Splash!
Bubble, bubble!
A terrible sinking feeling gripped my chest, and an overwhelming roar of water crashed in my ears like thunder.
The moment my body hit the water, the water clung tightly from my legs to my head, cutting into my skin like blades.
It hurt. The muscle pain and the icy water that felt like it was tearing my flesh apart hurt so much.
Instinctively, my body squirmed to breathe, but unlike during the day, the darkness underwater was almost terrifying.
The pitch-black abyss felt like it would push me into a panic, and my chest tightened so much it felt like it would burst, making it impossible to breathe.
Yet as time passed, all I felt was the pain — I neither lost consciousness nor felt any sense of lying on the bed at home.
Of course, if I stayed like this any longer, I would lose consciousness — but that would mean death in this place.
Without realising it, I opened my mouth and swallowed water instead of breathing. My mind grew hazy, and my eyes flew wide open.
Ah, the instinct to survive made my hands flail desperately as I tried to grab onto something, but my feet never touched the ground.
Gasp!
"Cough! Cough!"
A strong grip sharply yanked my body through the pitch-black darkness where I couldn’t see anything.
Then, with the strength of their arms, they lifted my waist and helped me breathe fresh air outside.
Without being aware of whose hand it was, I suddenly coughed and broke into gasps.
Then, I let myself be willingly dragged to the shallow shore and the rocky ground.
"Cough! Cough! ...Mum...! ...Cough."
When I came out of the water, even though I had been prepared to die, the relief of having survived came first, and tears and snot streamed down my face from the intense cold and pain in my body.
Lying face down on the ground, I kept coughing when suddenly a hand in the darkness grabbed me, flipped me over, and carried me off somewhere.
Under the torchlight caught between the branches, I realised that the person who had jumped down after me was General Hunmu.
He was truly the one who had followed me down, his entire body soaked, staring at me with fierce eyes.
And just as my coughing finally began to subside, he grabbed my arm so hard it hurt.
“You fool!”
With every word he uttered, each one pressed out with such force, I realised how foolish my actions had been, and tears began to fall.
Above all, the pain in my body was so intense that I couldn't gather my thoughts, my teeth chattering uncontrollably.
Upon seeing that, he let go of the arm he had been gripping.
Even though he jumped down just like me, he showed no sign of struggle and gathered my outer garments that I had hung out to dry during the day.
And since we were right next to the waterfall, where the surroundings were relatively colder, he held my heavy body firmly in his arms once again, even though his clothes were soaked with water.
As he walked into the forest with the torch in his hand, I wondered why he was going to such lengths for me.
Had the king ordered him to bring me back?
The place where he stopped was in front of a cave that required quite a walk even from the waterfall.
He must be incredibly strong, since upon arriving, without even stretching his arms once, he immediately gathered branches and leaves to start a fire.
Still feeling somewhat dazed, I could only shiver as I watched General Hunmu.
Then, after lighting the fire, he suddenly stepped in front of me, and while looking at his wet clothes and avoiding my gaze, he spoke.
"Take off your clothes."
“!”
“You’ll keep losing body heat if you stay wet.”
"...No... I..."
My body was trembling so much that I couldn’t speak properly. Stiff and frozen like pork left in a freezer, my body creaked like a malfunctioning machine.
“You could freeze to death. Are you still not going to take them off?”
The words ‘I had been prepared to die anyway’ rose up to my throat, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them. Still, stubbornly, I hugged my arms tightly and didn’t move an inch.
Tug!
"No!"
General Hunmu, who had been looking away from the lines of my exposed body, gripped the jeogori.
It seemed like he was trying to undress me since I wouldn’t move at all, but when I saw the knot in front quickly come undone, I wriggled my body in defiance despite the pain.
"Stop!"
Flinch.
General Hunmu’s voice rose sharply as he spoke to my writhing form.
Having grown up under a very taciturn father and never having heard men raise their voices loudly, I momentarily froze, and General Hunmu stared at me with a cold expression, devoid of any warmth.
Without once averting his gaze, he took off my wet jeogori.
He removed the jeogori without looking at my body, and soon began untying the sokchima [1] as well.
After General Hunmu carefully removed my loose clothes with his own hands, he immediately stood up again without even taking a moment to sit. He brought back the garments he had taken off and draped them over me.
In that moment, the sight of him turning his face away to avoid looking at my body stirred within me a flood of indescribable emotions.
After neatly fastening the clothes, he soon examined the scratches on my wrist — wounds I hadn’t even noticed, likely caused while trying to grab something in the water.
My arm, scraped raw against the rock until it bled, had its pain masked by muscle soreness, but without hesitation, he tore the edge of his own clothes and wrapped them tightly around my scratched arm.
"Where does it hurt the most?"
“...”
Squeeze.
"Ah!"
"I asked where it hurts the most."
"...My… whole body hurts..."
“...”
"It feels like someone keeps hitting my body... and it's so cold."
"It's because your muscles are stiff. It'll take at least half a day for it to subside."
This pain would continue for half a day? If I were in the place where I used to live, I would have gone to a hospital immediately, but since there was nothing like that here, it meant I had to keep enduring this pain.
This was truly an undesirable place to live. Of course, the biggest fault was mine for jumping into the waterfall in the first place, but the pain was so severe that I couldn’t even feel disappointed about not being able to return.
Seeing that I was still shivering and curling up, General Hunmu stoked the fire. Though the flames warmed my face, the rest of my body stayed cold.
"It hurts..."
Regardless of whether General Hunmu was in front of me or not, I tried to endure the pain as long as I could before a tearful groan escaped my lips.
It was clear beyond doubt that if it weren’t for him, I would have died today.
Shhhk.
General Hunmu’s hands slowly wrapped around my arms.
I looked up at him, tears welling in my eyes, wondering if he was going to get angry again — but instead, without meeting my gaze, he unexpectedly began to gently massage my arms.
His touch was never forceful; it was very slow and gentle, softly soothing my tense muscles to help them relax.
After massaging my arm, he brought his hand close to the fire to warm it up again, then gently rubbed my shoulder and collarbone with his now warm hand.
Even though it wasn’t a particularly sensitive spot, having General Hunmu’s hand so close and touching me like that made me momentarily forget the pain and bite my lower lip.
It wasn’t long before the pain returned, and I gritted my teeth again, but each time that happened, General Hunmu would warm his hands by the fire and then continue massaging my feet and calves one after the other.
I didn't know how much time had passed since I didn't have a watch. But from what I could tell, General Hunmu continued loosening my muscles for well over an hour without once making eye contact.
・・・・・
The night in the forest grew colder as time passed.
Still, the inside of the cave was relatively warm compared to the chill outside, and thanks to the massage General Hunmu gave me, I was eventually able to lie down and rest, even though it still hurt.
Although it was already well into the night, he sat with his back to me, silent.
Having given me all his clothes, General Hunmu, who was left wearing only his wet pants and shirt, would occasionally add some more branches to the fire whenever it seemed to be dying down, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of lying down himself.
Even when I dozed off for a moment while suffering from muscle pain and woke up, he was still sitting there just as before.
To be honest, as the very person who had jumped into the waterfall at night and caused this whole situation, it wasn’t easy for me to say anything to General Hunmu.
But on such a cold night, lying there warm and comfortable while he didn't even have proper clothes on — no matter how hard I tried not to think about it, the guilt weighed on me so I couldn’t sleep any longer and got up.
Fortunately, after sleeping, my muscle pain had improved significantly, so I put as much strength as I could into my arms and pushed myself up.
Hearing a rustling sound, he glanced over briefly but then looked straight ahead again.
“…Here, please put this on.”
“...”
“My body has gotten much better.”
“...”
"...And I'm sorry for what happened because of me."
When I had muscle pain, I was too focused on my own pain to think about anything else, but waking up and seeing him suffering because of me made me feel uneasy.
In truth, he was also a subject of the king, so there were unavoidable duties he must fulfil.
Moreover, the values and education he had received since birth might have led him to act differently from my expectations.
I realised I had been thinking only from my own perspective.
But even after I spoke, he sat upright without turning his head once.
My wet clothes seemed to be drying somewhat, and I wanted to take his clothes off, but at the sound of my movement, General Hunmu stopped me.
“Stay still. Even if you feel better, your body needs a few more days to fully recover.”
"...But it’s cold, so I… I can just wear my own clothes. If you keep staying like that, you’ll catch a cold."
"Is this really a woman who would risk death by jumping into a waterfall, worrying about something as small as a cold?"
“...”
I had nothing to say. When my body ached, even the reckless, boiling emotions quieted, and I fell as silent as a mute who had eaten honey. [2]
"...I just really wanted to go home... I'm sorry."
"The king is looking for you."
“!”
"We must return to the palace before dawn, and he will ask you where you’ve been."
A cold feeling sank into my chest, and I fell silent with a different emotion than before.
Hunmu continued speaking softly.
“If the king finds out that I took off your clothes and touched your body, it will be difficult for me to escape death — but it won’t be any different for you. It will be reported that you were found in the forest. If the king asks, tell him you went out feeling stifled and got lost.”
Sometimes, while watching old historical dramas, I found myself wondering why people spent their entire lives adjusting everything to the king, constantly trying to please him instead of living for themselves.
Just because they were born as the king's sons, they grew up receiving different treatment from a young age and lived their entire lives taking it for granted without ever feeling grateful.
When I realised that the reason he came to rescue me was because the king had sent for me, I wasn’t entirely surprised, but my spirits sank a little.
However, seeing General Hunmu — still in his wet clothes — showing me how I could survive, I resolved not to resent him anymore just because his actions didn't align with my values.
In any case, thanks to him, I didn't die and was able to recover quickly, so I should be grateful to that person.
"I understand."
The fire silently crept between us, crackling softly.
Radiating warm heat, the fire seemed to resemble General Hunmu, guarding the dark night with its presence.
Translator's Corner:
Thank you for your patience! I'm feeling better now and am resuming my translations! I also picked up this new novel (The Wolf Duke's Secret) to translate since I wanted something a little lighter (mature rom-com)~ Take care, everyone, and see you around! (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) .ᐟ♡
[1] A chima is a wrap-around skirt that starts from the bust area to the ankle. A sokchima is an underskirt. The best diagram can be found on this website: https://scratchzu.xsrv.jp/img/con12/kiji124504/IMG_5724.JPG
[2] This is a Korean idiom equivalent to 'cat got your tongue,' meaning when someone is at a loss for words or is unusually quiet.
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