Evening.

I sat on the back porch of the pavilion assigned as my quarters, blankly staring at the garden.

Perhaps because it had been a busy day, my eyes felt dry and I felt tired for no reason. I closed my eyes, pressed my palms against them as if applying pressure, and exhaled deeply.

‘Now, let’s organize my thoughts again before talking to Ha Hyun.’

It wasn’t really a grand story.

The eldest son particularly bothers me. But there’s no proper explanation for why I feel that way. That was all there was to it.

‘Did I get fixated on it after feeling it was strange once, or is it really something like intuition?’

It was just then that I thought that far.

There was a bit of commotion near the entrance of the pavilion. I tilted my head and lightly spread out my qi sense. It’s still difficult to check far distances, but thanks to not being too far from the entrance now, I could detect the other party.

It seems about five or six people who haven’t learned martial arts have come.

If I could notice, the elders must have known too, and probably whoever was available would go out to meet them, but I suddenly felt curious.

I got up and headed towards the door of the pavilion through the corridor.

“Is anyone there?”

“Who is it?”

As expected, Elder Yu Baek had already opened the door and was greeting the visitors.

The elder turned to look at me, perhaps sensing my presence as he was opening the door, and gestured lightly as if telling me to come. It seemed to be guests that wouldn’t be a problem even if I was present.

I quickly attached myself behind him to see who had come.

Two servants holding lanterns, one servant holding a large basket covered with cloth, and one woman who looked like a maid. Lastly, there was a middle-aged woman wearing simple but elegant clothes, with a somewhat gaunt complexion.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The lady spoke first.

“I hope we’re not disturbing your rest.”

“Not at all. You are…?”

“I am Baek So So. My husband is the head of the local merchant guild.”

I froze for a moment and widened my eyes.

“Lady Baek. I am Yu Baek of Hwasan.”

“Yes, Elder Yu Baek. And beside you…?”

The lady turned to look at me. She seemed to want to hear my name as well.

I hadn’t expected her to address me, and I was about to sink into thought, so I was momentarily flustered but managed to answer just in time.

“…Ah, I am Ha Eun.”

“Elder Ha Eun, I see.”

The lady nodded and then immediately bowed deeply from her head. The elder reached out his hand in surprise, but she did not raise her head.

“Lady Baek?”

“Thank you. I’ve only just heard that my children have shown improvement since the Hwasan priests arrived.”

The lady, who only raised her head slowly after finishing her words, had tears in her eyes.

“When all my children fell ill for no apparent reason, I too was shocked and became bedridden. Because of that, I didn’t even know the priests had come, but upon hearing the news belatedly, I came to at least pay my respects.”

The lady gestured to the servant holding the basket behind her and continued speaking.

“I was hesitant because it’s late, but I brought some modest snacks. I heard that Hwasan people also eat some flower foods… Even so, I tried to be mindful and bring light things. Although they may seem trivial, I hope you will accept them.”

“Amitabha. Trivial, not at all. We gratefully accept. We will do our best with this matter as well, so please don’t worry too much.”

“Thank you…”

The lady wiped her tears with the end of her sleeve.

“They are all my children that I bore with pain, and I can’t tell you how much I wished I could be sick in their place as I watched them suffer. I’m truly grateful. If there’s anything you need, please let me know anytime. Really… thank you. I entrust this to you.”

The lady bowed repeatedly with an extremely earnest attitude, as if she had no room to maintain appearances. While the elder was comforting the lady and exchanging a few more words with her, I kept my mouth shut.

‘Her own children?’

Lady Baek had dark circles under her eyes and a somewhat gaunt expression, just as she said she had been shocked and bedridden herself, but overall she had a plain and graceful impression. As such, her features were not very distinct.

An elegant middle-aged lady who had naturally aged while living in a wealthy household.

She was clearly not from the Western Regions, her eyes were not blue, and anyone could see she was definitely a person from the Central Plains.

‘Is this possible?’

They don’t resemble each other at all.

The basic features were different to begin with. Could there have been someone from the Western Regions among the lady’s or the guild master’s ancestors? Perhaps atavism?

The thoughts in my head became increasingly tangled and confused.

By then, the elder had finally succeeded in comforting the lady and sent her back, so I glanced at him sideways as I entered the pavilion with him. The elder, with a relieved expression, checked inside the basket and casually asked me.

“Eun, you liked sweets, didn’t you? Do you want to eat some?”

What he handed me was a hawthorn candy. Since it’s not a snack suitable to offer to adults, the lady must have prepared it knowing there were relatively young people like me and Ha Hyun among us.

“Thank you.”

As I had been feeling like my blood sugar was dropping from constantly thinking complicated thoughts, I obediently accepted the hawthorn candy and put it in my mouth. As the sweet entered, my head started to work a bit better.

‘I don’t want to pry into other people’s family matters, but…’

A person who was already strangely out of place doesn’t resemble their parents at all, making it twice as strange.

After struggling with my thoughts, I finally brought it up casually.

“By the way, elder.”

“Hmm?”

“A thought just occurred to me, but Young Master Sung doesn’t really resemble the guild master or his wife.”

The elder tilted his head.

“You mean the eldest son?”

“Yes, the one we talked to today.”

“Is that so? From what I saw, he seemed quite similar to the guild master. Did they both look unlike him to you?”

“…Is that so?”

“Well, it can look different to different people.”

The elder answered nonchalantly. His attitude was truly as if he was dealing with a simple passing conversation. That’s why I felt even stranger in return.

‘This isn’t at the level of “it can look different to different people.”‘

Surely it’s not just me seeing differently…

Huh?

‘Is that it?’

Suddenly I get goosebumps. Is this why he bothered me?

The elder came with me to the front of my room, then sent me in saying good night and left. I stood alone in the room for a moment, conflicted, then abruptly opened the door again and came out into the corridor.

The elder had already gone in, but I wasn’t planning to look for him anyway. To verify, I need to hear from everyone who was there.

The ones who met the eldest son were the elder, me, and Ha Hyun.

‘I was going to say something strange to Ha Hyun anyway.’

It’s okay to say something a bit odd. He’s someone I can trust, who won’t misunderstand that I’m doing this out of malicious curiosity or ill will.

Of course, the other disciples and elders who came with us would be the same, but among them, Ha Hyun was my fellow disciple who had the same master as me, so I could talk more comfortably with him.

I carefully went to the front of Ha Hyun’s room and knocked on the door.

“Are you there? Can I come in?”

Although I spoke very softly, the door opened quickly.

Perhaps because I approached too cautiously, Ha Hyun had a slightly surprised and puzzled expression.

“Senior?”

“I’m coming in.”

I pushed him and entered the room without waiting for a reply.

Although I always win when we spar, if we were to compete purely in strength, I probably couldn’t gain the upper hand, but Ha Hyun stepped back and let himself be pushed as I pushed him.

After entering the room completely and closing the door tightly, I turned to look at him again. Ha Hyun quietly watched what I was doing and then calmly asked.

“What’s the matter?”

“I came because there’s something I need to confirm. Don’t think it’s strange and just listen.”

I lowered my voice and said.

“About the Young Master Sung we met today. Do you think he resembles the guild master?”

I know this might sound like a trivial question considering I came quietly and even closed the door to ask it seriously. But perhaps because of my serious attitude, Ha Hyun, who was momentarily flustered, soon calmed down and furrowed his brow as if recollecting.

“Young Master Sung?”

“Yes, the eldest son.”

Ha Hyun looked like he didn’t quite understand why I was asking this, but soon seemed to finish considering and gave his answer.

“I think he did resemble him.”

“…You say he resembled him?”

“I think it was enough to recognize their father-son relationship.”

What?

It really seems like I was the only one seeing a different face.

“Enough to recognize?”

Now I really got chills. Far from recognizing their father-son relationship, if you put them side by side, you’d naturally think they were complete strangers. There wasn’t even a need to imagine such a situation.

But the two people who were there with me felt completely differently.

‘Then whose face was I looking at? Who was that?’

Why did only I see a different appearance?

“Senior.”

Ha Hyun grabbed my shoulder with a surprised face. When I raised my head, our eyes met with trembling gazes.

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, ever since he saw me coughing up blood from qi deviation when we were young, Ha Hyun tended to panic along with me whenever I reacted even slightly excessively.

If I can’t calm down here, Ha Hyun won’t be able to calm down either. Realizing this fact suddenly made me feel much calmer.

‘Panicking isn’t the priority.’

I need to figure out why this happened.

No, before that, I need to act calmly first.