The Promise Kept at Dusk
Market Street in Yiling Castle.
"Heh heh."
Jin Cheong-un sauntered along, the corners of his mouth twitching upward.
"Ah, I can't stop laughing. No wait, laughing brings good fortune, so there's no need to hold it in. Eheheh."
He swept a hand down his chest. The thick bundle of promissory notes tucked into his robe had made his heart feel downright abundant.
To think they'd hand over this kind of money without blinking…… are they all suckers?
For his part in the recent affair, Jin Cheong-un had received elixirs, internal injury medicine, and a generous settlement besides.
Money!
And a lot of it!
His mouth watered all on its own.
What to buy first.
Snacks for So-ryong, naturally. A new outfit for So-so. Those training tools he'd always been too poor to afford…….
I should treat myself to a bottle of Oryang-aek for the first time in a while. No, what am I, a cheapskate? One bottle? I'll buy three. And that rare book collection Master Baekmyeon has been wanting.
Heh heh heh heh.
Ah, the laughter just kept coming.
"……"
"……So-ryong."
"Yes, Noona?"
Jeong So-so, walking a few paces behind him, looked at her brother with a sour expression.
"What's gotten into Master all of a sudden?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's just weird. Isn't it?"
Jeong So-ryong tilted his head and blinked.
"He's always like that, though?"
"……"
Oh. Um.
Why did that settle it so instantly?
"Anyway, how are you feeling? We left in such a hurry — nothing bothering you, right?"
Jeong So-ryong answered mildly.
"Good. No problems."
"Really?"
"Yeah. My body feels like it could fly."
Jeong So-so's eyes went round.
Her little brother, so sparing with words and grown-up beyond his years — for him to use an expression like that could only mean one thing. He was feeling truly wonderful.
He really is all better.
Just as Jin Cheong-un had predicted, Jeong So-ryong had awakened without a single complication, looking exactly as he had before.
No — not exactly as before.
He had opened his eyes healthier than he'd ever been, brighter than he'd ever been.
"Noona, are you crying?"
"What? No? Why would I cry?"
She dabbed furtively at the corner of her eye and broke into a wide smile.
That was when it happened.
"BWAAAHAHAHA!"
From far up ahead, Jin Cheong-un erupted into wild laughter.
"Disciples! Today your Master is treating you! Buy anything and everything you want!"
Jeong So-so and Jeong So-ryong exchanged a look. She snorted a laugh.
"We'd better hurry. Gotta stop him before he starts wasting money again!"
Grabbing her brother's hand, she ran ahead.
And then, as she made her rounds through the market, something astonishing began to happen.
"Hm? Might you be Lady Jeong So-so, the runner-up of the Imu Assembly?"
"Pardon? You know of me?"
"Of course I do! Hoh! What a showing that was!"
One by one, people in the marketplace began to recognize her.
"Hah! My heart nearly gave out watching your final match! Here, girl, take this."
"Oh — no, I'll pay. I can't just take it for free……"
"Pay, schmay."
Passing the fruit stall, she was handed prized peaches.
"You're getting new robes fitted, I hear? Oh, the honor! We just got fresh silk in from Shu at my cloth shop — what do you say?"
"Shu silk? That's far too expensive for training wear. Just plain cotton for me, please……"
"Oh, come off it! The runner-up of the Imu Assembly walks into my shop, of course I'll give it to you at a fair price! Thanks to you, my boy finally pulled his head out of his rear and started training properly!"
At the cloth shop, she walked away with fine silk at practically half price.
"Um, excuse me — excuse me! Your matches were incredible to watch! So, so cool!"
"O-oh?"
"Do you think if I joined the Cheongun Martial Arts Academy, I could be like you someday?"
A girl she'd never met came up and showered her with blush-inducing praise for a good long while.
By her estimate, someone stopped her roughly once every ten steps.
"You've practically become a local celebrity."
"M-Master, what on earth is going on?"
"What's going on is that you've made a name for yourself."
"A name? Me?"
But I didn't even win. What fame?
"Even without the championship, the way you carried yourself — your heart and your bearing — clearly left a good impression on people."
"……!"
"It'll be a nuisance, but what can you do? You earned every bit of it through your own effort, so even if it's a hassle, learn to enjoy it."
Something I earned myself……
Jeong So-so clenched her fist, a dazed look on her face.
All her life, the only attention she'd ever received had come in two flavors: pity, or contempt.
"Yes, sir! Understood!"
"Of course."
Jin Cheong-un declared with utter shamelessness,
"Just don't forget that all of this is thanks to your Master here."
"……"
"If you've got that straight, then do a bit of promotion for the academy while you're at it. Anyone who shows interest, say a few kind words to them. Once we get back, we're holding a grand opening ceremony and taking students officially, so we should start spreading the word early and gathering people now."
"Ah — yes, sir……"
Jeong So-so smiled the smile of someone thinking, of course that's what he'd say.
And so the peaceful hours drifted by. Before anyone noticed, smoke from cooking fires began rising here and there, and the sun had started its slow slide toward the horizon — all of which the Master and his disciples spent wandering the streets, chattering away the whole time.
Out of nowhere, Jeong So-ryong, who had been trailing along in silence, covered his mouth and giggled.
"What are you laughing at?"
At his Master's indifferent question, Jeong So-ryong answered flatly.
"I'm happy."
"Happy, you say?"
"Just — everything is so exciting and fun."
Jeong So-ryong quietly turned his gaze over the street.
His heavy, aching body felt impossibly light. His Master and his sister both seemed at ease. Every spectacle the market had to offer, the kindness of strangers — all of it was good.
But more than anything else…
He loved seeing his sister, who had always looked worn down from endless work, now brimming with life.
And he loved having a Master by his side who felt like he would always, unconditionally, take his side.
"I think today is the happiest day I've ever had."
"Is that so."
Jin Cheong-un chewed methodically on his skewer, his face the picture of indifference.
"Ugh, Master! We have to head back now! The sun's about to set!"
Jeong So-so, thoroughly worn out, hollered while waving both arms.
That little scamp. That walking menace.
"Let's go, So-ryong. If there's anything you want to eat, speak up now. You're all healed, so you ought to try the things you couldn't have before."
"Hmmm. What do I want to eat……"
Yawning once, Jin Cheong-un ambled off down the street. Then, noticing that Jeong So-ryong wasn't following, he cocked his head and glanced back.
Jeong So-ryong had stopped mid-step and was staring at something. Following his gaze, Jin Cheong-un found a vendor's stall selling bingtanghulu — candied fruit skewers.
"Want me to buy you one?"
Jeong So-ryong hesitated a moment, then turned to face him.
"Master, do you remember the promise you made me?"
"What promise?"
"That you'd grant me anything I asked for."
"Hm?"
Then Jeong So-ryong discreetly pointed at the stall.
There, a boy who looked even younger than Jeong So-ryong was riding on his father's shoulders, perched high above the crowd.
Jin Cheong-un froze solid.
"Don't tell me. You're not asking me to carry you like that instead of the candied fruit."
"Yes, I am."
Jin Cheong-un's face went dead serious.
"Denied."
"What?"
"Climbing onto the shoulders of a Master as lofty as the heavens themselves? Absolutely not."
"You said you'd give me anything."
"How am I supposed to do that here, in front of all these people?"
"But a promise is a promise."
Faced with Jeong So-ryong, throwing a tantrum for once in his life, Jin Cheong-un put on the expression of a man on the verge of death by annoyance and laid down the law.
"I have a reputation to maintain. I'll make good on the promise some other way, later."
"……"
"Come on! Why aren't you two keeping up? We need to get home before dark!"
"……Yes, sir."
"……"
A short while later.
The sun had slipped away unnoticed, and dusk settled over the village.
On the quieting street, a pair of shadows stretched out long. Strange to say, one of the two shadows was noticeably longer than the other — as if someone were riding on top of someone else.
"Pfft."
"Hoo."
The girl's suppressed giggle mingled with the man's weary sigh, and then…
"Hee hee."
came the sound of a boy's laughter.
An innocent, guileless laugh, brimming over with pure happiness.
"Ah! Finally!"
Jeong So-so cried out, her face haggard.
"We're home!"
The Jin estate, Yinghua Village.
Truthfully, they'd only been gone a matter of days, but with everything that had happened, it felt like weeks away from home.
"Ah! Master Jin, you've returned!"
"Mm. Did you keep the place in good order?"
"Yes, sir! Not a speck of dust left standing — I scrubbed and swept the whole estate and guarded it like a fortress!"
"Good work."
Jin Cheong-un accepted the crisply formal salute of the Black Tiger Squad with a lazy wave and stepped inside. He'd left them to mind the house while he was away — he had the Black Tigers running his errands now, and nobody thought it strange in the slightest.
"Getting home really makes it feel like it's all over."
Jeong So-so snorted, recalling the whirlwind chaos of the Imu Assembly.
Then Jeong So-ryong, still glued to Jin Cheong-un's side, asked,
"Master, so what do we do now?"
"Mm."
Jin Cheong-un closed his eyes and nodded slowly.
"The opening ceremony, first."
"Opening ceremony?"
"That's right. While we're at it, I'll send invitations to the various people we've come to know, and start taking applications from prospective students."
With nothing left standing in their way, the real operation of the Cheongun Martial Arts Academy was finally about to begin.
Wait. Is this right, though?
Jin Cheong-un suddenly felt a wave of self-pity.
It had been a full year since he retired — and only now could he actually run the place properly. Did that really track?
"Who will you be inviting, Master?"
"To start, the people we've met around here."
Jeong So-so tilted her head.
To start?
"Well…… and this isn't set in stone, so just keep it in mind, but I'm thinking of inviting some people I knew back in the old days."
"People from back in the old days……"
"They're more likely not to come, so just leave it at that."
In that instant, Jeong So-so and Jeong So-ryong's eyes lit up, and they traded a glance.
Noona — could this be…
Our chance to learn about Master's past!
Jin Cheong-un almost never spoke about himself. He'd answer if asked, but he always brushed the questions off with something absurd. Yet anyone worth going out of his way to invite would very likely know a great deal about that past.
Hm.
Whether or not he noticed his disciples' scheming, Jin Cheong-un scratched his head absently.
I wonder if the Alliance Leader will have the time.
Jin Cheong-un snorted softly and looked up at the sky.
It had been a hard road, but now there was nothing left in the way. Nothing but peace.
He hoped it would stay exactly like this.
Exactly like this, always.
Deep in the forest, an old man gazed down at a village lit by flickering lamplight.
"Is that the village?"
"Yes, my lord."
"A remote spot, but lively enough in its own way."
The old man, whose face wore a pleasant expression, murmured calmly.
Just then, a man emerged, parting the underbrush as he approached.
"My lord. On the way here, some of the beggars caught sight of us now and again. What shall we do about them?"
"Poor souls. Go and reason with them gently, and send them on their way. Heh heh."
"Yes, my lord."
The old man chuckled to himself.
A short while later, a long, drawn-out sound drifted over from the distance — something like the cry of a beast.
But the cry was so terrible, it could have been a human screaming.
"I already couldn't fathom how the Martial Alliance tore down the Black Tiger Squad in a single day — and now even the beggars are entangled in this. Truly. I find myself growing curious just what that walled village is hiding."
The old man rose slowly to his feet and spoke.
"Well then. Let us go and see for ourselves."
As he moved, the darkened forest swayed.
And countless shadows followed at his heels.