TRULY,
THE MAN IS NOTHING IF NOT DILIGENT.
ONE DAY, HE'S OUT HUNTING ON HIS PRIVATE GROUNDS.
THE NEXT, HE'S OFF BOATING UPON THE WATER.
AND ON ANOTHER, HE HAS A BEAST HUNTER
PAINTED UP LIKE A JESTER FOR HIS AMUSEMENT...
JUST WHAT IS HE PLOTTING?
THERE MUST BE SOME REASON HE TOYS WITH THE BEAST HUNTERS
WHILE LAVISHING HIS WEALTH UPON THEM WITHOUT RESTRAINT.
IT'S ALMOST AS THOUGH HE MEANS TO KEEP THEM LEASHED,
TO KEEP THEM FROM TURNING THEIR ATTENTION ELSEWHERE...
WHAT'S THIS?
I-IT IS A TRAY OF RICE WINE, MY ELDER.
RICE WINE?
Y-YES... FOR YOU TO CLEANSE YOUR PALATE...
PLEASE ENJOY!
THE SERVANTS WHO TEND TO THE GUEST QUARTERS
ARE ALL REMARKABLY SMALL AND YOUNG.
BEING ADDRESSED IN SUCH A WAY ONLY REMINDS ME OF THE ELDER AT THE APOTHECARY BACK HOME,
BUT WHENEVER I ASK THEM NOT TO DO SO, THEY SIMPLY PROSTRATE THEMSELVES AND PLEAD FOR MERCY...
OHOHO
DO I TRULY HAVE THE FACE OF AN OLD MAN?
BUT AS THE SAYING GOES, KINDNESS WITHOUT CAUSE IS NO KINDNESS AT ALL.
TO PUT IT PLAINLY,
EVERY LAST THING ABOUT THIS PLACE WAS SUSPECT.
ANYTHING SENT OUTSIDE THESE GROUNDS
WILL BE INSPECTED BY THE SERVANTS HERE.
IF I CANNOT WRITE TO MASTER, THEN PERHAPS...
ARE YOU ASLEEP?
CAN YOU...
EVEN HEAR ME?
JUST AS I EXPECTED... NOT A WORD.
ORDINARILY, THE DEITY WOULD HAVE OFFERED AT LEAST SOME SMALL REMARK,
YET ALL I CAN HEAR NOW IS ITS SOFT, STEADY BREATHING. I CANNOT FEEL ITS PRESENCE AT ALL.
NOT ONCE HAS THIS HAPPENED SINCE I ACCEPTED IT FULLY INTO MYSELF...
MY DEITY.
UNTOUCHABLE IN ITS MIGHT, YET FOREVER SHELTERING MY HEART
BENEATH ITS WARM, FEATHER-SOFT EMBRACE.
MY DEITY AND I OFTEN QUARRELLED,
FOR IT HAD A HABIT OF ASSERTING ITS PRESENCE WHENEVER IT PLEASED.
WHENEVER I WARNED IT NOT TO EMERGE, LEST IT STARTLE PEOPLE,
THE OFFENDED GOD WOULD FALL AS SILENT AS THE GRAVE FOR SOME TIME,
AND ONLY AFTER MUCH COAXING AND PLEADING ON MY PART WOULD IT AT LAST REVEAL ITSELF AGAIN.
BUT NEVER BEFORE HAD IT WITHDRAWN SO COMPLETELY LIKE THIS.
BUT IT HAD NO CAUSE TO BE IN A TEMPER...
WHY WON’T YOU ANSWER ME?
?
WHAT IS GOING ON?
AH...
W-WELL, ERM...
IT SEEMS MASTER BEOBYONG
HAS DEPARTED SUHARA.
HE LEFT SUHARA?
WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A WORD?
BUT HE CLAIMED HE HAD YET TO EARN NEARLY ENOUGH,
AND IT IS STRANGE THAT HE LEFT EVERY ONE OF HIS VALUABLES BEHIND.
FROM START TO FINISH,
NOT ONE PART OF THIS MAKES THE SLIGHTEST SENSE!
THEN...
URGH
WHEW
WHY DO YOU HESITATE?
WHATEVER YOUR ARROW STRIKES, ALL THE GOLD SET ASIDE THERE WILL BE YOURS.
HM?
WITH A LOT LIKE OURS,
THE BEST SHE COULD DO IS MARRY THE SON OF SOME POOR FAMILY TENDING GREENS FOR A LIVING!
JAKYEONG'S MOTHER... SHE CLAIMED SHE NEEDED MONEY AT ONCE,
SO SHE HAD BEEN SEEKING WORK AT EVERY TREACHEROUS HEADLAND SHE COULD FIND!
IF YOU SURRENDER THE DEITY TO ME, I WILL GIVE YOU 100 NYANG.
I WAS BEGINNING TO THINK YOU WOULD NOT COME AFTER ALL.
SO, ALL I MUST DO
IS STRIKE THAT TARGET?
The narrator finds it suspicious that the owner of the mansion hunts and boats around to distract the monster hunters and binds them to himself with his fortune. The tiny servants in the guesthouse, the inspected letters, and the god sunk into silence heighten the unease. Master Beobyong leaving Suhara behind with his belongings abandoned and the gold-reward archery target escalate the tension.
