Page 43 of Gumiho Kiss
He ducked his head, shame flooding his cheeks.“I apologize.I’ll clean it all up right away.”
Na Ri glared.“You better, or you won’t like the consequences.”She spun around and stomped out of the room, grumbling about how she didn’t know what young people were learning nowadays.
Hyun Soo bolted to his feet as soon as she was gone.He needed to get out of here, get his head on straight.He tidied up the mess, then headed out to look for leads on Gwishin.
He spent the next few hours going from hut to hut in the poorer areas of Sokju, asking everyone he could find about their experience with the vigilante.The reports he received were very different from what the highborns had said.Just as he’d suspected, most of the sangmin and cheonmin thought Gwishin was a hero, not the villain the police made him out to be.And even with the rumor circulating that he’d murdered that scholar in cold blood, the general consensus among the sangmin was that he’d been slandered.
No one had any information to help identify Gwishin, nor did they know where Hyun Soo might find the elusive criminal.
Leaving him without any more threads to unravel.
Hyun Soo strayed back toward the Lees’ home, but a flicker of movement in a nearby alley caught his eye.Someone was watching him.
He took a sharp left, steering the observer away from the Lees.He picked up his pace, then ducked behind a cart full of wood beams.He squatted down, eyes peeled for someone to walk past.
A pair of straw shoes padded by, pausing just beyond the cart.There was a rush of footsteps as the figure darted away.
Hyun Soo emerged from his hiding spot just in time to see the person disappear into a tavern.
A boy?But something felt off about his gait, almost as if the boy wasn’t used to his own body.
Hyun Soo hurried after him, but the tavern was so full of customers he lost sight of the child.
“Did you want to order something?”asked a middle-aged woman with her hair wrapped around her head.
Hyun Soo craned his neck, straining to see around a group of drunk men stumbling out to the opposite street.
“Did you want to order something?’”The tavern owner’s voice was impatient now.
Hyun Soo turned, realizing he was blocking customers from coming in.With an apologetic bow, he stepped out of the way, allowing the other people to enter and find somewhere to sit.
He ambled off, puzzling over what reason a child would have to follow him.And why even a brief glimpse of the boy’s back had made the hair on his arms stand up.
A few minutes later, he caught sight of the Kangs’ residence on the next street over and veered toward it.He would let Dol Sam know the sangmin hadn’t been helpful.Perhaps his friend would have another idea for tracking down Gwishin.
It wasn’t that he was trying to postpone his return to the Lees’.That would have been ridiculous.
When he arrived at the manor, a servant led him to Kang Dol Sam in the courtyard.His friend was bent over a white canvas, putting the final touches on a very lifelike portrait of a woman with bewitching honey-brown eyes.Red spider lilies and mugunghwa flowers surrounded her, and a teasing smile rested on her pretty pink lips.
Hyun Soo looked away, cursing Dol Sam under his breath.He’d gone out to stop the dangerous trajectory of his thoughts.Instead, he’d found yet another reminder of what he was trying not to think about.
Dol Sam glanced over his shoulder, grinning when he saw Hyun Soo.“Ah, what a delightful surprise.I’m glad you took what I said to heart about stopping by for a visit.”He set down his paintbrush and swiveled fully around.“What do you think?”He gestured to the canvas.“Is it a good likeness?”
Hyun Soo cast his gaze over the portrait a second time, hating the way his heart skipped.The painted Lady Lee looked straight ahead, boldly meeting the viewer’s eye.Her arms hung at her sides, a single mugunghwa blossom clasped in her right hand.A faint light shone around her, almost as if she were the sun itself, bringing life to everything she touched.
Now who was getting poetic?
Hyun Soo pushed the sentiment aside, reminding himself he was looking at Lady Lee through the eyes of a man in love.
Meaning Dol Sam, of course.
His friend had always been a remarkable artist, so it only made sense for Lady Lee to look enchanting.But it was just a picture, not reality.No one could actually be that stunning....
He swallowed.He was in more trouble than he’d thought.
“Well?”Dol Sam prompted.He’d sat down on the veranda outside his private quarters.
Hyun Soo tore his eyes away.“It’s beautiful, Dol Sam-ah.You’re quite talented.”
