Chapter 5
Let’s Talk…
All the men were in similar straits, soon to be conscripted, and as they imagined their uncertain futures, they let out deep sighs together.
“To be honest, I have a younger brother, so I’m not in a hurry to get married,” one of them said. “I even told my maternal uncle that if I come back alive from the battlefield, then I’d hold a proper wedding and take my cousin as my wife. If I got married now and something happened, I might ruin her life forever.”
Another man nodded in agreement.
“Sigh, same here. When I said I wouldn’t marry, my mother cried day and night. Listening to her crying like that, how could I endure it? But still… is this really the right thing to do? What did we ever do to deserve dragging other families’ precious daughters into hardship…?”
“If only we were like you, Geo-eop,” someone said with envy. “Your father passed the saengsi—the first stage of the civil service exam—so you’re exempt from conscription. If I’d known things would turn out like this, I would’ve studied hard from the beginning.”
He let out a heavy sigh.
“Yeah… when I was young, I couldn’t keep my eyes open whenever I opened a book. If I’d known, I would’ve clenched my teeth and studied, at least tried to take the exam.”
For a while, they reminisced about the past in silence, simply raising their cups and drinking.
Geo-eop, who had been listening quietly, looked around. Among the friends he’d grown up with in the same neighborhood, he was the only one who had managed to avoid this conscription.
Will I ever see these guys again?
And even if we do meet again… when would that be?
A bitter feeling rose in his chest. To shake off the heavy mood, Geo-eop deliberately laughed loudly.
“Haha, who knows? You guys might earn great merit on the battlefield, receive titles, live in grand mansions with servants everywhere. Meanwhile, I’ll probably still be stuck in this backwater village. So don’t forget about me when you make it big!”
One of the men, fired up, chimed in.
“That’s right! If things go well, one of us could even become a general! And when that happens, peerless beauties will be lining up!”
At that, the man beside him nudged him and scoffed.
“Don’t talk nonsense! With that scrawny body of yours, what kind of general do you think you’ll be? If anyone’s got a chance, it’s Park Seung. Even Master Go of the Escort Guild acknowledged him, didn’t he? He said Park Seung was born with the makings of a warrior! As for you, you don’t stand a chance.”
The others nodded enthusiastically.
“Hahaha! That’s right! We should stick close to Park Seung from now on. Park Seung, don’t forget about me later, yeah?”
“Me too! When they assign units, I’ll do whatever it takes to end up where you are. If you rise to a high position, maybe I can get some scraps too. By then, Park Seung, you’ll probably be surrounded by beautiful women. That country bumpkin girl is just someone your stepmother forced on you anyway. You can just divorce her later.”
The “country bumpkin girl,” So Cheong-yeong, ground her teeth as she glared at Yeo Park Seung. Her gaze was so sharp it looked like it could bore holes straight through him.
I don’t want a husband like you either! Give me back my marriage papers right now!
A short while later, when Yeo Park Seung and his friends were drunk, arms slung over each other’s shoulders as they prepared to leave, So Cheong-yeong stood in front of them at the doorway with the twin siblings, blocking their path.
The drunken men halted their unsteady steps and looked her up and down with curiosity, along with the young twins beside her.
Who’s she? Park Seung is handsome, sure, but still—how does she have the nerve to stare straight at unfamiliar men like that? And judging by her looks… dark skin, skinny frame, ragged clothes covered in dust—she’s a textbook country girl. Still, those kids… they look exactly alike. No doubt they’re twins.
Tipsy, Ryu Geo-eop thought Cheong-haeng was adorable and reached out to pat her head. Startled, Cheong-haeng quickly hid behind her older sister’s back.
So Cheong-yeong pulled her youngest sister tightly into her arms and slowly raised her head. Her gaze brushed past Ryu Geo-eop, who withdrew his hand regretfully, and settled on Yeo Park Seung. Park Seung, thinking she was just someone trying to pass through, quietly stepped aside to make way.
And it was at that very moment—
“Let’s talk.”
So Cheong-yeong’s calm voice echoed softly.
Startled by her sudden call, Yeo Park Seung lost his balance and staggered. Regaining his footing, he turned to look at his friends. They were all staring at So Cheong-yeong with their mouths hanging open.
“…Me?”
Park Seung pointed at himself, bewildered.
So Cheong-yeong nodded.
“Yes. You. My name is So Cheong-yeong. I think we have something to discuss.”
Before her words had even fully settled, Park Seung choked and broke into a coughing fit. Once he finally calmed down, he awkwardly spoke while looking at her steady gaze.
“Uh… sure.”
At once, the eyes of his friends—who had never seen him behave like this—sparkled with excitement. How could they, as his friends, possibly miss such a sight? Park Seung acting like a meek lamb!
This was just too entertaining.
Annoyed by their mischievous expressions, Park Seung tried to push them away.
“Go on ahead. I’ll see you later.”
“No way! How can we call ourselves friends if we leave one behind?”
“Exactly!”
They stubbornly refused to budge. Park Seung was grinding his teeth in frustration, but there was nothing he could do about them right now.
So Cheong-yeong glanced at them briefly but showed no reaction, maintaining her calm expression.
Not wanting his friends to overhear the conversation, Park Seung hesitated briefly before suggesting:
“The back courtyard of this tavern is pretty quiet. I know the owner—let’s talk there.”
Even his tone was unusually careful.
So Cheong-yeong nodded lightly, then looked down at the twins.
“You two can wait here quietly, right?”
“……”
Cheong-yang said nothing.
Cheong-haeng, frightened by the young men in front of her, clamped her lips shut and clutched So Cheong-yeong’s clothes even tighter. She eventually buried her face against her sister and clung to her desperately.
Ryu Geo-eop smiled at the twins and extended his hand kindly.
“You’d be better off waiting here with me. Come on, I’ll buy you something tasty.”
But Cheong-haeng grew even more frightened, refusing to even look at him as she pressed her face into So Cheong-yeong’s leg. Every time Cheong-yeong took a step, it seemed Cheong-haeng would follow.
Cheong-yang only glanced at Ryu Geo-eop, remaining silent. He clearly had no intention of leaving his sister’s side either.
In the end, So Cheong-yeong took both children with her to the back courtyard.
Park Seung shot a fierce glare at his friends, who looked ready to follow. Laughing regretfully, they stopped.
“Alright, alright. Go have your talk. We’ll wait out front.”
Only then did Park Seung lead So Cheong-yeong into the back courtyard.
Once there, Park Seung called the tavern owner and asked him to bring tea and snacks for the twins.
After making sure the children were quietly eating, So Cheong-yeong sat with Park Seung at a round table a short distance away.
Park Seung glanced at her briefly, then avoided her gaze, gripping his teacup tightly. He didn’t realize it himself, but he was slightly nervous.
“So… what did you want to say to me?”
There was a gentleness in his voice that was completely absent when he spoke to his friends—no wonder they had reacted the way they did.
So Cheong-yeong looked straight at him and said calmly,
“I heard almost everything you were talking about earlier. You said you don’t like this marriage either, didn’t you? Then… wouldn’t it be better to act as though it never existed?”
Park Seung stared at her in shock.
“You think that’s something you can decide?”
She nodded firmly.
“My life is mine to decide.”
“….”
Park Seung fell silent. He rotated the teacup slowly with his fingertips, deep in thought.
After a long hesitation, he finally spoke.
“Even if it’s not you, I’ll end up marrying someone else eventually.”
What does that have to do with me?
So Cheong-yeong muttered inwardly.
“And besides, your family has already accepted the silver my family sent. Unless that money is returned, my stepmother will never agree to cancel the engagement.”
His stepmother had probably been quite pleased to marry him off to a country girl. A woman like that would never give up the marriage easily.
Yet So Cheong-yeong replied calmly,
“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll take care of it myself.”
Park Seung looked at her directly for the first time.
Though her clothes were shabby, she carried herself neatly, with a quiet dignity. Her skin was dark and her face thin, but her eyes were unusually large. When her jet-black pupils fixed on him, they were sharp and mysterious, like a night sky holding darkness within.
Unable to endure a gaze that felt as though it pierced straight through him, Park Seung lowered his head, lost in thought.
When he’d first heard about the conscription, it had felt as though the sky itself had collapsed. His father hurried to arrange a marriage, but Park Seung had never wanted it from the beginning. With a battlefield looming ahead—where he might not even survive—how could he recklessly ruin a woman’s life?
Worse still, this match had been chosen by his stepmother.
She pretended to be kind on the surface, but inside she was cold to the core. She constantly sowed discord between him and his father.
Did she really think he couldn’t see through her schemes?
If he died on the battlefield and all of the Yeo family’s property passed to his stepmother and her children… he wouldn’t be able to rest in peace even in death. After all, at least half of everything in this household rightfully belonged to his mother.
In the past, when his father first began working as a peddler, they hadn’t even had the money to buy goods—his maternal grandfather had provided it. When they first opened a shop in town, they had to sell his mother’s dowry, along with ten mu of fertile land his grandfather had given them.
But once his maternal grandparents passed away, his father brought the stepmother into the house as if he’d been waiting all along. And after his mother died, that woman became the lady of the household.
Park Seung didn’t care much about dying himself. In fact, he had even thought it might be better—at least then he could reunite with his mother and grandparents.
But if he died, who would perform ancestral rites for them year after year?
Who would carefully wipe his mother’s spirit tablet even once?
More than that, his stepmother might simply throw everything away out of annoyance. And handing over all his assets to that woman and his half-siblings? He would rather give them to a complete stranger than let that happen.
