NTH 53

Suhyang poured a drink into the cup. Euntaek, who was watching him, was so dumbfounded that he was at a loss for words.

Was this really a man? His voice was gentle, and his Adam’s apple was not visible at all.

Even though he was looking at him right in front of his nose, he could not believe it.

“Have a drink before the side dishes get cold.”

Suhyang said in a low voice, casting his eyes downward. Euntaek replied with a sullen tone, like a spoiled young master.

“I have had enough to drink earlier, so that is enough. I want to hurry up and enjoy a night of passion with you.”

“The moon is so bright and the autumn night is so long, so what reason is there to rush.”

“Ever since I first saw you, I have been stirred down below, so I cannot wait any longer.”

“Under the bright moon, this humble one is quite shy to loosen my jeogori ties. I will play one more tune on the gayageum, so I hope you will become intoxicated in the meantime.”

Suhyang placed the gayageum that was in the room on his lap and played a clear and sweet melody. He would occasionally lift his head to watch Euntaek sip his drink. It was accompanied by a smile so enchanting it sent shivers down the spine.

Watching his white, slender fingers adorned with jade rings, Euntaek thought that even Gu Minho would be brought to tears by such a sight.

As the gayageum performance reached its peak, Euntaek’s eyelids grew heavy and he blinked slowly. After letting his head droop and then jerking it back up three or four times, he finally collapsed onto the floor with a thud and closed his eyes.

The sound of the gayageum gradually faded and then stopped completely.

Suhyang rose from his seat and tiptoed over to Euntaek. His hand untied Euntaek’s waist sash, pushed aside the kwaeja vest, and then undid the ties of his dopo coat.

Just as he placed his hands on Euntaek’s waist to pull down his trousers, Euntaek suddenly snapped his eyes open and snatched his wrist. In an instant, Euntaek overpowered him as he gasped for breath and pinned him to the floor, a smirk spreading across his lips.

“Nice to see you again, Suhyang. Or should I say, Heukyeong?”

“……What is the meaning of this.”

“I suppose one treasured sword was not enough? Did you not come here to get this?”

Euntaek reached into the folds of his loosened dopo and pulled something out from his waist. It was a plain dagger, commonly seen anywhere, with a black hilt and a silver blade. Upon seeing the dagger, Suhyang’s eyes widened.

Euntaek moved away from Suhyang and pointed the sharp tip of the dagger at his throat. He bit his lip.

“Since when did you know?”

“I had already figured out that you had joined hands with Choi Chanmyeong. I suspected that you had surely put a drug in that drink, so I only pretended to drink it and secretly threw it away.”

Suhyang replied in a cynical voice.

“I thought you were just a fool with a decent face, but it seems you know how to use your head a little.”

“Is that your real voice and way of speaking? It is far less repulsive than your gisaeng impersonation.”

“Hmph, what a lowly taste you have. If you are going to kill me, just kill me quickly.”

“Why would I think of dirtying my hands over someone like you? The petty thief will be flogged by the authorities as they see fit, and all I need is to get my treasured sword back.”

Suhyang blinked his eyes, looking vexed.

“How did you know I was in contact with the youngest son of Lord Choi’s household? Did he talk?”

“Not a chance. The answer comes if you just think about it a little.”

What Euntaek had first found strange was the fact that the pouch-snatcher had aimed so precisely at his waist.

He was wearing his sword under a vest-like kwaeja that came down long below his waist, and since he was not dressed as a military officer, it would have been difficult to guess that he was carrying a sword. Yet, the fact that the pouch-snatcher had reached for his waist and taken the treasured sword in a matter of seconds had left Euntaek feeling uneasy.

At that time, the only person who had directly heard that Euntaek carried the treasured sword on his person was Choi Chanmyeong. Therefore, the pouch-snatcher was someone connected to Chanmyeong, or to someone else who had heard the story from him.

If it had stopped there, the suspects would have included Chanmyeong and several others, but seeing the pouch-snatcher disguised as a gisaeng enter his room today, Euntaek became certain that he had joined hands with Chanmyeong.

There was no way a man like the pouch-snatcher would act as a gisaeng, so he must have infiltrated the place to steal the other treasured sword that Euntaek supposedly had. To do that, he would have needed the cooperation of the gisaeng house’s headmistress as well.

Someone who could bring Euntaek to the gisaeng house, disguise the pouch-snatcher as a gisaeng and let him into their room, and arrange for Euntaek and Suhyang to drink separately in a private room to steal the sword.

All the clues pointed to only one name.

“To draw you out, I first deceived Chanmyeong. A pair of twin swords never existed in the first place. But I believed that when you heard that rumor, you would definitely come to steal it.”

“……”

“It would have been impossible to use the same method as last time. Because I hired two escort warriors. Chanmyeong, who knows that well, used your appearance, which can be made to look like a woman, to devise such a scheme, and I used that to my advantage.”

Suhyang, who had been listening to Euntaek’s words with a blank face, snorted.

“Stop your babbling and just kill me or drag me to the authorities, do as you please.”

“Such language. Are you not ashamed to live by doing petty thievery with those fine hands?”

“What else can I do? What else can a man with a face and body like this do besides being a male prostitute?”

“Why on earth do you keep getting angry? Am I not the one who should be angry?”

“Then you can get angry too, why are you picking a fight with me?”

“You are truly coarse and vulgar beyond measure.”

“Did you really expect a thief to have the Three Bonds and Five Relationships in Confucianism? Such an utterly foolish, heup……!”

Euntaek suddenly threw the dagger far away and kissed him. Suhyang was extremely flustered and struggled to push Euntaek away, but he did not budge an inch, like a rock.

Only after Suhyang kicked him hard in the shin with all his might did Euntaek finally pull his lips away from him. Suhyang gasped for breath and shouted.

“What are you doing! What kind of crazy bastard is this!”

“Did you not seek a man who is manly enough to keep you awake all night?”

“Get lost this instant!”

“If you just return the treasured sword you stole, I will not pursue your wrongdoing any further and I will let you go.”

“What?”

As if Euntaek’s words were unexpected, Suhyang frowned and stared blankly at him. Then, Euntaek took off the ornamental wig that was firmly placed on Suhyang’s head.

“It means I will not report you to the authorities.”

“Why?”

Wiping Suhyang’s red lips, which were staring at him with wary eyes, with a damp cloth, Euntaek answered.

“You are much better without makeup.”

“What utter nonsense……!”

“Even if you do not wear a woman’s clothes, even if you do not feign a slender voice like a woman’s, even if you just dress like a man and spew vulgar words, you are……”

Euntaek gently covered Suhyang’s eyes, which were filled with doubt and bewilderment, with his palm.

“So bewilderingly beautiful.”

With those words, Euntaek lunged for Suhyang’s lips. Suhyang desperately tried to resist by turning his head, but it was useless as Euntaek’s large hand was cupping the back of his head.

Nam Euntaek was a tall man, a head taller than ordinary men, and his build was so large and sturdy that Suhyang, with his slender frame, could not make him budge with his strength. He was completely trapped in Euntaek’s broad embrace, unable to move a muscle, and had to receive the suffocating, relentless kiss.

“Heut, hah…… stop……”

The sensation of the hot, soft tongue exploring and rubbing every corner of his mouth was so sensual that Suhyang felt his head spin. Euntaek’s hand, which had been caressing the nape of his neck, undid his jeogori ties, swiftly pushed aside the jeogori and the inner jeogori, and stroked his exposed bare shoulder.

“What, what are you doing!”

When Suhyang became flustered, Euntaek kissed his shoulder.

“It is time to enjoy a night of passion.”

“Are you crazy? You know I am a man now!”

“What is the problem with that.”

Suhyang, panting with rage, pushed Eunta-ek away with all his might, sat up abruptly, and shouted.

“I may be a thief, but I am not a male prostitute!”

“Then are you a virgin?”

“What did you say?”

Suhyang glared at Euntaek with daggers in his eyes. Euntaek, resting his chin on his hand and lying on his side, looked at him and said leisurely.

“I am saying that I will not report you to the authorities, so let us have a pleasant night tonight.”

“To think a man who looks perfectly fine was a scoundrel who indulges in sodomy.”

“The dagger you took was something my father spent a great fortune to obtain. If you return it, I promise I will give you something else good.”

“How can I believe that?”

“Not everyone in the world lives by deceiving others like you.”

“I do not care whether they do or not, and I do not trust anyone.”

The more Euntaek looked at Suhyang, who spoke sharply and put up his guard, the more he felt a strange churning deep in his stomach. An instinct to somehow pin him under his body and make him tremble wildly spread from his loins like wildfire.

“My escort warriors are waiting beyond this annex. If you leave here without my permission, your head will be cut off immediately.”

“……”

“I already know that you are a wanderer with no parents or siblings. Even if you die here, no one will come looking for you. Your body will be abandoned in the mountains and eaten by wild animals.”

“……What do you want.”

Euntaek slowly rose from his seat and took Suhyang’s hand. When Suhyang stood up with a face full of discontent, Euntaek led him to the bedding, laid him down, and with a puff, blew out the candle that was brightly illuminating the room.

Around the time his eyes grew accustomed to the dim moonlight filtering through the paper screen doors, Euntaek completely removed Suhyang’s top and kissed his white, thin shoulder.

“What is your real name?”

“None of your business.”

“It would not be Suhyang.”

“If you are going to do it, do it quickly and get it over with.”

“I cannot do that. The moon is so bright and the autumn night is so long, so what reason is there to rush.”

Euntaek untied the knot of the skirt ribbon tied around Suhyang’s chest. When he lifted the rustling silk skirt and the voluminous underskirt, a chest binder and thin cotton under-trousers in the form of pants were revealed. Until then, Suhyang kept his lips tightly sealed, his head turned to the side, and his brow deeply furrowed.

As he took off the under-trousers, Euntaek asked again.

“I want to know your real name, not Suhyang.”

“What are you going to do with it.”

“Call you by it.”

“Do not call me by it.”

“Why not.”

“Because it feels disgusting to have my name called for the purpose of ridicule and humiliation.”

“Why do you think I would ridicule and humiliate you?”

“If not for that, why would a wealthy young master like you, who wants for nothing, undress a lowly thief. Especially a man who has the same thing as you.”

Euntaek removed Suhyang’s socks and under-trousers in order.

“You have diligently wrapped yourself in layers, even in unseen places. I will not ridicule or humiliate you, so hurry up and tell me your name……, what, you are wearing this too?”

Euntaek said, looking at the tiny leg-undergarment that barely covered Suhyang’s crotch, and Suhyang’s face flushed hotly in the darkness. Euntaek untied the chest binder above.