At my trembling voice, Yeon Ryang laughed softly and ruffled my hair.
“Enough, you little thing. What kind of person is a brat supposed to kill?”
“But......”
“I said enough. Don’t worry. Your brother is here.”
As if telling me not to say anything unnecessary, he grabbed my cheek and stretched it out. His face had already returned to its usual mischievous look.
“Will it really be all right?”
“You erased your traces properly, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I did it the way you taught me. I kept checking for pursuit too, and I deliberately climbed another peak, circled around, and came down.”
“Then it’ll be fine. You worked hard.”
He nodded, crossed his arms, and lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to trust human faith once in a while. And you looked so perfectly like a country bumpkin that no one would have suspected you.”
Then he glanced toward the hermitage on the mountaintop.
“Instead, I should set up a bewildering formation. Better to hide the hermitage so no one can find it.”
“A formation? Brother, you know how to handle formations too?”
“I can only make a clumsy imitation. Anyone skilled in formations would break through it right away, but it’s better than nothing.”
After answering, Yeon Ryang pulled a rock out of the ground.
“Hey, I’ll do it! Brother! Your wound will open!”
“This much is fine. Sit down. It’ll take about fifteen minutes.”
After making me sit on a tree stump, he began bustling around the narrow path leading to the hermitage, adjusting the terrain and landmarks.
At first, I wondered what he was doing, but as I kept watching, I caught a glimpse of a familiar formation shape.
Tang Un had once taught me a trick for escaping when trapped in a formation.
“I can’t teach you the Zhuge Clan’s formations, but...... if you don’t know what to do, just smash everything. Start by splitting apart the conspicuous landmarks, like large rocks, tree stumps, or stone pagodas.”
It was similar to one of the formations Tang Un had shown me while advising me, in his gentle voice, to simply destroy everything.
I narrowed my eyes and asked,
“Brother. Isn’t this a Zhuge Clan formation?”
“Probably. I heard the higher-ups received a formation manual from someone on the Zhuge side.”
“What? There’s a Demonic Sect spy in the Zhuge Clan too?”
“Shh. Your brother’s head will fly off.”
Yeon Ryang winked as if it were a secret.
If Tang Un heard this, he would cough up blood.
If they could steal one of the Zhuge Clan’s secret teachings, then the Demonic Sect’s infiltration ability seemed far better than the world knew.
They’ve dug into Hao Gate and even one of the Five Great Clans? Is it really all right to pretend I don’t know?
I had enough trouble of my own to worry about anyone else, but it was hard to ignore the unease crawling up inside me.
Unable to laugh or cry, I watched Yeon Ryang’s back as he set up the bewildering formation.
*****
Fortunately, what Yeon Ryang feared did not happen.
Even after more than seven days and nights, no one came searching for the hermitage, and no one came after the sword.
The old man seemed to have kept his promise.
Relieved, we dismantled the formation and returned the area around the path to its original state.
Lately, Yeon Ryang looked happier than I had ever seen him before, and it seemed to be thanks to the new sword.
“Brother. Are you polishing the sword again?”
“There’s dust on it.”
“Dust lands on things even if they just sit there.”
“Yes. But dust landed on meteoric iron.”
“......Uh, right. I won’t disturb you. Keep polishing.”
Despite having told me to return it to where it had been immediately, Yeon Ryang treasured his newly acquired sword.
The shock I felt the first time I saw the man who used to clump grass together and roughly wipe grime off his sword now soaking a soft cloth in oil and carefully polishing the blade......
Looking down at him, I whispered quietly.
“Brother. They say when a person starts doing things he never used to do, it means he’s about to die.”
“I see. Then bury the sword with me when you hold my funeral, little sister.”
Yeon Ryang answered calmly and kept polishing the sword until it gleamed.
......If I’d taken that sword back to the iron workshop, he would have cried.
He smiled foolishly as he turned the blue-glinting blade this way and that, then soon hardened his expression and asked worriedly,
“Sohae. Is it really all right for me to use this sword?”
“Ah, Brother. If you ask that one more time, it’ll be the hundredth. I told you, it’s your sword now.”
“This is my first time touching such a good sword, so I can’t get used to it. I’ve only ever used worn-out iron swords my whole life.”
“The Demonic Sect doesn’t even provide proper weapons? What a complete gang of thugs.”
“That way, it’s easier to look third-rate. You stand out if you carry a good sword.”
“......That makes sense. I actually accepted that.”
If he needed to roam the Central Plains and gather information, looking like a neighborhood thug would be more advantageous.
I never thought the day would come when I understood the circumstances of a Demonic Sect member. It gave me a strange sense of self-loathing.
I shook my head hard and said,
“I even sold my brother’s name to bring that sword here. If you don’t use it, who will? It’s your sword, so carry it well.”
“Fine. I understand.”
Yeon Ryang nodded, but his eyes still looked hazy, as though it did not feel real.
“When can I start training? I want to try using it soon.”
“After we get rid of the parasite.”
“That sounds like you’re telling me never to train again for the rest of my life.”
“Of course not. I’ve finished all the preparations for getting rid of it. I made seven days and nights’ worth of the Noble Consort’s medicinal decoction and gave it to Nun Gakmun, and I’m done making the poison to mix into the deworming pills. Now you only need to take them for seven days and nights.”
The color drained from Yeon Ryang’s face, which had been brightening at my words.
“It takes seven days and nights? I don’t expect poison to taste good, but can’t you at least cut down on the honey? The pills you make taste like filth even Beggars’ Union members would avoid, wrapped in honey.”
“Pills are supposed to be made by kneading powdered medicine with honey and rolling it into balls. Seeing as you have enough strength to complain, your body must be doing all right. Let’s go. Time to eat poison.”
“Sohae, you don’t knead it with honey. You make honey preserves...... Forget it. I won’t talk.”
Yeon Ryang swallowed a sigh and rose with an expression of resignation.
The sight of his back trudging toward the cave looked exhausted, like a man carrying all the hardships of the world.
I shrugged and followed him.
*****
I changed the composition of the deworming pills little by little and recorded the changes that appeared in Yeon Ryang’s body each day.
For the first three days, there was no reaction even after he took the deworming pills.
But on the fourth day, the parasite, unable to endure the poison, began to reveal its presence.
At the same time, Yeon Ryang’s complexion visibly worsened.
Yeon Ryang seemed to be trying not to show his pain, but perhaps because the pain made it difficult for him to contain his energy, demonic qi began leaking out little by little.
The strange energy was enough for the nuns of the hermitage to sense something was off.
After some thought, I moved Yeon Ryang’s living space completely to the cave.
It was a choice made both to protect the nuns and to hide Yeon Ryang’s condition.
“Making your patient brother sleep on a stone floor. Isn’t that too much, little sister?”
Despite his grumbling, Yeon Ryang, who was lying on the ground and scattering demonic qi everywhere, looked comfortable.
“I laid straw down for you. Endure it. You’re the one being too much, Brother. The demonic qi is so thick I can’t breathe.”
“Ha ha. Sorry, sorry. It’s because this thing has settled above my dantian. The flow of qi is blocked tight, so I can’t control it as I please.”
“The parasite moved above your dantian?”
“Yes. Every time I try to gather internal energy, the parasite intercepts it halfway. It isn’t even trying to hide that it’s feeding on my internal energy now.”
At the unwelcome news, my brows furrowed on their own.
Is this its final struggle? Above the dantian is dangerous. I’ll have to find a way to lure it somewhere else.
At that moment, the demonic qi poured down as though pressing on my body, and I burst into coughs.
If the one releasing that demonic qi had not been Yeon Ryang, I would have run away. The energy was that wicked.
“Cough, cough! Try to contain it a little, at least! Ugh, how did you ever hide something like this? Now I finally feel like you really are a Demonic Sect member.”
“Who would look at this noble face and think of a Demonic Sect member?”
“Say that after you shave. Brother, right now you’re the very image of a wicked Demonic Sect bastard. That rough beard makes you look twice as scary.”
At my scolding, Yeon Ryang, who had been rolling around on the straw bedding, squirmed and sat up.
His hair, which had only looked dark red when light shone through it, was now red like a burning sunset, and his eyes were a vivid blood color.
My body shrank back automatically at the eerie gaze. I forced myself to act calm and opened my mouth.
“Your eyes are like a Demonic Sect bastard’s too. They look redder than rubies.”
“Ha ha. I didn’t get this nickname for nothing.”
“Nickname? What nickname?”
At my question, Yeon Ryang stretched and wrote a character on the cave floor.
The character for ghost.
I pondered the character, wondering what he meant, then screamed.
“Huh? Brother. Ryang wasn’t your name, but a nickname?”
“Yes. It means ghost of the training cave. Among the children brought in with me, I was the only one whose eyes turned this red. They said my eyes were frightening and called me that.”
“No, who calls a person a ghost?”
“Ha ha. Still, I was happy to get a nickname. Isn’t ghost better than being called Number Twenty-Four?”
“What are you talking about? Both are awful. This is driving me insane. Don’t tell me they called everyone there by numbers.”
“Yes. Once they locked us in the training cave, people died so quickly that it was easier to manage us by numbers. We called each other by numbers too.”
So the madhouse had been somewhere else all along. Taking children and doing this to them......
I could not even think of what to say in response.
After opening and closing my mouth, I barely managed to speak.
“I, I thought it was obviously a name your parents gave you. Don’t you remember your original name?”
“Hard to say. I was too young...... I remember my mother’s voice calling me ‘my child,’ but I don’t remember my name.”
“Then what about the surname Yeon?”
“That’s the surname of the Sect instructor who sent me to the Central Plains. He told me to go out and use his surname.”
“Was he a good person?”
“He fed me well.”
“......I really am going to lose my mind. Is food your standard for a good person? Then am I your benefactor, Brother? I bought you that much meat.”
Frowning, I rubbed away the character written on the ground. Then I wrote a new character in the same spot.
The character for bright.
After dusting off my hands, I tapped the ground.
“Forget ghost. Starting today, this is your name, Brother.”
When Yeon Ryang checked the character I had written, he looked dumbfounded.
“What? That character doesn’t suit me at all. Not even a little, little sister.”
“You know nothing. There’s no character that suits you better than this one. You’re bright. Too bright, actually.”
Even at my shamelessness, Yeon Ryang did not laugh. He simply looked down at the ground.
Lost in thought, he wore an expression I could not describe.
After quietly pushing his loose hair back, Yeon Ryang slowly traced the character I had written.
Then a gentle smile curved his lips. Smiling silently, Yeon Ryang slowly nodded.
“......Yes. Let’s do that.”
