Secret of the Red Lotus Flower (빨간 연꽃의 비밀)

Chapter 36

Soo-yun could only watch in horror as the trio of bandits circled Eun-ji. The larger, scarred man seized the older woman by her arm and pulled her toward him. The other two watched with sadistic glee as their leader leaned in closer.

"What was that? Who is in there?" Scarface demanded. Eun-ji seemed to lose most of her earlier defiance and stuttered as she tried to deny that there was anyone in the storeroom.

"Eun-ji's in trouble," Soo-yun whispered as she turned back to the group. "They heard Ha-neul just now. I think they're going to kill her unless we do something."

"I got this. Stay with His Royal Highness," Yeong-ja said as she left Ha-neul's side. She scooped up some wet clay next to the water bucket and smeared it on her cheeks before grabbing one of the potter's dirty aprons hanging on the wall. She quickly donned it as she crossed the storeroom toward the door, stopping only to grab one of the vases on a shelf before leaving.

"Mother! Where are you? I need your help with the-" Yeong-ja looked up as she exited into the courtyard and acted as if she had become aware of the bandits for the first time. She shrieked and dropped the vase, shattering it on the ground. "Who are you? What are you doing to my mother?"

"Who is that? You said you were alone," said Scarface as he looked back and forth between the two women.

"I didn't say that." Eun-ji finally regained her composure and tried to pull her arm out of his grasp. "I said that no one has come by here in weeks. My daughter and I live out here alone making pottery. With brutes like you wandering around, is it any wonder that I wouldn't want to tell you about her?"

"Let go of my mother!" Ignoring the broken shards at her feet, Yeong-ja ran over to Eun-ji and her assailant. She ineffectively began to pound on the larger man's shoulder. Scarface merely laughed and pushed Yeong-ja to the ground.

"Hey, Beom-Seok, the daughter is quite the looker," one of the other men said, leering at Yeong-ja's prostrate form. "Why don't we stay a while and have some fun?"

"The boss has us on a strict timetable, you idiot. Do you want to tell him that we were late because you wanted to have some 'fun' instead of continuing the search?" Beom-seok said. He sneered at the smaller man who wilted at the glare directed at him. "That's what I thought."

The scarred man let go of Eun-ji's arm and she immediately rushed to Yeong-ja's side. "We will be going now. Remember what I said about our... sister. If I find out that you broke your word, we'll return and I won't be so fast in stopping those two," he threatened.

Beom-seok roughly grabbed his two lackeys by their ears and started pulling them back into the forest. They yelped in pain but didn't break his hold out of fear of what punishment he would dole out if they did. Eun-ji and Yeong-ja quickly retreated to the broken vase and pretended to gather the shards.

Soo-yun continued to watch the retreating bandits through the crack until they disappeared from sight. She then waited a few more minutes to make certain they were truly gone before stepping away and going to the door.

"It is safe to come in now," she said. The two women stopped collecting the pieces of pottery and reentered the storeroom. By this point, Ha-neul had recovered enough to sit up without anyone's assistance and the look in her husband's eyes was the clearest she had seen since the ambush.

"Who was that outside?" Ha-neul asked.

"Some thugs looking for you two," Yeong-ja replied. "They spouted a bunch of drivel about an eloping family member, but it was obvious they were lying. What exactly happened? The Crown Princess gave me a brief outline but there were a lot of holes still."