“The delivery can only be joined by messengers and porters.”
“So I’d like to ask you to hire me as an elite messenger. As you know, I’m already qualified.”
“The elite messenger does not go on the delivery.”
“It’s rare, but there weren’t no cases.”
“Now that we know enough about your chivalry, that’s it. We will serve the dead well, so you must focus on your preparations for the public exam in a month.”
“The only reason I took the exam was to become an elite messenger and join the delivery. But if I can’t be a messenger, and I can’t join the delivery, I won’t take the public exam.”
What more did I need to be afraid of? I burned my boat with a feeling that I wouldn’t care.
People began to talk loudly. Son Ji-baek raised one hand to calm the people down, and said,．
“If you pass the public examination, you are at least a provincial mayor. We are hiring elite messengers and supporting them for a few to ten years to make them the mayor. But are you going to give up the chance and become a messenger?”
“Yes.”
At this moment, not only Son Ji-baek but also all the people in Cheonryong Gak were looking at Lee Jong-san.
At this point, they thought he was going to be in a bad mood.
For some reason, however, Lee Jong-san was quiet. Even Son Ji-baek looking at him was quiet.
Then they were talking in the inner voice again. Soon, Son Ji-baek asked me.
“Why do you want to be so much a messenger?”
At this moment, I could see that Lee Jong-san had given me a chance.
My fate as a messenger would depend on my answer from now on.
No trick would work. I had to take the bull by the horns with the most honest words.
I looked around Lee Jong-san, Kwak Seok-san, Lee Gap-ryong, Eulryong, Byeongryong, and the heads of each party, the heads of each party, and about thirty heads.
I captured Lee Jong-san, Kwak Seok-san, Lee Gap-ryong, Eul-ryong, Byung-ryong, and the heads of each Dang and Gak, and about 30 heads of messengers.
And I said.
“It may sound a little rude. But before that, I’d like to ask you a question.”
I deliberately used the title “senior messengers”.
“Why did you choose the career of a messenger? Have you become a messenger because you have no talent for public service unlike me?”
A provocative remark chilled the air in the audience.
The violent temper of more than thirty first-class and five top-class masters quickly turned the vast inner chamber of Cheonryong Gak into a cold bath.
I continued talking clearly without caring about it.
“What on earth is a government official better than a messenger? So do you regret the years you’ve lived as a messenger for at least ten to decades?”
The chill that had filled the inner room quickly cleared away. They understood the true meaning of my words.
“If you ask me why I want to be a messenger, this is my answer.”
I looked at Lee Jong-san here with an envious look. At least for this moment, it was the most honest look.
“I want to be a master messenger. Whatever other people think, whatever they say, it’s much more meaningful for me to be a messenger and to have my name as a master messenger than to be a government official.”
In a broad sense, the career of messenger refers to all the martial artists who joined the business of Pyoguk with swords.
Lee Jong-san, the Lord of Pyoguk, Gwak Seok-san-do, Lee Gap-ryong, Eul-ryong, Byung-ryong, heads of Dang and Gak, and even heads of messengers were all messengers.
Just as a swordsman dreamed of becoming a sword wizard and a Confucian scholar dreamed of becoming a master calligrapher, every messenger dreamed of becoming a master messenger.
However, the people of Gangho were stingy and did not give the title of the master messenger recklessly.
Now, only four of many messengers were called the master messenger throughout the country.
They were called “the four great messengers,” and were held in high esteem as heroes among messengers.
In Cheonryong Pyoguk, Lee Jong-san was the only one who received the title of the master messenger in his youth.
He went a step further and became the Lord of Pyoguk, and a living legend of all the messengers.
Being a messenger was very tough.
If anyone knew it best, it was Lee Jong-san.
Other heads, if not as much as Lee Jong-san, were also experienced.．
My answer, which may seem difficult to hit, shook the hearts of the captives, who had been through all sorts of hardships, and now were a little bit inert.
A quiet echo spread throughout the inner room.
I could feel that another language in a heavy silence was being transmitted from heart to heart.
The only people who could not assimilate into this mood were Lee Gap-ryong, Eul-ryong, and Byung-ryong.
They weren’t interested in the master messenger from the start.
Their only goal was to be the Lord of the Cheonryong Pyoguk.
It was Namgoongso who broke the silence.
“But you told me that you were gonna ask one thing?”
Light laughter burst out everywhere.
Her joke lightened the heavy atmosphere.
Son Ji-baek saw Lee Jong-san. He was asking what to do.
At that moment, the laughter stopped and all the fifty or so heads stared at Lee Jong-san’s mouth with nervous faces.
After a period of silence, Lee Jong-san nodded slightly.
“From today on, the Cheonryong Pyoguk will hire Lee Jung-ryong as a messenger. Besides, he will be supporting the delivery team to Mount Gamak, led by Jang Liang-gi.”, said Son Ji-baek.
At the moment, a quiet excitement spread among the fifty heads of messengers, all inwardly cheering for me.
On the other hand, Lee Gap-ryong, Eul-ryong, Byung-ryong, and the heads of Dang and Gak, which they led, seemed uncomfortable.
I felt like I could fly.
I finally became the messenger which I had been wanting so much in my previous life. I had still a label of an elite, but one day I would change it to the master messenger.
“This is the end of today’s meeting…….”
“Please hire me, too!”
It was Namgoong So-so who stood up screaming.
She quickly saluted as if she was afraid that they would finish the meeting.
“I am Pung Jin-yang, and I passed the examination for the tenth place. If you could just hire me as a giant messenger until I get the public exam, I’d do my best…….”
“Never mind. Are you trying to join the delivery, too?”
“Yes.”
I squeezed my throat, pulling on the hem of Namgoong So-so’s clothes.
“What are you doing?”
“Are you going to run away alone? Were you going to buy me noodles after the public exam? Don’t play a trick to me.”
“The delivery is a series of much more arduous work than you think. You can’t wash properly, you have to sleep anywhere in the mountains or the fields at sunset, and it can be dangerous.”
“Some people make a living out of such a difficult and dangerous thing. They support their kids and parents. A person I met today even told me it was his dream.”
“……?”
“I don’t have any single intention to dream with you, but I’m not a very weak Confucian scholar to speak of as much as I’ve experienced for a few days.”
Namgoong So-so again spoke to Son Ji-baek.
“You said it would take five days from Yangju to Mt. Gamak, and I know the route that it took in three days. Fortunately, my hometown is Yangju.”
“We cross rivers and mountain ranges through the country like a threshold. Even though Yangju is your hometown, you know a shortcut that we don’t know?”
“I’ll bet my wrist.”
“……!”
I did not know what it meant to her to pass the public examination.
But honestly, I was a little impressed by the way she grew up without lacking anything and didn’t mind such a rough road to achieving what she wanted.
‘If she were a man, we could have been real friends…….’
***
Lee Jong-san left Cheonryong Gak well past midnight.
“Seok-san.”
The Lord called his name instead of the official title of the General messenger. It reminded him of the old days.
“Yes, brother.”
Kwak Seok-san answered as he did in the past.
“Why did you become a messenger?”
“Well, it’s been so long that I don’t remember why, but I still think about it sometimes.”
“Are you going to talk about what happened over Mount Grand Snow again?”
“Was it when Gap-ryong was just born? You and I, alone, escorted four members of the family, who were chased by five Black Sword Factions, from Guangdong Province to Mount Grand Snow, past Guangdong Province, Guizhou Province, Sichuan Province.”
“Five factions? Well, endless people were chasing us.”
“Children cried because it was cold, the young mother was sick with a high fever, and the father was terrified that we’ll abandon them and run away. The bandits of the Black Sword Faction were constantly appearing. Phew. I’m still sick of that memory.”
“You asked me to sneak away at night. From the day after the father overheard it, he hadn’t slept at night. Hahaha.”
“Do you remember what the mother said when she cut off her hair and skirt and made shoes for us?”
“She will wake up at dawn every day until she dies and bows down to the Cheonryong Pyoguk where we live. When she dies, her children will bow until they die again and pray for our well-being. Please get home safely.”
“The dry eyes of the woman that day, the dirty, trembling hands that handed the shoes, and her face stained with frostbite. I can’t forget it now.”
“That’s already 30 years ago.”
“After that day, the Gangho people started calling you ‘Master Messenger’. I was so proud of the fact that I was the sworn brother of Lee Jong-san.”
“Not now?”
“What’s wrong with you? Now I’m the General head of messenger in Cheonryong Pyoguk. Even though I’m too old to get the title of the master messenger like you, I still think that the career of that I’ve walked is worth proud.”
“It’s more than that.”
“……?”
“Without you, I wouldn’t have earned the title, nor would I have been able to get where I am today. You are my master messenger.”
It was really rare for Lee Jong-san to praise someone.
Furthermore, it was rarer to compliment someone face to face.
Even between men.
For a moment, there was an awkward silence.
“Does he want to be a messenger?”
It was about his fourth son, Lee Jeong-ryong.
“You heard him. Judging by his determination, it was not a joke. I’m sorry to say this, but he is very stubborn like you.”
” What the hell is wrong with him, who doesn’t know anything about martial art?”
“Is it such a big problem that he doesn’t know martial art?”
“What else can I say to side with him?”
“Of course, as a messenger, he would have to protect himself and deliver goods with strong power. But he can help the delivery succeed in other ways. Jeong-ryong has already proved it once in Bokryong Dang.”
“If he wants to live comfortably, he can. If he wants to do deliveries, you can become a head of any Gak after three or four years of delivery like his brothers……. But it’s a problem that he’s going to spend his whole life as a messenger, not knowing when he’s going to die, and sleeping on the street more than sleeping in a warm room…….”
“A long time ago, I knew one messenger, and 30 years later, he became the Lord of the biggest Pyoguk in Zhejiang Province.”
Lee Jong-san successfully led delivery, which reached as many as 1,000 times in 30 years without a single failure.
So the nickname he got was ‘Lord of Pyoguk’.
Gangho had numerous Pyoguks, and some of those were larger than Cheonryong Pyoguk.
However, only Lee Jong-san was called ‘Lord of Pyoguk’.
Big merchants in Gangho, who regularly had to send large-scale goods, visited Cheonryong Pyoguk having faith in the title of ‘Lord of Pyoguk’.
The trust of the big merchants in Gangho had already begun in the early days of the legendary journey.
Their ‘belief and trust’ was a powerful force for Lee Jong-san, who had a small family compared to his other half-brothers.
It was around that time that he gained support from three families who would later have a marriage.
With that power, Lee Jong-san was able to become the seventh Lord, beating his five brothers, who were bent on expanding their influence in the country, backed by their maternal families.
Instead, he had to overcome dozens of fatalities in more than thirty years of delivery.
It had been five times that even he had been seriously injured so that doctors almost gave up.
It was a miracle that he was still alive.
“Do you mean that he is going to follow my path and support me in the future?”
“If he is thinking about it from the start, he is an extraordinary person, and if he just wants to be a messenger, he will be followed by his fate.”
“As fate leads?”
“If by any chance he became the ‘Master messenger’, who will be called by big merchants in Gangho, Jeong-ryong would have to go to war with his brothers regardless of his will. For the Lord of the Cheonryong Pyoguk. If not, he would be killed by a swordsman during any delivery, as a normal case for normal messengers.”
Lee Jong-san’s eyes were filled with unknown heat for a moment and then disappeared. He shook his head and said,
“I watched him for twenty-two years. He indeed surprised me these days, but it’s vague greed as a father to believe it would be his true self. A worm, however, wriggled, is just a worm.”
“Some worms eat poisonous snakes and knockdown wild boars. For example, the Tianji worm in Mt. Oji, which is rumored in Gangho.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. The girl, Miss Pung Jin-yang, who wants to go with him. Can you guess who she is?”
“Not at all. You know, she’s too young to be named.”
“Her gait was unusual. She had a considerable level of martial arts. For what reason did she approach Jeong-ryong in a male costume?”
“Don’t worry too much. You’ve seen it, haven’t you? Her sights on Jeong-ryong have been warm all the time. She is probably a descendant of the famous family, including clear, chaste breathing, elegant words, and deeds.”
“But I can’t just let it go. Find out who she is.”
“Yes.”
“And add a smart and sensitive messenger to support the delivery group led by Zhang Liang-gi, not a man of Gap-ryong, Eul-ryong, or Byung-ryong.”
It meant to send a guard for Lee Jeong-ryong just in case.
“There is a new messenger, Ga Bul-yeom. He uses a long sword greatly, and he is better than any experienced messengers. He has a lot of experience in Gangho.”
“He might be good.”
***
Meanwhile, Lee Gap-ryong, Eul-ryong, and Byung-ryong, who left Cheonryong Gak together, were walking without their guards.
“I don’t know what he is thinking. What’s the messenger and the delivery for him, who doesn’t know anything about martial arts. Crazy nut.”
Lee Byung-ryong started talking.
“I don’t understand why he is willing to take part in the delivery when he should do his best for the exam. It’s not very impossible to pass the examination because he has already won first place in the local exam.”
Lee Gap-ryong said,
“It’s not very impossible, it’s very possible. He thinks the public exam is very easy.”
Lee Eul-ryong said,
“I think the second brother thinks too highly of him. He indeed won the first place, but the public exam is different from the local one. ”
“You’re going to take the public exam, too?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, you’re taking the exam, aren’t you?”
“Isn’t that obvious? I’m also a Confucian scholar who passed the local exam. I was pissed off because Jeong-ryong took the first place. But it’s not easy to just pass the exam. You’ve experienced it, so you know it.”
He pointed out that Lee Gap-ryong and Eul-ryong also failed the local exam several times when they were a little younger.
“My arse.”
“Second Brother, you’re mean.”
“You passed the exam because your maternal family had bribed the chief official. But how about the public exam? Are you going to visit Beijing and cook the judges?”
“How do you know…….”
“Shame on you, you bastard.”
Byung-ryong could not resist to the curse because they were telling the fact.
How they found out what he had strictly kept secret. It made him scared.
“By the way, I feel like Jeong-ryong has grown so big these days. There was no presence at all before. My father has changed his attitude toward him.”, said Lee Gap-ryong
“What do you know?”, asked Lee Eul-ryong.
“My father gave Jeong-ryong the Unchul sword.”
“……!”
“……!”
Lee Byung-ryong and Lee Eul-ryong simultaneously opened their eyes.
The Unchul sword was a precious thing. Without any connection, they could not buy it for huge money.
Did he give it to him?
Again, Lee Gap-ryong said,
“I wish the humble sprouts did not grow into trees.”
“I have to get Jang Liang-gi to do some work.”
“You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?”
Lee Gap-ryong talked like a joke, and somehow it sounded like a true story to Lee Eul-ryong and Lee Byung-ryong.
The scariest of the three was the eldest brother, Lee Gap-ryong.
Nobody could know what he was thinking.
“I’m going to ask Jang Liang-gi to give Jeong-ryong many opportunities during the delivery. A fresh sprout is easily broken in the mild wind.”
“Then what if he does a good job at every opportunity given? No one expected it, but as if he passed the exam all of sudden.”
“Joining the delivery is completely different from winning the first place in the exam. It might be different when he has some experiences with porters. Huh.”