Wing to Wing, Bough to Bough - 4
"Y-you're leaving to visit Haomun headquarters, saaay?"
Early morning. Lady Ha Yeon had come to inform Lady Jegal Hyang of her extended departure as well.
"It could take years. Before I go, I'm going to have him all to myself for a few last days. I truly am sorry."
Perhaps she felt guilty for monopolizing me even now, with the Domun affair only just settled — Lady Ha Yeon bowed at the waist as she pleaded with Lady Jegal.
"Okay. That's not a problem at aaaall. Ah, um, w-well, then..."
Lady Jegal sidled up to Lady Ha Yeon, and the two of them exchanged a whispered word or two.
"It's not that. No — it's not that it isn't! Anyway, that's—!"
Why the panic? The instant she heard whatever Lady Jegal had said, Lady Ha Yeon shot to her feet and darted a sidelong glance at me, face burning red.
"Is something the matter?"
"Eonni, you know — that thing of ours. Riiight?"
Lady Jegal pressed closer to the flustered Lady Ha Yeon, as though seeking confirmation of something.
"I-I know about it."
Lady Ha Yeon hung her head, wearing the expression of a condemned criminal.
"Hnngh. I don't thiiiink soooooo."
Lady Jegal's eyes darted back and forth between the two of us, deeply uneasy.
"Don't you worry! I'll be back before you know it!"
What in the world was that about? Before I could ask, Lady Ha Yeon seized my hand and pulled me outside.
"What did you two whisper about?"
"Hnn! Y-you don't need to know!"
Suspicious. Very suspicious.
"They say this place is delicious. We're lining up to eat."
"Do we really have to stand in line?"
"Standing in line with you never gets boring, you know."
"..."
Looking at me with that expression is cheating.
We cast every worry to the wind — hunting down famous eateries, wandering scenic spots, holding hands through thick crowds for no reason at all. Neither of us hid what was in our hearts or took its measure, and roaming the world with a lover turned out to be more delightful than I had ever imagined.
"Ugh."
"Are you unwell?"
As the carriage rolled toward our next destination, I clutched my stomach, and Lady Ha Yeon asked with a worried look.
"It's nothing. I stayed up drinking with my father-in-law to the very last cup yesterday. Overdid it a touch."
She told me to be honest, so I was — and nearly got assassinated by liquor.
"Then let's call it a day."
"Are you sure?"
So little time remained for us to be together. I asked her, eyes wide with surprise.
"I'll be fine. Have the carriage drop me at the Wuhan Gyobang on the way."
"The Gyobang? What business do you have there?"
"There's something I must attend to. Th-there's something I need to learn, too. Anyway, it will likely take quite a while, so go on ahead."
"I have business of my own with the Gi-mun Hyangju. Let's go together."
"You want to take a few clever ones with you and train them as Giosugu?"
"Yes. Even while I'm away, his food delivery business has to keep running."
Meeting with the Gi-mun Hyangju, Lady Ha Yeon raised a topic none of us had seen coming.
The Giosugu were, by origin, creatures the Shadowless Divine Thief had bred to smuggle out information or ferry off plunder small enough to carry. If Lady Ha Yeon vanished, the business would certainly run into a very serious problem.
"You came all this way for the Giosugu? Couldn't you make do with Domun people, or folk from the Joseon Hometown Association?"
"My thoughts exactly."
The Gi-mun Hyangju nodded as well.
Perhaps because it was the Shadowless Divine Thief's secret art — hardly something to entrust to thieves and outsiders. When the two of us turned to her, Lady Ha Yeon seemed to weigh her words for a moment, then opened her mouth.
"I hear that beyond the courtesans who died in the Domun attack, there are others who were gravely wounded."
"There are girls who will limp for the rest of their lives because of that assault, and girls whose wounds have ended their days as Cheonggi."
"A courtesan who can no longer work as Cheonggi rarely meets a kind end. I'm going to buy out those girls' registries."
"Those girls?"
The Gi-mun Hyangju stared at her in astonishment.
Courtesans came in two broad kinds: the Cheonggi, who sold their art, and the Honggi, who sold their bodies. A Cheonggi who could no longer perform might, if fortune smiled, become some wealthy household's concubine — failing that, she was demoted to a Honggi or cast aside entirely.
"If I select the clever ones, they'll serve not only as Giosugu but as a help to his business while I'm gone. And once I return, I can keep them on as my own trusted people."
So as Mangju, she meant to clean up after the Domun affair. Courtesans who would otherwise have been thrown away would serve her with unshakable loyalty. It truly did look like a fine plan.
"Hoooo."
As if deliberating, the Gi-mun Hyangju drew deep on her pipe and let the tobacco smoke out slow.
"I can pay for them. I came into property when I became Mangju. Would that... not be allowed?"
Lady Ha Yeon asked, drawing the words out a little.
The Cheonggi were the Gi-mun's idols, in a manner of speaking — talents hand-picked and groomed from childhood. Injured or no, imagine telling the head of their agency: your girl can't do idol work anymore, so I'll be taking her on as my company's staff. Not a decision an agency head could make lightly.
"Your money is not needed, Mangju."
Setting down the long pipe in her hand, the Gi-mun Hyangju rose from her seat and knelt before Lady Ha Yeon.
"Lady Gi-mun Hyangju?"
"As head of the Gi-mun, I thank you for your grace, Mangju. That you would think even of the Gi-mun girls left with nowhere to go — such foresight will become a great treasure of Haomun in the days to come."
"I only did what had to be done. Please, rise."
"I'll summon the one who keeps the registries. Choose whichever girls catch your eye."
At a flick of the Hyangju's gaze toward the door, a woman who looked to be an executive appeared.
"You go on ahead once your business is finished. I'll head home when my work here is done."
Bidding me farewell, Lady Ha Yeon departed with the executive to see the wounded courtesans.
"She's a fine one."
The Gi-mun Hyangju gazed fondly in the direction Lady Ha Yeon had gone.
"I know."
"She'd make a fine wife and an excellent mother. As a martial artist she has reached true mastery — had she remained a courtesan, she would have been my successor."
"And as Mangju and the Sect Master's disciple, she'll be a fine anchor for Haomun."
"I take it you two have said everything that needed saying."
With a pitying look, the Gi-mun Hyangju turned to me.
"I can't seem to hide it, can I."
"You must be hurting."
"She is only stepping away for a time to untangle one thorny problem. She is a woman who will return to the seat beside me. How could my grief run deep?"
I shrugged as though it were nothing at all.
"...What a man you are."
Perhaps I looked admirable, for the Gi-mun Hyangju smiled with her eyes and raised her long pipe to her lips.
"Truth be told, it's tearing me up inside."
As if everything before had been pure performance, I clutched my stomach and screwed one eye shut, deliberately letting her see the truth.
"Heh heh heh. Don't fret yourself sick. Even the Haoxumen Master could never dare treat carelessly the first Mangju ever born with a Hyangju's consent. If anything, she'll be scrambling to win the girl's favor."
"I only hope she comes back safe and sound."
Behind Lady Ha Yeon stood the whole of Hubei's Haomun. To slight her would be to promise every Mangju yet to come the same treatment.
The Gi-mun Hyangju reassured me that the Haoxumen Master, too, would remember the rebellion only barely put down through that fragile pact — there was no need to worry so much.
They called the Haoxumen Master a supreme master; if Lady Ha Yeon went, there would be much to learn. If my heart had its way, she'd offer the Nine Bows of discipleship and come straight home.
My chest still smoldering from parting with my beloved, I raised my cup for a sip of tea — and the Gi-mun Hyangju's gaze settled on me.
"Have the two of you shared a bed yet?"
"Pfft — I beg your pardon?"
I asked, hastily brushing the spilled tea from my clothes.
"So you haven't."
She chuckled, looking mildly surprised.
"Well, I mean..."
"There's no call to be embarrassed. Dress her up and seat her in a courtesan house this very moment, and the whole quarter would erupt over the reappearance of Hubei's Number One Courtesan. For a man to feel no desire would be the stranger thing."
"...I won't deny it."
Until she cast off her courtesan's status, I had restrained every show of affection as best I could — but that status was already cast off. That dizzying figure, head to hip, and a softness beyond words. Truthfully, even yesterday, when she settled onto my lap, I had been in a little danger.
Perhaps she read a great deal in my face; the Gi-mun Hyangju spared her words for a while before saying something entirely unexpected.
"A man's nature is to pluck the flower the moment he sets eyes on it. This time, hold yourself back."
"I beg your pardon?"
"She's leaving on a long road. Would you have her belly swollen round as a mountain by mid-journey?"
"Ah..."
"And spare me the nonsense about being careful. Even long-married couples, scrupulous to the last about such things, end up with children. What chance have a man and woman whose fire has only just been lit? Besides, the line has already been crossed — once or three times hardly changes the sum."
"Ahaha."
Three times might not be enough, though.
"She's bound for distant lands. Not enemy soil, true, but who can say what might happen? If you love her, hold back — don't surrender to a moment's lust."
"Understood."
I gave a small nod.
"Hoo. The girl is anxious, and I doubt a simple 'understood' will settle her heart."
Eyes full of doubt, the Gi-mun Hyangju exhaled a plume of pipe smoke.
"Lady Ha Yeon, anxious?"
After how certain I made her yesterday that I would wait.
"Of course she's anxious. The ones she's set against are the Sichuan Tang Clan's rising prodigy and the Jegal Clan's youngest daughter. She'd want to leave carrying one more certainty, at the very least."
"Ah."
Oh. So that was what this was about.
"You still haven't told the Tang girl, have you?"
"I didn't want to worry her, so I couldn't bring myself to tell her everything."
At the Hyangju's question, I deflated in an instant.
"Because you'd rather not have your hair torn out by the roots, I'd wager."
"Hahaha."
You're hitting far too close to home.
"If you've resolved to take responsibility, then gather the women you must answer for, introduce them to one another, and make them understand. That comes first."
"I'll bear it firmly in mind."
Against such sound counsel, I could only nod.
"Right. I've said my piece. Now — what was this business you needed me for?"
"Well, you see..."
I began to lay out for the Gi-mun Hyangju the true reason I had come today.
"You want me to give you that?"
Yes. That's exactly what I need.
"Lady Jegal?"
I arrived home first and opened the door to my room — and the first thing I saw was Lady Jegal's backside.
"Pwah! Y-young Master Kang?!"
What was she doing crouched under the bed? Lady Jegal greeted me, the very picture of panic.
"What business do you have in my room?"
"Ah, I-I was looking for something, you seeee."
Was she hunting for that naughty book every household is supposed to own by this age? Rummaging under the bed — how base. My secret weapons live in the third drawer of the bookshelf.
And given the people who live under this roof, they're hidden in a double-bottomed compartment beneath that drawer — one you'd have to lift with a brush to even see.
"Might you be looking for the Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon scroll you painted the other day?"
It might not be that, so I named the thing Lady Jegal would most plausibly be hunting for.
"Yes? Yes, yes! I was looking for the scroll!"
She nodded her head up and down with tremendous vigor.
So it was the naughty book after all. It can't be easy for a woman to get her hands on a book made purely for men — harder still for one with Lady Jegal's temperament.
"I set it aside at Daseogak as the next raffle prize. Is something wrong with the painting?"
"Ah, n-no, nothing like that. There was something I needed to check, you seeee."
"It hasn't gone on display yet, so I'll have someone bring it over tomorrow."
Sometimes, even when you know exactly what lies in another's heart, the graceful thing is to pass over it unknowing. To Lady Jegal — whose lie was showing through at every seam — I replied as though I suspected nothing at all.
"Ah, o-okay. Then..."
Lady Jegal stole a quick glance around my room.
"Is there something else you're looking for?"
"Ah, no, that's quite all. I'll be going nooow."
Somehow satisfied, Lady Jegal nodded and returned to her own room.
Perhaps I ought to hire someone to build me a hidden bookcase — for the protection of my personal tastes.
"I have to tell them. But how?"
I had to tell them about Lady Ha Yeon and Lady Jegal.
On my father-in-law's and the Gi-mun Hyangju's advice, I had taken up my brush — but I could not fill the page.
Sohee would keep for now. One wrong move, and the original story's Heavenly Killing Star might be born because of me. I would have to work out an approach that spared her the shock.
The problem was Hwarin.
"How in the world do I tell her I found a lover in less than a year?"
I seized my head and thumped my forehead against the desk.
The moment I closed my eyes, I could see myself kneeling before Hwarin, utterly at a loss.
— "When did you meet her?"
— "On my way back to Yichang."
— "So you didn't lose your heart in Yichang — you lost it on the road home?"
I doubted it would take long for word to reach me that an enraged Poison Human had broken out of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Helpless, I flung down the brush in my hand.
Clunk!
"What was that?"
That was far too loud for a thrown brush.
"Huh? Why won't this open?"
"Hm?"
A familiar voice drifted in from beyond the window. I was out of my chair in an instant, crossing to the sill.
"There's no way it's locked..."
When my hand met the latch, it felt like sinking into thick fog. It was always left open — why locked? I slid the window open.
"Lady Ha Yeon?"
"Oh — you weren't asleep?"
Lady Ha Yeon gazed in at me from outside the window, flustered.
"What brings you here in the dead of night?"
"Um... it's just..."
Why was she hanging her head?
"It's just what?"
Lady Ha Yeon wore the face of someone locked in a mighty struggle — then, as if arriving at a decision, she nodded.
"Meow."
"...Meow?"
Cheeks blazing, Lady Ha Yeon curled both hands into little cat paws, cocked her hips back ever so slightly, and cried out to me: