Twins
On the road from Saint Capital to Mt. Emei, Cheongwol found herself frowning every time she glanced at Ak Seo-ah’s increasingly haggard face.
What had her younger brother done to her, to leave the girl who had always been so bright and full of life looking like this?
Getting involved in the affairs of a great family was a burden even for Cheongwol, who had to hide her identity, but there was no other choice.
“Miss Cheongwol. I think I made an unreasonable request of you after all. I’ll take the family token and come find you for sure, so I should go on my own...”
“No. Stop talking nonsense and come with me.”
Her hands were trembling so plainly where they were clasped together. How could Cheongwol possibly send her off alone?
Once she had made up her mind to help a friend, that was that.
Cheongwol pushed aside all complicated thoughts and resolved to do this for Seo-ah and Seo-ah alone.
There was one thing she had not expected, though.
That Ak Jiho, Seo-ah’s twin brother, would turn out to be far more insolent than she had imagined.
Even with a face so eerily like his sister’s, every word that came out of his mouth was sharp and vicious.
And just when Cheongwol finally slammed a hand against the table at the endless mockery, Seo-ah quietly caught her arm.
“...It’s all right now.”
All right?
What part of this was all right?
From the single brief exchange Jiho had spat out, Cheongwol understood why Seo-ah feared her brother so deeply.
It was not the way one treated family, or even an elder sister; it was the way one casually belittled a servant beneath one’s notice.
If he showed no restraint in front of Cheongwol and the nuns of Emei Sect, then how much worse must he be in places where no one was watching?
Cheongwol gently took hold of Seo-ah’s arm and shook her head.
“It’s not all right. Not even a little.”
She had sworn to avenge those she cherished and lay their spirits to rest.
But if she turned her back on another precious person standing right before her, could that vow still be called whole?
Meeting Jiho’s hard stare head-on, Cheongwol said with firm finality, “Now that I know there can be no common ground between us, there’s nothing more to say. So let’s do this instead. Two days from now, we’ll decide it through a martial duel, staking on it whatever each of us most desires.”
Master Ma hurried as if to stop her when he heard she was proposing a wagered duel, but Jiho merely nodded as though he had been waiting for this all along.
“Very well. However, I will face you not as the young lord of the Shandong Ak Family, but as the martial artist Ak Jiho.”
“So be it. If I win, then you will sincerely apologize for everything you’ve done to Seo-ah all this time. And if that apology is not genuine...”
“There’s no need to say more. There’s no need, because that won’t happen anyway. There is only one thing I want: disappear from my sister’s side forever. I want you to keep away from her from now on and never come near her again.”
Seo-ah, shocked by Jiho’s words, shot to her feet, but Cheongwol softly pressed her wrist and helped her sit back down before giving a small, calm nod.
“Then all that’s left is to ask permission from the Emei Sect.”
Since they were, after all, trying to hold a duel in someone else’s home, the eyes of both parties naturally turned to Seonhwa.
“Uh... well...”
Under the sudden attention, Seonhwa fumbled for a moment before managing an awkward smile and a cautious nod.
“It isn’t something I can decide on my own, so... I’ll ask my master first.”
Perhaps because the tension he had kept taut for the past two days finally gave way all at once, Seo-ah was sound asleep even though the sun was still high, breathing softly in little rising and falling sighs.
...
Cheongwol sat beside her and smoothed down her disheveled hair, then let out a thin sigh and quietly left the room.
She had thought of going out for a little while to clear her head, but she had barely taken a few steps before someone called her to a stop.
“Hey.”
Cheongwol turned at the sound to see a middle-aged man who had been seated beside Jiho now walking slowly toward her.
“And you are...”
“I thought I was too old to be addressed that way already, but time really is merciless. I’m Ma Taesang, commander of the Thunderwing Guard of the Shandong Ak Family. I’m also Seo-ah and Jiho’s uncle, though not by blood.”
Ma Taesang introduced himself first, and Cheongwol dipped her head slightly.
“I’m Cheongwol. I’m from Qinghai Province, and my parents run a small traveling stall there.”
She recited the story she and So Gayul had rehearsed beforehand, and Ma Taesang tilted his head.
When he had first met Cheongwol, he had been startled by her beauty, but what had truly surprised him was the fleeting surge of energy that had brushed past him.
For an instant, it had felt as though a colossal snow mountain stood before him.
Of course, the sensation had vanished almost at once, but if she could inspire such an illusion, he had assumed she must be a child of some distinguished house. Yet she claimed to be the daughter of a mere peddling family.
He judged that asking any more would be rude, so he only smiled faintly.
“Your parents must be delighted. Such an impressive achievement for one so young, Miss.”
Cheongwol steadied herself and shook her head with practiced composure.
“I simply had the good fortune to meet an excellent teacher, and managed a little progress.”
“A little progress... If anyone else heard that, they’d be terribly put out.”
Ma Taesang’s gaze was sharp enough to seem as though he wanted to see straight through her, but Cheongwol did not flinch and merely continued to play modest.
“...If I may be so bold, could I ask which sect you belong to?”
At the words she had practiced countless times with So Gayul, a relaxed smile spread across Cheongwol’s lips.
“I’m sorry. It’s a single-inheritance sect.”
As though he had expected that answer, Ma Taesang shrugged.
Whether Cheongwol’s words were true or false, if she would not reveal it, what could he do?
Still, he could not help finding her a little irritating, and so he tossed out a joke.
“Could your parents perhaps be named Yang and Yong?”
“Pardon? No, but why would you ask that...?”
“...Just a guess, because it seemed like it might be so. Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough.”
Ma Taesang drew in a light breath, then finally got to the point.
“Would you care to take a walk with me for a moment? There’s something I’d like to tell you.”
Cheongwol and Ma Taesang.
The unfamiliar pair walked in silence.
Before long, beneath the shade of a tree where the sunlight had been cut off, Ma Taesang slowly began to speak.
“You’re Seo-ah’s friend, I hear?”
“Yes. Though we only recently got to know one another.”
“And yet you came all the way to Emei Sect with her, and even agreed to fight a duel for her. Against the young lord of the Shandong family, no less.”
Ma Taesang gave a small laugh and looked at Cheongwol.
“Did you perhaps owe her a debt?”
“I don’t think Seo-ah would entrust a large sum of money to either of us. Not you, and not that young lord.”
At Cheongwol’s precise answer, Ma Taesang nodded.
“You leave me nothing to say.”
With a somewhat bitter expression, he let out a deep sigh and continued slowly.
“I’m sure you have many questions. For instance, why Jiho treats his own sister so cruelly.”
“Cruelly? Is that all it is? I don’t know what happened between them before, but even from the few exchanges I’ve heard today, it’s obvious this isn’t something so simple.”
Cheongwol answered at once, her tone cold, but Ma Taesang only nodded.
“There are reasons for how things turned out. Don’t take offense so quickly—at least hear me out first.”
At the request of someone far older and more seasoned than herself, Cheongwol eventually lowered her gaze and nodded.
“...All right.”
At that moment, Ma Taesang closed his eyes briefly, as though searching through old memories, drew in a long breath, and then began to unfold the twins’ past in a heavy voice.
“Seo-ah was a very frail child when she was young. Fortunately, by a stroke of great fortune, we were able to place her under the care of a divine physician and cure her illness, but until then...”
She had been a child who could not even dream of martial arts, much less run about freely, and even the physicians had said in unison that she might not survive to adulthood.
How could I ever forget the little Seo-ah who lay in bed, staring out the window day after day?
“And Jiho doted on her terribly. Except when he was training, he was practically glued to his sister at every moment.”
If one could not eat, then the other would not eat either, and even sweet cakes and medicinal rice cakes were left untouched in the end.
Moreover, the reason he learned martial arts was nothing more than the single-minded resolve to become strong enough to protect his sister.
As twins born from the same womb at the same hour, the two of them were each other’s entire world.
“But do you know where that bond came from?”
Ma Taesang shook his head and recalled one of the countless days when Ak Seo-ah had collapsed unconscious.
Seo-ah, writhing with a fever so high it might have taken her life. And Jiho, weeping so bitterly that he said it was because he had stolen his sister’s health from her.
What else could anyone say before such a pair of siblings, whose suffering was painful merely to behold?
“It was affection born of guilt, and in the end it could only come to this. Looking back, I think it was already badly twisted from that time. Of course... if that one thing had not happened, it wouldn’t have become this awful.”
“What thing...?”
Cheongwol swallowed.
Ma Taesang closed his eyes for a moment, then slowly lifted his head with a troubled look and gazed up at the sky.
By then, the sun had already begun to sink beyond the western ridge, drawing its light back with it.
“There were countless moments when things were perilous. But... there was one day when Seo-ah truly came perilously close to death’s door.”