Tasting It Again After Nineteen Years (1)
There is a saying about the lewd fragrance of a brothel.
In the narrow sense, it means the scent of a courtesan’s cunt.
In the broad sense, it means the baseness of petty men who debase themselves endlessly just to suck up to someone else’s asshole.
Isn’t it ironic?
Everyone hunts for courtesans as if they were jewels and pays good money for them, yet the moment the sun is watching, they treat those same women as lowly commoners without a second thought.
So what does that make you, who under the moonlight regarded those lowly commoners as your own lovers, your princesses, your queens?
That is why I intend to redefine the broad meaning of this “lewd fragrance.”
It is the divine rope that draws up the world’s deepest desires.
The lewd fragrance was so thick it made me dizzy.
The guest-room of the inn was not particularly small. Clear wind was even struggling in through the half-open wooden window. And still the scent kept dyeing the wallpaper.
“….”
I gazed at the bright full moon, then slowly lowered my eyes.
Something down there was pouring out fragrance without rest.
Looking closer, it was not something. It was someone.
A woman sprawled on the floor like an object, trembling now and then. Her silver hair still held its luster. Both breasts—there was no word for them but voluptuous—hung to either side along the shape of her ribs, each the size of a ball used in the game of chukguk. Her left leg stretched toward me; her right thigh was bent up at a right angle. It was exactly the position in which I had been holding her only moments before.
“…Master…. Y-Young mast… hnn, hnnngh…!”
Climbing those two legs, her white, plump pelvis—true to a woman whose specialty was dance—twitched irregularly as if it had a life of its own. Each time it did, the puddle that had soaked from her crotch all the way to the hips resting on the floor steadily grew. A stream of love juices had already run down as far as the hollows of her knees.
The lewd fragrance was dizzyingly thick.
“Haa….”
I grabbed whatever scrap of cloth was within reach and walked back toward her. I took hold of her left ankle.
“Hhk… hyaah?!”
I lifted the leg that had grown hypersensitive. Along the back of her thigh, the clear, slippery fluid she herself had spilled was sliding back toward its source. That source—her messy hole—was still leaking water as if savoring the aftershocks.
I silently wiped the love juices from the floor.
“…Ah.”
Only then did I realize what the cloth in my hand actually was.
“…How much were you looking forward to this, you little bitch.”
“…Y-Yeheh….”
Even when she spoke, her ragged breathing clung to the words. It was almost coquetry.
“I’ve never seen a feathered robe like this before… Who were you planning to wear it for?”
“My… lo….”
She had already shown me the spectacle of herself climaxing so hard she left a trail on the floor, yet somehow this was what embarrassed her more. Feeling mischievous, I pressed my fist against her private place.
In that instant the waist that had been lying limp until now went wild.
“Kyaah, haaang!!”
“If you don’t answer, the hand moves.”
“Ahhk?!”
No time to be surprised. I lightly rubbed a knuckle against her clitoris, which was swollen to its absolute limit. I heard her suck in a sharp breath, and then a frantic voice burst out.
“My lord, my lord!! The one and only man I’ll sp-spend my whole life with…!! Uhk…!!”
“That would be me, then?”
“….”
“No answer.”
I gently trapped that hard little kernel between the knuckles of my index and middle fingers. A slight twist and pull, and the effect was immediate.
“Y-Yes!! That’s right… ooh, ohhk…!!”
“…Fuck….”
I pulled my hand away and pressed my forehead. Whether she had sprayed pheromones onto my right hand in that short time or not, the lewd smell was pure torture to my heightened sense of smell. My cock stretched out so long it hurt.
“You’ve lost your mind.”
But I shouldn’t have done this. No matter how violently the lust I had suppressed for nineteen years had exploded, I should never have created a situation like this.
“…Wolbaek, you’ve completely lost it.”
“Ehehe….”
And me too!! Jin Yu, you crazy bastard, you’re fucked!!
I had touched a Hui.
And I had done it very, very seriously.
Let me think carefully about how this happened.
It began… with the imperial decree that had somehow drifted all the way to Yangzhou.
“Un-cheong… what is that?”
“Simply put, government courtesans. The important part is that, unusually, His Majesty himself ordered them selected—special government courtesans.”
“Which means….”
“Yes. Even without becoming a consort or concubine, a courtesan could still receive the Emperor’s favor.”
The notice posted at the yamen had only said they were recruiting courtesans to establish an imperial institution called Un-cheong; it had said nothing of the sort. It was merely Mother’s own interpretation, yet I felt certain that interpretation was correct. The Emperor himself had issued a decree ordering courtesans from across the entire nation to be selected and brought to him.
On one hand I thought this was a tremendous opportunity for Nakseongguan.
This martial world really has rotten to the core.
On the other hand I thought the very moment I was living in was five minutes before the country went to hell. The nation was showing signs of ruin. People gathered at the yamen reading the notice casually muttered the same thing. Apparently I was not the only one who felt it.
“Jin Yu.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Your face doesn’t look well.”
“….”
I deliberately changed the subject.
“But Mother, is there a particular reason you’re telling me this? Isn’t this a once-in-a-lifetime chance where even sending every courtesan of Nakseongguan wouldn’t be enough?”
“It is. If it were up to me I’d send them all. Who knows? His Majesty might discover a jewel we ourselves never found.”
Mother pressed a hand to her face as if troubled. But that did not mean she wanted an answer from me. When she told me something I already knew, it meant she wanted me to think a little further on my own.
“…There’s a limit on how many can be sent.”
And when I correctly guessed her intention, she would finally smile.
“Yes. Even an emperor would find it difficult to handle every courtesan flooding in from the entire country.”
“How many from Yangzhou?”
“Nine.”
“Then we….”
“Three.”
My face twisted of its own accord. Only now did I understand why Mother had recently returned from a long conference.
“They’re only interested in equality at times like this, aren’t they.”
Hao Mun.
Any major affair that occurred in a brothel required their permission. A house of courtesans was always a place of violence and conflict, jealousy and ruin. No matter which house it was, Hao Mun always approached in the early days—connecting people, stopping fights, introducing clients when entertainment was needed, all in exchange for protection fees. Anyone who had ever run a business knew how critical those first days of operation were. Hao Mun took that burden upon themselves.
The rabble might be grateful for the help, but houses like Nakseongguan—and Maeyeongru across Lake Suseo—that prospered without their aid found the interference thoroughly unwelcome.
“Three from Nakseongguan, three from Maeyeongru, three from the other red-light houses under Hao Mun….”
“It’s not a children’s game. It’s not as if they don’t know that beauties flock to Nakseongguan and, well, Maeyeongru rather than the other houses.”
“…That’s how Hao Mun saves face, I suppose.”
As I said, they were trying to give opportunity and aid even to the weaker houses. To them, a house of courtesans was a means of making money, but it was also a channel through which precious information flowed, so they wanted as many as possible planted in as many places as possible.
“Those three will be chosen by you, Mother?”
“Of course. In fact, I already have a few roughly decided.”
“Wolbaek, Gyeonghwa, Cheonsua. Am I right?”
It had taken me quite a long time to stop calling them “unnie.” Never use honorifics with any courtesan of Nakseongguan. One of Mother’s lessons.
“Why do you think so?”
“If we’re offering them to the Emperor, I thought you’d choose from at least above the upper-rank courtesans, and preferably from among the Five Hui.”
“What about Mokhwa and Geumryang?”
In the six years since my finishing education, two more Hui had been added. Mokhwa, whose reputation for ensnaring men with poetry, calligraphy, and conversation was already widespread. Geumryang, called a beauty who appears only once in a thousand years. They were the result of Mother’s stubbornness in continuing to seek out women who caught her eye even after firmly establishing the Three Hui. In return, the education they received before earning the seat of Hui had been merciless. Mixed into it, almost casually, was the rule: never dare to treat me or my son carelessly.
“They’re still young. Don’t they still need to gain experience at Nakseongguan?”
Pfft.
Mother looked at me as if I were ridiculous.
“Even so, every one of them is older than you, Jin Yu.”
“I don’t know about Mokhwa, but Geumryang is only a few months older than I am!”
“Still more of an adult than you, isn’t she.”
“….”
I looked at Mother’s calm face. She was not the sort of person who wanted to bicker over my age.
“Who is it.”
“What?”
“Mokhwa and Geumryang. It sounds as if you’re telling me their ages aren’t the problem. Whom do you intend to send.”
She smiled once more.
“…Gyeonghwa, Cheonsua, Geumryang. That is my decision.”
“Wolbaek is…?”
“A courtesan who has turned twenty-eight is not something one keeps for long. Unless it’s a house like Nakseongguan that gifts a single night of rapture.”
“Do you think the Emperor will cast Wolbaek aside?”
…Or was today’s decision already made six years ago?
I swallowed the curiosity and waited for Mother’s answer.
“Of course.”
She lowered her head slightly.
“…Because that is what a courtesan is.”
Her voice was a little heavy.
“I understand. I’ll inform them myself.”
“No, no. The reason I called you today is not merely to convey my decision.”
When I started to rise, Mother stopped me. I sat cross-legged again and looked at her.
“Jin Yu. There’s something this mother of yours has always said, isn’t there?”
“…That one day I would lead Nakseongguan.”
“Yes. Today I finally intend to put that to the test.”
A test?
What test?
My finishing education had ended years ago. Right now I was following Mother, learning the web of power surrounding Nakseongguan and how to count the money that came in and went out.
“Among the Five Hui, decide whom to send. Try choosing once yourself.”
“…Pardon??”
“I can teach you many things, but judging people and discerning talent is something that cannot be taught by my words and writing alone.”
Mother was reassuring me with her usual gentle smile.
“Isn’t this a fine chance to learn the art of employing people? Spend time with the Five Hui. I’ve educated them thoroughly, so none will defy your authority. What desires they hold, what boldness they possess, what thoughts they think…. Look into them once, then choose who will go to the Emperor.”
I clicked my tongue quietly.
“…Could the outcome change according to my decision?”
“Of course not.”
“….”
“But who knows? If my son discovers charms in them that even I failed to notice, and if he manages to persuade me… then there’s nothing that can’t be changed.”
It was a mission that felt both sudden and, for me, long prepared. Naturally I had no reason to refuse.
“…Until when?”
“Three weeks from now. If you wish to change something, you must persuade me by then.”
Three weeks from now….
When I murmured it under my breath, Mother added,
“Ah, and limited to learning about the Five Hui, I will permit you to go down below the second floor of Nakseongguan.”
Then there was even less reason to refuse. This Peach Blossom Spring was exceedingly beautiful, but I was a man, not an immortal. Dreaming of descending to the earth had not been a matter of a day or two.
I understand.
With those words I rose from my seat.
“Just in case I should say this.”
“…?”
“These are women to be offered to the Emperor. If any trouble arises beforehand, it is the same as defying the Emperor. Do not forget that.”
Come now, Mother, what kind of worry is that.
I’m only going to check whether they are suitable talents to send to Beijing. No matter how full of youthful vigor I am right now, what on earth would I possibly do?
“Don’t worry, Mother.”
I answered with full confidence.