NEFARIOUS

9 / 아홉

  Between the long trees under the blazing sun, Eun Jae watched and waited. It had been a few minutes since Jung-Hee and Hye disappeared with their last night plan in mind. Yet Eun Jae still could not catch the presence of the carriages. The trees whispered to him, rustling from the hot midday breeze. Eun Jae wondered if they might be. . . eliminated or simply ran away. He hoped neither of them was true.

  He waited still, and could not find nor hear anything. An inaudible sigh left his mouth. Was the plan failed? Were they get caught? Another plan made its presence in Eun Jae's mind, it was the one Jung-Hee told the twins in case any trouble came. Eun Jae shifted in his crouching position. If any more minutes passed with nothing changed. He would do as Jung-Hee's second plan. He would do anything to survive.

  But hope was on his side now. Eun Jae heard the sound of groaning vehicle and horses' tapping foot. Slowly, their presence came to view. Two horses walking slowly, leading a huge carriage into the trees. Its windows were covered by thin screens, so that outsiders only could see the silhouettes of the passengers. Two men, both average, sat on the driver seat on the front of carriage. They held the rains from each horse, and the man on the left gripped a lashes in his other hand.

  When the two carriages came closer to Eun Jae, he found that the man who sat on the left was Jung-Hee, wearing peasant clothes and a gat. Eun Jae did not recognize the man beside him, he was old and looked weary, it must be Hye in her shape shifting condition.

  The carriage stopped. Jung-Hee jumped toward the soil, he left the lashes on his seat. Noticing that the carriage parked, a passenger rolled up the screens and shouted angrily at Jung-Hee. The voice felt distant and barely audible from where Eun Jae had been hiding. But he could make a few words: Why do we stop? Where are the other carriages? As Jung-Hee presumed, there must be at last three carriages, each held five scholars. Knowing there was only one, Jung-Hee and Hye must have slowed them down. If the true driver from another carriage noticed Jung-Hee as a fraud, it would be extremely fatal.

  Jung-Hee shrugged at the scholar, and explained a fake reason why the carriages had gone from their sight, his hands moving in the air. The scholar seemed to take the bait, he opened the carriage door, and looked behind to see more clearly. It was a signal.

  Eun Jae emerged from his hiding spot, walking silently toward the scholar. Jung-Hee watched the scholar in careful. Hye only stared ahead. The scholar noticed Eun Jae's movement, and shifted his gaze toward him. His eyes confused, then widened. Eun Jae caught the scholar's eyes, and calmed him with his mind. You want to get out, Eun Jae demanded. Make your friends believe you want to urinate.

  The scholar turned his back toward Eun Jae, talking to the others as he commanded. Then he descended from the carriage with firm steps, and closed the door close. The scholar stood ahead Eun Jae, waiting for another demand. Eun Jae led the scholar toward Hye. Jung-Hee tapped his forearm twice, a code to Eun Jae: we don't have time. Hye intertwined the rains into the seat rail, and hopped onto the ground. Her legs wobbled. She still wore the old man's body.

  Eun Jae tapped the scholar's forehead, he fainted immediately. He took off the clothes from the fainting body, leaving him in only inner garments. Hye did the same to herself. She approached Eun Jae as finished, and placed her outer peasant garments beside him.

  Crouching near the fainting scholar, Hye touched his hand. Slowly, her figure changed into the scholar, the previous old man vanished. Without any word left behind, she dressed herself as a scholar, her face unfamiliar. She nodded at Eun Jae to do the same with her peasant garments.

  As the twins finished, they exchanged a brief glance to one another. Eun Jae put the black gat closer to his brows, shadowing his features. Hye did not follow his gesture, the scholar's young face made him uneasy to see beyond her expression. She looked down at the fainting scholar, drowning in her own thoughts.