The Kim Clan of Sacheon
"We'll have to bring a physician here from the Kim Clan of Sacheon."
Ansong, who had been tending to the patients, overheard me and stared back in disbelief.
"What?! You said you wanted nothing to do with that family! And the Clan Lord himself told you to stay away from them—"
"You think I don't know that? Look at the state we're in. This is no time to be picky about who we owe favors to."
There might be a physician somewhere else, but every hour mattered now. Who knew how long it would take to hunt one down? The Kim Clan, on the other hand, was clearly marked on the map Ansong had brought, which made them easy to find.
"Hmm."
Ansong hummed, evidently deciding that arguing with me was a lost cause, and soon shook his head. It meant do as I pleased.
"You stay here and look after the patients. Seonhwa and I will go to the Kim Clan."
"Seonhwa too? We're short on hands as it is."
Was this brat trying to get my girl sick with plague? When I narrowed my eyes slightly, Ansong feigned ignorance and busied himself with the patients again.
"Hah. I'll be back before you know it. It's not that far from here."
"Yes, my lord. An hour at the most, I'd say."
Taking the map from Ansong, I led Seonhwa outside.
Shhh, shhh.
I scooped out a cavity in the deep snow in case Seonhwa caught the sickness. That should do it.
"Where are we going?"
Seonhwa, who had been quietly following me without a word, finally asked.
"The Kim Clan of Sacheon. There's nowhere else nearby with a physician."
"What? That's one of the Six Great Clans—you want us to go there?"
"Ah."
Right. Seonhwa didn't know I was the Young Lord of the Wang Clan, did she?
I'd kept it hidden because I feared knowing would push her away, and now I had no idea how to explain. As I racked my brain for a cover story, it struck me that this was hardly the moment for it.
The physician came first.
"I have... some history with the Kim Clan."
"I see."
Seonhwa's eyes were full of suspicion, but when I urged her to hurry, she let the matter drop.
So we ran, following the map, and the snow began to fall harder and harder. Fearing we'd lose our way, I paused for a moment to get my bearings—and Seonhwa suddenly grabbed my hand.
"What is it?"
"The snow—I can't see ahead."
Really? It didn't seem that bad to me.
But Seonhwa was shorter than I was, so I let it go and simply reset our direction.
Checking the map, it seemed the snowfall had slowed us more than I'd thought. Ansong had said people would start dying on the third day, hadn't he?
Truthfully, plenty of the patients already looked like they couldn't hold out past three days. I had to borrow a physician and get back as quickly as possible.
As I ran with those thoughts churning, the snow grew heavier still. By the time it was practically a blizzard, the world ahead blurred out of sight—just as Seonhwa had said.
Whooooosh.
"Hhh... how much... farther?"
"About an hour?"
I'd assumed we'd arrive within an hour, but I'd been wrong. The weather had cost us dearly—at this rate, it could easily take twice that.
"This won't do. Hop on. We'll never make it in time like this."
So I carried Seonhwa on my back and ran with light-foot technique. As an afterthought, I shrugged off my outer robe and draped it over her—running at speed would only make her colder.
"Aren't you cold, Mujin? In weather like this?"
"Ah... I'm fine, honestly."
I didn't feel cold at all. Perhaps reaching the Peak Realm had made me more resistant to heat and cold.
In any case, with Seonhwa on my back and my footwork unleashed, our speed returned. After maybe half an hour of running, buildings finally began to appear in the distance.
That must be the Kim Clan.
For one of the Six Great Clans, I'd hardly heard anything about them. At most, a few rumors I'd picked up on the way here—the kind of gossip even the common folk on the streets knew.
Wang Inho told me to stay away from them.
He'd even raised his voice, which was rare for him. But what could I do? Tens of lives hung in the balance, not just one or two.
Though I had no idea why I was supposed to avoid them. Wang Inho had called them "disgusting creatures," but that was all he'd said.
Well. I'd find out when I saw them for myself, wouldn't I? Why he'd said it.
About another hour of running brought us to the Kim Clan of Sacheon—right up to the front gate, in fact.
"Who goes there?"
We'd barely arrived before a gatekeeper blocked our path. Since he clearly wasn't about to open the gates politely, I set Seonhwa down first.
Then, to the gatekeeper who watched us with narrowed, disapproving eyes, I held up a single tablet.
"Hey, you. I asked who you were, and you show me some odd trinket?"
"Do you not know what this is?"
"Huh? What is that?"
What I'd shown him was a tablet bearing the character for Wang, engraved in gold and white. More precisely, it was the tablet that marked one as a direct descendant of the Wang Clan.
The gatekeeper squinted at the engraved character, then turned to summon a fellow gatekeeper behind him, his face a picture of bewilderment.
"Hey! Do you know what this is?"
"What is it?"
The second gatekeeper sauntered over, eyeing the tablet askance. Then sweat began to bead on his forehead.
"Uh... ah... uh..."
"Hm? What is it, then?"
A vein bulged on the second gatekeeper's forehead, as if the first man's obliviousness had finally infuriated him.
"You damn fool...! You don't recognize THIS? Huh?!"
The second gatekeeper suddenly exploded into curses, huffed and puffed, then abruptly turned toward me with a bow so deep it bordered on groveling.
"My goodness~ To what do we owe the honor of the Young Lord of the Wang Clan gracing us with his presence~?"
"I've come on urgent business, so if you'd be so kind as to open the gate?"
"Yes, yes! Of course, of course we shall open the gate at once~ Though might I ask you to wait just a moment before we do~?"
"Fine. That's no trouble."
As the second gatekeeper bowed so low it was almost pitiful to watch, the face of the first one—the one who'd spoken to me—went slack with confusion.
Leaving those words behind, the second gatekeeper opened the gate and slipped inside. Apparently, he meant to report to his superiors.
"The Wang Clan...?"
Seonhwa's eyes had gone wide, and she asked with trembling lips, as if she couldn't quite believe it.
"What? Surprised?"
"Yes..."
Something about the way she looked up at me had changed. A faint sense of distance, like she was suddenly seeing someone far away.
Just as I thought.
If someone who'd traveled at my side suddenly turned out to be the Young Lord of a Great Clan, anyone would react the same way.
She's probably replaying every conversation we've ever had, checking whether she said anything out of line.
Creeeak!
Just then the gate swung open, and the second gatekeeper reappeared.
"Young Lord! Please, come in!"
The moment I moved to follow him inside, Seonhwa shuffled forward, dragging her feet as if she'd rather be anywhere else. She must have been terribly shaken—her whole body was trembling, and it was almost painful to watch.
Letting out a single sigh, I seized Seonhwa's hand and pulled her through the gate. She hesitated at first, but when I tugged her firmly along, she pretended to give in and matched my stride.
The interior of the Kim Clan compound was, how should I put it... strangely otherworldly.
"Wow!"
Seonhwa, who almost never let her emotions show, gasped out loud, her mouth hanging wide open. Of course, she immediately clapped a hand over it.
"I've never seen architecture like this."
It felt like stepping into another country entirely. Who would have thought I'd feel that same sense of wonder here—so similar to what I'd felt when I was first reborn into this world?
The clothing of the people passing through the compound was remarkable too. It was nothing like the dress of Goryeo.
I'd wager it was all influenced by Silla. The Kim Clan was said to be founded by the royal bloodline of Silla, so it was hardly a wild guess.
Following our guide, we were led into what amounted to a reception room.
"Please wait here. The Young Lord will be with you shortly."
"The Young Lord—you mean the Young Lord of the Kim Clan of Sacheon himself?"
"Yes. He's finishing his training at the moment, so it won't be long."
The Young Lord of the Kim Clan, hm. I was curious what sort of man he was. But our business was simply to borrow a physician, so there was no need for a lengthy conversation.
The moment our guide withdrew, servants swarmed in and prepared tea. The fine tea—my first in ages—was delicious.
Then Seonhwa, who had been sipping hers delicately, suddenly downed the entire cup in one gulp.
"~~!!!! Hnnngh!!"
Drinking boiling-hot tea like that. I motioned for cold water, took it from a servant, and handed it straight to Seonhwa.
Hands shaking, she barely managed to grasp the cup and gulped the water down in a panic.
"Haaah..."
"Why would you drink it like that? Did you burn your tongue?"
"Y-yes..."
Seonhwa answering with her tongue sticking out was a sight I'd rarely seen. It seemed the fine tea—her first ever—had simply overwhelmed her.
Come to think of it, for commoners like Seonhwa, even cheap tea was a rare luxury, let alone the good stuff. So I understood. Though I suppose I was a commoner myself, once.
After that small commotion, I had just finished soothing a belatedly blushing Seonhwa when the door opened with careful quiet.
"Good day to you. I am Kim Hobu, Young Lord of the Kim Clan of Sacheon."
As fellow Young Lords of the Six Great Clans, I couldn't well receive his greeting while seated, so I rose to introduce myself as well.
"A pleasure. I am Wang Mujin, Young Lord of the Wang Clan."
Having exchanged greetings, we sat down almost in unison. Only Seonhwa, who had scrambled up when I did, fidgeted helplessly before finally taking her seat a beat behind us.
"You gave me quite the fright, hearing that the Young Lord of the Wang Clan had arrived out of nowhere. Haha."
"I happened to be undergoing closed-door cultivation in this area, and I found myself in need of the Kim Clan's aid—hence this unannounced visit. I hope I haven't imposed?"
"Not at all! We are honored to have you, Lord Mujin. Hahaha. Though I did hear you had entered seclusion, I never dreamed it was anywhere near here."
Kim Hobu, Young Lord of the Kim Clan, was a man with a brisk, open countenance and a hearty, booming manner. If there was one thing that bothered me, it was his eyes.
Why are his eyes so sharp?
They were entirely at odds with his jovial air, lending him a subtle note of dissonance.
"Hahaha! The way you put Eunmun Sangguk in his place, Lord Mujin—it set all six of the Great Clans abuzz! However did you devise such a scheme? I would dearly love to learn from you!"
"It was nothing."
"Nothing, he says! If that was nothing, then nothing in this world counts for anything! Come now, don't be modest—share your wisdom with me! Hahahaha!"
This is dragging on.
I needed to borrow a physician and leave, and this man simply would not stop talking. Worse, he left no opening for me to speak, making it hard to get to the point.
Was he doing this on purpose? For an instant that thought crossed my mind, and I realized I'd have to force the issue.
"Enough pleasantries. Let us get to the matter at hand."
"Oh? Ah, forgive me. You must be busier than you let on, Lord Mujin. Oh! That's right! If you like, why not stay here a few days and rest? I would attend to you personally—"
"Lend me a few physicians."
"...Physicians, you say?"
"Yes. There's a village called Yushin about an hour from here, and a plague has broken out. I need the Kim Clan's help."
"Is that so."
Was I imagining it, or had Kim Hobu's gaze turned ice-cold in that instant? It also struck me as odd that he spoke of a plague raging within his own clan's territory as if it were someone else's affair. And I soon learned that I was no fool for noticing.
"Ha-hah. That, I'm afraid, will be difficult. Good day to you."