Part 27

Rescuing Jaeshin - bringing back Sunjoon

[Setting: Sunjoon's family rejects the proposal from Hyo-eun's family. Hyo Eun’s father, angry and seeking revenge, frames Sunjoon to be the Hong Byeok Seo (the "Red Messenger" character).

Things get out of hand when Sun Joon is transferred to Jae Shin’s father to be interrogated. The latter knows that Lee Sunjoon is not the culprit, but cannot let go of the chance to avenge his eldest son, and throws Sunjoon in jail.

Jaeshin tells Yongha and Yoonhee that he’ll talk to his father to release Sunjoon, and he leaves to his father’s house. But his father doesn’t listen to him. Jaeshin threatens that if Sunjoon is not released, he will reveal himself as being the Hong Byeok Seo. To prevent Jaeshin from doing that, his father has his guards forcibly take him and lock him in a separate room so that he cannot get out.

Seeing that Jae Shin is not returning, Yoon Shik and Yong Ha decide to rescue him.]      

[Note: Most of the texts were summarized by the translator, and this is an English translation of a Chinese translation of the novel so it is really far from the original work…]

Even though this was a night-time incursion, our great Yeorim never forgot about taking care of his clothing, magnificent as if he were to go to a festival (Note: translated from “drinking liquor while admiring the moon” which may refer to the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival). Yoonhee, Yongha, Soondol, with the help of an acquaintance of Yongha finally managed to break into Jaeshin’s mansion, and miraculously brought Jaeshin out. Soondol was in charge of carrying Jaeshin on his shoulder, the four of them running toward Sungkyunkwan as if their lives depended on it. Only after a good while, did they come to a halt. Yoonhee, feeling breathless, started to have a heaving fit. But no one took notice of the tightly bound Jaeshin, who still had a piece of cloth stuck in his mouth, mumbling undecipherable words. Yongha, only noticing now, immediately took out the piece of cloth in Jaeshin’s mouth.

“Yah! Are you all idiots?! You want to die?!”

Yongha stuck a finger in his ear to rub it, and said to Yoonhee:

“Hey, Daemul. Should we stuff the mouth of this guy again?”

“Please stop joking, and quickly untie him. It must be uncomfortable for someone like him to be tied up like this (Note: translated from “a temper like his to be tied up, it must be uncomfortable”, meaning it doesn’t fit his personality, and must be hurting his pride.).”

 “The first things that come out of this mouth are ‘You want to die’? Aah, what an ungrateful fellow!”

“How can I not be angry? What’s the point of saving all this money of yours? It would have been better if you fetched some guys to help me out. Daemul aside, even with Yeorim in this, you still managed to bring me out (Note: Yeorim is even weaker than Daemul in physical interventions, so he is often considered a hindrance. Jaeshin is underlining how miraculous the whole rescue was, thus insulting Yeorim.). Look at your clothes.”

Yongha, who was about to untie the ropes on Jaeshin, suddenly stopped.

“Aigoo! It looks like our Geol-roh is tied down.”

Jaeshin, seeing Yongha’s peculiar smile, became imperceptibly uneasy, and quickly asked:

“Yah! What’s wrong with you? What do you mean by that?”

“Hehehe, such a rare opportunity. Daemul, you must have a lot of resentments these days. Quick, take this chance to let them out.”

“I’m fine. Yeorim sa-hyung, you take time and enjoy this to the fullest.”

“Hmm, things that normally cannot be done to this guy, what are they?”

“Yah, Yeorim! If you dare to do anything to me, then I’ll make sure to return it back faultlessly! Aah!”

Stupefied, Yoonhee and Soondol’s body turned stiff at once.

Yongha forcibly grabbed Jaeshin’s head, kissing him firmly and deeply on the mouth! After a moment, Yongha released him, smiling to a frozen, stiff as a rock Jaeshin, and said:

“As the saying goes, ‘a man’s word weights gold’ (Note: I couldn’t really translate this… It means roughly that a man should always keep his promises.), you have to make sure to return this back without a fault. If you back down, I will hate you.”

“T-t-this lunatic dared to-!” 

“True, you didn’t even brush your teeth these days, so I can understand you being so agitated. But don’t worry, my deep feeling for you will overlook this. Not even a bit of unpleasantness is felt. Rest assured.”

(Note: The play on words is the whole point of this scene. With ‘lunatic’, Yeorim came up with another interpretation: ‘being crazy because he kissed someone who didn’t shower or even clean himself for several days’. Then, Yeorim says that he will use his deep feeling [for Geol-roh] in order to be lenient/indulgent on this fact. In the Chinese translation, the word used for ‘lenient’ also means to contain or to hold. Thus the materialization of his feeling, the word used and the tendency of the sentence created an image that couldn’t be translated here: it felt as if Yeorim was embracing Geol-roh, covering him with his deep feeling to prevent him from being hurt. The whole thing turning condescending with the current situation.)

“Hurry up and untie me! You’re sure to die by my hand!”

“To be able to die by your hand is also a kind of an exhilaration filled with passion! But before that, you must absolutely keep your promise from earlier. With things already like this, being here won’t do, first go brush your teeth, find a place that sets the mood… …”

Yoonhee, watching the grotesque show of the two guys, thought about the “great things” that they actually have to achieve in the future, and felt a headache rising.

“Soondol, use all of your strength and hit the two sa-hyung.”

“All of my strength? Meaning, killing them would be fine?”

Jaeshin and Yongha immediately calmed down. In fact, Soondol’s fists were even bigger than Yoonhee’s head (Note: Soondol is like a giant in the novel). And like this, neither of the two dared to make a sound, quietly following behind Yoonhee.

________

  

The three of them then started to plan how to rescue Sun Joon. But Jae Shin, not wanting to put Yoon Hee in danger, gave to her a lighter work to do in comparison. Leaving behind a dissatisfied Yoon Hee alone in Sungkyunkwan, the others thus following the original plan walked towards the streets.

“Geol Oh sa-hyung! Wait!”

Yoon Hee came up running, panting heavily.

“What is the meaning of this? Shouldn’t this kind of work be given to the even-more-useless-than-me Yeorim sa-hyung?”

“You promised me earlier, did you not?” (Note: translated from the affirmative “how did you promise me just now” which leaves the questions silent but demands explanations, and is more authoritative.)  

“It was because at that time I didn’t know about the details yet. If you want me to comply with this promise, Geol Oh sa-hyung has to comply with what he promised Yeorim sa-hyung yesterday as well.”

(Note: in Yoon Hee’s sentences, the “you” is in a polite/respectful form, thus the use of formal speech. Because Jae Shin is older and is her senior, Yoon Hee uses the polite form. However, in this context, it becomes ambiguous as it could be used to make fun of Jae Shin, and also to retort back.)

“What did you say?! How can that thing and this one be put together?”

“Are they any different? If you kiss Yeorim sa-hyung right here, right now, I will follow your words obediently.”

“Huh? On my lips? Daemul, you’re great! (Note: translated from “the things that you are saying are so nice/smart” emphasizing on her way with words and her intelligence) So, what has to be done needs to be done, of course. Come on, let’s do it!”

Yong Ha, pouting his lips, leaned toward Jae Shin’s face. Jae Shin hesitated for a moment, then seemed to have made up his mind, and grabbed Yong Ha’s face.

“If I kiss him, you have to be obedient and return to Sungkyunkwan. You understand?”

Having said that, Jae Shin really stretched his lips forward. But before the lips touched, Yoon Hee said weakly:

“Please stop, that’s enough.”

Jae Shin immediately pushed Yong Ha away, while Yong Ha cried out with a sniveling face:

“How is this enough? Please stop? Oi, Daemul, how can a man go back on his words?”

Yoon Hee ignored Yong Ha.

“To prevent me from following you, you even resorted to do this kind of thing. I really didn’t know that I was that much of a hindrance. You’re making me feel very miserable.”

Yoon Hee coldly turned away.

“Is there such a principle as giving something and taking it back in this world? Daemul, tell him quickly to continue!”

Yong Ha shut his mouth the same moment, because, standing next to him, Jae Shin’s whole body was emitting dangerous vibes.

“T-that’s not it, what I meant to say was… … J-just joking. You know already that I really like making jokes, don’t you? Hahaha.”

But this wrath was not caused by Yong Ha at all. Jae Shin took a while to push it down, before going after Yoon Hee. Yong Ha sighed.

“I don’t want to see a hurt wild horse either, it would have made people feel better if he yelled and shouted.”

________

[Translator’s note:  Following the previous scene, the three of them (Jae Shin, Yoon Hee and Yong Ha) manage to convince the authorities that Sunjoon is not the Hong Byuk Seo, and finally Sunjoon is released. Everyone's been through a lot, so try to paint the best you can how hard they all had it and how much they missed each other.]

"Garang is coming!"

Even before the messenger finishes his words, Soon-dol runs out the door of Sungkyunkwan to greet Sunjoon.

Even  though Yoonhee is in her male attire, she tries to tidy  her clothes and hat, so she is the last to come out of  Sungkyunkwan to welcome Sunjoon back. Before she knows it,  she can hear the noise of the crowd and see their smiles. She thinks  back to when he told her that he'd be back soon. Even  though it wasn't soon, he did come back, she thinks to  herself. She wants nothing more than to run into his  embrace, but the wall of students is so thick she can't  get past them.

Sunjoon looks around to the students who are all wearing  the same uniform--then he sees Yoonhee. As soon as their  eyes meet, he can see tears welling up in her eyes. She is  still stuck behind a group of students, trying to get past  them. Sunjoon feels tears coming up, himself. Was she  always that small, and was she always so thin? She is so  beautiful to him that he wants to wrap her in his arms,  and hide her so that no one else sees that she's a woman.  But out of politeness he remains stuck within the  students, who come one by one to welcome him back. It's  not that he didn't want to see them, it's just that she's  the one he wanted to see the most.

By the time Sunjoon's smile becomes more and more forced.  Jaeshin appears, having pushed away the students one by one.  Sunjoon is surprised, as he didn't expect him, but Jaeshin  surprises him by giving him a big hug. Sunjoon is shocked,  but not as much as all the other students watching.

"Thanks, for coming back in one piece."

This short phrase and his hug says more than they could.  When Jaeshin lets go of Sunjoon, Sunjoon automatically  looks towards Yoonhee again. He starts to go to her, and  just as he is about to reach her Yongha jumps into his  arms. Yongha, similarly stuck behind the crowd of  students, was eager to greet Sunjoon, and unaware that  he's getting in Sunjoon's way, holds on to Sunjoon, almost  tearing up.

Sunjoon smiles at Yongha, and then tries to go to Yoonhee  again, this time, determined to put his arms around her.  As soon as he reaches out his arms to meet Yoonhee's, the Daesasung (he's the school official who is always buttkissing in the drama) appears.

Expectedly, the Daesasung lingers long to converse with Sunjoon, and  Sunjoon, unable to betray his manners, stays put. About  the time the conversation ends, everyone is ordered to go to the cafeteria to accept the food and drinks bestowed by king.

Everyone becomes so busy arranging tables and food, that  Yoonhee and Sunjoon don't get a chance to even say a word  to each other. Thankfully they end up sitting next to one  another, but the timing to welcome each other is lost,  because it is too late to hug each other without anyone else thinking that it is strange. They can't hold hands,  because of the obvious. Both sigh as everyone drinks.

As the students drink, Sunjoon and Yoonhee get separated  even farther by a crowd of students who come to talk with  Sunjoon. By this point, Sunjoon starts to lose his  patience and thinks of a plan. He gets up to say, loud  enough that Yoonhee can hear, "I'm going to go for a walk  for a bit. I have some things to take care of..."

Yoonhee is aware of Sunjoon's intention, so she tries to  get up, but before she does so, a few students get up  along with Sunjoon, telling him that they will accompany  him.

"Ah! I forgot, I haven't even changed. I'll go by my room  first."

Thankfully, with that statement, the students sit back down and let him go. As soon as Sunjoon can't be seen,  Yoonhee gets up, but Yongha pulls her back down to sit.

"Hey Daemul! You had it pretty rough because of all this;  lets drink it all off!"

Even though he jumped in between Sunjoon and Yoonhee  unknowingly last time, he was definitely doing it on  purpose now.

"N-no, it's okay. I have to--"

She tries to get up again, to be stopped by Jaeshin.

"You should drink. It's wrong to refuse drinks provided by  the king, too. Drink just a little bit."

He passes a cup to her and pushes her to drink. Yoonhee, trapped between Yongha and Jaeshin, fails to follow Sunjoon.

When Sunjoon gets to Dongjae, Soondol is waiting for him  in tears. He goes on and one about how much he missed him,  and how worried he was. Sunjoon sighs. He wanted to hear  these words so, so much, but not from Soondol. It seems  like he's had more conversations with everyone but  Yoonhee; he hasn't gotten a chance to talk to her, or to  hold her or her hand. It's almost as frustrating, if not  more, than when he was imprisoned.

Sunjoon changes his  clothes, waiting, but she does not come.

Sunjoon, dejected, gives up and starts his way back to the feast. He's stopped by four men, who ask for Jaeshin.

[Spoiler alert: this has to do with Jaeshin's involvement in saving Sunjoon, so it might be confusing... At least, by this point the main crew know of his nighttime crusades as the Red Messenger.]

Sunjoon gets back to Yoonhee, who is sitting with Yongha and Jaeshin.

"Goel-roh Sahyung, there are servants asking for you back at Dongjae."

The three sitting down look at each other nervously. Jaeshin gets up, dusting off his clothes. Yongha tells him, "just go home for a little bit. You'll just get a beating, probably."

"But what if--" Yoonhee looks worried, but Jaeshin pushes her head lightly with his fist and says, "even so, I'm his son; it's not like he'll kill me. My house is close by, so I'll be back. See you later tonight."

"You're going home in a while, so stay there for a while. You should make up with your father..."

"I'm gonna come back soon! I can't miss classes, can I?"

And with these words, Jaeshin leaves.

The feast nears its close and Sunjoon and Yoonhee pretend to be tired. They start to leave, hopeful that they'll get some time alone, when Yongha decides to join them. Even Soondol is keeping watch in front of their room at Dongjae. Soondol and Yongha, excited about Sunjoon's return, go on about their adventurous rescue, mentioning what they did, what Yoonhee did... And Sunjoon's face starts to harden. Yongha realizes that Sunjoon is angry, and also that he and Soondol have said too much. Sunjoon is angry realizing the danger Yoonhee could have faced potentially.

He starts chastising Soondol. "The reason I sent you here to Sungkyunkwan was none other than to keep Daemul doryung safe!"

Yongha decides to flee the tense atmosphere, leaving the three after starting the mess.

Yoonhee doesn't say a word as Sunjoon yells at Soondol, because she knows that he is actually chastising her. But Yoonhee doesn't think she was wrong. She wants to think that he is yelling at Soondol so that Soondol will eventually leave to leave the two alone.

"Please stop; he didn't do anything wrong."

"He doesn't stop you, and on top of that he decides to jump into it to help! Did I send you here so you could do that?"

"I'm so sorry, doryunnim ("young master"). It was all my fault."

After a long talking to, Soondol is sent away back to Sunjoon's family. They were finally alone.

They both enter the room, and Yoonhee, nervous, sits carefully in front of Sunjoon. If_he were to hold her now, it would undo all the hardships they've had to face up till now. But even now, Sunjoon is still angry. He is even cold. Was he really angry? He_wasn't pretending? Yoonhee steals a glance at his eyes and they meet hers. They're cold.

"U-uh. Garang Hyungnim...."

"How can you be so careless? What would have happened if something were to go wrong?"

"But I couldn't just do nothing. And nothing went wrong..."

Yoonhee starts getting angry herself. Finally they're alone, and she feels that Sunjoon is ruining the moment. They should be crying and laughing, telling each other how glad they are to see each other. He should be thanking her for what she did, telling her that he'll remember it for the rest of his life. But what kind of situation was this?

"Garang Hyungnim! Is that something to get so angry about?"

"It's not about me being angry; its the fact that it makes the hairs on my back stand to think of you in that situation. You have to promise me. You won't do that again."

"I don't want to. If the same thing were to happen, I will do what I did."

The mood is tense, and the two are cold.

"I want to ask you one thing."

"I won't answer anything unless you promise me that you won't do something like that ever again."

"It's a matter of reason, of logic. What's worse? Losing your loved one and so ending your life, or risking your life to save your loved one before you lose him?"

"I'll ask you something too. It's not about logic, but about me. If something had happened to you because you were trying to save me, what would I do? Do you think that I could have gone living like that?"

The two are silent for a long time. This isn't anger. This is a silly lover's quarrel. To the two of them, it's wasting their precious time together. Yoonhee starts to smile. Sunjoon is unable to fight his smile and he goes to her, putting his arms around her. Yoonhee grumbles, "it wasn't as dangerous as you thought. I was mostly stuck here because Geol-roh sahyung threatened me to. I could have done better than Yeorim sahyung..."

Their hats touch. Their lips meet. Both pair are dry and rough. Sunjoon pulls away to look at Yoonhee, whose face, in the light, has bruises and scars that have not yet healed.

Yoonhee, unaware of the state of her face, looks questioningly at Sunjoon, who looks at her with mixed feelings of affection and worry.

Their lips meet again. Even though their lips are rough, the scent is still present and strong. After a long time, the two pull away and whisper the word they forgot.

"Thank you, for being safe."

"That's what I want to say. Don't take it away from me."

Sunjoon looks at Yoonhee as she responds. The answer makes him all the more aware of Yoonhee's presence as a woman, and with that thought, his hand goes to undo her clothes. His lips move to meet the undone ribbons of her clothes and Yoonhee reddens, not because of his hands or his lips, but because of the way he is looking at her. Sunjoon pulls away at his clothes and hers, and his hands find way to the woman's body hidden within. Yoonhee whispers to him carefully,

"They said the walls are really thin here..."

Sunjoon, without any words, takes off her hat and pulls the blanket over them to buffer them from the walls.

He can't see anything. He can only feel with his lips her lips, and he can feel with his hands her body. It's a summer night, and underneath the thick blanket, the two share their heat, overlapping their lips and their body. Sunjoon moves his hand to undo her underwear...

"Geol-roh Sunbaenim! You are back!"

The two jump when at the exclamation from outside their room. They kick away the blanket. They can hear Yongha running out to greet Jaeshin.

"Our Goel-roh! I'm so grateful you came in one piece, and real quick, too!"

"I told you I'd be back soon. Move! I'm going in."

Yoonhee is moving nervously trying to put all of her clothes back on, and Sunjoon says calmly, "you can just put on what you're going to sleep in. We can just say we were about to go to bed."

The two tidy their sleepwear and their hair, when the door opens.

"Welcome back, Gul-oh sahyung."

Jaeshin doesn't notice anything different and asks, "it's dark out. What were you guys doing, not even lighting the room?"

"The two of us were tired, so we were just going to sleep."

Yongha pops in.

"You guys are done?"

Yoonhee, startled, answers back. "D-done with what?"

"What? your quarrel, I mean."

We didn't even start," says Sunjoon. The discontent in his voice shows that he is obviously referring to something else, but only Yoonhee notices.

"Ah, it seems like Garang is still angry."

Jaeshin settles into the room and asks, "angry? you two fought?"

As Yongha explains everything to Jaeshin, Sunjoon's thoughts go to Bibokcheon (Yoonhee's bathing place), where at late hours, he and Yoonhee won't be interrupted. After listening to Yongha telling Jaeshin about Sunjoon finding out how he was rescued, Sunjoon bows to the two. "I'm sorry that it's so late. Thank you. For going through so much for me, and keeping Daemul safe.

"If you're thankful to us, why did you get angry at Daemul?"

Jaeshin's tone is grumpy. "And is Daemul yours or something? I did it out of my own accord; I don't know why you have to thank me for keeping it safe. Hmph! It makes me kind of angry, really."

"I'm sorry if it sounded that way."

"There's nothing to be sorry or thankful about. It was all for me, anyway. I should probably be the one thanking--well, let's just omit formalities. We don't need it, our relationship."

Yongha asks, "relationship? What kind of relationship is that?"

"H-Hey! I won't be the one to talk about being friends and stuff like that! Dammit!"

Jaeshin scratches a his neck--even though it is dark, it is obvious that his face is red. He is aware of it as well, so he spits out, "Ey! I shouldn't have done it. I could have just used this chance to get rid of you for good, Garang. Why did I give it up? It would have been like sneezing without getting my hand dirty."

Jaeshin looks at Yoonhee, who is smiling widely. He continues grumbling, "I was crazy. I lost my chance."

As though it was getting hard to look at her face, Jaeshin turns his back to her. Yongha laughs and changes the subject. "Anyway, what happened when you got home? Was he really angry?"

Jaeshin points to his butt. "Ask this."

"Eh! Beat with sticks?"

"Try bats."

"Lets see how much you were beat. Show us."

Jaeshin pushes away Yongha, who seems like he'll actually pull down his pants. Sunjoon and Yoonhee laugh out loud at the sight, but underneath his laughter, Sunjoon's insides burn with the desire of being with Yoonhee. He's sorry he didn't take her to Bibokcheo where he could have quelled the heat of his desire for her.