Sword Phoenix. (5)
How much time had passed?
Judging by the fact that my sleepiness had not yet properly faded, it probably had not been long.
“How does it make sense for someone who’s in the prime of growing up not to eat!?”
At the ear-piercing shout, I rubbed my sleepy eyes and sat up.
I saw a dumpling in front of me.
....Why was there a dumpling here?
Was this a dream? Had I eaten so many dumplings that I was seeing them even in my dreams?
“...Dumpling, a meat dumpling?”
“Little brother, are you sleep-talking?”
Red eyes that seemed intent on waking me came into view.
Only then did the sluggish mind that had been wandering aimlessly in my half-asleep state begin to work properly.
The blurry figure before me gradually came into focus.
Her features were striking, with a clear and forceful presence even at a glance.
Thanks to that, I did not need to wonder for long who was standing before me.
“Big Sis…?”
“That’s right. Your cool and beautiful big sister.”
I paid no heed to the strange nonsense.
“Why are you here, Big Sis?”
“Am I not allowed to be here?”
“You shouldn’t be, since this is my room.”
“Then it’s my room too.”
“...What are you talking about? Did you drink, Big Sis?”
At my habitual, blunt retort, Gu Huibi flicked me on the forehead.
I swiftly shifted my head aside and dodged it.
Seeing that, one of Gu Huibi’s eyebrows rose.
“Oh? You dodged?”
“No, but why do you try to hit me the moment you see me?”
“What kind of manners are those for a little brother speaking to the sister who went out of her way to bring food because he was skipping meals?”
“...Then you should have sent a servant. Why come all the way here yourself?”
I did not say the rest of what I was thinking—Why bother anyone like this?
If I had said that too, I felt like I might have been burned alive.
Gu Huibi immediately raised her hand to hit me again, but quickly lowered it.
Had she lost interest? She slowly handed me the bowl of dumplings.
“I picked them up on the way here, so don’t skip dinner. Eat.”
“Were dumplings something you could just pick up on the way…?”
“You talk too much. Want to burn black alongside the dumplings?”
Before she could put her words into action, I quickly picked up a dumpling and ate it.
It was still warm, as though it had just been steamed.
“...Thank you.”
It felt a little awkward, but either way, she had brought them thinking of me.
Gu Huibi gave a short laugh, apparently amused by my thanks.
“You said thank you? I don’t know how many years it’s been since my little brother spoke kindly to me. Are the dumplings that delicious?”
Had I really been like that?
It would not have been strange if something much worse had slipped out.
At this point, I should have hated not only my own bloodline but the entire Gu clan.
“Regardless, you did me a favor. What’s wrong with saying thank you?”
“You’re still just as rude as ever, but what could have happened to make you change this much…? Was it because of that Namgung girl?”
At Gu Huibi’s words, I spat out the dumpling I had been eating.
I had choked on it.
“Ghk... cough...”
“You must be thrilled if you’re choking while eating.”
I could feel her glaring at me.
What the hell was she suddenly talking about?
“Why are you bringing up Namgung out of nowhere? I almost died.”
“She’s pretty, isn’t she?”
“...This is driving me insane.”
Gu Huibi was not even listening properly.
She had always been the sort of person who heard only what she wanted to hear.
Pretty...?
Objectively speaking, Namgung Bia was on the beautiful side.
Very much so.
If one wanted to find someone across the Central Plains who could compare with Namgung Bia in terms of appearance, one would have to bring out someone like Wi Seol-a, who had been so pitifully made to stand punishment earlier.
Even in my previous life, the sight of her sweeping across the battlefield with blood on her face had been alluring enough to remain in my memories.
Though from the perspective of someone who had been tormented by her until I was sick of it, all of that was meaningless now.
“The Thunder Dragon did say she was pretty.”
“...You know that guy?”
“I’ve only seen him a few times, and we didn’t talk often. He also seemed a little suspicious.”
Well, how many people in this vast yet narrow world had been given epithets related to dragons and phoenixes? It was only natural that they would have crossed paths.
What was unusual was that Gu Huibi had said he seemed suspicious.
Namgung seemed fairly good at putting on an act, but was Gu Huibi simply perceptive?
By the time I finished eating the dumplings, Gu Huibi took something out of her robe.
I was rendered speechless when I saw what it was.
“...Big Sis.”
“What?”
“What is that?”
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
I could tell. I was asking because I wanted to know, you idiot.
What Gu Huibi had taken out was none other than baijiu, the sort sold at the local tavern.
Why had she suddenly brought alcohol into someone else’s quarters?
Gu Huibi saw my expression and chuckled.
“Want a drink too, little brother?”
“...Tell me honestly. You already drank before coming here, didn’t you?”
She clearly did not seem to be in her right mind....?
Whether I insulted her or not, Gu Huibi deftly took out a drinking cup from her robe as well and began pouring herself a drink.
“Are you going to drink that and leave?”
“No? I’m going to lie down and sleep here.”
Oh....
That was the most uniquely insane thing I had heard in a while.
“Then sleep here. I’ll go sleep somewhere else.”
“How cold. Wouldn’t it be nice for brother and sister to sleep together affectionately after so long?”
“After so long, my ass. We’ve never even slept together in the first place.”
So we were not exactly a close-knit family, then.
Even after saying it, I watched Gu Huibi’s reaction carefully.
I wanted to be ready in case she tried to hit me again.
But strangely, Gu Huibi merely looked toward the moon and smiled faintly without saying anything.
‘What was that…? Had we slept together before?’
I had no such memory across my entire previous life, so what was that odd expression?
Perhaps she had only understood my words belatedly. After taking another sip, Gu Huibi began laughing loudly.
“That’s right! We’ve never even lain down and slept together. You’re as cold-hearted as ever.”
“When are you leaving…?”
“Little brother, why do you keep trying to send me away?”
“Because this is my room?”
Was that not an entirely reasonable assertion of my rights...?
Gu Huibi paid little attention to my words and simply continued tilting her cup.
Drip, drip.
She had been drinking so quickly that the bottle she had brought already seemed to be empty.
A few drops fell quietly into her cup.
As though disappointed, Gu Huibi withdrew the cup and rose to her feet.
Was she finally leaving?
“Little brother.”
Gu Huibi called out to me.
She seemed slightly flushed with drunkenness from drinking so quickly.
‘She’s getting drunk?’
I tilted my head at the strange sight.
If the Guyeom Hwarungong had reached the fifth star, she should have long since surpassed the First-Class level by a martial artist’s standards.
She should not have been at a level where she could be troubled by a little alcohol.
She must have deliberately allowed herself to get drunk.
I had heard that this was something martial artists who enjoyed liquor often did, but had Gu Huibi been fond of drinking?
I had no memory of it.
“Yes?”
At my answer, Gu Huibi beckoned.
As though telling me to come closer.
At that moment, the moon that had been hidden emerged and illuminated Gu Huibi as she beckoned me over.
Her hair, tinged with a faint red glow due to the influence of her cultivation technique, seemed to shine even more brightly beneath the moonlight.
“The moon’s pretty too. How about you and your big sister have a go after all this time?”
“You really did drink about three bottles before coming here, didn’t you?”
Was she insane...?
What did the moon have to do with anything? Why was she suddenly suggesting that we fight?
The remark was so absurd that I dropped the dumpling I had been eating.
Gu Huibi merely smiled at the sight.
The slight redness on her face, which she had not expelled with her internal energy, annoyed me.
“Little brother.”
“Yes?”
“Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
“What are you talking about?”
Was she asking whether I would be all right after getting hit?
I had absolutely no interest in being the one who got hit.
Honestly, I was still exhausted and wanted to sleep a little longer.
Sleep a little more, then get up later and...
“That. Are you sure you don’t need to release it?”
“....!”
At Gu Huibi’s sudden words, I set down the dumpling.
I looked at her with newly awakened eyes.
The tip of Gu Huibi’s finger was pointed toward my dantian.
....How had she known?
Over the course of several days, I had consolidated the energy I had obtained from the enormous serpent, but the energy that had failed to merge still remained within my body.
Energy that could not merge with a martial artist and instead wandered through the body was poison.
At the same time, I could not afford to recklessly attempt to absorb it and bear the calamity that might result.
Qi deviation was frightening, no matter what.
A martial artist who had transcended the limits of an ordinary human being could still be in danger of qi deviation at the drop of a hat.
‘Or is it that I’ve done enough things to cause qi deviation that it would be strange if I hadn’t?’
The reason I had kept the energy within me instead of expelling it was greed.
The greedy hope that perhaps I might be able to absorb this energy too.
Because of that, my body, which should have been perfectly fine, was feeling fatigued.
The solution was simple.
Expel the energy wandering within my body.
Whether through training or a spar, it did not matter.
With an incredulous expression, I said to Gu Huibi,
“...Are you saying we should beat each other up under the moon because of that?”
“Not exactly. I just want to teach my rude little brother a lesson.”
“What does that even—”
A strange thought suddenly crossed my mind.
I doubted it was the case, but for some reason, suspicion took root.
“Was that also why you picked a fight with me earlier over such a ridiculous excuse?”
Earlier in the daytime, when Gu Huibi had threatened me in my quarters while emitting an insane amount of heat.
To endure it, I had been forced to draw out and use my energy.
At my words, Gu Huibi flinched for a moment, but soon recovered her expression.
“Little brother, don’t you think you’re a little too self-important? Why would I go through something so troublesome?”
“Are you really saying that wasn’t it?”
“You’re getting awfully talkative. Do I need to burn all your hair off to shut you up?”
Burn all my hair off... What a cruel thing to say.
At some point, a wooden sword had appeared in Gu Huibi’s hand.
When had she brought that along?
Had she come to see me with this in mind from the very beginning?
“It’s been a few months since I last saw you. Do you think your sister looks easy now? You haven’t grown even a single inch, but your nerve certainly has.”
Gu Huibi hurled abuse at me with a mischievous smile, but I did not take it to heart.
The meeting earlier today—which had been a few months ago for Gu Huibi but several years ago for me—had been the same, and so was this moment.
I swallowed the dumpling I had been eating, stood, and walked toward Gu Huibi.
Gu Huibi stared at me with an expression of surprise.
Why did she look like that when she had called me over herself?
“...Oh, little brother. You’re not running away this time?”
“You don’t actually intend to beat me senseless, so don’t put on an act.”
I walked past Gu Huibi. I was heading toward the training ground.
Turning my head slightly, I said to her,
“If we fight here, the entire building will be destroyed.”
“Someone who’ll collapse after one hit is worried about the building.”
She said that and giggled.
Ignoring Gu Huibi, I slowly made my way toward the training ground.
Normally, I would have talked back and resisted, but no matter how wretchedly I had lived.
Even I could not so easily spit harsh words at someone who had died for my sake.
******************
What did you think blood ties meant?
In the past, I had thought they held no meaning at all.
That had been true of my father at the time, and likewise of my other sisters.
Our only connection was that we happened to share the same father.
We had not even been born from the same womb.
It meant that the mothers who had given birth to us were different.
That was the kind of relationship Gu Huibi and I had.
Even within that gap, we had never been particularly close.
The most talented swordswoman in the history of the Gu clan.
And the most pathetic young clan head in the history of the Gu clan.
That enormous difference crushed me.
I could not place the reason for all my sins here.
But I could not say that it had played no part in the reason I had gone astray.
An inferiority complex was originally that frightening, selfish, and pathetic.
When I was young, I thought of Gu Huibi as a monstrous woman who tried to seize me as though she meant to kill me.
Why was she so eager to devour me?
At the time, I thought it was because I had easily taken the position of young clan head that she herself could not possess.
Disgusting.
What was this position that I had thought Gu Huibi would covet it so badly?
I had not even realized that I was crawling into purgatory of my own accord.
Gu Huibi and I stood facing each other in the silent training ground.
The tip of Gu Huibi’s wooden sword was pointed at me.
Though the training ground was dark in the night, it posed no problem for the Gu clan’s blood relatives.
Whoosh!
A red aura slowly wrapped around Gu Huibi’s body.
This was an insight that could be gained only after the Guyeom Hwarungong had fully reached the fifth star.
It was not merely a matter of containing heat and emitting heat.
The cultivation technique and internal energy had completely fused together, changing form.
It resembled a flame blazing fiercely.
The night was dark, but a Gu clan martial artist would not fear it, for they carried their own light within themselves.
Those were the words left behind by the founder of the Gu clan.
As if to prove them, the flames that seemed ready to consume Gu Huibi reached all the way to the wooden sword.
Her internal energy was so powerful and abundant that the once-dark training ground brightened with it.
My muddled eyes slowly, clearly captured the sight of Gu Huibi.
Her appearance was not much different from that of my previous life.
Once the body had finished growing, aging progressed slowly alongside the level of one’s martial prowess.
And so, in Gu Huibi’s appearance, I could not help but confront that terrible past.
One arm had been crushed and could no longer function.
I had watched her two eyes slowly lose their vitality.
Had it been raining then too?
It could not have been particularly pleasant weather.
“Little brother.”
[Little brother.]
Gu Huibi’s voice overlapped with the voice from that time.
Was it because I was tired?
No, it was probably not that.
It was because I still had not forgotten that moment.
If time continued to pass, and someday I died and was able to meet Gu Huibi again.
There was one thing I wanted to ask her.
The words she had spoken to me with a smile while she was dying.
I wanted to ask her.
Why had she said those words to me?
Why had she gone so far for my sake?
I would never be able to hear the answer now, but—
“Are you not coming?”
[Be sure to be happy.]
I simply wanted to ask.
“No. I’m coming.”
I took a step toward Gu Huibi.