The Gift - 5

For Sa Yun, it was happiness itself that only joyful things were happening at Hongseong Gate these days.

All the more so because the work they had done for their eldest senior sister—who always toiled harder than anyone—had borne such wonderful fruit.

"Hehe."

Perhaps that was why a silly little smile kept creeping onto Sa Yun's lips of late.

And small wonder, really: every building that met her eyes as she walked through Hongseong Gate had become spotless.

Time and again she had watched Hong Ryeon and Ryu Hyeon gaze bitterly upon the aging halls and worn facilities. She had seen Hong Ryeon brace up walls that looked ready to crumble at any moment, plastering mud over the cracks with a strained smile—so the sight of clean, sturdy walls standing in their place filled her with no small joy.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah—coming right up."

Seeing Sa Yun, fruit basket in hand, come to a halt in the middle of the path, Yu Hui gave her back a light tap.

Several days had passed since the renovation of Hongseong Gate was completed and Yu Wol and Chae Jin had been invited to celebrate it. Now the only important events remaining on the sect's calendar this year were today's memorial rites for the previous Sect Leader and the sect's departed elders, and the celebration of her master the Sword Saint's birthday.

Of course, with a day like this one, they could neither rejoice freely nor grieve freely. Even so, one thing was a mercy: unlike last year, the Sword Saint did not look to be in particularly poor condition.

And so Sa Yun walked with light steps.

When she reached the kitchen with her ingredients and fruit, she found Hong Ryeon and Ryu Hyeon already at work cooking. Hong Ryeon, who had learned her way around a kitchen from Yohwan at the inn in Seomhwachon, was handling an enormous pot with practiced ease—and crouched beside her was the Sword Saint.

At the sight, Sa Yun smiled.

What had it been like last year?

Back then, her master had sat before the Sacred Hall—the place where the rites were held—and stared at it in silence from morning to night without a single word.

Seeing that same woman come into the kitchen and crouch down to watch, Sa Yun found her somehow adorable, and reassuring too.

"Master, please try this."

When Hong Ryeon held out a small dish, the Sword Saint—looking as though she had been waiting for exactly this—lifted her chopsticks and fed a bite to Sa Yun and Yu Hui as well. Then she tasted it herself, and beamed.

Sa Yun and Yu Hui's eyes sparkled in turn as the flavor spread through their mouths with every chew.

"Your cooking has really improved."

"Yes! It's so delicious!"

"Amazing! There's nothing you can't do, Senior Sister!"

"Hahaha. You can flatter me all you like—nothing's coming of it. Master, could you hand me that tray?"

"Of course."

The Sword Saint scooted over and held out the tray, and Hong Ryeon piled the finished stir-fry from the pot onto it.

"Master, shouldn't you be getting ready soon?"

At Ryu Hyeon's words—she had been helping Hong Ryeon while glancing out the kitchen window—the Sword Saint nodded. And when she headed out, popping one last small piece of jeon into her mouth as she went, Hong Ryeon stifled a laugh.

"She's not her wilted old self, at least. That puts my mind at ease."

"Isn't it just? Senior Sister, where should we take these fruits?"

"To the Sacred Hall. Here—let's take these too."

"Yes, Senior Sister."

With the finished dishes and the fruit in hand, they made their way to the Sacred Hall.

By the time they arrived at the hall where the memorial tablets of the sect's forebears were enshrined, preparations for the rites were already in full swing. They set down the ceremonial dishes they had prepared and arranged the seats.

Then, once every disciple had gathered, changed into clean robes—

"Let us begin."

The Sword Saint, arrayed in the formal regalia of a Hongseong Sect Leader, stepped gracefully forth. Free of her usual rumpled dress and impeccably attired, she showed herself exactly as she was: sharp as a single drawn blade.

One step. And another.

Her footfalls were light, yet each carried weight.

Calmly she approached the enshrined tablets and raised the incense. With far more ceremonial food than last year and finer incense in her grasp, her expression did not change. It was simply reverent, and solemn.

Bowing her head as she extended the lifted incense, she placed it in the burner and stepped back. Hong Ryeon, the Grand Disciple who had stood guard behind her, presented the greatsword—and taking it up, the Sword Saint slowly unfolded the opening form.

Watching it unfold, Sa Yun clenched her fist without meaning to.

Huh?

The Sword Saint's blade was moving. So swift, so perfectly controlled was it that even with the greatsword sweeping through the air, not a whisper of wind escaped it.

It was the same sword dance as last year's, and yet the feel of it was entirely different. Every movement of that blade had once rang with sorrow and regret—

but that sorrow had lessened.

And Sa Yun, it seemed, was not the only one to sense it. The other disciples, too, stared up at the Sword Saint with astonished eyes. But beneath all those gazes she remained unmoved, swinging the greatsword ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in silent, single-minded devotion.

When the dance drew to its close, the Sword Saint drove the greatsword into the earth, and Hong Ryeon stepped forward in her turn.

Just as the Sword Saint had done before her, she lit the incense and began her sword dance—a dance of power and beauty, perfectly suited to her.

Watching the same rite unfold as last year, Sa Yun found herself smiling without realizing it.

Somehow, it felt as though a great many things had changed, starting this year.

"Master, are you all right?"

As the rites continued on after the ceremony, a faint shadow had settled over the Sword Saint's face. Sa Yun came up to where she crouched alone and asked with a smile, and the Sword Saint lifted her head and smiled back.

"My dear, good youngest. Your master is quite all right. Truly, I'm perfectly fine."

She still looked weary—less so than last year, but weary all the same—and yet to the worried Sa Yun she spoke exactly as a Sect Leader should. She was always like that. Even as she swallowed her pain down, she never once lost sight of what she had to do.

"Still, you look a little better this year."

"Hehe. Do I?"

Stroking the hair of Sa Yun seated beside her, the Sword Saint nodded. Her tightly pressed lips offered no further words, but Sa Yun could feel that she seemed somehow lighter.

"Perhaps it is thanks to your 'Uncle.' And perhaps thanks to Innkeeper Yu as well."

"Ah... yes, I suppose so."

What made this year different from the last, surely, was all the help those two had given. Realizing that this alone had brought fresh life back to the struggling Hongseong Gate, Sa Yun smiled.

"I do hope it stays like this from now on..."

"Hehe. As do I."

And then—

Hyeon Hwi, the disciple who had gone out at the tolling of the bell from the mountain gate, came sprinting back. In her hands was a box.

While everyone was still puzzling over it, Hyeon Hwi held the box out to Sa Yun.

"It's from your 'Uncle.'"

"Oh? Really?"

She had sent a letter before, and had been worrying because no reply had come. And now here was another, arriving just like this. Delighted, Sa Yun took the box and opened it to find, as always, a single letter and one nyang of silver.

Inside the thick envelope were two sheets of paper.

One was a map. A map of Mount Hongseong, like the one before.

Judging by its position, the mark seemed to sit midway down a cliff not far from Mount Hongseong's peak. While the others pored over the map and discussed the location, Sa Yun turned to the other letter.

What was written there was not long. Truthfully, considering that the lengthy letter last time had been the unusual one, there was nothing strange about that at all.

Sa Yun read the lines quietly.

What is this supposed to mean?

Puzzled, she read down the string of words—and jolted at the characters written at the very bottom of the letter.

"Materials for the Hyeon-ungap...? Then... don't tell me—"

Sa Yun's eyes went to the map. No—not hers alone. Everyone's did.

The Sword Saint stared at the map clutched in her trembling hands, then said, the strength draining from her voice:

"Once the rites conclude... we shall go and see this place."

The Sword Saint felt her heart surge.

At the thought of what if.

Because she felt she understood what that 'Uncle,' who knew so many of Hongseong Gate's secrets, was hoping for.

The rites ended as the sun was going down.

Ordinarily they would have celebrated the Sword Saint's birthday, however simply, but right now she had no room for that. Fully armed, they made their way to the summit of Mount Hongseong, and before the treacherous cliff that lay a short distance beyond it, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Sword Saint took up the rope.

"I will descend and confirm it myself."

"Yes, Master."

So she said, calm as ever, and leapt. Despite the dizzying height she paid it no mind as she dropped, scanning the cliff face—until she found a cave hidden among the jagged outcroppings and the shrubs growing in the crevices between the rocks, and drove her sword into the stone beside it. The blade sank in as though the rock were tofu; stepping on the embedded sword and tying her rope to the hilt, she pulled herself into the cave.

How long did she walk?

At the cave's end stood a massive stone door.

Just as she had thought.

A secret realm.

"...Just who are you...?"

A location like this was one that no one who did not already know of it could ever find. Who would ever guess that a tiny cave on a cliff like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this was the passage into a secret realm?

While she stood astonished, her disciples arrived at the realm's entrance one by one, and all of them fell silent as they gazed upon it. Before long, crimson light burst from the secret realm and wrapped itself around the Hongseong disciples' bodies. And as it always did, the realm, having finished verifying them, opened its mouth—and the Sword Saint spoke gravely.

"It may be dangerous, so I shall enter first. All of you, follow with care."

The secret realm itself was little different from the last one. It tested one's mastery of the Hongseong Divine Art, and whether its techniques could be properly chained one into another—and whether the internal energy of the Hongseong Divine Art could be truly controlled.

As before, the Sword Saint led the way with the disciples behind her, and when they reached the final chamber—

what waited this time was an enormous tiger.

Its only difference from any other tiger: it bore two heads.

One mouth breathed frost, the other flame. As the Sword Saint regarded the beast, she turned to Sa Yun.

"The Twin-Headed Tiger would be too much for you at your current skill. So you will go together with Ryeon."

"Yes, Master."

Hong Ryeon stepped forward with her greatsword raised, and Sa Yun nodded and fell in behind her.

Had it taken them for mere prey? The Twin-Headed Tiger spewed fire and ice alike, baring its killing intent at the two of them.

Gripping her sword tight, Hong Ryeon spoke.

"Follow my lead."

"Understood, Senior Sister."

— GRRAAAOOAR!! —

With the Twin-Headed Tiger's roar, the Hongseong disciples' assault began.

The battle was fierce, but in the end victory belonged to Hongseong. Hong Ryeon was a master, after all, and Sa Yun too had strength built step by careful step.

At last the Twin-Headed Tiger fell, burning away to grey ash until nothing remained but two skulls.

Hong Ryeon gazed at them a moment, then lifted the tiger's skull, still smoldering with flame, and said to Sa Yun:

"Go on now—go bring back the reward."

Tension lay beneath Hong Ryeon's voice. She, too, was thinking what if.

With every eye upon her, Sa Yun went inside, and when she emerged a short while later, a single box hung from her hands.

— Creeeak...

In a hush so deep that a falling needle would have rung out, the sound of the box opening reached every ear.

And what lay within was a single blueprint.

The Sword Saint shut her eyes tight.

"...This is..."

So much had happened that her head spun, but there was no mistaking what it meant.

They had learned the materials of the Hyeon-ungap, the sacred relic of Hongseong Gate—and now they had its method of manufacture as well.

In other words: the Hyeon-ungap, Hongseong Gate's destroyed sacred relic, could be forged anew.

Perhaps that was why.

This should have been a day when the whole of Hongseong Gate lay soaked in melancholy, yet because of everything that had happened today, hardly any gloom could be felt at all. It felt almost as though their 'Uncle' had sent a gift for the very purpose of lightening that sorrow.

"We really do owe your Uncle a great deal."

Was it because the Hyeon-ungap could be made whole again? Recalling how much brighter the Sword Saint's face had grown, Hong Ryeon smiled.

Last year, the Sword Saint would have sat before the Sacred Hall all night long, sunk in sorrow as she stared at it. The disciples would have coaxed her with a simple birthday celebration, promising to mark the day properly—and still she would have kept her vigil there until the following night.

But today she had come inside, late though it was, and after receiving her disciples' congratulations she had declared she would sleep together with them—and there she lay, beside Ryu Hyeon.

Watching the Sword Saint murmuring with Ryu Hyeon off in the corner, Hong Ryeon smiled.

"Well then—time to sleep."

As she murmured those words, Sa Yun nodded and, by the light of the moon, read her Uncle's letter once more.

The same fine paper as always, and within it, that clean and graceful hand.

It felt as though she could sense her Uncle's heart in it, and before she knew it she was smiling as her eyes drifted shut.

Wrapped in the somehow comforting, familiar scent that rose from the letter, she felt she would sleep deeply tonight—truly deeply.

Thinking, all the while, that her Uncle had given her a truly precious gift.