By Zephyria 
115
It wasn’t that he intended to act immature in front of him. He just wanted to leave that possibility open, to ask for permission.
“……”
Tae-muk’s eyes narrowed. He licked the back of his lower lip with his tongue. After a short period of contemplation, he spoke with a sneer.
“Well, I know you’re a bit lacking, so I don’t care.”
This time, Ho-eun’s eyes narrowed at those words.
“Tch……”
He admitted that he was physically a little, no, a lot lacking. But his brain wasn’t lacking. He’d heard quite a few times that he was smart. Of course, it was his parents, or his brothers, or even Deok-woo who had said it, but anyway, he was definitely not stupid.
Ho-eun opened his mouth to argue, but then.
“……”
He closed it again. Looking back, he had done a lot of particularly stupid and foolish things in front of him, so it didn’t seem credible. If he babbled on, he would only be ridiculed.
Ho-eun sniffled once for no reason and stared ahead. During the short conversation with Tae-muk, the light had become noticeably closer. Then, at some point, it felt like the light enveloped his whole body.
“Wow……”
Finally, the town’s scenery came into view.
Ho-eun opened his mouth wide and admired it without reservation. It hadn’t been long since he’d been told not to show off to Tae-muk, but he couldn’t help it.
However, it wasn’t just Ho-eun who was impressed by the town’s scenery. The refugees with dirt all over their faces were also admiring it, without exception. It was an unavoidable sight.
The town was filled with lights.
Lanterns hung from every tree like apples, and lanterns of various shapes hung from the eaves of houses and buildings like icicles.
Above all, the highlight was that the stream flowing around the town was also filled with lanterns. The small and large lights moved rippling along the water, making it look as if fire was flowing instead of water.
“So many……”
So many lights. He could see why the walls were built so high and thick. If the walls were just a little lower, this light would spread far and wide and catch the eyes of the Devouring Ghouls.
While Ho-eun was absentmindedly looking around the town, Tae-muk drove the horse familiarly. He didn’t seem surprised, as if he had been here before. With his eyes fixed on the countless lights, Ho-eun asked Tae-muk.
“What is the name of this town?”
“Myeonghwa Town.”
“Myeonghwa Town…… Does that mean bright ‘myeong’ and flower ‘hwa’?”
“Probably.”
“A town where light blooms like flowers, it’s so beautiful. I never thought I’d see such a sight in my lifetime……”
Ho-eun’s eyes, filled with light, shone brightly. He was glad he had left the house. If he had just been sick in his room, he would never have imagined such a sight. Ho-eun looked around to the right and left, asking questions about everything he was curious about.
“Why is this place so bright?”
It was amazing that the night was so bright, but there were also a lot of people. It was as if everyone slept during the day and lived at night. He was thinking that it might be because it was still early evening, when Tae-muk gave an unexpected answer.
“It’s probably because they’re afraid of the night.”
“Afraid? Of the night?”
“Yeah. Because they don’t know what’s in the darkness.”
“Ah……”
Ho-eun’s mouth opened slightly. He had thought it was just light to ward off the darkness, but it was to ward off the fear hidden in the darkness. To them, the lights seemed to be like the bars stuck in the walls of their houses.
Thinking about it that way, the lights suddenly didn’t feel as beautiful as before. No, they were still beautiful, but, well, a little…… sad.
Ho-eun stared at the town with a more static expression than before. In the meantime, countless roads, alleys, and buildings passed them by.
[Myeonghwa High School], [Pungdeung Restaurant], [Jinang Fabric Store], [Hwayeong Pharmacy], [Joyang Store], [Stream Bookstore], [Myeongbaek Clinic], [Myeonghwa Post Office], [Gangbyeon Photo Studio]…….
Ho-eun was taking in each of the signs with lanterns hanging from them, when Tae-muk’s horse stopped not long after entering a narrow alley.
[Myeonghwa Inn]
It was in front of an inn.
Unlike the inns of today, which provide lodging and meals, the inns of the past were used to accept refugees and integrate them into the town. They found them homes, introduced them to jobs, and sent their children to school. The money needed to do this was paid for with taxes.
Tae-muk got off the horse first. Then, he naturally turned around and reached out his arm to Ho-eun. Ho-eun also grabbed Tae-muk’s shoulder familiarly and got off the horse with his help.
Ever since he had almost fallen headfirst into the ground while getting off the horse by himself yesterday, Tae-muk had been helping him get off.
Ho-eun, who landed lightly on the ground with his jade-colored clothes fluttering, brushed his Braided Hair back and asked.
“How many nights will we be staying here?”
“We’re not sleeping, we’re leaving right away.”
“……Right away?”
“Yeah. We’ve been away from the garrison for too long.”
“……”
Instantly, Ho-eun’s face darkened. Seeing this, Tae-muk tilted his chin.
“Why? Do you want to look around?”
Tae-muk had no intention of letting Ho-eun prance around in this light, but he understood how he felt. To a young master who had only lived in Hanyang, this scenery was bound to be amazing. Even when he saw a slightly large tree, or a clear sky, or a deep river, he would purse his lips and murmur in admiration, so how could he not be impressed by this?
But, contrary to expectations, Ho-eun shook his head.
“No. It’s just……”
“Just?”
“It’s just that I feel heavy-hearted thinking about having to part with the children tonight.”
He couldn’t take the children to the garrison with him. Even if he selfishly took them with him, it was still a battlefield. Frequent threats would prick at the children. It wouldn’t do.
So he had to say goodbye to the children today. He knew that the farewell would come, but he didn’t expect it to come so soon, so he was a little flustered and very tragic.
Ho-eun bit his lower lip for a moment, saddened, then composed himself and said quite bravely.
“Well, shouldn’t we be happy that we’re parting alive? If we’re alive, we can meet again someday……”
Even so, he kept squeezing the sleeves with his hands.
“……”
Tae-muk had no particular answer. Ho-eun felt like he was looking down on him, so he lowered his head, but Byeonguk, who had gone into the inn first, approached Tae-muk from behind.
“Captain, the innkeeper is waiting. Please come in.”
“Okay.”
Tae-muk, who answered briefly, took a step towards the entrance of the inn. Ho-eun was about to follow him naturally, but Tae-muk stopped and gestured behind Ho-eun with his eyes.
“You go over there and get something to eat.”
Ho-eun turned his head following his gaze. There were many refugees from Ramjae Town, as well as Jeong-woo, Jeong-i, and the girls. Instantly, Ho-eun’s eyelashes perked up.
“Ah, yes!”
He answered loudly and ran towards the girls without looking back.
“……”
Tae-muk stared at the fluttering jade-colored Hair Tie for a while, then went into the inn.
Ho-eun was sitting with the girls in the inn’s dining room. The inn was big. More than a hundred refugees could easily fit in the dining room.
The inn staff served warm soybean paste stew and barley rice. The barley rice was dry, and the soybean paste stew only smelled of soybean paste and had almost no solids, but the refugees hurriedly picked up their spoons. The girls did too. Ho-eun helped Jeong-woo, who was still clumsy with his spoon, eat.
The girls were busy eating, but they kept chattering to Ho-eun.
“Young master, did you see the lanterns hanging from the trees on the way here?”
“Yeah, I saw them. There were a lot of them.”
“Did you see the lanterns floating in the river?”
“Of course. I saw them too. They were really pretty.”
“If we live here, can we see those things every day?”
“I like it here much better than Ramjae Town. Ramjae Town is just windy, there’s nothing pretty about it……”
The girls were constantly admiring the scenery of Myeonghwa Town and chattering away. Suddenly, Jeong-i’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“Hey, what’s so good about this place? Our town is much prettier. It was so nice to be able to see the whole town from the top of the hill……”
“That’s true……. And there was always a wind blowing in the summer, so we never had a chance to sweat.”
The girls agreed, saying “That’s right, that’s right.” Then they took out their memories of Ramjae Town one by one, and soon became depressed. Ho-eun couldn’t comfort or soothe them, so he just quietly fed Jeong-woo. Then, Jeong-i asked Ho-eun.
“Young master, why aren’t you eating much? Are you sick or something?”
Ho-eun, startled by those words, shook his head.
“It’s nothing like that.”
He answered and deliberately took a big spoonful of rice. He had to tell them that farewell was coming. But he couldn’t bring himself to say it. He couldn’t burden the girls, who hadn’t even said goodbye to Ramjae Town yet, with another farewell.
Ho-eun sighed deeply through his nose and chewed the rice slowly. The dry rice scratched his throat.
After finishing the meal, Ho-eun took the girls and Jeong-woo to their assigned inn room. Then he came out of the room and asked the Crimson Rain Brigade soldiers about Tae-muk’s whereabouts. After a long search, he found Tae-muk sitting on the porch connected to the yard, smoking a cigarette. The sight of him in his military uniform was now as familiar as his father’s or Deok-woo’s back.
Ho-eun tiptoed and carefully approached Tae-muk. He didn’t know why he did that. No matter how much he tried to reduce his presence, Tae-muk would have known he was coming long before, wouldn’t he?
“Um…… General.”
Ho-eun swallowed dryly for no reason and called Tae-muk in a low voice.
“What.”
Tae-muk answered without turning around. He had a cigarette in his mouth, so his pronunciation was a little slurred. Ho-eun took another half step closer to him from behind.
“Can I go out for a while?”
“What for.”
“There’s something I want to buy before we go back to the garrison.”
“What is it.”
“Um……. This and that.”
“This and that what. Speak clearly.”
Tae-muk frowned and turned to look at Ho-eun. He looked annoyed with Ho-eun, who was beating around the bush. Startled, Ho-eun gathered his hands neatly below his abdomen. Then, with his eyes lowered, he spoke again in a small voice.
“I, I was thinking of buying clothes. I wanted to buy the children some clothes……. Or shoes……. Winter is coming soon, and I think they’ll be cold in the clothes they’re wearing now.”