Across the vast Central Plains, there must be countless places called Jeong Manor.
But if you look for Jeong Manor in Lizhou, on the northern edge of the Sichuan region, there's only one.
Its long walls and grand halls symbolized the Chairman's power, while the fact that beggars nonetheless loitered around it and even came and went showed the Chairman's gentle character.
That was why the news delivered by a young beggar who came dashing in, out of breath, could spread.
“Elders! Heo Saeng passed the Youth Examination, and he's coming back all dressed up in official robes!”
The heads of several scholars enjoying refined leisure in the pavilion whipped around.
“What? Say that again.”
“I saw it plain as day, him a Licentiate, all dressed in official robes and getting asked a favor by the Elder Sword Star!”
“…….”
The reactions split rather dramatically.
Some held back groans, while others grew as excited as if it were a festival and moved to celebrate.
The former were those who'd been putting off their studies under the pretext of refined leisure, and the latter were those who knew how hard Heo Saeng had worked for five years, starting from when he couldn't even speak, let alone read.
The news soon reached the training ground, and several martial artists showed up looking amused.
And no wonder, for Heo Saeng had taken the Youth Examination for the first time only last year.
As a vagrant who'd drifted in from elsewhere, he'd lacked not only eligibility but learning.
Surely that had been the case.
“You bastards. Didn't I tell you our little brother Heo was a genius?”
One of the martial artists who'd come out of the training ground guffawed and gazed steadily at the leisure-loving young masters.
As if they at least knew shame, they scowled and cleared away their drinking table.
Watching them retreat, the martial artist clicked his tongue.
“Honestly, bastards studying on the Chairman's money, drowning themselves in wine jars day in and day out…….”
Heo Saeng was a celebrity even within Jeong Manor.
He was famous for the story of how the Chairman took him in, and he was famous for his hard work.
As to whether it would bear fruit, most had thought it too early to say, but by passing in one go today, the matter had been settled.
“Oh, right. He's not little brother Heo anymore. He's Lord Licentiate Heo now, huh.”
The middle-aged martial artist wearing a red headband, Hong Gu-pae, looked down the road Heo Saeng had taken to receive his examination results.
Soon, scholars who'd failed and hadn't received official robes began trudging in.
“Heh heh, bunch of riffraff.”
Hong Gu-pae openly mocked them in a voice loud enough to be heard.
That was because most of them had looked down on Heo Saeng.
***
Licentiate.
A title you'd only come across through The Tale of Heo Saeng in school textbooks.
Most people wouldn't think much of the position, but it was an impressive one, worthy of respect even from renowned figures of the murim.
It was only in the twenty-first century that literacy rates began to improve worldwide.
This world, similar to old China except for the existence of the murim, was no different.
Most people can't even read, let alone pursue scholarship.
So the standing of someone who passed the civil service examination and came to be called a Licentiate is greater than a modern person would imagine.
It was even greater than I'd imagined, which is why I'd aimed for it.
“A joyous occasion!”
“How does a young man who couldn't even speak properly set out on the road to success in just five years?”
“A genius. A once-in-a-generation genius.”
By the time I arrived, Jeong Manor was already in a festive mood.
Jeong Manor housed a good hundred scholar retainers alone, but few had passed even the Youth Examination to become Licentiates.
If they kept living like that and time passed without results, they'd be kicked out.
So the hyung-nims who'd already become Licentiates or Presented Scholars and secured their standing before the Chairman were in high spirits, while the dissolute ones were groaning.
Even a fool could see it.
A young man who couldn't even speak properly five years ago was picked up and taken in as a retainer, and this year he became a Licentiate.
Comparisons were inevitable. Even if not, they'd feel pathetic on their own.
I soaked in those looks while being congratulated, then left. I should take off the official robes in my room.
Hong-hyung was lying sprawled in my room. He must have sensed my presence early, because he sat up and waved.
He was grinning from ear to ear.
I imagine I was too.
“Hey there, Licentiate Heo.”
“Hong-hyung! I did it! Did you see how those bastards outside got their noses flattened?”
“Ha, even I felt refreshed. Bastards who don't even study, badmouthing you every single day.”
“Tell me about it.”
When I started taking off the official robes while we chatted, Hong-hyung sprang to his feet.
Then, with obviously exaggerated ceremony, he took the robes from me.
He even hung them up for me. We just kept grinning at each other.
“You said your dream was to get an official post, and you're getting there fast. Didn't you say you were thinking of entering the Imperial Academy or something next?”
“That's right. I'm going to pass not just the Provincial Examination but the Palace Examination too, and make it big.”
“If it's our Licentiate Heo, you can do it.”
He was a hyung-nim a good ten years older, but neither of us stood on ceremony.
He'd always said he liked people who worked hard at whatever they did, and thanks to that, he looked out for me.
“So, you having a drink with me today?”
“How about after I pass the Palace Examination and become a Presented Scholar?”
“Geez, your hyung'll die of old age waiting…….”
He said that, but he quietly got up and made way. Having congratulated me, he seemed done with his business.
“Oh, right, I forgot to pass this on. The Chairman said he wants to see you.”
“He does?”
“Yeah. Guess you made an impression.”
No, wait. Maybe he'd come to deliver that news in the first place.
Among the martial artist retainers, Hong-hyung was the closest to the Chairman. He claimed his martial arts were the strongest too, but that's not something I could know.
“Congrats again. The Chairman was happy too.”
Leaving only those words, Hong-hyung, true to a martial artist, used his movement arts or whatever and vanished in a whoosh. Only his voice lingered faintly, ringing like an echo.
It's hard even to follow with my eyes. How on earth can a person move at that speed?
It's definitely not something science can explain.
All the more reason I have to become an official to preserve my one and only life.
The Central Plains, where the murim existed, couldn't be called safe even as empty flattery.
It's a world where sword-wielding superhuman thugs are far too common.
Hong-hyung is a good person, though.
***
The elderly Chairman is a white-haired man well on in years.
Yet his eyes still gleamed so sharply that the claim he'd led a great trading company in Henan in his prime didn't seem like a lie.
“Have a seat there.”
“Yes, Elder.”
A drinking table had been laid out for our private meeting.
It wasn't a table so laden its legs might break, but seeing seafood on it, it felt like he'd prepared it with care.
Being a Licentiate was impressive, sure, but not enough to warrant a spread like this.
I felt the weight of it. Some kind of expectation was starting to rest on me.
I sat down, but neither conversation nor the meal began. I heard the footsteps of the servant who'd shown me in withdraw.
The elderly Chairman looked at me with profound eyes.
I looked back at him, trying to wear as serious an expression as I could.
Kids from orphanages have to be quick to read the room. Wherever I went, I was often told that if nothing else, I was quick on the uptake.
Some say Jeong Manor taking in retainers is just a senile old man's pastime.
After five years of watching, I don't think that's true.
The reason the old man takes in and feeds idlers under him is to find talent among them.
Martial artists through strength, scholars through official posts.
All those connections help one way or another. You could think of it as gathering them within his own fence.
The retainers of Jeong Manor are seeds sown for a harvest.
Could anyone see those gleaming eyes and still suspect senility?
The Chairman picked up the wine bottle.
“Raise your cup.”
“Thank you.”
“I put some thought into today's table. Have you ever eaten fish?”
“Yes, now and then, long ago.”
“Hoh.”
The mood eased abruptly. The Chairman quickly turned into a good-natured old man.
Those who only saw this side of him thought Jeong Manor was odd. You can't tell from the surface alone.
I poked my chopsticks into grilled mackerel, the first I'd had in who knows how many years.
Wait, this is mackerel? It's not easy to eat in an inland place like Sichuan. This is an era without refrigerators or live fish tanks.
It was salt-cured, but fresh all the same. Fresh enough to make me wonder if someone trained in movement arts had delivered it.
Then it'd be insanely expensive…….
Sometimes, seeing the scale of the old man's spending like this, I did think it was a bit suspicious.
Jeong Manor was definitely a bit unusual.
But that wasn't particularly important.
Maybe all these retainers really were just a rich old man's pastime.
What mattered was that he was my patron.
“How do you intend to proceed with your studies from here?”
The question came out of nowhere.
I nearly choked on the wine I was swallowing.
The conversation I'd been planning in my head got a little tangled.
Still, I didn't let it show at all.
My thoughts turned.
This was a drinking session the other Licentiate hyung-nims of the manor had gone through whenever they passed an examination.
From what I'd heard, it was a gathering where he offered quiet encouragement and simply made his mark as a patron.
He'd never been this direct. I knew because I'd asked around.
I swallowed the wine.
Set the cup down carefully to buy time.
And gave the answer I'd put together.
“I intend to enter officialdom.”
“How far?”
“To high office.”
“Then you intend to prepare all the way to the Palace Examination?”
“That is right. I have no intention of being satisfied as a Licentiate.”
I had only just become someone awaiting appointment.
If I wanted high office, there were still many examinations to go through.
So many that, before landing in this world, I hadn't known there were this many stages.
This was the moment for a genius to show his ambition to his patron.
I tried to put some force into my gaze.
The Chairman grinned.
“Your senior in Henan will be pleased.”
“I will strive to follow in that senior's footsteps.”
It was someone I'd heard of.
One of the scholars who'd risen in the world under the old man's patronage. His story was passed down at Jeong Manor almost like a legend.
“Just pass the examinations. After that, I will be of help. I am counting on you.”
After that, it was trivial small talk and words of goodwill.
The important talk had already passed.
Even as I left the private meeting, my heart was pounding.
Not because of the wine.
What did that question mean?
Had I been chosen, in a sense?
His words and manner seemed certain that I could climb higher.
Or that he would make sure I did.
Soon, something clicked neatly into place in my head.
A great trading company in Henan, and a legendary senior scholar of Jeong Manor already serving as no less than a prefect in Henan.
The old Chairman's power might be greater than the people of Lizhou thought.
Then didn't that mean I'd been fully accepted within his fence?
***
“He said that?”
The one stroking his beard as he listened to me gush was Teacher Sa Pae-cheon, who was in charge of Jeong Manor's library.
His name had an oddly martial-artist feel to it, but he was a fine educator armed with learning and refinement.
He was the one who taught me, so he truly could be called my teacher.
He was also the one who'd brought me, begging on the streets, to Jeong Manor.
There was no greater benefactor than him.
Supposedly the bookshop owner, Elder Jang, had seen me hanging around his shop and mentioned me half as a joke.
Teacher looked me over briefly, then readily brought me to Jeong Manor and gave me a room.
It's a day I can never forget.
“Hmm. It is rare for the Chairman to go that far…….”
He'd once held an official post himself, I'd heard.
If Hong Gu-pae Hyung-nim was the de facto leader of the martial artists, Teacher Sa Pae-cheon was that of the scholars.
Like Hong-hyung, he had the Chairman's trust, which made him the right person to ask about the true meaning of those words.
“Well, a good thing is a good thing. You may think of it that way. Besides, I did put in a good word for you.”
“Oh, Teacher. Really? I can't thank you enough.”
Teacher chuckled at my fuss and nodded.
“If you quietly devote yourself to your studies, good things will come. No one can pass the examinations for you……. But after that, well.”
“I hardly know where to put myself.”
“Why not thank the Chairman instead?”
“I do, every day. The first thing I do when I wake up is bow toward the Chairman's room in greeting.”
“You rascal, you certainly have a way with words.”
“A scholar ought to have a silver tongue, shouldn't he?”
“That is also true.”
Making light conversation, I took up part of my daily routine again.
Jeong Manor's library is enormous and vast.
It was hard for one person to manage, so retainers often came to help.
As someone who considered himself Teacher's disciple, I naturally spent my time helping organize and clean the library.
Today, though, no one else was there. It was the day the examination results were announced.
While dusting, I found a bundle of books that had come in.
It looked like it had been brought in from Mister Jang's bookshop.
“Teacher, I'll unpack this. Where should I put them?”
The Chairman's collecting habit didn't extend only to talent.
The library was full of all manner of strange books, and he collected anything unfamiliar first and asked questions later.
“Yes. It ought to be put in order.”
While Teacher looked for an empty spot on the shelves, I lifted the bundle onto the table.
The moment I undid the tightly tied book wrapping, a dry, fishy stench hit me.
“Teacher, this smells like blood…….”
“Step aside.”
Teacher frowned and pulled out one volume from the wrapping.
“Hmm, it was soaked through with blood.”
“Looks like stolen goods.”
“Things like that come into Jang's bookshop now and then. Let us see…….”
The cover was caked with dried blood.
When he opened the book, blood stains everywhere…….
Should have been there, but weren't.
It was cleanly blank paper.
Turning the pages, it was blank after blank.
“Even a ghost would wail at this. And it did not seep through to the inside, either.”
“Wow, the paper's good quality, though.”
“And the cover is some leather I cannot identify. But if the stains were removed, would it not look very expensive?”
At that, I quickly fetched a rag, dampened it, and wiped. I didn't think it would come off, but the blood on the smooth leather wiped away surprisingly easily.
Once clean, it was a luxurious book of a kind rare even among modern hardcovers.
Teacher turned the pages, puzzled. It was still a blank book with no trace of use anywhere.
Considering the painstaking binding and the quality of the paper, it was almost bizarre.
Including the fact that it hadn't absorbed any blood.
“Now this is paper that will take ink very well.”
“I've never seen paper this smooth.”
That was actually a lie.
There's no way modern papermaking would be worse than this era's.
Teacher thought for a moment, then spoke.
“……Let us see. Then you take this.”
“Me?”
“You have become a Licentiate, so I ought to give you a gift, but what do I have? This has no contents, so the Chairman will not mind if I give it away.”
“But…….”
“No arguments. Just practice your calligraphy with it. You must get used to paper like that too. Once you take office, you will have plenty to write.”
This time I didn't make a fuss, just grinned and accepted it.
“Thank you. I'll put it to good use.”
“Right. Off you go now. The tidying is all done.”
It really was. There wasn't much to tidy today.
As I bowed again and turned to go, Teacher spoke from behind me.
“From now on, do not come to clean. Now that you are a Licentiate, you should put on airs a little.”
“Haha, then I'll come visit instead.”
“Do. Come have a cup of tea. And we can talk about writing.”
What a truly happy day.
I'd achieved my short-term goal and won recognition from everyone around me.
Just five years.
Five years since I fell into a strange world.
For someone like me from an orphanage, Korea wasn't exactly a place I could lean on anyway.
As long as I can live, does it matter where?
Fortunately, I seem to be living pretty well right now.