Chapter 04
“Eh?”
I was at a loss for words.
It was both true and not true at the same time.
What are the odds it would be the same name?
I stared at Wang Seonhwa with a dumbfounded expression. He bit his lip and then spoke rapidly.
“The physician who checked the poison in the arrow said it was strange that you were still alive. But there was no poison left in your body. And if you had been trampled by the horse after falling, your bones would have broken—but there were no fractures either.”
“Uh….”
“And now, the way you speak, your behavior… it’s all so different from the person I knew.”
Wang Seonhwa said this with a look that seemed on the verge of madness.
“And there’s no way you wouldn’t recognize me. You… you really are Wanha, right?”
What if I said I’m not that Wanha? I probably wouldn’t see a good outcome.
I summoned all my acting skills.
“Is my name… Wanha? Shin-wan?”
Seeing a flicker of doubt in Wang Seonhwa’s eyes, I quickly offered an explanation.
“There was a dagger in my chest pouch, and my name was written on it.”
“Did you… lose your memory?”
“Uh… yes… I think so.”
“How… how did I rescue you? They said there were no other traces in the cave.”
“I came to my senses and tried to climb down the mountain….”
I pretended to search through my memory.
“The carriage had overturned, and there were corpses. But then I heard a voice….”
“You didn’t save me knowing me?”
“Just… I saw you were still alive, so I tried to save you. I couldn’t just leave a living person to die.”
Wang Seonhwa’s eyes seemed ready to overflow with tears, but he tried desperately to remain calm.
“…I see. So that’s it. You… you’ve always been like that.”
“Can you tell me more about myself?”
I needed to know something to make any plans for the future.
“Your name is Shin-wan. You came here as my maid… but originally you were a disciple of the Baeksan Sect.”
“Baeksan Sect… a martial arts school?”
Wang Seonhwa let out a small sigh.
“Yes. Your sect is on Mount Changbai in Jilin.”
That’s really a sect on the real Baekdu Mountain, isn’t it?
“How did I become the princess’s maid?”
“It’s a long story… I’ll make it simple. I heard about your older brother Ah-seon’s incurable illness, so your master came to Gaegyeong. While staying there, they began to treat your brother’s illness.”
While listening, I suddenly remembered that the face of the woman I had seen in the hallucination—the master—looked exactly like the Great Monk.
“Master! What’s my master’s full name?”
I grabbed Wang Seonhwa’s hand and shouted. He answered with a slightly surprised look.
“Shin O-ha (愼烏霞).”
My fingers trembled slightly. Shin O-ha—just like the Great Monk’s secular name.
Could this be? I thought it was already a strange coincidence that my name matched this body’s name… but now even the master’s secular name matched. Could it be that her face is also identical, just like in the hallucination?
“…My face!”
Come to think of it, what about me?
Wang Seonhwa, flustered by my outburst, handed me a small bronze mirror.
Seeing my reflection, I dropped the mirror.
…It was identical. To my original self.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I just felt dizzy for a moment….”
“You must have been up too long. Since your body isn’t fully well, lie down again.”
Wang Seonhwa quickly laid me back down and continued speaking.
“When Master treated your older brother’s illness at Daecheongdo, I once went to visit him. That’s when… I became friends with you.”
“Friends with the princess?”
Is that even possible in a society with such strict social ranks?
“Yes. You were someone I really wanted to become close with.”
Recalling the memory, Wang Seonhwa smiled. But then his expression turned bitter.
“If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gotten close. I wouldn’t have asked you to come with Hwon, either. You wouldn’t have gotten hurt or lost your memory….”
“Why would this be your fault, Your Highness? It’s because of the attackers.”
“Wanha….”
“It’s okay. I nearly died, but I survived, so everything will be fine.”
I comforted Wang Seonhwa and let him leave. As soon as I was alone, I let out a silent scream.
Am I okay? What’s okay about this! Not okay at all!
Martial arts novels usually have a lot of deaths, but Smiling While Hiding a Blade is a story where people die like crazy!
It’s not just martial artists—civilians die, palace people die, everyone dies.
One reason I stopped reading was because I was tired of so many people dying.
Buddha, what is this.
All I know how to do is shoot arrows—how am I supposed to survive in this cruel world?
Am I supposed to get some miraculous fate or opportunity?
“Right.”
I shot up. There was one opportunity—an inheritance left by Gwak Jagyu.
I patted myself down, searching for the bracelet.
“…Where is it?”
Did I leave it in the cave? No way. It looked valuable at a glance, and I had been holding onto it even when I collapsed.
I must have brought it. I had to find it!
I bolted out of bed and exhaled at how large the room was.
Where should I start searching?
Hum—hum—there was a resonant sound somewhere. I moved directly toward it.
In an inconspicuous corner, I found the bloodstained clothes I had been wearing and a bundle wrapped in clean cloth.
I unfolded the cloth, and along with some rotted fabric, all sorts of items spilled out. This must have been Gwak Jagyu’s belongings.
A jade case, a self-contained bottle, and a book titled Baeksan Divine Skill (白山神功).
A martial arts manual?
I opened it, and the bracelet I had been desperately looking for appeared.
“Ah.”
Just as I reached to grab it, the bracelet moved on its own. I was startled, thinking it would turn into a bow like in the cave, but it simply wrapped itself around my wrist.
…No, this is scary too.
Why does it move by itself? Is this how sacred objects are supposed to behave?
“It won’t come off.”
I thought it would be good to have this sacred object, but it was frightening that it wouldn’t leave my body. Would I die because of it?
In martial arts novels, when someone possesses a sacred object or weapon, people swarm to take it.
The owner of a sacred object usually meets a bad end. Either a supreme master or the protagonist dies, and the item is taken.
I shivered alone, imagining this.
I tried to remove it again, but the bracelet fit perfectly and refused to come off, only reddening my wrist.
After struggling with it until my wrist hurt, I gave up.
Right. As long as others don’t know it’s a sacred object, it’s fine. I don’t even know exactly what kind of sacred object this is…
My eyes fell back on the book.
Baeksan Divine Skill
Since it’s a Baeksan Sect martial arts manual, maybe it explains something about the sacred object too.
And a martial arts manual found in a cave—just as a martial arts reader, I couldn’t ignore it.
Maybe this really is a miraculous opportunity: a martial arts manual that actually exists! …Probably just a Baeksan Sect manual.
Even so, my heart raced just at the thought of seeing a real martial arts manual from a novel.
What techniques might it contain? Surely some impressive secret formulas—
With a pounding heart, I opened the book, and froze. Couldn’t read the characters? No.
It was the opposite.
“This is…”
The characters were incredibly familiar. Written in Chinese characters and Idu script, I could read them.
At Baeksan Temple, there was a meditation room only the Great Monk could enter. Even monks avoided it because it was cool enough to feel chilly in summer.
Everyone except me.
One gloomy day when I returned from school, I sneaked into that meditation room and fell asleep there.
When I woke up, the Great Monk was reading a book. From that day, he taught me how to read Idu.
One day, I found an old, unmarked book in the meditation room. I didn’t continue reading because I couldn’t understand the first page.
And now, in my hands, the first page of Baeksan Divine Skill had the same passage written.
“Shattering the Soul, Shaking Heaven (碎魂搖天)
Ten thousand snows without fragrance (萬雪無香),
Eternally without end (永永無窮)
All is created by the mind (一切唯心造)
Be the master wherever you are (隨處作主)”
My heart started racing for a different reason than when I opened the book.
Could the world in the novel really be connected to the place I originally came from?
Same name as me, same face.
Same master as the Great Monk.
A martial arts manual with the same passage the Great Monk used to read.
Maybe these are clues on how to return to my world.
The bracelet on my wrist emitted a cold sensation, and a chilly wind turned the pages.
When I saw the opened page, I blinked. There, the bracelet was drawn—along with an explanation.
[Note]
- An independent space where monks stay for practice. Usually, meditation is performed.
