20 – 02# *Uhu Ji Sil* (3)

Having a strange girl suddenly nuzzle into me was quite a startling experience. But it wasn’t exactly a difficult task, so I stroked her hair as she wished.

The texture of the worn, white hair was far softer than I had imagined. Seemingly pleased by the head pats, the girl closed her eyes, fully enjoying the sensation on her skin.

The way she tilted her head from side to side, following my hand, made her look like a dog that was well-behaved. Judging that I had petted her enough, I removed my hand from her head.

But she clearly wasn’t satisfied yet. The girl looked back and forth between me and my hand with a noticeably disappointed expression. In appearance, she was around the same age as Sua, but her behavior was a little…

“Feels good, do it some more.”

“Impertinent. Shouldn’t you first express your gratitude for having your life saved?”

“Impertinent? Gratitude?”

“…Are you mocking me right now?”

“Mocking? Who? Me?”

Even as Sua’s face openly displayed her anger, the girl tilted her head and asked the question innocently. It was far from the expression of someone trying to mock or ridicule you.

At that, I raised my hand, stopping Sua who looked like she was about to explode in anger at any moment. Fortunately, Sua seemed to notice something amiss, as she obediently retreated behind me.

“Do you happen to have a name?”

“What’s a name?”

“…What did people call you?”

“They called me Number Three. Ah, perhaps Number Three *is* my name?”

“Master, this is…”

Sua looked at me with a grave expression, and I, in turn, nodded. It seemed the girl was trapped in an age far younger than we’d first reckoned.

Trapped in a time meant for learning and growth, without even the basic care, let alone dreams of education. Her body grew with each passing day, but her mind remained stunted, leaving her no choice but to become like this.

Hoping she might remember something, anything, I asked her a myriad of questions, but it was too cruel a burden to place on a girl who couldn’t even recall her own name. In the end, it was all for naught.

“It seems we have no choice but to take her to the physician again tomorrow.”

“But just taking her to the physician… I doubt it will bring any real improvement.”

“Perhaps not. But at least we might receive some advice.”

As expected, the next morning, we descended into the village early and presented the girl to Physician Lee Cheong-woo, but he only stated that she was beyond his abilities. That teaching her from the very beginning was the only viable path.

“Is there perhaps somewhere we could entrust this child?”

“Well… The people aren’t desperately poor, but neither are they well-off enough to take in a child unable to work…”

The village of Seoche, nestled at the foot of Mt. Geumhyeon, wasn’t impoverished, but neither was it prosperous. They might have considered taking in a healthy child capable of working.

But nobody would accept a mouth to feed without any compensation, a drain on their resources. They could only cluck their tongues at the pity of it all. After all, that cost them nothing.

And I couldn’t fault them for their lack of charity. An extra mouth was an extra burden, more so when that mouth couldn’t even pull its own weight.

“I will take her in.”

“Are you serious?”

Strictly speaking, there was one person willing to take her in. A man named An Tak, living in Seoche, notorious throughout the village as a drunkard and a lecher.

“Indeed, she’s not scrawny, and quite pretty… ahem!! Never mind.”

“…Let us introduce ourselves. This child’s name is Jumeok.”

“Jumeok? A rather peculiar name for a girl.”

“No, really, her name is Jumeok.”

Looking at the girl clinging to my leg like a shadow and then at An Tak’s clearly unwholesome excitement, I decided to introduce my own fist to An Tak’s face instead.

“Now even bizarre perverts are drawn out of the woodwork.”

“Um, Master. If you don’t mind…”

“What is it?”

“Since they don’t have the means to take her in, perhaps we could offer some financial assistance…”

“That was my intention from the start.”

At my words, Sua stared at me with wide, startled eyes. It wasn’t that I hadn’t considered offering money from the beginning. But if we offered money from the start, who would refuse?

“But… If we have to pay just to have someone begrudgingly accept her… I doubt the child would be happy in such a place.”

“Ah, I see. Forgive me, Master. I failed to understand your deeper meaning.”

“It’s enough that you understand it now. At least today you are wiser than you were yesterday.”

“Your words are wise indeed!”

Was this to be my fate, then? I sighed, turning my gaze to the girl. Already, she had plopped down on the dirt, chasing after a butterfly flitting nearby with all her might.

“Child.”

“Why do you call?”

“That… even still…!!!”

“It is alright, Sua. From now on, I can teach her myself, can’t I?”

“Pardon? You mean…”

They say even a brush of sleeves is fate, is it not? To begin an *inyeon*, with such an unusual encounter as plucking her from the river, it must be the will of heaven. I stroked the girl’s head.

“From this moment forth, your name shall be Seolhwa.”

Understand? Daeshik… no, Seolhwa.

◇

The Righteous Sects, rooted in Taoist or Buddhist traditions, value scholarship and etiquette as much as martial prowess. Truly, they deserved the title of prestigious clan. Sua was no different.

However, that did not lead her to criticize the master who had taken in the girl – no, Seolhwa. Rather, Sua approved of sheltering a pitiful child with nowhere else to go.

Especially, the wounds and scars that marred Seolhwa’s body were proof enough that she had lived a life no less arduous than her own. At first, she felt only pity.

‘Now that I look at it, she was a pitiful child. I should take good care of her.’

Besides, after all, weren’t they disciples under the same master? That meant Seolhwa was the first junior sister Sua had ever had. In the Moryong Clan, she was almost always the youngest.

But that notion didn’t even last half a month, for Seolhwa’s talent far exceeded what Sua had imagined. Confined and unable to learn in her younger years, that’s all.

The speed at which she mastered academics was astonishing, even to Sua. In just half a month, she had begun to read and write a little Hanja, and even perfectly digested their Master’s Three Brilliance Sword Style.

‘Master’s insight is unmatched. He must have recognized Seolhwa’s talent the moment he saw her…’

Of course, objectively speaking, it was true that she still fell short of Sua’s talent. Sua possessed the ability to perfectly execute any technique she saw, in place, at the time.

But even with all her talent, Seolhwa was not quite *that* gifted. Originally, Sua had no reason whatsoever to be jealous of Seolhwa. Except when it came to their Master.

“You’ve grasped a certain amount of the feel in just three days.”

“But, I still don’t do well…”

“That speed is plenty fast. At this rate, you will be able to perfectly master the Sword-Saber Heart Technique within a month, minimum.”

“…….”

The Sword-Saber Heart Technique was a technique she had never heard of, until now. The mere fact that it was a technique used by their Master was enough to make its value indescribable.

“I, I want to learn the Sword-Saber Heart Technique too! Master!!”

“Do you not already have the Moryong Clan’s Heart Technique?”

“…….”

“Heart techniques are rooted in the *tonapsul* method of exhaling and inhaling. Suddenly changing the technique, which is like a breath you’ve grown accustomed to, could weaken you, or worse, lead to internal demons.”

It was the correct course. Usually, a martial artist would accumulate inner energy in their dantian through respiration techniques practiced from childhood, but to suddenly change that in a single day was exceedingly dangerous. Inviting qi deviation, of course.

At worst, opposing energies could clash, rupturing the dantian, leaving one unable to practice martial arts ever again. Sua understood this well.

She could no longer stubbornly insist, nodding her head in reluctant agreement. Sua, a daughter of a prestigious orthodox sect, could not be ignorant of this truth. Nevertheless.

‘What, then, is this emptiness?’

A sense of alienation, as if she alone were walking a different path, gripped Sua’s heart. She forgot even to wield her sword, simply watching as her teacher instructed Seolhwa.

“Swing it with more strength.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Formalities later, focus entirely on the form right now.”

“Yes!!”

“That’s it, that’s how it’s done!”

Seolhwa faithfully followed her teacher’s instructions, and in response, the teacher, pleased with his new disciple’s progress, was generous with his praise. Watching this, Sua finally began to understand.

Ah, so that’s it.

Why her heart felt so empty and sore.

Why she kept harboring such wicked thoughts.

Now she knew.

“That place was originally mine alone…”

The teacher’s praise, the gaze filled with interest.

The hand that would pat her head, saying she had done well.

It was only in that moment that she finally realized.

In the girl’s chest, a flame named jealousy began to blaze fiercely.