EP.13 Black Token (1)
"I caused trouble..."
This was the thought that came to mind after returning to my quarters following the Nine Dragon Tournament.
I'm screwed. Completely screwed.
"You idiot, why did you do that."
I remembered Gu Yeon-seo collapsing after getting slapped as a finishing blow. He was even bleeding from his nose...
Given his frail body, the force wouldn't have gone in properly and he didn't even circulate his internal energy, so there shouldn't have been major damage.
"Even so, that was too much."
It doesn't mean my hand was too heavy. By my standards, he deserved more hits, not something to easily brush off.
I simply forgot the status Gu Yeon-seo held.
At a festival hosted by the Gu family, should I have left a blood relative of the Gu family to fall so pathetically surrounded by hundreds of spectators?
Even if Gu Yeon-seo, who was genuinely trying to destroy me, was young so I could let that slide.
Counting my past life, I was more than twice Gu Yeon-seo's age, yet I was too swayed by emotion.
"After all that experience, I'm still immature."
No, isn't it the fault of the Second Elder who put me up there at that age in the first place?
...Why even question it, it's that old man's fault.
*Swoosh*
Wind brushed past with a tickling sound in my ears.
Even though winter has passed, the spring night is still cold.
The fact that I barely felt the cold despite wearing light martial clothes was thanks to the Gu Flame Wheel Technique.
"Ahchoo!"
Turning around at the short sneeze, I saw Muyeon and Wui Seol-ah.
While Muyeon greeted me, Wui Seol-ah approached. She was carrying a bunch of cloth in her hands.
"What are you carrying?"
"Young master... your hand..."
Only at Wui Seol-ah's words did I check my hands.
The skin was all peeled off, and blood was slowly trickling.
Since Gu Yeon-seo had qi circulating all over his body, it must have been the effect of striking him without any protection on my part.
A person who already holds internal energy in their dantian regenerates faster than an ordinary person; this level of wound would disappear quickly if left alone.
"It's just this... This much is fine..."
Without giving me a chance to speak, Wui Seol-ah wrapped my hand with cloth. Not knowing what to do, she just kept wrapping it around—her skill was still clumsy.
If it had to be done, I wanted to wrap it myself, but seeing tears dripping from Wui Seol-ah's eyes, I couldn't bring myself to intervene.
When the Second Elder was beating Peng Wu-jin, she seemed to be having fun, but reacting like this over just this level of injury was a bit bewildering.
'Getting bandaged by Wui Seol-ah, how novel.'
This is something the future Number One Under Heaven is doing. Isn't that somewhat honorable?
The cloth that had been wrapped rapidly only stopped after becoming twice the thickness of my hand.
Stroking what could no longer be distinguished as a hand or a lump of cloth, Wui Seol-ah whimpered.
"Young master, does it hurt a lot...?"
"It didn't hurt originally, but I think it'll hurt because of this."
"So it doesn't hurt? Thank goodness..."
"...Uh, right."
Is she perhaps only hearing what she wants to hear?
After a brief unexpected walk and strolling along the night path for a while, I returned to my quarters.
Is Gu Yeon-seo okay?
'I don't know.'
I decided to try not to care.
There was no chance that any familial affection, which barely existed to begin with, would suddenly appear now.
Not for Gu Yeon-seo. Nor for me.
Returning to my quarters, the light was on in my room. Wondering what was going on, I asked a nearby servant, who looked startled.
'Uh...? They said it was arranged in advance...'
And their face instantly turned pale.
Wondering who could be inside to cause such a reaction, I opened the door, and there—
"Oh! Young Master Gu!"
A madman... No, Peng Wu-jin was sitting there.
******************
"Nice to meet you, I am Peng Wu-jin."
"I know. Young Hero Peng."
"You can call me Brother Peng or Brother Wu, more intimately."
"No, we're not that close..."
Why is this madman here?
And why is Peng A-hui covering her face next to Peng Wu-jin?
Seeing her ears turn bright red, she seemed quite embarrassed.
Roughly grabbing the collar of Peng Wu-jin, who was acting friendly for some reason, Peng A-hui spoke.
"Brother... We caused trouble, so shouldn't we apologize first?"
I could feel her voice trembling with embarrassment.
At Peng A-hui's words, Peng Wu-jin had an expression of realization.
"Right... Since the engagement is broken off, it would have been right to leave A-hui behind. I was too tactless."
"What do I do... He really must be crazy."
I agreed with Peng A-hui's words.
With him constantly spouting nonsense, Peng A-hui finally spoke as if she had no choice.
"I'm sorry for coming to visit so late at night without any notice. Our madman... I mean, my brother insisted on coming to see you no matter what, so I couldn't stop him."
"Young Hero Peng came to see me?"
"You can call me Brother Wu."
"No, I'm fine."
I don't want to get involved with you, sir.
Until the tea I hurriedly had a servant brew cooled, Peng Wu-jin just sat there with a good-natured smile, saying nothing else.
"So why did you come to visit...?"
Did he come to confront me about what the Second Elder did? It seemed to have healed a bit, but one of Peng Wu-jin's cheeks was still swollen.
It was the spot where the Second Elder had hit him directly.
'He said he held back...'
Where does that look like holding back? If he had used just a bit more force, would his head have exploded?
"..."
...Somehow I felt like that might have actually happened, which was a bit scary.
"I have nothing to do with what the Second Elder did. I definitely tried to stop him."
"What are you suddenly talking about?"
Oh, so it wasn't about that?
As I looked puzzled, Peng Wu-jin continued.
"It's nothing special. They say you're Sword Peak's younger brother, and I wanted to see your face once more, so I came for both reasons."
"Are you close with our eldest sister?"
I hadn't heard that Peng Wu-jin was close with Gu Hui-bi, though of course I wasn't particularly close with Gu Hui-bi either.
If I had to say, it was a slightly better relationship than with Gu Yeon-seo?
"I think we're close, but I'm not sure about Sword Peak's side."
'Then you're not close.'
Thinking of Gu Hui-bi's personality, that was even more true. She was the type to fight with Peng Wu-jin, not befriend him.
"So I came to stamp a face seal while I was at it."
"What are you going to use a stamp from me for? I have no special abilities."
What could you get from someone who's half-abandoned by their clan?
Moreover, with the broken engagement with the Peng family, our relationship couldn't be called good.
Peng Wu-jin said.
"I thought Sword Peak was the only interesting one in the Gu family, but there was one more."
Is he referring to me?
Interesting? Why the sudden talk of being interesting? He was like that when we first met too, constantly seeking interest, but I don't know what meaning it holds.
'He's definitely a weird one at least.'
Thinking about how the future supreme experts were all not normal people, it wasn't surprising that he was like this from the start.
Of course, I still didn't want to get involved with him.
I should build connections considering that Peng Wu-jin would be called a Sword Emperor in the future, but...
'He's somehow a difficult person.'
Maybe it was because of his incomprehensible personality, but he was truly a difficult person.
"If you're going to stamp something, it would be better to go to my sister in another quarters. I'm not particularly useful."
"Even if you go now, you won't be able to see her...?"
"...Can't you go tomorrow instead of now?"
Hmm, is she still unconscious?
"I came to see Young Master Gu. Actually, I'm not particularly interested in Young Lady Gu either."
"Brother, can you please filter your words before speaking?"
"Um, I'm sorry. I'm not good at that kind of thing."
Good heavens, what should I do with this person.
My recently calmed headache seemed like it would return.
Whether Peng Wu-jin knew how I felt or not, he suddenly pulled out a black token from his robes.
"This is the stamp I'm giving you, Young Master Gu."
"A stamp?"
The black token only had the character Peng (彭) written on it in yellow. Its exterior didn't look particularly impressive, but it seemed to be something important as Peng A-hui was startled.
"Brother, no matter what, is it okay to just hand this over so casually?"
"What's the matter? They gave it to me to use. It's my choice who I give it to."
"No, but still..."
"What exactly is this?"
"It's a token proving you're a guest of the Peng family. If you bring this and visit our clan, you'll receive the same treatment as a blood relative."
"Please take it back..."
Why is he suddenly handing over something so burdensome?
If I received this, it felt like I'd truly be involved with Peng Wu-jin with no excuse.
"I mean, I do have a history of a broken engagement with your clan..."
"I don't care about that."
"Brother, I care."
"I hope you'll accept it, Young Master Gu."
Peng A-hui's interjection was swallowed like a pill of medicine. There was no way building a good connection with one of the Four Great Clans would be bad.
I couldn't understand at all why Peng Wu-jin was suddenly doing this to me.
"At the very least, wouldn't it be better to give it to our eldest sister if you're keeping it? You said you two are close..."
"I tried to give it to her already, but Sword Peak didn't even acknowledge it. Even I think this is a remarkable item... Why wouldn't she accept it?"
She already rejected it! Damn it.
"Then what about the second sister?"
"I'm giving it because I'm interested in you, Young Master."
"...I like women. Young Hero Peng."
"Ah, of course I like women too. Or is that not the case? It must be."
Why is that a question, you bastard? Saying it like that makes it creepy.
As I continued to firmly refuse, Peng Wu-jin reluctantly took the token back into his robes.
Peng A-hui couldn't bear to lift her face at her crazy brother's actions.
Thank goodness, she seems normal.
As time passed, I wanted to just lie down quickly.
Was it because I moved my body too much from the sudden sparring? I was tired.
Perhaps noticing my condition, Peng Wu-jin expressed regret but said he should probably be going, getting up.
It seemed this was really all he came for.
As he was about to leave, Peng Wu-jin asked me.
"Will you also enter the Divine Dragon Hall, Young Master Gu?"
"Well, I suppose so."
Born as a righteous faction member of a clan, to live as a martial artist, one had to go through the Divine Dragon Hall created by the Martial Alliance at least once.
As for martial arts of the same school, the clan or sect would teach them well, so that was a separate matter.
To operate as a Sword Squad that closes the Demonic Gate, one had to graduate from a Sword Hall to gain knowledge and response methods regarding demonic creatures, and only then would a Sword Squad certificate be issued.
Actually, there wasn't only the Divine Dragon Hall as a Sword Hall; there would be them in each region.
But for the sects and clans that were the main pillars of the righteous faction, going to the Divine Dragon Hall hosted by the Martial Alliance was considered the natural course.
'I've been scheming for a way to escape since a long time ago.'
The training period after entering was a whole year.
I wasn't comfortable enough to waste a year of time.
"Then, you'll soon be my junior."
Peng Wu-jin smiled brightly and patted my shoulder. Blood ties were out and gifts didn't work, so was he aiming for an academic connection?
'Was it a problem that I not only didn't lose to Gu Yeon-seo but beat him too excessively? Why is he so fixated on me?'
It wouldn't have been great even if a woman did it, but having a grown man act like this was absolutely chilling.
Peng Wu-jin left the quarters, and Peng A-hui, who was following him out, paused and looked at me.
"What do you want now?"
"I told you I'm older than you."
"You said it was nauseating to be called that, so what do you want me to do?"
Peng A-hui hesitated for a long time before speaking.
"I'm sorry."
"Why the sudden apology out of nowhere?"
"...The day the engagement was broken off, I slammed you and broke your arm."
"...Did that happen?"
I had something that terrible done to me?
"What did I do for you to do something so scary...?"
"You called me a concubine's child and whatnot."
"You deserved to be hit."
Even if both arms were broken, I would have had nothing to say. Rather, Peng A-hui apologizing seemed strange to me.
"You don't need to apologize. If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I'm sorry about back then."
We're both of illegitimate birth, who would say what to whom.
It was just entirely my inferiority complex.
Whether she accepted my apology or not was Peng A-hui's choice, but her expression seemed to brighten a little.
"Take care."
"You take care too. And even if what my brother gave you is unwelcome, he probably gave it with good intentions, so put it to good use later."
"What did he give you? I returned that earlier..."
It was cold. A dagger flew and embedded itself.
Frantically searching through my robes, the black token that Peng Wu-jin had taken back earlier came to hand.
'When exactly...!?'
When Peng Wu-jin patted my shoulder.
Did he put it in then?
Remembering that, I let out a hollow laugh.
"He really is a madman."
Eventually, I sighed and put the token back into my robes.
******************
On the third day of the Nine Dragon Gathering.
It was the day a festival would be held in the streets as an afterparty, but I lay down in the carriage to return to the clan.
They said Gu Yeon-seo had already left at dawn.
'Thankfully, he woke up.'
Coming to his senses was fortunate, but our relationship was already awkward, and now it seemed it would be even harder to see each other's faces.
After preparations were complete, the carriage departed quickly.
I wanted to rest a bit, but Wui Seol-ah kept leaning on my shoulder, unable to fight off sleep.
I quickly tossed Wui Seol-ah roughly to another servant and surrendered my body to the sleep demon as well.