**Between the Cracks of Seolha (雪夏) (3)**
It was past the hour of the Rat, as I had expected.
I was just lying down my tired body and trying to fall asleep.
[To become a proper Daoist, one must forget not only the mundane world, but even impure thoughts toward the opposite sex.]
Old Man Shin’s voice as he spoke in the dead of night was, for some reason, filled with gravity.
Perhaps this was the heaviest emotion I had ever heard from him since we met.
[If you become entangled in personal feelings, you will never reach the heights you seek, either as a martial artist or as a Daoist.]
Though he spat out his words rapidly, his voice did not waver.
[Do you know this? Among those of elder rank or higher in Mount Hua, remarkably few have married. All of it was for the sake of attaining a higher enlightenment.]
The sect master, who was meant to be the symbol, face, and heart of the Daoist sect, did not marry, though there had occasionally been Daoists who did.
Whether anyone had married or not was hardly something I was interested in.
I halfheartedly let Old Man Shin’s words wash over me and asked with a bored expression,
‘…So what’s your point?’
[…I’m telling you to go die, you rotten bastard!]
Old Man Shin suddenly wailed.
[I cannot understand what you see in that mantis-faced bastard, that flowers are tangling around him. The world must be coming to an end….]
‘So, to put it another way, you’re saying, “I died at this age without ever having a proper romance, and this young brat is already doing this”?’
[…]
‘You’re not really angry for such a petty reason, are you?’
[You…little….]
I had never seen him, but I could easily imagine him trembling violently.
In the end, it was a truly pitiful story.
In a way, it was enough to make me understand why Old Man Shin hurled curses at me whenever he got the chance.
‘…But could it be that you’ve never even met—’
[…!…!!…!!!…!]
“Why are you making so much noise…!”
“Mm….”
“…Hmm.”
“…!”
I shrank back at the sound of people tossing and turning on either side of me.
I had been so sleepy that I felt I could pass out at any moment, but….
With the situation like this, all traces of sleep vanished.
In the dim room, Namgung Bia and Wi Seol-ah lay to my left and right, with me between them.
Namgung Bia had fallen asleep as soon as she lay down, just like yesterday. Wi Seol-ah had chatted away while watching me lie rigidly beside her for a long while, before eventually falling asleep.
And.
I, who had been unable to sleep and had been dragged into one incident after another all day, was once again unable to sleep tonight.
When I opened the door, I had been so shocked. They had prepared the bedding and were even beckoning me to come in.
For a moment, I thought I had lost my mind and was dreaming.
If someone asked how things had come to this….
The first reason was that, with one thing after another erupting, I had never gotten around to asking where Namgung Bia’s quarters were.
The second was that I could not bring myself to do anything after seeing Wi Seol-ah about to cry when I said I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep.
‘…Why is Elder Sister allowed to, but I’m not…?’
She had said that while shedding fat tears, leaving me with nothing to say.
I did have the convenient excuse that she was merely a servant.
But once I said that aloud, I would never be able to take it back.
I could already imagine the expression Wi Seol-ah would make. More importantly, I simply could not bring myself to say it.
In the end, with the Sword Venerable absent and no strength left to bicker over the matter, I had just lain down.
They called it Seolha (雪夏).
“Snow in summer”—an impossible combination of words.
Could it really be cold enough for snow to fall in summer?
Despite being such an absurd expression, I felt that I was only now beginning to understand what it meant, if only a little.
—Ssshh.
—Ssshhhh.
The sound of Namgung Bia’s and Wi Seol-ah’s breathing reached both my ears.
The faint, distinctive scent of their skin made it impossible to sleep.
There was no chance to feel the heat. I was so out of it that I wondered if I was actually cold instead.
I usually slept curled up like a shrimp, but I couldn’t do that here. No matter which way I turned, I would be facing one of them.
[What an unusually perverted thing to call it—the scent of skin.]
‘…Please get some sleep.’
[Have you ever seen a ghost sleep?]
‘…Damn.’
I raised my upper body with my exhausted limbs.
After remaining hunched over in a strange position for so long, both my shoulders throbbed.
“Mm….”
I thought I had moved as carefully as possible, but Wi Seol-ah, who had been clinging to my arm as though hanging from it, made a sound at the movement.
In her sleep, Wi Seol-ah was chewing on her disheveled bangs.
She looked as though she was eating something in her dream as well.
‘What on earth are you eating?’
Could it be noodles?
Thinking such pointless thoughts, I brushed Wi Seol-ah’s bangs back into place.
Once her covered forehead was revealed, Wi Seol-ah’s pale skin and vivid red lips stood out.
Though her face had yet to fully mature, it already radiated a striking beauty.
‘In another year or two, I’ll have to put a veil over her face as well.’
A veil for a servant? It might seem strange, but it couldn’t be helped. She wasn’t merely somewhat pretty, and considering my past life, it was necessary.
In a year or two, I would have to do so.
‘If we’re still together by then….’
It was a bitter thought.
I had always assumed that Wi Seol-ah would not remain with me forever.
It would not be strange for her to leave at any time.
For now, I could feel the excessive affection and attention Wi Seol-ah gave me.
But was this really something I was allowed to accept?
I couldn’t help thinking that without meaning to.
“Mm….”
With a murmur in her sleep, Wi Seol-ah lightly closed her hand around mine.
I could feel her warm, soft palm.
“Grandfather….”
Was she dreaming of the Sword Venerable? I gently stroked Wi Seol-ah’s head, then slowly and silently rose, realizing I would not be able to sleep like this.
I took one of the pillows and walked into a corner.
[You’re doing something you’ll regret.]
‘I don’t regret it in the slightest.’
If I went without a wink of sleep until tomorrow, I might die of exhaustion, martial artist or no martial artist.
I tossed down the pillow and lay down carelessly.
Once the sound of their breathing and the scent that had been driving me mad disappeared, I was fortunately able to fall asleep soon after.
******************
—Chirp… chirp!
I slowly regained consciousness at the inconsiderate sound of birds chirping.
Just hearing that much told me it was morning.
“…Uuugh….”
I had wanted to sleep until at least noon, so why had I woken up this early?
Swallowing my irritation, I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t move properly, as though something had me pinned down.
‘…Am I paralyzed by sleep paralysis?’
I groaned and shifted this way and that to investigate.
Then I saw pale blue-white hair lying slightly over my upper body.
“…What?”
Once I had barely gathered my wits, I realized, absurdly, that both my arms had been stolen from me.
Namgung Bia and Wi Seol-ah were sleeping while holding me from either side as though restraining me.
‘…I came all the way to the corner to sleep, so what are they doing here?’
What on earth had happened during the night?
“…Old Man.”
[Do not call me.]
“What do you mean…. Did something happen during the night?”
[I saw nothing.]
What was he talking about…?
Putting Old Man Shin’s strange reaction aside, I wanted to escape and get up somehow, but they were holding on so tightly that my arms would not come free.
“…Why are they even doing this? What if someone sees us….”
Creeeak.
“…that is.”
As if waiting for me to say it, the door opened, and someone met my eyes.
There was no servant who would casually open the door to my room without saying anything.
Nor would it be an ordinary Mount Hua disciple.
That left very few possibilities.
“…”
“…Uh.”
The moment I recognized who it was, a cold sweat broke out across my back.
Of all the people I had imagined, this was probably the least likely.
The person who opened the door and appeared was none other than Gu Ryeong-hwa.
Gu Ryeong-hwa silently looked from me to the two girls in turn, and her expression grew increasingly sour.
The situation certainly looked bad, but how was I supposed to explain this?
That it wasn’t the situation she thought it was, and that we had only held hands while sleeping?
‘…Wow, how convincing.’
It was not something I could offer as an excuse after waking up in the morning entangled with two women.
As I wondered what I should say, Gu Ryeong-hwa, who seemed as though she might say something, instead frowned and closed the door again.
“…I’ll wait outside.”
From her chilly tone beyond the door, I realized it was already too late.
With the situation resembling an exploding bomb, I struggled to move somehow, then used the hand I had finally managed to free to tickle Wi Seol-ah’s side.
“Eek—!”
Perhaps I had tickled her too hard, because Wi Seol-ah woke instantly and rolled away with half a scream.
The moment one hand was freed, I flicked Namgung Bia squarely on the forehead.
“…Mm?”
Only after external pressure was applied did Namgung Bia’s eyes open slightly.
Taking advantage of the moment her strength loosened, I pulled out both arms and rose, then hurried out of the room.
When I stepped outside, Gu Ryeong-hwa was sitting on the wooden veranda.
As I rolled my eyes around, unsure what to say, Gu Ryeong-hwa spoke first.
“My master wants to see you.”
“…What?”
The statement was so unexpected that I was caught off guard.
“She must have regretted not seeing you when you came last time.”
Last time—did she mean when I delivered the letter to the Divine Physician?
“The Sword Empress?”
Why would the Sword Empress want to see me?
She had said she was friends with my mother. Was it because I was her son?
“…She asked you to visit her one more time before returning home.”
“…All right. Did you come all the way here just to tell me that? This early in the morning?”
“Are you insane? Of course I came because I had business too. I just took care of this while I was here.”
She spoke with an expression full of annoyance.
“But if I’d known I was going to see something like that first thing in the morning, I would’ve come later.”
“…What brings you to Mount Hua?”
“Is it strange for a disciple to visit her own sect?”
“It could be strange for you.”
I said this because I knew she had been staying in a hut to care for the Sword Empress.
Gu Ryeong-hwa’s face had been screwed up as though she were chewing on a bug for quite some time before she let out a deep sigh.
“…I only stopped by because of the Jehwa Tournament, so mind your own business.”
“I was minding it until you suddenly showed up.”
“…Tsk.”
“Are you participating in the Jehwa Tournament too?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Right.”
I had planned to go down to the family estate as soon as the Jehwa Tournament ended. Since I had already returned the ghostly object, and Gu Ryeong-hwa was saying she would not return home just yet—
‘Then perhaps I don’t need to wait?’
As long as matters involving Jegal Hyeok and the Black Night Palace were sorted out, it seemed there would be no problem with leaving immediately.
While I was lost in thought, Gu Ryeong-hwa stood up, apparently having finished what she came to say.
“I’ve said everything I needed to. Go back inside and play with those ugly girls or whatever.”
“What did you say…? Ugly…?”
“Yeah, anyway, the only women you go around with are—”
Gu Ryeong-hwa’s mouth abruptly shut as she was about to hurl more abuse.
Her eyes had widened enormously, and her pupils trembled. I could tell how startled she was.
She was looking in the right direction, but not at me.
If anything, she was looking…. Behind me?
“Hmm?”
Wondering what was going on, I turned around and saw Namgung Bia leaning against the door, looking at Gu Ryeong-hwa with half-lidded, sleepy eyes.
Wi Seol-ah was there too, embracing her waist and dozing beside her.
Perhaps seeing the two of them at once had delivered such a shock, because Gu Ryeong-hwa stood frozen.
Even one of them was shockingly beautiful, and with the two of them standing together, was it simply too much?
Gu Ryeong-hwa alternated her gaze between me and the two behind me, her lips trembling as though she wanted to say something.
But perhaps she could not bring herself to utter it. She abruptly stood and disappeared from the quarters with heavy, pounding footsteps.
“What was that…?”
…Why was she acting like that?
******************
After feeding the two girls with their terrible sleeping habits as well, Wi Seol-ah was dragged away by Hongwa as usual, while Namgung Bia headed toward the rear mountain, presumably to train.
Around noon, I was summoned so we could finish discussing the Black Night Palace bastards.
“Not a single part of them is intact.”
The corpses of the Segoo.
There had been more than five, but two of the bodies were in such poor condition—perhaps because of beasts—that we had not brought them along.
One had died with its neck twisted, while the others had burned to death.
Since I was responsible for all of it, there was not much I could say.
There was only one thing I knew for certain.
‘Fortunately, they don’t seem to be Demonic Men.’
Those who became Demonic Men by the Heavenly Demon’s hand had their skin turn black the moment their breath ceased.
These men only looked relatively black because they had been burned. It was different from that.
The man who had been diligently examining the corpses spoke to the Plum Blossom Sword.
“One of them is too badly disfigured to identify with certainty, but the other two appear to have been active in Gyeryong Stronghold.”
The scale-shaped scars running across their shoulders, as though made by slashing them with a blade, seemed to be a symbol of that group.
The scars looked old, so they could not have been made in haste.
“…Wasn’t Gyeryong Stronghold dismantled by the Martial Alliance a few years ago?”
Bandits were difficult to come across in this day and age, but that did not mean they no longer existed.
“I suspect the ones who weren’t caught back then were absorbed somewhere else.”
It was common for men who had nowhere else to go to join another group.
It wasn’t as though they would suddenly repent and become good men.
And, for the most part, the places such men joined were limited.
‘The Black Night Palace.’
Plum Blossom Immortal and the other elders were probably frowning because that place had come to mind.
Or perhaps they were connecting it to the reason Mount Hua’s disciples had been disappearing.
“…Sect Leader, wouldn’t it be best to expand the search area?”
One of the elders, who had remained silent for some time, spoke up.
They had managed to catch hold of a lead, so he was suggesting that they widen the scope.
Of course, not everyone agreed.
“Senior Brother. If we do that, we may lose even more disciples.”
“Then are you saying we should stand by while trembling in fear? We’ve already lost so many disciples…!”
“That may be true, but…!”
“Enough.”
Whoosh-!
At the Sect Leader’s single, curt word, the scent of plum blossoms spread sharply in every direction. Having subdued the atmosphere in an instant, Plum Blossom Immortal soon smiled again and spoke.
“We have an outsider present. I understand your impatience, but calm yourselves a little.”
“…I apologize.”
“I apologize… Sect Leader.”
I merely watched in silence with a blank expression. Fortunately, unlike during my previous conversation with Plum Blossom Immortal, no arrows were turned in my direction.
“As for the search, I have already given it some thought.”
“You have, Sect Leader?”
“…It is rather hurtful to see such distrust in your eyes.”
“…I apologize.”
He apologized without denying it.
Such trust from his own disciples… Just how much trouble had they caused for him to be treated like that…?
“…Ahem, in any case. Young Master Gu was unavoidably caught up in Mount Hua’s affairs, so I must apologize to you once again.”
“It’s all right.”
“I have heard the circumstances from beginning to end. After I finish discussing the matter with the elders, I will prepare compensation.”
“…Thank you.”
Honestly, I wanted to put on a false show of modesty, saying that it was something they should have done anyway and that they didn’t need to compensate me at this point. But I had a feeling that if I said that, Plum Blossom Immortal would immediately seize upon my words.
Sure enough, Plum Blossom Immortal looked at me with a peculiar gaze.
However, with the other disciples present, he seemed unable to play around.
Since the others still appeared to have matters to discuss regarding this incident, I paid my respects and withdrew.
[It seems to have gone well.]
“Indeed. I had prepared all sorts of things to say, but… it turned out I didn’t need any of them.”
[There are things one can sense precisely because one is a Daoist.]
“That sounds far too all-purpose. That statement of yours.”
At times, it seemed as though Old Man Shin did not attach much significance to Mount Hua in the future.
Not when he heard that its disciples were disappearing. Not even in a situation like this.
It felt as though he was simply satisfied that Mount Hua still existed.
What was happening now was something that the future generations alone had to endure and overcome.
I believed he had said something along those lines.
Could this also be considered a form of enlightenment…?
Thinking this and that, I climbed up to the mountain where I had trained last time.
If I went straight to my quarters, I would probably do nothing but sleep, so I decided to train instead.
But then.
“What is she doing over there again…?”
I had known Namgung Bia was there from the tingling sensation I felt even while climbing the path.
It was fainter than yesterday, but without a doubt, it was Namgung Bia’s presence.
But I sensed one more presence as well.
-Damn it…! Why can’t I land even a single hit…!
She swung a wooden sword while huffing angrily, then caught her foot on Namgung Bia’s trick and tumbled down with a thud.
Unlike yesterday, there was no one around watching them. Perhaps they were all undergoing some other group training.
The person who had tripped rolled several times across the dirt ground.
Since this was apparently not the first time, her martial uniform was already covered in dust.
“…What is she doing there?”
Namgung Bia watched her opponent with her usual expressionless face.
And the person lying facedown on the ground, huffing furiously, was astonishingly Gu Ryeonghwa.