The Sister Who Hears Everything
The teahouse stood at the very heart of Kaifeng's bustling thoroughfare. At the window seat on the upper floor, where two people faced each other across a small table, the sound of tea being poured rang out with unusual clarity.
Glug, glug.
Namgung Rin filled the cup with practiced ease before speaking.
"I know we have a lot to talk about, but take a sip first. This is a rare tea you can't get anywhere else."
Namgung Cheon raised the cup and merely wet his lips with it. A gentle warmth and a faint fragrance washed over his tongue, but his attention was fixed entirely on the woman sitting across from him.
Namgung Rin, of whom only fragmented memories remained. He knew exactly three things about her: she was clever, she was free-spirited, and her ears were unnaturally sharp.
'Is that really all?'
Even those were hazy recollections, so faint that he couldn't recall the specific circumstances or reasons behind them.
'I don't even know why I remember her having sharp ears.'
But Namgung Cheon had more pressing matters on his mind. Tap. He set the cup down and parted his lips.
"About that game of chance earlier."
"Hm?"
"The silver coin was clearly inside the swindler's sleeve. And yet it ended up beneath the cup."
Namgung Cheon's eyes narrowed.
"How did you do it?"
Only then did a mischievous smile spread across Namgung Rin's lips. She propped her chin on her hand and studied him openly.
"I'm hurt, you know? Reunited with my little brother after all these years, and the first thing out of his mouth is shop talk about gambling tricks?"
"It's an important matter. The object moved without a hand touching it, and without any internal energy being used."
Namgung Cheon was firm. In his past life, even he—someone who had mastered the martial arts of the entire world—had failed to detect the technique. This went beyond mere curiosity.
"Hmm, no hand, no internal energy… Then how about this?"
She slowly drew her index finger along the rim of the teacup.
Hummmm—
A subtle vibration arose. It was too faint to hear, a trembling perceptible only to the skin. Yet in that instant, the tea inside the cup stirred in an uncanny way, surging upward before sinking back down, again and again.
"Did that look like internal energy to you?"
Namgung Cheon shook his head. 'It definitely wasn't.' And yet the water leapt from the cup and fell back, over and over.
"Everything in this world has its own sound," Namgung Rin said quietly. "The teacup, the tea itself—and the silver coin in that swindler's sleeve. Each has its own unique vibration. Strike a wave that matches that vibration, and things move on their own, without pouring a drop of internal energy into them. Resonance."
"…You mean sound arts?"
Sound arts. No martial artist would find the term unfamiliar. There was Jeoneum-ipmil, the art of carrying internal energy through one's voice to whisper directly into a listener's ear, and there were techniques like the Lion's Roar, which shook the surroundings with sheer force of internal energy—both fell under the umbrella of sound arts.
The principle was simple: channel internal energy into sound as a medium and project it. In his past life, as the Heavenly Demon, he had crossed blades with countless masters of sound arts; there was no way he wouldn't understand the mechanism.
But Namgung Rin shook her head.
"No, it's different. Ordinary sound arts force energy in. That's like breaking a jar by throwing a stone at it. Powerful, yes—but your energy shows, and it leaves a trace."
She flicked her fingers, and the water in the teacup stilled once more.
"But my method… is to find the point where the jar wants to break by itself, and simply touch it."
Namgung Rin's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Every object carries its own sound. You listen to it, and brush it with the very same note, ever so lightly. Then it moves on its own—no internal energy required. Resonance."
Namgung Cheon nodded. Not the application of artificial force, but a natural attunement. That was why his senses had missed it—he had been searching for foreign energy and unnatural movement, never guarding against vibrations that belonged.
'Remarkable.'
It was less a matter of martial mastery than a truth close to the very root of all things. Namgung Cheon had no choice but to acknowledge it. To pick out the singular vibration of one silver coin from a street drowning in ten thousand noises—that was the territory of innate genius.
"Astonishing."
At his honest assessment, Namgung Rin puffed up with pride.
"No need to be amazed. I had a wonderful teacher. Father and Mother probably never mentioned him to anyone, but… have you ever heard of the Eccentric Old Bohemian?"
"…!"
A flicker of surprise crossed Namgung Cheon's eyes.
'That man is still alive?'
Pungryu Goeno, Ak Yul. A freak of nature who belonged to neither the Orthodox nor the Demonic paths, nor anywhere else—a man who lived obsessed with sound alone. To the martial world, he was a calamity best left untouched.
'When the mood took him, he would play his bamboo flute and set everyone who passed dancing for three days and nights. When his temper soured, he would pluck his pipa and wipe out an entire clan.'
A man without malice, whose mere amusements were disasters of heaven-sent proportions. So his sister had become that monster's disciple.
"Judging by that reaction, you know him well."
"More people would know him than don't."
Namgung Rin shrugged.
"Right? His record is simply too flashy."
"Well then."
Namgung Cheon steered the conversation back on course.
"You didn't come all this way just to sightsee. What brings you here?"
"An errand for my teacher. He told me to find something that will become my instrument."
Namgung Rin rose from her seat and pointed out the window, toward the north of Kaifeng.
"There's a place called the Munhyang Pavilion. All the famed instruments of the world gather there. And among them is a pipa called Cheonwolhyeon."
"…!"
Namgung Cheon's eyes flew wide open. Cheonwolhyeon. The instrument of Cheonwol Mahu, who in ages past had roamed the whole realm with nothing but a single string in place of a sword.
And more than that—'that cursed thing, the one said to have driven everyone who approached it mad or dead, unable to withstand the demonic energy it pours out.'
Why was it in Kaifeng, and why did Namgung Rin covet it? Before he could even ask, her words continued.
"I'm on my way to claim it. But the conditions are rather strict."
Namgung Rin curled the corners of her mouth in mock trouble.
"I have to play the piece from beginning to end, and no matter what happens, the music must not break."
She looked straight at Namgung Cheon.
"So I could use some help… will you lend me a hand?"
Namgung Cheon's eyes narrowed.
'She's asking for help simply because we share blood?'
He meant to refuse. But in the instant before he could shake his head, Namgung Rin spoke softly.
"The Azure Sky Great Evolution Heart Law. You're on the verge of completing it, aren't you?"
"…!"
Namgung Cheon's eyes snapped wide. The realm of one's cultivation art was something no one could know unless its owner said so himself. And with the Great Void Heart-Protecting Art sealing his energy away completely, she had seen straight through to his condition.
"How did you know?"
Unruffled by the cold question, Namgung Rin tapped her own ear with her index finger.
"I can hear it. The sound that great power makes, deep in your dantian."
"…"
"Resonance can solve it for you. My teacher taught me how."
Her eyes curved into crescent moons.
"Well? It's exactly the help you need most, isn't it?"
Namgung Cheon regarded her in silence for a moment. 'She's not wrong.' By their nature, cultivation arts required one to reach completion before another could be learned. Which meant that completing the Azure Sky Great Evolution Heart Law would open the way to mastering yet another art.
'I don't know how she plans to solve it, but simply reading my condition like that is remarkable in itself.'
It was worth the gamble.
"Very well."
The moment he agreed, Namgung Rin beamed brilliantly, then went on in a quieter voice.
"Thank you. But remember this—Cheonwolhyeon is no ordinary thing. For the entire performance, the demonic energy inside that pipa will try to devour my mind."
Namgung Cheon said nothing. Demonic energy. No one alive knew better than he how vicious that thing could be.
"So I have one more favor to ask."
Namgung Rin met his eyes and parted her lips slowly. Her gaze was pure and unwavering, and her tone was perfectly calm.
"If I fail—if that demonic energy consumes me… don't hesitate. Kill me."
Namgung Rin said.
The Taehwajeon—the Grand Peace Hall, nerve center of the Murim Alliance's administration. In a corner of that hall, Namgung Hwi finally set down his brush amid mountains of documents.
"Haaah…"
A deep, weary sigh burst from his lips. Though he belonged to the Heavenly Will Squadron, his abilities had somehow landed him with this kind of work as well.
"I'd sooner swing a sword until I dropped from exhaustion."
Namgung Hwi turned his neck, producing a series of dull cracks. The honor of shouldering the future of the Orthodox sects was all well and good, but the reality was an endless grind of tedious, exhausting paperwork.
He rose from his seat and looked out the window. The sun had quietly slipped past its peak at some point.
'I wonder what Cheon is up to.'
Thinking of his brother, who had been cooped up inside the Alliance for days now, guilt welled up in him. He had brought the boy along promising to show him the world, only to bury himself in work and barely manage to see his face.
'I should leave early today and at least share a drink with him.'
Namgung Hwi hurriedly straightened his robes and left the Taehwajeon. His steps carried him toward the guest quarters where Namgung Cheon was staying. The thought of finally catching up with his brother after so long seemed to make his fatigue melt away.
Thud. Thud.
He had just reached the corridor in front of the guest quarters when Namgung Hwi's stride slowed, almost imperceptibly.
'…No presence?'
However thoroughly Namgung Cheon reined in his energy, he could not erase his breath or the faint traces of human life entirely. Yet beyond that door there was only silence—as though the room were empty.
Namgung Hwi flung the door open without a moment's hesitation.
"Cheon!"
The room was bare. A neatly made bed and a table greeted him, and nowhere in the room was there any sign of Namgung Cheon.
"…"
Of course, he could simply have left the quarters to roam the Alliance grounds or stroll through Kaifeng's streets. And yet.
'Why does this feel so strangely wrong…'
Namgung Hwi's instincts kept tilting toward the worst. And then—
"Sword Dragon! Sword Dragon!"
A frantic voice echoed from the far end of the corridor. A man in ragged clothes came sprinting toward him, gasping for breath. It was Chwi-ryong, the Hougae—Successor Beggar—of Kaifeng, and one of the Seven Dragons and Two Phoenixes. The same man who would ordinarily have been lounging about droning on about wine was now running toward him, his face drained white.
"What could possibly have the illustrious Successor Beggar of the realm in such a flap? Did the price of liquor go up?"
Namgung Hwi forced a jest, keeping his composure, but Chwi-ryong shouted back without even pausing to catch his breath.
"This is no time for jokes!"
Namgung Hwi's gaze turned cold.
"What is it?"
"Cheonwolhyeon! Someone's come forward to challenge the cursed pipa! And that person is—"
"…!"
In that instant, Namgung Hwi's heart plummeted. Cheonwolhyeon. The moment the name left the man's lips, a single face flashed through his mind—his sister, Namgung Rin, who had come looking for him the moment she arrived in Kaifeng.
'It can't be.'
The color drained from Namgung Hwi's face. And in the same breath—
Paaat—!
Namgung Hwi's new form vanished from where he stood. He moved with such ferocious speed that he left not even a blur of an afterimage.
Shuaaak—!
Over the walls of the Murim Alliance and into the streets of Kaifeng in the space of a breath, Namgung Hwi's face was twisted with dread.
'Damn it!'
He cursed inwardly. It was coarse language he had never once let cross his lips in his life, but this was no time to be minding such things.
'Rin, you didn't—!'
The conversation he'd had with Namgung Rin days ago rose vividly in his mind. He had met his sister at a quiet tavern in Kaifeng, and she had spoken with the same bright expression she always wore.
— Big brother, I have a favor to ask. I'm going to claim Cheonwolhyeon. But if I fail—if that demonic energy consumes me…
"…kill me."
Those thunderbolt words had slipped out of Namgung Hwi's mouth before he knew it. Absurd talk—say nothing so foolish, he had thundered, swearing he would ship her straight back to the main estate if she so much as attempted anything so dangerous. And he had naturally assumed she'd given it up. She'd done nothing since but wander leisurely around Kaifeng.
'So instead, you dragged Cheon into it?!'
When he refused, she had pulled in the younger brother who had only just arrived in Kaifeng.
"Please…"
A groan of anguish spilled from Namgung Hwi's lips. He knew all too well how the stories of those who had struck down their own kin ended.
And so—
'Please, let me not be too late!'
Grrrk.
Gritting his teeth until they threatened to crack, Namgung Hwi drove his internal energy to its very limit. The hem of his white martial robes whipped about as though they would tear apart.
The Heavenly Demon of Namgung
Author | Baek Rihaeng
Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Managing Editor | Editorial Department
Published by | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — Dreambooks
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ISBN | 979-11-7306-734-1
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