The Yoke of Destiny
Late in the afternoon, a single lantern swayed low in the one-room quarters of the Jaha Sect.
Master and disciple, sharing close quarters again after so long in the remote mountains.
Song Ryeong found herself stirred by a strange warmth as Jo Harang's presence filled the room that had stood empty and quiet for so long.
Her proud disciple—who had once left the sect as a first-class martial artist and returned as a master of the Transcendental Peak Realm.
Just as she was about to gaze at her fondly—
"Master."
The disciple spoke first.
At that sudden call, Song Ryeong stirred from her reverie and looked at Jo Harang with mild curiosity.
"What is it, little wildcat of Mount Song?"
The corner of Song Ryeong's mouth lifted slightly, a spark of mischief glinting in both eyes.
"Ugh… Master. Please don't call me that."
Jo Harang scrunched up her face and waved both hands in protest.
She usually roamed the mountains as if they were her own backyard, comparing herself to the strongest beast of all—the tiger—so the word "wildcat" seemed to particularly scrape at her pride.
Song Ryeong found the reaction utterly endearing and covered her mouth with a hand as she let out a soft laugh.
"Then why don't you tell me how you earned that name?"
Her eyes curved into crescent moons, her voice full of open amusement.
This was pure teasing. Jo Harang gritted her teeth at the look in her master's eyes.
"I… failed to keep one promise, and somehow it just… happened that way. Anyway, what about you, Master? What did you think of Mujin after meeting him yourself?"
It was an awkward change of subject from someone whose tongue wasn't the sharpest, but Song Ryeong decided to let it pass with grace.
"An upright young man overflowing with spirit. And a pure, righteous aura flows from his eyes—I even got the sense he might have trained in some Daoist martial art."
"…Right? I've wandered the jianghu quite a bit, but I've never seen anyone who's piled up as much good karma as he has. He's seriously amazing, you know?"
The more they talked, the brighter Jo Harang's eyes shone. She looked exactly like a child eager for someone else to acknowledge the thing she loved.
Song Ryeong watched that expression with quiet fondness, listening in silence.
In that moment, it was plain how deeply her disciple trusted and cherished this man named Dan Mujin.
That girl who used to tear through the mountain valleys day after day with a greatsword on her back had grown up so fast she was already dragging a man like that home.
Song Ryeong was struck by how swiftly time had flown.
"And one time he even fought a jiangshi, you know? Mujin cut it down in a single stroke… Master, are you listening?"
From the sound of it, this Dan Mujin was every bit as much of a walking disaster as her disciple.
First the Blood Cult, then a jiangshi. Wherever he went, extraordinary trouble seemed to find him.
Yet every last one of those incidents had somehow resolved for the good. Perhaps he was the sort of man who truly suited the Purple Micro Star—the star meant to punish evil and pursue righteousness.
"I'm listening. Every action of his ultimately leads to good deeds, so he seems perfect as your match, Harang."
Song Ryeong tossed the line out with a sly smile, and Jo Harang's face instantly turned scarlet.
"…M-Master! What are you saying all of a sudden?!"
She leapt up like a freshly caught fish, and Song Ryeong looked thoroughly satisfied by the reaction.
Resting her chin gently in her hand, she put on an even more mischievous expression.
"M-match? That's not why I brought him! I just came because you called for me…"
Perhaps she still couldn't accept her own feelings honestly.
She had once fallen into a heart demon because of that man, and thanks to that same man she had overcome it and broken through to a higher realm.
She was her disciple, yet she spent so much time eating and swinging a sword that she remained remarkably dull when it came to her own emotions.
Song Ryeong had permitted her to leave the mountain partly to polish that side of her, yet that particular area seemed to have seen little change.
"When you came back after so long, when you left again, and even now that you've returned—all that comes out of your mouth is talk of that man. And you still claim you have no feelings for him as a man?"
Jo Harang opened her mouth, flustered by her master's calm, probing questions.
"W-we're more like sworn friends who've crossed life and death together several times… But sometimes he can be really annoying, and he's a total cheapskate who teases me all the time…"
She twisted a strand of hair around her finger, mumbling her way through the explanation.
A cheapskate who was sometimes annoying, was it? To Song Ryeong's ears, it simply meant that even after earning a great deal of money at a young age, he still knew how to practice restraint and not grow dissolute.
And as for the teasing—well, that was probably just because Harang's reactions were so entertaining.
"Ah, of course he's reliable. I mean, he kept the fact that I'm the Purple Micro Star a complete secret to the end. And also… ah."
Rambling without order, she realized too late that she had blurted out something she shouldn't have. Jo Harang's head snapped up.
And she found herself staring not at her kindly master, but at a woman wearing the face of a malevolent spirit.
"What did you just say…? He found out you're the Purple Micro Star?"
Song Ryeong's voice dropped low.
"W-well, you see. It just kind of… happened…"
Jo Harang's eyes darted this way and that as she fished for excuses.
But her instincts told her the truth: there was no escape.
"You little brat—!"
"…Hiiik!"
Crash!
The door shattered, and Jo Harang went flying out like a swallow skimming water.
Watching her go, Song Ryeong rolled up her sleeves and began drawing up her energy.
And so the midnight chase began.
"Aack! Master, wait! Eek! That hurts!"
"I told you! So many times! Never! Let your identity! Be discovered!"
There were those born into this world carrying lofty stars within them. And in the Central Plains, there also lurked vicious clans that hunted those very stars.
That was why she had warned her so carefully.
"You accident-prone, foolish disciple!"
"Aieek! Ugh! Ah!"
The thudding impacts against a back, mixed with sniffling "ah-ah!" screams.
The racket raised by master and disciple of Mount Song rang loudly through the mountain night.
Meanwhile, Dan Mujin—who had been trying to sleep in the guest room Song Ryeong had prepared—listened to the uproar and snorted with laughter under the blanket.
So she got found out after all, that one.
She had looked so gentle during the day, yet now Song Ryeong was thrashing her disciple like she was catching a rat.
Apparently master-disciple pairs tangled up with ominous stars were the same everywhere.
Listening to Jo Harang's howling screams, Dan Mujin felt a strange sense of kinship.
"You grow by taking the hits, Harang."
Dan Mujin pulled the blanket up to his chin and muttered.
Still, there was no killing intent in the blows, and no sharp blades flying through the air.
By those standards, she was getting off easy.
With that thought, the man settled back down to sleep.
Morning in the mountain is a bustling affair.
Dew sparkled on the tips of the leaves, and the mountain birds had just begun their chatter.
With the dawn came the sight of Jo Harang's face—once bright and fresh, now swollen black and blue.
"Pfft."
Her eyelids were puffed up as if she'd poked a beehive, and her lips jutted out like a duck's bill.
I couldn't help myself. I clapped a hand over my mouth and burst out laughing.
"What's so funny, you bastard, seriously…"
Jo Harang glared at me fiercely, but growling with that blown-up face only made her look more ridiculous.
"Puh-hup!"
Suddenly I remembered the time I'd come back thoroughly beaten by Hwang Geolgae, and the whole office crew had snickered at me.
Had it felt something like this back then?
"This is hilarious. What a sight."
Who else in the world could reduce a Transcendental Peak master to looking like that?
I propped my chin on my hand and murmured as if admiring a painting. Jo Harang let out a long sigh and hung her head.
"You okay?"
"Of course I'm not… My whole body aches."
Her voice was like cotton soaked in water and left to sag.
"That's why you should watch your mouth."
"I-I know, but…"
Apparently Master Song Ryeong had shaken her up with some very strange talk.
Until she started babbling nonsense, she claimed.
"What kind of nonsense is that."
Had it been some kind of guided interrogation? From where I stood, though, the odds were high that this girl had just run her own mouth and spilled the beans without realizing it.
After all, that was how I'd found out she was the Purple Micro Star myself, once upon a time.
Just then—
"Hmm? Young master Dan Mujin, you're awake as well?"
A soft yet somehow unsettling voice drifted from behind me.
Song Ryeong approached with a smiling gaze—the same woman who had spent a good portion of last night wringing screams out of that girl.
Her eyes were smiling, yet for some reason the corners of her mouth hadn't moved at all.
"I heard you know Harang's secret."
There was a peculiar weight in Song Ryeong's voice. Without meaning to, I felt my body go prickly.
"Ahaha, well, one thing led to another… That girl just suddenly spilled it herself first."
Fearing that last night's staff-beating might come flying my way next, I sold Jo Harang out without a second thought.
"Hey! You bastard!"
Jo Harang glared at me through her swollen eyes. I nearly laughed again, but the look in Song Ryeong's eyes made me swallow it down hard.
"So? Did I say anything wrong?"
"Th-that's not…"
I myself had been so startled at the time that I'd nearly sprayed whatever I was drinking.
As Jo Harang fidgeted, Song Ryeong took another step closer to me.
"I hear young master Dan has a very tight mouth. So you'll continue to keep our Harang's secret safe from now on, won't you?"
Her voice was gentle, yet a subtle pressure rode beneath it.
I gulped and answered quickly.
"Of course, Heroine Song Ryeong. I haven't breathed a word of it to anyone so far. I'm nothing like her. Nothing."
I pointed discreetly at the seething Jo Harang.
For someone carrying a star—especially an ominous one—to have a mouth that loose… No wonder her master was so anxious. The girl simply couldn't keep a secret.
"Heh heh. Hearing you say that puts me a little more at ease, young master."
At last the corners of Song Ryeong's mouth rose to match her smiling eyes. The strange atmosphere finally lifted.
That was… a little scary…
Right before my eyes, Salsung shuddered as if uneasy.
There hadn't been a single harsh word, yet this was a woman who knew how to overwhelm people with sheer presence and atmosphere alone.
No surprise, perhaps, that she was the master of the Purple Micro Star who had cut down villains like sheaves of straw.
"Whew."
I wiped away a cold bead of sweat that had rolled down my forehead.
Song Ryeong stared at me for a moment, then suddenly clapped her hands with a sharp "smack."
"Ah, I've thought of something even better."
"Yes? What kind of idea?"
I scratched my cheek as I asked. What good idea had she just come up with?
An ominous feeling was already crawling up my spine.
"It's not that I don't trust you, young master Dan, but a more certain method of keeping the secret just occurred to me."
A way to gather up spilled water—a secret already let loose—she said.
Surely she wasn't about to suggest silencing someone permanently.
"And what would that be…?"
"You and Harang take the same boat."
I tilted my head at the solution the master of the Purple Micro Star had just proposed.
We already worked at the same agency, more or less.
"What exactly do you mean by that…"
"What do you think of our Harang?"
What did I think of Jo Harang?
A bold martial artist who swung that massive greatsword like a windmill, charged into enemy lines roaring, and—perhaps because of the ominous star she carried—devoured her meals like a tiger.
That was about the sum of what came to mind.
"As you know, she has a bit of a tomboyish side, so she's rather far from the demure ideal of womanhood that men of the Central Plains tend to prefer."
She said this while patting Jo Harang on the back.
True enough, there was something of a wild animal about her.
"Do you feel the same way, young master?"
"No? I think her liveliness is perfect. That's actually one of the things I like about her."
This era might prefer quiet, modest women, but even when I used to watch TV, I always preferred the energetic, lively entertainers.
Of course, this one was a little too energetic, but still.
"Oh-ho…"
Song Ryeong's eyes narrowed as if she had just heard something very interesting.
Then she took the blankly standing Jo Harang and planted her right in front of me.
"I see. Then I'll leave our Harang in your care."
"…Excuse me? What do you mean by that."
How had the conversation jumped to that conclusion?
I whipped my head around to stare at Jo Harang as if to ask what the hell this was.
She was looking off at the distant mountains, the back of her neck flushed red.
"I… can't stop Master once she's like this. You're on your own…"
In times like these, she claimed, even if she stepped in it wouldn't help.
So I was supposed to clean up the mess that was hers to handle? This girl…
"Young master Dan, now that you know the secret, you have to take responsibility."
"Er, isn't the whole question of responsibility a bit… misplaced here?"
I had thought she called me over because she had some suspicion about me, yet what was flying my way now sounded more like the questions from a formal meeting between families.
She's insane… Refuse her right now…
Salsung went into a full-blown fit at the mere suggestion that I might be paired with her mortal enemy.
"Or what—do you already have someone else in your heart besides Harang?"
"Umm…"
What answer would get me out of this situation wisely?
I tried to call up one appropriate person who might fit the bill.
"You were thinking of Ju Wolay again, weren't you…?"
"Harang, who is that?"
Song Ryeong—who seemed to have been living secluded on the mountain for some time—asked her disciple.
"There's this courtesan from Cheonhwaru. All flashy on the outside, and the men go completely stupid over her. Just like this guy."
"Ahem. I have never gone stupid. What are you talking about."
Still, she was a woman whose every word and gesture carried a strange magnetic pull, so her face did drift through my mind from time to time.
"Young master Dan, then are you currently seeing someone?"
"No. Up until now I've just been working like an ox."
The moment I stopped training the Seongun Simbeop, I would be living with a bomb in my head that could go off at any time.
I could snap any day and start swinging a sword like I once had at my sister Moyong Cheonghye. Dating? Lovers? Wouldn't that be far too irresponsible?
"Hmm, is that so… Well, even rice takes time to cook. Waiting a little longer might be one approach."
"Both of them seem rather dull when it comes to these things…," Song Ryeong muttered under her breath, wrapping up as if she were yielding the point.
What was cooking into what, exactly?
She seemed like a headache of an entirely different flavor from Hwang Geolgae.
"Ugh."
After the whole uproar had passed, the quiet of midday settled over the open grounds of Mount Song.
Whoosh—!
What shattered that stillness was Jo Harang's overbearing blade work.
Every time the massive Hohyeop-do in her hands carved through the air, a brilliant blade force flashed and shredded the wind.
Huuuung—!
Wherever the blade passed, a gale whipped up and leaves went soaring into the sky. It felt as if the entire mountain was holding its breath beneath her aura.
This was Jo Harang, returned to the Jaha Sect after so long, showing off the skill and achievements she had honed to her master.
Her master, Song Ryeong, watched with eyes full of pride.
"What do you think, young master Dan? She's quite something, isn't she?"
She stood with her arms folded, wearing a soft smile—exactly like a parent who couldn't wait to show off her child's accomplishments.
If only Hwang Geolgae would show a warm side like this once in a while, instead of just thrashing me.
"Yes. Every time I see it, I think it's an extremely practical and threatening blade technique."
Weight over flash. The kind of blade work that would overwhelm an opponent the moment a fight began.
When I praised the martial arts of the Jaha Sect, she smiled faintly and spoke.
"The name of the technique is Annihilation Slaughter Blade Soul."
A little bloodthirsty, but a name that truly suited such an overbearing style.
I said it was a cool name and praised the insight of whoever had created the art.
"For reference, it was created for the purpose of slaying the Heavenly Killing Star."
"…"
…
Suddenly this spot had become extremely uncomfortable.