Chapter 4 – 懼 Fear
Part 1
Unedited
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1
You will never forget me!
It was Ja-Horyung’s habit.
Gok Yeo-Heun’s response was different depending on his mood at that time. Some days Yeo-Heun just chewed and swallowed it down, some days he mocked that it would never happen, and other days he would tremble with fear that it really would.
– No matter what you do, it will change nothing.
Wonje always seemed to be very conscious of the absoluteness of his words. He thought that uttering such words, as though he were giving an Imperial order, would make them manifest like an Imperial order.
Occasionally, his body was tainted. He shuddered at the thought that, just as his body could not get away from Wonje, his consciousness may also be tethered to him as well. And so Wonje diligently carved his traces on Gok Yeo-Heun’s body as though he were trying to comply with his own orders.
Even on that day when he walked under the collapsing fortress in front of Wonje’s eyes, Gok Yeo-Heun had many bite marks on his neck. Wonje ran as he cried out, but it was too late! He could not be seen beneath the collapsed fortress.
Wonje could only stop where he was and observe Heun Gok through a small gap. Wonje’s lips could be seen moving slightly.
-You will never be rid of me.
Gok Yeo-Heun barely moved his hand, but he still managed to rip out the gold chains Wonje had pierced through his ear. Heun’s ear was torn to pieces, but he could no longer feel pain.
– I will forget all of it. I will never think of you again.
Gok Yeo-Heun faintly saw through his dimming vision an expression on Wonje’s face that he had never seen before. A thin water-like veil colored his sight, but his expression was seen vividly.
– This is not the end.
Wonje clenched his fist and said.
– You cannot leave me.
His eyes began to lower heavily. Gok Yeo-Heun already knew his head had been broken in half. His body was pierced and his limbs were crushed.
So he laughed.
– I’m going to die like this. We will never see each other again.
Since he was so broken, Wonje would be unable to save him no matter what he did. Gok Yeo-Heun closed his eyes without fear.
Drip.–
He heard the sound of water dripping down at his feet. Gok Heun didn’t see what it was. He didn’t know if it was a part of the water-like veil that obscured his vision of Wonje.
He just thought one thing.
It’s all over now. This sickening life and his ties to Wonje were now severed.
That he would never have to face him again.
At that time, Gok Yeo-Huen never thought that he would be reborn.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
2
“…….”
Heun opened his eyes. The first thing that he noticed was the piercing stench.
His senses had not properly adjusted to the rank darkness, but he felt a chill and fully opened his heavy eyelids. Heun blinked his eyes. Everything was completely dark. Judging by the cold moisture coming from the floor, the Heun knew that the place he was in was below the ground and that the entrance to it was blocked off with grid-shaped iron bars.
How could he not know?
It was the palace(潔宮) prison (囚獄) that he built with his own hands.
Judging by the rust on the iron bars, it seemed as though a lot of people had seen the inside of this cell. As his senses returned, he thought he could smell the scent of old blood being masked by the smell of oxidized iron.
Heun got up and leaned his back against the wall where the dim light beyond the iron pole could not reach. His teeth began to chatter.
“…… half a Zhang¹ long, and two cun² wide. Scrape a hole with iron, roll, and stuff cloth into it. It takes three hours to get enough water to drink. So, I have to watch the time of the guards’ arrival, and when the scraped stone has collected enough water, wring the cloth out into my mouth…….”
T/N
Zhang – Chinese Unit of measurement. The encyclopedia says something like; 3.58 meters. Wiki says; zhang, a unit of length standardized in 1984 as 3 1/3 meters.
Heun, who had been muttering to himself, stopped talking and grinned instead.
“You’re not going anywhere. Where are you going to go if you run away from here?”
While building the prison on Wonje’s behalf, Heun was worried that it might become his home someday.
The reason was obvious enough. Wonje’s intentions were unpredictable, while he forced the Odaesae to be loyal to him, towards them, Wonje’s loyalty was short-lived. Now the Imperial Family and the Five Families were constantly in an invisible power struggle. Even though Heun was building a palace for him, he was actually a hostage who had been extorted from the Tohwa.
So he made a pre-calculated escape route. If all of the canals and sewers had been competently maintained and completed as originally designed, he could escape from the capital. But now, at best, it was all outside of Taehwamun. He could not even go half that far with such a body as his without collapsing from exhaustion.
The Heun tried to pull his knees up as usual, but his legs did not bend. It wasn’t because the bones were damaged, it was because he had no strength in his legs.
Heun moved into that position by dragging his legs with his own hands.
When he put his hand on his knee, he could see the black rot underneath his nails.
“Ah, ahh…….”
The Heun let out a small sigh.
Yes, he was dying.
He looked at his body. His legs had already lost sensation, and his arms would soon as well. This energy he used to sit up would be his last.
The inside of his mouth was dry and there was no more hunger. It was as though his entire body was bound to a large stone and he was sinking like that.
There really wasn’t much left now.
Then a thought passed through his mind, this was a perfect place to be.
After all, the place he built would become his tomb.
Ja-Horyung was right. He always told Heun that he would die in this palace.
He said that as long as he was alive, Heun would never be able to die.
In the end, he would have died, decomposing at the bottom of Taehwamun Gate. Where he was the furthest away from Ja-Horyung. Where, if he put one foot outside of it, he would be in a place other than Taewoongseong.
Did he win in the end?
Heun forcefully grabbed his hand which could no longer move.
He thought that he had won when he died. In the end, Wonje didn’t get anything that he wanted.
The capital was not completed, and he died while building the castle. The Five Families still had venomous teeth, and all of them will remain pending problems for Wonje.
However, he was born yet again, and the karma of his past life was repeating.
His flesh suddenly began to tremble.
Was he really leaving this karma behind? Maybe it was still stacking up.
-(Swallows lump)
Is it possible that he might die here and be reborn again?”
“… No!”
His body, which had been cooling down, jumped like the last convulsions of death.
“I shouldn’t… !”
Suddenly the dim light grew brighter.
Dozens of lights lit up in an instant in front of Heun all at once, like an insect cracking an egg.
While grimacing in the light that seemed to blind his eyes, the prison door made of iron bars set into a grid, creaked open.
“Doji-gam⁴ has informed me that the Emperor will be coming here!”
It was Ja-Ryung who appeared in the light. Heun forgot to kneel down and just stayed in the same posture.
Unsurprisingly, an admonishment came.
“Prisoner, hurry up and lower your head!”
“… …”
His intention wasn’t to make a childish protest, but his disobedient body was reluctant to show that ignorant scoundrel that it would listen. It may have been because Gok Heun had never been able to have control of his own body as he wanted until just before he died.
Heun spoke in a small voice.
“I am going to die soon, so if you want to reap it early, do whatever you want.”
“What, I’ll kill you…… !”
He almost grabbed Heun by the throat and threw him backward upon hearing such rudeness that had never been directed at his ears before. The reason he didn’t do that, was because Ja-Ryung was one step faster.
“Isn’t it a shame that I’m going to die?”
Ja-Ryung approached and sat in front of him with his legs crossed. Doji-gam and Jimokcheon widened their eyes as they saw dirt on the robe that was embroidered with gold thread.
In the meantime, Ja-Ryung, who was at eye level, reached out and patted Heun’s cheek.
“What are you talking about?”
“……“
“Are you saying that you no longer have any regrets about living, or that you would rather die than bow down to me?’
If he had to choose an answer, it would be both.
“It’s strange.”
Ja-Ryung’s hand touched Heun’s once more. Heun’s head tilted precariously to avoid him again.
“Why do you hate me so much?”
Ja-Ryung muttered to himself, then suddenly he grabbed Heun’s chin. His interlocked teeth twisted and his mouth opened.
Before he refused, it occurred to him that nothing had changed. One thought passed through his mind, Ja-Horyung only knew one way to deal with people who didn’t look at him.
He forced them to do so.
He was tired and disgusted with it.
“Answer me, why do you hate me? It is an unacceptable excuse to say that all men with the surname Gok are the same in their hatred of me. I don’t know about what you spit out when you badmouth me, but when it comes to being a nuisance, Taebo is probably the best. But even he doesn’t avoid me to the extent that he can’t stand my touch. What you are doing is…..hmm, yes. It’s like what a bitch does when she’s sulky. It’s very suspicious.”
“… …!”
He opened his eyes with all his might. Seeing Heun’s expression change, Ja-Ryung raised his lips and smiled.
“Yeah, that’s like a bitch. So I want to keep messing with you. I’m generous with women.”
“Do……,”
Shut up! Get your hands off me.
The lips that were supposed to say those words trembled between Ja-Ryung’s fingers.
Ja-Ryung continued to laugh as though he were having fun.
“Now, tell me. Why did you get mad at me? No matter how much I think about it, I don’t remember making you feel bad. No, have I ever seen you before? You must face someone, in order to do something that will make them feel bad.”
“… …”
Heun’s face contorted.
Ja-Horyung, who had said he would not be able to forget him even in death, had forgotten him instead. Looking at the decedent that so closely resembled Ja-Horyung, he felt like the weight of the karma was crushing his chest.
Was he the only one who hadn’t forgotten? So was he the only one born again?
Brother and Ja-Ryung too….. was he the only one holding on to what they had all forgotten and let go of?
“…… haha!”
The Heun suddenly lowered his head and let out a dry laugh. Ja-Ryung furrowed his eyebrows, and Heun laughed at himself, while he was still shuddering at him.
“It’s rude! What the hell are you doing?!”
The soldiers all pointed their spears at him, and Ja-Ryung nodded to stop them.
“Why are you laughing?”
Even so, he couldn’t stop laughing for a long time. In the end, Ja-Ryung had to grab his chin and force him to stop.
“Why did the Goks’ send you as a slave? What made them do that?”
“You have already heard it.”
First, Heun had a coughing fit, then he replied back.
It seemed like he knew now. What the reason was for this karma to make him be reborn?
This time, he must let it go. Look directly at the things he couldn’t do then and do not commit the same mistake again.
He had hatred for him, and he died with hatred for him.
That must have been the source of his rebirth. It was actually Heun, not him, who caused his rebirth.
Alright. So now he would let him go. He now knew that he must abandon him to abandon his karma.
His eyes lowered. The intense hatred that started from Ja-Ryung’s fingers holding his chin, lowered alongside his eyes.
If he had to not hate in order to forget, then he would let go of that. He wouldn’t hate him.
The entire time Heun coughed, Ja-Ryung held his chin without any sympathy. He didn’t mind the occasional splash of saliva.
The smile that had been gracefully embroidered on his lips had long since disappeared.
When Heun shook his head to indicate that he was going to answer, the hand that was holding his chin released him.
“…… Gaju hates me and wants me to die. If it was a labor camp at the Imperial Palace, he would have pursued placing me there because it’s the perfect place to die without a name. It is true that the Gok master did not know that the waterway had changed due to a lack of knowledge, and it is also true that no one listened to me. In order to avoid the consequences of the Emperor’s wrath, Gaju brought in the son he had already abandoned. Therefore, it is only right that Gok should be charged with the sin of negligence, not rebellion, and that he should send the person in charge of the construction back to do the work again.”
There were no lies in Heun’s words, and Ja-Ryung understood that there was no mercy in them. No matter how elegantly a lie was created, there must have been some rough points in it, so long as it was a lie.
There was only one thing that Ja-Ryung couldn’t understand, how could Gok Hwang abandon his eldest son so easily?
There was something absurd about doing so for just being born with forbidden eyes.
What was even more absurd, was that he was afraid of the reincarnation of a criminal in his family. If Heun was a Gok, shouldn’t Hwang have found a way to use the sinner in a better way?
“I need to know why the Gok family head hates you like an enemy. If you can convince me your words are not just nonsense, then do so.”
“… …”
There was a faint sound echoing in his chest.
The deeply rooted sound was fading away. Heun closed his eyes for a moment.
Now was the time for it to end. It was finally going to be done.
“…… It must be because the young Lord is about to get married.”
“Who is the young Lord?”
“He’s my younger half-brother, by two and a half years.”
“What does his marriage have to do with it?”
Heun opened his eyes and stared at Ja-Ryung.
It was surprising that his greatest karma would let him go at the last minute.
There was a slight tremor in his eyes. His body felt like he would blow over, however, it didn’t feel oppressive, instead, he felt like he was becoming as light as a feather, as though he didn’t need to do anything.
“He likes to sodomize me.”
Heun answered calmly, but the moment Ja-Ryung’s heard it, he heard a crackling sound.
Ja-Ryung looked surprised. He was so startled that his calm face paled, and a somewhat consolatory expression sprang forth from it.
“……What?”
“He is getting married soon, but Gaju certainly wants to make sure it is finished.”
Heun saw Ja-Ryung’s face distort strangely once more. At that moment he thought that his expression seemed very familiar, his exhausted head drooped.
Alright. I do not hate you now. It could be now. Now that you still don’t know what your karma is.
“M,me too……I want it to end……”
His eyes closed, and his body leaned gently.
Plop–
His body bent like a broken reed.
“… ..!”
Ja-Ryung reached out his arm and grabbed Heun.
Doji-gam was so astonished he almost fainted, and the Emperor’s Guards were the same, but Ja-Ryung himself was the most astonished among them.
It was as though his body moved without him thinking about it. However, his expression became sharper and sharper because he couldn’t understand why his body reacted.
“Ilcheon.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
Jimokcheon approached Ja-Ryung, Reflexively.
Ja-Ryung assessed the weight of the man held in his arms, and whether he was still breathing or not. His weight was heavier than redemption³, the heaviest thing he could hold in his hand. But he was lighter than any person he had ever held in his arms.
“What is this?”
“…… Yes?”
Ja-Ryung gave strength to his arm. Heun’s body shook lightly.
“I asked what this was. Why is this…… “
Ja-Ryung was unable to figure out what he himself was trying to say, the expression on his face seemed as though his mind were sunk into some fathomless pit.
“Why…… am I?”
Why am I holding onto him?
Jimok-cheon bowed his head, perplexed, but Ja-Ryung didn’t ask again. He knew that the answer was something no one, including himself, knew.
Ja-Ryung held Heun for a while, and then he suddenly spoke.
“Tell Wei-Jeong.”
Then, as if thinking about it, he asked him a question that he had not intended.
“Is there anything you want to say?”
“There’s a man……
The answer didn’t flow smoothly and he paused once again.
Ja-Ryung bit his lip.
It was the first time in his life that he couldn’t do this or that because of the weight in his arms. It was as if the world that had been rolling in one direction up until then, suddenly turned around and crawled in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, his lips moved as they pleased.
“…… I want to save.”
“…… what?”
As he shook his head wondering if he had heard wrong, Heun’s drooping body slipped down halfway, and Ja-Ryung lifted him in his arms without thinking.
“Go tell him.”
“…… yes, yes! I have received your order!”
Doji-gam raised his back from his bow and hurriedly ran out of the palace.
Then Ja-Ryung got up. Ja-Ryung was about to leave the prison when he stopped for a moment, as though he were surprised to find that he still had Heun in his arms, he then called to Jimokcheon.
“Ilcheon.”
The name he always called him seemed unfamiliar. He hesitated. Jimokcheon closed his mouth and lifted his eyes.
“You carry him.”
It took quite some time for him to be able to answer. Jimokcheon also needed time to recover from his amazement.
“I…… I have received your order, Your Majesty.”
It seemed as though he were trying to disperse his hesitation, as Ja-Ryung moved him as though he were going to throw Heun on Jimokcheon’s back.
So, three days after arriving at Taewoong-seong, Heun entered the inner palace.
No, not after three days, but for the first time since he first entered 156 years before.
At the same time as Heun was transferred to the inner palace, Gok Hwang and Dodok Cheomsa, who had been imprisoned, were released. Cheomsa was held responsible for the accident and was given a long sentence along with confiscation of property.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
Part 2
3
“What is all this?”
He said and then signed. Huhh.
When he heard Ja-Ryung’s order, that the person who had been brought from the palace prison was to be housed inside the inner palace, the first thing that Wei-Jeong did was sigh, and the second thing he did was slap the head of the Dojigam who came to relay the orders.
Dojigam could not tell Wei-Jeong how unfair this was, because the moment he flashed his angry eyes at him, he was overwhelmed by his intensity.
“That, that…… Head Palace Eunuch……”
“Huhh.”
Wei-Jeong sighed sadly and gestured to Doji-Gam.
As their distance decreased, his head was slapped again. This time it was worse. Tears sprang from his eyes.
“Ugh……”
“It’s not easy to find a single competent person in the inner palace……”
It sounded like he was complaining to himself, but he was actually blaming the Doji-gam. He obviously meant that he should have stopped him if he was right next to him. It was the Emperor’s desire to bring the prisoner to the inner palace, but his criticism was that at the very least, he shouldn’t have stood ideally by and done nothing.
“I’m sorry, Head Palace Eunuch.”
However, Dojigam could not say that obvious thing, that he had no power to curtail the Emperor’s wishes.
He had spent fifty-seven years in the Imperial Family. If it were to say to him ‘stop’, the word death would not be enough.
All twelve Taegam were Wei-Jeong’s people. The only organization that served the royal family that the Odaesae did not have their people planted in, was the Gyeonggi-gam (The office of the highest-ranking Eunuchs). In the Naeseodang (內書堂), where young eunuchs are gathered and educated to serve as eunuchs, it was said that incompetent¹ servants were often mixed in, but even those who came from a particular background often disappeared silently at the hands of Wei-Jeong before they could become official eunuchs.
If one was forced to count the number of people who went missing from Taewoongseong Palace, that person wouldn’t have a prayer. It was Wei-Jeong’s duty to deal with that thankless task, and he did so in a nonchalant manner, as coolly as though he was eating a bowl of rice.
“Whooo. Starting from tonight on, the soles of feet of those living as concubines will catch fire.”
It was the emperor’s prerogative to bring people into the inner court, but it was the eunuchs’ job to keep a close eye on what was happening.
It was fortunate that he was a prisoner instead of a woman. However, if he had been a woman, he would have had to stand up next to him 12 hours a day in 16 different rooms, in order to monitor him.
And then everything, from what he ate, to the clothes and shoes he wore, and even his hair ornaments would have had to be monitored.
“No, it’s not. It would be better if he were a woman. Being that’s the not case, won’t everyone be more alert?”
Whooo.
At times like this, Wei-Jeong lamented the vacant position of the Empress.
Without a mistress, it is natural for the lesser ranks to run wild. He didn’t want a softhearted personality to come in, so it was only natural for him to wish for a person of nobility, with the same temperament as an emperor, to come in and take control of the concubines.
The emperor ordered that the dying prisoner was to live in the inner palace.
Even if no one is playing their hand right away, it would be difficult to fathom the number of people who have a fire raging within them right now.
When he thought about how the number of spies would be increasing, he became that much more annoyed.
“The troughs will soon overflow².”
Wei-Jeong closed his eyes and clasped his hands. Strangely enough, Dojigam poked his head under his hand.
Bang!
When he hit him with all of his strength, he felt Doji clenching his jaw and squeezing his shoulders upward. His chaotic mind was relieved a little.
“Whoo. There’s nothing wrong with you. Has the court physician been notified?.”
Doji nodded his head.
“Yes, Head Palace Eunuch.”
“Okay. Then we must go.”
Ahhhh.
As Wei-Jeong slowly raised his dull body, he let out an exaggerated sigh that he did not pretend to try to stop. Dojigam hurriedly followed after him.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
4
The pungent smell of medicinal herbs reeked. Wei-Jeong entered the innermost bedroom of Yiyang Court, which was filled with all kinds of incense and smoke, slipped through the people that were hovering, and approached the bed without hesitation.
Yiyang Court was in a Yukwon (六院)³, one of the six gardens belonging to the Samgung Palaces (三宮)⁴, the central Yukwon of the Inner Palace was used for different things in each era, but now all were mainly used for concubine residences.
T/N
- 3.Yukwon: The Six gardens
- 4. Samgung: Three Palaces
Among the Yukwon, the ones on the east side were labeled for concubines. Yiyang Palace was located on the west side of them and had been vacant for a long time because there was no one to use it.
“What is happening? Has he come to his senses yet?”
“Ah, Head Palace Eunuch, Wei-Jeong has arrived. No, he hasn’t regained consciousness yet.”
The doctor pretended to be more knowledgeable when he saw Wei-Jeong. Seeing that his complexion was sallow today, he didn’t seem as though he would have anything good to say.
Wei-Jeong glanced over the bed once and asked him again.
“From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t seem like he will survive…… What do you think, doctor?”
He shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh.
“I have robbed all of the medical coffers of the hospital.”
“Haha.”
“All the palace’s wild ginseng has been collected and decocted, and even the inner tier of hwa-ri has been used as well, so all that is left is to wait.”
Wei-Jeong frowned and spoke slowly. It was definitely a tone letting the doctor know to pay attention.
“How much more will you give to replenish that empty body? Isn’t he in pain already? Whoo.”
The doctor’s expression showed he was at a loss.
”…… Th,that…… is because I clearly received a Royal sanction…….”
“Yes, I’m sure you did.”
“… …”
Wei-Jeong stopped speaking and turned his eyes to the bedside again.
Wei-Jeong was astonished⁵ when he first saw the prisoner enter Yiyang Palace on Jimok-cheon’s back.
He thought he had seen almost everything in the sixty years he spent in the Imperial Palace, but that was the first time he’d ever seen such a thing. It was too hard to see a good match with that destroyed, filthy man. To put it bluntly, there was hardly any unharmed part left on him. It was fortunate that his eyes, nose, and mouth, were still properly situated on his face.
That alone was surprising, but when he heard that the Emperor had held him and put him on Jimok-cheon’s back, he lost his mind.
What could he expect next?
Did he really touch something like this with his own hands? The Emperor?
And now he was washed clean and was lying in the bed at Yiyang Palace. After hearing about who he was, it left a bitter aftertaste in Wei-Jeong’s mouth.
Alright. He is of the Tohwa.
He said he had the name, Gok Heun. He had heard that there was a strange story about a person born as the eldest son of Tohwa who was given the name Heun.
Wei-Jeong reached out and lifted his closed eyelid.
“What are you doing now?”
He asked the question in amazement, but instead of answering, Wei-Jeong just continued looking at the man’s eyes between the eyelids that he was lifting, with an unsure expression on his face.
“Hey, Head Palace Eunuch. How can you treat a patient like that?”
Wei-Jeong tilted his head and spoke low, as if to himself.
“Should he really be saved……”
He tapped Wei-Jeong’s hand with a look of astonishment.
“What did you just say, Head Palace Eunuch?”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything.”
“No, obviously……”
Wei-Jeong slowly opened his eyes and faced him.
The doctor, who was about to step forward because he had obviously heard something that was off, quietly shut his mouth. This was the understanding of having lived in Taewoongseong for fifty-seven years.
“I said, I didn’t say anything.”
“Uh-huh…… Yes,……I must have misheard something, Head Palace Eunuch.”
“I suppose so.”
Conversely, this time Wei-Jeong tapped the doctor on the shoulder.
“This was the word from the Emperor himself, so we must obey it. Wouldn’t we be considered disloyal if our interests were misplaced? The Imperial Palace is a very difficult place to keep your head attached.”
“… …”
The expression on Wei-Jeong’s face, whose meaning it wasn’t hard to understand, lit up again.
He was coercing him into serving his interest, and unless he heard it wrong, the Head Palace Eunuch obviously……
“Good luck.”
Wei-Jeong shrugged his shoulders and left Yiyang Palace as suddenly as he had come. As the doctor exhaled the breath he had been holding and leaned on the bed, one of the palace women asked…
“The medicinal tea is finished, what should I do now?”
His expression became a face of immediate concern.
Who knows? Is the Emperor in the Imperial Palace the most terrifying, or is the Head Palace Eunuch?
The Head Palace Eunuch is supposed to be as perfect as the Emperor, but a person cannot know everything about a serpent. The doctor suddenly felt a chill and trembled.
“That …… bring it for now.”
“Yes.”
After the palace woman finished, the patient lay on the bed and tossed and turned for a bit. The doctor was startled and stroked his heart then he took the pulse of the patient.
“It’s only a little bit, but his pulse is getting stronger than it was before I took it a few exams ago…..It is possible that his pulse might be completely stable soon.”
The doctor brushed off his complicated mind with a powerful shake of his head.
For the time being, his first priority is to keep an eye on him⁰. It is a method that he had gleaned from the countless times he’d observed the tactics of aggressive men who had others’ abdomens slashed open. If they were lucky enough to still be breathing, he would be the one to sweep their intestines in and sew them back together.
Alright, but who would be the one to sew him up if his stomach gets slashed open? For now, he will instead dodge the swords closest to him.
“Change the herbs where you’ve placed them in the fleshy areas. Don’t forget to remove the cotton cloth once every half an hour and give it some air.”
The palace women bowed their heads at his words.
The smell of medicinal herbs, which had subsided for a while, became more and more intense.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
5
“Emperor. Did you call me?”
It was beyond the beginning of Sul⁶ (戌時初) that Wei-Jeong went to Ganghwajeon in search of Ja-Ryung.
Ja-Ryung sat at the table as if he had found something interesting for the first time in a long time. On the desk were scattered books, which if stacked neatly would exceed one’s reach.
It seemed like he had seen so many of those things before. It had been a long time since Ja-Ryung, who was usually insensitive had such an immersed expression on his face, except of course when he was playing a trick on people.
So Wei-Jeong didn’t have a good feeling. He was still going to call on him at this time, but even so, that expression. Wei-Jeong held both hands so that the back of his neck didn’t keep crouching back.
Besides, he thought that the book Ja-Ryung was holding looked quite familiar.
Snap-.
Ja-Ryung shut the old book with worn-out edges.
“Do you know what this is?”
If Ja-Ryung came out like this there must be a reason, so it was wise to take a look at it.
“I don’t know, your Majesty.”
“Really?”
“There should be one or two books in the Imperial Palace.”
Ja-Ryung, who felt entitled to plunder without taking a proper look, seemed to know it would be that way.
“I found something quite interesting in the Royal Library (印綬司). It is said to be left over from the time of Wonje, however, it is the journal of the Head Eunuch. I was reading because there was supposed to be a pretty detailed record of the accident that took place at the time.”
Oh, of all things!
Wei-Jeong, who only recognized the book then, furrowed his brow.
“That …… the Emperor, who is very lazy about books, has put a lot of his efforts into trivial things. Why didn’t you just ask me?”
“It would have been usual.”
“Well, what bizarre words are you talking about, my Lord? Is there anything different from usual?”
“It feels like an overreach of power. It was not in the book(書目). It seems like someone hid it in the Royal Library.”
He was the only one under Ja-Ryung who could do such a thing, and even though it was a rebuke, Wei-Jeong calmly shook his head.
“What do you mean, I’m hiding it? If it’s just a eunuch’s journal, it shouldn’t have a title or a proper classification, so shouldn’t it be left alone?”
“Alright?”
“I think that’s correct, your Majesty.”
Ja-Ryung laughed angrily.
“That’s enough, It was idiotic to try arguing with you.”
“What are you talking about, your Majesty.”
“Stop it.”
“Yes, I have received your orders.”
Ja-Ryung asked a question that was cut through from front to back.
“Could there really be such things as reincarnation?”
Wi-Jeong never panicked, as though he had already thought everything through.
No matter if he was half crazy on the inside, he wouldn’t have brought a dying man into the Inner Palace without a reason. Especially one from the Gok clan.
There was something about that man from Tohwa.
“Isn’t it better to ask him directly?”
“How long do you want me to wait for you to come to your senses?”
“If you are asking me what I think, I will tell you. The Tohwa Taebo isn’t an idiot, so there must have been some reason to believe so.”
“So do you believe it?”
“Is there anything to lose by being cautious? If he was really that madman from the time, it would be difficult for him to breathe in the Inner Palace like this, my Emperor.”
If it was true that if he was the madman who was said to have died cursing Wonje and the Imperial Family over and over again, the act of forcing him to reside in the Inner Palace would be incomprehensible. Ja-Ryung would know that too.
“That’s right. This needlessly sprawling place is so vast that there are still roads that even I don’t know within it. If he built the palace himself, he must know ways of getting into and out of my bedroom without anyone knowing.”
“Oh, you are finally saying the right things, my Lord.”
Ja-Ryung furrowed his brow.
“Finally?”
“Of course, it’s not meant that way.”
“Then let’s say that’s so.”
When Ja-Ryung did not give a strong reaction to the words that were deliberately meant to provoke him, Wei-Jeong clicked his tongue.
The two knew each other very well. Wei-Jeong tried to distract Ja-Ryung by inciting his nerves, and Ja-Ryung understood it clearly and didn’t take the bait.
“What are you hiding?”
“This one would not dare lie (漏告: hide certain parts, to obfuscate the truth) to the Emperor.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me?”
Wei-Jeong gave a blank expression. Sometimes, their conversation was like a game of hide⁷ and seek⁸(捉迷藏: hide-and-seek) played with the eyes open.
“Even if I asked the Emperor why he brought the Gok prisoner into the inner palace, he would not answer me. No matter how much I implored him by stating that there has never been a single instance of an Emperor taking a man, who was neither a concubine nor a ‘guest’⁹, into an Inner Palace, he still would not give me an answer.”
“You’re a good liar. There was Wonje.”
“It’s not a lie, my Lord. Wonje mentioned such a wish, however, at the time he was not able to achieve his will due to opposition not only from Gyotaejeon¹⁰ but also from all over the country and abroad. All the twelve palaces of the yukwon were bestowed in the records, but in fact, it is not stated that the man Wonje wanted to bring in officially stayed in the Yukwon. And even if I didn’t tell you, wouldn’t you already know it, my Lord? Don’t underestimate me.”
“I know you are not a person to be taken lightly.”
Ja-Ryung’s fingertips tapped hard on the bookshelf.
“Then I’ll ask you something else. Why is the record of the madman from the Tohwa such a mess?”
Wei-Jeong shrugged his shoulders as if something bothersome had happened.
“…… how can you ask me that? Wasn’t it the Emperor who dug through all the records?! It looks like you’ve been up all night from the look of the dark circles under your eyes.”
“Here we are speaking about one matter, there we are talking about something else. Did you say that he never stayed in the Yukwon? But there are quite a few stories about the people assigned to him doing something wrong and having their throats cut.”
“Ugh…… It was a long time ago, so aren’t the early stories unreliable?”
“What else is there about the madmen? How could the record of him be so messed up if he caused such a mishap?”
“Well, at the time, under Wonje’s orders, the ranks of the record recorders underwent changes, and the number of people in charge increased, so it might have been temporary issues. At that point, weren’t they reorganizing the councilors and the government office a lot? If there are too many places to leave a book ……,”
Ja-Ryung interrupted Wei-Jeong. Now he seemed uninterested except in his curiosity.
“Regardless of other things, there is one thing I don’t quite understand.”
“Go ahead, continue.”
“Of the people said to have been killed because of the madman, if there are hundreds, why doesn’t anyone talk about how it was dealt with?”
“……What?”
His eyes narrowed as if he was talking about Wei-Jeong. The slave laborers who were said to have died along with the madman did not even have status.
“However, in this journal, it said that his body was dug up overnight under the direction of Wonje. It said that Wonje did not leave the place until the time of the tiger (寅時)¹¹ when his body was uncovered, so the Head Palace Eunuch at that time was shaking, barely on his feet. By the way, I don’t think one night would be enough to pull out all the hundreds of corpses. Don’t you think?”
“Well……, wouldn’t it be different depending on how many people you had?”
“It said that Wonje identified the body. Did he check through all the hundreds of corpses? Why did he check them? Was Wonje acquainted with the slaves?”
“Well, it’s……”
“It sounds like there was only one body he was looking for. It said he had a hard time recovering the complete body because his limbs were torn apart. If there were hundreds of corpses in that shape, it would be impossible to identify them.”
Ja-Ryung abruptly stopped speaking, as though he became aware that he was spewing out his words.
“It’s a strange thing. If you look at the records, it’s true that hundreds of people did indeed die……was he really only looking for one body?”
“Eh……”
“At this rate, this will be difficult. It’s so interesting, it hurts.”
Seeing Ja-Ryung widen his lips, Wei-Jeong lips twitched as if he wanted to say he felt sore for a different reason.
“Get it right, this time hide it from him so he doesn’t do anything.”
What would he tell him?
“I have received your orders, My Lord.”
He could only bow his head and wipe his sweat away.
It was the night when the white moon cast a pale shadow over the red walls that Wei-Jeong glanced at Ja-Ryung and took an old eunuch’s journal and set out for Ganghwa-jeon.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
All parenthesis () inside a sentence and the continents contained within them, were placed by the author and are NOT translator notes. All translator notes are denoted by a T/N.
Some Idioms or proverbs used throughout this story which may too be foreign and/or require too many footnotes were replaced by literal translations to make the story easier to read.
😦 I could be wrong about all the specs.
³ This is not phrased correctly but I couldn’t come up with anything better 😦
⁴ The title would be something like (inner palace stewart)
This isn’t precisely the correct title. I think he’s the person who oversees the inner palace annexes?
¹ 천지분간못하다 people who can’t distinguish the earth from the sky – (idiots) people who can’t get with the program.↩
² This is a reference to an earlier chapter where Wei-Jeong disposed of a ‘Guest’ aka a murder victim, by mixing their bodies into fertilizer pits and animal feed troughs. ↩
³ (Yukwon: The Six gardens) ↩
⁴ (Samgung: Three Palaces) ↩
⁵ (혀를 내두르다) literally: stick one’s tongue out. Meaning: one was amazed, or to be amazed by. ↩
⁶ (7-9 pm by ancient Chinese time system; Start of drinking time) ↩
⁷ shut (eyes) – these are the literal translations of the word. ↩
⁸ divided (places) – these are the literal translations of the word. ↩
⁹ 승은을 입은 literal translations to wearing silver– meaning: a court woman who was chosen to share the king’s/emperor’s bed ↩
¹⁰ In the Joseon Era, this was the Queens/Empresses Palace, located behind the King’s/Emperor’s residence ↩
¹¹ ( 3-5 AM 인(寅) inshi – is the hour of the Tiger (호 랑이) by the ancient Chinese time system.) – ↩
⁰ In case this isn’t clear, he’s taking about Wei-Jeong.
I keep putting King/Emperor because until October 1897 the rulers of Korea weren’t called Emperors (because they didn’t want to start shit with China). However, this story isn’t based on any true Monarchy/Empire that ever existed in Korea.
Foolish Translations 