* * *
One cup became two cups, and two cups became three. Though not much time had passed since Court Lady Kim had prepared the alcohol table and left, Doha’s face was already flushed red. Whether from crying or from the effects of alcohol, Doha’s face was ripe like an apple, and Dojin just stared at him as if he found it pathetic.
If he had his way, he would have liked to leave this place filled with the smell of alcohol immediately. Moreover, the problem was that scent that was gradually released as he became more intoxicated, that sweet scent. Orders, royal orders. Dojin kept his position, mumbling to himself several times.
‘I cannot covet what belongs to my master.’
His hand gripping the sword tightened. Would he be able to properly guard this door tonight? For Dojin, the drunk Doha in this room was more threatening than the hundreds of soldiers and assassins he had encountered on the battlefield. Dojin looked at Doha with eyes full of wariness.
“There are 2 flowers, 2!”
Doha laughed without any caution, pointing at the flowers Hyunseo had brought. It was amazing how well he could pour alcohol despite barely being able to maintain his posture. After tilting his head and pouring alcohol into his mouth, Doha slowly rose from his seat.
He approached the window and fiddled with the flowers in the vase. It was a careful touch, as if afraid the flowers might get damaged. Caressing each petal, Doha mumbled.
“He said he thought of me while breaking the flowers.”
“…”
“Why is it His Majesty’s heart that is broken…”
“…”
“I only wanted his heart.”
A voice filled with moisture resonated through the room. As if soothing his wounded heart, Doha kept caressing the flower petals. The more he touched them, the more the color of the petals turned brown. Saddened by this, Doha quickly removed his hand from the petals.
“I didn’t ask for much.”
Something that doesn’t change. He had only wanted that one thing, but why was it so difficult? Doha quietly added. That appearance was so pitiful that it deeply embedded in Dojin’s heart.
‘I should neither hear nor see.’
Dojin knew exactly what happened to people who were swept away by emotions. Those who couldn’t control their emotions had a higher chance of dying on the battlefield. It was not a result derived from reason, but they met death because they only followed their emotions.
The reason he had been able to rise to Ungeom was partly due to his excellent martial arts skills and quick situational judgment, but it was also because he maintained his reason in any situation.
Recalling those memories, Dojin was in the midst of maintaining his composure.
“This kind of flower, I can just throw it away.”
Suddenly changing, Doha took out the flowers from the vase. Perhaps due to the alcohol, the strength left his right hand holding the vase. The vase fell to the floor in an instant.
The vase shattered into pieces with a loud sound. Porcelain fragments scattered throughout the room. Fragments of porcelain stuck to the front of Dojin’s feet and to Doha’s collar, glistening. Just as Doha, distracted by the glittering, was about to reach for the floor.
“Ah…!”
Doha’s body, losing balance, collapsed toward the floor. At this rate, his body would fall onto the porcelain fragments. Dojin rushed quickly and lifted Doha’s body.
“Aah!”
Doha groaned as his face hit the firm chest. Doha’s hand, extended to prevent falling, wrapped around Dojin’s neck. Their bodies were pressed so close that breathing sounds could be heard, and their eyes met.
The reddened face was alluring. The widely opened eyes as if knowing nothing, the disheveled clothes, even the slightly parted lips—all of it stimulated Dojin. Without caution, he burst into laughter like a child.
At that laughter, Dojin’s heart raced wildly. Just like when he madly cut down people on the battlefield or when he galloped at full speed on horseback, his heart pounded wildly and erratically. Dojin’s previously impassive eyes widened.
“It would be better if you stopped drinking now.”
Dojin spoke, barely managing to produce a composed tone. Though his manner of speech was rigid, his voice was gentle, as if soothing a child. Afraid his heartbeat would be detected, Dojin gently pushed Doha away.
“You’ll get hurt.”
Either by playing around like this or by me hurting you.
As soon as their chests separated, Doha shook his head. Mmm, I don’t want to be let go. He softly whispered and wrapped his arms around Dojin’s waist.
“Bin Mama.”
“I won’t fall. I won’t move even a single step.”
“Please go to sleep now.”
As if it shouldn’t happen, Doha’s arms around his waist tightened. Dojin sighed at the touch tightening around his waist. He couldn’t just stand like this either.
‘If I touch him, I’ll cross the line.’
Dojin already had a premonition that if he got a taste, he wouldn’t be able to stop. The wild senses cultivated on the battlefield warned him. If he touched him, there would be no going back, it was saying he could never return to the way things were.
But he kept looking. Doha’s face dyed with a red hue, his lips drawn like a picture, the plump tongue leaking through the open gap…
‘…Shit.’
Unable to withstand the stimulation any longer, Dojin walked to the door while still embracing Doha. His steps were heavy. Doha, hanging from his waist, burst into laughter, finding it amusing.
“Walk again.”
Doha laughed, shaking his waist. Having been dragged while hanging from his waist, his body had gradually slid and was now positioned between Dojin’s legs. It was quite an awkward position.
Doha burst into laughter with a face that knew nothing.
“Ungeom, won’t you walk again?”
Doha’s hand dug between his legs, asking him to move his legs. At his touch caressing the inside of his pants, Dojin widened his eyes. No, no more. Without hearing Dojin’s heart, his hand moved increasingly inward.
“Hmm? Just once more. It’s fun, why aren’t you moving?”
“Please moderate yourself.”
Dojin answered without even looking at him as he hung on like a drunk. Dojin’s head was stiffly upright, as if determined not to give any reaction. After caressing between his legs for some time, Doha frowned as if bored.
“Ungeom is less fun than I thought?”
“…So how about going to sleep now?”
“The night is still long, how can one sleep from early evening?”
As the desired reaction didn’t come, Doha approached the alcohol table again. His body staggered as if he might fall. Staggering as he walked, Doha sat at the alcohol table and picked up the bottle.
“I’ll empty this bottle before sleeping tonight.”
Doha’s lips touched the tilted bottle. He closed his eyes tightly, anticipating the bitter taste soon to come.
At that moment, Dojin, who had approached without notice, snatched the bottle from Doha’s hand. In the blink of an eye, Dojin tilted the bottle.
“Mmm?”
Each time the alcohol entered, his thick Adam’s apple bobbed. Staring blankly at him, Doha reached out.
“Hey! That’s my alcohol!”
Ignoring Doha’s movements, Dojin took out the next bottle. He intended to drink all the alcohol there was. His thick Adam’s apple bobbed each time he drank. Empty bottles piled up on the floor.
Doha looked up at Dojin with a sad face. Before he could desire that look, Dojin lowered the hand not holding the bottle. His large hand covered Doha’s eyes.
“It’s time for the child to sleep.”
Not meeting his eyes, he felt he could survive. The bitter alcohol tickled his throat. Dojin didn’t know why the alcohol, which would normally have been sweet, was so bitter today. Doha, who had stopped moving, quietly closed his eyes. Soon, the sound of steady breathing leaked out.
‘Finally asleep.’
When he removed the covering hand, Doha’s gently closed eyes were visible. After looking at the clear face, Dojin lifted Doha.
Only after laying Doha down and covering him with a blanket did Dojin remove his hands from Doha’s body.
“My disloyalty is just for today.”
With a composed face, Dojin returned and walked to the door. Sitting back in his original spot, Dojin held his sword and took in Doha’s appearance.
‘He’s just a powerless Eumin like a flower, why does he linger in my eyes so?’
Regular breathing sounds echoed throughout the room. With each breath, the blanket covering Doha rose and fell. As he focused on his breathing, Dojin’s breathing also flowed in a similar rhythm to Doha’s.
What is this little thing?
The alcohol was rising. His face got hot and his head felt dizzy. It seemed the problem was drinking too much alcohol without any food. Dojin slowly closed and opened his eyes.
Unable to fight the overwhelming sleepiness, he closed his eyes. Just as his head tilted, Doha’s eyes opened with a flash.
“Are you asleep?”
Doha whispered in a small voice. When there was no answer, Doha lifted the silk blanket and approached Dojin.
Though it seemed he would never sit, it appeared he couldn’t resist the effects of alcohol after all. After waving his palm in front of him a couple of times, Doha smiled brightly.
“Six bottles was a bit much, wasn’t it?”
His reddened face and eyes had returned to their normal color long ago. As if having completed his task, Doha took out rouge from his pocket and threw it on the blanket. It was the rouge he had been applying to his cheeks and eyes whenever Dojin looked elsewhere.
With a normal face, Doha approached him and placed his hand on his collar.
“Let me borrow your clothes for a moment.”
With five years of experience acting as a gisaeng, he was confident not only in undressing but also in undressing others. Doha removed one by one the black cloths wrapping Dojin’s body. The cloth enveloping his body flowed to the floor.
His firm body, which had been tightly concealed, showed through his undergarments. The tanned skin made his rock-like body appear even firmer. Moreover, the broad chest that made one want to touch it, the fine muscles running from his stomach to his pubic bone, made even Doha, who had seen the bodies of many celebrities, swallow.
‘If I had time, I would have stripped him completely, but unfortunately, I’m busy today.’
Rescuing Eunsung came first. Doha carefully wrapped the removed black cloth around his own body. Due to the difference in body size, he tied the sleeves and pant legs that dragged on the floor with cloth. Finally, after adjusting his scent as well, Doha tapped Dojin’s cheek.
“It’s time for the child to sleep.”
And now it’s time to rescue Eunsung. Doha, with the black cloth draped over his face showing only his eyes, stepped onto the window. After glancing back at Dojin once, he threw himself to the ground without hesitation.
The first role Doha had taken was Assassin 1.
Experience filming without a stuntman doesn’t just go away. With the movements he had learned at action school, Doha quietly ran toward the underground prison.
* * *
The gatekeeper was tired as more masters than usual had come today. Wasn’t it strange that in the afternoon, the Flower Bin Mama came unexpectedly, and at night, the Noble Consort disguised as a maid visited? The gatekeeper couldn’t understand why nobles who had never shown interest in the underground prison were suddenly so interested today.
As the gatekeeper opened his mouth wide to yawn, Doha in black clothes approached from behind. There was no sound of breathing or footsteps. When Doha pressed the pressure point on the neck area, the gatekeeper collapsed powerlessly.
Quickly catching the gatekeeper’s body to prevent the sound of falling, Doha led him into the bushes. From the outside, it looked as if the gatekeeper was leaning on him, drunk. The problem was that the person he was leaning on was an assassin.
Avoiding the soldiers patrolling with torches, Doha hurriedly ran to the underground prison. The patrol changed every 10 minutes. Within those 10 minutes, he had to rescue Eunsung.
‘Fortunately, the structure is the same as the filming location.’
This time, he didn’t even carry a torch. No matter how insane the prisoners were, if multiple people told the same story, it would become a problem. Recalling the path he had walked during the day, Doha went to find where Eunsung was.
Finally reaching the deepest part of the underground prison, where Eunsung’s cell was, Doha blinked to adapt to the darkness. Just as he could distinguish between the iron bars and the inside, Doha’s mouth opened.
“Where did this crazy bastard go?”
Inside the cell, only the shackles Eunsung had been wearing were left abandoned. I risked my life to come here, and this bastard. Unable to contain his anger, only the sound of Doha fuming echoed inside the empty cell.
It was at that moment that he discovered the cipher Eunsung had left.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
