would become a core aide of the family in ten or twenty years, so he tried to observe him. But then, didn’t the boy suddenly turn around and snap his head toward him?
Then, without blinking, he stared piercingly at Jeong Yeong, scanning him up and down before turning his head away smoothly as if he had lost interest.
After that, the boy never paid any attention to him again.
However, that piercing gaze left a strange, cool afterimage in Jeong Yeong’s heart.
“There’s no way around it. It’s better to just memorize the first. Have you memorized it all?”
“Huh? No… not yet… What about you, Ryun-hyung?”
“I’ve done about as much as you. Let’s go memorize the quickly for now.”
“But Sister is…”
“If you memorize the whole and learn swordsmanship from the Retired Patriarch, Sister will shake off her illness and get up. That’s what she’ll be happiest about.”
“Really?”
“If you become the Number One Under Heaven, Sister will be so happy she’ll even dance.”
“Really, really? But can I become the Number One Under Heaven?”
“Well… it won’t be easy.”
Jeong Yeong blankly watched the retreating backs of the two boys.
Number One Under Heaven… There was a day when he had such a dream, too. That day felt somehow incredibly distant.
Jeong Yeong suddenly recalled the day they visited the Scripture Pavilion.
At that dawn, Danmok Ryeon had looked at his Footwork and given him various pointers. In truth, Jeong Yeong hadn’t minded that much.
If he got his feelings hurt every time the direct descendant of the clan said a word or two to their retainers, it would be hard to keep doing this job.
However, after that, he felt self-conscious for some reason and hadn’t practiced his Footwork separately for a while. Jeong Yeong looked down blankly at the tips of his toes.
Ryeon lay spread-eagled on the bed.
Then she rolled over and buried her face in her arms again.
She couldn’t sleep.
The days when she focused solely on extending her lifeline using the Spiritual Energy that accumulated daily felt like a dream.
Deciding to check the Scripture Pavilion once had been a semi-impulsive decision, but to think the household was in this state…
The number of shops directly operated by the clan had dwindled to a count that could be tallied on two hands. The Meteor Escort Agency, which belonged to the clan, had shrunk in scale as if its past reach beyond Xinjiang was a lie.
Nowadays, the only work leaving Zhejiang Province from the Escort Agency was escort missions going to and from Henan and Shaanxi. And even that seemed to be only because the Murim Alliance was in Henan, and Wi Jicheong’s older brother was at the Mount Hua Sect in Shaanxi.
Whenever urgent money was needed, they must have sold off fields and paddies, as the land they owned had been cut in half compared to twenty years ago. The trees in the orchard had long since withered, and the clan’s medical pavilion had been split in half, with one half absorbed by the Hoseon Medical Pavilion in Hangzhou, leaving only the Medicine Hall.
The clan used to accept disciples every three years, but they skipped the last turn.
They decided it was better to take good care of the existing disciples than to accept new ones. Why? Because they couldn’t maintain the current scale of the clan any longer.
And so, the personnel was reduced, and the warriors the clan had painstakingly raised slipped away like sand clutched in a fist.
