Episode 37: Ohgu's Survival Story
"Thank you."
As Hua Yeo-wol gently lowered her head and tried to withdraw her hand, Won Seung pulled her closer instead.
This brought Hua Yeo-wol swaying forward. Her white forehead, bathed in moonlight, came into view, with her long eyelashes casting deep shadows below.
Won Seung, almost unconsciously, leaned in and lightly kissed Hua Yeo-wol's forehead.
Hua Yeo-wol's eyes widened in surprise.
Her eyes, wide open, looked straight ahead, but she saw everything. The guards hidden in the alley's shadows, the warrior who quickly turned his head after peeking through the door, and the sight of herself and Won Seung standing under the moonlight.
It felt as if the world had stopped.
When Won Seung pulled away, Hua Yeo-wol nearly collapsed from the sudden weakness in her legs. As Won Seung moved to support her, she waved him off.
"I-I'll go inside."
Hua Yeo-wol quickly dashed through the door.
Won Seung stood there, staring blankly at the door through which Hua Yeo-wol had disappeared.
Creak.
Only when the door closed did he come back to his senses.
Even he hadn't anticipated his own actions.
Standing under the bright moonlight, Won Seung looked up at the sky.
The full moon caught his eye.
'They say the moon can drive you mad...'
That damned moon... Won Seung blamed the innocent moon, though he knew it wasn't at fault.
He was the one enchanted.
Won Seung had grown up among women in dusty training clothes, living on the edge of life and death. He had never been interested in women before.
But Hua Yeo-wol, Yang Yeon-seo, and So San-san were different from the trainees. Their white faces, small white hands, fine clothes, and alluring scents were enough to captivate him... It wasn't just the moonlight.
The fervor of a sixteen-year-old can't be controlled by internal energy.
Won Seung smacked his own head.
'You said you were friends... Won Seung, you're a bad guy.'
Won Seung walked the night streets back to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
The front door of the shop was closed, so he went around the alley to enter through the side door.
Jong Bi, who was feeding the skeletal Ohgu porridge, glared at him with a fierce look.
"Why are you so late?"
Since he had cooked the food and Won Seung took the credit, Jong Bi's voice naturally turned gruff.
Moreover, he was tasked with saving a man on the brink of death.
'I'm an assassin! Not someone who saves lives!'
Ignoring Jong Bi's disgruntled gaze, Won Seung approached Ohgu, who was slowly eating the porridge Jong Bi fed him.
Could a person become so emaciated? The once-vibrant Ohgu had turned into a skeleton.
His stomach was wrapped in white cloth.
Though he had expected it, he hadn't imagined it would be this bad.
Won Seung spoke to Ohgu, who was weakly accepting the porridge.
"Eat slowly and regain your strength. Then we can talk."
Moved by Won Seung's gentle words, Ohgu burst into tears.
*
Ohgu, imprisoned in the Heavenly Observation Pavilion's dungeon, felt wronged.
'What did I do wrong...?'
He wasn't even given food, so he had to starve. Clutching his hungry stomach, he resented Gu Ja-ang.
Despite enduring such excruciating pain, he kept the secret to the end... only to be treated like this. Resentment grew in his heart.
When more than ten days had passed without food, a guard came and said,
"You stubborn fool. Are you planning to hold out until the end? Strategist Gu said not to give you water anymore. You'll die like this. Confess and beg for forgiveness."
Ohgu was speechless.
He pleaded that he hadn't betrayed anyone, but they wouldn't listen... What more could he say?
When Ohgu continued to hold out, the guard stopped giving him water, saying it was Gu Ja-ang's order. A person can survive about a month without food, but only two or three days without water.
Ohgu's resentment was etched into his bones.
'Even if I become a ghost after death, I will have my revenge.'
Yet, even after five days without water, he didn't die.
"Ugh..."
Tormented by hunger and thirst, Ohgu couldn't understand why he wasn't dying.
On the sixth day, a sudden thought struck him.
'That medicine!'
The liquid and pill Won Seung had given him!
That must be it!
He hadn't consumed the Elixir of Immortality... There was no other explanation but that pill.
For some reason, despite not eating or drinking, he wasn't dying because of the medicine Won Seung had given him. This realization brought a glimmer of hope to Ohgu's heart.
'If I can pretend to be dead and escape...'
Perhaps that person would save him?
Caught in a strange hope amidst hunger and thirst, Ohgu began to scheme.
His survival was nothing short of a miracle. Even the guards found it strange.
So, if he pretended to die naturally... wouldn't they throw him into the river?
The Heavenly Observation Pavilion had its base by the Xiang River. Bodies that needed to be discreetly disposed of for various reasons were thrown into the river to be fed to the fish.
Ohgu knew this well, having done it a few times himself.
'If I die, they'll dispose of me the same way. Then... I just have to survive the river.'
Determined to escape, Ohgu lay down and held his breath.
If only he had learned something like the Turtle Breathing Technique... But Ohgu hadn't mastered such high-level martial arts.
So, he breathed as shallowly as possible, pretending to be dead.
A guard saw Ohgu and reported to the head guard. The head guard came into the dungeon to check on Ohgu.
He wasn't dead, but his breathing was so faint that he seemed on the verge of death.
"Hmm. He's as good as dead. It would be better for him to die than to keep suffering like this."
The head guard was tired of reporting Ohgu's condition to Gu Ja-ang every day. He thought it would be better for Ohgu to just die.
He pulled out a dagger and stabbed Ohgu in the stomach.
Ohgu flinched at the searing pain but held back his scream and went limp instead.
The guard said,
"He's definitely dead. Stubborn fool... He didn't drink water for seven days and finally died. Throw him into the Xiang River."
He instructed his subordinates and went to report to Gu Ja-ang.
As expected, Ohgu was thrown into the Xiang River.
Splash!
The icy water brought him back to his senses. Drinking his fill of river water, he regained some strength.
Floating along the river for a while, Ohgu swam to the shore once he was out of the Heavenly Observation Pavilion's territory.
'If I can just meet that person, I'll survive.'
Ohgu held onto the strange hope that Won Seung would save him and sought the Cloud Flower Pavilion.
However.
Upon hearing from the shopkeeper that Won Seung had already left, Ohgu's skeletal body collapsed. As he sank to the ground, the shopkeeper frowned.
"This beggar! Get out of here!"
The shopkeeper kicked him, but Ohgu didn't have the energy to protest. Having gone nearly a month without food and having been stabbed by the head guard's dagger, he could barely take a step.
But he couldn't stay in front of the Cloud Flower Pavilion. It was the finest inn and restaurant in Xiangyang, and someone from the Heavenly Observation Pavilion might notice him.
Gritting his teeth, he staggered down the street and spotted Hua Yeo-wol passing by.
'That woman?'
She was the daughter of the Clear Water Sect who had visited the Cloud Flower Pavilion where Won Seung had stayed.
On a whim, Ohgu followed her and saw her meet with Yang Yeon-seo and So San-san before entering the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
Ohgu sneaked around the alley and climbed over the wall of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, but his lack of strength caused him to fall on his backside.
He tried to hide, but the sound alerted the assassin Jong Bi, who caught him.
*
After hearing Ohgu's long story, Won Seung sighed.
"It's truly a terrible thing. Starving a trusted subordinate to death... If I hadn't given you the Body Strengthening Pill, you would have died."
"What? A Body Strengthening Pill?"
"You were beaten by my servant that day. I thought you might have internal injuries, so I gave you the Body Strengthening Pill. It allows you to go without food for about a month."
"Oh! So it wasn't poison? That's why... that's why I survived!"
"You think I'd use poison recklessly? I'm not that kind of person."
Won Seung took out a pill from his sleeve and handed it over.
"Take this, and you'll quickly regain your strength."
Ohgu was moved, realizing his guess had been correct.
This man is humane... unlike Gu Ja-ang....
In truth, Ohgu had partly brought this situation upon himself. He didn't realize that his badmouthing of Gu Ja-ang had led to this.
In fact, Ohgu didn't remember cursing Gu Ja-ang in front of Won Seung. He had just blurted out whatever came to mind in his pain.
- "Petty. A despicable human. A cold-blooded man without pity or compassion...."
From Ohgu's few curses, Won Seung understood what kind of person Gu Ja-ang was. He particularly noted his suspicious nature.
So he sent Ohgu back after using the "Painful Bruise Medicine" to heal his bruises and swelling.
The Body Strengthening Pill was given to help him endure if he was tortured.
As Won Seung had predicted, Gu Ja-ang, suspicious of Ohgu's healthy return, imprisoned him.
"If I had known you were being misunderstood, I would have gone to explain and rescued you from the dungeon. Then you wouldn't be just skin and bones."
Won Seung felt a bit guilty.
Originally, he had planned to rescue Ohgu if he heard he had been abandoned and then win him over. But he had been so busy setting up the Hundred Flowers Pavilion that he forgot.
Unaware of this, Ohgu trembled with rage, cursing Gu Ja-ang and vowing revenge.
"No, it's not your fault. It's that bastard Gu Ja-ang. I will definitely get my revenge."
Then he got off the chair, knelt down, and sobbed.
"I swear my loyalty to you. I'll tell you everything about the Heavenly Observation Pavilion and Gu Ja-ang's conspiracy."
"What good is that to me? Just eat. You need to eat to regain your strength."
Won Seung gently helped Ohgu back onto the chair.
"Sniff!"
Ohgu's tears flowed again.
Jong Bi felt a chill down his spine as he looked at Won Seung.
He suspected that releasing Ohgu had been a calculated move to sow seeds of distrust and betrayal. Could it be that Won Seung had anticipated Ohgu's predicament? If so....
'He's truly a wicked man.'
*
The next day, Yang Yeon-seo visited with her brother Yang Dae-hyun. On the way, they met Jong Won-bo and a scholar named Mun Yeok-su, who accompanied them.
"I didn't know a place like this existed."
Yang Dae-hyun said as he entered and looked around the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. Though the space wasn't large, with only ten scrolls and two tables, it didn't feel cramped.
Jong Won-bo looked around with a haughty expression.
"If even I didn't know, it must have opened very recently. Ah! What's that?"
Jong Won-bo, who had been acting superior, suddenly exclaimed and approached a painting by An Mok-saeng.
"Oh! It's a copy, but it doesn't fall short of the original. It's quite good."
Jong Won-bo's knowledgeable comment made Yang Dae-hyun smile warmly and ask,
"Have you seen An Mok-saeng's Thousand-Day Waterfall Painting?"
"Yes, I have. I saw it when I visited the State Preceptor in the Imperial Capital."
Just then, Won Seung, who was entering the shop from the inner room, overheard Jong Won-bo's words. He realized who the State Preceptor Jong Won-bo was boasting about was.
'So that petty old man became the State Preceptor.'
Won Seung recalled visiting the Hanlin Academy with his father as a child, where the State Preceptor had proudly shown them An Mok-saeng's Thousand-Day Waterfall Painting.
Entering the shop, Won Seung laughed heartily.
"Hahaha. I didn't know Senior Brother Jong had such discernment in art. Yes, that painting is An Mok-saeng's Thousand-Day Waterfall Painting."
"Huh? Who are you?"
Jong Won-bo frowned as he looked at Won Seung.