Millstone Training Mayhem in Jeonju
Does the grain get ground if the pestle just twitches lightly? We arrived in Jeonju as the sun was setting. A metropolitan city by modern standards, Jeonju buzzed with more energy than the other towns. Crowds of people thronged the streets, and there were plenty like me and Hui-un who seemed to have come up from the provinces. With the entrance exam looming, the city inside the walls was a chaotic mess. Out-of-towners were practically begging for a place to crash, and some were even staking out spots on the roadside. Luckily, we'd secured lodging in advance—at the home of Hong Cham-bong, the younger brother of Hong ssi Bu-in, Father’s sister-in-law.
They'd pitched tents in the courtyard and crammed guests in like sprouts in a steamer basket, but they let me and Hui-un use a small room in the sarangchae. The room was cramped, and sharing it alone with Hui-un was pure hell, but when we heard that even 50 yang a night wouldn't snag a room elsewhere, we meekly crawled inside.
And the next morning.
“One!”
“““One!”””
“Two!”
“““Two!”””
I was out on the large wooden porch of the anchae, teaching push-ups to Hong Cham-bong's family, Kim Hui-un, and the other guests staying here...
“Not like you're stretching your arms—feel like you're pushing the ground away!”
“Alright! Thre-ee!”
“““Three!”””
How the hell did it come to this?
I woke up at dawn and got out of bed right away. Being in someone else's house had jolted me fully awake. Rising from the bedding, I glanced down at Hui-un, who was still snoring under the same blanket.
“Snore...! Haaaah...! Snore...! Haaaah...!”
Hearing that racket right next to me and not waking up—he must've been exhausted from yesterday. Anyway, as usual, I dropped to the floor and started my push-ups. Normally I'd fold the bedding and air it out first, but with Hui-un still buried in it, no chance.
“One, two, three, four, five...!”
I could feel the vitality surging back into my heavy limbs from sleep. My foggy head cleared up nicely as I focused on the exercise.
“Wh-what the hell are you doing?”
I'd just finished my twentieth rep. As I knelt there catching my breath, Hui-un's voice piped up.
“Awake already?”
The guy who'd been snoring like a beast moments ago was staring at me from his bedding.
“What was that just now?”
“Just, y'know, training a bit.”
“Could that be...”
He trailed off, sitting up with a serious look on his face.
“The millstone training method?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah. Sure.”
Millstone training method. A hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, a hundred squats, and a 25-ri run—every day. Do that, they say, and you'll be pounding away like a pestle in a mill all night long. Total bullshit, of course. I'd told Dol-soe as a joke, but it spread farther than I expected, earning me that embarrassing nickname, Millstone Boy.
“H-how do you do it? Like this?”
Seeing me nod, Hui-un flopped face-down on the bedding and started push-ups.
“Hup, haa, hup, haa—is this right?”
True to form for a guy who'd only crammed for the civil exams, his posture was a disaster. Arms splayed at 90 degrees, grinding his shoulders; ass sticking up like Baekdu Mountain; back twisting every which way as he bobbed up and down.
“You'll cripple yourself doing it like that. Like this.”
No matter how much I hated the guy, bad form like that grated on me. My rest break was over anyway, so I dropped down and demonstrated.
“One, two, three, four, five...!”
Perfect form—clean, steady, no wobbling, fast reps.
“Ooh, oooh.”
Hui-un's eyes sparkled like a kid's as he watched, full of awe. Then he flopped down again and gave it another go.
“Did you cough, young master?”
A woman's voice came from beyond the closed door.
“Hah, hah—yes!”
Still mid-set, I kept pumping without stopping to answer.
“We're! Both! Up!”
“Y-yes? Uh?”
It hit me all at once. Just the two of us in the room. My panting voice. And that servant girl's flustered tone.
“Wait! Not like that!”
Realizing how it must've sounded, I bolted upright, flung open the door, and explained to the servant girl right there.
“Tr-training! We're training!”
“Training?”
“Yeah! See?”
Her cheeks were a little flushed as I showed her the room. Hui-un, mid-push-up on all fours, froze staring at her—then realized he couldn't look like the master and scrambled up with a fake cough.
“Ahem! Yes! Training!”
“Training, you say?”
Hong Cham-bong approached from the porch, having overheard. His gaze was just like Dol-soe's that day.
“Is that the millstone training method?”
And that was the spark.
I taught Hui-un after seeing me work out. Hong Cham-bong saw Hui-un and wanted in. The guests saw him and joined. One by one, they multiplied—until suddenly I had the whole courtyard full, leading a group workout.
“Keep going! Don't stop! I'll walk around and check!”
I'd finished my set first and weaved through the crowd, correcting bad form left and right.
“You there, scholar! Arms that wide and your shoulders'll be toast! And you—your back's twisting! You'll snap it! No twitching! Does the grain get ground if the pestle just twitches?”
I'd planned on sit-ups next, but teaching everyone was weirdly fun. More precisely, it was hilarious seeing people of all ranks sweating buckets and taking lip from a lowly eol-ja just to boost their stamina.
Men, huh. Dripping sweat for a scrap of virility, listening to some nobody nag. Tough life. Tough life. Not knowing it's mostly genetic anyway.
“Straighten that back! You'll wreck it!”
Feeling like a chaebol heir from a drama looking down from on high, I kept pointing out flaws. After that, I taught sit-ups and squats too. No room for running, though.
“Good work! Once a day! Once a day, no skipping! Everyone! Big hand for the folks beside you who stuck it out!”
Clap clap clap clap clap!
Sweaty, filthy from the workout, they still beamed with pride, clapping for their new workout buddies.
“Eol-ja bastard.”
I was thinking about heading to the stream to wash up when Hui-un called out—grinning, no less. Not weird, really; endorphins from the exercise had him buzzing.
“Seriously, does this really turn you into a waterwheel like you?”
“I did it every day, at least.”
“Hmm. For real?”
“If you don't believe it, why bother? Hell, why learn it at all?”
Hui-un wasn't some flagging 30- or 40-something; he was a spry teen. Unmarried, too. Weird for a homebody to chase stamina buffs like that.
“Hmm. Guess I'll test it out tonight.”
Test how? Solo?
“Yeah. Feels right.”
He muttered to himself, nodding, then looked at me with a smug grin.
“Eol-ja bastard. Got plans tonight? Nah, no way a guy like you has any in Jeonju.”
“You insulting me right now?”
“Haha! As if I'd insult you? After you personally taught me the millstone method.”
“Then what?”
“Tonight...”
Still smirking creepily, he lowered his voice, glancing around even though no one was paying attention.
“Wanna go light some incense?”
“Why me? Go by yourself.”
“Haha! For real? I'm offering, and you... Bah, whatever. Drinks on me.”
More cryptic bullshit. Felt off, so I shook my head.
“Pass. Light your incense when you're hiding behind a screen later.”
“Haha! You punk! You really have no idea what I'm talking about?”
He wasn't fazed by my jab at all—just sighed with an amused grin.
“Haha! Man! How's a naive punk like you gonna survive this harsh world?”
Better than you, probably.
“Listen, you dumb eol-ja bastard.”
His laughing face oozed superiority now. Hands on hips like he was finally flexing, he said,
“'Light some incense' means go to a gibang.”
Gibang? That gibang? Where gisaeng giggle oho-ho, play gayageum, and pour drinks?
“Not going.”
“Haha! Knew you'd love it, huh?”
“Told you, no.”
Curious about gibang? Sure, a bit. But that didn't mean I wanted to go. Reasons aplenty, but the big one?
“How's a married guy supposed to hit a gibang? Chastity and fidelity aren't just for wives.”
Eori was the love I'd found after dying and coming back. Couldn't betray her waiting faithfully at home.
“Haha! This fool—I'm offering you a kindness, and you kick it away?”
I'd shot him down flat, but his face didn't crumple. If anything, it lit up. Guess saving cash trumped the rejected goodwill.
“Your call. Don't come crying later wanting to go.”
“Won't. But...”
Exam's tomorrow—gonna study? I swallowed the words rising in my throat. Just let him do whatever.
“Young master. Kim Hui-un. He headed to the gibang as soon as the sun set, and that Kim Si-jin or whatever stayed behind, didn't follow. What now?”
“What do you mean, what? Exam's tomorrow—with the one chasing skirts, let him drown in booze. Call the lowly eol-ja bastard since his master's summoning him.”
“Yes, young master. But the money...”
“Here. Advance. Rest when you break those two's noses.”
“Thank you, young master. Oh, and really—that Kim Si-jin isn't that Kim Si-jin?”
“Haha! You believe that nonsense? The guy I saw's just a street punk strutting on sword skills. See a real tough like you, he'll tuck tail and bare his belly. Go on, no worries.”