Chapter 8 A feeling that should not be started.

It has been a long time since Choi Young, Eun-soo and Taiwan had left the residence of Ki-Cheol, but they have not even left the neighbourhood yet.

Choi Young stands with his back to her and is embarrassed, at how he had to declare himself in front of her.

Choi Young notices when Taiwan leads his horse, Joohong, and a mare called Scarlett given by Buwongun's house. Taiwan is walking in between the two horses as he holds the reins of each horse in a different hand.

When Eun-soo sees the horses that Taiwan had brought, she says, "Do not even dream that I will climb on top of that thing, kid. I do not even think I could even get on that thing, and I refuse to do it."

Taiwan stops to look at Choi Young they both know how long it would take. For a man, to walk to Gaegyeon it would be two or three days for him to complete the journey to Ganghwa Island. 

The distance and the road that they will use requires a lot of effort to complete. On horseback it will take a day's journey by horseback.

Choi Young watches Eun-soo, as she moves to slowly widen the distance, when the horse is led closer towards her. 

It is apparent she did not want to make the journey on horseback, which is then confirmed with her following statement, "If you are in a hurry, you can ride a horse first. I will walk."

She then proceeded to walk away from them to the walk past them in the wrong direction. Choi Young had no choice but to grab her by the collar and used it to pull her to turn and direct her the correct way.

Although she proceeded to walk along the road as Choi Young followed, while Taiwan followed them both leading the horses.

Eun-soo had never developed the endurance of walking for long periods in her life, which was compounded by the shoes she wears that this pace that she had initially started at, to get slower and slower. 

Eventually she sat with legs out on the side of the street, she then notices Choi Young approaching with the horses to say, "It is because something got in here."

She points at her feet, to then say, "Please wait a moment." She then takes off her shoes and shakes them off, but the movement is clumsy and uncoordinated, indicating how tired she is.

While she does this Choi Young looks at the sky, noticing that the position of the sun which indicates it is afternoon, it will not be long before it will be evening.

Other things he had noticed after they had left Buwongun's house, were the presence of those following them, who were not just soldiers, but people who have properly learned light martial arts.

It seemed that Deokseong Buwon-gun Ki-Cheol is in contact with the country that is the Salsu group.

 Choi Young remembers being there and is aware that the probability of the one following them as being part of the gang that are given authority to take action immediately if his direction is the palace rather than Ganghwa Island.

He has no intention of provoking it that action. Instead he is going to use the bait that has been given by Ki-Cheol and following the fishing line which will lead to where Gyeongchang-gunmama has served for the past two years.

Lord Dunn had ascended to the throne at the age of twelve by order of the Yuan Dynasty and was dethroned after two years due to incompetence. Choi Young saw him off all the way to the south gate from the palace, when he was driven out.

Choi Young remembers how he had looked back at him several times as he had stood at the palace gate with tears in his eyes.

He also remembers how he could not leave the palace gate even after the young King had left his sight, knowing he could never follow or go looking for him without being called a traitor.

Meeting with any King who had been dethroned, meant that you were attempting treason, something unthinkable to him.

The thought makes him wonder about whether the person who is dusting off her shoes and he does not even want to think about waking up, so he steps in front of her to say, "We cannot waste time."

Eun-soo looks up and says, "Hey?" He answers, "Yes?" She asks, "Do we really have to go there? What if we do not? After all there is no one watching over us."Choi Young's gaze is steady as he asks her, "You decided to go, right?" 

Eun-soo answers, "Well, I did not even put my stamp on the contract. And…If it were the same, would you want to go? They told me to go and treat the patient said if I do not do it, they'll cut off my head. I don't know if it's a person, there's no machine to test it. but what kind of doctor does not have any tools or medicine? How am I going to treat the patient without either? I do not like it."

Eun-soo looks at him, as she finishes saying all her doubts out loud. Choi Young sighs knowing no matter what he says, she will have a thousand words to refute anything he has to say.

So he stands saying not a word, in front of her as she looks up at him, he quietly extends a hand to her which she looks at and raises her eyebrows at him. 

The sight makes him feel embarrassed as he stands hand out waiting her, it makes him quickly look at his hand that has blood on it so he quickly offers her his sleeve covered wrist instead.

She grabs it and he pulls her up, the grimace on her face makes it clear the movement has caused her pain, his reaction is to quickly roll her sleeve up to see the thin wrist encircled with dark blue bruises on them which makes him ask, "This...."

Eun-soo quickly removes her wrist from his hands and lowers the sleeve of her clothes to cover them to answer, "Ah. This....This happened when I was caught yesterday. People kept saying I was walking on my own feet, but I was being dragged along."

Choi Young asks in a low voice, "Was there anywhere else you were injured?" The unexpectedness of the question makes Eun-soo to look up at Choi Young noticing how close his face is right then and the sober expression it has as he waits for her to answer.

It makes her forget for a moment, that this man lives in accordance with the covenant he has made to protect her to this extent that this also is covered as part of being in that category.

Her answer is, "There is." He asks, "Where?" She proceeds to roll up the other sleeve to show him the matching bruises on her other arm saying, "This one too."

She then points to her head to lift the hair up to show the big black bruise on her head and says, "And here." The way she does this is quite comical and almost resembles a child showing their boo boos to their mummy.

Choi Young's eyes widen at the sight of the black bruising when she continues to say, "It really hurt my self-esteem," she said. "I have never had anything like that happen to me in my life."

The evidence of the rough treatment she had endured makes her then say in accusation like he is a criminal caught at the scene.

Playing up her mistreatment to plead for mercy from, "Now You are dragging me along like a dog. Which makes me hurt here…" so saying she covers her chest, where her heart is located.

The sight makes Choi Young's eyes become troubled again, which makes her satisfied that her statement has hit its target, which makes her think, 'After all, did this guy not say he was in love with me, but he dragged her out again. Trying to make her go.'

There is no way she can go anywhere her legs are hurting, her feet hurt with how thin her soles were. It seems the soles of her shoes are as thin as paper, and her feet felt like they were on fire.

It makes her wonder 'Why are you so calm? What is the road that they walk on?' She looks at the road that she is walking on only noticing now that it is not even a paved road and there appears to be rocks everywhere, wait a minute. 'Is that poop over there? It looks so big that it looks like horse poop.'

The sight makes her want her to demand that he has to carry her on his back or in his arms, which makes her want to cry.

Choi Young looks at Eun-soo, for a moment, seeming to notice her defeated posture then turns and walks away, the action makes her look as he walks away in long strides making her wonder mentally, 'What?" 

It is then that she notices the direction he is walking towards, is back to Taiwan who has been following the pair as he is leading the two horses, watching and waiting.

Eun-soo gets up in a panic to chase after him with her stiff legs, barely able to catch up with him halfway yelling to get his attention, "Hey!" 

The guy does not even look back, which makes her wonder how to call his attention 'What do you call him? General Choi Young? No. Not General. Not yet anyway. "Choi Young!"

She makes those stiff legs move as fast as they can to run to catch up and then slow a little bit to stay slightly behind him with how quickly those long legs move forward, "Choi Young!"

He stops which makes her almost collide with his back, but can stop to look at him, from the side, to notice his face seemed to be frozen. The sight makes Eun-soo realise that it was because he was angry about the bruises on her body.

Choi Young was angry about the bruises on her body, was evidence that he could not keep his word, which hurt his pride.

Eun-soo's thoughts are pre-occupied with a topic she thinks is worth pursuing and talking about because what she really wants to ask amongst the things she wants to ask clutter her mind, 'Is the wound okay and is there any fever? How can you walk like that?' It is those questions she decided not to ask because it would hurt his pride. 

So, she decided to ask, "Since when?" There is no reply which makes her wonder, 'Why, should I not ask that much of this person?'

She tries a more direct tactic, "You are saying you like it a lot, right? So, that kind of love is something you love when you're dating, and you love it when you're in love Then... love? Do you use words? What is love here? Aren't you using it yet?"

As expected, there is no response as she badgers him, "Future general, don't you know what small talk is? Since when have you been in love with me? I had no idea. If you go into this much, there should be a reaction... but there isn't. Hey, but that doesn't mean you're going to save me from that scary house."

Choi Young quickens his pace, and the distance widens further making him wonder why is he running?

Despite his body is not in good condition and the sight of that house when he looked at it, he had noticed that the guards that protected the mafia leader's house were very angry, rang the bell.

The sound of the bell ringing again had Eun-soo badgering him to try a different approach to ask again "But how old are you? Looking at it, you are younger than me…. I think it is Rae."

She puts her hand on Choi Young's shoulder, and in an instant, that shoulder disappears, from under the hand and at some point.

Choi Young came up behind Eun-soo pulling the hand that touched him behind her to twist it from the elbow which resulted in pain shooting through her body, as she protests. "Ouch!" 

Her reaction then makes him warn in a low voice, "Remember. Never approach someone using a knife from behind. Do not touch without especially without warning as that hand can be cut off right away just because."

He then releases Eun-soo and passes by her like the wind to walk ahead which makes her think, 'He. He. Now I know you can never hurt me.'

She chases after him to catch up and then walks beside him to say, "I have worked in surgery for several years, including residency." 

Choi Young tries to make his point clear, "I have been dealing with people who use swords everywhere and those who use swords…." Eun-soo interrupts, "I do not eat that much at home."

Choi Young gives up on that topic for now, unsure of what she is trying to say. Eun-soo is not sure how much she wants to explain after all it was not a topic, she had wanted to bring up, but it was a topic that needed to be explained at least once.

So, she attempts to get over with "Oh, it's okay. I know. I understand." Confused he asks, "What… do you understand?" Eun-soo explains, "I am telling you this in case you misunderstand. It is said that a captor can fall love their captive, but that is as far as it goes, I do have that level of insight."

Eun-soo wants to say this, but it would be a waste to just throw away such interesting material. Just thinking about it tickles her funny bone and makes her want to laugh, "I would have been embarrassed after confessing something like that too."

A lot of people have been in the same boat, but she kept digging like a clueless person. She finds herself smiling, which she recognises that she should not be doing and tries to hide it behind her hands that she uses to block the sight by coughing.

Choi Young is embarrassed, as he who is normally like a rock is also confused by doing what he had felt like doing, so he tries to explain, "There was a reason for saying that. So…..."

Eun-soo interrupts, "I understand. I will just pretend I did not hear it... But what should I do about what I have already heard?"

She bursts out laughing so much that she playfully punches Choi Young in the chest and went ahead to then skip ahead a little to lead, as she glances back to resuming to walking with slight playful steps.

He could not avoid it this time, right? Choi Young is dumbfounded, at her actions and is dazes as she stops to look back and laugh to continue walking with a skip like she is being chased.

Taiwan is laughing so hard as he passes Choi Young without realising it and is caught by the collar by the captain to be lifted to then ask the kid, who asks, "What...?!"

Choi Young answers, "Why did I bring that woman out of all the doctors in Heaven bring that woman out of all the doctors?"

Taiwan tries to answer honestly taken aback at the captains action, sounding scared. "I... I..." Choi Young demands, "Huh? How did it happen? Why?" Taiwan's answers, "I do not know."

Choi Young barely catches his breath and lets go of Taiwan's collar, to say, "I do not know what treatment, will be needed so we will need to get Uiseon's tools."

Taiwan says, "I will get it." Choi Young than says low to impress on him the importance of the next instructions, "Go. Do not meet with anyone and do not say anything."

Taiwan says simply, "I will." Choi Young says, "I think I will arrive at Ganghwa late tomorrow." Taiwan says, "I will get it before then." Choi Young says, "Okay."

Taiwan was about to turn around, but Choi Young caught him again, by the collar to instruct, "Come before nightfall." Taiwan says, "Yes."

Choi Young then says, "You will pass by Papyeong-hyeon. Come that way." Taiwan the says, "Ah, so before you two spend the night alone…."

Taiwan, sees Choi Young's hand twitch, reflexively which makes him pull away from his grasp to scramble away to say, "I will be back."

Choi Young takes the reins that Taiwan had thrown away while running. Noticing the person who is so far ahead of him is gesturing with her hand, to come quickly.

The sight makes him breathless enough to make him swallow quickly to compose himself at how unpredictable she can make him.

One minute he had been angry at the evidence of bruising on her wrists after being caught and dragged away.

He controls his breathing as he is relieved, that she is not someone who is angry or forceful, even after the shock of spending the night as a prisoner.

It makes him feel relieved that she can still laugh, talk, and joke around. The walking helps him organise the miscellaneous feelings, words and thoughts of different directions that are not something he is used to dealing with.

Choi Young then starts to examine Deokseong Buwongun Ki-Cheol's tactics, making him wonder, 'What do you want? Is it true? It is obvious that Ki-Cheol does not want to kill Uiseon himself, even though he could. Why he did not?'

Choi Young recalls the way Buwon-gun Ki-Cheol had looked at Uiseon, which makes him feel uncomfortable with the calculating way his expression had been.

The thought of wanting to go just like this, to take Uiseon to the gates of Heaven, suddenly comes to mind.

Unfortunately no one can go to the border without permission of your Majesty of His Highness can. On the other hand, he is also worried about Gyeongchang-gunmama, who is said to be unwell.

The order is as follows, first, I take Uiseon to Gyeongchang-gunmama. while Uiseon was checking on Mama's condition, he could leave her in charge someone from the Red Moon Crescent.

After all Ganghwa Island is a bustling place, where he can find somone he not only has a connection with and someone can trust to leave her in charge of her protection. After her safety is taken care of he can go check the Heaven's Gate and maybe return to the palace alone.

The King will be angry, at him but he can take all the consequences. Choi Young's has decided on a possible path when he notices Uiseon, whose steps were slowing down. 

She turns around, to look right behind her, at him, who still leads the horses, to get scared and started walking quickly again.

Joo Hong slowly follows behind him and the other horse is just following Joo Hong, on the outer line.

It looks like Joo Hong liked the way Uiseon was acting, so Choi Young lets go of his reins, which makes the horse pick its pace up to catch up right behind Uiseon.

Eun-soo hears the horse's hooves behind her getting closer and closer. She quickens her steps which become faster and faster, thinking 'Oh my.'

She suddenly feels a nudge on her back which makes her scream startled, to duck and peeks over her shoulder to see that a horse stands behind her, his nose is just over her shoulder.

Choi Young almost smiles without realizing it and thinks that even if he goes to Heaven's gate, he does not know when it will open.

The realisation is that she will be in this land for some time to come, maybe even longer. He thinks if she is going to stay, maybe he should teach her little by little on how to live on this earth.

At the very least he should teach her what to fear, when and how to run away and they will have to start with horseback riding.

It makes him how he should do it? He is unable to anticipate her reaction and normally it would only take him more than five to six words on a normal day to persuade anyone else, whereas he might spend a month to persuade Uiseon.

Choi Young says, "It is not a distance you can walk without riding a horse." Eun-soo says, "You are not good at anything, are you? I do not really want to go there."

Choi Young says, "If you do not go there, you will be in trouble." Eun-soo is floored and says, "I am going to be in trouble if I go there."

Choi Young says, "Would you like to just go as far as sitting on a horse?" Eun-soo says, "That is the last thing I want to do."

Unsure of what more to say, Choi Young looks at Eun-soo, who then explains, "It is because I am hungry. Riding a horse requires a lot of stamina and when I am hungry, my temper becomes violent. I also can get rashes and things like that, but I cannot climb that high in this condition. Have you eaten? So, why do we not get something to eat first?"

She barely manages to find a small dumpling shop on the side of the road to buy both dumplings. As a result, he ate as well as any of the men of Woodalchi, but he watched as she ate her dumplings holding it with both her hands, while the sun was already setting on the western mountainside.

Indicating the sun will set soon, which will make it difficult to cross the Yesong River before sunset, let alone the road that they need to travel on will be more difficult in the dark.

Taiwan should have come back by now, but there had been no sign of him. Choi Young knows that no one can keep up with Taiwan's fast running, so his absence makes it him wonder, 'Was he was caught by those who were following him? What was going on when someone he sent was being stopped by the cotton exhibition?"

Sudden his thoughts are interrupted by Eun-soo, "Hey!" Choi Young turns around without realising it when he hears her call. 

Eun-soo has been looking at the dull expression from across the table, which made her anxious, when she had called to get his attention, she notices how he straightens his posture, straightens his face to look at her attentively before he says, "Please speak." Eun-soo asks, "Are we breaking up?"

He sighed, unable to understand what he meant, and then asked back, "What does that mean?"Eun-soo says, "The King does not plan on sending me back right now, does he?"

Choi Young answers, "I guess so."

Eun-soo says "If there is no permission from the King, Choi Young will not be able to take me to the Heavenly gate. You cannot go to this place, right?"

Choi Young answers, "It is difficult." Eun-soo's tone takes on a pleading tone to say, "So, considering our bond so far, please let me go. Just let me go alone, all you need do is to show me which way, I need to go."

A part of Choi Young's heart feels like it is sinking, when she continues to pester, "You can tell the King that I ran away? Please lend me some money for travel expenses. It is not possible that I can repay, right? You said you fell in love with me."

Choi Young simply states, "It is not a path you can take alone. It's also dangerous." Eun-soo starts to suggest, "Is there anyone you can trust? A friend or a bodyguard that you find trustworthy to accompany me?"

Eun-soo does not know why that suggestion came out, as she looks at him in tears. Choi Young says firmly and quietly, "If you've finished eating, get up. We have a long way to go."

Choi Young gets up from the table and walks to where the horses stand. One part of his heart continues to throb as she continues to sit.

In Jang Bin's words, he said she survived, but her body has not fully recovered yet and the heart it contains is also weakened like his body.

The closer he gets to her, she gets hurt, his thoughts are broken into when she says, "We are breaking up and I will leave."

Choi Young shakes her head, trying to control his mind, to hurry and do it again. If he does not, he will not be able to use her sword properly unless she finds Yin indifference.

After meeting the man in the morning who smelled like blood her thoughts began to return to normal, she thinks it would be better to break up now.

She does not care, even if he threatens to cut off her head as it is cluttered with thoughts that she seemed to revolve around him. Thoughts like:

'What is he thinking now, what is he looking at now? What does it look like? Every nerve is on edge to know. All I want to see where he looks and hear his voice when he keeps talks to me.

His honest reaction, his embarrassed look, his eyes as he looks straight at me. It makes me excited about everything, I felt like I am out of breath and crazy. 

A person from another world who is capable of kidnapping and murder are alive and well. Above all it is a great person mentioned in all the textbooks was such an easy guy.' 

Other thoughts like, 'What are you doing? I am not saying that to this guy like I have just met him at a bar in the middle of the night.

By the way. What if I have a high-quality relationship with this person? will I also be included in textbooks? Look. I am going crazy. I guess before it's too late I think I need to break up with this guy as soon as possible.'