The Twelfth Stanza - 관습도감 (Royal Stanza)
Read from the beginning.
NOTE: AN ENGLISH-KOREAN GLOSSARY HAS BEEN PROVIDED FOR REFERENCE AT THE END OF THE ENTRY, AS WELL AS ADDITIONAL READING.
-THE TWELFTH STANZA-
Early the next morning.
Hyun woke up at dawn, more nervous that she could remember being in a long time.
She would be starting today.
Even though she had securely wrapped herself in a blanket, she still shivered as she slid her door open and let the biting air inside.
Closing it quickly, she donned her gomusin and padded her way to the well to wash herself.
While en route, she felt that it would be nicer to have a full bath, and turned her steps towards the river. It was her first day, after all. No doubt the water would be cold, but she could just put her feet in, one centimeter at a time.
She had made her way through the trees down to the riverbank when she heard whispered voices coming from that direction. Quickly hiding herself behind a trunk, she heard two familiar voices engaging in earnest discussion with each other.
“Run away.”
“I’m not scared, Minhyuk.” Yonghwa was holding onto Minhyuk’s buk and playing around with it.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“I’m perfectly sane, thanks.”
“He’s bound to find out eventually. You know how disappointed he will be when he hears that his son’s - ”
“Keep your voice down.”
“All I’m saying is, we can’t stay here forever.”
“Why not? What’s the worst that can happen? He finds out where I am, so what? Am I going to jail again? No. Why would he care?”
“He cares because you’re his son.”
“That’s the last thing he cares about.”
“You should give him more credit.”
“Why?”
“He tries to do what he thinks is best for you…in his own certain way.”
“Yeah, well. His own certain way ended up not working so well, didn’t it?”
“That’s another question.” Minhyuk suddenly stood up and started pacing. “Why would they drop you? You’re certainly qualified enough.”
“Maybe he recognized me?”
“Bullshit. He recognized her, too.”
“Then perhaps he has his own reasons for picking her.” Yonghwa said harshly. “Stop blaming her for - ”
“I’m not blaming anyone. Stop being so damned defensive.”
Hyun could hear Yonghwa throwing pebbles into the water.
“Sorry.” He finally muttered after a few seconds.
“Why do you care so much?”
“Care about what?”
“Her.”
Yonghwa laughed. “What gave you that idea?”
“I think you’re forgetting I’ve known you for two years.” Minhyuk stated matter-of-factly. “What’s up?”
“Nothing’s up.”
“Really, now.”
“I’m serious!”
Hyun cleared her throat, emerging from the trees.
Yonghwa stood up as if his seat had suddenly been electrified. Minhyuk tripped and fell into the water.
The buk fell from his hands with a loud, reverberating crash.
“Oh, hello.” She said brightly. “Good morning.”
Blushing slightly, Yonghwa helped a spluttering Minhyuk out of the water. His ears turning red, he ran a hand through his hair. “Good morning. Why are you down here?”
“This is where I bathe.”
The connotations of her sentence got him blushing again. “Oh. Sorry.”
“No problem.” She smiled. “My mother should have breakfast ready in a few minutes.”
“Thanks.”
She watched them leave, her smile turning into a crease of worry.
Who were they talking about?
It seemed there was much more to Yonghwa than met the initial eye.
They had seemed to be worried about something. About something coming and finding out the truth, and it had been serious enough that they had discussed running away. And she now knew for certain that his surname wasn’t Park.
Questions, questions.
She barely paid attention as she started pulling off one layer of her clothes at a time, discarding them carelessly as her head started filling with unsanswered queries.
It was only when she was down to her bare skin - and freezing - that she realized she had dropped her clothes straight into the water.
Oh, wonderful.
---
Yonghwa realized that he had left his buk behind.
“Go ahead.” He told the still-dripping Minhyuk. “I’ll catch up.”
Retracing his steps, he walked quickly down the path again, anxious to find his instrument undamaged.
He had nearly stepped out of the trees when a shrill voice suddenly yelled at him from the direction of the water.
“Don’t move!”
Yonghwa froze and turned towards the direction of the voice.
A head was bobbing in the middle of the water, surrounded by a soaked pile of clothes.
Hyun lowered herself further so her mouth was below the waterline.
“Bbbbpthbbb bbbbth.”
Yonghwa looked at the small bubbles rising to the surface. “I can’t hear you.”
She raised her chin a fraction of a centimeter. “Go away!” She clutched her clothes to her chest.
“All right, Your Highness.” He chuckled and grabbed the buk from where it was laying on the ground. “Didn’t mean to intrude.”
Before leaving, he asked one more question. “Why are your clothes in the water?”
She glared at him.
“Okay. Point taken. I’ll leave you to your strange habits.”
Hyun watched him start back up to the house.
“Hey! Wait!” She burst out.
“What now?”
She shut her eyes tightly and spoke through gritted teeth. “Can you bring me some clothes?”
---
Minhyuk joined Taeyeon - who had also slept over after a few too many glasses of makgeolli the previous night - at the breakfast table.
She blinked sleepily. “Good morning.”
He bowed awkwardly. “Good morning.”
Hyun’s mother set a steaming bowl of rice in front of him. “Eat, eat up. You’re much too thin.” She tutted, bustling into the kitchen again. “Taeyeon, I spoke to your parents this morning. They told me you shouldn’t be drinking?”
Taeyeon fidgeted guiltily. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind the occasional glass.”
Minhyuk glanced amusedly at her slightly bloodshot eyes.
She poked her chopsticks into her mouth, biting down on the pointed end and letting them hang there. “Do I look like a walrus?” She turned to Minhyuk.
He grimaced. “No.”
She quickly pulled them out before the parents caught her. “You know, I’m not really straight-and-narrow like everyone says I am.”
“I can see that.”
“I envy Hyun sometimes.” She sighed. “She has it so nice. And her parents are nice too, once you get to know them.”
Tuning her out, Minhyuk started to dig in.
Taeyeon slapped his hand. “What are you doing??” She hissed.
Midway through chewing on a ball of rice, he looked at her blankly. “What?”
“Quick, swallow it before they catch you.”
He swallowed, then repeated the question. “What?”
“You should’ve waited until they pick up their chopsticks first!” Taeyeon grabbed his chopsticks out of his hand and set them on the table in the proper position. “Uneducated pyungmin.” She sniffed.
He rolled his eyes. “And she tells me she’s not straight and narrow.”
Even though she was still frowning, he could’ve sworn there was a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
---
Yonghwa quietly entered her room.
Her room was one of the smaller rooms in the house, and was relatively plain in contrast to how noblemen’s daughters usually wanted their rooms furnished. He didn’t see any fancy curtains, gold-embossed jewelry cabinets, or glass-paned closets. Instead, he saw a small toiletry cabinet that was set up in one corner of the room, with a medium-sized oval mirror mounted next to it. On the opposite side was a lacquered cabinet, taller than its usual size. Next to the cabinet, her blankets were folded in a disorganized pile.
Opening the cabinet, he picked out a set of female clothes that seemed appropriate.
“The things I do for you.” He muttered to himself, closing the cabinet shut.
---
He set the clothes down on a rock. “Here you go.”
Hyun determinedly stared up at the sky, submerged down to her nose. “Bbbpth.”
“Okay, I’m leaving.” Yonghwa said, without looking at her. “No need to get peckish.”
She made sure he was gone before standing up. “I was saying thank you, stupid.” She said to herself, a little sadly.
“What was that?” His voice carried from the woods.
She flopped back into the water with a splash. “Nothing! Asshole!”
“Whatever you say, Your Highness. Breakfast’s ready.”
---
Glossary
관습도감: A government institution founded in the waning days of the Koryeo Dynasty and re-established by King Sejong, which focused on the musical arts. It supplied all music for royal use, including Royal Musicians, royal concerts, and parties, and trained its own in-house musicians, for which the competition was fierce.
Buk: a drum that is set vertically on the ground, with the drummer sitting with it between his legs and beating on both sides of the drum with heavy drumsticks.
Gomusin: a shoe made of waxed rubber, worn by the elite.
Jeogori: a traditional blouse worn by Korean women, as a part of hanbok.
Makgeolli: a fermented Korean rice wine, with a distinct milky color.
Pyungmin: commoner. Literally means “field people”.
---
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