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Chapter 20
“What are you saying to a child, Tangho?”
It was Tangrip.
A man who looked exactly like Tangho strode toward me.
Beside him stood Tangho and Tangrip’s younger sister, Tang Seonseon.
“Hello, Biya.”
Tang Seonseon greeted me.
“What are you babbling about martial arts to a kid for?”
Tangrip spoke up.
“But it’s true.”
“This child still has at least ten years before she even sets foot in the martial world.”
Tangrip glanced at me.
“She doesn’t need to hear that kind of talk yet. Don’t let it scare you,” he said, looking at me now.
The first part was directed at Tangho, and the latter part clearly at me.
I looked at Tangrip, dressed in deep green robes, and Tang Seonseon beside him, then nodded.
“Yes!”
“Spirited one, aren’t you.”
At his compliment, I nodded again.
“I was taught to answer bravely.”
“By whom?”
“My father.”
“Ah, yes, that sounds just like him.”
Tangrip nodded as if he fully agreed.
He was the vice master of the Venom Dragon Pavilion, working directly under my father.
So he probably knew my father better than anyone—maybe even better than I did.
Thinking that made him suddenly feel less like a stranger.
I was feeling a small sense of familiarity when—
“By the way, how did Uncle manage to hide the fact that he’s immune to all poisons?”
Tangrip suddenly leaned in close to my face.
It was the exact same gesture Tangho had made a little earlier.
‘Do twins always act alike too?’ I wondered.
“Oh, really, brother! He never showed it to anyone—how could we have known whether he’s immune to poison or fire?”
Tang Seonseon answered for me.
“Still, if he were truly immune to poison, you’d think there’d have been some sign.”
“There was a sign. That’s how it got found out.”
“If the snake hadn’t bitten him, no one would’ve noticed.”
“But the snake did bite him.”
Seonseon shot back without missing a beat, and Tangrip gave her a sharp look.
“Why are you like that to your sister?”
“You too…”
“Fine, fine.”
“Mind your speech. I told you to call me ‘Brother.’”
“Brother…” Tangho drawled in complaint.
Tangrip ignored him completely and looked back at me.
“You…”
Tangrip carefully took hold of my fingertips.
I blinked and let him hold my hand, watching him curiously.
“They said you were bitten by a Manhyulsa and didn’t even flinch?”
“Yes, I was fine. It didn’t even hurt.”
“…It doesn’t hurt even now?”
His voice trembled slightly.
I looked down at his hand holding mine.
Like Tangho’s, his fingertips were tinged black—
A mark of those who practiced poison inner arts.
The venom that accumulated in the body slowly seeped out through the skin.
Normally, this wasn’t dangerous unless the user actively channeled poison,
but for someone sensitive or weak to toxins, even touching Tangrip’s hand would cause symptoms.
But I was fine.
Perfectly fine.
Just as when my father held my hand—it felt calm and natural.
I quickly clasped both my hands around Tangrip’s.
“!”
“See? Nothing’s wrong! Look, I’m fine!”
Tangrip slowly turned my hand over in his palm.
His hands were at least twice the size of mine—large and solid,
yet softer than my father’s.
‘Strange.’
It was the first time I had ever held someone’s hand this long besides Father’s.
Maybe that’s why my palms started to sweat.
Before my hands got too damp, I gently pulled away.
Tangrip released me without resistance.
But then—
‘…Why is he looking at me like that?’
Puzzled, I looked back up at him.
He stared at me as if he had a mountain of questions he wanted to ask.
Feeling slightly awkward, I called out softly,
“Um, Brother.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have something you want to ask me?”
“…No.”
“Then why are you looking at me like you do?”
“That’s…”
“He must have something to ask, obviously.”
“Yeah, totally,” Tangho and Seonseon butted in together.
Tangrip spun around to glare at them.
Tangho didn’t care—he came up behind me and set his hand on my shoulder.
“Come on, Brother, don’t overthink it. Just ask.”
“…”
“Of course, I doubt this kid could answer even if you did.
You’d probably be better off asking Uncle or Father—”
“I know that.”
Tangrip rose to his feet.
His wide sleeves fluttered as he stood, sending a small gust of wind.
But Tangho shielded my face so that dirt and grass didn’t blow into it.
“I’ll ask Uncle myself. Tangho, stop chattering and take Tangbi back to her quarters.
I have business to attend to at the Venom Dragon Pavilion.”
“Fine, Brother, you take her. I have to go see Mother anyway.”
“All right, go on then.”
Tangrip shot Tangho a distrustful look.
“If I weren’t so busy, you would…”
He sighed and shook his head.
Then he turned to me again, his expression softening.
“Tangbi, it was a pleasure meeting you.”
“Me too. Let’s meet again.”
Tang Seonseon and Tangrip both smiled.
“Yes, me too!”
“I’ll be overseeing the Venom Dragon Pavilion’s upcoming trials,
so we’ll surely meet again. I hope we do.”
He smiled gently.
“I hope so too.”
“I’d like that. Thank you for being so kind today.”
“It’s only natural.”
He scolded Tangho one last time not to dawdle,
then left.
Seonseon waved at me until she disappeared following Tangrip.
I watched his retreating figure and murmured,
“What do you think he wanted to ask?”
“My brother?”
“Yes. He said he’d ask Father about it. What do you think he was curious about?”
Of course, Tangho probably wouldn’t tell me.
Adults usually kept such things among themselves.
So it was more a passing thought than a real question.
But—
“Oh, that? It’s nothing much. When you were a baby, he once visited you and you got really sick.”
…He is telling me?
Tangho said it casually, as if it really were nothing.
“He went to see you without gloves and without telling Uncle.
You turned blue and your fingertips went black—classic poisoning symptoms.”
Tangho lifted me up into his arms.
“Whoa!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t drop you.”
Holding me securely, he began walking toward my quarters.
“He got scolded badly for that—by Uncle, Mother, Father, and even Grandfather.”
“So… maybe he hates me because of that—?”
“No way! He’s not that petty.”
Tangho stopped walking and looked at me.
“He felt terribly guilty.
After that, he wouldn’t even go near your quarters.”
“I see…”
“For nearly a month, he went to Uncle every day to ask about your condition.
You got better after two days, but still—”
“But still?”
“Sometimes, a person’s heart and memory get stuck in one place.
His are stuck on that day—you nearly dying because of his carelessness.
And now suddenly, you appear before him and are immune to all poisons…”
Then I understood.
‘So that’s why he looked at me like that when he held my hand.
He wanted to ask how I could be immune now,
when back then even a little poison nearly killed me.’
Someone who had suffered a month of guilt for hurting me would definitely be confused and shaken by this.
‘I’d be speechless too.’
Still cradled in Tangho’s arms, I squinted thoughtfully.
‘I didn’t even know that happened when I was little.’
It was from so long ago that I had no memory,
and Father had never told me.
It hit me again how much there was I didn’t know.
Anyway, to sum up—
‘So I really was deathly sensitive to poison as a baby.
Then when did my body change?’
Or maybe it wasn’t the poison—something else entirely?
My head started to ache from thinking too hard.
I buried my face against Tangho’s shoulder.
My forehead was burning hot; it might burst if I kept thinking.
“Phew.”
Sighing deeply, I let him carry me back to my quarters.
Strange.
It was my own body, yet I had no idea when—or why—it had changed.
