Part 3

The Stranger

[Yoonhee and SunJoon have finished their second exam]

[Before taking the exam, Soondol fought off other senjupkuns who wanted the place that he was saving for Sunjoon and Yoonhee. Sunjoon steps in and separates them, stating that he was there first. The other seonjpkins and their masters are not very happy.]

After turning in her exam paper, Yoonhee begins to have second thoughts. She's sorry that she took the exam; she's not sure of having passed it, and she thinks she wasted her time. If she hadn't been so greedy, she could have found a normal job and help out her family with the expenses, and be able to help Yoonshik. Why did she want more? Did she really think she could do it? Is she really there because of her family?

Yoonhee is not the only one asking herself these questions.  The students gathered there look lost, waiting for their test results and hoping to be admitted. Some even cry out loud. That makes her very sad, and she can't help crying too. Worried that Sunjoon might see her cry, she averted her eyes and bit her lips. She's trying to contain her tears because Sunjoon  is sitting next to her and is softly caressing her back. The sun has raised the temperature and his hands are very warm, but the tears don't stop. No matter how much she tries to control herself, she can't avoid crying even though she's dressed like a man.

When some elderly people passed by and saw Yoonhee crying, the whispered: "Why are all the young people crying? There are people like us from our generation who couldn't even get to take the exam."

Yoonhee wipes her tears, not because of what they said, but because she is ashamed to have been seen crying by Sunjoon. He comes close and whispers in her ear: "We each have our own reasons to improve our lot. The fact that we are young doesn't mean that we can be less strong that those elders, so go ahead and cry all you want. Yoonhee wants to lean on his shoulder to cry on, but the gat gets in the way. Instead, she looks at his face and when she sees his sincere smile, her tears begin to flow again. She can still feel the warmth of his hands on her shoulder and his calming aroma. She doesn't even worry about being outed as a woman right then; after all, after today, there will be no reason to see each other again. All that Yoonhee can hope for is that she can marry someone under 50 years old. She can't stop crying, she can't stop thinking how happy she would be married to someone like Sunjoon.

They leave the examination area and meet Soondol.

"Doryunmin, are you just leaving now? Oh! What's wrong with our pretty sunbinim?"

Soondol looks at Yoonhee's face in tears. Sunjoon covers his mouth with a fan and whispers to Soondol "Did you see the men you fought with before?"

"No, I didn't see them since I've been out here."

"Seriously?"  Sunjoon wonders about this, but he doesn't pay any more attention to it. The three of them arrive where the roads stop and divide. Sunjoon doesn't want to say goodbye so he invites Yoonhee to his house.

"My house isn't far from here. If you have time, I'd like you to come." Yoonhee would like to but she can't."

"Thank you for the invitation, but I don't feel well. Besides, there is something I have to do as soon as I get home.

"Sunjoon is crestfallen. For some reason he can't explain, he feels pretty desperate. "I don't want to let him go without us at least promising something to each other" he thinks.

"Then, I'll see you when the results are posted?"

"I don't know, I don't think my name will be there.

"That day, I'll wait for you. I hope to see you there."

"Yoonhee turns around and walks away quickly, while he looks at her until she's out of sight. Then, he turns and continues on his way.

"Doryunmin, the sunbinim seemed upset. I think he didn't do well on the exam."

"No, that's not it. He doesn't recognize his own talents since he's never studied among other classmates who could review his work.

"Does that mean he did well?"

"I'm not the examiner, so I can't say."  Sunjoon lowered his voice, and asked "Is anyone following us?"

"No, no one."

"That's strange, I didn't think they'd give up that easily.

Sunjoon stops suddenly. They've walked some distance but, what if...? Suddenly he starts walking in the opposite direction, and Soondol asks in a surprised tone:

"What's wrong? Do you have to ask sunbinim a question?"

"I think we weren't the target for those men. They could have gone after him!"

"Why? Why pick on sunbinim?"

"Because he's defenseless. They wouldn't dare attack me when you're with me!"

They rush to find Yoonhee, but they can't find her after they reach the spot where they said their goodbyes. They start walking down the road and ask the merchants, most of whom say the haven't seen him. They keep asking until an elderly man murmurs to himself. "They're probably looking for the one who took the exam, who didn't even have a mat." Sunjoo listens as the old man continues:

"That boy was so beautiful that no one could take their eyes from him."

Desperate, Sunjoon asks: "Where did he go?"

"It's possible he's not the one you're looking for. He wasn't alone. There were about 4 senjupkuns following him."

"Four seonjupkuns? I was right, they were following him" thought Sunjoon.

"W..where did they go? Do you know where they were headed?"

"I don't know. If I knew where people went just by looking at them, I'd making my living that way."

Sunjoon worriedly grabs his fan.

At the same time, Yoonhee begins to realize that there are men following her. They are the seonjupkuns who she saw walk out of the test site. She hadn't noticed that they had been following her all this time, because her thoughts were elsewhere. Soon it would be nightime and no one would be able to help her. She started to run, but a hand grabbed her.

"Hey, what should we do, when you start running suddenly like that?"

"Let me go!"

Yoonhee sees some people passing, but they pretend not to see her and continue on their way. One of the seonjupkuns looks at Yoonhee's face.

"Why are you following me?"

"Our masters weren't happy that you took their places, so they ordered us to follow you. If you resist, the other man you were with is not going to be feeling too good.

"He won't care; we hardly know each other"

Yoonhee begins to shake with fear. What if they really attack her and discover that she's a woman?

She doesn't even want to think about what they'd do to her.

"There's no way he'll come to help you tonight. He won't know. The news won't spread until possibly tomorrow. Hmmm...maybe he'll be glad he wasn't with you so that he didn't get hurt too."

"Don't insult him! You don't have his courage, even if you were a holy man."

As soon as Yoonhee says this, one of the seonjupkuns hits her face. With just one blow, blood flows out of her mouth, and she gets dizzy and nauseous.

"I've heard of the courage of those bastard noblemen. Shut your fucking mouth. We'll break your right arm so that you can't earn any more money. So shut up! Maybe we shut cut out your tongue too."

In spite of her dizzyiness, she heard them say they were going to break her arm. If she loses the use of her arm, it would be a terrible blow for her family. Her mother and brother would die of hunger. Yoonhee grabs one of them by the arm and bites as hard as she can. They throw her to the ground and she feels pain all over her body. She wants to get up but doesn't have the strength. But the seonjupkuns have stopped attacking her. Her eyes are set on another man. He's tall and well-built. But there's something strange about him. He's definitely a nobleman, but his hat and clothes are all torn, as if cut with a knife, and he's bloody.

He doesn't run away like the others. He's there observing the men who are after her.

One of the seonjupkums says: "Don't butt into other people's business, and leave." The strange man walks toward them and says: "I'll go." But when he walks by, he turns and smiles sarcastically: "You son-of-a-bitch. How can you follow a nobleman who's just walking along quietly?"

Immediately, he starts hitting them one by one and knocking them down. He puts his bare foot on the neck of one of the men on the ground, and smiles while he says: "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to beat all of you up. I've gone against gangs like you before. There's no reason why we have to fight over a sunbi that none of us knows. Are you just carrying out orders of those who are superior to you?"

The stranger goes up to Yoonhee and lifts her chin, moving her face to one side and then the other.

"Surely your superiors wanted this pretty sunbinim to have fun with, but the sunbi refused, right? Very well, I'll have my own fun with him. So now I can beat all of you, right?"

"Wh...what fun?" Yoonhee asks.

But the stranger keeps talking. "I'm going to take advantage of this sunbi after saving him from you, and then I'll go on my way. No better prize, right?"

The stranger doesn't seem to fear the gang's knives, or even death. Yoonhee gets up when the stranger starts to fight again against the men. Although the stranger said he'd take advantage of her after he finished with the seonjupkuns, she can't just run off when he's fighting to help her. So she picks up rocks from the ground and throws them towards the seonjupkuns. One of them takes out his knife and slashes the skin on the stranger's arm. Blood starts to flow, but to everyone's surprise, he just smiles and says:

"You've slashed my clothes. Now you'll have to assume the cost of replacing them." (While continuing to fight).

"Are you crazy? Your clothes were already slashed!"

"You're calling me crazy? Now you'll also have to pay for insulting a nobleman." (While continuing to fight).

The stranger doesn't stop fighting even though he's bleeding all over. The seonjupkuns keep falling with each punch, and soon start wobbling from the force of the stranger's blows. The stranger also seems to be getting exhausted. Yoonhee stops throwing rocks because the seonjupkuns suddenly start to back up. She sees a light behind her which temporarily blinds her. They are Sunjoon and Soondol. Even in this situation, Sunjoon is calm. She can't see his face because even though his hand is holding her, she's very scared. The men flee but one of them lunges towards Yoonhee with a dagger. Suddenly Yoonhee's eyes are covered  by Sunjoon's sleeve. She can't see what's going on, but Sunjoon covers her eyes and opens his fan to intercept the dagger. Then he closes the fan and twists it together with the man's hand. Then he kicks the man in the stomach. When he takes his hand off her eyes, she sees the man clutching his stomach in pain, and the dagger stuck in Sunjoon's fan. The seonjupkun on the ground gets up and flees. Sunjoon stops Soondol when Soondol tried to chase after him.

"Let him go." His voice is cold and furious. Even Soondol seems to be frightened of Sunjoon. He looks at Yoonhee's face. It's swollen and has red marks; there is blood on her mouth. He cleans the blood and touches her face.

Suddenly the stranger speaks: "How could anyone do this? Damn, I wasted my time."

Yoonhee turns towards the stranger. He's sitting down, his back leaning on a wall. She_runs to him and asks: "Are you okay?" No response. Surprised by the amount of blood, she lifts her sleeve and takes out a handkerchief she had made as a gift for Yoonshik.

"I thought you only looked like a girl, but you carry a hankerchief too, like a girl."

Ignoring him, Yoonhee cleans his blood. The stranger gets up and looks at Sunjoon, who bows in gratitude. But the stranger spits at Sunjoon. "Your appearance, your face, everything about you angers me."

Sunjoon's expression doesn't change, and he responds very politely "You are badly injured, you should be treated."

"I can take care of myself!" The stranger limps away.

"We are indebted to you, we shall pay you." says Sunjoon. The stranger turns around and faces him.

"From now on, I don't want to talk to you. Don't show your face in front of me again. That's how you'll repay me."

"Did I do something to annoy you?"

"Just repay it as I said."

After insisting that the only payment he wants is never to see Junsoon again, he walks off and disappears into the night.