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sohanNabi: Summaries with Excerpts, Vol. 8
Chapter 15: A Dream You Dream At Night
밤에 꾸는 꿈(夢)
Volume 8 opens on a young Ryu Sang. Laying on his back, he opens his eyes to stare up at the birds circling him. He has been abandoned in the middle of a deserted plain and is nearly dead from hunger. Looking at the sky, Ryu Sang recalls that his mother would sometimes say, "Why are they blue?" as she gazed into his eyes.
In an earlier scene, Ryu Sang, his eyes covered up with cloth, is wondering out loud what blue looks like, and a cheerful servant tells him that blue is the color of the sky, and that his eyes are that color. Ryu Sang asks her if the sky will fall someday, since it's over their heads. Laughing, the servant says that that could never happen since God* is always watching out for them.
*This may be obvious but just in case it is not, 'God' here refers to Hanŭl-nim/Haneul-nim (the Sky God/High God).
As the memory ends, Ryu Sang sits up and silently curses his mother for abandoning him there to die of starvation, not even having the guts to run him through a sword. He swings a sword at the air in rage and frustration and then collapses back onto his back, exhausted, reflecting on the fact that he's always known that his mother did not love him. Knowing this, Ryu Sang reasons that being abandoned to die is not something beyond his ken. He thinks that leaving his father's sword with him might have been a form of revenge for his mother, since she knew how his father valued the clan's treasured sword as much as his own life.
Ryu Sang tells himself that it doesn't matter to him that his mother doesn't love him, but can't help but recall the brown color of her eyes those times when she would undo the bandages that covered up his eyes and gaze into them. In the present day, the battle on the plain having ended, Ryu Sang is sitting against a tree and staring out at nothing, lost in his thoughts. Next to him the apparition of So'ryu mildly scolds him to close his mouth and sit up straight, instead of slouching slack-jawed like someone who's lost all his possessions in a calamity. Ryu Sang tells her to stop calling him 'oppa'*, since she's older than he is. So'ryu looks up at him.
Pages 30-34
So'ryu: Your time flows backwards?
(오빠의 시간은 거꾸로 흐른다?)
Ryu Sang: What are you talking about.
(뭐래는 거야. 이 꼬맹이가.)
So'ryu: I must have come to the future.
(제가 미래로 온 거군요.)
Ryu Sang: Whatever.
(그러거나 말거나.)
So'ryu: Do you know me?
(나를 알아요?)
Ryu Sang: Unfortunately.
(불행이도.)
So'ryu: You're the first person to be able to see me when I'm dreaming.
(처음이에요. 꿈꾸는 나를 볼 수 있는 사람은.)
Ryu Sang: Apparently. And you still acted as if we'd met for the first time not two months ago.
(그러게.)
(그런데도 불과 두달 쯤 전에 처음 본 것처럼 굴다니.)
So'ryu: (?)
Ryu Sang: (...)
So'ryu: (?)
Ryu Sang: Nevermind. What would that have to do with you now.
(관두자. 그게 지금의 너와 무슨 상관이겠니.)
So'ryu: What kind of person did I become?
(나는)
(어떤 사람이 되었어요?)
The kind of person who can send people who serve her into danger without warning them, Ryu Sang replies. Ryu Sang can't shake the image of Chŏk'yŏng's gazing up at the airship from his mind. He continues looking out into the distance as So'ryu walks among the unconscious guards lying around them. She doesn't recognize most of the men, but pauses in front of Harim.
Pages 38-39
So'ryu: Is this Harim?
(이쪽은 하림인가요?)
Ryu Sang: Him I really didn't want to save, but he'd survived by using a corpse as a shield.
(그녀석만큼은 구해주고 싶지 않았지만,)
(시체를 방패삼아 잘도 살아남았더군.)
So'ryu: What kind of person did Harim become?
(하림이는)
(어떤 사람이 되었어요?)
Ryu Sang: He became a good dog.
(말 잘 듣는 개가 되었어.)
So'ryu looks up at Ryu Sang and declares that she would never have let the servants of her household suffer harm. Ryu Sang tells So'ryu that she seems to regularly wander through time, so an event like this is probably nothing out of the ordinary for her. He tells her not to mind what he said about her, since it has nothing to do with the child that she is, but So'ryu refutes him.
Pages 41-45
So'ryu: There's no way I could have forgotten. There's no way that I could have forgotten today, when I met you. So please ask me when you meet me in the present. How I could have forgotten today.
(내가)
(잊었을 리가 없어요.)
(당신을 만난 이 날을)
(잊었을 리가 없어요.)
Back in Su, So'ryu and Myo'un are on their way out of the Son house. Wŏn sees them out and inwardly worries about the two conflicting commands she's been given: reporting every time So'ryu goes dreaming as ordered by the master of the house, and So'ryu's request that she overlook just that one time. Once they are outside, So'ryu and Myo'un are followed by one of the guards (the female guard who made fun of Ryu Sang when he said that there was nothing between him and Myo'un).
At a pavilion in a wooded area, So'ryu meets with Jin Yisana, who is accompanied by his servant, Hong. [This spot could very well be somewhere on the Jin property.] So'ryu has requested this meeting to return the clothes that Yisana gave her to wear when she was brought to his house wounded. Yisana looks perplexedly at the clothes, neatly folded into a square bundle and wrapped in a rich cloth. So'ryu reminds him that he had asked that the clothes be returned, because they were favorites of his mother's.
Yisana suddenly remembers and hides a smile (he doesn't put a lot of effort into this).
Page 56
Yisana : I...had mistakenly believed that Lady So'ryu enjoyed my company.
(...저는...)
(아가씨가 저를 보는 것을 즐기시는지 알았습니다.)
So'ryu throws the bundle over Yisana's head into the woods as he explains: how he found it strange, that she would entrust him with urgent matters as if they were nothing, since she should have friends and people to rely upon, and relatives besides. Then it occurred to him that she must not have anyone like that, and that was why...
Coughing, Yisana relates that the night that So'ryu came to his house was the first time that his sister had ever seen her, even though his sister knows nearly everything that goes on in their circles. After all, he says, some people even say Son So'ryu is harder to see than even the princesses of the imperial house...
Page 60
Yisana: Then am I, seeing one such as you so often, blessed? {RT}
(그런 분을 자주 뵈는 저는 영광일까요?)
So'ryu doesn't rise to the bait and instead tells Yisana that she had a friend, once. A girl from a defeated country who was brought in as a hostage who was killed by her father, and someone who might have become a friend, but one she lost at the hands of her father, too, because the child was from the house of his enemy. It might be strange for me to tell this to you, So'ryu says, since we're not friends, but my story is even stranger.
Pages 64-66
Yisana (coughing): ...Then perhaps... something will happen to me as well?
(...그럼 혹시...)
(저도 어찌되는 걸까요?)
So'ryu: Even were no one to raise a hand against you, lord Yisana...
(이사나 도련님은)
(누가 굳이 어찌하지 않아도....)
Hong gives the departing So'ryu and her entourage a disapproving look at this comment. Unfazed, Yisana says:
Lady So'ryu.
(소류 아가씨)
If after a year I am still alive,
(1년 후에도 제가 살아있으면)
Hong: Sir!
(도련님!)
Yisana: At that time, won't you become my wife?
(그때에 저와 혼례를 올리지 않으시겠습니까?)
So'ryu (stopping and turning around): I thought you had a lover.
(정인이 있으시다더니.)
Yisana: I thought you didn't care.
(개이치 않으시다더니.)
So'ryu (continuing on her way): I didn't think it was a situation where I had a choice.
(제가 정할 수나 있는 사항이던가요.)
Yisana: That's true.
(그도 그렇군요.)
As So'ryu, Myo'un and female guard leave, Hong remarks that he hasn't seen Yisana this fired up about something in three years. Yisana replies that he doesn't think his behavior when it come to So'ryu is commendable, really.
Page 67
Hong: So it's not that you think Lady So'ryu is all that?
(소류 아씨가 그렇게 영~ 아니세요?)
Yisana: It's not that it's not that... Since that young lady is trying to use me...
(아니라기보다...)
(저 아가씨는)
(날 이용하려 드니까....)
Hong: You're bothered.
(귀챃으시군요.)
Yisana: I don't really feel like denying that I am.
(부정은 하고 싶지 않구나.)
Looking contemplative, Yisana adds that maybe he shouldn't have said those things about So'ryu not having any friends.
On the walk back, the female guard remarks that Yisana, at least, doesn't seem like the type to keep concubines. So'ryu has no idea who she is (even though she's been working at the Son house for three years already), so the guard introduces herself as "Miok," recently assigned to So'ryu. To Myo'un's surprise, So'ryu offhandedly mentions that she had wanted Ryu Sang to be her bodyguard.
Page 70-71
Miok: That's impossible. Since he's not a dog.
(그건 안될 말이죠.)
(그 녀석은 개가 아니거든요.)
So'ryu: Then Harim?
(하림이는?)
Miok: No need to even mention a dog who's bitten his master once.
(주인을 문 적이 있는 개는 말할 것도 없지요.)
So'ryu: What kind of dog are you?
(너는 어떤 개냐?)
Miok: An import.
(수입산입니다.)
Miok explains that she's from the kingdom of Mun, just like Myo'un. When So'ryu says that that sounds as though she took on the bodyguard duty for Myo'un's sake, Miok jokes that Myo'un reminds her of her own daughter (Miok being 31, rather implausible), then takes the lead.
So'ryu asks Myo'un if there are no status differences in Mun, because Miok looks her straight in the eyes when she's talking to her. Myo'un tries to explain that this is probably because of her personality, at which So'ryu says that even Myo'un is looking at her straight on at that very moment. Myo'un asks her if this makes her uncomfortable. After a pause, So'ryu says that she's not used to it, that she finds it fascinating. Myo'un thinks on what Yisana said about So'ryu not having any friends, and, recalling her own childhood friends, looks as though she has figured something out about So'ryu.
Walking ahead of Miok, So'ryu says that there's no need for Miok to follow her around in secret, since the bodyguard detail is just to mollify her parents; after all, she has Myo'un around for that. So'ryu assumes that Myo'un would have been taught martial arts under Sŏng Howŏl, but Myo'un corrects her on this misconception.
Page 78
So'ryu: Was it because there was no need?
(가르칠 필요가 없었던가?)
Myo'un thinks, Huh?
So'ryu: ...Well, anyway... You're around, so. [RT? This might be translated more legitimately as "She's around, so." but it's hard to make that work in English, i.e. the construction works so that So'ryu can be talking about Myo'un (to a third party) at the same time as she's talking to her, and from the flow of conversation you can see that this isn't a direct-and-only-to Myo'un statement.]
(...뭐, 그래도...)
(묘운이가 있으니까.)
Myo'un recalls that Howŏl made sure everyone else at the school learned the basics, no matter how hopeless they were. Myo'un cautiously asks So'ryu if she knows anything about what happened, but So'ryu tells her that she's heard nothing of Myo'un's master. Later, when they have returned to the Son compound, Miok assures Myo'un that she wasn't part of the group that attacked the school, and that it wasn't because of some feeling she had for the country she was born in, but because she had heard of the school before, and that she told this to Ryu Sang as well.
Myo'un asks after Ryu Sang, and Miok only says that he's on a job some distance away along with the captain of the guard, and says that he's a good-for-nothing to not to have even given Myo'un some word before leaving. She gives Myo'un some advice as the scene shifts back to the plains and to Ryu Sang's irate face.
Page 83-85
Miok: Myo'un, don't look at a man's face, and don't worry about height, either.
(묘운아, 남자 얼굴 보지 마라. 참고로 키도 아니다.)
Myo'un: You're really tall.
(미옥 언니는 키가 참 크세요.)
Miok: That's why I still haven't been able to get married.
(그래서 내가 이 나이 먹도록 시집을 못 갔잫아.)
You see, men–
(자고로 남자는 말이다,)
it's personality.
(성격이야.)
You can live with a dog, but you can't live with someone with the personality of a dog.
(멍멍이는 데리고 살아도,)
(멍멍이 같은 놈은 절대 못 데리고 산다.)
Back on the Hamatŭ Plains...
Ryu Sang (yelling as he kicks the unconscious guardsmen awake): How much longer are you gonna just lie there?! You wanna live here?! Are you gonna live here for the rest of your lives?? Dammit, I'm starving!
(대체 언제까지 퍼질러 있을 거야!)
(여기서 살 거야?! 여기서 평생 살 거냐고!!)
(아놔, 배고파 죽겠네!)
Harim: ...
Guardsmen: ...
Harim: Ryu Sang.
(류상.)
Ryu Sang: What!
(왜!)
Harim: I hear hoofbeats coming closer.
(말발굽 소리가)
(다가와.)
The guardsmen wonder if the Shan have come back to pick of their dead comrades' bodies, and realize that there is nowhere to hide in the flat expanse of the plains. Ryu Sang walks towards the approaching riders and draws his sword. Instead of fighting, however, he flings the sword to so that it plunges blade first into the ground in front of the riders, who come to a halt. Ryu Sang tells them he's just a hired sword who has no value as a hostage, but also someone who feels that he has to live, and says that he will answer their questions.
One of the Shan asks him who ordered them to attack, and Ryu Sang answers: a man named Son Sŏkmyŏng of Su. A young man seated behind the rider who asked the question says into his ear that this man, a Minister of State, is someone known as the most powerful man in Su after the emperor. The rider says that then it's only a matter of time before the news of this fight reaches the ear of the emperor, to which the young man says nothing.
The rider asks Ryu Sang how they knew of the details of day's events. Ryu Sang answers that the daughter of Son Sŏkmyŏng is a seer, that she had a dream of the future, and that she foretold what would happen. The story briefly moves to So'ryu back at the Son house, frozen in the middle of reading a book in her rooms. What she sees as she stares blankly out into space in the present is a night scene in a grove of trees. As she watches, Myo'un looks down, closes her eyes for a moment, then beheads a long-haired figure kneeling on the ground. The daughter's name is Son So'ryu, Ryu Sang continues, as So'ryu impassively watches the blood spraying from her own head.
Pages 104-108
Ryu Sang: His daughter reads the heavens and her father controls the earth, so who could oppose them, even if he were an emperor? Who would question their authority? Your enemy is greater than anything you can imagine and surpasses imagination itself. {RT}
(그 딸이 천기를 읽고)
(그 아비가 천하를 주무르니)
(하늘 아래, 황제가 둘이라 한들 누가 반박하겠는가.)
(누가 그 권세를 의심하겠는가.)
(너희의 적은)
(상상 이상으로 거대하며)
(그 상상조차)
(초월한다.)
The Shan horsemen are flabbergasted that Ryu Sang is throwing around words like 'seer' so casually and annoyed by his high-handed attitude. They note that the blade that he threw isn't a Su sword. Some of the Shan are dismissive of someone who's clearly just a hired swordsman from foreign lands, but others also recall that Choe Sŏl had said something similar, that there was something out there that they couldn't even begin to imagine.
The questioning continues as the Son guardsman talk among themselves about just how suicidal it is, since they'll all end up paying with their lives for letting the secret out. The Shan rider, after asking his questions, asks for Ryu Sang's name (he first tries unsuccessfully to give his name as 'Ju Harim,' making Harim yell.)
In exchange for the information, the Shan leave, discussing the matter among themselves. One rider points out that Ryu Sang didn't seem to be on good terms with the others. The young man who identified Son Sŏkmyŏng remarks that Ryu Sang was quite good-looking when viewed close uPage
Pages 122-124
The Shan rider who questioned Ryu Sang: Sŏng, what are you going on about.
(뜬금없이 무슨 소리야, 성이 너까지.)
Another rider: And he was tall, too, wasn't he! He really pisses me off!
(그러고보니 키도 컸지? 아, 진짜 맘에 안 드는 녀석이다!)
Sŏng: He didn't have a scratch on him. Not a lack of wounds, but rather, no sign of having fought at all. It's not that they're not on good terms, but that they're not even on the same side.
(상처 하나 없었어요.)
(상처가 아니라 싸움의 흔적 자체가 없었어요.)
(그들은 단순히 사이가 나쁜 게 아니라,)
(한패가 아니에요.)
Back where the guardsmen have been resting, Harim has drawn his sword and is attacking Ryu Sang, who repels his strikes without much trouble.
Pages 126-129
Shan rider: So you think we can believe him?
(그럼 성이 너는,)
(녀석의 말을 믿을 만하다?)
Sŏng: He might turn out to be more useful than that...
(...그 이상의...)
(...유용한 패가 될 수 있지 않을까....)
He doesn't look like he's from Su, and those who are fond of Su are few and far between in the countries and tribes surrounding it, so if we're lucky, maybe we can move in accord. Of course, it's only a possibility right now...
(보기에 그 녀석은 수나라 사람이 아닌 듯하고,)
(주변국, 주변 부족 중 수에 반감이 없는 곳 또한 적은 게 현실이니,)
(운만 좋다면,) (뜻을 같이 할 수도 있지 않을까.)
(물론 말 그대로)
(아직은 희망사항 이지만....)
Ryu Sang moves to strike Harim's head from his shoulders when the young So'ryu, who's been watching the proceedings all this time, speaks.
Page 130-141
So'ryu: If you let that child live, I'll forget you.
(그 아이를 살려주면)
(오빠를 잊을게요.)
Ryu Sang: What?
(뭐?)
So'ryu: If you let that child live, I'll forget the fact that I met you today.
(그 아이를 살려주면 오늘 오빠를 만난 걸 잊어줄게요.)
Ryu Sang: What meaning does that have at this point?
(지금 그게 무슨 의미가 있지?)
So'ryu calmly answers (the narrative shows scenes from Ryu Sang's life juxtaposed with So'ryu's words): Why wouldn't it have meaning? Your life would change.
(왜 의미가 없겠어요.)
(오빠 인생이 바뀔 텐데.)
I can assure you that everything would change.
(장담한건데)
(송두리쨰 바뀌어요.)
I'm nine years old this year. When I'm nine years, how old were you?
(난 올해 9살이에요.)
(내가 9살일 떄 오빠는 몇 살이었어요?)
What was your life like back then?
(그때, 오빠의 삶은)
(어땠어요?)
Ryu Sang, dressed in rags and holding his father's sword, stands under a roof on a rainy night.
It'll change.
(바뀔 거에요.)
When I wake up and report your existence to my father, you life from then on
(내가 깨어나 아버님께 오빠의 존재를 고하는 순간,)
(이후의 모든 삶이)
At their first meeting a rain-soaked Sŏng Howŏl, smiling, stands over the young Ryu Sang, shielding him from the weather.
will change.
(바뀔 거예요.)
Your entire life
(이후의 모든 삶이)
Ryu Sang is walking behind Sŏng Howŏl
will disappear.
(사라질 거예요.)
An older girl at the school is tying up Ryu Sang's hair as Chok'yŏng talks to him
People.
(사람.)
Boys and girls from the school are looking back at Ryu Sang as they run to play
Places.
(장소.)
In a grove of bamboo, Myo'un can be seen, her face hidden by her hair
Memories.
(기억.)
In the grove, Myo'un is gazing out into the distance
And in the end, the very person that you are will change.
(그래서 종국에는,)
(당신이란 인간 자체가)
(바뀔 거에요.)
Does that mean nothing?
(그런데도 아무 의미 없어요?)
Doesn't that mean something?
(아무 의미)
(아니에요?)
Hearing this, Ryu Sang thinks that those are the most chilling words he's ever heard in his life, which hasn't been an easy one by any means. They're even more forceful than the threat of death not too long ago from the Shan. A warning from a girl who's just nine years old...
Ryu Sang drops his sword, but before Harim can attack again, a guardsman stops him. The guardsman indicates his injuries and the cut on their still-unconscious captain's arm, pointing out that it was Ryu Sang who gave them those wounds. He tells Harim that all they need to do is keep their mouths shut, since the captain didn't hear anything, and news always has a way of reaching the emperor, anyway. The guardsman adds that he doesn't have any special reason to look out for So'ryu's well-being, that this is just a job to him and the others.
Ryu Sang notices an airship heading their way: Ch'oe Sŏl's ship. She looks at the guards in amusement and remarks that if they're still alive, that's enough of a reason to give them a ride, since apparently their fates hasn't yet come to an end. So'ryu is still standing in the plain when the airship lifts off with the Son guards and Ryu Sang inside. Ryu Sang looks out a porthole and remembers what So'ryu had said. He wonders whether someone with the power to change one's entire life like that should even exist.
In the last scene of volume 8, So'ryu, dreaming of the darkened wood, looks back. The hand holding the raised sword now belongs to Ryu Sang.
Go to: Volume 9 Summary with Excerpts
Chapter 15: A Dream You Dream At Night
밤에 꾸는 꿈(夢)
Volume 8 opens on a young Ryu Sang. Laying on his back, he opens his eyes to stare up at the birds circling him. He has been abandoned in the middle of a deserted plain and is nearly dead from hunger. Looking at the sky, Ryu Sang recalls that his mother would sometimes say, "Why are they blue?" as she gazed into his eyes.
In an earlier scene, Ryu Sang, his eyes covered up with cloth, is wondering out loud what blue looks like, and a cheerful servant tells him that blue is the color of the sky, and that his eyes are that color. Ryu Sang asks her if the sky will fall someday, since it's over their heads. Laughing, the servant says that that could never happen since God* is always watching out for them.
*This may be obvious but just in case it is not, 'God' here refers to Hanŭl-nim/Haneul-nim (the Sky God/High God).
As the memory ends, Ryu Sang sits up and silently curses his mother for abandoning him there to die of starvation, not even having the guts to run him through a sword. He swings a sword at the air in rage and frustration and then collapses back onto his back, exhausted, reflecting on the fact that he's always known that his mother did not love him. Knowing this, Ryu Sang reasons that being abandoned to die is not something beyond his ken. He thinks that leaving his father's sword with him might have been a form of revenge for his mother, since she knew how his father valued the clan's treasured sword as much as his own life.
Ryu Sang tells himself that it doesn't matter to him that his mother doesn't love him, but can't help but recall the brown color of her eyes those times when she would undo the bandages that covered up his eyes and gaze into them. In the present day, the battle on the plain having ended, Ryu Sang is sitting against a tree and staring out at nothing, lost in his thoughts. Next to him the apparition of So'ryu mildly scolds him to close his mouth and sit up straight, instead of slouching slack-jawed like someone who's lost all his possessions in a calamity. Ryu Sang tells her to stop calling him 'oppa'*, since she's older than he is. So'ryu looks up at him.
Pages 30-34
So'ryu: Your time flows backwards?
(오빠의 시간은 거꾸로 흐른다?)
Ryu Sang: What are you talking about.
(뭐래는 거야. 이 꼬맹이가.)
So'ryu: I must have come to the future.
(제가 미래로 온 거군요.)
Ryu Sang: Whatever.
(그러거나 말거나.)
So'ryu: Do you know me?
(나를 알아요?)
Ryu Sang: Unfortunately.
(불행이도.)
So'ryu: You're the first person to be able to see me when I'm dreaming.
(처음이에요. 꿈꾸는 나를 볼 수 있는 사람은.)
Ryu Sang: Apparently. And you still acted as if we'd met for the first time not two months ago.
(그러게.)
(그런데도 불과 두달 쯤 전에 처음 본 것처럼 굴다니.)
So'ryu: (?)
Ryu Sang: (...)
So'ryu: (?)
Ryu Sang: Nevermind. What would that have to do with you now.
(관두자. 그게 지금의 너와 무슨 상관이겠니.)
So'ryu: What kind of person did I become?
(나는)
(어떤 사람이 되었어요?)
The kind of person who can send people who serve her into danger without warning them, Ryu Sang replies. Ryu Sang can't shake the image of Chŏk'yŏng's gazing up at the airship from his mind. He continues looking out into the distance as So'ryu walks among the unconscious guards lying around them. She doesn't recognize most of the men, but pauses in front of Harim.
Pages 38-39
So'ryu: Is this Harim?
(이쪽은 하림인가요?)
Ryu Sang: Him I really didn't want to save, but he'd survived by using a corpse as a shield.
(그녀석만큼은 구해주고 싶지 않았지만,)
(시체를 방패삼아 잘도 살아남았더군.)
So'ryu: What kind of person did Harim become?
(하림이는)
(어떤 사람이 되었어요?)
Ryu Sang: He became a good dog.
(말 잘 듣는 개가 되었어.)
So'ryu looks up at Ryu Sang and declares that she would never have let the servants of her household suffer harm. Ryu Sang tells So'ryu that she seems to regularly wander through time, so an event like this is probably nothing out of the ordinary for her. He tells her not to mind what he said about her, since it has nothing to do with the child that she is, but So'ryu refutes him.
Pages 41-45
So'ryu: There's no way I could have forgotten. There's no way that I could have forgotten today, when I met you. So please ask me when you meet me in the present. How I could have forgotten today.
(내가)
(잊었을 리가 없어요.)
(당신을 만난 이 날을)
(잊었을 리가 없어요.)
Back in Su, So'ryu and Myo'un are on their way out of the Son house. Wŏn sees them out and inwardly worries about the two conflicting commands she's been given: reporting every time So'ryu goes dreaming as ordered by the master of the house, and So'ryu's request that she overlook just that one time. Once they are outside, So'ryu and Myo'un are followed by one of the guards (the female guard who made fun of Ryu Sang when he said that there was nothing between him and Myo'un).
At a pavilion in a wooded area, So'ryu meets with Jin Yisana, who is accompanied by his servant, Hong. [This spot could very well be somewhere on the Jin property.] So'ryu has requested this meeting to return the clothes that Yisana gave her to wear when she was brought to his house wounded. Yisana looks perplexedly at the clothes, neatly folded into a square bundle and wrapped in a rich cloth. So'ryu reminds him that he had asked that the clothes be returned, because they were favorites of his mother's.
Yisana suddenly remembers and hides a smile (he doesn't put a lot of effort into this).
Page 56
Yisana : I...had mistakenly believed that Lady So'ryu enjoyed my company.
(...저는...)
(아가씨가 저를 보는 것을 즐기시는지 알았습니다.)
So'ryu throws the bundle over Yisana's head into the woods as he explains: how he found it strange, that she would entrust him with urgent matters as if they were nothing, since she should have friends and people to rely upon, and relatives besides. Then it occurred to him that she must not have anyone like that, and that was why...
Coughing, Yisana relates that the night that So'ryu came to his house was the first time that his sister had ever seen her, even though his sister knows nearly everything that goes on in their circles. After all, he says, some people even say Son So'ryu is harder to see than even the princesses of the imperial house...
Page 60
Yisana: Then am I, seeing one such as you so often, blessed? {RT}
(그런 분을 자주 뵈는 저는 영광일까요?)
So'ryu doesn't rise to the bait and instead tells Yisana that she had a friend, once. A girl from a defeated country who was brought in as a hostage who was killed by her father, and someone who might have become a friend, but one she lost at the hands of her father, too, because the child was from the house of his enemy. It might be strange for me to tell this to you, So'ryu says, since we're not friends, but my story is even stranger.
Pages 64-66
Yisana (coughing): ...Then perhaps... something will happen to me as well?
(...그럼 혹시...)
(저도 어찌되는 걸까요?)
So'ryu: Even were no one to raise a hand against you, lord Yisana...
(이사나 도련님은)
(누가 굳이 어찌하지 않아도....)
Hong gives the departing So'ryu and her entourage a disapproving look at this comment. Unfazed, Yisana says:
Lady So'ryu.
(소류 아가씨)
If after a year I am still alive,
(1년 후에도 제가 살아있으면)
Hong: Sir!
(도련님!)
Yisana: At that time, won't you become my wife?
(그때에 저와 혼례를 올리지 않으시겠습니까?)
So'ryu (stopping and turning around): I thought you had a lover.
(정인이 있으시다더니.)
Yisana: I thought you didn't care.
(개이치 않으시다더니.)
So'ryu (continuing on her way): I didn't think it was a situation where I had a choice.
(제가 정할 수나 있는 사항이던가요.)
Yisana: That's true.
(그도 그렇군요.)
As So'ryu, Myo'un and female guard leave, Hong remarks that he hasn't seen Yisana this fired up about something in three years. Yisana replies that he doesn't think his behavior when it come to So'ryu is commendable, really.
Page 67
Hong: So it's not that you think Lady So'ryu is all that?
(소류 아씨가 그렇게 영~ 아니세요?)
Yisana: It's not that it's not that... Since that young lady is trying to use me...
(아니라기보다...)
(저 아가씨는)
(날 이용하려 드니까....)
Hong: You're bothered.
(귀챃으시군요.)
Yisana: I don't really feel like denying that I am.
(부정은 하고 싶지 않구나.)
Looking contemplative, Yisana adds that maybe he shouldn't have said those things about So'ryu not having any friends.
On the walk back, the female guard remarks that Yisana, at least, doesn't seem like the type to keep concubines. So'ryu has no idea who she is (even though she's been working at the Son house for three years already), so the guard introduces herself as "Miok," recently assigned to So'ryu. To Myo'un's surprise, So'ryu offhandedly mentions that she had wanted Ryu Sang to be her bodyguard.
Page 70-71
Miok: That's impossible. Since he's not a dog.
(그건 안될 말이죠.)
(그 녀석은 개가 아니거든요.)
So'ryu: Then Harim?
(하림이는?)
Miok: No need to even mention a dog who's bitten his master once.
(주인을 문 적이 있는 개는 말할 것도 없지요.)
So'ryu: What kind of dog are you?
(너는 어떤 개냐?)
Miok: An import.
(수입산입니다.)
Miok explains that she's from the kingdom of Mun, just like Myo'un. When So'ryu says that that sounds as though she took on the bodyguard duty for Myo'un's sake, Miok jokes that Myo'un reminds her of her own daughter (Miok being 31, rather implausible), then takes the lead.
So'ryu asks Myo'un if there are no status differences in Mun, because Miok looks her straight in the eyes when she's talking to her. Myo'un tries to explain that this is probably because of her personality, at which So'ryu says that even Myo'un is looking at her straight on at that very moment. Myo'un asks her if this makes her uncomfortable. After a pause, So'ryu says that she's not used to it, that she finds it fascinating. Myo'un thinks on what Yisana said about So'ryu not having any friends, and, recalling her own childhood friends, looks as though she has figured something out about So'ryu.
Walking ahead of Miok, So'ryu says that there's no need for Miok to follow her around in secret, since the bodyguard detail is just to mollify her parents; after all, she has Myo'un around for that. So'ryu assumes that Myo'un would have been taught martial arts under Sŏng Howŏl, but Myo'un corrects her on this misconception.
Page 78
So'ryu: Was it because there was no need?
(가르칠 필요가 없었던가?)
Myo'un thinks, Huh?
So'ryu: ...Well, anyway... You're around, so. [RT? This might be translated more legitimately as "She's around, so." but it's hard to make that work in English, i.e. the construction works so that So'ryu can be talking about Myo'un (to a third party) at the same time as she's talking to her, and from the flow of conversation you can see that this isn't a direct-and-only-to Myo'un statement.]
(...뭐, 그래도...)
(묘운이가 있으니까.)
Myo'un recalls that Howŏl made sure everyone else at the school learned the basics, no matter how hopeless they were. Myo'un cautiously asks So'ryu if she knows anything about what happened, but So'ryu tells her that she's heard nothing of Myo'un's master. Later, when they have returned to the Son compound, Miok assures Myo'un that she wasn't part of the group that attacked the school, and that it wasn't because of some feeling she had for the country she was born in, but because she had heard of the school before, and that she told this to Ryu Sang as well.
Myo'un asks after Ryu Sang, and Miok only says that he's on a job some distance away along with the captain of the guard, and says that he's a good-for-nothing to not to have even given Myo'un some word before leaving. She gives Myo'un some advice as the scene shifts back to the plains and to Ryu Sang's irate face.
Page 83-85
Miok: Myo'un, don't look at a man's face, and don't worry about height, either.
(묘운아, 남자 얼굴 보지 마라. 참고로 키도 아니다.)
Myo'un: You're really tall.
(미옥 언니는 키가 참 크세요.)
Miok: That's why I still haven't been able to get married.
(그래서 내가 이 나이 먹도록 시집을 못 갔잫아.)
You see, men–
(자고로 남자는 말이다,)
it's personality.
(성격이야.)
You can live with a dog, but you can't live with someone with the personality of a dog.
(멍멍이는 데리고 살아도,)
(멍멍이 같은 놈은 절대 못 데리고 산다.)
Back on the Hamatŭ Plains...
Ryu Sang (yelling as he kicks the unconscious guardsmen awake): How much longer are you gonna just lie there?! You wanna live here?! Are you gonna live here for the rest of your lives?? Dammit, I'm starving!
(대체 언제까지 퍼질러 있을 거야!)
(여기서 살 거야?! 여기서 평생 살 거냐고!!)
(아놔, 배고파 죽겠네!)
Harim: ...
Guardsmen: ...
Harim: Ryu Sang.
(류상.)
Ryu Sang: What!
(왜!)
Harim: I hear hoofbeats coming closer.
(말발굽 소리가)
(다가와.)
The guardsmen wonder if the Shan have come back to pick of their dead comrades' bodies, and realize that there is nowhere to hide in the flat expanse of the plains. Ryu Sang walks towards the approaching riders and draws his sword. Instead of fighting, however, he flings the sword to so that it plunges blade first into the ground in front of the riders, who come to a halt. Ryu Sang tells them he's just a hired sword who has no value as a hostage, but also someone who feels that he has to live, and says that he will answer their questions.
One of the Shan asks him who ordered them to attack, and Ryu Sang answers: a man named Son Sŏkmyŏng of Su. A young man seated behind the rider who asked the question says into his ear that this man, a Minister of State, is someone known as the most powerful man in Su after the emperor. The rider says that then it's only a matter of time before the news of this fight reaches the ear of the emperor, to which the young man says nothing.
The rider asks Ryu Sang how they knew of the details of day's events. Ryu Sang answers that the daughter of Son Sŏkmyŏng is a seer, that she had a dream of the future, and that she foretold what would happen. The story briefly moves to So'ryu back at the Son house, frozen in the middle of reading a book in her rooms. What she sees as she stares blankly out into space in the present is a night scene in a grove of trees. As she watches, Myo'un looks down, closes her eyes for a moment, then beheads a long-haired figure kneeling on the ground. The daughter's name is Son So'ryu, Ryu Sang continues, as So'ryu impassively watches the blood spraying from her own head.
Pages 104-108
Ryu Sang: His daughter reads the heavens and her father controls the earth, so who could oppose them, even if he were an emperor? Who would question their authority? Your enemy is greater than anything you can imagine and surpasses imagination itself. {RT}
(그 딸이 천기를 읽고)
(그 아비가 천하를 주무르니)
(하늘 아래, 황제가 둘이라 한들 누가 반박하겠는가.)
(누가 그 권세를 의심하겠는가.)
(너희의 적은)
(상상 이상으로 거대하며)
(그 상상조차)
(초월한다.)
The Shan horsemen are flabbergasted that Ryu Sang is throwing around words like 'seer' so casually and annoyed by his high-handed attitude. They note that the blade that he threw isn't a Su sword. Some of the Shan are dismissive of someone who's clearly just a hired swordsman from foreign lands, but others also recall that Choe Sŏl had said something similar, that there was something out there that they couldn't even begin to imagine.
The questioning continues as the Son guardsman talk among themselves about just how suicidal it is, since they'll all end up paying with their lives for letting the secret out. The Shan rider, after asking his questions, asks for Ryu Sang's name (he first tries unsuccessfully to give his name as 'Ju Harim,' making Harim yell.)
In exchange for the information, the Shan leave, discussing the matter among themselves. One rider points out that Ryu Sang didn't seem to be on good terms with the others. The young man who identified Son Sŏkmyŏng remarks that Ryu Sang was quite good-looking when viewed close uPage
Pages 122-124
The Shan rider who questioned Ryu Sang: Sŏng, what are you going on about.
(뜬금없이 무슨 소리야, 성이 너까지.)
Another rider: And he was tall, too, wasn't he! He really pisses me off!
(그러고보니 키도 컸지? 아, 진짜 맘에 안 드는 녀석이다!)
Sŏng: He didn't have a scratch on him. Not a lack of wounds, but rather, no sign of having fought at all. It's not that they're not on good terms, but that they're not even on the same side.
(상처 하나 없었어요.)
(상처가 아니라 싸움의 흔적 자체가 없었어요.)
(그들은 단순히 사이가 나쁜 게 아니라,)
(한패가 아니에요.)
Back where the guardsmen have been resting, Harim has drawn his sword and is attacking Ryu Sang, who repels his strikes without much trouble.
Pages 126-129
Shan rider: So you think we can believe him?
(그럼 성이 너는,)
(녀석의 말을 믿을 만하다?)
Sŏng: He might turn out to be more useful than that...
(...그 이상의...)
(...유용한 패가 될 수 있지 않을까....)
He doesn't look like he's from Su, and those who are fond of Su are few and far between in the countries and tribes surrounding it, so if we're lucky, maybe we can move in accord. Of course, it's only a possibility right now...
(보기에 그 녀석은 수나라 사람이 아닌 듯하고,)
(주변국, 주변 부족 중 수에 반감이 없는 곳 또한 적은 게 현실이니,)
(운만 좋다면,) (뜻을 같이 할 수도 있지 않을까.)
(물론 말 그대로)
(아직은 희망사항 이지만....)
Ryu Sang moves to strike Harim's head from his shoulders when the young So'ryu, who's been watching the proceedings all this time, speaks.
Page 130-141
So'ryu: If you let that child live, I'll forget you.
(그 아이를 살려주면)
(오빠를 잊을게요.)
Ryu Sang: What?
(뭐?)
So'ryu: If you let that child live, I'll forget the fact that I met you today.
(그 아이를 살려주면 오늘 오빠를 만난 걸 잊어줄게요.)
Ryu Sang: What meaning does that have at this point?
(지금 그게 무슨 의미가 있지?)
So'ryu calmly answers (the narrative shows scenes from Ryu Sang's life juxtaposed with So'ryu's words): Why wouldn't it have meaning? Your life would change.
(왜 의미가 없겠어요.)
(오빠 인생이 바뀔 텐데.)
I can assure you that everything would change.
(장담한건데)
(송두리쨰 바뀌어요.)
I'm nine years old this year. When I'm nine years, how old were you?
(난 올해 9살이에요.)
(내가 9살일 떄 오빠는 몇 살이었어요?)
What was your life like back then?
(그때, 오빠의 삶은)
(어땠어요?)
Ryu Sang, dressed in rags and holding his father's sword, stands under a roof on a rainy night.
It'll change.
(바뀔 거에요.)
When I wake up and report your existence to my father, you life from then on
(내가 깨어나 아버님께 오빠의 존재를 고하는 순간,)
(이후의 모든 삶이)
At their first meeting a rain-soaked Sŏng Howŏl, smiling, stands over the young Ryu Sang, shielding him from the weather.
will change.
(바뀔 거예요.)
Your entire life
(이후의 모든 삶이)
Ryu Sang is walking behind Sŏng Howŏl
will disappear.
(사라질 거예요.)
An older girl at the school is tying up Ryu Sang's hair as Chok'yŏng talks to him
People.
(사람.)
Places.
(장소.)
In a grove of bamboo, Myo'un can be seen, her face hidden by her hair
Memories.
(기억.)
In the grove, Myo'un is gazing out into the distance
And in the end, the very person that you are will change.
(그래서 종국에는,)
(당신이란 인간 자체가)
(바뀔 거에요.)
Does that mean nothing?
(그런데도 아무 의미 없어요?)
Doesn't that mean something?
(아무 의미)
(아니에요?)
Hearing this, Ryu Sang thinks that those are the most chilling words he's ever heard in his life, which hasn't been an easy one by any means. They're even more forceful than the threat of death not too long ago from the Shan. A warning from a girl who's just nine years old...
Ryu Sang drops his sword, but before Harim can attack again, a guardsman stops him. The guardsman indicates his injuries and the cut on their still-unconscious captain's arm, pointing out that it was Ryu Sang who gave them those wounds. He tells Harim that all they need to do is keep their mouths shut, since the captain didn't hear anything, and news always has a way of reaching the emperor, anyway. The guardsman adds that he doesn't have any special reason to look out for So'ryu's well-being, that this is just a job to him and the others.
Ryu Sang notices an airship heading their way: Ch'oe Sŏl's ship. She looks at the guards in amusement and remarks that if they're still alive, that's enough of a reason to give them a ride, since apparently their fates hasn't yet come to an end. So'ryu is still standing in the plain when the airship lifts off with the Son guards and Ryu Sang inside. Ryu Sang looks out a porthole and remembers what So'ryu had said. He wonders whether someone with the power to change one's entire life like that should even exist.
In the last scene of volume 8, So'ryu, dreaming of the darkened wood, looks back. The hand holding the raised sword now belongs to Ryu Sang.
Go to: Volume 9 Summary with Excerpts
