As Prophet - Chapter 84



Only Krnovel

Episode 84. The Wall Creates Itself

He seems to know what I’m thinking as he asks and answers. The prince frowned deeply. Dalcheon chuckled and tossed it lightly.

“That boundary is, you know, an impassable barrier, but if you think about it again, if you go over it, it’s also a passage.”

“Huh? The border is a passage?”

The Grand Duke was startled. He said that the stubborn and inhuman wall that no matter how hard he tried or howled could be broken through was a passage.

“Yes, that’s right. Hahaha! Think about it. Maybe you can get through one of the walls.”

“Can you see my studies?”

“Hmm, I guess I can just feel it. Just try a little more. It’ll be there soon.”

It is really a happy and joyful word, but I know that the governor uses it too much. He uses the word soon to be done so much that he drives the students of the academy crazy. There are more than a few people who forget to eat and study.

“Is this perhaps a fraudulent tactic to get me to do my best?”

“Huh. If you don’t think so, why don’t you drink it? You seemed to be interested, so why?”

“Hmm. There is a wall that I can’t overcome no matter how hard I try.”

Dalcheon waved both hands madly.

“Oh, that doesn’t exist. It’s an illusion created by the mind of the Grand Prince. There’s no such thing. Walls are created by oneself. They are created with the determination that they will never be able to overcome.”

“Huh, what are you talking about?”

“If you don’t think so, then you don’t have to believe it, right?”

“That’s temptation. Should I say it’s fascinating?”

“The Way is not far away.”

As the great general, lost in thought, sat cross-legged in meditation, Dalcheon quietly slipped out. The late afternoon sunlight was hanging over the mountains. It was time to climb up a little higher and watch the sunset. He climbed up the wall that had been raised by digging down to create a flat surface, and sat facing the reddening western sky.

The warmth released by the hot daytime air dilutes the yellow and red twilight. The face of the fool who was squatting, resting his chin on his hand, and laughing, turned red.

* * *

Boom boom boom.

Dalcheon woke up to the sound of the drum. With a blank expression, he was enjoying the time when he was in the flow of nothingness, and when there was no one or you, the sound of the drum sounded, telling him to eat dinner. It was called the Sikgo (食鼓). It hung on the floor of the restaurant on the west side. It announced mealtime and also counted the number of people.

‘no way.’

Dalcheon, who had come to his senses, jumped down from the end of the incision. The little boy ran over and announced that it was meal time again.

It was a simple three-plate meal (a meal with three plates of side dishes other than rice, soup, sauce, and kimchi), but it was the most enjoyable time. Even though we couldn’t eat well because we didn’t have any, we made sure that there were some side dishes for dinner. In early spring, many people went out to pick and dry wild vegetables like they were going to work, and fish caught in the Han River were salted and ripe. Sometimes we hunted and salted meat or thinly sliced ​​and dried it, and we filled the jars with sauce that our parents brought us.

At first, I was nervous about even eating a single meal, but since I started moving around in the spring, I was able to make various side dishes, and now I can even make three-course meals or five-course meals.

“Aha, what’s today?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. That trio did it today. It was a mess. Don’t expect much.”

“It’s the trio again?”

Since there were no slaves, the tutors and the adults took turns preparing the meals, but when the three of them did it, it was a mess. They were inexperienced for only a day or two, and they had no experience. It was either spicy, salty, or tasteless, one of the three.

“Whew. Should we just eat dry food without worrying about the weight?”

Dalcheon seduced the little boy.

“Oh, but you still have to eat. How can you skip eating when you live to eat?”

“Whew, ugh.”

Dalcheon followed the little boy. He was hanging his arms and sticking his chin out, which was not very sincere. Baek Yi-jeong was checking at the entrance. She was checking the people eating and marking their names, and she was checking to be on guard against those who were slightly absent and going home.

The three trainees were busily serving rice and sharing side dishes. There was only rice, soup, and a few side dishes, but they couldn’t do it. They were pickling spring onions. It was like nothing. It would have been better to give them raw green leaves. The rice would have been either overcooked or burnt, or a mixture of the two.

We greeted each other briefly and ate, but there was no smell of smoke.

“Uh, what is this?”

But that doesn’t mean it’s undercooked.

“oh.”

Dalcheon picks up the spring roll that he likes and it tastes just right. He puts it in his mouth and rolls his eyes, and the three of them are giggling. There is something. This can’t be happening…

I dipped my spoon into the soup, just dabbing it lightly before putting it in my mouth. It was neither spicy nor salty, nor bland, but just right in the middle.

“Hoo.”

There’s nothing to see. If today’s side dish and today’s soup are okay, then everything else can go wrong.

“Isn’t it strange, today?”

Dalcheon asks the little boy.

“Yeah. It’s weird, right?”

“Have you come to your senses?”

“Humanity has changed.”

“So, are you saying that it was because there were not enough humans before?”

“The Lord said so.”

“Then what about now?”

“Humans have changed.”

“People don’t change that easily these days.”

“He is not a human being, but a scholar. He said that he would be able to see each other closely in three days.”

“You’re quite good at writing.”

“Whose disciple are you?”

He keeps munching on food among the children. The kind-hearted Flatfish, who was the new boarding house owner after the little one, laughs heartily.

“I know.”

“What? Why did those humans change?”

“Those people haven’t changed.”

“Then how should we interpret this?”

“I had a little help.”

“Oh, who is that? Miss Baek I-jeong?”

“When adding water and reducing the fire, Lady Baek I-jeong helped, and when boiling the soup and adding the dried radish greens, she also helped.”

Dalcheon pointed to a small plate with an unidentified dish on it in the center.

“Then what about this?”

“I haven’t seen it.”

“You try it first.”

Worry eats away at courage. The flatfish turns its flat plate from side to side.

“I’ll eat it after seeing what the little one eats. I’ll see if he dies or not.”

“I guarantee you won’t die.”

“It could almost lead to death.”

Had they already finished eating? Baek I-jeong, who had arrived and been eating first, strode over to us, skipped the table, and started eating the unidentified dish in the middle.

“You don’t die. I controlled the process.”

“Oh! Hehehe.”

The flounder ate without saying a word, and the little one followed suit. Baek I-jeong ate almost half of what Dal-cheon was going to eat.

“What’s going on?”

“I gave some guidance on meal preparation for the three of you.”

“You should have done it earlier.”

“Your Majesty’s skills are no different from theirs.”

They take turns preparing the rice, but when Dalcheon cooks, he doesn’t put anything in it. He excludes typical Joseon seasonings, saying that the original taste of the ingredients should be preserved. How can you make it taste good without green onions, garlic, salted seafood, and red pepper? He hardly uses the monks’ five spices*.

* The five spicy vegetables (五辛菜) or five? vegetables (五? 菜) are five spicy vegetables that are said to interfere with the practice of monks in Mahayana Buddhism, including garlic, chives, green onions, wild chives, and asafoetida.

“I love the natural taste without adding anything… … .”

“So you don’t even put salt on the meat?”

“I forgot about that. Hehe.”

“A dog covered in shit calls a dog covered in bran… … .”

“Oh my, from such a polite mouth.”

“A good farmer also carries a shit load and raises shit pigs. What’s wrong with shit?”

Dalcheon is a man who can’t be defeated by anyone in words, but Baek I-jeong is the one who can’t be defeated by words. He exploits the gap between the governor and the boy and causes trouble. He cleverly uses the current position that is between the world and the world of the living. He has a talent for making Dalcheon’s logical conclusion difficult by digging into and pointing out the difference between people who live here and those who leave after a while.

“Oh. Anyway, it was delicious.”

As Dalcheon got up, he congratulated the three people who prepared dinner.

“That’s fortunate.”

If the word “fortunate” comes out of their mouths, then you know what has been going on. Dalcheon added.

“The same goes for studying. When you look closely at the subtle differences, you can make great leaps in growth.”

The training center’s resignation was bowed.

“Of course. That’s a given.”

“Once you reach the subtle point and discover the true nature of the truth, it becomes yours.”

“Yes. Yes. Of course.”

That’s weird. It sounds like you’re saying I already know what you’re talking about. So, does that mean he’s different?

“Come out for a bit in the evening. Let me take a look at the sword.”

“Huh? What did I do wrong?”

Dalcheon is a person who beats people using the excuse of a fight when he has a complaint. You don’t know how much it hurts to be hit with a sword. He beats the thin-skinned bones and the joints that bend when moving, and he was a very vicious Dalcheon. He doesn’t beat people to the point where they have to take medicine or lie down, but he makes it so that they can’t move the next day. He takes full advantage of the situation where those who study martial arts cannot refuse a fight.

“No. I think it’s different. Let me take a look.”

Whenever I see signs, I try to check them. I want to see with my own eyes the effects of what I taught. Sajik bowed his head.

“Loyalty.”

They use military expressions even though they are not in the military. It means that they understand what you said, so stop talking.

* * *

Sajik, who came to study at the request of the training center, was from Yecheon and was born into a boring noble family. Since studying was not working, he turned to the military service examination, and through studying sufficiently in wealthy circumstances, he passed the military service examination in his early 20s, which was a young age by the average military service examination.

He spent a long time as a Confucian scholar and was able to read quite a bit, so he worked in the three military departments and the Ministry of War. He worked in various places such as the Ministry of War’s secret office, the Ministry of War’s Office of the Royal Secretariat, the Ministry of War’s Office of Military Affairs’ …

The spectrum of human talent is very wide, and there are cases where people who generally seem insignificant demonstrate abilities in a specific field, and he was one of them. The demand for young military service examination passers who can read and write to some extent was very much needed in the Ministry of War and its various branches. It was no coincidence that they selected such a person and sent him to Yangju as a military officer. Without hesitation, they would have thought of him. He was smart, young, and good at work… What else could they look for? He was the kind of person who would come to mind when sending someone to learn about new cultures.

After dinner, he headed to the training ground with a heavy heart after everyone had washed their own dishes. Before the food he had eaten could even be digested, he grabbed his sword and swung it. It was because the chief inspector insisted on using a sword even though he was better at using a spear.

As the darkness deepened in the smokescreen, I swung my sword, making a sound like the wind. After a while, Guan Zhu appeared.

“Let’s do it with real swords.”

“Oh no! Wouldn’t a wooden sword be better, since people might get hurt?”

In fact, everyone prefers wooden swords because being hit by a real sword is more painful, but Dalcheon doesn’t give them a choice.

“Take the sword.”

Sajik walked over and took out a real sword. In fact, I don’t think a commander needs to be skilled in martial arts. He’s a commander because he’s good at commanding. He’s one of those people who thinks that strategy and tactics are important and that a commander’s personal martial arts have little effect on the battle.

The governor dismissed the objection by saying, “Then why are you making such a fuss about killing the enemy commander first in battle?” It was nonsense, but when the governor said it, it sounded right.