Dohyun and Jaeyong now watched the activities below from where they were positioned on top of an old abandoned shed that gave them enough view of the weapon shop and the kisaeng house on the opposite side of the street.
The moonlight shone from above, giving enough light for them to see things clearly. Dohyun had forgotten to process how they ended up like this since this afternoon. They had earlier met up with Byung Ho again and told him what happened. He was supposed to be watching out from farther away in case unexpected people might arrive.
Dohyun also didn't know how long they had been hiding on the roof of the shed, all they've seen so far was the four officials from the soup place earlier wandering off into the kisaeng house. Someone was having a good day off, Dohyun thought to himself.
Laughter and giggling came from the kisaeng house along with the applause of the many men who frequented there, on the other hand, the weapon shop was much quieter.
"Look", Jaeyong said pointing to the rear end of the weapon shop. Two of the officials left the kisaeng house and went over to the weapon shop but they used the back door instead of just walking in.
The two exchanged a glance before hopping off the roof and steadily moving towards the shop, Jaeyong leading the way. They stuck their bodies close to the walls as they tried to listen to the people inside but it was unusually quiet. Minutes later the two officials left and returned to the kisaeng house.
Dohyun looked at Jaeyong in confusion, they just left?
Before they could conclude anything, a group of men came out carrying a large crate. They continued to walk and carried it over to the kisaeng house, also entering through the back door. It was harder for them to see what was happening from where they currently were so they slowly moved over hiding behind the wall of the kisaeng house.
As assumed, the men carried the crate inside. The circumstance was too odd, they would have to go and find out for themselves what was inside the crate, was it the arrows they had been searching for?
Jaeyong began to move, stopping when a yell came from the back entrance.
"Get your filthy hands off of me!" A woman yelled at one of the men who came out from the house.
"Get your filthy hands off of me?" He scoffed, "You know that sounds really funny coming from a filthy wench like you. Now shut up and act pretty and I'll forget your horrible attitude."
The woman scoffed in return, raising her eyebrow, "I feel bad for your mother… raising a pig shouldn't have been easy nor gratifying."
"You!" The man angrily exclaimed. "I'll really teach you!"
She shut her eyes closed as the man raised his hand to slap her, only for his arm to be twisted backwards.
"THE FUCK!" he shouted, turning his head to the person tightly gripping his arm.
"Worse than a pig." Dohyun stated, sending the man into complete furry.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" He shouted, pulling his arm back, changing his strike towards Dohyun.
Jaeyong quickly moved him out of the way, taking on the man fully, exchanging blows although none of the man's strikes made it to Jaeyong's body. From the back entrance ran a younger girl, calling out "Unnie! Unnie!"
They were both kiseangs, although he wasn't quite sure of the younger one who just wore plain clothes, perhaps just a friend or helper. The woman from before fiercely grabbed a large rock from the side and while the man was busy fighting Jaeyong, she slammed it against his head. "That should teach you something", she remarked.
Turning around, she stood still, realizing the other women had rushed outside to see what the commotion was all about. Just then, another man's voice shouted from the road, "No worries the guards are coming!"
No! Dohyun thought, now was bad timing and the man who called for them was one of the same people working in the weapon shop.
The also seemed to be focused on his unconscious work fellow that was caused by the woman.
Dohyun looked at Jaeyong, Run!
The two darted off running towards the busy streets ahead. The guards still seemed to be on the road so they ran some more, they were running out of places to turn. Suddenly, someone bumped into Dohyun's back.
It was the kisaeng from earlier and the other girl, "What are you doing here?!" Dohyun asked.
"Because of you I also have to run you idiot!" She said pulling the other girl closer.
They didn't have any more time to argue or fight. "Over there!" Jaeyong pointed to a shed in the distance.
As they ran, the other two women followed them closely. Arriving at the shed, Jaeyong and Dohyun quickly entered but as he was going to close the door. The woman pushed it open allowing herself and the other one to enter as well.
There wasn't enough space, it was a small shed with huge haystacks piling up at the side. Bad enough, the hurried footsteps of the running guards and the hooves of horses were quickly nearing their location.
"Quickly!" Dohyun issued, "Hide over there", he said pointing to the haystack. At least two people could fit and make it seem like no one else was there but now the problem was where Dohyun and Jaeyong going to hide.
At that moment a horrible idea entered his mind, he hesitated and tried to think of a better one but with the guards rapidly arriving there wasn't any other choice.
"Give me your topcoat", he quietly shouted to the woman who quickly removed it and gave it to him.
Dohyun stood in front of Jaeyong'd body which covered his quite well from behind, he let down his hair and put the topcoat over his head covering all of his outer robes and leaving only his face to be seen, "Hyung, listen to me, I can't guarantee but this is the only thing I can think of right now!"
That moment the door was forced open by a guard and at the same time, Dohyun stepped on his tiptoes and pressed his lips to the other's in a kiss. He squinted his eyes closed as he firmly pressed his lips against Jaeyongs. He didn't even know if what he was doing was right, he hadn't even kissed anyone before. But like the books he bought when he wandered outside as a kid, this was the best technique to scare off unwanted people when on the run.
As he hoped, the guard seemed to have choked in front of them, "Young people nowadays, you kids just make sure to go home early!" He shouted before slamming the door.
With that Dohyun finally opened his eyes, in front of him Jaeyong was wide-eyed, shocked from his sudden actions.
Dohyun then pushed him strongly away breaking the kiss, "I-I'm sorry!" he uttered.
Jaeyong was stunned to say the least, he didn't comment but nodded his head.
"Well, well…" The kisaeng woman commented from the side, "Nice save."
"You!" Dohyun muttered, "Why did you have to follow us? After we saved you from that person's hand-"
"After saving me from that hand now I can't go back", she said. "Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for your gesture but I really couldn't stay there after damaging one of our well-known clients. Well whatever, who knows what those fucking bastards were doing their business with anyway."
"Those people…" Dohyun said, "They frequent there?"
"Be more specific, many people frequent there", She said, brushing the hay off of her and the other girl.
"The ones carrying the crates, do you know who takes them? Please tell us everything you know about them", Dohyun urged.
"I don't know much but they-" She paused, closing her mouth. She looked at the girl then at the other two. "I have no reason to tell you", she said, turning her head.
Dohyun was flustered already from other things but right now he had to get her to answer, "I'll pay you a lot, enough to buy a home somewhere and get you a new job, I really need you to help us right now."
"Dohyun…" Jaeyong said.
"It's alright, this could be our last hope", he said.
"I'll tell you everything I know on one condition", the woman said.
"Condition granted",Dohyun said. It was a bit of a gamble but any information could change the whole game right now.
"Fine", she said, "The condition is to grant me two favors. One of which I will ask now and the other I will ask in the future."
Dohyun cautiously nodded his head.
"Since what I know can only lead you somewhere else if you wish to seek more information about the people behind those crates, you must bring me and Seonghwa along, provide us with food, money, and protection."
"This place you speak of, is it far?" Dohyun asked.
She nodded her head, "three weeks travel, will you accept or not?"
Dohyun looked at the two, he could easily provide them with food and money but protection was something that stirred in his mind. He took a good minute to think about it, he was afraid similar events could happen. The thought of that event in his mind right now made him clench his hands.
Jaeyong seemed to have noticed and said, "I have an idea."
Looking him in the eye, Dohyun seemed to have gathered himself again, nodding his head to both him and the woman.
"Alright, where is this place?"