Be the Sacrifice Chapter 14

“Hey, Missy, get up.”

 

Half-asleep, Heesa heard the word “missy” and gave a soft smile. She liked being called “Missy.” 

 

A silly grin spread across her face.

 

“Laughing? If you don’t get up when I tell you, it’s gonna be bad for Missy’s health, you know.”

 

Wait, Missy was an insult? It sounded strange as an insult. 

 

Heesa forced her sleepy eyes open. She had spent two whole days sleeping and waking up in trees, so she was utterly exhausted. Through her blurry vision, she could make out the man standing in front of her. 

 

The moment she realized it was Hong Yeomrang, her mind snapped awake.

 

It had sounded nice in her dreams, but hearing “Missy” come out of Hong Yeomrang’s mouth felt… off in tone.

 

“Had a nice dream, did we?”

 

The handsome-faced man grinned as if he hadn’t just threatened her awake moments ago, asking in a friendly way. Heesa, without thinking, smiled back and nodded.

 

“Hmm.”

 

Remembering how he had told her not to raise her speech level to match his, she answered in casual banmal like he did.

 

Seeing the bright, obediently answering Heesa, Hong Yeomrang silently rummaged through the bundle without a word.

 

“…That crazy bastard really thought he was sending me off to get married, huh.”

 

The bundle of clothes the servant, who had demanded double the payment before they left, had packed was ridiculous. 

 

Hong Yeomrang was already on the third clothing bundle. 

 

Starting with a yellow durumagi, then colors that playboys in the capital might wear, pale peach, deep azalea… even the blues came in multiple shades. 

 

Light blue, deep indigo, an even darker one, and finally a dark red durumagi appeared at the bottom. 

 

Hong Yeomrang gritted his teeth. He briefly considered ripping them all to shreds, but then he picked up the yellow durumagi in his hand.

 

“Put it on.”

 

“I get to wear new clothes again?”

 

“Yes, missy. Change into it.”

 

Knowing the pants probably wouldn’t fit her anyway, he also handed her one of his own jeogori tops. He figured it would be better than just putting her in the durumagi alone.

 

He handed it over and didn’t even look back. 

 

The rustling sound of her changing clothes again made his nerves stand on end. 

 

Forcing himself to ignore it, Hong Yeomrang put on the relatively safe dark indigo durumagi. He fastened his sword around his waist and turned around. Heesa, who had quickly finished changing, was beaming widely.

 

“This is new clothes! It’s pretty. Thank you, Yeomrang.”

 

“…Saying thank you to a lowly servant, Missy?”

 

Wearing the bright yellow durumagi that still dragged quite a bit past her feet even though she liked it way too much, Heesa was just overflowing with joy. She was wearing his jeogori underneath, so at least it wasn’t as see-through as last time. 

 

With that innocent face, she was happily wearing the color he found hideous.

 

Fine. Better for her to look like a beggar over there than for all these ridiculous, colorful robes to get torn to shreds.

 

Among the uselessly colorful durumagi, he ripped off one of the clothing strings. Then he tied his own wrist to Heesa’s wrist. This was to prevent her from slipping back into the forest again. 

 

As he bound their wrists, Heesa flexed and unflexed her uncomfortable fingers.

 

“Did Yeomrang do this for me?”

 

“I told you, one more time you bring your mouth near it and I’ll tie you up.”

 

“I thought it would be tied like this?”

 

Seeing her hold both wrists out in front like a criminal, he let out a hollow laugh.

 

“You’ve seen and heard some things somewhere, huh?”

 

He tugged on the string connecting their wrists. Heesa obediently followed. He kept just two or three steps between them, close enough that if she ever tried anything foolish, he could yank the string and pull her right back.

 

“Lead the way.”

 

In one corner of the cave, water dripped down the wall into a small pool. 

 

It must have come from a nearby stream because the water was clean; Hong Yeomrang used it to roughly wash himself every day. His wet hair still hadn’t fully dried. 

 

Truth be told, he also found his short hair awkward. But since he couldn’t control his temper and had cut it himself, there was nothing to be done.

 

“…Breakfast… Aren’t we eating breakfast?”

 

While obediently following him out, Heesa glanced at Hong Yeomrang’s wet hair and sneakily poked at it with her finger as if testing with a needle.

 

“Ah, should I make sure you eat three meals a day?”

 

“I need energy too if I’m going to move around…”

 

Where did she pick up this kind of trickery?

 

She used to secretly pluck just a few strands while he was sleeping and eat them, that was all, but now that he’d been indulgent, she was openly asking for three full meals. 

 

When Heesa trailed off and shrank back after getting fully caught, Hong Yeomrang furrowed his brow.

 

“If you’re going to be shameless, at least stay shameless to the end. You impudent little servant, hurry up and stick your head over here, say it properly.”

 

If he actually said that out loud, he was pretty sure that head would just ram straight into his face. Still, listening closely, it didn’t sound like he was refusing outright. 

 

A bright flush spread across Heesa’s entire face. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation. 

 

Maybe because it was morning, her face looked even clearer inside the cave than before.

 

“Don’t breathe right into my ear.”

 

“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.”

 

“And don’t chew.”

 

“Mmm.”

 

Hong Yeomrang’s head gradually came closer. 

 

The man’s skin, freshly washed, was still damp and moist. He kept giving her one instruction after another while staring straight into her eyes, but strangely, every time the next one came, she forgot the previous. 

 

Heesa just kept nodding.

 

With a light sigh, Hong Yeomrang lowered his gaze.

 

After staring at the tips of the man’s eyelashes, Heesa belatedly realized his ear was right in front of her nose. She put the wet strand of hair into her mouth. 

 

Remembering only the “don’t breathe” part, she held her breath as long as she could, until the moment the hair started melting in her mouth and she hit her limit, quickly pulling away. 

 

But in the process, she must have clenched her teeth; there was a series of sharp, tearing sounds as a chunk of hair from the side of Hong Yeomrang’s head was ripped out.

 

“Ah…”

 

“Haa, hmm, haa, ahh.”

 

Hong Yeomrang couldn’t even get a single word out to Heesa. 

 

Before the phrase, “I gave it to you nicely, and you just tear it off and eat it?” could leave his mouth, she was already panting like a bull while swiftly devouring the remaining bit of hair she’d torn off.

 

Since he told her not to breathe, she must have held it to her absolute limit; now she was still huffing and puffing as she caught her breath.

 

“Just… just breathe, Missy. That’ll be better.”

 

He lightly pushed Heesa’s forehead with one finger.

 

“Mm!”

 

At least she answered; if she hadn’t, he would’ve scolded her. 

 

Hong Yeomrang touched the side of his head near his ear. Then he turned his face away from Heesa and let out a short laugh. 

 

The sound of her desperately holding her breath earlier and then gasping afterward still lingered faintly in his ears.

 

“Should we go this way?”

 

“Why are you asking me? Go wherever Missy wants to go.”

 

Then the path would just appear on its own, right?

 

At Hong Yeomrang’s words, Heesa took the lead. 

 

A path appeared in the forest that had clearly been nothing but thick undergrowth just moments ago. His prediction was spot on. The forest did not block the way Heesa chose to go. 

 

Perhaps bothered by the hand tied to his, Heesa kept glancing back several times.

 

Each time, he arrogantly jerked his chin forward.

 

At first, she seemed conscious of him, but after a while, Heesa stopped looking back. 

 

She simply walked wherever her feet took her. She noticed wildflowers that had cleverly bloomed while avoiding the forest’s shade, and she stood still for a long time watching a squirrel climb a tree with an acorn in its mouth.

 

He told her to find the way, but instead, Heesa was looking at everything in the forest.

 

Before long, Hong Yeomrang clearly felt that she was no longer paying attention to him. She wasn’t even conscious of the string tying them together or of him walking behind her; her habits were coming out naturally. 

 

Inadvertently, Hong Yeomrang came to know every detail of how Heesa normally wandered through the forest.

 

Even so, he didn’t hurry her.

 

Because if he left her like this, she would surely head toward the familiar ancient tree.

 

When that happened, he could just untie the string and let her go back home. People naturally head toward familiar places without thinking. 

 

All he had to do was wait.

 

Thud—

 

Heesa stepped barefoot onto a moss-covered rock and slipped.

 

It happened because the long hem of his durumagi kept getting caught under her soles. 

 

The end of the yellow durumagi was already blotched with grass stains and torn here and there from catching on rock edges or fallen branches. 

 

Now he finally understood why she always ended up looking like a beggar.

 

Even though her foot slipped and she twisted her ankle, Heesa didn’t stop moving. She walked as if she wouldn’t be satisfied until she had seen every single thing in this forest with her own eyes.

 

“Missy.”

 

He knew he should just let her be. He knew he had to let her lead him to a familiar place. Yet Hong Yeomrang still called out to her.

 

“Hm?”

 

Heesa, who had been gently lifting her sore ankle while admiring an orchid blooming through a crack in the rock, turned around. 

 

Having glanced back a few times at the beginning and then forgotten about him, she only now noticed Hong Yeomrang again. 

 

A radiant smile spread across her entire face.

 

It was the kind of smile that seemed to say, “Oh, you were there?”

 

In that instant, completely ignored and treated like glass, Hong Yeomrang yanked on the string connecting them. 

 

Just two or three steps apart. 

 

Was she walking ahead with him behind her and yet completely distracted elsewhere? It was absurd.

 

Heesa was pulled back weakly.

 

His clothes were endlessly oversized on her. With a stiff face, Hong Yeomrang knelt on one knee in front of her. Then he grasped the already torn hem of the durumagi near her ankle and applied force.

 

Rip—

 

The fabric tore near her ankle. He tore the durumagi in a clean circle, shortening it just enough so she wouldn’t keep dragging it anymore. 

 

Once he did, her thin, scar-covered bare feet were revealed. One of her ankle bones was already swollen. 

 

Hong Yeomrang pressed his hand against it.

 

“Ah!”

 

“You’re in pain, so why keep walking around.