Chapter 59
‘……!’
I held my breath. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the men left the storage room after saying that.
The door shut with a click, followed by the sound of a lock rattling. Judging by how long the sound of the chains continued, it seemed they were making sure to lock the door securely.
‘Getting out through there is out of the question.’
I stared at the firmly closed door before turning my head. Perhaps the man’s words from earlier had shocked her, because Pyeonghyeon was pale as a sheet and trembling violently.
“Pyeonghyeon.”
At my call, Pyeonghyeon’s shoulders jerked. I swallowed a sigh and continued.
“We were supposed to talk somewhere safe, but things turned out like this. We don’t have much time, but I need to know what happened, at least…”
“……”
“Can you explain it to me now?”
At my words, Pyeonghyeon’s eyes trembled faintly. Pyeonghyeon fidgeted restlessly before lowering her head with a soft thump. A small voice escaped her lips.
“Yes…”
And so, this was the story I heard about Pyeonghyeon’s circumstances.
Pyeonghyeon originally came from Qinzhou, Guangxi Province. What’s more, she hadn’t lost her grandmother while going out to buy groceries.
She had already arrived in Qinzhou and was shopping with her grandmother when, while distracted, Pyeonghyeon accidentally let go of her grandmother’s hand and got lost.
Pyeonghyeon searched for her grandmother throughout the marketplace. But perhaps because it was market day, there were far too many people there, and no matter how much she called out, she couldn’t find her.
That was when a kind-looking man approached her and offered to find her grandmother for her.
‘A classic kidnapping tactic.’
But Pyeonghyeon, who had grown up in the mountains all her life, knew very little about the outside world. In the end, she followed the man without suspicion and wound up in this situation.
“When I came to my senses, I was locked inside some room… No matter how many times I shouted and begged, they wouldn’t let me go…”
“……”
“From listening to them, it seemed like they intended to sell me to the leader of a merchant group they did business with. Apparently, he was an old man who had a thing for young girls and paid very well…”
“Crazy…”
I frowned. I had sensed it from the beginning, but these weren’t ordinary scumbags.
“They changed carriages several times before bringing me here. I thought I was really going to be sold, so I kept watching for any chance to escape. I finally managed to get away when they let their guard down.”
“How did you escape? It couldn’t have been easy for you to get away by yourself.”
“I used paralysis needles.”
“Paralysis needles?”
I asked again, but then I realized. I remembered the men at the shrine talking about how their man had ‘only been paralyzed’ and about ‘paralysis poison.’
“Eom Papa installed a device in my sleeve in case something like this happened. When I pull a thread inside, a thin needle shoots out.”
“Yeah.”
“When we were changing carriages, I said I needed to relieve myself. Perhaps because they were reassured by how obedient I had been, they told me to go into the bushes and do it there. They only sent one person to watch me.”
“Then, at that time, you…”
“…Yes.”
Pyeonghyeon murmured quietly.
“I shot the paralysis needle and barely managed to escape, but they soon noticed. They started chasing me, and I ran into the mountains. Then I accidentally stepped wrong and fell down a mountainside…”
“……”
“Luckily, there was a rabbit hole where I fell. I hid in there… I crouched there all day until they left. After that…”
She didn’t have to say anything more. I could almost picture it.
After crawling out of the rabbit hole, Pyeonghyeon must have started running again. But since she had injured her ankle while tumbling down the mountainside, she couldn’t have gotten very far.
Eventually, she must have collapsed beneath a tree and cried, and that was where I found her. That was why…
‘So that’s why she was so scared.’
I nodded and said,
“Anyway, I understand your situation now. Thanks for telling me the truth. Honestly, it’s surprising. I knew you must have had some circumstances behind all this, but I never imagined you were being chased by human traffickers…”
“……”
“Couldn’t you have told me earlier?”
Yes, I could understand everything. Why Pyeonghyeon hadn’t spoken. Why she had been so reluctant to tell me the truth. Considering how serious the situation was, it couldn’t have been easy to tell the truth. She didn’t know how the other person would react, yet she needed help.
But what bothered me, somehow, was…
“At first, I thought it was understandable if you didn’t trust me. But later, you could have told me. I thought we’d gotten at least a little closer while traveling together…”
“Th-that…”
“You still can’t trust me?”
“No!”
Pyeonghyeon, who had been stammering, suddenly cried out.
“That’s not it. I-it’s not because I don’t trust you! I liked traveling with you, too. I liked… getting close to you. You were such a source of strength for me…”
“……”
“I was just a little, a little scared…”
“……”
“I was afraid that if I told you the truth, you would leave, and that I’d be alone again. That… scared me…”
Pyeonghyeon trailed off and soon began sniffling before breaking into tears. I watched her without saying anything. Perhaps she misunderstood my gaze somehow, because Pyeonghyeon hurriedly continued.
“I-I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. For making you go through this, for getting you captured too… I’ll somehow do something. I’ll obediently go with them, so please let at least you go…!”
“Well, I don’t think they’ll let me go. They said it earlier, didn’t they? That they’d kill me and throw me into the mountains.”
“That, hic…”
“……”
“What, hic, what should I, what should I do…”
Only Pyeonghyeon’s sobs echoed through the quiet storage room. Instead of comforting her, I looked around.
The inside of the storage room was dirty, covered in dust. There were piles of straw scattered here and there, and judging by the farming tools standing around, it seemed this place had originally been used as a storage shed on a farm. Among them, I carefully examined the farming tools. A plow, a hoe, a pickaxe, a shovel, a rake…
‘That one.’
Having spotted something, I headed toward it, half crawling. I could feel Pyeonghyeon’s puzzled gaze, but I didn’t have time to care.
I immediately reached out and grabbed it before returning to Pyeonghyeon. A rusty sickle was now in my hand.
“What is that…?”
“Let’s untie the ropes first, then talk. Okay?”
I turned the sickle around in front of the flustered Pyeonghyeon. Then I placed the blade against the rope binding my wrist and began moving it back and forth. Perhaps because it was so rusty, the rope didn’t cut easily. I moved calmly as I spoke.
“Hey, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“Why did you save me?”
Before Pyeonghyeon could answer, I continued.
“Honestly, it wasn’t your business, was it? Whether I died from the cold poison spreading through my body or not. Or couldn’t you have shown me the Frost Palm and threatened not to give me the medicine unless I helped you?”
“……!”
“It’s the same afterward. What made you trust me enough to say you’d give me all your medicine? What were you going to do if I took the medicine and ran away?”
“That…”
Pyeonghyeon’s face flushed with bewilderment, as though she had never even considered such a possibility. After thinking for a moment, Pyeonghyeon stammered,
“Th-that’s because you looked like you were in so much pain.”
“And?”
“You… treated me well. You treated my foot first, and even though you were in more pain than me, you kept carrying me…”
“That’s it?”
“……”
Pyeonghyeon fell silent. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“How is that treating you well? I only wrapped a bandage around your ankle, and even though I carried you around, I kept stopping to rest, so all I did was delay us.”
“But…”
“You really shouldn’t go outside. You trust everyone just because they help you a little…”
“That’s not it…!”
“I’m the same way.”
Pyeonghyeon stared at me blankly.
“I told you before, didn’t I? That I was injured after being attacked by some suspicious man. I still can’t tell you the details, but… I was being chased too, just like you. In the end, I fell off a cliff while escaping and was swept all the way here.”
“……”
“So when I first saw you, I had a feeling. Maybe she’s in the same situation as me. Maybe someone is chasing her too…”
“……”
“At first, I thought about it a lot.”
I thought back to when I first met Pyeonghyeon. The way she had stared at me in surprise when I treated her ankle, and the way she had desperately asked me for help despite being vague about her circumstances.
What choice had I been about to make then?
In the end, because the cold poison suddenly flared up, I ended up helping Pyeonghyeon whether I wanted to or not. But as I traveled with her and we talked about various things, that feeling gradually grew stronger.
I’m glad I can help this child. I’m glad this child was the one who helped me.
If I can, I want to help her until the very end…
“My choice is the same as it was back then.”
I smiled playfully as I spoke.
“No, and now that I know about your situation, do you really think I can run away by myself? I know perfectly well what will happen if I leave you behind. Do I really look like that kind of despicable person?”
“No, no! Really…”
“I’m not leaving.”
Snap.
At last, the rope broke.
I exclaimed in delight and moved my hand. The rope wrapped around my wrist slid down with a rustle. I briefly raised my head and looked ahead. At some point, tears had gathered in both of Pyeonghyeon’s eyes.
“How could I leave you alone when you’re this fragile?”
“……”
“I told you I’d be your older sister. Try relying on your big sister for once. I absolutely won’t let those bastards drag you away.”
“……”
“Got it? Then come here. I need to cut your ropes…”
But I couldn’t finish speaking. Pyeonghyeon had thrown herself into my arms.
Soon afterward, Pyeonghyeon began to cry. At first, she merely sobbed, but her crying gradually grew into loud, unrestrained wailing. Even as I smiled awkwardly, I wrapped an arm around Pyeonghyeon’s back and gently patted her.
The front of my clothes became thoroughly soaked. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation.
In the end, I laughed out loud and said,
“Don’t blow your nose on me, okay?”
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