The Old Man
Half a day had passed since they left the tavern.
After laboring over two or three narrow, winding mountain passes, Im Cheongwol and Ak Seo-ah finally set foot in Gumdang.
The road had been covered with light-footwork, so it was not all that far, but fatigue had already settled deep into both their faces.
"I’d heard the mountains of Sichuan were the harshest in the Central Plains... but I never imagined they’d be this bad."
Even Ak Seo-ah, who was always brimming with energy, looked utterly spent, so there was no need to speak of Cheongwol.
"...I suppose."
She had rolled through countless remote ravines and thought herself long since accustomed to rough mountains, and yet now she felt as though another heaven lay above heaven.
Cheongwol slowly looked around, struck by that realization.
If Lanzhou, standing on the road to the Western Regions, had carried a foreign charm, this land beneath her feet was the Central Plains exactly as her grandfather had described it.
Roofs of blue tiles, their eaves stretching toward the sky.
From them hung all manner of signboards and banners, swaying in the breeze.
And atop the buildings painted in red dancheong, people crowded the upper floors; even in broad daylight, there was no shortage of men already lifting cups of wine.
Lanzhou wasn’t bad, but somehow this place feels more like the Central Plains my grandfather talked about.
As she smiled at the thought of what her grandfather used to tell her, Ak Seo-ah grabbed her arm.
"Cheongwol, sojeo! How about we take a short break in that pavilion over there and fill our stomachs?"
Cheongwol looked at her in disbelief, then at the bundle in her arms.
"We only ate a little over an hour ago. What are you talking about? And you still have the food they packed for us."
"But we’ll need food for the road to Emei. The dishes the tavern owner gave us are so delicious that I want to ration them as much as possible."
As Ak Seo-ah rattled off one ridiculous excuse after another and hid the bundle behind her back, Cheongwol narrowed her eyes.
"You..."
"Didn’t you say to tell you anything if I were troubled? I, soin, am on the verge of fainting from hunger..."
Her eyes were as pitiful as a soaked little beast’s, bright yet sorrowful all at once. In the end, Cheongwol let out a small sigh.
...This may be the last day we travel together.
Tomorrow, she would head to Chengdu, while Ak Seo-ah would make for Mt. Emei.
What was the point of quarreling over something so trivial at the end of a good friendship?
Perhaps because Ak Seo-ah was only the second friend she had made after Seomun Hwi, Cheongwol found herself especially weak in the face of her pleading.
"Fine, fine. But let’s only eat a little more when we get back to the tavern tonight..."
Before Cheongwol could even finish, Ak Seo-ah was already up on the pavilion, beaming as she waved.
"Cheongwol, sojeo! There just happens to be a seat open! Hurry up and come on over!"
---
Whether by luck or by skill, Ak Seo-ah truly had secured a seat with a clear view in every direction.
"I asked them to bring the food from the nearby tavern, so I ordered the best-selling dishes!"
"Good work. But this is a little strange. I was wondering how they sold food from a pavilion, and it turned out they cook it at the tavern."
"That’s right. Have you never been to a place like this before?"
"Well, if I’m being honest, it’s harder to find things I haven’t done before."
"Wh-what does that mean?"
As Ak Seo-ah tilted her head in confusion, Cheongwol rested her chin in one hand and chuckled softly.
"If you didn’t understand, then forget it."
Just as she said that and was about to loosen her sword and set it on the floor, a low, solemn voice rang by her ear.
"Young ladies."
"...?"
Wondering who had called to them, she looked up and saw an old man slowly approaching.
He was already silver-haired, yet there was a vigor in his upright back and steady steps that even time itself seemed unable to bend.
"I’ve come a long way, but not only are the other taverns full, this one is as well. Might this old man trouble you for a corner seat?"
The request was rather sudden, but Ak Seo-ah sprang to her feet and nodded at once.
"Old sir! Please come sit beside me!"
"A spirited sojeo, aren’t you."
Watching Ak Seo-ah accept without hesitation, the old man smiled in satisfaction.
"You’ve saved me. A man gets older, and even a little walking makes his whole body ache. If you hadn’t given me a seat, I might have collapsed."
By no means did he have the build of a man who seemed likely to collapse, but Cheongwol did not voice that thought aloud.
Instead, recalling the old man’s measured steps as he came toward Ak Seo-ah, she spoke carefully.
"Are you a martial artist, by any chance?"
At Cheongwol’s question, the old man’s gaze sharpened with interest.
"And how did you come to guess that?"
It was neither confirmation nor denial, only a counterquestion.
Cheongwol answered calmly, explaining why she thought so.
"It’s nothing special. I couldn’t hear the sound of your footsteps as you walked."
"...Could that not simply have been drowned out by the noise around us?"
"Even so, if you’d been right beside us, I should at least have heard the floor creak."
"Hm?"
"The boards over here had a section that needed fixing. I noticed it earlier."
The old man turned his head slightly, and sure enough, one spot had caved in while another had risen up.
"You’ve caught me through something so small I’d never have expected it. You’re a young sojeo, yet your eye for detail is remarkable."
With admiration in his gaze as he looked at Cheongwol, the old man nodded slowly.
"Just as you guessed, this old man has learned a small trick or two."
A small trick or two, indeed.
Cheongwol could not begin to imagine what level of profound footwork one would need simply to walk without making a sound even when stepping on an uneven board.
No... he probably isn’t doing it deliberately in the first place.
If he could execute footwork as profound as that, then his martial skill must surely be equally extraordinary.
Why would such a man bother to use it merely for show?
Most likely, the old man before her had reached a realm where ordinary walking and martial footwork were no longer separate things.
Come to think of it, Grandfather and Master were the same. I could hardly hear their footsteps either.
Perhaps true mastery began with erasing the boundary between daily life and training.
Just as she was sinking into deep thought without realizing it, a strange current of energy drifted around Cheongwol.
"...?"
She jerked her head up and found the old man smiling faintly as he looked at her.
"The food has arrived. I don’t know what you’re thinking so deeply about, but for now, eat first. If you let hunger take hold, even the things you intended to do will go awry."
"Indeed! We can eat first and think later!"
Ak Seo-ah, already holding her chopsticks and fully prepared to eat, chimed in with the old man.
"Ah..."
Something that had felt just within reach scattered away, and Cheongwol could not help looking disappointed.
Then the old man’s voice brushed her ear again.
But this time, only Cheongwol could hear it.
Do not be impatient. As long as your heart does not scatter, you can always take it up again.
---
When they first began eating, there had still been a lingering sense of regret, but once her mind settled, Cheongwol realized this was actually for the best.
If she kept forcing herself to focus in a place this noisy while trying to grasp a newfound insight, no one could say what might happen.
"..."
Cheongwol chewed on a well-roasted piece of meat and watched the old man chatting with Ak Seo-ah.
If a martial artist lost deep in contemplation were forcibly awakened, it was all too easy to fall into juehwaribak.
And yet the old man had pulled her back into reality with such ease and naturalness.
As though it were the most ordinary thing in the world, something he had done countless times before.
Cheongwol wanted desperately to ask who he was, but she could not bring herself to say it aloud.
If she did, then she would have to reveal herself as well.
Of course, she could have brushed it off with the explanation she and So Gayul had arranged before leaving the Kongdong Sect.
But if a master of this old man’s caliber noticed something amiss, couldn’t things go wrong before revenge had even begun?
In the end, Cheongwol suppressed her curiosity for the moment and listened to the old man’s story.
"When I was young, I once saw the Lord of the Four Evil Alliances unleash his martial arts with my own eyes."
"Oh! Is that true?"
"True enough. So many years have passed, and yet the image is still vivid before my eyes."
Whether it was boasting or truth, the old man spoke with a very grave expression.
"Black lightning wrapped itself around that man’s body and rose upward, almost as if it were rebelling against heaven itself. I was standing far away, and yet my whole body went numb. I could hardly stand properly. Then..."
"Then...?"
"Bang!"
The old man slapped the table with his palm, producing a thunderous sound.
Startled, Cheongwol leaned back, but Ak Seo-ah’s eyes never left the old man.
Even as Cheongwol held her breath, already imagining the scene that would follow, the old man continued.
"...Truth be told, that’s where my memory ends."
He had built up their expectations only to let the words he finally spoke drain away in anticlimactic deflation.
"How can you end it there? Think carefully, old sir! I’m sure there must be more you remember!"
Ak Seo-ah protested with a wronged expression, but one could hardly revive a memory that wasn’t there.
The old man laughed heartily and shook his head.
"Sadly, that is all there is to it. I’m sorry."
---
After Cheongwol and Ak Seo-ah finished eating and left the pavilion first, it was not long before a man approached the old man, who remained behind.
The face revealed beneath his bamboo hat was so refined it was hard to believe it belonged to a man, yet its excessive pallor gave it an unsettling air instead.
"You should have come a little earlier. Then you would have seen something rare. That young sojeo may have looked delicate, but her appetite was frightening."
Glancing at the cleanly emptied plates, the old man let out a faint, sly smile.
"Well. Will you eat as well?"
Even at the old man’s question, the man kept his head bowed and only lightly parted his lips.
"No need, Alliance Leader."