Sibling Strains and Savage Words
Danmok Seong seemed to find the child who had diligently brought a wooden sword rather cute, as she turned her head to the side and simply nodded.
However, with yet another person added to the group, Geum Jongha—the only one harboring needless dissatisfaction—pouted his lips and muttered, "His brother didn't come, huh."
At those words, Namgung Seo-jin seemed to snap back to reality.
"M-My brother..."
Namgung Seo-jin trailed off several times with "My brother...", his face twisting in distress before gradually crumpling into a tearful expression.
"My brother... if he knew I was here... he wouldn't come..."
"Huh? No, I didn't mean to call him or anything... But you have a brother—why wouldn't he come, he should..."
"My brother... doesn't like me much because I'm no good..."
The children suddenly fell silent upon hearing this family secret.
Under their gazes, Namgung Seo-jin filled his eyes with tears and clutched the wooden sword he had brought tightly to his chest.
"I... I won't do this. I'm sorry... I'm sorry."
With his head bowed deeply in apology, he then ran off like he was fleeing.
The remaining children's eyes turned to Geum Jongha. It almost looked like he had driven Namgung Seo-jin away.
"N-No, no! What did I even say to make this happen all of a sudden?!"
"You like chasing kids away?!"
"I just asked if his brother wasn't coming...!"
As Ak So-hyeong and Geum Jongha bickered, Ryeon mulled over what she had witnessed.
So that kid was the crane.
"Are Namgung Seo-geon and Namgung Seo-jin on bad terms?"
It was Danmok Seong who asked quietly.
Ryeon, who had been fiddling with the loosened curls from her braided hair rolled into buns, turned to look at Danmok Seong.
Danmok Seong seemed bothered by the image of Namgung Seo-jin, who had teared up and left just moments ago.
Without waiting for Ryeon's answer, Danmok Seong muttered on, "Yeah, there must be siblings who don't get along. Not everyone can be close."
It was the voice of someone seeing bad sibling relations for the first time.
Ryeon left her hair alone and approached Danmok Seong.
"Does it bother you?"
"...A little. It's their family business, so I can't tell them what to do. But we can learn from watching others, right? Crises could hit our bond too."
"...!"
For some reason, Ryeon's heart stung.
She shook off the feeling and drew close to Danmok Seong, taking the girl's hand.
"What if we fight?"
Danmok Seong pondered briefly before lifting her head with a clear conclusion, meeting Ryeon's eyes.
"Apologize!"
"M-Me?"
"Yes."
"Just me... apologize?"
"I won't ever betray you or hurt you. If we fight, it's your fault."
"Does it... work like that...?"
"Yes. But if you apologize, I'll forgive you."
"I won't betray you either... or hurt you..."
"Hm. Then we won't fight."
Danmok Seong's earlier worried expression vanished, replaced by a refreshed one as she sprang to her feet.
"Good. We reached a great conclusion today. I'm off to bed."
"Huh? Oh... good night, Seongie..."
"Make sure to close the windows tight. Don't catch a cold in a strange place and burden others."
Even as she said it, Danmok Seong seemed concerned enough to check every corner of the room herself, closing all the windows before finally leaving.
After Danmok Seong departed, Ryeon smoothed the bedding on the bed with her fingertips when a sudden presence made her jump.
"Whoa!"
"Why so startled?"
"If you sneak up without a sound, of course I'll be."
Ryeon shot Hwaryun a glare for no reason.
"Were you sightseeing outside?"
"Yeah, with Bi and around. But..."
Not the main point, apparently—Hwaryun gave a perfunctory reply and stared fixedly at Ryeon's face.
"Wh-Why? Is something on my face?"
Even as Ryeon covered her cheek with her hand and asked, Hwaryun narrowed his eyes without answering.
"What's wrong?"
"No, I asked you."
"Did someone bully you again?"
"No one bullied me! Why are you acting weird? Staring all strange..."
"Then why do you look so down? You've been like that since earlier."
Ryeon's heart skipped a beat.
She swallowed dryly. She thought she'd hidden her expression well...
"Who bullied you?"
"What if someone did...?"
Somehow deflated, Ryeon replied weakly and crawled onto the bed.
Hwaryun followed right beside her and continued.
"I'll go beat them up."
"You can't do that. Use words."
Ryeon tossed out a pointless bit of emotional education, then hurriedly added before Hwaryun could hunt down a nonexistent bully, "And no one bullied me."
"Then why are you so down if no one did? Something happen?"
Hwaryun's face looked like he was lamenting, Why does this little thing overthink everything so much?
Ryeon plopped down haphazardly on the bed, stared at Hwaryun for a moment, then lowered her eyes.
"Hey, Ryun-ie."
"Yeah."
"What if... you did nothing, and everything around you went to shit. Nothing progresses, everything just... breaks down and goes astray."
"Yeah."
"Then you try this and that, and suddenly everything works out perfectly. Perfectly."
"Hm. So?"
"Then the times you did nothing... they kinda stick in your mind..."
Unsure how to finish, Ryeon hesitated, but Hwaryun interjected bluntly.
"That's just 'cause I'm amazing. Not doing anything isn't wrong. I'm still a kid, you know?"
"Huh?"
Ryeon widened her eyes and stared at Hwaryun.
"And what, everyone else is just fuckin' around like 'shit, bastards'? You think one kid not doing shit ruins everything?"
Ryeon's eyes went even wider.
"Fuckin' bastards?!"
"...!"
"I've never heard anyone say it out loud. That's cursing, right? Say it again..."
Hwaryun freaked out, mouth agape, and yelled.
"Don't say it! God, don't!"
"Why? I wanna curse too. Fuckin' bastards..."
"Argh! I said don't!"
"You say it, but tell me not to?"
"No, they tell me not to too! Why would we sit here cursing together?!"
"You gotta master curses like that to grow up. If injustice strikes me..."
"If injustice strikes, just snap their neck instead of cursing."
"...!"
Stunned by the suggestion to kill rather than curse, Ryeon was left dazed.
"No, wait! No! Just... cursing is better!"
"Isn't eliminating the cause the surest way? Words mean nothing. Show it with actions."
Actions over words was straight out of a scripture, but...
Not like that... not like that...!
"No!"
"You want me to be all talk?"
"No, that's not it... First... talk it out. You can't take back killing someone. What if it's a misunderstanding?"
"If they do something worth cursing over, it's not a misunderstanding, right?"
"...!"
It kinda makes sense...? No, no! No!
Ryeon pulled herself together. It was sharp rhetoric worthy of Machun-gyo recruitment, but she couldn't yield here.
"The strong... must show magnanimity. Fret over trifles and hold petty grudges—that's weakling stuff. They feel small threats as huge because they can't protect themselves."
"I'm a weakling. Small kid, remember?"
"Yeah, so I'll protect you. Just stay put. Got it?"
"...You always say that."
"Then I'll always protect you. Yesterday, today, tomorrow."
"Even if I get strong?"
"Yeah, even if you're the strongest in the world, Ryun-ie."
So don't talk about snapping necks when things go wrong—just curse a bit with words...
Ryeon swallowed her words and ruffled Hwaryun's hair vigorously.
Hwaryun, looking at her with eyes full of incomprehension, slowly lowered his gaze.
In the meantime, Ryeon silently repeated the word she'd learned from him in her mind.
Praying that someday, when the time came, it would slip out naturally.
Fuckin' bastards...
Finally, the last participant in the Kyunghang Yunryeon, the Moyong family, had arrived.
As expected of a clan that rarely showed their faces outside, even the other participants seemed unfamiliar with them, eyeing each other warily.
"Welcome, White Dragon Divine Sword Elder!"
Family head Namgung Gyeong-hae stepped forward first, cupping his hands in greeting to welcome the Moyong clan members.
The elderly woman at the forefront, her snow-white hair neatly combed back, smiled faintly at him—like a son to her.