Don't Jump!! (1)
It had been a perfectly ordinary journey ever since I left Kongji's village.
Well — roughly a week of travel after that, and still nothing particularly eventful had happened.
I hadn't misread the map and gotten lost. I hadn't been swept up in some sudden incident that forced me to linger in a strange village.
"The map was the one Kongji's magistrate gave me, and far from any sudden incident, even the wild animals wouldn't come near."
The only thing that ever happened was stopping by a village now and then to teach the children a bit of studying in exchange for a little food.
And the village I was about to pass through now — I figured it would be just another one of those.
"Aigoo, Cheong-ah! Where have you gone, my daughter Cheong-ah!!"
— right up until I saw a man wailing for someone and about to tumble into a stream.
Oh, for crying out loud.
I saw him wandering dangerously on the bridge over the stream and sprinted over in a panic.
"Uh-uh, uhhh! Ugh!!"
"Whew…"
Fortunately, I managed to snatch his hand just before he fell from the bridge into the stream.
"Hah! Hah!"
"Easy now. You didn't fall."
"Hwaaagh! Aigoo…! Thank you, my lord…!"
The man felt along my hand as he offered his thanks.
Only then did I realize he wasn't drunk — he was blind.
But a blind man wandering alone in the dark of night without even a stick?
I asked him, puzzled.
"Why on earth were you wandering around so dangerously without even a walking stick?"
"It's my daughter — she still hadn't come home at this late hour! I was so frantic I rushed out, and only later realized I'd left my stick behind…!"
"Daughter…?"
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me.
A blind father, and a daughter…?
…I've heard this repertoire somewhere before.
"…H-hold on. Your daughter's name is…?"
"My daughter is called Cheong."
"…And her family name?"
Please.
Kim, Yi, Park, Choi — anything but Sim…
"She's Sim Cheong, my lord."
Okay. Confirmed.
Apparently the protagonist of this village was Sim Cheong from The Tale of Sim Cheong.
…Of course, putting it that simply didn't capture how complicated I felt about it.
After Kongji and Patji, now The Tale of Sim Cheong too…
Once could be coincidence. Twice, and you start suspecting intent.
What I mean is: this Joseon I've been reborn into isn't ordinary Joseon.
More specifically — I was starting to think this wasn't the historical Joseon of my world's past, but a fictional Joseon from a work of fiction.
"…Shall we head back to your home for now?"
"But my daughter Cheong!"
"I'll go look for her. Where does your daughter usually go?"
"Well…"
I first brought Cheong's father — that is, Sim Bongsa — home, then got from him the main spots where Sim Cheong tended to roam.
I'd already moved from the inland to the coast without realizing it, and the village was thick with the smell of the sea.
She often goes to the shore, he said.
I made my way slowly toward the places he'd mentioned, trying to sort through my tangled feelings.
"If the last village's protagonist was Kongji, then this time it's probably Sim Cheong."
And this Sim Cheong's incident, too, might have differences from the original.
Just like how Patji had actually been a monster, and the stepmother had actually loved Kongji dearly.
…The main plot is that, overflowing with filial piety, she throws herself into the sea in place of the Public Offering Rice of 300 Seok.
Poor Sim Cheong cast her own body into the sea to cure her father's eyes, and Heaven, moved by her filial devotion, saved Cheong and restored Sim Bongsa's sight as well.
From what I could remember, there wasn't any clear-cut villain.
But that was only a hazy memory from a past life… so the odds were high that there were hidden layers I didn't know about.
"More than that — if both Kongji and Sim Cheong have shown up… does that mean the Eight Provinces of Joseon might be full of protagonists from other folktales…?"
Then… what should I do?
No — honestly, I don't necessarily need to do anything.
Most of the folktales that have been passed down to the modern day reach a happy ending on their own without any major intervention.
But the problem was… cases like Kongji.
What if I hadn't noticed the monster back then and just left?
What if I hadn't stopped by that village at all?
What if I hadn't gotten lost?
Then Kongji would have been trapped in suffering for that much longer, and might have been eaten in the end.
Thinking about it that way… my feelings got complicated in all sorts of ways.
I'm not someone with exceptional talent, but I still wanted to save as many people as I could.
People deserve happy endings more than bad ones.
For now… let's deal with what's right in front of me.
I wandered the shoreline where Sim Cheong was said to go often, and—
"Hey? Hey! Stop! Don't do it! Stoooop!!"
"Huh……? Wh-what…! Kyaaaa!!"
I saw a young woman on a cliff, about to make some great resolve, and rushed over in a panic to pull her back.
But for some reason my feet got tangled and I ended up tackling her instead — and the two of us went tumbling straight into the sea.
And then I died.
"…Wake up!"
"…Hngh!"
"Haa… haa…… You're finally awake…!"
Wh-what.
I sat up in a hurry and looked around.
This is… the shore?
More precisely, a kind of cave at the base of the cliff I'd fallen from.
I'd thought I was headed straight for the Dragon Palace, but apparently I'd survived.
And the one who'd helped me survive was… the young woman in front of me.
"If you wanted to die, you should have died alone — were you planning to take an innocent woman with you…?!"
"That's not what happened. You — you're Sim Cheong, aren't you?"
"……How do you know my name?"
Sim Cheong was, how should I put it, a bit more mature-looking.
Especially compared to Kongji. It was probably the slightly sharp set of her eyes, plus the wet clothes and hair.
She was fairly tall, too, and her figure in the moonlight was rather alluring.
"Your father was looking for a daughter who still hadn't come home. He was crossing a stream bridge without even his cane — I saved him."
"……?! I-is that true?! Then I've left Father alone right now…!"
"Calm down, calm down."
True to her reputation as the filial daughter Sim Cheong — the moment her father came up, she went into a full panic.
"Your father isn't hurt anywhere. And I escorted him home safely, so nothing serious will happen."
"Father…!"
"You were later than usual, so your father went out looking for you. Why on earth were you standing at the edge of that cliff earlier?"
Honestly, if Sim Cheong hadn't been standing so precariously at the cliff's edge, neither of us would have fallen in.
When you put Sim Cheong and a cliff together, there's only one thing that comes to mind, right?
I thought she was throwing herself into Indangsu right then and there.
"That was…! There's a spot near the cliff where rare fish turn up…! Do you think I'm crazy enough to jump off a cliff…?!"
Well, she's not crazy — but she will try to jump later.
That's why I thought so.
"…Anyway, thank you for saving my father. May I ask your name?"
"Shin-ryong. Kim Shin-ryong. And here — put this on."
"Pardon? ……Ah."
I averted my eyes as I took off my outer robe and held it out, and Sim Cheong's face went bright red the moment she realized her own state.
Because her clothes were thoroughly soaked too.
She wore a diver's water-clothes rather than ordinary women's dress, since she did a lot of sea work — but even water-clothes weren't entirely free of exposure.
The bottoms were practically like shorts, and the top was white, so once wet it clung tightly to her skin.
It might have been fine for family or other women she was used to, but for a man — and a complete stranger from out of town — it was a bit much.
"…Th-thank you."
Sim Cheong snatched the robe with a mix of embarrassment and bluntness and threw it over herself.
The robe was soaked through as well, but it was enough to cover her outfit.
"So — which way do we get out of here?"
"I forced my way here to save a scholar who was about to sink, so… we'll have to wait until the water goes down a little."
"Hmm… but if we wait too long, won't your father worry?"
"But the scholar can't swim, so what choice is there?"
As she said it, Sim Cheong looked at me with a faintly disdainful expression.
I'd seen that look a lot before.
Mostly from the landlord's daughter who'd tutored me.
"If I'd been born and raised on the coast, I'd have been swimming just fine. But I was born inland — what am I supposed to do about that? Today is the first time I've even seen the sea."
"……What? You've never seen the sea… before?"
"That's right."
In this life, to be precise.
But even in my past life I hadn't had much connection to the sea, and I wasn't a great swimmer either, so it was much the same.
"I… I'm sorry. I was only thinking of myself…"
For some reason, Sim Cheong apologized to me.
The same Sim Cheong who'd been answering so bluntly with a tough face just moments ago was now tilting her brows in apology, and it left me with a strange feeling.
"…Never mind that. More importantly — can you get out of here right now?"
"I can manage just fine. But…"
"Then you go first. I'll wait here until the water goes down."
"……Excuse me?"
"The water will go down eventually — it won't fill this cave completely, will it? That means it's safe, so you go first and put your father's mind at ease. He was quite, quite worried about you."
"B-but…"
"Come now, I said it's fine. And the reason we ended up in here is ultimately because I misunderstood, isn't it? I'll reflect on that alone, so hurry and go."
Sim Cheong seemed to think she couldn't leave a sea newbie like me behind, but I firmly refused, so she finally dove into the water.
Then she swam toward the village with the fluid grace of a seal.
After she left, I waited for the water to recede and sank into thought.
There was plenty else to think about, of course, but the most important thing was… none other than Sim Cheong's swimming ability.
"…With swimming skills like that, she could jump off a cliff and survive."
No — she actually did survive, didn't she?
She even grabbed me when I fell in unconscious and hauled me up into this cave.
I don't think the original ever mentioned anything about swimming ability…
So is that a distinguishing feature of this world's Sim Cheong?
"More than that, her swimming is incredible. Even the turtle of the Dragon Palace would be startled…"
"Who would be startled?"
"Hwaaagh!"
"Kyaaak! Wh-what's wrong?!"
"No — why are you still here?!"
I yelped at the sight of Sim Cheong coming back into the cave from the water.
I'd clearly sent her off just a moment ago — why?
"I already told Father everything."
"Then you should have gone straight to sleep — why…"
"…Who could turn their back on the benefactor who saved their father?"
Then Sim Cheong wrung the water from her pants and plopped down beside me.
"You seem to know nothing about the sea, so I came because I thought you'd get bored waiting around on your own."
And she looked at me.
Her eyes were gentler than when we'd first met.
Though she still looked as blunt as ever.