Chapter 114 - Opening the Eyes (1)

20. Opening the Eyes

First do what is necessary, then do what is possible. Before you know it, you will be able to do the impossible.

— Francis (San Francesco), Roman Monk

"Yaaawn..."

Once again, Ha Seonhyang was crouched on the roof of the Guest Pavilion, watching the people pass below. But even that was no longer particularly entertaining. No, it was boring. Boring enough to make her yawn.

By the final day of tournament registration, the throngs that had filled Central Avenue had all but vanished. Only a few sightseers who had come to look around the Murim Alliance lingered near the now-quiet registration office.

Still, she remained where she was, tickling her knees with her fingers as she watched Central Avenue.

'Is that Dong Gwangcheon fellow not coming today, either?'

She had run into him right here on this roof nine days ago.

The encounter had been so unusual and entertaining that she had come back every day, hoping for another chance meeting. But nothing of the sort had happened again.

She had not even managed to see him.

Her senior brothers and senior sister were busy socializing with people from the other Nine Great Sects, but Ha Seonhyang had little interest in anyone from the Nine Great Sects or the Four Great Noble Clans.

All they ever did was drone on about the same boring subjects.

Who had entered the tournament, who was favored to win, or else...

Those oily looks as they discreetly sized her up.

She hated it.

'That man wasn't like that...'

She had barely seen his eyes in the first place, so she could not actually know whether he was or not. Still, something about him made her feel he probably wasn't.

And so, at some point, she had started crouching here every day to keep watch over Central Avenue.

At first, the Murim Defense Corps members had seemed quite concerned about her climbing onto the roof. By now, they apparently took it for granted. No one paid her any attention.

Nor did she particularly care whether they looked at her. Dong Gwangcheon was her only interest.

'I was sure he would enter the tournament...'

He had even asked her about the registration period and the tournament date...

Perhaps she had missed him when he came to register. He might have come and gone while she was eating or answering nature's call...

What a shame.

She should have camped out here from the beginning instead of following her senior sister around...

"Will I get to see him again when the tournament starts?"

Through the lingering spring chill, her voice freezes white and mingles with the crimson sunset.

Soon, night would fall completely, and registration for the All-Under-Heaven Youth Sparring Tournament would close.

Ha Seonhyang stood, gave another long stretch, and dusted off her backside, preparing to return to her lodgings.

Even so, her eyes remained on Central Avenue.

Just perhaps...

Might he come?

"Not today, either, just as I thought... Huh?!"

It happened just as she said those words.

Her small hand stopped. Then she pointed toward the side path off Central Avenue where Dong Gwangcheon and Buk Gunggi had disappeared that first day.

"Oh? There he is... But why does he look so different?"

A man was slowly emerging from the spot her dusty finger indicated.

Just as she had said, Dong Gwangcheon's appearance had changed considerably. Had she not been thinking about him constantly, she might not have recognized him.

'But it's only been nine days...?'

He was skin and bones, and his hair had grown long and turned snow-white. Yet that peculiar air of emptiness remained unchanged, and there was not the slightest unsteadiness in his steps.

She immediately kicked off the roof and flew down. It was not a conscious decision. The instant she felt she simply had to, she was already moving, though she did not realize it herself.

"Hah, hah... Hi... Hello. Hehe."

Ha Seonhyang ran straight up to him.

Up close, she was even more certain. It was him. Much about him had changed, but that man with the strange, almost supernatural air she could not quite put into words was unmistakably Dong Gwangcheon.

"Good to see you."

Yes. That voice. So ordinary that it was mysterious in its own right.

"Whew. Seonhyang. I'm Ha Seonhyang."

Catching her breath, she remembered that although she had heard his name, she had never given him hers.

"But why do you look so different?"

"I don't know myself."

Dong Gwangcheon answered her follow-up question as though it were nothing.

"Oh, really?"

It did not matter. She liked that he was different from everyone else... She was happy to see him again. She simply liked him. The reason...

Didn't matter.

The corners of Ha Seonhyang's crescent-shaped eyes curved down even farther as she continued.

"Have you registered for the All-Under-Heaven Youth Sparring Tournament?"

She did not mention that she had spent nine days—ten by the calendar—waiting on the roof where they had met. That would have been too embarrassing.

"No, not yet. Has registration already closed?" he asked.

"Huh? You haven't registered yet? Then you'd better hurry! Today's the last day!"

As she spoke, Ha Seonhyang took Dong Gwangcheon's hand without thinking. Then she dashed toward Evil-Conquering Hall, the nearest of the buildings serving as temporary registration offices.

"Yaaawn... Next."

Yi Ijeom called for the next applicant through a great yawn.

After sitting here taking registrations for the sparring tournament for ten whole days, how could he not be bored? If anything, growing accustomed to the task had only made him sicker of it.

The thought that today was the last day was all that kept him going.

"Next! Isn't there anyone else?"

He called again to the warrior at the entrance.

The warrior glanced around outside for a moment, then turned back to Yi Ijeom.

"There's no one."

"Whew. Is it finally over?"

Thinking he was done, Yi Ijeom gave a long stretch and was just about to rise when—

"Wait! There's still one more!"

Someone shouted urgently and rushed into the hall.

It was a young lady with her hair twisted up adorably on either side like a ram's horns. From her heavy breathing, she had clearly run here in a hurry.

'Hmm? Isn't that young lady...?'

Yi Ijeom remembered her. Her pretty face was part of it, but more importantly, there was the sect she belonged to.

The Mount Hua Sect.

Even among the Nine Great Sects, it was particularly powerful. It paid to remember the faces of disciples from sects like that. One never knew when an acquaintance might turn into a useful connection.

Still, that was beside the point. She had no reason to be here now.

"Didn't you register a few days ago, young lady? Oh!"

His confusion did not last long.

The actual final applicant had entered the hall behind Ha Seonhyang.

It was Dong Gwangcheon—no, Dong Bongsu.

"He's the one registering. Not me."

Ha Seonhyang led Dong Bongsu briskly toward Yi Ijeom's table. She stretched her legs out in what she clearly intended as long strides, but they were only half the length of Dong Bongsu's, which made the sight rather comical. Even so, she looked utterly adorable.

Yi Ijeom looked up at Dong Bongsu enviously, then offered him one of the few registration forms left in the stack beside the table.

"Please enter your name and sect here."

Dong Bongsu took the form in his left hand and stared at Ha Seonhyang.

"Would you let go?"

"Oh!"

Only then did Ha Seonhyang realize she was still gripping his hand tightly. She hastily released it.

Her sweat-soaked hand was throbbing. She had never known that beads of sweat trickling down her palm could make her face burn so fiercely.

"... S-sorry..."

An expression that might or might not have been a smile flickered over Dong Bongsu's face. He picked up the brush resting on the inkstone and began filling out the form. Almost immediately, however, he stopped and looked at Yi Ijeom.

"Must I belong to a sect affiliated with the Murim Alliance to enter the tournament?"

Yi Ijeom answered him.

"Not necessarily. A recommendation from a respected elder of the Murim Alliance or one of its affiliated sects will also allow you to register. Do you have anything to verify such a recommendation?"

After a moment's thought, Dong Bongsu pulled the martial identification plaque from his chest and held it out.

"Will this suffice?"

Yi Ijeom accepted the plaque and immediately turned it over. The reverse of such plaques usually bore the issuing office or the issuer's name and position.

His eyes widened in surprise. The name on this plaque belonged to someone far more important than he had expected.

"You're a guest of the Murim Defense Corps Commander! This is more than sufficient. I'll confirm it with the commander personally, so you're free to go. Here is your registration slip."

Yi Ijeom hurriedly wrote the name Dong Gwangcheon on a registration slip bearing the Murim Alliance Leader's official seal and handed it to Dong Bongsu.

Ha Seonhyang had been ready to explain that he was Buk Gunggi's disciple if there were any problems, only to be surprised by the revelation that he was Eulji Tae's guest. Unlike Buk Gunggi, Eulji Tae was a master with truly enormous influence within the Murim Alliance.

Seemingly unconcerned with how Ha Seonhyang was looking at him, Dong Bongsu accepted the registration slip, glanced at it, and folded it in half.

"Have you finished here as well?"

A delicate voice came from behind them.

Yi Ijeom hurried to his feet and respectfully cupped his fist toward its owner. Whoever it was had to be his superior.

"Ah, Strategist Namgung. We've finished here too."

"I see. May I take all the registration forms, then?"

"Of course."

With soft footfalls, a woman came to stand beside Dong Bongsu and Ha Seonhyang. She was a perfect match for that voice, so slender and fragile that she stirred an instinctive desire to protect her.

The newcomer was none other than Namgung Hye.

"Oh, hello..."

"Ah, yes. Hello."

After offering Namgung Hye an awkward greeting, Ha Seonhyang walked ahead toward the hall's entrance. For some reason, she felt diminished beside her and did not want to remain there.

Dong Bongsu, on the other hand, leisurely folded his registration slip once more and tucked it inside his clothes. Only then did he turn, giving Namgung Hye no more than a passing glance.

She smiled softly at him, but he merely turned his back and walked toward the door. That faint smile was enough to leave Yi Ijeom gaping, yet Dong Bongsu simply continued toward the entrance.