Aftermath (1)
The rush of the waves — I had never been so glad to hear that sound.
Before I knew it, a brilliant full moon was shining overhead.
I seemed to recall that time flowed differently in the Dragon Palace... is that why?
It had felt like we'd only been gone a few hours, and yet night had already fallen.
...Don't tell me more time has passed than I think.
If weeks had gone by, or months, or — heaven forbid — years... things were going to get rather serious.
The one mercy was that the moon's shape and position hadn't changed much. At the very least, we hadn't jumped forward by a year or more.
"Cheong, it seems the immortal has sent us to the waters off the village."
"Huh...? You're right..."
And Cheong... she was still dazed from the aftershock of that extraordinary adventure. Anyone would be, after nearly being offered up as a sacrifice to the sea, encountering water ghosts, descending into the deep to reach the Dragon Palace, and learning from an immortal how to restore someone's sight. I myself had been thrown off from the moment I found out there was no Dragon King.
"Your father will be worried. We should let him see your face as soon as we can."
I held out my hand to Cheong, who had sunk down onto the shallows. She took it and tried to stand, but her legs gave out and she crumpled back down.
"W-wait. Could we stay just a little longer...?"
"Take your time. The danger's over now."
Fortunately, we were in water so shallow the waves only reached our waists even sitting down. My clothes were already soaked anyway, so I dropped down beside her.
The waves broke over the moonlit sea, scattering white foam. We sat there in silence, gazing at the village in the distance.
"You're not cold?"
"I'm all right..."
Cheong gave her soaked hanbok a light tug and nodded.
We sat for a while, letting the waves wash over us, savoring the afterglow of the adventure. Savoring — that was the right word. We had escaped danger, claimed extraordinary rewards, and returned safely. Cheong's expression, as a result, didn't look half bad.
"Cheong."
"Yes?"
"Thank you for trusting me. It's thanks to that we made it back safely."
"All I did was follow you, sir. If we returned safely, isn't that entirely thanks to you?"
"I was only able to do what I did because you believed in me."
"You've shown yourself to be so dependable all this time. What woman wouldn't trust you?"
We traded compliments back and forth. But how should I put this? The way Cheong was looking at me was... peculiar. It was almost a glare, and yet a flush was blooming across her cheeks — as if there was something she wanted to say.
"...Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Yes. There is."
"Hm? Then go ahead. Why just sit there glaring at me?"
"Is that all it looks like to you, sir? Just a glare?"
"...Is it not?"
Cheong let out a sigh at my words.
"Aigoo... you dense oaf."
"What did you just say?"
"I called you a dense oaf."
"The mood was so warm, and now you're suddenly insulting me..."
"I won't tell you why. Hmph. And as for what I wanted to say... I've decided not to say it now."
"Then when...?"
"Next time. When you've taken the civil service examinations and come back to the village, I'll tell you then."
With that, Cheong whipped her head away and ended the conversation. I scratched my head at her attitude.
What on earth was the problem? Honestly.
Cheong could not contain the heat welling up from deep in her chest. The countless moments of crisis that had battered her until just now were over, and all the feelings she had been holding back came bursting forth.
Having lived through so much, a tangle of emotions rose in her heart. Relief, happiness, joy — she felt all of these, and yet something boiled up stronger than any of them.
The longing she felt for the scholar sitting right in front of her.
...Haa.
The feelings she was experiencing now were ones she could only feel because of his help. In truth, it was fair to say that nothing occupied Cheong's mind right now except the scholar.
What on earth is a poor maiden supposed to do to repay this...?
She had received far too much. Help she could work a lifetime and never repay.
And yet Cheong knew. She was greedier than she had thought.
She wanted him all to herself.
If she confessed her true feelings now to a man who couldn't even recognize a woman's heart, what would happen? If she made sure he couldn't make the same foolish misunderstanding as last time... there was a good chance he would accept her. Because he was a scholar with a deep well of affection. He didn't refuse a woman's heart — he simply failed to notice it. So if she courted him with enough passion... he might just accept her.
She wanted to knock him down right then and there and pour out her heart... but in the end, Cheong did not open her mouth.
If I stand in his path now...
Any number of things might happen. Or things that ought to happen might never come to pass.
Lady Ahn had told her she could not hold the scholar to herself. A single vessel cannot contain a dragon, she had said, and that he would one day command Joseon and bring about an age of peace — a hero.
Was it right to stand in the way of a man destined to become such a hero, all for her own clumsy greed? And of someone she couldn't even fully contain?
...In the end, Cheong set her heart aside for now.
She had not given up.
By the time he returns from the examinations, he'll have accomplished even more.
When that time came... it would be all right to be a little greedy. Lady Ahn had already said she would become the scholar's wife, so she felt no great anxiety.
Cheong was nineteen. Past the usual age of marriage, perhaps, but still in the bloom of her youth. She hadn't thought of marriage because of her family's circumstances, but considering that commoner women typically married around seventeen, she wasn't terribly late.
"Sir."
"H-hm?"
"Why are you shrinking away like that?"
"Well... I don't know why, but you seemed angry. I noticed and kept quiet."
Sharp in all the wrong places, as usual. Watching Kim Shin-ryong show this oddly human side of himself, Cheong couldn't help but smile softly.
"Come on! Let's go. I'm all right now."
"So you're not angry anymore?"
"I was never angry~."
"Huh? Then what was all that just now..."
"Just think of it as a woman's whim, Scholar Shin-ryong. And if it bothers you... well, come visit me soon."
"Hm...? Well... all right, then."
Having extracted a promise from Kim Shin-ryong, Cheong smiled to herself.
And a few minutes later, the two of them were surrounded by a frantic Shim Bong-sa and the villagers.
"Aigoo, Cheong!"
"Father, I've come back."
The villagers were relieved that the girl who had been meant as a sacrifice had returned. At the same time, some of them were dying to know what on earth had happened.
"We heard the ship went down! How did you even get here?"
Kim Shin-ryong answered.
"We paid a brief visit to the Dragon King."
"The Dragon King?!"
"His Majesty the Dragon King, moved by Cheong's filial devotion, spared both our lives. And those who were aboard the ship are likely still alive not far from here."
Then he turned to Cheong.
"Cheong, go home first. I'll take the village men and go rescue those still adrift."
"Then I'll come with—"
"Hmm. Don't you have something you need to do?"
The scholar made a digging motion with his hands.
Ah. Come to think of it, she really did have something she needed to do.
"Then... I understand."
"I'll leave that matter to you, then. And you able-bodied men, follow me! People will be drifting after the ship went down."
Then, to rally the villagers' enthusiasm, Kim Shin-ryong added:
"Incidentally, I saw all sorts of valuable cargo floating off the wreck!"
"...!! I-I'll volunteer!"
Kim Shin-ryong led the volunteers along the shore and at last found the merchants and laborers bobbing in the water. He rescued them and checked their faces, but Master Nam was nowhere among them.
Instead, not long after, they hauled up the corpses of those who had been consumed by the water ghosts — and Master Nam's was among them.
While arranging the body, Kim Shin-ryong picked up something that had tumbled free.
"This is..."
The pure white herb clearly held some extraordinary power.
"...The Panacea Grass?"
After a moment's deliberation, Kim Shin-ryong tucked it into his robes. Come to think of it, Master Nam had owed him this in the first place, hadn't he? With this herb, he would surely be able to save a life someday.
With that thought, Kim Shin-ryong and the men finished the rescue and returned to the village.
After everyone had gone, someone appeared among the coastal reefs, where ship wreckage and blood still stained the water. It wore the form of an old monk, and it clicked its tongue as it surveyed the scene.
"Tsk tsk. So it failed in the end! I thought that greedy fool would be useful for a long time yet. The avaricious human is dead, and the water-killing ghosts I spent fifteen years cultivating have vanished!"
The monk spat curses and kicked at the ground to vent his rage.
"I'll have to start over from scratch. And those energies were so sweet all this time!"
He'd worked the West Sea this time, so he'd have to move on to the South Sea or the East Sea. Muttering thus, the monk turned to head into the forest.
Then.
Fwiing—!
KRAAAANG!!
"Guhhk!!"
An arrow, loosed from somewhere at ferocious speed, punched through the monk's chest with a thunderous crack. The impact sent him flying, pinning him to a pine tree, arrow and all.
"W-what is this...!"
"They say the culprit always returns to the scene of the crime. Turns out it's true."
Someone stepped into view before the monk, muttering.
It was Kim Shin-ryong, his face colder and more merciless than it had ever been.