A Crane Among Wolves

by June Hur

“I am here, ajusshi, because I wish to be here.” A long stare later, he heaved out a weary breath and said, “These days, the younger generation lack in virtue, such as respecting one’s elder.” “Aigoo, samchon.” Yul elbowed her uncle. “You speak like an old fart. You have but recently turned forty.”

Lol

“Evidence is always before us; it is more a matter of whether we notice it.”

A powerful force knocked me back, blazing pain consuming me whole. I wanted to scream but bit my tongue. Blood gushed and filled my mouth. There was an arrow above my left shoulder, embedded deep in the trunk, and when I looked closer—to my utter horror—I saw a shred of my skin caught on the arrowhead. Tearing my gaze away, I tried to rise to my feet as the hunter approached. But my jacket was pinned to the tree.

HE SHOT HERRR

If our paths ever crossed again, I was determined to make the prince bleed.

YASSS ENEMIES TO LOVERSSSSSSS

“You will not always be the wisest, nor the strongest, nor the bravest. That is why we need friends. They will guide you down the right path, no matter how dark it grows.”

After a dozen honeysuckles lay at my feet, I licked my lips and reached for more. “Sometimes,” Yul said, plucking a few and dropping them into my basket, “a little sweetness cheers the soul.”

“Make a deduction.” I clamped my lips shut, outraged. “Pause and look around you,” he pressed on. “Do not forget to notice the smaller things. Each day, try to notice if things have changed and remember how they were before. Doing this will improve your memory and your faculties of analysis.”

“This is the second time that I have had to disarm you,” he murmured. “I hope this will not become the norm each time our paths cross.”

STOPPP AHHH

“When someone you love is taken, you go into the den of the tiger. You go to the ends of the kingdom and across. You go to where they are. You find them—no matter the cost.”

“You,” came a whisper. I startled, glancing up into a dark pair of eyes. “You are not dead.” “Disappointed?” “Terribly.”

THEMMMM

“Would you betray the king, too, if that would lead you to your sister?” he asked. At her silence, he said, “You are quiet. Are you afraid of me?” She looked at him, dead in the eyes. “Would you betray the king?” He tensed under her probing gaze. “You are quiet,” she said, arching a brow. “Are you afraid of me, daegam?” The corners of his lips twitched. Who was this girl?

“Surely you do not expect me to sleep here with you,” I remarked, casting him a swift glance. His unease was evident as well. “I wouldn’t dare shut my eyes in your company,” he muttered, “lest you attack me with your blade—or rock.”

“Perhaps you should leave the old binding material on,” just as I tugged the bandage off. I felt fresh blood flowing. Washing down my arm. Panic rose in my chest. “What happens if I don’t?” I asked. “The blood would have clotted, so if you peel off the binding material, it will bleed again—” He paused, then asked grimly, “You pulled off the bandage, didn’t you?” “Yes,” I whimpered. “Sh-shall I help?” The sight of so much blood impaired my better judgment. “Yes.”

EEEEEHAHHAHAHAHAHA HAASSSS YSSSS TENDINF TGO WOHNDSSS AHHHHSSSHHSHWHH

“History moves its course, Young Mistress Iseul,” he murmured, flipping the page of his journal. He took up his calligraphy brush again. “But it is the youth who point the current in its direction.”

“You look like a vengeful ghost,” he murmured, adjusting the seat. “And you are the sort I would furiously haunt for all eternity,” Iseul retorted.

“But would you risk your life to find out?” She swept her hair over her shoulder, and as she braided it, he tried not to notice the length of her neck. “People whisper that if there is ever a revolt, it will be the heartbroken husbands and fathers who take down the king.” “And the sisters,” he whispered. He watched the way her fingers curled into a fist, the way an angry flush crawled up her collar, along her neck. “And the sisters,” she affirmed, and then glanced back at him. A strange sensation stirred in his chest as he held her gaze. Then he quickly looked away and spoke no more to her for the rest of their journey.

SHIPPP

“The truth is often right before us. We simply need to know where to look.

“Do not expect me to share what I know if you have no intention of even trying to find it for yourself. Such people, I have observed, have no genuine interest in the truth.”

“The ability to exercise your judgment is invaluable, especially during times when anxiety threatens to sweep you into a current of indecisions and dangerous conclusions.”

The truth will wait for you, however long it takes.”

“Who is Doaji?” I asked. “Yeongho! It is the pet name Hyukjin gave him, but I should stop calling him that. What man wishes to be called a baby pig?”

Lol

Iseul’s laughter rung outside, vibrant and bewitching. Daehyun caught himself listening, unable to speak or move, seized by curiosity.

Awwww

The truth reminded me of that crane; the truth was strong. It held the courage to strike out, no matter how ferocious the oppression.

An uneasiness stirred in me, but I beat the feeling aside. My feelings did not matter. Only my sister’s life did. “Very well, you may use me.” “Must you word it in that manner?” he muttered, looking ahead.

Lol i love him

Then she coughed. Everyone tensed, including Daehyun. The king turned pale. “B-begging your pardon.” The court lady heaved for air. “A fish bone caught in my throat.”

LOLLL THAGS HILARIOIS STOP

“Did you see a woman in a white dress come this way?” At once, I grabbed the prince’s collar, pulling him so close every soft part of me pressed up against his solid chest. “We must pretend,” I whispered, “that we are sweethearts—” He reached for the jangot, tying two ribbons and thus securing the veil that covered me like a hooded cloak. Gentle hands then held my wrist. “Perhaps you might release my collar. You will appear less like you are strangling me.”

AHHHUHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHYEAASSHYAAASSSS

“Iseul-ah, you have already committed to joining me; there is no turning back.” He held my gaze, and sympathy warmed his eyes, if only for a moment. “The path we are to take will be littered with death. Freedom will always come at a cost.”

As he approached, I instinctively took a small step back, but my hip pressed up against the table. Warmth crept up to my cheeks as he joined my side and our gazes met. In that moment, an unsettling intimacy enveloped us in the pre-dawn hour. The world had fallen into a hushed stillness, closing around me and the prince with eyes that offered glimpses into his painted world—of private thoughts and memories and dreams.

Hes a painter 🥹

“Then perhaps, when the Great Event is over, and when everything has settled, you could visit these places. Anywhere.” “I am just here until I am not. I do not think of one, five, or ten years in the future.” “But if you had to,” I pressed, “where would you wish to venture first?” He stood quiet for so long I thought our conversation had ended, then he finally spoke. “Our kingdom is surrounded by the sea, yet I have never seen it…,” he confessed, grappling with every word. “I should like to stand before the very expanse that literati scholars have captured in their writings. To witness this vast eternity.” There was a beat of silence, and then he murmured under his breath, “To believe that life is far greater than this one wretched moment.”

I love you, little sister. I will always love you. —Hwang Suyeon My feet moved of their own accord. I wasn’t sure what took hold of me, but I embraced him. His hands startled onto my shoulder, as though assuming I’d lunged in attack. I tightened my arms around him, and he remained deathly still. He may have stopped breathing, too. But moment by moment, his muscles eased, and his defensive grip slipped away, and he remained there, embraced by me.

Awww

“You did this for me…?” I spoke to his silk robe. “Why?” He stayed quiet for a long time, then he looked down at me, his brow furrowed with puzzlement. “I’m … not entirely sure.”

Stoppp

“My sister needs to know that I am here. I cannot leave until she is free.” His fingers dug into the bowl. He wanted her to live, not die—this girl who had embraced him, her warmth still lingering in his memory. A warmth that had seeped under his skin.

She shrugged. “If I perish, I perish.” He let out a sharp breath of irritation. “Could there be a woman less concerned about her life? Are you so unafraid of death that you would charge straight into it?” “Of course I am afraid, but what I fear most is regret.”

Do not fall victim to the king’s games. He enjoys—nay, he needs—to set people against one another, to set people up against their own selves.” He glanced down at his reflection in the tea. “He encourages the monstrosity in others to justify his own.”

“I did not think, when we first met,” she whispered, “that you would one day offer me such wise counsel, and that you would ever think to confide in me.” Then she looked up at him with a deep, appreciative look. He noticed for the first time that her eyes were honey brown. “My heart feels a little lighter,” she said softly, as a light smile flit across her lips. He felt undone.

THAG SENTENCE

“I wish I could elaborate on how remorseful I feel, but I am rather inept at expressing my feelings, and so…”

>>>

“Taste one. They are from the royal kitchen, and thus, the finest confections in all the kingdom.” “Very well.” I picked up a candied yuja, then dropped it into my mouth. A sigh of pleasure escaped me. The slice was crispy and chewy sweet, bursting with memories of sunshine and laughter. “We ought to quarrel more often.” I reached into his peace offering pouch and picked up a candied lotus root this time. “Given our difference in temperament,” he said dryly, “there will likely be many more quarrels to come.”

I remained near him as he examined the notes, but when I absentmindedly touched my bandaged wrist, his attention shifted toward it. “I swear,” he whispered in a low voice, as though to himself, “the next person to harm you will die by my own hands.” I stopped fiddling with the binding material, unsure that I’d heard him right. “I beg your pardon?”

I BEG YOHR FINESTVPPARDONNNN

He studied me for a long moment, then slowly shut the book. “Something happened. Tell me?”

There were moments, I knew, when the earth and stars eclipsed each other. Yet I had never thought it possible that my heart and mind could move in such a way, shifting within the expanse and centering my attention on the man before me.

OMHG

“You needn’t look at me in such a manner,” he said. “In what manner?” “As though I will force you.” “You do not wish to … kiss me?” He offered me a wry smile. “What does it matter what I wish?” he said quietly, striding up and brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “You said no, and I will receive your word as a royal command.”

At some point, I no longer knew what I was even saying, my thoughts elsewhere. And when I looked down, I stilled, realizing I had traced out his name. 대현 대현 대현

Aww

He indeed felt ill. Everywhere he looked, he found her. Iseul in the bright pink peonies. Iseul in the sound of laughter. Iseul. Iseul. Iseul.

For a long while, I remained still, taking in the weight of her existence. A weight that grounded my spirit. My sister, my sister, my sister.

We were sisters. Two girls who shared pieces of each other, tied together by an unspoken bond, a warm feeling of attachment, that no amount of bickering could easily sever. We were sisters. Comrades born from the same womb.

As though sensing my anguish, Daehyun caught my gaze and took my wrist. Slowly, he drew me into his embrace, the warmth of him surrounding me, and every fiber of my soul ached under his touch.

“You need to go now.” He held my waist, and in one movement, I was up in the air, perched atop the stone wall. “Hwang Iseul,” his voice rasped, his hands gripping tight onto my skirt, “if by any chance we do not meet again in this lifetime, then I will find you in the next—or as many lifetimes as it takes to see you again.”

“Don’t die,” I whispered to the prince. He looked up at me, holding me with his grief-stricken gaze. What could I say in this moment? What could I possibly say? My voice shook as I spoke. “So long as you live, we’ll have the rest of our lives to find each other again. And I will find you again. I promise.”

He was shocked, but he was far more stunned that she would have left her sister to travel all this way to tell him. “You care about me.” “You damn fool, of course I do!” She nearly sobbed, and he felt his heart full to bursting.

Lol i cant with this guy

“The tyrant roams free,” he murmured, “and the killer may be shadowing us. This darkness seems without end, and yet…” He glanced at me, his touch trailing from my wrist to the very tip of my finger, before intertwining his with mine. “The night is brighter with you here, Iseul-ah.”