Older Brother
A bedroom art of intercourse that absorbed a woman's yin energy to reinforce a man's yang. In some cases, it could even be the shape that a deep and mutual love took between two people...
"Are you insane? You think I would do that to So-ye—my precious So-ye?!"
No matter how desperately he needed to save her, he would never subject So-ye to something she would despise. He would rather hunt down a Solar Fire Pearl—the finest among the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Pearls—than ever resort to that.
"I know. I would have stopped you myself, if it weren't for that Solar Physique of yours."
Grandfather felt the same way—and yet something Ja-hyeok possessed had forced that reluctant, urging look onto the old man's face. So he asked what this Solar Physique of his actually was.
"Just what is this Solar Physique that's making you push me like this...?"
"Where there are Extreme Yin Severed Meridians, there exists an opposing constitution. It is called the Solar Physique... also known as the Nine Yang Severed Meridians."
The answer Grandfather gave him was this: the Solar Physique he possessed was the Extreme Yang Severed Meridians—the polar opposite of So-ye's Extreme Yin.
"...Then why am I perfectly fine?"
Even if it was the inverse condition, it was still a severed-meridian disorder. He couldn't understand why he had been spared when So-ye had not.
"That damned son of mine taught you the Jeok family's martial arts—arts that consume a considerable amount of yang energy. He probably had no idea, but by letting you practice them, he weakened the constitution you were born with..."
As if he had known the question was coming, Grandfather explained why Ja-hyeok had remained unharmed. It was because of the martial arts he had learned from his father.
His father was a descendant of the Jeok family, a man of the direct bloodline—he would have known a great many of the arts handed down through their line. And fortunately, those arts consumed yang energy. Practiced without rest, they had left his constitution no room to run wild. That was why, unlike So-ye, he had been fine.
"Wait... then couldn't So-ye just learn ice arts, the same way I learned yang-based martial arts?"
The thought led him to a single, hopeful conclusion. If he had tamed his yang by practicing yang arts, then So-ye could tame her yin by practicing ice arts that drew on the same principle...
"If that were possible, I would have taught her long ago. Unlike you, So-ye never learned martial arts. The window to weaken her condition that way has already closed."
"I see."
"And you as well—you may be quiet for now, but there is every chance you will lose control later. Yours is a body that needs a woman of Extreme Yin."
"...This is insane."
The answer that came back was this: unlike him, So-ye had been frail since childhood and had never touched martial arts. And he himself, bearing the Extreme Yang Severed Meridians, was a body that needed her. A situation that demanded they defy the mandate of Heaven itself—and transgress the most sacred bonds of blood.
"Until you both pass the age of twenty, simply staying close to each other should be enough to keep So-ye's yin from running wild."
"But once she turns twenty, So-ye will have to join her body with an older brother she doesn't even want. Isn't that right?"
The one mercy was that, until they came of age, simply remaining by each other's side would hold her yin in check. And yet even so, So-ye would never have the chance to meet someone she truly cherished. She would be forced to lie with an older brother she did not desire, never free to find a betrothed with whom she might promise a future.
"I'll step out for a moment..."
He had never wanted to hand So-ye over to some worthless man—but neither had he ever intended to stand in the way of her finding love. Seeing the look on his face, Grandfather rose and left the room, giving him space to collect himself.
"So-ye... Oppa's sorry..."
What would he even say if she learned of this? It felt as though a stone had been driven into his chest, lodged so deep it would never come out.
When she arrived at the physician's with Mother and Father, her older brother was taken into the treatment room. For a long while, not a sound emerged.
"Please live, Oppa..."
The older brother who had saved her as magnificently as the greatest martial artist in any storybook—who had kept, in the end, the promise he had made when they were children. And the more she thought of him, the more her heart fluttered, filling with a gentle warmth. The more she imagined a future without him, the more it felt as though a sickness were taking root in her chest.
"Please give him back to me..."
If Heaven itself tried to take him from her, she would do whatever it took to bring him back. And so she prayed, desperately, to the heavens. Please, let him wake. Let him hold her the way he always did. Let her heart keep racing, keep pounding, just as it did whenever he was near.
At last, after an eternity of waiting, the physician who had gone in to treat him emerged, and she could finally hear news of her brother.
"It's exhaustion from expending too much energy all at once. He'll wake with time, so please don't worry yourselves overly."
The moment she heard he was alive, relief washed through her so completely that her legs seemed to give way.
"S-So-ye...! Are you all right?!"
"I-I'm fine... I just got a little dizzy."
Ah... it wasn't that her legs felt like they were giving out. They actually had. She couldn't put any strength into them at all.
"Tsk... That damned brat contacts me out of nowhere, so I come all this way, and now what..."
"Father. Please examine So-ye."
"So-ye...? You don't mean my granddaughter?"
"Yes. Your granddaughter—and my daughter."
Then an old man who had appeared suddenly behind her placed his hand on her body and began to channel something into her. It felt as though her entire body were being inspected, which she did not enjoy—but from Father's words, she gathered that this man was her grandfather.
She was certain Father had said they had no grandfather. Why he existed after all was a mystery—but she submitted silently to the examination, and as it proceeded, Grandfather's expression darkened.
"...Extreme Yin Severed Meridians. If you'd just come back to the Jeok Family Residence, we could have at least delayed this with spiritual medicines. What in the world were you doing all this time, only to show up now—!!"
"I have nothing to say... Father."
"Hah... It's too late to blame you now. I was the one who roared at you back then—told you never to come back, even if it killed you."
She couldn't make out the details of what they were saying, but even she could see how grave the conversation had become.
"P-please stop fighting..."
Tears burst from her before she could stop them, and she tried to pull Father and Grandfather apart. At the sight of her, Grandfather let go of his anger and clicked his tongue.
"Tsk... Fine. I'll hold my tongue for my granddaughter's sake. Let me fetch something useful from what I brought."
"Yes... And could you examine Ja-hyeok as well?"
"Ja-hyeok, is it... Very well."
With that, Grandfather left the room, and Father headed toward the chamber where her older brother lay.
"So-ye, Mama's sorry..."
"It's okay. Hehe..."
As Mother comforted her, a memory surfaced unbidden—the flames her older brother had shown her that day, the ones that had melted her heart. She found herself wanting, just for a moment, to go and see him.
"Mother... may I step out for a bit?"
"Go ahead, dear..."
Her older brother's room was not far from the one she had been in. As she approached, voices began to carry through the door.
"Are you insane? You think I would do that to So-ye—my precious So-ye?!"
"I know. I would have stopped you myself, if it weren't for that Solar Physique of yours."
She couldn't catch every word, but she heard her own name clearly—and with it, the phrase Gathering Yin to Replenish Yang.
Gathering Yin to Replenish Yang. She had seen those words once, written in a book of spring pictures she had happened to pick up. When she had asked Mother about it, she had been told that it was something you did with your body when your heart was in accord with someone precious. Did that mean her older brother had to do that... with her?
"And you as well—you may be quiet for now, but there is every chance you will lose control later. Yours is a body that needs a woman of Extreme Yin."
The words that followed suggested her older brother possessed a constitution similar to her own. A woman of Extreme Yin... in other words, he needed a woman like her. It was exactly the situation she had hoped for.
She would never give her older brother to anyone else. And now, because of their constitutions, they could be together. It was nothing less than a blessing Heaven itself had bestowed upon her.
"But once she turns twenty, So-ye will have to join her body with an older brother she doesn't even want. Isn't that right?"
Doesn't even want? What are you talking about, Oppa? You've always been in my heart. She liked him so much she would swear a hundred-year vow with him if she could. She had wanted to be with him.
After a time, the exchange inside came to an end. The door opened, and Grandfather stepped out.
"...Did you hear?"
"N-no..."
Grandfather asked whether she had overheard the conversation. Out of habit, she denied it...
"Well... it was something we would have had to tell you eventually. If you already know, perhaps that's for the best."
From the look on his face, he knew she had heard everything. He merely patted her head and walked away.
And then a thought took hold of her: until she came of age—until the moment she turned twenty—she would have to cultivate her body. If she was going to win her older brother, she would need to make herself into a beautiful woman in body as well as heart.