Side Story 54. Heavenly Sweet Gold (1)

Cheongho and Jin Li-yeon stood there.
They were just about to enter the arena.
There were even more people today. Even though it was still only the quarterfinals, the excitement was tremendous.
Cheers could be heard even before they entered.

Jin Li-yeon quietly brought a hand to her waist.
She felt the flexible sword wrapped around her like a belt.
Naturally, one could not wear weapons during the cooking competition.
Since situations could arise where they had to approach the honored guests closely, carrying weapons was not permitted.
In that sense, it was truly convenient that Jin Li-yeon’s weapon was a flexible sword.
Because she could keep her weapon on her in any situation.
As a swordsman, as long as she had one sword by her side, there was nothing to fear.
Jin Li-yeon repeated that to herself.

She turned her head and looked at Cheongho.
The pressure must have been immense. He was standing here at a young age, bearing everyone’s expectations.

“…What is it?”
“Nothing.”

But as she looked at him, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Not even the slightest trace of nervousness could be felt from Cheongho.
Ahim, who was standing beside him, seemed to notice that as well.

“You do not seem nervous at all.”
“Because I’m not.”
“It seems not all Daoists of the Central Plains are that detached. Extraordinary, extraordinary. Haha.”

Ahim himself, who said that, also did not seem nervous.

“Cheongho.”

Ahim asked while looking into Cheongho’s eyes.
Cheongho felt that Ahim’s eyes were mysterious.
A gray tinged with blue. His blue-gray eyes seemed to contain the sky.

“Is the fortune you see still the same?”

It was a question asking whether he still thought he would defeat Ahim and take the Guihon Jade.
Cheongho nodded.
At that, Ahim smiled again.

“Will you become my disciple?”
“……”
“You shine. You shine very dazzlingly. I can see lightning within your eyes.”

Just as Cheongho had looked into Ahim’s eyes, Ahim had also looked into Cheongho’s.
And though it was unclear how much Ahim had noticed, he spoke as if he had sensed the Thunder Qi raging inside Cheongho’s body.

“I took that fellow in because he seemed decent as well, but I am saying you shine far more than he does.”

The fellow Ahim referred to was Ma Bi-hong, who stood behind him.
The Ma Bi-hong Cheongho remembered was a man like a flame. A man who burned with passion.
But now, Ma Bi-hong was like firewood left after everything had burned away.
There was no vitality in his eyes.
Perhaps the heart that had aimed to become the best under heaven had been broken.

Cheongho glanced at Ma Bi-hong, then glared at Ahim.
Then he opened his mouth quietly.

“Don’t act up.”
“……?”

Ahim looked as if he did not know how to react.
But they were not given any more time to talk.

Deng-!
“Entraaance!”

A gong rang, announcing their entrance.

“Let us see how we compete.”

Ahim said that and took the first step.
Cheongho and Jin Li-yeon followed him into the arena.

“Waaaaaa!”
“Hey, blue-eyes! We’re counting on you!”

The audience’s cheers burst out.
Straight ahead, they could see the honored guests’ seats where the judges sat.
The Seok Family Manor Lord and the influential figures were looking this way with curious gazes.

Then the assistants helping with the proceedings pulled the strings of a tightly rolled scroll.
At that, the scroll dropped open sharply.
Its contents were as follows.

‘The sweetest dish under heaven!’

Food was not necessarily only spicy, salty, or sour.
Ingredients that produced sweetness were all expensive, but there were more than enough people in the world willing to spend money to taste that sweetness.
The theme set by the organizers was precisely such a ‘sweet dish.’
Cheongho and Ahim had already heard and known that theme.

“The allotted time is one hour. Present the finest sweet dish within that time!”

The host shouted in a booming voice.
The match time had increased compared to the round of sixteen.
One hour was short if one called it short, and long if one called it long.

But it was enough time to make the dish Cheongho had planned.

“Martial Aunt, eggs.”
“Okay.”
“Please bring many.”

Jin Li-yeon immediately went to get eggs.
For this match, truly every ingredient said to be precious in the world had been prepared.
But what Cheongho secured first was none other than eggs.

Because that was the most important ingredient in the dish Yi-gang had taught him.
Cheongho wrapped a white cloth around his forehead and tied it tightly.
As he arranged his hair, he also arranged his thoughts.
What had Yi-gang called it?

‘Sweet Gold from Heaven.’

He had explained it that way for Cheongho, who could not pronounce the dish’s name properly.

‘Shortened, Heavenly Sweet Gold.’

Jin Li-yeon brought the eggs.
White eggs were piled high in a large basket.

“I brought them.”
“Now we separate the whites and the yolks.”
“Okay.”

Cheongho and Jin Li-yeon began cracking eggs and separating the yolks at a frightening speed.

And in the audience seats.
Among them, in the viewing seats close to the arena where the participants’ acquaintances and honored guests gathered.
Baek Sang-ye and Tsering were there.
That side was noisy as well.
The sound of spectators screaming and cheering was boisterous.

“What are they trying to do with eggs!”
“Look at Ahim! What kind of ingredients is he using!”

Tsering looked back at the spectators shouting like that with an incredulous expression.
Such reactions.
Perhaps there were shills hired by the organizers mixed in to heighten the atmosphere.
After making that reasonable deduction, Tsering quietly turned her eyes toward Baek Sang-ye.
Baek Sang-ye was staring intently at the arena.

The place where Jin Li-yeon was now was where Baek Sang-ye should originally have been.
Jin Li-yeon was naturally not slow, and she no longer made major mistakes.
But compared to Baek Sang-ye, she was certainly lacking when it came to cooking.
Baek Sang-ye could think and move on her own to help Cheongho, but Jin Li-yeon merely followed Cheongho’s instructions.

“Why are they only cracking eggs…”

Tsering muttered that.
Ahim and Ma Bi-hong had brought ingredients she had never heard of or seen and were cooking in ways she had never heard of or seen.
In contrast, Cheongho and Jin Li-yeon were only separating egg yolks and pouring in sugar.

“Can they really win with that…”

Tsering kept talking to herself.
It was not that she originally had a habit of talking to herself.
She had only said it in the hope that Baek Sang-ye, with whom things had become awkward, might answer.

“……”

But Baek Sang-ye ignored her as if she had not heard Tsering’s words.
Tsering’s mood sank even further.

However, Baek Sang-ye was not intentionally ignoring Tsering.
She was looking around with her eyes wide open.
Most of the audience were watching the match with great interest, but there were also those who weren’t.
There were people who kept glancing around, with no attention on the match.
Like Baek Sang-ye herself, they looked as if they were searching for someone.
And every one of them seemed to be martial artists.

Were they Crimson Fighting Fiends?
It didn’t seem so.
Like Namgung Shin being here, they seemed to be martial artists planted by Seok Family Manor.
In truth, what Baek Sang-ye was desperately searching for was not the Crimson Fighting Fiends.

‘Where are you, Sister?’

So-ryu was staying here in Seok Family Manor.
Then where in the world was she? Why had she not come to see Baek Sang-ye despite hearing about her from Namgung Shin?
Simply sending a letter was not So-ryu’s way.
Baek Sang-ye’s mind grew even more complicated.

Crack.

At that moment, the wooden fence separating the audience seats and the arena fell over.

“Oh dear, please move aside for a moment!”
“Move to the side!”

Then the people assisting with the proceedings moved the audience to the side.
It was just when Baek Sang-ye and Tsering were about to move as well.

“Don’t move.”

Someone spoke quietly into Baek Sang-ye’s ear.
Tsering flinched in surprise, and Baek Sang-ye also trembled.
But the reason Baek Sang-ye trembled was different.

“Sister?”
“Do not even turn your head.”

The owner of the voice was So-ryu.
Baek Sang-ye couldn’t hold back and turned her head.
There stood So-ryu, wearing a bitter smile.

“I told you not to turn your head.”
“…I’m sorry.”

Baek Sang-ye looked forward again.
In the direction where Cheongho and Jin Li-yeon were cooking.

“Did you not read the letter?”
“I read it.”
“I clearly told you to return to Azure Forest. Because it’s dangerous.”
“……”

Tsering beside her could only roll her eyes around in surprise.
Why had So-ryu of the Baek Clan appeared here? And what letter?

“Father will scold you harshly. He will say you cannot distinguish what is important from what is not.”
“…I could not return alone and leave my sect siblings behind.”
“I see.”

Baek Sang-ye prepared herself to be severely scolded.
But surprisingly, So-ryu didn’t get angry.

Tsering cut in.

“Um, what do you mean? Return? Senior Sister Sang-ye?”
“Please be quiet. Even my stepping forward carries great risk.”
“No, this is really frustrating… Please explain what you mean.”

Tsering looked as if she would turn around and get angry at any moment.
So-ryu had no choice but to let out a sigh.

“Your Senior Sister can no longer stay with you. I will take her and leave.”
“Why?”
“Because it is dangerous. And Sang-ye is in a position where she must not take risks. I must protect Sang-ye as well.”

Naturally, it was not something that could persuade Tsering.

“What are you talking about? Senior Sister Sang-ye is so strong.”

Baek Sang-ye’s martial arts were strong. Honestly, she even seemed stronger than Tsering. Especially the loftiness of her internal energy was at an extraordinary level.

“She is of a status where she cannot do so.”
“The Baek Clan? Does it make sense for people of the Baek Clan to run away?”

What Tsering pointed out was reasonable.
The Baek Clan, the greatest under heaven.
A martial artist of the Baek Clan could not run away out of fear of danger.
The same was true as a Daoist of Azure Forest.

“It seems she has not told you yet. Very well, but now it should be fine to tell you.”

So-ryu opened her mouth calmly.

“Sang-ye is not a member of the Baek Clan.”

Tsering’s mouth opened slightly. But the one even more shocked was Baek Sang-ye.
She had never imagined that So-ryu would try to reveal her identity.
And if So-ryu revealed Baek Sang-ye’s true status, it meant she would likely never see Tsering again.

“Wait!”

So she stopped So-ryu.
If her identity was to be revealed, she did not want to borrow someone else’s mouth.
Since she was the one who had been lying, it was only right that she tell Tsering directly.

“I will say it.”

Tsering also noticed that the atmosphere had become serious.
Baek Sang-ye quietly looked at the frozen Tsering.
Her heart pounded, but she made an effort not to avoid her eyes.

-The truth is, I am.

Although the people around them had been moved away, she used voice transmission in case someone might hear.
Tsering gulped.
At last, Baek Sang-ye spoke her true identity.

-An imperial princess.
“……?”

Tsering looked as if she didn’t understand.

-The daughter of the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming. Imperial Princess Sang-ye.
“……”

Tsering stayed frozen for a long while.
It must have been shocking. To think the Senior Sister she had bickered with was an imperial princess of the Great Ming.
Tears gathered in Tsering’s large eyes, then rolled down.
To the flustered Baek Sang-ye, Tsering spoke in a tearful voice.

“You’ve been acting strange lately… Could your mind really be…”
“H-huh?”
“You must have gone crazy. What do you think you are… If you go around saying that, you’ll get arrested!”

As she said that, tears trickled down.
Only then did Baek Sang-ye realize that Tsering didn’t believe her.
It was exactly the same as when Tsering had first said she was the disciple of the Divine Monk and the Dalai Lama.

“No, you really…”

Just as Baek Sang-ye was about to explain in frustration.
Cheers burst out.

“Complete, it is complete! What in the world is that dish!”

Cheers erupted along with the commentator’s announcement that the dish was complete.
Cheongho was holding up a shining golden bar.