By Zephyria 
59
Ho-eun’s eyebrows quirked upward.
“Home?”
“Yes.”
“Who said that?”
“You did.”
“I did?”
“Uh-huh.”
“……”
Ho-eun’s eyelashes fluttered. When did I say that? Did I say it in my sleep? Did I call for my parents while I was sick? I don’t remember, but it’s possible. It’s only natural for a child to look for their parents when they’re sick.
“I must have said it unconsciously while I was ill. I’m not going anywhere.”
Ho-eun slowly shook his head.
“I can never trust the words of a yangban.”
Tae-muk didn’t believe him.
“……”
Ho-eun’s brow furrowed slightly, then smoothed out. That damn yangban, yangban, yangban. Tae-muk himself was a general, a man in the great position of Senior First Rank, at the very top of the hierarchy, right below the king, yet Ho-eun couldn’t understand why he always criticized the yangban.
Ho-eun swept his disheveled hair back. Then, with a clear gaze, he stared at Tae-muk.
“If that’s what you think, then I will go.”
“Go where?”
“I mean I’ll go back home. What good is keeping a yangban you can’t even trust by your side— Ah!”
Tae-muk grabbed Ho-eun’s hair and yanked him back. Then, he put one knee on the cot, half-climbing on top of Ho-eun. Bending his massive back, he met Ho-eun’s gaze forcefully. His dark eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
“You are my Bondmate.”
“……”
“Which means you are mine.”
“……”
“So you can’t go anywhere without my permission. Even if that place is your home.”
Tae-muk, who already had a low voice, lowered it even further as he growled. Then, as if realizing his words were wrong, he wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
“No, you don’t have a home anymore. This place, by my side, is your home. Remember that clearly.”
“……”
For once, Ho-eun didn’t say anything. He didn’t react much at all. He wasn’t scared, nor was he horrified. He just stared at Tae-muk with strangely twisted eyes.
Sensing something was off, Tae-muk frowned slightly. In that instant, Ho-eun grabbed Tae-muk’s Durumagi. Then, without fear, he pulled him closer. After that, he asked in a calm but firm voice.
“You don’t want me to leave, do you?”
“……What?”
“You don’t like the idea of me leaving, do you?”
In Ho-eun’s eyes, a similar glint to Tae-muk’s was seeping in.
Tae-muk might have a near-obsessive desire related to his Bondmate, but Ho-eun had a similar desire.
The desire to be acknowledged.
The desire to be useful.
That was what had dragged Ho-eun away from his peaceful home and all the way to this battlefield teeming with Devouring Ghouls. It was something he craved so much that he was willing to risk death.
“I’m… a necessary person to you, General?”
To someone as great as you, I’m a necessary existence? Ho-eun pulled Tae-muk closer again, pressing him for an answer.
“……”
Tae-muk neither affirmed nor denied it. He merely loosened his grip on Ho-eun’s hair. It was an ambiguous reaction, but for Ho-eun, the fact that he didn’t deny it was enough.
With a faint smile on his lips, Ho-eun released Tae-muk’s Durumagi. Then, placing his hand on Tae-muk’s chest, he said.
“In that case, I will stay by your side.”
“‘Stay by my side’?”
Tae-muk scoffed. He was dumbfounded by the presumptuous words. Ho-eun’s whereabouts were not for Ho-eun to decide. It was Tae-muk, his superior and his God of War, who would decide.
However, Ho-eun’s noble and upright demeanor didn’t diminish in the slightest. On top of that, he even made a brazen demand.
“However, there is one thing, one answer I must hear.”
“Answer?”
“Yes.”
“What answer?”
“Tell me the reason why that yangban man had to be killed in the village.”
At those words, the expression slowly washed off Tae-muk’s face.
“It wasn’t originally a place where people lived. It was a ruin with a few abandoned thatched-roof houses.”
“Then when did people start living there?”
In response to Ho-eun’s request to know the reason why the yangban man was killed, Tae-muk stared intently at Ho-eun, then handed him his pants. Then, he plopped down on the floor and put a cigarette in his mouth.
Ho-eun, wearing the pants, slid off the cot and took a seat facing him. The cot with its thick bedding was comfortable, but it wouldn’t be polite to look down on him from above, so he came down. He didn’t have time to tie up his hair, so he just tucked it behind his ears.
Ho-eun bent his knees and leaned his back against the cot. Originally, he should be sitting upright, but his body wasn’t in a condition to do so. Fortunately, Tae-muk didn’t scold Ho-eun for it.
“Since the Crimson Rain Brigade made this their base.”
“How long has that been?”
“About three years.”
Tae-muk narrowed his eyes as if estimating the days that had passed. Ho-eun pressed strength into the corners of his lips, then released it as he thought. It was originally a ruin, but after the Crimson Rain Brigade moved in, people settled there and cultivated fields, huh…
“Did they think they would be safe from the Devouring Ghouls because the Crimson Rain Brigade was here?”
“Probably.”
“But it doesn’t seem like the distance was close enough to be safe. Even if it was close, the Crimson Rain Brigade can’t protect them, can they?”
“Yeah. But they probably wanted us to protect them.”
“The villagers?”
Ho-eun frowned. He had said it repeatedly, but the Crimson Rain Brigade’s purpose wasn’t protection. It was subjugation. Did they try to keep the Crimson Rain Brigade by their side and use them as personal soldiers? Did they ask them to protect them on their way back and forth?
It didn’t make sense. Why would they try to live outside the town?
The town was surrounded by a strong wall, and there was a separate unit guarding it, so they didn’t have to encounter Devouring Ghouls. To build a residence in this wasteland, leaving behind a safe fortress, was a dangerous and foolish idea.
But Tae-muk shook his head.
“Not the villagers.”
“Yes?”
“That dead bastard.”
“……Yes?”
Ho-eun blinked rapidly. If it was the dead bastard, did he mean the yangban man? What did he want? Did he want the villagers to live there, or did he want the Crimson Rain Brigade to protect them?
“What… do you mean…”
Tae-muk took a deep drag from his cigarette and released it. Then, he stared at the imperial map hanging on one side of the tent and continued speaking.
“It’s expensive to buy land in town to cultivate fields.”
“Yes, it is.”
It seemed like the topic had shifted, but Ho-eun didn’t question it. He didn’t think Tae-muk was the type to beat around the bush, and he figured he was saying it because it was necessary.
He knew that land in town was expensive. The territory of the Great Han Empire reached from the end of the sea to the beginning of another sea, but not all of it could be called the Empire’s territory. On paper, it was the land of the Great Han Empire, but in reality, it was safe to say it was the land of the Devouring Ghouls. People couldn’t live anywhere except in towns guarded by soldiers.
So, naturally, farming had to be done in town, but the land was limited, so its value was like buying the sky. But what did this have to do with the villagers?
“But the lowly are cheap.”
“……Yes?”
“……”
Tae-muk didn’t say anything more. As if he had said all he needed to say, he just exhaled cigarette smoke. Ho-eun slowly blinked and carefully repeated his words.
‘Land in town is expensive. But the lowly are cheap.’
At some point, Ho-eun’s eyes widened as if they would fall out. His neck also stretched out. He even leaned his upper body towards Tae-muk.
“Could it be… that the dead man, he sent those villagers there? Because land in town is expensive, he told them to farm outside the town?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, what if people die? No, they already died, but…”
“The lowly are cheap, I’m telling you.”
“What does that mean… Are you saying he buys… people again and sends them?”
Ho-eun’s mouth fell open slightly. That meant he sent them knowing they would die, didn’t it? No, he sent them to die, didn’t he? How was that different from murder?
Ho-eun’s delicate jaw trembled slightly.
“H, how could…”
How could a person do such a thing to another person… With a mournful look, Ho-eun shifted his weight to the other side. He straightened the knees he had been gathering, then bent them again. It was an unconscious action. Because the floor was too hard.
The military tent had a wooden platform laid on the bare ground, and various things, including a straw mat, were piled on top of it, but it was by no means soft. It was an uncomfortable place for Ho-eun to sit in his current condition.
However, Ho-eun didn’t notice the discomfort. His mind was filled with thoughts of the dead villagers.
But suddenly, Tae-muk jumped up. Before Ho-eun could ask where he was going, he left the tent and brought back a cushion from somewhere. It wasn’t made of silk, nor was it intricately embroidered, but it looked quite soft and thick.
Tae-muk slapped the cushion with his palm to dust it off and placed it next to Ho-eun. Then, as if nothing had happened, he sat down again opposite Ho-eun.
“……”
Ho-eun stared blankly at the cushion. He looked at it again and again, wondering if he was really giving it to him to sit on. But no matter how he looked at it, it seemed like it was for him, so he quietly pulled it under his buttocks.
“Th, thank you…”
Ho-eun gave his thanks with a bewildered expression. It was none other than Tae-muk who had ravaged his lower body, but he was receiving what seemed like service from him, so he felt strange.