When dinnertime arrived, a slightly larger table than usual flew into the room. Blinking in wonder, maidservants soon poured in carrying platters and placed them on the table.

Lastly, Geum Baekcheon appeared, carrying an exceptionally large dish that he set down in the center of the empty table.

“What is all this…”

Taken aback by the sheer quantity, I wore a dazed expression. After all, knowing that the portions were usually prepared in moderate amounts, this excess seemed overwhelming. I couldn’t possibly finish it all…

As I hesitated, Joo Hwarin, who had been standing behind me, leaned forward and whispered softly in my ear.

“It’s customary.”

“Customary?”

“To prepare such a grand feast after a wedding, so that everyone residing in this pavilion can partake. Of course, we can’t dine alongside the Young Cult Leader and young lady, but after your meal, the remaining food will be shared among all who reside here. So please don’t feel burdened and eat as much as you’d like before setting it aside.”

Listening to her words, I surveyed the seemingly over thirty platters, each filled to the brim with delicacies.

Geum Baekcheon grinned as he grasped the lid of the dish he had brought and lifted it.

“As I heard, you requested chicken sesame soup.”

“Well, yes, but…”

The massive dish he had set in the center contained enough hot sour to feed several people.

“…”

“Your body should avoid cold foods, so I made this especially warm. I used young hens and reheated it after initially cooling it down to further tenderize the meat. It will be easy for you to eat and digest.”

He smiled, tore off a chicken’s leg, placed it on a plate, and handed it to me with a grin.

“Please try it.”

Stunned by the sheer quantity, I stared blankly at the chicken leg placed before me until he spoke urgently.

“Dojin is…”

“I’m here.”

The door opened, and Hyuk Dojin appeared, as if he had been waiting.

“I stepped out briefly to fetch someone.”

And beside him stood the young man I had seen not long ago…

“We meet again. Thank you for inviting me to this esteemed occasion.”

No, it was the Demon Cult’s Vice Leader, Man Do, who bore a youthful appearance, smiling at me.

Startled by his appearance, I began to rise from my seat, but Man Do shook his head and gently waved his hand downward.

“Please, stay seated. I’ve come as an uninvited guest, so I can’t expect a welcome. Rather, I should apologize.”

Shaking my head and waving my hand to indicate it was alright, Man Do smiled and glanced at Hyuk Dojin beside him before speaking.

“I personally requested to be brought here. On this joyous occasion, I wanted to congratulate you in person. But I should have sent advance notice… I was careless.”

“Not at all. I’m grateful that you’re here to congratulate us.”

“Haha, that’s a relief.”

I smiled in return at Man Do’s hearty laughter, but Hyuk Dojin, standing beside him, clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

“Sowol, there’s no need to be so accommodating. This elder may appear youthful on the outside, but inwardly, he’s a century-old snake. He’s well aware that by acting like this, you’ll respond politely. So feel free to be as curt as you like.”

‘Curt’… At Hyuk Dojin’s words, I shifted my gaze slightly. Man Do simply smiled faintly, as if unfazed, and took the seat I had offered him.

“There’s no need to listen to the rude words of an ill-mannered person who has never had the chance to properly treat his elder to a meal, is there?”

“Haha…”

I laughed awkwardly, glancing between the two of them. Hyuk Dojin pursed his lips, glaring at Man Do, before approaching me and taking the seat beside me.

Usually, he sat across from me, but now he was sitting next to me.

Vaguely, I remembered being told as a child.

Sitting across from someone at a meal maintained a certain distance. In the martial world, where one could be found dead at any moment, dining with someone was quite risky, was it not?

So, naturally, it was said that sitting across from someone was a way to ensure one’s safety.

On the other hand, the adjacent seat left openings and made it difficult to respond to dangerous situations. Offering that seat meant placing great trust in that person, even further, believing in them.

Therefore, it was said that one wouldn’t offer the adjacent seat even to one’s wife.

“Sowol?”

At Hyuk Dojin’s voice calling out to me, I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. There was no need for so much contemplation. I slowly took my seat.

As soon as I sat down, Man Do smiled, as if he had been waiting, and offered his congratulations once more before calling over a nearby maidservant.

He glanced around before slowly opening his mouth to the approaching maidservant.

“Could you bring me a bamboo flask of rice wine?”

“Wine… you’re asking for wine?”

The youthful maidservant blinked and repeated the question, rolling her eyes towards Hyuk Dojin and me. Man Do nodded, affirming her query.

Hyuk Dojin briefly addressed the maidservant studying him.

“Provide it.”

“Understood.”

The maidservant turned and left the room, soon returning with a small bamboo flask, which she handed to Man Do.

Man Do wore a delighted expression, like a child receiving a gift, as he opened the bamboo lid and inhaled the aroma.

Observing his actions, Hyuk Dojin spoke curtly.

“You still fancy that, I see?”

“Of course, Young Cult Leader. When I secluded myself and left the Demon Cult, this wine was what I found most difficult to abstain from. Wine aged in bamboo, no less. Only those who know its flavor and fragrance can truly appreciate its taste.”

Man Do slowly poured the wine into his cup. The luminous golden liquid rippled in the cup. Man Do leisurely raised the cup to his lips, emptying it, before lowering the cup with a satisfied expression and speaking.

“I had resolved to seclude myself for ten years, but this wine nearly made me abandon my seclusion and return. Even the monks of Shaolin Temple take a cup of wine to escape from contemplation and afflictions, so for someone not cultivating the Way like myself, living without wine was almost intolerable.”

Man Do grinned before looking towards me. He lightly shook the flask.

“Would you care to try it?”

“What?”

His offer made me open my eyes wide.

Wine? Having never tasted alcohol in my life, I naturally felt flustered.

In my previous life and this one as well.

With my frail body, I had survived by consuming bitter medicines and spirit pills, so I had never once tried wine, which is considered harmful to the body. To be precise, it had never even crossed my mind. I silently observed the luminous liquid shallowly filling Man Do’s cup.

…Is it tasty?

“Don’t offer her strange things, Martial Uncle. Wine, for someone with a delicate body… Is that really appropriate?”

Hyuk Dojin dissuaded him after glancing at my hesitation. Man Do shrugged his shoulders, lowered the flask he had been shaking, and poured more wine into his own cup as he spoke.

“Wine is not necessarily a bad thing. It is said that Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai* composed all his renowned poems while drunk. He himself evaluated wine as ‘the needle that hooks poems’.” (tl/n: a Chinese poet acclaimed as one of the greatest and most important poets of the Tang dynasty and in Chinese history as a whole.)

Man Do’s soft voice and the rippling wine cup seemed to create an almost dreamlike atmosphere.

“Moreover, wine is not solely for drinking and enjoyment. Wine can also be a medicine. The Book for Nurturing Life states that wine is a medicine that heals the body and mind, and in the poem ‘Seventh Month’ from the Book of Songs, wine is used to pray for longevity and robust health.”

“Here he goes again. He’s always like this. Whenever he drinks wine, he launches into a panegyric about it. Even though he can use his inner energy to neutralize the intoxicating effects, he insists on getting drunk just so he can spout those kinds of words, so there’s no need to listen too deeply.”

Although Hyuk Dojin made a dismissive remark from the side, for some reason, Man Do’s words resonated with me more than Hyuk Dojin’s.

“Poison can sometimes become medicine. How one handles it is what’s important.”

After finishing his words, Man Do tilted his cup. Watching the wine disappear into his mouth, I felt a peculiar sensation. I lowered the chopsticks I had been holding.

“Sowol?”

Instead of responding to Hyuk Dojin’s call, I opened my mouth directly.

“Man Do.”

“Yes?”

As Man Do emptied his cup and reached for the bamboo flask again, I uttered his name.

“Pour me some too.”

“Sowol?!”

“Hoo. Are you intending to be this old man’s drinking companion?”

Man Do opened his eyes wide, gazing at me, then grinned and nodded his head. Instead of pouring into his own cup, Man Do poured the wine into a nearby blue cup and offered it to me. After filling his own cup, he lightly raised it.

“There’s no need to drink it all at once. Savor the taste and elegance by drinking it slowly, bit by bit.”

I silently looked down at the wine in my hand. Beside me, Hyuk Dojin calmly tried to dissuade me, speaking as if telling a child not to eat junk food, but it was already too late.

I raised the wine cup to my lips and sipped it slowly, a little at a time.

The cool, luminous liquid washed over my tongue. At first, it seemed slightly bitter, but then a sweet aftertaste followed. After holding it halfway in my mouth for a moment, I swallowed it, and a peculiar sensation washed over me.

‘So this is alcohol?’

Contrary to the warnings from those around me that it should never be consumed, that consuming it would lead to dire consequences, the wine that had entered my body seemed harmless.

“How is it?”

Man Do asked with a smile, seeking my impression.

I looked at him before shifting my gaze to Hyuk Dojin and meeting his concerned eyes with a faint smile.

“It’s alright. Tasty.”

“Ah, a connoisseur, I see.”

Man Do smiled and drained his cup again, and I slowly emptied mine as well. Although I could sense Hyuk Dojin’s concerned gaze upon me from the side… it was fine.

Since my remaining time was limited, and death was waiting for me, I at least wanted to experience the things I had never tried before.

Wine was one of those things – an uncharted territory I had never experienced. That’s why I wanted to try it, at least once, on a joyous and celebratory day like today.

“You should join us, Dojin.”

I swirled the wine cup and smiled faintly.

* * *

“Haah…”

By the time I was lying in Hyuk Dojin’s embrace on the bed, the sun had already set. Although I hadn’t consumed much wine, my mind felt hazy, and my body was warm.

Hyuk Dojin, sitting askew beside me, gazed down at me and let out a deep breath. After silently looking up at the ceiling, he turned his head, and his gaze met mine as he looked to the side.

“Are you alright?”

“…Are you angry?”

Concerned by his slightly stiff expression, I reached out and gently covered the back of his hand with mine. Hyuk Dojin lowered his gaze from where he had been staring in the opposite direction, studied the back of his hand, and looked at me. His eyes reflected the dim light, glistening in the darkness.

“Are you angry because I disobeyed you… and drank the wine?”

Hyuk Dojin exhaled deeply without a word. He covered the back of my hand resting on his with his own hand and spoke calmly.

“I’m not angry.”

“…Then what?”

“It’s just…”

Hyuk Dojin seemed to want to say something but closed his mouth with a complicated expression. I silently observed his lips.

Hyuk Dojin’s mouth, which I had thought would open momentarily, remained closed. The silence felt heavy.

As I waited for him, sitting with a troubled expression, Hyuk Dojin’s lips slowly parted.

“Something…”

At the same time his voice sounded, my free hand pulled his shoulder towards me.

His upright posture seemed to crumble as he spilled towards me, but in that moment, Hyuk Dojin’s arm supported the area beside my ear and shoulder, preventing his body from fully collapsing onto me.

However, his descending face had reached directly in front of mine, close enough for our breaths to mingle.

Hyuk Dojin looked down at me with a startled expression.

The breeze flowing in through the partially open window caused our hair to intertwine between us.

“So-“

“Dojin.”

Covering his utterance of my name with my own voice, I slowly smiled.

“Will you… hold me?”