The Father Who Smiled Broadly and Stroked My Head
My father smiled broadly and patted my head.
"Then take it."
Pushing aside the lingering unease, I gripped the dagger tightly, sprang to my feet, and bowed deeply.
"Thank you for the precious gift. I'll treasure it."
Namgung Wan nodded in satisfaction at my modest, polite greeting. Then my father spoke up, his face turning serious.
"It's a fine blade, so don't draw it carelessly. And never swing it recklessly. Especially you, Ri-yeon..."
And so began Father's lengthy lecture. Unable to bear it any longer, Namgung Wan thumped his chest and flung the window wide open.
"...So be truly careful."
"Yes!"
In stark contrast to Namgung Wan, I nodded earnestly like a model student, then replied with vigor.
"Is it over now?"
Namgung Wan, lounging with his legs crossed, elbow on the table, chin propped in his hand—a picture of utter delinquency—glanced out the window and asked.
"You too, take it to heart."
"Got it, got it."
"And what's with that posture?"
Namgung Wan waved his hand dismissively, his face weary, and gave me a once-over.
"Whatever. Mind if I take a look at Ri-yeon's condition?"
"Her inner energy?"
Namgung Wan tilted his head. I stared at him in shock. Among martial artists, offering to examine someone else's inner energy was deeply rude. It meant probing their cultivation level...
Like showing your report card to a total stranger. No one wants that.
And it's dangerous, too.
Infusing inner energy to probe was risky for both giver and receiver. Yet Namgung Wan wanted to examine me...
I glanced at Father, who nodded. The three of us moved to the spacious open area in the room. Plush sheepskin rugs, silk cushions, and thick pillows were laid out—this was where I usually rolled around and played.
I sat in meditation pose, just as I did for qi circulation training. Namgung Wan settled behind me. Father stood guard as protector.
Namgung Wan placed his hand on my back. "Let's begin," he said, and started channeling his inner energy.
At first, there was a slight sting, an indescribably strange sensation entering my body. But it quickly faded to nothing.
I closed my eyes briefly and opened them again. That's when I felt Namgung Wan carefully lifting his hand from my back.
"Huh... already done?"
"An hour has passed."
"What?"
I'd only blinked, and an hour was gone? As shock made me turn to Father, a dizzying fatigue crashed over me, pressing down like a weight on my entire body. Then nausea hit, like the morning after a drunken binge.
Father scooped me up in his arms.
"I'll lay Ri-yeon down."
Namgung Wan nodded.
* * *
Baek Ri-gang returned with his daughter after the handmaiden had reheated the teapot for the third time.
"Sorry. Ri-yeon couldn't sleep and kept tossing."
Namgung Wan nodded as if it were nothing.
It was a body that had suffered grave wounds. Taking in unfamiliar inner energy was bound to shock it. And the results weren't good.
Not a scrap of inner energy remained; her dantian was shattered to pieces. She'd barely clung to life.
Baek Ri-gang knew her condition better than anyone. Namgung Wan spoke slowly, watching his friend's troubled face.
"When I heard you'd gotten a daughter, I laughed. I said some fool jealous of your fame must've spread that ridiculous rumor out of spite."
He'd mocked the subordinate who brought the news, calling him an idiot and saying if he got swayed by nonsense, he should quit. And that subordinate had since gotten a bonus and a promotion...
"But ha! Do you know how stunned I was?"
It turned out she was real—and she'd fallen into qi deviation, her dantian shattered. Then came the letter asking if he knew any way to restore it or could help. He couldn't believe it; he'd checked it over and over to confirm it was truly from Baek Ri-gang.
"How did this happen?"
Even Namgung Wan could tell Baek Ri-gang doted on his daughter. He was certain he'd seen more smiles from the man today than in all their years of acquaintance.
Namgung Wan acknowledged Baek Ri-gang had a gentler disposition than himself. But that didn't make him a loose smiler. If anything, he was more like a stiff, unyielding wall.
Baek Ri-gang ran a dry hand over his face, his expression hardening.
"Ri-yeon... well, there was a nursemaid looking after her. Before she died of illness, she sent me a letter."
"Hold on. The birth mother?"
"..."
Reading Baek Ri-gang's face, Namgung Wan let out a low groan.
"Go on."
"...By the time I got her letter, things had tangled up, delaying me over three months past what the nursemaid expected. When I found Ri-yeon... the nursemaid had been dead for ages... and Ri-yeon had been wandering the streets for over a month. A little longer, and..."
This was news to Namgung Wan too. He spoke with visible agitation.
"Heaven must've helped."
A child surviving alone on the streets for over a month was a miracle.
"Seeing Ri-yeon for the first time, I felt guilty, then flustered."
Baek Ri-gang's face twisted further.
"I rushed here without finishing my Murim Alliance duties. I thought I'd handle things slowly after... No, excuses. No matter what, I shouldn't have left a child behind."
"You registered her with the clan, didn't you? Not a bad call."
"No, no. This was my mistake."
"...You're human. Mistakes happen."
Baek Ri-gang just shook his head silently.
Namgung Wan gazed at his inscrutable expression and spoke deliberately.
"Then, if there were a way to undo that mistake, what would you do?"
Baek Ri-gang's eyes snapped to him instantly. Namgung Wan met them steadily.
"I have a way to heal your daughter."
"..."
Baek Ri-gang froze like a statue. Color flooded his ashen face; exhaustion vanished in a heartbeat.
"Really?!"
"Why else would I come?"
Namgung Wan took a sip of tea and began his tale.
"There's a tiny village called Palgwae Village, about a month's ride from here. Last year, a massive landslide hit, wiping out over eighty percent of it. The survivors were badly hurt or crippled."
It seemed utterly unrelated to dantian healing. Yet Baek Ri-gang's gaze sharpened intensely.
"The nearest physician was ten days away in that remote backwater—and then another landslide cut off the only road. No one thought any survived."
"...Tragic."
"Half a year later, folks from a neighboring village with kin there cleared a path to check... and found a cripple moving normally."
Namgung Wan moistened his dry throat with tea before continuing.
"It was the Manshin-ui."
"...!"
Baek Ri-gang's eyes widened.
"You've heard, surely? Of the Manshin-ui healing a qi cripple."
"Of course...!"
No martial artist could ignore that near-legendary tale. Baek Ri-gang clenched his fists as if to leap up, then released them. His face grew more pained than before.
"But the Manshin-ui swore by heaven and earth never to involve himself with the jianghu again..."
He'd secluded himself after that oath. Would such a man break it to heal Baek Ri-yeon?
Then Namgung Wan drew a red silk pouch from his bosom. Plain, palm-sized, without embroidery.
Clack.
The sound on the table revealed something hard inside.
"Open it."
Baek Ri-gang took the pouch and untied it. A flat plaque etched with characters emerged, fringed with faded red tassels—nearly pink now. At least ten years old.
"Isn't this a command plaque?"
"Correct."
Command plaques were identity tokens, like martial ID cards. Namgung Wan had shown one before entering the Baek estate.
"It's the Manshin-ui's."
Baek Ri-gang sucked in a breath.
In the jianghu, passing your command plaque to another held deep meaning. The bearer could demand any aid, and the owner must grant it without question. It was an ironclad promise tied to one's honor and faith.
And for Namgung Wan to hold the Manshin-ui's...
It meant he could demand anything from the man!
"With this plaque, the Manshin-ui has no choice but to heal your daughter."