"What If I'm No Good at It?"
"What if I'm no good at it?"
"Just try it. If it's not fun, we can do something else."
"Not fun— I mean, what if I have no talent for it?"
"Is that why you never wanted to learn until now? Because you're worried you might not have the talent?"
Even the future Young Cult Master of the Machun-gyo had worries like this as a kid? It felt kind of cute, somehow.
But Hwaryun didn't answer. He just stared at Ryeon.
"What? Worried it'll be no fun if you don't have talent?"
At Ryeon's question, Hwaryun blinked in flustered surprise, then thumped his chest.
"Argh, you're so dense. That's not what I meant. I'm asking if you're okay with it."
Ryeon didn't get it at first, but then it clicked.
"Whether I'm okay or not isn't the point. If you don't have talent for martial arts, I'll just protect you."
"What...?"
It probably wouldn't happen, but Ryeon briefly imagined Hwaryun with zero martial skill. It wasn't a bad picture at all.
"If you can't do martial arts, you'll be good at something else. We just find that and go with it."
"What if there's nothing I'm good at?"
Did puberty hit this early? Ryeon rubbed her cheek.
"Nothing you're good at? You've already got something."
"What's that?"
Ryeon glanced around, confirming that Jeong Yeong was standing off at a distance and no one else was nearby, then said,
"Growing like a weed."
"What?"
Hwaryun gawked at her in disbelief. But Ryeon answered with a serious look.
"When you first got here, you were this much shorter than me, and now our eye levels are almost the same. I was shocked."
"I wasn't that short. And being small is your thing."
Hwaryun grumbled, but he didn't seem upset.
"So, you'll really learn the Biarang sword style, right?"
"...Normally, don't you have to pay for martial arts lessons? It's not like people just teach you for free."
"True. But you're not normal, Ryeon-ah."
"And if I'm not?"
"You're my little brother!"
Ryeon grinned brightly as she said it. Hwaryun blinked rapidly, as if the sunlight was too much, then muttered softly,
"...I'll just learn the basics..."
"Really? Just the basics?"
"Got it, got it!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"You've emerged from closed-door training too."
"Has Nui come too?"
The two siblings spoke quietly. Seok Ban-an, sitting beside Danmok Hyeon-yo, flinched a little uneasily but didn't chime in on his wife's words.
Danmok Hyeon-yo raised an eyebrow.
"How many days has it been since you arrived?"
"It's been a few months since I emerged from my closed-door training."
While waiting for Danmok Cheon-gi to arrive, Danmok Hyeon-yo had been bickering lightly with her younger brother and now smoothed back her hair.
At that moment, Danmok Hyeon-u spoke up.
"Don't say a word."
"...You're ridiculous. What did I even do that you're suddenly telling me to shut up?"
"Whenever you brush back your hair like that, you always say something weird."
"When have I ever."
"Before we went to Henan Province, when you asked for the acting family head position. And then again..."
Danmok Hyeon-u shut his mouth before finishing.
With Seok Ban-an right there, he couldn't say, 'And when you suddenly announced you were getting married.'
"What's weird about that?"
"So, what weird thing are you about to say now?"
"No..."
Danmok Hyeon-yo shot her younger brother a glare, her face a touch embarrassed, cleared her throat a few times, and said,
"Don't you think it's about time the family decided on a young family head? Father hasn't said anything?"
"..."
Danmok Hyeon-u stared at her with wide, square eyes.
'You said you weren't going to say anything weird.'
Danmok Hyeon-yo averted her gaze slightly.
'It's not that weird.'
"He hasn't said anything?"
Appointing a young family head meant selecting the future heir and master of the clan. With the Supreme Family Head still hale and hearty, it was a delicate topic that no one wanted to broach lightly.
"Who do you want it to be? You?"
"No, what makes you think I'd want to be young family head?"
Neither Danmok Hyeon-yo nor Danmok Hyeon-u had any desire to take the position themselves. Their deceased older brother's shadow still gripped their ankles too tightly.
"Exactly. Ryeon-ah will do it."
"You have only one niece?"
"There's Bi too. And Seong-ah."
A furrow creased Danmok Hyeon-yo's brow—a silent protest that Danmok Hyeon-u wasn't saying what she wanted to hear.
"Ryeon-ah only just got out of bed after years bedridden. How could we burden such a frail child with something as huge as young family head?"
"Seong-ah's been away from Zhejiang Province her whole life too. Dragged around by you. She knows nothing about this place—what could she do?"
"Father told her to stay in Hangzhou now. She'll pick it up in no time."
"Ryeon-ah's up and about now too—she'll learn fast."
"You're taking your sister-in-law's side?"
"Is she your sister-in-law? She's my brother's wife and one of the family. Why make it 'your side' or 'mine'?"
"You know that's not what I mean."
Danmok Hyeon-u scratched his cheek. In a way, he understood his sister's words and concerns.
The position of young family head had sat empty since Danmok Hyeon-seong's death. Deciding on the next family head was tantamount to declaring the clan's future path. Until now, no one had dared touch it.
"What noisy talk is this?"
At that moment, the door opened, and Danmok Cheon-gi entered side by side with Wijicheong.
Danmok Hyeon-yo tugged up the corner of her mouth in a sly smile, while Wijicheong beamed happily at them.
Danmok Hyeon-yo flinched as if pricked and looked away.
"Ah, Father."
"Outsiders might think you two were the family head. Young family head this, young family head that! Even the sparrows outside heard you."
Danmok Hyeon-yo's face flushed red. She reflexively checked Wijicheong's expression, but Wijicheong still smiled warmly at her.
"Arguing over children not even ten yet—what nonsense."
"I know the children are young, Father. But it's been so long since brother..."
Danmok Hyeon-yo bit her lip hard, avoiding Wijicheong's eyes as she continued,
"The seat's still empty."
"...And you think putting a child under ten in that empty seat would mean something?"
"B-but... I've stepped down from acting family head now too."
Danmok Cheon-gi fixed his stern gaze on his daughter. Danmok Hyeon-yo met it without flinching, lips still pressed tight.
Danmok Cheon-gi waved a hand dismissively.
"It's premature. Once the children have grown enough, we'll decide the next family head then and pass it on."
"But Father, it's already too late..."
"Are you telling your father to hurry up and die? Holding some rite for it?"
Danmok Hyeon-yo's face drained of color in an instant. As she stammered that it wasn't so, Danmok Cheon-gi declared firmly,
"I'll inspect the children's talents twice a year and watch over them. We'll decide the successor after that."
The decision would come after the children had matured. Danmok Hyeon-yo drew a deep breath but soon accepted it. For her, just not hearing a firm rejection of Danmok Hyeon-seong's firstborn as heir was victory enough.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Squeeeak!
Ryeon's flute-playing had improved, but only slowly. Her lung capacity was the biggest issue, making the sound rough. Still, lately she could manage something resembling a tune.
"Not feeling slighted?"
After a tiring session of squeaks and honks, Ryeon set the flute aside, petted Baekryeon, and looked up.
Across from her, Danmok Hyeon-u had somehow managed to pluck his pipa in time with her nonsense melody. He tuned the strings as he asked.
Ryeon tilted her head.
"About what?"
"That your grandfather didn't name you young family head right away."
Ryeon shook her head. The matter had stirred up quite the buzz around her.
Her wet nurse, Jang ssi, had even teared up while gripping Jeong Yeong and venting her grievances in secret.
—How could Lady Hyeon-yo try to push out little Ryeon the moment she returns from outside...?
Ryeon herself, though, was unfazed.
"I'm fine with it."
"Fine? Even if Seong-ah becomes the next family head?"
Danmok Hyeon-u asked half-worried, half-teasing.
Ryeon gently rubbed the white cat's head.
"Grandfather said he'd decide once we're all grown, right? We'll see then."
If anything, Ryeon was glad Danmok Hyeon-yo had brought it up—making it official that the decision was postponed.
In her past life, she'd been too frail, and Danmok Bi too young, so they'd temporarily named Danmok Seong as young family head.
Fiercely competitive and proud, Danmok Seong had strived desperately to meet the Supreme Family Head's expectations. She thrived under pressure and duty, but even she had limits. Neither she nor Danmok Cheon-gi, nor Danmok Hyeon-yo her mother, could fully escape the shadow of the previous young family head, Danmok Hyeon-seong.