Sa Gwan, Ilho and Ryul made their way northwest. They trekked through the dense forest until they noticed a fire in the distance. Ilho stuck his nose in the air. "Meat, those four are cooking." Ilho took off running and turned his head. "Quick, before Jinhu eats it all."
Ilho and the others emerged from the pines.
Jinhu noticed Ilho. Ryu turned. "Hey." Ilho darted past him toward the fire without a word. As he approached, Jinhu got there quicker. He snatched up all the meat to Ilho's dismay.
"What the fuck man? Get your own meat. Wait... what are you doing here?"
Ilho picked up a hot coal and threw it at Jinhu. As meat went flying Ilho snatched it out of the air and shoved it in his mouth. "So-Yeon took Blue." Ilho said with his mouth full.
"What?" Mu Jang walked out of the woods adjusting his pants. "What did you just say?"
Mu Jang got closer to the fire. "Where the hell is my meat?" Jinhu pointed at Ilho who looked like a chipmunk hoarding nuts for winter.
Sa Gwan appeared behind Mu Jang. "So-Yeon took Blue." Sa Gwan said as he tapped Jang on the shoulder.
"Why would she do that?" Ryu asked.
"I dont know. But she killed an Orc, then grabbed Blue and left." Ryul answered.
"Orc? Did you say an orc? Okay wait, I'm the dumb one. But you are leaving out a lot of that story." Jinhu exclaimed as he punched Ilho in the gut and watched the deer meat go flying back into the fire. "Go get another deer to cook." Jinhu roared at Ilho.
Sa Gwan nodded to Ilho and Ilho vanished into the woods.
The men sat down around the fire awaiting Ilho's return. Sa Gwan summarized the earlier events in detail.
"I mean, she did stab him once. Can we really trust her with him?" Jinhu exclaimed.
A voice replied behind Jinhu "Do you want to confront her?" Jinhu turned his head as Ilho walked past with a deer over his shoulders. Ilho turned and the deer's foot smacked Jinhu in the head. "I'm pretty sure she could kill all of us, dumbass." Ilho placed the deer on the ground as Ryu started to skin and clean it.
"As much as i hate the situation. There's not much we can do." Ilho sighed.
"Amitabha, Buddha really has it in for him." Hanjo knelt and helped Ryu.
"We have to trust Blue guys." Ryul said.
Ryu looked up, hands red from the deer blood. "Our leader sure has a talent for finding trouble."
The tension broke, laughter and chats filled the air as the deer began being rotated on the fire.
On the eastern side of the forest, So-Yeon jumped effortlessly between the pines. Blue followed behind, doing his best to keep up.
So-Yeon stopped suddenly on a thick branch high in the canopy. "You have a lot to learn. You are far too weak to use my grandfather's footwork." She dropped down right as Blue caught up. As Blue opened his mouth she raised her hand. Dangling the pendant in the air in his face.
"Where the hell did you get this?"
Blue blinked. "The Alliance vault." He said softly. "I chose it as my treasure."
So-Yeon's expression hardened. "So, Cheng and my uncle taught you nothing but how to lie and steal techniques from a family you don't belong too huh?"
Blue shook his head. "Seriously. I'm not lying. You have some serious trust issues." Blue jumped down to the forest floor and sat, back leaned against the tree. So-Yeon followed, the pendant still dangling from her hand. "I found it on the floor of vault. I thought it seemed familiar, like the one grandfather used to wear. So I picked it up. And now here we are."
Her grip tightened around the pendant. Her knuckles turning white. She knelt down and met his gaze. "You don't get to call him grandfather in front of me." She sat. "Not unless you want another wound to match that one."
Blue hand raised to his left shoulder. "Look, I don't understand why you're so angry, or why you detest me. But nothing that has been said now or even before was a lie."
"Detest you?" She snapped. "Yes, that's the correct word." She placed the pendant on the ground between them. "I detest a man who dares use my families techniques. I detest someome who pretends to be something he's not." She pointed at the pendant. "That... is Yoryeon's. My grandfather's. Jiung's grandfather. Not yours."
The pendant showed a dragon head, twisting and spewing venom, smoke coiled into the shape of a smiling face.
"It is a symbol of the Tang Clan. The real symbol. Though it is broken. If my brother had seen it, he would've recognized it immediately."
She kicked the pendant at Blue. "You would have known this. He would've knowm this. Jiung spent more time with our grandfather than any of us. And here you sit, expecting me to believe you are Jiung?"
Blue stared at the pendant as it lay in his lap. "I... I... " Blue shook his head. He raised his head. "I saw it on the fucking floor of the vault okay? The damn system told me I needed to pick it up and find the other two pieces happy?"
So-Yeon's gaze narrowed. "System?" She leaned back slightly. "You have a system? Like the ones commoners received when the gates opened. Those... people who can clear the gates and the ones the Alliance keeps like caged animals?"
Blue sighed. "Fuck." He muttered under his breath. "Since we are fucking into it now, yes, I have a system."
She stared at Blue dumbfounded.
Blue cracked his neck, he leaned forward head resting on one hand. "I spent fifteen years in another world. Dreaming... wishing for a chance to come back. The thing that killed me haunted my dreams. The screams, of you, Kwan, Ryul. Haejin, Seori. I heard them on repeat for years."
Blue picked up the pendant and placed it back on his neck. "I didn't know what happened to any of you. I was alone there until I wasn't. I got used to my new parents, my friend Eve. I never forgot about you all, but I had to move on until." Blue paused and stared at the ground.
"Until what?" So-Yeon asked.
"Until a golden gate appeared and it brought me home." Blue's fist met the ground. "I fucking saw you... at the tryouts. Matriarch of the Tang Clan, Commander of a corp. You were alive. And I wanted to tell you everything. But I couldn't, I didn't have the strength. Physically or mentally."
So-Yeon stood and leaned her head against the tree.
Blue looked up. "I know this is hard to hear. It's as hard to say. Who would believe such a thing." Blue paused and looked into the sky. "You know, after mom and dad died. You were my anchor. You kept me grounded while I did my best for all of you."
Blue stood. "Yes. The pendant is broken. Yes, there are two more pieces i must find and I don't know why. Yes, it's grandfather's. Yes, I'm Jiung. And yes, uncle taught me Flowing Steel. We'll rather grandfather did, inside the array."
"That was you?" So-Yeon swung her head around.
Blue nodded. "I also still carry the Ten Thousands Poisons Qi. Though the system has Suppressed it, and I dont know why."
"There seems to be a lot you don't know." So-Yeon chuckled. "You say things only my brother would know." She tilted her head. "But, only we saw that figure stab you through the heart."
Blue raised an eyebrow." You mean saw it slice my head clean off."
She flinched and took a step back. She stumbled over a root and Blue caught her. She looked up. "Is... is it really you?" She whispered.
"Yes, little sister. It's me." Blue helped her regain her footing.
"I didn't want to believe it." She looked down. "Uncle told me to head to the bar in Chengdu. I heard from patrons about the Tang qi that some blue haired wanderer used." She sighed. "You fought for Ryul and could've died. You're speech is different, but everything else about you screams Jiung."
She took a step forward. "I've had a harder time convincing myself that you aren't him. I even appraoched Shaolin's master Mu-Seon about the possibility of reincarnation." She chuckled. "Of course those hermits believe in it." She pointed at Blue's chest. "But if your system pointed you to grandfather's necklace. That's just too many coincidences, I have to stop denying it."
She finally rushed in and gave him a hug. "It really is you." She muttered.
Blue smiled. "I've missed you too. But damn. Look at you now." Blue grabbed her and moved her back. "Dad would be pissed... but proud, Ms. Matriarch, Commander of the Crimson Veil Corps, mother of dragons. Sorry that last one was a TV show reference."
So-Yeon's eyebrows furrowed. "What's a TV show?"