Chapter 45
I thought it would be okay to stay by her side for about half a shichen and talk, so I went out with Pae Maling.
The family head and I had agreed not to reveal that Pae Maling was Pae Maseong's younger sister, but it was uncertain whether that would be meaningful.
First of all, their names were too similar, and Pae Maseong's face was slightly superimposed on Pae Maling's face.
If I had to absolutely hide the fact that Pae Maling was Pae Maseong's younger sister, I would have changed her name and put a mask or a human-skin mask on her face, but I didn't think of going that far.
It seemed that the family head would not openly reveal that Pae Maling was Pae Maseong's younger sister, but he seemed to think that it couldn't be helped if others found out on their own.
"Brother, if people ask me if I'm my brother's younger sister, what should I say?"
"Just smile and let it pass. Don't go into detail."
"But what if they ask several times?"
"Then smile and let it pass several times."
At that, Pae Maling smiled and nodded.
"I was so out of it earlier that I don't think I greeted you properly, but thank you so much for saving me, brother. I will never forget your kindness and will repay it for the rest of my life."
"You don't have to. Can't I do that much for Pae Maseong's younger sister? Pae Maseong would have tried to find my younger sister somehow if I had lost her."
Then I took out the sleeping powder and poison powders I had and gave them to Pae Maling little by little.
When I even told her how to use them, Pae Maling listened to the explanation with her eyes shining intelligently.
"Pae Maseong will faint when he hears this news. He'll be so happy. When we went to the market, Pae Maseong always bought things for you first."
Pae Maling also seemed to be missing her brother more and more.
The conversation with Pae Maling ran out quickly anyway, and since it was an awkward time to try to sleep now, I decided to just leave.
Pae Maling didn't hold me back either.
It was probably because she thought that when she saw me again, she would also see Pae Maseong.
* * *
On the way, I kept thinking about how to tell Pae Maseong this story.
Until I met Pae Maling, I had been quite skeptical about her existence.
I hadn't expected such a thing to happen, but come to think of it, Pae Maling had saved my life once.
How could she have thought of throwing her body at the sword?
I still couldn't understand it.
I didn't think I could ever have that kind of courage.
If it were to block a weapon that was flying at me or if I had a weapon, it would be different, but it wasn't that, so how?
I shook my head without realizing it and continued to use my lightness technique.
As I did so, I reached the mountain bandit stronghold.
I was so surprised that I wondered when I had already come this far.
It seemed that there was nothing that made time go by as well as being lost in thought.
Dan Yujong was the first to discover me and ran out.
"Senior Brother!"
"Why were you here?"
"I thought you might be coming, so I came out."
For some reason, it seemed that he hadn't come out because he thought I would be coming, but that he had been loitering around here all along.
"You should have at least worn some clothes. Isn't it cold to dress like this?"
"Not at all."
Dan Yujong took my luggage, carried it himself, and grinned.
The children of Nether Shadow Valley had definitely brightened up and smiled a lot since coming here.
"Yujong, I found someone this time."
"Yes?"
"Pae Maseong's younger sister."
"Yes? Senior Brother Pae's younger sister?"
Dan Yujong looked at me with a surprised face.
That was a fact that would soon be widely known anyway.
I was curious about how Dan Yujong would think of the appearance of Pae Maseong's younger sister.
"Is she doing well? Is she healthy?"
"She wasn't doing well, and she wasn't healthy either."
I told him the story in a moderate way and kept watching Dan Yujong's expression.
Although Dan Yujong looked mature on the outside, he was still young, so I had thought that he would just be happy to hear that Pae Maling was alive, but that was not the case.
"I've also heard a lot about his younger sister from Senior Brother Pae. I'm a little worried that Senior Brother Pae will say that he'll take revenge. If Senior Brother Pae says he wants to take revenge, we'll have to step up too, of course, but if the opponent is the Cho family, we'll all die. Still, if you and Senior Brother Pae say let's take revenge, we'll fight."
"What do you want to do?"
At that, Dan Yujong was surprised and watched my expression.
He seemed to think that he had said something insolent.
"It's okay, Yujong. Right now, I'm the Senior Brother and I make the decisions, but I'm not going to live forever, and later, you'll also have to take charge of the children and make decisions. Think of it as preparing for that time. It may be your job to stop them from being driven into a fight with no chance of winning. Don't be afraid of causing conflict with us. How can we be right every time?"
"But..."
"It's okay. I'm not saying I'll listen to everything you say; I'm just trying to get a reference."
At that, Dan Yujong said with a much more comfortable expression.
"Taking revenge on the Cho family now will be nothing more than hitting a rock with an egg. It would be better not to lose the desire for revenge and to get stronger and then aim for it. I don't think Senior Brother Pae's younger sister would want us to die a meaningless death either."
"Yes, tell me such stories often. It would be good if you could tell me such stories when our thoughts become narrow."
"Yes, Senior Brother. Thank you for thinking well of me."
As I was talking with Dan Yujong, I also met other children and exchanged greetings.
Pae Maseong seemed to have gone somewhere else and was not visible, so I went to find Yeon Cheongha first.
He, perhaps thinking that he should guide the children a little more while he was here, was looking at the children's techniques in the training ground.
"Master."
"You're back, Socheong. Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Thanks to you, I came back safely."
He, as if he had noticed that I had something to say to him, told the other children to continue practicing and came to me.
"You have a face that says you have something to say."
Until then, he probably hadn't even imagined that I had found Pae Maling.
"I found Pae Maling, master."
That's why when I said that, he was so surprised that his eyes widened.
"What... what do you mean? How... no, more than that, was that child really alive? Then the story you heard... no. That's not important. So where is that child now? Is she safe?"
Yeon Cheongha became talkative, as if he didn't know what to ask first.
I started with the story of meeting Son Eun and told him everything, one by one, without leaving anything out.
When I said that after I had followed the person and brought Pae Maling, those guys had appeared, Yeon Cheongha's eyes widened and his mouth opened.
He seemed to be greatly surprised, wondering if it had been a trap.
He was worried even though he already knew that I had returned without any problems since I was talking here.
He seemed to be worried that I might have been seriously injured.
I quickly finished all the stories and finished by saying that Pae Maling was now staying at the Danli family.
"Oh, and the family head said that Pae Maling was born with a great constitution. So the family head said he would teach Pae Maling martial arts and have her in his guard."
I thought I had said everything without leaving anything out, but Yeon Cheongha shook his head.
"How can this be? If you hadn't gone to see Son Eun, Socheong, this wouldn't have even started. I was about to tell Maseong to accept his sister's death. If I had, what would have happened?"
Then he patted my shoulder.
"I'm so proud of you, Socheong. You've worked hard. You've done a really great thing. It seems it was a good thing to go to the Danli family. If Son Eun stepped up and it was related to the Cho family, only a place like the Danli family would be able to protect that child. It seems the ill-fated relationship with the Cho family continues."
Then he asked when it would be good to tell Pae Maseong.
"The family head has healed Pae Maling's wounds, so it wouldn't matter if he saw her right now. But the problem is that Pae Maseong won't just leave Son Eun alone."
He also nodded.
"If Pae Maseong says he'll attack Son Eun, what will you do, master?"
At that, he also seemed to have a lot of thoughts.
"I will stop Maseong. Maseong's business is no longer just Maseong's business. You and the children of Nether Shadow Valley will also be involved. Even if Maseong acts independently, the opponent will no longer see Maseong as an individual."
I also had the same thought.
"But what if Pae Maseong says he'll go and find Son Eun?"
"Then I'll have to follow Maseong and help him. Although I hope Maseong doesn't do that."
It was probably destined to be that way from the beginning anyway.
Regardless of whether Pae Maling was alive or not.
If things hadn't turned out this way, I should have just not spoken to Pae Maseong when I met him and remained as a stranger.
As our conversation deepened, Pae Maseong came in.
"When did you get here, Socheong?"
How long would I be able to see Pae Maseong being so rational?
But it was not something that could be hidden for long anyway.
When I looked at Yeon Cheongha, he also nodded.
Pae Maseong seemed to have noticed that the atmosphere between us was strange.
"What's wrong? Do you have something to say?"
In the end, I nodded and started the story again.
I had already talked about Pae Maling several times, but there had never been a moment as tense as this.
From the time I talked about going to see Son Eun and the story of Son Eun sending people, Pae Maseong's face had already turned bright red, and his fists were clenched tightly.
The blood drained from his clenched fists, and it seemed that he would break something at any moment.
I had to just skip a considerable part.
I couldn't even say what state Pae Maling had been locked up in, or what she had looked like when I had seen her.
And when I said that she was now at the Danli family, Pae Maseong's body shot out.
No matter how much I called after him, I couldn't catch him.
Yeon Cheongha also chased after me and then stopped.
He was needed by the children of Nether Shadow Valley.
The fact that Pae Maseong was rampaging like this was also a great danger to the children of Nether Shadow Valley.
Thinking that I had to catch him, I also thought that I wouldn't be able to catch up with Pae Maseong, who was using his movement technique at full power.
I thought that it was not a matter of my sense of defeat or inferiority, but of facing reality.
I knew how amazing Pae Maseong was, and I had also heard that he was a martial talent that came once in a thousand years.
So I had thought that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't surpass Pae Maseong.
But at that moment, I had to catch Pae Maseong.
(End of Chapter)