I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 260

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 260

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“Old Man Shin! Come here! Do you know how to read this?”

The woman went to an elderly servant and held out the note.

“What’s this?”

“It’s the young lady’s name.”

At those words, the servants nearby gathered around.

“How do you read it?”

“Her face is pretty, and her handwriting is beautiful too!”

Smiles spread across the faces of the murmuring servants.

From the moment the young lady they thought was finicky first spoke to them saying she was Joseon people, a subtle goodwill had been sprouting among them. Rio, who used to only pretend to eat every day, now cleanly finished whole bowls, making the kitchen servants delighted.

“Let me see… Pear tree ‘ri’ and middle ‘o’… It’s just Rio in Joseon too.”

“The name suits her perfectly! She’s so fair that even at night, those cheeks shine bright.”

Among the chattering servants, the woman sighed. She was someone who had lived her whole life trembling at police officers’ military boots and rifles, eating humble pie. She knew Rio’s question wasn’t simple. The young lady seemed to want a Joseon name.

“How about we give her a different name? In Joseon!”

The surrounding servants nodded at her suggestion.

“Let’s do that.”

“Since she’s so fair, a name with ‘baek’ or ‘seol’ would be perfect!”

“I think a flower name would work too. Since it’s in her original name.”

Among the servants pondering what name would suit Rio, someone rolled their eyes and spoke.

“You all have no sense, no sense at all. Why would you give a Joseon name to some Japanese collaborator’s daughter just because she’s pretty? Are you crazy!”

Not everyone liked Rio. At the resentful scolding, everyone shut their mouths tight. Those who had wanted to give Rio a Joseon name awkwardly smacked their lips.

“She’s the same Joseon person as us.”

“Same Joseon person my foot! If she lived her whole life among Japanese, she’s Japanese! Living luxuriously in a grand house, eating only good things – Joseon person? Same Joseon person? How are we the same!”

“Don’t be so harsh.”

The woman who had learned Rio’s name gently patted the shoulder and said.

“She’s just a child. Even if she’s a Japanese man’s daughter, I’ve never seen her call him father. If her heart is Joseon, then she’s Joseon.”

No matter how much Rio was Hanamura’s daughter, anyone watching them for just a few days would notice.

It wasn’t a typical father-daughter relationship. The two seemed more like employer and employee. They had no daily conversations.

Rio’s words to Hanamura were at most just two phrases: “Please take care” and “Welcome back.”

The day after arriving in Joseon on a long ship journey, despite burning with fever, Rio had to dress up and see Hanamura off. Hanamura insisted on receiving greetings from his daughter who was trembling with high fever.

“Don’t hate even fellow Joseon people like that.”

“How is that thing Joseon…”

“If she says she’s Joseon, then she’s the same Joseon person as us. That’s what she said.”

“…”

The servant who had been angry just moments before had tears welling up.

Same Joseon person. Though it was frustrating and annoying, they couldn’t properly get angry at those words.

In harsh times. In an era when being born Joseon was a sin, they knew their only allies were fellow Joseon people.

Jeong – that emotion that hotly boiled together compassion, attachment, sympathy, and bonds – was stubbornly lodged in every Joseon person’s heart.

Remembering when she had stammered saying she too was Joseon, the servants finally gave Hanamura’s young lady a new Joseon name.

Joy ‘hui’ and exist ‘jae’ – Huijae .

“The young lady’s Joseon name is read like this: Hui-jae.”

The next day, the woman who brought the meal tray wrote the name in Joseon and Chinese characters on the back of the note Huijae had given her.

“Hijae?”

“Yes. It means to exist joyfully. To eat well here, stay healthy. Make friends all around and laugh a lot. That’s why we chose it.”

Rio still couldn’t understand the words. But it seemed like good words. Words meant for her. Her cheeks kept rising up in a smile. To the grinning Rio, the woman pulled out an old book from her bosom.

“This isn’t a new book… But I thought if you want to read and speak while you’re here, it might be better to look at this. If you’re bored, please read it…”

Wouldn’t it be ridiculous for an illiterate person to give a book as a gift? The woman who had used her own wages to buy a book for Rio hesitantly handed over the old used book. It was a Joseon language textbook written in Japanese.

“…”

Rio, who received the book with both hands, looked at the woman as if she couldn’t believe it. Her eyes rippled with joy.

“Well, I’ll be going now. You left a lot of food yesterday, so today make sure to chew and eat everything!”

Alone in the room, Rio hugged the book to her chest once. The book looked shabby against Huijae’s expensive clothes made of luxurious fabric. But Huijae didn’t mind. She hugged the book tightly.

“Hi-jae.”

Then she repeated her name once more.

“Hui-jae!”

As if saying: I am Joseon people. I am Huijae. Huijae held the book high and bounced around the room.

The woman, who was still standing beyond the door without passing through the hallway, smiled softly. With Huijae’s bouncing sounds behind her, she slowly moved her feet and muttered.

“She says she’s Joseon too, is she that happy…”

* * *

Taeseok did delivery work from dawn again today.

He passed by Hanamura’s house wall with alcohol lees tightly bound in the cargo compartment. Out of habit, knowing it would be futile, he slowed his bicycle at the end. That’s when it happened.

“Gitaeseo-gi!”

He saw the young girl’s face peeking out from the wall. Taeseok kicked the stand and stopped his bicycle.

“Hel-lo?”

“…Huh?”

“Nice to meet you!”

Taeseok blinked slowly. He was dumbfounded. The girl who didn’t even know his name just days ago was now introducing herself.

“Please take care of me!”

Even in formal speech. Taeseok, who quickly approached the girl, soon realized the source of her greetings. She proudly held up a book high above her head with both hands.

“Me! Gift!”

“Who gave you this?”

“Given, so very happy!”

Huijae only said what she wanted to say. She couldn’t listen properly. Wanting to convey that she was happy to receive a gift, she said the words she learned randomly.

“So you didn’t come out because you were studying.”

Taeseok smiled softly. Was this why the girl hadn’t been visible? Thinking that, his lips kept curling up foolishly.

Seeing Taeseok like that, the girl raised one hand like last time. With compelling eyes that seemed to say hurry up and raise your hand. Without realizing it, Taeseok wiped his right hand on his pants.

“Why are you doing that…”

Though hesitant, he extended his hand. The girl, with a confident smile, tickled his palm once more. The girl’s index finger moved gently. Taeseok stiffened like the thick calluses firmly settled on his palm.

It was painfully brief, a fleeting moment. The time spent writing letters was too short. The girl’s eyes crinkled as she withdrew her hand.

“My name. I am Huijae.”

Huijae. It was Huijae.

He finally knew the girl’s name. Taeseok clenched his fist, worried the name she had written might fly away. He couldn’t bear to put strength into his empty palm. He kept clenching his fist awkwardly, afraid the name Huijae might break or shatter.

“Your name. Gitaeseo-gi.”

“Not ‘name,’ say ‘i-reum.’ Na-me.”

To Huijae, who still remembered his name, Taeseok also taught her the word for name.

Yes. You’re Joseon people, and you have a name called Huijae. It seemed like he was saying that. Momentarily flustered, Huijae ducked back down below the wall.

“Really- respect… difficult… reverence? Very grateful.”

At the voice coming from inside the wall, Taeseok approached closer. When he stood on tiptoes to look over the wall, inside there was.

“Hahaha!”

Huijae, who had secretly prepared a cheat sheet, was looking at crumpled paper pretending to speak Joseon well.

Thinking of how she must have held that thick book with her small hands and earnestly picked out words she wanted to say… somewhere in his heart tickled as if someone was tickling him relentlessly.

Taeseok couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Because of Huijae, because of that foolish Joseon girl.

Realizing the laughter was coming from above her head, Huijae hurriedly hid the paper in the book. But once Taeseok’s laughter started, it wouldn’t stop.

“You please teach me.”

Huijae spoke to Taeseok with reddened cheeks.

“I first arrived in Joseon.”

Even this seemed like something she had studied in advance. Taeseok, who had been laughing for a while, looked at Huijae who barely reached his chest.

Usually things that came from across the water were all expensive. Only things so rare they were hard to obtain. He thought she was probably no different from that. No, she felt even more precious. Immeasurably so.

The eyes looking up at Taeseok sparkled with anticipation.

“Alright. It’s not that difficult.”

Hearing those words, Huijae smiled brightly. At that moment, music box music began to play. The heart that had been tickling just moments before felt strange. Heavy and hot and also, also….

“I’m so happy!”

Sunlight was layered over the clear, glass-like voice. The light melody of the music box beautifully captured the scene.

Despite being a pauper, an absurd emotion was blooming toward the rich family’s young lady. He just wanted to do anything this girl wanted. He wanted to fulfill her difficult requests, bring her precious things, and feed her delicious food.

Taeseok gulped down his saliva. It was because Huijae’s gaze was still directed toward him.

Like falling into that vast ocean and swallowing water to the brim, his throat kept getting parched.

Clang-. Clang-. Clang-.

Bell sounds could be heard from the distant port.

“I, I should go now.”

Taeseok brushed his nape with his large hand and then walked with big strides back to his bicycle. Strangely, he didn’t want to take steps away. He could still feel her gaze from behind. Taeseok gripped the bicycle’s steering wheel. Clang-! Just as he was about to kick up the stand with his foot and step on the pedals.

“Have a safe trip!”

Huijae, who was sticking her face out over the wall, said this. Taeseok turned his head to look at Huijae, then silently stepped on the pedals.

Telling him to have a safe trip meant that Huijae wanted Taeseok to return.

The boy’s face, moving forward on the bumpy road, was colored with anticipation. It was a heart directed toward tomorrow.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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