The Cries in the Forest
"Now, I trust you know who I am."
"Lord Kunaha," Wolyeong said calmly. "If you withdraw even now, we can pretend this never happened."
"Spoken like someone truly raised among the refined. How very elegant your words are!" Lee Go-nap-hap threw back his head and laughed. "But here's the thing—what can you do? At this point, I can hardly turn back and leave empty-handed."
Never had there been such shameless audacity, an aggressor playing the wronged party.
Un-yeong shouted out. "Even your own father, Lord Lee Man-ju, treats my lady's family with considerable care. If word of today reaches him, will you be able to answer for the consequences?"
"I'll worry about that myself. You two ought to worry about your own hides."
Wolyeong understood just how dire the situation was. Lee Go-nap-hap had once made the mistake of underestimating Un-yeong and paid for it dearly, but he would not repeat that error. There were five of them—all strong, able-bodied men, and surely armed as well.
Her own side, meanwhile, had left every hunting weapon strapped to their saddles.
This was disastrous.
"...Boys, we're taking them with us."
"What about that wild boar of a woman?"
Irongha shot Un-yeong a venomous glare as he spoke. Lee Go-nap-hap gave a careless shrug.
"Do as you like."
"Yes, my lord."
Irongha and the other three men closed in around Wolyeong and her party. They glared only at the club in Un-yeong's hands, paying Wolyeong herself hardly any mind—as if to say, how far could a runaway get anyway?
Un-yeong knew it too.
"My lady, I'll hold them off. Use the moment to run."
"I cannot do that." Wolyeong cut her off flatly. "Even if I ran, how far would I get? And where would I go, leaving you behind?"
She drew the hunting knife she had hidden in her bodice. At the sight of it, Irongha and his men snickered and whistled.
"My, my. What a vicious weapon for such a delicate young lady to carry."
"Spare us the theatrics. Someone might get hurt." Un-yeong spoke without taking her eyes off Irongha's gang for an instant. "...My lady."
"What is it?"
"Lord Tung Jugang and Lord Temusi-i will be here soon. We only need to buy time until then."
Wolyeong nodded. The two men would be scouring the countryside desperately in search of them as well.
I should never have strayed from my lords' sides.
The regret came too late. But who could have imagined anyone would pull a stunt like this in the middle of the forest?
"Run, my lady. Only then can I hold out a little longer with an easy mind."
Wolyeong knew Un-yeong was right. Two of them standing here together would not buy much time. If anything, splitting up would stretch those precious minutes further.
"...Very well. But you must look after yourself."
"Don't you worry about me."
The next instant, Un-yeong hoisted her club overhead and roared.
"You dogs! This is as far as you go. Not one finger touches my lady!"
"Ooh, how terrifying." Irongha muttered, then raised his blade in answer and spat on the ground. "You beat me with an ash-wood club earlier, didn't you... Fine. Let's see how you like a beating of your own, you witch."
"That would be a feat, indeed." Un-yeong shot back coldly.
In truth, it was all to the good. While those fools postured and blustered, she could stretch out the time even further. She whispered, "Go now, my lady."
At that very moment, Un-yeong stepped forward with her club raised. As Irongha's gang flinched back from the killing intent on her blade, Wolyeong bolted.
"Eh! That woman—"
"After her!" Lee Go-nap-hap bellowed. If he let Wolyeong slip away now, after all this, his position would become impossibly awkward. "You must catch her!"
Irongha moved to give chase at once, but the whistle of Un-yeong's club cutting through the air forced him to duck his neck.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"That witch has lost her mind."
"Forget the maid, I said!" Lee Go-nap-hap snapped, his patience worn thin. Irongha gave a quick nod and flicked a glance at Muhashan and Pannu. The moment the two stepped forward, Irongha himself fell back.
"Husureogai, with me!"
Irongha and Husureogai plunged after the spot where Wolyeong had vanished. Un-yeong chafed at it, but hers was a fight against the two who remained—there was nothing to be done. All she could do was pray, desperately, that her lady had fled fast enough, and above all that Tung Jugang and Temusi-i would appear in time. Steeling her resolve, she fixed the two men with a blazing glare.
Hong-wi and Tung Jugang raced desperately along the hoofprints, neither exchanging a single word. The thought of the shock Wolyeong must have suffered weighed heavily on their hearts.
Wolyeong is a mature girl for her age. She's probably already guessed something of the elder's circumstances. But even so—!
Tung Jugang bit his lip. No one on earth could feel anything but sick at learning they were being treated as an object to be sold off. What then of a girl at that tender, emotional age? The one who had raised the matter occupied an ambiguous position in the household, true, but he was still a kinsman elder of sorts. And the other party—of all people, was it not Lee Go-nap-hap? That man's infamy was known to every soul in Jianzhou. The mere thought of him laying a single finger on Wolyeong was enough to make the skin crawl. And to marry her off to him, no less.
Tung Jugang felt as though insects were writhing through every corner of his body.
He had cherished Wolyeong since she was a child, but to Hong-wi too, the matter was no stranger's affair. He knew better than most how utterly a private will could be trampled beneath the demands of state or family. In the palace, he had accepted it as an unavoidable duty and sacrifice for country and clan. But now, having turned his back on the throne and tasted freedom, his thinking on such things had begun to shift.
Above all, I refuse to watch that Lee Man-ju and his whelp torment innocent people any longer.
So Hong-wi steeled his heart. The horror of the Sahalcha village, the suffering of the Ban clan women—somewhere along the way, a deep-rooted revulsion toward the Man-ju father and son had taken hold in him. For all his maturity, Hong-wi was still in his teens, and his sense of right and wrong remained cleanly divided. In time, he would come to see how the line between good and evil blurred with age, but that day was not yet. And judged by any measure, the conduct of the Lee father and son leaned as close to wickedness as it could get.
Just then, Hong-wi caught a sound on the wind.
"Do you hear that?"
"What?"
Tung Jugang, his mind consumed by rage and disgust toward Ichigeo and Lee Go-nap-hap, broke off mid-stride. For a long moment, both men strained their ears—and then spoke almost in unison.
"Over there."
"It's Wolyeong."
The next instant, Tung Jugang's brow furrowed. "Wait—those are other men with her."
"She's being chased."
A chill settled over them both. Even a hunting ground was unguarded ground; outsiders could wander in freely. Wandering herb-gatherers, hunters tracking game—mostly harmless, but bandits and ruffians could slip in just as easily. Especially in times like these.
"Let's move."
Without a word as to who would lead, both men surged toward the sound.
At that moment, Wolyeong was in truly mortal peril. The situation had forced her into the forest, but a trackless, densely wooded forest was a place even seasoned hunters entered with reluctance. Forest-dwellers were a superstitious folk who believed that both kindly and malevolent spirits, along with monsters that lured men to their deaths, swarmed among the trees. Wolyeong was no exception. She cast anxious glances in every direction.
The forest was, in truth, genuinely dangerous. Fierce beasts prowled everywhere, and even the 'herbivores'—she had seen the proof not long ago—could kill as easily as any predator. And with hunts raging in every corner of the ground, the wild animals were at the very height of their nerves.
"Heh heh. Where might our young lady have wandered off to?"
Worse still, Wolyeong was being hunted by the most dangerous beasts of all at that very moment. The two men crashed through the underbrush as they came, and they were making the noise deliberately. One of them—the very man Un-yeong had clubbed—was brimming with pent-up malice.
"Come now, haven't we troubled each other enough? Step out, won't you...? The forest is dangerous, you know. Not just tigers—a bear or some other beast could show up any time."
As if the only beast out here is you. Wolyeong muttered under her breath.
Irongha spoke again. "My lady, have you ever been chased by a bear?" He shot a glance at Husureogai, who gave a brief shake of the head—a sign they still hadn't picked up her trail. Staring into the stand of mixed hardwoods before him, Irongha went on. "It's truly frightening, I'll tell you. Come autumn, like now, they're the most vicious creatures alive. You'd need it to be winter, and you'd need five or six strong men at your back, before you could even attempt to track and hunt one. But to run into a bear in dense cover like this, with a hundred places to hide...?"
He kicked savagely at the underbrush. "...I'd rather not, frankly. You'd likely be dead before you even knew the bear was on you. One swipe of its forepaw takes the head clean off."
Wolyeong edged cautiously down the slope, giving Irongha's gang a wide berth. Then her foot found a dry branch—snap. Gooseflesh prickled up her arms.
Irongha heard it too. "There you are... this is exactly the season when bears roam hunting prey. Your lady's father chose the hunting ground well enough, I'm sure, but plenty of bears drift from place to place. They'll cover dozens of ri in a single day!" He gestured to Husureogai, who began cautiously backtracking. Irongha pressed on. "So you see... a young lady really shouldn't go wandering alone... Do come out, won't you?"
Gripping her knife in one hand and feeling along tree roots with the other, Wolyeong took one careful step. The next instant, the earthen mound beneath her foot gave way. She had no chance even to cry out—she simply tumbled headlong down the slope.
"There you are." Irongha followed the sound of the fall with practiced ease. Frivolous he might be, but his skill as a tracker was superb. Lee Go-nap-hap had not set him on the chase for nothing.
Wolyeong knew she had to flee, and fast. Concealing her sound was no longer the issue—but she couldn't. She tried to put her weight on her left leg and the pain refused her outright. The ankle might not be broken, but it was certainly sprained.
"Oh dear... My lady, whatever has happened to you?"
Wolyeong felt all the strength drain from her body. The gap-toothed man came clattering down the slope with unsettling familiarity, grinning broadly. "You ought to be careful in places like this. Whoops, well now."
He kicked the fallen knife far out of reach. "A beauty like you has no business with such things. Come along now—up you get. Heh heh heh."
Despair washed over Wolyeong.
"We'll need to tie her for the trip," Husureogai said.
"Leave the feet free... hmm, no, that won't do."
Irongha clicked his tongue at the sight of her left ankle. Taking Wolyeong under the arm to raise her, he leaned close and whispered in her ear. The heat of his breath raised goosebumps across her whole body. "So don't try anything foolish... Well, either way, you won't be running anywhere now. Here, Husureogai—support the lady... carry her up on your back."
Husureogai nodded and took hold of Wolyeong's arm, hauling her up.
That was the moment.
Kuwowoo—!
Irongha, mid-snicker, froze solid. Husureogai too glanced around uneasily.
"What in blazes was that?"
"A bear. A big one. I suppose even a bear answers when you call its name, eh?" Irongha grumbled. They began to move with urgent haste—Irongha bracing Wolyeong from below while Husureogai dragged her up the slope from above. The moment her body cleared the crest, Irongha urged them on, frantic. "Move, quickly!"
"And where might you be rushing off to?"
At the voice from nowhere, Irongha jerked his head up in shock. Husureogai whirled around as well.
"A hyungnim more fearsome than any bear has arrived."
And with those words, Husureogai crumpled to the ground where he stood.