Chapter 51 – An Expression of Interest
"So, you are called Youngwoo?"
"Ah, why do you keep asking. Youngwoo, Lee Youngwoo."
"I asked only once."
"Ah, I see. Ah."
Youngwoo fumbled awkwardly.
The Great Khan spoke.
"Bring wine to Lee Youngwoo."
Those seated around him flinched.
They had expected him to kill his enemy on the spot and be done with it.
Instead, he sat down.
And then ordered wine to be brought.
The attendants hurried in with the wine.
But Youngwoo's body was still bound.
Youngwoo took it for some kind of rite before execution.
Then, realizing he was tied up, he wondered if they meant to feed it to him.
But the Great Khan lifted his chin with a gentle smile.
The attendants approached and untied his bonds.
Youngwoo's eyes spun.
If it was like this, he could kill at least one more before he went.
The men behind the Great Khan were beyond him,
but the others were possible.
Still, could he repay a gesture of favor with hostility.
He felt the blood begin to flow again.
Hoo. Hoo.
His breathing came rushing back hard.
As the blood circulated, every part of his body tingled.
It prickled and stung, and his body twitched involuntarily.
The Great Khan waited for him.
"Will you have a drink?"
It was not only being offered to Youngwoo.
He too held a wine cup in his hand.
Youngwoo lifted the cup, decorated with splendid patterns.
If he died pleasantly drunk, perhaps that would be better.
"My thanks."
Youngwoo emptied the cup in a single swallow.
Even if it had been a poisoned cup, he would have wanted to drink it.
He drained it all at once and threw the cup to the ground.
The porcelain cup shattered with a sharp crash.
"Kyaah, good! Much obliged! Now kill me! Go on!"
At Youngwoo's arrogant words, those surrounding the Khan stiffened.
They looked ready to kill him at once if needed.
"How was I supposed to know he was your son. I killed him, and only afterward did rumors spread that he was the Great Khan's son. That is the battlefield. Anyone can die there, and anyone can die at any time. That could be me, or it could be my son."
At something so utterly obvious, the Great Khan's eyes narrowed.
The Great Khan said nothing.
He only looked at him once more.
A smile, half there and half not, seemed to linger briefly on his face.
"How old are you?"
"I told you, I do not know. Twenty-two, or by your reckoning twenty-one."
"The same age as my son. You are young."
The Great Khan waved his hand.
"Take this boy to a tent. Wash him, treat his wounds, and give him food."
Those around him were startled.
They had thought he would be killed, but instead the order was to treat him like an honored guest.
"Huh?"
"Dress him properly."
The Great Khan's command was absolute.
No one understood the reason, but they obeyed.
Unlike the others, who were astonished, Youngwoo tilted his head.
Is he trying to spare me. Why.
The Great Khan rose and went into the tent.
The men lifted Youngwoo and led him away, supporting him as they went.
They did not bind him and drag him like a dog as they had before.
At the tent, he received treatment.
There was not a single part of him that was uninjured.
Ah, his face alone was intact.
He had been told that if he guarded only his neck and face properly, he could still be said to be whole,
so he had desperately blocked and evaded to protect them.
He was even given medicinal draughts with a rare fragrance.
They applied wound medicine to every part of his body.
Thanks to the protective breastplate his master had given him, he had escaped grave injury.
Then suddenly, he felt that heart behind it.
The attendants undressed him to put new clothes on him,
but he did not take off the breastplate.
They laid out a full table of food for him in Goryeo style.
There was not much, but he ate it all by himself with relish.
He ate better than he did in camp.
Then he lay down on a field bed
and fell into a sleep deeper than death.
—*
At dawn, the Great Khan opened the tent door.
When attendants came near, he told them to withdraw a hundred paces.
As he watched them scurry away with some regret,
that man appeared.
"You have come?"
The Great Khan spoke into the darkness.
It was as though black water had been poured into the dark, deepening it,
and after a moment the shape of a person emerged.
It was Baek In-gyeom.
And with him, several Immortals had completely taken control of the surroundings.
"You knew I was coming?"
"I did not kill him because I was told you would come."
The explanation of what came before and after was omitted.
There was no need for either of them to repeat what they already knew well.
"Should I thank you for colluding with the Goryeo command?"
"No. To be blunt, I spared him because he said he was the disciple of an Immortal."
What sort of relationship was this,
that the Great Khan would speak to him with such respect.
"I heard he killed your son."
"On the battlefield, death…"
The Great Khan stopped speaking, then continued slowly.
"On the battlefield, anyone can die, and anyone can die at any time, he said. That could be me, and it could be my son."
"So you mean it was not a killing born of personal hatred."
"That is so. That is why I was able to put aside my resentment."
"And yet you did not kill him?"
"..."
"What is it that you want?"
Baek In-gyeom had intended to give him whatever he wanted and take Youngwoo away.
"What I want is precisely him. Your disciple."
Baek In-gyeom's gaze sharpened.
"What do you mean. I came to save that boy, and now you say you want him."
"If he is your disciple, then one day will he not become a man like you?"
Baek In-gyeom's gaze narrowed further.
"I will withdraw the army. No matter what choice the King of Goryeo makes, I will accept it."
"You must have asked for Guseong to be returned."
"I pleaded for it in tears, but it was not returned."
"If it were you, you would return it."
"I will never invade Goryeo again. The peace we have now will endure for a long time."
Baek In-gyeom narrowed his eyes.
This was the promise of the Great Khan.
Of course, whether he could truly be called the Great Khan in the fullest sense
would have to be judged by the ages to come.
"If you give him to me, I will revoke everything and withdraw."
Baek In-gyeom was dumbfounded by the absurdity of his demand.
What he set forth as the condition was withdrawal.
And peace.
A promise that Goryeo would never again be invaded.