Hongdu - The King's Men - Chapter 48

The grain transport ship carrying Jwa Woo and her party arrived at Mapo Port at dawn.

Hanyang, which they had returned to, remained unchanged.

Unlike Jwa Woo, who had briefly brushed the boundary between life and death, people were living their ordinary lives as usual.

The port was bustling with workers carrying the grains from the ship to warehouses, street vendors selling freshly caught fish, and people out to prepare ingredients for breakfast.

“This place hasn’t changed.”

Jwa Woo, who had disembarked from the ship, adjusted the bundle she was carrying on her back.

“It shouldn’t change. If there were changes here, it would mean something bad had happened. That would be a big problem.”

Hong Woo Geon said as he stretched out long.

Thinking about it, his words were correct. Unless there was a rebellion, there was no reason for Hanyang to change.

“Are we going to the palace now?”

“The others will go to the palace.”

“You mean we’re not?”

“Not we, just you.”

“But…”

Jwa Woo looked at Hwang Sung Gwang, who was with the other party members.

Hadn’t Hong Woo Geon said it? Her next mission was Hwang Sung Gwang.

As she looked at Hong Woo Geon with questioning eyes, he grinned.

“You have five days of vacation starting today.”

“Suddenly a vacation?”

“Think of it as a reward before carrying out a special mission.”

Hong Woo Geon nodded towards Hwang Sung Gwang.

At this, Jwa Woo tilted her head in confusion.

Judging from the visit to Hwa Seop Ja in Myeongye-bang, the next mission would likely be to help Hwang Sung Gwang pass the civil service exam.

When working together in Paju, she learned that Hwang Sung Gwang possessed an extraordinary memory. Making such a talented person pass the exam would be easier than eating cold porridge.

But a reward?

Surely not…

“Am I being discriminated against?”

“You’re being given special treatment.”

“Somehow it sounds like sweet talk right before being exploited.”

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“It’s not that, but…”

Five days of vacation meant she could go home right now.

Jwa Woo had become a secret royal inspector after being practically kidnapped by the king.

Though they said her family had been informed of her well-being through others, she thought of the worried servants and Eon Nyeon.

They must be very concerned. If she showed her face now, it would at least ease their minds a bit.

Suddenly occurring to her, Jwa Woo carefully asked.

“Is there no option to cancel being an inspector instead of taking the vacation?”

“That’s absolutely not an option.”

Hong Woo Geon cut off Jwa Woo’s hope as coldly and firmly as possible.

“Aren’t you being too firm?”

“Why? Do you want to cancel being an inspector?”

“…”

If it were Jwa Woo before visiting Yaseong County, she would have definitely answered “yes”.

But after visiting that place, her heart had changed.

Along with the desperate desire to find reasons related to her father’s death, another reason to become an inspector had emerged.

Jwa Woo reflected on the events of the past few days.

Recalling how she had punished Jung Saeng Won, who had tried to steal the property of innocent people, pride welled up deep in her chest.

If she had lived only for herself until now, she wanted to live a life for others a little from now on.

So she couldn’t say she didn’t want to be a secret royal inspector anymore.

Since things had turned out this way, she might as well enjoy the vacation to the fullest.

Jwa Woo put on a deliberately bright expression.

“Then can I go home?”

“You can go anywhere you want.”

“I’m really going?”

“I said go.”

“Really?”

“If you don’t leave by the count of five, your vacation is canceled…”

“…!”

Before Hong Woo Geon could finish speaking, Jwa Woo quickly left the spot.

Hong Woo Geon’s smile deepened as he watched her disappear at a speed so fast her feet were barely visible.

The world that had been dim became clear, and the bright morning sunlight shone on Hong Woo Geon’s head.

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The spring flowers that had been blooming on the mud walls had already begun to fall.

Jwa Woo stood in front of the small gate, passing by the wall where the boundary between unopened flower buds and falling blossoms was clear. Then she finally adjusted her appearance.

Just before coming to Namchon where her house was, Jwa Woo bought a set of women’s clothes at a cloth shop in Unjong-ga.

As it was a place she often used when pretending to be Hwa Seop Ja of Myeongye-bang, the owner willingly provided her with the clothes and a place she needed.

She changed into the skirt and jacket bought at the cloth shop, undid her topknot, and neatly braided her hair.

It had been so long since she had worn women’s attire that it now felt awkward.

Then she let out a soft laugh. “Heh.”

A woman feeling awkward in women’s clothing.

It was then that she belatedly realized she had been in men’s disguise for too long.

“What’s so funny?”

If it weren’t for the voice coming from over her shoulder, Jwa Woo would have lingered for a longer time.

Jwa Woo turned her head to look behind her.

Eon Nyeon was glaring at her with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

“Eon Nyeon! Have you been well?”

A joyful smile bloomed fully on Jwa Woo’s face.

As she spread her arms wide to embrace Eon Nyeon, Eon Nyeon ducked to avoid Jwa Woo’s embrace.

“Eon Nyeon, why are you acting like this?”

“Forget it. Don’t pretend to be glad to see me now.”

“Eon Nyeon…”

“Well, I suppose someone like me isn’t that important to you.”

“How can you say that? You know better than anyone how important you are to me.”

“Someone so important that you sent just one letter and then no word at all?”

“Eon Nyeon, about that…”

She couldn’t say, “You might not believe this, but I’ve been busy becoming a secret royal inspector all this time…”

Jwa Woo trailed off.

“See? You can’t say anything. No, you won’t say anything.”

Eon Nyeon’s voice trembled, sounding upset.

“How much we worried all this time. You didn’t think of us even as much as an ant’s eyelash, did you? At every meal, we wondered if our young lady was eating well, when it rained we worried because of the rain, when the weather was good we worried because it was good – you completely forgot about this girl who worried about you like that, didn’t you?”

“No, that’s not true. I thought about you too. I missed you and the old woman and old man so much my eyes were about to secrete pus. Look, can’t you see how worn my eyes are?”

Jwa Woo pointed to her eyes, trying to joke.

Her joke seemed to work as Eon Nyeon’s sullen expression softened.

“They said you were so busy with official duties you couldn’t even come home, but it seems you’ve only sharpened your tongue in that time.”

Eon Nyeon’s eyes quickly turned red.

Jwa Woo spread her arms wide again.

To her, Eon Nyeon was not a maid but like a younger sister.

Knowing this feeling, Eon Nyeon rushed into Jwa Woo’s embrace.

“Young lady, you don’t know how much I missed you. Sob, the old woman keeps asking where you went. How could I tell her you went into the palace? So I said you were busy being a companion to young ladies of other houses and couldn’t come home. Do you know how much I was scolded by the old woman and old man for letting our precious young lady be a companion to others?”

As if her hardships had been great, Eon Nyeon’s complaints in Jwa Woo’s arms did not seem to lessen.

How much time had passed like that?

“Oh my! That rascal is here again, here again.”

The angry voice of the old woman was heard from inside the gate.

“Why don’t you go somewhere else! You rascal, you wretched thing, what is this place that you keep peeking? Just try peeking one more time. I’ll take your legs and… Huh? Young Lady Jwa Woo?”

The old servant woman, who had been chasing away a vagrant peeking over the wall, belatedly noticed Jwa Woo.

“Young lady, is it really our Young Lady Jwa Woo?”

The old woman, who came running out in one breath, immediately began examining Jwa Woo’s body from head to toe.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Oh my, you’ve lost weight. I knew this would happen. How could food from someone else’s house put meat on your bones? This is why I said you shouldn’t leave home to be a companion in a job that’s not meant for you…”

Following Eon Nyeon, now it was the old woman’s turn for a long nagging.

Now it really felt like she was home.

She had momentarily forgotten that there were people who worried about her so sincerely.

Feeling sorry and grateful, Jwa Woo tightly embraced Eon Nyeon and the old woman.

A bright smile bloomed fully on her face.

The warm spring sunlight drifted around the three people.

It was a day as warm as the season that had rapidly approached.

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Some time later.

A man in shabby attire entered a house located at the end of a secluded alley in Namchon.

It was Heo Yoo Jung, the vagrant man who had been chased away by Jwa Woo’s old servant woman.

After returning to Hanyang, Heo Yoo Jung had been spying on Jwa Woo’s house for a while, disguised as a vagrant.

“Young master.”

An old man who had been waiting for Heo Yoo Jung hurriedly greeted him.

“Did you go to that house again?”

The old man handed Heo Yoo Jung a silk cloth dampened with water.

Heo Yoo Jung answered while wiping the soot off his face with the cloth.

“Yes.”

“Is there still no news of that household’s young lady?”

“She returned today.”

“What?”

“I saw her with my own eyes on my way back.”

Heo Yoo Jung recalled Jwa Woo embracing Eon Nyeon and the old woman.

She was a woman who resembled Kwon Eui Jung, the man in his memories that became clearer with each passing day.

Kwon Eui Jung, the former Inspector of the State Council.

She was clearly the daughter of the man who had died after eating Heo Yoo Jung’s coming-of-age ceremony food.

During the eight years that had passed, Kwon Eui Jung’s daughter had transformed from a girl into a woman.

Kwon Jwa Woo, a woman who looked as radiant and dignified as a butterfly that had shed its cocoon.

Heo Yoo Jung felt guilty, as if the shadow cast on one side of her face was somehow his fault.

Then he shook his head.

“No. It wasn’t me. I definitely didn’t mix in the lime powder.”

Kwon Eui Jung had met his death after eating rice cakes coated with bean powder served at the coming-of-age ceremony. It was the lime powder mixed in with the bean powder that had choked him.

Everyone suspected Heo Yoo Jung, who had prepared the food.

But he was certainly not the culprit. He had to prove his innocence.

To be reborn proudly as Heo Yoo Jung, not the vagrant Dal Bong, he needed to find the real culprit behind the incident from eight years ago.

But where should he look for the real culprit, and even if he found them, would there be anything he could do?

Heo Yoo Jung recalled how cruel those who were chasing him could be.

If so, there was only one way.

To find someone more powerful than them.

Somewhere, there must be someone who could protect him.

Heo Yoo Jung steeled his wavering heart.

Heaven helps those who help themselves.

As he was trying so hard to prove his innocence, surely someone would reach out a helping hand to him someday.

Surely…

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“Are you talking to me?”

A small frog sat on a lotus leaf.

Where will that little one jump to?

Hong Woo Geon, who couldn’t take his curious gaze off it, turned his head towards the edge of the pond.

On the pavilion by the pond, the king, who resembled him so much, was savoring tea.

The two were drinking chrysanthemum tea harvested last autumn at Hong Woo Geon’s mansion.

Looking at the fully bloomed chrysanthemum flower in the teacup, the king wore a subtle smile.

“Say it again.”

As Hong Woo Geon urged while climbing the pavilion steps, the king said.

“I asked how you would feel about getting married.”