Chapter 5 再 Once Again
Part 1
Unedited
1
Heun woke up after four full days.
A light breeze dried the sweat from his forehead. The air was filled with the pungent scent of medicinal herbs and felt refreshing, perhaps that was due to the absence of dust from the labor camp. However, it might also have been because the grime that always remained on him, making him feel sticky like a worm, had been washed away.
Above all, the sense of lightness in his body was due to the reduction of pain that he had always felt.
Was this the Bardo?
Heun stared at the red veil covering the ceiling.
It was a majestic and rich color. Perhaps because he liked to build things during his lifetime, the Bardo he came to resembled a palace.
He groaned and got up. The sound woke others up. The palace women woke up in a hurry and made eye contact with Heun, and then went outside in surprise.
“… …”
Heun closed his mouth.
This wasn’t Bardo.
He was still alive. Looking at the cotton cloth that carefully covered his skin and the thick smell of medicine, it seemed that someone was trying to save him on a whim.
Even if no one told him who it was, he wasn’t confused, he was angry! No one except the Emperor would, or could, do such a thing.
Why?
Why did you, who completely forgot me, do this?
He took off the blanket and got off the bed. His swollen ankle had been relieved of its swelling.
Heun stepped barefoot on the smooth, cold stone floor. A chilling sensation like the tip of a needle pierced the sole of his foot. That small, sharp pain made him shiver and sobered his mind.
Yes, he decided to let it go. He would not hate him. Just as he never hated his brother.
Then there was a small commotion outside the door. At the same time as Heun turned his head, he made eye contact with Ja-Ryung who cut across the room in front of the palace women who bowed in a panic not knowing what to do.
Ja-Ryung looked surprised as well. His eyes looked interested as though he didn’t expect this at all.
He passed his eyes.
“For some reason, I wanted to come and see you,”
Ja-Ryung stretched his lips which he had always thought were strangely thick and colorful for a man.
Doji-gam, who had been following a few steps behind, opened his mouth hastily.
“Do,Doji……gam informs you of the Emperor’s arrival…”
Ja-Ryung forced a sigh out of his mouth, cutting off Dojigam’s words, which he was struggling to get out.
“Alright, raise your head.”
These were the words that were spoken to Heun.
”… …”
Heun raised his eyes at a speed that was neither fast nor slow. He needed the extra time difference to follow Ja-Ryung’s gaze, who was approaching as though he were falling straight toward him.
Ja-Ryung and Heun looked at each other without saying a word for a while, then Ja-Ryung spoke.
“It’s amazing.”
Heun didn’t know what was amazing.
Heun did not know that Ja-Ryung had thoroughly searched Insusa Temple and Tongjeongsa Temple (通政司)⁰, and scoured all the records from the days of Wonje¹.
For a moment Ja-Ryung was so anxious he couldn’t stand it anymore. At that moment as Ja-Ryung entered Yiyang Palace, he wasn’t aware that Heun had already opened his eyes, as though he had been waiting for him.
“Aren’t you supposed to be laying down? There is no one to ask, so I don’t know. Yes, looking at that withered face, it seems that you’re still wandering somewhere in the nether world.”
Was it unkind to ask if he was alright?
Heun answered without lowering his head.
“I believe I am breathing because of Your Majesty’s grace.”
“I didn’t hear you say thank you.”
“… …”
He was quick-witted then, and he still was now. Ja-Ryung already knew that Heun wasn’t happy about being saved at all.
“Well, I don’t intend to question that for now. Are you Gok Yeo-Heun?”
He wasn’t asking him what his name was again, but rather if he was the reincarnated madman.
Heun nodded his head obediently. It didn’t matter whether he believed it or not, so there was nothing to hide.
“That’s what my father believed, and others have said so too. I never think about it myself.”
“What do you remember?”
“Are you asking about the memory of the madman?”
“Yes. It’s asking the reason for that nasty death.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
But at this moment he had to hide the expression on his face.
Heun squeezed his unhealed fingertips tight in order not to direct his talon-like hatred toward Ja-Ryung, who had the appearance of Wonje.
“The insanity that had been lurking had grown so much that I couldn’t help myself. I became a madman and I did what a madman would do. Your Majesty should punish me with righteousness.”
“So, it didn’t really mean anything, it was just insanity?”
“If you punish me, I’ll accept it gladly.”
“Hmm.”
Ja-Ryung tilted his head, took a couple more steps, and approached Heun.
Heun was clenching his jaw out of fear that the sound of the trembling inside his body might leak out through his skin.
Ja-Ryung kneeled down on the floor as if he were following Heun, who was already lowered to the floor. It looked so natural that no one knew what the problem was until Dojigam called out shrilly asking what was happening.
“That … ! Oh my…… !”
While Doji-gam, who was incapable of doing this or that and could only stomp his feet internally, Ja-Ryung reached out and grabbed Heun’s chin as though it were an idiosyncrasy.
In fact, it was also a habit of Ja-Horyung’s. Every time Ja-Horyung forced Heun to look at him, he felt his fear grow in size.
For God’s sake!
He repeated the same words like he was chanting a spell.
I won’t hate you. I will forget you!
“I heard that Wonje’s face was span in. Doesn’t that sound like something you’ve heard somewhere?”
“… …”
Heun swallowed instead of answering. As he watched his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, Ja-Ryung continued to tease him.
“The reason was simple. Wonje ordered him to take off his clothes, but he refused. So, Wonje had someone hold his limbs and he grabbed his clothes and tore them off him. Then, ‘the Madman‘ spat in Wonje’s face.”
“… …”
The fact that all these trivial things were recorded in Tongjeongsa Temple was a foreign thing to Ja-Ryung. Of all the laws made by the imperial family, only the records from the original period were so unusual. It was also funny that Wonje was the one who ordered all of them to be recorded.
For what reason?
What were you, ‘the Madman’, to Wonje?
“But what I found more interesting was what he said next. I heard that the man who did that to Wonji said this, ‘If you make me take off my clothes again, next time, I’ll spit on you again’.”
“… …”
“Seeing what you are doing, I can’t help but believe that you are that madman. But right now as I look at you, you look fine. Of course, he must have looked fine too when he spat on Wonje. Then the conclusion must be like this……”
Ja-Ryung paused for a moment and laughed.
It was a childish laugh. It was just a little laugh without being anything else.
“You went crazy when you entered the palace. In other words, you hated Wonje enough to drive you insane.”
“… …”
“So I understood a little bit about why you hate me. In your eyes, I suppose I and Wonje are the same.”
Heun gave enough strength to his hands for them to go numb before he opened his mouth.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t hate you. Your Majesty is not Wonje, and Wonje has long been……,”
“Of course, I am not Wonje. But I can be like Wonje.”
“… …?”
His eyes must have trembled. So, in Heun’s eyes, it looked like Ja-Ryung’s body was shaking.
It looked like he was dancing. As if something fun and hard to sit still through, had happened…!
“I mean, I want to take your clothes off, too.”
“… …!”
He pulled Heun’s chin, who was about to pull away in a hurry, with enough strength that it felt as though Ja-Ryung might break it. The gesture didn’t change at all.
Ja-Ryung’s lips hovered just above Heun’s lips as he squirmed.
“I’m curious. What the hell kind of flavor is it that blinds my blood to the point where I don’t even care about it being sodomy?”
“Let go……!”
The sun pouring through the window hit the eyes of the man shaking his head.
The late morning sun, which looked like it would have melted him if he had touched it, touched his eyes and left blue traces like residual tears in them. Ja-Ryung did not miss the moment when the blue light passed by.
Ja-Ryung grabbed Heun’s hair and pulled him close to him, then, wet flesh appeared and surged between the gap in Heun’s eyelid. Heun knew it was his tongue and forgetting that this was the palace, he shoved Ja-Ryung’s shoulders.
“Let go!”
Ja-Ryung then said while holding his hair.
“I like those eyes.”
After tasting Heun’s eye with his tongue he then licked his lips.
“I want to hide them here.”
“… …”
Dojigam did not make even a groan this time. It was the same for the palace women who were bowing their heads like dolls without even making the sounds of breathing.
Heun just looked at Ja-Ryung with a bewildered expression on his face. Now his eyes resemble those of Ja-Horyung’s in a terrifying way.
Those eyes seemed to speak.
Wherever you go now, you can hate me. Let’s see how far you can go.
They seemed to say those words.
The cotton cloth that covered his ankles fell off as his body shook. The swelling that had gone down came into one side of his vision, and a wound tangled with medicinal herbs came into view on the other.
He was afraid that his body was healing. His fingertips, which he had been squeezed in order to hide his fear, now had broken nails and were bleeding.
Ja-Ryung’s eyes followed Heun’s visage towards his fingertips. The thinly curved eyes seemed to already know what Heun had endured, and that he’d held back so much.
These were the next words that came out of Ja-Ryung’s mouth.
“Tell the Head Palace Eunuch that I’m going to sleep here today. Now, I will keep him as a ‘Guest’, not a prisoner.”
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
2
There were no designated chambers in the inner court. It was imperial law that only those who were entitled to their own place of residence could live in the inner palace.
Therefore, it was an unprecedented and bizarre act for Ja-Ryung to invite Heun into the inner palace, and as a result, the hardships the Head Palace Eunuch had to endure were indescribable.
“This is the last section.”
These were the words of Wei-Jeong after neatly combing Heun’s hair bit by bit, and placing it on the black silk that covered his body. After Wei-Jeong finished speaking, the palace women who had been serving by their side quietly got up and disappeared.
“Originally, it was the rule of thumb for the other party to use the Emperor’s quarters when the ‘Guest’ shares the Emperor’s bed, but with today as an exception, the Emperor will visit Yiyang Palace.”
He was naked underneath the black silk. His rough skin had been smeared with perfumed oil to smooth it, and the smell ticked Heun’s nose. Every nook and cranny was scoured, and so was his backside.
Wei-Jeong was as skillful as someone who had done this over and over again. However, no matter how much makeup was applied, the old wounds could not be covered up.
Heun looked down at his skinny body, cut and torn, covered in scars. No matter how thin like cicada wings the silk was, or how much the scent of cloves tried to heighten the lust, it will be of no use to such a body.
Heun heard Wei-Jeong click his tongue over and over while washing his body.
That would be the right response. A normal person would never feel lust for such a body.
Heun felt a shallow sense of relief as he scanned his body. With a body like this, there would be nothing more to damage.
“Have there been any men among the ‘Guests’?”
When Heun, who had never said anything before, spoke, Wei-Jeong nodded his head as if surprised.
“……No. There have been none.”
For some reason, Heun laughed bitterly.
“Then he will be unskilled.”
Wei Jeong did not rebuke the Heun people for being rude. Instead, he asked him a question.
“Are you going to use that as an excuse to inflict even a mark on the emperor’s body?”
Heun raised his head and looked at Wei-Jeong for a moment.
“Do you think I have the strength to do that?”
“Didn’t you have the strength to spit?”
“Is that a mark?”
“Enough, for the Emperor.”
“… …”
Wei-Jeong, who watched Huen go silent again, pondered something and spoke up.
“Don’t run away.”
“… …?”
Heun asked with his eyes instead of his mouth. Wei-Jeong lowered his head and let his muffled voice flow into his ear.
“The Emperor has never experienced an escape.”
“… ….”
Does that mean he should encourage him rather than run away?
“It will be enough if you endure today. That’s my guarantee.”
The words of Wei-Jeong clung to his ears. His little eyes which were covered in flesh gleamed like a well-ground blade.
Heun had no idea what Wei-Jeong meant by such words. Wei-Jeong was now trying to figure out if there was room for one more corpse in the troughs.
There was one reason why Wei-Jeong did not stop this bizarre procession. He had no doubts that Heun would be dead the next morning, just like all the Guests in the Emperor’s bed.
It was only then that Wei-Jeong’s expression as he looked at Heun’s became slightly pitiful.
He knew that Heun had not sinned yet.
Besides, there was something sensible about it. For now, he was barely being kept alive using all kinds of elixir, but his body was withered and had no vitality left. He was told that he would die on his own when the vitality of elixirs decreased.
Of course, Wei-Jeong did not want to keep Heun alive until then. Taewoongseong Fortress was too busy a place for that, and Heun was too much of a complication. No matter how many times he thought about it, at this point in time, Heun dying was the simplest way for everyone.
Of course, it was regrettable. That’s because he was a human too.
He was the only one in this imperial palace to know that the man in front of him was innocent.
“I hope you hold on today.”
Wei-Jeong said with sincerity.
He believed that Heun was no idiot, and if it was true that he was the madman’s reincarnation, he would understand what he was saying.
Wei-Jeong stretched out his back and widened the distance with Heun.
“The emperor will be coming soon, so the Guest must decide (淨) to be calm in his mind and his body.”
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
3
As soon as he left Yiyang Palace, Heun was alone. Yes, even though it was only one door, the guards would be standing there closely.
Heun’s years of self-mockery were ironic as he was now naked, barely draped in a piece of silk.
This is what it meant to enter the Imperial Palace. With one word from the Emperor, the body of a prisoner became a ‘Guest’ who was served by three palace women and the Head Palace Eunuch in one day.
Needless to say, if he had to choose between the two, he would definitely pick up the first option, but all his thoughts were futile in the Imperial Palace. The decision was up to the Emperor’s whim, regardless.
– How can he, a man, be a Royal Concubine(嬪)²?
It was like the sound of Wonje’s voice on the day he first introduced Gok Yeo-Heun into the Inner Palace, when the eunuch with the surname of Wei asked that, Ja-Horyung responded as if it were tiresome.
– Then, create a new position.
The eunuch once again talked for a long time about the status of the internal roster. Wonje then replied.
– Call him a Noble Person³ (貴人). I will keep only one in my inner court. Will that do?
The eunuch made a suffocating sound. A commotion followed of those saying what the Emperor must do.
Ja-Horyung was annoyed, and he pulled out his sword. Thud, the tip of the sword pierced the floor of the royal palace. Then the eunuch changed his expression and bowed deeply.
By those bizarre words that flowed from Wonje, he was forced to take the honor of inner court ranking(穩住), and Gok Yeo-Heun of the Tohwa was made a Noble Person.
Wonje smiled and spoke to Heun.
– Because Bin is the first senior rank, Noble Person Gwi-in should have the same rank as Noble Consort(妃)⁴. What do you think? Do you like it?
At that time, Yeo-Heun didn’t even have the energy to spit. Obviously, the palace was built bit by bit with his own hands, but it was a place full of venom. All the time he was imprisoned in the palace, the venom was eating away at him.
The source of that great venom was Ja-Horyung.
-No, I do not.
– Is it not enough? If that is the case, Then I will use a non-rank title, the same as Empress(后).
– … …
-Aren’t you a little happy? You will be my only one.
Heun knew that Wonje had three Consorts, excluding the Empress.
Yeo-Heun assumed that he was intentionally trying to upset him, so he shut his mouth. It was Yeo-Heun who became exhausted the more he got caught up in Wonje’s whims, as Wonje tried to amuse himself.
When he closed his eyes and did not answer, Ja-Horyung gave an order.
-A while ago I heard that Consort Yeo-bi(麗妃)⁵ released a poisonous scorpion(蝎子) in Noble Person’s bed chamber.
Eunuch Wei’s eyes flickered repeatedly.
– Was that consort Yeo-bi?
As Heun remembered, it was a year ago. However, she wasn’t the only one who had entered his bedchamber.
– That’s what I heard. I’m glad I pretended not to know back then.
Wonje ordered him to bring Consort Yeo-bi. Soon after, when she arrived, Wonje gestured for her to be brought closer.
Consort Yeo-bi climbed to the throne with a willing heart(太床), and the next moment her head fell to her feet with a smile still upon her lips, she never had any idea what had happened to her. Wonje wiped his blood-stained blade on the woman’s colorful silk clothes.
While everyone in The Emperor’s Palace who was watching could not keep their mouths shut, Wonje spoke up.
– What else happened? What did you say was put in the food? I think that was probably what Consort Hwa-bi (華妃) did.
This is what he meant by saying that “it was a good thing that he pretended not to know what happened a year ago”. It was so that he could cut off the head of anyone he wanted and he would have a justification for it.
That day, Wonje cut off all three of the Consort’s heads.
With the Yukwon empty after losing all of its owners, Ja-Horyung asked Heun to choose a place he liked, but Heun could not choose any of them.
That was the beginning of the blood that flowed continuously through Taewoongseong.
“So, why did I deserve to be reborn?”
Heun looked down at his white palms and murmured.
His empty palms were never clean. The blood of countless people who had been cut and split open by Wonje’s hand flowed over them. In this life, the work that had not yet started was already heavy, and his wrists were already bent.
”…… even after washing them, it doesn’t go away.”
So how does one ever get them clean?
They had to be soiled again first. Heun experienced Gok Jinsung again. His body was pierced by the terrible shame, devastating affection, and twisted insults, he inflicted on him. Some things were only able to be seen after going through reincarnation.
If not, was there anything he’d want to see again?
“……No.”
It couldn’t be. Ja-Horyung was different from Gok Jinsung.
His empty hands clutched his face as though he were about to tear it apart.
He said he wouldn’t hate him, but he wasn’t sure if it was true. Just seeing him in front of him made Heun shiver.
Gok Jinsung violating him was heartbreaking and painful, but for Ja-Horyung to play around with his body was hateful in and of itself. Whenever Yeo-Heun cried out or cursed him, he was rather pleased.
Those vivid memories gnawed at him like a plague of mice. Yeo-Heun couldn’t bear it any longer and banged his head on the post of the bed.
Bang, the sound shook his brain.
Even in the midst of fainting, the pain from his torn and swollen forehead was refreshing. If there was one thing that Ja-Horyung was right about, it was this.
The more painful it is, and the deeper the hatred goes, the easier it is to imprint it.
He tried to forget it, but in the end, he didn’t forget anything. Rather, if Ja-Horyung had acted as sincerely as Gok Jinsung had, he could have forgotten that much. But as it stood, he left no room to forget.
It would be the same today. Ja-Ryung would terrify him, and all this hatred towards him will remain karma that would never be erased.
Heun bit his lips.
No……not ever again.
He couldn’t go through that again. He couldn’t afford to understand or forgive him. So he couldn’t forget. He was winded just thinking of running away. He would flee to death, but he was relieved.
If it had been that easy to forget this hatred, he would not have been reborn.
No. Never again!
Heun shook his head.
He had to run away.
It wouldn’t be difficult now that he’d decided to find a way out. He was the one who built YiYang Palace.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
4
”……”
Ja-Ryung laughed in exasperation.
He couldn’t hear the sound of breathing from outside and he thought that it was strange, but as it turned out, the bed was already empty. Ja-Ryung never thought that he would run away from the Imperial Palace, so I felt like he’d been struck by something.
Beside him, Wei-Jeong looked at the undisturbed bed with a sallow sunken face. He too was at a loss for words at the sight of the bed that seemed to show no trace of anyone having been there.
Damn it! I told him to just hold on for today!
Surely, there was no way that he could have known that Ja-Ryung had such a strange sleeping habit, but if that is the case, it would be right that he ran away, being that he has long hated the Emperor.
He’s so foolish. Does he really not understand what will happen if he runs away?
He was kindly warned about that! The Emperor has never experienced anyone running away. This will only encourage him.
The Emperor’s rare generosity was discarded, and the man from the Gok clan ended up creating trouble.
Wei-Jeong carefully turned and looked at Ja-Ryung’s eyes. His lips were smiling, but the movements of his facial muscles underneath showed aggravation as though someone had struck him.
Wei-Jeong swallowed a sigh.
It was going to be a long night.
“…… Find him!”
Riiiiiip!-
Ja-Ryung grabbed the red veil that hung over the bed, as the silk ripped, it emitted a shrieking sound.
“Find him and bring him here! Here, right here!”
Wei-Jeong appeared to be amazed.
“l have my orders.”
Wei-Jeong was about to take a step back as Ja-Ryung spoke again.
“Look for missing clothes. He will not walk around naked.”
“Of course, your Majesty.”
As Wei-Jeong closed the door and turned around, he heard a banging coming from inside. He shook his head, as he thought of Ja-Ryung, who was undoubtedly cutting through whatever was near him.
Ja-Ryung was not impervious to this kind of thing. The male Guest with the surname of Gok may have to pay a severe toll.
“Well, that’s why it’s good if he dies soon.”
Wei-Jeong slowly stroked his beardless chin and yelled out.
“Hey! Who is still here!? Hasn’t ‘the Guests’ disappeared?!”
Soon after that, the guards rushed out like lightning.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
5
“… …!”
It was too fast.
Heun swallowed his hot breath as he hid in the shadows under the wall and avoided the road of the inner palace, which was already lit by hundreds of lights.
It had not been more than two hours since he had left the dregs of Yiyang Palace. However, the number of things revealed in the inner palace continued to increase. There were three thousand eunuchs in the inner court. If the guards were added to that, he couldn’t even estimate the number of people who were chasing him.
Heun was planning to go to the underground prison of the palace. In the prison, there was an escape route that he had already made one hundred and fifty years before. No one would have guessed that he would walk to the prison after running away from Yiyang Palace, so all he would have to do is make it to the palace.
Heun touched the official robe he had stolen from Yiyang Palace.
It was only a shallow layer of subterfuge but it made his heart feel somewhat relieved. There was no need to hide because he looked like he belonged. Seeing that the Yiyang Palace guards wouldn’t know him anyway, it would seem more suspicious to cover his face.
He took a deep breath and slowly walked out of the shadows. He bowed his head awkwardly and lowered his eyes as the eunuchs do.
After taking only a few steps he faced the guards who were rushing toward him. Heun moved out of the way and deliberately gave a startled look.
“Where is he going? Have you seen him yet!?”
“There! Go that way! We haven’t gone that far yet!”
“Shine more light back there! Look in every crack and crevice!”
After a troop of guards passed, another group went by. Even the palace women ran with staggering strides from one side to the other among the inner court buildings, holding out lamps. The entire palace was noisy like a beehive that had been hit with stones.
As the lamps increased one by one, the road to the palace seemed to get farther and farther away.
Heun took a deep breath and looked at the commotion. At the same time, a group of people was coming his way.
Heun looked at the rear and planned to just mix in the gap between them.
He thought that he would traverse the palace in this manner, and when the party was less aware, he planned on quietly meandering out of the group and onto a side road to get out of the palace.
“… …”
But when he was about to move,
“Stop!”
Some soldiers rushed from the side of Yiyang Palace and intercepted the group of officials that Heun was hiding amongst.
One of the guards lowered his voice and talked to the inner court eunuch who was standing at the front of the group.
An anxiety-ridden premonition ensnared him. Heun took a step backward.
He would be caught because of the stolen clothes. Unless all of the guards were idiots they would now notice it.
Heun held his breath and waited for the guards to move. When they finished talking, the guards opened their eyes and looked over the officials carefully. Heun tried to shield his face.
“… …”
Heun turned around silently and quickly went back the way he had come.
He was out of breath and hid in the shadowy darkness as he looked behind him.
Again, he was far away from the palace. Both his feet felt heavy as though they were clasped in shackles.
“There, who are you?!”
Someone discovered Heun. He wanted to run away, but his body wouldn’t listen.
Heun knew that his feet had already slowed down. His legs, which had grown up in shackles, were not like those of other people. If he walked even a bit too hard, his whole calf would immediately go numb.
Heun turned around and bowed his head. His mouth moved on its own.
“I am a maintenance eunuch (直殿監)⁶ with the court eunuchs (直殿監)⁷. I am on my way back because we are short-handed.”
“Really?”
The Imperial Guard who had summoned Heun came closer and examined his face. But this was not enough to find him out because the guard didn’t know what Heun looked like. They were told that the runaway male Guest would be wearing a eunuch’s robe, but that also meant that he would be indistinguishable from the other eunuchs at first glance.
Heun had just been washed and shaved. The Imperial Guards nodded their heads because they thought he looked like any other eunuch with his smooth, beardless face.
“I see.”
Heun bowed his head. The guards then turned around and disappeared first.
After waiting for a moment, Heun turned around as soon as they disappeared from his line of sight. The cap, which had been put on poorly, was slipping down. Heun ran while holding the cap in one hand.
There were no trees there. Instead, many flowers had been planted along the artificial waterway that divided the two sides of the Yukwon.
Heun thought to hide himself on the side among the flowering branches, and then move to the palace when the road became quiet.
Heun saw a canal in front of him. He crouched low and jumped down. The lush flowering branches raked his skin. His body ached, but he thought it was now over.
However, in the blink of an eye, one foot slipped through the damp soil just as he was almost gone.
Heun was unaware that the soil was so slippery, and he managed to grab a hold of a branch before falling into the water.
“Uhh……”
The branches were absurdly thin in relation to their weight. Thinking that he was about to fall into the water at any moment, Heun struggled using his feet which were barely lifted above the surface of the water. Heun was trying to find something to step on.
But unfortunately, someone else was a beat faster in finding Heun.
“Take hold of my hand.”
“… …!”
Heun shook his head. Above his head, the emperor was looking down at him. Ja-Ryung clicked his tongue, having forgotten about how Heun struggled against him.
“You’re unbelievable!”
Heun did not understand what he was talking about.
Ja-Ryung couldn’t just stand around waiting, so the moment he got out of bed, the first place he remembered was the waterway that crossed the Yukwon from east to west. He couldn’t even conceive of a staggering scenario in which he arrived just in time to see Heun struggling with his feet dangling just above the water.
“Is this the place you escaped to in order to flee the palace?”
It was incredible that he was in this place, just as he was walking by.
When Ja-Ryung said this as he reached out to grab Heun’s hand that was holding the official’s cap in anticipation of the moment Heun’s countenance would shatter.
He thought that would be the moment he would grab him and pull him up.
“… …!”
Splash!-
However, Heun released the hand that was holding the branch.
Instead, Heun’s body was submerged in the water as though it was being sucked down, and the cap that kept slipping down floated on the water. A few strands of Heun’s hair that had just been pulled out as Ja-Ryung grabbed at him in vain, grazed his fingertips, and flowed to the surface of the water.
“What……”
He fleed this time too.
Without a second thought, Ja-Ryung flew toward the waterway below.
Splash!-
A louder sound shook the night than when Heun had fallen in.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
Part 2
6
🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊
🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸
One of Wonje Ja-Horyung’s idiosyncrasies was being pathologically annoyed by things with wings.
Yeo-Heun remembered a large and beautiful bird brought as a gift by an Ambassador from a southern country. The colorful feathers were intense and dazzling as if they contained all the colors of the world. Yeo-Heun looked at the bird of the southern country with its dark violet beak as it made a strange cry, as though he were possessed.
It was very brief. But Ja-Horyung knew him like the back of his hand¹.
Then Ja-Horyung cut off the bird’s wings in front of Yeo-Heun and fed them raw to the Ambassador. The Ambassador spit out the feathers that couldn’t be chewed, and eventually returned to his homeland with only his throat salted for the crime.
Because of Yeo-Heun’s heel that Ja-Horyung had ordered to be broken, Yeo-Heun had to live half of his stay in the palace lame, so he enjoyed watching the winged beasts fly.
One day Wonje asked Yeo-Heun if he liked birds. When Yeo-Heun said that he did, he brought in all kinds of birds and released them at the back of the six gardens.
And they shot and killed the birds one by one, saying that they were testing a new and powerful bow made for the King by the Byeongjang-guk² (兵仗局). Every time Wonje fired a bow, Yeo-Heun had to watch in disgust as they fell to the ground with holes in their wings.
The smell of the blood of flying animals was different from that of humans. Because of that, his sadness and suffering were different.
After that, Yeo-Heun never said that he ‘liked’ anything again.
🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊
🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸🏹🩸
”……Ugh!”
Ja-Ryung threw Heun, who had been dragged, with a vicious touch.
“You’re good! Running away from so many people. It must be my mistake to forget that you made my palace.”
At this point, he couldn’t help but believe what he had been dubious about.
He really was the ‘madman‘ that Ja-Horyung was so fond of.
This monster known as Taewoongseong Fortress was woven into a strange movement that the first-time visitor could never grasp at a glance. The fact that he escaped from Yiyang Palace and had found the Yukwon waterway, where there was a place to hide, was to say that he knew this in advance.
Ja-Ryung stood there as water dripped down and looked down at Heun with a new set of eyes.
Heun caught his gaze from below. It was a strange thing. Even though the pale man was so afraid of him that his body trembled, there were times when he looked at him with unwavering eyes.
“How in the world does one imprison such a person?”
His pale lips were open and his wet hair was sticking to them. He could hardly even speak because his teeth were chatting.
“……I came here as a slave. Please return me to the labor camp.”
That’s what he said. It was astounding.
“I’ll tell you again, so listen carefully. You are the Emperor’s guest. It hasn’t even been a day since the Emperor’s mandate was ordered, are you saying that you already forgot?”
“I don’t like sodomy. So I can’t be a guest. If you want a man, it’s better to choose a competent partner……,”
“What does it matter if you don’t like it? Or even if you don’t like me?”
“… …”
The eldest son of Gok bit his pale lips. He was an even bigger spectacle when his skinny body became wet and pale. Just looking at him, without touching him, it felt like his bones were going to come crashing in on themselves.
What Ja-Ryung couldn’t understand though, was himself, who couldn’t take his eyes off him.
He was so excited. What was with this visage?
He was pale and thin. That was it.
His lifeless face was equally devoid of any color.
The one thing he liked was his eyes with that unusual color. Nevertheless, as he looked at him, something was boiling inside of him.
It wasn’t like this when killing people. His pulse seemed to be throbbing. He was so hyper-focused that he forgot that there were other things around him.
“I brought you some hot water, your Majesty. Don’t stay wet any longer….. ”
Ja-Ryung realized that Yiyang Palace was now full of people, only after hearing the cautious words of Wei-Jeong.
Suddenly, that fact heated his anger.
“Everyone get out.”
“Emperor,
“Are you deaf!?”
Wei-Jeong quickly shut his mouth and moved his feet backward. It was because he knew that nothing good would come about from provoking him now.
Damn it! He thought his heart was going to burst from his chest.
He was surprised by the news that the guest had been found and ran to make sure there wasn’t a spectacle. There he saw the emperor crawling up from the waterway with a slack man on his side. Before he could even ask what was going on, the emperor slapped the unconscious guest on the cheek.
Pop!-
The sound was so loud that Wei-Jeong thought that the emperor had finally broken the man’s head with his bare hands. He thought that it would be terrible if the corpses had to be removed from the ground because of trauma.
After a while, Gok Heun coughed and opened his eyes. The emperor looked at him as though he had a fishy smell. He didn’t, but there was a smell of freshwater fish about. Wei-Jeong thought that sooner or later, he had to make the superintendent clean off the moss from the stone in the waterway. The superintendent won’t like it, but what can he do? It stank of fish.
– Do you want to die?
– Gok Heun thought for a moment and shook his head.
– Then why did you run away?
This was his answer,
– I don’t like sodomy.
The fishy smell had deepened. The Emperor looked at Gok Heun with an expression as though he had been asleep and Heun was appearing in his dream.
– Didn’t you dislike it enough when you lay with your brother? Wasn’t that a burden to you too?
Gok spoke to the emperor with a blank expression, so that it sounded like the naked truth.
– I’d rather do it with my brother.
– ……
What could be said about the expression on the emperor’s face?
Wi-Jeong clenched his hand involuntarily. He didn’t even realize that his nails were digging into his palms.
The emperor jumped up and grabbed Gok Heun by the back of his neck and dragged him along. No one was able to stop him because their position was too low. The emperor dragged Gok Heun to Yiyang Palace.
It looked like it was carrying a piece of luggage instead of a person. The emperor had never carried luggage with his own hands, so he was unaware that dragging it against the ground would tatter the bottom.
What did he save him for?
Wei-Jeong looked back at Heun, who was being torn and peeled from head to toe again, without even being washed clean.
It really wasn’t worth wasting a sigh on. Regardless, if the emperor raised his hand, the guest would certainly be a corpse come tomorrow morning, so Wei-Jeong would be able to breathe a breath of relief at that point.
“I understand your orders. I will remove them all.”
At Wei-Jeong’s words, the guards and the palace women that filled Yiyang Palace disappeared without a sound of footsteps.
Soon after, Wei-Jeong took the last step and closed the door, and what remained there in the chamber was an overwhelming, deafening, silence.
But the silence was fleeting.
Drip, drip-drop.
A drop of water falling from Ja-Ryung’s body broke the silence first. Ja-Ryung’s body was drenched as he walked over and sat down in front of Heun.
Come to think of it, he had faced him frequently in this state.
Heun forced himself to sit up. The skin that had been dragged across the ground along the way was now tingling.
It wasn’t just the new wounds that hurt. When he closed his eyes, the feathers still dripping blood from their pierced wings, seemed to pierce his skin.
Ja-Horyung never changed. Their relationship would be no different.
For some reason, Ja-Ryung, who had only been scanning Heun, abruptly opened his mouth.
In his eyes, he could see the newly created wounds he had made when he dragged him like luggage.
It was beyond his understanding. It was as though he wasn’t someone that he’d pulled out of the water, but instead, he looked like he was pulled out of a scorching fire (炎?).
The problem was that a pit of fire was formed inside as he looked at the situation.
What the hell are you? What were you to Wonje?
“Why did you run away? It was said that you were embraced by Wonje.”
“… …”
Heun lowered his head without saying a word.
Then Ja-Ryung grabbed Heun’s forearm which was bleeding from scratches after being dragged across the ground. As he pressed on the wound, Heun clenched his jaw to silence his moans. Still, he did not answer.
“Oh, was there nothing to escape from with Ja-Horyung? Because he gave you a worthless title of ‘Noble Person’ and settled out the whole of the Yukwon? Do you mean that I also have to do that in order to embrace you calmly?”
“What……!?”
His eyes opened like they were about to pop out of their sockets.
Looking at his expression, it seemed that he really hated the Ja-Horyung. He hated him so much that it drove him crazy.
“It seems that these words hurt you more than scratches on your skin. Doesn’t being calm hurt you that much?”
“… …”
Upon seeing the expression on his face, Heun lowered his eyes.
The emperor must be someone who couldn’t understand the meaning of the word pain.
Before promoting him to ‘Noble Person’, he cut off the heads of three consorts. It was obvious that he purposely cut off their heads in front of his eyes. Appeals were made as a result of that incident by the high-ranking members of Official Imperial Signature (誥勅房), responsible for the writing of Official Imperial Edicts, those writers (中書舍人), whose appeal was raised, were pressed to the point of being crushed to death by paper and bamboo.
All their resentment was given to Heun. The Consorts’ ghosts must have stayed within the karma belonging to Heun.
“I’ve never been calm while being embraced. ”
“As a matter of fact, it does sound like you protested. Amongst the 12 palaces, where did Wonje sodomize you the most?”
Heun frowned for a moment. Ja-Ryung grabbed his chin.
“Answer me.”
“……the whole palace.”
Ja-Ryung’s face distorted at Heun’s reply, relating to the emperor’s palace, not the bedding.
“It’s incredible. Maybe the madman was Ja-Horyung, not you.”
“… …”
To Heun, there was no difference between them. He never thought he’d personally jump into the water. Ja-Horyung had never done anything like that.
It would be correct to say that there was no reason to do such a thing. On the same day that Heun tried to escape for the first time, Ja-Horong had his heel pierced with an iron rod. By the time it had healed, he had the bone smashed, saying that it was more convenient for him to only use one foot. After that, Heun never moved faster than Ja-Horyung.
Heun unconsciously turned his hand and grabbed his right heel, the same side that Ja-Horyung had broken at that time.
His hands were shaking involuntarily. It didn’t escape Ja-Ryung’s eyes.
“What were you to Ja-Horyung?”
“……Nothing at all.”
“He cut off his Consorts’ heads and you took their place, but you were nothing to him? Is it correct to say that every day he had sex with you?”
“He just took me by force, and it was nothing to do with me.”
“Really? Weren’t you together like that for years?”
A bright blue color flashed across Heun’s eyes.
It felt like a flaming iron skewer was digging into his heel. It wasn’t like the old one was still there, it was like a new skewer was stuck in him.
“…… No one had the power to stop the emperor.”
“Did you run away, just like you did today?”
“I was caught.”
“You could have run away again. No one knows this palace better than you. If you were tired of Ja-Horyung, you would have made a hole in advance for an escape. Isn’t that so?”
“If I ran away, the Tohwa…… ”
“Your excuses are endless. If you didn’t like him, why didn’t you go through the motions, then hang yourself?”
Heun stared at Ja-Ryung with an expression like he wanted to slap him on the cheek if he could.
“…… Did you not hear that he chained me up every night?”
“So you couldn’t run away? Were you really going crazy wanting to run away?”
“I was bound by day and chained at night, and food was taken hostage…… did you hear about that? He told me……!”
On the contrary, he was about to burst out loud enough to shock his ears, but the next words from Ja-Ryung cut him off.
“You have a bad way of speaking. Ja-Horyung seems to have left you running wild like this.”
“… …”
Heun shut his mouth.
It was a mistake. But it wasn’t for the sake of etiquette towards the emperor, it was for not bringing back something that needed to be forgotten.
Heun closed his eyes tightly. Ja-Ryung clenched his chin and lifted his eyes towards him.
“Just do as I say. You have made foolish remarks. You have committed a mortal sin, so you must be punished. Your Majesty thinks that you’re acting just like the wild baboons who raise their hands to their faces and scratch with their fingernails as they cry out.”
“… …”
Ja-Ryung watched as Heun stubbornly clenched his jaw.
“Can’t you do it? Or are you not going to?”
Heun did not answer. He didn’t even beg. Wonje and he were not in a relationship in which they exchanged words like that in the first place.
“Punish me as you will.”
That’s not what Ja-Ryung wanted to hear him say.
“Yeah, well, you say you were nothing to Ja-Horyung. If you were just a ‘guest’, you’re the kind who doesn’t mind having heads cut off over and over again.”
“… …”
Those words left him confused.
Heun did not understand his manner of comparing Heun’s dealings with Ja-Horyung to a relationship.
He was surprised to find that what he considered to be the mere ‘whims of the emperor’ could be interpreted differently by others. In retrospect, Wonje……
No, what did he mean by that? Could that now mean something?
Heun interrupted that thought.
There was nothing that could change now. Ja-Horyung was the one who tore through the bird’s wings, he was the one who broke his feet, and finally, he was the one who made him be reborn.
“Then cut off my throat, Your Majesty.”
“There’s no way! Shouldn’t I also get to know what kind of talent is hidden in your skinny body that made Ja-Horyung forsake so much?”
“That……,”
“It is useless to say no. You’ve already hit the bottom. And I have a very interesting idea now.”
Ja-Ryung spoke naturally as though he had suddenly washed away all his anger. It was because he had thought of a way to wash his anger away.
Ja-Ryung licked his lips and removed the hand that Heun was holding his heel with.
“If I drill a hole here, you won’t be able to run away now.”
”… …!”
“I think it would be okay to break the bones altogether. Wouldn’t it be great if you could only walk? There really is no reason for you to run.”
The man in front of him was Ja-Horyung. Heun felt his eyes darken.
All of that will be repeated in the name of karma.
All this, and he couldn’t even die.
Ja-Ryung ripped off his wet clothes as he watched with satisfaction as Heun’s face dramatically changed from moment to moment, just like Ja-Horyung.
“Well, we’ll put it off until later. Right now, I’m more curious about having sex while your feet are still functioning normally.”
Ja-Ryung exposed his wide and strong chest and smiled like Ja-Horyung had. He was thinking ahead about how Heun would lick him with those blue eyes.
“If you value your feet, do your best.”
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
7
However, there was one thing that Ja-Ryung miscalculated.
It was the fact that the Gok Yeo-Heun, who first met Wonje at the age of seventeen, was a very different person from the one he is now.
Yeo-Heun was but only one life and the family was more important. And above everything else, he had the desire to build a palace that had never been seen before, with his own hands. At that time, there were things that Gok Yeo-Heun had to protect.
Unlike now, the Heun who has been reborn is repeating things that should be left behind.
“It’s not worth it.”
He released the hand that was holding his foot.
He was fearful and forgot. What was being repeated now were things that should be forgotten!. This great palace he built might be a Bardo for him.
A place to prepare for his final rest. To do so, he must become heterogeneous like heavy oil, and empty everything until he is less than a speck of dust.
This is the reason he is suffering here yet again at the hands of the one who inherited the legacy of Ja-Horyung.
“There’s nothing worth it here. So there is nothing here to die for. You’re only curious about what Wonje coveted, so you want to do what he did. Wonje was also like that. At first, my heel was skewered, but later the bones were broken so that I couldn’t use my feet. You’ll come up with the same solution soon as well, your Majesty.”
It wasn’t that hard to not hate his brother. It just hurt. It was difficult at times, but in the end, he stopped himself from hating him.
The pain that Wonje engraved on his body would be okay if he just accepted the pain. He was not a seventeen-year-old who had too many things to protect. It was alright to sacrifice one foot in order to forget.
“The only talent I’ve ever had was to build. I possess no other talents …… Your Majesty.
Heun took off his wet shoes on his own.
His exposed bare feet were flawed.
Aside from being pitifully thin, the traces left by the shackles, which had become scars, prevented his feet from growing properly. Heun’s feet were too small to be the feet of a twenty-five-year-old man.
At first glance, his right foot was smaller than his left foot. It wasn’t obvious when he was first forced to be naked. But now he could somehow understand.
Ja-Ryung suddenly grabbed Heun’s right foot and seized it.
“This is……,”
Was this his foot?
Ja-Ryung could easily recall the image of Heun with a skewered foot.
He saw the image of Heun scratching at the floor with all his might and swallowing his cries.
Heun had that kind of personality in which he wouldn’t have shed a tear even if the offenses were being forcibly committed to his body. His face contorted fully with the humiliation of his body being naked, and he bit down on his fingers to prevent any groans from escaping. When he accidentally twisted his leg, then……
🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊
– Ahhh
A groan escaped him.
The reason was that his soul seemed to leave his body as Ja-Horyung was on top of him moving back and forth. He didn’t realize that the heel that had been stuck with the iron rod was constantly touching the bed and sliding. It was only after his flesh was torn to the size of a finger, that Heun screamed.
– Ah……,
He grabbed his ankle and lifted his foot. In the meantime, Wonje hesitated, reluctant to leave his body. Only when he saw thick blood creeping out, crawling like a worm along the crevice of the open wound, did he reluctantly pull out.
His penis, which was fluttering with perfumed oil and body fluids, was still erect.
– You must be in a lot of pain for you to cry so much.
His eyes that looked at him were ablaze. The thick pools that filled his eyes could no longer bear the weight and rolled down.
– tsk
He clicked his tongue. He meant to disable his foot, but he didn’t mean to make it unbearably painful. If that had been his intention, he wouldn’t have only pierced his heel.
So, it would have been better if he hadn’t tried to escape in the first place. It was unpleasant at times that Gok Yeo-Huen was such a painfully clever man. Only Yeo-Heun knew all the secrets of Taewoongseong.
Breaking his foot was the best concession.
He thought the Yeo-Heun would know that too. How could he not know it, being such a clever man?
– I’ll stop for today.
His crying was so pitiful that he had no choice but to say it. He always wanted him to cry, but not like this.
– Bring the court physician to him.
As he shouted over the veil that covered the bed, a shadow bowed and disappeared.
He touched Yeo-Heun’s wet cheek with a tender touch.
– Slap!
Yeo-Heun slapped his hand. He had never been struck by anyone so he felt very strange.
Gok Yeo-Heun gritted his teeth at him, showing a very vivid expression.
– Don’t touch me.
Rather than being startled by the blatant rudeness, he just felt that it was unfamiliar.
-…… disgusting man!
He was offended. He was astonished, with all the things he tolerated with endless generosity, he wondered why he was thought of as disgusting.
– Are you still holding out?
His mind was on a knife’s edge as he spread his legs again. In the meantime, he intentionally laid him face down to avoid hurting his heel again. It was proof that he was not a debased person.
He was a fool enchanted by the man in front of him.
Everything under the sky was his. It was the same with Gok Yeo-Heun. As long as he had him, no one else would touch him. Yeo-Heun belonged to him until he discarded him.
But why?
Why can’t he quench his thirst?
He belonged to Ja-Horyung, so why was he so impatient with him?
Wonje inserted himself into the hole that had not yet contracted. The wet flesh tightened around him. The sensation is amazing, but on the other hand, it makes him hungry like a starving demon who could never be full even after he’s eaten.
– Don’t touch me. Keep your hands off me. Don’t don’t touch……!
The never-ending words were irritating to him and pushed his body even harder out of annoyance.
Gok Yeo-Heun shouted the same words over and over again but soon came to his senses. Yeo-Heun closed his eyes and remained limp, and no matter how much he tried to shovel into him, he only remained thirsty, satisfaction never came.
Eventually, he stood up and left him. In the meantime, he realized that the bed was all wet with blood. When he looked at a color that wasn’t very red, he realized half of the moisture was tears. Belatedly, he thought that he must have been in real pain.
An impulse that was difficult to control surged in him. He leaned over his swollen heel and placed his lips on it.
– It will get better.
The smell of blood was sweet and disgusting. Just like the skewered wound, the person who made it was sweet and disgusting. He hobbled him because he had to, but seeing him in pain made his heartache.
– I’ve done this once, but I will never do it again.
🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊
“Never again……,”
Ja-Ryung, who had been muttering while holding Heun’s unsightly feet, suddenly pulled his chin.
What was he talking about?
He let go of the foot he was holding. His foot fell carelessly, and he furrowed his brow without realizing it.
His heel banged on the floor. Ja-Ryung’s face had a bitter expression upon it, as though he saw an iron rod stuck into it already.
That’s odd. Why would he be like this……
– I’ll never do it again.
An unknown voice mixed into his head. Ja-Ryung quickly got up at the sound. Heun was surprised by his sudden movement and he raised his eyes.
At the next moment, Ja-Ryung bowed his back and lifted Heun up.
Thud!-
His body, which had been lifted for a moment, fell onto the bed.
He looked at Ja-Ryung’s upper body, exposed under the loosely hanging robe. He thought Ja-Ryung would soon remove the clothes from his body. Or he would have someone do it.
But Ja-Ryung did nothing. Heun continued to look at him strangely.
“Stop looking.”
Ja-Ryung raised his hand and closed Heun’s eyes. His pulse pounded unsteadily in response to the touch of his hand.
Heun thought that what he was doing now was very unfamiliar.
It was something Ja-Horyung had never done before.
Wasn’t he the reincarnation of Emperor Wonje?
How could they only have similar faces?
But seeing him have the same thoughts about his feet, it was hard to believe that he was not reincarnated.
“… …”
Heun closed his eyes and prepared for what was to come.
Now the guards would come in and strip him naked and tie down his limbs.
He will laugh as he begs them not to until his throat is raw, and he will cruelly bite his lips out of an unbearable frustration.
Heun bit his lips and fluttered his eyes closed.
Well, he didn’t know. Ja-Ryung didn’t have any intention of doing anything, he just released his hand and stared at his visage.
“You……, “
What are you?
No, what am I? What is this in me?
Confusion engulfed Ja-Ryung.
He looked at Heun, then closed his eyes, turned around, and left Yiyang Palace.
There was no time to think about where the lust that he had, of wanting to embrace him, even if it was just putting Heun’s feet in his mouth, had disappeared too.
”… …?”
Heun belatedly became aware of the sound of footsteps and had to face the empty space, where Ja-Ryung had disappeared from.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
Part 3
8
“Haha……”
Wei-Jeong woke up very early to do the ‘clean up’ inside Yiyang Palace.
Considering the scene yesterday, it was unlikely that a man from the Gok clan would die well, and the corpse would naturally not be pretty.
However, there was one thing that was bothering him, and that was Taebo’s reaction.
The Tohwa had been informed that the man from the Gok clan had become a Guest.
So far, the Gok clan had not mentioned anything about the eldest son being imprisoned in the palace. Of course, he was not the healthy eldest son³ and he was also positioned to die in the labor camp anyway, so somehow he was allowed to transition into becoming a Guest of the inner palace.
If the Guest was determined to remain unnoticed then this situation would be uncomfortable for him. It was because of this that Wei-Jeong believed that he would not easily change to suit the powerful man’s will.
In that case, it would be better if his body was purged in the troughs.
Wei-Jeong thought it would be better to just let Heun die, and he was fully prepared to receive word of that from Yiyang Palace.
However,
Strangely enough, it was Gangnyeong⁴, not Yiyang Palace, that called on him first.
At first, he doubted his ears. The word from Gangnyeonggung was that the Emperor had gone alone in his chambers for the first time in a long time. He couldn’t believe it even as he listened to the words in the morning.
What in the hell….?
It was only when he entered Gangnyeong-gung that he understood the reason. From then on, the laughter did not stop.
“Ha ha…..”
Everything in sight was neatly shredded.
He was told that Ja-Ryung had swung his sword randomly all night long. However, the sword was swung so masterfully that rather than looking like a chaotic mess, it looked kaleidoscopic.
Ja-Ryung, who had made this scene, was even more strange because he looked as good as he usually did.
“What is going on here, Your Majesty?”
Ja-Ryung, who was sitting on the bed fiddling around with his hands, raised his head.
“What did you find out?”
However, just because he looked good on the outside didn’t mean that he was alright.
The words came out so fiercely that they were like a blade under Wei-Jeong’s chin.
“…Why did you have the mind to do something like this? You drew your sword, are you cut or injured anywhere?”
“Why don’t you know, it’s been quite a while.”
“Haven’t you found all the records already? God knows when then. It takes time to find such things. Are you really not hurt?”
“…… Damn it!”
Wei-Jeong sighed as he looked around the ruined remnants.
“What made you unable to sleep? Why did you destroy the room?”
Ja-Ryung frowned. It didn’t look like it was very pleasant to recall what last night was like.
“My body doesn’t feel like it belongs to me.”
Wei-Jeong countenance changed in an instant.
“What? No, you’re not unwell somehow, so why are you saying this now?”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“……in that case,”
“There is something strange about it.”
Ja-Ryung stopped speaking first. This meant that he had no intention of speaking anymore on the subject. Wei-Jeong stopped speaking and remained silent.
“What about the Guest?
Ja-Ryung asked after a long pause. Wei-Jeong shook his head from side to side.
“He passed out again. The royal physician said he already used a panax ginseng decoction, although he asked if he could use some more this time as well. I told him to do so for now. Shall I stop him?”
“Leave it. Tell him to use everything, use it all up if he must.”
“But in that case, we will need to achieve one more annual tribute (年貢) this year from the Zeo.”
The Zeo clan was well-versed in medicine. It was because of their skill in herbology and botany that they accumulated their wealth. The Nam-yeon family cultivated medicinal herbs and sent them as a tribute once a year.
“Is that a problem?”
“Don’t you think they will complain? It’s not a small amount. It is difficult to think that such a thing as panax ginseng would be something that sits in the corner of a warehouse rotting Emperor. It takes a hundred years to cultivate just one.”
“Didn’t you say that Tohwa and Zeo were joining in marriage? Say it is to be used to save the eldest son of Tohwa. Then they can’t complain.”
Wei-Jeong smiled furtively.
“Are you trying to drive a wedge between them with this?”
“They were the ones who said they were going to get married.”
Wei-Jeong slowly began to worry because Ja-Ryung, who would have usually laughed irritably at least once, showed no signs of straightening his furrowed brow.
“…… When did you say he would wake up?”
Added the man who’d stopped talking unless it was about the man who had been forced to become a Guest.
“The doctor said we must wait and watch for his pulse to return to normal, and to see if the medicinal tea can restore his vitality. It took four days last time, so it should take at least that long.”
“ … Damn it!”
He cursed yet again.
Wei-Jeong paused for a moment before speaking again. However much he wanted to bring up the topic, it was his position that he couldn’t be careless about Gok Heun.
He might be the one damned by his Majesty!
Why is this happening all of a sudden?
Wei-Jeong did not sincerely welcome the eldest Gok son. Of course, he opposed him entering the inner court, and it was his honest wish that he should die soon so that his Majesty would not lose his head again.
He stood out even if one didn’t bother to look at him. How much will a male Guest stir up this palace?
“It is said that the Guest has been living as a prisoner since the age of five.”
Ja-Ryung raised an eyebrow and Wei-Jeong nodded and calmly continued.
“He was shackled since the age of six, and he could not even take a step out of the prison. Even in the Tohwa, the people knew of his existence could be counted on a person’s fingers. It is not clear why Gok Taebo sent the Guest to the labor camp, but if you put these and other stories together, it seems true that the future head of the Gok clan who perpetrated the incest, is attached to his brother. The Guest was already like a thorn in Taebo’s eyes, and that gave him a reason to want him dead. That is, I believe that the reason why he did not kill him in his house was that Gok Taebo firmly believed the Guest was reincarnated. He must have been trying to prevent him from being reborn yet again. So what I’m saying is……,”
Wei-Jeong slowly opened his eyes.
“……when it comes down to it, the Guest holds no value to the Tohwa, My Lord. It would only cost a lot of effort on the part of the Emperor to have a Guest from the Gok clan by his side with the intention of shaking up the Tohwa. How will he feel about returning to being treated as a prisoner?”
“That’s not why,”
Ja-Ryung spoke and cut off Wei-Jeong’s words in the middle.
“If you say so,”
“I do not understand it either.”
“…… Can it be that way with the Emperor?”
“Didn’t I say there is something strange?”
Ja-Ryung threw away the sword and pressed his hand to his forehead.
“Things I didn’t even do are floating around in my head. It’s crazy.”
“What……?”
Wei-Jeong suddenly stopped, and his expression faltered. There are only a few people who have witnessed this expression from the man called ‘The Serpent of Taewoongseong’ over the past fifty-seven years.
“I thought he was an interesting man. It was odd that he would quietly endure the loss of his identity for the father who sold him.”
However,
His identity, which must have been ignored hundreds of times, caught his Majesty’s heart. It was a waste that he wasn’t ‘his person’.
“I was planning to see what the father and son(父子) would do in front of me….., “
I said he endured sodomy by this younger half-brother.
He didn’t know that there was something more mysterious going on because Heun was so open. At first, he just wondered why he was giving Heun his attention.
But his eyes were blue.
At that moment Ja-Ryung became hot all over. No, it was as though he had never experienced warmth in his life. Perhaps that’s how he felt when Heun confided in him about the incest.
When he regained his senses, his only thought was that he had to have him.
It seemed a beating anger and splitting sensation was felt somewhere deep in his heart. Just the thought that he was too late this time, again, was so sharp as though there was a knife in his back.
But what was funny, was that he couldn’t understand what the words “this time again” meant. Just like yesterday when he held onto that mismatched feet and said he would never do it again.
“… …”
Ja-Ryung, who had been silent, got up abruptly.
“Dress me. I’ll be going to Yiyang Palace.”
“What are you saying, you mean right now?”
“Yes.”
With that, Ja-Ryung’s eyes glistened like the shell of a sea creature as he stared toward Yiyang Palace. Wei-Jeong endured the soaring groans that came from his gut.
It must be because his stomach was empty.
It was just a matter of what he was hungry for.
“I will be ready soon. Please give me a moment, Your Majesty.”
As he bowed and stepped back from the bed, Wei-Jeong suddenly thought of it.
Wait. But you want to go to Yiyang Palace right now……
It meant that the Emperor, who left Yiyang- Palace and returned to Gangnyeonggung Palace without sleeping all night, would go back to Yiyang Palace as soon as morning came.
He couldn’t stop sighing like a wife who was exhausted with worry.
He wanted Heun to die as quietly as possible. Was it already too late?
Wei-Jeong kept kicking his tongue as he prepared the emperor’s breakfast.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
9
“His pulse has returned to normal. If one keeps passing out, their energy will wane, so if he rests well, he will recover soon.”
The doctor managed to keep standing on his shaky legs. This morning was the first time he was called upon (招出: 사람을 불러냄) directly by the Emperor.
As far as he could remember, this never happened before, even when the Empress herself had been ill for a long time before she finally passed away⁵ (上賓: 세상을 떠남).
“How long?”
“……What?”
The doctor wiped his brow thinking that this was all very strange as his Majesty’s questions continue to fly at him too quickly. It felt like something was stuck in his throat and he barely managed to hold back his coughs.
“Ah, that is……his pulse is too weak to give any guarantees, but he will come to his senses by tomorrow at the latest, Your Majesty.”
After hearing the court physician’s words……Ja-Ryung muttered ‘tomorrow‘ softly and looked at Heun’s sleeping face. His words that followed baffled everyone.
“Damn it!“
Amid the awkward and embarrassing atmosphere, the most pitiful sight was the doctor’s face.
“Oh, no, that’s……I……well, that’s…… umm, acupuncture……! Yes, acupuncture can help him regain consciousness sooner. It’s not that I was unaware of it……however, it won’t restore his vitality, it will only make him regain consciousness for a while……that’s why it’s not helpful, again, because it follows a principle that’s incompatible with that of improving the body gradually……,”
His lengthy words made Ja-Ryung ponder for a moment. What made him so passionate yesterday? It was only after he released his vigor by himself, that he could settle down.
Even after that, he couldn’t sleep at all. At first, he thought it was because of his abrupt passion. This anomalous, wild lust, that he harbored for a man, which had never been his type before. At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to let him go.
However, what he felt was too ambiguous to even call lust, because he couldn’t even imagine embracing anyone but Heun.
After being unable to sleep even after the break of dawn, Ja-Ryung was able to come up with an answer. He couldn’t sleep because he was confused as to whether or not it was lust.
So once he embraced him, he would find out.
He wondered what had made Ja-Horyung become such a perverse fool. He cut off the heads of all his consorts and gave the Yukwon entirely to him. He felt sorry for those inside the inner place and those of the court, who had to try and stay his madness.
He wanted to know what drove Heun’s brother to engage in incest. It was impossible that the future head of the Tohwa would have touched his brother because of a lack of women.
No, more than anything, Ja-Ryung had to know why Heun had lit a fiery passion within him out of the blue. And why……
…even if he couldn’t see him, he still felt the need to chase after him.
“Leave him alone.”
However, the words that came out of his mouth were the opposite of what he wanted to know. It was strange, even as he was speaking, Ja-Ryung’s shoulders flinched and he shuttered.
Damn it. What had happened since yesterday?!
The doctor bowed.
“Ah, yes. I have received your orders, Your Majesty.”
Even now, it was difficult to speak.
His heart had changed. He wanted him to wake up!
No one was going to say anything. What he says, goes. This was Taewoongseong, and he was the Emperor.
“Bring my writing desk. I’ll see the government affairs from here today.”
But he said something else.
Not only Jimok-cheon and Wei-Jeong, but everyone who heard this was surprised, however, the one who was the most surprised was Ja-Ryung. He almost couldn’t recognize the sounds coming out of his own throat.
He added annoyance as though he were trying to hide something.
“Did you not hear me?”
The words ‘I have received your orders’, continued after one more beat.
However much it has already been stated, was Ja-Ryung who was most astonished by his own actions.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
10
There was a small commotion. Around sunset, as the room grew darker, he began to regain consciousness.
Heun opened his eyes.
At that moment, he heard the sound of something dropping. It was the sound of many layers of thin paper tied together hitting smooth stone.
As soon as Ja-Ryung turned his eyes to follow the book he had dropped out of his hand, he made eye contact with Heun who had just woken up.
“You’re awake.”
Heun couldn’t understand what was going on so he blinked his eyes several times and then opened his eyes again.
The bedroom’s appearance had changed.
Everything but the bed had been removed and an unlacquered throne was placed in the empty palace. The throne had a strong woody smell as if it had been freshly made quite recently. Ja-Ryung was reading something while sitting high on a throne with three sets of steps on the left, right, and middle.
What was more strange was that the throne was facing the bed head-on.
That would have meant that he was watching him the whole time he was sleeping.
Even without looking, Ja-Ryung’s persistent gaze seemed to come to life and squeeze Heun. He had an auditory hallucination of the sounds made by the tropical bird that had its wings cut off, with its violet beak wide open, crying endlessly.
“No……, ……!”
Heun covered his ears without realizing it.
“Fuck!”
Ja-Ryung got up from the throne and stepped down the stairs at once. He approached the bed, grabbed Heun’s wrist, and forcibly removed his hands from his ears.
“What are you doing?”
If his eyes had been iron, they would have been red hot. Heun felt his rough breath rushing in like a tsunami.
Ja-Horyung, who spewed out fury from a distance, was like this. It was both familiar and frightening. Heun made a conscious effort to drop his shoulders that hunched up out of habit.
I won’t hate him. That’s the way it must be!
After repeating that a few times his trembling finally stopped.
“Does this mean you don’t even want to hear me?”
Heun took a deep breath and lowered his hands completely.
The voice, which had been restrained the whole time, was raspy.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“Then why?”
“For a moment I thought I heard……the sounds of birds. I think I must have still been half asleep.”
Ja-Ryung pushed Heun’s wrists that he was holding roughly. His thin shoulders slammed against the head of the bed.
Heun without a word hunched his shoulders and pulled up the blanket⁶(夜衾: 이불). Ja-Ryung looked at him as though he were pouring all his attention into him.
Ja-Ryung quickly pressed Heun’s hand.
“Stay there.”
“… …”
“I mean there’s no need to try to stand in order to show respect. That’s not what I’ve been waiting this whole time for.”
The word ‘waiting the whole time‘ weighed heavily on Heun.
As far as he knew, there was only one reason why Ja-Ryung would wait for him. Heun just lowered his head.
The sunshine was bright outside. He thought that this would be an awful time to be raped.
“It makes me a little angry to see that expression on your face.”
Ja-Ryung suddenly lifted Heun’s face with his fingers.
Heun was surprised and bit his tongue. A taste of salty blood oozed out.
“What are you thinking now?”
“…… Nothing.”
“Then why are you so surprised that you bit your tongue?”
“You touched me all of a sudden,”
“I smell blood.”
Ja-Ryung’s face crept closer. He squeezed his fingers, opening his mouth.
“Stick out your tongue.”
“No.”
However, eventually, Heun felt as though his jaw would break so he acquiesced, sticking out his tongue.
Ja-Ryung found a tooth mark on the edge of his tongue. He wiped the bloodstains from his tongue with the tip of his thumb. His back stiffed at the strange sensation of dry hands pressing on his wet tongue.
Wonje had always done bizarre things that he could never have imagined he would do, so this time too……,”
“It’s not stopping.”
Ja-Ryung stuck out his tongue and swept it over Heun’s tongue.
Because of the weird sensation, he stretched out his arm and pushed Ja-Ryung without thinking. Before that happened, Ja-Ryung had quickly wrapped his other arm around Heun’s waist. The hand that was holding his chin grabbed the tip of the tongue.
Heun had to endure the feel of Ja-Ryung’s tongue rubbing against his, as he forcibly held his tongue.
Goosebumps erupted and spread all the way to the tips of his ears. For the second time, Ja-Ryung was already doing something that Wonje had not done.
“Uh… ugh!”
After he struggled for a while, Ja-Ryung finally let go of his tongue. His tongue, which had been toyed with by his hands and tongue tingled even after it returned to his mouth. Ja-Ryung had an expression on his face as though he was coveting a delicious snack instead of Heun’s tongue.
“Is the blood so sweet?”
He tilted his head as if it was strange for him as well, he looked into Heun’s eyes with a strange expression.
He suddenly remembered something from last night.
He covered Heun’s eyes with his hands and told him to stop looking at him. He wanted to take off his clothes, but instead, he stood there looking at him for a while. When he lowered his hand, Heun opened his eyes, and Ja-Ryung turned around and left the bedroom.
He was like Ja-Horyung, but sometimes he behaved differently. Just like his older brother, Gok Jinsung, and his younger brother, Jinsung, were slightly different.
Jimok-cheon’s voice was heard from outside the door.
“Your Majesty. The Royal Physician has arrived. It’s time for the Guests’ medicine.”
The arm that was holding his waist loosened a bit. Heun did not miss the opportunity and pushed away from Ja-Ryung.
Ja-Ryung looked at his empty arm for a moment, then Heun rolled his eyes up to stare at him.
“Do you think that I’m a ridiculous fool? Aren’t you supposed to ask for permission to cast your eyes at the Emperor?”
“If you want to touch me, you will have to bind my limbs. That’s the way Wonje did it.”
“Forever respect the First Emporer (永尊先帝). I’m sure Wonje was your friend.”
“Wonje did that.”
“You must have trembled with indignation. Even though you were seated as a Nobleperson, you experienced this humiliation every time he touched you?”
Heun gave the same answer.
“That’s what Wonje did.”
Because of that, it was Wonje’s great soldiers who had to keep seeing these things. Sometimes his only consolation was that they, too, must have been ferocious ideas in their dreams.
Ja-Ryung muttered ‘damn it‘ to Heun’s face which held onto its blank expression. Then he turned and headed toward the door.
“Come in!”
The door of the chamber opened and the palace women belonging to the Royal Physician to the Imperial Family entered. One of them put down the medicinal tea that had been burning over the brazier. As soon as the lid was opened, steam rose up from it.
The doctor took it and gave it to Heun. Of course, he was doing everything he could to avoid showing his surprise at seeing the Emperor seated on the same bed as the Guest.
“Drink it.”
That’s what he was thinking at the same time as Ja-Ryung raised his hand.
“Leave it alone and get the banbi⁷(飯匕: 숟가락).”
“……Alright”
The Royal Physician almost spilled the medicine on the emperor’s lap. The doctor had stopped at a distance as Ja-Ryung continued tossing out incomprehensible words, which further added to the physician’s embarrassment.
“And tie the Guest’s arms so they can’t move.”
…What? You mean……alright?
It was only after he blinked his eyes a couple more times that he understood what the Emperor was going to do.
The palace women tied both of Heun’s arms with a twine. The Royal Physician picked up a bowl of medicine next to him as Ja-Ryung sat across from Heun with his knees spread out.
“As you told me before, I’ve bound you so you will listen to me. Take it calmly and swallow it.”
Ja-Ryung raised a spoon and scooped up the decoction. Holding his chin with his other hand, he poured the medicine through the gap between his opened lips.
As he shook his head as though to shake it off, the decoction that could not be swallowed smoothly gurgled in his mouth. Ja-Ryung’s eyes were ablaze, he grabbed Heun’s hair and tilted his head upward.
The decoction flowed down his chin eventually passing over his neck, as it spread it left traces on his skin.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to keep playing with you, so I’ll adjust to your rhythm.”
“… …”
The spoon moved again. Ja-Ryung put a spoon into Heun’s mouth as if jabbing it in.
“What do you have that makes you believe that it’s alright to behave in such a vexing manner, I’m really curious?”
The hand gripping his hair was fierce, and his eyes seemed to cut through him. However, the medicine which was spooned over one scoop at a time was not hot. Heun’s tongue, which had been bitten with his teeth, wasn’t hurting any longer so he was able to take the medicine and pass it down his throat easily.
Who knows, maybe your hole gets tighter if you’re tied up.”
“… …!”
Heun’s tied arms were swaying as he glared at Ja-Ryung. Ja-Ryung changed his expression and smiled when he saw the blue eyes look at him.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
The decoction entered his mouth.
Heun forcefully moved his head to spit out what was in his mouth, but before that, Ja-Ryung covered his lips. His tongue which had pushed into Heun’s mouth blocked his breath.
The more supplely Ja-Ryung’s lips moved, the more of the decoction he was forced to gulp down.
He was tired of kissing like this, and each time he touched the man’s tongue with his, he felt like it was corrupt.
Was it because it was mixed with medicinal herbs? Although it was bitter, there was no fishy taste at all.
Ja-Ryung removed his lips and frowned for a moment.
“Bitter.”
The doctor didn’t know that the statement was meant for him, but moments later he was so shocked that he could only shake his head.
“Yes, Your Majesty, ah, ah, that’s what the medicine is like………,”
“Make it edible next time. I think I will be eating here like this for a while.”
Ja-Ryung’s words were not in jest, they were more of a warning.
Ja-Ryung gave the last drop of decoction to Heun.
This unusual occurrence that happened at Yiyang Palace quickly flowed through every corner of the Imperial Palace. It made the presence of the male Guest who occupied the palace stand out acutely.
The story of who male Guest who did not want to eat his medicine because it was too hot, and the Emperor cooled and fed the Guest himself one bite at a time from a spoon, turned the Yukwon upside down, and the Emperor’s complaints that the medicine was too bitter set the hearts of concubines hearts ablaze like a spark. It meant that the Emperor kissed the Guest to coax him to swallow the bitter medicine.
That was enough to convince all of them that the male Guest could not be condoned!
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
All parenthesis inside a sentence and the continents contained within them were placed by the author and are NOT translator notes. All translator notes are denoted by a T/N.
Some Idioms or proverbs used throughout this story which may too be foreign and/or require too many footnotes were replaced by literal translations to make the story easier to read.
Part 1
⁰ 1) Department of the Secretary-General
In charge of receiving the manuscripts and proofreading the provinces, and sending them to the cabinet. ↩
⁰ 2) Department of Communications. A library of internal documents, Royal Library. ↩
¹ (T/N: Wonje means First Emperor (title), aka Wonje, is a title, not a name. ↩
² (Bin, 빈, 嬪, – Royal Concubine (title name)._This would be a senior rank/highest concubine ranking in the Joseon Era. Again, this story isn’t true to any real system. ↩
³ (귀인 – Noble Person (title name) (not gender specific). _However, this is a title in the Joseon Era of a (貴人) Royal Concubine, or Bin², of Gwiin junior 1 rank (종1품). But this isn’t equivalent to JE ranking, because it’s one rank below Bin, unlike what is stated in the story. ↩
⁴ Noble Consort (title name)- 귀비 – 貴妃 – Gwibi – senior 1 (정1품). This is just below the Empress in J.E. ↩
⁵ 麗妃 literally: Beautiful Consort. ↩
⁶ (直殿監) Superintendent/Supervisor of the Imperial Palace ↩
⁷ (內臣) Eunuch of a palace or court ↩
Part 2
¹ 귀신같이 그를 알았다 – knew him like a ghost. ↩
² 兵仗局- Armory Bureau ↩
Part 3
³ This is referring to his family position, not his actual age. ↩
⁴ Gangnyeonggung – Emperor’s residence -Yiyang Palace Heun’s residence ↩
⁵ T/N:上賓- Guest of Honor – T/N: 세상을 떠남 – Leave this world ↩
⁶ T/N: Ibul, a traditional Korean blanket used over a yo (a Korean futon) ↩
⁷ Spoon ↩
Foolish Translations 
Thank you so much! You’re doing a lovely job!
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Thank You for the new chapter (๑°꒵°๑)･*♡
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your welcome ~(￣▽￣)~[][]~(￣▽￣)~
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