Promise
"Then I’ll get up first, if you don’t mind."
As Seomun Hwi rose and cupped his fists in salute, So Gayul watched him with her chin resting on her hand.
"What I told you earlier, I expect you to keep it."
Remembering what she had said after handing over the clan head token, Seomun Hwi slowly nodded.
"...Even if Your Excellency hadn’t asked me separately, I would have done so first. As I said, I regard Cheongwol as a close friend."
Apparently pleased by his answer, So Gayul let out a thin smile.
"That boy really is lucky. To make his first friend after coming out into the Central Plains be someone like you."
Recalling what Cheongwol had said to him late at night on her bed, Seomun Hwi gave a quiet snort of laughter.
"We’ll have to see who was actually the lucky one."
With that, he opened the door and headed back toward the reception hall.
As the young clan leader of a prestigious family, he needn’t have stayed there any longer, but Seomun Hwi had no intention of moving to another pavilion.
If he did, he wouldn’t be able to stay with Cheongwol.
Just as he had expected, Cheongwol was sitting by the door, looking down at the floor.
The redness around her eyes had faded somewhat, but her expression was still dark.
"Cheongwol."
At the call of her name, Cheongwol forced up the corners of her mouth and looked at him.
"You’re back already? I thought this was important, so I figured you wouldn’t come until after sunset."
"I thought so too. But things went more smoothly than expected."
"...That’s a relief."
As she spoke, Cheongwol carefully studied his face.
She had to tell him that, since she had now agreed to learn martial arts from the Kongtong Sect’s leader, she could not go with him to the Seomun Clan.
"Um... about what you said before, at the inn..."
But before she could work up the courage to say it, Seomun Hwi gave a small shake of his head, as if he already knew.
"The sect leader already told me. You’re staying behind with the Kongtong Sect."
Cheongwol looked at him in mild surprise.
"Ah, so the sect leader told you first..."
"Yes. It’s a pity you can’t come back with me, but it’s your choice, so I respect it."
After that, they fell silent for a while.
Cheongwol would remain with the Kongtong Sect to learn martial arts from the sect leader.
Seomun Hwi, having finished his business here, would now have to return to Anhui.
Neither of them said it aloud, but both felt the end of their brief bond drawing nearer, little by little.
"Hey..."
Just as Cheongwol was trying to find some way to speak, Seomun Hwi drew his sword from its scabbard first.
"When I first took up a sword, my father told me something."
Thinking of his father roughly ruffling his hair with a huge palm, Seomun Hwi lifted the blade before his eyes.
"If you truly want to know someone, cross swords with them. He said that a single exchange would show a man’s path better than a hundred words ever could."
"..."
"I respected my father, but I never took those words at face value. I thought it was nothing more than the arrogance—or delusion—of righteous sect members. How could a few clashes of swords tell you what kind of person someone was?"
With a sword between them, the two stood facing one another.
"And yet, now I sincerely hope those words are true."
After taking a short breath, Seomun Hwi spoke in a low voice.
"Im Cheongwol, if you don’t mind, will you spar with me?"
It was a somewhat abrupt request, but Cheongwol did not look away from his sword.
She knew why he wanted to cross blades with her.
And the truth was, she wanted to cross blades with him too.
---
The space was far too cramped to be a proper place for a spar, but that was no real issue for Cheongwol.
To someone who had grown up under brutal training, the environment was only one of countless variables to control.
If there was any one problem worth mentioning, it was that Cheongwol had never sparred with anyone except her grandfather.
Seomun Hwi, on the other hand, was highly experienced in sparring, though he lacked somewhat in real combat. He adjusted his breathing and distance with practiced ease.
-Kakang!
As Seomun Hwi’s sword came flying toward her face, Cheongwol hurriedly raised a hand and slapped it aside.
But it was only just barely deflected.
His sword path was faster and sharper than she had expected, and for an instant Cheongwol nearly lost her grip on her own blade.
"Ngk!"
She quickly used footwork to open the distance, but Seomun Hwi did not pursue her. Instead, he settled back into his stance.
He knew that if he pressed blindly without understanding his opponent’s martial art, he might only create an opening for her.
"Hah..."
Because of that, Cheongwol had to catch her breath briefly once more before admitting it.
She had taken her spar with Seomun Hwi too lightly.
Of course, she hadn’t been looking down on his martial arts, nor had she been overestimating her own skill.
The problem was simply that she had approached the spar with the wrong mindset.
Knowing that it would be rude to continue like this, Cheongwol drew in a deep breath.
Then, after a moment, a sharp aura began to seep outward from the center of her body.
"Sorry. I’m going again."
Seeing her gathering inner energy, Seomun Hwi found himself smiling before he knew it.
Unlike her earlier self, who had been scrambling merely to block, her aura had changed so clearly that it made his body tense on its own.
-Tap!
In the span of a blink, no more than the opening and closing of an eyelid, the distance between them vanished.
"...!"
Because her strike came with the sun at her back, Seomun Hwi had to narrow his eyes and twist his head just to avoid it by a hair’s breadth.
Cheongwol’s sword skimmed his cheek and drew a shallow line of blood.
"We agreed to spar, not fight to the death."
Seomun Hwi complained as he looked at the blood on his hand, but Cheongwol only smiled with ease.
"Isn’t this the kind of spar you wanted?"
Cheongwol’s expression made it seem as though she knew everything, and in the end Seomun Hwi’s lips slowly lifted as well.
"I suppose so. I just thought you had no intention of continuing if you only kept getting hit."
"Who’s getting hit? I was just humoring you for a bit."
By now the tension between them had eased somewhat, and Cheongwol shot him an exasperated look. Seomun Hwi merely shrugged.
"If we’re going by words alone, finding someone who isn’t a master would be harder."
As he continued to tease her, Cheongwol narrowed her eyes.
"I’ll make you say you’ve had enough. I promise it won’t take that long."
Even though the previous strike, reinforced with inner energy, had made the difference in skill plain as day, Seomun Hwi did not want to appear weak before Cheongwol.
A true friend was not someone who lagged behind or ran ahead, but someone who could walk side by side with you.
So Seomun Hwi tightened his grip on his sword once more and leveled the tip at Cheongwol.
"Then come at me. Standing still is starting to get boring."
---
"You all right?"
Cheongwol’s face appeared suddenly above Seomun Hwi, who was lying on the dirt and catching his breath.
Unlike his own body, cut and bruised in several places, Cheongwol’s face was clean, without a single wound.
"Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I’m not exactly weak."
Seomun Hwi was trying to preserve his pride even while rolling around in dust, but Cheongwol didn’t bother to contradict him. Instead, she lay down beside him.
"Yeah. You’re the first martial artist as strong as you that I’ve faced in the Central Plains."
Seomun Hwi had been just about to feel satisfied with that remark, but then he sensed something strange and turned his head to look at Cheongwol lying beside him.
"Have you perhaps sparred with another martial artist before?"
At his question, Cheongwol answered with a mischievous smile.
"Nope. You’re the first."
Realizing that she was teasing him, Seomun Hwi found, to his own surprise, that he didn’t mind as much as he expected.
"The best out of only one person, then. Either way, I’m the best."
"You’re my best friend too."
"Knock it off."
"Okay."
It was probably because they had just gone through such a fierce spar, but the two of them were far more at ease with each other now than before.
...Was this what my father meant when he said you had to cross swords with someone to truly know them?
With a thought so absurd his father would surely have scoffed at it, Seomun Hwi stared up at the sky.
As if it cared nothing for the fierce winds soon to sweep across the Central Plains, the sky remained only quiet and blue.
"Are you leaving first thing tomorrow?"
While he had been staring at the clouds and brooding over the future of the clan, Cheongwol asked him carefully.
"If nothing comes up, yes. Everyone at the clan is waiting for me to return as soon as possible."
"...I see."
At his answer, which was exactly what she had expected, Cheongwol’s eyes drooped slightly.
"I mean, it’s not like it would be a problem if I stayed a little longer. Of course, I’d have to ask the Kongtong Sect for permission fir—"
"No. Don’t do that for my sake."
Seomun Hwi hurried to reassure her, but Cheongwol only shook her head quietly.
"Instead, promise me one thing."
Cheongwol gently caught the collar of his robe with her fingertips and looked up at him.
"That if I come to find you again, you won’t act like you don’t know me."
The trembling in the hand gripping his collar told him how much thought and worry had gone into her saying those words.
Her first friend, the first person with whom she had ever shared her heart.
It might not have meant much to Seomun Hwi, but to Cheongwol, he had already become someone special.
And fortunately, it was the same for Seomun Hwi.
"Then it looks like I’ll have to stay a little longer before I go. The way you’re worrying about something so pointless makes that clear enough."