The next day, Sama Cheol opened his eyes and, rubbing the sleep from them as he got up, suddenly flinched in shock.
"Ugh!"
Dan Hyung-u was standing motionless in the middle of the room.
"Y-you didn't… no, that can't be. Hahaha."
Sama Cheol simply couldn't believe that Dan Hyung-u had stood there all night without sleeping.
He assumed the man had just gone to bed a little later than he had and woken up a little earlier.
"What a fellow with hardly any need for sleep."
Sama Cheol got up and woke Jo In.
"In-a, it's about time to get up."
Jo In woke at Sama Cheol's words, stretched, and rose from his seat. Then he noticed Dan Hyung-u standing there and looked at him with a surprised expression.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Brother! Uncle! You're awake, right?"
Jo Seol-yeon's voice came along with the sound of knocking. Sama Cheol listened to it blankly for a moment, then simply let out a laugh.
"Hahaha. Well, this is something. It's my first time seeing Yeon-a like that."
"Indeed. I find it rather unexpected as well."
Jo In replied as he hurriedly got up, threw on his clothes, and opened the door. Jo Seol-yeon had already finished preparing everything and was smiling brightly. She slightly poked her head into the room and looked at Dan Hyung-u.
"Did you sleep well too, Young Master Dan?"
When Dan Hyung-u gave a small nod, Jo Seol-yeon smiled brightly again. Sama Cheol and Jo In watched the scene with bewildered expressions.
"'Too,' you say? I don't recall this uncle ever receiving such a greeting from you."
"Oh, come on, Uncle. Hurry up and come down to eat. I'm hungry."
Jo Seol-yeon clung to Sama Cheol's arm and acted cute. Sama Cheol simply smiled at her behavior and, unable to resist, followed her downstairs. No matter what she did, Jo Seol-yeon was simply adorable.
In the end, the Jo family's group enjoyed a modest excursion starting at Dongting Lake and eventually arrived in Heo Chang. During that time, Jo Seol-yeon was able to grow a bit closer to Dan Hyung-u.
Of course, neither Sama Cheol nor Jo In could get any closer to Dan Hyung-u. Partly because he spoke so little, but even when he did speak, he lacked courtesy toward elders or strangers.
They understood that it was because he had lived like a wild man in the mountains, but understanding something in one's head and truly accepting it were entirely different matters. Being offended was still being offended.
From time to time, the two of them would sigh as they watched Jo Seol-yeon sticking close to Dan Hyung-u.
"Haa… In-a. What do you think?"
"It seems Seol-yeon is strongly intrigued because he's so different from the people she's encountered until now."
"To me, it feels like it's gone a bit beyond simple curiosity…"
Jo In shook his head.
"Despite appearances, Seol-yeon is smarter and more thoughtful than anyone. She'll likely choose a partner who benefits the family more. Above all, she's still young, isn't she?"
"Hoo… True, she is young… but do you know that Seol-yeon is seventeen now?"
Jo In smiled faintly.
"Of course. And I also know that at that age one can certainly start a family. But still, it's young—too young to truly understand the world."
"And that's exactly why I'm worried."
"Please don't worry too much. Everything will turn out fine."
"I hope so…"
Before they realized it, they had arrived at the Jo estate. Jo In watched Jo Seol-yeon enter through the gate alongside Dan Hyung-u and gave a bitter smile. It looked as though she were introducing a lover to her parents.
"Shall we go in? First, shouldn't we separate those two?"
"Oh, right. Look at me."
Sama Cheol moved like the wind and rushed into the Jo estate.
Inside a small room, Jo Il-hyeon, the head of the Jo family, was drinking tea with the two of them seated before him.
"So, was everything uneventful?"
At Jo Il-hyeon's words, Sama Cheol nodded.
"Yes. But there were no notable gains either."
"I heard that the Evil Path youths and the Green Forest bandits attacked."
"So the rumors already reached here. It was nothing serious. In fact, I couldn't even understand why they attacked with such a small force."
Jo Il-hyeon nodded at Sama Cheol's reply. In any case, what mattered was that no one had been injured.
"And how was Yeon-a?"
At Jo Il-hyeon's probing question, both Sama Cheol and Jo In gave bitter smiles. They couldn't give the answer the family head wanted.
"There was no noteworthy individual in the Martial Alliance."
Jo In said calmly, and Jo Il-hyeon tilted his head.
"I heard that the Ascending Dragon Unit Leader, Ha Won-hu, was quite promising. Was he unimpressive?"
"He was far too busy to properly even look at Seol-yeon."
"Ahem, I see. Well, given the circumstances…"
Jo Il-hyeon said so, but he was honestly a bit disappointed.
"So, how was it?"
When Jo Il-hyeon asked again with a serious expression, Sama Cheol answered quietly.
"I don't know the exact details, but it seems the interior was completely destroyed."
Jo Il-hyeon was visibly startled.
"Is that true? Then the Heavenly Mechanist's martial arts—"
"There was nothing. It's possible someone else made the first move. They did seem to find something inside, but I don't know what it was."
"Isn't it possible that it was the Heavenly Mechanist's martial arts?"
"It's not impossible, but it's probably not. It felt somewhat different."
Jo Il-hyeon nodded.
"Hm, I see. In-a, what do you think?"
"I agree with Uncle Sama."
"If you both see it that way, then that must be it. In any case, it's something that has nothing to do with us to begin with, so let's stop concerning ourselves with it."
No—Dan Hyung-u himself possessed almost no emotions to begin with. Only recently had he begun to slowly recover fragments of them.
"I-I'm sorry."
Jo Seol-yeon spoke in a flustered voice. She had never imagined that they were all dead. Seeing moisture gather at the corners of her eyes, Dan Hyung-u replied just as dryly as ever.
"It's fine."
Dan Hyung-u's eyes narrowed slightly. To an ordinary person, the change would have been imperceptible. But Dan Hyung-u was clearly pleased.
The word sorry came to mind.
It was something his last friend and companion—who had died in his place—had said. Even as he was dying for him, the man had apologized.
At the time, Dan Hyung-u hadn't understood why. But now, he felt like he could understand those words just a little.
"It's fine. Even alone…"
Dan Hyung-u murmured in an extremely soft voice. Jo Seol-yeon flinched in surprise when she heard it. It clearly wasn't directed at her. Dan Hyung-u's gaze was fixed on the distant sky.
Jo Seol-yeon stood quietly for a moment, then spoke again in a bright, lively voice.
"You're not alone anymore."
Dan Hyung-u lowered his gaze and looked at her. Jo Seol-yeon tried her best to smile brightly, even as her eyes glistened.
"I'm here now. I won't leave you alone, heehee."
Dan Hyung-u's eyes narrowed noticeably.
"It's fine."
Jo Seol-yeon widened her eyes as she looked at them.
"Wait… are you smiling?"
Dan Hyung-u turned his head again and looked up at the distant sky.
"You must really like the sky."
"I couldn't see it before. A sky this blue."
Jo Seol-yeon tilted her head, unable to understand his words.
"Um, Young Master Dan—ah, um—can I just call you big brother?"
At her words, Dan Hyung-u looked at her quietly again, then nodded.
"Then I'll call you Brother Dan from now on. Heh."
Jo Seol-yeon's expression brightened considerably.
"Brother, let's go to the smithy. I think you need a proper scabbard for that sword."
At her words, Dan Hyung-u quietly looked at his sword. He had tried several times to make a scabbard for it before, but failed every time.
Even the hides of mamus—famous for their toughness—had been useless. The edge of this sword was beyond what such materials could endure.
When Dan Hyung-u shook his head, Jo Seol-yeon stood up, wrapped both arms around his, and tugged at him without hesitation.
"Hehe, don't be like that—let's go. I actually have a lot of money. Well, technically it's not my money, but still."
She put strength into it, but Dan Hyung-u didn't budge in the slightest. Slightly flustered, Jo Seol-yeon pulled even harder.
She truly wanted to make him a scabbard. It was something she had thought about ever since Dan Hyung-u first entered Chwiunru.
"Hng!"
Without realizing it, Jo Seol-yeon even drew up her internal energy as she pulled. Still, Dan Hyung-u remained unmoving, like a rock. Startled, she quickly let go of his arm.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—I just—"
Using internal energy while grabbing someone's arm could have broken it if things went wrong. Jo Seol-yeon couldn't understand why she had acted that way.
"It's fine."
Hearing his words, Jo Seol-yeon looked at him with a puzzled expression. The surge of internal energy had been completely instinctive. For a moment, the thought crossed her mind that Dan Hyung-u himself might have provoked it.
"Did you… learn martial arts?"