A Fiancé's Conduct
While everyone else stood speechless at what had just unfolded, only one person found the voice to speak to me.
"Gaga...? It is you... isn't it?"
"I took far too long, didn't I? I'm sorry, Soye."
"Gaga!!"
The woman I had yearned for without end across six years threw herself into my arms. Held again after so long, she was smaller than the woman in my memory—no. She only felt smaller. Did I grow too much...? Six years ago there was hardly any difference between us. If I really stood at six ja and two chi, somewhere around 186 centimeters, then I was the one who had shot up too far. Soye looked comfortably past 170 herself, so that seemed about right.
She clung to me the way someone clutches a thing that might vanish the instant they let go. I stroked her hair.
"I'm home."
"Welcome home..."
The arms wrapped around me showed no intention of ever loosening, and I was just starting to wonder what to do about it when the maid who had been with Soye spoke up.
"Y-you... do you have any idea what you've just done?!"
"No. Do I have to?"
"O-of course you do! The man you just trampled is the Tang Clan's Young Clan Head—"
"I asked if I have to."
She never finished. The moment I pressed her in a voice laden with internal energy, she froze where she stood, plainly terrified. So the man I'd stepped on for putting his hands all over Soye was the Young Clan Head? That was going to be a bit of a headache.
"He was pawing at my fiancée, and I didn't like the look of it, so I put him under my foot. Do I really need to announce who I am on top of that?"
"...Hic!"
"That's enough, Gaga."
The one who swept my pressure aside was none other than Soye, still held against my chest. With practiced ease she brushed away the aura I had laid down.
"Siwol only said it because she was worried about me. Don't be so angry."
"All right."
"Thank you. Siwol, you must have had a fright. Go back and rest a little."
"But, Young Mistress! Even so—"
"I'll take the responsibility, so you may go in first."
"What are you talking about? If anyone takes responsibility, it's me. Why would that fall on you?"
"Gaga..."
A troubled look had settled on her face. I caught her hand and drew her with me.
"We can think about responsibility later. Come here."
"Gaga...?"
Still holding her hand, I stepped slowly down from the head of the Tang Clan's Young Clan Head, or whoever he was supposed to be. There was plenty I wanted to say, but none of it had to be said now. This was the time for everything I had wanted to do with Soye through all those years.
"If you'll excuse us?"
"What? W-wait, Gaga—?!"
I gathered her up in a princess carry and left the Tang Clan behind on my lightness art. The outrageous leg power and speed peculiar to the Thunderbolt Divine Art were more than enough; a single step carried us clear of the clan gardens.
"G-Gaga?!"
"Responsibility can wait with the rest of it. Right now, let's go out."
"Th-this suddenly?"
"I'm sorry I made you wait, but today is the day I've been waiting for. Haven't you?"
"I... I've been waiting too..."
A little shy, Soye flushed and dropped her gaze. She had seemed a bit more forward six years ago, but I let it pass. So what if she was bashful now? Whatever Soye she was, she was lovely.
Two or three pushes of my feet took us completely clear of the Tang Clan, and something caught both our eyes. The sight of a traditional market brought six years ago rushing back, and I looked at her.
"What is it? Thinking of six years ago?"
"Yeah. Back then, we really..."
"Have you decided where we're going?"
"No? It's my first time here."
"I thought so. I'll escort you today, so next time it's your turn. You know that, right?"
"I know. You even know the word escort?"
"Of course. Do you think I'd forget a single thing you've ever said?"
"Well, I'm honored."
We talked as the lightness art carried us, and before long we were down on the market floor. I set Soye carefully out of my arms and took a slow look around.
"The heart of Sichuan, all right. It's in a different league from back home."
"Isn't it? Your town is decently large, but this place is almost too big."
"Tell me about it. Stay here long and I'd be lost in a second."
"Then we simply won't let you get lost."
Soye looped her arm through mine, then rested her head against my shoulder.
"If I hold on to you like this, you won't wander off, will you?"
"I'm a little shaken."
"Why?"
"Because I can't believe I never thought of something this good myself."
"Pfft! What kind of thing is that to say?"
Watching her laugh behind a shy hand, I was simply glad to be alive. The smiling eyes that hadn't changed at all in six years were still devastating.
Having found a way not to get lost, I looked slowly around us. So where should we start... hm? That's... In a place I had only glanced past, someone at a stall was selling tanghulu, candied fruit on a stick.
"Want to get tanghulu?"
"Tanghulu?"
"Yeah. It was the first thing we ever ate together. What do you think? Not in the mood?"
"I'd love that. Let's go."
Encouraged, I walked up to the stall and ordered two.
"Welco—"
"Two tanghulu, please."
"..."
"Sir...?"
"Ah! Yes, of course. Two tanghulu, you said? One moment, please."
The stall keeper, who had been staring as if time itself had stopped, finally went in to make them. I followed the line of that vacant gaze and found Soye beside me.
"What? Is there something on my face?"
"No. It's just—looking around now, most of the men in this market seem to be staring at nothing but you."
"Jealous?"
"Yeah. Jealous. I want to hide you away so I'm the only one who gets to look."
Every so often a line that had only ever lived in a love song suddenly made perfect sense. She was this small, this lovely—how was I supposed to show her off to just anyone?
At my words Soye puffed out both soft-looking cheeks.
"I'll give that right back to you. Every woman in this market is looking at you, and I don't like it one bit."
"Really? Don't worry. You're the only one I see."
"Is that so?"
We stood in the middle of the market being shamelessly sweet at each other, and before long the finished skewers appeared.
"Two tanghulu, here you are."
"Thank you."
"Yes..."
I ignored the strangely deflated stall keeper, took both skewers, and held one out to Soye.
"Here."
"Thank you."
Tanghulu after six years was still sweet. We were walking and eating when she tugged my arm.
"Hm? What is it?"
"There's a teahouse I like over there. How about a cup?"
"Sure. We left in a rush. Let's rest a little."
I took her up on it, and we headed for the teahouse together. The moment we stepped inside, a server came out to greet us.
"Welco—"
"Two of the usual, please?"
Soye placed the order in an easy, familiar tone and drew me toward the second floor. The server looked as if the sight of me beside her had struck him dumb, but she paid him no mind at all and simply kept pulling me along.
Upstairs, we took a window seat with a clear view of the market. Feels like the wuxia version of one of those aesthetic cafes. I was still taking in the Instagram-ready atmosphere when Soye, seated across from me, spoke.
"Well. We've a little leisure now. Shall we talk?"
"Sure. As much as you want. If you're curious about anything, ask."
Her tone was almost interrogating, and yet the joy she couldn't hide showed plain on her face. And so we spent a long while on the six years we had never been able to share, and the laughter came easily.
At that very hour, while Jin Muwon and Tang Soye were still laughing their way through the years, a man rose in the private training ground of Tang Soye's residence, where his head had been planted in the floor.
"Kagh!"
He wrenched his head free of the training-ground floor and looked around. The only one still keeping watch nearby was a single maid. No one else remained at his side.
"What... what in the world happened?! Explain!"
"Yes, Young Clan Head. You were..."
Once he had the short, blunt report of what had occurred, Tang Pung's face twisted with rage.
"How dare he... how dare he!! A mere fiancé to that half-blood, and he inflicts this humiliation on me!! I will not... I will not let this stand. Gather the Tang Clan's masters at once—"
"Enough."
Tang Pung got no further. Fiery as his temper was, he might have had something to say to anyone else who cut him off, but he only waited, seething, for the man's next words.
"The Young Clan Head of the Tang Clan means to spend the clan's masters on a private grievance?"
"B-but, Father! Are you telling me to simply stand by and watch after what that bastard did to me!?"
"A man ought to know how to take his own revenge. I'll set the stage. See to it yourself. If you win, I won't involve myself in this matter."
That did nothing to cool Tang Pung's anger, but in the end he had no argument left. The green light in Tang Jihyeok's eyes made it perfectly clear the Clan Head had no intention of reversing his decision.
"Fine. It's not as if I ever thought that mongrel could beat me. However!"
"If I win, then just as you said, you will not interfere whether I kill him or not. That includes that bitch Tang Soye."
He left the Clan Head's silence behind him.
The maid who had explained the situation watched Tang Pung go, then spoke to the Clan Head, who had been staring after him without a word.
"You won't stop him?"
"Stop whom?"
"The Young Clan Head. He looked ready to grind his teeth to dust."
"Let the wretch grind them. You saw it yourself this afternoon, didn't you? He can't win."
"That's..."
"Twenty-one... a boy who has only just passed his capping year broke through the wall and fully sealed that power away. Tang Pung could die and be reborn and he still wouldn't beat that child."
"Then why...?"
"Because I think he needs to be checked, once. I raised him too softly. Take a beating within an inch of his life, and even he might start to think differently."
"..."
Once Tang Pung had vanished completely from sight, the Clan Head rose.
"I'll go on ahead. See to the training ground."
"Yes."
He left the tidying to the maid and quietly departed. Looking up at the moon, he let a single remark fall.
"Still, the boy's got more of a temper than I expected. And he looks like such a complete milquetoast..."
Personally, Tang Jihyeok was finding his prospective son-in-law more and more to his liking.