By Zephyria 
41
“I’m his Bondmate. I can be of some help. I brought a gu-, Gun, too.”
Ho-eun showed the Pistol he had tucked into his side.
“……”
Gil-sang looked up at Ho-eun with eyes that said he still shouldn’t go, but Dong-ja shook his head briefly.
“Leave him be. The young master is the Commander’s Bondmate. He has to go if he’s worried. Hey, Man-soo, if I went alone, would you follow me like the young master?”
“Of course. Aren’t we one and the same?”
Man-soo poked Dong-ja’s arm with his elbow and grinned. Dong-ja grinned back.
“……”
Gil-sang sighed and didn’t try to stop Ho-eun any further. He resumed eating.
Ho-eun, having received permission that wasn’t really permission, ran toward Tae-muk. His ankle, injured when he fell from the horse, throbbed, but he ran as hard as he could even with his limping gait. His Braided Hair fluttered.
Fortunately, he could see Tae-muk’s back not far away.
“General!”
Tae-muk didn’t turn around.
“Let me come with you, General!”
Ho-eun shouted again, wondering if he hadn’t heard him. But Tae-muk still didn’t respond.
“It’s, it’s Ho-eun!”
Ho-eun even said his name, wondering if Tae-muk didn’t know it was him following.
“It’s Ho-eun–”
Ho-eun, who had been shouting repeatedly, stopped for a moment and coughed, a heavy, muffled sound. His throat felt scratchy after shouting a few times. It was no wonder. Making such a loud noise was a very rare occurrence in his quiet life.
“……”
He swallowed dryly and looked at Tae-muk. But he never turned around.
Ho-eun, his lips tightly shut, stubbornly chased after him. But with his sluggish body and sprained ankle, it was impossible to catch up with Tae-muk, who was tall and had a long stride.
As time passed, Tae-muk’s back, which had been clearly visible, began to be obscured by the grass, appearing only intermittently, and soon disappeared completely. But Ho-eun didn’t give up and kept running.
He didn’t know why he was doing it. He just moved his legs as if he were possessed. He didn’t want to leave him alone. The man who had his head torn off and the stinking corpses were still vivid in his mind.
Or maybe it was because he was worried that something might happen to his only use, his safety, and that he would have to go back home.
Or maybe… he was just worried.
But in the end, Ho-eun lost Tae-muk. He couldn’t tell which direction Tae-muk had gone in the dense, all-encompassing grass. Even the faint smell of tobacco that had been tickling his nose was swept away by the wind.
“Haa, haa……”
Eventually, Ho-eun’s legs stopped abruptly. His face, breathing heavily, was quite flushed. Not because he was tired, but because he was angry.
Why doesn’t he turn around?
Why is he ignoring me?
Didn’t we get a little, a little closer?
We rode together, slept together, and even held hands. I know I’m useless, but I think I was at least a little, just a little, helpful as his Bondmate. Was I wrong? Does Tae-muk still hate me?
“……”
Ho-eun’s lips pouted. His eyes turned reddish, and the tip of his nose tingled.
It was the first time in his life that someone hated him so much. Everyone likes me. My mother, my father, my brothers, Deok-woo, and the other servants all like me. Even Gil-sang, Dong-ja, Man-soo, and Chilbok, whom I met here, seem to like me, but only Tae-muk is like that.
Only! Tae-muk!
“Do as you please!”
Ho-eun shouted out words he couldn’t even utter in front of Tae-muk. Then he turned around to go back to the group.
“Uh……”
The dense thicket of grass was right in front of Ho-eun’s nose. There was grass everywhere, to the left, to the right, and behind him. The tenacious grass had completely swallowed up the traces of Ho-eun waving his arms and pushing through. As a result, Ho-eun had completely lost his way.
If there had been a tree, he would have been able to recall its appearance as he passed by, but it was a continuous stretch of green grass with no distinguishing features, so he couldn’t find any differences. He couldn’t see any light either. It was all dark.
Did I come this way?
Or that way?
Ho-eun stepped with his left foot, then with his right foot again. But he couldn’t find his way.
Ah……. I’m lost.
The moment he realized that, his whole body went cold. Just then, the wind blew. The grass swayed slowly, making a rustling sound. It was a very eerie sound.
“……”
The pitch-black grass emitted a chill as if something could jump out at any moment. Ho-eun took out the Pistol from his side. And then he just stood there.
He didn’t know what to do. There was nothing he could do. He was afraid that a Devouring Ghoul would appear if he shouted. He was worried that he would get further away from the group if he just started walking.
“What should I do……”
Ho-eun stood there for a long time, unable to do anything. As he stood there, his fingers gripping the Pistol throbbed. His sprained ankle also hurt. His body temperature dropped, and his arms felt clammy. The fear grew bigger and bigger.
Ho-eun took a few steps back without realizing it. He took steps back without knowing where ‘back’ was. Then he tripped over a grass root and fell on his butt.
“……”
Ho-eun, startled by his own fall, aimed the Pistol to the left and to the right. But the only thing moving was the grass swaying in the wind. Ho-eun tried to get up again right away. But.
“Ah……”
His ankle was throbbing terribly. He hadn’t paid any attention to it since he had twisted it, and he had even run to catch up with Tae-muk, so the pain was no joke.
Ho-eun decided to just sit there. It didn’t seem to make any difference whether he was standing, sitting, or even lying down.
“Haa……”
The grass floor, which seemed to have never been touched by human hands, was cold and damp. He groped the ground for no reason. Just in case there were pieces of the corpses that the soldiers had moved earlier. He couldn’t sit on someone else’s precious body.
Fortunately, the only thing he could feel was a small pebble. Ho-eun took it out and sighed deeply. The future was bleak. He should have listened to Gil-sang when he told him not to go. What was he going to do if he got lost when he didn’t know how to do anything……. He was such a nuisance.
Ho-eun regretted his choice over and over again. Why did he follow him like a fool? Was he so thrilled with the illusion that he had become close to Tae-muk? He didn’t even turn around once.
“Still……”
He wouldn’t abandon me, would he? Even if Tae-muk did, wouldn’t Gil-sang come looking for me? Maybe Dong-ja or Man-soo would come looking for me.
No, what if they think I’m with Tae-muk? Tae-muk won’t go back to the tent until late at night or early in the morning. What if no one knows I’m gone until then?
He had a feeling that he might have to spend the night here. At the same time, a sharply honed wind blew through the grass.
“……Cold.”
Ho-eun folded his knees, huddled up, and held his breath. As he did, he idly wondered whether morning would come sooner or a Devouring Ghoul would come sooner. That was all he could do in this situation.
As time passed, his nose became numb with the cold. His hands were freezing, and his lips were dry. And he felt strangely sleepy. It was a different feeling from being sleepy at night. It was much heavier and thicker.
Ho-eun, blinking slowly, buried his face between his knees. But at that moment.
A strange sound came from the rustling grass. It was definitely a sound. The sound of parting and trampling grass. He couldn’t tell if it was the sound of a person, a Devouring Ghoul, or an animal.
“……”
Ho-eun, swallowing hard, aimed his Gun at the sound. As he did, he imagined the Devouring Ghoul that would soon appear, or wild beasts.
The sound was getting closer and closer.
Thud, thud. Squeak……. Thud, thud. Squeak…….
Ho-eun’s eyebrows twitched when he heard the sound. It was a familiar footstep. He slowly lowered the muzzle. At the same time, the grass was swept away.
“……”
Tae-muk appeared.
“……You’ve come.”
Ho-eun looked up at him with a strange expression. Tae-muk was looking down at Ho-eun without saying a word. He couldn’t tell what kind of expression he was making because of the bangs that covered his eyes. But it didn’t matter. It was probably expressionless anyway. Or maybe it was an annoyed expression.
Ho-eun stared at Tae-muk. His cheeks and chin were covered in blood. His hair was also shiny, as if it were soaked in blood. And in one hand, he was holding the headless corpse of a Devouring Ghoul. The squeaking sound was probably the sound of him dragging that lump of meat.
Tae-muk, looking like a grim reaper, was quite strange and scary, but Ho-eun wasn’t afraid. He just pouted his lips with a sulky, childlike expression.
Ho-eun didn’t think that Tae-muk had come to find him because he knew he was lost. He didn’t think he had found him by chance either. What were the chances of him and Tae-muk meeting by chance in such a wide and dark field of grass?
There was only one conclusion. Tae-muk must have known from the beginning how far he had followed him and where he had stopped. And then he came when he thought it was the right time.
He didn’t know how that was possible. But it wasn’t impossible either. Because it was Tae-muk. Because he was the greatest God of War in the Great Han Empire.