A New Dawn
“…Ah.”
I let out a deep breath.
All at once it felt as if I had gone a long time without breathing at all.
“Where… is this?”
“You’ve awakened.”
The maid quietly met my eyes.
—Splash.
With a cool little sound she dipped the towel in the basin beneath her hands, wrung it out, and repeated the motion. Then she laid the neatly folded white cloth across my forehead and murmured,
“Lady Jegal Sea.”
“….”
I stared blankly for a moment before hastily trying to sit up.
“So then, the matter— Moyong Bi, I mean…!”
“It’s all over. There were no problems at all.”
At the maid’s calm words my body froze.
“Look around you.”
“… ……. ………”
Everything was still.
Nowhere was there any disorder; the room was neat and orderly. The window stood open. Far off, what floated there first of all was a winter sky so blue it stung the eyes—and the sky of dawn.
In that quiet, in the composed stillness peculiar to winter, I rose amid the golden light that slowly, brilliantly spread.
“Ugh.”
I flinched as I tried to stand. My whole body ached, and above all my left shoulder hurt.
“So that was it.”
The fragmented memories linked together again, and I recalled once more what we had shared the day before.
“I… survived, didn’t I.”
“Yes. Yesterday as well you woke three times only to collapse again, and each time you spoke just as you did at first—exactly as on the day a month ago when you first lay here to recover.”
This was not my room.
After everything had ended, my merits had been recognized; with the family head’s permission a new residence had been prepared for me—wider, cleaner.
“I remember everything now.”
The maid gave a small sigh.
“Lady Jegal Sea. As the family head has also said, there is no need to push yourself so hard. No one will fault you; simply rest and recover in peace.”
The final battle at the Moyong Family Residence.
That last struggle of mutual slaughter had been the very height of carnage. Its aftershocks had been so vicious that even a full month later the aftereffects still seized me; every time I woke it was as if I were right back in that moment.
I looked toward the next room.
“And him?”
“You asked yesterday as well, but he already rose and left a week ago. Grumbling the whole time that he had far too much to do.”
“I promise. My head is truly clear now.”
I spoke with force.
“I’m completely fine.”
“That claim—”
“Shut it.”
“Yes.”
So Yeomgyo’s direct subordinate.
Baekho, was it?
When the Moyong Family warriors had charged in and the iron mace had come crashing down, I had been certain I would die. I had made no defense against it at all; being saved by another’s hand was something that had never once happened in my life, so I had not doubted my approaching death in the slightest.
Yet beyond what I expected—
“…I owe So Yeomgyo a debt.”
The fastest man in the Blood Death Sect.
Baekho had leapt in and slammed his shoulder into me; thanks to that, the mace that should have crushed my skull had only barely grazed past, striking my left shoulder and Baekho’s upper body instead. What followed was chaos. Then the Jegal Family guards, late to sense the abnormality, had rushed out, and we had barely held on.
After that, everyone already knew the rest.
Yes.
Now it was a month later.
Everything had been settled; every incident had been put in order. The final battle that had begun beneath the surface of the martial world had once more sunk away, as if nothing had ever happened, seeping back into the quiet of everyday life.
The high figures of the jianghu who had nearly died gathered again among themselves, as the history of the martial world had always gone, trading favors and cleaning up the mess. Sects with sects, families with families—they had clustered at the aftermath of the feast that marked the end of the Moyong Family’s fratricide, the house that had once commanded the realm, and had torn and divided the spoils according to their own interests, negotiating all the while.
Setting the details aside, one thing alone was absolutely certain: whatever their individual circumstances, every side had agreed it was better to quietly cover the whole affair and move on than to proclaim it to the world and raise a clamor.
And so, though such enormous events had taken place, only a month had passed and already no one remembered. No one even knew such things had occurred. To the great majority of martial artists it was simply another day like yesterday, and without knowing what had happened beneath the surface they lived today once more.
That was how it would fade into oblivion.
Only I—
As the maid said, only I, like some fool, still forced myself every morning to relive the shock of having barely survived, so great had that impact been.
Of course even that would improve with time.
The power of time, for better or worse—I knew its strength better than anyone.
“Baekho is Baekho, but just in case you have forgotten again, I will tell you.”
The maid took the towel I held out and quietly repeated,
“Lord Moyong Bi says he will set out on the road again around this evening. He will already be packing his bags.”
“Leaving?”
“Yes. He gave me word in advance. If by tonight Lady Jegal Sea is still sleeping soundly, I am to leave you be; he will depart quietly on his own.”
“….”
“The moment the situation was settled he came straight here to the Jegal Family and has stayed these two weeks, asking after Lady Jegal Sea’s condition morning and evening. As you know, Lady Jegal Sea has spent nearly a month waking only to collapse again.”
“…Even though that fellow who is now master of the Moyong Family ought to be busy putting his own house in order—he still does this?”
“Indeed. On top of that, the one who is his elder brother has been coming every three days and raising a storm, so this place has been quite lively.”
“…And still he didn’t leave?”
“And still he did not leave. Only now that he has received the physician’s firm assurance that it is safe does he say he will go.”
“….”
He had torn my clothes, smashed porcelain, wrecked every expensive thing in sight, and in the end nearly gotten me killed.
A truly stupid bastard.
…Yes.
And he had always been that kind of bastard.
“Hah. Damn it. I really don’t want to get up.”
I rose.
“Pardon? Lady Jegal Sea, please stay lying down. Lord Moyong Bi is leaving this evening anyway; there is no need to force yourself up from dawn—”
“No.”
I snatched up the pure white crane robes—the White Crane Garments permitted only to me within the Jegal Family—draped them over my bare body, and tightly fastened the ties.
“I don’t think so.”
“Pardon?”
“Anyway, no need to follow.”
I waved a hand at the maid who tried to come after me.
My whole body creaked and staggered, yet I stood. Then I walked along the corridor. Far ahead, one figure stood waiting.
Toward that back I spoke, with a deep sigh.
“See? I was right.”
“…Jegal Sea?”
“You never deviate even a little from what I expect.”
I pounded my throbbing lower back with a fist and, with a sigh, wore a faint smile.
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Trying to sneak off again, weren’t you?”
“….”
At those words Moyong Bi looked briefly flustered, then
“I really can’t fool you.”
he gave a short laugh.
“….”
I blinked.
In the golden dawn light that was brightening the world I stared blankly at him.
“…Did you just smile?”
Moyong Bi looked bewildered.
“Huh? What are you talking about. Me?”
“Who else would it be.”
I frowned and snapped sharply. Then I said,
“…I’ve watched you through all sorts of situations, but this is the first time I’ve seen you smile.”
“Is that so? Haha.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah.”
His entire body was covered in wounds.
“…If you need it, I can lend you a horse or a carriage.”
“I’m fine.”
“It’ll be hard walking, won’t it?”
“I’m fine.”
One leg limped. His left arm seemed barely able to move and was fixed in place. One eye was bandaged, and between the open folds of his clothes countless wounds that had not yet fully closed were visible.
No one would acknowledge him.
No one would watch over him.
And yet, in the golden dawn light, carrying a small bundle, he was smiling gently toward me.
What could possibly satisfy you so much.
What could make you so happy.
What… could make you feel so much better.
“Where to now?”
“Well.”
Moyong Bi folded his arms and thought carefully.
“I’ll probably head north first and have to meet that person no matter what. If only to stay alive.”
Then he thought again.
“There are a lot of places to go. Plenty to eat. I have to see the sea, and the mountains… I’m going to travel. Hot springs too. Actually I was supposed to head up three days ago, so I’m already quite delayed.”
“That person? Ah. You had a promise and you’re late for it?”
“Actually just the other day a carrier pigeon came with a scolding message.”
I gave a short laugh.
“You’re dead.”
“Yeah? Haha. Can’t be helped. It’s not just anyone—our strategist got hurt because of me. As the representative of the Moyong Family I had to stay here.”
“I know perfectly well you came here without a thought for any of that. Didn’t I tell you? I always see right through what you’re thinking, how you’ll act, what you’re worrying about, long before we even speak. Your possible actions narrow down to three or four; take this one out and that one out and—”
“A person who for a whole month kept forgetting even the memories of the previous day and collapsing again suddenly appears at dawn claiming to be fine and forcing out words like that—how am I supposed to believe it.”
“….”
“…You’re not hurt, are you?”
“You bastard.”
“….”
When had I first met this guy.
It had been in the middle of that fierce battle.
Back then his body had been thinner than now, and every part of him had been filled to overflowing with nothing but childish hatred and rage. His eyes had blazed with a bloodshot red aura, and he had clenched his teeth.
And now, beneath the golden world and the blue sky, the pupils I saw were black.
There was no red light left anywhere.
Along with the wounds that had multiplied across his whole body, he had grown taller beyond comparison with that time, and his frame had hardened—yet his face looked so relieved it almost seemed… boyish. That had to be my imagination.
It couldn’t be.
Yes, that made no sense at all.
“Go.”
I waved a hand as if exhausted.
“You should leave before you’re any later.”
“Jegal Sea.”
Moyong Bi looked at me.
“Your side will be busy too, so we probably won’t see each other from now on.”
“That’s right.”
“Damn bastard, cutting it short like that.”
I discarded the contradictory thoughts.
I am Jegal Sea.
The sharpest strategist even within the Jegal Family of the realm.
…And.
“The road north is straight ahead. I won’t see you off. You’re trying to leave in secret anyway—isn’t it enough that I got up at dawn, put on the White Crane Garments, and came this far?”
“Of course.”
With that Moyong Bi turned away.
Limping, he walked forward.
To the fool heading off with his back to me I suddenly said,
“Even if there are any number of side paths beside you, just keep going straight. You must never lose the way. Understood?”
Moyong Bi looked back.
In the golden dawn light he wore a puzzled expression.
“Huh? What kind of random thing is that. There’s no way I’d lose the—”
“From now on, don’t deviate even a little to the side; only go straight. No matter what others say. Even if they point fingers. Even if no one remembers you. You don’t need to do better. You don’t need to do worse. Just walk the way you always have. That alone is more than enough.”
I spoke.
“Even when you were hurt you pretended you weren’t; even when you heard things you pretended you hadn’t; even if you suffered, in the end you still went all the way, didn’t you. So keep going. You’ve walked the road once already—surely you can walk it again this time?”
“….”
“Even if I can no longer watch over you. Even if no one else watches over you either. You keep walking, just as you have from the beginning. Continuously. So… so…”
“….”
“The lines of your palm are still in your own hands.”
Moyong Bi seemed to look at me for a long while.
Suddenly he gave a short laugh.
He touched the black dog-shaped wooden carving hanging at his neck.
“…Of course.”
He turned again and looked up at the sky once more.
I did not know what he was thinking.
But truly, Moyong Bi seemed to gaze up at the blue winter sky for a long time.
Then,
“Even if no one is watching… I’ll keep walking straight, believing someone is by my side.”
Beneath the golden sky.
“Yes. And it’s no one else—”
He looked straight ahead and, in the golden dawn light, smiled brightly.
“Because I am Bi—the one who soars.”