The Value of a Single Word - 7
The sight of her building the campfire every bit as deftly as she'd claimed, and even laying out her own bedding, tugged at my heart all the more—so I offered, once again, to have rooms made up for them.
But Sa Yun and Yu Hui refused, apologizing instead for putting me to so much trouble.
Those kids' stubbornness was no joke. It was admirable that they didn't take other people's kindness for granted, but when they drew the line that cleanly, it made this uncle a little sad.
"By the way, how are the Five Animal Frolics coming along?"
In any case, I couldn't afford to waste a fine chance to talk with Sa Yun. So I set out a few torches around the back yard to keep off the chill, at the very least, and went to brew some tea.
Perhaps she judged this much acceptable to receive, for Sa Yun sat down before the campfire, wrapped herself in what looked like an old blanket brought from Hongseong Sect, and took the cup I offered, while Yu Hui smiled, declined, and settled into meditation.
"Are you finding any of it difficult?"
"Not particularly."
"That's good. I'm finding the Hongseong Divine Art anything but easy."
Tongue peeking out in an awkward little smile, Sa Yun shifted her gaze to the campfire. Watching the flames crackle and dance, she let out a quiet sigh.
"Someone as lacking as me, being counted on like this... it worries me. I'm not like them. I didn't grow up taking elixirs or training from the time I was little."
"I see."
"They say the reason my eldest senior sister went out this time is because of me, too."
I knew. But I also knew that what Sa Yun wanted right now was silence, so I simply kept my mouth shut and nodded.
Had that been the right answer?
Cradling the teacup in both hands, Sa Yun took a small sip.
"Do you think I can grow enough to satisfy them?"
So mastering the Meteor Fist really hadn't come easily to her.
Catching the tremor in Sa Yun's eyes as they turned toward the fire, I rose from my seat.
"Hard to say. But the Sun-Falling Sword left in order to believe in you and back you up. Rather than trusting in yourself, wouldn't it be better to trust the Sun-Falling Sword, who believes in you? Not that I'm saying you don't need faith in yourself."
I stirred the campfire with a poker. Sparks leapt up, and the yams and chestnuts I'd tucked in earlier rolled out, roasted to a turn.
Leaving them to cool, I raked the embers back together.
"Besides, you're the one who told me, remember? Jeomjeokcheonseok—dripping water pierces stone. All you can do is keep at it, steady and unceasing."
"I... I suppose so."
When her eyes, which had been fixed on me for a moment, returned to the fire, I skewered a yam with a twig and held it out to her.
"Here. Have it as a midnight snack."
"Oh, I couldn't..."
"It's not like yam costs a fortune. I roasted too many to eat by myself."
"Oh, um. Th-thank you."
"And you, Young Lady Yu, can stop pretending to meditate."
"Huh? Ehehe. How did you know?"
Yu Hui, who had been sitting cross-legged with her eyes shut, straightened up with a sheepish grin. I held out a yam to her too as she came shuffling over, then answered while peeling a roasted chestnut with a small knife.
"Your eyebrows were twitching and your legs kept squirming. Some meditation that was."
"Ehe... hehe."
Yu Hui scratched the back of her head. She had just begun nibbling on the roasted yam, still smiling awkwardly, when a voice drifted down from above.
"Looks like you've got energy to spare for fooling around in the dead of night. I should've put you through another round earlier."
And then—hop.
This time she was properly wearing pants. They weren't Moon Lotus Pavilion attire, just ordinary clothes, but with a figure like hers, even those suited her beautifully.
Coming to my side on those long, slender legs, she slid a sly hand toward the roasted chestnuts I'd shelled.
"One nyang apiece..."
"Oh no, they just looked hot, so I was cooling them down for you."
"I'm only teasing. Eat up."
"Ehehe."
Grinning ear to ear, she popped a chestnut into her mouth and began to chew. After finishing off the ones I'd shelled—and apparently still wanting more—she set about peeling yams and cracking chestnuts herself, then remarked to Sa Yun as though it were nothing:
"Always doubt. Always stay on your guard. Always think."
"Pardon?"
"Once you learn to see the essence of things, hesitation disappears."
"...Thank you."
"Moon Lotus Pavilion and Hongseong Sect may be rivals, but under the banner of the orthodox factions, we stand as one."
With that, she drew herself up, the very picture of arrogance.
"So imparting the occasional lesson to a junior who wishes to improve is well within my ability."
"Ooh..."
"Ooh..."
"Ooh..."
Me, Sa Yun, and Yu Hui besides. When all three of us marveled, she swelled with pride even further.
Seen like this, she really did look the part of a great orthodox master.
She'd look even more the part if her face weren't smeared with soot from gorging on chestnuts and yam.
"Wipe your face a little before you speak, if you please."
I held out the handkerchief I'd tucked away in my breast. Only then did she seem to notice, and Chae Jin scrubbed her face clean, looking mortified. By the time the haughty master's expression had returned, Yu Hui was gazing at the two of us in fascination.
"You know, Young Lady Chae and Innkeeper Yu seem awfully close?"
Chae Jin and I exchanged a look, then answered flatly, in perfect unison:
"As if."
We were simply bound to each other by contract, after all.
I gave her a lukewarm glance, then turned my eyes to Sa Yun. Perhaps still chewing over Chae Jin's words, she said nothing at all, only staring quietly into the campfire.
"What tremendous focus... admirable. You there, Young Lady Yu of Hongseong Sect?"
"Yes?"
"Hong Ryeon went out to obtain an elixir for that girl, didn't she?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm... Maybe I ought to bring one back for my little sister too... but then again, she's such an insufferable brat..."
It seemed the sight of Sa Yun concentrating so completely after only a few words of advice had struck quite a chord in her.
Chae Jin set down the chestnut in her hand and made for a corner of the yard. Then she plopped down cross-legged and shut her eyes.
Hang on—is a bodyguard allowed to just do that?
I glanced from her to Sa Yun, then over toward Yu Hui—but she, apparently finding the situation every bit as awkward, simply closed her eyes too.
Oh, whatever.
But I couldn't very well disturb Sa Yun while she was so deep in concentration. I watched her for a long while, then went inside.
Please—let her come away with something.
Quite some time had passed since the blade-hounds had first been discovered.
Apart from a few more hounds turning up here and there, or a handful of government soldiers suffering minor injuries, nothing much had gone wrong in the meantime. Even that much had dwindled as the patrols were strengthened and Hongseong Sect disciples joined them, and for the past few days not so much as a single blade-hound had been sighted.
Perhaps that was why. The initial dread that had seeped into Seomhwachon was fading, little by little.
"Yes. Just like that."
Of course, even so, the guard detail had not stopped. The watch rotated, and on the days Sa Yun drew the duty of protecting me, I even caught myself hoping the Mabok would never be found at all.
Not that I should wish for that, of course.
With Sa Yun assigned to this rotation of my guard, I'd had her assist me with my Five Animal Frolics. Whether it was truly building my qi I couldn't say for certain, but vitality was unmistakably gathering throughout my body.
On top of that, with daily spoon-fed lessons from Chae Jin, the one-on-one tutor of Chae Family Tai Chi, my body felt a good deal sturdier than before.
A few days ago, after we finished training, Chae Jin had told me that if I kept practicing like this, I might actually form a dantian...
Well, that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was that Sa Yun's face grew darker by the day.
"You seem to have plenty weighing on you even now."
"Haha... there's no hiding anything from you, Innkeeper. Yes... I still haven't grasped the true essence of the Meteor Fist..."
I had written my own hwadu—meditative prompts—into the letters I sent her, hoping they might guide her to her breakthrough... but perhaps that alone hadn't been enough?
Tsk. If only Hong Ryeon were beside her at a time like this, she could lead her the rest of the way.
This was exactly why learning alone was so hard.
"I feel like I've almost got the feel of it... it's just this one last piece that's..."
That was when it happened.
Screeeech!! BOOM!! Screeeech! BOOM!! Screeeech! BOOM!!
Powerful explosions rolled in from somewhere far off. What was startling was that the blasts were erupting in different directions all at once.
Sa Yun and I whipped our heads around, and Ryu Hyeon, who had been inspecting goods over at the trading house, came rushing out.
"What in the world is that noise?"
At the same moment, Chae Jin leapt down from above. Clad in Moon Lotus Pavilion's close-fitting attire with her saber in hand, she was nothing like the faintly goofy woman we'd seen until now.
In her sharpened eyes burned ferocity; in her taut, corded muscles lived the strength of one who could cut down anything in her path.
And beneath it all, the unshakable mind needed to wield that strength with a gentle hand.
A first-rate martial artist stood before me.
"For it to blow up in that many places... there's more than one Mabok..."
"Then you have exactly one job. Go blast them to pieces."
The government soldiers were exhausted as it was, and with Hongseong Sect's disciples constantly being called down as well, no one was getting any proper training in.
My goal was to keep Hongseong Sect from being destroyed. Which meant this situation had to be ended quickly—and for that, the Mabok had to be taken down.
I'd miss seeing Sa Yun as often, but that couldn't be helped.
"Ah—of course!!"
The instant I gave my leave, Chae Jin vanished. She kicked off into her lightfoot art and was gone in a blink, and Ryu Hyeon raised her weapon as well.
"Sa Yun! You never know—stay here with the Innkeeper."
"Yes, ma'am!!"
With that, Ryu Hyeon too shot away into the distance in an instant, and Sa Yun glanced at me.
"You look worried. Don't be—nothing will go wrong. Lady Ryu is strong, and Young Lady Chae is even stro—"
That was when—
Through the back yard's entrance, the one that opened onto the world outside, a masked figure in black came walking slowly in.
"What in the—"
At his sudden appearance, Sa Yun slipped a single step in front of me.
And no wonder. A searing killing intent was rolling off the man in black.
For all I knew, he had been waiting for precisely this—for Chae Jin and Ryu Hyeon to be gone.
"Innkeeper Yu Wol. Am I right?"
His voice was dry and bleak. With eyes cold as ice, the man stared me down as he slowly drew the sword slung loose at the small of his back.
"Come along quietly, and I'll let you keep your life."
"And who might you be, to have it in for Innkeeper Yu?"
The man in black gave no answer, but I knew perfectly well who he was.
Because of the skull emblem across his chest.
In Cheonsang Myeongwol, anyone wearing that emblem belonged to the Demon Bone Corps, a band of sell-swords who appeared among the game's enemies. Cut them down and you could claim those emblems; amass enough of them and turn them in to the Murim Alliance, and a reward awaited.
That said, judging by the mark on his chest, he was the lowest rank among them...
Still, not someone to be taken lightly.
"Be careful. That one will be stronger than Gakjun."
Even the lowest-ranked member of the Demon Bone Corps was a cut above Gakjun.
"Just as expected of Seomhwachon's richest man. You have a keen eye for people. Gakjun was scarcely more than a nobody to me."
A flicker of intrigue crossed his eyes. Nothing worth marveling at, really. Still, if it kept him wary and his attention fixed on me, that was no bad thing either.
"Hoooooh..."
Sa Yun began to breathe slowly, in and out. At some point a live blade had left its sheath. Yet even facing a sword flashing with razor-edged killing intent, the Demon Bone Corps member nonchalantly leveled nothing more than a dagger.
"That oh-so-precious Hongseong Divine Art. I'll get to see it with my own eyes today."
Wow. Saying that to Sa Yun—the youngest, no less, rather than Hong Ryeon—wasn't that a remark whose conscience had gone AWOL?
I'd love to see what that man's parents look like.
"Get behind me."
Sa Yun shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. Whether she meant to commit everything from the very first exchange, her sword was more than fast enough.
But.
KRAAANG!!
With a piercing shriek of steel, Sa Yun's sword was flung skyward. Her blade, aimed for the man's throat, had been twisted aside—and before she could even register it, the masked man lifted his foot and kicked her clean off the ground.
Wham. The instant Sa Yun hit the dirt rolling with a sound like leather splitting, he hurled a dagger at me.
I dodged.
Had I not been drilling with Chae Jin, with Sa Yun, and with the Hongseong Sect instructors who came down as my guards, it would have buried itself in my shoulder.
Dodged it all the same.
Counting may never have been my talent, but I had at least been schooled by a first-rate private tutor—the least I could do was manage this much.
Seeing it, the man in black stared at me in disbelief, lips working, before saying with obvious displeasure:
"...According to our information, Yu Wol, you cannot use martial arts."
"Then that information is due for an update. And the time is now!!"
"Wha—?!"
I shouted while staring past his shoulder. Reacting to my cry, the masked man whirled around.
Behind him stood nothing but Jeomsoi, frozen awkwardly in place with a broom in her hands.
"You son of a...!!"
THUD!!
And in that sliver of an opening, Sa Yun—until then sprawled on the ground—scrambled up and slashed out in a flash.
The man who had believed his earlier blow had settled the matter failed to stop the attack, and Sa Yun's sword ran him clean through the chest.
"Gahk...!!"
Blood spilled from his lips. Pallor flooded his face.
His legs gave out and he crumpled where he stood. I smiled at the sight.
He wouldn't be getting up from that one.
Watching the shock and disbelief slowly ebb from the Demon Bone Corps member's eyes, I said, entirely at my ease:
"What's the use of fighting if you take your eyes off your enemy?"
"How... how..."
His gaze swung to Sa Yun. The question in it needed no words: he had landed that blow clean—how was she already on her feet?
Honestly, I'd been a little startled myself.
It was the light in her eyes when she was knocked flying and our gazes met—still burning, still alive—that had given me the nerve to bait him.
When I looked back at her in equal puzzlement, Sa Yun rubbed at her chest, which still seemed to ache, then broke into a smile.
"Well, actually, um... someone else gave me some advice, so..."
Someone else, hm.
Could it be?
It's me, isn't it?
"I had a feeling something like this might happen, so I asked Lady Ryu Hyeon to teach me a little of the Hongseong Divine Art's self-defense techniques."
Haha. Good thinking, that.
With superhuman restraint, I smothered the urge to pat her on the head.
"That said, it seems I'm not the only one they're after... which means the villagers could be in danger too."
Sa Yun must have arrived at the same thought, for her expression clouded.
As if I couldn't guess why—or exactly what was warring within her at that moment.
Wait here, safe, until others came? Or go and help whoever else in the village might be in danger?
Ryu Hyeon had just ordered Sa Yun to remain at my side. To help her through that conflict, I spoke up.
"I mean to go out and help whoever I can. So... care to come with me?"
"If you will have me, Innkeeper."
Her eyes were shining.
Youngest disciple of Hongseong Sect though she was, she seemed to harbor not a shred of doubt in the chivalrous duty of those who had mastered the martial arts to shield those who had not.
Ah.
There it was—the sight I loved. The sight we all loved.
Through hardship and adversity.
Through the senseless suffering inflicted upon her.
Because she never gave up—not once, not even at the very end—this was the Sa Yun our fifty-million-strong Sayun Faction had rallied behind.
In that case.
"Then let's go."
There wasn't a single reason to refuse.