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What Lady Noh said was: "Take this message from His Majesty the King for Jo daejang. Make sure you deliver it to him personally by today. This is important." She took the time to put the emphasis on “this”, whatever it was.
And when Seung-ah looked for the Captain in the Royal Guards Office, one of his subordinates told her: "Jo daejangnim doesn't come in today. We were told that he’s sick."
So, yeah, that was basically why Myeong Seung-ah found herself standing in front of Jo Yeong’s apartment later on. It was only after the fifth try, but she made it in the end anyway. She should have known that his place would be really tricky to find - the address and directions she got from the Royal Guards gave her the feeling of a location somewhere totally secluded that was so him - but she did not expect it'd be that tricky.
Seung-ah wondered if her sense of direction of Busan got worse from her prolonged time in Canada as she pressed his doorbell, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
"Yes?" His voice was even more gruff across the intercom.
"Jo daejangnim? It's Myeong Seung-ah. Lady Noh sent me."
When he unlocked and swung his door open to let her in a beat later, Seung-ah looked up and did a double take.
She knew that it was silly of her to picture him in a full three piece suit when he's at home, but whatever it was that she expected still failed to prepare her to encounter the toned down version of the Captain.
Just like what she had encountered in the hospital, there was zero product in his hair. And just like what she had thought back then too, the sight of Jo Yeong with his forehead fully covered by his bangs made him look so different, but in a very good way. (Seung-ah would even say that he looked a hundred times cuter by her standards.) As for his outfit, he's clad in a dark loose shirt with its sleeves rolled up halfway to his elbow. It was a pretty far cry from his usual immaculate self at the Palace, but Seung-ah just needed to take a quick glance down to see that he still opted to wear long fabric pants at home, compared to the alternatives.
Seung-ah giggled internally. For a split second, she pondered if she could ever scheme him into wearing any kind of shorts, but she reckoned that it would be much quicker to find his doppelgänger to do it than to actually persuade him to do so.
Yeong led her inside and motioned her to sit on the sofa in what should be his living room while he moved towards his open kitchen. “Would you like something to drink? Tea, coffee?”
“Tea is good, thank you.”
She looked around his apartment. As expected, it was spotless and nothing looked out of place. There were not too many personal items, but she did notice a few photographs framed and displayed on his bookshelves. Moving on, she tried to catch any signs of him being unwell, but could not find any. There was no visible medicine lying around, used tissues, fever packs, bandages, nothing.
Yeong returned with the tea, bringing over the teapot and another cup for himself. Seung-ah watched him closely as he poured some into her cup. He looked totally fine, calm and collected, as always, and clearly was not distressed.
Okay then, first, official business.
“Lady Noh told me to give you this," she retrieved the envelope from her bag and handed it over. “She said it’s a message from His Majesty, and that it’s highly important.”
The envelope in question was small, just the same size as a greeting card. She’d be lying if she said that she didn’t get curious about what's inside. However, what made her even more curious was the way the request was worded. The Head Court Lady specifically used the word 'message' instead of 'thing' or 'document'.
Seung-ah knew that the King and Captain exchanged phone messages often, if not every day. They were not tech-challenged people after all. She found it odd that the King would go to all of those troubles - well, technically, tell her to go to all of those troubles - just to relay some messages to his best friend.
“Thank you,” he said simply. If the Captain was thinking along the same lines as her, he didn’t share it with her explicitly, but Seung-ah did think that she caught a brief flash of a perplexed look on his face as well.
“Jo daejangnim, you are okay, right? You’re not hurt?”
“Eh?”
Seung-ah sensed something was suspicious. “Your squad told me that you’re sick…” her voice trailed off.
"I'm not-" he started, but then he stopped himself. He looked like he's struggling to get whatever it was that he wanted to say, out.
If he wasn’t before, Seung-ah was positive that Yeong was slightly frustrated by then. It was one of his expressions that she was most familiar with as it's also the one he seemed to use the most.
“I was told to have a day off,” he said, finally, and he didn’t have to elaborate further. There were only a handful of people who could give Jo Yeong command and for him to actually carry it out. One of them had his message currently delivered by her, and the other one ordered her to do so. It was a no brainer.
"Is the tea to your liking?" He changed the subject. As he turned his head to look out of the window, Seung-ah also noticed that it had begun to rain. "Why don't you wait a bit until the rain has stopped before you go on your way?"
Seung-ah thought that was a really good idea. The weather forecast didn't warn her about the downpour, so she did not bring any umbrella. And, well, being in his apartment was totally not unpleasant, for obvious reasons.
After that, she just remembered that the first thunder struck. It was a big one as the rain kept getting stronger. There were flashes of lightning and rumbles, but what was burnt into her memory most was how out of nowhere the Captain doubled over in pain in front of her.
“Jo daejangnim?” Seung-ah was startled at the turn of events. “What’s happening? Are you okay?”
Yeong had his arm clutched on his right shoulder, fully wincing.
The sky outside got darker.
“-fine,” he gritted out in between heavy panting. Seung-ah immediately dismissed his blatant lie.
“I’ll call the taxi. Let’s go to the hospital.” She had already reached into her jacket pocket to pull out her cell phone, but Yeong gripped her hand before she could even touch it.
“No,” he managed. “They won’t have a clue.”
She knew that she should have ignored him and dragged him to see a doctor anyway, but Jo Yeong fixed her such a determined look on his face. She realized that he was being absolutely serious about the fact that it was pointless to consult the doctors.
“Okay, arraseo,” she reassured him, feeling least assured herself. "At least let me take a look at it, will you?"
He tightened his grip on her hand, even though he looked like he was about to pass out. “Don’t-”
What was he about to say was swallowed by yet another roar from the sky. The rain had turned into a thunderstorm.
That’s it, Seung-ah made her decision, seeing Yeong groaned in pain once more, this time more intense. If he wanted to shoot her afterward for her defiance, then she would also deal with it later.
Trembling, she tried to steady her fingers long enough to unbutton the top part of his shirt, careful to anticipate his further objection if he insisted. When it didn’t come, she tugged it downward, enough to expose his right shoulder.
Seung-ah instantly noticed the blood vessels- No, they weren’t those at all- they were like cracks, but instead of just a bunch of fractures, they blazed up through his skin, gleaming red and gold as if they were on fire and in sync with the thunders that kept on coming.
His breathing was completely labored by then. It should have been so painful, but she really did not know what to do and she hated herself for it.
"Hang on," she told him as she stood up from the sofa.
The first thing she looked for was his medication supplies, which thankfully were kept in an easy to reach and highly visible place: at the corner of his kitchen countertop. Almost tearing through it, Seung-ah quickly identified some painkillers he currently had and checked their expiration dates.
She debated with herself to give him two tablets in one go, but decided to wait and see. It was not the time and place to joke about it, but the last thing she wanted was to accidentally make the Captain of the Kingdom of Corea’s Royal Guards hooked on painkillers. She was pretty sure His Majesty would behead her if such a thing happened.
“Here,” she handed Yeong the tablet, bringing a glass of water to accompany it. “Let’s go for one for now, yeah?”
He nodded in agreement before downing it in one go.
Seung-ah’s next target was his bedroom. She could make out three closed doors in the apartment, but she found it behind the first door she tried.
He seemed to know what she was after, because somehow he managed to follow her inside.
And if he was uncomfortable or disapproved of what she did next, the Captain did not say anything. It could also mean that he was too weakened to protest, but still, he did not make any indication to stop her as she helped him unbutton the rest of his shirt and remove it completely from his back, pulling it past his arms carefully so as not to distress him even more.
Aiming to make him as comfortable as she could - what else could she do - Seung-ah prepped his pillow and carefully guided him to lay on his stomach.
The rain had calmed down outside his window, and it was as if his wounds were mirroring the weather. The cracks on his back were subdued then, leaving behind tiny gleams that flickered with so much less intensity than before.
Now that she had the time to inspect them, she noticed that they were centered near his right shoulder blades, more or less where he was shot on the Lunar New Year incident.
She braved a touch on one of them, and instantly pulled her hand back as it burnt.
“Don’t- touch it,” he breathed out, his voice weak. “You might hurt yourself.”
“Do they still hurt so much?” she asked, already terrified for his answer. The painkillers would only come into effect in about an hour or so. She watched his side profile intently for the correct estimation of his agony.
He did not respond for a while. When he finally did, though, she finally felt like she had earned his full honesty. “A bit.”
God, he’s sweating so much. Seung-ah could see his neck and back completely damp.
She reached out to feel the temperature on his forehead, and as she feared, he was burning up.
Seung-ah stood up, already contemplating which would be the best place to look for a towel and a small basin in the apartment. She could try asking the owner, of course, but once she saw that Yeong already had his eyes shut and he should be pretty much out of it by then, she decided that there was no need to.
However, thanks to his meticulous organization, it took her no time to locate both.
She tried her best to wipe off the cold perspiration from his back, careful to avoid the lightning cracks, which came and went as the rain kept on. He was slightly shivering then, the muscles on his back tensed every time they blazed up, which curiously seemed to be in sync with the thunders.
When they finally subsided, she was able to notice more details then. There were traces of healed scars here and there on the rest of his muscular back, but not as much as the ones he had across his arms. She even suspected a few of them to be caused by gunshot wounds. He also had several bruises scattered around his body in varying healing degrees.
At that point, the fact that Jo Yeong was a soldier could not be any clearer for Seung-ah than ever before.
After a while, staying beside him the whole time, Seung-ah finally relieved to see the steady rise and fall of his back as the medicine should have kicked in. He should have drifted off to sleep. In alignment, she felt her adrenaline level gradually dropped as she began to feel drowsy, and she soon submitted herself to a quiet slumber too.
~
When she came to, it took Seung-ah a moment to recall where she was. The bed felt soft and comfy under her, and as she blinked away the last traces of her dreams, the realization that she just fell asleep on Jo Yeong’s bed - with the owner beside her a moment ago - finally dawned on her.
Seung-ah felt giddy at first and then mortified a second later.
Thankfully, the owner of said bed was currently nowhere in her sight to witness her predicament.
Sitting up, she instantly noticed that someone had cleaned away the basin and towel, as well as Yeong’s shirt that was tossed somewhere near the door, if her memory served correctly. Said door was ajar, and she could hear faint noises coming from the direction of the kitchen.
Sure enough, she found Yeong there. He had already changed into a knitted sweater, and was currently standing with his back to her in front of the stove, apparently already busy cooking.
“Ah, gwaenchananyo? Feeling better?"
He turned. “Yes. Take a seat, I’m almost finished.”
“Anything I can help?” Seung-ah rubbed her eyes as she took a seat on the dinner table, where he had put several dishes already. She pulled out her phone, and let out a gasp as she realized how late it had been.
Yeong brought over the rice bowls and set one in front of her, before placing the doenjang-jjigae. “Let’s eat, you must be hungry.”
“Thank you for cooking,” she said, now feeling embarrassed for napping too long. “How are you feeling, daejangnim?”
“Much better,” he said. He made a point to look straight at her as he replied, as if giving her the permission to scrutinize him. And she did. He did look so much better, just a bit worn out, but mostly he had been back to his usual composed self. “Don’t worry, the sky’s cleared up.”
She stopped her chopsticks in midair.
“You must have noticed it too, do you? That they correlate to the thunderstorm?”
Well, her assumptions were one thing. Hearing the confirmation from the man himself, though, was another matter.
“I can’t really explain it scientifically either. This is the first time it happened to me, but I’ve seen it happen the same way to other people before.
“What caused it?”
“I don’t think you’d believe me,” he replied. He said it with just a tiny hint of self amusement in his voice, but it didn’t feel like he was pulling her legs. Seung-ah interpreted it as his unspoken admission that he, too, had just become a believer not too long ago.
During any other circumstances, she’d probably say that the man should be bonkers, but she had witnessed it firsthand. So, either both of them were equally mad, or something impossible did just happen.
“Okay…” she decided to go with it for now. She simply did not think she had much brain power left.
“Thank you for staying,” he remarked, quietly. Seung-ah tried her best not to blush over his penetrating gaze.
~
After dinner, Yeong called a taxi for her.
Seung-ah was putting on her coat when her gaze landed on the message from the King. Due to all of the ruckus, it had remained on his coffee table, unopened and forgotten.
She should have stared at it longer than she should, because soon the Captain followed suit. He picked up the envelope and opened it swiftly.
As he finally read the card that was inside, Seung-ah watched as his eyes widened, then his eyebrows knitted and he did his half head tilt of wonder and puzzlement (that she should admit made him look even cuter).
Without saying anything, he handed her the piece of paper.
Seung-ah received it tentatively, feeling strange that she would be allowed to read it. She looked down and instantly recognized her King’s writing.
“Glad you’re feeling much better, Yeong-ah. I know you don’t like it when people invade your personal space, but you shouldn’t be alone on days like these.
P.S. Take another day off tomorrow to rest comfortably. You too, Miss Myeong Seung-ah, you need it."
She did not know what to make of it. She felt a nagging feeling that something even weirder was totally going on, but she could not seem to pinpoint what it was exactly.
Wait. It doesn’t mean that His Majesty knew that Jo Yeong daejangnim would fall ill, does it? He’s just pulling pranks on his best friend, isn’t he?