Part 21

Yoonhee, Sunjoon, Jaeshin, and the Tree

[Yoonhee and Sunjoon are in their room, contemplating on  Jaeshin's long absence.]

Sunjoon closes his book, and lays out blankets, including  Jaeshin's, in case he comes back. Sunjoon sighs as he  looks at the empty spot--Jaeshin has been gone at least  ten days. Yoonhee says, "It's not that he's not coming  back because of you."

"How do you know?"

"Uh... Well, I just know that he's not so narrow-minded  like that."

Yoonhee smiles at him to comfort him, but he evades her  gaze and gets changed and ready to sleep. Sunjoon gets  underneath the blanket and asks,

"Are you sleeping late again?"

"Yes, I'm just going to look at this longer. I didn't have  time earlier because of that other scholar..."

"Ah, the scholar who wanted to look at your writings. I  would really like to see as well."

"It's not that great..."

"But don't work too hard; it's already so late."

But Yoonhee replies that there are so many tests to study  for, to which Sunjoon says that her skills are already  very good. Yoonhee says that it's not good enough for the  eyes of the king (the king would come to read and ask  about the test held the next day). "Anyway, what will  Gul-oh (Jaeshin) Sahyung (sunbae/older person) do if he  fails?"  Sunjoon doesn't know either, and tells her to not worry  too much, so that she won't be too nervous in front of the  king tomorrow. He settles in to sleep.

Yoonhee thinks, he's always so properly punctual. How can  someone always go to_sleep and wake up at the same time  every night? She steals glances at his sleeping face.

The shadow of the campus ginko tree suddenly had a human  silhouette--it's Jaeshin.

Jaeshin looks towards DongJae  and counts down the doors until he finds his room. He sees  that the room is still lit by candlelight and realizes  Yoonhee is still not asleep. He rests on top of the tree,  looking towards the room, as though he is looking at her.

Yoonhee, to stop herself from looking at Sunjoon's face,  turns off the light, but the moon is so bright that his  face is still well lit. She decides she might as well  close her eyes then, and wiggles into the blanket. But as  she goes into the blanket, the back of her hand touches  Sunjoon's. Sunjoon, seemingly deep asleep, shows no  reaction, so Yoonhee takes this chance to touch his hand.  It's so warm that she could cry. She touches finger by  finger, and even his palm. She holds his thumb and sticks  her head out of the blanket too look at his face. She  thinks,

His face is so close. The face that I'll miss so painfully  that one day we can't see each other anymore, it's so  close to me now.

She touches his forehead, and then his nose, and with her  fingers touches his lips, as though she is kissing him.  She is entranced by the touch and how different it is from  just looking. Before she knows it, she's slowly put her  lips on top of his, because she wants to know how  different it feels on her lips than her finger. Balancing  her weight on top of him, she steals a kiss. And just as  feeling his lips with her finger is different from just  looking, the feeling on of his lips on hers is different  than on her finger.

Jaeshin, having noticed that the lights have gone off,  starts throwing pebbles at the door. Yoonhee, who's just  had her lips on Sunjoon's, is startled and gets up. She  opens the door and Jaeshin pops in, whispering, "Come out.  Let's play.." Yoonhee shouts as softly as she can. "Do you  know how much we worried about you?" She makes sure he is  well, and he seems so (he even has new clothes on! To  impress a certain person?). He gets close to her and says,  "I said, come out! Isn't it sad to let such a well lit  night go by?" Yoonhee tries to protest, mentioning the  test tomorrow, but he takes her away by force.

"W--wait!"

"Shh! You're going to wake up Garang." Jaeshin puts his  own shoes on her feet, and drags her away barefooted. "I  want to show you something. Come."

After Yoonhee and Jaeshin leaves, Sunjoon slowly opens his  eyes. He looks at his hand, which is shaking. He can still  remember her touch. He touches his lips with his hand, and  his heart races.

Yoonhee, as she is being dragged away, asks Jaeshin  quietly, "Have you healed alright? Where have you been?  Are you okay moving around like this?"

"You talk too much. I'm moving around because I'm okay. If  I'm dead, how could I be dragging you around like this?"

"Why didn't you come back? You should think about those  worrying about you."

"Did you really worry about me? You shouldn't have bothered. I didn't ask you to worry over me.."

"You disappeared in that state! How was I not supposed to  worry?"

"Shh! How will I stop that mouth from shooting off? Should  I attack it with my own?"

Yoonhee shuts her mouth. But she is happy to hear his  jokes once again. Jaeshin takes her to the huge Ginko tree  and hoists her up. She tells him that she can't climb  trees, and Jaeshin offers his shoulders. He stands with  her on his shoulders until she grabs a branch. Then  Jaeshin climbs up the tree and then pulls her up. They  repeat this until they are very high up on the tree.

Yoonhee looks out to what seems like the world to her.  Because of the bright moonlight, she can see all  SungKyunKwan and the palace far away. Jaeshin is satisfied  looking at her awed expression, and says, "I told you you  would regret it if you didn't come."

Yoonhee says, "Thank you. This is blowing all my  frustrations away."

"You're frustrated? because?"

Yoonhee doesn't answer. Jaeshin says, "if you're up here,  you can see all the things you can't see down there. And  you can even hear it. Close your eyes."

Yoonhee closes her eyes, and she can hear what sounds like  the breeze, like animals wandering the night, like the  water... And something else she can't quite make out.

Jaeshin speaks. "Can you hear it? That's the sound of  SungKyunKwan breathing."

Yoonhee thinks, if this place could breathe, it could also  be angry. She thinks back at what she just did to Sunjoon,  and that if this place was alive, it'd be fit to punish  her. She shakes herself back to reality.

"Ah! about the test tomorrow.."

"I know, I'll probably fail. It's not anything new, not  even to the king."

"But your family... wouldn't they have high expectations  for you?"

"Just because someone can write a few words doesn't mean  they'll make for important people. It's useless, all of  it."

Jaeshin looks down at Dongjae, and continues,

"...that's what I thought before I met Garang. After I met  him, I realized that you can indeed write a few words with  the right mind, instead of the right brain. Words aren't  so useless then after all. It's so surprising. He's  something else. Even if I stayed here forever I might not  have realized this. Don't you dare tell him that I said  this."

Yoonhee smiles widely and nods.

Jaeshin says quietly, "You must like him, right?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

Jaeshin stares far away, and murmurs, "Ah, I hate Garang.  I can't do anything about it, but I hate him so..."

Yoonhee thanks Jaeshin for taking her back to the room the night of the victory party. She asks, "Did I ..do  anything that night?"

"Isn't getting knocked out on the street something  already?"

"Ah.. I'm just wondering.. why you just left me in the  room like that. I woke up with the same clothes on..."

"Look at you. You're saying I should have changed you,  too? I took you to your room even though I just wanted to abandon you somewhere on the street!"

"No I didn't mean it like that! I just want to say...thank you."

Jaeshin starts, "But I should have taken a look at that great thing of yours!" ("Daemul" means literally big wealth/treasure, but it more or less implies "big penis".  The nickname sticks because Yoonhee is the great man  who was able to get Chosun's affection.)

Jaeshin breaks out in laughter. After he says it, he  realizes the hilarity of the matter. The person rumored to  have the biggest penis is actually a woman! How did that  rumor even start? He starts even tearing as he laughs.

"Why are you laughing so much?"

"Ah.. I was just thinking about the fighting ring... (He  pretends he is getting hurt getting into things like  wrestling matches people bet over)"

"You're lying about going to those places right?"

Jaeshin coughs. "What? I'm lying?"

"Yes, Garang Hyungnim said that you're not the one to go to places like that."

"You'll believe anything Garang says, dammit!"

Jaeshin suddenly, in anger, climbs down from the tree.  Yoonhee slowly and carefully climbs down branch by branch,  but reaches a point where she can't go down further.

"You can't just leave me here! How do I get down?"

Jaeshin looks up from the ground and says, "if you jump  from there, you might break something."

"So can you offer your shoulder like last time..."

"I never told you I would help you get down."

With that Jaeshin goes towards DongJae, pretending not to  hear Yoonhee. He shouts as he walks away, "By the way!  It's forbidden to climb trees on campus. Don't get  caught!"

"W--What? Wait!"

Yoonhee stays in the tree stuck. "I wondered why he was  being so nice! If I get down, the first thing I'll do is to kick where he was hurt."

Jaeshin arrives at the door of his room, and sees that  Sunjoon is waiting outside, looking around. Jaeshin says,  "I came back. Aren't you going to greet me?"

"Yes, about that time..."

"That time, I hit you first. So I should apologize, isn't  that right?"

"No, I am sorry."

"In any case, I wasn't gone because of you. I kept trying  to come back but there were things to take care of.

Sunjoon smiles.

"You weren't sleeping?"

"I woke up, and Daemul was gone, so I came out looking for  him."

"You think he got kidnapped or something? Maybe some women  dragged him away. Hmm, but his shoes are here, so I guess  there is reason for worry."

Sunjoon knows he is lying. Jaeshin's the one who took  Yoonhee away, but he's come back alone. Where did he leave  him?

"Where is he?"

"How would I know?"

"Where is he!"

"Why are you asking me? You think I know?"

"Where is he!"

Sunjoon's shout is cold, although it's not loud enough to wake others.

"Ah, you were awake. I left him hanging at a tree!"

Sunjoon grabbed Jaeshin's arm. "A tree? What tree?"

Jaeshin frees himself from Sunjoon's grasp and heads into  the room, saying, "look for it yourself. He won't be able  to get down by himself from that tree."

Jaeshin slams the door shut, and contemplates on telling Sunjoon about Yoonhee's identity...

Sunjoon hurries to the tallest tree at Daesungjeon.  Yoonhee sees Sunjoon and is so surprised to see him awake  that she forgets to call out for him. Sunjoon calls out to him and Yoonhee snaps back to reality, and calls out to  him. "Garang hyungnim! Over here!"

Sunjoon finds here and looks up. Worried, Yoonhee asks,  "...W-weren't you sleeping?"

Sunjoon answers, "I woke up, and you were gone, so I  couldn't go back to sleep. And your shoes were there, so I  was worried." Thank God, she thinks. She is assured that  he wasn't awake when she kissed him.

"Jump down, I'll catch you."

"You might get hurt."

"You don't trust me?"

Yoonhee looks down and smiles. "Goel-roh Sahyung is right. I  would believe anything you say."

Sunjoon becomes desperate. For some reason, with the  moonlight on Yoonhee, it seemed as though she would fly  away into the sky like a Sun-nyeo (a wood nymph), forever  gone. He shouts, "Please! Come down!" and with that,  Yoonhee jumps down into his arms.

Sunjoon and Yoonhee both fall into the ground. "Are you  okay?" "Are you all right?"

But both of them are startled to realize the awkward  position they are in. Both of them are down, but Sunjoon's  waist is between her legs. Yoonhee tries to get up pushing  against his chest with her hands, and sits up, but the  position is not any less criminal: it was almost as though  she is riding a horse. Under her was his...thing,  separated by only a few layers of clothing! The feeling is  so strong that it almost feels like its piercing her body,  that she can't even move.

Sunjoon is similarly taken aback, and tries to get up  himself, only to be sitting up with her on his lap. His  "thing" seems similarly surprised--if she were to get up  now, she would notice the state it was in ("erected").

Their eyes meet, and both of them try to pretend that  they're not so affected, and ask each other if they're  hurt. Yoonhee slowly gets off of him. Sunjoon, so that the  state of his lower body is not found out, sits with his back turned to her.

"It's..it's late. We should sleep." Yoonhee starts getting  up, but Sunjoon pulls her back down. "Let's stay a little  bit longer." It's because Sunjoon is in no state to get  up, but Yoonhee doesn't know, so she asks, "are you hurt?"

"Ah, no, it's just.. that.. the stars are so beautiful  tonight."

It's just an excuse, but when the two looked up at the  sky, the stars are indeed very beautiful, so the two stay.

The two lean against each other on their backs, and  Sunjoon starts, "When are you going to use your wish?"

"What wish?"

"The wish that I'm supposed to grant you."

Sunjoon thinks, if you tell me not to meet Hyo-eun, I  won't. He wants it to be that wish. If that was the wish,  he has an excuse to enjoy his time here with Yoonhee than  to spend it with Hyo-eun.

"If I had a wish.. It would be that later, when we are  away from this place, that you would not forget me. Should  I make that my wish?"

"I can't accept that. Even if that wasn't your wish, I  will not forget you."

I won't forget you, Sunjoon thinks. Even if we are of  different class or party, we'll be together.

Sunjoon says, "why do you always keep talking like we will separate? Even if we are not taking classes here, it's not  like we will never meet... You always act as though we  have just a short amount of time."

"You don't know what will happen."

"I want a different wish."

Yoonhee thinks to herself, should I ask him not to meet  that woman? But how would she explain herself?

"If I can't make that my wish, I don't have one as of  yet."

"You can save it up and use it anytime, even if it's after  10 years, or 30 years."

Yoonhee closes her eyes. "10 years... 30 years..."

The two head back to Dongjae, and as she enters, Yoonhee kicks Jaeshin's bottom.

"What the-- who do you think you're kicking!?"

"You should be thankful I'm not doing more. You are just  too much."

The three settle in to sleep, and Jaeshin says that she's  got some guts kicking him, when everyone else in  Sungkyunkwan is deadly scared to even go near him. Jaeshin  sleeps with his back to her, and she's surprised to see  that he is wearing his underclothes to sleep.

Why? even when it is cold, he always sleeps with most of  his clothes off. Yoonhee deduces that it's to hide his  wound, and goes to sleep.