Even My Life Is Yours Chapter 99

Yeoryeong did not say many words. His connection with Jang Daeho’s family was due to his father, who had put up his own child on a gambling table. At first, he was a child brought in as a servant to take beatings instead whenever Jang Daeho neglected his studies, but since his body was inherently weak, he could not fulfill his usefulness. Therefore, just as they were wondering what to use this fellow for, the one who saved Yeoryeong was, paradoxically, Jang Daeho.

‘Even so, that fellow has seen and learned things at the gambling tables, so he can tell at a single glance whether jewelry is real or fake, you know?’

That single word changed Yeoryeong’s life that day. Even if he returned home anyway, the man who was his father would just sell him off again, so since things had turned out this way, they figured they might as well use that talent of his. Yeoryeong, who at first only looked at whether the brought-in stolen goods were real or fake, later even learned arithmetic and reached the point of managing the black ledger where secret funds were recorded. Once things reached that point, Yeoryeong dared to bring up the ledger and try to make a deal with Lord Pangam. However, that matter was the worst choice of his life.

‘Did you think killing a fellow like you would be such a difficult matter? If your usefulness has been found, you should think of repaying the favor. Where do you think you are running away with that?’

From that day on, the ledger Yeoryeong used to manage was burned right before his eyes. And on Yeoryeong’s back, along with a scar that would never be erased for the rest of his life, it was engraved whose possession he was.

“It was my own greed.”

Yeoryeong spoke with a resigned face. Because he dared to use a reasonably good dwelling and wear clothes just because he knew how to calculate money despite being a mere slave, he had fantasized as if he had become that family’s son. Furthermore, for the sake of smooth operations, they bought the family tree of some crumbling, obscure noble family far away, disguised a person who was already dead as living, and borrowed the name to live, so later on he really thought of himself as the real ‘Gu Yeoryeong’.

After that, he lived for Jang Daeho. If told to pretend to die, he made the gesture of dying, and if told to live, he lived. The reason he entered Hwayeonggyeong was also because of the Pangam’s order to keep an eye on his son there. Since no one knew what kind of trouble a fellow who caused trouble every single day would cause there, it was an order to watch him well on his own. Listening up to that point, Hongyo asked.

“But why did you steal my ornament?”

Even as he spoke, Hongyo unconsciously clutched the ornament attached to his wooden sword, as if anxious. Then Yeoryeong spoke.

“He told me to find something you would pounce on. I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but he just said he would tease you for a bit, and I really didn’t know he would pull such a stunt. At any rate, the ornament…. You said last time that it was something you received from a close friend. I figured it must be quite precious if you went as far as to ask about its monetary value.”

It was half right and half wrong. It was true up to the point that Jang Daeho told him to find something precious, saying he would play a trick on Hongyo. However, even while knowing the fact that the person who gifted that ornament to Hongyo was not a simple close friend but the Chief of Hwayeonggyeong, stealing it was entirely a gamble placed on the single speculation that the Chief of Hwayeonggyeong terribly cherished Yeo Hongyo. If something happened to Yeo Hongyo because of that gift, Jang Daeho would no longer be able to stay here.

To make Jang Daeho leave Hwayeonggyeong, at least someone of the Chief of Hwayeonggyeong’s caliber must be moved. He wanted to present Jang Daeho with a sense of humiliation at least once. Whatever it was, it couldn’t compare to the words engraved on his own back, but still. He wanted to let him know that there are some things in the world that do not go according to your own will.

However, if he had known that what he said would be a brief teasing was intended to make him enter a forest that must never be entered, he would not have let it happen that way in any form whatsoever. Even while knowing well what a beyond-common-sense fellow Jang Daeho was, it was his own blunder for trusting him. Although it was nullified because the Pangam’s influence was strong, it could have sufficiently turned out that way if the Chief of Hwayeonggyeong had not given up on Jang Daeho’s punishment.

But in return for that, Yeo Hongyo got hurt. Yeoryeong deeply regretted that point. In the end, is this not also his own greed trying to escape from Jang Daeho? Just because of something like that…. However, his situation where he had no choice but to unconditionally follow whatever task Jang Daeho ordered could not be escaped from, no matter how much he tried to escape. His attitude, which had grown accustomed to submission over a long time, made even his discernment cloudy. Therefore, he had no words to say to Hongyo other than that he was sorry. Having heard the whole story, Hongyo was silent for a while. As if contemplating something intently, wrinkles were formed on his fine brow. Yeoryeong waited with the state of mind of someone waiting for a sentence. And finally, Hongyo opened his mouth.

“What is your real name?”

“What?”

When Yeoryeong asked back at the unexpected question, Hongyo looked straight into his eyes.

“You said you disguised your identity. Then you must have an original name, right?”

Yeoryeong drew a breath. Because he had lived as Yeoryeong for so long, a name that was unfamiliar even to himself by now got caught right inside his throat. His real name. A name he wanted to turn a blind eye to, yet wanted to reclaim someday. Although it possessed nothing but painful memories, if he could escape his slave status and become a commoner, he definitely wanted to live by that name. Taking a small breath, Yeoryeong answered.

“Yeongwoo. Seo Yeongwoo.”

Seo Yeongwoo…. Hongyo murmured that name as if engraving it. It was his own name coming out from another’s mouth after a long time. Yeoryeong momentarily felt a tremor run through him as if struck by lightning. Reflecting on that name a few more times, Hongyo asked.

“Does the Com…. No, does the Chief Commander know as well?”

Since he entered by disguising his identity, there would have been no problem in enrolling at Hwayeonggyeong. However, while undergoing interrogation, he wouldn’t have been able to avoid confessing that fact. Furthermore, even more so if a word of that size was engraved on his back. As Hongyo watched, Yeoryeong mumbled his lips.

“Yeah.”

It was just as Hongyo thought. Yeoryeong, whose clothes were stripped for interrogation when he was first locked in the underground dungeon just like Jang Daeho, had never been flogged even once, unlike the others locked in the dungeon together with him. However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t terrified. Rather, amidst the dreadful screams and beast-like wailing, his blood dried day by day at the thought that he too would face such a situation someday.

The vivid pain that was engraved on his back every time a flogging was inflicted was by no means something that could be forgotten. Pain learned through the body cannot be forgotten even if one wants to forget it. Therefore, Yeoryeong spent day after day trembling in terror at his own turn that would approach in the future. Once a round of interrogation finished like that, Yeoryeong watched Gamyoung passing by the front of the prison cell where he was locked up. Gamyoung’s face, cast in shadow under the torchlight, was dotted with bloodstains even though the surroundings were dark. Bloodstains that clearly did not belong to him splashed and formed droplets on his white face. The face, which possessed no guilt whatsoever, no hesitation, and no mercy, had no distress or pain either. It was just calm and inorganic, so it was rather more frightening. The Chief of Hwayeonggyeong left the underground dungeon without casting a single glance at such a person as himself.

And the time he came to see that face properly was when he came out of the prison and faced the Chief of Hwayeonggyeong alone for the first time. The Chief of Hwayeonggyeong, who pondered over their disposition until the very end, handed down no punishment other than suspension to him at least. Yeoryeong gathered the courage to ask the reason.

‘Perhaps, is it because of Yeo Hongyo.’

Since he possessed a friendship with him anyway, was it a case of letting him off easy? Then, Gamyoung, who had his eyes fixed on the documents, made eye contact with him for the first time since he had entered the office.

‘The punishment for a slave is handed down by his master.’

At those words, Yeoryeong formed a bitter smile. Even the punishment was Jang Daeho’s share. No matter how much he enjoyed a life that was beyond his station and exceeded his bounds while living under the name of Gu Yeoryeong, at a time like this, he was nothing more than a mere possession and property of the Jang family. Yeoryeong asked.

‘If so, why are you not kicking me out of Hwayeonggyeong? Isn’t the very fact that a slave entered while disguising his identity a heavy crime?’

In a way, it was a much heavier crime than Jang Daeho luring Hongyo to enter the Forest of Vanishing Shadows. Entering under a disguised identity was something no one would know unless Jang Daeho opened his mouth, but coming to this point where everything was revealed, it was a crime of deceiving the Emperor and disrupting discipline. At this level, even the Pangam wouldn’t escape punishment. Then, putting down his brush, Gamyoung looked straight at Yeoryeong.

‘If that happens, you die.’

Yeoryeong flinched at those words. It was a correct statement. Watching such a Yeoryeong, Gamyoung continued speaking.

‘Of course, the Pangam and Jang Daeho will also be held accountable for their crimes. However, right now His Majesty needs the power possessed by that family. Therefore, only you will die a dog’s death, and they will buy people like you to take the punishment instead. Because in the court, you are nothing more than “a mere slave”. Who would blink an eye at the death of a single slave.’

It was a brutally realistic story. Yeoryeong formed a self-mocking laugh. While enrolling in Hwayeonggyeong and hanging out with his peers, he had mistakenly thought once again that he too was a human being, not livestock. More so than the pain engraved on his body, the reality that gouged deeply into his heart was far more dreadful. Watching such a Yeoryeong, Gamyoung opened his mouth again.

‘And don’t you have something to say to Hongyo? Since the one who saved your and Jang Daeho’s lives is virtually no different from Hongyo, you will have to fulfill the price of your life. Because that is the reason I am keeping you alive.’

Yeoryeong looked at the man right in front of him. Yeo Hongyo was honest and trusted people well, just as his innocent eyes suggested. Especially when talking about the Chief of Hwayeonggyeong, the appearance of the Chief in the story was completely different from the appearance known by those excluding Yeo Hongyo, to a surprising extent. He didn’t know much about the imperial family, but it was famous that they spared no means for their purpose. Therefore, he must be ruling a country, driving a blade into the one he had lived with as a brother, and guarding that position.

He didn’t know how the Chief of Hwayeonggyeong looked to Yeo Hongyo, but the man he saw appeared to have the blood of the imperial family thicker than anyone. However, Yeo Hongyo has no need to know, nor can he know, such a thing. Therefore, Yeoryeong held his tongue at this point. On the other hand, Hongyo, having heard Yeoryeong’s story, appeared to have many thoughts. His complex emotions were revealed just as they were on his fine-lined face. Having been lost in thought for a long while like that, Hongyo finally opened his mouth.

“Thank you. It must have been very difficult to share this kind of story.”

Yeoryeong stared at Hongyo. It was because of this kind of trait that he could pour out his story to Yeo Hongyo. It was a story where his neck could fly off if he ran his mouth even slightly carelessly. However, if it was Yeo Hongyo, he would keep that secret until the day he died. If nothing else, he could know that much. Therefore, that Chief of Hwayeonggyeong must be looking after him like that. Because he is kind, faithful, and solid. At that moment, Hongyo stood up from his seat.

“I also need time. So don’t think about leaving Hwayeonggyeong until you hear my answer.”

Leaving only those words, Hongyo, who gave a warning that wasn’t quite a warning, exited the room. Watching the closed door, Yeoryeong wiped down his face. In order not to cry at the strange feeling that was painful yet relieving, and sad yet joyful.