The Road to Kaifeng
Jin Jangmyeong was a blunt, unsociable girl with zero charm. That was only natural. After all, being cute wasn't something you were born with—it was something you learned. You had to rack up experiences of acting spoiled as a child to get what you wanted, building up a repertoire you could pull out when the situation called for it later in life.
Jin Jangmyeong had suffered from blocked meridians since she was little. She'd watched in real time as her family fell into ruin because of her, so all she knew how to do was endure and hold it in. The very idea of throwing tantrums or acting coquettish had never once crossed her mind.
"I'm sleeping here tonight."
"I've told you countless times, the laws of the country are strict—"
"There's no such law."
"There is in my universe. Come on now. It's bedtime for little kids. Your height is already so small—every bit of sleep helps it grow even a tiny bit more."
"J-Jangmyeong is going to sleep here."
At that, Cheong's eyes widened into perfect circles. Wait, this little brat just referred to herself by her own name? Of course, she and Jangmyeong had always traded lighthearted banter. But this level of shamelessness? It was still just dry wordplay delivered with that signature sullen expression of hers. Even now, Jin Jangmyeong's own face was flushed bright red with embarrassment.
Cheong stared at that scarlet face for a moment before finally letting out an awkward, helpless smile. She'd deliberately kept her distance from Jangmyeong by using age as an excuse. No wonder the kid was so hurt she'd even resort to acting cute when she never had before. Look at her. She's dying of shame right now.
"Fine. It's not like the heavens will strike us down for sleeping together one night. What could possibly happen? But... won't it be cold?"
Jin Jangmyeong's eyes widened again. "D-did it work?"
"Normally I wouldn't forgive anyone who refers to themselves by their own name, but I'll let it slide since you're cute."
For Jin Jangmyeong, this was a huge step forward. Maybe acting cute once in a while wasn't so bad after all.
"Here, come over."
"Okay."
But of course, it was freezing!
Jin Jangmyeong hadn't prepared any better against the winter chill than Cheong had. Dang Nan-a's goal hadn't really been about sleeping with Cheong so much as it had been about feeling that soft, fluffy, weighty warmth again, so she quickly gave up and fled from the cold. Jin Jangmyeong, however, held on.
The trembling coming from beside her was far from normal, so Cheong burst out laughing. "If you're cold, just go sleep at your own house."
"I-I'm not cold."
"Can you stop your teeth from chattering before you say that?"
"Ih'sh noh colhd."
Jin Jangmyeong clenched her jaw and answered. Cheong let out a snort of laughter.
"Seriously, for someone so tiny, you've got the stubbornness of an ox."
Just as Jin Jangmyeong was about to protest, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her. She flinched in surprise, eyes flying wide open—only for the world to start spinning wildly. Cheong had scooped her up, rolled them both to the edge of the blanket, grabbed the fabric, then rolled them over and over in the opposite direction until they were tightly wrapped up like a burrito.
"How's that? Better, right? I've been sleeping like this every night lately."
Jin Jangmyeong's heart was pounding so hard she froze stiff in a perfect attention pose against Cheong's chest. What just happened? It was pitch black so she couldn't see anything, and the blanket squeezing her from all sides was so stifling that all she could do was wiggle her hands and feet. She couldn't move at all.
How long had they been like that? Cheong's voice drifted down from somewhere above her head.
"Mm. This reminds me of the old days. But why is the little brat still the exact same size?"
"Old days? Ah."
Jin Jangmyeong suddenly recalled a memory from back then. Inside that underground tunnel. Come to think of it, it had been just as dark and cramped, making it hard to move. But there were differences too. Instead of the stench of not having bathed, there was only the faint, pleasant scent of soap. There was no uncomfortable grittiness from dirt covering every inch of their bodies, nor the biting cold that had seeped into their backs and calves.
Her previously tense, rigid body went completely limp like a wet towel, leaning fully against Cheong. It wasn't the indescribably strange, sensual atmosphere between master and disciple or senior and junior sister that Jin Jangmyeong had been secretly hoping for. Still, it was so comfortable. She didn't think there had ever been a time when she'd felt this at ease.
At home in front of her parents, there had only been guilt, so the house had always been an uncomfortable place filled with the heavy smell of medicine. The people at the Sinnyeo Sect were kind, but since they all lived together without private rooms, she could never completely let her guard down.
"Hey. Little brat. How's life at the Sinnyeo Sect? You're not going around bullying anyone, are you?"
"......? Usually people ask if anyone's bullying me."
"Who would dare bully the youngest of the second generation? All the junior sisters would probably just adore you. If anyone was getting bullied, it'd be the third generation kids for skipping ranks."
"I'm not doing that."
"Really? Then that's fine."
Cheong had already seen more than a few disciples hugging Jangmyeong and resting their chins on her head, so she was only asking out of politeness. It was the same principle as Korean fathers awkwardly asking "How's work going?" whenever they found themselves alone with their sons. At least, that was how Cheong saw it. Having only ever had one father, she had no idea if other fathers did the same.
(If Choe-ri-ong knew, he might feel a little hurt.)
"I wanted to go with you this time," Jin Jangmyeong said, her voice full of regret.
She'd been told that once she reached first-class, she'd be allowed to travel with Cheong to see the nearby martial world, but this time she'd been firmly rejected. It made sense, though. This was an event where sons from all the famous families of the Central Plains would gather. The children of prestigious clans were handsome by default. The daughters-in-law of such families practiced Fairy Art to maintain their beauty, and their children would be good-looking too. Those beautiful daughters would then practice Fairy Art and become beautiful mothers in turn... In the end, the moment you saw someone from a prestigious family, you could immediately tell from their appearance alone that they came from a distinguished bloodline built up through generations of beauty techniques.
There was no way they could send an defenseless nineteen-year-old girl to such a dangerous place.
"You said next time. If there's somewhere nearby you want to go, just think about it for now."
"Then... the North Sea."
Thanks to Seolgajik, Cheong knew how far away the North Sea was.
"If you reach peak realm by the time I get back—"
"Tsk. Then Hainan. Zhoushan Island."
"I don't know where that is, but it's an island, right? Are you trying to make me do a pilgrimage around all four directions outside the Central Plains?"
"Then..."
They continued chatting about meaningless things like this until, before they knew it, Jin Jangmyeong's breathing had become soft and even. Cheong let out a small laugh and finally allowed the sleepiness she'd been pushing away to take over.
Big events held in the Central Plains always scheduled their dates with extreme generosity. This was because guests would be coming from incredibly far away. Kaifeng, where the Grand Murim Tournament was being held, was located in the northeast of Henan Province, while the Sinnyeo Sect was tucked away in the farthest western corner of Hubei Province. It wasn't exactly close. Still, by the standards of the Central Plains, they were neighboring provinces, close enough to boast about being "next door neighbors." Besides, the roads were exceptionally well-maintained.
They could take a boat down the Yangtze River to Wuhan, then head north along the main highway through Xinyang, Runan, and Xuchang before stopping at Zhengzhou. From there, it would only take a few more days to reach Kaifeng. These cities had existed since ancient times, back when Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sima Yi had fought over the empire in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Even in those primitive days, proper roads had been built, and after centuries of being trampled flat, they remained smooth, well-drained, and wide enough that even cheap carriages offered a decent ride.
That was why Cheong had grumbled about being too excited, waiting until winter had completely passed and her embroidery project was thoroughly finished before finally leaving the Sinnyeo Sect.
"Safe travels!"
Leaving behind the usual passionate farewell from the Sinnyeo Sect disciples, Cheong began her fifth year of wandering the martial world. Five years already. How time flies. Cheong found herself sinking into strange emotions at the thought.
But then again, no matter how boring and long a period of time felt while living through it, once it passed, it always seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye.
"Take care, Doctor!"
"I have to go home once this is over..."
Dang Nan-a, who had basically moved in after being told she had to attend the Grand Murim Tournament with them, was an added bonus. Still, she didn't seem to mind the enthusiastic send-off, smiling with a hint of reluctance.
They stopped by Zigui, the city in front of the Sinnyeo Sect, to pick up Gyeon Po-hui, who had been left there. The Seolga Trading Company in Zigui had gradually grown bigger every time they stopped by to purchase supplies for the Sinnyeo Sect. Now it had become a completely respectable mansion. As expected, the greatest intellect in the area had quite the talent for business too, Cheong thought with satisfaction. In reality, however, this was essentially just another one of the Demonic Cult's operations in the Central Plains. The capital had come from the Cult, and the goods they handled were connected to the Cult's trade routes. Seolgajik was little more than a straw boss who'd lent his name.
This was the terrifying economic invasion of the Central Plains by the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult... or rather, the result of Choe-ri-ong plundering the Cult's secret routes to stack up gold and buy delicious things for Cheong. The true owner of the trading company was Choe-ri-ong.
Cheong waved at the trading company employees—the guards at the main gate—who already knew her face, then strode inside. In the main hall, the beautiful Seolgajik was giving instructions to some porters. When he spotted Cheong, he raised an eyebrow.
Using Gyeon Po-hui's limited vocabulary, she'd described him as looking "like an older sister," and seeing him in person, Cheong could see why. His features were sharp and clear in a way that leaned more toward handsome than beautiful. With a hero's headband wrapped around his forehead to cover it, even to Cheong's eyes he looked like a cool woman dressed as a man.
"Wow, Seolgajik. You get prettier every time I see you."
"What a lovely insult right from the start."
"How's that person doing? Are they well?"
Cheong looked around. Last time she'd visited, he'd had a lover who was so sweet on him that sesame seeds seemed to be pouring out of them. Seolgajik answered calmly.
"We broke up. No matter how much she thought about it, she said she didn't want a husband prettier than herself. She couldn't live her whole life being called the uglier one in the marriage."
"Oh dear. Hang in there. It just wasn't meant to be."
"What do I have to feel sorry about that I need to 'hang in there'? There are plenty of women who like me."
The way he said it so sincerely made it sound a bit obnoxious. But when it came to people who liked her, Cheong wasn't lacking in that department either, so she simply thought, Well, I guess that's how it is.
"Well, if you say so, Seolgajik. We're heading to Kaifeng. Where's my sworn sister?"
"If you were coming, you should have sent word in advance so that vixen could prepare. Showing up out of nowhere and demanding she drop everything? Does she have to sit around playing and eating while waiting for you every single day? She's out working."
"Wouldn't it be nice if she could just play and eat? When will she be back?"
"That sounds like something you'd say. Anyway, the moment you two entered the city, the old man sent someone, so she should be back soon."
Cheong narrowed her eyes. "What? Did someone tail us? How did they know the moment we entered the city?"
"Your companion is rather eye-catching, isn't she?"
Even if Cheong wore a face veil and looked like an ordinary ugly woman, the Dang Nan-a sticking to her side was, in fact, an astonishing beauty counted among the Five Flowers and Five Great Beauties of the Central Plains. Even if she kept sneaking glances at passing women's chests while pretending not to, acting exactly like a hot-blooded teenage boy.
Even though they saw each other every day at the Sinnyeo Sect, they rarely made eye contact. It was because she seemed like the type of person whose eyes were attached to breasts, and she was too busy looking for them.
Anyway, even so, her appearance alone was that of an extremely beautiful woman with a fierce expression.
"What? Why? Your gaze feels kind of unpleasant for some reason."
"It's nothing. If you like it, that's all that matters."
"......?"
"Oh, that worker over there. Nice chest."
At the same time, Dang Nan-a's head snapped around. "Huh? Where? Where?"
"The chest muscles are really well-trained."
Dang Nan-a immediately glared at her with axe-like eyes. Cheong let out a deep sigh. She hadn't exactly been normal from the start, but she didn't think the girl had been like this. How did she end up this way? She was already worried about this journey.
Gyeon Po-hui was originally an idiot, so as long as Cheong guided her properly it would be fine, but this one was a doctor—why was she gradually turning into an idiot too? It was a heavy burden on Cheong, the only person with any common sense.