Scene 4

Before I could react, I feel Yu-mi’s hand slip from my mine as she lets out a yelp that’s seemingly muffled close after. I turn my head to look, but papa’s reaction is much quicker, him shielding my torso with his arm, pushing my back against the wall, with the length of his sword pointed past me.

Beommi’s looks over to the man crouched beside her and covering her mouth, him pressing a finger onto his lips while shaking his head. Like Papa, he wore similar padded armor covering a white tunic and white bulky pants stuffed into black leather boots. The only distinction between their outfits was a circular yet narrow leather cow-skin helmet tied into a knot below his round chin.

Papa sighs and lowers his sword while turning his head against the wall to look into the street.

「So you’re alive Sukchul, seems that the second and third divisions all scattered like flies once they broke through. Now they’re hunting both us and civilians like it’s for sport.」

Sukchul stood onto his feet and walked over to other wall adjacent to papa. His build was much smaller from my fathers’ but he was very toned, the body of a hardened warrior.

Sukchul of his eyes and wrinkles going down the sides of his nose to the corners of his mouth tell of his old age. He then looks back over to papa and sighs with a hand scratching his leather helmet.

「I’ve been surveying this area as ordered and it’s quite… Odd, to say the least.」

「What do you mean, odd?」

「Well, they chase all of them to the ends of this road and let them run down the hill, like they want us to escape into the river. What do you make of this Jaeseong?」

Papa puts a hand up chin, stroking his shaven stubble with a thoughtful gaze into the cloudy gray sky. 「I’ve heard of how notorious the Japanese are for their disciplined military and prudent generals… I wouldn’t put it past them if it weren’t for a good reason.」

The Japanese, I’ve heard of them only through stories and word of mouth. Mostly merchants from the Chinese Empire to the north-west talk about the wokou, the Japanese pirates who attack ports and cities around the eastern sealine.

But these individuals… They’re more coordinated than any rebels I’ve ever seen… Not that I’ve seen many to begin with though. It was said that invasions were breaking out at the southeastern front near the sea lodges, but a swift resolution was close coming.

That was until two days ago when I hears the cannons starting to fire from within our walls, while the outside was filled with cracks and booms from the invaders on the outside.

「I’ve heard word of their crumbling government and the many lords battling for land across their region. From the attacks below the wall, their were several armies who strayed and attempted different strategies, some even unknowingly hindering eachother in the process. Their were also some that stayed back only to watch.」 Papa ponders.

「What’re you getting at Jaeseong?」Sukchul asks with drawn down eyebrows.

「It’s safe to say that the Japanese lords are fighting for the highest honor rather than grouping together to wipe us all out at once. If they’re focusing on the city districts, and leaving us to run into the river, it’s quite easy to surmise that—」

「Ah! That there’s an enemy waiting for us on the other side!」 Sukchul finishes with widened eyes.

His expression then changes from shock to worry with a droop of his shoulders. 「What are we to do then? Our reinforcements were pushed back the day before last, and one of the inner guards got word that the Commander took his own life. Are we to just sit here and wait for our deaths to come?」

Papa’s eyelids lower so I could faintly see the grim look in his eyes. He then looks over to Beommi and I with a faint smile.

「We have a duty to protect our homeland and thus the people in it. Furthermore, my duty is lax when it comes to my family.」

Papa then leans into Sukchul’s ear and whispers something, after a moment Sukchul backs away with aghast.

Sukchul looks over to me and grits his teeth with clenched eyelids. 「Dammit Jaesong… It’s suicide!」

I look over to Beommi then back over to Papa with a nod of my head. 「What’re you saying papa? Can’t we all get out alive?」

Papa nods his head, wiping back his long and black damp locks to the back of his head. 「Everything will be fine.」

For some reason… I couldn’t believe him.

—Scuuesh

A damp squish of mud at the right side of the house made Papa and Sukchul eyes narrow. I push my back against the wall and tug Beommi over to my side.

Sukchul drags his curved sword from the leather scabbard on his belt and peaks his head onto the corner of the house then quickly ducks back to the side. He looks at Papa and holds up four fingers then points two fingers to left and right.

Papa nods his head and draws his long-curved sword to his side, grasping the bronze handle so that he held it at an angle.

The squishes of mud come closer until they stop abruptly. I feel Beommi’s hand tighten as she pushes her forehead onto my side with closed eyes.

「… Unnie…」

A bright light coats the sky as another streak of lightning swivels through the clouds, causing two long human-like shadows on both sides of the house to appear. A crackling boom follows the light, as if a signal to attack, Papa and Sukchul perform a warrior’s chant and jump out of the enclosure and onto the dirt road with both their swords at the ready.

Another set of cries are then heard at their fronts, as they run forward and out of view. The clinking of metal and clashing of swords is then the only thing I’m able to hear.

. . .