As I was exploring the surroundings, Dokgorin took me to a massive pond located in the corner of the courtyard.
In the artificially created pond, colorful koi fish were swimming, and some of the larger ones were almost the size of an adult’s forearm, which was slightly grotesque.
“Wow, what on earth do they eat to get that big?”
As I marveled while peering into the pond, Dokgorin, who was also watching the koi, said,
“Even if it’s not for a birthday banquet, there are probably many people coming and going at the Murim Association’s estate, so they must have been fed by them.”
While saying this, Dokgorin pointed to a feeding basket set up on one side.
It seemed that anyone visiting here could give food.
“Shall we give it a try?”
“Sure.”
Accepting my suggestion, Dokgorin approached the feeding basket and grabbed a long ladle that was inside.
Then she scooped up a ladleful of koi food and scattered it over the pond.
Splash!
The koi began to gather around the food slowly.
As we watched the koi gulping the food with their big mouths, someone suddenly spoke to us.
“Um…”
“What is it?”
When Dokgorin, who had been staring at the koi innocently, asked with a wary expression, a boy our age who had approached from behind flailed his arms in surprise.
“Uh, I’m not a suspicious person!”
After taking a few steps back, he clutched his fists and said,
“I am Cheongsong, the third disciple of the Hwasan Sect. If it’s not too much trouble, could I know your name?”
At this, Dokgorin let out a small sigh, placed her hands on her hips, and said,
“You’re already being rude.”
“Huh?”
“We’re having a good time together, so don’t interrupt and get lost.”
With that, she waved her hand dismissively as if annoyed, and Cheongsong blinked with a flustered expression, looking back and forth between me and Dokgorin.
I looked at the boy with pity, seeing him get hurt by Dokgorin’s cold attitude, but I knew it wouldn’t change anything.
I pretended not to notice his gaze and continued to look into the pond.
“Uh, I’m sorry for interrupting your good time….”
Eventually, Cheongsong turned away with a sullen expression.
Then, with a huff, Dokgorin, who had just acted haughty, suddenly smiled as if nothing happened and asked me,
“Chilbok, I did well, didn’t I?”
I forced a smile at Dokgorin’s ghostly change in demeanor and said,
“Do you really need to be that heartless?”
Then Dokgorin shook her finger as if she didn’t understand, clucking her tongue.
“You have to firmly refuse from the start. If you leave any room, they’ll come back.”
Her words weren’t entirely unreasonable, so I decided to go along with it.
As we were enjoying the koi, after dismissing Cheongsong, more boys enchanted by Dokgorin’s beauty continued to approach us. But each time, Dokgorin repelled them with a cold shoulder.
Some even wanted to mess with me, thinking I looked easy, but those guys were swiftly subdued by Dokgorin and received a harsh scolding that they surely wouldn’t forget for the rest of their lives.
Anyway, we had seen enough koi, so we decided to move to the pavilion that had been on my mind since earlier.
“Wow, it’s quite high.”
Climbing the stairs to the second floor of the pavilion, I felt a refreshing breeze and my chest opened up, unlike earlier when I felt confined by the surrounding buildings.
“From here, I can see the courtyard where the birthday banquet is held all at once.”
Leaning against the second-floor railing, Dokgorin pointed toward the courtyard we had just been in.
I noticed Kyungah unnervingly looking around and Dokgoseok was trying to reassure her.
Seeing this, I couldn’t help but smile wryly and told Dokgorin,
“We should have at least given them a heads up.”
“This level of escapade is fine.”
Dokgorin confidently puffed out her chest with a shameless expression.
Since she was still growing, it was a bit pitiful that her assertiveness was almost nonexistent.
Having enjoyed a good view, I thought it was time to head back when suddenly, a cheerful voice came from behind.
“Wow! You could come up here too!”
Turning my head to see what was happening, I spotted a blonde girl just climbing up the stairs.
“Oh.”
She had a familiar face.
Of course, it was Namgoong Ruby, the cheerful girl from the Namgoong family I had seen with Dokgoseok earlier.
She was looking around the pavilion with a curious expression but suddenly became aware of our presence and clasped her hands in apology.
“I’m sorry! I was a bit loud!”
“Oh, no.”
As I quickly shook my head in response to her high energy, the girl approached me, her eyes sparkling.
I stepped back in shock as she closed the distance quickly.
Dokgorin, who had been looking down at the courtyard, seemed to notice Ruby’s presence and turned her head, but she was a beat too slow because Ruby had already grabbed my hand.
“Wow!”
“Huh?”
“I’ve never seen someone mixed like you before!”
The color of her eyes was as red as a rabbit’s, and I suddenly understood why her parents must have named her Ruby.
Staring into those captivating eyes felt as if I would get sucked in—like a dazzling gem.
She continued to gaze at my white hair and asked,
“Are your parents foreign too?”
“…I guess you could say that?”
According to Baekhyun, my mother had Korean ancestry.
“Wow! That’s just like me!”
With that, Namgoong Ruby leaned in closer with even more admiration.
“Let’s set this down first before we talk.”
In a tension that was hard for an average person to keep up with, as I tried to pull my hand away from her grasp, it happened suddenly.
Swoosh!
With a sound cutting through the air, Dokgorin’s right arm shot out.
“…!”
Dodging Dokgorin’s surprise attack by a hair’s breadth, Namgoong Ruby’s eyes widened as she asked Dokgorin,
“Who are you?”
In this critical moment, it seemed like the sight of Namgoong Ruby still holding my hand bothered Dokgorin as she replied with an icy glare.
“That’s what I should be asking.”
“If you want to fight, I’m game, but this isn’t the right place, is it?”
While saying that, Namgoong Ruby suddenly turned to me and sought my agreement.
“Huh? Uh, yeah.”
As I hesitantly nodded, Ruby chimed in, “He agrees too!” looking at Dokgorin.
But for some reason, the fact that she was so comfortable speaking to me seemed to irritate Dokgorin, and she shouted with an annoyed expression.
“Get away from Chilbok right now!”
Then with movements much faster than before, she reached out her right hand.
Seeing this, Namgoong Ruby’s eyes sparkled.
“Golden Claw!”
Like an eagle’s clawing for its prey, Dokgorin’s right hand aimed sharply at Ruby’s wrist.
But surprisingly, Ruby’s way of countering the Golden Claw was something completely unexpected.
Suddenly, she pulled me into her embrace and, spiraling like a windmill, she gracefully evaded the reach of Dokgorin’s attack.
Thanks to that, even though we just met today, I ended up hugging her, and she let go of me while exclaiming, “Oh! I’m sorry! That must have been dizzying!”
Seeing the attack fail, Dokgorin, perhaps regaining her composure, murmured coldly,
“That mysterious movement from just now, it’s the Namgoong family’s Wind Dancer Technique.”
“Oh! You recognize it?”
Meanwhile, Namgoong Ruby still maintained a carefree smile, completely unphased.
As I watched the two, each with such contrasting attitudes, I steeled myself and spoke up,
“Wait a minute!”
At that, the two girls, who had been glaring at each other with fierce determination, turned their gazes to me simultaneously.
“I think both of you might have some misunderstanding, so how about we solve this peacefully through conversation?”
As I threw in my suggestion to mediate, Dokgorin let out a small sigh and said,
“Chilbok, in Murim, once a sword is drawn for any reason, it’s not easy to stop fighting.”
Hearing this, Namgoong Ruby raised her hands above her head and said,
“Oh? I’m fine with resolving this through conversation!”
“….”
Dokgorin seemed to think that Ruby was clueless and gave her a reproachful look.
But since the party involved said she didn’t want to fight, Dokgorin seemed to abandon her determination to engage and nodded with a sigh.
“Fine then. Let’s resolve it through talk as you suggested.”
At that moment, a curious Namgoong Ruby asked.
“Is your name Chilbok?”
“…Yes, so what?”
“Hehe! Don’t you hear that your name is a bit countryside?”
‘Is that really something you should say?’
I muttered that to myself while giving Namgoong Ruby, who seemed like she had a screw loose, a withering glare.
