BSA Ch 29

Before long, it was the point where the reed field ended. Endless spreading lights were visible from a distance. Lee Hwanmae pointed across the way with his saber and said.

“If you go straight for twenty minutes from here, it’s your barracks. As soon as day breaks, go find Mukso, say you barely managed to survive, and that the spy died so you couldn’t obtain any information. While doing that, if you cringingly grab the horse’s reins and place Mukso’s horse right in front of Mukhui, God will raise you to the throne.”

“Understood. By the way, Hwanmae, Lee Hwa…”

“What did you just say?”

Suddenly, a terrifying murderous intent settled in Lee Hwanmae’s eyes.

“Did you just call me Hwanmae? From now on, you must strictly call me Mr. Mae. All the brothers call me Mr. Mae. Look here, you’re four years younger than me!”

Gwanchang almost burst out laughing out loud. The obsession with age among the people of the peninsula was always baffling.

“Look here, there’s a saying in Rome to do as the Romans do. Among you guys, even a one or two-year difference draws strict lines for seniority, but we aren’t like that. We don’t treat someone five or ten years older as an elder. I don’t mean to ignore cultural relativism, but I think this aspect of our continent is better. Think about it, if you draw seniority lines over a mere four-year difference, how hard must mutual communication and constructive debate be? Try to accept it with an open mind, too.”

To the calm and rational persuasion, a chilling retort returned.

“I hate it.”

“…I’m saying this for your own good. You have to live on the continent anyway, right? Do you know how cutthroat it is out there? There are swarms of guys who report the neighbor they ate dinner with yesterday to the authorities as a spy just to pocket the reward money. It’s troublesome if you draw suspicion over trivial matters, you know. Mr. Lee, Senior Lee, Mr. Hwanmae—maybe, but Mr. Mae is an awkward and strange title.”

“I hate it. Still hate it. Unconditionally call me Mr. Mae.”

Lee Hwanmae stubbornly refused. Gwanchang changed tack.

“Fine, then I’ll call you daehyeong. Let’s go with a sworn brotherhood setup. On the continent, when people hit it off, they often form sworn brotherhoods. If you call you daehyeong, the snakes won’t suspect anything either. Since the title Mr. Mae is weird no matter how you look at it, let’s go with older brother and younger brother. You call your subordinates younger brothers and brothers, too, anyway.”

“No, if it’s younger brothers, I already have more than enough of them.”

“What difference does it make if one more is added to that? Hey, I came up with the optimal plan to solve the title issue. Just accept it.”

“I said I hate it.”

Lee Hwanmae shook his shoulders as if shuddering in revulsion.

“Younger brothers are tedious. The guys who are my younger brothers, without exception, instead of being grateful for God’s grace, don’t hesitate to curse, revile, and disbelieve. Since God hears and sees everything, they even mobilized voodoo dolls to curse God. For me, those guys are enough as younger brothers, I don’t need any more.”

“…”

Gwanchang fell into a blank silence. Even though he had a temperament that rarely got flustered, he found himself once again at a loss for words. Lee Hwanmae had compared himself to Lee Hwa once more. He only had the thought that he sincerely hoped he wouldn’t make that joke anymore. Hearing it made him confuse who was who.

Thinking back, he remembered that not content with comparing himself to Lee Hwa during the conversation, Lee Hwanmae had also referred to them as ‘we’ and even ‘I’ on several occasions. If arrogance goes too far, one covets the highest seat; if she hadn’t been a monarch like Lee Hwa, Lee Hwanmae might have already plotted treason. Once again, pay homage to Lee Hwa’s ability.

“Alright, then we’ll decide on the title later. Let’s think about it slowly.”

Like the patient adult he was, Gwanchang conceded this time as well. Lee Hwanmae slowly turned his body around.

“I’ll look forward to good news, Gwanchang.”

Lee Hwanmae smoothly whistled and vanished into the reed field. Leaving behind only the scent of a monster.

Gwanchang slowly walked his steps toward the barracks. A strange sense of deflation finally washed over him. Would it sound strange to say it felt similar to right after having deeply passionate sex? But aside from that, no other expression particularly came to mind.

What a bizarrely strange day in my twenty-eight years of life.

It felt as though he had dreamed a dream. He had ended up participating in an unimaginable plot of betrayal. He doubted whether he would have so readily agreed to betrayal if not for the slaughterer’s seasoned negotiation skills. Wasn’t it a betrayal not just of a simple sort, but one presupposing parricide?

I feel like I’ve been conned somehow…

Gwanchang immediately brushed the doubt aside. So what if he had been conned?

Whether he was conned or not could be known by watching the fate of Mukso, which would be settled in a few hours. If Mukso is fine, this side will desert and run away right then and there to look for an opportunity. If Mukso dies, he will gather talent while waiting for Lee Hwanmae. It was a simple matter.

Even if Lee Hwa breaks her promise and doesn’t send Lee Hwanmae, what of it? Gwanchang was confident that he would definitely ascend to the throne himself one day. He figured it wasn’t a loss for him either way.

At any rate, I’ve had an experience I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.

Lee Hwa was amazing, but Lee Hwanmae was a terrifying fellow, too. That sight of him kissing a snake was hair-raising even to recall. In some aspects, perhaps because of that unyielding, childlike trait, he seemed a bit more human. If even that hadn’t been there, he might have truly seemed like a monster.

Yeah, let’s just chalk it up to quirkiness. It’s only my loss if I get angry over every little thing. Actually, his sense of humor alone was a perfect ten out of ten.

Gwanchang let out a laugh. The more he recalled Lee Hwanmae’s remarks overflowing with his unique bizarre humor, the more laughter came out.

Before long, Gwanchang hurriedly turned his body around. The young and cruel king was buried in the reed field, not leaving even a trace in sight.

What the hell.

Gwanchang muttered, completely dumbfounded.

What on earth is this! This is the first time in my life I’ve ever been this shocked. Damn it, it really is the first time! That bastard Lee Hwanmae is Lee Hwa!

Lee Hwa was Lee Hwanmae! That he was a thirty-two-year-old young man! No, but is this even possible? Did he rejuvenate through some kind of surgery that completely swaps out the body?

However, Gwanchang soon set his doubts aside.

God reached that level at age thirty-one. If she had awakened a bit earlier, this standoff would have ended sooner, too.

Those were words Lee Hwanmae had blurted out in conceit. Blinded solely by Lee Hwa’s astonishing ability, Gwanchang had glossed over those words unthinkingly at the time. Looking back now, it was a truly formidable piece of self-praise. That self-praise had conclusively proven the formula ‘Lee Hwa = Lee Hwanmae’.

Externally, Lee Hwa was known as an old person around seventy years of age. If she had awakened at age thirty-one, that meant she had awakened roughly forty-some years ago from now. However, Lee Hwanmae had said, ‘If she had awakened a bit earlier, this standoff would have ended sooner, too.’ In other words, it meant she had awakened during the period of the border standoff. It turns out she had awakened roughly within the past seven years. Lee Hwanmae was now thirty-two years old. He had awakened the ability to gather futures of interest just a year ago, and had appeared before Gwanchang with the intention of urgently wrapping up the border standoff.

Come to think of it, their names are similar, too.

Gwanchang finally realized why Lee Hwanmae’s name had bothered him so unusually the moment he first encountered it. Written in Chinese characters, Lee Hwa is plum tree Lee (李), fire Hwa (火). In the information provided by the patriot, Lee Hwanmae’s Chinese name was ‘李煥梅’. Breaking down Hwan (煥) splits it into fire Hwa (火) and shine Hwan (奐). In other words, laying out Lee Hwanmae’s name by breaking it down gives Lee (李), Hwa (火), Hwan (奐), and Mae (梅).

Lee HwaHwanmae. Lee Hwa, Hwanmae. Lee Hwa = Hwanmae.

Lee Hwa was hidden inside Lee Hwanmae’s name. The combination was similar, too. Lee Hwa, the combination of a plum tree (plum) and fire. Hwanmae, the combination of a plum tree and a flame. The pronunciation was also similar. Lee Hwanmae had told him to call him Mr. Mae. Pronouncing ‘Lee Hwa is Mae’ quickly becomes ‘I-hwan Mae’.

So that was it.

Gwanchang finally understood. When Lee Hwanmae walked out like a ghost from the shade of the plum tree and proposed betrayal, he had a hunch. Kill them. Lee Hwanmae had said it as if it were nothing. Without dragging out long words, he delivered the proposal for a son to kill his father with a single, extremely simple and neat word—’Kill them’—in a soft, gentle tone. At that moment, Gwanchang realized. The beautiful slaughterer before me is the fellow who killed his father. He is a fellow who hides a hell, a brothel, and a cesspool in his head, just like me.

He is a son-of-a-bitch on par with me.