Chapter 31: Five Hundred Arrows

“If you go this way, there’s a place where you can hide.”
“I’ll escort you.”

But the king did not move right away.
As if weighing whether they truly were allies, he carefully studied the two men’s faces.
His shining eyes seemed to see straight through everything.

At that moment, the sound of assassins pursuing the king echoed from a distance.

“…Guide me.”
“In a situation like this, you two are the only ones I can trust.”

After a brief pause, the king spoke as though he had made his decision.

The three of them ran, cutting through the darkness.

Five enemies who caught up were helplessly cut down by Seo Gil-young’s and Yeonun’s swords.
But more pursuers were already charging toward them.

“At this rate, it’ll never end.”

“Even so, we have to do it.”
“Are you scared?”

At Seo Gil-young’s words, Yeonun smiled faintly.

From the moment he entered the Hwarang, he had prepared himself for death.
To risk his life protecting the king was the greatest honor imaginable.

But facing this many enemies while guarding the king was simply too dangerous.

……

Yeonun let out a quiet breath.

“Seo Gil-young.”
“Go. Now.”

“…What?”
“What are you talking about?”

There was only one path this way.
If someone guarded this choke point, no one else could get through.
Park Young-ju, one of the top three strongest among the Hwarang, had gone after the escort warriors they had lost to the ambush.
The king’s guards would arrive soon.

All Yeonun had to do was buy time.

“We can’t risk moving together.”
“You know that.”
“Take His Majesty and go.”

“What are you saying?!”

“Didn’t you hear me?!”

For once, the always-calm Yeonun raised his voice and grabbed Seo Gil-young’s shoulder hard.

Their gazes locked.

“You will go.”
“If you don’t, I’ll make you shoot three hundred arrows.”

At Yeonun’s firm declaration, Seo Gil-young replied bluntly.

“Three hundred won’t be enough.”
“You’ll need five hundred.”

“…Fine.”
“Five hundred.”

Even in a moment like this, the joke was so very Seo Gil-young.

The sound of approaching footsteps grew closer.
There was no more time.

“See you later.”

Watching them disappear, Yeonun clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword.
Seven figures emerged.
They were undoubtedly an elite unit.

Every single one of them was skilled.

He would have to fight with everything he had.

The men noticed Yeonun blocking the path and stopped.

Only the wind rustling through the branches filled the silence.

“I’d like to tell you to turn back here.”
“But if you were the type to listen, you wouldn’t have come this far.”

With those words, Yeonun took his stance.

At what seemed to be the leader’s signal, the remaining men charged at him.

Clang.
Clang.

The clash of blades rang out loudly.
Dodging the flurry of swords, Yeonun struck precisely at vital points, taking them down one by one.

Of course, he wasn’t unscathed.
He was stabbed and slashed, blood seeping from his wounds.

But mercifully, none of them were fatal.

Three left now, including the leader.

He could see a chance.

Adjusting his grip, Yeonun sharpened his senses to even the smallest movement.

Two men rushed him at once, swinging their swords.
He planted one hand on the ground and twisted his body to evade them.

And at that very moment—

…!

A burning pain shot through his ankle.

Damn it.

He narrowly twisted his body to avoid a direct strike and attempted a counterattack.

“…Ugh.”

A short groan escaped him.

Yeonun looked down at where the pain was coming from.
His side.

He saw the blade that had pierced deep into him being pulled out.
Hot blood slowly soaked his clothes.

He couldn’t fall here.

Moving only his eyes, Yeonun cut down the man closest to him.
As the man screamed and collapsed, Yeonun turned and struck the one standing right beside him.

That one fell as well, like a straw doll.

His vision wavered.
Blood flowing from a wound on his forehead made it hard to keep one eye open.
But he had no time to wipe it away.

He couldn’t afford to lose focus.

One left.

He had to take him down.
The strongest one.

“Ugh…!”

His right arm was slashed.
He barely held back the weakness flooding his hand and tightened his grip on the sword.

He didn’t even know if he could swing it properly anymore.
There was no time to switch hands.

The man before him was overwhelmingly skilled.

If only he weren’t injured.

Yeonun bit down hard.

No.
Even without the injuries, he probably couldn’t have beaten him.

And now, in this state—

But that was fine.

He just had to buy time.
Somehow.

At that moment, he heard the sound of people running from the road.

The king’s guards appeared.

Good.

Relief washed over him—

“Ah…?”

Something hot surged up inside his throat.
At some point, he realized he was lying on the cold ground.

The man who had struck Yeonun collapsed uselessly under the guards’ swords.

What Yeonun felt then was relief.

Ah.
Thank goodness.

His Majesty will be safe.
Now… I should go too.

He wanted to say goodbye, but no voice came out.
Only a choking sound escaped.

His body wouldn’t move.
His blood-soaked hand weakly scraped against the dirt.

While the other guards hurried away, one man approached Yeonun and knelt beside him.

“It’s all right.”
“From here on, leave it to us.”
“We will protect His Majesty without fail.”

Yeonun could no longer speak.

The smiling face of Woo Hayeon surfaced in his mind.
Then the promise he had made with Seo Gil-young followed.

A single tear rolled down the corner of his eye and fell to the ground.

…Five hundred arrows might be a bit much.

The guard gently closed Yeonun’s unmoving eyelids.

The warmth slowly faded away.

All filming wrapped up in the late hours before dawn.

Between the intense action scenes and the emotionally charged moments, everyone was utterly exhausted.
For Sim Eunchan especially, he lay there for a while even after the director called “cut.”

For some reason, tears had flowed during Yeonun’s final scene.
It wasn’t in the script, so he had worried it might be cut for being overly emotional—but it wasn’t.

Maybe he had immersed himself too deeply.
It felt as if he had truly become Yeonun, and his heart felt unbearably heavy.

“Eunchan, great work!”

“Good job, everyone!”

Sim Eunchan forced himself up, greeted everyone brightly, then plopped back down on the dirt floor, hugging his knees.
He had no energy left.

No matter how harshly he had trained, he had never felt this drained.

Was this what complete exhaustion felt like?

“Eunchan, can’t get up?”

“…Ah, Hyuin-hyung.”

“Looks like low blood sugar.”
“Eat this.”

“Thanks.”

Sim Eunchan obediently accepted the candy Kim Hyuin handed him, popped it into his mouth, and stood up.

“Good work.”

“Sunbae.”
“You worked hard as well.”

“What?”
“I just came in for one day of filming.”
“You must be exhausted.”
“Go get some rest.”

With a warm smile, Kim Moonho patted both Sim Eunchan’s and Kim Hyuin’s shoulders.

After seeing him off, the two exchanged goodbyes and headed to their respective cars.
They both knew from experience that getting rest as soon as possible was best, since filming would continue the next day.

The moment Sim Eunchan sat down in the car, he fell into a deep sleep.

He was late for filming.

The thought jolted him awake, and he shot upright.
Then he remembered that his scenes had already been completed and collapsed back onto the bed.

He should probably get up anyway, but he decided to lie there for just five more minutes.

Bzzz.

His phone vibrated.

Wanting to be lazy a bit longer, Sim Eunchan pulled the blanket over his face, but when the vibration continued, he groggily lifted his head.

A message had arrived.
It was from Kim Hyuin.

—Eunchan, hi.
—Everyone’s missing you since you’re not here.
—I miss you.

There was a photo attached.

The main cast were gathered together, all wearing exaggeratedly sad expressions.

They were all exhausted from a brutal shooting schedule, yet even sending a casual greeting like this was something to be grateful for.

He remembered how they would gather during breaks to chat lightly.
Despite the relentless pace, they tried not to lose their smiles and comforted each other when mistakes happened.

That wasn’t all.

They hadn’t excluded Sim Eunchan for being an idol.
Instead, they even gave him acting tips.

That was never something to be taken for granted.

Even if they were colleagues, before that, they were rivals as actors.
Someone else succeeding didn’t necessarily mean good things for you.

If you thought of it as dividing up a single pie, it was something you could never do.

Which meant they had gone out of their way.
They had helped him so much that even without an SS-rank mental stat, he had adapted smoothly to the environment.

Sending photos like this was only possible because there was genuine affection between them.

And just that alone made Sim Eunchan deeply grateful.

He should have been the one to reach out first.

Sim Eunchan immediately pressed the call button next to Kim Hyuin’s name.

And as if he had been waiting, Kim Hyuin picked up right away.