.three.
Jung left Minji at General Park's house, with Soon Duk who claimed to be her sister, despite Minji's arguments that she didn't know who they all were. He hugged her goodbye and promised he would visit her the next morning to make sure that she was okay. Soon Duk wrapped an arm around Minji's shoulders to provide her with support, and led her into the house and into the bedroom that belonged to her. It was yet another place she didn't recognize--then again, nothing there was familiar to her. It was like she was in another person's body, in another life.
Her sister helped her out of her wet clothes and into a warm robe, and she called for the service to bring her some tea to warm her up as she was beginning to shiver. Soon Duk helped Minji get settled under the covers and stood by her side until a doctor could arrive to check on her.
While they waited, Minji spoke up rather nervously. "Unnie," The word was forced and sounded unnatural to her own ears. As an only child, the only sisters she had grown up around were Hajin and Gayoung. They were the same age as she was and she didn't call them unnie. She continued after a pause that felt eternal. "Who was that boy that brought me here? He says we know each other, but I have no idea who he is. Is he really a prince like he claims?" She wondered the last part aloud, though she had intended for it not to leave her lips.
"You really don't remember..." Soon Duk marveled at her sisters limitation now. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she began to explain, "Prince Wang Jung is the fourteenth prince of Goryeo--"
Minji stopped her with a gasp. "Wait, Goryeo? Silla, Baekje, and Goguryeo? That Goryeo?"
If she remembered anything from her lessons in middle school, it was that the first king had been Taejo, and that he had united the three lands into what was known as Goryeo. That had happened over a thousand years in the past.
Her sister laughed at was she saw as silliness and not genuine curiosity. "Yes, that Goryeo. Founded by his majesty King Taejo. Are you really not pretending that you don't know this?"
Minji quickly shook her head, eyes widened in shock at the information she had gotten. If this if Goryeo and Taejo is king, she thought to herself, then we must be anywhere between the years 918 to 943. It was only now that she no longer resented her teachers for making her learn information that she had once thought of as pointless. She raised her shaking hands and took a good look at them. There was nothing different about her hands. She slowly brought them up to touch her face, wondering if there was something different about her features or her body. Maybe it was the reason people kept calling her Hak Soon.
"Unnie," Minji cried out, reaching to take her sister's hands desperately in hers. "I don't know who I am anymore."
"Your name is Park Hak Soon." Soon Duk explained to her after a moment in which she got her to calm down. The same sentence over and over--that her name was Park Hak Soon. "You're my sister, and we live with our parents near the palace. Our father is the king's most trusted general, and our mother is a noble. We grew up around the princes, but you were always especially close with Jung-ah and his half sister Princess Yeon Hwa. You and Jung-ah learned martial arts together."
"And what about Hajin?" She asked, but she quickly corrected herself when she saw the look of utter confusion on her sister's face. "I mean--Lady Hae Soo--what about her? Are we friends too? I remember her perfectly."
Her sister crinkled up her nose at the unfamiliar name. "The girl that lives in Prince Wook's house? No, I don't think you two are friends. She never visits the palace and mostly stays with her cousin Lady Hae. She takes care of her because she's terribly ill--at least that's what I've heard." She hadn't met Hae Soo yet, but she had heard about her through Baek ah and Jung, who had told her Lady Hae's cousin was living with her and the eighth prince from a while back.
