Kang Asol, Mystery Curtain, earip- A Night of Counting the Poems

To Minjae’s surprise, Dohyun did not stop coming to Ethos after his life was endangered. The following week passed in a blink and January arrived with extreme weather. Every channel was speaking about the sudden drop in temperature but people were happy to have snow.

“I hate winter.” Fei mumbled, walking around wrapped in a beige blanket with teddy bears.

They had a lot of customers during such times but most of them were already used to Fei’s behavior. Besides, with her ignorant personality she couldn’t care less if someone entered her library, saw her standing in her little cocoon and walked out.

On the other hand, Dohyun seemed to have found a spot upstairs where he liked to work. He’d enter, wave at whoever was at the counter and hurry up there. He had the table for himself and rarely would someone approach him. Minjae himself went to check on him a few times and Dohyun didn’t even hear him nor did he pay any attention to what was happening around him.

“Shouldn’t you ask him if he’s alright? Maybe he hit his head and now he remembers his past lives. That would be troublesome.”

Fei threw the raven a sarcastic look and he shrugged innocently.

“You never know,”

“I do know. And I’m sure he got a kick out of it and now he’s finishing several episodes of his webtoon.” She mumbled and shuddered when the front door opened. “Why is it so cold?”

“Just go keep him company.” Minjae said with half a mouth. Even Fei was taken aback since Minjae was the one who disliked Dohyun’s presence anywhere near her. But with what happened during the conference, he concluded it was better for someone to watch him.

Dohyun was indeed on autopilot and nothing could disturb him. His hand was sore and his drink was gone so he knew he had to go downstairs for a refill. It just so happened that someone placed a large mug of tea next to his laptop.

“So, how is it going?” she asked still very much wrapped in her blanket.

Dohyun watched her in silence. He could still remember the way she fought against the furies and how apologetic she was when she stabbed him. He knew it was for the best and he knew it won’t hurt him and he hoped that there won’t be any after effects. She tilted her head to the side and her eyes widened a bit in curiosity as she leaned towards him. Dohyun felt his cheeks grow hot as he remembered his dream and chose to avoid looking at her.

“It’s going well. I’m almost done with the first season.” He mumbled, keeping his focus on his laptop. “What about you?”

“I’m cold.” Was her simple and childish answer. She looked nothing like a warrior with that baby blanket and her hair was sticking in every direction like she just woke up.

“Did lord Hwanung scold you for what happened?”

As soon as he asked that, Fei let herself return to who she quintessentially was: a mischievous nymph. A large playful smirk appeared on her face and her eyes shined with gaiety.

“He didn’t. Why? Are you worried that he accused me of something I haven’t done?”

Her tone and the way she let the blanket fall off her shoulders just so that she could move her chair closer to him and made Dohyun blush. He couldn’t see a line on his pad nor what he was originally planning to correct before she appeared next to him.

“It was my fault. They were attracted to us because I’m human.” He explained still not facing her.

Fei grinned and rested her head on her hand, looking at him with a new perspective. Kim Shin was right, this man in front of her was much more than Hyang's lookalike. And apparently it was so easy to . He had the innocent belief that he was targeted because he was human, which was cute, especially after she saw the burns.

“You being human is irrelevant.” She replied trying to make him feel better. “Is that why you have secluded yourself here? Because you feel guilty and want to sulk by yourself?”

“…no.” He answered trying to sound convincing. “I just had a lot of work piled up and needed to draw as much as possible before sending them off to my editor.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to go to Minsok village for reference?”

Dohyun looked up at her in surprise. His webtoon was a Joseon period story, with certain alterations, and the dream he had was constantly on his mind. Every time he looked into Fei’s eyes, that scene with her saving him from that angry thief stirred something in him. And she was proposing to do what he knew she disliked from the bottom of her heart and that was to take a one day trip into the past.

“I do but I also know it could hurt you really bad.”

“But it won’t kill me. I’m immortal, in case you forgot.” She chose to use playfulness just so that the atmosphere won’t become tense. “Besides, I don’t think anyone has ever jumped on a furie in order to save me before. I can make some amends for someone like that.”

Dohyun swallowed nervously and for a moment he swore he was back in his dream because his heart skipped a beat. He noticed she shuddered and without a second though he grabbed the blanket and pulled it over her shoulders. When he realized what he had done, Fei already had her face very close to his with an expression of curiosity. Dohyun froze and swallowed hard, realizing how strange he felt around her now that he had that strange dream in which he was Lee Hyang. Unconsciously, his eyes fell over her lips. He didn’t know what came over him but he couldn’t even hear his thoughts because of how hard his heart was beating.

“What are you doing?” she asked since he still had his hands on her shoulders.

“I think…I want to seduce you.”

Fei couldn’t help but start laughing. It was very loud and joyous and it echoed through the whole library. Minjae and Hikaru glanced at each other before they looked at the first floor.

Dohyun moved back, and apparently he couldn't believe the stupidity that came out his mouth either.

When Dohyun got home that night he just hit his head against the wall. He shrugged his jacket off and kicked his boots aside as he more or less dragged himself to the bed. He groaned loudly and rolled on his back. He grabbed the pillow over his head and screamed his embarrassment into it.

“What will she think now,” he moaned to himself. “I even assured Minjae that I am not going to seduce her and now what did I tell her? It’s that freaking dream, that’s what it is!” He concluded as he suddenly got up. “Why did I have to dream myself as Munjong?! And why did it feel so real?! Ah!”

He continued like that for a while until he fell asleep. It was later that night when he dreamed again, only this time he knew it did happen because Fei herself told him the story.

“Is this what you want? You already see me as an evil demoness so why not give you a real reason for that?” She asked with a chuckle. “This man is so full of greed and hatred, his soul will go straight to Hell. Real demons will have a feast.”

The guards and other ministers panicked. One of them was being held by his throat, in the air, and he seemed to be suffocating.

And then it happened. She got shot right through her heart. Only one arrow. One deadly shot.

“NO!”

Lee Hyang watched the woman he fell in love with fall on the ground with an arrow in her heart. He ignored his mother and wife, he ignored the people that stopped everything in order to watch his next move. The king ran to Fei but he didn’t cry, he was trying his best not to show his weakness in front of his ministers.

“My king, it is best that it happened like this.”

Hyang looked up at his Minister of Finances with cold eyes. He was aware of how much he hated Fei because she was smart enough to see through his mask and threaten his mass manipulation in the palace. He was a greedy old man whose son allegedly committed suicide but Hyang knew it was the father that planned the assassination of his own child. He was also the uncle of his wife, which meant Fei was a direct threat when it came to his heart.

“You won’t have to worry, I will take care of her corpse.” He said, mirroring the coldness of his king. “You don’t want to provoke more rumors, do you? What would the people of Joseon say if they hear their king placed the safety of a foreign woman above theirs?”

Hyang looked down at Fei’s lifeless body and sighed. But he was not an idiot and he had great memory, especially when it came to her lessons.

“So then, how does a nymph live?” He asked following her around. It was back when he was not yet king and could spend every moment of his free time with her.

“Just like you do.” She replied shortly.

“You’re lying. I rarely see you eat and sleep.”He commented with a playful glare.

“I take energy from nature not from food. I get tired and thirsty but I won’t die if I don’t get them. I’m immortal.” She said looking at him with those beautiful green orbs.

“But what if you get hurt?” He asked.

“Are you planning to hurt me?” She asked with an eyebrow raised just to . “You cannot. Physically, I will always be able to heal as long as there are trees, flowers and even dirt. Even if you stab me in the middle of my forehead, I will still be able to heal. Of course, the bigger the damage, the more time and work it takes. I wouldn’t worry about it, though.”

“Why? You trust me that much?” He asked with a boyish grin.

“No,” she said with a smile and tapped his nose cutely, “I trust myself.”

Remembering those words, Hyang placed Fei’s body against the greenest and oldest tree he could find outside Hanyang. He wanted her to heal quickly so that he could have the chance to apologize to her for letting this happen.

But she didn’t. When he returned to the tree, Fei’s body was gone and he hadn’t heart from her ever since. The fear that she could have genuinely died filled his heart. Everyone was content with the outcome except the king. He locked himself inside his rooms and wouldn’t even listen to his mother. After his father passed, the one to console him was Fei. Her words were harsh, she was not sugar-coating death and she never took advantage of his sorrow. She used to stand in the gazebo or walk alongside the lake and simply hum. For some reason, that was enough to make him feel better. But what mattered the most was how direct and truthful she was. He thought about all the ideas and theories people in the palace threw at him and couldn’t believe he leaned his ear towards their false words.

“Sire, it’s Hoon.”

Hyang looked up at the eunuch. He was probably the man that saw him and Fei together the most.

“Come in,”

Hoon entered with his head down and didn’t have the heart to look up at his king. He placed two objects on the table in front of Hyang.

“What is this?”

“It is Miss Fei’s journal and her writing utensils.” Hoon answered and peeked at his ruler. Hyang looked very calm which the eunuch knew was a bad sign. He used to be so carefree and happy but ever since he inherited the throne he became someone else completely. “If I may, sir. You didn’t kill Miss Fei. I’m sure she doesn’t blame you for it. She cared for you too much.”

Hyang moved his sight from his eunuch to Fei’s journal. Hoon retreated quietly and Hyang remained alone. He opened the journal and smiled immediately because he saw her handwriting. Most of it was in Greek and he had no idea what it said, although she did mention she wrote about her experience as both a warrior and a logistic expert. He turned every page with great care and stared at the foreign language for a moment even if he didn’t know if she mentioned him. He was halfway into it when he stopped and glanced at her quill. It was wrapped neatly into a piece of fabric and without thinking he pulled it closer to his face. It was soft and it smelled of her. He remembered the handkerchief he bought for her and how he gave it to her in a way that wouldn’t look planned.

Tears dropped down his cheeks and he used the piece of fabric to hide his face. He let it out that night. He let out all the pain and frustration.

Dohyun woke up that morning with a heavy heart and wiped the tears off his face. He stood there for a while and sobbed, unsure what was happening to him.