Chapter 13: A Night Shut Behind Stone Walls

The man presumed to be the owner of this mansion, Lee Ji-pyeong, sat across from us with one leg crossed over the other and lit a cigarette.

Without so much as a greeting or even asking for permission to smoke, he ignored us with an air of complete nonchalance.

Yet his attitude was so overbearing that it left no room for complaint.

For some reason, that man frightened me.

“It’s me. I have something to say, so I’ve taken the liberty of coming despite the discourtesy.”

Gyesa, too, seemed tense before the man’s ominous presence, his posture noticeably stiff.

For a brief moment, a flicker of interest passed through the man’s eyes as he looked at Gyesa.

But after giving his face a cursory glance, he quickly lost interest and let out a scoffing laugh.

“My aunt really is something. What kind of amusement does she think she’ll find at her age?”

He was blatantly rude.

Judging by how naturally rudeness clung to him, it seemed he had lived his entire life that way.

“It’s not the kind of relationship you’re thinking of, sir.”

“Oh? Then if you didn’t come to squeeze a bit of spare change out of me, why are you here?”

I was afraid of that man, but just as much, I felt an unbearable sense of disgust.

The fist clenched on my knee trembled violently.

Gyesa furrowed his brow as well.

“I happened to meet her in Cheongjin, and we agreed that I would be adopted as her son.”

“Hm. And?”

“She gave me a gold ring as a token of that promise, but… due to certain circumstances, it was stolen, and it’s currently at the police station.”

The man merely took a deep drag from his cigarette as he listened.

Gyesa continued speaking.

“They’ll probably come by the station to verify things as early as tomorrow.”

“So? Don’t tell me you came all the way here this evening just to give me a heads-up?”

“No. We came to ask for a favor. Please allow us to contact your aunt.”

As soon as Gyesa finished speaking, the man covered his mouth with his hand and burst into laughter, his shoulders shaking as if he found it unbearably funny.

When he kept laughing instead of answering, Gyesa finally revealed his displeasure and asked,

“What exactly is so funny?”

“Haha! Well, isn’t it obvious? How do you plan to contact someone who’s already dead…?”

The words that left the man’s mouth were shocking.

Dead.

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. My aunt passed away two weeks ago, so how are you going to contact her? Are you planning to be buried under the ground with her in cozy companionship? If that’s what you want, I can arrange it.”

“She passed away? What are you saying! She clearly—!”

The man, who had been chuckling for a long while, saw Gyesa’s face turn deathly pale and hardened his expression.

Then, in a voice as cold as frost, he said,

“What do you think I should do about a couple of beggar bastards who crawled in from who knows where and dare to sully my aunt’s name?”

“She proposed adopting me—!”

“And why should I believe that? The baseless claim of a con artist with neither proof nor witnesses.”

“I can’t believe this. She passed away….”

“Even if what you’re saying were true, believing the ramblings of a senile old woman nearing death would be your own fault for being so naïve.”

Gyesa sprang to his feet, frozen stiff in shock.

He could no longer offer any rebuttal.

“More importantly, you’re saying my aunt’s ring is at the police station. From the looks of it, you pulled off a scam and topped it off with theft, didn’t you?”

“What are you—!”

That was absurd.

There was no way Gyesa would do such a thing.

I tried to jump up and protest, but the man waved his hand irritably.

“Deokchun! Are you there?!”

“Yes, master.”

The man who had led us here earlier appeared as he opened the door.

Behind him stood three burly men.

“These two are con artists and thieves. Throw them out of my mansion immediately.”

“Yes. Understood.”

The three men approached us with menacing expressions.

“Wait a moment. There must be some misunderstanding—!”

“You filthy thieves! How dare you act up here of all places!”

One of the men grabbed me while the other two went for Gyesa.

Gritting his teeth, Gyesa shook their hands off.

“This makes no sense! Let us verify it. She passed away… dead! It’s a lie!”

The man took another deep drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke into the air.

He quietly muttered a single word.

“You’re noisy.”

“Shouldn’t we beat some sense into these punks?”

Led by Deokchun, the men struck Gyesa across the face and kicked him in the stomach as he struggled violently.

“Ugh…! Let me check… please! It’s not a lie!”

“You filthy con artist—!”

“Gyesa! Stop it!”

I screamed as I watched Gyesa being dragged away and beaten, but it was useless.

In their eyes, we were nothing more than annoying flies.

Misery, injustice.

Sorrow, rage.

Even as it felt like my chest was being torn apart, the helplessness of being unable to do anything overwhelmed my entire body.

“Let him go! Gyesa! Don’t hit him! Gyesa, Gyesa—! Ugh!”

The man dragged me all the way to the front gate and threw me far away.

I rushed back toward the door, but he shut it mercilessly.

“Gyesa! Please open it!”

No matter how much I pounded on the door, the thick, solid gate did not budge.

I called Gyesa’s name at the top of my lungs for a long time, but the well-built stone mansion remained silent.

My body collapsed under the weight of despair.

Unable even to gather myself on the cold stone ground, I could only scream Gyesa’s name.

“Please give Gyesa back… please….”

Tears fell drop by drop, darkening the gray stone floor.

But even after they dried, Gyesa did not come out.

When he finally did, it felt like a long time had passed.

The moon had risen to the center of the sky.

“Tch, stubborn bastards…!”

I caught Gyesa with my whole body as they tossed him out.

That once gentle face was nowhere to be seen; his was swollen blue and purple, a sight I had never seen in my life.

“Gyesa….”

“If you don’t want to get beaten more, get lost right now!”

Leaving those words behind, they disappeared back into the mansion as if being swallowed by it.

In the cold, silent night, only Gyesa and I remained on the road.

“H-hic… Gyesa, are you okay?”

His condition looked serious.

When I checked him over, his entire body was stained red and blue, far worse than after any performance.

I couldn’t leave an injured Gyesa lying in the middle of the street.

Forcing strength into my weak legs, I hoisted him up and tried to stand.

But immediately, my injured leg gave out, and I fell forward, smashing my chin into the ground.

Warm, metallic-smelling blood flowed from beneath my chin, soaking my chest.

“Ugh….”

Perhaps because of the impact, Gyesa slowly opened his eyes.

“Gyesa, are you conscious?”

There was no light in his eyes.

Though they were open, whether he lacked strength or will, he simply lay there on the ground.

“Wait here. I’ll go get someone.”

I wiped my tears with my scraped, filthy hands and stood up.

Anyone—anyone who could help.

“Help! Someone’s collapsed here!”

But no one came out.

Were they in a deep sleep, or were they deliberately covering their ears to ignore the commotion?

“Please, help us!”

I shouted as if screaming out my rage.

Still, no one appeared.

Anger welled up in my chest.

My vision spun, and my head throbbed painfully.

Why?

Why won’t anyone help us?

Why did we have to be beaten and chased out like that?

What did we do so wrong?

Just as I was about to collapse, staggering with blurred vision, I saw a single light approaching.

“Over here! Someone’s collapsed—please help!”

The approaching light belonged to a patrol officer on night duty.

With a startled expression, he looked from me to Gyesa lying behind me.

But when he took in our disheveled state, he frowned.

That look made my anger boil over uncontrollably.

I irritably pulled out the jade button I carried and shoved it right in front of his face.

“Take this and give us a ride. We’re from the Chunrak Circus on the outskirts.”

The officer’s eyes widened when he saw the jade button.

Greed flickered in his gaze.

“Hm… Might be stolen goods. Let’s go together.”

As he reached out to grab it, I swiftly pulled my hand back.

“Investigate it all you want. There are people who know for sure it’s mine, so it won’t do you any good.

Just take us there—no, just take that man there—and I’ll hand it over without complaint. So help us, and don’t argue.”

When I spoke firmly, glaring at him, the officer looked displeased but reluctantly nodded.

It was strangely fortunate that he was so greedy.

The officer approached Gyesa and let out a sigh at how serious his condition was.

Then he hoisted Gyesa onto his back, and together we headed for the circus.

By the time dawn broke and we returned, Gyesa battered and bloody, the circus troupe was thrown into an uproar.

Even the ringmaster, who had arrived earlier ready to scold us, fell silent upon seeing the officer with us.

Instead, he glared as if he could kill.

But right now, even the ringmaster’s murderous glare didn’t scare me in the least.

The only thing that terrified me was the thought that something might happen to Gyesa.

“What in the world happened….”

The troupe buzzed with shock at the commotion in the middle of the night.

Ignoring them, I cleaned Gyesa’s body, applied medicine, changed cold cloths, and stayed up through the night.

By dawn, the fever that had risen in Gyesa’s body finally began to subside.

And by around noon that day, he was able to open his eyes.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Reincarnated Young Lady Is Trying Her Best to Tame the Villain Today Too

cultivationFemale ProtagonistGender Transformation

Read Now →
Not interested