Even My Life Is Yours Chapter 59

To her own surprise after being so nervous, Hongyo won the first round easily. Her opponent, whom she had greeted for the first time today, fell on his backside after just a few exchanges and raised both hands in surrender. Seeing this, Hongyo relaxed and, having mostly returned to her usual state, proceeded to the second round. After effortlessly claiming victory in the second round as well, Hongyo entered the third round, where the real competition would begin.

A total of twelve advanced from the first round, and half of them, six, from the second, meaning only three would advance from the R. Until the semi-finals, the matches were solely swordsmanship, and from the finals, the competition would span three events again.

Hongyo composed herself as she faced an opponent who did not give up points easily. She had seen the man in front of her almost every day at the training grounds. Even then, she had felt the man’s striking form was sharp, and in the match, he was indeed pushing forward aggressively.

Hongyo had just deflected a blow to the side. While at the dojang, there had been a senior who attacked relentlessly just like this. At that time, when she was busy just blocking the barrage of attacks, Gamyoung had given her a piece of advice.

‘If you keep getting dragged around like that, you won’t land a single hit.’

‘Then what should I do?’

‘What do you think an opponent who can’t keep up the exchange relies on? What else but his sword.’

And so, Hongyo continuously aimed for his wrist. There seemed to be no opening in an opponent who only attacked consecutively, but a large motion would surely create a gap. As Hongyo struck down on the wrist, the man, unable to block in time, dropped his wooden sword. At the same time, she pointed her wooden sword at the bewildered opponent’s throat, and it was over. The sound of the gong rang loudly throughout the arena, and Hongyo’s name was shouted out.

“Yeo-ga* Hongyo, pass!”

Hongyo caught her breath. She had been fine until the second round, but from a while ago, her breathing had been gradually getting more and more labored. Wiping the sweat with her forearm, Hongyo glanced at Gamyoung, who was seated in a chair on the high platform. I won thanks to you. Hongyo muttered inwardly. But Gamyoung wore a calm expression, perhaps judging that this level was an easy win.

“It was a good match.”

The opponent she had just competed against extended a hand. Hongyo looked at the opponent’s wrist, which was beginning to swell, and took it.

“The same to you. Uh, be careful with your wrist until the swelling goes down. It will go down quickly if you soak it in cold water regularly.”

At that, the man nodded, and he and Hongyo bowed to each other to signal the end of the match. With that, the third round was also over. Hongyo, gasping for breath that was strangely getting shorter, checked the results posted on the tournament bracket. Next to her name, which had just been added, was the name of the man who was rated the best in the swordsmanship class. And next to him, as expected, was Jang Daeho.

Hongyo looked at the names and then pictured the bracket. Her name and the name of the man said to be the best in swordsmanship were side by side, and a little ways off was Jang Daeho’s name, which seemed to indicate that among the three of them, Jang Daeho had earned the most points. In that case, Jang Daeho would advance with a bye, and she and the other man would have a match to decide who would go to the finals.

“The next match will be held in one sigyeong (30 minutes), so Yeo Hongyo Gamhwi and Kim Insik Gamhwi, please rest until then.”

It was as she had expected. Yeoryeong, who had handed Hongyo a water bottle, now massaged her shoulders.

“That’s my man. I knew you would do it.”

“What’s with you?”

At that, several others crowded behind Yeoryeong and started massaging Hongyo’s arms.

“Because we bet on you. So you have to win!”

“What? Why?”

“Why, you ask? Because you seem to be the one who can at least stand up to Jang Daeho. To be honest, winning seems difficult, but the payout for runner-up is pretty good.”

Hongyo let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Then why didn’t you bet on Jang Daeho? Why bet on me?”

At that, one of them whispered conspiratorially.

“Even so, he got beaten up by Jang Daeho during the hazing. If you were me, would you want to bet on him? So think of it as my revenge and give it your all.”

Looking closely, he was the guy who had tried to sell her out to Jang Daeho during the hazing and gotten beaten up. It was truly ridiculous. As Hongyo stared at him, the man, perhaps embarrassed himself, pumped his fist and said, ‘Anyway, good luck!’ before leading his group away in a rush. Hongyo watched their retreating backs, then turned her head to look at Yeoryeong.

“Did you bet too?”

“Well, I suppose so.”

“On me?”

“You’ll find out when you see my remaining stake later.”

“Then what’s this?”

When Hongyo held up the water bottle, Yeoryeong smiled.

“A favor as a friend, shall we say. I saw you panting earlier. Are you really okay? Sweating so much in this cold.”

“You try getting to the third round. See if you don’t sweat.”

He had noticed it from the first time they met, but his powers of observation were truly sharp. Hongyo answered with a nod. In truth, her head had been feeling progressively heavier for a while now, but Hongyo pretended not to notice. Yeoryeong looked at Hongyo and said.

“Anyway, since you’ve made it to the semi-finals, give it your best. Who knows? Even that monstrous guy must have a weakness somewhere.”

When Hongyo nodded, Yeoryeong vigorously massaged her shoulders.

“Alright, let’s go! Win this, and it’s the finals.”

Hongyo pushed away Yeoryeong, who was even wiping her sweat with the end of his sleeve. Judging by his behavior, it seemed he had bet on her making it to runner-up, if not winning the whole thing.

“Anyway, thanks for the support.”

As Hongyo disappeared into the competition grounds, Yeoryeong glanced at Gamyoung sitting on the platform. Even as he exchanged whispers with the dignitaries next to him, his gaze was fixed on Hongyo below.

‘There’s definitely something there, right?’

Yeoryeong twisted his lips. He had started to feel suspicious from the second round. It was pure coincidence that his gaze had landed on the Hwayeonggyeongjang from where he sat opposite the platform, but the difference in his gaze when he looked at others versus when he looked at Hongyo could not be called a coincidence. Of course, his calm and neat expression didn’t overtly change, but the subtle signs of nervousness when Hongyo appeared and the way he gripped the hem of his pants whenever she was in danger were very suspicious.

Then again, it had only happened twice, so there was a high chance he had seen wrong. Well, he could confirm that in the semi-finals. Yeoryeong shrugged and waited for the next match. As the gong rang loudly, Hongyo and her opponent walked out from opposite sides.

“Yeo-ga Hongyo and Kim-ga Insik, pay your respects!”

It was time to bow to the Hwayeonggyeongjang and the other ministers before the match. But before Hongyo could bow, her opponent raised his hand. In his raised hand was a forehead band. The eyes of the spectators widened at the sight.

“I forfeit!”

Yeoryeong also stared at the man with surprised eyes. Forfeiting in the semi-finals? Something was very, very strange. If he had run out of energy, Hongyo seemed to be the one who was more exhausted. Besides, wasn’t Kim Insik known to be the best in swordsmanship, if nothing else? In a semi-final match, Kim Insik, who was known as the best in swordsmanship, would have the advantage, not a disadvantage. He must have known this himself, as more people had bet on Kim Insik as the winner of the semi-finals than on Hongyo. But why?

Yeoryeong couldn’t understand. Looking at Hongyo, she too was flustered, not having expected this. The Hwayeonggyeongjang also had a grave expression, so it seemed he had no idea either.

‘Then why?’

He was wondering when the man who had been watching them with his arms crossed strode onto the competition grounds.

“So, is it the finals right away?”

At those words, the referee looked up at the platform. After a moment of silence, Gamyoung asked for the understanding of the generals next to him and called for Jeonghwan. Soon, Jeonghwan, who had received some words from Gamyoung, stepped forward and shouted loudly.

“Due to Kim Insik’s forfeiture, the one advancing to the finals is Yeo Hongyo Gamhwi.”

Amidst the still confused atmosphere, Jeonghwan shouted again.

“Then we shall begin the final match now!”

‘What is he thinking?’

Gamyoung stared at the man below. Jang Daeho. The son of the Pangam Lord, and a man who had been called a prodigy in martial arts since childhood. It seemed it wasn’t a lie, as he had entered the Hwayeonggyeong this year with the second-highest score after So Jeonghwan. So, as long as So Jeonghwan was the Gamgyeong, it was in a way natural for Jang Daeho to become the jangwon of the Sigyeonghap.

Gamyoung also thought so. Apart from being proud of Hongyo for coming this far after training for only five years, Gamyoung had predicted that Hongyo would not pass the semi-finals in this competition. If nothing else, Kim Insik was superior to Jang Daeho in swordsmanship, so he was an opponent that the current Hongyo could not defeat.

But to forfeit a winnable fight, there must be another reason. Gamyoung looked at Hongyo with a very stern face. He knew that Hongyo had humiliated the guy during the hazing. Was this retaliation for that? But to say it was for such a petty reason, the way Jang Daeho looked at Hongyo was somehow chilling. It was a sticky and unpleasant gaze, as if he were about to devour his opponent, and Gamyoung couldn’t bring himself to give the order to begin.

But this was a competition. Unless a contestant forfeited or was defeated, even the Hwayeonggyeongjang could not arbitrarily stop the match. Gamyoung glanced at the Pangam Lord sitting next to him. Seeing his completely unfazed attitude despite his son’s final match being imminent, Gamyoung looked at Jeonghwan and nodded. Jeonghwan then went to the front of the platform and shouted the rules.

“The final will be decided by the best of three rounds. The first event is swordsmanship, the second is spear technique, and the last is archery, which will determine the winner. If a winner is decided in two rounds, the third round will be omitted.”

After finishing the explanation, Jeonghwan shouted loudly again.

“Yeo-ga Hongyo and Jang-ga Daeho, pay your respects!”

Hongyo, who had bowed towards the high pavilion at the most honored seat of the competition grounds, looked at Gamyoung. It was the first time they had looked at each other since she entered the Hwayeeonggyeong. Gamyoung, still with an unfamiliar and calm face, looked down at Hongyo. Seeing the ministers sitting next to Gamyoung, looking down at her arrogantly, Hongyo could finally understand. The Gamyoung she had seen until now was the Gamyoung outside the palace.

Inside the palace, Gamyoung no longer scrunched up his face and smiled playfully at her, no longer let it slide with a troubled look whenever she made a mistake, and no longer worried and got angry after finding her after wandering the entire mountain on a snowy night.

*T/N: In a historical era context, when someone is referred to with ~ga, it usually marks them as a person of influence, mastery, or authority.