The Yin-Writing
After finishing their meal, Seomun Hwi strolled through the bustling streets of Lanzhou with Cheongwol.
Candied treats glazed with honey and sugar.
Wooden dolls carved to delight children at play.
From books containing the teachings of the sages to lewd books filled with all manner of licentious material.
They were all the sort of things one could find anywhere in the Central Plains, and Seomun Hwi could not help feeling disappointed.
Since this is supposed to be a gateway to the Western Regions, I expected more. But this place is no different from anywhere else in the Central Plains.
Cheongwol, on the other hand, found everything new and fascinating, and she wandered here and there, poking her nose into every corner of the market street.
"Hwi! Look at this! Some uncle said if I ever needed a martial arts manual, I could just take it!"
Cheongwol proudly thrust a book she had gotten from somewhere in front of Seomun Hwi.
Common folk sometimes bought and sold rudimentary martial manuals among themselves, so Seomun Hwi only nodded, not thinking much of it.
"Even so, it won't do much for a martial artist at your level. What's more, learning internal energy that doesn't suit your heart method can be dangerous."
"Really? But this one's kind of strange. It says it can only be used at night, and that a man and woman have to cultivate it together."
"...What?"
At words that sounded oddly familiar, Seomun Hwi finally turned his head to look at the book Cheongwol was holding.
Yin-Yang Unity Divine Art
Cheongwol was studying the book's embarrassingly suggestive title as if it were some peerless martial manual.
"When the yang qi of a man becomes one with the yin qi of a woman... ah!"
Snatching the book away as if plucking it from her hands, Seomun Hwi pushed Cheongwol back, doing his best to hide the awkwardness on his face.
"...This is not a martial manual for you to read yet."
"How would you know? Give it back. I've only gotten through the beginning."
"No."
When Cheongwol stepped closer to take it back, Seomun Hwi darted away at once.
The movement was so swift it looked as though he were performing some divine footwork, and Cheongwol stared after his retreating back in astonishment before shouting, "Hey! Give me back my martial manual!"
---
In the end, the chase went on until the sun dipped low in the western sky, and it was only when Seomun Hwi finally returned the manual to Cheongwol that the farce came to an end.
If they had kept at it, it looked as though the two of them would have run all over Lanzhou until one or the other collapsed from exhaustion.
"Don't ever read it in front of other people. No, don't read it even when you're alone."
Cheongwol brushed back her sweat-damp bangs and took the demonic manual Seomun Hwi handed back, drawing it to her chest.
"What kind of martial manual is it, anyway? Is it some dangerous art?"
"...You'd gain nothing from knowing."
Seomun Hwi shook his head and looked up at the sky, now washed with sunset.
"We should head back to the inn soon."
"...I'm hungry."
Cheongwol nodded while clutching the martial manual tightly to her chest, then came closer to his side.
A little later, when the two of them entered the inn, the serving boy stared at them in shock and asked, "Were you waiting for us... did something happen?"
After all, they had left looking perfectly fine, yet now they had returned caked in sweat and dust.
"Nothing happened."
From any angle, they looked like people who had clearly gone through something, but if they themselves insisted otherwise, what more was there to say?
The serving boy nodded and thought only of the silver he would receive from Seomun Hwi.
"Understood. We have hot water prepared, so please wash up first. We'll bring your food up to your room afterward."
---
While Seomun Hwi waited in the room, Cheongwol, her face flushed from the heat, came over beside him, shaking the moisture from her hair.
"So this is what bathing in hot water feels like. I almost fell asleep right there."
"Have you never washed with hot water before?"
Now looking thoroughly accustomed to it, Seomun Hwi asked her with an easy expression.
"Nope. My grandfather always said I had to wash with cold water after training. He said it would let yin qi gather in my dantian, or something like that."
"...Yin qi?"
Seomun Hwi's expression hardened again at Cheongwol's absurd remark, the sort that seemed to appear just when one thought one had grown used to her.
What did she mean, a man gathering yin qi?
Still, he soon recalled that the martial world was full of arts that defied common sense, and conceded that this, too, must simply be some peculiar inherited technique.
"I see. That must have been difficult."
"Yeah. He said I don't need to do that anymore now, but it had become a habit. I should've started washing in hot water ages ago."
After saying that, Cheongwol lay down on the soft bedding and waved her arms up and down.
"I always slept on hard, cold floors... the Central Plains really does have everything. Now I understand why Grandfather said I had to come here."
At those words, Seomun Hwi let out a small laugh and looked at her.
"I'm glad you think so. But what will you do after you go to the Kongdong Sect?"
"Huh?"
Cheongwol sat up at his sudden question.
"I'm not asking whether you'll be entering the Kongdong Sect. I'm asking whether you already have a place to stay after that."
When Cheongwol could not answer right away, Seomun Hwi stepped closer to the bed and looked down at her.
"If you don't know anyone and have nowhere to go, why not come with me to my clan estate? A martial artist of your skill would be welcome there as a guest for as long as you like. If you wish, you could even become one of our clan's martial artists."
"I..."
"Think carefully before you answer. I may be offering because I've taken a liking to you, but the Seomun Clan only makes such an offer once."
There was something heavy in Seomun Hwi's gaze, and Cheongwol fell silent.
She did not understand it entirely, but she could feel that he was saying this because he had, in his own way, taken the trouble to think of her.
So after a fairly long while of consideration, just as Cheongwol's lips began to part at last—
"Dinner's ready! May I come in?"
The serving boy's voice broke the atmosphere and rang out through the room.
Seomun Hwi shot a glare toward the door at the boy standing there with their food, then clicked his tongue softly.
"...I'll hear your answer later. Just make sure you tell me before we descend Mt. Kongdong."
---
Though moonlight had spilled into the room by nightfall, Cheongwol could not fall asleep, her mind circling the offer Seomun Hwi had made her.
- Why not come with me to my clan estate?
At the same time, the final words her grandfather had left behind echoed through her thoughts as well.
- I've thought about it many times, and still I believe you should give up revenge.
Her grandfather's last wish was that she forget revenge and live an ordinary life.
And Seomun Hwi had asked her to come with him to his clan estate.
The two men's words overlapped like an uncanny coincidence, shaking Cheongwol's heart over and over again.
Perhaps if she accepted Seomun Hwi's offer, she really could live an ordinary life, just as her grandfather wanted.
But if she did that, how was she supposed to avenge the wrongfully slain Im family?
Could she truly set down that heavy burden and live like everyone else?
Her parents, whom she had never once seen in her life.
The members of the Im family who had thrown themselves before blades just to help her grandfather and her escape.
They were all people she knew only through her grandfather's stories, yet every time she thought of them, it felt as though her chest were being torn apart.
So Cheongwol let out a long sigh and quietly closed her eyes.
I'm sorry, Grandfather.
Her heart had already leaned to one side, and so Cheongwol turned over and looked toward Seomun Hwi, who was asleep in the bed opposite hers.
When she thought about it, her connection with Seomun Hwi truly was strange.
To meet someone while wandering lost along a mountain path—and for that person's destination to match hers as well.
More than that, he was so considerate that he treated Cheongwol as if they had known each other for years.
And yet they had known one another for barely two days.
"...Thank you."
And so, before she knew it, Cheongwol smiled and quietly offered her gratitude to the first bond she had ever formed in the Central Plains.
There was only one problem Cheongwol did not know: Seomun Hwi was not yet asleep.
...
After tossing and turning for a long while as though uneasy in his bedding, she suddenly thanked him while looking his way.
Could it be that she knew he was awake?
But Seomun Hwi soon realized that was not the case.
Cheongwol had cautiously sat up and silently reached for a single book.
...I should have thrown it far away instead of giving it back.
While Seomun Hwi regretted his own actions, Cheongwol used the moonlight as her lamp and began reading the book.
- The origin of all things in the world lies in this union of yin and yang.
Cheongwol flipped through the pages without hesitation, following the plausibly written passages, but before long she had to flinch and stop moving her hand.
Like most lewd books, Yin-Yang Unity Divine Art also included spring paintings to aid understanding.
"W-what..."
Even as her face turned bright red with embarrassment, Cheongwol could not tear her eyes away from the book.
How could such a brazen and indecent thing exist?
And yet, thinking that, she slowly turned the pages again.
As if she meant to leave every word of the book behind in her memory.
While the moon remained in the sky, the soft rustle of pages continued to echo through the room, and Seomun Hwi, distracted by the sound, also found it impossible to sleep.
In the end, only after dawn broke did Cheongwol close the book she had read over and over again, then bury her face in the bedding.
"Haa..."
Cheongwol's sigh filled the room, though the one who truly wanted to sigh was Seomun Hwi.
...Looks like I'm going to have a hard time all the way to Mt. Kongdong.
---