An Exciting Temple Stay
The exciting temple stay kicked off with me crashing out in the guesthouse hall that first night, then dragging myself up the next morning at Dang Yeonhwa's urging—still half-asleep—to bow another thousand eight hundred times. This round, we synced our bows to the sound of the wooden fish drum and wrapped up together. We'd arrived at that same dining hall from yesterday, and Moyong Young checked the meditation brunch menu before letting out a howl.
"Noodles again?"
I totally sympathized with her gripe this time. Topping the noodles was a half-boiled egg that hadn't been there yesterday—withered and shriveled like we were chomping on a mummified egg.
"Ugh—bet it'd taste better than this even if they boiled my dad's funeral clothes."
"It's pretty salty, yeah."
If even Dang Jihwan was complaining, that said it all. I gritted my teeth and forced down the scorched noodles. Not whining was already making me more mature than Moyong Young—how easy was that?
"Did the Emei Sect disciples finish eating earlier than us?" Dang Sohee asked, glancing up at Dang Yeonhwa.
"You won't be mingling with the Emei Sect disciples anyway. We didn't get permission from their sect leader."
It might've worked if it was just Sohee or Moyong Young, but with us guys along, it'd be awkward as hell.
Moyong Young cautiously spoke up. "Um, about that ghost yesterday..."
Dang Yeonhwa cut her off coldly. "Always such a worrywart. Just do as I told you yesterday."
What the heck had Dang Yeonhwa said to her, anyway?
"We doing another thousand eight hundred bows this afternoon?" I asked about the rest of the schedule. Were we really coming all the way to the Emei Sect just to bow and head home?
"I'm planning to treat the Emei Sect's patients."
"Pardon?"
Sohee explained. "The Emei Sect monks probably don't get to see doctors often."
Made sense—if she was checking on that rude jerk of a dad, she clearly knew her medicine. A poison arts master having basic medical knowledge was a given, after all.
Just then, a nun entered the dining hall. Dang Yeonhwa turned and introduced her. "This is the monk who'll be escorting you. Say hello."
"I'm Jeonghye."
Up close, she looked about thirty. Her eyebrows were striking.
Moyong Young asked, "You said we won't mingle with the Emei Sect disciples—what will we do, then?"
"You offered prayers right after arriving yesterday, right? How about touring the temple?"
And so the tour began.
We'd seen them from the carriage on the way up, but Emei Mountain was dotted with big and small temples. The Emei Sect was affiliated with the Fuhu Temple, and naturally, that's the one we toured. Aside from it being all nuns, it didn't look much different from a 21st-century Korean temple. Instead of praying for killer college entrance exam scores, folks were begging for imperial exam success, or healing for sick grandmas or kids—devotees swarming everywhere for blessings and luck.
We tried to quietly people-watch, but we ended up as the spectacle ourselves.
"Kids?"
Most pilgrims trekking deep into Emei Mountain were adults. Four kids huddled together stood out like sore thumbs amid the grown-ups.
"Kids? Aren't those young masters from somewhere?"
"No way—the Tang Clan of Sichuan...?"
"Don't spook them, whatever you do! We'd catch hell for it!"
'We can hear you, uncles.'
I clicked my tongue at their over-the-top reactions. We were just wearing our family's signature deep green robes, but they'd clocked us instantly—what the hell was our clan's reputation like, anyway?
Moyong Young pouted. "I'm not from the Tang Clan."
"Grain Rain passed a few days ago, so Buddha's birthday isn't far off."
May was family month, and I still wasn't used to there being no Children's Day. It left a hollow feeling in my chest.
"So, which of the Four Heavenly Kings is the strongest?"
"The guardian dharma protectors don't feud with each other."
"Still curious, though..."
Moyong Young lobbed silly questions from the rear, while Sohee and I walked hand-in-hand side by side. Leading at the front was Dang Jihwan, with Jeonghye Nun right behind.
"Do we make lotus lanterns?"
"Yes, we do."
We ducked into an empty room and got to crafting. "Here, like this."
Following her demo, we glued colorful paper onto bamboo frames to make lanterns. Dang Jihwan and Sohee dove right in, but I whipped up a couple and took it easy. No art grades for elementary kids anyway!
Later, I "divided labor" by helping Sohee from the side.
"Is dinner noodles again?"
"If the training hall meals don't suit you, feel free to grab food from Fuhu Temple's kitchen."
Jeonghye Nun gave an awkward smile.
"Score!"
From what I'd seen with that rich couple earlier, servants hauling sack after sack of rice—no way they'd skimp on big spenders like us.
Sure enough, temple food was damn good. By dinner's end, dusk had fallen. After a quick bathroom break at the outhouse, Sohee was the only one left.
"Sohee, where's Jeonghye Nun?"
"She said we could find our own way back to the dorms."
"What?"
If true, that was straight-up irresponsible. Martial arts kids or not, we were just little ones! As an orthodox sect pillar, maybe they were that confident in security?
That's when it hit me—Moyong Young and Dang Jihwan had left first.
"You waited for me alone, Sohee!"
No one but Sohee thought of me, brothers be damned! She didn't pull away as I hugged her tight, wriggling like some soft-bodied sea creature in my arms. We stayed like that a while before I asked what was bugging me.
"Oh, what'd Dang Yeonhwa tell Moyong Young?"
Seemed like she'd tipped her off on ghost-banishing tricks, but her real motives looked fishier.
Sohee calmly explained. "I didn't hear it. But she's using this trip to straighten out Youngie's bad habits for good."
'No wonder our family's rep is in the toilet.'
Brushing off the adults who got serious about hazing kids, I turned to practical worries. "Whaddya wanna do at the dorm before bed?"
[Yohwan, look over there.]
Sohee grabbed my sleeve, and I halted. We were on the path back to the dorms. Two figures headed a different way from the path we'd taken down from the Emei Sect earlier. Moonlight kept it from pitch black—plenty to make out who they were.
'Jihwan hyung and that rude jerk?'
Sohee's eyes sparkled as she proposed, "Let's tail 'em."
"Why bother? Let's just head to the dorm."
Seeing Moyong Young get her comeuppance would feel great, but I didn't wanna waste alone time with Sohee. Our schedules were packed with dumb training as it was—like the Milky Way separating the Cowherd and Weaver Girl.
The moment Sohee turned her head, time seemed to glitch and slow. She'd always been pretty, always would be, but under the soft moonlight, she looked downright unreal.
[Yohwan, husbands and wives move as one, right?]
"What's that got to do with anything?" I swallowed hard.
[If I go, you have to follow, don't you?]
Her lips curved up—just a smidge, but I never missed a thing about Sohee.
"Guess so?"
Her airtight logic was super convincing. We tailed Moyong Young and Dang Jihwan, stifling our presence like we'd been taught. Kept enough distance not to get spotted, hiding behind waist-high grass to watch.
They reached a secluded hermitage at the mountain's base. One of them flung the door wide.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!"
The over-the-top scream was pure Moyong Young. Dang Jihwan soothed her panic, and they bolted—not toward us, thank god, but across the night-shrouded mountain toward the dorms.
The second they vanished from sight, I dashed to the hermitage.
'What the hell did they see?'
As I neared, the open door—left ajar by Moyong Young—came into view. Treading pebbles carefully, I peeked inside.
"What? It's just a Buddha statue, right?"
"Yohwan, that's a person."
Only then did the lifelike pose click. Gaunt from fasting, skin all wrinkly and shriveled. Sitting in full lotus, the picture of meditation.
"Ah, sorry for interrupting."
I bowed toward it. 'Rude to bug someone meditating, martial artist or not.'
What was so shocking about a temple monk that Moyong Young freaked like that?
"No way... it was a person...?"
Sohee's words sent chills racing up my spine. Wait—was a person?
'That means it's a corpse?!'
The old monk had died sitting upright.
"Uwaaaah..."
Legs giving out, I plopped on my butt. Sohee hopped up beside me on the floorboards. We examined the body up close.
"Smells like they burned incense to mask the stench."
"Sohee, why're you touching it?"
"'Cause I'm curious?"
Too stunned to stop her, I just gawked. I knew Sohee was fearless, but this level?
A bellow came from outside. "What's all this racket?"
The Emei Sect's big boss—the sect leader—had arrived.
"Th-there's a dead person here..."
The sect leader sighed heavily. "Causing a fuss at the site of seated transcendence and upright nirvana. Even as Tang Clan guests, this can't slide."
His grave tone hit me—something was seriously off.
"No, we didn't scream earlier!"
I'd startled too, sure, but not with a mountain-shaking wail.
"Then who else is here now?"
Jeonghye Nun pressed from beside the sect leader, and I clamped my mouth shut in frustration. The real screamer—who'd infused her voice with inner energy to rattle Emei Mountain—had fled.
I clenched my fists, trembling with injustice.
"I don't know how you ended up at this hermitage, but even Poison Insect Lady would agree. As young masters of a famed clan, take responsibility for your actions."
Sohee asked, "Do we both get punished together?"
"Wouldn't that be fair?"
Instead of cowering at the sect leader's reply, Sohee beamed. Watching my girlfriend, I thought: She's mine, but damn, Sohee's a little weird.