By the time Woo finally got up, it was late morning. As he sluggishly stepped out of the hut, he froze in shock upon seeing the sun already nearing its peak. Never in his life had he slept this long. Usually, he would toss and turn in the uncomfortable bedding, waking up before dawn and wandering around. Even though his body constantly cried out in exhaustion, Woo had always started his tasks without giving himself the luxury of proper rest.
But now, he's oversleeping?
If the Third Internal Officer had seen this, Woo would have been in serious trouble.
Scrambling to his feet, Woo hurried to where he had spotted the axe yesterday. He had been ordered to clear the trees on the mountain, so he would need to work all day to make any progress. Even so, finishing the job before the year ended seemed unlikely. Worse still, after using the axe briefly yesterday, he had discovered its handle was rotting and creaked ominously. The rusted blade had dulled to the point where one clean chop now took ten tries. To make matters worse, the head of the axe could detach from the handle at any moment.
But what choice did he have? He couldn't chop trees down with his bare hands.
It was impossible to tell whether the axe would break first or if he'd finish the job first.
Woo clicked his tongue in frustration. The days were already far too short, and now he'd wasted precious hours sleeping. Yet, for the first time in ages, he felt rested, and despite himself, a small smile crept onto his face.
"Still, I need to finish crafting the sieve for separating grain from chaff too…"
Having lived his whole life relying on others, Woo didn't have much skill with his hands, and the task before him felt overwhelming.
First, he decided to make the sieve since he needed to prepare food. Woo grabbed the tree bark he had peeled yesterday and started weaving. The bark, unevenly trimmed, pricked his fingertips. To make matters worse, the burns on his arm throbbed incessantly. Even with the high-quality ointment applied, it was unrealistic to expect the pain to vanish overnight.
Reaching into the fire like that had been a foolish move. At the time, he hadn't even realized what he was doing... but no amount of regret would undo the burn now. As he hunched over weaving the bark, his back began to ache. Still, he was thankful for the ointment. Suddenly, as if on cue, Woo remembered Kang-oh's touch, and his ears flushed red.
Such a kind child. He had always been like that.
The sieve Woo finally managed to finish looked clumsy and poorly made. He frowned, doubting whether it would even work. Still, he knew asking the Third Internal Officer for proper tools would get him nowhere.
He poured the rice, mixed with sand, onto the sieve and shook it. At least it seemed to filter out some of the sand. For the rest, he'd just have to pick out what he could see and spit out the grains of sand when eating.
Woo took a small pot from the hut and went to the nearby stream he had discovered the day before to fetch water. Back at the hut, he added a scoop of water to the rice he had cleaned and set it on the fire. Using a lid with no handle, he covered the pot and sat by the fire, watching it cook.
In the past, the thought of cooking for himself was unimaginable. Luxurious meals had always been laid out for Woo at the proper time. His tastes were so picky that he often left food untouched, and if a dish didn't meet his standards, he'd send the entire tray back to the kitchen. But now, even rice mixed with sand felt like a blessing.
He had experienced all kinds of extravagance and assumed it was his right. However, when he realized he had been living like a cuckoo chick, taking what belonged to others, the despair, anger, and betrayal Woo felt were indescribable.
The flames licked at the air with tongues of red, their flickering seeming to mock Woo's foolishness. He buried his face in his hands and wiped it dry several times. There was no point in thinking about such things. He had no intention of returning to those days, and any lingering thoughts were merely futile attachments.
Despite his lack of skill, the rice he cooked turned out surprisingly decent. When the time to eat came, Woo grabbed a chipped bowl to scoop the rice, only to realize he didn't have a spoon. He had underestimated the Third Internal Officer's pettiness. Thinking the broken pot lid handle was the worst of it had been naive. Ignoring his growling stomach, Woo used the bowl to scoop up the rice and then carved a crude spoon from a piece of wood. With that, he took his first bite of a meal in the mountain.
The only side dish was cold water, and every so often, bits of sand crunched in his mouth. Even so, Woo chewed and swallowed what he could. The meal was far from modest—it was downright meager. Yet, it felt satisfying in its own way.
Woo thought that once he got used to chopping wood and learned some tricks, he could start gathering wild greens from the hills to supplement his meals. But then he realized the problem—while he could distinguish medicinal herbs from poisonous ones, he didn't know which wild plants were edible. He could try eating medicinal herbs, but even those could harm the body if consumed excessively.
Woo let out a bitter laugh. After over ten years as a servant, he thought he had finally adapted, but it seemed he still had a long way to go. Looking back, the days he foolishly believed himself to be remarkable—even as an individual, apart from his status—felt laughable. Reciting elegant poetry by heart or playing the zither with a skill that drew admiration had no use in times like these.
Perhaps it was all an illusion. Maybe the applause and admiration he once received were nothing more than products of the status he had held. Life at the bottom showed him things clearly—how people could bend and twist their words like tongues in their mouths when dealing with their superiors. If there was one skill Woo had developed, it was the ability to recognize flatterers and schemers. However, the truth was that everyone who had dealt with him had catered to his needs, all watching for his reactions and working to stay in his favor.
What a gentle, comfortable world it had been.
Sighing, Woo finished his meal and checked the pot for leftovers. There was enough rice left for a watery porridge by dinner.
Taking up the dull and battered axe, he set about chopping wood. He moved carefully, ensuring the tree wouldn't fall toward him, but it still required dozens of swings to bring down even one tree. By the time he was done, his palms were stinging, his neck stiff, his back screaming in pain, and his arms burning from the effort. To make things worse, the burns from yesterday throbbed even more painfully.
Once, in the past, a mere flick of his hand would have been enough to clear half of this mountain. He wouldn't have cared whether the axe was dull or how many strikes it would take; he could have managed with his bare hands. The martial technique he mastered, the *Golden Palm Technique*, could strip through tough leather, heavy flesh, and even solid bone in one move. His true specialty, however, was swordsmanship. If he still wielded his old sword, he could have cleared the forest faster than he ever could by cutting through the trees without wasting an ounce of energy.
However, the body that had once been that of a warrior now only had thin limbs. It was the result of being bedridden for so long. The injuries had been bad enough, but after lying down for about two years, the muscles in his arms and legs had almost completely disappeared.
Fortunately, his natural strength and physique had helped. Over the years of hard labor as a servant, carrying out all kinds of menial tasks, he had developed some muscle, even if not the kind of strength a warrior would have.
As he cut down four trees, thoughts came and went, until he noticed the sunset beginning. He then went to the stream to fetch water for dinner. He was grateful that the stream was so close to the hut. Sometimes he thought he understood why Jinrang had entrusted him to the Third Internal Officer. The man had a talent for tormenting people just enough to keep them from dying.
His arms, exhausted from the day's work, trembled as he carried a pot of water back, quivering far more than they had in this morning.It would have been nice to have a gourd to carry the water, but in a hut without even a spoon, such luxuries were impossible.
It seemed he would have to start making such things himself but by bit.
He placed the pot over the fire and, as he watched the flames, Woo began to doze off. He tried to stay awake, but his body, having tasted deep sleep after a long time, seemed to be crying out for more.
Pinching his thighs to stay alert, Woo watched the rice turn into porridge, but then he suddenly felt a strange emptiness.
It wasn't because the other servants, who had once shared the same house, were no longer there. It was because the man, Kang-oh, who had only been around for two days, had yet to appear today.
"Maybe that's a good thing," he thought.
That's a good thing. He muttered this to himself, burying his face in his knees. Despite the fear of meeting Kang-oh again, he couldn't help but feel the selfish desire for him to appear once more. He couldn't understand this feeling at all.
***
As the night grew late, the sound of wolves howling reached Woo's ears, just like the night before. Clutching his blanket tightly, Woo realized with a jolt that he had become afraid of something as simple as the sound of a beast. The warmth that Kang-oh had left behind the yesterday had dissipated by morning.
It was disappointing, but neither Kang-oh nor the warmth were something he could reach.
And he shouldn't.
He couldn't fall asleep easily, even though as the night deepened. When he finally managed to close his eyes, his body ached and woke him up again. His back was covered in cold sweat, and his hands and feet were icy.
"Ugh... ugh…"
Groaning in pain, Woo curled up. It was a night completely different from the peaceful one before. Struggling to sit up, he drank some of the water he had boiled and set aside for the evening, but it had cooled by now. The water was no match for the warmth of his burning forehead.
'It feels like I have a fever…'
The fire from the night before had mostly died down, with just a few embers left. The night was still dark, with dawn yet to come. Woo tried to return to the hut, but in the end, he collapsed in front of the campfire. He had never felt this sick in the past eight years.
Had he still been staying at the servants' quarters, The Third Internal Officer would have found him by morning, but now such luck seemed out of reach. There was no telling how many hours—or even days—he might be unable to get up.
'Come on, pull yourself together.'
In the haze of confusion, someone grabbed Woo's shoulder. It was hard to tell if it was a dream or reality, so he reached out with his blurry vision, his hand touched the other person's face. Woo's fingers trembled from the warmth of another.
He didn't want to let go.
"Ugh, it hurts... Ah, it hurts…"
His muffled sobs mixed with genuine pain. The man couldn't bring himself to pull away from Woo's delicate touch, almost frozen in place.
Suddenly, Woo's cheek became wet with tears. Why aren't you holding me? You used to always held me in your arms.
It was clear that Woo was burning with fever. Otherwise, his thoughts wouldn't have been so muddled, shifting between reason and pain.
As if he had made a decision, the man lifted Woo's body to a sitting position, bringing water to his lips. Most of it spilled out, but Woo swallowed what went into his mouth, desperate as if it were a rare, sweet elixir. A small pill followed, slipping into his mouth.
"Ugh, cough, cough!"
Choking on it, Woo couldn't swallow the medicine and could only cough. He felt the man click his tongue in frustration. In his dazed state, Woo began apologizing.
"I... I was wrong…"
Suddenly, something pressed against Woo's lips. His apology was swallowed in the silence between them. He felt the foreign tongue invade his mouth. Without any malicious intent, it simply pushed a pill down his throat.
Barely able to breathe, Woo instinctively swallowed it, his entire body trembling. In that moment, he felt the other person's hand awkwardly patting his back.
'How bold... Do you know who I am, to dare touch my lips?'
'How bold... Do you know who I am, to dare touch my lips?'
With the present and the past blending together, Woo thought to himself.
The lips slowly pulled away. Whether it was the heat or tears, his vision remained blurry. The kind-hearted rogue's hand moved beneath Woo's nose and sighed in relief.
'Who are you to worry about me?'
It was both familiar and strange. The broad shoulders that could embrace him, the solid strength that held him up.
"Rest."
The other's hand covered his eyes. Even though Woo thought it was absurd to follow anyone's command, he drifted into a deep, almost unreal sleep.
***
The chirping of the mountain birds woke Woo from his sleep. He opened his eyes and placed his hand on his forehead. It felt like he had a really good dream, but he couldn't quite remember what it was. It seemed like he had a really good dream, but he couldn't remember the details, much like when you wake up and can't recall the dream you were just having.
Tilting his head, Woo stepped outside the hut but stopped in his tracks. Something about the scenery seemed different from yesterday. The path from the hut to the campfire looked strange, as if someone had crawled along it.
Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered... he had gotten up to drink water in his sleep. But he couldn't recall coming back to the hut after that. As he pondered, he retraced his memories carefully.
He remembered clearly that he had collapsed right there, thinking he might die like that. There was no one around to come check on him. But then someone appeared. That person had given him water and made him take some medicine.
The thought of how the medicine went down his throat made Woo's face burn with shame.
He had kissed him... Even knowing it was just to give him the medicine, Woo couldn't help but feel flustered. Woo had never allowed anyone to get close to him like that, not then, nor now. Since he was a child, he had very few experiences of physical contact with others. The man he considered a father was strict and never once patted his head, and his noble mother entrusted his care to a nursemaid, never comforting him herself. Even that nursemaid, who was a close confidante of his mother, refrained from showing excessive affection while raising him.
Woo could not understand the identity of the man who had stolen his kiss in the middle of the night in the mountain hut in the middle of the night. He groaned in frustration. The man hadn't intended anything inappropriate, so it was best to forget about it. After all, it was just for his treatment, wasn't it?
Trying to shake off his memories, Woo absentmindedly turned his head and froze.
The axe stuck in the tree stump was completely different from the one he had seen yesterday.
"A… new axe?"
He clamped his mouth shut. Besides him, only two people knew about the axe's existence in this place. One was the Third Internal Officer, and the other was...
"Ye... Kang-oh."
Why would he...?
Slowly, Woo walked toward the axe, almost in a trance, and picked it up. It was smooth, clearly well-crafted. The sharp blade, the sturdy handle—it felt completely different. As he carefully lifted it, he could feel the axe sliding smoothly out of the stump with a soft sound.
He was sure the axe had been in a completely unusable state when he first arrived. Someone must have checked it and prepared it after seeing him collapsed…
Woo hesitated, then put the axe back into the stump. There was no reason to take it. Even if he had to chop wood with his bare hands, he wouldn't use this axe.
He couldn't afford to get used to comfort. He couldn't accept Kang-oh's kindness, not when he didn't understand the reason behind it.
Setting the axe down, Woo grabbed the pot and headed toward the stream. After a night of exhaustion, he needed to prepare his meal.
Was it because of the fever from the night before? Woo's arms felt unusually weak. Even after filling the water, he feared he might lose his grip on the pot from sheer exhaustion. Woo carefully carried the water back toward the hut, each step feeling unsteady. But he couldn't afford to stop. The more difficult the task, the harder it became to start again if he stopped in the middle. Woo had learned this lesson through harsh experience.
Finally reaching the hut, he revived the dying embers of the fire and set the pot over it. He tossed in a few handfuls of rice he had gathered, then waited for it to start boiling. His mouth felt dry, and he couldn't even imagine swallowing food, so he decided to cook it longer to make porridge instead.
As he waited for the porridge to finish, Woo glanced at the axe. He saw it as proof that Kang Oh had been there. Why had he come? The thought kept swirling in his mind, followed by the inevitable question—would he come again? That question tightened around his chest.
He didn't want to know the answer. He didn't want to hope.
The heavens wasn't kind to Woo. Having a harsh fate couldn't be helped, but the pain of a broken heart was hard to heal. Maybe it was because he was only human, fragile and weak. If he had a stronger, more steadfast heart, perhaps he could have faced the truth calmly without breaking down.
But what's past can't be undone.
Still feeling weak from the fever, Woo blew on the pale porridge to cool it down before eating. Afterward, he moved to gather more wood. Since he couldn't use an axe, he had to break the smaller branches of the trees he had already cut down by hand. Once he finished this, he planned to go around the nearby forest and collect dry branches. After the harsh experience last night, he also intended to pick any medicinal herbs he spotted along the way.
As Woo moved quickly, he reviewed in his mind the tasks he needed to complete. Although his sickly body didn't follow his mind as smoothly as he wanted, he knew that with steady effort, he would be able to achieve his goals without much difficulty.
He couldn't find any medicinal herbs nearby that would help with fever, but he did spot some wild herbs by the riverbank, which could be used to chase away wild animals. He planned to place them near his hut to help keep wolves away. After quickly pulling them up, he shook the dirt off the roots. Luckily, the ground near the stream was soft.
What was strange was that, by this point, wolves should have been attracted by his scent, but their howls still came from far away. Woo vaguely thought that Kang-oh might have been chasing the wolves away, preventing the predators from approaching his hut.
After washing the dirt from his hands in the flowing water, Woo gathered the herbs and returned to the hut. He planted the herbs around the small fire, then wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. When he glanced at his hands again, he saw they were covered in dirt once more.
With a sigh, Woo wiped his hands on his clothes. He knew he would get even dirtier while collecting dry branches later, so he planned to wash up all at once before dinner.
As he walked toward the forest, Woo passed the axe stuck in the stump. He did so with such a natural step that it seemed he had completely forgotten about it. Bending and straightening his sore back to gather the scattered branches, sweat began to pour down. His body, weakened from the night before, felt more exhausted than usual.
"You're really quite stubborn."
"....!"
Startled, Woo turned his head toward the voice.
Sitting on a tree branch was the Third Disciple. The branches were so thick he hadn't noticed him there. Furthermore, having trained under Jin-rang, Kang-oh could probably hide his presence perfectly.
"Th-Third Disciple."
Woo dropped a few of the twigs he had collected and immediately knelt, lowering his head.
"Did you not like the new axe?"
Kang-oh asked, as he lightly jumped down to the ground. His clothes fluttered slightly, but there was no dust or noise, a silent landing.
"It's not that…"
"Let me see your arm."
From the start, it seemed that Kang Oh had no intention of listening to Woo's excuses, as he reached out with his hand. Woo bit his lip. The thought of his dirty hands came to mind. He probably wanted Woo's burned arm, but even though he had wiped them off roughly, there was no way he could let Kang Oh hold his hands covered in dirt.
Kang Oh seemed to have understood Woo's hesitation, as he didn't ask again. Instead, he took a firm step forward and, without hesitation, grabbed Woo's arm. He didn't care about the dirt at all. Woo only lowered his head a little more. Thinking he should've just gone to the stream to wash his hands, even if it was a little bothersome.
Holding Woo's arm, Kang Oh rolled up his sleeves and checked the wound, where pus had begun to form.
"With an arm like this, using that battered axe, it's no wonder your body couldn't take it."
His tone suggested he had expected this. Clicking his tongue, Kang Oh took out a salve from his pocket. It wasn't the golden ointment from before, but the one specifically for burns that he had brought this time.
Kang Oh's fingers carefully applied the ointment to Woo's burn.
"Why, why…"
Without thinking, Woo started to ask, but then stopped himself. There was no benefit in asking Kang Oh questions. He needed to avoid getting entangled with him.
"Why did you stop asking?"
"B-because I'm just a servant."
The words Woo spat out caused a slight furrow in Kang Oh's brow. It wasn't an attitude that he liked. Someone who was constantly shrinking away, looking for approval with every little action, was nothing but a burden. He never expected he would be dealing with a person like this on such a personal level.
"I didn't forbid you from asking questions."
"...."
Even though Kang Oh had said he could ask anything, Woo kept his mouth shut. As if he had expected this, Kang Oh finished applying the medicine and pulled his hands back.
"Use the new axe I gave you. As you said, if you're such a loyal servant, you shouldn't go against your master's will."
Strictly speaking, Woo was the servant of his master, Jinang, but Kang-oh's orders to him wouldn't cause any issues. It would be a problem if he treated the Black Sky Lord's subordinates as he pleased, but Woo was just a servant.
Just a servant—nothing particularly important or special.
"The reason I keep coming here is because I'm concerned about you."
Still, someone who keeps drawing his attention.
Woo instinctively lifted his head. Kang-oh was looking down at him. Despite the intense gaze making his heart drop, Woo couldn't bring himself to look away from Kang-oh's eyes.
"I'll keep coming until it no longer bothers me. So, I hope you stay healthy and don't end up bedridden like last night."
It was a statement expressing concern, but the tone was blunt, without a hint of kindness. Woo's eyes trembled, but it wasn't from joy.
"Is, is someone supposed to be here? No, wait—"
"Where I am is for me to decide. You have no say in it."
The Third Disciple drew a line. Woo, understanding what kind of person a servant like him was, realized that the Third Disciple had chosen to inform him, rather than ask for approval.
Seeing the stubbornness in his expression fade and his head bow in resignation, it seemed like it was the right decision.
"You should follow the Master's orders and gather the wood from the mountain. I'll take this time to satisfy my own curiosity."
Woo lowered his head deeply.
"Y-Yes, I will obey."
At this point, there was nothing to do but wait for the Third Internal Officer to arrive or hope that the Third Disciple would lose interest in him.
Woo's worries deepened.