As Prophet - Chapter 74



Only Krnovel

Episode 74. The Feast

Baek Yi-jeong shakes her head.

“Even though I started late, I intend to go as far as I can. That way, I can follow the example of Confucius Dalcheon.”

“Aren’t you already a grown woman? Your family will be upset and urging you to get married… .”

“Fortunately, my family values ​​me and they don’t think about anything, not even a political marriage. I also talked to my father. I told him that I’m going to focus on my studies for the time being.”

Although we crossed a bridge, Baek I-jeong is like a younger sister to me. I have watched her grow up since she was young.

“You might become unhappy.”

“I will accept the misfortune of not getting what I want. And I do not intend to dream of the happiness that the world talks about, such as getting married, having children, and living a wealthy life.”

It’s something I can say when I’m young. I hope to fall in love with Prince Dalcheon, build a family, and live like that, but I won’t dream of that if it’s not him.

“Your father must have a lot of worries too.”

But Baek Yi-jeong gave an unexpected answer.

“Shouldn’t there be at least one person in the household who is unmanned? Not in the Baek family, but in our family.”

It’s like something he said once, and he returns it back to me as is.

“Ugh. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”

“I won’t ask you to take my side in this matter. I know what they’ll say at home. Just tell them that you’ll follow Confucius Dalcheon around and study until you die.”

The fact that I have kept my distance from her since I was a girl is making things difficult for me in this situation. If it were a man, I would beat him up to make him listen, but I have no choice but to maintain this distance.

* * *

While they were having a chat, they arrived at the school building. They lit a fire in the middle of the training ground and gathered materials from the construction site to make a long standing table. They made several fire pits and placed pots on them. White steam rose as if they were cooking rice or soup. Baek I-jeong smiled brightly.

“Oh, I guess we can start now.”

“Those, those, those gentlemen, they were already eating before we got here.”

“Hehehe. There is no business that can resist the smell of meat.”

“Still, that’s true!”

“Anyway, congratulations again, sir.”

“thanks.”

The villagers who heard the news while passing around meat came to visit with various things when the banquet had become somewhat organized. They brought not only the village elders but also our children. They knew that the school would teach children. They brought them even though they were not the school’s children. They probably also wanted to find out what kind of place Yangju School was.

There are no tables, so they eat standing up. Children with skewered meat walk around and chatter, making it noisy and raucous. It is a scene where the townspeople hold skewers in their left hand and bowls of alcohol in their right hand, and the late afternoon sunlight has bleached the color to a yellowish hue. This is where the thick bushes from last year were cut down. Children gathered and sat eating meat in a place where the late sunlight was shining and the old fragrance was permeating.

When the cooked meat was placed on the table, it was a way to eat and drink, but the alcohol that Dong brought was quickly gone. Mukhyeong came forward and said that there was good alcohol, and brought an unknown alcohol from the hideout where I lived. It was a liquor that smelled more like herbal medicine than alcohol, and it smelled savory, so we all had a glass.

As the number of successful candidates increased to three, there was a lot of gossip. Baek I-jeong, who was grilling meat and serving alcohol, suddenly realized that Dal-cheon was nowhere to be seen. In the midst of the busyness and commotion, a person he had forgotten suddenly came to mind. He looked like a child from the place where he had left Gwanju-ji and the school office. He must have been a boy of the age to run around the field with his hair flying. When I asked a few people, they said that he went behind Baek Ui-hyeong. Cheol Mu-woong explained that he had not left the place, but seemed to be doing something.

When Baek Yi-jeong went to the back, he saw two people in the backyard of the main shrine, who were offering alcohol and meat on what looked like an altar. They even burned incense, so he wondered who it was for. Baek Yi-jeong approached with quiet footsteps and stood next to Baek Ui-hyeong.

“What are you doing?”

“I am grateful to the mountain god.”

“Are you the mountain spirit of this mountain?”

“fizzle…….”

Baek Yi-jeong looked up at the mountain behind him. The wooden mountain with a thick peak, rare to see in this area, had a gentle color today. Perhaps it was our way, but the gestures of offering wine, bowing, and putting incense were extremely polite. Dal-cheon turned his head and offered Baek Yi-jeong a favor.

“You too, young lady.”

“Are you a mountain god?”

“Yes. Rather than just being happy on such a nice day… … .”

“Why are you leaving everyone else alone… … .”

“Belief is not that deep and it is different, so it is not good to force it.”

“ah.”

Suddenly, it looks like they are accepting me as a group.

“thank you.”

Baek Yi-jeong stepped forward and did as Dal-cheon had done. Baek Ui-hyeong, standing next to him like a government official, poured him a drink.

‘There is no discrimination between men and women in the mountains.’

Baek I-jeong suddenly felt regretful about the stubborn law of the time that did not even allow women to look into the room while performing ancestral rites. Dal-cheon briefly gave the following example.

“Bow twice.”

When Baek Yi-jeong bowed in a way that was indistinguishable from that of a man and a woman, Baek Ui-hyeong turned his head. It was because he thought that living together in this world might be a hardship for her. The civilization here, which is different from the rest of the world, might make it difficult for her to live in the world. It was a world where a woman could not bow and pray to the ancestral rites table of her family’s elders, but here, there was no distinction between men and women.

The alcohol sprinkled on the ground gave off a fragrant smell. It was a smell that made me want to take a deep breath. Baek Yi-jeong bowed deeply and closed his eyes as if praying.

When there were few people in sight, the general turned around. Mukhyeong followed him. The smell of alcohol was wafting from Mukhyeong’s body, as if he had spilled it while bringing it.

“Why don’t we call?”

Dalcheon smiled brightly.

“I don’t want to force faith.”

“I’m not that stubborn of a person either.”

“We live in a world where we believe that there is a spirit in the mountain, and that its energy protects this school and helps the children grow up strong.”

The prince smiled and went forward, lighting a candle, offering incense, and pouring alcohol. He bowed and moved his lips to say the prayer he wanted to say, and seeing him do it quietly, he was no different from us.

“If you bow down to the mountain god, what will the stubborn people say?”

“They’re not going to take care of my life, so what does it matter what I do?”

Dalcheon writes a character next to him. He writes a eulogy for a personified god as if he were writing a personification, but it seems he didn’t write it down separately in advance. The young boy writes quite well. Is it because he is a warrior? The straight lines look like they were drawn with a knife. The writing is exactly that person, and that is the perfect expression.

Glancing over his shoulder, he wrote a short sentence expressing his gratitude, attributing today’s joy to the gods, wishing success to those studying in the future, and ending with an expression of gratitude for being willing to allow him to begin his studies.

When Dalcheon asked the silently standing Mukhyeong to offer a memorial service, he stood there awkwardly, twisted his body, nodded with a resigned face, then approached and received it with both hands. He bowed, offered the memorial service, and offered alcohol, then bowed again, which was the etiquette of the mountain. A person who lived in the mountain has left the mountain, but according to the etiquette of his old memories, he prays to the mountain again. Dalcheon’s narrowed gaze gently curved. He prayed in his heart that he would have another chance to talk about the mountain.

Those who have left the mountains still have a sense of indebtedness. Even if you leave behind the painful sense of defeat due to past failures, the time you were unable to continue together still torments your heart like a sense of guilt. When you wander around the mountains and rivers, you feel sorry for the colleagues you studied with, and the things you gave up on, even though they were inevitable, follow you around like a poor puppy.

Clear tears flow from the eyes of Mukhyeong, who was bowing at the place where Dalcheon had authority. Regret and remorse, he thought he would never be able to return, but he looked back at what he had already forgotten in the same time he was experiencing again. The time after descending the mountain, which was filled with guilt and a sense of defeat, continued to fluctuate in his dark heart.

“Oh my!”

Dalcheon sighed. Everyone has a story. Baek Ui-hyeong, who could understand the situation, went next to Muk-hyeong and raised his bowed body.

“Let’s do it together.”

The two bowed deeply together and stepped back.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

* * *

The Baek Sa-ban party arrived just after sunset. They were not alone. When the Japanese Invasion was suppressed, Yu Dam-nyeon, who was the defense commissioner of Gyeongsang Province, accompanied General Yu Sun-jeong. When Dal-cheon bowed respectfully, the three smiled brightly and took Dal-cheon’s hand. Yu Sun-jeong, as if she were the leader, came out and took Dal-cheon’s hand and arm.

“I should have come here a long time ago because I heard that the hero of the Imjin War had set up a school, but I kept putting it off and came only now.”

“Thank you. Three graduates from our academy were sharing in the joy of passing the military service examination.”

“I heard the story. Hanyang is in chaos right now. Three people from Yangju Academy have all passed the military service examination. They all took first, second, and third place. Everyone is curious about where Yangju Academy is, how they studied, and if there are any secrets. If the civil service examination is the Seo family school, the military service examination is the Yangju Academy.”

Dalcheon turned around, spread out his hand, and pointed to the entire school.

“There is cheap land, so I reported to heaven and built a school building. It is still under construction, but I hope to educate talented people in both literary and martial arts to contribute to the defense of this country.”

He only says what the managers like to hear.

Why did you come… … .

Dalcheon turned to Baek Sa-ban.

“Thank you for coming. Thanks to your help when I first started, things are starting to take shape now. Thanks again.”

“My brother-in-law passed the military service examination with the highest honors, and I wanted to express my gratitude to you. Since it was a long-cherished wish of the family, I should be the one to receive the congratulations. But now that I’m here, I feel like I should be celebrating the success of the school!”

“thank you.”

Yudamnyeon came out and grabbed Dalcheon’s shoulder for the last time.

“Thanks to you, we were able to end the Imjin War without much damage. You did a great job, and I think we can sleep soundly because there is such a military leader in this land. But by appointing a military leader like you and training future generations, we will be able to ease the worries of the country. I thank you again and congratulate you!”

Dalcheon kept bending his waist. Dalcheon guided the three people. The seats were uncomfortable. Since everyone was eating standing up, Dalcheon cautiously made a suggestion.

“There is no place to sit, so the banquet hall is not very comfortable. We have many things missing, so we started in the courtyard, but we cannot invite the high-ranking officials of Hanyang here. If you go up to the main hall, we will prepare it for you.”

Yoo Sun-jung waved her hand.

“We didn’t come here to be treated. We’ve already heard that they’re still building it. Don’t worry about us and just treat your guests.”

Baek Ui-hyeong, who was behind me, greeted and congratulated the three people and guided them to the center. I said no, that it was not necessary, but Baek I-jeong set up a table in the main hall and put meat and alcohol on it. The village women who came to congratulate me helped with the work. Since a high-ranking person came, they worked like slaves. They were good people.

As Dalcheon led her back up to the auditorium, Yudamnyeon grabbed Dalcheon’s hand.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Please speak.”

“There is one son who is not very good at anything, and he has many shortcomings. Fortunately, he has a lot of strength, so I hope you raise him to be a military officer. The child is good, but his writing skills are not up to par, so it has been difficult at home. Since he is strong, he goes out and causes trouble, and solving those troubles is the old father’s pastime.”

“Oh, so you want to raise him as a nobleman?”

“That’s right. I’ll do anything as long as you let me pass the military service examination.”

Dalcheon swallowed hard. It was the schoolmaster’s job. Baek Sa-ban poked Dalcheon’s knee and urged him to quickly agree.