Do Not Get Hurt
My eyes snapped wide open.
A flurry of thoughts rushed through my mind in an instant. Could it just be the lingering scent of embers from the jwibulnori we had just been playing? No, this was different. Something about the sharp, acrid sting in the air told me otherwise.
Almost on pure instinct, my gaze whipped toward Chwiseondang.
Rising starkly against the pitch-black darkness of the night sky was a plume of thick white smoke.
“Court Lady Han!” I cried out, tugging hard on her sleeve. “Chwiseondang! It’s a fire!”
“What did you say…? What?”
“A fire! Over there!”
Only then did Court Lady Han grasp what was happening. Without waiting another second to look around or deliberate, I broke into a dead sprint toward Chwiseondang.
“Water! Grab the water buckets! Seol-hyang, go fetch the Myeolhwagun at once! Hurry!”
Court Lady Han’s frantic shouts echoed behind me, followed by the muffled gasps and screams of the court maids who were only just noticing the smoke. I ran like someone possessed. I had no idea what a scrawny, child’s body like mine could possibly accomplish, but my legs carried me forward without stopping. The other maids could not run as fast as I did, weighed down as they were by heavy water buckets.
Bursting through the entrance of Chwiseondang, I frantically scanned my surroundings. While roaring flames were not visible from where I stood, dense smoke had already poured all the way to the front gate. The source was clearly the western wing—the very quarters where Jang Hui-bin’s bedchamber lay.
“Hui-bin-jaga!”
Crying out her title, I plunged headlong into the corridor leading to her bedchamber. Fortunately, the fire itself did not seem to have started directly here; though hazy smoke choked the hallway, the blistering heat had not yet reached it.
“Cough! Cough!”
Pungent, biting smoke invaded my eyes, nose, and mouth. Even with my sleeve clamped tightly over my lower face, violent coughs tore from my chest. My eyes stung so badly I could barely keep them open.
Just a little further. Just a little more…!
Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I forced my eyes open with sheer stubborn will. Finally, the doors to Hui-bin’s bedchamber came into view. Throwing my entire weight against the sliding paper doors, I shoved them aside and screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Hui-bin-jaga!”
Inside, Jang Hui-bin had drifted into a light slumber after finishing her bath and evening toilette. Stirred by the crash, her eyes fluttered open. As billowing gray smoke surged in through the opened doorway, her lips parted in stunned disbelief. Fresh out of sleep, her mind had not yet caught up to the nightmare before her.
“You must get out! Quickly!”
There was no time to explain. I bolted toward her and seized her hand with everything I had.
“Bong-bong… What on earth is…”
“It’s a fire! We have to leave! Right now!”
“A fire…?”
Color drained completely from Hui-bin’s face. She sprang to her feet, but her knees buckled in fright. Digging deep for every ounce of strength in my small frame, I dragged the dazed consort forward and pulled her out of the chamber. The very moment we crossed the threshold—
“Hui-bin-jaga! Are you all right?!”
Court Lady Han came barreling inside, not even having had the chance to kick off her outdoor shoes.
“Are you unharmed, Jaga? The air is thick with smoke; please, come outside at once!”
“What is the meaning of this? A fire? What is the situation? Has anyone been hurt?”
“Be at ease, Jaga. The fire caught in the far western room, but thankfully it did not spread far. The maids have already extinguished the flames.”
“Ah…”
Clutching her chest, Hui-bin swayed on her feet.
“Ungh…”
At that exact moment, the adrenaline that had kept me upright vanished, and I collapsed onto the floor. It felt as though my entire body was sinking thousands of feet into the earth.
Then, arms wrapped around me.
“My baby.”
Hui-bin pulled me tight against her chest.
“My sweet Bong-bong threw herself through this smoke just to save my life. My little bundle of blessings… putting your own life on the line for someone like me…”
Tears rolled down her cheeks like shattered pearls.
…Did I really do that? Did I actually risk my life to save Hui-bin?
I honestly didn't know. Everything had happened purely on reflex. The only thought occupying my mind had been that she had to live; there had been no grand or heroic plan. I saw smoke, so I ran; I knew she was in her bedchamber, so I went to fetch her. It wasn't born out of some noble, self-sacrificing urge to give my life for hers. Instinct had simply taken over before thought could catch up.
Of course it had. For someone whose sole, desperate ambition was 'survival,' deliberately courting danger for another person was the last thing I would ever do.
And yet…
The comforting warmth radiating from Hui-bin’s embrace, the tremor in her tearful voice, and the gentle pat of her hand upon my back rendered me entirely speechless.
“…”
The words ‘our Bong-bong.’ The certainty that we were both safe.
Those simple truths struck a chord deep within my chest. A sense of solidarity so faint and distant that I had long forgotten what it felt like. The profound warmth called family… It shook my tiny, battered world to its core.
What a relief it was.
And strangely, extraordinarily enough… I felt truly happy.
“Bong-bong!”
A desperate cry rang out above me, but my limbs no longer possessed the strength to answer. Cradled safely in Hui-bin’s arms, I surrendered to the dark and lost consciousness.
“Your Majesty.”
The eunuch sent ahead to announce King Sukjong’s visit to Chwiseondang returned, his face pale and flustered.
“What is the matter?”
“Forgive my boldness, Your Majesty, but I fear you must cancel your visit to Chwiseondang tonight.”
“For what reason?”
“A fire has…”
“A fire?!”
The King rose abruptly from his seat.
The eunuch stammered in haste to quell the royal panic. “It was not a major conflagration, Sire! The flames were quelled almost immediately, and no one sustained grave injuries, so please do not distress yourself. This humble servant personally confirmed that Lady Hui-bin remains unharmed.”
“…”
“The Myeolhwagun is presently investigating the source of the blaze. Though the flames are out, the halls remain thick with soot and smoke, so for tonight, perhaps…”
“Did you say no one was gravely hurt?” the King cut in sharply.
“Yes, Sire. Only a single child maid collapsed from exhaustion, but Lady Hui-bin is safe and—”
The eunuch choked on his words in horror. King Sukjong, his jade belt not even fastened to his robes, was already striding toward the door.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
“We make for Chwiseondang.”
“Sire! Please, at least permit us to properly adjust your royal robes…!”
Hurrying after his sovereign while clutching the dangling jade belt, the eunuch caught a glimpse of the King’s backward glance and slammed his mouth shut. No one dared utter another word. The intensity and grief burning in the monarch's eyes were terrifying to behold.
“My baby… Child, please… open your eyes.”
Hui-bin’s voice was broken with tender desperation. Bong-bong had been laid to rest not in the smoke-damaged western quarters, but in a vacant chamber at the easternmost edge of Chwiseondang.
Court Lady Han, gently dabbing Bong-bong’s face with a damp towel, spoke softly. “Hui-bin-jaga. Did not the royal physician’s maid assure us that her pulse is steady and her breathing calm? The child was merely startled and exhausted, and has fallen into a deep sleep. There is no need to worry yourself so.”
“Is that truly so? You are certain she will suffer no harm?”
“Yes, Hui-bin-jaga. Bong-bong will be fine. I fear you will damage your own constitution if you persist like this. Word has already been sent to His Majesty, so please, you must take some rest as well…”
Hasty footsteps outside the door cut her off.
“Jaga! It is Court Lady Min!”
“What is it?”
“His Majesty! His Majesty has just arrived…!”
Court Lady Min could not even finish her sentence before the King himself swept inside.
This was a modest quarter reserved for palace maids, not royal feet. Stunned by the unexpected arrival of the King of Joseon in such humble surroundings, the court maids hastily threw open the door to the inner room where Bong-bong lay.
“Y-Your Majesty…”
Her face stained with fresh tears, Hui-bin rose swiftly to bow.
“…”
Sukjong’s eyes, however, were fixed entirely upon the child sleeping as still as death on the mat.
“Your Majesty… What brings your royal presence to such a wretched place?”
“I heard that a fire broke out.” After a brief, heavy silence, he asked softly, “How is the child?”
“The physician has seen her. She sustained no burns; she merely fainted from the fright and exertion, and is now resting deeply.”
“And you, Hui-bin? Are you well?”
“Your Majesty… This humble servant…”
The tears Hui-bin had barely reined in spilled over once more.
“Your Majesty, it was this tiny child who saved me while I slept unaware. She ran through blinding smoke to wake me and drag me from the room with all her might…”
“…”
A four-year-old child had saved the royal consort? Sukjong looked upon the bed with lingering skepticism. Yet this very girl had already accomplished feats no four-year-old had any right to achieve.
“Had it not been for this child, I cannot fathom what fate would have befallen me…”
As Hui-bin’s voice trembled with weeping, a faint groan escaped Bong-bong’s lips.
“Bong-bong! Are you awake?”
Bong-bong’s eyes opened to narrow slits. Finding not only Hui-bin but the King himself standing over her, confusion clouded her gaze.
“Your Majesty…?”
When Bong-bong tried to lift her small body, Hui-bin gently pressed her back down onto the mattress. “Hush, my sweet. Lie still. You are unwell; His Majesty will surely understand.”
Hui-bin’s hand tenderly stroked the child’s cheek.
“Hui-bin-jaga… Are you… all right?”
“Of course I am. How could I not be, when you saved my life? I am completely fine. It is you who worries me, you foolish, precious thing…”
“I’m so glad… I was worried about you, Jaga…”
“…”
The King watched them in quiet contemplation.
Hui-bin seemed to have entirely forgotten that her sovereign was standing in the room, while the newly awakened Bong-bong cared for nothing other than Hui-bin’s well-being. A storm of complex emotions wavered in Sukjong’s dark eyes. It was as though he were watching an ethereal phantom.
The slight tremble of Hui-bin’s delicate shoulders. The pale, weary smile of the child comforting her mistress.
What if…
What if Yu-hwa were still alive?
What if he had never wiped out the Cheok clan? Would they have shared moments like this? A mother and child wrapped in quiet affection, enjoying the peaceful days that an innocent girl ought to have been granted by birthright…
Suddenly, Hui-bin broke into a sharp, racking cough, the sound shattering the King’s reverie.
“Hui-bin. I shall take my leave now. Tend to your own health.”
“Your Majesty, how could I dare send you away after you came all this distance? This servant can still attend to you—”
“Hui-bin.”
The King’s broad hand came to rest gently upon her shoulder.
“Your health comes before all else.”
“…Your Majesty.”
“We have plenty of time ahead of us.”
His voice was deep, steady, and infused with tender warmth.
“So rest well tonight. I shall visit you again soon.”
The quiet gentleness in his tone washed over Hui-bin’s exhausted heart like a balm. “Then, I shall take my leave.”
As the King turned toward the door, he paused. What happened next made every jaw in the room drop.
Sukjong lowered himself down, reaching out a hand to lightly touch Bong-bong’s forehead.
“…Your Majesty.”
“Do not get hurt.”
Hui-bin, Court Lady Han, and every court maid lingering beyond the door held their breath in absolute stillness. In that heavy, breathless silence, the King’s low voice resonated clearly.
“Never let yourself be hurt again.”
“Y-yes… I will obey, Sire.”
With a faint nod, the monarch stepped away and took his leave.
I blinked slowly into the quiet room.
The King’s unexpected gesture had certainly stunned me, but there was another phrase that set my heart hammering against my ribs with pure exhilaration. The very words he had spoken to Hui-bin.
‘We have plenty of time ahead of us.’
To someone like me, constantly waging a desperate, losing war against the grains slipping through history’s hourglass, no sentence could have sounded sweeter. If that truly came to pass—if the King fell in love with Hui-bin once more and bound their fates together for good…
Then we can live.
Me. Hui-bin. All of us.
We could truly survive.
Before long, Hui-bin and Court Lady Han, who had escorted the King to the palace courtyard, returned to the room.
“Hui-bin-jaga. I think I can sit up now—”
Frantic footsteps sounded outside once more, shattering the quiet.
“Hui-bin-jaga! It is Court Lady Min!”
“What is it now?”
“Well… Jaga, out in the courtyard…”
The sound of Court Lady Min audibly swallowing her saliva was loud enough to reach my ears. When she finally spoke, she announced a guest that absolutely no one in Chwiseondang could have anticipated.
“Suk-bin is waiting outside, Jaga. She is requesting an audience with you.”