Chapter 37
The trade procession stretched endlessly along the narrow mountain road.
At the front were carriages loaded with ginseng and various trade goods, followed in a line by porters and haengsu.
“Urgh…”
Hayun clenched her teeth as she continued walking.
Although the weather was cool and autumnal, climbing the mountain road had left her drenched in sweat from head to toe.
“Hoo….”
She had already been walking for four hours.
The bundle slung over her shoulder felt twice as heavy as it had when they set out.
She had long since lost all sensation in the soles of her feet.
She wanted to sit down for a moment and look at her feet, but she felt that if she did, she would never be able to stand again, so she forced herself to keep walking.
Another two hours passed.
“Haa, haa….”
On the steep mountain road, Hayun’s breathing became even more ragged.
Seeing her like that, one of the porters approached her from the side.
“Haengsu Im-nim. If you’re having a hard time, shall I help you?”
“Huh?”
At the welcome words, Hayun turned her head.
‘Yes! Please!’
She wanted to shout that right away in her heart.
But the moment she saw the porter’s back, that thought disappeared completely.
“Ah….”
He already had a bundle piled up like a mountain.
On his back was a huge bundle that looked like it was twice the size of hers.
There was no comparison.
Compared to the weight he was carrying, she was practically a child.
On top of that, she simply couldn’t bring herself to ask him to add her luggage to his burden.
“Ah, no. I can easily handle this much.”
Hayun desperately readjusted her grip on the bundle.
“Ugh!”
Perhaps because she had overexerted herself, her lower back gave a painful twinge for a moment, but she pretended to be fine and smiled.
“See? I’m still full of energy, right?”
“Ohhh, you certainly have some grit.”
Seeing that, the porter gave her a thumbs-up.
“Then endure just a little longer. A yeogak will be coming up soon.”
A yeogak referred to an accommodation facility where large numbers of people could stay.
Like a modern hotel, it was divided into multiple rooms, but it was also a specialized lodging establishment equipped with warehouses where luggage could be stored separately and stables where horses could be tied up.
It could be considered less a simple place to sleep and more a base for merchants traveling long distances.
At the news that the yeogak was not far away, Hayun’s eyes sparkled.
“Really? How far is it?”
“Yes. We only have a little farther to go.”
“How much farther do we have to go?”
“It’ll be soon. It won’t take long.”
“…No, I mean, when exactly is ‘soon’?”
It was a conversation often exchanged while hiking.
The sweet lie that the summit was just ahead.
It was common to be fooled by those words, force oneself all the way to the top, and then be unable to use one’s legs the next day.
Hayun, one of those victims, persistently pressed the porter for an answer.
Faced with Hayun’s persistence, the porter answered.
“Well…… about one shijin?”
“One shijin!”
In modern terms, that was two hours.
Hayun barely managed to suppress the urge to flop down on the spot.
“T-two hours is ‘soon’?”
“Hoho, that really is soon enough….”
Modern people, Hayun, and the porter had completely different concepts of time.
“Anyway, keep going until then.”
The porter smiled leisurely as he overtook Hayun.
“I’ll go ahead first, then. Keep up the good work.”
One after another, people overtook Hayun, each throwing out a word of encouragement.
“Oh my, Haengsu Im-nim. Keep your spirits up.”
“We’re almost there! Once we get over this pass, the yeogak is right there!”
“Really, there’s hardly any distance left! We’re almost there!”
“Yes, yes….”
She didn’t even have the energy to answer.
Hayun raised a hand, signaling them to go ahead.
She had definitely started at the very front.
But before she knew it, when she came to her senses, she was at the very back of the procession.
“Hoo….”
She was so out of breath that it had risen all the way to the tip of her chin.
Even so, she couldn’t stop.
Her pride wouldn’t allow her to collapse on the very first day.
“Two hours. Let’s just hang in there for two hours…….”
Hayun muttered as though urging herself on and forced her feet forward.
There were no more words of encouragement.
She couldn’t hear the sound of the carriages anymore.
The only thing she could see was someone on top of the hill.
She couldn’t tell who it was because the person was obscured by the deep shadow, but he stood there motionless for a long time, as though he were waiting for Hayun.
“Haa, haa…….”
She didn’t have the energy to wonder who it was.
Hayun simply used that person as a guide and quietly continued walking.
‘A woman really is a woman, after all.’
From atop the hill, Song Do-hyeon was looking down at Hayun.
‘To think she’s struggling over a weight like that….’
The mountain roads of Joseon were harsh.
They were not roads an ordinary woman could walk while carrying a bundle. That was why there were no women on this journey. And above all, they would have to continue this journey for nearly an entire month.
Knowing that, Hayun had been putting in even more effort.
So that no one would discover she was a woman.
So that she wouldn’t become a burden.
She moved her feet calmly, just like everyone else.
But even that was gradually reaching its limit.
‘Just how much longer can she possibly endure with that body…?’
As time passed, Hayun’s steps noticeably slowed.
The intervals between her steps grew shorter and shorter. Eventually, she reached the point where she was almost completely stopped.
“Haa, haa.”
Her chest felt constricted as though it were being squeezed.
Her mouth was parched, and she could barely even swallow a drop of saliva.
“I’m dizzy….”
Her vision wavered.
The road was clearly stretching straight ahead. Yet it felt as though it were twisting back and forth like a winding road.
“Why am I like this……?”
At last, Hayun stopped in place.
‘Looks like she’s reaching her limit.’
Seeing her like that, Song Do-hyeon narrowed his eyes.
‘Give up. This journey is too much for you.’
Her face was deathly pale.
Her two legs trembled.
Even the speed at which she blinked had slowed drastically.
Hayun was in a condition where it would not have been strange for her to collapse at any moment.
‘It’s not too late even now, so put down your luggage and turn back.’
Continuing with the procession in that condition was simply impossible.
If she continued with the procession like this, it could cause serious problems for Hayun’s health.
And it was only the first day.
‘Tell them you’re giving up on the ginseng trade. Hurry and say you’re stepping down from the position of Daehangsu!’
The emotion he was feeling right now was difficult to explain.
If he had to call it something, it was close to anxiety.
Anxiety that she would continue with the procession like this. Or perhaps anxiety that she would fall behind. Either way, it was not a pleasant emotion.
At some point, Song Do-hyeon had failed to realize that he was biting his fingernails.
That continued for quite some time.
‘What…?’
During that time, Hayun neither collapsed nor moved forward.
She simply stood there with her head bowed, remaining still in that spot.
‘Did she actually fall asleep standing like that……?’
It was then.
Suddenly, Hayun’s body began to slowly tilt.
Backward.
Very, very slowly.
‘No way…!’
Behind her was a steep downhill slope.
If she fell like that, it would be difficult to avoid serious injury.
Seeing this, Song Do-hyeon urgently shouted.
“Hey! Im Ha-seong!”
But there was no answer.
It seemed Hayun had lost consciousness.
“Tsk!”
Realizing that the situation was bad, Song Do-hyeon moved like lightning.
There was no hesitation.
Without even having time to think, his body reacted first.
Whoosh!
Song Do-hyeon slid down the slope. And caught Hayun’s falling body.
Whoomph!
Fortunately, just before she fell, Hayun’s body tipped straight toward him and plunged into Song Do-hyeon’s arms.
“……!”
Having ended up holding Hayun once again, Song Do-hyeon could not hide his bewilderment.
If the previous time had been an unavoidable situation, this time was different.
He had clearly moved of his own accord.
He had always felt that helping someone was an act of hypocrisy.
He never thought he would be the one to do something like this.
Song Do-hyeon looked down at Hayun with a dazed expression.
‘Was she always this small……?’
Hayun’s head hung limply, as though she had lost consciousness.
Seeing her up close in the bright daylight, he could clearly tell that she was a woman.
Her long, sweeping eyelashes.
Her sharp, refined nose.
Even her cherry-like lips.
She was so beautiful that he wondered how he had failed to realize it until now.
It was then.
“……Huh?”
Hayun’s eyelashes began to tremble.
She was regaining consciousness.
“What is going on right now……?”
When she opened her eyes, she could feel someone holding her.
‘Who on earth……?’
Hayun’s gaze slowly moved upward.
And the moment she realized who it was,
“Eek!”
With a scream, Hayun hurriedly moved far away from him.
“S-S-Song Do-hyeon!”
This made it the second time… She had been held in Song Do-hyeon’s arms.
Hayun’s face flushed red as she muttered to herself.
“Y-you, how did you end up helping me? Did I get held by you again? What on earth happened?”
Hayun desperately tried to recall what had happened.
She remembered seeing someone looking down at her from the top of the hill.
And she also remembered feeling dizzy.
After that, her memory cut off again, and the last thing she remembered was falling from the sky before waking from the dreamlike state.
‘Ah!’
Only then did she roughly understand what had happened.
‘Song Do-hyeon saved me?’
Looking closely, she noticed that Song Do-hyeon’s clothes had become rather disheveled.
The hem of his clothes and his shoes were covered in dirt.
There was no doubt that he had saved her.
“Ahem, hm.”
Hayun awkwardly cleared her throat.
Then she thanked him.
“Thank you. For helping me.”
“……”
A brief silence followed.
Song Do-hyeon stared at Hayun without saying a word.
‘Why did I…… help this guy?’
He did not want to admit it, but he had to accept it.
His heart was gradually, little by little, beginning to lean toward her.
The moment he had just run toward Hayun.
Tens of thousands of thoughts had flashed through his mind.
Should he simply let her roll down the slope?
Or should he make sure she didn’t suffer even the slightest injury?
If he simply pretended not to notice and closed his eyes for a moment, he could regain his former glory.
But in the end, Song Do-hyeon had chosen to save Hayun.
Even if his mind told him otherwise, his heart had chosen Hayun.
‘No. That can’t be.’
Song Do-hyeon vigorously shook his head.
Only then could he shake off this feeling rising from within his chest.
An indescribable sense of suffocation.
A suffocating emotion he had never felt before pressed down on his chest.
“Get a hold of yourself.”
Faced with the emotions that kept boiling up, Song Do-hyeon deliberately spoke coldly.
“You almost dropped the valuable bundle.”
“What?”
Temperature always moves from a higher place to a lower place.
At Song Do-hyeon’s icy words, the heat in Hayun’s flushed cheeks also instantly cooled.
“…Of course. I was wondering why you had helped me for once.”
Hayun huffed angrily as she adjusted the bundle on her back.
“I don’t need your help, so from now on, don’t concern yourself with whatever happens to me!”
With those words, Hayun turned away coldly.
Then she started walking forward again.
“Wait, hold on….”
Song Do-hyeon stared at Hayun for a moment, then hurriedly followed behind her in case she collapsed again.
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