Ch 326 - The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel

### Gi Mun - Part 2 "Did you cry again?" Within the highest class of brothels, in a room specially prepared for a particular courtesan, Cheong Gi, who was renowned even among the elite establishments, addressed the pink-haired courtesan with whom he was familiar. "No, I didn't cry." "Take a look at the mirror and tell me that. Your makeup's all smudged." In the mirror, Lim Ha Yeon's eyes and cheeks were a mess, stained by tears. "...Did he return safely? Was he hurt in any way?" After a moment of hesitation, Lim Ha Yeon asked the courtesan again, unable to shake her worry. "I've heard from others as well; he was safely moved to the inn." "That's a relief." At Cheong Gi's reassuring words, Lim Ha Yeon finally let out a sigh of relief. Yesterday's incident with the sect was undoubtedly madness. If the escape had continued as it was, Kang Yun Ho would have surely faced great danger. Her safety and Kang Yun Ho's well-being. Which would she choose? Even though she disliked returning to her life as a courtesan every day, at that moment, the scale in her heart tilted towards him rather than herself. "Later, Gi Mun Hyang Joo will come to see you. You should report what you saw in detail again and await further instructions." "Yes. I'll explain everything clearly once more." Not all hope was lost. Her testimony about the umbrella attack—though Simun seemed unable to find evidence, it could be different for the victim, Gi Mun. If so, she could shake off the false accusation of being a runaway courtesan. Even if she had to return as an apprentice courtesan, there was still a sliver of hope that she might meet him again. "Once you finish explaining the umbrella attack, you should prepare to start taking your share as a courtesan." Prepare to host guests as a courtesan. At Cheong Gi's indifferent comment, the little hope she had crumbled into pieces. Cheong Gi, looking at the devastated Lim Ha Yeon with pity, left the room. To entertain guests. Not as an apprentice courtesan. She had to become a courtesan. Lim Ha Yeon buried her face in her hands, overwhelmed by despair. "I hoped this day would never come..." Months of effort alongside him, to avoid becoming a courtesan, had all turned to naught in an instant. Yet, more than that, the most desolate fact for her was— "Why did I waste my time with him?" It was too late. Far too late. Why had she spoken so late? She had squandered their time together on a ridiculous misunderstanding, waiting for him to confess first out of misplaced pride. She had thrown away the precious time they could have shared, time that would never return. "I am so foolish." Lim Ha Yeon's eyes filled with tears once again. Her vision blurred as the water pooled, obscuring her sight. Just as tears once shed can't return, she would never hear a reply to her confession to Kang Yun Ho. That fact tore at Lim Ha Yeon even more deeply. --- "I am here to escort you." A warrior wearing a conical hat opened the door to Lim Ha Yeon's room. "Is it to see Gi Mun Hyang Joo? I'll get ready." "No. We are going elsewhere." The warrior replied to her with a voice laced with gravity. "Then—It can't be!" To entertain a guest right away? She thought she had more time to prepare. Lim Ha Yeon was rendered speechless by the surprise. "Please quietly follow me." "I-I am still an apprentice courtesan." "You must come quietly." The warrior's voice was firm, despite Lim Ha Yeon's flustered tone. "I—I have someone waiting." To avoid being taken, Lim Ha Yeon grasped for a feeble excuse. "Who might that be?" "The one..." Gi Mun Hyang Joo? Cheong Gi, who had just spoken to her? Who was she waiting for? Her thoughts were suddenly filled with the image of a single man. "Could it be?" The warrior's voice, which had been deep, lightened with a hint of a smile. "What?" A voice too familiar. A smile she knew too well. It couldn't be. Lim Ha Yeon, eyes wide with shock, looked up, her eyes widening even further as the face under the conical hat gradually came into view. "Is it me you're waiting for?" Beneath the hat was a face she had longed to see, smiling down at her. "You?! How did you get here?" "I came, of course, to take you away. Let's go." Lim Ha Yeon silently gazed at the hand Kang Yun Ho extended toward her. She wanted to seize that hand immediately, to run away with him. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to grasp it. "I can't return." Thank you for coming. "First, let's get out of here." Thank you for not giving up on me. "What happened last night will only repeat itself." I want to go with you. I want to return to my daily life. "This time, I've brought reinforcements." "I can't keep burdening you." Though she hated to admit it, it was true. Living with Je Gal So Jeo might be better for him. Lim Ha Yeon couldn't say the words. "Ha Yeon So Jeo." "Yes." "Tell me your true feelings. Your makeup is smudging." The person she so desperately wanted to see. The man she wanted to confess her true feelings to upon reuniting. The man she wanted to hug immediately. Yet she hadn't uttered a single word of her true feelings. Her sincerity flowed out through tears, streaming down her face. Kang Yun Ho gently raised his hand, brushing her cheek with a look of compassion. Could she really say it? Could she truly speak her selfish desires? His touch made it feel like she could say anything. Finally, Lim Ha Yeon's heart spilled over. "Save me." "I shall save you." "I don't want to become a courtesan." "I have no intention of letting you become one." "I want to be by your side." "Wasn't there always a place for you?" "You truly are!" Her laughter and tears mingled. Bursting forth were her true feelings and the love she bore for him, leaving her face a mess. "Thank you for waiting. Let's go." Lim Ha Yeon once again took hold of Kang Yun Ho's hand. This time, she didn't want to let go of the hand filled with his warmth. ************** Finally rescued her. Disguised as a delivery person in the brothel, transformed into a warrior to get to Lim Ha Yeon's room. "First, secure Lim Ha Yeon." Thanks to the distraction caused by the people of Simun Hyangju, acting under her orders, it was easy to rescue her. "Wow. We pulled it off." "Youngest, you're here? You're late." "Thank you. But what's going on here?" Weren't they supposed to block the passage to prevent Gi Mun's warriors from coming? I expected a fierce standoff or even a sword fight, yet there they were, keeping their distance from one another in the corridor, sipping tea, one group at a time. "Once we secured the target, we resolved things verbally. We're not like the Do Mun group; it doesn't end in a sword fight between members of the same sect." "Oh... I see." Seems like Do Mun is the only group notorious enough for things to escalate to a sword fight. "Simun Hyangju mentioned she'd be a bit delayed. You should go ahead in first." "Where to?" "Gi Mun Hyang Joo is looking for both of you." Really? We've just secured Lim Ha Yeon through all this effort, and now we're both supposed to go before Gi Mun Hyang Joo? The people of Simun dismissed the situation, like teachers casually sending students to the principal's office. "Wouldn't it be better for Ha Yeon So Jeo to stay here?" "It's okay. I was expecting you'd come for me eventually." While trying to process it all, a familiar courtesan approached me. "We met last night, didn't we?" "Both of you, please come with me. Gi Mun Hyang Joo is requesting your presence." Should I really follow them? For a moment, I hesitated, but eventually nodded at the beckoning of the Simun people. --- "Hyangju, I've brought Kang Gongja and Ha Yeon." "Let them in." In the expansive room, the air was saturated with a heady mixture of fragrance and incense. In the center, past the numerous mink pelts spread across the floor, sat a woman in a place that seemed both like a chair and a bed. The leader of the courtesans of Hu Bei—Gi Mun Hyang Joo. Her attire revealed a boldly exposed thigh and upper chest. Unsure where to rest my gaze, I looked at her face. She appeared both mature and filled with a decadent allure as she gazed back at me. 'Is she really in her 50s as rumored?' She couldn't possibly look older than her late 20s. Could she have mastered Juansul, the anti-aging technique essential among courtesans? Gi Mun Hyang Joo deeply inhaled from her long pipe, then addressed us. "Once you’re done playing house, you should return home. How rude it is to cause a disturbance in someone else’s house." Maybe it was the long pipe or her past, but her voice, which might once have been pure, was now raspy and struck my ears. Alright, let's do this. I deliberately moved Lim Ha Yeon behind me and stepped forward. "In relationships, isn't it common to start with playing house and end up holding hands under the same roof?" Start lightly. Engage with a firm resolve but avoid confrontation. "Throwing oneself into a fleeting blaze only leaves scars." "If I can pull a woman out of her suffering in the fire, then the scars I bear would be a small price to pay." I'd enter flames if it meant saving Lim Ha Yeon. I said, smiling. "You won't concede a single word." Gi Mun Hyang Joo eyed me critically. "If you take heed of my request, I will gladly fall silent." "Return quietly. I've summoned that portly, stubborn shopkeeper here. He’ll propose a resolution for that child's concerns." "I'm afraid your proposed solution might not suit my taste." I barged in because I wasn’t satisfied with whatever arrangement you’d decide. "Then what solution do you seek?" "I want to erase her from this drama of a courtesan’s life." "Do you think it's just a matter of paying money to settle this?" "If Simun Hyangju and you could lend assistance, I'll handle the rest." Resolve the runaway courtesan issue and make her an apprentice again, something I consider achievable. "If you don't want to become the target of the Do Mun's reckless actions, you should step back." "I wouldn't have come here unprepared for that possibility." I put aside my smile and conveyed with steadfast determination that I would not back down. The hardened, doll-like gaze of a courtesan who has dealt with countless others skimmed over me in a moment. While her expression suggested she would never agree, I had no intention of retreating. I silently endured the gaze of Gi Mun Hyang Joo until she eventually relented. Did she step back a bit? Gi Mun Hyang Joo gave a derisive snort at me and took a puff of her pipe. "Sigh. Long ago, there was a man who came marching boldly into Gi Mun, just like you." As if recalling a bitter memory with each draw from her pipe, Gi Mun Hyang Joo murmured quietly. "......" "Before the flower even bloomed, he insisted on taking the tender bud as his woman. Do you know what became of that man?" "He lived happily ever after, I suppose." "As the love waned, he discarded the courtesan like an old slipper." "......" Perhaps her own tale? "When the fierce flames of passion die, the cold reality sets in. The man had a woman of noble standing waiting at home, and he realized he had to present the courtesan he had taken to her." "I am not like that." Concerned about Jegeal Hyang, it's still a contractual relationship at this stage. "Flowers are happiest when they remain in the flower bed. It's harsh enough that you've left a lifelong footprint on that child's heart. Don't ruin her further by picking her and causing more wounds. Your courage today, as disruptive as it is, will be forgiven, so return." "This is not mere folly of a moment." "Can you truly protect that child forever? Raised in a gyobang, she's learned nothing but to please men. She will be utterly useless in the outside world!" Gi Mun Hyang Joo's voice rose angrily at my reply. I understand what she's saying. Lim Ha Yeon came knocking at the doors of the gyobang out of hunger. If I foolishly swoop in to take a courtesan away only to abandon her, a harsh fate awaits her. "You're mistaken about one thing." "What?!" But this case is different—how little you know of Lim Ha Yeon. "Ha Yeon So Jeo is a woman who wakes at the crack of dawn and works until the latest hours of the night. Sometimes she might grumble, but she is responsible and empathetic, overflowing with kindness and consideration. Everyone who works with her speaks highly of her, and her absence is missed more than anyone else's." "..." For the first time, Gi Mun Hyang Joo's lips parted, showing a hint of surprise. "This is a woman who never learned to cook, yet now she can make a delicious kimchi stew for me. Though she doesn't often express affection outright, she does show her jealousy freely. And she’s the sort who, after a hard day, would quietly cover me with a blanket when she thinks I'm unaware." "How do you, how do you know that?!" Lim Ha Yeon looked at me, utterly startled, eyes wide. I had sensed it from her secret diary a while back. Of course, that fact isn't what matters now. "Gi Mun Hyang Joo, she is a woman who belongs by my side, more than in a garden of flowers." I'm not here to pluck a flower from her garden. I simply want to see her placed where she truly belongs. I spoke to her with sincere tones. "Everyone says such things." "I'm not here because of reckless passion; I'm here to take responsibility for her." "To take responsibility, you say?" "The vow of a man who promises to take responsibility for a woman's life is etched in his heart. A promise made with a pinky will vanish the moment hands part, a reckless passion will burn out and disappear, and a flower will wither if plucked. But the vow etched into a man's heart does not fade." "A vow etched into the heart... does not fade." "Please help me take complete responsibility for her life." I slowly bowed my head to Gi Mun Hyang Joo. There were still things I hadn't fully confessed to her yet, things I had yet to say. But one resolve remained unwavering. That night, when she came to my room in tears, the night I decided to free her from her fate as a courtesan, I had decided to take responsibility for her life from that very moment. When I raised my head again, Gi Mun Hyang Joo's lips curled into a slight smile. Did it reach her? "To brazenly take away a child others have raised for years... you certainly take after your father." Gi Mun Hyang Joo's unexpected words caught me off guard. "What?" "And charging forth recklessly for love... you take after your mother." "You know my parents?" What on earth was this? She claims to know my parents. "Though you may have been born in Joseon, your roots are here in Wuhan. How could I not know?" Born in Joseon, but conceived in Wuhan. This isn't the Kang family's story. Suddenly, a setting I had imagined flashed through my mind. The young days of the Tang family head. Hyang Ah, who was an apprentice courtesan in Wuhan. Their story began here, in Wuhan. "How... how do you know that?" Surrounded by a dense cloud of smoke from her pipe, Gi Mun Hyang Joo, with a mix of regret and longing, looked past my face, as if searching for someone beyond me, and asked. "Hyang Ah... did my pupil Hyang Ah return to Joseon to live happily?"