The Open Window
Banya suddenly stood up. Shaking his head, he took a step back. "No matter how unfair the world is, this is just too much..." His facial muscles twitched uncontrollably. "Everywhere I went, I was beaten half to death before I finally managed to secure a master. But you? What? The Sword Ghost, Seol Nakjo?"
"Excuse me."
"You were just lying in bed, sick, and the Sword Ghost, Seol Nakjo—who was once the strongest man in the world—was practically delivered straight to your room? Is that what you're saying?"
"W-well, it wasn't quite that simple."
Banya let out a hollow, incredulous laugh. "Whatever the process was, the result is that you became the Sword Ghost's disciple, which is why you're still alive today...!"
That was true. But she couldn't let him dismiss it so easily. To Yeongso, the process was far more important than the result.
Banya glared at his wife, looking as though he might lose his mind from sheer indignation.
"Perhaps I told the story in the wrong order..." Yeongso said, her voice shrinking. "I was moved by the story of your childhood, which is why I decided to share my own past..."
"This. Is. Not. A. Matter. Of. Order." Banya placed his hands on his hips and stared up at the ceiling. He huffed and began pacing the room, unable to calm his anger.
Even before he completed his thirty-six steps, it was obvious. This man was on the verge of blowing his top.
"The Sword Ghost. Great. If I could have had him as my master, I would have cut off an arm. But me? I was already a wreck back then. I couldn't just go wandering off with a vague clue like 'the northwestern foothills'!"
He was getting even more worked up just talking about his own words. Yeongso didn't know what to say to calm her husband down.
You know that the Cheonsan Sect's information network is the best in Gangho. And my mother was the cherished daughter of the Cheonsan Sect Leader. Naturally, she did a much deeper investigation before she set out.
'No. That sounds like I'm bragging about my maternal family...'
Then how about this?
My mother knelt in front of Master's dwelling for three months to change his mind. She knelt there every day until sunset, and once it grew dark, she did chores around his place.
'No. To a man who had no choice but to abandon his mother's corpse, that would sound like bragging about how amazing my mother was...'
Or maybe she could start like this?
It is well known that Master's daughter suffered from the Three Yin Blocked Meridians. When Master heard my story, he said it kept reminding him of the daughter he had lost before he could cure her.
'Even having the same constitution as his daughter sounds like bragging...!'
In her frustration, Yeongso could only twist her sleeves.
"The Sword Ghost... Ahaha, this is driving me crazy. You are the one and only disciple of the Sword Ghost..." Banya paused, his eyes suddenly flashing. "Where is he now?"
"Who?"
"Who else? Your master, the Sword Ghost."
Yeongso's expression darkened. "He passed away four years ago."
"...Damn it," Banya spat through gritted teeth. "Then it really is a single-successor lineage. That means you are the only person in the world who can wield the Sword Ghost's Nakjo Matchless Sword."
If she confessed that she had killed him with it three years ago, what kind of face would her husband make? Yeongso watched Banya clench his fists.
'I definitely shouldn't tell him that.'
There was no need to fan the flames. Banya was already out of his mind. She waited in silence for a long while before speaking.
"Should I just finish the story tomorrow...?"
"No," Banya said, rubbing his eyelids. "Keep going."
"You seem very upset..."
"Will tomorrow make a difference? To my mood? While someone was risking his life every day, getting beaten by a crazy woman to learn martial arts, someone else had her mother deliver the world's strongest recluse right to her?"
Banya demanded to know if she realized that since Seol Nakjo, no one had dared to put the character for 'Emperor' in their martial title. Knowing her master's past, Yeongso could only pout.
"Isn't that just because they're afraid of bad luck? They're worried they'll fall into the heretical path too... and think it's a jinx..."
But Banya didn't seem to be listening to her grumbling. "The Sword Ghost humbled himself by using the character for 'Ghost.' In truth, with his realm, he could have easily been called the Sword Demon."
"Master would have hated that most of all. Until the moment he died, he could never forgive himself for falling into the heretical path."
Yeongso defended her late master in a panic. Banya stared at her and let out a dry laugh.
"You call the Sword Ghost 'Master' so naturally... so casually... Ha, I feel like I'm going to suffer a qi deviation."
As if his blood were truly flowing backward, Banya collapsed back into his seat. Yeongso watched him warily and poured some tea. When she hesitantly offered him the cup, Banya glared at her with his sharp, phoenix-like eyes.
"Must be nice. Disciple of the Sword Ghost."
She could feel his uncontrollable, burning jealousy. Honestly, Yeongso hadn't expected her husband to be this indignant. She had thought that the moment he learned her master's identity, he would be delighted to have found the perfect leverage. She expected him to blackmail her with it at every opportunity. Then, it would reach someone's ears, and the fact that Baekri Yeongso's true master was the Sword Ghost—who had been banished from the Orthodox Path—would be revealed. She could clearly picture her mother's and the Baekri Clan's honor being shattered to pieces.
'But looking at him now... he doesn't even seem to be thinking about blackmail.'
Rather, she worried that as he went about his daily life, before he could even complete his thirty-six steps, the thought of "My wife is the disciple of the great Sword Ghost!" would suddenly pop into his head, making him scream. "Must be nice to be the only disciple of the Sword Ghost, Baekri Yeongso!" The moment he shouted that, echoing through the main hall of Cheonsaryeon, blood would pour from all his orifices, leaving him a crippled wreck, while she would spend the rest of her life in scorn.
'That is highly possible...'
If so, she absolutely could not stop the story here. Yeongso politely offered the tea to Banya once more.
"Why is a peerless beauty and the sole disciple of the world's strongest person pouring tea for a lowlife like me? Just throw it on the floor. I'll lap it up like a dog."
She willingly endured his sarcasm. After continuing to fume, Banya finally let out a long sigh and accepted her teacup. Yeongso held her breath until he set the empty cup down, watching his reaction.
"What is this? Trying to use your charms now?"
She hadn't intended to act coquettishly, nor did she know how, but as long as it worked, it was fine. Yeongso asked softly,
"Shall I continue?"
"...Yes."
Yeongso moistened her throat with some tea as well before picking up where she had left off.
"Though she found a way to save her daughter, my mother couldn't just bring Master back with her. How could the prestigious Baekri Clan have an unorthodox master? Besides, Master was someone whose name was forbidden to even be spoken within the Orthodox Path."
Banya muttered something under his breath. It sounded like an insult directed at the rigid orthodox hypocrites, but Yeongso decided to pretend she hadn't heard.
"My mother herself couldn't accept it either. Without even mentioning it to the clan elders... I turned seven years old."
The young Yeongso lived on medicine. Even in the height of summer, her body was often cold, forcing her to cling to hot water pouches. No matter what rare remedies they used, the fundamental issue of her Nine Yin Blocked Meridians remained unresolved, making it like pouring water into a bottomless pit.
"While the other children of the clan grew up active and lively, I became weaker and weaker. Eventually, I reached a state where I couldn't even leave my bed."
Her older siblings took turns visiting their youngest sister every day. Her parents, especially Gang-ssi Buin, never left her side. They felt that if they turned their eyes away for even a moment, the child might die.
"Do you know? When a person is sick for a long time, not only does their body break down, but their mind does too. Every time my family forced a smile in front of me, I felt like I was dying a little more."
A bitter smile spread across Yeongso's lips. Her master had been the only person she had ever confessed this to.
"I hated my older brother so much when he walked in so energetically, smelling of the wind outside. So I would throw tantrums, but my family would only fuss over me more, trying to please me."
They're only humoring me because I'm going to die soon. Such twisted thoughts had eaten away at the young Yeongso's heart.
"At the time, just surviving each day was too overwhelming for me to realize that my mother's reputation among the elders was deteriorating."
One day, her parents had to be away for the entire day due to an unavoidable external engagement. The eldest son and two daughters among the six siblings had also been away for several days. Before leaving, Gang-ssi Buin strictly instructed the maids to take good care of the young lady.
"'I can't even get out of bed, yet everyone else goes out so easily...' In my petulance, I pulled the blanket over my head and cried. I stubbornly refused to look at my mother when she tried to say goodbye."
In the end, her parents could only pat her through the blanket before leaving the estate.
"I was lying down after swallowing a few sips of evening gruel when, at some point, the surroundings fell completely silent."
It wasn't the usual quiet of people trying not to disturb a patient. The servants had actually completely emptied out of her quarters. Such a thing had never happened before.
"Just as I was beginning to find it strange, I heard the voices of two elders outside the closed window. They were skilled at erasing their presence, which is probably why I hadn't noticed them. One of them said this."
She still remembered those words vividly.
"That child has been a lost cause for a long time. On a winter night like tonight, even leaving a single window open would kill her... No sooner had those words ended than the window beside my bed slowly creaked open."