A Ship Bound for Guigokdo
Hang-a Inn.
It was the oldest and largest inn in the harbor—a place where ship owners and captains of trading vessels stayed, far too expensive for ordinary sailors.
It was still a long while until evening, a quiet afternoon. Ja Gangcheon sat facing a middle-aged woman.
“Thank you for coming to see me yourself.”
It was Song Jain. Beside the table where they sat, her son waited in a wheeled chair.
“I am the one who made the three Deungmyeong Medicines. I heard you were looking for me.”
“Yes. I know it is rude of me to come like this, yet I came all the same. In Fuzhou of Fujian Province I first encountered the Deungmyeong Medicines through a sailor. Among them, the Deungmyeong Jetonghwan and the Deungmyeong Wongidan proved effective for my son, so I sought you out.”
She concealed nothing—stating her purpose and circumstances with perfect clarity. Listening to her, one almost felt there had been no need to go through the Hao Clan at all.
“I will be honest with you. I am no physician. I only discovered the formulas and made the pills; I know nothing of medicine itself.”
“Ah…”
Disappointment rose on Song Jain’s face—an expression that belonged wholly to a mother fretting over her child. Her soft, generous features gave her the air of a kindly restaurant owner; when worry settled over them, she looked all the more pitiable.
“Then might I at least purchase a large quantity of Deungmyeong Wongidan and Jetonghwan? I will pay whatever is required.”
“If the amount is not unreasonable, I will do my best to meet it.”
“Ah! Thank you! Truly, thank you!”
How many martial masters in the jianghu would bow their heads so deeply? Even as the greatest poison master of the martial world, she became the lowest person alive when it came to her child.
Her sincerity somehow made Ja Gangcheon think of his own mother.
“There is one more favor I would ask, if I may.”
“Please speak.”
“Would you allow us to study the pills ourselves? We will never reveal them outside; they will be used solely for my son’s treatment.”
“Would that not be more dangerous? There are set dosages and methods of preparation.”
“Ah—my son and I have studied medical texts since we were young, so we have that much ability. To tell the truth, the efficacy of the Deungmyeong Medicines astonished us. They far surpass anything our own research has achieved. That is why I presume to ask permission to examine them.”
“Study them as much as you like.”
“I never expected you to grant it so readily.”
“I only hope your efforts bear fruit.”
When the conversation ended, Ja Gangcheon turned his gaze to her son, who had been listening quietly. The young man, his face heavy with illness, met his eyes and managed a difficult bow.
“Thank you for your help.”
“I sell them for a fair price, so there is no need for thanks. As for researching the pills—if you had not told me, I would never have known. You observed proper courtesy, so there is nothing for me to mind.”
Then Ja Gangcheon asked only one question.
“How old are you, hyung?”
“Twenty-eight this year.”
“I am sixteen, so you are quite a bit older. There is little advice a boy like me can give, but one thing I can say.”
Ja Gangcheon smiled as he spoke.
“It makes me want to see my own mother.”
At the unadorned sincerity, the young man smiled. His face was so gaunt that skin seemed stretched over bone, making even that smile heartbreaking—yet Ja Gangcheon gave no sign of it.
“Until next time.”
Ja Gangcheon offered his farewell and left the inn.
Outside, he gave instructions to the lanky Seok-ho of the Donghae Trading Company, who had been waiting in front of the building.
“Give them as much medicine as they want.”
“Yes, Manor Lord. Any other orders?”
Ja Gangcheon started to speak, then stopped.
“Watch them a little longer for now. It is not something to judge hastily.”
“Yes, Manor Lord.”
Soothing the faint itch in his chest, Ja Gangcheon returned to the manor.
Early winter.
Demand for the pills sold by the Donghae Trading Company exploded. Formal medicine shops were opened in Gyounam and the southern harbor. Word of mouth among overseas traders fanned the demand until goods could no longer keep pace with sales—all because the efficacy was simply that outstanding.
Thanks to this, the Donghae Trading Company secured a foothold in the southern harbor even before its trading vessels began formal runs. What was more, the winter crisis of collapsing ice sales was turned into an opportunity instead.
Alongside all of this, Ja Gangcheon finally pressed the negotiation he had so long desired.
“The time has come.”
The man he sought out was the shipwright Man Pil-ung.
“I told you clearly there was a fifty-percent chance—and that only if there were sailors willing to wager unlimited silver and their very lives.”
“I will take responsibility for every other condition. Build me the ship.”
“Even if every condition is met, I never promised I would build it.”
From the start he had only been asked about the possibility; he was already a retired master craftsman. So Ja Gangcheon set about persuading him.
“Martial artists stake their lives on leaving a name and reputation that will endure through the generations. What does a man who builds ships stake his life on?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
He looked eager to avoid the conversation altogether. Provoking him into focus would have been easy enough, yet Ja Gangcheon chose another path.
“What about the largest, sturdiest ship in the world?”
For a brief moment, strength entered Man Pil-ung’s eyes. The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but Ja Gangcheon did not miss it.
“I intend to build a ship that can reach Guigokdo.”
“Guigokdo, you said?”
As expected, surprise crossed Man Pil-ung’s face. A man who built ships could not fail to know those waters.
“The number of ships that sea has swallowed is beyond counting…”
“Which means that if it succeeds, it will be a ship that goes down in history.”
This time the man who had refused outright had no answer. Even he, who had lived his life as a shipwright, had one feat he had never accomplished.
The first and greatest ship.
Everyone dreamed of it; few ever reached it.
If it returned from Guigokdo…
That alone would prove it the greatest ship of all. As a new desire stirred in his mind, Ja Gangcheon’s voice cut through.
“I will make you one promise. You will name the ship however you wish.”
It was the condition Cheongu had advised. Not the most practical offer, yet the most honorable.
“I… I will think it over. To be honest, it has only been a vague estimate; I have never properly examined whether it is even possible.”
“I will wait for your answer. Do not keep me waiting too long. If you refuse, I will have to find another master craftsman.”
It was not a provocation—it was the truth.
“I simply cannot stop.”
Man Pil-ung foresaw that he was about to become busy again.
They met once more half a month later.
“If the conditions are right, I will do it.”
“Name them.”
“A ship of that caliber will require not only new designs but an entirely new shipyard. Initial investment: thirty thousand taels of silver. Thereafter, an additional three thousand taels every month. Completion will take five years at the least, ten at the most.”
Even calculated optimistically, the plan approached two hundred thousand taels of silver. Had it been solely for a single ship, no one would have believed it. Considering that even the largest warships cost around thirty thousand taels, the scale became clear. Of course, seven-tenths of those two hundred thousand taels would go not into the ship itself but into building the shipyard.
“If the conditions are met, can you succeed?”
“I will abandon every other purpose and focus solely on piercing through violent seas. Is that the ship the Manor Lord desires?”
In other words, it would be utterly useless as a trading vessel or a warship.
“Yes. That is exactly what I want.”
“Then I am certain of success. If I fail, I will share the ship’s fate.”
“You mean you will sail on it yourself?”
“Of course. As the one who knows the ship best, I must go with it.”
With resolve of that magnitude, Ja Gangcheon had no reason left to hesitate.
“Good. I leave it in your hands.”
He extended his hand; Man Pil-ung took it.
“Thank you for trusting me with this.”
Unlike before, Man Pil-ung bowed his head deeply. Opportunity had arrived at the very end of his life.
I will carve my name into history.
The passion that had vanished flared once more, setting fire to his chest.
Having asked for the ship without the slightest hesitation, Ja Gangcheon returned to the manor and immediately asked Cheongu:
“So do we have to live on nothing but plain noodles from now on?”
“Even plain noodles would be a luxury.”
“Ah…”
Ja Gangcheon’s face fell, then he spoke as though he had made a sudden decision.
“It’s finally time to sell the treasures.”
“What are you talking about? You’re not planning to sell the secret manuals, are you?”
“I always intended to sell them if they were needed for the ship. What is precious to me is my parents—not mere objects.”
What in the world could be precious when measured against one’s parents?
“If we can cover three thousand taels a month, we won’t have to sell anything.”
“I know three thousand a month is hard.”
The initial thirty thousand could be covered with what they had already saved. The problem was the steady three thousand taels required every month. With winter reducing ice sales, it was no easy matter.
“We have the pills. They will probably bring in more money than the ice ever did.”
At those words, Ja Gangcheon’s eyes lit up.
“Three thousand taels every month?”
“In a year it won’t be three thousand—it will be five.”
“What?”
“Just hold out for about six months. By then ice sales will pick up again, and three thousand won’t be a problem.”
Ja Gangcheon realized something.
“Are we really making that much?”
“The reaction to the pills is extraordinary. So even if we borrow a little from the trading company for a while, it will be fine.”
“Then we don’t have to eat only noodles?”
“Just keep living the way you have been. I’ll talk with the company master and make sure the money side is taken care of.”
This was precisely the part Cheongu considered most important.
“You just keep doing well—and do what you want to do.”
“That means you’re the one who has to work hard.”
“It isn’t a question of who works hard. You have to know what is more important.”
“What do you mean?”
“What you are best at is martial arts. Right now this manor needs a lord who possesses powerful martial strength. As chief manager of Deungmyeong Manor, I am giving the advice our manor needs most.”
Ja Gangcheon understood what Cheongu was saying.
“So the time has come when we need a sense of responsibility.”
“Exactly. We aren’t boys anymore.”
Growing up together had this advantage. Physically Ja Gangcheon was ahead, yet mentally Cheongu had become the adult first—so they could complement each other.
“All right. I understand.”
“Just keep doing what you are doing. You are already a finer manor lord than anyone.”
It was as if Cheongu were saying:
Keep playing and enjoying yourself even more.
Ja Gangcheon thought once again that the best thing he had done since coming to the mainland was becoming friends with Cheongu.
“I hope the ship is finished soon.”
Something finally felt as though it had begun in earnest. He was tasting a strange mixture of excitement and anxiety, impatience and expectation, when a voice called out.
“Manor Lord!”
It was Seok-ho of the Donghae Trading Company.
“Hyung. What is it?”
“The Third Young Master of the Hwangbo Clan is looking for you.”
A complete stranger had appeared without warning. It was unexpected, yet Ja Gangcheon was not as startled as the man who had brought the news.
“Tell him to come to the manor.”
“It isn’t that—he says he will wait at the Shandong Escort Agency branch…”
The other party was summoning him to their own territory.
“Director So Yeon-dok was about to go and confront them himself; I barely managed to stop him. The one who showed up this time is the clan head’s third son, and he is infamous as a complete scoundrel.”
If it had been So Yeon-dok, he would certainly have said the same thing Ja Gangcheon had in mind.
If you have business, come to the manor yourself.
Even the tone of that imagined voice was so vivid that Ja Gangcheon could not simply sit still.
“I’ll go. Make sure no one leaves ahead of me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ja Gangcheon ran straight for the harbor.