A few days later.
“Child, is that true?”
Chun-hyang, who had been lifting her spoon before the breakfast table, looked at her mother Wolmae’s face at the words that came from across the small dining tray.
“What do you mean?”
“They say that demon-like man rounded up even the Confucian scholars this time.”
Wolmae answered with her face, still retaining its beauty despite the scratches time had left across it, twisted into a deep frown.
“How do you know that, Mother?”
“I heard it when I went to do the laundry. They say after the Works Office burned down the other day, he rounded up all the Hallimwon Academy students and flogged them.”
Hyangdan, the maidservant sitting beside them and attending the meal, cut in. While Chun-hyang glanced at Hyangdan, Wolmae picked up a side dish and placed it on Chun-hyang’s rice bowl as she asked,
“Were you there too?”
“Well, I was there.”
“Goodness, then you saw those Confucian scholars suffer such rough treatment?”
“Rather than saw it.”
I beat them with him.
Swallowing words that would make Wolmae faint if she heard them together with her soup, Chun-hyang reached her chopsticks toward the mountain greens.
The Works Office arson incident that had occurred a few days ago had been concluded as a rebellion caused by Woo Hoe-jung, dismissed for repeated corruption, who had acted out of resentment and colluded with local ruffians and former Special Military Officers to murder the local official. In the process, the ringleaders Woo Hoe-jung, Choi Ju-pal, and three former Special Military Officers were executed and displayed. For the crime of taking part in incitement, twenty ruffians, twelve wanderers, and seven Confucian scholars received flogging.
Since it was an unprecedentedly large incident for something that had occurred inside the protectorate, the already short-handed Justice Office naturally had no penal clerks capable of carrying out the flogging for all of them. In the end, as a matter of dividing the work, she and Song Ju-hwan had split the task.
Even then, the Magistrate had worried that Song Ju-hwan might be swayed by personal feelings and go easy with his hands, so he pushed the ruffians and wanderers onto her. Because of that, Chun-hyang had had to beat far more people than Song Ju-hwan.
She had swung her arm so much that even now, days later, her chopstick work was awkward.
‘If he had beaten them himself, it would have been over quickly.’
Remembering the Magistrate sitting in the armchair and issuing judgment, Chun-hyang carefully picked up a strip of egg garnish and chewed it with her mouth full.
Normally, he was slippery and informal, but once he sat in the judge’s seat, just as her mother had said, he was nothing less than a demon. Even Woo Hoe-jung and the former Special Military Officers, hearing their death sentences, had been unable to twitch a single hand.
Well, that was also because they had already been beaten into bloody pulp by the Magistrate in front of the Works Office and had lost all will to fight, but—
‘Who would dare talk back again before that presence?’
Chun-hyang recalled the Magistrate’s gaze as he looked down at the criminals and trembled for a moment.
She did not know where the end of his strength lay, but it was clear at least that someone like Woo Hoe-jung was not on a level where he could rebel against him.
‘That is why the biggest idiots under heaven are definitely ink-stained scholars. They did not know their place and stepped forward there.’
Chun-hyang muttered inwardly while savoring a large spoonful of fragrant mugwort soup.
The nutty taste of the homemade soybean paste Wolmae had carefully made all winter spread through her mouth together with the sharp fragrance of seasonal mugwort. As she ate the broth, which seemed to softly wrap even the rough texture of rice grains mixed with more than half mixed grains, she felt warmth rising from deep inside her stomach and spreading gently through her whole body.
While the ringleaders, including Woo Hoe-jung and the former Special Military Officers, were sentenced to death, and the remaining ruffians and wanderers were sentenced to flogging, the Confucian scholars who had been dragged in with them and made to kneel in the courtyard sensed that their turn had come and all shouted toward the Magistrate at once.
-To persecute scholars and attempt to establish discipline is to break moral principle!
-If scholars who carry on the lineage of the Confucian tradition are humiliated, the laws of the court will also collapse!
-To drag in and make kneel scholars who inherit the will of Zhu Xi is conduct that does not accord with heavenly principle!
‘Scholars? Where among them were there any scholars?’
Chun-hyang, chewing her rice, gave a small snort.
To her eyes, they were fools who only wasted rice while using the excuse of reading books. They would likely never rise in the world, and would only grow old and die while pretending to read and wasting rice all their lives.
And yet the world held up such things as Confucian scholars and scholars.
Feeling her chest grow pointlessly stuffy, Chun-hyang stabbed the last strip of egg garnish before her with her chopsticks.
***
-Scholars? Where are there scholars here? Before my eyes, I see only treacherous men who pushed ignorant common folk from behind and urged them into wrongdoing.
The Magistrate spoke with that peculiar smile that twisted up only the corner of his mouth.
......It was truly a smile that looked as if three generations would be cursed with bad luck.
Sure enough, the faces of the Confucian scholars looking up at the Magistrate who gazed down at them all turned red and blue.
-Wh-what!?
-If you had not whispered into their ears, would they have dared to do something as bold as set fire to the Works Office?
-This is sophistry! We merely tried to impeach a corrupt official according to the will of the people and save the people from suffering!
-And in exchange, you were promised the next provincial examination?
-!!!!!!
At the Magistrate’s words, everyone gathered drew in a breath. Looking leisurely over the Confucian scholars, who had turned blue and were only watching one another’s reactions, the Magistrate spoke.
-Eliminating a corrupt local official and passing the provincial examination, is it? It smells a little too contrived, so I do not like it. Do you not agree?
-Whoever planned it was rather clumsy. Unless, of course, you were pieces to be discarded from the start. Tsk, tsk.
At the Magistrate’s words, Clerk Jeong, standing beside him, chimed in.
Sometimes Chun-hyang wondered whether Clerk Jeong might also be an ability user. Otherwise, how could it be possible to beat a person’s soul out with only a three-inch tongue and a few words?
Sure enough, at the words Clerk Jeong let slip, the Confucian scholars’ faces began filling with dismay as they were shaken. Then the Magistrate erased the smile hanging at his lips and spoke in an icy tone.
-If you admit your error even now, I will show mercy. But if you persist further, this magistrate will have no choice but to follow the rules.
-This is a false accusation!! To privately persecute scholars without evidence—!!
Though they were shouting loudly, unease was clear on the Confucian scholars’ faces. After sweeping his gaze over those faces, the Magistrate snorted and spoke in a tone neither especially loud nor especially quiet.
-Administrative Director Yang, a Junior Fifth Rank practical administrator, personally told me. What greater evidence could there be?
Administrative Director Yang?
As Chun-hyang tilted her head at the name she had never heard, Clerk Jeong brought someone out from inside the East Hall.
And the Confucian scholars were greatly shaken when they saw the middle-aged man with a goat beard and sparrow eyes.
-A-Administrative Director Yang!!!!
-Is it real? Is it really him?
-It is real. That face—I saw him as an examination proctor at the last provincial examination.
-Th-that. Then h-how.
Clerk Jeong looked over their faces, as if they had seen a ghost, then clicked his tongue loudly enough for them to hear and said,
-That is why I said you were pieces to be discarded from the beginning. Good grief, how dense can you be? In this day and age, who would privately buy and sell offices? Especially with a local official’s neck on the line. Not unless they were mad.
At Clerk Jeong’s words, one of the Confucian scholars who had been looking at the others’ faces flattened himself to the ground and shouted,
-I merely added my name! They said they needed names for the memorial, so I only wrote mine down. I had no other intent!!!
-I-I am the same! I came only because they said all I had to do was stand there! I was only standing there earlier too! I did nothing!!
-I thought it was a joke! I have never written an impeachment memorial, nor would I ever have reason to, so I thought it was simply some new amusement!
The Confucian scholars lined up shameless excuses.
Meanwhile, Chun-hyang, who had been watching their ridiculous nonsense with a dumbfounded face, suddenly turned her gaze to Administrative Director Yang.
She did not know much, but if he was an examination proctor, that meant he was an official personally appointed by the Provincial Governor...... and that meant he too must certainly be someone from the Wansang Merchants’ side.
How had such a person ended up siding with the Magistrate?
‘Was he threatened?’
No, but he looks oddly relaxed for that.
Chun-hyang carefully watched Administrative Director Yang as he silently looked down below the stone foundation with his hands behind his back beside Clerk Jeong. Then, when he happened to adjust his posture and shift his hands, her eyes shone.
The brownish thing she briefly saw between his hands behind his back looked at first glance like a folding fan, but......
Chun-hyang knew by instinct.
That was yeot.
Grain-syrup taffy.
The thing the Magistrate had given to the brothers Jeong and Dam on the way back to the East Hall, saying they had worked hard.
Since she had not particularly done anything, she had been unable to ask for some herself and had only been able to watch the brothers Jeong and Dam chew the delicious yeot, so she could not forget it even if she tried.
I should have thrown pride aside and asked for some then......
At the feeling that the nutty, sweet fragrance might spread to the tip of her nose at any moment, saliva filled her mouth before she knew it.
Wait, in that case—
Chun-hyang looked again at Administrative Director Yang.
When her eyes met those of Administrative Director Yang, who had been looking over the Confucian scholars without any particular interest, his sparrow eyes narrowed in amusement. At that sight, Chun-hyang muttered inwardly.
‘Ugh, everyone is distracted right now, so it is fine, but what are you doing coming out while holding yeot, Dam?’
Fortunately, thanks to the Confucian scholars collapsing on their own the moment they recognized Administrative Director Yang’s face, it seemed Administrative Director Yang—no, Dam disguised as Administrative Director Yang—had nothing more to do.
While those who recognized Administrative Director Yang loudly tried to prove their innocence first, the Magistrate, who had been looking below the stone foundation, turned to Administrative Director Yang and said,
-Well, it seems there is no need to confirm anything further. Administrative Director, go inside and rest for now. You have worked hard coming all the long way here from the Provincial Governor’s Office.
-Ahem. Hm, then.
At the Magistrate’s words, Administrative Director Yang gave him a short bow, turned, and went behind the East Hall. Chun-hyang, who followed Administrative Director Yang with her eyes to the end, burst into a small laugh when she saw him shove what he had been holding into his mouth as if he could not endure it any longer before disappearing fully into the darkness.
Meanwhile, seemingly unaware even in their dreams that they had been deceived by a ten-year-old child, wails overflowed from the Confucian scholars below the stone foundation as they lost all will to fight and pleaded for mercy.
-Really? Deceiving them like this? Good grief. This is absurd.
When she heard Song Ju-hwan, who had stood beside her silently watching the situation from beginning to end, mutter quietly, Chun-hyang frowned.
A bat-like bastard who sticks here and there, talking about someone else.
-What are you saying? You are in a position where you should originally be over there getting beaten with them.
-That is not right. I warned him in advance!
At Song Ju-hwan’s reaction, flaring up at her words with veins standing out in his neck, amusement surged up inside her.
As if that little warning had been of any use in the end. And yet he was showing off.
Pressing down the sneer that was about to burst out, Chun-hyang asked,
-Then is that not enough? Why do you look so wronged?
-I do not know...... what is right.
The bat bastard muttered. He looked downcast, and his face seemed truly confused about something.
Before their eyes, the Confucian scholars sentenced to flogging were crying, shoulders drooping, faces stained with relief and despair.
They were supposed to be scholars who, even if broken by a fierce wind, would show the spirit never to bend. Yet each of them was floundering in shock, fear, and despair, showing the bottom of human nature exactly as it was.
Chun-hyang watched their behavior for a moment, then spoke coldly.
-I feel completely refreshed thinking that those rice-worm bastards will be crawling around unable to act human for a while.
The faces of the sobbing Confucian scholars looked familiar. They were the ones whose looks were worse than dirt under the soles of one’s feet, who had tried to sneakily act like her husband.
To Chun-hyang, the Confucian scholars were no different from the ruffians at their roots, except that they wore scholar’s hats. Were they not the men who, after Yi Mong-ryong went up to the capital, had tried in every way to harass her under the excuse that they had studied alongside him?
‘Scholars, my ass.’
Chun-hyang snorted and clenched her fist tightly. As if startled by that, Song Ju-hwan turned his head toward her and muttered as if to himself.
-......The more I see you, the more you seem like a different person.
-When have you ever seen me?
How absurd.
Someone listening would think he had known her for a long time.
When Chun-hyang made her displeasure obvious and twisted her face as much as possible, Song Ju-hwan shut his mouth and quietly opened some distance.
That was when the Magistrate’s voice was heard.
-Then begin.
Song Ju-hwan opened his eyes wide and asked back,
-Pardon? We are striking them?
-Then should I?
At those words, Song Ju-hwan scratched his head and muttered,
-Uh...... no, still, usually this sort of thing is done by the Justice Office—
-You intend to make the penal clerks do all that? Stop it. Are you trying to kill someone?
Standing at the edge of the wooden floor and listening to the conversation between the Magistrate and Song Ju-hwan, the two penal clerks could be seen letting out great sighs of relief.
Well, the Ghost Cudgel made from the Chief’s bone was different in weight from the start. No matter if they were penal clerks who had swung heavy flogging rods all their lives, if they struck all those people, they would have to prepare to lie sick for several days.
Chun-hyang strode up onto the stone foundation and picked up one of the Ghost Cudgels standing behind the armchair where the Magistrate sat. The chill she felt beyond the handle wrapped in cotton cloth for easier gripping made her mind feel as if it were cooling.
Chun-hyang looked over the criminals kneeling in a row below the stone foundation and asked,
-Where should I start?
At that, one of the Confucian scholars jumped and shouted,
-This is absurd! Under heaven, men and women must be separate, so how can a mere woman!
-He is asking you to start there.
Before the Confucian scholar could finish speaking, the Magistrate turned to Chun-hyang and said. The corner of his mouth, meeting her gaze, had once again curled up crookedly at some point.
......Truly, no matter how many times I see it, it is an unlucky smile.
Chun-hyang adjusted her grip on the Ghost Cudgel and launched herself straight down from the stone foundation.
***
“Oh my, child. What are you thinking about that makes you smile so ominously?”
At Wolmae’s words, Chun-hyang awoke from her thoughts.
At her mother’s worried face looking at her, only then did Chun-hyang realize that she had been smiling like the Magistrate without noticing, and she hurriedly arranged her expression.
In the meantime, Hyangdan, who had brought plenty of soy-braised beans, placed them onto Chun-hyang’s rice bowl and said,
“My lady, please eat well. You have been busy lately. I am worried you may wear yourself down.”
At those words, Wolmae grew even more worried, shifted her hips, and asked Chun-hyang,
“Should your mother pack something and bring it around lunchtime?”
“I will eat at Willow Tavern. There is nothing to worry about.”
Shaking her head, Chun-hyang scraped up the remaining rice and emptied her bowl. Hyangdan quickly poured in warm scorched-rice water she had prepared. As Chun-hyang wrapped both hands around the earthenware bowl and slowly drank the warm scorched-rice water, with its savory fragrance spreading to the tip of her nose, Wolmae asked,
“Ah, I did ask Won of Willow Tavern to take good care of you the other day. So? Does she look after you properly?”
Wolmae had always had wide connections. She had heard that in her youth, she and Won, the owner of the tavern that now had the respectable name Willow Tavern, had gone out to mountains and fields together. Perhaps because of that, whenever Chun-hyang went to Willow Tavern, she would often receive more rice and soup than even the Magistrate who came with her.
“Oh my, my baby. Where would there be strength in those slender wrists of yours? That demon-like bastard keeps calling you every day and raising X-shit—”
“I will be going, Mother.”
Sensing that Wolmae’s lament was about to begin, Chun-hyang rose from her seat. At that, Wolmae, who had somehow prepared it already, placed a bundle filled with dried jujubes in Chun-hyang’s hand and said,
“Take it easy, all right? Make other people do the hard work. Do not step forward into dangerous things. Eat this and that whenever you have the chance, and just pass the time roughly before coming back before it gets dark. You understand?”
“Yes, yes. Do not worry.”
Letting Wolmae’s endless warnings flow past her ears, Chun-hyang left the house.
***
“You are going to Wansan?”
Chun-hyang asked back, her eyes round. Her pale face received the morning sunlight, and her already extraordinary beauty shone properly.
Hah, is that the protagonist effect?
That bastard Ju-hwan standing beside her had his eyes completely melted by that face.
Good grief. Did that bastard still look like that even after personally seeing Chun-hyang turn nearly thirty grown men into bloody pulp with that face a few days ago?
I clicked my tongue inwardly, nodded, and answered.
“Yes, Wansan.”
“Why there?”
Chun-hyang asked again.
Well, Wansan was not the next village over. To get there, one had to ride a horse for a full day, so she probably wondered why this had come up so suddenly.
I pulled a sheet of paper from inside my clothes, showed it to her, and spoke shortly.
“They summoned me.”
Chun-hyang’s and Ju-hwan’s eyes both widened at the same time.
Of course they would.
What I was holding right now was a summons. In other words, an invitation sent to me by the Jeolla Provincial Governor.