Hwirim was two years older than Myojeong.

Even within the charity house, Hwirim was treated as something of an oddball. She had an unusually free-spirited personality and, unlike most girls her age, dressed in boys’ clothes and behaved like a tomboy.

Because of that, she stood out everywhere she went, and there was not a single child among her peers who did not know her name. Of course, that was not the only reason. Her abilities were exceptional, and her spiritual force was remarkably strong, making her the target of envy and jealousy as well.

At that age, even a gap of one or two years was enormous. Hwirim was tall for her age.

Myojeong, on the other hand, was small and slight, so when they stood side by side, there was nearly a full head between them.

Unlike the other children, Hwirim initially seemed puzzled by the fact that Myojeong kept following her around. But because his temperament was so gentle and his build so tiny, she soon grew fond of him as though he were a younger brother.

That was how the two quickly became close.

For someone so young, Hwirim had a fierce streak to her personality and lived by an ironclad rule of repaying whatever she received. Because of that, once Myojeong earned the nickname “Hwirim’s little dog,” the teasing and bullying from the other children naturally disappeared.

Then one day—

“I’ll introduce you. She’s my friend.”

Hwirim brought her closest friend to meet Myojeong.

“Oh? So you’re the beloved dog.”

Unlike the tomboyish Hwirim, the girl stood there with her hair neatly braided, dressed properly in a skirt.

“My name is Suhyang.”

That was the first meeting between Myojeong and Suhyang.

Suhyang came from a prestigious family.

As a result, strict etiquette had been drilled into her from childhood, and a certain refinement could be seen in both her actions and speech. Perhaps because of that, even though she was the same age as Hwirim, she seemed far more mature and composed.

Watching prickly Hwirim and Myojeong trailing obediently after her, Suhyang would often sigh and say, “How undignified,” but in the end, the three of them always burst into laughter together.

They became as close as siblings born from the same womb.

Hwirim and Suhyang treated Myojeong like a younger brother and fussed over him constantly, while Myojeong followed the two girls around faithfully.

If Suhyang was the eldest sister, then Hwirim was the middle child, and Myojeong was the youngest.

Because he could not speak, Myojeong carried around a wooden stick and wrote words on the ground, or traced letters onto their palms to communicate.

On days without lectures or lessons, the three of them roamed the mountains and fields together like children on an endless picnic.

They helped each other train where they lacked skill. In spring, they gathered wild greens and medicinal herbs together, picked azaleas to suck the honey from them, and when summer arrived, they went to the stream to swim and catch fish.

Suhyang, who valued propriety, always sat atop a rock and watched from the side.

The only ones who jumped into the water were Hwirim and Myojeong.

Myojeong was a poor swimmer and usually just flailed helplessly in the shallows, but Hwirim, bold and fearless, would swim straight into the deeper parts before returning.

Today as well, a fish flopped wildly in Hwirim’s hand after she emerged from the water, dripping wet.

“Look. I caught a carp.”

Soaked from head to toe, Hwirim grinned proudly at Myojeong and Suhyang.

“They say carp is good for your health. Let’s roast it over a fire and eat it.”

Myojeong smiled brightly and nodded as if to say yes, but—

“I don’t eat carp.”

Suhyang waved both hands in refusal.

“My family isn’t allowed to eat carp.”

“Why not?”

“There’s a legend that’s been passed down since our founding ancestor.”

Hwirim’s eyes widened slightly.

Now that she thought about it, she vaguely remembered hearing about such a thing before. There was supposedly a family somewhere that refused to eat carp.

Hwirim stared down at the fish flapping in her hand before finally letting it slip back into the stream.

“There are way too many things people say you’re not allowed to do in this world.”

She dropped backward onto the ground and stared up at the sky with a dissatisfied expression.

“I want to live freely.”

Hwirim spread her hand wide open toward the sky.

Then Suhyang spoke.

“You’ve treated your hands quite roughly.”

Her hands were naturally pretty and delicate, but repeated training had left calluses scattered across them.

“I’ve held a sword since I was little.”

“Who taught you?”

“My father.”

Hwirim’s family had once produced military officials for generations, though by now they had fallen into ruin.

Her father had once served as a military officer in a small provincial town. But when a terrible famine struck the region, the officials, instead of helping the starving people, preyed upon the weak and filled their own pockets through corruption.

Disillusioned, her father abandoned everything and withdrew from the world.

He moved deep into the mountains of a distant region to live in seclusion. Hwirim’s mother was a shaman who lived near that mountain while caring for her elderly mother.

The two met, visited each other often, and eventually married and had a child.

That child was Hwirim.

They had not been wealthy, but they had lived happily enough.

Then Hwirim lost her mother at a young age and was raised alone by her father afterward.

“Our house was poor, but my father used to say that a man could still carry ten thousand sacks of grain in his heart.”

Her father taught her many things.

“He taught me the sword from a young age because he said I needed the strength to protect myself.”

Rima, though people say men and women are different, the Analects teach that education should make no such distinction. Since you are born into this world only once, you must fulfill your duty. What you choose to do with your life is yours alone to decide, so you must never neglect to sharpen yourself.

One day, far in the future, the people themselves will become the masters of this land. A world will come where birth no longer determines rank, and women too will be able to hold office.

In the beginning, there was no path.

A path is not something that exists from birth. It is something people create.

The road we walk now became a road only because countless footsteps crossed it again and again. Is life not the same?

The very first step you take becomes the beginning of a road.

And if you truly wish it, there is nowhere you cannot go.

“......”

Hwirim silently moved her lips as she stared up at the blue sky.

A path is not something that exists from birth. It is something people create...

Another year passed, and summer came again.

By then, Myojeong had grown considerably.

Where he had once been a full head shorter than Hwirim and Suhyang, he was now only about a handspan below Hwirim’s eye level.

The days grew hotter with each passing week.

One afternoon, after staring up at the clear summer sky, Myojeong approached Hwirim as she came out from class.

[Let’s go swim in the stream.]

Smiling brightly, he wrote the words onto the ground.

Just like last summer, he wanted to swim and catch fish again this year too. It had always been Hwirim who dragged him along first.

But for some reason, the expression on Hwirim’s face as she looked down at the writing was strange.

[What’s wrong?]

When she still did not answer, Myojeong wrote again.

[You don’t want to go?]

“It’s hot outside, but the water’s probably still cold.”

[Is it?]

“Yeah. Let’s wait until it gets a little hotter.”

[Okay.]

Myojeong obediently nodded.

But even after midsummer arrived and the blazing sun scorched the earth, Hwirim continued refusing.

She would make one excuse after another, pretending not to care, always turning down his suggestions to go swimming.

[What’s wrong with her lately?]

Sensing that something was strange, Myojeong went to Suhyang and asked her why.

“Hwirim probably won’t go to the stream with you anymore.”

[Why?]

“Because she’s reached that age.”

Myojeong did not understand what that meant, but Suhyang only smiled vaguely instead of explaining.

That was not the only change in Hwirim.

Starting from some point, she began disappearing for a day or two every month. Sometimes she even skipped lectures, which was unlike the normally diligent Hwirim.

Finding it strange, Myojeong asked her about it directly.

Whenever he asked where she had been, Hwirim casually brushed him off with vague answers like, “I was busy,” or, “Something came up.”

Has she started disliking me?

The thought left Myojeong deeply dejected.

This time, however, he had not seen Hwirim for three entire days.

Unable to hide his worry, he decided to visit the east building where she stayed.

As he hurried toward the east building, he heard hushed voices near the outer gate.

“Serves her right. The elder’s giving her a huge scolding.”

“Haha, that pride of hers must be crushed by now.”

Myojeong quietly pressed himself against the wall and listened.

“She wrote a talisman with an unclean body.”

“An unclean body?”

“You seriously don’t know? Girls, once they come of age, every month they...”

After overhearing the conversation, Myojeong rose onto his tiptoes and peeked over the wall.

Before, even standing on tiptoe had not been enough for him to see inside.

But now he had grown tall enough.

Inside the main hall, Hwirim stood with her calves exposed while an elderly woman struck her repeatedly with a switch.

Red welts streaked across her pale legs.

“I have told you countless times that talismans must be written with a clean body.”

Myojeong’s eyes widened.

“And yet you dared hide this from us? Why did you not report that your monthly bleeding had begun?”

The thin switch lashed across Hwirim’s calves again and again.

“Do you think such a thing can remain hidden? During rituals, ceremonies, purification rites, and ghost warding, a woman must never be present while bleeding. It invites contamination. I told you to suspend all duties and remain cautious once your monthly bleeding begins...”

The elder continued lecturing her about how women during their monthly bleeding must not participate in rituals such as exorcism, purification, or ghost warding.

Especially when writing talismans, the body had to remain clean, and the taboo had to be observed strictly.

“Well? Are you not going to beg forgiveness for your wrongdoing?”

“Is having my monthly bleeding a sin?”

“What?”

“You know it too, Elder.”

“You insolent girl—!”

The switch came flying down again with the furious shout.

Hwirim clenched her teeth and endured the blows.

Tears welled in her eyes, but stubbornly, she did not let out a single cry.

Instead, it was Myojeong, watching from outside the wall, whose face twisted in pain.

The punishment continued for a long time before finally ending. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

When Hwirim eventually came out through the gate, her eyes red, she glared coldly at the children gathered outside.

“What are you all standing around for? Is this entertaining to you?”

At her sharp voice, the children flinched and stepped backward.

“Don’t act so arrogant! Maybe you can beat us now, but...”

One of the boys suddenly shouted at Hwirim’s back.

“In a few years, you won’t be able to anymore.”

Hwirim stopped in place and slowly turned around.

“Why not?”

“Because! Because that’s just how things are supposed to be!”

“......”

That night, Hwirim ran away from the charity house.