The charcoal crackled as it burned, and with each drop of meat fat, a bright red flame blossomed.
Dajeong sat at a distance, gazing at the meat, trying not to look at the fire if she could.
“……How have your dreams been lately, Yoon Dajeong?”
Kyungjoon, placing a well-cooked piece of meat on Dajeong’s plate, asked her.
Dajeong’s nightmares came without any specific entity or warning, suddenly engulfing her. They all started differently but ended the same.
Invariably trapped in a square space, flames would erupt, and she’d scream for help in the sealed room. Even though it was just a dream, it was terrifying every time.
Being unable to escape and being engulfed in flames – the last moments of her brother, which never left her, was the reason. Her deep subconscious harbored her brother, manifesting in horrific dreams as if she had experienced it herself.
Sometimes she dreamt them for a whole week, and during more stable times, she didn’t have them for almost half a year. But the nightmares never completely disappeared. Dajeong thought of them as always lurking, waiting for an opportunity.
“I haven’t had any since I decided to take this vacation. Not yet.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Whenever she remembered her brother, who must have suffered terribly in death, her whole body ached. It felt like a part of her deceased brother lived within her consciousness. Dajeong wanted to comfort him but didn’t know how.
That accident was the end for Yoon Woojeong and the start of Dajeong’s unhappy life.
Woojeong, feeling a bit under the weather, had said he didn’t want to go on the school trip that morning. But their mother, insisting it was too late to back out, gave him cold medicine and sent him off. Their father also encouraged him with a smile, saying he needed to be strong.
Woojeong had smiled wearily and bid everyone goodbye.
“Mom, Dad, I’ll be back. Dajeong, even if you miss me, just wait a few days. I’ll be back soon.”
Promising to buy souvenirs, Woojeong returned as nothing but ashes. Dajeong’s family became victims of the infamous “Jeju Resort Fire Incident” that year.
“Yoon Dajeong! Stop it. Stop thinking about it.”
Kyungjoon approached her, placed his hands on her cheeks, and lifted her face. Dajeong’s head had been inexorably sinking toward the ground. In Kyungjoon’s eyes were a mix of regret, sorrow, and concern.
“I shouldn’t have asked about your dreams. I won’t bring it up again.”
Dajeong nodded, and Kyungjoon finally let go of her face, sighing softly before opening a beer can. He gulped it down and then picked up the tongs again.
“Kyungjoon.”
“Yoon Dajeong, I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“For making you think of your brother.”
Dajeong laughed.
“We should think about him. He’s our brother. If I don’t, who will?”
Dajeong bravely showed a spirited expression and shook her beer can. Kyungjoon touched cans with her. Dajeong didn’t even take a sip before putting it down again.
“It’s been 13 years, you know. I wish there were no more deaths like that… But such accidents still happen. Most major accidents are human-made. I find such deaths too hard to bear.”
Five years after her brother’s death, her father, who had lost everything in pursuit of the truth, chose to follow her brother. Dajeong had thought that was the peak of her misfortune, but a year later, her mother collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Dajeong was only twenty-one at the time. Seven years have passed since then.
“I shouldn’t have become a nurse. I acted like I had a great sense of mission, but I just wanted to be comforted. I wanted to forget about death by looking at newborn babies.”
“Don’t blame yourself. You’re a great nurse, and the patients know it.”
Kyungjoon checked Dajeong’s empty plate and added more meat for her.
Here’s the English translation of the provided Korean paragraph:
“If you give too much, it’ll all get cold, so just one or two at a time.” Considering Dajeong’s eating pace and ensuring she could continuously enjoy warm meat wasn’t too difficult a task for him.
Kyungjun deliberately changed the subject.
“My sister is really taking good care of Mom’s hospital! To an excessive degree, you know. She doesn’t even do that for her own mother. She never calls our parents who are in Japan, as Lee Kyungmi says. But for your mother, she acts like there’s no better daughter in the world.”
“Really?”
“She seems to go every other day. So don’t worry too much. Her condition is okay these days.”
“That’s good.”
Dajeong smiled softly. Her heart, which couldn’t forget her mother, felt a bit relieved.
Taking care of her mother in the nursing hospital was more challenging than she thought. She had been visiting her mother twice a week, and it was expensive in both time and treatment costs.
For the past seven years, while caring for her mother, she had never taken a vacation. This trip was her first deviation since becoming an adult.
“I’m really grateful to my sister.”
“By the way, Dajeong. It seems there’s someone in room 101? The lights are on on the second floor.”
Kyungjun’s words trailed towards room 101.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
