Threads Of Ill Fate (5)

“Lady Im.”

“Ah, you are here.”

Stopping Im Yeo-wol from getting up awkwardly, Seol So-ha sat on the opposite bed.

“Did you rest well?”

“Ah, yes.”

Im Yeo-wol found it hard to face Seol So-ha. In truth, she found it hard to face anyone.

It was not some defense mechanism for her weakened self. She had not even grown that weak. The cell she was held in was clean, she had not been tortured, and she had eaten twice a day, not plentiful but not scant.

Im Yeo-wol did not know how to deal with people or with the world.

She had always had a master. In childhood, wicked parents. In the courtesan house, an older courtesan senior. In the flower house, the keeper. In the Finance Hall, Gwan Hong.

Her thoughts were free, but her actions were always bound. After a life like that, she came under Jin-hyeon as a debtor, yet this creditor differed from the masters before. To begin with, he did not order her around.

Once her hands and feet found freedom, now her head stiffened. So Im Yeo-wol’s confusion only deepened with time.

After quietly studying her face, Seol So-ha spoke.

“Are you not hungry?”

“I am fine.”

“If you are not hungry, shall we have a drink?”

Considering Seol So-ha’s usual personality, it was an out-of-character suggestion.

Im Yeo-wol was flustered again, but luckily she found a way to decline politely.

“I heard you have a match tomorrow. Drinking the day before a match is…”

“Ah, the match?”

“…”

“If you dislike it, I will not press further.”

Unfortunately, Seol So-ha was not good with words either.

Im Yeo-wol thought Seol So-ha was angry at her. The other’s voice was too cold to say otherwise, and her tone was stiff.

It was a mishap that often occurs when a blunt person tries to care for someone who lacks social sense. Contrary to appearances, Seol So-ha did not know what to do, while Im Yeo-wol puzzled over how to soothe the other’s supposed anger.

In the end the two arrived at different answers.

“Then the drink…”

“Shall we go out first?”

The words came out at once and blended neatly into “Let’s drink outside!”

Looking blankly at Im Yeo-wol, Seol So-ha lowered her head, for she felt a laugh might slip out.

In contrast, Im Yeo-wol’s expression was still awkward. She had the richer expression, yet Seol So-ha felt a bit more human.

Seol So-ha rose, mustering courage.

“Let us go out and have a drink. It should ease the lonesome mood a bit.”

It’s not lonesome though.

Pressing the words she could not say deep into her chest, Im Yeo-wol stood.

Having come out of the room, the two looked toward the men’s quarters.

“With Teacher and Han…”

Seol So-ha closed her mouth. Come to think of it, she had yet to decide how to address Han Cheol-sang.

“Shall we ask Hero Han?”

“Ah, Hero Han. Yes, good. While we are at it, we can ask Teacher too.”

When the two women knocked on the men’s door, it opened and Han Cheol-sang appeared.

“For what matter…?”

“We were thinking of a drink. If you have not eaten, would you join us?”

“Ah.”

About to decline, Han Cheol-sang looked at Im Yeo-wol.

Unlike Seol So-ha’s cool face, hers steeped in awkwardness was confusion itself.

If the two drank alone, that table would surely be stained with the worst silence ever. Sighing inwardly, Han Cheol-sang decided to make use of his brief experience running a dumpling shop.

“Let us do so.”

“Is Teacher asleep? I do not sense him.”

“He went out saying he had some business.”

“I see.”

Seol So-ha looked to Im Yeo-wol and spoke.

“Then we can drink among ourselves. Right?”

Im Yeo-wol’s face looked oddly uneasy.

Puzzled, Seol So-ha tilted her head.

“Is there a problem?”

“To drink without permission…”

Seeing her trail off, Seol So-ha was inwardly taken aback. Thanks to it, she could muster quite some courage.

Seol So-ha tugged Im Yeo-wol by the arm.

“Teacher is considerate. You do not have to watch his mood just to have a drink.”

“B, but.”

Im Yeo-wol still hesitated.

Han Cheol-sang closed the door.

“Let us go.”

A little later, the three climbed to the third floor of a tavern.

There were far too many people. Most seemed set on drawing the night’s drinking at least to midnight.

An awkward look colored Han Cheol-sang’s face.

“The other floors are likely the same.”

“Indeed.”

Having proposed the drinking, Seol So-ha felt a growing urgency, though she did not show it.

“We could look at another tavern, but better to drink near our lodgings, yes?”

“Ah, yes. True. But seats…”

“We can ask that person to share the table.”

Where Han Cheol-sang pointed sat a man in a bamboo hat.

He had ordered a drink but did not seem to be drinking. The seats were so tight you could not sit without ordering.

It was rather to the side, but wide enough for four to sit.

Han Cheol-sang glanced at the two women.

Im Yeo-wol had become like a sack left in the corner, while a light of resolve rose on Seol So-ha’s cool face. She meant to go and speak herself.

Sighing inwardly, Han Cheol-sang spoke.

“I will ask. Please wait here.”

“Huh? Ah, I will ask.”

“No.”

She was such a beauty that most men would agree to share a table.

The problem was that a timid man might lose years off his life to her icy gaze despite her beauty. And a man in a corner seat, eating noodles with his bamboo hat still on, was likelier timid than bold.

Han Cheol-sang approached the man and asked,

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

His voice was clear and pure. His fluster showed as it was. He was not very old.

Han Cheol-sang’s eyes flashed.

Unlike his gaze, his voice was courteous.

“There are no seats. If it is all right with you, may we share the table?”

“Ah.”

Flustered for a moment, the man bowed his head low.

“Please do.”

“Thank you.”

At his beckon, the two women came over.

“I am called Jeong Gyo, and this is Lady Im Yeo-wol. And this is…”

“I am Seol So-ha. Thank you for allowing us to join.”

Bowing, Seol So-ha showed the poise of a noble family’s daughter.

The man bowed silently.

He did not give his name, but such people were common in the Kangho. The three sat opposite him and ordered food and drink.

“There are truly many people. It feels festive.”

“Indeed.”

“Do you drink well?”

“I take a drink now and then. I do not drink often.”

While they spoke of ordinary things, Han Cheol-sang glanced at the man.

The man in the bamboo hat was still eating noodles, but his chopstick work was clumsy. He seemed tense.

‘New to the Kangho?’

It was the air of a typical novice to the rivers and lakes.

But Han Cheol-sang could not dismiss him. He rarely dismissed anyone, yet the man’s internal energy was too great to ignore and drink at ease.

‘Tremendous. By internal energy alone, nearly comparable to Master. But…’

As he tilted his head inwardly, the man in the bamboo hat looked up at him.

Their eyes met in the air.

Han Cheol-sang smiled. The man flinched and went back to chewing noodles.

Soon, drink and food came.

“I will pour you a cup.”

“Thank you.”

Seol So-ha filled Han Cheol-sang’s cup first, then Im Yeo-wol’s.

After Han Cheol-sang filled Seol So-ha’s cup as well, the three drank.

“This is good.”

“Han… no, Hero Jeong, do you enjoy drinking?”

“I am no heavy drinker, but I do like it. I do not drink often.”

“I see.”

“And Hero is excessive. Just call me cook.”

“Ah, yes.”

Im Yeo-wol drank only enough to wet her lips. She seemed unable to shake her unease.

Seol So-ha felt needlessly sorry. It felt like she had pressed someone who wanted to rest.

Then Han Cheol-sang stepped in.

“Lady Im, can you not drink?”

“Huh? Ah, that is not it.”

“Then let us finish our cups. In Kangho, the first round is downed by custom, is it not?”

Seol So-ha cleared her throat.

“Was there such a custom?”

“A base custom with no use. Yet it has the merit of dulling at once the nerves of one dying of awkwardness.”

At his witty words, the corners of Seol So-ha’s lips lifted slightly.

Flustered, Im Yeo-wol turned her head and drained her cup. Unlike her temperament, the motion was bold.

Smiling as he refilled, Han Cheol-sang asked the man,

“Will you have a cup?”

“Eh? Ah…”

Chewing fast and swallowing the noodles, the man bowed.

“I am sorry, but I do not know how to drink.”

“I see. My apologies.”

“Not at all. Thank you for the consideration.”

He seemed at least bright in manners.

“By chance, are you also entering this Radiant Sword Festival?”

“…Yes.”

Seol So-ha’s eyes shone. Im Yeo-wol also looked at the man.

The man’s face turned awkward. His eyes were hidden under the bamboo hat, yet even below the eyes his nature seemed readable.

Han Cheol-sang said with a smile,

“Your posture is very proper. You will surely achieve a fine result.”

The man looked at him in surprise.

Of course, such words are usually taken as mere well-wishing, but it seemed not so to him.

“You could see th…”

Just then.

“Having fun holding a drinking party without me?”

Jin-hyeon approached, white hair fluttering.

The noisy drinkers glanced at him. Someone, drunk, tried to speak to him, but gave up at once at the greatsword on his back.

“You are here.”

“Teacher.”

Jin-hyeon smiled faintly.

“This is nice to see. Right, people grow closer over a cup. By the way…”

He looked down at the man in the bamboo hat.

At once the man stood.

“I, I will be going now.”

Han Cheol-sang’s eyes widened.

“Why not stay and eat more…”

“No. I have eaten well enough. Then excuse me.”

As the man moved past Jin-hyeon, as if avoiding him,

Jin-hyeon took his sleeve. The man was startled.

“W-why?”

“You left your bundle.”

“Eh? Ah!”

Picking up the bundle left by the chair, the man bowed his head and hurried off.

Jin-hyeon scratched his head.

“What is this? I suddenly feel sky-high guilt. It is like he fled because of me.”

“If you put it that way, we were rude at first. We asked to join, and it seems he was very uneasy.”

“If he allowed it while enduring discomfort, we need not mind him. He is gone anyway. Do not feel sorry, be grateful the space got wider.”

“You are shameless.”

“A little shamelessness makes life easier. Right, Yeo-wol?”

Im Yeo-wol started.

“Y-yes?”

“Does the drink taste good?”

“Ah.”

Im Yeo-wol lowered her head.

“I am sorry. Without permission…”

Jin-hyeon spoke with a baffled face.

“Why do you need my permission to drink? Do you plan to ask leave even to go to relieve yourself?”

“?!”

“Do not make me out to be a weirdo. Try enjoying life. I am far from collecting your debt.”

Im Yeo-wol was flustered, and Han Cheol-sang snorted a laugh.

Seol So-ha asked,

“Where did you go?”

“A place that stirred the urge to clean.”

“Pardon?”

Seol So-ha tilted her head, but Han Cheol-sang’s eyes glinted meaningfully.

Jin-hyeon poured liquor into the unused cup of the bamboo-hat man.

“Now then, a toast to the many souls soon to be pitied under Lady Seol’s violence?”

One laughed, one felt abashed, one awkward, and they clinked cups with Jin-hyeon.

The three drank past midnight, and Im Yeo-wol, who took every round given, toppled over.

The next day at noon.

Breathing deep below the arena, Seol So-ha’s face was still cool.

Jjak!

“Huk!”

Startled, Seol So-ha looked back.

“You are not going to embarrass yourself and drop in the preliminaries, right?”

It was Jin-hyeon who smacked her back hard. Seol So-ha grumbled lightly.

“That hurts.”

“But it wakes you up, does it not.”

Jin-hyeon pointed at the arena.

“The judge is out. Show them what you have achieved.”

“Yes!”

Seol So-ha stepped onto the arena.