Gwiryeongja was busy tidying his study.
He took out each book one by one and dusted it off, moved them from here to there and back again, expending his heart and soul on an arrangement no one else would ever care about.
After organizing the books like that, he placed winter daphne here and there around the study, and by the time he had boiled water for tea, Im Hyang arrived.
“Young Master Seo.”
“Miss Im. Welcome. I have not cleaned up, so it is a mess.”
Anyone could see it had just been cleaned until it gleamed, but Im Hyang smiled and pretended not to notice.
“You have so many books.”
“I used to have more, but I cleared many of them away.”
“Even just the books here are truly a lot. I didn’t know you were someone who read this much.”
Gwiryeongja was in an excellent mood.
“This book here was written by the author himself. I received it from him in this very room. And this book here is one I obtained after going all the way to Xizang. If you ever wish to know about ghosts, you can read this book. Shall I lend it to you?”
“Ah, ah. Yes.”
Gwiryeongja took out the book and handed it to her.
“It will be very interesting. Ah, if you find this interesting, try reading this one as well.”
“That one is all right.”
“This book here is……”
Gwiryeongja explained the books. Im Hyang could not bring herself to stop him when he was so excited, so she simply listened. But when the explanation grew too long, she said,
“Shall we drink tea?”
“Ah, I will brew it for you.”
Gwiryeongja was filled with heat, like the boiling water.
He could not forget the day he first saw her.
Gwiryeongja had attended a banquet of young talents held somewhere, and that day, too, he had been on the outside looking in.
Even if they had not deliberately ostracized him, he felt that they were subtly looking down on him. Their prejudice against the Ghost Sect was one thing, but fundamentally, Gwiryeongja was not the sort of person who mingled well with others. What did they all have so much to say? What did they all have so much to boast about?
When he stepped outside because he felt stifled, Im Hyang was there. He thought she was an exceedingly beautiful woman with a certain air about her, and then she spoke to him first.
“Isn’t it rather dull?”
Gwiryeongja was flustered. She was the first woman to speak to him at that day’s banquet.
“The banquet, I mean. The musicians today, the taste of the wine, and the people gathered here as well.”
It was something Gwiryeongja could never have imagined doing. Speaking so casually to someone she was meeting for the first time.
“I am Im Hyang of the Im Clan Sword Family.”
“I am Seo Gong of the Ghost Sect.”
“Ah!”
In that instant, Gwiryeongja regretted it. He should not have revealed his sect. Or if he did, he should have revealed it only after they had spoken a little longer.
But her reaction was unexpected. Instead, she showed interest.
“I have heard a great deal about the Ghost Sect.”
“What have you heard?”
“That it is an exceedingly mysterious sect.”
He wanted to talk with her a little more, but someone called Im Hyang from inside.
“They are calling me. Then I will see you later.”
Im Hyang went inside first.
After waiting a short while, Gwiryeongja also went inside.
In the distance, he saw Im Hyang surrounded by several martial artists, talking with them. She was popular.
Im Hyang recognized him and waved. Because of that, the gazes of those beside her gathered on him, but she paid them no mind and smiled.
Even after Gwiryeongja returned that day, he kept thinking of her for a long while. For a time, he diligently attended banquets.
Bringing over the tea he had brewed with care, Gwiryeongja said with a smile,
“If there are any books you wish to read, borrow them all.”
* * *
Ian, who had been looking at the night sky by the window, said to me,
“Young Master? Do you know what wish people most often make when a shooting star falls?”
“What is it?”
“Ah! Uh! Damn it! Apparently it’s that.”
At her words, I laughed and said,
“My eyes and mouth are quick, so I will never miss one.”
“Will you really not?”
“Just watch.”
The two of us looked up at the night sky, fully prepared to make a wish without fail. Then Ian abruptly said,
“That was the first time I ever brought up my parents.”
When she had spoken with Im Hyang at the inn, she had brought up her parents.
“I had wanted to tell you about them at least once, Young Master. It seemed like the right time, so I said it.”
“I thought that might be the case.”
“Now then, please comfort me.”
“What comfort? To tell the truth, I do not know much about affection between parents and children either. You know, don’t you? My mother died when I was young, and my father has the most brusque personality in the world. So I do not really know what I should say to you.”
“To tell the truth, I am the same. In the past, when you were struggling because of the Cult Leader, I wanted to comfort you. But how can one comfort someone when one knows nothing? Rather, everything I should have learned from parents, I learned from you, Young Master.”
“We grew up with runny noses together. What could you have learned from me?”
“Even so, you wiped my nose for me, Young Master. I learned a lot from you and relied on you a great deal.”
I started to say something to comfort her, then stopped. I simply stood with her and looked up at the night sky.
“Oh, right. How is the operation going?”
“I am thinking about it.”
“It needs some kind of stimulus!”
“What kind of stimulus?”
“What about kidnapping Miss Im and then having Young Master Seo save her?”
“If we do something clumsy, there will be an accident.”
“There has to be something thrilling between a man and a woman!”
“Ian, think of the most thrilling moment in your life. Was there kidnapping, rescue, or anything like that in it?”
“……There was not.”
“No one else would have had that either.”
The thrills of my life came from the everyday. And most of them came from words someone had said to me.
Words my father said, words Ian said, words Seo Daeryong said, words Jangho said, words the Demon Venerables said, words Cult Leader Pungcheon or Gowol said, and words I said……
Those countless words piled up and piled up, and my life was changing. The person I was did not change easily, but my life was changing.
“That is why I keep trying to tell him. That person.”
At that moment, a shooting star streaked across the night sky.
Ah! Please…… Damn it!
* * *
A few days later, I rented an elegant manor and invited Gwiryeongja and Seojin. It was to repay them for inviting us to the banquet last time.
Gwiryeongja’s favorable impression of me had already risen, and Seojin also felt goodwill toward Ian. So the two of them readily accepted the invitation.
It was a modest banquet with delicious dishes prepared by a skilled cook and only the four of us present, but Gwiryeongja liked this sort of atmosphere more.
While Ian and Seojin were talking, I conversed with Gwiryeongja.
“Thank you for inviting us.”
“Not at all.”
We talked about this and that, and then I subtly broached the subject of marriage.
“Are the wedding preparations going well?”
“Thanks to your concern, they are going well.”
“Sometimes I envy married couples.”
“What do you envy?”
“They know each other so well, do they not? Just by looking into each other’s eyes, they think, ah, that person must be thinking this. Ah, in a situation like this, that person would judge and act this way. I think it would be wonderful to have at least one such person while living in this world.”
I had to pull Gwiryeongja down to earth. Right now, he was floating up and flying through the sky. I had to make him set both feet on the ground and calmly look at the woman before him.
“When you look at Miss Im, do you have a sense of what she is thinking?”
Gwiryeongja seemed to ponder for a moment, then shook his head.
“To be honest, I still do not really know.”
I said nothing. I let him think about that part for a while.
I did not rush.
I left the marriage talk there and earned his goodwill by talking about ghost arts. Since I had gained a deep understanding of secret arts in this field while learning the Space-Time Transference Art, the conversation about ghost arts flowed well. And with the Divine Art of Flattery added on top of that, Gwiryeongja became completely absorbed in speaking with me.
Even after that day, I tried to meet him by any means possible.
Gwiryeongja was busy, but there was no need to meet for a long time. A brief moment to share a cup of tea was enough.
On some days, I even waited for him in the reception hall of his house while circulating the Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art.
When I met Gwiryeongja, we would talk about this and that, and then I would again bring up something related to marriage or women.
At first, when I kept going to see him, suspicion was plain on Gwiryeongja’s face—What is with this fellow, after one meal? What is he aiming for?—but as time passed, he secretly began to enjoy conversing with me. After all, he had never had a single friend in his life.
I had started intentionally, but I too gradually came to enjoy speaking with him. The Divine Art of Flattery became less and less necessary.
“My junior martial sister said that you must not treat a woman too well.”
“Why is that?”
“Because if you treat someone well ten times and then fail to do so once, it is human nature for them to feel disappointed.”
“Then would it not be enough to treat her well all ten times?”
“Would a person’s heart not change as the years pass?”
“Mine will not change.”
“Young Master Seo is human too, so you will change.”
“I am different! I will absolutely not change!”
When he was stubborn like this, I wanted to rush at him and shout,
You did change! You really do change! Ugh, forget it, forget it. Let us just pry it loose, pry it loose.
“Do not treat her too well. If you go to the marketplace, bad men are popular.”
“Ah! I have felt that too. At banquets, I often wondered why anyone would like that sort of fellow.”
“So do not treat her too well. If you are a little lacking and then treat her well once in a while, would that not be moving? A person cannot always do well every time.”
“That makes sense.”
In his old age, Gwiryeongja had so desperately wished to converse with me. Back then, I had drunk only a single cup of wine and left again to gather ingredients.
The conversations we could not have then—let us truly have our fill of them now.
Time continued to pass, but I met him and talked with him as often as a mouse slips in and out of a basket of glue.
“You are saying that the date you must go obtain an important ingredient needed for your ghost arts training overlaps with Miss Im’s birthday?”
“That is right. Then which would you choose?”
“Of course I would attend to Miss Im’s birthday.”
“Even though it is an important ingredient? If I miss it this time, I must wait three years.”
“Even so, it is not even worth comparing.”
Someday, when something similar happens, Gwiryeongja, make sure you remember what you said today! There must surely be a difference between words never spoken and words uttered at least once.
I tried.
I spoke as though I did not know anything, persuaded him, and urged him on. I gave him courage, gave him hints, and gave him information.
Gwiryeongja had betrayed me, who had gathered the materials for the Great Art my whole life, and had tried to go back to the past himself, but even so, I was grateful that I had come here thanks to him, and I tried until the very end.
At last, one day before the wedding, I met him for the final time.
“To think I would meet you even today.”
Beginning like that, Gwiryeongja revealed his honest feelings.
“To be honest, I still do not understand. Why you are treating me so well.”
It was a question he had endured and endured, and it was also proof that we had become that close.
“Did you not say you liked Miss Im from the moment you first saw her? I was the same. When I looked at Young Master Seo, for some reason you felt like an older brother, like a friend, and I felt fondness toward you. I have no other intentions. The reason I saw you so excessively often is that once the wedding ends tomorrow, I intend to leave again as well, and I do not know when I will see you next.”
Gwiryeongja’s gaze was still suspicious.
I raised my hand high toward the sky.
“I swear to the heavens. If my words are false, I will be dragged away by the Heavenly Demon!”
Gwiryeongja waved his hands in alarm.
“Stop! There is no need to make such a dreadful oath! I believe you. If it is an oath like that, I must believe it.”
He held out his hand.
“Thank you.”
“Congratulations on your marriage.”
We clasped hands. Come to think of it, including before and after my regression, it was the first time I had ever held his hand.
The next day, the wedding was held.
Ian was excited, saying it was her first time watching a wedding. Befitting the wedding of a prestigious family, it was splendid and full of sights to see. Ian carefully took in each and every thing, and when there was something she did not know, she even asked the people conducting the ceremony.
Of course, since she must not become the protagonist of the day, she wore a bamboo hat with a veil attached and clothes that did not reveal her figure.
As the wedding was nearing its end, I said to Ian,
“Now let us return to the cult as well.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Did you enjoy this trip?”
“I will never forget it for as long as I live.”
Since she had even left records in her book as we traveled, I could tell just how much she had enjoyed it.
Ian and Seojin shared a reluctant farewell. The two seemed to have become quite close. When I met Gwiryeongja, Ian spent a great deal of time with Seojin. I had left Seojin’s fate entirely in Ian’s hands.
My eyes met Gwiryeongja’s as he was exchanging greetings with guests in the distance. I waved to him. He too smiled and waved back.
I do not know whether my bond with him will end here, or whether we will meet again. I also do not know what sort of life he will live.
I only hope that the conversations we shared will bring changes to his life, and that those changes will gather together and alter the result.
I do not know what lies beyond the door you opened today. Whether there is only the regret everyone speaks of, or whether there is a companion who knows you just by looking into your eyes. But I will ask you for just one thing. No matter what hardships come, do not give up. Just as you waited for me your whole life, do not give up on your own life until the end. Beyond the door you opened for me, I too am moving forward like this without giving up, so I hope you will do the same. Gwiryeongja, please be happy.
Together with Ian, I left the Ghost Sect.
“Now, let us go back, Ian!”