sohan

Nabi: Summaries with Excerpts, Vol. 4

Chapter 8: So'ryu / 소류 (霄流)
Chapter 9: Children / 아이들 (童)


Surrounded by guards with drawn swords, mystified but unfazed, Ryu Sang indicates to Chŏk'yŏng that he should stay hidden and tells So'ryu again that he's looking for Han'a.

Ryu Sang's declaration that he saw So'ryu the night before makes her dismiss the guards. She tells Ryu Sang that Han'a has been dead for three years. Just then, 'Han'a' appears, so Ryu Sang says, we just saw Han'a in an airship (and he's kind of right behind you). So'ryu tells him, yes, that's because she died in an airship accident, so oh, you must have some sort of ability to see supernatural things, and then excuses herself.

Ryu Sang looks after her as if she's not quite right in the head, and says to Han'a, "Is she a rival of yours?" (경쟁상대냐?)

Pages 21-24:

Han'a: Rival?
(경쟁상대?)



Ryu Sang: You know, concubines¹ fighting over love or inheritance and stuff like that.
(
첩끼리 재산싸움 한다거나 애정다툼 한다거나 그런 거 있잖아.)



Han'a: There's no such thing!

(있긴 뭐가 있어, 이 양반아!)



Chŏk'yŏng's expression: Ryu Sang what the I don't even.


¹ 첩: concubines or secondary consorts (ch'ŏp) [cheop] {妾}.

Han'a: Anyway, what are you doing here? You're the one who took off saying you couldn't trust me.

(그나저나 무슨 일이셔? 날 못 믿는다고 대못 박고 떠나셨던 류상 님이.)



Ryu Sang: Well, I still don't, but it's not like I dislike you.

(뭐, 여전히 널 믿진 않아도 널 싫어하진 않으니까.)



What?
(왜 그래?)



Han'a: I'm afraid of disappointing you.

(그 말을 실망시킬까봐 두려워.)



Ryu Sang: What's there's to disappoint? It's not even a big deal.

(실망하고 말게 어딨어. 별 말도 아니잖아.)



Han'a: It is to me!
(나한텐 별말이야!)



Ryu Sang: You've got an unfortunate life, then.
(박복한 인생이구만.)


Yeah... an unfortunate life..., Harim thinks to himself.
(...그래... 박복한 인생...)


Myo'un and the others are treated as guests of 'Han'a.' They're led to his quarters—a spacious set of rooms that makes Chŏk'yŏng declare that he's wasted his life, if a slave can live in such posh surroundings when a freeborn person like him hasn't got a penny to his name (Ryu Sang: "You're only fifteen."). They unpack their bags to while away the remaining six or so days until the time when they can take an airship out of Su.

By chance they see So'ryu again, this time standing on a bridge spanning one of the inner gardens, as motionless as a picture. A line of ants march across her hand where it rests on the stone balustrade of the bridge. Ryu Sang and the others don't know that this is what So'ryu looks like when she's deep inside one of her future-telling dreams. So'ryu is attended by her maidservant, Wŏn, who has been charged by the master of the Son house to report to him whenever she sees So'ryu dreaming. However, that day, So'ryu has asked Wŏn to overlook her dreaming state, just this once.


After having dinner with Myo'un and the others, Han'a excuses himself, 'to go do some work.' Just outside, the (unnamed) swordsman who was injured by Myo'un, seeking revenge for the loss of his left hand, readies himself to go over the wall and attack her, but suddenly finds himself kicked in the teeth by Harim, who is still wearing his disguise.

Pages 44-46:

Harim: Two swordsmen. Common origins notwithstanding, two swordsmen trained in the ways of the famous Wŏllŭyng Sŏng clan. Even so, the one who cut off your hand was a little girl who's never even received such training. You think you can go up against them? With only one hand?
(칼잡이가 둘.)
(근본이야 어찌됐든 명문 월령성가의 규율대로 가르침 받은 칼잡이들.)
(그럼에도 정작 네 손목을 자라낸 건)
(그 가르침을 받은 적 없는 작은 여인네.)
(상대할 수 있겠어?)
(손 하나로?)



unnamed: ...



Harim: It's a stroke of luck that they're here. Even if you can't stand it, just wait a bit. Until our master orders us to move, understand?

(굴러들어온 복이야.)
(애가 타도 좀 참아. 대감마님의 명이 있을 때까지. 알겠지?)


I'm sorry, that hurts a lot, doesn't it?
You're not even fully healed up, either.
(미안, 많이 아프지?)
(상처도 아직 아물지 않았는데.)



unnamed: Hey Harim, you're even creepier when you go around looking like Han'a, you know that?

(하림이 너, 한아 모습으로 돌아다닐 때면 유난히 더 소름끼치는 거 알아?)



Harim: I know. Han'a must be sharpening her blades in the underworld.

(응.)
(한아가 분명 저승에서 칼을 갈고 있을 거야.)



Han'a, roughly the same age as So'ryu and Harim, was a servant that So'ryu liked very much, someone who would speak sweetly but without any reservations. But as So'ryu recalls:

Pages 71-75:

...이국(異國)에서 온 작은 소녀여....
종달새처럼 재잘거리던
너의 목소리가 아직도 그리운데....

Little girl who hailed from a foreign land...
I still miss your lark-like chatter....

내가 너를 버렸다.
But I threw you away.

그 아이를 구하려고.
To save that child.

Harim stands over a young man whose hands are still clutching So'ryu's skirts. His sword is red with the blood of the second son of the Son clan. So'ryu sits with her hand on her throat, breathing in gasps. She looks down at her brother's dead body.

한아, 네 무덤엔 올해도 찾아가지 못하겠다.
Han'a, it looks like I won't be able to visit your grave this year, either.


In the morning, while looking for Aru, Myo'un finds herself face to face with the person she still knows only as 'Mu'myŏng,' talking with the captain of the Son clan's private guardsmen. They are to bide their time until their master decides on what to do with the orphans. Aru is sitting beneath the balcony where they are standing, having found her way there while wandering around.

Harim shares with the captain that out of the four, Myo'un is most likely to be the heir to the Hong clan. The captain questions this, since the child they're looking for is a boy, and the little boy that he himself saw, ten years ago, was also dressed as a boy. The captain, who only then notices Myo'un—who has just caught sight of them as well—and hearing Harim say that she knows his face, yells at Harim for being so complacent. Harim apologizes, more amused than anything, because neither of them noticed her presence at all until they actually saw her with their own eyes.

Myo'un for her part, seeing 'Mu'myŏng,' thinks: There is no way that this can be a coincidence. She starts to run, and the captain and several guards give chase. Aru, realizing that Myo'un is in danger, is about to start crying, but Harim hops down and tells her that Myo'un hasn't left her behind; she's leading the bad guys away from Aru, rather.

Meanwhile, Ryu Sang and Chŏk'yŏng are in the market commissioning a sketch to be made of 'Mu'myŏng' to try to find out more about the people who destroyed Mugiyŏn Academy. One of the merchants sitting nearby, seeing the completed sketch, tells them that the picture is of Ju Harim, of the Son household, who stops by often to buy trinkets and accessories.

So'ryu, who is receiving an early morning visit from the sickly Jin Yisana, gently strongarms him into doing her bidding. He doesn't like this at all, and tells her so, but So'ryu counters by saying, Please think of this as the first favor you'll be doing for your future wife.

Even as she is manipulating Yisana, So'ryu thinks even though she only tried to change the future that one time—showing someone a simple path—it's as though the heavens are punishing her for her arrogance.

Pages 124-129:

할수 있으리라 생각했다.
흐름을 바꿀 수 있으리라 생각했다.
겁이 없었다.
교만했다.
그리 생각하면서도...
나는 또 다시 반복하리라.
또다시 고사리 손으로

I thought that I could do it.
I thought that I could change the flow.
I had no fear.
I was full of myself.
But even thinking that I was so...
I repeat myself again.
With my pale hands

...이대로 죽 가다...
우물에서 오른쪽.
지금은 쓰지 않는 후원을 지나
담장을 왼쪽에 끼고
낡은 사당이 나올 때까지.

As you go straight this way...
take a right at the well.
Keeping the wall to your left
past the yard that no one uses anymore
until you reach an old shrine hall. **RT**

...몇 번이고,,,
...그 마음이...
...기만당한다해도...
...꿋꿋하게...
...뿌리가 깊은 나무처럼...

No matter how many times...
Even if my heartfelt wish is betrayed...
Standing firm, like a tree with deep roots...


The path that So'ryu describes is one that Myo'un has been unconsciously following as she tries to escape the guards. They are finding her surprisingly difficult to capture; Myo'un is incredibly light on her feet, and seems to know the layout of the Son compound better than the guards themselves. The captain starts to come around to the idea that the heir to the Hong clan might have been a girl, not a boy.

Harim, in another part of the compound, is leading Aru by the hand and telling her a story. Ryu Sang, back from the market along with Chŏk'yŏng, angrily marches toward him.

Pages 131-134:


Harim: A long, long time ago, the heir to a martial clan of great reknown suddenly disappeared one day. That clan was one that valued its heirs above all else, so they raised a real ruckus.
(옛날 옛날에)
(아주아주 명망높은 무가(武家)의 후계자가 어는날 갑자기 사라졌어.)
(그 집안은 원래가 손이 귀한 집이라 난리가 났지.)

Ryu Sang: Hey! Is your name really Ju Harim? Are you the Han'a I know?
(너, 네 이름이 정말 주하림이냐?)
(내가 아는 한아가 너야?)

Harim: They searched high and low for the child and learned that he had been kidnapped by their enemy.
(사방으로 찾다가 아이가 정적에게 납치된 걸 알았어.)

Ryu Sang: Hey!
(야!)

Harim: So to retaliate, they apparently kidnapped their enemy's only daughter.
(그래서 역으로 그 정적의 고명딸을 납치해왔다지 뭐야.)

Ryu Sang: Answer me!
(대답해!)

Harim: At this, the story goes, driven into a rage, that girl's father killed everyone who belonged to that famous martial clan.
(그에 노발대발한 딸아이의 아비는)
(그 명망높은 무가의 사람을 다 죽여버렸다는 이야기.)

Save one. Everyone except the heir that was kidnapped in the first place. Why do you think that was?
(딱 하나.)
(최초에 납치했던 적통 후계자 하나만 남기고.)
(그 이유가)
(뭐였을까?)

Ryu Sang: How should I know, you piece of shit!!
(내가 알게 뭐야, 이 자식아!!)

Aru! Bite!
(아루!)
(물어!)


Myo'un, separated from the others, has no idea where she is going—but is actually following the path that So'ryu told her about, many years ago. So'ryu had lent Myo'un some clothes and done up her hair, and given her a way to escape.

Pages 137-141:

Myo'un: Can we meet again?
(다시 만날 수 있어?)

So'ryu: No.
(아니.)

Myo'un: Why not? I can come over to play in secret.
(왜?)
(내가 몰래 놀러오면 되는데.)

So'ryu: You mustn't. If you do, you'll invite misfortune. Because we're mortal enemies.
(절대 그려면 안 돼.)
(그럼 넌 불행해질 거야.)
(왜냐면 우린)
(원수지가이니까.)

돌이켜보면 어린 아이가 입에 담기엔 무거운 말이다.
불행.
원수.
그 단어가 도출되기까지의 과정 또한 아이로선 쉬이 연상하진 못했던 모양이다.
소녀는 잠시 갸우뚱하는가 싶더니 이내 다를 말을 꺼냈다.

When I think back on it, those were heavy words for a child to utter.
Misfortune.
Mortal enemies.
The child also did not seem to be able to make the connection between the words and the situation at hand.
She seemed to tip her head to one side but then brought up something completely different.

Myo'un: How did you know that I was a girl? That's supposed to be a secret....
(내가 여자애인 거 어떻게 알았어? 그거 비밀인데....)

So'ryu: You look like a girl.
(넌 여자애처럼 생겼어.)

Myo'un: Really?
(정말?)

So'ryu: Yes.
(응.)

Myo'un: Heh–.
(헤—.)

So'ryu: I wondered, what's so great about something like that at a time like this? But since she seemed happy about it, I didn't say anything.
그 와중에
그런 게 뭐가 기쁠까 싶었지만, 좋아하니 아무말 하지 않았다.

Myo'un: This is the first time I've worn a skirt.
(나, 치마는 처음 입어봐.)

Quit chatting, and hurry up and go, So'ryu says, telling the girl that there will be someone waiting for her outside. Watching her melt into the shadow of the bamboo groves, So'ryu says, "Have a nice life, Ha'yŏng." (잘 살아, 하영아.)


Myo'un, who has no memory of her childhood before the school, somehow finds herself at the edge of the Son compound, having left her pursuers far behind. She is sighted by Yisana, who has been sent there by So'ryu to ferry Myo'un away, but he starts to cough up blood and is hustled to the doctor by his servant, Hong, who will hear none of it. During the exchange, Myo'un also disappears from their view.

Aru bites Harim and frees herself, and Ryu Sang attacks Harim. But, to Harim's astonishment, Ryu Sang only bloodies his nose with a kick and retreats with Chŏk'yŏng and Aru in tow. When he learns that Myo'un is being chased by the guards, Ryu Sang tells Chŏk'yŏng go wait at the old temple with Aru, and, if he and Myo'un don't return, to take an airship out of Su on without them.

I won't, Chŏk'yŏng says, his face cold and blank, to Ryu Sang's back. He yells, as Ryu Sang gets further and further away: We're going to wait for the two of you for as long as it takes.






Go to: Volume 5 Summary with Excerpts