Seok Myo-hee (1)
Shin Dan-woo, the Shadowless One, felt a shiver run through him at Seok Geum-ryong’s talent, which surpassed all imagination.
What startled him was not talent alone.
This world has no shortage of gifted people, of those born with martial bones. But Young Master Seok Geum-ryong possesses not only genius in martial arts, but also a mind utterly unlike that of a child, and a vessel large enough to rule the world.
Leaving his martial aptitude aside, even his temperament and will were extraordinary.
There were countless children who showed remarkable gifts at a young age only to become so-called lazy geniuses.
And yet this Seok Geum-ryong did not resemble them in the slightest. As though this life were his last, he drove himself mercilessly, never satisfied, training again and again until even Shin Dan-woo was astonished.
“Young Master Seok Geum-ryong. I have one more hidden skill as well. It’s called the Wind-Breaking Sword Technique... I’ll teach you swordsmanship.”
Shin Dan-woo swore his loyalty to Seok Geum-ryong from the depths of his heart.
At the same time, he resolved to cultivate the brilliant seed called Seok Geum-ryong properly.
Seeing that radiant talent, not only Shadowless Movement Technique but the other martial art he had kept hidden as well rose naturally to the surface.
“Wind-Breaking Sword Technique?”
Seok Geum-ryong turned to him with an unfamiliar look on his face.
Did Shin Dan-woo the Shadowless One know a sword technique?
Even he, though familiar with the man from his previous life, did not know this martial art properly.
But that was not so surprising.
Any martial artist who roamed the dangerous jianghu had at least one hidden trump card, one secret art they kept in reserve.
In other words, Shin Dan-woo was revealing even the final skill he had likely intended to use only in battles where life and death hung in the balance.
It meant he trusted Seok Geum-ryong to that extent, and had laid bare all of his secrets before him.
“Yes, that’s right. It means a sword technique that cuts through the wind. To be honest, it’s only a first-class martial art, but it won’t be a bad choice for your introduction to swordsmanship.”
Shin Dan-woo took a stance as though he would demonstrate it himself.
“Hoo-wup.”
He drew in a breath, and then.
Wind-Waves Dancing with Flowers!
As Shin Dan-woo had said, it was not an unparalleled sword technique that would shake the martial world, but it possessed a keen, cutting edge worthy of being called a first-class art.
Swish-swish-swish!
Most impressive of all was the way the sword qi flowed smoothly around the blade as it sliced through the air.
This is a very fine martial art, one without fault for entering the field of swordsmanship.
Seok Geum-ryong judged the Wind-Breaking Sword Technique with the eye of the Gold-Selling Swordsman.
Even so, it was a quite decent martial art, and particularly one that suited the current Seok Geum-ryong perfectly.
At present, Seok Geum-ryong’s strength remained at the first form of the Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique, a technique composed of seven forms.
To learn the second form, he would have to rise beyond the first-class realm, and if he wished to avoid exposing the Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique to others, the Wind-Breaking Sword Technique was perfect for use instead.
It will also be useful if anyone asks when I first began learning swordsmanship.
And if he were questioned about where he had learned it, he would even gain a plausible excuse and justification for having studied movement technique and swordsmanship under the Shadowless One, which was profitable in more ways than one.
“Waaah!”
Since he had to appear like a child, Seok Geum-ryong shouted with childlike delight as if he were one.
Seeing that, Shin Dan-woo smiled with satisfaction and said, “If it’s you, Young Master, you should be able to learn this Wind-Breaking Sword Technique without any trouble as well.”
* * *
Thanks to Shin Dan-woo, Seok Geum-ryong smoothly learned the movement technique that had been a weakness in his previous life and was most necessary in this one, and naturally came to the threshold of swordsmanship as well.
News that Seok Geum-ryong had entered the martial path spread beyond the estate where he stayed and reached all of Seokga Manor.
It seemed as though everything was proceeding smoothly, but there was still one problem.
“Young Master. This is a little presumptuous of me, but...”
Gong Sang-pil, the butler in charge of the estate’s accounts and household affairs, scratched his head and approached.
“What is it?”
Seeing Gong Sang-pil’s troubled look, Seok Geum-ryong went over and asked.
“With so many extra people now in the estate, we are short on funds to operate the household.”
What Gong Sang-pil revealed was truly shocking.
In other words, they were short of money to run the household.
Some might wonder how the son of the lord of Seokga Manor could not even have enough funds to manage his own faction, but that was far from the point.
The other siblings had the abundant support of their maternal families, and once they turned fifteen, they passed Seokga Manor’s internal trial and received a huge sum of money.
The internal trial of Seokga Manor meant that when a direct descendant of Seokga turned fifteen, they were given a considerable sum of gold coins, and from there they had to turn that money into at least five times its original value.
If they failed that trial, they would not be properly recognized as a direct descendant, and it also meant elimination from the struggle for the position of Seokga Manor’s heir.
In his previous life, Young Master Seok Geum-ryong failed that trial and had to live as though he were there and not there at all.
The other siblings all had maternal clans no less prosperous than Seokga Manor, so they lacked for nothing thanks to their support, but Seok Geum-ryong was different.
“Is that really true?”
“Yes. Because we recently strengthened the outer defenses with Warrior Shin Dan-woo and hired a large number of martial artists...”
A shortage of household funds was, in a sense, a failure of the butler’s duty.
So Blue-robed Scholar Gong Sang-pil said in a very small voice, his face bright red.
“There is no need to be ashamed. When the funds provided in the first place are no more than a sparrow’s tear, how could that be Butler Gong’s fault?”
An ordinary, immature master would have blamed the butler, but Seok Geum-ryong was different.
“Young Master, sob...”
Gong Sang-pil was deeply moved by the broadness of spirit that did not match his age.
The other butlers had pitied Gong Sang-pil and asked why he had ended up tied to Seok Geum-ryong’s faction of all places, but Gong Sang-pil saw it differently.
Our Young Master is the finest of all the heirs, the real thing.
He vowed to remain loyal forever, then spoke with some difficulty.
“So, this is rather presumptuous of me, but... may we sell some of Madam’s belongings?”
In truth, this was not the first time they had sold the things belonging to Seok Geum-ryong’s birth mother in order to get through a difficult stretch of household management.
Seok Geum-ryong’s mother had been favored by Seok Ji-sung, the lord of Seokga Manor, and received many expensive gifts. The Geumryong faction had sold them whenever trouble arose and used the money to keep the household running.
“...Wait.”
Because that had been his life in his previous existence as well, Seok Geum-ryong was about to permit it without another thought when a good idea suddenly came to him.
“Yes?”
Gong Sang-pil was flustered by the sudden change in his expression.
“I’ve thought of a good method.”
Seok Geum-ryong smiled with a meaningful look.
If he handled it well, he could not only figure out the other side’s true intentions but also seize a generous profit for himself.
“Yes? What method would that be?”
* * *
On an otherwise peaceful afternoon, the owner of a vast and beautiful flower garden, Seok Myo-hee, wore a fresh and lovely smile.
But that peace did not last long.
“Young Lady.”
Gu Jin-taek, the fourth butler of Seokga Manor, who served Seok Myo-hee and was known as the Smiling Elder for his ever-present grin, hurried over to her.
“What is it?”
Seeing his face turn cold and grave instead of smiling, Seok Myo-hee realized immediately that something had happened.
“Young Master Seok Geum-ryong has suddenly come to visit Geumhwa-won.”
“...!!”
The moment she heard that, Seok Myo-hee could only doubt her ears.
Seok Geum-ryong is coming to see me?
When she thought about it, it was not actually that strange.
Among the eight siblings, Seok Myo-hee was almost the only person Seok Geum-ryong ever communicated with.
But that was back when he knew nothing of the truth behind the Flying Horse Spear Woo Jun-rae incident.
“Why?”
“I-I’m not sure.”
At Seok Myo-hee’s question, even Gu Jin-taek, who had handled every part of the Woo Jun-rae matter, was flustered and sweating.
There was more shocking news still.
“And... he brought back all the sweets and medicinal herbs that had been given to Young Master Seok Geum-ryong as gifts.”
“What?”
At that point, Seok Myo-hee rose in surprise.
As she stood, the beautiful flowers around her rustled and shed their petals.
Could he have noticed?
Standing still, Seok Myo-hee sank into thought.
The sweets and medicinal herbs she had given Seok Geum-ryong every year.
Inside those seemingly ordinary gifts were, in fact, several hidden ingredients meant to restrain his natural constitution.
Though only in extremely small amounts, they were harmful to Seok Geum-ryong, who possessed the Heaven-Defying Body.
Still, they could hardly be called poison, and some of the ingredients were actually beneficial to health, so there was nothing shameful about them.
“How amusing. A child so timid he avoided even meeting his other siblings comes to see me in person?”
The girl smiling shyly amid the beautiful flower garden suddenly shed her pure expression, and her true self surfaced.
She was only sixteen now, six years younger than Seok Geum-ryong, not even old enough to be considered a young adult, and yet there was something fearsome hidden in that face.
“I understand. Escort him respectfully to my room.”
Seok Myo-hee made her decision at once, without hesitation.
I want to hear with my own ears what he has to say.
She was curious why Seok Geum-ryong had come looking for her.
He had always been the younger brother who, whenever she visited him, could not even meet her eyes and only smiled shyly like a fool.
Thump-thump!
As she tidied her room and prepared tea, Seok Myo-hee’s heart pounded for no good reason.
What would Seok Geum-ryong say?
Had he noticed that she had tried to kill him?
Her thoughts swirled restlessly.
“Young Master Seok Geum-ryong has entered.”
At last the time came, and the room door opened.
Rattle.
Seok Geum-ryong stepped inside, still only ten years old, but already carrying the refined elegance inherited from his birth mother.
But something felt off.
Was Geum-ryong always that composed?
Watching Seok Geum-ryong walk alone with such dignity toward Geumhwa-won, the estate where she lived, Seok Myo-hee even felt a strange sense that someone else had come in his place.
But only for a moment.
“Did you come, Geum-ryong?”
Seok Myo-hee, still only sixteen, greeted him with a bright smile.
Unlike Seok Geum-ryong, who struggled to maintain his faction and household, her circumstances were far better.
She would later be hailed as the eldest daughter of Seokga Manor and the most beautiful woman in all of Hebei, and her maternal family was the Geumhwa Merchant Group, one of the largest merchant groups in the province.
The Geumhwa Merchant Group had chosen not to be absorbed into Seokga Manor, but to coexist with it as blood relatives, and Seok Myo-hee was the result of that choice.
Smirk.
As befitted someone who would one day become Hebei’s most beautiful woman, her looks were already breathtaking.
With that soft and lovely expression, she asked Seok Geum-ryong, “Why didn’t you eat the sweets and herbs I sent you, and why did you bring them back?”
If Seok Geum-ryong had truly been a ten-year-old child, ignorant and immature, he would not have understood the hidden meaning in those words.
But the current Seok Geum-ryong was different.
The instant he heard her, his instincts screamed the truth.
So all of this was her doing after all.
He instinctively realized that she had been the one to suppress his Heaven-Defying Body, and that she had also sent assassins through the Smiling Elder, Gu Jin-taek.
“Why won’t you answer? Do they not suit your taste? Even so, your older sister sent them for you herself because she was thinking of you.”
Seok Geum-ryong still stared at her beautiful face.
His head understood, but his heart refused to understand.
That someone so beautiful and so gentle in appearance was actually the chief culprit threatening his life and his constitution.
He had been half in doubt, but now that the truth was clear, Seok Geum-ryong chose to confront it head-on.
“Because they contain poison that turns the Heaven-Defying Body into the body of a dull fool.”