Lee Sojin (1)
Sowoon looked toward the one who had spoken last.
There was something familiar in her features.
She was young and beautiful, and the shape of her face and the line of her eyes resembled Lee Sogun.
The torchlight flickered in the wind, softening and shifting her outline, yet the likeness of close blood remained.
Sowoon sat down and invited the five to take their seats.
"Sowoon-gongja."
Lee Sojin deliberately lowered her voice.
When the firelight illuminated her face, her expression carried concern rather than severity.
"There is no need to drive yourself so harshly."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"The discomfort you feel, the guilt, the questions… they are not proof that you have fallen. They are proof that you are still human."
She slowly tossed a twig into the fire.
"What you did today was not light. You drew your sword and cut down men. If that left you untouched, that would be the greater problem. But you are suffering now. That does not mean you are wrong."
She watched him quietly as she went on.
"There is something called Gweondo (權道). It means a path that is not the straight path (Jeongdo 正道). But that does not make it the evil path (Sado 邪道). It is a detour taken in order to preserve the straight path."
Meeting his eyes, she explained carefully.
"The world does not always move according to ideals. Even if the Dao (道) you have realized is true, the world will not pause to align itself with it. People must eat. Armies must move. Power is contested. Within that, we are forced to choose."
She opened her palm.
"Imagine there are two roads. If you do nothing, more people die. If you act, some die. If you do not draw your sword, chaos may stretch longer, and greater slaughter may follow. In such a moment, choosing the path that minimizes harm—that is Gweondo."
Her tone was not persuasive, but explanatory.
"In the past, the wicked have borrowed the word Gweondo to justify their desires. They deposed rightful emperors and seized thrones, calling it 'an unavoidable choice.' That was not Gweondo. That was greed."
She leaned slightly closer.
"True Gweondo is this: if conflict cannot be avoided, choose the action that makes the damage smallest. Even if perfect righteousness cannot be achieved, prevent the worse outcome. When you targeted only the enemy commanders today, was that not the same intent? You sought to reduce the killing."
She placed quiet emphasis on the phrase reduce the harm and lightly touched his shoulder.
"You did not delight in slaughter. You sought to limit it. That is the heart of the straight path. Only the method was Gweondo. A person cannot live exactly as Heaven's law. When Heaven's principle descends to earth, it becomes Ritual (禮). When it enters the state, it becomes Law (法). On the battlefield, it becomes order. You may hold the ideal in your heart, but within reality you must choose."
She added, more firmly now,
"So do not carve yourself open by digging too deep into this. You did not choose a crooked road. You made the best choice available to you."
A spark flared within Sowoon's chest as he listened.
"I do not say forget the Dao. Only that sometimes you must set it aside for a moment in order to survive. You must live to set things right again."
At last she spoke softly.
"So for now, set down your torment. What you chose was not corruption. It was Gweondo—the way of living within this world."
The word Gweondo struck something inside him like a flash of light.
An unavoidable act.
Not the Dao, yet something that could not be done otherwise.
If one must name such a thing, was that Gweondo?
He remembered faintly what he had learned at the academy.
His teacher had once said that Gweondo was not the Dao.
The memory blurred like a distant echo.
Yet he had no language to explain the devastation in his heart, and so he wavered.
His mind leaned toward it.
If it were something one could choose, then perhaps much could change through it.
Before his thoughts could sink deeper, he spoke.
"May I ask your name?"
"I am Lee Sojin. The younger one. The youngest sister… of my elder sister, Lee Sogun."
She rose slightly and bowed with composed dignity.
There was elegance in her bearing, yet also firmness.
She was the daughter of a martial house.
Though a woman, she did not appear fragile.
When conviction is supported by strength, even a woman carries a different kind of beauty.
A female martial artist in the jianghu was rare indeed.
"It is my first time meeting you. Or rather, my first time greeting you properly."
She laughed lightly.
"I have already seen you several times. There was simply no occasion to greet you."
Though she resembled Lee Sogun in features, the feeling she gave was entirely different.
They were sisters, yet the age gap was wide.
She seemed almost more like a daughter than a sibling.
She was only slightly older than Sowoon himself.
Lee Sojin's cheeks flushed beneath Sowoon's steady gaze.
He was young, but still a man.
There was no impropriety in his look, yet it unsettled her.
Realizing this belatedly, Sowoon hurriedly apologized.
"My apologies. You resemble my aunt so closely that I was looking for what was the same and what was different. I meant no disrespect."
Lee Sojin smiled warmly.
She already knew how deeply he cared for his aunt.
Lee Sogun was the same in return.
She did not hesitate to show her affection and protectiveness toward the boy.