A Damn Nightmare (2)
Cheongha Sect.
That was the name of the sect Baekha had entered.
According to the Village Chief, it was a place of some renown in these parts. It held several mountains entire, and the villages beneath them lived under the sect's protection.
Namhyeon was a disciple there.
I had no idea what standing he held within the sect. But the Village Chief, who hardly bowed his head even over the affairs of other villages, had been utterly flustered in front of him. That alone made it plain this was not a man one could treat lightly.
That was as much as I had managed to learn.
Anything more, I meant to ask Baekha herself.
We had agreed to exchange letters until she set out from Cheongha Sect. Fortunately, there was a way to send them. The little bird that had brought Baekha's letter was still at the Village Chief's house. Slip a reply into the tube on its leg, they said, and it would find its own way back.
Cultivators, it seemed, even sent their letters in peculiar ways.
"Maybe I should try sending a reply."
I borrowed paper and a brush from the Village Chief and sat down. The moment I meant to write, I couldn't decide where to begin.
There was so much I wanted to ask. Whether the place she was staying was all right. Whether the training was hard. Whether anything in that strange place was making her uncomfortable. Put all of that down, though, and I had a feeling Baekha would only feel burdened.
"......"
I held the brush for a long while, then started with news of the village.
I showed Uncle the letter. When I told him you were doing well, he said that was a relief.
I passed on that you're coming back, too. He's already fretting over what to feed you.
I added that I had finished repairing the house. That I had set the jar in the spot where she had said she wanted it, and moved the clothesline as well.
After a few lines like that, I felt a little easier. They were the sorts of things I would have said if I had been sitting with Baekha the way I always did.
At the end, I wrote one line more.
Once it was written, I hesitated. I set my hand on the paper for no good reason, then snatched it back, afraid the ink would smear. In the end I folded it as it was.
The reply came the next morning.
You moved the jar? It must have been heavy. We should have done it together later.
I laughed the moment I read the first line. It was as if she were speaking right beside me.
It's more livable here than I expected. The meals are good, and the room is spacious. I still don't know the paths well, so I haven't gone far.
Tell Father not to prepare too much food. I don't think I'll be able to stay long.
Beneath that, the characters grew a little smaller.
I miss you too. I'm glad the letter came.
I read that part once more.
Just knowing she was well set my heart at ease. If I had learned a little sooner that we could exchange letters like this, I wouldn't have been so restless.
I sent a reply that day as well. How the neighbor's youngest had asked whether she could fly through the sky now too. How I had eaten dinner with Uncle. Even how the dog at the village entrance had had puppies. Only after the page was half full did I ask what she was learning at Cheongha Sect.
The letter that came back the next day held the answer.
These days I'm learning how to sit and breathe.
I thought it would be easy at first, but even staying still is hard. My legs keep going numb, and the moment I close my eyes, stray thoughts creep in.
Even so, Sir Namhyeon said that for a first attempt, I'm doing well.
I set the brush down for a moment.
I could see Baekha shifting where she sat, rubbing at her legs. She had always hated staying in one place for long. Even in the middle of sewing, she would step out into the yard now and then and stretch. How hard it must be for a girl like that to sit all day.
I read on.
There's so much I don't know that I keep having to ask. It must be a nuisance, but he explains things kindly.
He even looks over my body himself, and he said that until I get used to it, he'll teach me every part of it in person.
My hand stopped.
It was about Namhyeon. A name that was bound to come up. He was the one who had taken Baekha, and now, she said, he was teaching her cultivation. If he was teaching her well, that was a relief. At least it meant he hadn't dragged her off to some strange place and simply left her there.
I told myself that, and still my eyes kept drifting back to the line I had already read. The part about him looking over her body himself.
I set the paper down and rubbed the back of my neck.
"......Don't think useless things."
Baekha had said she was doing well. She was eating, and the place she stayed was fine. Wait only a few more days, and I could see her face myself.
I picked up the brush again. I had to write a reply. That the training must be hard. That she shouldn't push herself.
I meant to write just that, when another thought cut in.
The dream from the day before yesterday.
"......"
Once it had started to rise, it was difficult to stop.
After he had kneaded her breasts. What came after that began to paint itself in my head.
Plap♥! Slap♥! Slap♥!
"Hnn! Hah, ngh—♥ Haaah—♥"
Bent forward in front of Namhyeon with her ass raised, Baekha let out a ragged breath. That lewd, trembling voice was proof enough that she was already at her limit.
"This is training too. Take it quietly."
When Namhyeon murmured it, Baekha panted and only just managed to open her mouth.
"Hii—♥ Y-yes, yhes—♥"
Perhaps because he was a cultivator. The moment he bore down on her womb with stamina and strength far beyond any mortal's—
"Oh—♥ Nnh, ohohh—♥ Ook—♥"
Baekha spilled moans so obscene they hardly seemed hers, and came almost at once. Her collapsed torso and the ass shivering in little tremors were a sight unto themselves.
Squeeze—!
Then Namhyeon hauled her up by the hair.
One hand seized a full handful of her ass. The other yanked her hair like a leash. And with the weight of his body, he crushed down into her cunt.
"......ngh."
At some point, I was stroking myself. I came while imagining her taken by the man who had carried her off.
The cloudy white ran down over the back of my hand.
I froze for a moment, wiped it away at once, and took up the brush again. It really was time to send a reply.
But why wouldn't my hand move?
I agonized for a long while over whether to write at all, and in the end I never sent one.
And so the day of Baekha's return arrived.
From morning I paced the mouth of the village. I hadn't been told exactly when she would arrive, but I couldn't simply sit at home. Uncle Yu had caught me and told me to at least eat lunch before I went out. That had already been two hours ago.
"......I should have sent that reply."
The regret came late. If I said I had been too busy to write, would she believe me? If she asked what had happened, what was I supposed to say?
I nudged a pebble at my feet. Once I actually saw her face, maybe I would be able to smile as if nothing were wrong.
I missed you.
Did you have a good trip?
If I started there, I thought, it would be enough.
Just then, voices carried from far off. I looked up and saw two figures at the end of the road. A blue hem caught my eye first.
Baekha.
I started toward them at once. I meant to call her name, then shut my mouth at something that looked a little off.
The two of them were pressed far too close together. The nearer I came, the clearer it became what was happening. Baekha had his wrist in one hand and was bracing him near the elbow with the other. Every time Namhyeon took a step, she tipped a little to the side with him.
"......Baekha."
Baekha looked up. The moment she found me, her face brightened.
"Jinwoo!"
Her voice was glad. When she tried to quicken her pace, Namhyeon's body swayed. She stopped short and steadied him again.
I came to a halt in front of them.
There was the smell of liquor. Namhyeon's face was flushed, and sweat beaded on the nape of his neck beneath a loosely opened collar. The wine flask at his waist knocked against his thigh with every step. The sun was still overhead.
"Have you... been drinking?"
"We rested a little on the way. He had a bit there."
Baekha answered quietly. He did not look like a man who had only had a bit.
Namhyeon looked at my face and narrowed his eyes.
"Ah. You're that......"
He didn't seem to remember the name. Baekha supplied it for him.
"Jinwoo."
"Right. That was it."
He smiled. The hand draped over Baekha's shoulder swayed loosely. I looked at that hand, then took a step closer.
"Allow me to support you."
When I moved to take his arm, Namhyeon drew back.
"Enough. We're already here."
The shift threw Baekha off balance again, and she caught herself. I reached out without thinking, but she shook her head as if to say she was fine.
"We only have to make it to the Village Chief's house. He says he sent word ahead."
Sweat beaded on Baekha's forehead. I lowered the hand I had raised.
"Your things?"
"Just this."
She glanced down at the bundle slung at her side. I undid the strap and took it instead. Baekha smiled and thanked me.
While I had been waiting, there had been so much I wanted to say. Now that we were face to face, I didn't know what any of it was.
"Father?"
"He's home. Getting the food ready."
"I told him not to make too much......"
Baekha laughed softly. Seeing that expression eased me a little. This was the Baekha I knew.
She studied my face, then asked.
"......Why didn't you answer the last letter?"
My steps slowed for a moment.
"......Ah. Sorry. I was trying to figure out what to write."
"I thought something was wrong with you."
Baekha's brows dipped slightly. I shook my head.
"It's nothing like that."
"Then that's a relief."
She didn't ask any more. That only made it worse.
I adjusted my grip on the bundle's strap and fell in beside her.
"If he's heavy, say so. I'll support him."
This time Namhyeon answered first.
"I said I'm fine."
There was a laugh in his voice. With his arm still hooked over Baekha's shoulder, he looked at me. I met his eyes for a moment, then faced forward.
The Village Chief's house wasn't far. But the road was too narrow for the three of us to walk abreast. In the end I dropped back a step and followed the two of them.