Chapter 18: Wi Seol-ah, Memories of That Day.

Wi Seol-ah sometimes had strange dreams like today’s.

It was a dream of her wielding a sword on a night when the moon had set.

Wi Seol-ah thought of dreams like these as nightmares.

So many people died by the sword she wielded. Yet, she seemed unfazed watching it happen.

Seeing the people filled with rage, for whatever reason they were so angry, was terrifying, but the ‘herself’ in the dream didn’t seem to care about such things.

It’s a pretty sword.

It looked similar to the one my grandfather used to show me.

Grandfather disliked me holding a sword. Wanting praise, I tried imitating him in front of Grandfather and got severely scolded.

And that day, Grandfather cried.

I saw Grandfather cry for the first time.

Seeing that, I promised I would never play with swords again.

Only then did Grandfather stop crying.

He stopped crying, but Grandfather is always crying.

Others use words like ‘benevolent’? ‘kind’? Something difficult, but only I knew.

Grandfather is always crying.

Grandfather always tells me he’s sorry. What could he be so sorry about? Seol-ah is happy, though.

Is it like what my older sisters tell me every day, ‘You’re still young, so you don’t need to know’? I don’t want to be young…

The ‘herself’ in the dream is tall. Her hair is also much longer.

Unlike me with black hair, her hair is white.

Her face was beautiful, too.

My older sisters and brothers tell me I’m pretty, but the ‘me’ in the dream was too beautiful.

Could I become like that too?

That’s why I suddenly thought of Young Master.

‘Young Master doesn’t tell me I’m pretty…’

After I tied up my hair, everyone said I looked pretty, so I quickly went to show Young Master too.

Young Master quickly avoided my gaze.

Does Young Master not think I’m pretty…?

Young Master is a kind Young Master.

Living only with Grandfather, he was the first friend my age I met.

When I first saw him, he was a friend, but according to Grandfather, I had to call him Young Master now.

He said I couldn’t call him friend. I’d get scolded…

That’s why he’s Young Master.

Young Master looked scary when I first saw him, but when I bravely spoke to him, he turned out to be a good person.

He ate my potatoes and said they were delicious, and he gave me yakgwa. I was surprised when I ate yakgwa for the first time.

Yakgwa was much tastier than potatoes. I stopped eating potatoes after that.

Young Master gives me yakgwa every day.

It would be nice if he ate them too, but Young Master says he dislikes sweets.

But when I asked my older sisters, they said Young Master likes sweets.

They said he ate them every single day before I came, so maybe he’s lying now to give them to me?

He seems to like dumplings though….

Yesterday, he bought yakgwa and dumplings again. I saw Young Master smile for the first time in a while.

Seeing Young Master smile made my heart ache for some reason.

When I went and told Grandfather, Grandfather glared at Young Master menacingly. I had never seen Grandfather look at someone like that before.

Yesterday, Young Master saw me snacking and laughed, saying my face was getting rounder and rounder.

….That’s too mean, I won’t eat yakgwa anymore.

‘….’

Ah, I mean, I won’t not eat them, I’ll just eat two.

That Young Master, sometimes, very sometimes, makes the same expression as Grandfather when looking at me.

Even when he first saw me on the street.

Even when huge doggies appeared on the way while riding the carriage.

The look in his eyes when he looked at me was the same as Grandfather’s.

Why is that? I’m happy, though.

Do Young Master and Grandfather both think I am unhappy?

I don’t know.

I kept having the dream, but today’s nightmare was a bit different. Usually, I wake up around this point, but this time it was a place I’d never seen before.

The nightmare continued on and on, and then I entered a house.

Inside, there were many people who were angry, just like the ones I was fighting earlier.

I fought again.

My whole body was covered in blood. I seemed to be badly injured. Am I not feeling pain?

I seem to be very strong. Even though a huge number of people charged at me, I defeated them all and moved forward.

It felt like the stories Grandfather told me when I slept. In the stories Grandfather told, he was the strongest.

He’d talk about hundreds of people coming, saying he defeated all the bad guys…. I thought they were lies, but could they have been real?

After going forward for a long time like that, I met an uncle.

He looked kind. But somehow, he felt scary.

‘Why did you do that?’

The ‘me’ in the dream spoke. Her voice was as beautiful as her face. Could I really become like that when I grow up…?

In response to my words, the kind-looking but scary uncle spoke.

‘Seol-ah… you came to save me…’

‘Shut up, don’t call me with that filthy mouth, tell me, since when?’

‘What…’

‘I know everything, so don’t play games.

I’m holding back the urge to split you in half and kill you right now. Answer me properly.’

S-scary..!

He looks so pretty, but he speaks so scarily… I shouldn’t speak like that when I grow up.

Was it because of my words? The kind-looking but scary uncle’s face changed.

Now he had become a scary-looking, scary uncle…!

‘Ah, so this is discovered…? What a shame, if only I had done it just a little longer.’

‘You…!’

‘It’s okay, though. This much is enough.’

Grind grind-

Something strange made a sound from the scary uncle. His body was changing little by little, which was too grotesque.

‘It’s too late, Seol-ah. You should have noticed sooner.’

The uncle’s body grew larger and larger. Perhaps thinking of fighting, I ran towards the uncle.

It was the same pretty sword as before, but it didn’t work on the uncle.

‘What…!’

I was startled. Then, something shot out from the uncle’s body…!

Hieek!

It pierced my body…! Something sharp pierced my body.

Unlike how I moved quickly before, I guess I couldn’t dodge the uncle’s attack.

The uncle simply threw me aside. Thump! I flew off and crashed into the wall.

It was too scary. I didn’t want to see how grotesque it was, I wanted to wake up from the dream.

Wake up already…! I don’t want to see things like this…. Please…!

Why am I having dreams like this? It was a very scary dream.

The ‘me’ in the dream, pierced through the body, was slowly dying.

I wanted to call for Grandfather. I didn’t know if Grandfather could save me. Grandfather is strong, though.

At that moment, the ‘me’ in the dream says something.

What is she saying?

‘…I won’t.’

It was a whisper too quiet to hear.

The scary uncle is approaching from afar. What should I do? What should I do…?

The scary uncle came in front of me and said.

‘How stupid, aren’t you? Both you, Seol-ah, and that guy. Especially that guy is the biggest piece of shit, acting like he’s doing it for someone.’

At the uncle’s words, I shed tears.

Who is that guy? Who is he talking about? I hated that I couldn’t do anything in my own dream.

The uncle was about to do something to me again. It was something like the blade that pierced me earlier.

‘If you go and see him, tell him, you lived a truly trashy life.’

‘I’m sorry… I’m sorry.’

At the uncle’s words, I apologized. But it didn’t feel like I was apologizing to the uncle.

Who was I apologizing to…?

Then, the uncle swung something sharp at me.

I didn’t want to see, so I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Hieek!”

Fortunately, I woke up from the dream like that.

My back was damp. It felt like it was all sweat.

Looking beside me, Grandfather’s spot was empty. He must have already gone out to work.

The dream was too scary. It felt like something I had actually experienced, so I didn’t want to be alone.

Perhaps that’s why.

….Strangely, I suddenly missed Young Master.

---

It was the next day after returning from Hao Mun.

Since I ate quite a few dumplings, I was just thinking about getting up and giving my lower body a good workout.

“My name is Gu Jeolyub. I request a sparring match with a blood relative of the main family.”

But who is this guy…?

As soon as I opened the door, a strange fellow blurted out.

Judging by his age, he seemed to be around my age, with a sharp jawline, and Gu family’s characteristic asshole-ish eyes caught my attention.

What was annoying was that he was a strikingly handsome man. His surname being Gu, and his red eyes and pupils seemed to prove he was a Gu family blood relative, but.

He wasn’t a direct relative of the family head, at least.

For a moment, I wondered if he was my father’s hidden son, but as far as I knew, there wasn’t one.

“Who?”

So who could he be? His face seemed somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t recall it well.

When I expressed my confusion, not knowing who he was, the face of the person, whether Gu Jeolyub or Gu Cheol-yeop, slightly frowned.

Did I make a mistake? But I really don’t know…

Elder Lee, who suddenly appeared, resolved my confusion.

“Aren’t you Jeolyub? Why are you here?”

Why are you here, you old geezer….

Elder Lee, who seemed to be appearing frequently lately, bothered me, but it was obvious he wouldn’t listen even if I brought it up, so I didn’t bother.

Gu Jeolyub bowed respectfully to Elder Lee.

“I greet Elder Lee.”

“Yes, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? About a year?”

“Have you been well since then?”

“This old man is always doing well, hahahaha! Have you been well too?”

“…No, please don’t suddenly start chatting in my quarters.”

So who is he?

As I kept tilting my head in confusion, Elder Lee looked at me with a pitying expression.

“Yangcheon-ah, can you really not recognize him?”

“So, I’m currently having doubts for about the third time.”

“What should I do about this? Your memory is worse than a fish’s.”

Why is this old geezer picking a fight with me first thing in the morning…?

“Who is Jeolyub? Isn’t he Elder Il’s grandson?”

At Elder Lee’s words, I looked at Gu Jeolyub. If it’s Elder Il…

‘That fussy and annoying old man.’

Tae Ryeong Yeol Geom (Gu Chang-jun). He was my uncle to my father, and my grand-uncle.

I didn’t have particularly good feelings about him.

Elder Lee, who came to see me right away, makes me feel burdened, but behind that, he’s someone I definitely feel gratitude towards.

Because the people who didn’t give up on me until the end can be counted on one hand.

But Elder Il is different.

I have a lot to say, but he’s someone I don’t particularly want to remember.

“Anyway, he’s Elder Il’s grandson?”

“You must have seen each other a few times, why don’t you know him?”

Even saying that, my memory was hazy. The other person seemed to remember me, but I wasn’t left in his memory.

Perhaps feeling bad about that, Gu Jeolyub’s lips trembled.

Seeing that, I quickly apologized.

“No, I’m sorr-“

“Of course, you would. After being beaten so badly, it’s understandable you’d want to forget out of shame.”

What the hell, you punk?

“However, hearing rumors that you’re still the same even after time has passed, I came looking, but I’m still disappointed.”

“Elder Lee.”

“…What is it?”

“Wow, he really must be Elder Il’s grandson, he’s exactly the same! Just like him!”

“….”

Elder Lee didn’t answer, but judging by his expression, he seemed to deeply empathize.

He was exactly like the Elder Il in my memory. He continued speaking as if he had no particular interest in whatever I said.

“Huuuuu, tormenting the weak is not in my nature, but this is also unavoidable…. Once again, I request a sparring match with a blood relative of the main family…”

“Young Master…!!”

It was Wi Seol-ah who appeared, cutting off Gu Jeolyub’s words.

“Crazy.”

For some reason, Wi Seol-ah was half-soaked. Her skin was visible through her wet clothes.

How urgent was it, she wasn’t even wearing shoes, her feet were bare.

I immediately grabbed a blanket and wrapped it tightly around Wi Seol-ah.

“What are you doing! What if others see?”

“Young Master! I’m here… I had a dream…”

“Young Master Il.”

Gu Jeolyub cut off Wi Seol-ah, who was about to speak. When I shifted my gaze to Gu Jeolyub, his eyes were fixed on Wi Seol-ah.

Gu Jeolyub’s trembling pupils and slightly flushed face caught my eye.

“W-who is this person?”

…Look at this bastard?