Bringing the Runaway Young Lady Home
From the very crack of morning, things had gone sideways.
I'd just kissed the unconscious Gap-soon on the forehead and stepped outside when a commotion erupted out of nowhere.
Crash!
It came from the house of Lord Shin himself — and what came bursting out of it was Shin Ha-yoon, sobbing her eyes out.
Lord Shin stormed out after her and bellowed,
"Wh-what is this?! What did you just say?!"
His face was flushed crimson with rage. I'd been living under this roof for a while now... wait, no, I was born here. Either way, in all the time since I first opened my eyes in this world, I had never once seen Lord Shin lose his temper like this.
The slaves, startled by the fury of a man who was normally so gentle and quick to smile, all bowed their heads. Naturally, I kept mine up and took in every detail.
"I won't! I said I won't! I refuse to marry some decrepit old man! I hate it! I hate you, Father! I despise you!"
"Th-this...?! Gaaack...!"
"M-Milord!"
"F-Father!"
"Aigoo, what in the world is going on here!"
Shin Ha-yoon wailed and shrieked — and at her words, Lord Shin clutched at the back of his neck and collapsed.
This was Joseon, an era that revered filial piety to the point of punishing impiety with heavenly wrath. For a daughter to scream that she hated and despised her own father sent everyone nearby into open shock.
Me? I carried a modern mindset, so it didn't ruffle me one bit. But for these people, it was something else entirely.
And this was Lord Shin's own household — a place where every soul worshipped him like a master. To shout such a thing here was a recipe for disaster.
The moment the atmosphere turned truly ugly, it was I who stepped in.
"Shouldn't everyone get back to work? Plenty to do today."
"Ah... r-right, yes, of course."
"Come on, let's just get to it, everyone."
"Has the morning rice finished cooking?"
Chil-seong, who'd been hovering nervously, latched onto my words and echoed me. One by one, the other slaves began drifting away from the scene.
We were all one household in name, but we were slaves and they were yangban. There's an enormous gulf even between commoners and nobility — the one between slaves and nobles goes without saying, so often I tire of spelling it out.
Which is exactly why everyone agreed it was better not to know the ins and outs of the master's family affairs, and hurried off to their chores.
Me? I stayed put, of course. If anything, the others looked visibly relieved that I was the one who remained.
I had a fair idea of what had happened. Lord Shin must have picked out a betrothal for Shin Ha-yoon — after dropping hints about it last night.
And judging by this morning's performance, the man in question was an old codger, just as she'd claimed.
Last night, she had seemed ready to obey her father's wishes. But only up to a point — marrying an old man was where she drew the line.
He got greedy, I suppose.
Marrying her off to the son would have been the smarter play. Why insist on the father?
Not that I knew the details, so I kept my opinion to myself.
Following the order of the concubines, I carried Lord Shin on my back, laid him down in his room, and stepped back outside.
I was about to start my actual work when someone called out to me.
"Dol-soi."
"Yes, my lady."
Lady Kwon A-young — Lord Shin's wife and the first lady of the house. As I waited to hear what she wanted, she suddenly seized my hand.
"Ha-yoon is gone. It seems she slipped away during the commotion. Please, bring her back to me..."
"I understand."
Come to think of it... she really was gone. Sneaky little thing — she'd escaped quite neatly.
Kwon A-young was trembling, visibly anxious. Well, of course she was. The two of them had coddled and smothered Shin Ha-yoon all her life — protection that had long since gone past overboard.
Shin Ha-yoon was a sheltered young lady who knew nothing of the world. Worse, she was beautiful enough to make an easy target. I answered the anxious Lady Kwon with a bow, and headed straight out of the estate.
I was wondering where she might have gone when I remembered my recent lessons.
Every night, I'd trained with the man in black — he'd taught me stealth and concealment, and lately, the art of tracking as well.
What he'd told me:
'Man or beast, anything that passes leaves a trace behind.'
The ground in front of Lord Shin's estate was dry, packed dirt — no footprints there. But there were other ways.
For instance:
"Excuse me, friend. Mind if I ask you something?"
"Eeek...! Y-yes, sir...!"
I stopped a slave passing by from another noble house and asked him, politely enough.
"I'm looking for my young mistress. Have you seen a woman wearing clothes of blue mixed with white?"
"Yes, sir! She went thataway!"
"Much obliged."
"N-n-not at all, sir!"
I patted his shoulder in thanks, and he bowed his head up and down with all his might.
Truly a good-hearted slave.
Following his directions, I ran off in the direction Shin Ha-yoon had fled. At a fork in the road I asked the people nearby, and tracked her onward.
Everyone answered me kindly. What a fine era this is, so steeped in the spirit of Korea—I mean, Joseon.
Not long into the chase, I spotted her.
She wasn't shedding tears in front of slaves and commoners, but her face was a coiled spring — one light touch and it would blow.
Not that anyone could tell; everyone kept their heads down, avoiding even a glance in her direction.
I considered simply turning around and marching her home, but if I did, another fight was inevitable. Her feelings were still raw — there was no need to drag her back before they'd settled.
Besides, Lord Shin hadn't recovered his strength yet either.
Scanning the surroundings for a moment, I found a slave who worked for a neighboring yangban household and spoke to him.
"I'm a slave of Lord Shin's house, running an errand at my lady's command. I'd like you to deliver a message for me. She'll pay you for your trouble — and if she forgets, I'll come collect it myself later."
"Yes, sir...! What's the message?!"
Since he'd come out from home to work, this slave was a resident-external — a slave who lived separately from his master, not under the same roof like me.
His eyes sparkled at the promise of payment, and I gave him the message.
"Tell them she's been found. I'm following her right now, and I'll bring her home tonight."
"A-hem... yessir... understood, sir! I'll, I'll be off then, sir!"
"Make sure you deliver it."
"Yessir...! Absolutely, without fail, sir!"
The man, pale as a sheet, scurried off at a dead run.
Really. The people of this era are too honest for their own good. One promise of wages and he's falling over himself like that.
I'll have to greet him properly next time we cross paths.
Watching his back disappear down the road at full sprint, I judged that Shin Ha-yoon's emotions had more or less cooled, and set off after her — she who now wore her usual cold expression once again.
What Shin Ha-yoon had done while out and about:
She wandered the market streets nearby and bought herself a honey pastry.
She bumped into a passing child — and knocked him over, gently, without using a shred of her strength.
When the child's mother bowed so low her forehead split the ground in gratitude, Shin Ha-yoon promptly pulled the woman back up.
Good character, that one.
Incidentally, while tailing her I caught sight of a young man from the neighboring house — who kicked the child that had bumped into him.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is it any wonder the common folk resent the nobility, with behavior like that?
Shin Ha-yoon's face soured at the sight too.
In any case, nothing much happened after she left the house. She took a walk, ate something tasty... and that was the extent of it.
After a full day of wandering, she had calmed down considerably. Not that this meant she'd come to understand and obey Lord Do-yoon, mind you.
Scuff...
Shin Ha-yoon gave a half-hearted kick to a stone at the roadside and muttered to herself.
"Thirty-two... he's thirty-two..."
Oof.
By Joseon reckoning, a man of thirty-two wasn't just an old bachelor — he was practically a grandfather.
"And a concubine, too...? Haaah..."
Wow. And a concubine on top of that. Even an ordinary country yangban daughter — or a commoner girl — would agonize over that.
There was a reason Shin Ha-yoon was carrying on like this.
Hmm...
The reason she could grumble out loud, without a care for who heard — was that her dazed, absentminded wandering had somehow carried her to a secluded spot.
Except this was the slums. Which meant the law was a distant rumor here. This was only the entrance, so no harm done yet — but venture deeper and things could get very ugly indeed.
Worse, the sun had already set.
Just as I was about to go collect her—
"Kheh-heh... what brings a fine young lady like you to a place like this?"
"Hee-hee-hee..."
"Wh-who's there?!"
Oh, you have got to be kidding me.
I've seen this somewhere before. Let me think...
Did I watch too much h*ntai in my past life?
This was the textbook build-up for an assault scene.
Shin Ha-yoon, staring at the beggars who had blocked her path, stumbled backward in fright.
And then—
Thud!
"Nngh..."
She fell over. What the—
Is someone playing a prank on me? My head turned on its own, scanning the area for hidden cameras.
Shin Ha-yoon sat sprawled on the ground, and the beggars around her let their laughter loose.
"H-hee-hee-hee... never did I dream that in the last days of my life, I'd get to taste something this sweet."
"Y-you wretches...! Do you honestly think you'll live to see another day after this?!"
"Mm...? We die in a week anyway. Haven't a scrap to eat — might be dead by tomorrow, for all we know?"
It was true.
The Japanese invasion had ended only a short while ago, and Gwanghaegun's reckless palace construction had the people ground down under endless forced labor.
These men's lives were anything but comfortable — wretched and hollowed-out, each day lived like a fresh circle of hell.
And the reason Shin Ha-yoon knew nothing of all this? Her own father, Lord Shin Do-yoon, was a core executive in the palace construction Gwanghaegun himself had ordered.
In return, Lord Shin had received a fortune from the king — and Shin Ha-yoon had grown up in such comfort that she'd never once even heard the truth.
That said — why did Lord Shin enjoy a good reputation around here?
Because he threw open his storehouses and gave out food relief, along with plenty of other charitable deeds.
"Kheh-heh-heh... skin this soft would be..."
"That's far enough."
Not that any of that changes this. Pity them as I might, I can hardly stand by and watch a young lady be violated.
I slipped out from behind cover and seized the throat of the man who had lost himself completely, drool running down his chin as he reached for her.
"Gaaack—khk...!"
"Eeek!"
Thump.
As the man I'd grabbed dangled in the air, thrashing, his companion tumbled over backward.
And though this was just the entrance to the slums, a fair number of beggars had been lurking nearby — a dozen pairs of eyes vanished in an instant.
The ones who'd been watching from the shadows bolted. One look was enough to tell this was no ordinary situation.
Glad I've been carrying my axe around.
Shing...
"Eeek! M-master, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I've committed a sin worthy of death, aaaaah! P-please spare me! Pleeease...!"
"You said you'd be dead in a week anyway. What difference does dying now make?"
"W-well, that's..."
"Kehk... gaaack...!"
Slump...
The man thrashing in midair went limp, tongue lolling out, body hanging slack.
"Eeeeek!"
Thud.
He's not dead, though.
I could feel a pulse against my thumb. The man wasn't dead — he'd simply fainted from lack of air.
But the other slave, knowing none of this, had wet himself and was on the verge of collapsing outright.
I'd only meant to put a little fear into them, and now look what happened — what was I supposed to do?
"N-no, Dol-soi, stop!"
"My lady?"
"K-killing is wrong!"
These men had been about to violate her moments ago, and killing is wrong? What kind of saint is she...
Just as even I was thrown off by her words, she snatched the axe from my hand and flung it to the ground.
Well, now...
I wasn't planning on chopping his neck, for the record.
"Y-you can't do that!"
Uh, there's no axe anymore, so what exactly...
"Release him at once!"
Oh. Right.
At her words I loosened my grip, and the beggar crumpled to the ground.
"Eeeeeek!"
Between the beggar recoiling as if he'd seen a corpse and Shin Ha-yoon finally exhaling in relief—
Good grief.
This isn't going to be easy.