I Wanted to Become a Star
"Shouldn't I offer a cup of wine to the brother who has become a teacher to my children?"
"Teacher? Don't start with that..."
This was not the master-and-disciple bond that martial artists spoke of, and Namgung Jinbaek had no intention of laying that kind of weight on Sun Wukong's shoulders.
"Well — guardian is closer to the mark than teacher, I suppose."
He was not asking Sun Wukong to hand his martial arts down to Muyoung and Seowol, either.
"Brother Sun's martial arts are nothing short of terrifying, but the Namgung Clan has its own sword."
Pride in the Namgung Clan's supreme martial arts ran deep in him.
"But without a shock from the outside, even that is bound to fade."
"Pride has a way of curdling into stubbornness."
"Guide them well, Brother Sun."
"Do I look like that kind of fine, upstanding adult to you?"
Sun Wukong grinned, wicked and amused. The gods of Heaven had never thought of him as anything but a hooligan — a brat who pulled nasty pranks and nothing more.
"That is precisely what I want from you."
"That's not exactly what a kid who has to lead a massive clan needs."
"It is what Muyoung needs more than anyone."
"So being solid isn't always a good thing. That it?"
"A nature that pursues chivalry and righteousness. An unbending core. A temperament that will not so much as glance at evil, even in the worst of circumstances. All of it is admirable, but..."
"It's the kind of thing that snaps clean in half."
Namgung Jinbaek nodded, his face bitter.
"That is the way of the world. A crisis always comes, sooner or later. Not merely the crisis of a powerful enemy appearing — a crisis of the heart. And even then, Muyoung is a child who will not break. I believe that."
"That's a good thing, isn't it? A clan lord has to be unbending. He's the pillar."
"Yes — if he were already the clan lord. But before he is an heir, he is my son."
Sun Wukong let out a light sigh. As a clan lord, an unshaken, unbreakable temperament was essential. Looked at as a human being, though — was it truly a kindness?
"Even if he does not break, the wounds and the pain do not vanish. They carve themselves into the heart. He will endure as a clan lord and suffer without end as a man. There are moments when one needs the grace to compromise."
Sun Wukong looked steadily into Namgung Jinbaek's eyes. They were a father's eyes.
"That isn't something you can teach. Once this business is over, I'll take him around with me for a while."
It would not be easy. The Namgung Clan was already a free-spirited house. Namgung Jinbaek's nature had not changed. What clan lord, after losing a single duel, sharing a few cups of wine, and finding a man easy to like, would take someone of unknown origin as his elder brother — dignity and face of the lordship be damned? It meant that not even a member of the Namgung Clan would dare treat Sun Wukong lightly. Jinbaek had gone and done exactly that, so the measure of his unrestraint was plain enough. And the one who had grown up in that house, under that wind, and still never wavered — that was Namgung Muyoung.
"And as for Seowol... I simply want to ask you to look after her."
"That one... yeah."
Even Sun Wukong's brow furrowed. For all his power, he could not get a proper read on that girl.
"She grew up without parents. In the thick of the Great Orthodox-Unorthodox War, my elder brother formed a bond with a nameless woman he had saved. They never married, but a single night of love produced a child."
"And that was Seowol?"
"Because the war was at its height, the child's mother lost her life soon after. My brother could not keep fighting with an infant in his arms — and he could not abandon the war entirely, either."
"So what happened to Seowol?"
"He wrapped her in swaddling clothes, placed her in a box, and set her adrift on the river."
"Huh."
"He was an extraordinary man, my brother. The current happened to run toward the Namgung estate — but still, he set his own daughter on the water. And the more extraordinary thing is that days passed, and Seowol endured without eating a thing. A newborn infant."
Namgung Jinbaek spoke as though the memory still ached.
"She has always been like a sore finger to me. I looked after her as her uncle, but I could never give her the love I gave Muyoung. So her nature grew sharp in places. Angular."
"She didn't seem like a bad kid to me."
"But as a martial artist, her temperament is unstable."
"Fair enough."
Sun Wukong nodded. He understood everything Namgung Jinbaek was asking.
"I can't promise how those two will change. No — they probably won't. They're already grown."
"Mm."
"This is the age when the head starts to set. When a person grows a will of their own. Don't expect too much from kids like that, all right?"
"I understand, Brother Sun."
"Anyway... looking at your eyes, I'd say the realization ran deep."
Sun Wukong turned the conversation as lightly as a wave of the hand, and Namgung Jinbaek smiled, quietly proud.
"The duel with you was the spark."
"So what, you're on the same level as those Three Venerables now?"
"Hahaha..."
Namgung Jinbaek laughed, a little embarrassed, but he did not deny it. Sun Wukong watched him with genuine interest. Where once it had felt as though a great demon stood before him, even that impression was gone now.
The further you advance, the closer you come to the ordinary?
At a glance he was nothing more than a hearty, good-natured man in his middle years. But the moment you met his eyes, an immense force of spirit pressed against you. The Three Venerables had broken through the wall of the Transcendental Realm, left the Ten Great Masters behind, and reached the Absolute Realm. Namgung Jinbaek had just crossed that threshold.
"I am still lacking. The Three Venerables ascended to the Absolute Realm long ago. One of them may even have stepped into the State of No-Self. And the Five Outland Tyrants stand so far from the martial world of the Central Plains that their depth is hard to measure — but by reputation, they are no one to take lightly."
Namgung Jinbaek's expression grew grave. His realm had risen, and still he put no strength into his shoulders. He was a man who knew, in his bones, that the higher you climb, the more surely someone stronger is waiting above you.
"The martial arts of the Four Heavenly Kings — those famous eccentrics — are just as hard to gauge. This is no time for me to grow arrogant."
Sun Wukong regarded him in silence. The Namgung Jinbaek of this moment was genuinely strong.
Baekgwiwang would have to give up an arm, at the very least.
Not every one of the Seven Great Sages stood at the same height. There was a ranking, and there were gaps. Baekgwiwang sat among the weakest of them. Even in his true flesh, with his true power, he would have to be ready to lose an arm.
And if he were still wearing a human body, Jinbaek might match him — or even win.
Sun Wukong's face turned serious for a breath. Baekgwiwang's words came back to him.
Gather the humans and stand against Heaven?
The way Sun Wukong himself had once gathered the Seven Great Sages and the demons to make war on Heaven. It was not a claim he could simply laugh off.
The One Divine and the Three Venerables. Then the Five Outland Tyrants and the Four Heavenly Kings.
That was already more than ten fingers. Add Namgung Jinbaek, and one more. Even the rest of the Ten Great Masters, judging by what Jinbaek had been before this duel, were each a match for a great demon. And if the Seven Great Sages stood behind it all — if the Bull Demon King that Sun Wukong expected was the one holding the reins...
Impossible.
Sun Wukong shook his head, flat and final. Even then, it could not be done.
Because the Tathagata is there.
There was a reason people still said that Sun Wukong had never left the Buddha's palm.
But... the ugly rumor that the Tathagata is in pain — that one really is worrying.
Sun Wukong almost groaned at himself. How had he ended up worrying about the Tathagata, of all beings?
"What is it, all of a sudden?"
Sun Wukong had sighed out of nowhere, and Namgung Jinbaek asked, puzzled. Sun Wukong waved it off as if it were nothing.
"Anyway. Do we call you one of the Four Venerables now? Sword Venerable, maybe."
A smile touched Namgung Jinbaek's face, brief and full of old regret.
"Sword Venerable... I prefer what I have."
"Heavenly Edge Sword Star, you mean."
"When I swing my sword, doesn't it look as though a swarm of stars lights the trail?"
"So that's where the title came from?"
Sun Wukong tilted his head. Namgung Jinbaek drained his cup and spoke again.
"My elder brother was a being like the sun of the lofty heavens. I knew I could never shine as he did when he was gone — but I wanted to glitter like a star, and give the Namgung Clan its light."
"Didn't take you for the sentimental type. You drunk?"
"A man gets foolish with age."
Namgung Jinbaek smiled, bitter at the edges.
"When my brother is not here, I must shine like a star. That is my part. I am the Heavenly Edge Sword Star, who became a star with a sword — and I will remain so."
Sun Wukong filled his cup for him.
"Stars are always up there."
"...Always?"
"They're up there in the daytime too. You just can't see them for the light of the sun."
"..."
Namgung Jinbaek was silent for a time. He looked down at his cup for a long while. How long passed, it was hard to say. Then he laughed, bright and easy.
"I was right to become the younger brother after all."
"Obviously."
"One last cup, then. We leave tomorrow. You will finish your business at Wudang, and I will finish mine at the Wulin Alliance. We will meet again at the Namgung Clan Estate."
Becoming aware that you are dreaming is not a common thing. For him, it was the first time. He understood it at once: this was a dream. How could he not? It was strange beyond all reason.
"No, Brother Sun, think about it, eh? That woman had a thing for me. I'm telling you she did."
"You've lost it. You've actually, genuinely lost it."
"If she hadn't, why would she suddenly throw a spell on me and pin me where I stood? She couldn't stand to let me go, that's why."
"Ojeong. You talk to him. Listening to this nonsense is actually making my head heat up."
"Leave him be. At least Second Brother's in a good mood."
A golden monkey strode in the lead, a long staff slung across his shoulders. Beside him a pig trudged along on two legs, dragging a rake through the dirt. A pace behind, a man with fins on his ears followed, smiling under his breath. A dream full of beings that were not human. Who in their right mind would take that for waking life?
The moment he opened his eyes and looked ahead — the moment their voices reached him — he knew it was a dream. And because he knew, he was curious. What would these monsters, spun out of his own head, find to talk about?
"That demon woman held on to you because she couldn't bear to lose you? Hah. That's a joke. She nearly jumped out of her skin when you tried to undo her clothes."
"Heh. That was just shyness, that's all. Right, Ojeong?"
"That wasn't a face gone pale from embarrassment. That was a face gone pale from disgust."
"Listen to you. What would you know about the tender feelings between a man and a woman? A monkey who's never been married and a fish who's never been married, talking to me — aigoo."
"That was a sham marriage and you know it."
"A marriage is a marriage, Brother Sun."
"I'm going to lose my mind. She pinned you because you were in the way."
"In the way?"
"The one she was after wasn't you. It was Sanzang."
"Hmph. A girl that pretty, and she's hard up enough to go after a monk? It isn't as if she was hungry for human flesh."
"Exactly. A girl that pretty — and she's hard up enough to go after a pig?"
At Sun Wukong's jab, Zhu Bajie snorted as if the idea were beneath answering. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
"Look at our master, eh? Not a scrap of manliness on him, anyone can see it. Skin like milk, short as a child, face like a little doll — stick a skirt on him and the whole world would take him for a woman. Now look at me. This thick chest—"
"That's sagging."
"This sturdy waist, these solid thighs—"
"That's all fat, you idiot."
"Who would you say is overflowing with masculine charm? Me. Obviously."
"I am actually going to lose my mind."
Sun Wukong shook his head as though the conversation had worn him down to the bone. Then again, a reaction like Bajie's was not entirely without cause.
"Until now every demon has only ever tried to eat our master. That one wasn't after his flesh, Eldest Brother. That's why Second Brother has gotten the wrong idea."
"She wasn't trying to eat Sanzang — so why does that give this idiot an excuse to think what he's thinking?"
"Ahahaha. See? You still don't get it. If she wasn't going to eat Sanzang, why stop us when we were going along just fine? Because she fell for this Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy, Bajie. That's why."
"Master — no, Sanzang. Did you just chant the Tightening Fillet Mantra? My head's throbbing all of a sudden. Aigoo."
Sun Wukong muttered it and blew out a sigh.
"We can just ask what she said to Sanzang at the end, before she gave up. She was confessing to Sanzang, not to the likes of you."
"Hah. No she wasn't. She was asking him to take good care of me, obviously."
"Your imagination is a bottomless pit... Fine. We'll ask Sanzang."
"Yes, let's, Brother Sun."
That was when it happened. Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie, who had been walking without a hitch, stopped as if pegged to the earth. At the same instant they turned their heads and looked exactly this way. The pig's face, the man with fins on his ears, and the golden monkey — all of them were looking at him. Golden pupils fixed on him and held.
"Go on. Tell us."
The voice came toward him, precise and clear.
In that instant—
"..."
Namgung Muyoung woke from the dream.