What the Hunt Overheard
Hong-wi was startled by the expression on Tung Jugang's face.
They had met only a handful of times, but never before had he seen Tung Jugang in such a fury.
Until Ichigeo had vanished from sight, the man kept both fists clenched tight.
"I wondered what brought that wretch here today, and it's just as I suspected."
His voice was low and heavy as he went on.
Hong-wi had already heard the gist of the matter from Kushinu some time ago, so he could well understand the man's rage.
"I'd like to beat the bastard to death myself, but like it or not, he's the elder's kinsman, so there's nothing to be done. Worse, everyone knows Lee Man-ju stands behind him."
"I heard it was not yet certain."
"Certain as sunrise."
Tung Jugang snorted.
"Lee Man-ju himself holds no terror for me. What worries me is what sort of pretext he might seize on against the Elder and Wol-yeong... Wait — who is that?"
Tung Jugang stopped mid-stride.
Hong-wi had noticed it too.
"Wol-yeong..."
"That's Wol-yeong, isn't it!"
Tung Jugang shouted, but she sped off without a word of reply.
It lasted only an instant, yet Hong-wi thought he glimpsed tears glistening in her eyes.
At that moment it struck him — of course. Wol-yeong had overheard the conversation between Onyan Isiha and Ichigeo as well.
"Wait a moment..."
Tung Jugang tried to say more, but she was already gone without answer.
The two men looked at each other.
Without a word about who would go first, they both raced after her.
"Wol-yeong! Wait!"
The next moment, they heard the sharp clatter of hooves.
They rushed back in a scramble to find that of the horses tethered alongside the boar they had caught earlier, only two remained — Hong-wi's and Tung Jugang's.
Wol-yeong was gone, and so were Un-yeong and the horses they had ridden.
"To have heard what she was not meant to hear — I'd say her heart is badly hurt."
Hong-wi murmured.
He felt he could understand her pain all too well.
Tung Jugang bit his lip.
"Ichigeo — that snake's words aren't worth the breath it takes to listen to them..."
He balled his fists.
"More to the point, we must go after Wol-yeong."
At Hong-wi's words, Tung Jugang nodded.
"Right, you are. Let's hurry."
Meanwhile, Lee Go-nap-hap and his men were wandering all over the hunting grounds in search of Onyan Wol-yeong.
But long stretches passed with nothing to show for it.
Lee Go-nap-hap grumbled.
"Tch. Where in blazes has that wench gotten to?"
There was no easy way to track down one person in such a vast hunting ground.
What was more, they had to move about without being seen.
Irongha spoke up.
"Shall we simply hunt in the meantime?"
"Foolish talk!"
At Lee Go-nap-hap's irritated rebuke, Irongha shrank back, and the party rode on in silence.
"Agh, this heat is unbearable!"
Lee Go-nap-hap fumed.
The sun blazed down with a fierceness unbecoming of autumn, and his throat had grown quietly parched. Irongha, ever watchful of his master's moods, swiftly held out a gourd flask.
"Dudu, please, have a drink."
"Mm."
Lee Go-nap-hap popped the stopper and sniffed at it. The rich aroma of well-aged mayuju came wafting out, and a smile spread across his face. Irongha was truly first-rate when it came to flattering his palate.
Already irritable from the heat, Lee Go-nap-hap gulped it down in one long swallow, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"Ahh."
He smacked his lips and wiped the liquor from the corners of his mouth. Drinking on an empty stomach, the buzz climbed through him quickly, and with it he could forget the irritation that had been boiling up.
"This tastes damnably fine! Irongha, you really do know what's what."
"Thank you, my lord."
Irongha flashed a grin.
Olanggamokya offered a caution.
"Dudu, you ought to be careful here. If you drink too much..."
"I know, Olanggamokya. But look — see for yourself!"
Lee Go-nap-hap blew a derisive snort through his nose and emptied the gourd Irongha had handed him. His face flushed red in an instant.
Olanggamokya watched him with worried eyes.
Onyan Isiha commanded immense prestige among the Jurchens, and his territory was regarded as a kind of inviolable, sacred domain. Coming to abduct his daughter Wol-yeong was trouble enough; even being caught setting foot on this land at all would be disastrous.
"I am the Dudu of the Jianzhou Guard, you hear me! What wretch would dare say a word against me?"
"Quite right!"
Irongha snickered in agreement, and Olanggamokya held his tongue.
The drink went quickly to Lee Go-nap-hap's head, and he began to carry on.
"All that nonsense about Onyan Isiha being a descendant of the Jin imperial house — well, I am the Dudu of the Jianzhou Guard, men! The Dudu, I say, you mongrel curs!"
"Dudu."
Olanggamokya abruptly brought his horse to a halt. Lee Go-nap-hap turned to look at him.
"What is it, Olanggamokya? Don't tell me you're in league with that Isiha as well. I swear, you spineless..."
"Please, listen a moment. Do you not hear something?"
They all fell silent at once. Lee Go-nap-hap too pricked up his ears.
"Isn't that the sound of women?"
"It seems so."
The party tensed in an instant. If women's voices could be heard here, then there could be only one person it was.
Onyan Wol-yeong.
Irongha narrowed his small eyes even thinner and said, "There are two of them. Two wenches, talking to each other."
"Well, what a windfall this is."
Lee Go-nap-hap grinned.
"Here we were milling about with nothing to do and bored out of our skulls, and they come strutting right to us of their own accord."
"We cannot be certain. It might not be the Onyan girl at all — could be someone else entirely."
"Bah, come now, what sort of talk is that! This is a forest the Onyan clan holds sacred, and how would a woman even get in here in the middle of a hunt?"
Olanggamokya pointed out cautiously — only for Irongha to spout his nonsense in turn.
"I only speak of the possibility. What if, by some chance, that is not Onyan Wol-yeong?"
"Well... then so what? We enjoy ourselves with her as a substitute, pheasant for chicken. Nothing to it so long as we aren't caught, no? And if it comes to it, we kill her and be done."
"You brutes!"
"That's enough."
At Lee Go-nap-hap's word, Irongha and Olanggamokya fell silent.
"First, we see who those women are. Even if it really is Onyan Wol-yeong, if some other ruffian shows up it will spoil the fun. Listen — Olanggamokya!"
"Yes, Dudu."
"I'll go down with Irongha, Husureogai, Muhashan, and Pannu — the five of us. You hold the rest of the men back here and keep watch."
Olanggamokya hesitated, visibly uneasy, but soon nodded.
"Yes, my lord."
Lee Go-nap-hap picked out Irongha and four other men. Every one of them was large-boned and looked as if he could put up a real fight.
"Let's go."
The party rode their horses forward at a slow walk. When they drew near the source of the voices, they dismounted and advanced carefully. Lying belly-down beneath the shade of a convenient tree, they began to crawl ahead bit by bit.
Lee Go-nap-hap pointed with a finger.
"There, look... that must be them."
"So it would seem."
Irongha narrowed his already small eyes and glanced around repeatedly.
"From the look of it, there are only the two of them."
"Hmm."
Lee Go-nap-hap nodded as well, and Irongha let out a low whistle. Were they not fish already landed in the basket?
"Look there, Dudu! It's that wench Wol-yeong!"
"Yes, so it is!"
Lee Go-nap-hap could not take his eyes off her. As he had seen earlier, there was something about her that ensorcelled a man's heart. Perhaps it was the drink, but his bravado came surging up. He wanted, more than anything, to pluck that flower.
Yet even as he thought this, some inexplicable hesitation stirred in Lee Go-nap-hap.
May I really take that one for myself?
The thought surprised even him. But it was true — before that maiden, he felt something close to an uncanny awe. It was a feeling altogether unlike the countless women he had handled as he pleased. And it was that which made him hesitate.
"Dudu, may I be the one to catch her?"
Irongha knew perfectly well that Wol-yeong had to be delivered to his master. Fortunately, the handmaiden attending her was exactly to his own taste. With the eyes of a wolf eyeing its prey, he licked his lips greedily.
"Think about it, my lord — just the two of them there, in such a secluded spot. It's as easy as turning over your palm. Strike now, I say!"
But Lee Go-nap-hap gave no answer. Irongha found it strange and turned to look at him.
"Dudu?"
Only then did Lee Go-nap-hap snap out of his reverie. The next moment, wounded pride curdled into fury within him. Me? I, of all men, cowed before a woman? Impossible. Unthinkable.
"It's nothing. Let's go down."
"Dudu, cover your face."
So saying, Irongha produced a head-cloth, and Lee Go-nap-hap masked his face with it. The other men masked up as well. Once done, they looked for all the world like the mountain bandits who prowled Jianzhou by the dozen.
Their disguises complete, Lee Go-nap-hap spoke again.
"Husureogai, take Muhashan and Pannu and drive off the horses those women rode in on. Then keep watch for anyone approaching from around."
"Yes, Dudu."
Husureogai smirked. The other two, Muhashan and Pannu, grinned as well. They had plenty of experience with this sort of errand, and it was settled that they would give their master a decent stretch of time to enjoy himself.
"Right then — down we go."
Seasoned hunters that they were, the party began slipping down the slope without a sound, careful not to betray themselves.
Unaware that Lee Go-nap-hap and his men were descending upon them, Wol-yeong sat with tears welling in her eyes, pouring out her heart to Un-yeong.
"I truly don't know what to do."
"My lady, Ichigeo is an idiot and rude beyond all measure. You mustn't waste a single ear on the words of such a man."
"The problem is that when Father passes, Ichigeo may be the one who succeeds him."
"My lady."
Un-yeong spoke with firm resolve.
"Why would you think such a thing? Ichigeo is only the Elder's half-brother, nothing more. The one to inherit the clan is you and you alone."
"That's not how the custom goes."
Wol-yeong let out a sigh.
"Who would ever accept a woman inheriting the chieftain's seat?"
"My lady, you must not speak so weakly!"
Wol-yeong gazed quietly at Un-yeong. It was rare for her — handmaiden, and before that a childhood friend — to show such steely conviction.
"You are a true daughter of the Onyan clan, my lady. Whatever others may think, if your heart stands firm, none of them can say a word. But if you waver first, then nothing will come of anything."
"You're right, Un-yeong."
Wol-yeong wiped her tears and nodded.
"But can I manage it alone? I would need people to stand with me."
"You have them. First there is the Elder — he understands our situation better than anyone. He is the one who will find a way through this, no matter what it takes. And is that all? Why, there is the old Kushinu as well — if it's your cause, my lady, he'll throw himself into it body and soul."
"Uncle Kushinu, yes — he can be trusted."
Wol-yeong's expression brightened too.
"And... there is Lord Tung Jugang, isn't there?"
As she said it, Un-yeong's face flushed faintly pink — though Wol-yeong failed to notice.
"...He thinks of you as his own little sister. And haven't you other trusted friends you could stake your life on? They will be your strength, my lady."
"That's true. Brother Jugang would come to help me at any hour."
Wol-yeong admitted it readily.
"But there is one more thing that troubles me."
"What is it?"
Wol-yeong's face reddened.
"Even if I somehow win recognition... I must find myself a husband, mustn't I? For the sake of our family, and of the village."
That, even Un-yeong could do nothing about. Wol-yeong sighed.
"People care only about what sort of husband I will take. I've never given the matter any serious thought."
Her voice was heavy with gloom.
"Perhaps someday I too will meet someone, and come to love... but that still feels a very long way off."
Un-yeong nodded. But she was hardly in any position to offer sound counsel on such matters either.