Twins
On the road past Chengdu toward Mount Emei, Cheongwol found herself frowning every time she looked at Ak Seo-a's face, which grew thinner and more haggard by the day.
Just what had that so-called younger brother done to her, to reduce the girl who had always been so bright and full of life to such a state?
Interfering in the affairs of a great clan was a heavy burden even for Cheongwol, who needed to keep her identity hidden—yet she saw no other way.
Young Lady Cheongwol. It seems this humble one has asked too much of you. I shall take the clan head's token and go myself, so this humble one alone...
No. Stop talking and come with me.
The tremor that ran through the hand clasped in hers was far too clear. How could she possibly send her alone?
She had already decided to help a friend. Cheongwol pushed aside her tangled thoughts and resolved to stand for her alone.
There was only one thing even Cheongwol had failed to anticipate.
That Ak Seo-a's twin younger brother, Ak Ji-ho, would prove far more insolent than she had expected.
He wore a face so identical to his sister's it sent chills down the spine, yet every word that slipped past his lips was laced with thorns and venom.
As the mockery continued and Cheongwol finally moved to strike the table, Ak Seo-a quietly caught her arm.
"...It's all right now."
All right?
What part of this was all right?
From the single short remark Ak Ji-ho had spat, Cheongwol understood at once why Seo-a had feared her brother so deeply.
He treated her neither as family nor as a sister, but as some lowly subordinate to be casually belittled and cut down.
He showed no restraint even before Cheongwol herself, nor before the nuns of the Emei Sect—how much worse must he be in other company?
Cheongwol carefully took hold of Ak Seo-a's arm and shook her head.
"It's not all right. Not even a little."
She was a body that had sworn revenge to soothe the spirits of those she held dear.
Yet if she turned her back on another precious person standing right before her eyes, could that oath still be called whole?
Meeting Ak Ji-ho's rigid face squarely, Cheongwol spoke with firm resolve.
"I see now that the Young Master and I will never see eye to eye, so there is nothing more for us to discuss. Let us settle it this way, then. Two days from now, we will decide the matter with a duel—each of us staking what we desire."
At the proposal of a wagered duel, Ma Tae-sang hurriedly tried to intervene, but Ak Ji-ho only nodded as though he had been waiting for exactly this.
"Very well. However, I shall enter the duel not as the Young Master of the Shandong Clan, but as the martial artist Ak Ji-ho."
"Do so. If I win, you will offer Seo-a a sincere apology for everything you have done to her until now. And if that apology lacks true sincerity..."
"You need say no more. That will never come to pass in any case. I desire only one thing. Leave my sister's side forever. Never set foot near her again."
Startled by Ak Ji-ho's words, Ak Seo-a shot to her feet—but Cheongwol gently pressed her wrist back down into her seat and quietly nodded.
"Then all that remains is to seek permission from the people of the Emei Sect."
Since they were, after all, proposing to hold a duel inside someone else's house, both parties' gazes naturally turned toward Seonhwa.
"Ah... well..."
Caught suddenly in the spotlight, Seonhwa flustered for a moment before offering an awkward smile and carefully nodding.
"This is not something I can decide on my own... I will first ask my master."
Whether because the tension that had kept her wound tight for the past two days had finally released all at once, Ak Seo-a was already fast asleep, breathing softly even though the sun still hung in the sky.
"..."
Cheongwol sat beside her, smoothing the tangled strands of her hair, then let out a thin sigh and quietly left the room.
She had thought to step out for a breath of air to ease the tightness in her chest, yet she had not gone more than a few paces before someone called her to a halt.
"A moment, if you would."
When she turned toward the voice, the middle-aged man who had been sitting beside Ak Ji-ho was walking slowly toward her.
"Elder, you are..."
"I had not thought myself old enough to be addressed that way already, yet the years prove unkind. I am Ma Tae-sang, captain of the Thunderbolt Corps of the Shandong Ak Clan. I am also uncle to Seo-a and Ji-ho—though we share no blood, mind you."
At Ma Tae-sang's self-introduction, Cheongwol dipped her head slightly.
"I am Cheongwol. I come from Qinghai Province, where my parents run a small trading business."
She recited the story she had rehearsed countless times with Soga-yul, and Ma Tae-sang tilted his head.
When he first met Cheongwol, her beauty had startled him—but what startled him more was the fleeting presence that had brushed past him in that instant.
It had felt as though a vast snow-capped mountain stood before his eyes.
The sensation vanished almost at once, yet anyone capable of producing even that momentary illusion ought to have been the scion of some great house. A mere merchant family?
Still, pressing further would have been a grave discourtesy, so he merely offered a faint smile.
"Your parents must be proud. For a young lady to have achieved so much already."
Cheongwol soothed her startled heart and shook her head with practiced calm.
"I was simply fortunate enough to meet an excellent master and gain a small measure of accomplishment."
"A small measure... Others who heard that would feel rather hard done by."
Ma Tae-sang's gaze seemed intent on piercing straight through her, yet Cheongwol continued her modest denials without flinching.
"...If it would not be too forward, might I ask the name of your school?"
The line she had practiced endlessly with Soga-yul rose to her lips, and a leisurely smile touched the corner of Cheongwol's mouth.
"I am sorry. Ours is a single-lineage transmission."
As though he had expected as much, Ma Tae-sang merely shrugged.
Whether her words were truth or falsehood he could not tell, but if she chose not to reveal it, what was he to do?
That did not mean he felt no irritation at all, so he tossed out a light jest.
"Might your parents' surnames happen to be Yang and Yong?"
"Pardon? No... why would you ask that?"
"...It simply struck me that way, so I thought I would try the words. In any case, I have talked too long."
Ma Tae-sang drew a light breath, then moved to the heart of the matter.
"Would you walk with me a while? There is something I wish to tell you."
Cheongwol and Ma Tae-sang.
The two of them—an unlikely pair—walked in silence for a time.
Before long, beneath the shade of trees that blocked the sun, Ma Tae-sang slowly began to speak.
"You are Seo-a's friend, I hear?"
"Yes. Though we have not known each other long."
"And yet you not only came with her all the way to the Emei Sect, but are even willing to duel for her sake—against the Young Master of the Shandong Clan, no less."
Ma Tae-sang gave a short laugh as he looked at Cheongwol.
"Have you perhaps incurred some debt?"
"...I do not think either you or that Young Master would have entrusted Seo-a with a large sum of money."
Her reply struck the mark so cleanly that Ma Tae-sang could only nod.
"You leave a man with nothing to say."
A bitter look crossed his face as he let out a deep sigh, then continued slowly.
"You must have many questions. Why Ji-ho treats his own sister so harshly."
"Is 'harshly' really enough to cover it? I do not know what happened between them before, but from even a few exchanges today it is clear this is no simple matter."
Cheongwol answered coldly at once, yet Ma Tae-sang only nodded.
"There are circumstances behind it. Do not take it too much to heart just yet—hear me out first."
Faced with the request of a man whose years far outstripped her own, Cheongwol finally lowered her gaze and nodded.
"...Very well."
In that moment Ma Tae-sang closed his eyes briefly, drawing a deep breath as though sifting through old memories, then began in a heavy voice to unravel the past of the twin brother and sister.
"Seo-a was an extremely frail child when she was small. By heaven's grace we were able to secure a divine physician and cure her illness, but until then..."
Martial arts had been out of the question; even running about freely had been difficult, and the physicians had all agreed she would be lucky to live past twenty.
How could he ever forget the sight of little Seo-a lying in bed, staring only out the window?
"And Ji-ho cherished that Seo-a beyond measure. Except when he was training, he stuck to his sister's side as though bound by iron."
If one could not eat, the other refused to eat as well—he would not even touch the sweetest candies or medicinal rice cakes.
Even his reason for learning martial arts had been a single-minded resolve to grow stronger than anyone so he could protect his sister.
Born of the same womb on the same day, the twins had been everything to each other.
"But do you know where that affection truly came from?"
Ma Tae-sang shook his head, recalling one scene among the countless days when Ak Seo-a had collapsed unconscious.
Ak Seo-a burning with a fever that might well have taken her life.
And Ak Ji-ho wailing that it was his fault for stealing his sister's health.
Standing before those two siblings, the sight of them alone enough to break a heart—what else could anyone have said?
"It was affection born of guilt, and so it was bound to end this way. Looking back, I wonder if the knot was already tightly tangled even then. Of course... if that one incident had never happened, it would never have reached this extreme."
"That incident...?"
Cheongwol swallowed.
Ma Tae-sang closed his eyes for a moment, then lifted his head with a complicated expression and gazed up at the sky.
The sun was already sinking past the western mountains, gathering in its light as it went.
"There had been any number of perilous moments. But... there was a day when Seo-a truly stood at the threshold of death."