The Proof of Friendship
"So you are Dancheon Myeong of the Dancheon Clan."
That the Alliance Leader himself remembered my name and asked after it — I could only call it an honor to my family.
"Yes."
Fawning over the recognition would only cheapen a noble house's dignity, so I answered as evenly as I could.
"When you arrive at the Murim Alliance, come find me without fail."
I didn't fully grasp what he meant.
"Are we not traveling together?"
Weren't we bound for the same destination anyway?
"If I don't hurry back, the Chief Strategist will put me through the wringer, so that won't do."
Having said so, the Alliance Leader Yeom Gi-ha clicked his tongue.
My eyes had already read his expression. It told me that even a warrior who had reached the summit of the world had things he feared.
A sense of foreboding crept over me.
"……Don't tell me you've run away from home?"
"Ahem. I have merely been on an extended excursion."
At the same time, I understood how he had come to appear here at all.
The Supreme Alliance Leader had run away from home.
Recalling everything I'd heard of the Tyrant Emperor Yeom Gi-ha, I judged such behavior entirely plausible.
"Regardless, you will find me. That is the Leader's command."
Seeing him press the point twice over, I understood he had some business with me. Somehow, it did not feel like good news.
"May I ask what for?"
Curiosity is the first quality of any informant, is it not?
At my question, the eyes of the absolute sovereign of the realm studied me. But he seemed to decide that this was neither the time nor the place.
"Come to the Alliance, and I will tell you."
With the Leader saying as much, there was nothing more to pry out of him.
"Until next time, then."
His threat about the wringer was apparently no idle one; without even waiting for my reply, the Leader's figure vanished swiftly into the distance.
In my heart, I offered a silent eulogy for Chief Strategist Singija, whose suffering at the man's heels would be considerable.
"Leader, let's go together! Dancheon Myeong, see you next time!"
It was Paeng Ga-heon, in a mood quite unlike his earlier bearing, who said this and bustled off after him.
"Tsk. It's your fault I'll get chewed out by Singija, you know."
"So your errand bore no fruit, then?"
"Hmph."
"Just say thank you."
"No."
The bickering between the Alliance Leader and the Shanxi Branch Chief drifted faintly to my ears, but I resolved to have heard nothing.
With the outsiders all melting away into thin air, only the Ice Palace delegation and I remained at Sanmenxia.
I moved my feet.
Passing by Han Baek-rim, who was still shaking off the tension of battle, I came to stand before Bukgung Seol-ah, whose expression remained dazed.
"Shall we have a drink?"
"……Yes, let's."
Bukgung Seol-ah answered my words.
Han Baek-rim did not dissuade her, so I judged I had earned their trust without question.
* * *
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Haah.
Nothing beats Geomnamchun liquor, truly.
Once, I had savored it merely for its taste; these days, every cup of Geomnamchun brings my friend Yi Chun-baek to mind.
Suddenly I missed him. I would have to make time to seek him out before long.
Only after five silent rounds had passed did they speak.
"Thank you for your grace."
"We are in your debt, benefactor."
It was Bukgung Seol-ah and Han Baek-rim who opened their mouths.
The word grace sat heavily on my shoulders, yet it felt good all the same.
For this was the first time since the miracle of my regression that I had saved someone's life.
"I only did what needed doing."
Bukgung Seol-ah and Han Baek-rim seemed to understand both gratitude and shame; there was no need to make too loud a show of my virtue.
"Please accept this."
Bukgung Seol-ah drew a small box from within her robes and held it out to me.
I had seen it once before, when I faced the Overlord Martial Emperor Wiji Han — so I knew exactly what it was.
The very thing I had longed for beyond all else: the seed of the Five Great Pills, the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.
Hm.
I hadn't expected her to repay the debt quite so immediately.
"Are you certain you can give this to me?"
The Snow Ginseng was a treasure the Ice Palace delegation had brought as a token of friendship with the Murim Alliance. I knew handing it to me would put them in a difficult position — and asked anyway.
"The Ice Palace does not forget its debts. I am merely ashamed that this is all we can offer you right now."
In Bukgung Seol-ah's expression, as she said this, sat a resolve every bit as certain as her beauty.
That Han Baek-rim did not intervene told me he thought the same.
"I know you gave up the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng to save our lives. The ginseng is only my repayment. The price of our lives, I will pay in full later — someday, without fail—"
I cut her off.
"I merely sold my ginseng to the Sado League. Think nothing of it."
"Please, accept it anyway."
As though refusing further argument, Bukgung Seol-ah pressed the Snow Ginseng into my hands.
Not wishing to resist too hard, I let it be — and so the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng became mine without much fuss.
Truly, I had never dreamed of obtaining it like this.
Such is the way of the world, where people live their lives.
Some people earn our favor for no reason at all, and some earn our dislike just as inexplicably.
Truth be told, the ones I had favored without any particular cause were the warriors of the Ice Palace.
My admiration for their unyielding spirit in the face of the Sado League's sovereign had only deepened that favor.
And now those same people had given me a tangible reason as well — the Snow Ginseng itself — so I found myself wishing to extend my goodwill back to them with a light heart.
In other words: I did what I had intended all along.
"Then accept this in return."
By which I meant that I handed Bukgung Seol-ah a treasure that could serve as a token of friendship in place of the Snow Ginseng.
"What is this?"
"Empty Blue Stone Milk."
"……I beg your pardon?"
My original plan had been to place the delegation in my debt first, then attempt to trade the Empty Blue Stone Milk for the Snow Ginseng through negotiation.
But once they simply gave me the Snow Ginseng outright, I had no choice but to simply give them the Stone Milk in return.
It was a scene suffused with déjà vu. Perhaps the reason I missed Yi Chun-baek so was not only the liquor after all.
"To accept such a trea—"
Before Bukgung Seol-ah could object, I pressed on quickly.
"Fostering friendship between the Ice Palace and the Murim Alliance is one of my most important duties."
It was not, in fact, true — but as excuses and justifications went, none could be finer.
"I cannot refuse my Young Palace Master's goodwill, so I will accept it — but in exchange, use this Empty Blue Stone Milk as your token of friendship."
"……"
I could see that Bukgung Seol-ah was no pushover when it came to stubbornness. But then, back in my Myeong-gae days, I had been the sort of mule who could make even Chwipung-gae throw up his hands.
They say it takes a stubborn one to recognize a stubborn one. Having glimpsed my obstinacy, Bukgung Seol-ah conceded.
Because, in the end, stubbornness backed by reason is the stubbornness that wins.
"Thank you."
Han Baek-rim, having read Bukgung Seol-ah's heart, moved first to spare her.
"……Thank you."
And so Bukgung Seol-ah accepted the Empty Blue Stone Milk.
"Another round, then."
The Geomnamchun went around again.
Perhaps because my heart had grown lighter than before, the liquor went down all the sweeter.
As the old saying goes, trust is built upon favors exchanged back and forth — of that I know well.
And a deeper trust had accumulated here than even I had expected. Now, precisely now, was the right moment to broach the matter.
"May I ask about your circumstances?"
In the martial world, prying into another's history and troubles is forbidden territory — and I was the one breaking that rule.
They, after all, had never asked why I happened to be carrying the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng at exactly the right moment, or where the Empty Blue Stone Milk had come from.
Remembering that, the situation was rather embarrassing — but I judged it fine.
Partly because I already counted them among my friends, and partly because this question was a necessary step.
"……I am a person of insufficient talent."
Perhaps because she owed me a considerable debt, Bukgung Seol-ah raised the topic without any show of resistance.
And perhaps because the name Han-yu had already surfaced in her conversation with the Overlord Martial Emperor, her confession poured out unimpeded.
I listened to the long confession in silence.
"……And that is how things stand. Thank you once more for saving the warriors of the Ice Palace, who nearly died because of me."
Even in the midst of it all, what struck me was how she spoke of her subordinates' lives before her own.
Even in my Myeong-gae days I had never laid eyes on Bukgung Seol-ah, the Palace Master of the Ice Palace — but I could tell that if she became its ruler, she would be a wise one.
It meant my conviction had only deepened: that her taking the throne was right, at the very least when compared to the Bukgung Han-yu I knew.
Having finished, Bukgung Seol-ah's expression looked a little lighter.
Perhaps all she had needed was someone to unburden herself to. There are troubles, after all, that grow only harder to share the closer one stands to the listener.
With worry lifted from that face famed as one of the Three Flowers Under Heaven, one might call what remained before me the single most beautiful flower in all the world and still fall short of the truth.
"You have suffered greatly."
"……I know there are many who suffer more than I."
She shook her head quietly.
That others suffer more does not mean that I do not. Of this truth, beggars know better than anyone — a realization I had come by long ago.
Summarized, Bukgung Seol-ah's confession went as follows.
The Ice Palace's succession struggle had long since grown overheated, and she had suspected in her heart that her own brother might send assassins after her.
The unforeseen parts were only these: that Bukgung Han-yu had meant to discard not merely her life but the entire delegation's — and that the assassin he had hired was the Sovereign of the Sado League, foremost under heaven.
"Because of me, Baek-rim was nearly endangered as well."
"Not at all, my lady. Protecting you is my sacred duty."
At Han Baek-rim's unshakable reply, Bukgung Seol-ah could only offer a sorrowful smile.
"I have no talent."
Thanks to her position as Young Palace Master, Bukgung Seol-ah had received every support imaginable.
Her current realm was Peerless — lacking in nothing, by any measure — yet she simply could not accept it as such herself.
"I received several times what others were given, and I stand only where they stand. Does someone like me have any right to lead the Ice Palace?"
I watched Han Baek-rim swallow his emotions along with his Geomnamchun. I could see that behind that expressionless face, his heart was quietly breaking.
"That is not the right way to think."
As a rule I avoid pronouncing judgment on other people's lives, but here I found myself meddling for the first time in an age.
"Clans are not governed by martial talent alone."
I mean that with my whole heart.
It is why I had already resolved to break the tradition of primogeniture and place my elder brother Dancheon Hak in the seat of Clan Head.
"Forgive my lack of composure."
"It's quite all right."
Having lived as a second son, I felt I had glimpsed, however indirectly, the peculiar burdens of the firstborn — burdens I could never have known firsthand.
Next time will be different.
My brother Dancheon Hak's sulking face floated to mind. Perhaps I was fortunate that someone so proud and self-assured was my elder brother.
And fortunately, I possessed the information that could resolve her troubles.
The reason Bukgung Seol-ah must become the ruler of the Ice Palace.
The board had been laid out with just the right care. The time had come to tell the story.
The story of a future glimpsed through the life of Myeong-gae, and the return that followed it.
"What is your view of the Demonic Path?"
At my abrupt question, both Han Baek-rim and Bukgung Seol-ah wore looks of confusion.
"I am asking what you think of the Heavenly Demon Cult."
"Our palace despises the Demonic Path."
It was Han Baek-rim, silent until now, who answered with firm resolve.
Here in the Central Plains, martial artists from beyond the frontier are classed simply as unorthodox — but that classification rests on prejudice against outsiders.
Which is to say: I knew well that the Ice Palace leaned close to the righteous path.
"And if the Ice Palace were ever to collude with the Demonic Path — what then?"
"Such a thing will never happen."
Bukgung Seol-ah denied it flatly.
"And if it did?"
"Then I would stop it, even at the cost of my life."
Reading her expression, I knew this was her definition of justice. I had come to exactly the right place.
"Then—"
I steadied my breath for a moment.
"If Bukgung Han-yu colluded with the Demonic Cult — what would you do?"
And I threw the final question.
"……"
For a long moment, words failed both Bukgung Seol-ah and Han Baek-rim alike.
It was, truly, an unthinkable thing.
That the righteous North Sea Ice Palace, the moment the Great War of Righteousness and Evil broke out, would join hands with the Demonic Path and invade the Central Plains.
But Myeong-gae, member of the Pig-Knot Hall as he was, had come to know the truth.
The collusion between the Ice Palace and the Demonic Cult — it all traced back to Bukgung Han-yu.
"Even if it were so — would you stand by and let Bukgung Han-yu take the seat of Palace Master? All for the sake of something as hollow as talent?"
For a better future, Bukgung Han-yu must never become the Young Palace Master.
That was the final purpose for which I had sought out the Ice Palace delegation.