Connecting the Threads of Fate (3)
“Hyung! Snap out of it! Hyung!”
Kwak Jun-ha kept calling desperately to his brother, but Kwak Hyeong-jin, who had lost consciousness, didn't respond.
“Hyung! Don't die! Hyung!”
It was then.
A sound approached from afar, and human figures came into view.
Kwak Jun-ha cried out in a pleading voice.
“Please help! Save my brother!”
As if his voice had reached them, the figures drew closer.
A strikingly handsome young boy, a bear-like burly man, a warrior, and a physician carrying a medicine box.
Kwak Jun-ha sobbed uncontrollably.
“My brother, my brother...”
The young boy took Kwak Jun-ha's hand and spoke warmly.
“You don't have to worry anymore.”
I looked at the boy lying there, pale from massive blood loss.
Was he twelve now?
Come to think of it, he wasn't much younger than me.
I was fifteen at the moment.
But having died at thirty-nine, I often forgot how young I actually was.
Ah, I shouldn't think like that.
Anyway, that wasn't the point.
His condition was clearly critical at a glance.
“Will he be okay?”
The physician nodded at my question.
“Yes, I've brought plenty of medicine, and we got here in time. No problem.”
“Please take care of him.”
I let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness we saved the boy's life just in time.
And thank goodness I remembered in time.
A little later, and I might not have been able to save my master's son.
I hadn't brought the physician along just to create a debt that would force my master to accept me as his disciple.
Of course, I would ask him to take me on, but not like this.
My master always drank with a melancholic expression on the anniversary of his eldest son's birth and death.
I couldn't know the pain of burying a dead child in one's heart.
I'd never married, never had kids.
But every time I saw that look on his face, my own heart ached terribly.
The image of his blood-soaked son must have been seared into his memory.
This time, I wanted to save my master's eldest son for sure.
So he could live in Hubei Province with good memories.
The physician, who had been examining the boy, spoke up.
“He's past the worst. We should take him somewhere to recover now.”
“Do that. I'll inform his father.”
There happened to be writing materials in the house.
I wrote a note saying the boy had been injured and brought to the Eunhae Merchant Group, and to come to our medical pavilion. Then I took the two boys back to the merchant group.
.
.
.
After explaining the situation to my father, I headed back to the medical pavilion.
Beside the sleeping boy sat his brother, clutching his hand tightly.
“Hyung...”
The desperate sight of the younger brother praying for his older one to wake.
I knew the younger brother's name.
Kwak Jun-ha.
One of my personal guards.
And he'd died with me on the day I was ambushed.
I smiled bitterly, recalling his final moments.
“Young master, get away quickly. These aren't ordinary foes.”
“What are you talking about? We go together!”
“It was an honor to serve you all this time. And thank you for bringing joy to my father. He might not have said it, but he was truly delighted to meet you.”
“Kwak Guard!”
With those words, Kwak Jun-ha held off the enemies to let me escape.
In the end, I died too.
And another memory from his life.
“Well, if I had to pick my biggest regret, it'd be that day when I was eight.”
“That day?”
“Yes, that's when my brother died. If I hadn't begged him to play with me then... he might not have died.”
The look in his eyes as he said that was just like the one I'd seen in my master.
Saving my master's eldest son was a disciple's duty to his master. For this boy, it was repayment for sacrificing his life to save mine.
As I lost myself in thought for a moment, Kwak Jun-ha asked me.
“Um, my brother really will be okay, right?”
I nodded.
“Yeah. The physician said so.”
“Then why hasn't he opened his eyes yet?”
“They put him to sleep on purpose. That way, he doesn't feel the pain.”
Kwak Jun-ha nodded at my explanation.
“So let's not rush it.”
“Yes, young master.”
The moment Kwak Jun-ha called me “young master,” it overlapped with that time I'd experienced.
My face stiffened without me realizing.
Noticing my slightly tense expression, Kwak Jun-ha said cautiously.
“Everyone here kept calling you young master while looking at my brother.”
“Ah... I see.”
It was then.
“Young master.”
Palgap entered the medical pavilion looking for me.
“The boy's father has arrived.”
“Oh, really?”
I turned my head and came face-to-face with him before I could prepare myself.
The man who had been my master.
Kwak Myeong-hyeon.
Just back from patrol, sword at his waist, face unwashed with a thick beard, clothes ragged—but his eyes burned sharp and fierce.
“Hyeong-jin!”
He rushed to the boy on the bed, calling his name, and checked on him.
My master's appearance hadn't changed at all from my memories.
Perhaps due to the martial arts he practiced, he had a chilling aura, but few men had hearts as warm as his.
Kwak Jun-ha replied, voice choked with tears.
“D-Dad, we were playing, and hyung fell and got stabbed in the stomach by bamboo, and...”
I patted Kwak Jun-ha's back and added details.
“Today, while strolling through the bamboo grove, we found the injured boy and treated him. He's past the crisis; a few days of rest should do it.”
“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
My master bowed deeply to me in gratitude.
Receiving such a bow from my master!
Flustered, I waved my hands.
“No need! It was just fate that brought us together.”
“I don't know how to repay this grace.”
“The boy was fated to live. Please, lift your head.”
I placed a hand on his shoulder to raise him.
In that instant, I felt my master flinch.
He looked up at me, eyes filled with bewilderment.
Just then, the boy opened his eyes, and Kwak Jun-ha shouted.
“Huh? H-Hyung! You're awake?”
My master whipped his head around and asked urgently.
“Hyeong-jin. Are you conscious?”
“Dad...”
“Thank goodness! Truly, thank goodness!”
Watching my master repeat “thank goodness” and Kwak Jun-ha rejoice at his brother's awakening, I felt a complex emotion.
I couldn't know my master's heart, but I understood Kwak Jun-ha's. When I reunited with my beheaded second brother, I'd felt an indescribable rush of feelings too.
But my emotions now were a bit different.
Because I'd saved a boy who was supposed to die.
Was that why?
Seeing my rejoicing master and Kwak Jun-ha, my eyes unexpectedly grew hot.
That evening,
A woman visited the Eunhae Merchant Group's medical pavilion.
The mother of the boy I'd saved, my master's wife.
And in the future, the woman known by the title Bamboo Grove Fairy.
Saving Hyeong-jin could be seen as repaying the Bamboo Grove Fairy who had saved my life.
But,
Setting aside all those reasons, the real motive for saving Hyeong-jin was simple—there was no special reason.
Why would I need a reason to save a child I could save, a child who died so tragically?
The moment I realized it was the exact day he died, I raced to the medical pavilion without a second thought for calculations.
I dragged a physician along to the bamboo grove, and luckily found and saved the boy in time.
From Kwak Jun-ha, I'd learned his brother died from excessive bleeding, so I'd made sure to pack plenty of golden sore medicine and hemostatic powder.
“Thank you so much, young master.”
“No need for that. It was just fate.”
“How can I ever repay you...”
I shook my head at the Bamboo Grove Fairy's words.
“I didn't do it expecting repayment. Please, don't think that way.”
I barely managed to dissuade her.
Then, my master, who had been watching me, spoke.
“Young master. Might I have a private word?”
.
.
.
A short while later.
The place my master led me to was the bamboo grove where his house stood.
Palgap and the guards kept watch from a distance.
“Sorry for bringing you all this way.”
I shook my head at my master's words.
“No, it's fine. You probably wanted privacy for what you're about to say, away from others' ears.”
“...You noticed?”
“Yes. The safest place is the one you know best, right?”
“You're perceptive.”
“You're too kind.”
I replied politely.
In that moment, my master's eyes changed.
“Do you know about the Hyeonryong Physique?”
“...!”
I couldn't help but be shocked.
I'd never imagined my master would mention the Hyeonryong Physique.
In the future I'd lived through, he never spoke of it to me.
Yet here he was, bringing it up...
It meant he'd known before.
But something didn't add up.
He mentioned it even to a stranger like me.
In that future, as his disciple, he surely would have mentioned my physique.
The difference now was that I'd eaten the Azure Ice Plum, accumulating fifty years of inner energy in my dantian, and the Hyeonryong had moved directly to save me.
I silently met my master's gaze, and he smiled faintly.
“So you do know.”
He must have read it in my expression.
My master continued in a calm voice.
“Actually, when you touched my shoulder earlier, I sensed the tremendous inner energy within you—and that it's of a yin nature.”
“...”
“And I realized your physique is the Hyeonryong Physique.”
Honestly, I didn't know my master's exact realm.
I knew he was beyond peak-level, but he never told me.
Since he knew this much, hiding it further was pointless.
Especially for the man I wanted as my master.
“How did you know?”
“That your energy carries yin qi? Probably because the art I practice is an ice technique.”
“And about my physique?”
My master looked at me and smiled.
But that smile felt somehow wistful.
“I once met someone else with the Hyeonryong Physique by chance.”
“What? Someone with the same physique as me?”
“Yes, but I can't tell you who. I'm sorry.”
There seemed to be circumstances he couldn't share.
I couldn't press him on that.
He'd tell me if it mattered.
“It's fine. If there's a reason, no choice.”
My master spoke.
“The reason I bring this up is that you cannot practice yang-based arts.”
“Probably, yeah.”
“So, would you allow me to teach you my ice technique?”
“Pardon?”
I was caught off guard by the unexpected offer.
I'd planned to ask him to be my master, but he proposed it first.
“I heard from the physician. If you hadn't found my eldest son, he surely would have died.”
“That was just fate...”
“I think so too.”
My master continued.
“You saved my child, leading me to meet you. And through that, I learned of your physique and energy. All of it is fate. So, following that fate, I'd like to pass on my ice technique to you.”
My master clasped his hands in a formal salute and bowed to me.
“Please allow it.”
It was disorienting in so many ways.
I'd never dreamed my master would ask to take me as his disciple.
And my answer was set.
“It's I who should beg you, Master.”
“You'll accept?”
Seeming surprised at how readily I agreed, he looked startled.
I smiled and confirmed again.
“Yes.”
And so, my master became my master once more.