Déjà Vu
"This one, that one—every last one of them is driving me insane."
"I bet. Shame I only stepped on him earlier. I should've wrecked him properly while I had the chance."
"And he isn't even the only one. I tell them I have a fiancé, and they still won't stop pawing at me. There's more than just one or two."
"Now that actually pisses me off."
Settled into a teahouse, Soye and I finally talked through all the things we had put off for so long. When she told me how she had lived after we parted—especially how hard it had been once the Tang Clan Lord took her in as his adopted daughter—I nearly crushed the teacup in my hand without realizing it.
I was starting to think I'd gone too far on him just because he was the young clan head. Turns out even that wasn't enough?
I wanted to march straight back to the Tang Clan and beat the man named Tang Pung within an inch of his life, but at Soye's urging I swallowed the anger and let it cool. Punishing him could wait.
"Anyway, I'm the one with a mountain of questions."
"Figures."
"I mean it. What on earth happened to you? Honestly, the first time I saw you, I almost didn't recognize you."
Soye took a sip of tea and went on.
"Six years ago you were third-rate. How did you..."
"Cross the Wall? That's what you're asking."
"Yes."
I had more or less expected that. Reaching the realm of a second-rate or first-rate martial artist, and crossing the Wall, were different things from the very meaning of the words. Even an ordinary person with no talent could, given enough time and effort, climb as far as first-rate. Crossing the Wall was a matter of another order entirely. Without talent, you could not cross it—could not even reach it—and in the worst cases, you could not so much as stand before it.
"While I was traveling the jianghu, I happened to run into a fortuitous encounter. I made a few changes of my own on top of that..."
"A fortuitous encounter?"
"Yeah. You could say I got my hands on a spirit elixir and a secret manual."
It went without saying that I couldn't tell her everything. It was the sort of story she wouldn't believe even if I did, and I was afraid of how she would react if I told her I wasn't Jin Muwon at all, but someone else who had taken possession of his body. There were too many loose threads in what I'd said, and Soye looked at me with open suspicion, but she didn't press any further.
"I feel like there's more... I'll trust you, Gaga, so I'll stop here."
"Thank you. Someday, when I find the courage, I'll tell you all of it."
"Is that a promise?"
"Of course. I'll keep it."
"Words aren't enough."
With that, Soye held out her right hand. She extended her thumb and little finger and looked at me steadily. Catching her meaning, I mirrored her, and we hooked our fingers together.
"All right."
Soye nodded, satisfied, then lightened the slightly awkward air and went on.
"Well, I think we've covered how we've been well enough. Shall we go back out and have fun? Just us."
"Yeah. Shall we get up, then?"
"Yes!"
We rose and were about to leave the teahouse when the waiter from earlier caught my eye. He was well hidden against the wall, but that only worked on ordinary people; he couldn't fool eyes that had crossed the Wall. From the way he seemed to be watching whatever stood between Soye and me, even I—seeing him for the first time—could tell he was hopelessly in love with her.
Looking at him, jealousy welled up in me before I knew it... no. If I'm honest, it was pride. I set a hand on Soye's shoulder and drew her in against my side. It was a kind of territorial claim—Soye is mine, so give up—but Soye, who had no idea what was going on, only looked up at me with a face full of questions.
"Gaga?"
"I just wanted to stay close to you. Did you mind?"
"No. I like it. A lot."
She linked arms with me the way she had before, and we left the teahouse together. When I glanced back, the waiter's face was full of despair. I decided to tell myself there had been no helping it.
I have no intention of ever letting Soye go. Not for the rest of my life.
"You really are mean sometimes, Gaga."
"Guess I'll never make a gentleman. I just want to brag to the whole world that I'm your lover..."
"You say that, but you were trying to make Jiwoo give up on me, weren't you?"
"If I had to make an excuse, you could read it that way. But who knows? Honestly, the biggest reason is that I just wanted to show you off."
"Hmm... Well, if you say so, I'll let it go."
"I mean it..."
We were trading jokes and about to enjoy the rest of our date when a man came toward us. He was so enormously built that anyone would have suspected severe obesity, and he blew a breath out through his nose before opening his mouth at us.
"Wh... why... why is Lady Tang..."
"Who's that?"
"Ah... here we go again."
"Soye?"
When I showed my confusion, she turned a look of pure exhaustion on me and spoke in a cold voice I had never once heard from her.
Her... her eyes are going dead...
It looked as if something terrible might happen if I left her like that, so I shook her back to herself.
"So... Soye? Are... are you all right?"
"Ah, yes! I'm... I'm fine. Just a little tired..."
"If you're tired, want to head back and rest?"
"No! I'm perfectly fine. If I'm with you, Gaga, I could keep going for days and days."
"That one's a little much even for me..."
"Why...! Why...!!"
We had slipped into a world of our own and completely forgotten the man in front of us. His voice snapped me back, and I looked at him. He shouted, thick with rage and betrayal.
"Why?! Lady Tang!! I'm certain that you and I..."
"Young Hero Geum. I'll say it again. I believe I already told you that you and I have no relationship whatsoever. And I have told you, more than once, that I already have a beloved."
"No! That can't be!! We were clearly on good terms, weren't we?!"
"Haa. I'll say it once more. We met officially, for business between our families. Nothing more, and nothing less."
Soye took his words apart one by one in a calm, steady voice, but the man had no intention of listening. He only threw a tantrum like a child.
"Fine! It's all your fault! You must have—to Lady Tang...!!"
Unable to win by logic, he gave up on thinking and turned every bit of his fury on me.
Huh? Hadn't I been in a situation like this before...?
"Young Hero Geum. What exactly do you think you're doing?"
"Stand back, Lady Tang! I'll cut down that demonic heretic and save you!!"
Reason gone, Geum So-hyeop drew the sword from its sheath and charged me.
Ah! There was a guy like this on my first date with Soye, too. Now I remember.
In the instant I grasped the source of that strange familiarity, his sword came flying straight for my head. It was a situation remarkably like that day six years ago—except this time, the one who settled it wasn't Soye. It was me.
A heavy thud cracked the air. I wrapped my hand in protective gang qi and caught his sword bare-handed. I tightened my grip, shattered the blade, and drove an uppercut straight into his jaw.
A squeal like a pig at the slaughter tore out of him as he left the ground, and I stamped that airborne body straight back down into the floor. From the moment the uppercut landed he already looked unconscious, but if I had let that enormous bulk go flying as it was, someone else was going to get hurt. So I put a little too much into it.
Once I had him subdued, Soye came toward me.
"Gaga! Are you all right? Your hand? That blade just now..."
"I'm fine, so calm down. I spread protective gang qi. Not a scratch on my hand."
"Even so... Gaga, about that golden pi— I mean, Young Hero Geum. I'll apologize for him."
"What do you have to apologize for? He's the one who did wrong. Don't worry about it."
"The truth is, last year there was a family matter, and we briefly asked Young Hero Geum's household for their cooperation. Ever since then he's stuck to me and made a nuisance of himself. Still, watching you beat him up was a little satisfying."
"Then while we're at it, want me to step on him a bit more?"
"No. That's enough for today. He'll fall away on his own before long anyway."
"Why?"
"It isn't only Young Hero Geum. No matter how loudly I went around saying I had a beloved, there was more than one person who ignored me and kept clinging to me. But now that you're here, Gaga, I think that sort of thing might finally thin out."
From her words, I could guess the reason well enough. She could insist until she was blue in the face that she had a fiancé, but he had never once shown his face, so they must have taken it for an excuse to turn them down. From today, though, I was here—and she was saying men like that would grow fewer.
"Now I feel bad for no good reason..."
"Not at all. What do you have to be sorry for? You were late because you were working so hard for my sake."
"Even so..."
I started to say something more, but she cut me off and pulled my gloomy self into a tight embrace.
"Don't say you're sorry. If you've got time for that, how about saying you love me one more time? We already don't have enough time to spend loving each other."
"All right. I love you, Soye."
"I love you too."
After holding me for a long while, Soye loosened the embrace and spoke.
"Let's head back for today. If we keep wandering around, I feel like we'll just run into more of them. By tomorrow the rumors should have spread, and things will quiet down."
"Yeah. It's a little disappointing, but today isn't the only day we've got."
Before the words were even finished, we had taken each other's hands. Through our interlaced fingers, Soye's warmth came through to me.
"Let's go. Home."
"Yeah."
We walked back to the clan hand in hand, in high spirits—only to find the clan lord's summons waiting for us.
"The Tang Clan Lord commands that both of you present yourselves in his office."