Three People - 1
It was morning, the hour when all things stir awake and begin their day. Warm sunlight draped a brand-new day over the estate.
On such a clear, bright morning, anyone and everyone ought to be stretching, rising with vigor, and getting on with their work.
"Heh... heh heh. Again... and again... another day has begun without Young Master Kang."
In a shadowed corner of the estate, however, one person was different: a silver-haired, blue-eyed woman, rolling across the floor in her anguish with a laugh steeped in despair.
"Where on earth have you goooone?"
It had already been three days since Kang Yunho and Lim Hayeon vanished.
—Young Master Kang would never just abandon me and disappeeeaar.
—A-at the very least, he'll come back by tomorrow, right!
—If you come back this instant, I'll fall prostrate and apologize to you both!
—It's all over... It's all my fault.
What was it they called it—the five stages of grief? At some point, she had passed through denial, anger, and bargaining, and was now sinking into depression.
"I knew it. Someone lowly like me was getting above her staaation."
—Would you... call me Gaga?
Jegal Hyang was recalling the words Kang Yunho had spoken three days before.
"Young Master Kang asked me to call him Gaga! How am I supposed to collect myself after thaaat?"
Isn't that practically a confession? Fine, there was a little something tacked on the front, but the main text is what counts, isn't iiiit?
Jegal Hyang offered up this halfhearted excuse, but no one was there to hear it.
"Gaga."
Shyly, she murmured that word once more—the one she had spoken days ago.
How could anyone possibly put into words a heart hammering like a drum, a feeling so full it overflowed?
"Gaga."
Before I let that one word out, I'd thought it was impossible.
My whole body went hot. It felt as though Young Master Kang and I were the only two people in the world.
Young Master Kang seemed startled when I called him Gaga, too—he went blank for a moment. He must have felt my heart. I'm certain of it.
Jegal Hyang chewed over the wonderful mood of that moment yet again.
What was it they said about language defining the world?
When she had called him Gaga, her Gaga had most certainly been there.
—I suppose as of today, that's the kind of pair we've become?
If only a certain party crasher hadn't intervened.
"Hnngh... I knew I could never beat Hayeon Eonniiii."
She's diligent, sociable, respected by everyone around her, and trusted by Young Master Kang. She's the very woman I dreamed of becoming.
Bitter as it was, Jegal Hyang quietly conceded defeat.
The Jegal Hyang of ordinary days would simply have envied such a remarkable Eonni, sighing that of course a woman like her excelled at everything. But when the man that Eonni loved was her own Young Master Kang, the story changed entirely.
He was her arranged match. Her Young Master Kang. Her author, Hopil.
Her Gaga.
Like a hamster puffing itself up to twice its size, Jegal Hyang wrung out every last drop of courage and cried out.
—Y-Young Master Kang is my, my arranged match. I-I don't think you should interfere, Hayeon Eonniiii.
And in the end, that single remark had knocked everything off course.
"Where in the world could he have goooone?"
Did he grow tired of me and slip away? Surely not—surely the two of them haven't run off somewhere together. A lovers' escape.
If that were really true—
"Nngh... N-no. I-I mustn't imagine things like that, or my heart will fall apaaart."
She had only imagined it, and yet it felt as though a crack had split open across her heart. Jegal Hyang pressed a hand to her chest and barely held her crumbling heart together.
"I misssss Young Master Kaaang!"
Jegal Hyang collapsed onto the floor once more.
Three days. Starved for any news of the Gaga who had vanished because of her mistake, the woman felt her eyelids drifting shut despite herself.
"Miss Jegal? So this is where you've been!"
Through her fading consciousness, she saw the black-haired man she had been waiting for so desperately drawing near.
"Hehe... I must be seeing thingsss."
"Miss Jegal? Pull yourself together! Miss Jegal!"
Huh? Is that really Young Master Kang? This doesn't feel like a dream. I-I have to get up. Young Master Kang has finally come.
"Hehe... Young Master Kaaang."
Jegal Hyang tried to lift herself, but a smile of relief was all she could manage.
Why wouldn't her body obey? As the taut thread of tension that had bound her for three days slowly unraveled, one fact surfaced through the haze.
Come to think of it, I've been so worried these past three days that I haven't eaten or sleeept at all.
First and foremost, what she needed was sleep.
"H-Hayeon Eonni was a Runaway Courtesan, so she got kidnappeeed?"
Whew. Miss Jegal had nearly kicked the bucket trying to rescue Lim Hayeon.
I handed the freshly conscious Jegal Hyang a few simple snacks and began to unravel everything that had happened.
"Yes. The truth is, I stumbled upon my sworn brother's daughter by chance, and I've been protecting her ever since."
Before Lim Hayeon could be welcomed back into the estate, Jegal Hyang deserved to know the truth as well.
I gave her a brief account of Lim Hayeon's plight—how she had been unjustly branded a Runaway Courtesan.
"Th-that can't be. Be-because of meee, Hayeon Eonni waaas—"
She couldn't close her mouth. Fair enough, really. One small act of hers had snowballed into a full-blown incident.
"Fortunately, the urgent fire has been put out. We're still being pursued, but we're safe for the time being. I apologize for not sending word—things were rather chaotic."
I didn't forget. Honestly. I simply had no presence of mind to spare. I apologized, scrambling to justify myself.
"Because of meee, Hayeon Eonni went through such hardship... Wh-what am I supposed to do..."
Jegal Hyang muttered, wringing her hands in distress.
"This isn't your fault, Miss Jegal. It all happened because I went and made a rash suggestion for no good reason."
How was I supposed to know that asking to be called Gaga would lead to Lim Hayeon running away from home, the Domun mobilizing, the Gimun stirring, and the revelation that the Gimun Hyangju was Hyang-ah's teacher?
Don't blame yourself. As I offered that comfort, the anguish on Jegal Hyang's face ebbed away, and she at last nodded.
"It—it wasn't a rash suggestion at aaaall."
Lips pursed in a little pout, Jegal Hyang turned her head aside and murmured, a trace of hurt in her voice.
"Hahaha."
"I-it's nothing at aaaall."
You just said the whole thing—what do you mean, nothing?
Clutching the back of her own hand as if embarrassed, Jegal Hyang avoided my eyes. I watched her for a moment.
Contract Dating.
How had a relationship invented to deceive the Mangeum Lord somehow traveled all this way?
Jegal Hyang was not my lover. Not my arranged match, either. I would think of her as something comfortable—treat her like a friend, nothing more.
I'd treat her like an old friend, hear her out, empathize with her. We even had Dangga Pungun, our shared passion, didn't we?
She was awkward with conversation, a girl happiest staying indoors. So I would become her friend, take her out and about, and share with her the experiences she'd never known.
While I was opening the door of my heart and treating her with easy warmth, I failed to notice the affection for me quietly taking root inside hers.
How should I answer Miss Jegal's feelings?
I had resolved not to turn away from them any longer.
With Lim Hayeon's crisis still looming before us, how was I to respond to feelings that had only just begun to sprout?
"Miss Je—"
"What are you two doing?"
What timing. Just as I was about to say something to Jegal Hyang, Lim Hayeon pushed open the door and walked in.
"Hayeon Eonni?"
"Miss Hayeon. Did you manage to shake off your pursuers?"
She'd said she would come separately to dodge the surveillance, but she'd returned faster than I expected.
"Yes. The Gimun helped me enormously. And Miss Jegal, have you been well these past few days?"
When she left, her face was the very portrait of misery; now that she was back, she looked positively refreshed.
"I, um... Hayeon Eonni, a-are you all riiight?"
"As you can see, perfectly fine."
"Hayeon Eonni, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorryyy."
Jegal Hyang hurried over to Lim Hayeon and bowed her head again and again, her face declaring she could never hold it up again.
"It's fine. What fault of yours could that possibly be, Miss Jegal? The blame is mine for bolting out the door in a fit of misplaced resentment."
"Still, Eonniii. It's because I went and called Young Master Kang Ga—Gagaaa—"
Jegal Hyang stole a glance at me, then carefully brought out the word that had set this whole affair in motion.
"If you want, call him Gaga to your heart's content."
"...I'm sorry, what?"
"Miss Hayeon?"
Lim Hayeon said it with a smile that proclaimed the word Gaga could no longer so much as scratch her.
"It's fine. I won't be shaken by it anymore."
When I stared at her in bewilderment, Lim Hayeon closed the distance in a single stride and seized my hand.
"Wha—?!"
At the sight, Jegal Hyang's eyes flew wide open.
"You gave me your word, after all. Why would a little playacting—her calling you Gaga—shake me now?"
"Haha..."
Apparently, the confession I'd made before the Gimun Hyangju had been answer enough for her.
"You will be coming to my r-room later, won't you?"
Everyone can hear you perfectly fine—why are you cupping your hand all the way up to my ear to say it?
"WHAAAAT?! H-Hayeon Eonni, wh-what did you just say?"
"Hmhm. Who knows."
Lim Hayeon forced a smile, feigning composure.
"Miss Hayeon, enough with the jesting. It hardly suits you."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
Because the nape of your neck is scarlet, that's what.
"Don't go giving Miss Jegal the wrong impression by summoning me over to discuss the Runaway Courtesan business."
"But the older girls said this is how it's done..."
Just what had she been hearing at the courtesan house?
"Uuugh..."
This was getting difficult.
I had no desire to watch a repeat of what had happened a few days ago.
If it truly had been an answer for Lim Hayeon, should I ask her not to flaunt it in front of Jegal Hyang? But wouldn't that simply mean turning my back on Jegal Hyang's heart all over again?
I resolved not to keep ignoring the love both of these women carried.
No more putting things on hold.
What was the right move? After agonizing while looking at the two of them, I arrived at a single conclusion.
"Would you both come out to the garden this evening?"
For the sake of what the three of us were to one another, it was time to charge in headfirst and see what broke.
"Young Master Kang, welcooome."
"What on earth did you call me out to the garden for?"
I spent the hours rushing about to clear three days' worth of backlog, and the sun sank before I knew it.
Dusk had settled over the estate's inner garden.
I straightened my attire, summoned the two women who had been waiting, and stood before them.
"I called you both here because there is something I must say to you."
There could be no repeat of the other day. Step one: put my back to the exit.
No stray stones lying about, right? This grassy patch should do nicely.
I looked once at the two women standing there with puzzled expressions, took a quiet, deep breath, and steeled myself for the collision.
"I'm sorry."
First things first—down on my knees.
"Young Master Kaaang?!"
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?!"
Paying their flustered voices no mind, I kept my head bowed and pressed on.
"That things have come to this pass is entirely my fault. Though I noticed the feelings you both harbor for me, I pretended not to know, because I wanted to put everything off."
None of this had been Jegal Hyang's fault. Nor Lim Hayeon's.
The fault was mine, for standing idle and spectating while the two of them played tug-of-war over me.
"Y-Young Master Kang, th-th-th-that's—"
Could she really have believed I'd noticed nothing? At the mention of feelings, Jegal Hyang's voice trembled violently.
"I'm sorry for acting as though I didn't know your heart, Miss Jegal. And I'm sorry to you too, Miss Hayeon. In the end, your abduction happened because I kept dithering."
Still on my knees, I bowed my head to each of them in turn.
"No, it's my fault for misunderstanding. Get up already."
"..."
No. I can't get up.
"Why won't you get up?"
One step remains.
"Before I can give you both a definite answer about your feelings, there is something I must confess."
Making no effort to hide my remorse, I looked at the two of them with the utmost gravity.
"What is it? Is this another prank with Gugu?"
"It's nothing of the sort."
"I'll forgive you for everything except abandoning me and running off to Miss Jegal. Now get up. A man shouldn't go dropping to his knees so carelessly."
"Hah! S-same here! N-no, wait, I mean—the opposite!"
Perhaps intending to haul me upright by force, the two of them moved to stride toward me.
"What I wish to confess today is the reason I kept deferring everything, even after learning what was in both your hearts."
I stayed the two women with both hands and looked at them once more.
"Your reasooon?"
"Stop torturing your knees like that and just stand up and say it."
For a long moment, I gazed quietly at the two women watching me with worry in their eyes.
Once again, it struck me how absurdly beautiful they were.
Lim Hayeon, who by all rights should have been hailed as Hubei's Number One Courtesan. And Jegal Hyang, whose beauty could stand shoulder to shoulder with hers.
Any man alive who could marry one of these two women would feel as though he'd won the whole world.
And both of them had feelings for me.
Fortune beyond deserving. And now I had to make a confession to women far too good for the likes of me.
Did I want to accept both of their feelings? Did I want to court them both at once? That was not the greed I had come here to confess.
There was something far more fundamental I had to confess before I could accept either woman's heart.
I opened my mouth to say the words I had never been able to bring myself to say.