Earlier, Kang had told Huiseo that from now on, he absolutely wouldn’t accept any money Yuwon offered.
However, whether he could really do that was another matter. If Yuwon, who had become spiteful, called out an even larger amount like now, or raised it even more from here, it would naturally become a burdensome situation.
‘Just this once, if I somehow close my eyes tight and ask Huiseo… wouldn’t that work?’
The imperial family members were literally people too, so it was natural to have tempted feelings. However, if that happened, they would surely suffer unbearably just from having briefly thought differently.
But refusing was actually dangerous too.
If the fact that they had refused such a large amount somehow leaked out, naturally they wouldn’t hear good things, with people saying “They were crying poor but their situation is actually fine,” and it could also give justification to further reduce future budgets.
‘This is really, truly rotten, isn’t it?’
With what kind of resentment was he trying to torment him and the imperial family like this? Not knowing, Huiseo bit his lower lip.
[Don’t do useless things]
When he sent that, Yuwon sent back an annoying comment along with a grinning emoticon.
[If you just come out, I won’t bother doing such annoying things.]
[(Cheering lion emoticon)]
“…Ha.”
At that point, Huiseo finally thought that if what Yuwon wanted was to meet him outside the palace, he might as well grant it once. Rather than exchanging messages like this where he couldn’t say everything he wanted to say and just getting heated up, that seemed better.
‘If he tries any funny business, I’ll slap him.’
Though whether he could actually do that was a separate issue.
With that feeling, Huiseo resolutely glared at his phone screen.
[Where should I go?]
Then an answer came back like a shot, as if he’d been waiting.
[I’ll send a car, so wait]
Only after a simple conversation coordinating the meeting time and place could Huiseo finally escape from the chat window that made him sigh. Then in the interview screen that appeared again, the imperial family members were still talking cheerfully.
Huiseo quietly looked down at that sight for a while.
***
“Look over there, it’s the Crown Prince!”
At the children’s whispering, young Yuwon’s gaze also turned to the same place.
There, as the kid who had shouted earlier said, was the Crown Prince who would turn sixteen this year. Though it had already been several times he’d come and gone from the palace, the children still seemed overwhelmed when they saw him.
It was probably because it was fascinating to see the Crown Prince they had only seen on TV in person right before their eyes, but to them, the oldest being at most twelve, their sixteen-year-old hyung must have looked tremendously high up. Kids that age cared more about such things.
However, in Yuwon’s eyes, there was someone who seemed even more impressive than that Crown Prince.
It was Huiseo, standing next to him, who looked even smaller because of it.
Huiseo was the same age as Yuwon, a child belonging to the youngest group among them. However, even among those gathered who were called prodigies or geniuses, flying high and crawling low in the world, when facing the Crown Prince, the only one who could actually converse was Huiseo alone.
“With the class of royalty remaining, can this society truly be called an equal society? Wouldn’t it be funny for me, a representative member of that royalty, to talk about equality with my own mouth?”
“Since the definition and form of equality are all different, where in the world is there perfect equality? I think what’s important is the movement toward it, the mindset of not forgetting.”
What they were doing was real ‘conversation.’
Compared to that, all the other kids were just one-sidedly babbling about fields they were interested in. For instance, mathematics, science, space, cars, and among the younger ones, dinosaurs… things like that. To Yuwon at the time, they were extremely childish.
Even among the gathered cream of the crop from various places, a real, noble crane standing alone.
Huiseo couldn’t be compared to anyone in the gifted class.
Even when the Crown Prince, who was a whole 7 years older than him, came, even when most adults came, he conversed calmly and debated. How could he know so many things, how could he be so composed? He couldn’t help but admire and long for it.
‘…I want to become like that too.’
He wanted to hang out together, he wanted to have splendid conversations with him.
It was around that time that young Yuwon began circling around Huiseo.
However, that didn’t mean they could easily become close. At the time, Huiseo read books day and night as if he would absorb all the books in the world, even more than now when he rarely took books out of his hands.
Adding to his originally indifferent personality toward others, he paid no attention to whether Yuwon circled around him or not. It was fine to say he didn’t know at all. It was a truly consistent appearance if it was consistent. Yuwon at the time, overwhelmed by that momentum, found it very difficult to say even one word to such a Huiseo.
However, he couldn’t give up because of that.
Though it was accompanied by countless days of deliberation and hesitation, one day he finally mustered the courage to ask.
“…What, what book are you reading?”
“……”
Then instead of answering, Huiseo lifted the book he was reading so Yuwon could check the cover. Actually, he wanted to use that as a starting point to have a more plausible conversation. Was even that short time to answer too precious? Huiseo’s attitude was rather cold.
‘…I’m not trying to bother you.’
Though flustered, Yuwon had no choice but to read the book’s cover as told. There was still a chance left after all.
‘Regarding the book’s content, I’ll be able to talk more somehow.’
However, Yuwon’s such expectations were splendidly thwarted. It was none other than because the content of the book Huiseo was reading was too unfamiliar to him.
[The History of Democracy and Its Global Trends]
‘…What’s that?’
Yuwon’s soul left him for a moment as he pursed his lips.
In fact, it wasn’t unreasonable. He was young, and the place they lived was definitely an ‘Empire.’ Though it might be nominal, it was clearly different in nature. Thinking about it now, reading such a book in the palace. In the old days, wouldn’t it undoubtedly be a ‘forbidden book’?
He knew beforehand, but he was truly unparalleled in his extraordinariness.
Nevertheless, his desire to show off that he knew things too and mix words together in front of Huiseo remained unchanged, so Yuwon frantically searched his mind. Though he had never studied it properly, he intended to mobilize everything he had seen somewhere, things he had picked up.
In fact, he was one beat late because of that. Unfortunately, in the meantime, Huiseo seemed to have lost interest and completely withdrew the momentary attention he had given to Yuwon. Perhaps, like many children who had approached him, he thought he wouldn’t understand anyway.
“…No, I…!”
Yuwon’s face flushed hot, wanting to say “I’m not like that” but unable to.
‘…Can I really stand on equal footing with you?’
Unable to easily answer that, Yuwon went home that day and immediately looked up everything about ‘democracy’ and memorized it all night long. Just you wait. I’ll show you how much I’ve studied. That was his determination.
‘Ask me anything.’
Though how much depth could there be learning it in one day’s crash course, but with a young child’s bravado, the next day Yuwon went to the gifted class triumphantly with his chin held high.
However, just like the day before, he couldn’t help but be flustered after checking the title of the book Huiseo was reading. Today his interest was none other than ‘Oriental painting.’
“Huh?”
The boy who had sparkled with curiosity about democracy at this place the day before had become a yangban’s son demurely holding a brush and painting orchids the next day. Going on about the book he read yesterday in front of him would just be beating a drum alone after everyone had left.
That was very different from what Yuwon had dreamed of.
It was no different from the act of one-sidedly babbling about one’s own interests that he had called childish earlier. Yuwon’s pride wouldn’t allow him to become that.
“…I can’t stay like this.”
Having gone so confidently but returning without even opening his mouth, greatly disappointed, from that day on Yuwon began studying everything from politics, economics, society, to culture and arts in general out of spite.
Even though it was nearly impossible to predict Huiseo’s interests that changed every moment as if jumping across stepping stones, it was youthful bravado. He wanted to stand side by side with Huiseo that much. He wanted to boast that only he could fully understand his words, his heart.
The ‘friend’ that young Yuwon learned about from the adults around him was such a thing.
The ‘level’ had to match.
However, no matter how hard Yuwon tried, he only felt like the gap with Huiseo wasn’t narrowing but rather growing wider.
They say those who work hard can’t beat those who enjoy it. It might have been the difference between Huiseo, who did it because he liked it, and him, who couldn’t go that far. Though he studied broadly and excessively, because the scope was that wide, it was a shallow depth that would quickly reveal its limits after a few exchanges of questions.
That made Yuwon feel even smaller and more ashamed in front of Huiseo.
‘Not enough.’
Even trying this hard.
Still far from it.
He was anxious about when he could stand by his side.
But one day, on that day when he entered the palace following the gifted class kids as usual, Yuwon witnessed a rather shocking sight.
In the palace, next to Huiseo, who always read books alone or only had the Crown Prince by his side, was unexpectedly the Third Prince Hwan. What surprised Yuwon was that their relationship seemed quite close somehow. In the time Yuwon, who had been constantly following Huiseo with his eyes, didn’t know.
Before he knew it.
