From where they were standing, Mee Yon pushed through a few bushes revealing a small valley down below. One could make out two small farm houses with horses, goats, and cows grazing the grass below. "This is where we'll rest?" Dohyun asked.
"No", Mee Yon replied, pointing to their left, "We'll continue up that path but the horses need to be left down there. The farmers will have no problem taking care of them for a good price." So they needed to decline the mountain then go up once again. If Mee Yon said so, then they didn't have much of a choice anyway. "Alright, lets go", Dohyun said.
Two incense times later they successfully arrived at the bottom of the valley near the farm, a few men were planting in the fields while women were weaving baskets made from straw and other materials. A few younger children also ran around chasing the hens, as they neared, a younger man wearily approached them. "What does this young master visit our small town for?" "Ah,-"
"Gyo Shin!" An older woman shouted, hurrying up to them, "What did I say about talking to strangers!"
Dohyun glanced towards the others unsure of what to say. Standing in front of the boy she gave them a stern look, "What do you people want now?" "Uh-"
"Good day ma'am, we only came to drop off our horses for the meantime", Mee Yon said, dismounting her horse. The woman seemed to have been mistaken but still kept her head high, clicking her tongue, she said, "You should have just said that right away, this many horses will be quite a price."
"That will be no problem", Mee Yon said, extending her hand out to Dohyun, pulling out a pouch of gold coins from his robes. He didn't know how much was enough so he just handed her the whole pouch. Without checking, she gave it to the woman. The woman raised her eyebrow with a skeptical look on her face, upon opening the pouch she blinked a couple times and tried her best to keep her jaw from falling agape.
"This should be enough right?" Mee Yon asked.
The woman resolutely nodded her head, all traces of her latter expression completely gone. "Of course, of course", she said, "We'll take good care of them until your return." "Very much appreciated", Mee Yon said looking back with a smile on her face. With that, they released their steeds into the fields and retraced their path going back up the hill.
The path was slightly damp due to the rain from the previous night, even though the sun was shining brightly, the denseness of the trees covered the land making it longer for it to dry up. Since they were walking uphill, they took their time, watching their footsteps. The wonhwa walked in front and moved faster compared to Dohyun, behind him was Jaeyong and further behind followed the others.
With a slight misstep of the foot, Dohyun slid backwards, his back bumping hard into the person behind him, "Carefull", Jaeyong said, steading him, his voice sounding right beside his ear. Dohyun quickly regained himself, moving forward, "Thanks", he said looking back.
Jaeyong softly shook his head, a faint smile on his face, "Watch your step."
The time it took them to go down the hill took them twice to go back up. Once they reached the top again, Mee Yon led the way, there was no clear path and they often took turns, walking for a long time. Despite all that, she looked sure of herself as she walked. Just as they thought they would have to keep walking any further, they ended up in front of a huge stone that encircled the area.
"Have you lost track?" Byung Ho asked, seeing that they seemed to have ended up with nowhere to turn. Mee Yon only gave him a look before walking closer to the stone, heading to the far left side, "Where here", she said before disappearing inside.
They quickly followed her realizing that it was actually a cave leading to the other side, due to it being so hidden no one would have thought that there was actually a path here. They also understood why they had to leave the horses behind, the path was just wide enough for one person to pass at a time; if they had brought the horses all the way here, there would be no place to leave them.
The cave was quite dark but there was a faint light at the end which gave them enough light to make it through. As he walked he also felt Jaeyong move closer to him, making sure he was fine and within reach. Finally making it out of the cave, grass plains and a river could be seen, but what they all focused on was a large house anomalously standing in the middle.
"I didn't know such a place existed", Minhye said looking out. Everything about the area was bizarre, first was the fact that it was hidden away from the rest of the world, second was the way this place was built in the middle of the grass plains.
Seonghwa hurried up to Mee Yon tugging at her sleeve, "Unnie?" he said with curious eyes. "It is", Mee Yon said smiling. "Let us go", she said to the rest before taking off again heading straight towards the large house down there in the middle.
Dohyun glanced towards Jaeyong, he and the wonhwa were slightly on guard, none of them had any idea to what this place was but if Mee Yon was familiar then they should be fine. As they approached nearer, a younger girl walked out of the building carrying a basket in her hands, she froze when she saw them, the basket falling to the ground spilling the contents. In a flash, she ran back inside and moments later a number of women rushed outside with arrows and daggers in their hands.
"Mee Yon-ssi!" Dohyun quietly shouted, the wonhwa formed around him drawing their arrows as the other side did.
"Who are you?!" One of the girls demanded.
Mee Yon glanced at Dohyun and the wonhwa, "Put down your weapons." "Well if you could explain why they're raising their weapons at us", Minhye sarcastically said from the side. "I thought you knew this place", Byung Ho added, stepping in front of Seonghwa, standing beside Minhye.
Mee Yon sighed, "Just wait a moment."
Seconds later an older woman walked out, her face was serious but weirdly, she gave off the same impression Mee Yon did when they had first met her. Her movement was both calculated and alluring, her hips swayed and her arms elegantly dangled from her sides. Her eyes gazed past them, landing on Mee Yon.
"Mee Yon?" She said.
"Unnie!" Sam Mee Yon happily called out running towards her, the two embraced each other in a hug as the other waved her arms to the other girls saying, "It's alright, it's alright."
The older woman examined Mee Yon, holding her face in her hands, "You've grown up so much already, you brat! How come you never visited me?"
Mee Yon laughed, "I missed you too but work back at the Golden Capital was so demanding." Seonghwa moved away from behind Byung Ho to the front, smiling as he slowly walked up to the two. It took a moment for the other woman to notice before she exclaimed, "Seonghwa?!"
Rushing over to him, she grabbed his shoulders looking him up and down, eventually pulling him into a big hug, "Oh my, how you've grown too! You used to be such a cute little boy." Seonghwa smiled, "Unnie, am I not cute anymore?"
Dohyun noticed how he used "Unnie" instead of "Noona", he must have really been brought up as a girl.
"Of course you are, you've grown to be so pretty!" She said, pinching his cheeks, "But what's with this hideous outfit?" Seonghwa scratched his head, "Mee Yon unnie said it would be best for me to dress properly as we travel."
The woman turned back to Mee Yon, "Where are you going? Also, who are these people you brought? Ah, nevermind let us head in first, so much is happening."
"Dohyun-ssi here and his people have helped us greatly, let us talk inside, everything still looks the same", Mee Yon said as they headed inside, nodding for the rest to follow. The other women from before bowed their heads and greeted them, "We apologize for the rough greeting, we haven't seen anyone like you before come here."
"We understand", Dohyun said, returning the bow, following inside.
"Here have a seat", the woman said pointing to the long table in the middle, "Chae Young, bring our guests some tea."
Now seated around the table, Mee Yon took the initiative to explain, "Dohyun-ssi, this is Moon Daseum unnie. Unnie, this is Bu Dohyun-ssi." The two greeted each other with equal bows. "When I was younger this was one of the kisaeng houses I stayed in for a long time before moving to the capital. Unnie, I'm heading back to Sasaeum Maeul, I happened to bump into Dohyun-ssi and his people and found out that they're also going there."
Moon Daseum moved her hands to cover Mee Yons, "Why are you going back there?" she asked with a concerned tone. "Due to certain circumstances, I can't go back to the capital. I think it's finally time for me to go back home."
"Well why don't you stay here with us?" Moon Daseum said, "You and Seonghwa are welcome to stay as long as you want to, you know that."
Mee Yon smiled and shook her head, "You know me unnie, I can't stay in one place for too long." Now Moon Daseum sighed, "That never satisfied personality of yours will be the end of you. Well, anyway, how long will you be staying this time?"
Mee Yon glanced towards Dohyun, "Just the night, Dohyun-ssi has important matters to attend to." "Ahh… Well, you may leave tomorrow after lunch, it isn't that far away from here, you should all get some rest. I'll have rooms prepared for all of you."
"I thank you very much", Dohyun said, "How can I repay your hospitality Moon Daseum-ssi?"
Moon Daseum laughed, "There's no need to pay, Mee Yon and Seonghwa are like family to me, if you have been assisting them all the way then that is enough already." Dohyun was about to urge on but Minhye beat him to talking, "Excuse me, pardon my curiosity but if this is a kisaeng house, why is it located here? Isolated away where no one can find it?"
Kisaeng houses were known to be in busy and prosperous villages, being the number one source of entertainment for the nobles. In an area so desolate, how would a kisaeng house thrive?
"Not all kisaeng houses are purely for entertainment, Jindallae Kisaeng House is more of a sanctuary. We take care and raise children who have been left by their parents in this world and let them stay here until they can make decisions for themselves. Some choose to stay while others choose to leave, during their time here we teach them many things including how to make a living in the real world. It depends on them which things they want to learn and excel at."
"I do have to say I was quite heartbroken when Sam Mee Yon left, she was one of my best students, truly remarkable at her craft." She said winking to Mee Yon.
"I see…" Dohyun said, just as bizarre as the place was, he had also never seen such an honest place, orphanages at the capital would be ashamed to know such a place existed. The children had a sort of freedom here, even though it was a mixture of socially-accepted and socially-unaccepted crafts.
"Ah!" Moon Daseum said as if suddenly remembering something, "Mee Yon, Seonghwa, tonight we are celebrating the birthday of one of our girls. You still remember our traditional dance right? Seonghwa, you were one of our best dancers, tonight both of you should perform."
"Unnie…" Seonghwa said, "It's been so long, I might be bad now-"
"Nonsense, the girls are still practicing outback, join them for a little while, such things are not easily forgotten. You too Mee Yon, I want to see my students perform for me, is that too much to ask?" Daseum pouted.
Mee Yon broke into a small laugh, "Alright, alright, we'll try."
"Great!" Daseum clapped, "Dohyun-ssi, allow me to show you to your rooms" she said standing up.