Chapter Text
It is said, when you drink the tea of oblivion, you will forget everything about your past life. Every memory is wiped away, leaving you reborn on a clean slate.
It never worked on Kim Ga-on though.
He remembers it all.
The pain, the joy, the suffering, the laughter, the lost, the death. He endures it, lives after lives.
He remembers dancing until his feet are full of blisters when he was Émile, a premier danseur noble.
He remembers cooking dinner for her family, a pride in her heart, when she was Liu Yu-lan, a homemaker.
He remembers the exhilaration she felt as she sang when she was Maria, a prima donna.
He remembers running with a gun in his hands when he was Jong-yul, a soldier.
He remembered the guilt as the patient died on her operating table when she was Kang Ji-hye, a surgeon.
He remembers the tranquility he felt when he was Mahn-shik, a farmer.
He remembers the feel of a sword in his hands, the rightness of it, as he sliced his enemies when he was Da-son, a war general.
He remembers the pain of flogging when he was a slave.
He remembered when she was Sae-in, a girl that died so young.
He remembers the heat of fire on her skin when she was Portia, a woman accused of witchcraft.
He remembers the poison burning through her throat when she was killed by the order of someone she loves.
He remembers it all and more…
Maybe the enmity in his heart was so great that he ended up damning himself in this cursed existence.
It was all because of that man. The one who got him killed in his first life.
In every lifetime, he prayed that he would meet him again. So he could finally let go of this grudge. So he could finally pay him back for what he did.
He prays, prays and prays.
It seems, the deity finally heard his plea this time around.
Kim Ga-on couldn’t believe his luck. He didn’t even need to work that hard to get where he wanted. To get close to that man.
Min Jung-ho handed it all to him on a silver platter.
… A monster emerges in turbulent times. All those absurd bills he’s passed so far… He doesn’t think like a jurist. He thinks like a politician,”
Ga-on wants to snort at that. Of course that man would think like a politician. Considering who he was all those lifetimes ago, it would be amiss if he didn't think like one. Some traits just follow us in every lifetime.
Even Min Jung-ho, who was a yeonguijeong all those lifetimes ago, still retains his holier than thou attitude.
“You seem to despise him but you still want me on the bench?” Ga-on asks, playing the part of a curious but naive young judge.
“Someone has to be there. Someone who can keep his eyes wide open in this crazy wind. No one else here wants to go against the wind,” Min Jung-ho says, eyes solemn. He was trying so hard to convince him. Its pathetic.
Ga-on schooling his face into an incredulous frown. “You want me to be Judas?”
"Please," Min Jung-ho paused for dramatic effect and lay his hand on Ga-on's shoulder.
Ga-On was itching to slap it away, but he didn't.
For now, Min Jung-ho is a useful tool. A tool he intends to use for all of its worth.
Min Jung-ho thinks he was so smart, but Kim Ga-On, who has lived so many lifetimes and endured so many hardships, clearly has the upper hand this time.
There was no mistaking that the man that was looking out the window was him, the man Ga-on looking for in his many lifetimes.
That man was still the same, untouchable and regal, whether he was draped in a royal robe or wearing a fitting suit.
"It's nice to meet you," Ga-on says pleasantly, placing his hands together, when what he wants to do is stab the man in the chest, all the while seeing light go out of his eyes. It took every resolve he nurtured in all of his previous lifetimes to keep him from lashing out.
The man turned his head and Ga-on was struck by an uncontrollable fury and sorrow. His grip on his left hand grew tighter, enough to draw blood as the man walked closer.
Ga-on blink and the man's attire melted into a royal robe. Red, as red as the blood she shed that night.
The modern office around him was changed into a temple, her temple. Concrete exchanged with wood. The sound of the bells ringing in his ear. The smell of incense filling the air.
Ga-On closed his eyes and he was back to that night. The night he died in his first life.
There was a saying you never forget your first love, but for Kim Ga-on, what he could never forget was his death in his first life, when he was a mudang named Wol.
Wol was preparing for a rites when a loud shout was heard and the door to her temple was thrown open.
She saw a couple of men from uigeumbu running inside.
"What is the meaning of this?" she yelled, her hands gripping tightly on her shaman bells. "It's no place- hey!" she was cut off, as two of the men came to her side and gripped her arms tightly, before forcing her to kneel on the ground.
"What are you doing! Let me go this instance," she struggled to no avail, while the grip on her arms tightened, the men around her offered no answers.
Another set of footsteps was heard and she saw head eunuch Heo walking in.
"Head eunuch Heo!" she called out, but he ignored it as he took out something from the sleeves of his robe and threw it at her.
It was norigae. Identical to the norigae that she made and gifted to Hyun as a talisman. How could it-
"Cursed woman! How dare you curse the royal line using this!" Head eunuch Heo accused.
Her eyes widened at the accusation. "No! I never did any of that!" she denied, but she was cut off again.
"This is treason!" he bellowed. "At the behest of the King, Wol, the head shaman, is sentenced to death for the crime of heresy!"
'This is false! Hyun would never do this to her!'
"I never did any of that!" she shouted, struggling even more. "No! Let me have an audience with the King,"
“Jeonha didn’t want to meet you again, Wol-ah,” Head eunuch Heo crooned and took her chin, clicking his tongue in distaste. "Just accept it child, there is nothing you could do to change it," he then let go of her chin, and looking at a man beside him. "Do it,"
The man came to her and grabbed her face roughly, forcing her to drink something from the vial he brought as she kept struggling, but alas, that man was stronger than her. The liquid burned through her throat.
The men from each of her sides let her go abruptly, leaving her scrambling on the ground.
With trembling hands she reached out for the norigae. It was truly her norigae.
She felt tears gather in her eyes, 'Hyun, how could you do this to me?'
An uncontrollable cough hacked through her body. She coughed into her hands and it came out red, as blood spilled out from her lips.
'Hyun, why do you do this to me? Why?"
As she lay dying on the ground, bloody hands clutching tightly at her shaman bells and norigae, she felt her sorrow turn into fury. How could he do this to her? She loves him more than anything in this world, she supports him with all of her heart, she will do anything for him. But, in the end, all of that isn't enough. He betrayed her.
She loves him...
He betrayed her…
She loves him…
He betrayed her...
He must pay for it...
With her last breath, she vowed to never forget this enmity. She will find him again in her next life and make him pay.
‘I will find you, Lee Hyun,’
With a curse on her lips, Wol closed her eyes for the last time.
Ga-on opened his eyes and he was back in the present.
Lee Hyun –no– Kang Yo-han was staring at him with an unreadable expression, his eyes were still as sharp and cold. He was standing too close, Ga-on could just stab him and be done with it.
The bloodthirsty part of Ga-on, the one that has been a war general, whispers to him to just do it, while the rational part of him, the one that has been a renowned surgeon, tells him to wait. He waited too long for this to end just like that. He wanted him to suffer. Death is too merciful.
Taking a deep breath, he let a confused and timid expression slip into his face. “Is something wrong?” Ga-on asked, as Kang Yo-han still looking at him intently. ‘Did you recognize me? Did you recognize the one you betrayed, Hyun?’
“Nothing. I apologize. Judge Kim Ga-on, right?” Kang Yo-han said, even the way he talked was still the same. "Welcome to the battlefield,” he then offered his hand for a handshake.
"I look forward to working with you, Bujangnim," Ga-on beamed and shook Kang Yo-han’s hand with a smile on his lips, like he wasn't just plotting to kill him.
I look forward to tearing you apart…
Finally, we met again, Jeonha...