“Bastards! Smash everything!”
A shout tore through the peaceful air of the marshland at the crack of dawn.
The owner of that piercing, small-gong-like voice was Scholar Park.
The very former landowner who had sold me the land dirt cheap yesterday.
Behind him stood around fifteen vicious-looking thugs carrying clubs.
Dressed in gaudy clothes and swaggering about, they were clearly lowlifes who shook down merchants at the town market.
“Where are you?! Choi San, you swindler, get out here!”
Scholar Park screamed, froth flying from his mouth.
The dignity he had feigned yesterday while saying, “What a pity for such a young man,” had long since been thrown into the gutter.
I slowly stepped outside while my scorched-rice porridge boiled.
Chilbok grabbed my sleeve, pale as death, while Manseok followed with a spoon in hand, smacking his lips.
“What kind of disturbance is this on someone else’s private property so early in the morning, Scholar Park?”
“Private property? Don’t make me laugh! You deceived me!”
Scholar Park pointed at me furiously. His finger trembled.
“You said you were ruined and about to flee in the night! You said it was rotten land that couldn’t grow crops! Then what’s this? Water’s gushing out, and a warehouse has been built! You tricked me and stole my land!”
As expected. He had come because he was jealous.
It had looked like garbage when he sold it, but now that someone else had cleaned it up, it looked like a jewel.
It was the classic rage of a failed investor: prices rose whenever he sold and fell whenever he bought.
“Deceived you? I merely purchased the land, and I was fortunate enough to strike water. The deeds were notarized at the local office, so it’s troublesome for you to act like this now. You should follow the law.”
“Shut up! That contract is void! It was made through fraud, so hand over the land! I’ll return your money, so get out now!”
Scholar Park signaled to the thugs.
“Drag those bastards out! Tear down the hut, the warehouse, everything!”
“Yes! Brothers, let’s go! Let’s loosen up this morning!”
A pockmarked man who appeared to be the thug leader strode forward, slapping his club against his palm.
“Hey, young master. You’ll leave quietly, right? Before your bones get broken.”
As the situation turned ugly, the workers preparing the foundation work began murmuring.
Ordinary tenant farmers would have fled in fear of a nobleman and his thugs.
But our workers were different.
Their stomachs held the beef they had eaten yesterday and the heaping bowls of rice they had eaten this morning.
More than anything, the fact that those thugs planned to destroy their workplace and source of food stirred them up.
“Th-they’re threatening the Sir who feeds us?”
“Then what about lunch? What about tomorrow’s wages?”
“Hey, grab your shovels!”
The strength from food overcame fear.
Young men carrying shovels, pickaxes, and pitchforks gathered around me from every direction.
Thirty muscular laborers.
Several days of hard work and plentiful food had brought a fierce light into their eyes.
In an instant, it became a standoff of thirty against fifteen.
“W-what are these bastards...?”
The thug leader panicked.
He had expected weak, skinny farmers. Instead, a pack of men who looked like bandits was closing in around him with weapons in hand.
But I raised a hand to stop the workers.
“Everyone, stand back. I don’t want blood staining my land.”
Then I lightly tapped Manseok.
“Manseok.”
“Yes, Big Brother. It’s so noisy while I’m trying to eat that I’m losing my appetite.”
“That pockmarked man says he’s going to smash our rice pot.”
“What?!”
Manseok’s eyes turned wild.
To Manseok, this place was heaven. He got meat every day and slept warmly.
And someone wanted to smash the rice pot?
That was practically a declaration of war.
“Which bastard is it?!”
Manseok strode forward.
He stood well over 190 centimeters tall. THUD. THUD. The ground shook with every step.
“Y-you bastard!”
The thug leader swung his club with a shout, trying to seize the initiative.
WHOOSH!
It sliced through the air with a sharp sound. It was a strike aimed at Manseok’s head.
But Manseok did not dodge.
Instead, as though swatting an annoying fly, he reached out with one hand and caught the flying club in midair.
SMACK!
It stopped perfectly.
The end of the club was trapped in Manseok’s grip.
“Huh...?”
The leader strained to pull the club free, but it did not budge. It was as if it had been wedged between boulders.
“What are you doing at the breakfast table?”
Manseok growled.
Then he lightly twisted his wrist.
CRACK!
The thick oak club snapped like a cracker.
“Eek!”
The leader’s face went pale.
Manseok tossed the broken piece of club to the ground, grabbed the leader by the collar, and lifted him with one hand.
“Let go! Let me go!”
The leader flailed in the air, but Manseok held him up as lightly as a bundle of luggage.
“Big Brother, should I throw this bastard into that puddle over there? It might knock some sense into him.”
Manseok asked brightly.
“No, that’ll dirty the water. Just throw him outside.”
“Understood!”
Manseok swung his arm.
His posture resembled that of a shot-putter.
WHOOSH—!
“Aaaah!”
The leader’s body flew in an arc.
He soared at least five meters before landing with a SPLAT in the mud outside the marshland.
“B-boss!”
The remaining thugs were horrified.
The monstrous strength to lift and throw a grown man with one hand. That was not a human. It was a bear.
The thugs, who had lost all will to fight, backed away. As workers carrying shovels advanced threateningly, they dropped their clubs and fled.
“Boss! Wait for us!”
Now, only Scholar Park remained.
He trembled like an aspen leaf.
I slowly walked toward him.
“S-scholar, do you still have something to say?”
“D-don’t come closer! D-do you know who I am?! My brother-in-law is the magistrate! I’ll report you to the local office and—”
“Ah, the magistrate? That’s perfect.”
I took out my jade token and waved it before his eyes.
A jade token engraved with the emblem of the Choi Clan of Cheorwon.
It gleamed coldly in the morning sunlight.
“My uncle is Lord Choi Woo of Gaegyeong.”
“......!”
Scholar Park’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Choi Woo.
The second most powerful man in the military regime, with authority greater than the King of Goryeo.
The Choi Woo whose gaze alone was said to cost people their heads.
“I’m resting outside the family home for a while... Could you pass my regards to the magistrate? My uncle has recently been taking a close interest in corruption among local officials. He is especially strict with officials who use force to steal commoners’ land.”
It was half a lie. I had been driven out of the family myself.
But there was no way a provincial noble like Scholar Park knew the details. The name Choi and that jade token alone were enough to make his knees buckle.
“C-Choi... Lord Choi Woo’s nephew...?”
Scholar Park’s face turned gray.
He had come to recover a little land, only to find himself in a situation that might bring ruin upon his entire family.
“Ah, Young Master! I was blind! This old man lost his senses and...”
Scholar Park threw himself flat on the ground. His forehead struck the muddy soil.
“Please spare me! I’ll never, never come near this place again!”
“Go. And don’t spit on my land.”
“Yes, yes! Thank you!”
Scholar Park fled without even stopping to retrieve the thug leader lying in the mud. He ran without noticing that one of his shoes had fallen off.
“Waaaah!”
The workers erupted in cheers.
They were drunk on the feeling of victory.
Our master had chased off a nobleman and thugs. And Manseok was a peerless strongman.
This place was safe. This place was strong.
That belief took root in their hearts.
I clapped my hands to shift the mood.
“Alright, show’s over! We’ve chased away the flies, so let’s get to the important work. We’re raising the main house today!”
With the troublemakers gone, construction proceeded at lightning speed.
The modular wall panels we had prepared were already stacked in the yard.
Today was the day to assemble them and fill them in.
“Raise them!”
At Master Carpenter Gong’s command, Manseok and the workers lifted the wall frames.
They fitted the pillars onto the foundation stones and slotted the wall panels into place.
The pre-cut ridges and grooves interlocked without a gap.
THUD! THUD!
Like assembling enormous building blocks, the shape of the house appeared in no time.
It took only half a day to erect the pillars, raise the beams, and set the roof in place.
If the villagers had seen that speed, they would have fainted.
“Alright, now the real work begins.”
I entered the house with Master Carpenter Gong.
It was a house with only a bare skeleton. The wind blew straight through it.
“Master Carpenter Gong, bring the prepared materials.”
“Yes!”
Master Carpenter Gong had the workers bring over several sacks.
They contained a mixture of black powder, chopped straw, and red loess.
“What is that? Charcoal powder?”
The workers asked curiously.
“This is the secret to making this house warm even in winter. It’s called insulation.”
I pointed at the empty spaces between the wall frames.
The wall panels we had made had a double-wall structure. There was a gap about the width of a fist between the inner and outer boards.
“Ordinary earthen walls are thin, so cold air comes in. But if we fill this empty space with soil mixed with charcoal and straw, it creates an air layer that blocks cold winds. The charcoal also regulates moisture and keeps insects away.”
“Oh... So we’re dressing the walls in padded clothes!”
Master Carpenter Gong slapped his knee.
He was completely captivated by this technique.
“Fill them!”
The workers poured the mixture between the wall panels.
Then they packed it down firmly with long poles.
As the walls thickened, the air inside the house already felt cozier.
Next came the floor.
The most important part of the heated-floor system.
“Dig out the floor!”
At my command, the workers began excavating the rooms.
Usually, people dug shallowly and laid down stones roughly, but I ordered them to dig deep.
“Make the firebox narrow, and the flue channels long and winding.”
This was a serpentine heated-floor system, designed so the heat would not escape directly through the chimney but would remain beneath the floor as long as possible.
“And lay the heating stones with these.”
I pointed at the thin, broad slate slabs I had gathered in advance.
Thick stones took a long time to heat, but these became hot quickly and retained heat for a long time.
“Big Brother, if you make it this complicated, won’t the smoke fail to escape?”
Chilbok asked worriedly.
“That’s why we’ll dig a deep smoke chamber at the end of the chimney. It’ll stop cold air from flowing back in.”
I could not explain fluid dynamics to them, but the results would be certain.
With only a few pieces of firewood, the house would stay as hot as a bathhouse all night.
By evening.
The walls had been filled, heating stones laid beneath the floor, and the loess plastering above them finished.
It was still damp, but a sturdy tiled-roof house had been completed.
The roof was actually an improved blend of straw and tile, but it looked impressive.
“Wow...”
The workers gazed at the completed house in awe.
It was sturdy and majestic enough that no one would believe it had been built in a single day.
“Sir, what about the windows? Should we paste window paper over them?”
Master Carpenter Gong asked.
The large window frames facing south stood empty.
“No. Window paper is too weak. And it lets in less sunlight.”
I signaled to Chilbok.
“Bring it.”
Chilbok carefully unrolled a sheet.
It was yellowish but translucent.
It was not ordinary paper.
It was oil paper, stiff and tough after being treated with perilla oil and dried for days.
“We’ll use this.”
“Oil paper? It’s expensive...”
“It’s worth the price. It lets in light while blocking the wind.”
The oil paper was stretched taut over the window frames.
Sunset light passed through it and poured gently into the room.
The room turned golden.
“Warm...”
Someone muttered.
There was no fire in the firebox yet, but sunlight entering through the oil-paper windows alone made the room pleasantly warm.
This was solar heating.
“It worked.”
I stroked the wall.
Smooth loess walls. Hidden within them was an insulating layer of charcoal and straw.
This place would endure the brutal winter and serve as headquarters for our leap forward next spring.
“Alright! You all worked hard!”
I shouted to the workers.
“You worked hard chasing off Scholar Park today, and you worked hard building the house. Tonight, we’re having something special!”
“Meat?”
Manseok’s eyes lit up.
“Meat, of course. But today, let’s fill the air with the smell of oil.”
I took out ingredients I had prepared in advance.
Lotus roots dug from the marshland, loaches, leftover rice flour, and eggs.
“Let’s fry some pancakes!”
Several cauldron lids were turned upside down and set over fires in front of the hut.
As we generously poured in perilla oil, a nutty fragrance filled the air.
Lotus-root pancakes, sizzling with sliced lotus root in rice-flour batter.
Whole fried loaches, plump and crisp.
“Ahhh! That smell is incredible!”
The workers cheered.
The sizzling of oil filled the marshland night.
I picked up a freshly cooked pancake.
It was hot, but I blew on it and put it in my mouth.
Crunch.
The rich taste of oil and the crisp texture of lotus root.
And a bowl of cold cloudy rice wine to wash it down.
“Ahhh!”
This was happiness.
Power struggles? Noble dignity? I did not need any of it.
A warm house, filling food, and people who believed in me. That was heaven.
“Big Brother.”
Chilbok approached while chewing a pancake.
“The house is finished, and we chased off the thugs... It really is our world now.”
“Yeah. But, Chilbok.”
I looked at the completed house.
The oil paper on the windows gleamed beneath the moonlight.
“That oil paper. Is much of it left?”
“Huh? Ah, I bought extra to be safe... We still have about half left.”
“We need to buy more.”
“What? The house is finished. What else would you use it for?”
“Not for the house. We’ll cover the fields with it.”
“The fields?”
I grinned.
“Now we prepare for winter farming. While everyone else hides indoors because it’s cold, we’ll build houses over our fields with that oil paper.”
“Houses... over the fields?”
Chilbok looked as though he did not understand.
But that was fine. I could just show him.
A plastic greenhouse. No, an oil-paper greenhouse.
I could already see the green vegetables growing inside it.
“Tomorrow, let’s go cut bamboo. A lot of it.”
The night deepened over the Great Peace Domain, but my plans had only just greeted morning.