Attic.
For Lady Tang, the room with low ceilings might have felt uncomfortable for some, but now it was a cozy nest, even more so than the head of the Seong family’s home where he had lived without any deficiencies.
Lady Tang stared blankly at the medicine in her hand, turning her head towards her cohabitant as the scent tickled her nose.
“Ugh… Smells like alcohol. Go wash up and sleep.”
Lady Tang stood up and opened the window for a moment. The cold breeze that rushed in cooled her flushed face.
“Ugh.”
“I’ll cover you with a blanket.”
As Kang Yoon-ho let out a moan at the sudden cold wind, Lady Tang approached the man who had passed out from exhaustion and the effects of alcohol.
When Lady Tang spread out the blanket that belonged to her cohabitant in the corner, the man’s scent wafted strongly through the air. She disliked the smell of alcohol, but this scent was not unpleasant. It was awkward at first, but now it felt somewhat comforting.
“Ugh.”
“Ah!”
She was startled by her cohabitant’s groan and hastily pulled her nose away from the blanket. Lady Tang quickly covered Kang Yoon-ho with the blanket and sat back down on her bed, watching him.
Hey. You’re not awake, are you? …thank goodness. If you were, I’d be too embarrassed to live.
Seeing that Kang Yoon-ho showed no signs of waking, Lady Tang picked up the hand mirror next to her.
“I can see my reflection in the mirror.”
Finding the situation amusing, she chuckled at the mirror.
Lady Tang didn’t usually look in mirrors. Looking in a mirror meant confronting a sad reality.
She often wrapped herself up and went about covering her lower face with a black veil. Why would she worry about a part of herself she avoided looking at? But this time was different.
Lady Tang imagined a bright tomorrow, which is why she could face the mirror now.
Just taking the medicine and feeling pain-free was a miracle in itself. But the effects of the medicine didn’t stop there.
“I’m really getting better.”
It was amazing to see again. If she hadn’t looked closely, she might not have noticed, but there was certainly improvement.
A face she never observed intently. Yet someone who constantly cared and worried about that face. A man who always wished for her body to heal.
If that man hadn’t pointed it out, she might never have realized it.
Gazing at the man who had come into her life like a miracle, Lady Tang remembered the earlier events.
Kang Yoon-ho’s sudden physical contact.
He had suddenly brought his hand to her face without permission. The part of her that was her complex. If someone else had touched it, she would’ve broken their wrist. But Yoon-ho was different.
Lady Tang accepted his touch without resistance.
“Hey, Huairin. Seriously. If only people didn’t hold prejudices, you’d have an attractive face.”
Slurred speech
‘Is he drunk? Is he drunk? Is being drunk the reason he’s saying nice things?’
As Kang Yoon-ho mumbled, Lady Tang’s head began to spin. She heard that when men get drunk, even an ugly woman appears beautiful to them. Could it be that kind of situation now?
“Hey, Huairin. Lift your face a bit.”
Right. This is really that kind of situation. What should I do? Yoon-ho, weren’t you just friends?
She never particularly desired that kind of relationship, but if he really wanted it, they should at least start by talking. This wasn’t right.
‘It’s not like I want this. You’re the one forcing it, got it?’
Okay, if you want it, I’ll play along for now. Lady Tang closed her eyes, pushed her chin forward as much as possible to make Kang Yoon-ho comfortable.
Kang Yoon-ho adjusted her face with his hands. Lady Tang felt like he was aligning a target so that a dart could hit the bullseye.
Is it coming? It’s coming, right? Yoon-ho really has desires for me. What should happen next?
Alright, time to get a definite answer. You approached me first. I don’t care much, but since you’re coming closer, I can’t ignore it.
Don’t you even think about calling this a mistake. I’ll be sad. No, that’s not it. Anyway, just tell me your true feelings.
Lady Tang felt joy at the thought of her fun plan, but that plan was shattered by one phrase from Yoon-ho.
“Unbutton your blouse for me.”
“What the what!?”
That action of asking for permission didn’t mean that anything was possible. And what Kang Yoon-ho said was well beyond the boundaries of Lady Tang’s permission.
‘How much do I have to allow? No, how far are we going today?’
Yikes!
In her panic and confusion at the man’s approaching hand, she let out a shrill scream.
“Sorry, Huairin! I made a mistake. I didn’t mean it like that!”
Idiot. Total idiot. Tang Huairin, you’re not dumb because of your face; you’re just dumb, alright? Why did you scream out there?
Lady Tang looked at Kang Yoon-ho who couldn’t face her out of guilt. There was still time. She had a secret weapon.
Lady Tang knew that Kang Yoon-ho sometimes stole glances at her chest.
He probably thought he was doing it naturally without being caught, but how could he not know who was the one person she cared about?
A cumbersome and heavy part of her. Still, if he was conscious of it, wouldn’t it be worth using it now? For some reason, would she not be able to reignite the heart that had dimmed?
“Let me take a deep breath first. This is a crucial statement.”
Just as Lady Tang had anticipated, when she unbuttoned her blouse, it looked like something new was sparking in Kang Yoon-ho’s heart.
“Uh, I’m ready to listen.”
He was ready to nod too.
“Huairin, your face is healing.”
However, his words were a betrayal of her expectations, a truth beyond her wildest imaginations.
Lady Tang expressed all the emotions of admiration, joy, ecstasy, burst into tears and happiness before heading to the washroom.
Of course, a twinge of embarrassment arose about having misunderstood everything. At the same time, there was gratitude towards Yoon-ho. Hope for the future was blooming too.
I can heal.
Lady Tang smiled at her reflection in the sink’s mirror. What a ridiculous misunderstanding she had made. Why do you keep confusing people? I did nothing wrong. I should just forget my embarrassment and pretend nothing happened.
I’ll thank my friend as soon as I come out.
But when Lady Tang saw him, she couldn’t express her thanks.
What was there was not her friend Kang Yoon-ho but someone’s closest friend, Kang Yoon-ho.
‘He’s thinking about someone else.’
Lady Tang could tell he was lost in thought without needing to ask.
While she had longed for a presence she had never had, was Yoon-ho still wrestling with an eternal emptiness of something he once had?
“What are you thinking about?”
Hoping her thoughts were wrong.
“Uh, I was just thinking, if my friend could eat the medicine, would he have recovered? Or was it insufficient? Just thoughts like that.”
But of course.
‘Am I not able to replace that friend?’
He had called him a “close friend.”
He helped her simply because he was a fellow victim of a cruel experiment with that friend. Just that alone made that friend an incredible presence in his heart.
What about their relationship?
It was a relationship far too great to be called merely friendship.
Kang Yoon-ho had helped her as she writhed in pain, rescued her from a den of bandits, and when she was about to end up on the streets with a huge debt, he cleverly helped her inherit this bookstore.
With the medicine he gave her, she could now imagine a future where her face was completely healed.
‘I’ve given nothing in return.’
He had helped her just because she happened to be there on his path, but she had provided him no aid at all.
If it weren’t for her, there would’ve been no need for him to rescue this failing bookstore. With his talent in words and storytelling, he would have succeeded anywhere else.
‘Am I a shackle…?’
If it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t have to be so busy solving matters and could write comfortably all day without working in the bookstore.
She was blocking Kang Yoon-ho’s path, and that realization pricked at Lady Tang’s heart.
“Yoon-ho… You’re not planning to leave when I recover, are you?”
Lady Tang murmured the words she had never been able to say to Yoon-ho.
He had initially followed her for atonement. If her face healed and the debts of this bookstore were fully cleared, that day would be the day Kang Yoon-ho completed his atonement.
If that day came, would he stay in the Tea Bookstore?
“Yoon-ho, we’re friends, aren’t we?”
So stay by my side as a friend.
She was still the immature young lady of the head of the Seong family while he was growing so much.
The gap between them, and the kindness he had shown, was growing so large. The biggest growth was in Lady Tang’s heart towards Kang Yoon-ho.
Yoon-ho called her a friend. Just that was truly a blessing, but friends couldn’t stay beside each other forever. If she wanted to keep him around…
Lady Tang suddenly stopped her thoughts.
‘How? With this face? With this relationship? How shameless can you be?’
Lady Tang dropped her head weakly. The hope that she could replace his closest friend had vanished, leaving only her diminished self behind.
“Should I throw the medicine away…?”
The medicine she was to take regularly. The one made by her and Yoon-ho. If her face didn’t heal, wouldn’t he leave? If she didn’t take this medicine, wouldn’t she be able to keep him from going away?
Could she keep him bound to her forever?
“That would betray Yoon-ho.”
Lady Tang shook her head left and right. That would betray his trust, his kindness, his atonement. It would be an act of treachery.
She could never betray Kang Yoon-ho. If she betrayed his kindness, she would even lose her qualification to be his friend. Rather than entertain such thoughts, it was better to strive to be someone he would want beside him.
Lady Tang swallowed the medicine.
The medicine had no taste other than a chalky blandness, but today it felt more bitter than any poison.
“Yoon-ho! Wake up!”
At Huairin’s insensitive wake-up call, his eyes opened.
“Ugh! My stomach…”
Upon waking, the first thing he felt was a terrible hangover. He rubbed his belly and clumsily got out of bed.
Whether writing or having a gathering, he had to go to work. The Tea Bookstore where he worked was a golden labor environment, demanding his presence every day of the week. Just who was the manager here?
“I’ll make honey water for you, wait a sec.”
Huairin quickly made honey water and offered it to him. He comforted his upset stomach with the honey water and looked at Huairin.
“Huairin.”
“Hmm?”
“I think you look a little better than last night.”
“Really?”
“Or maybe not?”
“Come on! Are you messing with me?”
“No, I’m serious. You’re definitely looking better—better enough to be sure!”
Unlike yesterday, the clean skin that once had fine lines was now about the thickness of a child’s pinky finger.
“Really? Is it true…?”
Huairin looked in the hand mirror and fussed over her improved features. Shouldn’t she be happier? Why did she sound so downtrodden?
‘Did my reputation soar overnight?’
There might have been many who read his book through the night, or maybe many people rambled about Ho Pil like at the gathering last night.
Could it be that Huairin’s treatment became well-known in Yichang?
Hubei Province.
A distant county from Yichang.
A massive mansion stood, but inside it was a mess with a few managers present.
“Did it appear again this month?”
“Yes. It came back again this month, just like last month. It seems to appear periodically. We still haven’t uncovered which bastard is responsible, but it seems it’s a part of a bigger scheme. Look over there.”
The manager pointed to a flag stuck in the middle of the messed-up mansion.
[Eradicate the Bourgeois. – Kang Mo.]
“Who in the world is this Kang Mo!!!”
In the mansion that housed the notorious bandit, the manager lamented about a thief that the people sang praises to, as all its wealth was forcibly distributed to impoverished farmers overnight.
