Songdo Palace 「 송도/松都 」, Gaeseong 「 개성시 」;
Irrelevant year during the Goryeo Dynasty, reign of Gongmin ( 1351–1374 ).
♡ — Many titles had been offered to the delicate and ethereal Gisaeng with obsidian tresses of velour and large eyes of molten chocolate, but none of them was remotely close to describing who and what she truly was. Although relatively young for a creature who could live for hundreds of years, Ahreum was most certainly not a fool and throughout her rather short life, she had ensured to learn as much as she could in pursuance of gathering and collecting POWER — Power that, one day, would have helped her to rise among the mortals as their only QUEEN, as their only GODDESS. Betwixt those nimble digits of porcelain, she would have held the whole world and depending on her most infantile of whims, she would have possessed the right to choose whether to CRUSH it or SAVE it. Of course, these were mere dreams of a lil’fox who had nothing more to lose, for her own mother had chased her away for miles and miles, forcing her to abandon the lively and crowded capital where she was a queen with no throne or crown; with open wounds and deep lacerations, she had eventually reached the Gaeseong territory where a new life, ruled by LONELINESS and scorching RESENTMENT, had started.
In no time, rumors about the most beautiful woman this region had ever seen started to spread all over the land and of course, it should not surprise that she was the most envied of Gisaeng within the House where she worked; although she could not acquire the title of LEADER just yet, due to her lack of experience, the ivory complexion of her skin and the art of seduction were almost more than enough to bend men and women to her feet — People broke so easily in front of her !! And yet, although it would have been incredibly humorous and amusing to follow the same path of her ancient mother, the gumiho decided not to do so: she wanted to be BETTER, not worse ( the Ahreum of the present would probably laugh at such nonsense ) .
The second wonder of Songdo, so people referred to her. Pride bubbled within voluptuous breastbone and the innocence smeared across the porcelain of her visage merely attracted more and more people to her until, one day, a scholar from the capital asked for her presence. Taken off guard by such a request, the young she-fox prepared herself meticulously, paying attention to even the smallest detail and with ANTICIPATION coursing through her veins, she started to write little poems to greet the mysterious visitor with; of course, it was not the first time that she drew beautiful letters of charcoal ink upon rough paper, but it was indeed the first time that the mere idea of doing so gave birth to unadulterated and innocent joy and glee.
The day arrived. A large piece of silken paper, carefully folded in pursuance of showing only the first lines of her poem had been elegantly settled upon the wooden table where the scholar was supposed to be seating during their encounter ( ah, how much she hoped that he would remain there for long !! scholars held a really large knowledge and there was nothing more she wanted than to indulge and drown in the sound of his voice, in his wise words and narrations of wonders that she could merely dream of ) . Obviously, she had also been wondering what kind of appearance he might have… Some claimed that he was old and wrinkly, an ancient oak under the features of a man, while others swore that he was as breath-taking as a prince was supposed to be. The poem, work of art inspired by lies for she had never experienced love before, read as following:
상사몽 -
기룬 님 만날 길은 꿈길 밖에 없어
내찾아 떠난길로 님이 다시 찾아왔네
바라거니 언제일까 다음 날 밤 꿈에는
한날한시 그 길에서 다시 만나지이다 .
Over and over again, Ahreum read it while waiting for the scholar to magically appear. What once was pride and satisfaction, turned into shame and embarrassment, a frigid sensation birthed by self-consciousness and just when she was about to hide the little poem from the curious eye of her guest, the door of her private chamber was opened and he stepped inside.
↬ ♚ IT WAS HIS DECISION TO FINALLY WALK AMONG THE MORTALS. After watching them from the shadows for centuries he had decided to step out, knowing all about the human world yet naive in living it he now walked the world as a simple SCHOLAR having no family to be raised in working himself up to the higher ranks as he had seen many do before him. He knew how humans worked how they functioned and how they acted. He knew how their brains worked and how they reacted to things yet being among them living their lives where a lot harder than he had expected it to be. Humans where vicious, power hungry creatures. He had been prepared for that, but he had never been prepared for what humanity would bring him in his later years. Now he was just here at the start about to meet someone who would bring him so much. It where his masters and other scholars that brought him along to the Gisaeng house, a place he had not heard of or been to before. A house where his body and mind would be opened to something new something more, the place where he would meet her a woman he would meet again and again throughout his life. A woman who would teach him about the pleasures of the world. It was faith that had let him here, faith in the shape of horny scholars who wanted to see a BEAUTIFUL WOMAN. A woman so many spoke about. It was then when he was still naive that he first got the taste of the Gisaeng house, an addicting taste one could not forget that easily.
It was after he left the capital, after he had entered that he first heard about her, “The second wonder of Songdo” is what they had called her, a Gisaeng more beautiful than any others, even those in the capital could not compete with her. After having his first taste he wanted to meet her. He wanted to see if she was even more beautiful and stunning as they had said ANTICIPATION was rising from the moment he had entered the town to the moment being let straight to the house, straight to the Gisaeng he as anticipating to meet. A woman that had already visited his DREAMS but he had yet needed to see the face off.
The many faces where turned to him as he had entered the house, the Gisaengs and servants where upon him as he strides in with pride. He was a scholar of the capital, he might not be a PRINCE but in a smaller town even him was received as one and it honored him. Yet there was only one he wanted to meet. The woman they had all spoken off. It was her his fellow scholars had send him to see. It was her that was as precious as a flower. And it was as soon as he opened the door, as soon as he laid his eyes upon the beautiful woman he knew that she was worth the trip, her BEAUTY alone was more radiant than any flower, than any woman he had seen before. She looked pure and untouched (If only he had known how it would turn out in the future) A smile curved his lips, a friendly and inviting as he walked into the chamber seating himself at the table so obviously prepared for him. His eyes remaining on the woman the entire time. “Leave us...” Where the first words he had spoken after he was finished looking at her. With a wave of his hand brushing any servant away before bowing his head for her “They call me Rhyss...” While bowing his head his eyes land upon the poem prepared for him his eyes widening as his fingers touched the paper. Reading the words carefully his fingers trailing the writing. “I have had no time to prepare one for you but I shall bring one upon our next meeting...” He flashed her a smile his hand disappearing to his belt taking a small hair pin and laying it before her “I hope this can make up for my lack of WRITING today...”
Though he had been to Gisaeng houses before, he had never been to one in private and now faced with the beautiful woman next to him he was at a lost off words. HE was a scholar who was still naive in this human world of pleasure and games. His hands still grasping onto the poem the beautiful woman had written for him her writing as beautiful as she was knowing he would treasure it. “Your beauty is as they have told me, if not GREATER, if not even more radiant and shining upon us yet are you as entertaining as they say? Are you as good of a seducer and as playful and fun, I wonder. You have exceeded all my EXPECTATIONS till this moment will you exceed more I wonder.” His hand reached out stroking her cheek softly.