Joseon Dynasty: Hanyang (modern day Seoul, S Korea)

“Young master, please don’t go!” A woman in a bright purple and light pink hanbok begged as she held onto the arm of a man in a dark blue colored hanbok. It was unsightly for the gisaeng to be running, especially after a yangban and in her own gisaeng house at that. Master Howie would be furious to find out his best gisaeng had offended Lee Donghae, the son of the Minister of Justice, who just happened to be one of their best customers.

“Why should I stay when you insult me with your petty jokes?” Donghae snapped, tying the ribbon on his gat.

“Young master I am sorry!” The gisaeng winced as she felt a tug as the bottom of her chima caught under her foot. It hadn’t been tied tightly enough over her chest earlier when she’d been called unexpectedly to entertain the young master and was now slowly loosening and slipping down.

“Jooyeon!” The soft stern voice of the gisaeng house mother called out. The gisaeng cringed hearing her name being called. Anyone not employed or owned by the house would only hear the woman calling out nicely, but Lee Jooyeon could hear the icy fury disguised in the house mother’s voice.

“Young master, please!” Jooyeon pleaded desperately, feeling her hand slipping from his arm.

“Get off me woman!” Donghae snapped, brushing her hands off his arm.

Jooyeon stopped as her hands were pushed off Donghae’s arm. The house mother strode up, a benevolent smile on her face. Jooyeon could tell the house mother was furiously angry at her from the tight expression around the house mother’s eyes. “Young master, I will have her whipped for her insolence if you command it.” Jung Krystal bowed low to Donghae. “I apologize for having such an insolent woman in my house.”

Donghae sighed as he stopped. The issue was quickly getting out of hand and he didn’t need any more scandals. His father had already threatened him with marriage if he had yet another scandal at the gisaeng house. Donghae gazed upon Krystal with indifference. “No, it’s enough she knows that she was out of line.” He said, letting some of the anger out of his voice. “However, I do not wish to see her the next time I come in for some entertainment.” He said, sparing a glance backwards as if the gisaeng was an afterthought.

Jooyeon felt her heart contract as Krystal bowed even lower towards the ground. “Yes, Young master. You will not see her again.”

Donghae nodded as he walked past the women and servants who all bowed low to him. His cousin and servant, Lee Seunghyun, nicknamed Seungri, waited outside the gisaeng house with his horse and sword. A yangban had to be careful in the middle of the city even if it was the capital where the King of Joseon held court. Seungri held out Donghae’s sword as he bowed. “Young master, I trust you had a good time?” Seungri asked as he helped Donghae up onto his horse.

Donghae waited until Seungri was up on his own horse before replying. “I think I’ve been coming here too often.” He said, flicking the reins on his horse to signal a walk. “Maybe father is right.”

Seungri followed suit with his own horse. “Right about what, Young master?” He asked, feigning concern. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his cousin, but he felt the overbearing heavy weight of obligation on his shoulders that caused him to act as if he overly cared. His family was a branch family of the Lee’s, and had protected the main family for 3 generations since coming into nobility. Seungri didn’t covet the life that Donghae led, seeing first-hand what the heir to the Lee nobility had to go through each day, but he also hated the fact he’d been the one chosen for Dong-hae’s personal guard. Seungri had been hoping to avoid the duty, but unfortunately he’d ended up being the only male out of the branch families close enough in age to Donghae.

“Maybe I should think about getting married instead of visiting the gisaeng house whenever I want to be entertained.” Donghae replied.

Seungri smirked. So the Minister’s threat to Donghae hadn’t fallen on deaf ears. Seungri had been right to tell his father to bribe some of the girls at the gisaeng house into goading Jooyeon into making fun of Donghae. The Minster was already in talks with the Minister of War to wed Donghae to his eldest daughter, Choi Sulli. Donghae would not be happy at the news, especially since Sulli’s brother Choi Seunghyun had once made fun of Seungri’s name being the same as his, and therefore the Lee family was just copying the Choi family because they were newer nobility and didn’t know how to act.

As Donghae rode his horse along the path toward his home, he took note of Seungri’s silence. He knew beside the 4 year age difference between them, that Seungri was not happy to have been the one chosen to become his personal guard. He thought it was silly that a member of the branch family had to be chosen to protect him, especially when there hadn’t been a serious threat to the Lee family since his father was a young man.

Donghae’s horse suddenly reared and whinnied as something unknown darted across his path. “Whoa!” He held on tightly with his knees to the saddle, one hand on the reins, the other tangled in the horse’s mane.

Another horse bolted in front of his vision, the saddle empty as Donghae felt his horse tensing. “Seungri!” He kept a tight control on the horse’s reins as he frantically looked behind him. His horse trembled under the control Donghae had over it, but did not rear or bolt like his cousin’s horse had.

Donghae’s eyes widened as he spotted Seungri’s unconscious body lying in a heap where his horse had dumped him. Seungri had never been extremely adept at controlling horses. Donghae made the decision to dismount, not worried that his horse would bolt. Whatever had darted across their path was gone. Donghae jumped down, calling for help as he ran over to Seungri. He knew this close to the gisaeng house, there would be some city guards around, hoping to get glimpses of the young courtesans as various nobility and servants moved in and out of the busy house.

A moan greeted Donghae’s ears as he crouched low to Seungri’s form. The younger man was starting to stir, which gave Donghae some relief but there was blood on the ground. Unless Seungri was really clumsy and had cut his arm from the fall from his horse, Donghae was sure that something had attacked his guard. 

Seungri’s eyes opened as he moaned again, this time, the pain and agony was evident in his voice. “Young master what happened?” A city guardsman, a captain from the rank on his hat, asked as he and a few other of the city guard arrived to cluster around Donghae and Seungri.

“Something darted across the road and spooked the horses.” Donghae replied. “His horse bolted.”

The captain barked out orders to those under his command as Donghae watched Seungri slip back into unconsciousness. Someone had brought bandages from the gisaeng house to wrap around Seungri’s arm, while two male servants stood with Donghae’s horse. Some of the city guard had gone off to fetch Seungri’s horse, while others were searching the shadows to see if they could find evidence of whatever had spooked the horses.