A Ten Percent Possibility
When she came to, the thick scent of medicinal herbs filled the Moyong Clan’s infirmary.
Physicians had brought out precious elixirs, ground them fine, and were carefully pouring the decoction past her lips. Lord Moyong Cheon had visited midway through and made it plain that if anything went wrong, none of them would be spared—so every motion of the healers was painstakingly cautious.
Around her, the room stirred with quiet activity while Moyong Cheonghye calmly tended the internal injuries within her own body. Settling the roiling internal energy and straightening her twisted meridians strand by strand was no easy task. Yet the medicines the physicians fed her turned into a cool, clear force that soothed her damaged channels, and with each passing hour her injuries began to mend.
Days later, having more or less brought under control the internal wounds Gwang Hyeol-so had inflicted, Moyong Cheonghye slowly lifted eyelids as heavy as water-soaked cotton.
The infirmary swam into view. First she saw the physicians, faces drawn with exhaustion as they boiled more medicine.
“Sister…? Sister! You’ve come around?”
Next she saw her younger brother, Moyong Hwi, who shot to his feet in startled relief. Grease dulled his hair; his face looked worn—he had clearly kept vigil here for days on end. The little brother she ought to have been looking after, yet never had; the sore finger she both resented and longed for.
“……Hwi.”
Moyong Cheonghye called him in a cracked voice. He leaned in at once, listening intently as if ready for whatever she might say next.
“That young hero…….”
“Sister, why bring up some young hero all of a sudden?”
The first words out of her mouth after waking, and Moyong Hwi could only stare back in confusion.
“The one I saw at the cliff…….”
“Ah—the fellow who brought you in? Don’t tell me something happened there?”
Something had happened. In the final moment before she lost consciousness, it had felt as though lightning had struck her mind.
“Bring him here……. I have to see his face—his face…….”
Moyong Hwi cocked his head at the earnest plea, but went out at once and soon returned dragging the troubleshooter into the infirmary. He pointed at the bewildered young man and asked again,
“Is this the young hero you were looking for, Sister?”
Yet Moyong Cheonghye’s gaze wavered strangely, as if something was off. This was not the face of the younger brother she had seen before losing consciousness. The Cheongjin of that day had grown somewhat more mature with time, yet still held a remnant of his old, open innocence.
“Young Hero Dan Mujin……?”
“Uh, yes……. You called for me. How are you feeling?”
The same spirited youth who had never given an inch against the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord or the Blood Sect—the very young man who had suddenly called her “Noona” and shaken her heart—now stood before her with an awkward smile.
“Young Hero Dan Mujin.”
“Yes, Vice Leader Moyong Cheonghye.”
He answered with deliberate stiffness. He spoke as though addressing a stranger, yet the faint tremor buried in his voice could not be hidden.
“Was it you?”
“……Pardon?”
When coincidence piles upon coincidence, it becomes inevitability. At her question—one that already carried its own quiet conclusion—Dan Mujin’s whole body jerked.
Life is a fickle thing. Live long enough and crises will come knocking of their own accord. Each time, you have to navigate them shrewdly if you ever want to see tomorrow’s sun.
And right now, I was pretty sure this was one of those crises.
“Me? Ah—ha, ha……. Whatever do you mean?”
A certain amount of acting ability is mandatory in the detective business. You sneak around, you disguise yourself, you take undercover jobs—it’s only natural. Yet today, faced with Moyong Cheonghye’s subject-dropping, all-knowing question, I was fumbling more awkwardly than I ever had in my life.
Idiot.
Salsung snickered in my head the moment I started acting weird at a time when my identity could still be exposed. But there was nothing I could do about it. Moyong Cheongjin, who occupied a piece of my personality, had been thrashing about inside me ever since we walked in.
Resentment, longing, bitter love—everything surged up from within. I stuffed it all back down and focused on getting through the moment.
“Hey. Why are you so rattled? You look like a man who’s committed some crime.”
Even Moyong Hwi, normally oblivious to other people’s feelings, noticed and pointed it out. If he could see it, there was no way Moyong Cheonghye—who had already been suspecting me—would miss it.
I’m screwed.
That was the conclusion I reached after careful thought. The Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden who would cut down even her own kin without hesitation if she judged them a scourge upon the world…… was now on the verge of seeing through me.
“Vice Leader Moyong Cheonghye, what exactly are you driving at with a question like that…….”
At my probe she made a face too complicated to put into words. She worked her red lips several times before finally making this request:
“Could you…… call me Noona one more time?”
“…….”
Yeah. Definitely screwed.
The second I said it she would know for certain. From where I stood it looked like a confirmation kill.
“Please, Young Hero.”
“Ha…….”
Moyong Cheonghye fixed her clear eyes on mine and pleaded. Hardship had left her face gaunt, yet those two eyes shone brighter than ever.
The people around us wore puzzled looks, unsure what to make of our exchange. When I hesitated, Moyong Hwi shot me a glare that said, My sister is asking—how dare you refuse?
“Ahem. We’ve only met a handful of times. Calling someone that already feels a little…… premature, don’t you think?”
“I’m begging you. Just once is enough.”
She took my hand and held it tight. The warmth of her palm was gentle, yet a subtle pressure made escape impossible.
So the exit’s sealed too. Screw it. Whatever happens, happens.
“……Noona.”
As the eldest daughter of the family, everyone else was careful with how they addressed Moyong Cheonghye. But I had already been cast out, so I never bothered with that. I had always called her with easy familiarity.
“Ah…….”
Hearing the word, Moyong Cheonghye slowly closed her eyes. A faint smile touched her lips, as if she had finally found a long-awaited peace of mind.
I had done my best to alter my voice, yet from that single utterance she had clearly realized something. I prepared to bolt the moment the fallout arrived.
“Thank you, Young Hero Dan Mujin……. Thanks to you I was able to keep my life at that cliff.”
Yet even after seeming to reach a certainty, she did not expose it. She simply let it pass with a gentle smile.
What……?
I stopped halfway through turning away and cocked my head. Maybe—just maybe—this could blow over without incident.
“If you hadn’t appeared that day, Young Hero, I would have opened my eyes in the Blood Sect’s stronghold rather than here. So allow me to thank you once more, Young Hero Dan Mujin.”
At Moyong Cheonghye’s words of gratitude the young man scratched his head with a sheepish look—half puzzled, half wearing an unmistakable expression of I made it.
The face was different, the speech and voice altered, yet from that one exchange she was now nine-tenths certain of his identity. Given time and the upright way he had grown, this young man was very likely her younger brother, Moyong Cheongjin.
The remaining tenth of certainty…… would only come once she peeled away that skin mask she suspected he was wearing.
Without thinking she had begun to reach for his face; now she drew the hand back with a sorrowful expression.
Do I even have the right……?
Why else would he stand before her in such meticulous disguise? Because he did not trust her. Because he was still hiding who he was.
…….
And he had every reason. The one who had stabbed and cut him at the cliff while he cried out for her to believe him had been none other than herself.
So she chose not to resolve that last tenth of doubt here and now. She would let him go.
If the day ever came when trust was restored between them, her brother would remove the disguise of his own accord and speak to her. The Moyong Cheongjin she knew would do exactly that; she did not doubt it for a moment.
“Young Hero, I asked you before—have you given any further thought to joining the Myeolmade?”
Until that day arrived, though, she wanted to keep him close and watch over him. Was that too greedy of her?
“I, ah—I’m grateful for the offer. But I’ve already set up shop as a troubleshooter in Beijing.”
He shrugged, mentioning that he had even bought land and a building, as if to say there was nothing to be done.
He was still uncomfortable around her, no doubt.
“A troubleshooter—someone who takes any job so long as the fee is paid, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then…… would it be all right if we brought commissions to you on a regular basis?”
“Of course. I was about to starve for lack of work as it is……. You’re welcome anytime.”
She had been wondering when she would see his face again. Now a legitimate reason for trips to Beijing had appeared, and Moyong Cheonghye allowed herself a quiet smile.
Leader Jeok Unyeop would no doubt thrash her again for wandering off, but what choice did a sister have? She could not afford to let go of the fragile link she had only just reclaimed with her brother.
“Is business that hard? Starving, you say.”
“Ugh, don’t even start. Whether it’s bad luck or something else, every single job that comes in is dirty on the back end, so word of mouth never spreads.”
“Is that so? What a pity……. Would you at least have some of these sweets, then?”
She slid a dish of treats that had been set beside the lukewarm teacup toward him.
“Oh, I’d never turn food down. Thank you.”
Dan Mujin plucked a candied mulberry first among the preserved fruits and chewed with a crisp little crunch; the corner of his mouth was quickly stained its distinctive color.
Call it shameless if you like—his personality had shifted somewhat after everything he had been through—yet that particular preference of his remained unchanged.
Once she let the matter of his identity slide and pretended not to know, he finally relaxed. His face loosened and he began popping the sweets into his mouth without discrimination.
She would have preferred to see her brother’s smiling face beyond that false skin. But if she waited patiently, that chance would come.
And when it did, she had so many things she wanted to say. What he had been through. What hardships he had endured. And who those women watching him with such peculiar eyes were supposed to be.
Someday the long-held feelings would have their moment to unfurl.
Moyong Cheonghye watched Dan Mujin quietly celebrating a new client and free food, a smile lingering on her lips.
For the first time in a very long while, Moyong Cheonghye laughed with every care lifted from her shoulders—bright and clear.
I survived one of the few genuine crises of my life.
Fortunately we didn’t have to bolt after doing a good deed; the Moyong Clan treated us properly as benefactors for the remainder of our stay.
When it came time to leave, Moyong Hwi came to see us off. Apparently Moyong Cheonghye was still resting in her chambers and could not join this farewell. She had asked him to pass along her regards—or so he claimed. Given his twisted personality, he summed up what must have been a long parting message with a casual “Eh, she said take care.”
“Take this.”
As payment for saving his sister, Moyong Hwi held out something that looked like a round pill.
“It’s a Supreme Gathering Pill—one of the Moyong Clan’s treasured elixirs.”
At the name of the elixir, Ilhong’s and Jo Harang’s eyes flew wide at the same time. Clearly it was something extremely precious.
“Couldn’t you just give me money instead?”
I said it with a sour face. The job had been a bust, Gwang Hyeol-so’s head had run off to who-knows-where, and this body of mine still had debts to pay.
“Boss, are you crazy?”
“Mujin, have you lost your mind?”
The two martial artists nearly jumped out of their skins. I didn’t really need more internal energy, I told them. The reason I couldn’t reach the next realm looked more like a problem of a fractured spirit than a lack of power.
“Well, if that’s what you want.”
Moyong Hwi nodded readily and made to pull the elixir back. At the sight of him looking so pleased, I snatched the vanishing treasure in a hurry.
“Tch.”
He clicked his tongue, clearly disappointed.
“On second thought, this’ll do fine. I’ll put it to good use.”
“Hmph. Suit yourself.”
He still strutted around with that haughty air of his. A little warmer than before, maybe—but only a little.