Hongdu - The King's Men - Chapter 42

The evening sunlight faded and night swiftly arrived.

Darkness settled thickly over the window paper of the guesthouse.

Normally, she would have lit an oil lamp and read a book while waiting for dinner.

But Jwa Woo did not move. No, she could not move.

Her palms stung from swinging the wooden sword all day. Even the small motion of bending her fingers sent prickling sensations through her whole nervous system.

Her body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton. Her legs were numb, as if someone else’s had been attached to her.

It felt like her entire body was sinking underwater, collapsing endlessly downward.

Her eyelids were as heavy as rocks.

Despite her resolve to stay awake until the other candidates arrived, her eyes closed and she slowly succumbed to sleep.

Her initially ragged breathing gradually became peaceful.

Jwa Woo’s chest, leaning askew against the wall as she slept, began to rise and fall at regular intervals.

It was the first deep sleep she had in a long time since kissing Hong Woo Geon.

Though she told herself it was no big deal, she was still a woman after all.

How could a first kiss with a man be no big deal?

Since then, her heart would suddenly race and her face would flush from time to time. She felt a strange flutter whenever Hong Woo Geon smiled.

She had tried hard to deny her own feelings.

She built an invisible iron wall and constantly tempered herself to not let her guard down.

Despite being so cautious.

Due to overdoing it today, the sharp tension in her body suddenly snapped.

But it was only Jwa Woo’s body that relaxed.

Her sleeping face was still full of wariness towards something.

Her appearance – furrowing her brow, biting her lower lip, struggling not to waver – was quite solemn.

Even in her dreams, Jwa Woo was fighting against her own thoughts.

I must forget myself.

I must abandon a woman’s heart.

Mumbled words like a mantra leaked from her lips.

With no one watching, there was no one to pity her.

That made it all the more pitiful.

Her uncomfortable sleep, not even properly lying down, continued for quite some time after that.

How much time had passed like this?

As soft moonlight began to seep into the pitch-dark room.

The door creaked open and a dark figure entered.

[This is the timeline separator]

The one scanning the room with eyes unaccustomed to the darkness was Lee Gyo Young.

When he went to the government office training grounds, Jwa Woo had already disappeared.

He had searched all over the government office looking for her.

Like a bird returning to its nest at night, she had long since come back to the guesthouse room.

He had worried she might be staring blankly into space somewhere again.

Lee Gyo Young sat down in front of Jwa Woo with a calm expression.

“Candidate Kwon.”

Lee Gyo Young called to Jwa Woo softly.

There was no answer.

What could be the matter? Was she angry at being tricked by him?

Lee Gyo Young narrowed his eyes and carefully examined Jwa Woo.

“Candidate Kwon… are you asleep?”

“……”

A smile spread across Lee Gyo Young’s face.

“Indeed, a hundred times was too much.”

Muttering to himself, he hurriedly laid out bedding in the upper part of the room. Then he pulled Jwa Woo’s arm resting on his shoulder as she sat sleeping.

Drunk with sleep, Jwa Woo leaned into Lee Gyo Young’s embrace as he guided her.

Lee Gyo Young lightly lifted Jwa Woo and laid her on the bedding.

He placed a pillow under Jwa Woo’s head and lowered her arm that had been on his shoulder.

For a moment, perhaps due to the small movement, Jwa Woo exhaled a long breath.

A sweet scent wafted to Lee Gyo Young’s nose.

Thump, thump.

Suddenly his heart began to beat wildly.

The large-framed man froze for a moment, unable to move.

He worried Jwa Woo might have woken up.

And… he was also nervous that she might have heard his heart pounding.

Unable to even breathe, Lee Gyo Young just stared at Jwa Woo’s sleeping face.

Fortunately, Jwa Woo did not wake up.

Was she having a nightmare?

Even while sleeping, Jwa Woo was clenching her fists tightly and furrowing her brow. Lee Gyo Young pressed his index finger between her eyebrows.

“Stop having such fierce dreams.”

As if hearing his low murmur,

The wrinkles on Jwa Woo’s brow slowly smoothed out.

Gazing intently at that sight, Lee Gyo Young now slowly unclenched Jwa Woo’s tightly closed hands.

Her palms were covered in blisters from swinging the wooden sword during the day.

Lee Gyo Young’s expression involuntarily furrowed.

Why did he feel more stinging and regretful than when his own hands were like this?

Worried Jwa Woo might feel pain, Lee Gyo Young popped the blisters as carefully as possible.

Then he applied ointment for wounds on top.

As a warrior, he always carried ointment for treating wounds.

He never imagined it would be helpful in this way.

‘Nothing in this world exists without a reason.’

It was something his mother used to say when he was young.

Seeing the ointment he had never used to treat his own wounds now being used to treat Jwa Woo.
Perhaps the reason this ointment had existed until now was for this woman.

The sudden thought made Lee Gyo Young smile wryly.

It took quite a bit of time and effort to treat both of Jwa Woo’s hands.

That was because he tried to treat her as painlessly as possible so as not to disturb her sleep. By the time he finished the treatment, beads of sweat had formed on Lee Gyo Young’s forehead.

Looking at Jwa Woo’s treated hands, Lee Gyo Young left the room with a satisfied smile on his face.

[This is the timeline separator]

“If you had been a little later, I would have gone in.”

As Lee Gyo Young came outside, a familiar voice was heard from the guesthouse porch.

Lee Gyo Young turned his steps heading to the yard and went towards the porch instead.

On the porch, Hong Woo Geon was lying askew with his chin propped up, the moonlight as his companion.

“If you were here, why didn’t you come in?”

Lee Gyo Young said as he sat down next to him.

“You seemed focused on playing doctor, I didn’t want to disturb.”

Hong Woo Geon sat up and sat side by side with Lee Gyo Young.

“So, did the treatment go well?”

“I did my best.”

“If it went well, it went well. What do you mean you did your best?”

“It means I did the best I could.”

“Why?”

“…?”

Lee Gyo Young’s head tilted at Hong Woo Geon’s sudden incomprehensible “why”.

“Why did you say ‘why’?”

“Yes. Why? Why did you try so hard?”

Hong Woo Geon’s face was clearly displeased as he asked again.

He had wanted to treat the wounds on Jwa Woo’s hands himself.

In a moment of carelessness, he had missed the opportunity.

So he asked.

Why did you, Lee Gyo Young, treat Candidate Kwon’s wounds?

“I’m taking responsibility.”

“Responsibility?”

“The wounds were caused by me, so I took responsibility and treated them, that’s all.”

“How were those wounds caused by this candidate?”

“Because I told her to do it.”

“……”

“I told her she could clear the thoughts muddling her mind if she did that. So she did. A hundred times even. So aren’t they wounds I created?”

“…Are you sure?”

“Sure about what?”

“That they’re really wounds this candidate created. Are you sure?”

Lee Gyo Young couldn’t answer easily.

For a moment, a scene flashed through his mind.

The image of Hong Woo Geon lingering in front of Jwa Woo’s quarters, carrying the sleeping Jwa Woo on his back.

Jwa Woo’s face sleeping comfortably while on Hong Woo Geon’s back.

Perhaps, as Hong Woo Geon said, Jwa Woo’s wounds might not have been caused by himself after all.

Could that man be the source of the thoughts troubling her mind?

Lee Gyo Young looked at Hong Woo Geon’s face, half-hidden in darkness.

Even in the darkness, Hong Woo Geon’s eyes were gleaming.

He was confident.

That the woman’s wounds were because of him.

In that moment, Lee Gyo Young’s gaze sharpened.

An icy needle sprouted in Lee Gyo Young’s heart.

If you can’t take responsibility…

He recalled his father who had abandoned his mother.

After his father’s first wife died, he and his mother who entered his father’s household had to live a lifetime as less than human.

Though he knew full well how the two of them were living, his father pretended not to know. He looked off into the distance, ignoring the misfortune of the mother and son.

“In my view, you could never treat Candidate Kwon’s wounds.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you and Candidate Kwon have different ways of life.”

“……”

“Candidate Hong may have many things to protect, but Candidate Kwon has nothing to protect. She only has something to find.”

“Does this candidate have the same way of life as Candidate Kwon then?”

“We would. No, we definitely would. Because I too… had nothing I wanted to protect.”

Until now…

Swallowing the last words, Lee Gyo Young answered.

Silence fell for a moment.

Lee Gyo Young was the one to break the silence.

“Could you abandon everything you have and protect only this woman?”

“……”

“If you don’t have that confidence, you should stop here.”

Lee Gyo Young stood up.

He grasped the door handle to go back into the room.

Just as he was about to open the door and enter, Hong Woo Geon’s half-muffled voice was heard.

“Why do I have to abandon anything?”

“…?”

Lee Gyo Young turned to look at Hong Woo Geon.

“What if I can’t abandon anything?”

“…!”

“What if I said I’ll protect everything I have and that woman too?”

“…That’s greed.”

“It’s aspiration.”

“You could lose everything to Candidate Hong’s vain aspiration.”

“I won’t lose anything.”

“Now it’s my turn to ask. Are you sure?”

“…I’m sure.”

“Then…”

Lee Gyo Young thought for a moment before continuing.

“I’ll have to wait.”

“Wait? For what?”

“There’s no other way but to wait for Candidate Kwon’s choice, is there?”

A smile of triumph spread across Hong Woo Geon’s face.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t jump into a fight I’ve already lost.”

Hong Woo Geon recalled his kiss with Jwa Woo.

That bittersweet, heart-tingling feeling.

But Lee Gyo Young’s firm voice doused his confidence.

“You don’t know the outcome until it’s over. And…”

“…?”

“They say a person’s heart is more fickle than the spring breeze. Who knows? Candidate Kwon may prefer the man who heals her wounds over the one who inflicts them.”

After predicting it would not be an easy fight, Lee Gyo Young moved into the room.

Left alone, Hong Woo Geon stared at the room where Jwa Woo was sleeping.

“You know what? The one who’s really hurt is me.”

Hong Woo Geon slowly opened his hand.

Piercingly blue moonlight pooled like a well on his palm.

Hong Woo Geon’s palm in the pooled moonlight was full of large and small blisters.