Hong-shin quickly uses her movement skills and runs as far as she can from the Black Rabbit Union. She fears that the nut job might change his mind and give orders to bring her back. She has no way to read what’s in her fake brother’s mind. Hence her fear only grows bigger and bigger as she flees.
Naturally she heads for a place she assumes is out of reach for the Black Rabbit Union.
Hong-shin who has been running fiercely for some time frowns and gradually reduces the speed of her movement skill. Then one word pops up in her mind.
‘Diarrhea?’
Then another thought follows after that conclusion.
‘No way.’
She wonders if he’ll come after her. As if ‘diarrhea’ and ‘no way’ have bad blood with each other her stomach grumbles and a drop of sweat drips down her forehead.
‘Why here of all places? Is it the poison?’
Hong-shin walks with her hands on her stomach.
Poison comes in various types but most will have bugs (蠱 insects) grow in the host’s body after a certain amount of time passes. The principle is if the insects are not killed with an antidote the ingester will die.
The reason why this dangerous poison is not widely used is simple. The production process is troublesome. However Hong-shin can’t doubt whether the poison is real or fake since she doesn’t know who her fake brother is.
Her life is on the line.
So that’s why the sudden stomach ache is making her even more flustered. She’s never ingested poison before so she can’t know if one of the effects includes diarrhea. However she assumes that it is natural to hurt this much since she’d taken the poison on an empty stomach.
Hong-shin swallows her saliva and staggers as she looks around.
‘Please…. Please…. I’ll be good for the rest of my life. Please….’
She can’t find a single bathroom.
Hong-shin who is about to cry tears in frustration hurriedly calms down. That’s because she thinks that she might shit her pants earlier if she bursts into tears. She struggles to find a bathroom or a deserted forest while holding onto her senses which she loses for brief moments.
Whenever that happens a couple of the peddlers passing by will eye Hong-shin strangely. This causes Hong-shin to flee the scene using her movement skill with a bright red face.
‘Please… anybody help me.’
And she again stops her movement skill in a place where there’s no one around.
She might really wet her pants if she continues running.
On the secluded road Hong-shin takes a deep breath and simultaneously squeezes her sphincter. Perhaps she might have already lost control if she hadn’t mastered martial arts. In any case Hong-shin manages to prevent this ill fortune with the resistance of a body she had trained mercilessly.
Then Hong-shin notices someone running fast enough to cause a dust storm on the road she is running on.
As fast as the wind.
Hong-shin thinks that her footwork is outstanding but that speed is one she can’t win against even if she is in perfect condition.
From top to bottom a man dressed in prim white clothes (白衣) passes by momentarily and glances at her.
Hong-shin swallows as the man passes by.
‘A master!’
At that instant the nobleman in white (白衣公子) stops his movement skill a distance away and asks Hong-shin.
“Miss is everything alright? You look quite pale.”
Hearing the rich deep voice Hong-shin hesitates before replying with a tired voice.
“Poison…”
As soon as the word leaves her mouth Hong-shin becomes horrified.
‘Ugh what am I doing?’
The opponent here is a Kangho warrior. How can she tell them she’s been poisoned? Regardless Hong-shin is in such a bad condition that she couldn’t care less and says.
“I’m looking…… for the bathroom.”
The man strides up and says with the most serious expression.
“To put it simply you were poisoned and you’re in a hurry to go to the bathroom? Hop on. I was on my way to my favorite place and if you don’t want to handle your business in the woods I’ll take you there quickly. You look pale. Hurry up….”
The man shows his back without questioning Hong-shin at all. He’s such a generous man.
Hong-shin asks thinking about what she can do if he is ambushed.
“Is it close?”
“I’ll run at full speed.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
After getting on the man’s back Hong-shin tightens her sphincter. If she had slacked off in training she would have wet her pants then and there on his back.
Running as fast as a wild horse the man says.
“Hold tight.”
While Hong-shin barely answers with a frown the surrounding countryside is passing by quickly.
“Thank you.”
It is a tremendous speed but the man’s voice is even calm.
“Stay calm. You can overcome anything if you’re calm.”
After a while the man enters a neighborhood with a scattering of small shops. He quickly drifts through the construction site letting Hong-shin down as soon as he arrives at the bathroom behind his favorite store.
“Hurry in. I’ll be at the store so make yourself….”
Hong-shin finally arrives at salvation with a pale face. As soon as the man disappears Hong-shin lowers her pants and relieves the crisis. She is once again impressed by the man’s kindness. Maybe because it’s diarrhea but the sound is too loud.
It is no doubt the biggest crisis of her life.
Hong-shin thinks as she pinches her nose.
‘I’m beyond grateful but I don’t think I can look at him in the face.’
Hong-shin unknowingly sheds a tear. She doesn’t know why she is crying. There is a continuous clatter of splashes below her. Hong-shin feels like she’ll burst into tears from a range of unknown emotions so she puts her fist in her mouth and manages to hold back her tears.
But she still thinks that it is a relief.
Plop — by the time the sound dies down Hong-shin is making an exhausted face.
“Life isn’t a big deal after all.”
After avoiding the crisis perfectly Hong-shin walks around the town to get rid of the smell and occasionally exhales a long breath to recover her breath.
It feels like she is slowly regaining reason.
Hong-shin who looks around the town from afar snoops in front of the store where she had used the bathroom and looks inside.
The nobleman in white is eating something with his back turned and sometimes he looks up and talks to the store owner.
After contemplating for a long time Hong-shin opens the door to the store and enters after gaining an epiphany that life is no big deal.
The normal-looking nobleman in white turns his head and asks indifferently.
“Are you all right?”
The store owner bows his head.
“Welcome.”
Hong-shin replies.
“Yes all thanks to you. Thank you very much.”
Suddenly Hong-shin reaches out to the front of her arms to compensate him before belatedly realizing her money had been seized by the Black Rabbit Union.
‘Oops……’
Seeing that the nobleman in white says.
“Don’t mention it. If you don’t mind have a bowl of warm noodles. The soup is clear so your stomach will feel better.”
“No thanks. I don’t feel like eating right now.”
“If you insist.”
Hongshin feels her legs buckling so she rests on a chair for a while. As the nobleman in white slurps the noodles the owner says.
“Did you starve? You’re eating well. Please wait a moment.”
The nobleman in white responds.
“Oh can I look forward to it?”
The owner comes out of the kitchen with a warm smile placing chunks of meat with grease oozing out from it on the nobleman’s table.
Rubbing his palms the nobleman in white says.
“I must be lucky. Having these with soup is a delicacy of its own.”
“Eat up. I would have made these into rice soup if you hadn’t come in today. You’ve been blessed when it comes to food.”
“I know right. I should at least have luck in food if I’m living a poor life.”
Hong-shin looks at the glossy meat and asks while swallowing her saliva.
“What’s that? I’ll love to try them upon my next visit.”
The owner tells Hong-shin.
“These are pork ribs.”
As the nobleman in white grabs the meat with his bare hands and tears the meat off with his mouth he looks at Hong-shin and says as if asking her to remember.
“Pork ribs.”
“I see.”
The owner perhaps being generous says to her.
“Don’t just stand there. Come and have a bite.”
Hong-shin waves her hands.
“No I’m just….”
“Oh it’s no big deal. You’ll want to come back once you try one.”
The owner puts the pork ribs from the kitchen in a small bowl and places them on Hong-shin’s table.
“Don’t use chopsticks have it with your bare hands. It’s well seasoned so you don’t need to dip it in anything. Just grab both sides of the ribs and munch on them.”
Feeling her mouth watering Hong-shin replies.
“Well you really don’t have to be so kind.”
Is she the woman who just crashed in the bathroom not long ago? Hong-shin begins to munch on the pork ribs. The owner and the nobleman in white chat among themselves turning their eyes as if they don’t want to burden her.
“Did something happen?”
“Why do you think something happened? It was so quiet that I got bored.”
“It’s good that it’s quiet.”
“That’s true. How about you?”
“Oh there’s no place like our hometown. The food doesn’t taste good. What a clever trick people are doing. Old and young there are too many snakes around.”
“At least the food works well on your physique.”
Meanwhile Hong-shin is eating all the flesh of the pork ribs and even nibbling the corners of the bone. She must be hungry after having her stomach emptied clean.
Only then did the owner speak to her.
“Is it good?”
Hong-shin raises her thumb instead because she can’t express her feelings in words.
The owner smiles.
“Come often. But we don’t serve pork ribs every day. Try our soup noodles. The rice soup is just as good.”
Hong-shin nods her head with grease around her lips and looks around the shabby store.
“This store is a hole in the wall.”
“The store might close if you come later so please keep that in mind.”
Hong-shin asks.
“Ah are you moving?”
Pointing outside the owner asks.
“Didn’t you see the construction site on your way here?”
“I saw it.”
“We’ll be moving there once construction is done.”
“I see. The site was enormous. What is it built for?”
The owner grins and replies.
“We’re building a large inn and it will be a local specialty.”
Hong-shin’s eyes widen as she responds.
“Wow the scale of the guest inn is big though? That’s incredible. This must be a rich neighborhood.”
The nobleman in white takes out a pouch from his arms and hands over three silvers to the owner. The owner’s candid expression brightens at once.
“Woah as expected you must wait for people to succeed.”
“Does this solve all the past tabs?”
“More than plenty. Hahaha.”
While Hong-shin thinks that the nobleman was generous like the thief she is she does not lose the opportunity to take a good look at the pouch going back to his pocket.
At that moment Hong-shin’s expression hardens as she notices something.
“…”
In the silence the sound of Hong-shin gulping down her saliva echoes. At the sound of the gulp the nobleman in white turns his head and silently looks at Hong-shin.
“…”
Only then did Hong-shin confirm the nobleman’s gaze again.
“Are you?”
She has doubts that he’ll come here just to catch her again. Unaware of the situation Jang Deuk-soo looks between the two of them and asks.
“So who is she?”
The nobleman in white calls Hong-shin with a blank expression and a subdued voice.
“Sister.”
The second Hong-shin hears the word sister memories of the Violet Mist Poison fake brother diarrhea bathroom plop pork ribs pouch — various flashbacks and voices overlap and cause her to pass out. Instantaneous state of Qi Deviation.
As her consciousness fades to the size of a rat’s dropping she hears the voice of her ‘brother’ whispering nearby.
“… You have ten days left.”
Then Hong-shin’s senses are cut off.
