Last year, on his fourteenth birthday, his grandmother passed away.
One of the two people who had been Jeong I-shin's entire world was gone.
He cried a great deal.
And this year, on his birthday, even his grandfather departed from the world.
This time, he did not cry.
He was sad beyond words, but he held the tears back.
It was because of a promise he had made with his grandfather at his grandmother's funeral a year earlier.
That since it was a road taken to meet the one his grandfather had loved his whole life, his grandson would send him off with a smile.
In the end his grandfather could not hide his tears at the thought of the grandson who would be left alone, but that was the promise between the two of them.
"Heh......"
And so Jeong I-shin smiled.
***
"He's smiling?"
"Idiot, look at him before you speak. Can you not see the tears streaming down?"
"Benefactor Tang speaks the truth. How is it that this young thing weeps so bitterly......"
At the voices that came out of nowhere, Jeong I-shin snapped awake.
'......What?'
He had clearly been looking at his grandfather's memorial portrait.
'Pitch black?'
Everything around him was dark.
Had the lights in the funeral hall gone out?
But even so, there was not so much as a faint shape to be seen.
There should at least have been the glow of an emergency exit sign.
'What on earth......'
Was the fatigue piled up over the past few days that heavy? He could not grasp the situation at all.
"Sham monk, let us speak honestly. Does it make any sense that you simply picked this up?"
"......It is the truth, without a single inch of falsehood."
"That young thing was lying collapsed in the Bottomless Abyss? In such perfect condition?"
"Calm yourself, Mu-jeong. And he is hardly in perfect condition. He looks as though he was struck by lightning."
"Gwaah! He's way too sparkly......!"
The voices going back and forth were dizzying.
He had never drunk alcohol, but he wondered whether being thoroughly drunk felt like this.
His head pounded as though his brain and his heart had traded places, and the sounds around him boomed and echoed as if he had fallen into water.
But there was a question that came before even these dizzy bodily reactions.
That voice striking his ears, which even now had not stopped.
'Chinese?'
The tones hammering his eardrums were unfamiliar.
They were clearly unfamiliar...... and yet familiar.
And this was Jeong I-shin, who was not even good at English, let alone Chinese.
Faced with a situation he could make no sense of, his mind soon produced an answer.
'I must have dozed off.'
It's a dream.
He had barely slept for days, so it was hardly incomprehensible.
Since it had come to this, part of him wanted to simply sleep deeply, but Jeong I-shin still had something left to do.
As a grandson, it was his duty to see his grandfather off properly.
Steeling himself, he opened his eyes, and what greeted Jeong I-shin was not an empty funeral hall.
Beneath a strangely murky sky, four people stood.
They were old men draped in martial arts uniforms that were somewhat worn, or antique if one wished to be kind.
"Our flying squirrel has finally learned the shapeshifting arts!"
One of the old men shouted, flinging up a hand.
He raised it with such vigor that the faded blue sleeve went sliding down.
'......What? Shapeshifting arts?'
Before the first question that came to him could go any further, he saw the old man in the dark green martial arts uniform standing opposite him twist his face into a scowl.
"Do not talk shit, Sword Ghost. He is nothing but a rat brat that handles a little lightning qi. He is not even a nine-tailed fox, so what shapeshifting arts?"
"Hmm. Then he's a person, right? You admitted it? So Gongheon wasn't lying?"
"Tsk. To think so simply...... Hm?"
His eyes met those of the old man in the dark green martial arts uniform, who had been clicking his tongue.
He had covered his left eye with a cloth the same color as his clothes, and the exposed eye on the other side was fiercely sharp.
The hairpin slanted through his neatly bound hair looked rather refined, but the glare he fixed on him was so savage that Jeong I-shin opened his mouth before he knew it.
"......Hello?"
For some reason his body would not move, so he offered the greeting blinking with only his eyes.
He worried that greeting someone while lying flat on his back might look terribly impudent, but on the other hand he thought, it's a dream, so what does it matter?
Fortunately, there was no trace of displeasure in the old men's reactions.
"Ooh! Sparkles, you're awake!"
"Amitabha. That is truly a relief."
"His mind is sound? Even with his body in such a state."
"Hmm......"
In an instant the old men had surrounded Jeong I-shin, each throwing in a word.
It was like being a monkey at a zoo, but perhaps because all four were old men with hair gone white, it was not unpleasant.
For Jeong I-shin, who had grown up under the care of his grandparents, it was closer to an environment that put him at ease.
Jeong I-shin smiled faintly and murmured.
"Am I dreaming this because I miss my grandfather? Strange. I've never even watched a Chinese drama or movie."
Sensation gradually returned to his body, and he raised his upper body and looked around.
A fairly wide clearing, and four huts standing here and there. And the murky fog that surrounded all of it.
It was a place he could make no sense of at all, but then, were dreams not always like that?
Meanwhile the old men put their heads together and lowered their voices.
"The lightning qi has surged into his marrow, without a doubt. Which means he is mad."
"......Would his whole body not have melted away before he could go mad?"
"And it is no ordinary lightning qi. This vast, pure lightning qi...... is it not endlessly close to true lightning?"
He could hear what they were saying among themselves far better than he expected.
The moment he turned his head, wondering what on earth they were talking about, a pair of very clear eyes were right in front of his nose.
"Gah! Y-you scared me!"
"Hehe. Did I surprise you? Sorry! I'm Namgung Baek."
The one abruptly holding out his left hand was the old man draped in the faded blue martial arts uniform.
His hair had gone white like the others', but his impression was extremely gentle and his expression so bright that he gave off the air of a child.
Jeong I-shin politely took hold of that left hand and bowed his head.
"Hello, Elder. My name is Jeong I-shin."
"Yes, nice to meet you, Sparkles."
"......?"
Namgung Baek pointed at each of the old men who were murmuring about him and introduced them.
"That one over there who manages to look the most vicious with only one eye is Tang Mu-jeong, the one wrapped head to toe in black like a thief is Yeo Hwi, and that monk over there is Gongheon."
"Ah...... yes, I see."
To Jeong I-shin it was an introduction he might as well not have heard.
Was it not all a story that would end the moment he woke from the dream?
Still, since it was an elder speaking, he nodded diligently, and in the middle of it a question came to him.
"Um, Elder."
"Yes?"
"Why do you call me Sparkles?"
"Because you're sparkling?"
At the answer that came without a moment's hesitation, Jeong I-shin tilted his head to the side.
Namgung Baek stretched out an index finger toward him as he still failed to catch on. Following the tip of it, he lowered his gaze.
"Uh...... huh?"
His body was glowing.
Centered on his solar plexus, his whole body gave off light as though it had swallowed a white lamp.
The light slowly brightened and then subsided, over and over, as if it were breathing.
"......The heck."
It was the moment he let the words slip without meaning to.
RUMBLE—
"......!"
Along with a low vibration that sounded from deep in his chest, an enormous pain began to spread.
It was far too sudden. Horrific agony crashed down without giving him a moment to brace.
"Urgh......!"
"Sparkles!"
At Namgung Baek's shout, the rest of the old men came scrambling over.
Even inside pain that felt like his whole body melting, their voices reached him clearly.
"So it comes to this after all. And here I thought he was somehow holding out."
"It is a marvel. How is it that his body does not release the lightning?"
"His body is different! Every fine meridian, every acupoint is clean. Even a child who has received the Hair-Culling Marrow-Cleansing is not this clean! Did the lightning burn away every trace of turbid qi in his body? Or is he melting away even now?"
Seeing Namgung Baek, who had somehow moved to stand beside the three old men and was hopping up and down, Jeong I-shin gritted his teeth.
"Stop...... talking...... and! He...... lp, kuh!"
"Child! You must not lose consciousness! You have to let the lightning out! It truly was not a power for a person to hold......!"
The monk draped in a yellow kasaya rushed over and braced Jeong I-shin's body.
Even through the pain, the monk called Gongheon stood out vividly.
Part of it was gratitude for the concern being shown him.
'What kind of body is that for a monk......'
It was the largest frame he had seen in his life. And it was not simply a matter of bulk.
His robe was stretched taut as though it would burst, and beneath it the presence of the muscle pressed tight and standing out was overwhelming.
The muscle...... no, Gongheon shouted.
"We must save him first, Benefactor Tang!"
"Why turn to me?"
"Are you not the Medicine Immortal, Benefactor Tang......!"
"I cannot think why you always leave off the Hell King in front of it."
Saying that, Tang Mu-jeong shook his head.
"This is a place where not one man has a sound body as it is. How would we care for this young thing? It would be a cruelty to him as well. Do as you like. Though saving him is a distant hope to begin with."
"Benefactor Tang......!"
Gongheon seemed to shout something again, but the words did not reach him properly.
In truth it was not only the voices.
At some point the pain, too, had begun to fade.
Jeong I-shin instinctively knew it was because the end was drawing near. And so, out of nowhere, a pang of regret welled up in him.
That was why. That was why he murmured without meaning to.
"Ah, if it was going to end like this, you could have at least let me meet Grandfather and Grandmother."
"......!"
He had no idea how his words had come out and rung through the air. His body had collapsed so far that he could not even hear the sound leaving his own mouth in full.
The four old men, however, seemed to be in a different situation.
Their faces had all gone rigid.
Even Namgung Baek, who had been smiling from beginning to end, had only one corner of his mouth crookedly raised while his eyes had settled into calm.
There was no need to speak of Gongheon, who was holding him up beside him.
Tears poured mercilessly from the monk's simple, honest eyes.
Jeong I-shin thought.
What an awfully sentimental dream.
'Is the dream crying for me because I can't cry?'
Finding that fairly reasonable, he smiled brightly. It seemed this would be remembered as a rather pleasant dream.
"It was a short meeting, but I enjoyed it, old sirs. I have to go and see my grandfather, so I'll be leaving first."
"......!"
The four old men's eyes went wide enough to tear.
From beside him came a sound like a beast howling.
Even though half the sound reaching his ears had flown away so that he could not hear it whole, he felt it.
"Hrrrgh! This humble monk......! In the name of the Evil-Destroying Vajra! I declare here and now! That I shall pass on to this child the ......!"
"Gongheon!"
"Do not stop me!"
"It is wasted effort! Your true qi will only be spent for nothing......!"
"Is this not a futile life as it is?"
"......!"
The firm arm bracing Jeong I-shin's back vanished. In its place he felt a huge palm pressing heavily against the small of his back.
He was startled at how vivid the sensation was, but only for a moment; now, he thought, it really was time to wake up.
Because his vision was gradually staining black.
Just as the surroundings darkened the way they had when he first came to, and his body went slack as though drunk.
GOOONG—
Like the horn of an enormous cargo ship moored in a harbor, a low, heavy vibration rang out.
At the same time as he realized that its starting point was the small of his own back.
THWAAACK—!
Dizzying pain spread through him once again.
"Kuh......!"
At a pain that made his eyes fly open, his eyes truly did fly open.
He saw three old men staring at him with astonished faces.
His mouth opened on its own.
"Save m—!"
"Hrrrrgh!"
Jeong I-shin's voice was buried at once beneath the kiai that burst out behind him and shook the air around them.
Right after, something struck his back again.
THWAAACK—!
"Kahh......!"
Dizzying pain and overwhelming physical force, enough to tear a cry out of him!
The mind that had been going on about dreams and whatnot was slammed straight down into reality.
THWAAACK—!
"Gwaaaagh! You son of a—!"
"Benefactor Namgung!! The child's mouth! Benefactor Tang, Benefactor Yeo! Please, help me......!"
At that resounding shout the three old men squeezed their eyes shut, then flung themselves forward.
Jeong I-shin, writhing at pain beyond his limits, was pinned in an instant.
"Ngh, nngh......! Let! Let go of me......! Mmph, mmph!!"
Tang Mu-jeong took hold of his left arm, Yeo Hwi his right.
Namgung Baek, who had clamped a hand over Jeong I-shin's mouth, looked down at him with an expression that could have been laughing or crying, and at last burst out laughing.
"Ahahaha! Gongheon! It's a bit late to bring it up, but are you sure about this? I hear no one in Shaolin ever succeeded at it?"
At what?
At what, exactly?
At a question that made him uneasy just to hear, Jeong I-shin's body trembled.
And the answer to that question came from behind him.
"There is one. Because I am here."
"Ahahaha! True enough, true enough!"
'What on earth...... is he doing, kuhk......!'
THWAAACK—!
The pain continued.
At some point Jeong I-shin stopped weighing whether this was a dream or reality. No, he could not weigh it.
He only shook and trembled at the pain hammering through his whole body.
'It's, it's coming. Again......!'
THWAAACK—!
The pain that began at his back gradually widened its range.
Front and back, above and below, it did not even distinguish inside from outside.
THWAAACK—!
'Guh......!'
Whenever something struck his organs, he blacked out three or four times over.
Resistance was impossible.
He could only hope this pain would end quickly.
He hoped, and hoped again.
Dream or reality or whatever it was, please, let it end quickly!
—Follow this humble monk, child. ......When the body is upright, a path stands, so—
So he recited the words the monk chanted for him endlessly. Without the leisure to weigh their meaning, he simply repeated them again and again.
Only in those moments was the pain lighter, so he clung to them with the heart of a man who had caught a rope lowered from heaven.
How long did he recite and recite like that?
At last the pain stopped.
'......'
But he did not have the strength left even to carry a thought further. Only the words passing back and forth around him brushed his ears.
"Mad sham monk. Thanks to you our lives have been cut in half."
"Heh. For that, you poured out your true qi as though you had been waiting for the chance, did you not, Mu-jeong?"
"......Be quiet. I merely thought that if it was this lightning, it could serve as a key to tear open the Bottomless Abyss."
"Hehe. Mu-jeong really is smart! He's already thought up an excuse!"
What was there to be so glad about?
Has something worth celebrating happened?
Apart from the content of the words going back and forth, the admiration soaking every one of their voices was unmistakable.
At the atmosphere of pure amazement that left him out of it, something surged up from within.
"Bleurgh......!"
It had not been his imagination; something really did come surging up his throat.
Namgung Baek, seeing a pitch-black lump drop out with a plop, waved one arm through the air in delight.
"Waaah! Congratulations! Your essence has been polished clean!"
He wondered whether the man had truly gone mad, flapping only one arm along with words he could not understand, and then he shut his mouth tight at the opposite sleeve fluttering, empty inside.
"Child, how is your body?"
And then the source of it all stood before Jeong I-shin.
'......!'
If not for the yellow kasaya, he would nearly have failed to recognize him.
Gongheon patted Jeong I-shin's shoulder with all that enormous muscle stripped clean away.
His body had become like a chopstick, but his eyes shone with a clarity hard to compare to before.
Looking like nothing so much as uprightness itself, Gongheon spoke.
"I am glad you lived. You endured well. And besides that...... congratulations on having come to hone the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture."
"......Me?"
At the words he asked back without meaning to, Gongheon nodded with a truly happy face.
The expressions of the three old men watching him from behind were much the same.
That was why he could not ask.
......What is that?