Two Women, One Man
The warrior from the Uigeumbu was O Jayeon, just as I had expected. Then, who was the warrior from the Soma-won? "Nice to meet you!" The voice came from somewhere higher than my own. I looked up to my side and saw a female officer with two horns protruding from her forehead. She was indeed very tall. By the traditional measurement, she was about six feet five inches, or perhaps around 190cm in the metric system? She was tall, but slender, giving her a very lithe appearance. Yet, her chest and hips were remarkably curvaceous.
"I am the officer from the Soma-won. My surname is Baek, and my courtesy name is Yujon!" she replied with a beaming smile. "This humble man greets the officer. My name is Han Sujin."
"Yes, nice to meet you! Let's work well together this time. Hehehe, I'm in such a good mood to be with such a fair man!" Her laugh was smooth and easygoing. If O Jayeon was a disciplined warrior to the core, this woman named Baek Yujon seemed like someone far removed from the life of a soldier.
That was only how she appeared on the surface; her inner thoughts were those of a thorough military officer. "Shall we depart right away? Oh, I'm so sorry, I should have prepared a palanquin for such a beautiful young master!" It seemed the horse Baek Yujon had brought was intended for me. "Ah, perhaps you don't know how to ride? Did I receive the wrong information?"
"No, you received the correct information." In my heart, I would have preferred to ride on O Jayeon's back rather than that horse, but... 'It can't be helped.' If it were just O Jayeon and me, it might have been different, but it was awkward to do so with another person accompanying us.
O Jayeon herself was currently suffering between two contradictory desires.
[Desire: Does not want to be looked down upon by an officer from another department]
'So, this is the first time I'm seeing a warrior from the Soma-won.' Their sole purpose was to exterminate demons. They were less like soldiers and more like a kind of hunter—a hunting squad recruited by the state. "How should I address you, Officer Baek?"
"Me? Call me whatever you like, young master! How about Jeoje (older sister)?" she said with a sly grin. "What is your rank within the Soma-won?"
"I am a Commander."
"Then, I shall address you as Commander."
"You're surprisingly distant! Didn't you say you were a gisaeng?"
"A gisaeng who allows just anyone to touch her soon sees her value fade."
"Hehe...! That's true! In a way, a warrior might be similar to a gisaeng; the more masters one serves, the more one's value fades." She acted so easygoing, but...
[Desire: Does not want to be close to a gisaeng]
It wasn't disgust toward gisaengs. It was more like... 'Is she wary of me?' No... she was afraid of me. More precisely, she was afraid that she herself might be bewitched by lust. Because she was afraid, she approached me first. To convince herself that she was fine, that she wasn't afraid of a gisaeng. It was unexpected. This type of desire usually stems from a past memory of fear. Like someone who was cut by a sickle as a child and grew to fear them, only to force themselves to hold one as an adult, repeating, "I'm not afraid of the sickle, it's not scary at all." But how could she have been hurt by a gisaeng? And in her childhood, at that?
'Aha.' I had a rough guess. "Then, let us depart." From Hanyang to Pyeongyang, it takes four to five days if traveling normally by horse. We moved along the wide, open Uiju Road, amidst the countless people, horses, and carts. A strange combination: one ordinary man and two beast-kin women, yet no one approached us. It was likely due to the well-honed aura of warriors that the two women unconsciously exuded. However, a problem arose on the evening of the third day on the road. There was no space for the three of us to sleep at the inn.
"I am terribly sorry to the officials of the court, but the roof has collapsed, and this is the only place left to rest." The place the landlady guided us to was a narrow shed. If all three of us entered, our shoulders would be touching. O Jayeon spoke first. "I am fine standing, so I will keep watch outside."
"Then, Jayeon, you stay outside and sleep in the open. I will stay inside with the young master to avoid the dew." O Jayeon glared at her. "Commander Baek, men and women should be kept separate; how could you stay in the same space?"
"Do you think I would do something untoward to the young master in the middle of the night?"
"...Men and women must be kept separate."
"But we are on a mission bestowed by the King. Shouldn't we conserve our strength?" O Jayeon's voice dropped low. "Commander Baek Yujon."
[Desire: Wants to be with Han Sujin]
"Why do you call me by my full name, O Jayeon?"
[Desire: Wants to possess the mental strength to overcome even if a gisaeng tries to seduce her]
'Truly, it is ironic.' O Jayeon, who wants to be in the same space as me, says she will stay outside, while Baek Yujon, who fears me, says she will stay together. Human hearts, human wants and desires, are so contradictory. There are so many things one cannot have even if one wants them, and things one must have even if one doesn't want them. 'Now, then.' What should I do in this situation? My long-term goal is survival in this strange Joseon. And my intermediate goal is to complete this mission safely. The answer was clear. I must not be hated by either O Jayeon or Baek Yujon. Furthermore, they must not truly clash. If that happened, it would hinder the mission.
'Still, if I leave them be, they will definitely start a fight.' It couldn't be helped. I had no choice but to mediate between them. "Commander Baek's words also have merit. If one sleeps in the open, fatigue will linger in the body and mind."
"Young master?" Baek Yujon was visibly flustered. As expected, she had blurted it out thinking I would refuse. But O Jayeon didn't notice Baek Yujon's visible fluster. "If a woman is so weak that she gets fatigued from one night in the open, she wouldn't have passed the military exam in the first place. Let alone being selected for the Soma-won?"
"However, we don't know what might happen ahead, so shouldn't we conserve our strength as much as possible?"
"That is true, but..." O Jayeon was a warrior, after all. Jealousy surged even more fiercely in her heart as she bit her lip. If I fanned the flames, it would surely turn a vicious shade of purple. I had no intention of doing that, though. "And this applies to you as well, Investigator."
"...Me too? What do you mean?"
"Even if you are a beast-kin, isn't it better inside than outside?"
"That may be so, but..." She was truly an innocent person. Can she not guess what will be said next? That part of her was cute, though. "Therefore, in this humble man's opinion, even if it is narrow, I believe it is best for the three of us to spend the night inside the shed."
"...?" O Jayeon's eyes went round. Of course, so did Baek Yujon's.
We spread rice straw on the dirt floor of the shed, and then laid out bedding on top of it. I lay down comfortably in the center, while O Jayeon and Baek Yujon stuck themselves to the walls on either side. 'Ugh...' O Jayeon groaned inwardly. 'Even so, this isn't a battlefield, so how can I be in the same room as a man...' No, being on a battlefield would be even worse. It would be a breach of military discipline. 'Stay calm, stay calm...' It wasn't as easy as it sounded. But the fortunate thing was that she wasn't the only one feeling this flustered. 'Hmph... Yujon, she acted like she'd played with plenty of gisaengs, but...' Now that she was actually in the same room, wasn't she trembling while stuck to the wall? Good grief. What a hollow woman, all bluff. But compared to the impression that she was used to playing with men, she was actually more likable.
"Both of you, please get some sleep. We have to keep moving tomorrow, don't we?" What a bold man. How can he be so calm, sandwiched between two women? "...Young master, are you not afraid?" Baek Yujon asked exactly what O Jayeon had wanted to ask. My sense of intimacy with them rose slightly. "Are you asking if I'm afraid you might ravish this humble man?"
"Y-yes. That is exactly what I mean. Are you not afraid?"
"I am not afraid." In the quiet darkness, the man's voice rang in their ears. "Because it is visible to my eyes that you are not weak enough to be seduced by such trivial wickedness."
"...How do you know me so well, young master?"
"Why do you not trust yourself so much, Investigator?"
"..."
"Do not worry, Investigator. If you are truly that anxious, I shall trust you instead."
'Huh?' O Jayeon's tail twitched as she listened from the side. Trust her? What does that mean? Doesn't that sound like something one would say to a lover? And that sentiment was the same for Baek Yujon.
"......Young Master Han, I think you need to be a little more careful with your words."
"Why is that?"
"If you say that to just anyone, you will be misunderstood."
"Do you take this humble man for a fool?" The man's chuckle tickled O Jayeon's ears. "I do not say this to just anyone. It is because it is you, Investigator, that I say this."
The sound of Baek Yujon's heart skipping a beat seemed audible even to O Jayeon. "...You really are a strange, bewitching man."
"I am wronged. I cannot hold back my tears."
"..." Baek Yujon turned over to face the wall entirely. O Jayeon felt a sense of camaraderie.