An Unexpected Family Lesson
Ryeon gaped, her mouth opening wide like a clam before slowly closing. Everyone in the martial world knew that the Machun-gyo wasn't a place that gently nurtured its young disciples.
'They pit the cult leader candidates against each other, using only the survivors.'
They took kids of this age and subjected them to brutal training. And rumor had it they even learned things like the Suheung Daebeop, absorbing others' inner energy. Whether you'd be the giver or the receiver was up to heaven, of course.
'No, these guys who worship the Gucheon Hyeonnyeo are supposed to be that cruel?'
Even setting that aside, the Machun-gyo's headquarters was ten thousand li away, beyond Qinghai Province in a harsh climate. It was as far as you could get from Zhejiang Province in the east of the Central Plains.
How had Hwaryun made it from Hangzhou here all the way there? Had the Machun-gyo spotted his talent and kidnapped him? Even if that was the case, the ten-thousand-li journey to the Tianshan Mountains wouldn't have been easy.
"That’s…"
If Hwaryun stayed within the family estate, there'd be no risk of abduction. And if it wasn't abduction—if this child had gone to the Machun-gyo of his own accord, because he had nowhere else to rely on in the world, walking that ten-thousand-li road on foot…
Of course she'd want to prevent that from happening. It was only natural to wish that such a small, skinny kid didn't have to head north for something so grueling and heartbreaking.
That was just… what any person would think, right?
She didn't want to save the whole world. She didn't even see this as true salvation. She had no special feelings for the previous life's Young Cult Master of the Machun-gyo.
But right now, a child was in front of her eyes, and if there was a path where he didn't have to go ten thousand li away, of course she'd want to let him know about it. That was basic human decency.
'Even if he won everything there in his previous life, he's lost a lot of his poison now—who knows what might happen.'
Wasn't he already saying things like he'd probably just end up dying in some knife fight, and it was better to stay away from that sort of life?
"Just… learning alone is boring… so…"
"…"
"Hwaryun, do you really hate learning letters? Huh?"
At least if he learned letters, it'd make things a bit easier later no matter what he did. What am I going to do with this kid? Ryeon sighed inwardly, gazing at him earnestly.
The boy, who had been staring blankly at her eyes, took a deep breath, rolled his eyes dramatically, and shrugged his shoulders.
"…Fine, I'll learn."
"Really?"
Hwaryun just nodded silently. Ryeon beamed and shoved the remaining rice ball toward him.
But she never imagined things would turn out like this.
Ryeon stared in bewilderment at Nanny Jang ssi, her mother Wijicheong, and the two boys in front of her.
"Uh, um, Mother…"
Both were kids she knew well. One was her little brother Danmok Bi, just turned five and already swinging a wooden sword around busily. The other was…
"Hwaryun, was it? A fine name. Since you're the same age as Bi, I thought it best for you to learn and train together, so I've invited you into the household."
After a thorough washing and shedding his straw mat, dressed in neat white training clothes, Hwaryun's hidden features stood out sharply. Now he looked more like a young master from a noble family.
Ryeon gazed at her mother Wijicheong with a lost expression. She hadn't thought the family wouldn't notice her chatting with the worker boy by the chicken coop, but she never dreamed Wijicheong would bring such a boy into the clan.
Even less did she expect the boy to accept so readily.
'He haggled with me over something as simple as learning letters, and now…'
As Ryeon flailed her arms and legs in shock, Hwaryun smirked and bowed politely.
"That's how it is, baby miss. Nice to meet you."
"Baby miss! Nice to meet you!"
Standing side by side, little brother Danmok Bi mimicked him perfectly. Wijicheong didn't scold her son for imitating a servant; she just smiled fondly at the cuteness.
"Bi, it's big sister."
"Big sis! Big sis!"
Danmok Bi called her brightly with a sunny smile and toddled over, clinging tightly to Ryeon's leg.
'He's my brother, but this kid feels so real.'
Ryeon stroked Bi's head in surprise. His qualities rivaled Grandfather Danmok Cheon-gi's. And his worries were impressive too.
'Jeong Yeong's walking style—probably talking about footwork?'
Jeong Yeong was the warrior guarding the wall around her residence. Ryeon had noticed he trained tirelessly just by watching him. Even his normal walking was footwork practice.
And that had caught Danmok Bi's eye.
'If he'd just grown up properly, he might've become something like the world's best.'
She should've checked that far, but she hadn't seen that future. Because…
—No, no, no…
Sis, no. Don't go, no!
Sis, if I lose you too, if I have no sister, then I…
—What's the point of me surviving alone to carry on a clan with no one left!
—I didn't want to leave either. I wanted to stay with the clan too…
Faded, murky memories surged chaotically. His tear-streaked child's face clutching her hand and sobbing; his gaunt, sharp face after her death; expressions shadowed by grief and melancholy—they flashed in sequence, tangled, and sank away.
In the midst of it, Ryeon came back to herself.
"Ah… no… then Hwaryun should call me big sis too…"
"Shall he? That sounds good."
Since he wouldn't just be a servant but grow up like true siblings from childhood, no one would mind casual terms. Sure enough, Wijicheong smiled softly and gave Hwaryun's back a gentle push.
Hwaryun seemed a bit startled this time, but he quickly composed himself and smirked.
"…Ryeon sis."
Ryeon could only nod, neither laughing nor crying.
"Copy these letters."
"Yes!"
The spirited reply came from Danmok Bi, seated before them. Ryeon and Hwaryun nodded quietly and moved their brushes.
Danmok Bi's writing was crooked since his grip strength wasn't fully developed yet, but he wrote diligently. Ryeon glanced sideways.
Hwaryun's expression made it hard to tell if he was focused, but his letters were properly formed.
"All three of you did well. 'Sword like black tiger, pearl like nightglow.' Among swords, the Black Tiger is most famous; among pearls, the nightglow is supreme. Do you know what a nightglow pearl is?"
The teacher quietly explained the characters. He was the three children's writing tutor, the young master of the Danmok clan's pharmacy at twenty-five. With a face sculpted like jade, if he went out often, everyone in Hangzhou's markets would know him—but since turning seventeen, he'd been in secluded training, so few outside the clan recognized him. Only the faint shadow in his eyes hinted at the heart demon dwelling within.
Ryeon subtly touched her sleeve.
Mastering the clan's main sword art to 8 stars before thirty—even if his heart demon limited him to 7 stars' power, it was still extraordinary.
'Is it right to use Uncle as a writing tutor? Did my heart demon take root because of me?'
Seven years ago, when Ryeon was just born. The Black Heaven Union had raided the estate from one branch. It was a huge incident that nearly split the Martial Alliance in two.
It happened on a midnight when the moon had barely risen. Seventeen-year-old Danmok Hyeon-u, already a genius matching his eldest brother, joined the other swordsmen to protect the estate's enemy target—his first niece, Ryeon.
With his big brother Danmok Hyeon-seong having faced Blood Valley at a similar age, he was confident he could too. Swords clashed, shouts rang out, and newborn Ryeon was shuttled around in the chaos, wailing…
Still, Ryeon hadn't been badly hurt, and it turned out to be remnants of Blood Valley, not the Black Heaven Union, so things seemed wrapped up.
But not even a hundred days later, everyone realized something was wrong with Ryeon's condition.