The Lake and the Gourd
If you submerged a gourd brimming with water into the lake, what would become of the water inside it?
It was Dan Yeop’s metaphor for himself and his inner demon.
Na Bu-gang, knowing none of this, asked in return, “Don’t people usually scoop water from the lake with a gourd?”
Dan Yeop offered no reply to the foolish question and simply continued. He had never expected a correct answer in the first place.
“In that case, the water inside the gourd would vanish from this world forever, wouldn’t it?”
Only then did Na Bu-gang realize it had been a metaphor.
“Well… before we decide that, shouldn’t we first ask where the gourd’s water came from? What if it was drawn from the lake itself? Could you truly call it ‘vanished’? I don’t believe so.”
Dan Yeop’s eyes widened as he stared at the older man.
Why didn’t I think of that?
If he and the inner demon truly shared the same roots, as Na Bu-gang suggested?
Then the emptiness he felt was meaningless. In a sense, it might even be a return to the origin.
“Thank you. You’ve helped me resolve a great deal of my troubles.”
“I-I’m glad to hear it.”
Na Bu-gang studied Dan Yeop’s expression carefully. He longed to restore their sworn brotherhood, yet the words refused to leave his lips. For today, at least, he would content himself with the sight of the young man’s brightened face.
A short while later, Dan Yeop bid Na Bu-gang farewell and left Punggin Pavilion. The sky had already blushed deep red with sunset. Returning to the Hermitage of Rest now would only coincide with the end of training, so he turned his steps toward Son-taek.
Son-taek.
When Dan Yeop returned home in time for the evening meal, Son Yu-baek summoned him to the inner hall. He sat beside Son Ji-heon with the easy familiarity of family and shared their dinner.
After the meal, while sipping tea, Son Yu-baek remarked as if in passing, “Your complexion looks much improved today, Dan Yeop. Did something good happen?”
“I realized the problem I’d been agonizing over wasn’t anything significant after all.”
“Indeed. When examined closely, most troubles are trivial, yet once we become fixated on one, the truly important things turn invisible. Especially at your age, young people tend to drown in small matters. It is admirable that you have come to see this.”
Son Yu-baek mistakenly believed Dan Yeop had overcome the shock of losing the woman he had secretly loved. He was not the only one who thought so.
Son Ji-heon, nodding vigorously beside them, jumped in. “Exactly. The world is wide and full of women. A man like you is sure to meet a good one.”
Dan Yeop corrected them before the misunderstanding could sink any deeper. “What are you talking about? This wasn’t about a woman. It was about self-reflection.”
Son Yeon-hwa immediately shot her brother a glare. “Do you think every man in the world is like you, brother? ‘The world is wide and full of women’? I’m genuinely worried about whatever poor girl ends up marrying someone like you.”
Yu Hwa-yeong sided with her daughter. “I gave birth to the boy, yet even I worry for that future woman.”
With no chance to defend himself, Son Ji-heon had been branded a scoundrel. He looked at his grandfather with wounded eyes, but the old scholar subtly avoided his grandson’s gaze. One materialistic fool in the family was more than enough.
Do You Know What the Present Tribulation Thousand Buddhas Is?
Son-taek Annex.
After dinner, Dan Yeop returned to the annex and sat at his desk. Ever since Baek Yu-hwa’s death, it felt as though a hole had been torn in his heart. All motivation seemed to drain through it; nothing he did brought the slightest satisfaction.
The Blood Emperor and the Thousand Lotuses.
The path of revenge was clear. He had to awaken the inner demon. Who held dominion over the body no longer mattered.
Having reached that conclusion, Dan Yeop opened the white booklet and began recording his meeting with Na Bu-gang.
I accepted Na Bu-gang’s apology.
That was all he wrote. He left out any personal thoughts, because he felt nothing toward the man. The matter belonged entirely to the inner demon and Na Bu-gang.
He closed the booklet and went to bed. There was no point in waking the demon in the middle of the night.
The next morning, Dan Yeop opened his eyes and immediately assumed a lotus position. He was handing the entire day over to his other self.
Reciting the formulas of the Heart Mind Elixir Art, he focused his inner energy.
As expected, a shining thread surged from his dantian and was drawn into the Heavenly Eye.
Flash—!
With a burst of light, Genius Dan Yeop opened his half-lidded eyes. He glanced at the window and tilted his head.
“What kind of whim is this? Waking me at dawn.”
For some time now, Dunce Dan Yeop had been rousing him in the dead of night. Genius Dan Yeop had interpreted it as a command to abandon social life and devote himself solely to martial training. Yet today, for whatever reason, he had been summoned at sunrise.
Grumbling, he rose from the bed and reached for the white booklet out of habit. As he sat and read through his mother’s memories, his face twisted.
He had long known the woman with the white hands was his mother. But the version Dunce Dan Yeop remembered was far more horrific and cruel than anything he had witnessed.
Now he understood why Dunce Dan Yeop had tried so desperately to conceal those stories. The voice of the woman strangling him in the illusion seemed to echo in his ears.
Genius Dan Yeop’s eyes grew bloodshot as he continued reading. At the same time, he felt an overwhelming pity for the other self who carried those memories intact.
Had Dunce Dan Yeop recorded only the memories of his mother, Genius Dan Yeop might have flown into a rage. Yet the calm, almost detached reflections on Baek Yu-hwa that followed caused his anger to melt away like snow beneath the sun.
Dan Yeop gently brushed the stain on the page with his fingertips.
So that’s why I awakened inside Hwacheong Palace…
After seeing the severed head of the woman he had cherished, going mad had been inevitable.
This debt I will collect without fail—from the Blood Emperor and from the Thousand Lotuses.
The Blood Emperor had killed Baek Yu-hwa, but the Thousand Lotuses bore their share of the blame. After all, they had ordered the Blood Emperor to assassinate Vice Protector Lee Deok-myeong.
The final passage that caught his attention concerned Na Bu-gang.
Na Bu-gang came to apologize?
Dunce Dan Yeop had felt nothing, but Genius Dan Yeop was different. Na Bu-gang had been the first person to approach him during the lowest point of his life.
When he had learned through the booklet of the severance notice from Na Geum-ryeong, he had shown no outward reaction, yet the news had left a bitter taste. Afterward, every encounter with the Jinbo Sangbang people brought the Na siblings to mind.
He felt neither shame nor hatred—only the sourness of chewing on unripe persimmons. Yet the indecisive Na Bu-gang, who had hidden behind his younger sister even when severing ties, had come forward first to offer an apology.
Truly, the human heart was impossible to fathom.
After reading the final line, Dan Yeop returned the booklet to the shelf. Just then, a maid’s voice called from beyond the door.
“Young Master Dan, they request your presence for breakfast.”
“Yes! I’m coming!”
He answered cheerfully, changed clothes, and stepped outside.
Inner Hall.
Entering the hall, Dan Yeop offered Son Yu-baek a respectful bow. “Did you sleep peacefully through the night?”
“I did. Your face looks even better than yesterday. Did you have a pleasant dream?”
With his sharp perception, the old scholar had noticed the shift in aura between Dunce Dan Yeop and Genius Dan Yeop, yet he never imagined they were two entirely separate personalities.
“It is thanks to your kindness rather than any dream, sir. I am always grateful.”
“What kindness? Ji-heon’s friend is no different from my own grandson. You even call me Grandfather.”
“Even among family, gratitude should be expressed when it is due. Aunt, did you rest well last night as well?”
Yu Hwa-yeong smiled warmly at the greeting. “I receive more filial respect from Young Master Yeop than from my own son. Enough with the pleasantries—sit and eat.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Only then did Dan Yeop take his seat beside Son Ji-heon. The young noble, who had been pouting at his mother’s words, grumbled, “Filial respect you don’t even receive from your son? I greeted you this morning, didn’t I?”
“I say it because I feel no sincerity behind it.”
“But a greeting is a greeting. What sincerity is there to find?”
Son Yeon-hwa cut in. “That’s exactly why you’ll never do, brother. The way Brother Dan greets someone and the way you do feel completely different.”
“How are they different?”
“They just are. Even your expressions are different from the start.”
“Ah, just say honestly that our faces are different. You always take Yeop’s side anyway.”
When Son Ji-heon’s voice rose, Son Yu-baek finally intervened. “Ji-heon, it seems you need to review your etiquette lessons. Since when does one raise one’s voice at the dining table with elders?”
At his grandfather’s rebuke, Son Ji-heon immediately backed down. “I apologize, Grandfather. Yeon-hwa seemed overly critical of faces, so I became excited without realizing.”
“I have ears as well. I heard you were the one more critical of faces. Is it right to demand of others what you cannot do yourself?”
“I don’t judge by faces.”
“Then who was it that incited his friends to go see the courtesan from Jaun Pavilion?”
“What? Me? That’s a false accusation! I was simply swept up in the moment. I never insisted on anything.”
“As if I’d believe that. Keep talking nonsense and I may arrange a three-way meeting, so hold your tongue.”
Having something to feel guilty about, Son Ji-heon offered no further denial.
After the meal, as Dan Yeop rose to leave, Son Yu-baek called him back. “Yeop, remain seated a moment. I have something to discuss with you alone.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once only the two of them remained in the inner hall, Son Yu-baek began, “I have been pondering these past few days, and something has been weighing on my mind.”
“Please speak freely.”
“A long time ago, I asked if there was a woman you held in your heart. You answered that there was not. Do you remember?”
“I do.”
“Then what of this one-sided love? I intended to let it pass, but the matter still feels unresolved, so I wished to confirm.”
“She is a young lady I came to know while working afterward. As you know, since it was one-sided, I could not speak of it to anyone.”
“Aha. So that was the situation. Now I understand. You were not deceiving me after all.”
“I would never deceive anyone in matters between men and women.”
“I see, I see.”
“If there is nothing further, may I take my leave?”
“What we have discussed so far was personal. The true matter remains.”
“The true matter?”
“I know you are a member of Haomun.”
“……”
Dan Yeop remained silent. In that instant, the memory of being severed by Na Bu-gang for that very reason rose unbidden. Son Yu-baek’s social standing far surpassed that of the Jinbo Sangbang. He might not only expel him from Son-taek but also demand that he sever ties with his grandson, Son Ji-heon.
“I do not know how you view me, but I do not chase fame or profit. My wish to take you as my grandson-in-law remains unchanged.”
“Thank you for those words.”
Having once been cut off by his sworn brother because of Haomun, Dan Yeop felt profound comfort in Son Yu-baek’s declaration.
“In any case, that is not why I asked to speak with you. Do you remember how Gwak Jin was murdered in the annex?”
“Yes. How could I forget such a thing?”
“The Thousand Lotuses, hidden for so long, have resumed their activities. The death of Vice Protector Lee Deok-myeong was merely the beginning. Do you know what the Present Tribulation Thousand Buddhas means?”
“Yes. You once explained it as ‘a thousand Buddhas who will overcome the crises of the present age.’ That a thousand great calamities must occur before the Thousand Buddhas appear to save all living beings…”
“The Blood Emperor who killed Lee Deok-myeong is only one among those thousand Buddhas. Before long, slaughter will erupt across the empire.”