CHAPTER 5
2051 Words
In the Market
It was late at night, yet the market was more alive than ever.
Beneath the Lanterns
The moment Hye-in stepped into the market, she forgot how tired she was.
The streets were overflowing with color.
Red, yellow, blue, and green silk lanterns hung from wooden poles, their light spilling over the crowded stalls. Some lanterns were shaped like flowers, others like fish, birds, and small moons. Strips of bright cloth fluttered above the streets whenever the evening breeze passed through.
Vendors called out from every direction.
“Fresh rice cakes!”
“Sweet chestnuts!”
“Warm dumplings!”
“Come and see! Finest silk ribbons in the market!”
Children ran between the adults, laughing as they chased one another with little paper toys.
Musicians sat beneath a decorated awning, playing drums, bamboo flutes, and a gayageum. Their music mixed with the sound of merchants bargaining and customers laughing.
Hye-in slowly turned in a circle.
“Your Royal Highness…”
Seo Jun looked at her.
“What is it?”
“It is beautiful.”
He glanced around.
“It is certainly lively.”
Hye-in smiled.
“I have never seen the market like this.”
“You have been here before?”
“Only during the day. Never during a festival.”
Seo Jun adjusted the simple cloth hat he was wearing.
His royal robes had been replaced with plain dark clothing. His hair was tied differently, and the low brim of his hat hid most of his face.
No one looking at him would have guessed he was the Crown Prince.
Hye-in glanced at him.
She had to admit, the disguise was convincing.
“You look different.”
“So do you.”
She looked down at her simple hanbok.
“Do I look like an ordinary citizen?”
“You look like someone who is about to cause trouble.”
Hye-in immediately lowered her head.
“My apologies.”
Seo Jun continued walking.
After a moment, he added,
“Stay close.”
“Yes, Your Royal Highness.”
She followed him through the crowd.
The first stall that caught Hye-in's attention sold colorful rice cakes.
Rows of them were arranged on wooden trays—white ones dusted with sesame, green ones filled with sweet bean paste, pink ones shaped like flowers, and small yellow cakes decorated with patterns.
Hye-in stared.
Seo Jun noticed.
“You are hungry again?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
She hesitated.
“…Perhaps a little.”
He almost sighed.
The vendor smiled.
“First time at the festival?”
Hye-in nodded.
“Yes.”
“You should try one of these. They're fresh.”
She looked at Seo Jun.
He gave a small nod.
“One.”
Hye-in smiled.
“One is enough.”
The vendor handed her a rice cake.
She took a bite.
Her eyes immediately brightened.
Seo Jun watched her expression.
“You seem satisfied.”
“It is delicious.”
“You said you weren't hungry.”
Hye-in lowered her eyes.
“I was mistaken.”
Seo Jun shook his head.
“Clearly.”
They continued deeper into the market.
Hye-in stopped at a stall covered with ribbons.
Long silk ribbons hung from wooden beams, their colors glowing beneath the lanterns.
She picked up a pale blue one.
“This is beautiful.”
“Then buy it.”
She quickly put it down.
“I cannot.”
“Why?”
“I do not have enough money.”
Seo Jun looked at the ribbon.
Then at the vendor.
“How much?”
Hye-in immediately shook her head.
“Your Royal Highness, you do not need to—”
He looked at her.
She stopped.
“My apologies.”
Seo Jun paid for it.
The vendor wrapped the ribbon carefully.
Hye-in accepted it with both hands.
“Thank you.”
“Keep it.”
“I will.”
She tucked it safely into her sleeve.
A crowd suddenly gathered around a small wooden table.
Hye-in looked over.
“What is happening?”
“A game.”
"try your luck and get a reward"
Seo Jun continued walking.
She followed for three steps before stopping.
Then she turned back.
“Your Royal Highness.”
He stopped.
“What?”
“May we look?”
“We came here to walk through the festival.”
“Yes.”
“And yet you have already stopped three times.”
Hye-in lowered her head.
“My apologies.”
Seo Jun looked at the crowd.
“Five minutes.”
Her face brightened.
“Thank you.”
The game was simple.
A man placed a small wooden bead beneath one of three cups and moved them rapidly across the table.
“Watch carefully!” he announced.
Hye-in leaned forward.
The cups moved.
Left.
Right.
Middle.
Left again.
The man stopped.
Hye-in pointed.
“That one.”
He lifted the cup.
Empty.
The crowd laughed.
Hye-in frowned.
The man repeated the game.
This time Seo Jun watched without saying anything.
When the cups stopped, he pointed.
“The middle.”
The bead was there.
The crowd applauded.
Hye-in looked at him.
“How did you know?”
“The man favored that cup when he moved it.”
She stared at the cups.
“I did not notice that.”
“You were watching his hands.”
“And what should I have watched?”
“His eyes.”
The man laughed.
“Your companion has sharp eyes.”
Seo Jun simply nodded.
Hye-in smiled.
“She does.”
She turned toward him.
“Did you just call me sharp-eyed?”
“I said the man should watch you more carefully.”
“Oh.”
She smiled anyway.
Bravo! let's move to the next part”
“Don't go back on your words,” Seo Jun interrupted. “You said there would be a reward.”
He reached toward the table and picked up a delicate butterfly hairpin.
“Thank you.”
He turned and walked away.
Hye In hurried after him.
“All that effort for a hairpin?”
She glanced at the other prizes.
“You could have chosen something more valuable.”
Seo Jun stopped.
Hye In almost walked into him.
He turned around.
Without saying anything, Seo Jun gently raised the butterfly hairpin.
Hye In blinked.
Before she could react, he carefully pinned it into one side of her hair.
She froze.
Seo Jun took a small step back.
The lantern light illuminated her face.
“It looks good on you.”
Hye In touched the hairpin nervously.
“Uhh... I'm sure it does.”
She cleared her throat.
“Thank you.”
Seo Jun simply smiled before continuing down the market.
Hye In followed behind him, touching the hairpin every few seconds.
---
They soon noticed a large crowd gathered around a storyteller.
“Let's go! It's a storytelling performance!”
Hye In grabbed Seo Jun's sleeve and pulled him toward the crowd.
They sat down among the other spectators.
“And from that day onward, the full moon would rise on every New Year of the lunar calendar...”
The storyteller finished his tale.
The crowd applauded.
Suddenly, a woman carrying a jar of alcohol stumbled into the crowd.
“Blatant lie!”
Everyone turned toward her.
“The full moon is going to rise tonight... when two fated hearts meet!”
She laughed hysterically.
“A lonely heart... and a desolate heart!”
She turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Hye In watched her leave.
“Who was she?”
A woman sitting beside her looked surprised.
“You don't know her?”
Hye In shook her head.
“She is a widow. She lost her husband and only son many years ago. Ever since then, she became a drunkard who says strange things.”
The woman lowered her voice.
“But the strange part is... most of what she predicts eventually comes true.”
Hye In stared at the woman disappearing into the distance.
“Some people say she's a sorcerer. Others say she's a fortune teller.”
Hye In sighed.
“That's creepy.”
A loud drumbeat suddenly echoed across the market.
The crowd shifted toward an open square.
“What's happening?” Hye-in asked.
“A sword performance,” someone answered.
Hye-in's eyes immediately lit up.
Seo Jun noticed.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I haven't asked anything.”
“You were going to.”
Hye-in lowered her head.
“My apologies.”
They moved closer to the edge of the crowd.
Four performers entered the square.
They wore dark blue performance robes with wide sleeves and red sashes around their waists. Each carried a sword with a plain wooden sheath.
The musicians began a steady rhythm.
One drumbeat.
Then another.
The first performer stepped forward.
He drew his sword slowly.
The metal caught the lantern light.
The crowd became silent.
The performance began.
He held the sword with both hands, the blade angled diagonally across his body. He stepped forward with his right foot and turned his shoulders with the movement, then swept the sword outward in a controlled arc.
The other performers followed.
Their movements were synchronized.
Step.
Turn.
Cut.
Withdraw.
Their blades never struck wildly. Every movement was deliberate, stopping at precise points before transitioning into the next.
The musicians increased the rhythm.
The performers separated.
Two moved toward opposite sides of the square while the other two crossed through the center.
One performer lowered his body and spun beneath the raised sword of another.
The crowd gasped.
Then the blades were sheathed.
For a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then the drums thundered.
All four swords were drawn again.
This time the performance became faster.
The performers turned in circles, changing direction with each beat. Their sleeves moved with their bodies while the blades flashed beneath the lanterns.
Hye-in watched without blinking.
Something inside her stirred.
The footwork.
The grip.
The rhythm.
She knew it.
She didn't know how she knew it.
But she did.
One of the performers suddenly tossed his sword into the air.
He stepped back.
The blade turned once.
Twice.
He caught it by the hilt.
The crowd erupted.
Hye-in's fingers tightened around her sleeve.
Seo Jun noticed.
“You recognize something.”
She looked at him.
“I…”
Before she could finish, one of the performers called toward the crowd.
“Anyone brave enough to join us?”
People laughed and shook their heads.
Hye-in looked away.
Seo Jun immediately said,
“Don't.”
She turned toward him.
“I was not going to.”
“You were thinking about it.”
She hesitated.
Then she lowered her head.
“…Perhaps.”
“Hye-in.”
“I will be careful.”
His expression hardened.
“You are not a trained performer.”
She looked toward the swords.
Something about them continued to pull at her.
“I know.”
The performer called again.
“Just one person!”
Hye-in took a breath.
Then stepped forward.
Seo Jun's eyes narrowed.
“Hye-in.”
She turned and bowed.
“My apologies, Your Royal Highness. I only wish to try.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then at the performers.
“Do not do anything reckless.”
Her eyes brightened.
“Yes.”
A performer handed her a wooden practice sword.
But Hye-in held it differently.
Her fingers settled naturally around the grip.
She tested its weight.
Her expression changed.
For a moment, she wasn't the palace maid who had spent the evening admiring lanterns.
She looked like someone who had held a sword many times before.
The musicians began again.
Hye-in moved.
Her first step was controlled.
Then another.
She raised the sword and performed the opening movement exactly as the other dancers had.
The performer beside her looked surprised.
Hye-in turned.
The sword moved with her.
She stepped forward, shifted her weight, and swept the blade upward before bringing it back into guard.
The rhythm increased.
So did her movements.
She pivoted on her back foot and turned beneath her own raised arm, then finished the turn facing the opposite direction.
The crowd cheered.
Seo Jun didn't move.
He was watching her hands.
Her stance.
Her footwork.
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