Blood is Thicker Than Water (4)
“Sir Wi. What brings you here...”
I tilted my head and studied Malyang, who was staring at us. His clothes were ragged. Not a single trace of Aura could be felt from his body.
Unless Malyang was actually a grandmaster hiding his Aura completely, he had never learned martial arts. After all, martial artists unconsciously used footwork even when walking, so he could not possibly be one of them.
“Malyang. Have you ever learned martial arts?”
“Pardon? No. I’ve always been more interested in running an inn...”
“Have you ever seen the manual for the Seven Saber Way?”
“No. But why are you asking about that?”
I couldn’t tell whether he truly didn’t know or was pretending not to. There was no way to be sure right now.
“Do you know why Sir Cheolhyeopdo never taught your brother martial arts?”
“I don’t know the exact reason. But... it’s not that I have no idea at all.”
Something had clearly happened between them. Few people were born scoundrels; most became twisted because of poor upbringing or some triggering event. In this case, it was almost certainly because of martial arts.
“When my brother got drunk in his room and caused a scene before falling asleep, he once said something. He asked if he wasn’t even considered a son, and whether they were using the excuse that there was a problem with the martial arts...”
As expected. There really had been a problem with the martial arts.
Logically, there was no reason for Cheolhyeopdo to hesitate teaching his son. No martial artist wanted their legacy to end with their own generation.
“Do you happen to have the manual for the Seven Saber Way?”
“I don’t know. He never told me anything about the Seven Saber Way either...”
His voice carried unmistakable disappointment. Perhaps he had been hurt that his father had stubbornly refused to teach him martial arts. Or maybe he was simply disappointed that the secret tied to the Seven Saber Way had never been revealed to him.
“Could we speak with Sir Cheolhyeopdo?”
“Sir Wi, that’s...”
Hajin, who had been quietly watching our conversation, tried to stop me. Asking a martial artist to reveal their techniques was a grave discourtesy that could easily lead to violence.
But this situation was different.
“The Seven Saber Way will be lost with Sir Cheolhyeopdo anyway. It’s a martial art that will eventually disappear. Don’t you want to know why your father was so determined not to pass it on? The reason he hid it so desperately that it destroyed your family? If not now, you’ll have to live your whole life in pain without ever knowing. Is that what you want? Or do you want to know the truth, even if it’s painful?”
I stared at Malyang, demanding an answer. Hajin no longer tried to stop me. He must have realized this was Malyang’s final chance.
With the eldest son having committed an unfilial act and his father on the verge of death, this was the only opportunity left to him. Would he seize it? Or let it slip away?
I wasn’t forcing him. This wasn’t my problem. If Malyang refused, we would simply attend the funeral and go on our way. His brother was supposedly with the Black Snake Gang or whatever it was called, so we couldn’t just go charging in. As members of the Haenam Sword Clan, we couldn’t recklessly pick a fight with the unorthodox sects either.
Maybe he would come looking for us on his own. If my suspicions were even half correct.
“What will you do?”
“...I’ll do it. After all... the Seven Saber Way will be forgotten anyway. I want to know the truth, even if it’s like this. What exactly is the secret about the Seven Saber Way that Father hid?”
He turned around. We quietly followed him toward the room where Cheolhyeopdo lay. When Malyang opened the door, we saw Cheolhyeopdo on the bed and Elder Baek watching over him.
Elder Baek turned his head toward us and spoke.
“What’s going on?”
“Elder Baek...”
We explained everything. We told him what we had heard from the Beggars’ Union and what Malyang had shared. He let out a low hum but nodded.
“This would normally be a great discourtesy, but... you are Cheolhyeopdo’s son. As a martial artist, perhaps not, but as family, you have every right to hear the secret he’s been hiding.”
Fortunately, he didn’t try to stop us.
“Let’s step outside. The two of them will need some time alone.”
We nodded silently and turned away.
“...Ma...lyang...”
“Father.”
Malyang sat beside his father and quietly took his hand. It was cold and rough. The traces of the years he had lived were clearly felt through Malyang’s touch.
“Father. I want to know. Why didn’t you teach the Seven Saber Way to me or my brother?”
“The Seven Saber Way... must never... be passed on...”
“Father. Please tell me. Do you intend to say nothing until the very end? Even though our family was destroyed because you never revealed the secret of the Seven Saber Way?”
His heart pounded. Violently. Malyang realized he was unconsciously gripping his father’s hand tighter, but the strength in his grip did not weaken. The doubts and disappointment he had buried beneath the mask of the “good youngest son” for so many years were bursting forth like a dam breaking.
“Father. Tell me.”
“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...”
“If you’re sorry, then tell me!”
It’s my fault... All of it is my fault...
Cheolhyeopdo finally spoke the secret of the Seven Saber Way that he had kept buried for decades.
“The Seven Saber Way is... an incomplete... martial art. Once you learn it... sooner or later... you will fall into Qi Deviation...”
“An incomplete... martial art? What do you mean...”
Malyang’s eyes widened. He had grown up listening to tales of Cheolhyeopdo’s exploits from the inn’s guests. A man even the elders of the Haenam Sword Clan acknowledged as a true martial artist had been practicing an incomplete art?
“Is that... true?”
Cheolhyeopdo nodded with eyes that had lost half their focus.
“Yes... I’m sorry... for only telling you now...”
The Seven Saber Way. An incomplete martial art. He looked up at his son with a somewhat relieved expression.
It would have been better to be honest. I may have been a good martial artist, but I could never have been a good father.
A belated realization. Despite his dying body, his mind grew clearer as he gripped his son’s hand. He must have sensed that this would be his last conversation with his son in this life.
Malyang noticed the look of final clarity in his father’s eyes as he gazed at him.
“My son. I’m sorry. I... shouldn’t have hidden it... I only realized the Seven Saber Way was incomplete... after your eldest brother was born. While circulating my energy to catch my breath one day, I fell into Qi Deviation. That’s when I understood. An essential part of the Seven Saber Way was missing. And that I could never fill that gap with my own power... nor should I try...”
Could a martial artist deny the art he had devoted his entire life to? At least not the young man who had only recently shed his youth. Denying his own martial art would have been the same as denying his entire life. And he only came to regret it when death was near.
I should have just told the truth... What was my pride worth?
If he had, perhaps his eldest son would have listened and lived as an ordinary innkeeper instead of learning martial arts. Perhaps his beloved wife wouldn’t have died resenting him. Late regret washed over him like a wave, gnawing at his body and soul. His heart, already torn to shreds, would soon leave his body and never return to this world. Still, he could at least tell his son one more story before the end.
“I couldn’t believe it. Whether it was lost to time or deliberately written that way... the manual was incomplete, and I realized I could never surpass the peak realm. I fell into Qi Deviation. It was a martial art that inevitably led to Qi Deviation once learned. I understood then that I could no longer live as a martial artist. The best I could do was open an inn, using your mother’s cooking skills.”
The eldest was born, then the second. Guests would tell the two boys stories of their father’s exploits, their expectations plain. The sons of a great master would surely become great martial artists themselves. The eldest grew up dreaming of becoming a fine martial artist. But his father could never teach him the Seven Saber Way. One day, a wall as tall as the Great Wall would block his path and lead him to ruin. He would rather have had his son learn a different art. But to the eldest, who had grown up hearing tales of his father’s greatness, no other martial art could compare. He could never bring himself to explain why. Revealing the flaw in his own martial art was something his pride as a martial artist would never allow. That, too, could be called a form of Qi Deviation.
“...I should have been honest with Mungyeong.”
“...Even so, my stubborn brother wouldn’t have listened. Still, it would have been better than now.”
At least he wouldn’t have committed such an unfilial act. Malyang offered the consolation laced with reproach.
“Where is the manual for the Seven Saber Way?”
“In the house... we used to live in... Do you remember? In my old room... on the floor. Do with it... as you will.”
“...Yes, Father.”
“...I loved you... my son. Tell Mungyeong... that I loved him too...”
“Father!”
His cry shook the room. And as if refusing to give him time to grieve, the door opened.
“...I’m sorry, but you need to come out.”
“Father...”
“Your brother... has come.”
At William’s words, Malyang stepped outside and looked at the familiar face.
“...Brother.”
“Give me... the Seven Saber Way!”
He was clearly not in his right mind.
“...Sir Wi. It seems he’s fallen into Qi Deviation.”
“Th-then...”
Despair settled on Malyang’s face. Even his brother had fallen into Qi Deviation. No matter how unfilial his brother had been, seeing him driven mad by Qi Deviation was too much to bear. Malyang collapsed to the floor, his face drained of life.
“Rest. It seems... we need to talk.”
Under everyone’s gaze, William removed his bamboo hat and handed his sword to Hajin. Hajin, caught off guard, accepted it with a bewildered expression and watched William’s retreating back.
“Sir Wi?”
“It’s been a long time since I used my fists.”
The sound of cracking knuckles and rough breathing filled the clinic courtyard. Those who had hidden after sensing the situation, along with Hajin, Elder Baek, and Malyang, stared blankly at William’s back.
“Even a beast might become human if beaten enough.”
William’s eyes gleamed coldly.