[TOMORROW X TOGETHER Beomgyu] To the point of aching

Episode 13. An Unreachable Hand

When she came to, she was beneath a familiar ceiling.

When she tried to sit up in alarm, the throbbing pain in her ankle finally made itself known.

 

"My lady! Are you awake?"

 

Dani, who had been keeping watch at her side, brightened and hurried over.

 

"As for Master Beomgyu... what about him?"

 

Seeing Dani’s face darken, Yeoju had already guessed the answer.

 

"...He was taken away. Yeonjun o-raeboni couldn’t do anything about it either."

 

The look in his eyes, the last thing she had seen before losing consciousness as it vanished into the darkness, came back to her again.

Bracing herself on her bandaged ankle, Yeoju forced her body upright.

 

"...My lady, you still can’t walk!"

"I have to walk. Now."

 

Barely able to hold herself up, Yeoju headed straight for the sarangchae.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

"Father! Please save that man. You have the secret letter, don’t you!"

"...No."

"Why not? With that, you could expose every one of Jo Seunghak’s crimes!"

"The moment I bring that out, Jo Seunghak will crush our family first."

"Then you’re going to just let him die like this?"

 

Kim Yuhyeong fell silent. That silence was no different from that day ten years ago.

 

"You’re always like that, Father. You go silent in the face of fear."

"...Yeoju, you’re saying that because you still don’t understand."

"I won’t live like you, Father."

 

Clinging to him, Yeoju grabbed her father’s sleeve.

 

"Even Master Choi Siheon and his wife lost everything just like this. And you’re going to do the same thing again?"

 

Kim Yuhyeong’s shoulders jerked. But in the end, he still averted his gaze.

 

"...It’s different from back then now. You don’t know how powerful Jo Seunghak has become. If we move wrong, our whole family will fall apart."

"Then live like this for the rest of your life. I’ll save him even without you."

 

Yeoju shook off her father’s hand and left the room.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

That evening, Dani came rushing in with the news.

 

"...Master Beomgyu will be taken to Hanyang at dawn tomorrow. Since he’s the child of a treason convict, they mean to execute him without delay."

 

The world went dim before Yeoju’s eyes. It meant not even a day, not even half a day, remained.

 

"How many are guarding the magistrate’s office... right now?"

"My lady, surely you’re not..."

"I asked how many."

 

Dani couldn’t bring himself to answer and lowered his eyes.

 

"My lady, it’s dangerous. Please speak to His Lordship again..."

"Father already gave me his answer. I don’t have time to keep begging."

 

With no time even to leave a note, Yeoju went straight into her room and hurriedly prepared herself.

If she couldn’t trust her father or time, then all that was left was to move herself.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

That night, Yeoju changed into plain clothes and slipped out of her room in secret.

With her lame ankle tightly bound beneath her hem, she climbed the wall and headed toward the magistrate’s office.

 

The prison was behind the office, beyond a low wall.

Taking advantage of a lull in traffic, as she climbed over the wall, Yeoju caught sight of a hunched shadow between the bars.

 

"...Master Beomgyu."

 

At the low call, the shadow slowly поднял its head.

 

"...My lady? How did you get here..."

"Is my lady’s ankle all right...?"

 

He looked terrible. There were cuts all over him, and dried blood had crusted over them.

 

"Talk later. I’ll get you out now."

"...No. If you’re found here, my lady, you’ll be in danger too."

"I’m already prepared. So stay still."

 

As Yeoju fumbled at the lock with trembling hands, Beomgyu could only look on with pained eyes.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

Just as the lock refused to open and her fingertips kept slipping, torches suddenly flared up behind her.

 

"Who goes there!"

 

They were the jail guards on patrol.

Before Yeoju could even run, she was seized right there.

 

"...Let go! I said let go!"

"So you had the nerve to try and smuggle out a criminal, you bitch!"

 

Rough hands crushed Yeoju’s arm and dragged her away.

Inside the bars, Beomgyu tried to rise, but the shackles on his ankles held him back.

 

"...My lady!"

 

The hand he reached out toward Yeoju’s receding figure was finally blocked by the bars.

Pinned to her knees in the prison yard, Yeoju was bound with ropes under the torchlight.

 

"Don’t... contact my father. He wouldn’t come anyway."

 

Unlike the resignation in her words, the tears in Yeoju’s eyes would not stop.

 

Beyond the bars, Beomgyu collapsed where he sat.

Once again, the guilt that he hadn’t protected her pressed down on his chest.

 

 

A rooster crowed in the distance. The time for the transfer was just about to arrive.