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[Are you that famous Maehwa Geomzone? Let's have a bout!]
Those words had been inscribed onto CheongMyeong's wrist since the day he was born. The mark of a soulmate; the only thing he had from before Mount Hua. It depicted the first words his soulmate would say to him. Given how little of the population had soulmates (and the rather unfortunate cases of one-sided soul bonds), it was common for simple phrases to be the first things a soulmate would say. “Hello,” “greetings,” or even “my name is...” if you were lucky. CheongMyeong's mark was, to put it simply, a little strange.
"What kind of young lady goes around asking people for spars?" CheongMyeong's sasuks had asked.
"Well, if anyone's going to be that kid's soulmate, it makes sense for it to be someone like that."
The other disciples had all nodded in agreement. Thus, the next time they spared, CheongMyeong made sure to send them all flying face-first into the ground.
It wasn't like he had ever asked for a soulmate! What were they trying to say about him, anyways? Besides, if he was going to be stuck with one regardless, wasn’t it good that this one at least seemed a little fun?
(There was no way he was going to let his soulmate win their match! By the time he gained the title "Maehwa Geomzone," he would definitely have to be strong enough to defeat everyone there was. Following that conclusion, he began training with even more intensity than before.)
He ended up gaining his title at thirty. A bit later than he had expected, but he was strong enough now; he was sure he'd be able to give his soulmate the fight of their life. It didn't take long for the requests to start pouring in:
"You're known as the Maewha Geomzone, aren't you? I'd like to test your strength for myself!"
CheongMyeong moved before they even finished speaking, knocking them off their feet. His Sahyungs would probably be surprised that his soulmate was a man, but that part, at least, felt right to CheongMyeong. In any case, what was important was who was strongest! He sent his opponent's sword flying.
(Normally, that would end the match.)
(CheongMyeong allowed the beating to continue.)
"Wait! Wait! I'm sorry! I-! Stop it!"
BANG
"Stop! I said stop!"
"Huh? Is that all?" CheongMyeong wondered. "You're pretty weak, huh? Don't worry though; I'll take good care of my soulmate."
"Soulmate?! What are you talking about?"
"Eh?"
CheongMyeong looked down to where his foe knelt on the ground before him. In that position, with his robes all cut up, both his forearms were revealed.
No matter how long CheongMyeong looked at them, the unmarked skin remained.
'What? Is my soulmark for a one-sided bond?' CheongMyeong wondered. That was a little disappointing. He shook his head, trying to move past it. Even if he wasn’t a perfect match for the person before him, that person was a perfect match for him. He should get to know them. He looked down again.
The gray-haired man on the ground shivered in fear, not even remotely resembling how CheongMyeong had thought his soulmate would be. He frowned a little.
'Wait…’ he trailed off. ‘Weren't his first words to me a little different than what my soul mark says?'
He had been so excited initially that such a possibility hadn't even occurred to him. He didn't remember the exact words the man had spoken, but he had the vague impression now that they weren't quite right.
His challenger sniffled, the wrinkles on his face covered in snot and tears.
"Okay. Wrong person. Never mind," CheongMyeong said, groaning heavily. "Honestly, people like you make things so difficult. I was doing something! Don't go around challenging people for no reason!"
"Wait! Why did you start hitting me again?!"
"Shut up! I won't stop until I'm satisfied!" CheongMyeong shouted back.
After that day, his challenger ran far, far away from the central plains. CheongMyeong never saw him again. Unfortunately, that wasn't the last of these instances.
"Geomzone, I demand by my honor that we battle here today!"
"So you're Geomzone, huh? What, you really think you can defeat me?"
"Maehwa Geomzone! Please, allow me the chance to spar with you! I swore to my master that I would defeat you!"
“Fight me, Geomzone!”
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
Many came. All were defeated. After that, none of them wanted to stay. The sheer difference in power between CheongMyeong and the rest of them made it impossible for them to ask for a rematch. As time went on, CheongMyeong enjoyed fighting them less and less.
“What do you want?” he sighed.
"As a fellow practitioner of taoism, I will teach you what its true path is. I hope you will not resent me for this harsh lesson."
BANG
At some point, all the challengers started blending together. CheongMyeong couldn't keep track of who had said what anymore. They stopped being 'potential soulmates' and instead were 'people who are interrupting my drinking.' By the time he reached his late forties, he stopped listening to most of what they said.
Whatever. He had a family full of Sahyungs and Sajil back in Mount Hua; why would he need a soulmate on top of that? His soulbond was probably one-sided anyways.
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
"Are you that famous Maehwa Geomzone? Let's have a bout!"
BANG
Just one more, like any other.
However, there was something different about this one:
"Dosa-nim! Let's go drinking!"
"Huh? Why are you here again? Get lost!" CheongMyeong snapped back.
(The first words he had actually said to this challenger.)
"Don't be like that. I was just about to head off and deal with some bandits gathered near Sichuan. Come with me; I'll treat you to a drink!"
"What? You can't deal with them by yourself?"
(That seemed unlikely. Among CheongMyeong's challengers, this one had seemed especially strong. Sure he had still lost to CheongMyeong, but everyone did. That wasn't saying much.)
"It's not about whether or not I can deal with him. It's just a question of whether you want to come. I'm serious. Why not?" Amzone asked.
Because CheongMyeong's strength and brutality had done the opposite of scaring him away.
"...Fine," CheongMyeong allowed. "Just this once."
(It did not remain 'just this once' for long.)
Within the Dang family, soulmates were not something to value. For the main branch especially, the partner you would end up with was the one the family head selected for you. The spouse's social status and talents were important, not the compatibility between you and them. Given how rare soulmates were, that wasn't usually a problem. Nonetheless, everyone in main branch knew better than to talk about them.
Unfortunately, like with all of the Dang family's traditions, Dangbo paid that rule no mind.
[Huh? Why are you here again? Get lost!]
"My soulmate must be pretty strange. Who tells someone that the first time they meet? Without saying anything else first! Do you think something upset them beforehand? Or are they just always in a bad mood? Or maybe they just mistook me for someone else!"
"Bo! Shh! Father's just around the corner. We're not supposed to talk about those!"
Dang WeiLin, who would, decades later, become the Dang family head, looked back and forth between his brother and the outside guards with wide eyes.
"Sorry, sorry, I'll be quiet," Dangbo said. "Anyways, do you think they're older or younger than me? A boy or a girl? I bet it's a boy-"
"Bo!"
The eight years old child, not yet referred to as "Dangbo" nor "Amzone," continued speculating for the rest of the night. That was one of the first family rules he had been delighted to break. As he got older, that list grew and grew. The family's insistence on relying on poison instead of daggers became increasingly frustrating with every trip Dangbo took outside. He would see so many kinds of people that those who stayed in the manor would never meet. He got into fight after fight after fight, proving how much more effective his daggers could be than their poison.
"Are you that famous Maehwa Geomzone? Let's have a bout!"
When he suggested that, the thought that his opponent might be his soulmate never crossed his mind. The soulmate rule had been the first one he broke, but, as time went on, the others had seemed far more important by comparison. Therefore, after they fought, the only thing Dangbo could focus on was how strong his opponent had been. The shock — the disbelief at his own loss — the pain…
(And, above all else, a certain kind of awe at how beautiful that swordsmanship had been.)
"Huh? Why are you here again? Get lost!"
When those words were said, they didn't even register in Dangbo's mind. In the decades that had passed since his childhood, other things had taken priority. At that moment, all he cared about was getting to know this swordsman who seemed so different from everyone he had ever known before.
CheongMyeong felt dazed.
The world was fuzzy.
'What am I doing now?' he wondered.
The smell of blood filled his nose. He could only tell he was alive from the pain in his body.
This was all so-
"Dosa-hyung!"
Three throwing knives sped past CheongMyeong, instantly killing the demonic cultists who had been coming up behind him.
Thud.
They fell to the floor.
CheongMyeong turned his head, looking down on their fallen corpses with glassy eyes. Those men were dead.
Right, death.
"What are you doing?! We're in the middle of a fight, Dosa-hyung! Pull yourself together!"
CheongMyeong glanced back.
"...No. I don't know. Maybe the exhaustion is getting to me."
"Well, you're bound to be exhausted. We've been at this for three days."
"Hm."
Dangbo frowned a little, his eyes softening in concern. Then, with slow, tired steps, the pair began to walk back to camp.
CheongMyeong exhaled quietly.
Things had been so much simpler, before. As annoying as all those challengers could be, it was still better. Anything would be better than waking up to yet another day of war.
'I want to go home,' CheongMyeong thought.
Mount Hua seemed so distant, now.
CheongMyeong reached down, running a hand along his wrist.
[Are you that famous Maehwa Geomzone? Let's have a bout!]
Wasn't that a promise? A sign that, somehow, things would return to normal again? That everything would progress as it should?
"...Bo-ya."
"Yes, Hyung?"
"Do you think it's true... that soulmates are destined to meet?"
Dangbo looked over fully, caught off guard. He had noticed CheongMyeong's soulmark while treating him before. However, out of respect for the other's privacy, he had never bothered to give it a read.
"...I'm not sure I would go so far as to say it’s 'destiny' or anything," he admitted. "But, on the other hand, I've never heard of anyone with a soulmate dying before they could meet theirs."
He brushed a hand over his own wrist, tracing out the words.
"Would you like to try and find them? After the war?"
"...Maybe," CheongMyeong admitted. “What about you?”
“I never really thought about it,” Dangbo confessed. “It’s been decades since I’ve considered my soulmate at all. I just figured it would happen if it happened. When the times comes and all that.”
For a moment, CheongMyeong’s expression went a bit distant. He looked out across the field of corpses, his gaze landing on the setting sun. When he was younger, he had desperately wanted to meet his soulmate. He had been happy with his life, but, with the ways everyone was describing soulmates, it had seemed too good to pass up.
Now, however…
"It seems like they approach me first," he mentioned. "I probably don't need to seek them out."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. No reason to worry to about it. Instead..."
He brushed over his soulmark one last time before letting go of his wrist and allowing it to fall to his side.
"Instead, why don't we go somewhere when all this is done?"
After a moment's hesitation, Dangbo laughed and let go of his own wrist as well.
"Just the two of us?" he asked.
CheongMyeong nodded once.
"Alright," Dangbo grinned. "Let's do that."
Dangbo's corpse laid before him.
"...Huh?" CheongMyeong asked.
Less than two minutes ago, Dangbo had been laying in CheongMyeong’s arms, voicing his last request. The body was still warm. His eyes, still open.
(His breath, however, was completely gone.)
"Huh?" CheongMyeong asked again.
Neither of them had been all that interested in it anymore now that they were elders, but the fact that Dangbo had a soulmate was undeniable. CheongMyeong had seen Dangbo's mark before. The rough, disregarding words had seemed familiar, but he hadn't been able to recall anything specific. It didn't matter though. Dangbo had a soulmate. He had not yet met his soulmate. Therefore, he couldn't be dead. That was simply how it worked, wasn't it?
"Dangbo?" CheongMyeong asked. "Get up. This isn't funny."
(CheongMyeong was the strongest cultivator there was. His hearing was impeccable. There should be no reason he wasn't able to hear Dangbo's heartbeats right now.)
"Bo-ya. Get up."
The corpse was cooling rapidly.
"Dangbo-"
CheongMyeong cut off. Then, with shaking hands, he moved toward Dangbo's arm. With a quick motion, he sent the sleeve flying back.
[Huh? Why are you here again? Get lost!]
Ungrateful words. Someone who didn't want Dangbo — who didn't care that Dangbo was their soulmate. Someone who wanted him gone. They were careless words; barely-considered words.
Vaguely familiar words.
[Are you that famous Maehwa Geomzone? Let's have a bout!]
Suddenly, the mark at CheongMyeong’s wrist seemed to burn. Barely thinking about it, he began to scratch it. He scratched and scraped and rubbed. Impossible though it might be, at that moment he wished, more than anything, to be able to wipe it off.
(It only seemed to burn more fiercely the harder he tried.)
Here were the facts: Dangbo had a soulmate; Dangbo couldn't die without having met his soulmate; Dangbo was dead.
"Are you that famous Maehwa Geomzone? Let's have a bout!"
The distant memory echoed in CheongMyeong’s mind.
“...Oh,” he muttered, softly. “I see.”
His gaze turned up toward the cloudy sky.
“Ah.”
Tears burned at his eyes.
For the first time since the war began, he allowed them to fall.
“Hmm…”
Soso gazed intently, looking back and forth between the purple-tinted flower clip to the right and the pure white hair pins to the left. She didn’t have enough money on her to buy both, so she had to pick very carefully.
“Hmmmmmmm.”
“Would you please just pick one?!” CheongMyeong begged.
“Shush! Don’t rush me!”
They were going to be stuck here for the rest of the night; it wasn’t like they had anything better to do. Soso weighed her options.
‘If I get the pins I’ll have enough money left to get two sets. On the other hand, the clip will probably look better than them in Sago’s hair.’
She tried imagining both. However, in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to say that any version of Yu Iseol would look worse than any other.
“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.”
“Ugh! Enough! Let’s just buy both!” CheongMyeong shouted, slamming some of his own money on the counter.
Soso spun toward him, shouting, “This is for Sago’s birthday! How can you be so cavalier about it?!”
“She’ll be happy no matter what you get her. Let’s go!”
He shoved the wrapped gifts into her hands, marching off at once. Huffing a little, Soso followed after him.
“Getting both isn’t a bad option, but you’re really terrible at this whole romance thing.”
“Huh? How am I terrible at it?!”
Soso straightened herself up, gaining a sagely wisdom as she reported, “Romance is about both the moments of intense passion and about enjoying doing little, everyday things for them. There’s no way you’d have enough patience for the latter.”
“I have plenty of patience,” CheongMyeong disagreed.
“And what about when I was pursuing you? You wouldn’t even hear me out!”
“You weren’t trying to marry me for romantic reasons back then!”
“Still! A beautiful young woman was chasing after you! Who would run away from that?!”
“Someone who has a soulmate, for one!”
Soso paused, turning to stare at him with furrowed brows.
“...Um, Sahyung?”
“What?”
“I’ve treated you before. I’ve seen both your wrists. You don’t have a soulmark on them.”
“Eh?”
“I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that. Sago and I aren’t soulmates either, right?”
CheongMyeong gritted his teeth together, looking away.
(She was right, after all. What more could he say?)
But still-
“I have a soulmate,” CheongMyeong repeated. “I do. That’s all you need to know.”
Soso looked at him for a few moments longer. However, eventually, she decided this wasn’t worth fighting over and gave a little half-shrug.
“If you say so, Sahyung. You better treasure them, then.”
“...I know.” CheongMyeong swallowed. “Right. I’ll do that.”
People didn’t have to be soulmates to be happy together. Most of the world’s population fell into that category. Soso and Yu Iseol weren’t soulmates. BaekCheon didn’t have a soulmate; Jo Geol and Yoon Jong didn’t either. As far as CheongMyeong knew, no one at Mount Hua had one.
Not even him. Not anymore.
People who weren’t soulmates could be perfectly happy with each other.
People who were soulmates would sometimes ruin everything for the other.
(They could be stupid enough to not realize their bond until it was far, far too late to fix anything.)
Still.
Still.
CheongMyeong knew who his soulmate was now. There was no way he would ever let himself forget it.