“You bastard! It’s good to see your face. You never sent word, so I thought you were dead.”
“I’ll still live longer than a fallen monk who starts guzzling grain tea in broad daylight.”
Yeon Ryang chuckled as he walked over and sat down in front of Beopgong. I edged over awkwardly and stood beside him.
When Beopgong saw me, he tilted his head, then looked at Yeon Ryang with a rather impressed expression.
“What’s this? Who’s this kid? Did you get into trouble? Since when were you a fath— Ow! Use your words, you bastard!”
Yeon Ryang brought his fist down on the back of Beopgong’s head and said firmly, “She’s my younger sister, so don’t talk nonsense. Damn fake monk, trying to block someone else’s path to marriage just because he can’t go himself.”
“As if a swordsman like you could get married even if I didn’t block it! Look with your eyes. She’s the spitting image of you! I’d believe it if you said you gave birth to her all by yourself!”
Ignoring Beopgong’s shout, Yeon Ryang beckoned to me.
“Sohae. Come sit here. This fellow is Beopgong.”
“Mm. Hello.”
“Yeah, hello. Your name’s Sohae? Sounds just like a Tang Clan girl’s name... Wait, no, you are a Tang Clan girl!”
“Oh. How did you know?”
“I can tell just by the way you put your hand into your sleeve. You’re the kid the Alliance is looking for, aren’t you? Yeon Ryang, you lunatic, did you kidnap a Tang Clan girl?”
“Would I have kidnapped her? I told you, she’s my sister.”
“How does a Tang Clan kid become your sister, you insane bastard?”
Beopgong shouted and jabbed his finger at him.
“This is driving me mad. So you were the one the Sword Immortal’s disciple was searching for with fire in his eyes? He even extended his dispatch period, saying he couldn’t go back until he completed the mission with his own hands, so I wondered what kind of bastard he was looking for. If it was you, of course he couldn’t catch you.”
Taoist Jinseong was still looking for us?
I thought of Jinseong as he set down the wound medicine and stepped back, and I pouted.
He had seemed a little sorry back then. Was he really that upset he let us go? What a stiff, blocked-up Taoist.
Yeon Ryang nodded.
“That’s why I came. I need to lean on you a little.”
“For what?”
“Come with me to the Martial Alliance and vouch for my identity.”
“...Have you lost your mind, you lunatic?”
Beopgong looked as if he had just bitten into something foul. Despite the chilly reaction, Yeon Ryang continued without concern.
“My sister is being hunted because of me. This child did nothing wrong. I can’t let her keep running. Help me.”
“Listen, Yeon Ryang. Are you in your right mind? Do you not know what it means to crawl into the Alliance on your own feet? No matter how well you contain your demonic qi, do you think those old fogeys in the Alliance won’t notice?”
“I know. That’s why I’m asking you. At least you’d hold a funeral for me.”
“Don’t make me laugh. The old abbot would throw my corpse beside yours, so who’s burying whom?”
Beopgong scratched the bridge of his nose, then spoke again.
“Still, screwing with the Alliance old fogeys does sound fun.”
“Haha. I knew you’d say that.”
“Fine. This Beopgong will be your guarantor. In exchange, buy me liquor.”
“Fine.”
“Not just once. Buy it the whole way to Wuhan.”
“Sure.”
Yeon Ryang answered, clasped hands with Beopgong, and chuckled.
...This man doesn’t seem sane either. Can I really trust him?
At my eyes full of distrust, Beopgong lifted one corner of his mouth and asked, “What? Kid. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re very different from the monk I imagined.”
“What kind of monk did you imagine?”
Yeon Ryang answered in my place.
“At the very least, not one who looked like he’d just crawled out of a liquor jar.”
“How poor your imagination is. Monks know how to drink too.”
“Is that something to brag about?”
Yeon Ryang clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Even at our reaction, Beopgong remained completely shameless.
“Kid. Drinking liquor causes no problem at all in Buddhist practice. Think about it. What do we eat when we train?”
“Fasting pills?”
“Right. Fasting pills are made from grain, aren’t they?”
“Sure?”
“Grain tea is made from grain too, you know? It’s made by pouring care into clean grain, so what difference is there between grain tea and fasting pills?”
“I don’t know. They seem very different.”
I asked back with a sour look.
“Then why do you grow your hair?”
“Huh. Do you know why monks shave their heads? It’s an expression of cutting ties to the secular world and severing worldly anguish. But I’m out in the secular world, aren’t I? Since I don’t need to cut those ties, there’s no need to shave my head either.”
What kind of bullshit logic was this? He really was Yeon Ryang’s friend.
When I looked at him as if wondering what kind of lunatic he was, Yeon Ryang chuckled.
“Then when the abbot drags you back, you’ll be bald again anyway.”
“Stop saying unlucky things, Yeon Ryang.”
Beopgong shuddered as if chilled and clutched his hair, grumbling.
“I don’t know when the old abbot plans to give up on me.”
“Would you give up if you were him? On a bastard who learned seven of Shaolin’s Seventy-Two Arts? Just give up your hair instead.”
Yeon Ryang’s scolding sounded exasperated, but he looked quite amused.
Watching the two of them put me in a better mood too.
They’re close. I don’t know if he’s a good friend for Yeon Ryang... but I’m glad he has a friend he gets along with.
“What nonsense. Buy me liquor. I haven’t finished drinking yet.”
“Sure. Inn runner! An order here!”
“Yes! Great Hero! Coming!”
“Should we order the kid’s share too? Kid, do you drink? Are you still too young to drink?”
“I’ll only drink a little.”
“Fine. I’ll order some, so just taste it.”
As if my well-behaved answer amused him, Yeon Ryang snickered and patted my head.
“You’ll regret that, Beopgong. Our girl can drink.”
“Can she? Well, doesn’t matter. You’re paying for the liquor.”
“You only drink one bottle.”
“Hey, hey! What kind of nonsense is that? You said you’d buy until we reach Wuhan!”
The two of them bickered as familiarly as if they had met only yesterday. I rested my chin in my hand and laughed softly.
*****
The drinking bout continued until sunset.
Even after we moved inside the inn to avoid the cold wind, Beopgong drank, drank, and drank again.
The inn’s liquor ran so dry that I could tell the inn runner had started bringing watered-down lees.
Ugh. So this is the thing Grandfather said tasted filthy.
When I smacked my lips and set down my cup, Beopgong stuck out his tongue with a sickened expression.
“Hey, this isn’t just drinking well. You don’t get drunk at all. Where did this bastard Yeon Ryang find a drinker like you?”
“I don’t think that’s something a monk should say.”
“I’m confident when it comes to liquor too, but I can’t beat you. Your brother is smashed, but the kid’s complexion hasn’t changed at all.”
“It’s my constitution.”
Because I’m Myriad-Poison-Immune, so I don’t get drunk.
I shrugged and looked beside me, where Yeon Ryang was nodding off with his elbow propped on the table.
His face was so red that he looked less like a person and more like a bright red sweet potato.
This is the first time I’ve seen Yeon Ryang drunk. He’s not someone who usually drinks this much.
The unfamiliar sight made me cautiously shake Yeon Ryang’s arm.
“Brother. Are you all right?”
“...Mm.”
“Right. You’re not all right. Sleep more.”
When I patted him and cleared away the dishes in front of him, Yeon Ryang slammed his forehead onto the table with a thud.
He’s completely relaxed. This is a man who can’t even sleep without a sword beside him...
...Does that mean he trusts that monk this much?
When I studied Beopgong with a strange look, Beopgong rubbed his bright red nose and set down his chopsticks.
“Kid, you don’t seem much like a Tang Clan kid, do you? You’re gentle. Your clan’s people are all rotten-tempered.”
“It’s because of the poison. Poison energy affects the head, so people get sensitive.”
“You say that like you’re not one of them.”
“I have good resistance. Have you met my siblings?”
“Not all of them. I’ve met the Tang Heir Apparent and the Poison Hero.”
“Ahaha. You just had to meet the two with the worst tempers.”
When I nodded, Beopgong asked seriously, “Is your clan not going to hold the Heir Apparent competition again? The current Heir Apparent is already soaked in an inferiority complex despite his age and can’t function like a proper person. Tang... Tang Yeong... something? I can’t even remember his name.”
“Ahaha. Tang Yeongho.”
“Right. Him. If you leave him as he is, he looks ready to ruin the clan outright. Is there no one else?”
“It’s the Clan Head’s decision. I’m sure he’ll handle it. My third brother does more outside work.”
“The Poison Hero is the third? That one is arrogant and chilly enough to be exactly like the Tang Clan Head. He’s the kind of bastard who buys himself enemies.”
So other people see them the same way. I have nothing to say to that.
When I laughed hollowly, Beopgong seemed to understand and filled my cup.
“It’s hard when you have the wrong siblings. I know that feeling well.”
“Your senior and junior brothers... suffered because they met you... fake monk...”
“What are you talking about? If you’re drunk, sleep.”
Beopgong frowned and snapped back at Yeon Ryang’s mutter, then rested his chin in his hand and asked, “If the Tang Clan handed you over, I guess you’re a castoff too. If the Alliance was chasing you, you must’ve had a rough time.”
Even though he openly called me a castoff, I didn’t feel offended. Well, I had never been treated like a child of the family, so why would I be?
I smiled faintly.
“If I hadn’t met Yeon Ryang, I would’ve died long ago. Really.”
“He’s softer-hearted than he looks. He’s endlessly strong against strong opponents, but endlessly weak against the weak.”
“You know Yeon Ryang well.”
“I’ve known him a long time.”
After answering, Beopgong stretched. Every time he cracked his neck, it made a loud series of pops.
As he rolled his shoulders this way and that, he shook out his hands, and thin smoke rose from his fingertips. It seemed he was burning off the alcohol poison.
His expression hardened, and he looked straight at me.
“But, kid. Yeon Ryang can’t travel with you forever.”
“...I suppose not.”
Yeon Ryang had his own life too. We would have to part someday.
Maybe it would not even be far in the future.
Judging by how he was trying to settle matters with the Martial Alliance now, there was a chance we would soon go our separate ways.
At my gloomy answer, Beopgong grinned and clenched his fist.
“So let’s see your skill.”
“What?”
“I said, let’s see whether you’re at a level where you can travel alone.”
At the same time, his fist, glowing gold, shot toward me.
A chill sensation made the hairs all over me stand on end, and strength gathered in my toes on its own.
Huh?
