A Gift from the Heart (1)
The Baekhyang business was booming?
It would take too long to explain. In short, rich bastards burned the white grains, inhaled the smoke, and lost their minds.
But now, the damage was beginning to show.
One secretary at a merchant group had tasted Baekhyang, and from that moment on, he had managed to wreck one schedule after another for the entire caravan.
At a pleasure house, a courtesan was caught secretly smoking Baekhyang, then got yanked around by the hair and thrown out by the head madam.
Some man smoked himself broke, went into withdrawal, staggered around like a drunk ghost, and got run over by a cart and killed on the spot.
And there were more still—shaking hands, loss of speech, hallucinations, a steep drop in stamina…
The number of addicts kept climbing.
And yet, no one made an issue of it.
At worst, they were just idiots who’d drunk themselves to ruin, like people who got swallowed by liquor and died on their own.
Pathetic fools who couldn’t even manage their own bodies, who’d ruined themselves because they lacked self-control.
That was all they were worth in other people’s eyes.
Besides, this was Hamwon, a border city on the outskirts of Sichuan.
No one cared.
No one was paying attention.
For the man at the center of the business, every day was golden.
* * *
Dang Ihyeon was on his way home with a heavy bundle slung over his shoulder.
Inside the bundle were stacks of Hyeonrihwa Emulsion Paste.
And tucked against his chest was the scent pouch he’d hidden away, still hesitating over when to give it to Im Huiseon.
Heokryeonhyang.
The sun had dipped a little, and the brief, quiet hour where red and blue mingled in the sky had arrived.
If he went a little farther down this road and turned into the deserted alley on the right…
That was the path she took when she returned from work.
Back when she used to work with Ihwa, he’d often run into Huiseon there on the way home.
And just about now was around that time.
Dang Ihyeon walked while rubbing the pouch in his bosom, wondering if this was the right moment.
Before he knew it, his feet had carried him toward that alley.
But when he actually stood in front of it, his heart began to churn.
Was it time?
Or not?
If he suddenly handed over a gift… wouldn’t that be too much?
It was a present offered with sincerity and meaning.
But to her, it might just be awkward—or worse, a burden.
What if she’s disappointed?
What if she doesn’t want to accept something from me…?
Those worries whirled through him, rooting his feet in place.
In the end, he turned around.
Right… maybe not yet—
“Hyun? Hyun!”
A soft, bright voice.
He slowly turned his head.
It was Im Huiseon.
She came over, waving at him.
Before he’d realized it, the distance between them had closed to barely a step and a half.
“Hyun, I haven’t seen you much lately. I was worried something had happened.”
“It’s… I’ve been busy with work lately. I’ve had to run around a lot.”
“Oh? Still, don’t overdo it. Health comes first! You’re eating properly, right?”
“Y-yeah….”
He was eating very properly.
He’d even had a feast at Myeongwolgwan.
“You don’t need to worry so much. I’m doing fine. Even if I’m busy, running around all over the place teaches me a lot, and I’m making money too, so I’m satisfied.”
“Hmm… if Hyun’s happy, then that’s good, I guess.”
She glanced to the side.
“What about Ihwa? You two were always together, weren’t you?”
“Ah… that kid’s working too. These days we’re doing jobs separately.”
“I see. Is she working with that young master you mentioned before?”
“That’s right.”
Huiseon’s eyes wavered.
She remembered the one time she’d run into him before.
That man had spoken rather roughly to the siblings then.
She had snapped back at him because she couldn’t stand it, but it had left her feeling uneasy.
Had she made things awkward for the siblings by butting in?
Was he the kind of petty bastard who’d hold a grudge and make life difficult for them just because he’d been annoyed?
Those innocent siblings were the sort who’d be taken advantage of by bad people and still not know how to protest properly…
She couldn’t shake the worry.
She prayed it wasn’t so.
And if they really had been hurt because of her… she’d decided she’d apologize to that man, even if she had to bend her pride to do it.
That was how worried she was about those siblings.
“That person… is he treating you well?”
“Yes. More than he has any right to.”
Huiseon’s tension melted away.
“That’s a relief.”
She let out a breath.
“When I saw him before, I was worried he might be working you two too hard. I couldn’t help it.”
Her tone was light, but the concern was real.
And with nothing left to say, Dang Ihyeon froze where he stood.
Huiseon looked at him quietly.
They just stared at each other without speaking.
Dang Ihyeon swallowed dryly.
It wasn’t that he had nothing to say.
On the contrary, there were things he should say and things he should do.
But he couldn’t be sure.
Huiseon was truly a kind person.
Even though her own household wasn’t rich, she always looked after him and Ihwa.
She was warm to everyone, someone nobody could bring themselves to hate.
The entire village liked her.
Dang Ihyeon was no different.
He examined himself.
Endless menial labor, martial training, internal poison cultivation, study, pill refinement, weapon development…
Even with the strong body he’d inherited from his father’s blood, he couldn’t help but grow tired under the weight of those relentless days.
And at the end of all that effort waited one final destination.
Revenge against the Dang Clan.
At the end of that road, there was a far greater chance of death than success.
He knew that.
He knew it and chose it anyway.
He shouldn’t have thought this way, but the feeling that he was running toward death clung to him more tightly than any hope that he would fulfill his long-cherished vow and triumph.
When he thought of that, every hardship he’d endured until now felt less like endurance and more like preparation for dying.
How could he possibly feel motivated in a state like that?
Dang Ihyeon was only human.
Life was precious. Pain was hateful. Death was frightening.
And yet, he couldn’t stop.
For his mother.
For his father.
For his younger sister.
And for himself.
He worked through the night doing menial jobs, swallowed poison that made his insides churn, studied until his nose bled, and hammered at hot metal until it seared his arms.
He endured that for more than ten years.
Then one day, when he was seventeen, he met her.
At first, it had been nothing more than a chance encounter—he’d saved her from a tiger attack.
It should have ended there.
But for some reason, he kept running into her.
She said it was because of the favor he’d done her, and she took care of all sorts of things for the siblings.
She shared side dishes, found them odd jobs, even got them clothes to wear.
At first, it had been burdensome.
Did they really deserve such kindness?
So he’d refused her more than once.
But her bright smile had worn him down.
After that, he had simply accepted her help with gratitude and helped her in return where he could.
Somewhere along the way, something changed.
Just seeing her sunshine-bright smile made him feel healed.
He never showed it, but whenever he looked at her, his heart pounded.
He knew exactly what he felt.
But she was only an ordinary girl, someone living quietly and diligently through life.
Whereas he was a man condemned to carry the huge, rotten chain of enmity that was the Dang Clan on his back.
What if she got dragged into it by accident?
That must never happen. Never.
So he steadied himself.
It was a village he would leave behind by winter anyway.
He would never return.
So the best thing was not to become too deeply entangled with her.
The right answer was to keep his distance.
Dang Ihyeon forced himself to hold back, and to hide his feelings he made his face even more impassive.
Then, without realizing it, he gripped the bundle tighter.
Through the cloth, he could feel the texture of the Hyeonrihwa Emulsion Paste.
It was money.
And sin.
He knew better than anyone what was happening in Hamwon.
He knew people were getting drunk on Baekhyang, ruining their bodies, botching their work, flailing around in the streets, and sometimes even losing their lives.
But he couldn’t stop.
He needed the money desperately.
If he wanted to continue his vow against the Dang Clan, he couldn’t afford to care how the money was made.
More than anything else…
There was a man who had changed him.
Baek Wontae.
A man who casually shattered the boundary between good and evil.
Being around him had made Dang Ihyeon feel as though even he himself had changed.
So he forced himself to rationalize it.
It was the fault of the people who couldn’t control themselves.
Destroying their own bodies was their own responsibility.
And yet his chest ached anyway.
Suddenly, he thought of his father.
Wasn’t this exactly the sort of thing his father had feared?
Could he really avenge his mother with money earned from Baekhyang?
Was fulfilling his long-cherished vow through something like this truly what his mother would have wanted?
The instant he thought it, his breathing went uneven.
He didn’t want to stop.
He had already stepped in.
His heart had already moved in that direction.
And he already knew there was no going back.
That was why his feelings about Huiseon had become even more complicated.
Himself, burdened with a dangerous vow.
Himself, stained by evil.
Himself, headed toward a struggle that might end in death someday.
Was someone like that really allowed to approach her?
To stand beside her?
To accept her smile?
Even meeting those innocent eyes made him feel guilty.
Then, in his head, Baek Wontae’s voice rang out.
Doing what your heart’s pointed at is the right call.
Words he had heard yesterday.
Everything that man did might not have been the “right answer,” but it was undeniably a solution.
All the worries that had been strangling his head and heart scattered like ash.
For the first time, Dang Ihyeon reached out toward what he wanted.
* * *
Watching Dang Ihyeon stand there without saying a word, Huiseon tilted her head.
An awkward silence wrapped itself around the alley.
Just before the sun fully set, golden light bathed both their faces.
Huiseon smiled.
“It was nice seeing you after so long. I hope we get to see each other more often.”
She turned her body slightly.
“Then… it’s late, so I should get going. You head home safely too, Hyun.”
She had just started to take a step when—
“Wait.”
Dang Ihyeon’s voice.
Huiseon froze in place.
She turned her head.
“…Why?”
Dang Ihyeon drew in a deep breath.
There was no hesitation now.
“You’ve been helping me all this time, so… I prepared a small gift.”
“A-a gift…?”
Startled by the sudden words, her fingertips trembled.
“Come on, a gift between us? You saved my life that day. And it’s not like you’ve only given and never received anything—we’ve helped each other. There’s no need for a gift or anything….”
Her words gradually blurred away.
Dang Ihyeon’s eyes had changed.
Those eyes that usually seemed to avoid her, that quickly looked away even when they met hers.
Now they were fixed only on Huiseon.
Her heart gave a heavy thud.