GMLS Ch 28

Wi Junghyuk, whom I saw for the first time in ten days, seemed to have changed somehow. But I couldn’t tell exactly what had changed.

I returned to the gallery, held in his sturdy arms. Monghyul, who must have been standing guard in front of the door this whole time, spotted us. Soon after, his jaw dropped.

His reaction seems a bit excessive. As if thinking the same thing, Wi Junghyuk’s brow furrowed. Monghyul glared sharply at that Wi Junghyuk.

‘Are you insane.’

‘Why is this water strider picking a fight again.’

‘Because you’re doing something crazy, you crazy bastard!’

The silent exchange was plain to see. Just as I was watching with interest, Wi Junghyuk’s eyebrow twitched. In that moment, I snapped to my senses. Muryun wasn’t here. Which meant there was no one to stop the two of them if they drew their swords. I urgently called out to Monghyul.

“Monghyul.”

“Yes, Captain of the Guard.”

“I must have been exposed to the cold wind in my weakened state, I feel quite drained. Would it be alright if I went in now?”

“Of course. My apologies for the discourtesy.”

Fortunately, his attitude towards me changed immediately. He opened the door and stood with a bow. Wi Junghyuk glared at the top of Monghyul’s head before sweeping into the room, the hem of his clothes fluttering.

Click. The door closed behind me. Yeongchun was nowhere to be seen. It was a silver lining.

Wi Junghyuk placed me down on the bed. For a patient, his movements were quite careful. He even propped up a pillow for me, took off my shoes, and pulled the blanket up to cover my neck.

Being attended to by the Captain of the Imperial Guard. Just as I was thinking that being a patient wasn’t so bad, Wi Junghyuk, having finished his tasks, pulled a chair over and sat beside the bed.

Wasn’t he leaving? Why is he settling in? As I stared at him with wide-awake eyes, he tapped his knee with his fingers, then rubbed his perfectly fine neck with his hand. No matter how I looked at it, it was the posture of someone who had something to say.

“Is there something you wish to say.”

Wi Junghyuk asked as if he had been waiting.

“Are you speaking down to Monghyul?”

You’re only realizing that now? …Saying that would probably sound like I’m picking a fight.

“His Highness commanded me to do so. He said that I am the Captain of the Guard, a junior 5th-rank official guarding him, an imperial prince, while Monghyul is a shadow without rank or status.”

“I see. I understand.”

A chill ran down my spine.

“Why the sudden use of honorifics.”

“I just heard and realized. In terms of hierarchy, this is correct. I have resigned from my position as Captain of the Imperial Guard, so I am now just a martial artist. Come to think of it, I kept saying I had resigned, but I continued to act as if I were still the Captain of the Imperial Guard.”

“That…”

“I denied being your subordinate, yet I treated the Captain of the Guard as if he were mine. To have only realized that now. It is all due to my own shortcomings.”

“……”

There’s a limit to being upright. At this point, it wasn’t uprightness, but stubbornness like a brick wall.

“Please just speak down to me like before. I am more comfortable with that.”

“No. Hierarchy is a principle. It cannot be changed arbitrarily for convenience. Until I am reappointed to the position of Captain of the Imperial Guard, I will continue to use honorifics. You, Captain of the Guard, should also speak down to me.”

“No—”

“Also, considering your duties, it would be best for you to refrain from making rash remarks. The Captain of the Guard is one who protects his master at the closest distance. Being mindful of not only one’s words and actions but also one’s attire is part of the duty.”

It was completely ineffective. I even got a lecture.

Yeongchun was better than this. Honorifics from the Wi Junghyuk. And on top of that, he was telling me to speak down to him. I felt like I was about to faint. But I couldn’t refuse either. If I did, it felt like he would spend the whole night here giving me an education disguised as advice.

Throughout all ages and places, there’s only one thing to say in a situation like this.

“I must have been exposed to the wind, I suddenly feel quite drained. I wish to rest now, so if you could please lea… lea… leave.”

My tongue got twisted twice in the middle. Still, the result was good, so it was fine. Wi Junghyuk spoke as if admitting his mistake.

“I have been inconsiderate and stayed too long. Please rest.”

Then he immediately stood up and headed for the door with disciplined steps. I watched Wi Junghyuk’s back and finally felt a sense of relief. And a beat later, I remembered. That Monghyul was still in front of the door.

“Yo-Your Highness!”

Wi Junghyuk did not look back. The words ‘I am not Your Highness’ seemed to shimmer on his back.

“Wi Junghyuk!”

Finally stopping his steps, he turned to look at me from the doorway.

“Do not fight with Monghyul. No fist fighting. And absolutely no drawing swords.”

“……What on earth does the Captain of the Guard think of me… No, never mind. I will do as you command.”

Pressing down on the vein popping on his forehead, Wi Junghyuk left the room.

I hadn’t realized because I was so tense, but my body really was starting to feel shivery. As my energy drained away, my vision blurred. I quickly fell asleep.

I woke up a full day later. The sun was at its zenith, and no one was beside me. Besides the black robe I had been wearing now draped over a chair again, not much had changed.

I put on the black robe and went outside. This time, it wasn’t Monghyul but one of the Ammukdan members standing guard. He gave a silent nod and then looked forward again. Was it because I’d spent a few days with Yeongchun? This was the normal reaction, yet it felt utterly unfamiliar.

“Where is the Shangshuling.”

“He is in front of The Sky Monument.”

He was in front of it yesterday, and today too? Surely he didn’t stay there all night. What on earth is he doing that he’s become a fixture there. Puzzled, I crossed the gallery.

The imperial guards protecting the gallery paid their respects to me. I reflexively bowed my head back. It felt strange. Before, if I happened to pass by, they would ignore me as if a non-existent person were passing by, not even like they were looking at a cow or a chicken.

Of course, it wasn’t just towards me. They were usually compared to stone statues for their extremely limited movement and rarely reacted to anything.

‘Is it because we now serve the same master.’

I smiled warmly, then froze.

A hot sensation surged from within me up my throat. My expression hardened frighteningly. As soon as the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth, I turned right back the way I came. In that moment, my mind was filled with only one thought: I must not be caught coughing up blood.

“Ugh… Ugh!”

The moment I closed the door, I spewed a basinful of red blood onto my hands and clothes. My back was damp with a cold sweat. I looked down with a dazed expression. My hands were trembling like an aspen leaf.

“Gasp, gasp…”

I caught my breath and scanned the room. I saw my luggage, which had been practically shoved into a corner. It was the very same luggage I had brought when I set out.

I untied the knot and poured out what was wrapped inside. A water bottle and a few pieces of beef jerky. Tools and medicinal herbs for first aid. Among them, I saw an out-of-place, pure white hairpin.

With a feeling closer to conviction than premonition, I clenched the hairpin tightly. But even though I gripped it with blood-stained hands, there was no reaction.

I unwrapped the bandage as if tearing it off. Finding a bronze mirror, I placed it on the table and sat backwards on the chair. I tilted my head back as if to break my neck and poked the still-healing wound with the hairpin. A sharp, chilling pain shot through me. Biting my lip to endure it, I immediately checked the hairpin.

From the tip of the hairpin, a jet-black color was rising as if being dyed. I couldn’t take my eyes off the discolored part. In that spot, stained as black as if with ink, the two distinct characters for ‘Death’ were formed.

Back then, what did Yeo Yullyeong say?

‘It’s a very potent, fast-acting poison.’

‘On the outside, you seem perfectly fine and can go about your daily life, but occasionally you vomit up a bowlful of blood.’

‘The problem is, there’s no antidote.’

That was a relief, at least. It meant that if I could just hide it well, I could get by without any problems until the very end. He also said that the younger and healthier you are, the longer you last. I would definitely last for a long time.

“Uh… ha…”

A clear droplet fell onto the hairpin. Perhaps because of the sunlight passing through the white papered window, the tear looked exceptionally clean and clear. So much so that, for a moment, I didn’t even realize it was a tear.

With trembling hands, I felt my cheeks. It wasn’t just tears that poured out. Suppressed emotions overflowed. Sobbing escaped through my clenched teeth.

It was strange. When I was struck by the arrow and collapsed, I wasn’t scared at all, but now I was so terrified it felt like my heart would stop at any moment. The trembling that started in my hands spread throughout my entire body.

My lips moved to call for Muryun. But all that came out was a child-like whimper. Hearing the sound, the Ammukdan member opened the door and rushed in. He came to me and asked what was wrong, but I just shook my head.

“Sob. Sob.”

I couldn’t understand why. And the reason didn’t matter anyway.

“Hic, sob.”

Clutching the hairpin with its discolored tip, I lay prostrate on the floor and cried for a long time.

⊹ ࣪ 💮⊹₊

Saying you’re not afraid of death is a lie. If such a person truly exists, they must be someone whose heart has drifted far away like Heukwol’s, or someone with something broken in their chest.

I was an ordinary person who had feared death since birth. That fear grew bigger and more solid after the mother-of-pearl box incident. I don’t know about pain. Maybe it’s because I’ve never experienced real pain before. In any case, dying was still more frightening than being in pain.

Then today, I learned of the existence of something more frightening than death.

“You were here again.”

“It seems you knew I was still here.”

“I knew. Because I heard. So what on earth are you doing here.”

Yeo Yullyeong reached out his hand and touched the smooth surface of the stone monument.

“This is The Sky Monument.”

Its size was similar to the territorial markers erected at the borders of a state (州). However, its material was not ordinary stone but blue jadeite. That was all. To be sure, a piece of blue jadeite of this size was surprising, but it didn’t exude any of the auspiciousness or divine power befitting its name.

“It’s less impressive than you thought, isn’t it?”

“To be honest, yes, it is.”

“That’s because it’s a fake.”

“……Pardon?”