As Prophet - Chapter 29



Only Krnovel

Episode 29. To Hanyang

“Is there anything going on in Hanyang?”

“You should come at least once. If anything comes up, come back later.”

“Oh, yes.”

“While you’re here, how about today?”

Dalcheon looked at the sky. He came down in the afternoon and went to the guest house by the river, so the sun would set soon.

“Aren’t you too late?”

“There’s a problem.”

“Please speak.”

“The Second Prince hasn’t made any moves, but the Fourth Prince sent someone a few days ago!”

“It’s the Prince’s Rebellion. Is the national foundation very weak?”

“It looks like you’re not in very good health.”

“So that’s what happens. Heh heh. Even though we’re brothers, you’d rather die, is that your plan?”

“How can you know what’s in a person’s mind? Anyway, the Fourth Prince wants to see you. Of course, since it’s a place to praise your achievements during the last Japanese Invasion, I couldn’t say no. You might even get to see His Majesty.”

“Hmm. The date is tomorrow, I guess.”

“He said he’d see me after the funeral tomorrow.”

* Sangcham (常參): An abbreviated morning meeting to see the king every morning.

“I have to leave today. No, then I have to go into the palace?”

“I received the palace pass!”

“I guess I have to go today.”

“Your Majesty the Admiral Yu Sun-jeong praised you so much. There was a heated debate over whether you should take credit for the achievement since it was going to you. I told him that he had passed away, that he was in the countryside, that he did not want the credit, etc., but it was in vain. The Ministry of Rites even said that they should re-evaluate your contribution to suppressing the rebellion!”

“The Second Prince didn’t intervene?”

“Why? If you had intervened?”

“I’m just asking.”

“Trust between people isn’t something you can judge like that. If you set a trap and watch to see if someone comes in or not, there’s no one who won’t fall for it.”

“Yes.”

Dalcheon agreed obediently.

“That gentleman, that silent person, should be seen as having done enough to cover up his mistake.”

“I admit, anything more than that sounds like a stretch.”

“Yes. He is the king’s son.”

“Having many sons isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

“That’s true in terms of inheritance. Isn’t it a position that only one person can ascend to?”

“I’ll leave right away.”

Dalcheon set out with only a belt with a sword attached to it. He arrived at Heunginjimun before the city gates closed.

* * *

Unlike Baek Sa-ban, who went out early in the morning, Dal-cheon headed to the Ministry of War, calculating the time when the funeral was over. Baek Ui-hyeong accompanied him, and he kindly explained the culture of Hanyang to him.

He arrived early and waited in front of the main gate of the Ministry of War, which was strictly guarded by soldiers. He was wandering around like a child picked up in front of the soldiers with stern expressions, so Baek Ui-hyeong sent a message inside. The jeongrang (正郞) of the Ministry of War came running out.

“Oh. The general who suppressed the Japanese invasion has arrived!”

Dalcheon blinked at the slightly excessive attitude and stepped back, then forced himself to bow.

“This is Dalcheon.”

“I am a junior officer of the Ministry of War. The funeral is probably not over yet. The Minister of War said he would bring you here, but I have not heard from him yet.”

Baek Ui-hyung asked.

“I am Baek Ui-hyeong, who was in charge of Gyeongsan County. The old man Baek Sa-ban gave me a divine tablet telling me to enter the palace.”

“Yes. At first, it was like that, but then he thought that it might be a problem for someone without an official position to enter the palace, so he said that he would ask for a favor and went in.”

Dalcheon sighed at the thought of it already being too busy. The principles of heaven came down and were called etiquette in the human world. The procedures and rules of hierarchy came to mind, but there was nothing he could do about the inconvenience. He just looked forward to finishing quickly and returning to Yangju.

Baek Ui-hyeong bowed his head without saying a word of protest. We are nothing to them. We do not have any official positions, and the only thing we did was serve in the military as a relative of the county magistrate. We are not even on the military register, we are nothing.

“Okay, I’ll wait.”

Dalcheon walked along the main road in front of the Ministry of War’s gate. The grandeur of Gwanghwamun was visible in the distance, and behind it, the roofs of several tall palace buildings with Inwangsan Mountain as their backs were visible. It was a good spot. Looking across, Gwanaksan Mountain was spreading its wings in the distance. It was Hwasan (火山). Hwasan was standing firm in the southern Hwagi area. Mokmyeoksan Mountain blocked it with Ansan Mountain, but it could not block everything.

‘It’s going to be noisy. This land.’

After looking around and looking closely into the distance, I look at the other doors of the government office.

Baek Ui-hyeong frowned. Even now, I could see at a glance that his mind was following my interests. It seems that he lacks social skills. He has a good personality, is kind, and is pure and clean, but he doesn’t know how to establish relationships with people. When he is told to wait, he thinks that will be enough, so he stays far away from the conversation. I think it would be good if he were to mingle with people, but he rarely does. Human relationships are noisy when they are close, and lonely when they are far away, but I really don’t like the fact that he always tries to distance himself. A 5th-rank official in the Ministry of War is a 5th-rank official, so I wondered what would be added if he were to bow down a little. But I also didn’t want to ask him to come here and hang out with me. Fortunately, the 5th-rank official didn’t say anything.

“Then we will wait until we hear from you.”

I wondered if he would tell me to wait here, but he said okay and went inside. He didn’t say anything about coming in or telling me where to wait, and he just left me at the door and went in.

The unmanned is treated like this. It is not something that happened yesterday or today. Baek Ui-hyeong stood next to the gatekeeper and saw Dal-cheon squatting in front of an old man dressed as a scholar under a flag with the word “divination” written on it. It is strange. Those who have studied in the mountains know to some extent. It is because he is not interested, but he must know the fortune telling and the eight trigrams and the nine palace formations, and he squatted down with a curious expression.

“Grandpa! Please tell me my fortune today!”

“You come from the countryside.”

“I’m a country bumpkin.”

“Let me see… … Please tell me your fortune.”

Dalcheon, who does not know when he came into the world. It is said that he entered the mountain around the time he was weaned and started eating. Dalcheon, who does not know his own fortune, calls out anything.

Dalcheon’s behavior seemed interesting, so I approached him slowly. A guy who doesn’t even know when he was born is lying. Are those who lie to him the same? If one does it for fun and the other for a living, is the one who does it for fun a worse person?

He swept a few branches and muttered something like he had seen a shaman do. It could have been a very deliberate gesture to increase trustworthiness.

“The bullies are fierce.”

Dalcheon quickly responded. It was not a good thing that he was called to Hanyang.

“Right?”

“You might lose something precious.”

“That won’t happen. I don’t have anything. Nothing but this knife.”

“Then you lose the sword? You’ll lose something.”

“Ahem. I kept insisting on not coming to Hanyang, but I had no choice but to come up here.”

“That’s right, that’s right. That’s right. Then, you’re fifteen this year.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t go on the main road, don’t go straight, don’t rush, take your time and take your time, and then you’ll be fine. Go back, go back!”

“Oh! That’s a really good horoscope. So what do you think the future holds? The distant future.”

The old man offered Dalcheon a small stool as he crouched down. It was a wooden stool exactly like the one I was sitting on, but it was only a little higher than a wooden pillow. The way he was sitting with his knees clasped in his hands looked exactly like a child.

“That requires some extra money.”

Dalcheon couldn’t possibly have money. Baek Ui-hyeong, who had come over, asked the price and put down a couple of coins. He was like an uncle lending money to a child without any conscience.

“It’s a mess.”

Baek Ui-hyeong turned around. He’s a fortune teller. What’s the point of coming in anyway since he’s just talking nonsense?

“The future… … . The distant future, you mean? Ahem.”

The fortune teller glared at Dalcheon’s forehead without looking at his horoscope. Their eyes met for a moment. It seemed that the young boy’s eyes were smiling. There are often such people. They read fortunes for fun to see how brave you are. If they are right, they shout that they are right, and if they are wrong, they call you a quack.

“Have you trained in martial arts?”

“Yes.”

“Then, he must have passed the civil service examination in the past! He’s in his early twenties! He has a government official in his early twenties. He has good luck with documents. He’s receiving a Hongpae from the king.”

* Hongpae: A certificate issued to those who passed the civil service examination during the Joseon Dynasty. The name of the successful candidate, the year, and the official in charge of the examination were written on red paper. It was given only to successful candidates in the civil service and military service examinations.

They say that Hongpae is a fortune teller because he was seen loitering around in front of the government office. It could be the same thing they say to everyone who tries to have their fortune told nearby.

“I don’t have any particular thoughts.”

When he said no, the fortune teller tilted his head.

“Really? Then what do you want to know?”

“I want to know when I will become successful.”

“Daesung? Is that your goal?”

The old man looked through his fortune telling again. There was no way it would come out in a fortune telling that was just told to him. The old man frowned.

“It doesn’t seem to be here… … . What a shame.”

“Can’t you do it?”

“That doesn’t come out in literature or martial arts.”

“okay.”

Dalcheon nodded in agreement, then asked one more question.

“How long would you like to stay here? I want to leave quickly.”

Half of it is a sound that Baek-ui-hyeong is telling you to listen to. He glances up and looks between the fortune teller’s eyebrows.

“Here? Ahem. A country bumpkin came up to Hanyang… … Ahem. There’s nothing much to see. Hehe.”

The old man frowned again. This is a divination that doesn’t come out well. I learned it roughly and used to get it right, but today it doesn’t.

“Is this the right horoscope? Oh my.”

It seemed like a stone-thrower was grumbling that something wasn’t working, so I couldn’t speak and thought about it for a while before coming up with a sensible answer.

“I don’t know why I came up here, but I miss Hanyang. It’s not very nice. There are a lot of people, it’s rich, and there are a lot of strange things, but you can’t live a life with that. Just look around a little and then quickly go home.”

“Right?”

As Dalcheon was about to stand up, Baek Ui-hyeong crouched down next to the fortuneteller. Then he whispered softly into the old man’s ear.

“This guy is a liar. He doesn’t even know the exact day I was born.”

The old man’s eyes widened. Dalcheon hissed and pulled away. The old man grabbed the coin lying on the floor.

“Yeah. It’s my job to make money by being made fun of like this. Hehe.”

Dalcheon’s ears turned bright red as he read his fortune for fun. He bowed down to the old man and left in a hurry. A wave of white clothes stretched from Jongno to the government office district. Donkeys carrying loads high in the sky passed by, tottering precariously, and women covered in long robes disappeared into the alleys with quick steps.

Dalcheon looked at the waves and turned his head to see Baek Ui-hyeong sitting in front of the fortune teller. He refused to give him a fortune, but he tried to persuade him with spit flying from his mouth, and wrote down his fortune. When he returned the piece of paper, the old man had no choice but to have his fortune told.

“What’s the use of fortune telling if you’re not looking for fortune? Tsk tsk tsk.”

When I called the fortune teller who was reading the fortune and asked him to buy me some taffy, he threw me a couple of coins as if he was annoyed. Dalcheon snatched the coins from the air and bought some taffy, put it in his mouth, and walked around happily. He was a fifteen-year-old bachelor from the countryside. The only difference was that he didn’t wear his hair in a ponytail like other kids, but just tied his long hair back. He cut off the taffy and ate it, smiling happily.

How long had I been waiting? When I was getting tired of wandering around the street stalls, a man named Jeongrang from the Ministry of War came running.

“Ah, here you are. I’ve been looking for you for a while.”

“It was right in front of you. You could see it as soon as you opened the door.”

“No, I can’t see it.”

I don’t know if I didn’t look for it carefully. It would be annoying to me. No matter how much my superiors value it, if it doesn’t help my future, I don’t care.

“Anyway, are you coming? Now?”

“Please come to the Samgunbu. I will accompany you.”

“Samgunbu-myeon, hmm, that’s in front of Gwanghwamun.”

“Yes.”

He guided them and the two followed them. They crossed the street from the Ministry of War and headed toward the Ministry of the Army.