Tasting Again After Nineteen Years (2)
How many days had passed?
Nakseongguan was a place where rumors traveled at lightning speed.
Mother hadn't uttered a single word about who would go to Beijing—yet perhaps because the will of Nakseongguan was one and the same as hers, the collective wisdom of countless people had, remarkably, selected the very same candidates she would have chosen.
Gyeonghwa, judged among the Five Courtesans to most resemble the Cheonghwa of old.
Cheonsua, currently the most celebrated name in all of Nakseongguan.
And Geumryang, a beauty who might appear once in a thousand years.
Mother had said she might revise the list according to my investigations and recommendations. But if those three were already decided, was there any real point in me looking into them and putting names forward?
Convinced that Mother must have had a reason for entrusting me with the role, I deliberately kept my distance from the three of them.
The first person I sought out was Mokhwa.
As for Wolbaek… the trauma of the past still ran too deep for me to face her in conversation, and I'd also heard she had recently withdrawn into seclusion.
"You needn't pity me, Young Master."
"Hm?"
"I'm already well aware of the rumors about me. I have no intention of refuting them. I lack charm, I'm nothing special physically, and I'm woefully short on wantonness."
"No—I didn't come here to talk about any of that…"
The moment I sat down, Mokhwa addressed me as if she had already anticipated everything. But I had genuinely only meant to have a simple conversation today—what she liked, what she wanted, how she had been living. That sort of thing.
Still. If she insisted on going there…
"Why do you rate yourself so low?"
"…?"
Mokhwa tilted her head slightly, puzzled.
"…I just explained the reas—"
"No. Why is everything you say about yourself only what you lack, what you're missing? You have plenty of things going for you, don't you?"
"…It's true I possess five or six openings capable of receiving a guest's member, but I'm not sure boasting about something so ordinary is appropriate."
"That's not what I—"
Wait.
Five or six?
What was she talking about?
Openings? And five or six of them?
Her single remark left me momentarily blank. I stared, dazed, at the pure, innocent face lifting a teacup—then snapped back to myself.
"…Just treat me the way you would a guest, for once. You wouldn't sit there saying 'I'm lacking this, I don't have that…' then, would you?"
"I wouldn't put it that way, no."
"Exactly."
"But I do speak in a certain manner."
"And what does that mean?"
"In a way that makes a guest curious."
As she said it, Mokhwa's eyes curved into crescents.
…Had she been angling for this the whole time?
In that case, maybe a little curiosity was allowed.
"What did you mean by 'five or six openings'?"
I asked without the slightest hesitation.
"Well now. Would you like to confirm for yourself?"
"Ah—no…"
"Heh. You really are different from the other guests, Young Master."
She brought the teacup to her lips. A sweet fragrance spread through the air.
"The guests who seek out the Five Courtesans tend to be more rigid than you'd expect. They're wary of revealing every desire they have—call it vulgar, even."
"Fair enough."
To meet one of the Five, you had to pass a gauntlet of evaluations. Put simply, plenty of men would clear their throats and fold their hands behind their backs at the slightest hint of coarseness.
"Helping them speak their desires naturally is my role. Do just that much, and the guests keep coming back for me."
"So the reputation for poetry and calligraphy…"
"I've never studied either. I simply learned how to package things elegantly enough that they don't seem vulgar."
How beautiful her poetry was, how graceful her calligraphy—none of that particularly mattered. What mattered to those men was savoring vulgarity while keeping their dignity intact.
Mokhwa's talent was one that never would have blossomed if she had been a lower-ranking courtesan rather than one of the Five.
…In other words, she was a master of dirty talk, wasn't she?
And Mother had seen that and installed her among the Five. Mother really was something else…
"So I'm fine, truly. If Lady Cheonghwa has need of me, she'll use me. If not, she'll leave me here in Yangzhou."
"But deep down, don't you want to have an audience with the Emperor too?"
"Not at all. I know quite a lot, you know? I don't have enough ambition to endure the suffocation inside the palace gates."
"Then what do you want?"
"Heh. Who can say?"
She looked at me with a playful expression. I liked this far better than the doll-like face from our first meeting.
"If you'd like to know more about me, do request me again next time."
"Hah. So that's how you're playing it?"
"It's all for your sake, Young Master."
And what was that supposed to mean?
"Aren't you looking for a woman with ambition? The courtesan you'll seek out after me is made entirely of competitive fire from head to toe."
"…How would you know who I'm going to see?"
"This Mokhwa knows a great deal—and her instincts are rather sharp as well."
"That doesn't mean you can read minds."
"You came looking for me, someone who isn't even on the rumored list, and then asked if I wanted an audience with the Emperor."
"…"
"I don't know how you see yourself, Young Master, but from where I sit… you seem like a genuinely kind person. The way you insist on giving even the discarded ones a chance."
Mokhwa smiled softly.
"For the record, I happen to like gallant men like that."
"…You're sharper than I gave you credit for."
At my pure admiration, she bowed her head with elegant grace.
"Shall I share a secret with the Young Master I like?"
"What is it?"
"Mokhwa isn't my real name. It's a stage name I took later."
"…I feel like you're treating me like an idiot."
"But I left the family name untouched. That is the first secret I offer you, Young Master."
Family name?
…Mok? So she was of the Mok clan?
"Ahh, this is a secret I only share with gentlemen who've visited me more times than they can count on their fingers and toes."
"What kind of grand secret is that supposed to be…"
"Is that so?"
Clack!
Mokhwa set down her teacup—louder than she had at any point so far. A strangely irritable sound. At the same time, her expression shifted back to the colorless mask from when I'd first seen her today.
"Then that will be all."
"That will be all…?"
"Well then, what are you waiting for, Young Master? Any plan to put me in the palace has gone out the window. Now you should go meet the woman who wears her overflowing competitive spirit on her shoulders and hips."
"Uh? Uh—uhh."
I was practically shoved out past the sliding door. Mokhwa moved just a fraction faster than I did in every motion, offered a swift farewell, and vanished to the other side of the door.
"Hah, well…"
She was a difficult person.
"The Mok clan, huh…"
What had she meant by that?
Even if putting Mokhwa on the list was now impossible because she herself had no desire for it, I found myself thoroughly convinced I needed to come see her again.
…Fine. I had to admit it.
This house knew how to do business.
Getting myself to Wolbaek's chambers took several bouts of hesitation and dozens of deep breaths.
In the six years since that day, she had never handled me roughly or spoken carelessly to me again. And yet whenever she brushed past me without so much as a glance, my chest would seize and tighten all the same.
Trauma, I supposed.
I knew it rationally. My body had grown enough by now, and Mother's warnings hung over everything—there was absolutely no chance she would harm me. But I was still afraid. That was my honest feeling.
In my imagination, Wolbaek would pin me down, press her body over mine, and force me to finish. And I truly hated the thought of those things.
Pathetically, I never managed to open the door to her chambers. I turned around and went back to my own room.
Jin Yu, remember this. Everyone here is beneath you. Not all of them will prostrate themselves at a single word from you—and you must never force them to maliciously—but at the very least, you have no reason to fear any of them.
Mother's words circled through my mind. The things she had said after the Three Courtesans had toyed with me, trying to teach me my place and give me confidence. But it didn't all work the way she intended.
When the situation demanded it professionally, I could prepare myself to carry authority. In ordinary moments, though, the little Jin Yu inside me still answered first.
Facing Wolbaek, I was certain she would seize my legs.
Facing Gyeonghwa, I was certain she would pin my arms and shoulders.
Facing Cheonsua…
"Ugh…"
…Cheonsua felt different somehow. Not like she would cage and bind me, but like she would lavish love on my member. And yet that strange lust shared a texture with fear. Once, I had even dreamed of Cheonsua tearing into me with the fangs of a beast—and her expression as she held me on her tongue had been so unbearably loving that it made the whole thing more terrifying still.
I shook my head hard. Thinking of the old Three Courtesans tangled everything up. Especially now, when I was supposed to go see Wolbaek.
"Haa…"
While I fretted and groaned, the sunset outside gave way to darkness. But here on the fifth floor of Nakseongguan, the artificial red light pouring through the windows was bright.
The red lanterns.
The signal that this pleasure house had woken from sleep and begun to move. Once they were lit, it wasn't long before the entire building trembled with the boisterous clamor of men and women. The fifth floor was no great exception. And I, with my excessively heightened senses, had more than once suffered insomnia because of it.
The hearty laughter of drunks. The courtesans' spilling, liquid laughter. Coquetry and seduction. From private rooms, the excited breathing and moans of men and women alike.
"…No sleep tonight either."
I had grown used to most of it—but there were still sounds that kept my eyes from closing. The sounds of jealous quarrels. Mournful weeping. And… the sounds of overheated coupling.
Two floors down. No—three.
What on earth were they doing to make sounds that weren't even human moans anymore, but something animal?
"Augh…"
I had vaguely heard it in my previous life too: people who truly reached climax and left this world behind didn't make coquettish little aahs and nnnhs. They made sounds like guh-hhk, uuhk, o-goook…—or the kyang, kyang, kyaeng, kyaeng of pigs and dogs.
And I was currently receiving live proof of that claim.
The walls were vibrating. Two nameless, faceless beasts were mixing their bodies exactly two floors beneath my room.
I had no choice but to push myself up off the floor.
Rattle—
I slid open the door and stepped out. The moment I left my room, those vulgar sounds dropped off sharply. In their place, a familiar voice reached me.
"Euk…!"
A voice of unmistakable fluster. I turned toward it—and there was Wolbaek.
She wore several thin layers of white sleeping clothes like mourning robes. Her long, unbound hair hung loose and tangled. Her bare face showed tear-smudged eyes that made me grateful she hadn't worn makeup—but it was unmistakably Wolbaek.
"Ugh…"
My body flinched on instinct. Unconsciously I shifted my feet to retreat back into my room—
Geh-heuuk, goook… eugeuk…!!!
—and the beast-sounds booming up from below stopped me cold.
God, the floor noise was unreal…
Thanks to it—or because of it—I got to look at Wolbaek a little longer. She had already turned her head away, as if she didn't want me to see her like this. But she made no move to walk off. She simply stood frozen in place.
"…Why are you out here instead of in your room?"
She startled hard. No answer came. It had been a casual question, a line with no real substance—but the silence soured my mood.
"I asked you."
"…"
"Wolbaek. I'm asking you."
She might have been nine years older than me, but inside Nakseongguan, I outranked her. That was the rule Mother, the mistress of this place, had set.
"Th-This is First Courtesan Wolbaek. I present myself before the Young Master."