***
The Bi-cheol-gak was the pavilion closest to the Sect Leader’s quarters and was where the important guests of the Cheol-geom-mun stayed.
Because of that, the facilities were one thing, but the security was, above all else, formidable.
However, the security warriors, who were usually filling the space, were nowhere to be found.
That was because Je-gal-so-myeong was currently using the Bi-cheol-gak, and he was personally observing the condition of a man; because that man had shoved the Cheol-geom-mun into a cesspit, not a single warrior dared to stand guard at the Bi-cheol-gak.
“......”
Seong-mo-ran paced around the Bi-cheol-gak, sighing for no reason.
It was not because of a serious reason like the relationship between the Mu-rim-maeng and the Cheol-geom-mun having deteriorated.
It was because of that man, whose condition Je-gal-so-myeong was checking.
It was because of the man who had left such a serious wound that even if one had poured oil over the entire Cheol-geom-mun and set it on fire, it could not have caused as much damage as he had.
“Haa....”
Seong-mo-ran sighed at her own emotional state, which she could not understand.
She felt a sense of camaraderie in the way he drove Seong-mo-hyeon into a corner.
His movements were not reliant on nae-gong or techniques, but were filled with improvisation born solely from effort.
It was something that only Seong-mo-ran, who had struggled relentlessly to find a way to win against Seong-mo-hyeon while excluding nae-gong and techniques, could understand.
On top of that.
[Pay the price!]
[Pay the just price for this despicable act that you and your descendants have committed!]
It was a resolve that shouted about righteousness while spitting blood.
[If that is the case... I will take the price in blood.]
It was a conviction and will that faced death even while knowing he was no match for his opponent.
Seong-mo-ran could not take her eyes off Jin-so-un, who, despite his grandfather, father, brothers, and the warriors of the Cheol-geom-mun all being in a difficult situation, spat blood while his eyes flashed.
‘How on earth is that man...’
Although he was the enemy, her heart pounded violently whenever she looked at him.
At the same time, her chest ached and throbbed with such yearning.
And at the moment he finally proved his righteousness and collapsed as if losing consciousness.
Seong-mo-ran had to stop the footsteps she had taken toward Jin-so-un without even realizing it.
“Whew.”
What on earth was she supposed to do? ...It had become a relationship that she could no longer approach out of curiosity.
It was even more so now that he had become an enemy.
Even knowing that, she did not know herself why she kept lingering in this place.
‘No, I shouldn’t do this.’
The moment Seong-mo-ran gritted her teeth and tried to leave, a clattering sound was heard.
Through the open door, a pale-looking Jin-so-un came out into the courtyard, carrying the Gu-jung-geom.
Seong-mo-ran tried her best to turn her gaze away, trying not to make eye contact with him.
“......”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
But was he going to pass by her as if she were a ghost?
Her heart, which had barely calmed down, began to pound violently again.
“You, you were too reckless.”
She immediately thought, ‘Oh no!’, but the words had already slipped out before she realized it.
At Jin-so-un’s cold gaze as he turned his head, Seong-mo-ran felt her chest ache even more.
“What do you mean by that?”
“The duel... why did you go that far?”
“......Are you saying I should have just meekly accepted the miserable humiliation?”
“No... I mean......”
Words that were different from her heart kept slipping out.
But because she did not yet know what she wanted to say, she just blurted out the words.
As Jin-so-un took a step closer, Seong-mo-ran instinctively took a step back.
“Was your thought correct?”
“......Yes?”
“I asked if your thought was correct. My father knelt, and I, even while spitting blood, could not endure the humiliation and requested a life-and-death duel with your grandfather. Can you still be proud that your sect does not have such a despicable existence?”
“......”
Seong-mo-ran bit her lower lip.
She had nothing to say.
The excuse that she didn’t know, the words that it had nothing to do with her—would these really excuse her from this situation? Would they heal that man’s wounds? Such thoughts swirled in her head.
“...I’m sorry.”
She had given his father the same humiliation twenty years ago, and she had repeated it again twenty years later.
Conversely, if she were in his position and had the same thing done to her, could she really forgive him? Could she just let it slide?
It seemed impossible.
“I understand. Stop hanging your head.”
“Yes?”
Seong-mo-ran asked back, wondering if she had misheard.
Really? This? So easily?
Was she really being forgiven so readily that she, who had apologized, felt ashamed?
“Young Miss Seong, you are the first and last person from the Cheol-geom-mun from whom I have received an apology. I suppose there won’t be such an occasion in the future.”
“......Is it really okay with just me?”
“We cannot continue this cycle of misfortune forever, can we?”
“What does that mean?”
“If Young Miss Seong feels sorry about what happened today, if you feel even a fingernail’s worth of guilt, please change the Cheol-geom-mun so it does not become a sect like this in the future. If you do that, couldn’t the Tae-eul-mun and the Cheol-geom-mun eventually become sects that cooperate with each other?”
Seong-mo-ran felt an unknown emotion welling up.
Yes. He was that kind of person.
Jin-so-un was that kind of person.
Her oppa and her grandfather had both failed to say that one word of apology, and thus had let the situation grow this large.
The regret, which was already large, doubled with sorrow and gratitude and poured out.
“......I am truly sorry.”
“Tears do not suit a warrior.”
Seong-mo-ran wiped away her tears, feeling relieved inwardly at his soft voice.
“Are you alright physically?”
“The gi-hyeol that got tangled when I was struck by the gyeok-gi has not settled, so I think I will have to recuperate for a while.”
“......”
“Do not worry too much. The sim-beop of the Tae-eul-mun is pure, so if I recuperate for about a year, I will be fine.”
“......A, a year?”
“Yes. I won’t be able to take the Mu-rim-hak-gwan exam properly, but well, it’s not like my life will fall into a gutter just because I don’t graduate from the Mu-rim-hak-gwan. Haha.”
How precious was a year of time to a warrior who had not yet reached adulthood?
Perhaps after a year, Jin-so-un would have such a stark difference that he wouldn't even be comparable to the warriors of the Tae-eul-mun, let alone the warriors of the Cheol-geom-mun.
Even so, he showed neither resentment nor anger at her single apology.
To him, hardships and trials like this were nothing.
No, perhaps it was because there had already been such enormous hardships and trials in his life that he could be indifferent to the hardships that befell him.
Seong-mo-ran put a period to the worry she had while waiting for Jin-so-un in the courtyard.
Should she give it, or should she not?
No, with his words, worry was now unnecessary.
It was something she could receive because she was, at the very least, a direct descendant of the Gwi-geom-seon-ong.
And it was something she herself had not been able to eat yet.
She took it out.
“What is this?”
“In any case, I am also a person of the Cheol-geom-mun. I know this small thing won’t resolve everything, but please accept it as my heart. Of course, I do not think this compensates for the actions of our Cheol-geom-mun. I am just giving it with the hope, as you said, that the Tae-eul-mun and the Cheol-geom-mun will have a good relationship in the future.”
Jin-so-un looked at the wooden box for a moment before slowly accepting it.
“Perhaps the burden on Young Miss Seong, who carries the Cheol-geom-mun, will be heavier than that of the Tae-eul-mun. Still, I will accept your heart.”
Why was she a child of the Cheol-geom-mun, and why was that person a person of the Tae-eul-mun?
Seong-mo-ran grieved for the tragedy of her birth, which she had not even felt because of the existence of Seong-mo-hyeon.
“I hope we can see each other with a smile next time.”
At Seong-mo-ran’s trembling voice, Jin-so-un finally smiled at the corners of his mouth.
“I hope so too.”
<><><>
On the third day, we left the Cheol-geom-mun.
Naturally, there was no one to see us off.
Gang-chae-seok held the Gu-jung-geom tightly in his arms, wrapped thoroughly in cloth in my stead, and slept with it all night; even on the day-long journey back to the Tae-eul-mun, he did not let it leave his body.
“Still, isn’t it a bit much to take it even into the restroom?”
“What is there to get stolen in the restroom?”
“Don’t you know? Isn’t the restroom the second most common place for attempted assassinations by assassins throughout history? Even if you are one of the Ten Great Masters of the World, you have no choice but to let your guard down when you’re straining your bowels, right?”
“......”
By persuading him like that, I was barely able to get him to leave the Gu-jung-geom behind when he went to the restroom.
Meanwhile, rumors reached the Tae-eul-mun first, but no one inside the Tae-eul-mun believed the rumors.
Since it wasn’t a far distance anyway, using a messenger to exchange news was a loss, and since it was a rumor that absolutely couldn’t be believed, they tried to pretend they hadn’t heard it.
However, when they found out that the object Gang-chae-seok had brought in, clutching it tightly like a lover, was the Gu-jung-geom, the elders and hall masters gathered at the Dae-hyeon-jeon embraced each other and shed tears of joy.
For the Tae-eul-mun, which had only walked a history of humiliation and lamentation since the Cheol-geom-mun appeared, it was a moment to resolve 150 years of grudges, so not only the elders but also the young disciples of the Bu-saeng-dang embraced each other and shouted.
One cannot just let such a good day pass by.
The elders unanimously insisted that they should flock to the outer hall and hold a feast, but my father, whose stinginess was no less than a rusted bolt, suggested that they replace it with a simple meal, saying the budget was insufficient.
“How can that be? It is the Gu-jung-geom that Tae-eul-mun disciple Jin-so-un risked his life to take back.”
Even the Sect Leader, Hong-mun-gi, stepped up and said this to Jin-tae-san, the Hall Master of the outer hall, but he was stubborn.
“I also risked my life, and the Hall Master of the Kwae-hwa-dang also risked his life. Are you not worried that the children’s side dishes will become pathetic for the next six months just because we hold a feast once?”
“Isn’t this not an ordinary matter? So-un protected the honor of the Tae-eul-mun.”
“My goodness, I know that. So let’s just end it with a simple meal.”
“......Then I will pay with my own personal money.”
At the sight of Jin-tae-san blocking the feast like Zhang Fei at Changban, Hong-mun-gi eventually emptied his personal emergency funds, and at the sight of Hong-mun-gi, the elders and hall masters also emptied their pocket money to raise funds for the feast.
“Father, aren’t we not that hard up?”
When I asked, thinking of the ledger I was always watching for calculations, my father laughed triumphantly.
“Thanks to that, wasn’t I able to empty the emergency funds of the Sect Leader and the elders? Where are you trying to use public funds for playing and eating?”
“......”
When the news that a feast would be held spread even to the Gye-ryong-sang-dan, Gye-yeon-seok wagged his tail like crazy, saying he would sponsor two cows, five pigs, and 10 jars of alcohol.
This time, his unique, unpleasant arrogance and haughtiness had completely vanished, as Gye-cheol-yeong had been completely absent during the moment the Tae-eul-mun personnel were fighting for their lives at the Cheol-geom-mun, so he couldn’t hold his head up.
Because of this, it was decided that out of the three Cheol-sim-dan received from the Cheol-geom-mun, I and Sa-ryeon would receive two, and the remaining one would be gifted to a disciple with high achievements later.
Gye-yeon-seok, trying to restore his face somehow, met the Sect Leader separately and said that if he gave one Cheol-sim-dan to Gye-cheol-yeong, he would give him three inns, but it is said that Hong-mun-gi made a straight face and threatened that if he said such things again, he would kick Gye-cheol-yeong out of the Tae-eul-mun.
“Crazy, crazy. How much does that Cheol-sim-dan cost?”
“But thanks to that, the disciples of the Bu-saeng-dang are working harder, aren’t they?”
“You little rascal. In Hefei, three inns can buy five Cheol-sim-dan in a year! That’s why my insides are bursting!”
“If you’re going to grumble like that, why don’t you wipe the smile off your face?”
“What, you punk!”
“I’m going out.”
“Where are you going again?”
“I’m sick of Father talking about money, so I’m going to go make money.”
“You brat! What kind of money are you going to make!”
“I’ll be back.”
The time had finally come to clear the Gye-ryong-sang-dan from the Tae-eul-mun.