One day, I might come to regret my choice. One day, I might clutch my hair in my hands and weep.
“Haaa… haaa.”
But for now, there was no regret. I steadied my stride and charged through the dark forest path, never once looking back — just running, running without end.
My breath caught in my throat, my back drenched in sweat.
When I ran down the pitch-dark street that might have seemed frightening, without once losing my way, the full moon drifting above shone brightly on the road, as though guiding me.
Thud, crash.
“Ah!”
As I ran without stopping, my feet tangled and I fell. Because of the long hem of my chima (skirt), I couldn’t catch myself with my hands, and as I rolled, a sharp sting spread across my cheek.
It seemed I’d been scratched, but with no time to linger on the dark, deserted street where not a soul was in sight, I got back on my feet.
I said it would only be for a moment.
I told him it would only be for a moment.
Even now, it was already far too late.
Unaware that the cloth that had covered my face had been discarded somewhere along the street, I arrived in front of the palace gates. The gatekeepers, startled by the unusual colour of my hair, hastily stepped aside. Not to mention my dishevelled appearance, seeing me running alone, they must have thought they were seeing a ghost.
Even the faces of the gatekeepers, whom I usually paid no attention to, felt welcoming — probably because I had run such a long way to get here.
“Haaa….”
When I finally arrived inside the palace grounds, I fell forward, supporting with my hand the knee I hadn’t even realised was throbbing, and gasped heavily for a long while.
Yet, the palace grounds, once noisy with the bustle of the banquet, had become as quiet as the pitch-black night.
The space, still lavishly embroidered with lights, remained unchanged, yet the silence made me uneasy.
One thing that puzzled me further was the king’s behaviour: he hadn’t looked for me, even though I had returned so late.
I took one step after another toward the banquet hall. Though I could no longer undo my choice, with every step, the full weight of responsibility bore down on me.
With each step, I forced myself to forget my mother’s face; with the next, my father’s; and with another, the faces of my friends and Kyuhyun, trying deliberately to push them from my mind.
And finally, when I stepped into the banquet hall, I froze in place, feeling only one person filling my mind completely.
“…Haa…”
I could see neither the musicians nor the countless courtiers who had bustled before him.
Unlike the earlier grandeur, the banquet hall, with only a single light burning, held just the king and a single eunuch.
Tears welled up instantly, seeing the king sitting there just as I had seen him before I left the palace.
Sitting perfectly still, he simply stared at the spot where I had been seated, while beside him, the eunuch bowed his head with a sombre expression.
“Your… Maj…”
When a barely audible, trembling voice escaped, the eunuch was the first to raise his head. Noticing me, he quickly bowed with a startled expression. In that flurry, the king lifted his head and finally noticed me.
Seeing me standing there, tears streaming down my face, the king rose from his seat as if in a daze. Without looking anywhere else even once, he descended from the platform and walked straight toward me.
“Sniff…”
With each step the king took closer, the pieces of my heart, torn by sorrow and guilt, began to mend, and tears flowed without pause.
In the empty banquet hall, the king who had been waiting for me quickened his steps as he approached, and before long, he was running to stand before me, regardless of how I looked.
“What has happened?”
“Sniff… here, alone… what… are you doing…?”
“I will call the physician.”
Seeing the king’s hand hesitantly reach toward my stinging cheek, I realised I must have had a scratch. If even the eunuch was startled, my clothes, dirtied from falling face-first into the ground, must have been in complete disarray.
“You there.”
Swish.
“I’m fine… It doesn’t hurt… It doesn’t hurt at all…”
“...”
“Why… here… sniff… all alone…”
“...”
“I… asked why… you were here alone …”
“How could I leave my seat when you haven’t come?”
“…If I… didn’t return… what were you planning to do, waiting here all alone like this?”
“Didn’t you say it would only be for a moment?”
While listening to the king’s voice, tears welled up again until my vision turned hazy. From his rain-soaked voice and moist eyes, it was as if he already knew that I might not return.
Even so, after sending me off, he could not leave his place, but waited and waited, like a stone statue.
Foolish man. Why was it that one who lacked nothing in this world was, of all people, so devoted to me? What was I to him?
I reached out. And, daringly, I gently cupped one side of the king’s cheek.
Having sat outside for so long, his cheek was even colder than my hand.
“You taught me the meaning of your name ‘Neuru.’ Not all at once, but slowly, over time… Will you come to me that way?”
“Yewon.”
“Will you come to me like that over a long time…?”
The king slowly closed and opened his eyes. I sensed in his gaze the same emotion I had felt helplessly before planning to jump into the waterfall.
An emotion of love so poignant and aching, it tightened my chest.
"I will approach you that way for the rest of my life."
“I may regret it… I may resent Your Majesty… I may cry and beat my chest over my choice… Even so… even so… I cannot bring myself to leave Your Majesty alone.”
Squeeze
He no longer heard my words and pulled me into a tight embrace. Even without my saying that I’d gone to the waterfall with General Hunmu, he already understood what decision I had made in coming to the palace.
Seeing the hand holding my back tremble, and his shoulders shaking too, I could feel just how overwhelmed he was, unable to contain his emotions.
Yet, as I slowly calmed in response to his trembling, it felt strange. And I realised that even if I had returned to my original world, I could never have been happy there.
No, all my life, the guilt and longing I felt toward him would have been agonising.
Swish.
“I have been unfilial all my life, and not only did I defy the natural bonds of blood, but I also brought about the sacrifice of countless others. I know all too well that I am beyond forgiveness, but when it comes to you…”
“…Your Majesty.”
“For you alone, I will be a good husband.”
My life had been unbearably ordinary. In fact, until I fell here, I even felt like a loser.
I started preparing for the civil service exams at a not-so-young age, failed twice, and didn’t know what to do. It felt like my entire life was trapped in a maze.
The friendships I had to force myself to hold onto, out of the thought that I had to live like everyone else, and the minimal courtesies I showed my family — those pressures gradually faded.
Just as I was bewildered and knew nothing when I fell into this strange world, my future life might be just as uncertain.
But when I looked at this person before me, I dared to say:
I could trust him enough to face whatever unexpected events the future might bring.
I nodded slowly. This time, I was the one who carefully leaned into his embrace first.
On the night when the golden moon rose, the waterfall that could take me back to my original world would soon vanish, slipping past that moment.
Beneath the moonlight, the days felt like a single, long dream — a spring dream under the moon. [1]
As if I wanted to stay in his embrace until that night had fully passed, I held the king tightly.
“I will approach Your Majesty in the same way.”
・・・・・
“Do you regret not being able to hold onto her?”
“...”
“Even now, if you ran, you might still be able to catch her.”
“This is what she wanted. She didn’t wish to return, and since I forced her to, there’s no way I can hold onto her.”
General Hunmu kept watching Yewon run alone down the forest path, recalling how she hadn’t been able to bring herself to jump.
For a moment, his legs twitched, ready to chase her as she tried to run down that treacherous forest path without knowing the way. But in the end, he couldn’t move a single step and could only watch.
The woman, tormented to the point of contemplating suicide, revealed her true heart at the waterfall — and it was love for the king.
At some point, the emotion that had burrowed so deeply into her heart became so strong that it made her let go of the very opportunity she had longed for so desperately.
“What will you do now? Since you haven’t lowered your blade, are you planning to take your own life?”
“I was doomed to die anyway.”
“...”
“Having betrayed His Majesty, this death is, in fact, a righteous one for me.”
Muttering to himself, General Hunmu gazed at the full moon hanging high in the sky. He had hoped that she, who had appeared suddenly one day, would no longer suffer.
If this was the choice she wanted, did it mean she was now free from pain?
He posed the question, but he couldn’t easily find an answer.
But as General Hunmu once more recalled Yewon, tears falling in heavy drops, he slowly closed his eyes, opened them again, and turned the blade he had lowered.
“In the other world, curing your illness would be all too easy.”
"It doesn’t matter to me."
“It doesn’t matter…”
“I don’t know how you brought all of this about, but do not touch her any further. She has already suffered enough pain and endured more than enough anguish.”
“What will you do if I touch her again later?”
He froze.
“Don’t do that. If you die now, nothing can be done.”
"Then I have no choice but to kill you."
The elderly shaman standing before General Hunmu smiled at his words.
“You don’t actually think this is my body, do you?”
“...”
"Seeing that woman crying earlier, I had to admit — if only a little — that my spite had gone too far."
“Then leave that woman alone from now on…”
“So, I thought I’d offer you a small token of repayment.”
“What do you mean by a token of repayment?”
“I'm saying I will save your life."
“!”
“You were loyal to the king and saved that woman’s life more than once. If you were to die, she would grieve for the rest of her life, so this time, I will lend you a hand.”
"What are you saying?"
“What I mean is, I’ll send you to that world in place of that woman and save your life.”
<The End>
Translator's Corner:
Apologies for the late update! I had a busy weekend, and I wanted to finish translating all the chapters so I could post them all in bulk~ I do hope you all enjoyed ASDUTM. I must say, this was one of the hardest novels I tried to translate (after TRSOO). I also can't believe it's been a year since I started translating K-novels!
There are unfortunately no side-stories for this novel (I want to know what happened to Hunmu and Kyuhyun) (˃̣̣̥ᴖ˂̣̣̥) Author-nim, please write one!!
Anyway, thank you all for your patience with me, and I hope to see you around in the comments, Kofi or my emails ahaha~💙
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[1] Fun fact: 월하춘몽 (or in Chinese 月下春夢) literally means a spring dream under the moon. "春夢" is the Chinese term for "spring dream", but it can also mean a short-lived illusion or erotic dream. That's why I translated the title of this short novel this way~
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