Fuming with rage, the guy swung his club one last time before picking up a sickle located under the eaves. That is when the young men"s complexions turned blue. Pushing each other out of the way, they nimbly escaped from the house.
"You wait and see! I am going to tell elders what you did today!"
"Tell them!! See who cares!!!"
The sickle that the guy threw at the young men did not even reach the fence before dropping to the ground.
Huffing, the guy turned his head toward Ho-Chi.
Ho-Chi was now standing up and brushing away the dirt on his clothes.
When Ho-Chi met the guy"s gaze, he slowly walked toward the guy.
When the distance between them became smaller and smaller, the guy tensed up.
However, instead of stopping, Ho-Chi went pa.s.s the guy and walked toward the front gate.
"M…My…bride…"
To the guy"s barely audible voice, Ho-Chi hesitated for a moment on his way out.
But Ho-Chi did not stop his feet from moving forward and stepped out the gate.
"Don"t leave! My bride!!!"
The guy shouted after Ho-Chi while crying.
"Don"t go!! Don"t leave me…"
Slowly, the guy"s voice died down, but the sound of crying became louder.
Ho-Chi"s figure bore off gradually from the gate.
Watching the Ho-Chi"s figure getting further and further away with his tear stained eyes, the guy shouted.
"Live with me! My bride!!!"
-Come with me, Ho-Chi.
That day, when the sky was full of white snowflakes, a handsome young master spoke to a fox.
"I will work hard and lots of money! I can hunt a tiger for you! I will save up enough money to build a tallest fence that n.o.body can enter…My bride, live with me! Don"t leave!!"
– Let"s us run away. We can go into the forest and live there. If you don"t like that idea, we can go to a countryside and become a pair of peddlers. If you are by my side, I will be happy doing anything.
That cold cold day, a young master spoke to a fox without realizing how cold his body had become.
A young master did not care that his shoulders were soaked, and his head was full gathered snow. He only had his eyes for a fox.
"Don"t leave me…"
– Come with me, Ho-Chi. I will take care of you…I will make you happy… Let"s run away from here.
A hand that lifted nothing but a calligraphy brush and knew nothing but the weight of a calligraphy brush was red and frozen.
Ho-Chi turned to look at the guy. The guy was wearing his hunting clothes that were soaked with sweat and dirt and his face was caked with dust and tears.
There were traces of blood left on the guy"s shoulder from the roe deer. Ho-Chi spotted few places on the clothes that could use some mending.
A fox remembered what he said during that winter.
– I have someone I like.
"I do not like you."
To Ho-Chi"s words, the guy opened his eyes wide and looked up.
–Because I am a fox, I did not dare ask that person to hold me, so I only watched him from the side. I didn"t want to burden that person and have others mock him, so I could not ask him to visit me more often.
"Already, I have a lover buried deep within my heart. Because I am a fox, I cannot bear your child and I cannot cry for you when you die."
The guy approached Ho-Chi as he wiped away his tears.
Even though Ho-Chi had no trace of tears on his face, his eye rims were dyed bight red. Studying Ho-Chi"s face, the guy wanted to cry again.
– When I held that person"s hand my heart trembled with excitement that I was awake the hold night. When I am in the same room with him I would hold my breath wanting to preserve the moment. I have a person like that.
"Do not stop me…"
Despite Ho-Chi"s stern warning, the guy furtively grabbed at Ho-Chi"s sleeve.
Worrying about possible chance of shake off, the guy put all his strength on his fingers that they turned white from the force.
"I don"t care that you do not like me."
"You don"t like me but you also don"t hate me, right? That is enough for me."
Although the guy never learned how to read or write, his words were clear and sufficient at that moment. All this while, the guy held onto Ho-Chi"s sleeve.
Soon, the guy was crying streams of tears while whimpering.
"I truly like you… so don"t go, my bride. I don"t need no child. If I have you that is enough…You don"t need to cry for me. I don"t want to see you cry. So don"t leave me…Let"s live together."
A fully-grown adult was whimpering and pleading with tears.
Ho-Chi grabbed and separated the guy"s hand from his sleeve.
As soon as one hand was off from Ho-Chi"s sleeve, the guy used his other hand to hold Ho-Chi.
"Let go…"
"My bride…"
"Let…go.."
Ho-Chi"s sleeve became free from the guy"s hand.
As soon as Ho-Chi was free, he turned away from the guy and walked out onto the mountain path.
With the vacant eyes, the guy watched Ho-Chi"s back slowing walking away. Without a word, the guy followed Ho-Chi.
TN: This chapter might be a bit confusing but know that Ho-Chi is remembering his first love and is thinking back on what he said to the young master as he reject the guy. Maybe Ho-Chi feels like he does not deserve to be together with someone else when he rejected and possibly killed him (not saying that Ho-Chi killed the young master, but that Ho-Chi believe that he did)?