As Prophet - Chapter 99



Only Krnovel

Episode 99. Mountain Life

I turned around and went back home, leaving Bulmokhani behind. Everything in the world changes. The only thing that doesn’t change is the heart of a faithful person. I regretted not buying anything when I left Yangju.

Whether I am lacking or not, there is only a difference in degree, but it is just one ray of the diverse spectrum created by light. Who would tease and curse him as a fool? He cannot live in the world, so he works as a monk. But maybe that is why he can be happier. If the sun god is fully ripe, should I teach him how to make watermelon?

Dalcheon thought about it and stopped. If I have the ability to attack others, I should be prepared to be killed by others. Isn’t it true that a useless person who doesn’t have that ability can live happily for a long time?

I returned to my residence, carefully holding the rolled-up paper in my chest. I lit the stove again and put some glue on it. I took off the door, removed all the stuck paper, washed it clean, applied glue, and stuck the paper on. I gently swept it with a wet brush, and it was straightened out without any wrinkles. I did it every year, so I did it well.

I closed the door and hung it on the porch next to the window. By the time I finished the back window, it was almost noon. Eating was also a task. Mealtime was approaching soon. There was not much rice left, so I mixed it with grains and served it. I put some old firewood on the fire that I had started while cutting grass, and it soon blazed up.

I sat in the kitchen and gazed at the yard where the yellow sunlight was pouring down. He said that working and moving were all study. When I returned to the mountain, that was really true. Because I kept looking at myself in the silence. Even if I didn’t try to look, I could see the path my thoughts were moving. Should I say that I could see myself thinking about work? I could see it all as it was.

In the summer, it wasn’t like that. Even though I worked hard, I often exhausted my energy. Work didn’t help me study, but rather it gnawed at my mind. I came back safely. I can clearly see the path my mind is taking now. It’s only for one person, so the amount isn’t that much. If I’m not careful, it could burn out. I pushed the burning firewood inward to reduce the fire.

While I was resting, I went out to the warm, sunny yard and swung my sword. The whole world was filled with energy, so my movements were light and free. After swinging it as hard as I could, I found that the door to the light was half open.

It’s called Gwangmyeong, and it used to be a pharmacy. Since I came back here, I’ve been busy making a living, so I haven’t looked inside. In front of the pharmacy, dried grass is hanging like dried shiitake mushrooms. It must be several years old… … No, it might actually have better medicinal properties.

I opened the door a little and squeezed my body into the narrow gap. I did it that way when I was young, so I still do it now. There were all kinds of medicinal herbs on shelves that surrounded the room like bookshelves, and one wall was filled with legally-manufactured semi-finished products. There were names of medicinal herbs and the date of legalization, and many of them were older than Dalcheon.

Small jars containing mercury chloride, sphagnum, alum, and borax lined up in a row. Talc, hwandan, and pumpkin were plentiful. In the other jars were turtle shells, wasp nests, deer horns, and dried ground squirrels. Jars containing powdered rhinoceros horns, toads, and leeches were also lined up. On the other wall were various medicinal herbs, including hasuo, bracken, columbine, phellodendron, mountain ginseng, honey plant, zelkova bark, and mango tree roots, all prepared precisely. The names and dates were written precisely, as if they had been prepared for Dalcheon. The house and rooms were shabby, but this pharmacy was perfect. The ingredients were perfectly stocked, so that there was nothing I couldn’t make if I didn’t have the skills, or if I knew how to make it.

The Taoist monk who was obsessed with elixir suddenly came to mind. And he thought of ‘Geumseonyuhwa’. With that, he might be able to expect the increase in power he wanted. However, I do not recommend it. The true purpose of studying is harmony. However, Geumseonyuhwa is a medicine that strengthens the incoming external energy and increases power. A simple increase in power that is achieved without the rest actually breaks the harmony. It can lead to disharmony such as a child with an abnormally large head, or a person who is stronger than an adult but lacks brains. It will not work.

Dalcheon suddenly thought of the king. He is at the pinnacle of all power on earth, but people are shabby, petty, and loyal to profit and negotiation. In the end, isn’t that power the height of disharmony? That may be why power has always been bad. They tremble as if they were riding a tiger’s back for trivial things, and then fall to their deaths. Their difficulties may be due to that disharmony. The more they humble themselves and behave humbly, the better. In any case, they are people destined to fall into the pit of hell.

I laughed as I imagined gathering the ingredients needed for the altar and making the elixir with them.

It’s a fancy show. It’s not worth bringing up anymore. Dalcheon ran to the kitchen, saying, “Oops!” He turned down the heat, but there was a risk that the rice would burn. It was a big pot, so it was hard to get it right even if you watched from the side, but he went too far.

“Oops.”

I opened the lid of the pot while shouting. As expected, a burning smell rose up.

“Hey.”

There was nothing I could do. I gently scooped up the rice, poured water on the scorched rice stuck to the bottom, and boiled it again. I put the rice on the table and went upstairs with the leftover side dishes from the morning. He said that even eating rice was study. I remember saying that then there would be nothing that wasn’t study. The teacher said, “That’s true.” Studying must mean moving forward as a different being than before. He said that all of this would help in studying. Dalcheon thought that it was because the teacher had lived in the mountains for a long time. The world is narrow-minded and shallow, and there is not much to learn. If the teacher had heard about Hanyang, he wouldn’t have called that study. He went out to study the world for no reason.

I ate on the table without going into the room. The rice that was exposed to the sunlight was warm and shining white.

* * *

Many things came to mind that I needed to study in the afternoon. While I was sweeping the yard, the middle of the broom broke. It was old and rotten. The thorn tree that was lining one side of the fence like a wall had invaded the yard. I looked for the tools, but I couldn’t see who took them. The medicine table was left as it was, but the tools that were placed on the shelf were all gone. There is no thief who would come up here. Then, maybe the teacher cleaned it up before he went to the temple. Or maybe the sages who came then took it? That can’t be. Why did they!

Since the iron tools would rust and become unusable anyway, it would have been better if someone had taken them while I was away, but the immediate inconvenience is unavoidable.

We obtain many things necessary for life from nature, and we live with the inconvenience of what we lack. We produce, manufacture, use, and repair most things ourselves. So tools are essential, but we are not able to make our own tools like carpenters. In particular, iron blades are almost impossible. Dalcheon looked at the rack where he put his tools and also looked at the kitchen. If you want to do something, you need tools.

Although it was late, I decided to go to the market in the far lower village in the afternoon.

* * *

Meanwhile, the order given in the name of the king was to find the mountain Dalcheon. The magistrate sighed as he looked down at the endless order. This kind of order is the most frustrating. Even if they don’t know, they think they will do as they are told. There have been more than a few cases where they were given orders like that. Since they don’t know the situation below, they just give out random orders. If they don’t do it, they are scolded for being incompetent or insincere. Even if they are second in command, the Domokjeongsa makes it unbearable if they don’t do it.

“The very idea that I could do something like this… … . I don’t even know if there are any sages, so who are you looking for? It would be easier to drop an axe in a pond on the back mountain and see if it comes out and says, “Is it your axe?”

The foreigner turns around from the side and looks at the document that the magistrate is reading.

“Is this Sanin Dalcheon?”

“Yeah. What kind of order is this! It’s the same as telling me to go to Hanyang and look for Kim So-and-so.”

“Shall I take a look?”

The foreigner took the official document and read it.

“They say the headquarters is here.”

“I see you’re the mountain lord. That must be why you came here. You don’t even know how big Taebaek is.”

“I see. It seems that he returned to his hometown after doing important work in Hanyang. Hahaha.”

The magistrate looks back while sitting, just in case.

“Can you find it?”

“Why don’t we search for it through the herbalists and hunters? Contact each temple and tell them to catch this guy if they see him.”

“No, it’s supposed to be polite. It’s not supposed to catch you.”

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t read it.”

The man on the other side muttered.

“Sometimes a mountain man comes down.”

“Really? Why would someone who lives in the mountains come down?”

“Even if you live in the mountains, if there are things you need, you can come down and sell herbs, and buy daily necessities and small tools. You can also buy grains.”

“He came to see the market? That would be a laughing matter for a tiger.”

It’s not very pleasant. I passed the exam with great difficulty, but they’re just going to throw me in a mountain village like this. They won’t look back for a whole year, and then they’ll give me some strange order.

“Yes. If you use this Taebaek’s Junryeong as your base, you will come down once.”

It sounds plausible. The magistrate immediately sent a man to the village to find Sanin Dalcheon. Meanwhile, he called together hunters and herbalists and ordered them to find him. He had them write down his age, appearance, and characteristics and report them.

“also!”

“Huh? What?”

“Isn’t there another way?”

“Well, so you’re saying there’s an additional method besides the two?”

The foreigner carefully gauges the magistrate’s mood.

“Yes. Shouldn’t I take this opportunity to make a contribution and go to Hanyang? Shouldn’t I show my ability by doing something like this? This is the first official document I’ve received since I was appointed magistrate.”

“Of course, yes yes.”

“Show me a way.”

The magistrate urged the six divisions to come up with a plan. The workshop suggested that it would be a good idea to contact the nearby temples and make inquiries.

“Okay. All the heads of each section should gather together. By 4 o’clock tomorrow.”

“debriefing.”

Every time a suggestion is made, an order comes down. He seems like a truly capable official. Hobang suggested that we draw a picture of Yongmo Pagi and distribute it.

“You don’t know what he looks like.”

“It’s written in the text. If I ask the painter to draw it exactly as it is and distribute it, do you know?”

“Just do it.”

The change in attitude of the magistrate who had been grumbling about being given troublesome tasks was due to a certain impatience in the text. The words that he was valued in front of the king were also interpreted to mean that he could become close to power.

“There’s something… … There’s something, but I didn’t write it down.”

“Is he a criminal?”

“Did you tell them to treat criminals with courtesy?”

“Ahem, I see. It seems you are a very important guest.”

Hobang’s suggestion to draw and post ‘Yongmo Pagi’ was unrealistic, but it was passed as is. The 15-year-old boy with a ponytail looked like any other boy. He was the most energetic person in Joseon, running around the neighborhood and committing all kinds of nonsense.

Fortunately, among the fates handed down from Hanyang, there were words that could be used to guess his appearance. Strong and lively. His eyebrows are sharp and slightly raised like blades, and his face is black. His eyes are full of energy and he looks very intelligent. It was also expressed that he would become Hanilja if he tightly shut his mouth. I also found a saying that his slender face seemed to shine brightly.

It’s nonsense, but it’s an organization that can do this. They called in a person who draws the criminal’s face and explained the content to him and had him draw it. Dozens of faces drawn just by listening to the words were put up on the signboard in front of the prefectural office and on every half-moon wall. The interesting thing is that the pictures on this side and the other side were different.