Henan Jinjiazhuang (2) – Anyang County
Lee Sogun did not continue.
Her bond with that child had simply been a time shared beneath the same sky.
Her throat tightened, and she could not finish her words.
When she sent him away, she had thought herself fortunate if she could at least see his body returned.
She had parted from him in tears.
"All of this is difficult to believe.
Think of the day he first came to the frontier fields of Haran.
Even winning a single small skirmish felt like a miracle.
And that child has grown to this extent…"
Jin Mugwang's voice continued slowly.
"It borders on the impossible."
Sunlight trembled upon the pond.
A breeze passed once across the surface.
Lee Sogun could not lift her head.
She remembered his face when they first met.
Eyes too quiet for his age.
A boy whose thoughts moved ahead of his words.
Even then, he had not been ordinary.
But where he now stood belonged to another world.
From the frontier fields of Haran,
across minor battlefields,
to the very heart of power—
The distance between those points was too vast.
"Was it not called Hwagyeong?"
Jin Mugwang spoke in a low tone.
"I do not know Hwagyeong.
But that child seems to have crossed the path of men into another realm."
Mirang looked back and forth between them in silence.
Since the boy had left,
the house had grown larger.
There were fewer people,
yet the space felt deeper.
Lee Sogun drew a steady breath.
"I wish to see him."
Within those words were longing, pride, and fear woven together.
"He will return."
Mirang said it gently.
Jin Mugwang nodded.
The pond rippled once more.
The child who had gone far away was unseen,
yet his place remained.
Jin Mugwang and Lee Sogun faced the same direction,
but their thoughts could not be the same.
Lee Sogun remembered the person—
his breath, his gaze, the quiet outline of his back.
Jin Mugwang measured ability and achievement—
how he had done it,
what realm he had reached.
They spoke the same name,
yet their hearts turned toward different places.
The small pavilion was strictly a forbidden zone.
Yet the entrance gate, the Woldong Gate, was a passageway people used.
That threshold could not be sealed.
Passersby slowed their steps.
Some cast sideways glances.
Others openly leaned in to peer inside.
All looked toward the pavilion where Sowoon had stayed.
The matter was finished.
So they believed he would return.
Today—
or tomorrow—
as if nothing had changed,
as if he might open the door with that bright smile and step out once more.
Soldiers of the White Dragon Unit came first.
Those close to him paused without thinking.
Local children hovered nearby.
Warriors from Cheonsan, even the head of the house Jin Musik, passed by and looked in.
Rank did not matter.
Age did not matter.
Everyone, at least once, glanced inside.
It was attention—
the kind only those who have stood before a great absence can understand.
As the two conversed, Mirang quietly brought tea.
Seated side by side upon a small stone by the pond, the husband and wife smiled brightly for the first time in a while.
Naturally, the topic was Sowoon.
His slightly awkward gestures.
The sharp mind that sometimes made him appear slow.
The strange humor that veered unexpectedly at the end of his sentences.
Looking toward the place where he once sat, each drifted into private memory.
"You said you witnessed the moment he reached Hwagyeong (化境). What was it like, my lady?"
Jin Mugwang asked.
"Ah… that time."
Lee Sogun's gaze turned toward the stone by the pond.
"He was seated there.
It was near sunset, when darkness was settling.
Light gathered behind him.
Then, all at once, a distinct backlight (背光) appeared—
as though someone had lit a lamp behind him."
Her voice lowered.
"White light, blue light, red light—
fine strands of radiance spread in every direction.
And at the center of those rays,
the child was smiling softly."
Jin Mugwang narrowed his eyes.
"There were no other signs?
No surge of inner force, no violent eruption of energy?"
Lee Sogun smiled faintly.
"You are a martial man, so you wonder about such things.
There was nothing like that.
His energy did not rage or overflow.
It was calm. Still.
Only the flood of light filled the space."
Her eyes grew distant.
"When I recall it, I remember the light first.
It was beautiful.
That small boy… how could such a thing be possible?"
She paused, then added lightly, teasing,
"Would you care to try it yourself, General?"
Jin Mugwang let out a hearty laugh.
"Well, I cannot say no entirely.
I am curious. Perhaps even envious.
If some trace of profound qi (玄氣) lingers here…
might it not offer a little help?"
Ripples spread across the pond.
The light was gone, yet the memory remained vivid.
It was as though the earth itself remembered that moment.
It was merely a remark in passing.
"The tea grows cold. Please drink."
"Let us."