“What? Why… why are they already here?”
Without realizing it, I bit my lip hard. The twin cousins who had tormented me countless times had returned earlier than I remembered.
“You! You! Yeah! You two, come out!”
Baekri Pyo and So Uak.
The twin sons of Baekri Uiran, and my cousin elder brothers.
The reason they had different surnames was due to a promise made at the time of marriage.
If they had children, one would take the father’s surname, and the other would take the mother’s surname and be raised as a child of the Baekri family.
Perhaps because of that promise, Baekri Uiran gave birth to twins. And they were neatly divided between the two families.
With voices so identical they were hard to distinguish, but with slightly different intonations, So Uak shouted at Baekri Pyo,
“Don’t go easy on them!”
“Of course not!”
Even with different surnames, they got along extremely well, just like true twins.
As Father turned his body toward the training ground, part of it came into view. At my height, I would never have been able to peek inside, but being held in Father’s arms made it possible.
“This is the Baekri family training ground.”
Seeing that I couldn’t take my eyes off it, Father must have thought I was curious, so he explained.
Soon, Baekri Pyo, holding a wooden sword, began sparring with a boy wearing the Baekri family disciple uniform. Compared to Baekri Pyo, the disciple was much taller and bigger, looking several years older.
But the disciple was pushed back one-sidedly and eventually dropped his sword.
“I—I lost!”
The moment he admitted defeat, several disciples rushed over and lifted Baekri Pyo up.
So Uak shrugged and said,
“Why is everyone so weak? There’s no one who can beat you.”
“Seriously. Ah, this is boring. Try harder, everyone! Next challenger!”
I felt Father let out a sigh.
“Why?”
“It’s nothing.”
Even as I asked, I already knew.
‘I can see it too.’
That Baekri disciple had lost on purpose.
The next match, and the one after that, were the same. Even when the opponent switched to So Uak, nothing changed.
The Baekri disciples were repeatedly beaten one-sidedly by the twins before declaring defeat.
“Father, how skilled are my elder brothers?”
With such fake matches, it was impossible to gauge their real abilities.
“They have good techniques, but their fundamentals are lacking. Their balance is unstable. They won’t gain anything from sparring like this… hm?”
As Father gave his sharp assessment, he turned to me with a puzzled look.
“How did you know those children are your cousin elder brothers? You’ve never met Pyo and Aki before, have you?”
Gasp.
Now that I thought about it, I really hadn’t met the twins yet. I was startled because I heard voices I shouldn’t have heard yet, but I forgot I wasn’t supposed to act like I knew them!
“Uh… well, who else my age could challenge Baekri disciples to spar? And since there are two who look exactly alike, I figured they must be the twins, Baekri Pyo and So Uak. Hehe.”
“You’re quite perceptive. That’s correct.”
At my quick excuse, Father nodded easily.
“They are your twin cousin elder brothers. Your aunt brought them from the So family a few days ago.”
“Were they originally supposed to come from the So family?”
“I’m not sure.”
It seemed Father didn’t know why they had returned early either.
I looked away from the training ground.
‘Ugh, I need to be careful not to run into them.’
Both of them had strong personalities. In other words, the troublesome kind.
I scratched my forehead. The upper right side was where I had once gotten a scar because of the twins. Now, instead of a rough scar, I felt smooth skin.
Unlike me, who quickly looked away, Father stared at the twins with a bitter expression before pulling me tightly into his arms.
I knew what he was thinking, so I gently comforted him.
‘Don’t worry, Father. I’ll get better.’
After that day, I asked to take walks somewhere else. Father didn’t say much and led me to a different garden. The Baekri estate was vast, with plenty of gardens. He seemed to misunderstand, thinking I was avoiding the training ground because I felt envious of the children training… but still.
And so, after returning from another walk today—
Father asked me,
“What is that?”
“I was just bored.”
I held out the cloth I had been practicing sewing on.
After short walks, returning to the residence was boring. Even though I had improved, I still couldn’t run around, and I had no friends to play with. Reading books wasn’t an option either since I hadn’t learned how to read yet at this point. Lying around all day had grown tiresome, so I decided to try this. Of course, with the hands of a six-year-old… well.
Father said,
“It’s a cloud.”
“It’s a pear blossom…”
“….”
“….”
“If you’re bored, how about learning to read? A teacher… no, actually, I’ll teach you myself.”
“You will, Father?”
“Of course. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? How much have you learned so far?”
I stared blankly, mouth slightly open.
I couldn’t remember anything. Who remembers the very first characters they learned over ten years ago? Certainly not me.
“I haven’t met my writing teacher more than a few times…”
I spoke hesitantly. Father simply smiled faintly and patted my head.
“That’s fine. We can start again from the beginning. There’s plenty of time.”
The Baekri family truly was a martial family. After I entered the Baekri household, the first thing I held wasn’t a brush, but a sword.
A writing teacher was assigned only after I had adapted to the sword. But… after taking a rare elixir, I fell into qi deviation, and my studies went along with it.
Father brought paper and a brush from one side of the room. These days, aside from sword training, he spent most of his time reading, so the inkstone and ink were already well prepared.
As he rolled up my sleeve, he said,
“Try writing any characters you remember.”
I nodded and struggled to grip the brush, but my untrained fingers wouldn’t cooperate.
Father chuckled softly and placed his hand over mine, correcting my grip.
“Ugh… it’s hard.”
“It’s like that for everyone at first.”
My small hand trembled as I held the brush. Thinking it was enough, I lifted my elbow.
A black stroke appeared on the white paper. Watching me struggle, Father looked at me fondly before nodding in satisfaction.
Even though I had only met my teacher twice, my posture was straight and proper. My small body wavered at times, but I tried to maintain correct form.
It was because my body remembered how I wrote in my previous life, but Father didn’t know that and was simply impressed.
Then, seeing the characters I had written with utmost seriousness on my tiny face, Father suddenly coughed violently.
Despite my decent posture, the writing itself was a mess. Ignoring Father’s intense reaction, I looked down gloomily at what I had written.
I had written the most basic characters: ‘Heaven (天),’ ‘Earth (地),’ and ‘Person (人)’…
‘What is this black blob?’
The character for ‘Earth (地)’ had so many strokes that it had become an unrecognizable mass of ink.
When I glanced at Father, he gestured for me to continue.
‘What should I write next…?’
After a moment of thought, I wrote another character. Father watched until I finished, then picked up the still-wet paper and examined it.
After staring at it with a furrowed brow, he suddenly looked at me in surprise.
“Isn’t this my name?”
He recognized that black blob?!
I almost burst into applause at Father’s deep parental love.
‘Ui (意)’ and ‘Gang (剛).’
A name that suited him perfectly.
“Yes, that’s right!”
I laughed shyly.
“….”
But Father didn’t say anything. When I looked up, I was startled to see his eyes reddened.
‘What, seriously? Again?’
Father… were you always this emotional?
“Even though I wasn’t by your side, you still remembered my name first as your father…”
Flustered, I climbed onto the chair and stood up, pressing at the corners of Father’s teary eyes with my sleeve.
“Why are you like this over something so small, Father? I’ll write it for you many, many times from now on.”
Father let out a quiet breath and hugged me.
“You shouldn’t stand on chairs.”
“….”
“It’s dangerous.”
“…Okay.”
Just as Father gently set me back on the ground—
A voice came from outside the door, accompanied by a cough.
“Ahem, Fourth Young Master, are you there?”
“What is it?”
“The Head of the family has sent for you.”
Father’s expression hardened as he straightened his posture. But his reddened eyes still betrayed him.
“Let him in.”
I was surprised. I thought he would ask them to wait a moment.
“Ah, Father…!”
I tried to stop him, but it was too late. The servant had already entered after receiving permission.
And upon seeing Father’s face—
“Gasp!”
He froze in shock.
“What is it?”
“….”
“Well?”
“Ah! No, I— I’m sorry. I momentarily lost myself…”
The Fourth Young Master… crying? Had he imagined it?
But the servant didn’t have the courage to look at his face again.
“Um, I came because… that is…”
After stammering for a while, he finally remembered.
“Ah! The Head of the family has invited you to dine together at Subaek Hall. Young Master Uimuk, Miss Uiran, and the young masters and young miss will also attend.”
“I understand.”
“And the Head of the family specifically asked that young Miss Yeon must come as well.”
Father’s expression turned rigid.
