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Winter’s grip on Mount Hua was absolute.
The training grounds lay silent under a thick blanket of snow, and the ancient pines bowed under the weight of frost.
The small, ornamental pond near the rear courtyards was now a perfect, unmarred sheet of milky white ice, its surface gleaming dully under the pale sun.
Im Sobyeong, A figure swathed in luxurious white furs that made him seem a part of the landscape stood at the pond’s edge.
His breath plumed in the still, bitter air.
His gaze was fixed on the solitary figure standing at the very center of the frozen expanse.
Cheongmyeong, a stark blot of darkness in his dark gray seal robes, motionless as if in meditation.
A question had been gnawing at Nokrim King for years.
He had paid four million nyangs.
A sum comparable to the annual budget of an entire province, for the Jasodan pill that had begun to mend his broken foundation.
Yet, the subsequent pill he received was no larger than a pea, the same size given to the Cheonumaeng allies. At least it was free or paid with his service to Cheongmyeong, who treated him like a rag to clean the floor.
The Elders and Sect Leaders received far more potent, larger doses.
The message was as clear as the ice beneath his feet.
His healing was being metered?
Or Cheongmyeong is simply allergic to being kind to a Sapa.
'If I were fully healthy, I would be far more useful in the battles to come. So why does he hold me back? Is it mere caution, or is it something else?'
Pulling his furs tighter, Sobyeong took a step onto the ice.
It held without a creak.
Nokrim King was a man of the wilds and the shadows; he knew how to read the world.
He studied the ice beneath his feet.
Its color was a deep, solid blue-white near the edges, indicating thick, stable ice.
He could see trapped bubbles frozen in time, tiny orbs suspended in the clear, deep layers.
It was safe.
He began a slow, measured walk towards the center, his movements graceful and assured.
“Are you walking here to freeze to death? It’d save me the trouble of listening to your complaints.”
“I paid four million nyangs to have the right to complain,” Sobyeong replied calmly, not breaking his slow stride.
"I gave you the pills."
“Dojang, I’m just contemplating the nature of investment and return.”
“Hmph. Then pay 4 million nyang more.”
"I am broke."
Sobyeong took another few smooth steps.
The center of the pond was still ten paces away.
“A merchant invests in a shipment of silk, expecting a full bolt. If he receives only a handkerchief, he questions the supplier’s motives.”
Cheongmyeong’s shoulders, which had been perfectly relaxed, tightened almost imperceptibly.
“Your foundation was a pile of rubble. If I gave you the Elders’ pill, your veins would shatter before the pill even dissolved. Some poisons are medicinal in small doses, and some medicines are poison in large ones. Do you want to die, you greedy bastard?”
Another few steps.
Sobyeong was now halfway.
“A prudent explanation,” he conceded. “Yet, one wonders if the physician is also wary of the patient’s… inherent nature of upbringing.”
For the first time, Cheongmyeong glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing into slits.
“Stop shuffling around out there. You’re ruining the peace.”
Sobyeong ignored him, his analytical gaze still on the ice, though his true focus was on the man in front of him.
“The ice is fascinating here. So clear. You can see the tiny flaws, the trapped history.”
He took another deliberate step.
“It’s strong enough. There’s no danger.”
He took another step, and this time, a distinct, sharp crack echoed in the silent air, like a bone snapping.
“You idiot, I said stop!”
It was all the answer Sobyeong needed.
In an instant, Cheongmyeong was moving, his earlier lethargy gone.
He strode quickly onto the ice, his focus entirely on Sobyeong. "Get back!”
But, in his haste, while he was running, he took a brisk, careless step forward onto a smoother, more slippery patch of ice.
His boots, perfect for gripping mountain rock, found no purchase on the glass-smooth patch.
His feet flew out from under him, and with a look of pure, indignant surprise, he...
"Dam—!"
Sobyeong moved without thought. He closed the final distance in a swift slide.
With a yelp of pure outrage, Cheongmyeong fell forward, crashing directly atop Sobyeong.
Nokrim King had no time to brace himself.
The air left his lungs in a pained "oof" as they both landed hard on the unyielding surface, a tangled heap of dark gray and white furs.
Sobyeong lay flat on his back, staring at the gray sky, the wind thoroughly knocked out of him.
“Well,” he wheezed, his voice strained. “I am quite sure my bum will turn a fascinating shade of blue.”
For seconds, they lay motionlessly.
Sobyeong could feel the coiled, terrifying strength in the younger man’s frame.
Cheongmyeong was rigid with mortification.
Sapa scum…”
Cheongmyeong sputtered, pushing himself upright, his face a picture of fury and embarassment.
“It seems even the mighty Hwasan Geomhyeop is not immune to the laws of earth,” Sobyeong said, his voice dry, though a hint of amusement danced in his eyes.
He didn’t release his grip on Cheongmyeong’s back.
“Unhand me, Sapa Bastard!”
“And watch you crack your head open on the ice you were so confidently standing on? I think not. My four million nyangs would be truly wasted then.”
A web of new fractures spread out from under them with an ominous sound.
“Hiii!" Cheongmyeong snarled, scrambling off him and onto his knees.
He grabbed the front of Sobyeong’s robes, his face a thundercloud of fury.
“Get up! Unless you want a freezing bath!”
Maintaining his hold, Sobyeong began to guide them both back towards the shore. He shifted his grip, pulling one of Cheongmyeong’s hands and firmly placing it on his forearm.
“Hold on. And try to mimic my steps.”
Cheongmyeong, too affronted to argue properly, grudgingly complied.
Sobyeong moved with a practiced ease, his feet sliding smoothly rather than stepping, distributing his weight perfectly.
Cheongmyeong, clinging to his arm, was forced to follow suit, his steps becoming more of a controlled glide.
It was a slow, maddening crab-walk of mutual distrust and a deeply ungraceful process.
Cheongmyeong’s grip on Sobyeong's forearm was so tight it cut off circulation and dug into the muscle through the thick fur as if he were trying to crush the bone.
Every time Sobyeong adjusted his balance, Cheongmyeong would instinctively resist, nearly sending them both tilting.
“If you break my arm, Dojang, I’ll be of no use to you at all,” Sobyeong pointed out, his voice strained as Cheongmyeong’s grip tightened after a particularly loud groan from the ice.
"Shut it! I should just strangle you so you will stop talking!"
“I am trying to be helpful here. Unless your plan is to drown us both out of spite?”
“I’ll spite you into the next life,” Cheongmyeong shot back, but his feet finally began to mimic the smooth, sliding motion.
Another sharp crack punctuated his words.
Cheongmyeong flinched, his hand flying out to grab a handful of Sobyeong’s furs at the shoulder, pulling them so close they were nearly face-to-face.
For a small moment they were a frozen tableau of shared panic and mutual annoyance, balanced precariously on the groaning ice.
“...Let go,” Sobyeong said, his voice dangerously calm.
Cheongmyeong released the fur, his scowl deepening. But the message had been received.
The rest of the agonizing journey was made in a tense, silent shuffle, Cheongmyeong allowing himself to be guided, his pride the only thing truly injured.
It was less a graceful glide and more a panicked shuffle, but it was progress.
They moved as a single, ungainly unit, Sobyeong leading, Cheongmyeong clinging and complaining but ultimately following.
They moved like that across the ice, a silent, bundled-up pair.
Their boots crunched onto the snowy bank just as a final, loud CRACK sounded behind them.
They turned to see the section of ice where they had fallen sink, dark water welling up through the broken pieces.
Cheongmyeong immediately snatched his hand, brushing off his robes with unnecessary vigor.
“It seems,” Sobyeong mused aloud, his breath vaporized in the cold air, “that some surfaces, no matter how solid they appear, require a certain… respect. And some allies require a watchful eye, lest they slip and cause unforeseen chaos.”
The question about the pills had been answered in a way words never could.
He saw it now, the careful dosage, the wariness masked as irritation.
It wasn't just about medicine.
It was a recognition.
This Sapa bastard is dangerous and at the same time annoying.
His voice returning to its usual amused cadence, “And some investments yield returns in the most unexpected ways. My thanks for the assistance, Cheongmyeong Dojang. I’ll be more careful where I step in the future.”
Without waiting for a reply, he turned and walked away, leaving Cheongmyeong standing alone on the shore.
Hwasan Geomhyeop watched the retreating figure in white, his usual scowl firmly in place.
Behind it, his thought echoed.
'This Sapa bastard is too clever for his own good.'
It was the real reason the Purple Mist Pills came so sparingly.
He can let the Sapa Bastard be useful and be healed moderately, but he will never let him grow powerful enough to become the very storm they need to weather.
A risk Cheongmyeong will not take.
Author notes:
Sobyeong accepts the limited dosage as the price of his place at Cheongmyeong's side. A place close enough to help him, but not so close as to threaten him.
Cheongmyeong accepts that this "Sapa bastard" is a necessary, intelligent counterweight, one he must manage carefully, like walking on thin ice.