TBML 69

Hyunhak, who had swallowed the rice ball he had been eating reluctantly without tasting a single bit, became quite busy the moment he received permission. Contrary to what he always told Yiyeon (that the destination wasn’t far and the path wasn’t rough) he equipped him as if they were setting out on a journey to the ends of the earth.

He made him wear two layers of padded jackets, and as if that weren’t enough, he had him put on a fur-lined vest – which he must have procured at some point – and even a sable-fur scarf. Even when climbing mountains during the bitter cold of winter, when people were known to freeze to death, he had never been dressed in such luxurious attire. Could there be such extravagance?

Yiyeon, who had always gotten through the winter with just a single set of cotton clothes, was now wrapped in sable fur softer than his own skin. While he was grateful for Hyunhak’s thoughtfulness, he couldn’t help thinking, “If you have things like this, you’d be better off selling them so you can at least eat properly.” He was a miser to the core.

“It is not that cold, My Lord. Besides, didn’t you say it’s just a stone’s throw away?”

“You’ll catch a cold.”

“Not even the young lady of a high-ranking official’s household would be dressed this heavily.”

They say too much of anything is bad, and indeed, buried under the thick layers, Yiyeon could neither bend his arms nor bend at the waist; he became as stiff as a straw doll. As his body grew sluggish and moving became increasingly uncomfortable, Yiyeon realized that if he left things as they were, rolling would be faster than walking, so he tried to stop Hyunhak. Just as Yiyeon said, even the youngest young master of the magistrate’s household, who was cherished and pampered, wouldn’t be bundled up this much.

He wondered when exactly his belongings had multiplied so much; even after Yiyeon protested once, Hyunhak stubbornly handed him everything from his undergarments to his socks. Strictly speaking, he was going to fetch water – and while he was at it, do some laundry and wash his face – but it was obvious that if he went wrapped up so tightly, he’d come back without even getting a single drop of water on his hands. While Hyunhak’s concern and thoughtfulness were appreciated, the feisty Yiyeon found this unfamiliar overprotection suffocating.

Just as Hyunhak feared, his body hadn’t fully recovered yet, and it was true that he would inevitably cough whenever the cold wind touched him. So he accepted the vest and the scarf without complaint, but anything beyond that was excessive. Without letting his feelings show on his face, Yiyeon gently held back Hyunhak’s hand as he offered him the undergarments.

“I should at least be able to walk, right?”

“I’ll just carry you on my back. Like before.”

“Huh?”

At Hyunhak’s absurd suggestion, Yiyeon let out a bewildered gasp. They’d done it before, but that had been out of necessity; now he could walk just fine on his own two feet. Yiyeon felt like he wanted to wash the sound of Hyunhak’s bizarre suggestion right out of his ears.

When Yiyeon put on a serious face, Hyunhak’s spirits plummeted. If he’d had pointy animal ears on his head, their tips would surely be drooping right now.

“……but.”

“I’m warm enough, and I can walk on my own just fine, My Lord.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Unlike before, when Hyunhak would do or say anything and Yiyeon would only respond with “I’m sorry,” “My apologies,” or “Thank you,” he now spoke his mind readily. If his body had been in good health, Yiyeon would have handled the matter himself without bothering to argue with Hyunhak.

Unable to do so, he could only watch Hyunhak in silence. A situation that was far from the spirit of the tenacious young man who had once shouldered all the debt alone and even nursed his bedridden parents. Eventually, what started as adding a word or two here and there had, before he knew it, turned into his speaking his mind so freely.

“I’m sorry, but since I only have one hand, I’ll take one of these.”

With his build and piercing eyes, it was useless for him to try to look pitiful. It simply didn’t suit him. Hyunhak was a handsome man, but his features and gaze were intense, so that dejected look didn’t fit him. Yiyeon spoke firmly as he filled an empty bucket with laundry and urged Hyunhak on. They’d have to go while the sun was at its peak to make it at least a little less cold.

“Now, be careful.”

When Hyunhak reached out his hand through the trees, Yiyeon took it without a word. On the way, there was another minor tussle over “How dare I…,” but Yiyeon couldn’t bring himself to refuse Hyunhak’s help a second time. As Hyunhak had said, it was a short distance, but the path was so rugged that it wasn’t the kind of route one would take for a leisurely stroll.

Now, before Yiyeon’s eyes, lay a dense forest untouched by human footsteps. Although he had roamed these mountains as if they were his own home, it was only today that he realized such a place existed.

The landscape that unfolded before him felt as though he had left the world he knew and entered another one, isolated from the human realm. Every tree in sight was so thick that even Yiyeon’s two arms couldn’t encircle it.

As the sun rose higher, the snow piled on the branches melted and trickled down like rain. Yiyeon looked up at the sky, but the sky was hidden by the dense canopy of trees.

Holding Hyunhak’s hand, Yiyeon made his way through the trees, their trunks slippery with wet moss. Feeling embarrassed by his claim that he could walk on his own, Yiyeon had to rely on Hyunhak’s support as the dizziness kept overwhelming him. The bucket he had been holding had been handed over to Hyunhak long ago. He had thought the dizziness was due to his weakened state from going without food for so long, but it seemed more likely to be caused by the injury to the back of his head.

“We’re almost there.”

Just as Hyunhak had said, the sound of water began to reach his ears. He had expected nothing more than a gentle trickle, but the sound of rushing water was much louder than he’d imagined.

“It feels like I’ve stepped into another world.”

The mountains Hyunhak showed him always revealed a different side than the ones he had seen before. He emerged from the dense forest and stood side by side with Hyunhak. Yiyeon was speechless at the sight of a small but roaring waterfall and the turquoise water, free of even a single patch of ice, even in the middle of winter.

Yiyeon, who had lived a life where he failed to recognize beauty even when he saw it, gazed at the breathtaking scenery for a long while, intoxicated by the grandeur of nature, while Hyunhak watched him as he was lost in its beauty.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes. I had absolutely no idea a place like this existed. It’s amazing, My Lord.”

In response to Hyunhak’s question, Yiyeon replied in [visit our site]a daze, just as he had when he was carried on Hyunhak’s back and remarked that the village looked so small.

With the waterfall and valley at the center, the surrounding area was densely forested. The boulders were all as white as ice sculptures, and the water’s color was so icy and cold it seemed to freeze the eyes of anyone who looked at it. Yet, even in the depths of winter, it was a mystery that the stream flowed without a single patch of black ice.

“The water hasn’t frozen.”

“It doesn’t freeze here. The water’s warmer than elsewhere.”

At Hyunhak’s reply, Yiyeon suddenly dipped his hand into the shallow water. It wasn’t exactly warm – valley water was the kind that sent a chill down your spine even in midsummer – but by Hyunhak’s standards, it was indeed warm for midwinter valley water.

The water temperature was just a little higher than elsewhere, and it seemed the ice didn’t form because the intensity of the waterfall was too powerful. Right below the waterfall, there was a deep pool where even Hyunhak could easily submerge himself; the water’s color was like jade, making it feel as though he were looking into a transparent jade bead.

Yiyeon gazed at his reflection on the water’s surface. He could not see it, but even the mirrors from the distant foreign lands would not reflect the world better than this.

Yiyeon noticed that the bruises and wounds on his face were fading, and he was regaining his original appearance; then, his eyes met Hyunhak’s, who had been watching him from beyond the reflection. The experience of making eye contact not with the person directly, but with the reflection on the water’s surface, was peculiar.

Yiyeon, who had been staring at him, suddenly snapped back to reality as the water surface began to ripple. He wondered what he had been doing; he wasn’t stealing a glance at the nobleman’s face, but staring at him openly.

Feeling his face burning, Yiyeon jumped to his feet and knocked [visit our site]over the bucket Hyunhak had set down. The clothes and laundry mallet inside fell out, sending water splashing in all directions.

“I need to do the laundry first!!”

Feeling embarrassed, Yiyeon spoke a little faster and louder than usual. Although it was a bit of a hassle, beating the laundry with one hand was no problem. With his cheeks flushed, Yiyeon deliberately turned away from Hyunhak and beat the innocent laundry with all his might.

Thump, thump– as Yiyeon beat the laundry vigorously, Hyunhak poured water from the side and turned the clothes this way and that. They worked together well, but Yiyeon felt uncomfortable having the nobleman, with his big frame, crouching right next to him and constantly getting involved in the menial work.

“My Lord, please rest over there.”

“Yeon-ah, let’s rest together.”

“You’re the one who needs to rest, not me, My Lord.”

As Yiyeon’s gaze kept drifting toward Hyunhak, he pointed to a sunny spot far away. Hyunhak, however, didn’t even look in the direction he was pointing and acted like a spoiled child whining to play. Yiyeon wondered why he was acting this way today.

While the excessive kindness shown by Hyunhak was partly because he was an unblemished, purely good person, Yiyeon thought it was because he, too, was longing for human connection. Meeting another person in these deep mountains where only his own voice echoed must have been so welcome, which was why he was helping in this way.

While he was grateful for his help, Yiyeon felt that this was not a good thing for Hyunhak. Precisely because he was [unauthorized copy]sincerely grateful to him, Yiyeon felt all the more compelled to find his place and prevent himself from intruding on Hyunhak’s life in any way, however minor, that might disrupt it. He feared it would be heartbreaking if his presence caused even the slightest disruption in Hyunhak’s life and had a negative impact on him.

“Instead of doing this, you should be reading your books. Other scholars spend their days wrestling with books in their rooms… Now that I can handle these matters on my own, please devote your time to your studies, My Lord.”

“…….”

“I’ve seen the medical books in your room. Is that why you’re living alone here in Byeoksan?”

Even though these remarks were already presumptuous, Yiyeon felt he had to say them in order to find his proper place. Since he had declared himself a servant, he had to do the work of a servant, and his master should be sitting in a warm room by the heated floor, solemnly reading books and lost in thought.

In Yiyeon’s view, instead of rubbing shoulders, getting involved in work fit only for commoners, and snickering with him, his master should be using that time to read at least one more line of text. Wasn’t that the very reason he was cultivating himself in this remote, desolate mountainous region in the first place?

“Medical books?”

“You haven’t even been able to sit in your room all this time because of me.”

Yiyeon spoke cautiously, filled with guilt, but Hyunhak focused on a completely different point. Hyunhak’s mind drifted to the stacks of books piled high in the room that Zao cherished so dearly. Zao knew how to read, but Hyunhak didn’t know a single character, so he couldn’t read them even if he wanted to.

He knew nothing about it, but when Yiyeon suddenly proved he could read, Hyunhak’s [unauthorized copy]heart sank. He feared his true identity might be exposed.

“Do you know how to read?”

He tried not to answer, suspecting another attempt to sidestep the issue and change the subject, but when Hyunhak looked startled, Yiyeon reluctantly admitted that he did.

Yiyeon knew the books in the room were medical books, but Hyunhak, who was pretending to be the homeowner, had no idea.