How Could That Girl's Name Be... (1)
I reincarnated into the Joseon Dynasty.
It wasn't for any particularly dramatic reason that I died.
In my previous life I was just an ordinary college student. I pulled an all-nighter finishing an assignment, then keeled over dead during morning class.
Dying while sitting through a lecture...
Looking back on it, it really was a strange way to go.
Granted, I hadn't slept in about a week, but collapsing and dying in the middle of class? If I could, I'd like to offer a sincere apology to the professor who was teaching that day and to every other student in the room.
Anyway, after dying like that, the place I woke up was Joseon.
I knew it was Joseon the moment I saw my father. He was dressed exactly the way you'd picture a commoner from that era, and the house was one of those thatched-roof cottages you'd find in a folk museum... so there was no mistaking it.
"Kim Shin-ryong, I am your father."
I grew up steadily under a father who had no particularly sharp edges. My mother had died before I even opened my eyes to see her face, so in practice he raised me alone.
He went around the village begging for breast milk and worked himself to the bone; as a result, my father was quietly popular in the village. By popular I mean—bluntly—that more than a few women had their eyes on him. Maybe that was why my own face turned out reasonably handsome as well.
In time the village landlord took my father on as a tenant farmer. I didn't have any particular ambitions of my own, so I quietly helped him with the farm work.
If only I'd retained more knowledge, I could have written an alternate-history novel or something.
Unfortunately I'd slept through most of my Korean history classes... so the best I could do was simply live this life diligently.
Still, perhaps thanks to the scraps of modern knowledge left over after reincarnation, I caught the landlord's eye and was allowed to begin studying at a young age. Between polishing various academic subjects and training my body, I eventually reached a level where I could sit for the civil service examination.
And so, seeing me off were my father, the landlord, and the landlord's daughter as I left the village...
...only to get spectacularly lost and sink into despair.
"Just when the hell did I start looking at the map upside down...!!"
My head began to throb of its own accord. It had already been a full month since I left home, and I had no idea where I'd gone wrong. The situation was truly bleak.
"Yesterday? A week ago? Or... from the very beginning...?"
If I'd been on the wrong road for an entire month, reaching Hanyang could become genuinely dangerous. The one silver lining was that I had set out a full six months before the examinations were due to begin.
I'd originally planned to leave two or three months ahead of time, but the landlord's daughter had come looking for me and said this:
"You get lost ridiculously often, so leave starting now. Otherwise you'll lose the chance Father gave you, got it?"
Oh shit.
Hearing that, I immediately agreed, packed my bags, and left. That was how important this civil service exam was to me.
"Time to properly show some filial piety."
Filial piety, yes—but I also wanted to repay the landlord's family for all the help they'd given me in this life. Everything was prepared; all I had to do was arrive safely in Hanyang...
...and I was spectacularly failing at that single goal.
"...No, even now, if I just look carefully, I can still make it."
But how was I supposed to find my way properly when I didn't even know where this place was? All I had in my hands was a crude sketch I'd made myself from everything I'd heard and seen.
It was nothing like the Great Map of the East Country drawn by Master Kim Jeong-ho. It was frankly embarrassing to even call it a map.
"...Maybe I should have asked for directions back at that village woman's place earlier."
But I couldn't at the time. How should I put it—I was a little embarrassed. There is nothing more awkward than a scholar who can drop a tiger with a bow suddenly asking for directions. So without realizing it, I just wet my throat and slipped away.
For the record, killing a tiger with a bow wasn't a first for me. I didn't think I could do it either, but when I tried, it worked.
"For now... let's just keep going in one direction. Once I find a village, I can ask."
And so I walked through the mountain forest in the dead of night that others avoided, doing my utmost to find the path.
Around the time dawn began to break, I finally spotted a village in the distance.
"Finally...!"
I'd been a wreck from battling every sort of animal through the night, and the sight felt like rain after a long drought. As I slowly descended along the mountain foothills, I passed a gravel field near the village.
"Looks like they don't farm at all over this way."
That meant I'd have to go farther in if I wanted to meet anyone. Thinking that, I was cutting across the gravel field when a strange sound reached me from somewhere.
"Hic... sob..."
At first I thought it was the cry of a yokai or some animal. Ah—by the way, things like yokai exist here. When I listened carefully, though, it was a human crying. A young girl's sobs.
What kind of young girl would be weeping in a gravel field at dawn? Assuming it might be the work of a ghost, I drew the sword from the scabbard on my back. But when I rounded a large boulder and looked at the source of the sound... there really was a girl kneeling in the gravel field, bawling her eyes out—right beside a broken wooden hoe.
"...?"
Wondering what on earth this scene was supposed to be, I watched quietly. Then the girl suddenly began to murmur.
"Hic... Mother... Father... I miss you..."
Ah. Judging by her words, it seemed she had lost both parents early. So coming out to this gravel field at dawn with a wooden hoe... was she trying, in her own way, to farm? Her method was completely wrong, though.
...Wait. A wooden hoe and a gravel field? Why does this feel so familiar...
Something about the combination tugged at my memory. Where had I heard it before? Right now, though, that wasn't the important part. This place was close to the mountain; a hungry beast might come after hearing the girl's cries. Or a wild boar.
"Hey there."
"Hyaaaah!"
I called out intending to calm her, but contrary to my expectations the girl startled violently and landed hard on her bottom.
"Eek? Ugh, hic, eh?"
"I—I'm sorry. Seems I startled you. Can you stand?"
I hurriedly approached and held out my hand. The girl, her face streaked with tears, rubbed her eyes with her arm, then slowly took my hand and rose to her feet.
"Thank you..."
"I knocked you over, so it's only natural. More importantly, why are you out here in this gravel field at the crack of dawn, hoeing with a wooden hoe that barely works?"
"Well... there's a story to it."
She trailed off and avoided my gaze. Apparently she didn't want to tell a stranger her family circumstances. Well, even I would dislike it if some outsider who'd suddenly appeared started prying into everything. I nodded readily and explained why I had called to her.
"Is that so. Still, this place is dangerous for farming, so do it a bit farther down or in softer soil. We're close to the mountain here, so wild beasts are likely to come."
"Ah... is that so?"
"It is. If your martial prowess were greater than mine it wouldn't matter... but even the strongest generals take a detour around dog shit, don't they?"
No matter how composed or strong you are, there's no need to deliberately court danger. Whether she understood the meaning or not, the girl offered a soft smile.
"Much better."
"Pardon?"
"Your smile, I mean. It's nicer to look at than the tears."
"Ah..."
In an instant her face flushed bright red as if it had caught fire. I coughed awkwardly at the suddenly charged atmosphere and changed the subject.
"Anyway... I'd like to enter the village. Which way should I go?"
At my words she hesitated a moment before speaking.
"...This girl will guide you."
"Don't you have farm work to do?"
"...With the hoe broken like this, how could I continue farming?"
"That's true enough. Then I'll be counting on you."
"Yes, Scholar."
She seemed to have figured out from my clothes that I was a scholar heading to Hanyang. I didn't particularly prefer dressing like this, but the landlord's daughter had warned me that otherwise I might be mistaken for a bandit along the way, so I'd put it on. As a result I was enjoying the convenience of not having to state my status.
Once I reach Hanyang, I should prepare something delicious as a gift.
"Scholar, why have you come to a place like this?"
"...I was on my way to Hanyang and got lost, you see."
"Ahaha, even learned scholars get lost?"
"You could say I'm special that way."
"You're quite positive."
"Life only comes once; no need to live it negatively, is there?"
To be precise this was my second life, but still. At those words, however, the girl opened her eyes wide as if she had been struck by something.
"That's... right. Living positively..."
"...Is something the matter?"
After staring at the distant sky for a while as if thinking, she shook her head.
"It's nothing like that. Just..."
At that moment, far off, someone could be seen stomping toward us. With a face contorted in rage and that massive build, I almost mistook her for a wild boar walking upright. The woman clearly had business with the girl.
"Kongji!! What did your big sister tell you! I said not to come down to the village until you've weeded the entire gravel field!"
"I-I'm sorry, Sister... But the hoe broke..."
"Why should I care about that?!"
I froze as I listened to the exchange—more precisely, the one-sided berating in which the girl was being completely overwhelmed.
...What did I just hear?
The very first thing that woman said when she opened her mouth was clearly...
...Kongji?
Could it be... the Kongji from the traditional folktale Kongji and Patji?