Hongryun Sect (4)
Hongryun Sect (4)
"How the hell can this inn still be so fucking shitty even on a second glance?"
"No kidding."
Even after we returned, the inn clung to every ounce of its squalid impression. Trite adages about daily renewal or seeing someone in a new light clearly had no place in a backwater inn like this. Having already claimed the bed and lain down, Sannyeo asked me,
"So, why did you give her time to think? I thought you would make her decide right then and there. You were applying psychological pressure, so you could have gotten the answer you wanted right away."
I shook my head at Sannyeo's words.
"This is a plan that could be ruined by a single whim. You have to let the other party make a careful decision too. She's a woman who keeps ledgers. Her head works well when it comes to calculations."
I said this while tapping my temple with my finger. Absentmindedly trying to imitate me, Sannyeo lifted both hands together because of the manacles, and pouted. I lowered my hand and continued.
"If she weighs me against a Sect Leader who doesn't even treat her properly, the choice is obvious."
Blinking her eyes, Sannyeo asked,
"How can she trust you?"
I shook my head and smiled. Seeing me smile, Sannyeo shrugged. She too, it seemed, had only been throwing the question out there.
"What's she gonna do if she can't trust me? She's the only one who understands the flow of the Crimson Ring Sect's funds, and she'd also understand that if I just wanted money, there'd be no reason for me to put on this whole act with her while all the disciples are off at drinking parties. What choice does she have besides trusting me? If she tells the lunatic who cut his own daughter's leg tendons because he was scared she'd leave even when she'd done nothing wrong that some suspicious man came to see her, he might just slice off her legs entirely this time. That woman has no choice. Does she keep living like this, or trust me and go? That's all there is to it."
Sannyeo was smiling quietly. I didn't like that expression—it seemed like she was listening earnestly to my story but also as if she were humoring a nephew's playground boasts. I stopped talking and stared at her.
"What? That look?"
"It's the look of someone contemplating the Heavenly Mandate."
Sannyeo spread her manacled hands wide, shaping them into a flower cup. Dumbfounded, I let out an incredulous laugh and nudged the reclining woman with my foot.
"Move over. I'm sleeping too."
She shifted her hips back and propped herself up. Then, with narrowed, sleepy eyes, she said teasingly,
"Oh my, you intend to sleep in the same bed as a woman?"
Of course, I wasn't so green as to fall for such obvious teasing. Ignoring her sidelong glance, I pulled the blanket toward me and said,
"Then you sleep on the floor."
For a moment Sannyeo seemed to hold the blanket down with her weight, but when I pulled harder, she immediately relaxed and let it slip away easily.
"How heartless of you."
I wrapped myself in the blanket and said,
"Let's sleep quickly. We have to go again tomorrow night."
"Yeah, yeah."
It seemed Sannyeo had no intention of continuing this joke either. When I didn't play along, she adjusted the remaining pillow and lay down beside me. With her soft breathing as a lullaby, I closed my eyes.
******
The woman's name was Seon-go.
The Sect Leader had named Seon-go after He Xiangu, one of the Eight Immortals. He had hoped she would bring miracles to the world and become a wise person, like her namesake.
"Haah...."
But the old days when they had wished for each other's well-being and a bright future had, at some point, become as absurd and far-fetched as the immortal beings in the legends. The father who had been confident she would become a good person had turned into the leader of the Crimson Ring Sect—a vicious man who indulged in every kind of evil.
After his wife left, he developed a sickness of suspecting his own family. He cut Seon-go's leg tendons so she couldn't walk, and he belittled the talent he had once praised in her childhood, habitually insulting her as incompetent.
Time and again, she had to endure his verbal abuse and obsessive control without being able to move a muscle.
What soothed her heart in those times was a simple young man named Jayoung who worked in the sect.
Jayoung had grown up in this rural village and had worked here ever since the Crimson Ring Sect was first established. A clumsy boy when he first entered the sect, Jayoung had over the years become a worker who pulled his own weight, and his sturdy forearms and simple personality captivated the hearts of the maidservants.
Seon-go was always concerned about Jayoung. She couldn't show it openly because of her crazed father, but Jayoung, who always smiled warmly at her, made Seon-go unable to help but care.
But Seon-go had never considered a romance or marriage between Jayoung and herself. As long as her father was alive, that was impossible. If her father caught her getting close to Jayoung, Jayoung would likely be beaten to death, and her current life, which at least had some breathing room, would become even more hellish.
"Miss, do you have... some worry?"
When Seon-go sighed, Jayoung, who was in the middle of carrying luggage, asked cautiously. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his clothes were dirty. Seon-go glanced around once, then looked at Jayoung and said,
"No. I'm fine."
"If something's going on, please tell me. I'll help you with all my strength."
Jayoung said this, thumping his chest. In the past, she would have admired that show of confidence. She would have fallen for it. Jayoung was like a shade tree on a high plain—you could lean against it for a moment to steady yourself, but you couldn't settle there.
Faced with the wall of reality, Seon-go could neither reveal her affection for him nor ask for his help. She knew Jayoung could do nothing. She knew that a country man who had never learned martial arts, never studied letters, and never set foot outside this village could never support her when she couldn't walk.
She knew that even escaping this village was impossible.
"It's nothing. I was just, briefly lost in thought."
"Miss, you always seem to be thinking thoughts I can't comprehend. It's amazing and impressive. Since I'm illiterate, just looking at the books you write makes my head spin."
Jayoung said that while scratching his head. It wasn't just Jayoung who was like this. Any poor rural person who found it difficult to even visit a government office would live like Jayoung, and then die as a farmer or laborer.
In Seon-go's mind, Jayoung's image overlapped with the unknown man who had appeared the night before.
[I need this sect's buildings and influence. And you, you understand the flow of money from keeping this sect's ledgers, and you know what kind of dealings have been done so far. And no matter how the Sect Leader regards you, you are this sect's legitimate and sole heir.]
He had spoken of the future with a resolute voice, boasting he could make her lot much better than it was now. His arms with their prominent muscles looked strong; his relaxed demeanor and the qi emanating from him suggested he was a man of some education.
But he was also a suspicious man whose identity she could not know.
"Ah, well, I have to work so I'll be going."
While Seon-go was agonizing, Jayoung turned to go back to work. Without realizing it, Seon-go called out to him.
"Hey, Jayoung."
"Yes, yes! Miss!"
Jayoung's eyes sparkled at the fact that Seon-go had called him. The sight of him reminded her of a puppy called by its name.
And then a thought came to her.
Maybe.
But still, maybe even without accepting that suspicious proposal, couldn't she live another way with Jayoung? If she just endured a little longer, might another choice appear? Even if life was hard now, if she simply leaned on Jayoung a little and they lived together, couldn't they head in a new direction?
Just as she was about to say something to Jayoung, a shadow flashed before her eyes.
For a moment she wondered if it was a phantom, but then the shadow took human form and became a giant of a man in a martial uniform.
The man in the uniform barged between the two, kicked Jayoung in the side, and shouted.
"What are you doing, you bastard! Didn't you hear me tell you to go work?"
"Agh!"
Never having learned martial arts, Jayoung was sent flying helplessly by a simple kick. At the sight of him rolling on the ground, Seon-go could only blink, unable to even scream. The man, who stood a head taller than Jayoung, looked down at him and said,
"This bastard, I thought he worked well but he's just slacking off... You work here a few years and you think you're the owner or something? Huh?"
"N-no..."
The man nudged Jayoung's head with his foot—tok, tok—and Seon-go, unable to bear it, shouted.
"Stop it! That's enough!"
The man shoved Jayoung, who was coughing and spluttering, with his foot one more time.
"Kkh...!"
After Jayoung scrambled up into a half-crouch, the man watched him turn away, his face flushed red to the ears. Without even sparing a glance at Seon-go, the man said,
"Miss. Can't you see I'm disciplining a slave? It's not your place to interfere."
Seon-go fell silent. Jayoung straightened up, still half-crouched and clutching his side, and the man gestured to him.
"Hey, get lost."
Jayoung bowed his head deeply to the man. The man shook his head, as if accepting the tribute due him, and only then did Jayoung hurry away.
Watching Jayoung limp into the distance, the man spoke. His attitude felt less like addressing the Sect Leader's daughter and more like dealing with a troublesome encumbrance.
"Miss. Don't act like some loose bitch. Wouldn't it be nice if you just quietly kept the ledgers? Eh?"
Seon-go did not curse or get agitated at the insulting remark.
Her heart instead turned cold.
The words of the man she'd met the night before echoed in her cold, still heart.
[I understand you can't trust me, but are you really going to keep living like this?]
She could not live like this.
Having hope, even for a brief moment, had been foolish.
This place.
Was hell.