The painting was splendid.
A famous painter, for one reason or another, had drifted all the way to the marketplace and made his living painting portraits. His skill was good enough that one might have called him the protagonist of this tale.
The two people in the painting were unmistakably Geom Mugeuk and Geom Muyang.
Geom Mugeuk looked at the painting straight on, then from the side.
“No matter how I look at it, he drew you more handsome, Brother.”
Looking at the completed painting, Geom Mugeuk began spinning a conspiracy theory.
“You threatened this painter with sound transmission, didn’t you? ‘If you don’t draw me better, I’ll make sure you never hold a brush again!’”
The aged painter merely smiled. He had spent many years here painting portraits and had seen countless people.
Perhaps because he had looked upon so many faces, now, with just a glance, he could sense a person’s life.
And today, he had a special experience.
It had been when he was painting the younger brother’s face. The man was someone who tossed out frivolous words so lightly they seemed almost weightless.
Strangely, however, while painting him, the painter felt not as though he were painting a portrait, but a landscape.
When he painted the hair, it felt like painting a reed field swaying in the wind; when he painted the eyes, it felt like painting a vast sea. He painted a snow mountain swept by a blizzard, and he painted a wasteland without a single blade of grass. He felt the four seasons, and he felt the passage of time.
He had painted human faces all his life, but this was the first time he had ever felt such a thing while painting someone.
Geom Muyang silently looked down at the result.
Unlike his expressionless self, his younger brother in the painting was smiling brightly. Even while chattering on about all sorts of things, it seemed his expression had continued to smile. He liked this painting.
“Here. The money.”
Geom Muyang paid enough for ten paintings, but the old painter returned the money.
“It has been a long time since I enjoyed painting so much. I would like to give this painting to you as a gift.”
He did not want to put a price on today’s painting. If he had to accept money, he felt he would need to receive hundreds, even thousands of times this amount.
When the painter bowed his head once more, as if making a sincere request, Geom Muyang nodded.
“Do you know a place that can make it into a hanging scroll?”
The painter told him the location of a mounting shop in the marketplace.
After parting with the painter, the two of them headed straight to the mounting shop.
The proprietor’s face was full of pride, as befitted someone who had spent his entire life mounting paintings. Geom Muyang handed the painting to him.
“Make it so it can be hung on a wall. No matter how much it costs, make it the finest.”
“The finest, is it. Then it will take some time. Come back in seven days.”
Geom Muyang looked at Geom Mugeuk.
“We’ll still be in Wuhan until then.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s answer, Geom Muyang spoke briefly to the proprietor and turned away.
“I’ll come in seven days.”
Thus, the two left the mounting shop and set off toward their lodgings.
“When did you learn the danso?”
“A long time ago.”
“Does Father know too?”
Geom Muyang shook his head, but Geom Mugeuk thought differently.
“He probably does.”
Geom Muyang looked at Geom Mugeuk with an expression asking what he meant.
“I mean, he probably knows you can play an instrument.”
His brother did not seem to believe it, but Geom Mugeuk thought their father knew. When he had first returned to the past, their father had known that he had been afflicted by Energy-Scattering Poison as well.
Geom Mugeuk knew that their father merely pretended not to know, and that he actually knew many things about his children.
In any case, he was not the type to say, Play something for me. Nor was Geom Muyang the type to say, I will play something for you.
He thought he would have to set up an occasion someday. He wanted their father to hear his brother’s performance at least once.
They were walking along together when—
Pat patter.
Heavy raindrops began to fall, and then—
Shwaaaaaa.
A sudden shower began to pour down.
The two of them stood for a while beneath the eaves of a shop, waiting for the rain to stop.
With their martial prowess, they could have walked through the rain without getting wet, but they simply waited for it to pass.
Geom Muyang, who had been watching the rain, glanced at his younger brother.
The falling rain had sealed his talkative brother’s mouth. Geom Muyang knew that this image at this moment was his brother’s true self.
That deep gaze, silently watching the rain, was his brother’s real gaze.
Geom Muyang asked quietly.
“What do you like?”
Startled by the unexpected question, Geom Mugeuk looked at his brother.
Geom Muyang turned his head toward the falling rain and asked again.
“I asked what you like.”
Brother, do you know? This is the first time you’ve ever asked me about something personal. And you asked first.
“As for me, there are lots of things I like. I like drinking and having fun with people.”
“Too much…”
Geom Muyang had been about to warn him that if he was too swayed by affection, it could get him killed.
But when he thought about it, that very affection was causing all their enemies to die.
His younger brother’s abundance of affection was invincible.
“You like being alone more, don’t you?”
His brother kept surprising him.
It was surprising that he knew this about him, and even more surprising that he expressed it.
“Our brother is a ghost, a ghost. What’s gotten into you today?”
“What is it you really like? Stop going on about people and alcohol.”
Knowing that his brother was asking seriously, he answered honestly.
“I like lying down comfortably and looking at the sea. I like soaking in a hot spring amid a snowy landscape.”
With the sea and hot springs coming out of nowhere, it might have sounded like a lie, but they truly were things he liked.
“I like this right now too. Standing under the eaves like this and watching the rain.”
Watching the world alone.
In his life before his return, he had experienced that moment so many times.
In a snowstorm, atop a drifting raft, while hanging from a cliff…
Even in those unbearably lonely moments, when he looked at the world like this, he felt better. Even just watching people pass by made him feel better.
Perhaps that was why. Why he still liked moments like this.
Geom Muyang, who had been quietly looking at his younger brother, turned his gaze back to the rain.
“You said staring outside was something only old people did.”
“At least I’m watching from outside.”
As if he himself found what he had said childish, Geom Mugeuk laughed aloud. A faint smile formed at the corners of Geom Muyang’s mouth.
Shwaaaaaa.
“Brother, when Father finishes his closed-door training, let’s the three of us go hunting together.”
Geom Muyang gazed wordlessly at the falling rain for a moment, then nodded.
“Sure.”
Then he added one more thing.
“…Always take care of your own things first.”
Geom Mugeuk looked at his brother with trembling eyes.
Today, his brother had asked for the first time what he liked, and for the first time, had shown concern for him.
“I knew it! You’re not my brother! I suspected it from the moment you suggested we get a portrait done. Give me back my brother! When did you switch places with him?”
“…”
When the joke ended, Geom Mugeuk spoke seriously.
“Brother, I’m more selfish and cold-hearted than I look. You don’t have to worry too much. If it seems like I’m doing something wrong, don’t hesitate to curse me out.”
Geom Muyang also answered seriously.
“I held back several times today too.”
Shwaaaaaa.
* * *
Until the hanging scroll was completed, the two decided to wait at their lodgings while training in martial arts.
Geom Muyang devoted himself to practicing the Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art. The power of the three drops of Gongcheong Stone Milk had a great effect on this training as well.
Perhaps because his internal energy had become purer, his martial arts training proceeded more smoothly than before, and the achievements he gained came faster too.
Geom Mugeuk volunteered to take charge of meals so that his brother could focus on training.
At every mealtime, he bought dishes from an inn and set them out. Since he knew his brother did not like going out to eat, he went out to buy food under the pretext of wanting some fresh air.
With his lightness skill, he went back and forth in a flash, so it seemed like nothing much, but each meal had different dishes. When asked what he wanted to eat, Geom Muyang answered, “Anything,” but it could not be “anything” every single time.
Thanks to that, Geom Mugeuk came to learn his brother’s tastes as well. What dishes he liked, and what he disliked.
Even while eating, he tried hard to exchange even one more word with him.
When else would he have the chance to spend seven whole days under the same roof as his brother?
For Geom Mugeuk knew better than anyone that if one missed the right time, one was not even given the chance to try.
And on the final, seventh day, Geom Muyang went out personally and bought the food.
Surprisingly, although he had not asked, Geom Muyang bought only dishes that Geom Mugeuk liked.
“How on earth did you know I liked these dishes?”
“A picky eater’s tastes are obvious.”
He answered bluntly, but over the past seven days, whenever they ate, Geom Muyang had been carefully watching which dishes his younger brother’s chopsticks went to more often.
Thus, seven days passed.
Geom Mugeuk and Geom Muyang appeared in the marketplace to retrieve the hanging scroll.
The streets of Wuhan were abuzz with a single piece of news.
Today, the Murim Alliance was holding a grand banquet to celebrate Jin Hagun becoming the successor. Not only the leaders within the alliance, but also many renowned martial elders from across the Central Plains were all in attendance.
The marketplace was in a festive mood as well. Martial artists had gathered from every region, and the streets were truly packed shoulder to shoulder.
“You bastards, if you get carried away and even bump my brother’s shoulder, there’ll be hell to pay! I’ll wipe you all out!”
He only said it; Geom Mugeuk and Geom Muyang were the ones who avoided people first.
“Young Alliance Leader Bi said he would arrive tomorrow, didn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
Bi Sain had sent that news through Tongcheongak.
“Ah, I’m curious. I want to hurry up and meet him so I can ask what happened with Miss Han from the Ice Palace.”
Back when they had all gathered and then parted, Bi Sain had suddenly suggested to Han Seol that she stop by the Sado Alliance before returning.
Even he had thought, Oops, after saying it, but unexpectedly, Han Seol had answered that she would.
At the time, Geom Mugeuk had sent him off without teasing him by sound transmission, telling him to savor his happiness.
“When we meet this time, I’ll wring out everything that happened. Would that bear of a friend even have managed to speak properly? This time, I should thoroughly teach him how to seduce a woman.”
Thus cutting through the crowd, the two arrived at the mounting shop.
The hanging scroll had been completed as magnificently as the proprietor’s confidence had promised.
“It’s wonderful!”
Geom Mugeuk exclaimed in admiration. The painting had been made into a very elegant and splendid hanging scroll. It gave a different impression from when it had simply been a painting on paper.
Geom Muyang also smiled in satisfaction. It was good enough to present as a gift to their father.
Geom Muyang carefully rolled up the hanging scroll and kept it safely in his robe. To anyone watching, it would have looked as though he were storing away a treasured sword.
“You’ve worked hard.”
After paying the price for the scroll, the two left the mounting shop.
They were about to return to their lodgings when—
“Get out of sight!”
At Geom Mugeuk’s shout, the two of them leapt together into an alley.
With a tense expression, Geom Muyang asked quietly.
“Is it them?”
At Geom Muyang’s question, Geom Mugeuk slightly poked his head out of the alley. His sharp gaze pierced through the crowd.
“Yeah. A very fierce and frightening-looking bastard. And that frightening bastard is doing something adorable.”
Adorable?
Wondering what he meant, Geom Muyang also slightly poked his head out and looked where his younger brother was looking.
He was certainly there.
Far off at the end of the marketplace, a fierce and frightening-looking man. Even the people passing by opened a path when their eyes met his.
Surprisingly, it was Bi Sain. They had understood that he would arrive tomorrow.
“It seems his schedule was moved up. But why are we hiding?”
At Geom Muyang’s words, Geom Mugeuk’s eyes narrowed.
“Not at all! Look beside that liar.”
Beside Bi Sain, a woman in pure white martial attire was looking around and taking in the sights.
She was Han Seol of the Ice Palace. Astonishingly, she was with him.
“Why are the two of them together?”
“Look behind her.”
Behind Han Seol, the Ice Twin Swords who guarded her could also be seen.
“The Ice Twin Swords aren’t paying any attention to guarding her and are busy looking around the marketplace. That means they trust Sain. In other words, the four of them walking around together like this is something they’re used to. Which means Miss Han, after going to the Sado Alliance, stayed there sightseeing instead of returning to the North Sea.”
Geom Mugeuk could tell. Bi Sain had probably shown her around all sorts of places. Then, after receiving his message, he had come here with her.
“He deceived me!”
“He probably just happened to arrive a day early.”
But he could not escape Geom Mugeuk’s keen eyes.
“Look at those clothes.”
Now that he saw it, Bi Sain was wearing white.
“He matched his outfit with hers. And he deliberately chose clothes with patterns so it wouldn’t look like they matched exactly.”
Hearing it, it did seem that way.
Was Geom Muyang the sort of person who would enjoy spying like this?
But since he was with Geom Mugeuk, even this was amusing.
Geom Mugeuk’s deductions continued.
“Do you know why he isn’t wearing a bamboo hat?”
“Why?”
“Because he’s afraid it’ll mess up his hair.”
“Surely not.”
That Bi Sain, of all people? Judging by his face, he looked capable of conquering murim at any moment.
Geom Muyang could not believe it, but Geom Mugeuk was certain.
“Otherwise, there’s no reason for him to walk around showing that face in the front yard of the Murim Alliance.”
Just then, Bi Sain, who had been far away, whipped his head toward them.
But the two had already hidden their heads back inside the alley.
“What is it?”
At Han Seol’s question, Bi Sain turned back to her. His terrifying, sharp expression had softened gently.
“It’s nothing.”
Bi Sain looked at the peddler’s cart beside them and asked her,
“Would you like some sweets?”