Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Hall of Worthies GPT (6)
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Kim Gyeol looked at me and bowed deeply first.
This was already the fourth time she had come alone under the pretext of helping with our household affairs. So, greeting her like this wasn't terribly awkward anymore...
That said, how should I put it? It didn't feel quite right for an unmarried woman to welcome me home like this.
"Congratulations on safely completing your initiation rites and returning. Dol-soe told me you didn't go through anything too severe, which is truly a relief."
The Joseon initiation rites were nothing short of hell itself. Even the seniors who ran us ragged during college MTs with all sorts of hazing—making us feel like guerrilla training instructors—would seem like angels by comparison.
According to the Veritable Records of King Seongjong, a Second-Grade Military Commander would refuse to let new appointees (fresh civil service exam passers, basically interns) use honorifics for his name until the rites were over. Or he'd threaten all the officials at his new post that things wouldn't go well for them unless they treated him to back-breaking banquets.
If failing these rites meant even a commander-level officer could be lawfully ostracized by his troops, with all the military officials chiming in agreement, that said it all. So, I steeled myself for it before starting work. But in the end, I didn't have to go through it, which was great.
The problem was the ministers who grabbed me and tormented me instead.
"The Deputy Chief Scholar of the Hall of Worthies looked favorably on me, so I was spared such horrors."
"That's truly fortunate."
I could agree a hundred, a thousand times. The harshest rites were reserved for fresh exam passers... so the ones I might have faced probably weren't the "actually kill someone" variety.
But from the perspective of officials who weren't the Chief State Councillor, I was an "ecosystem disruptor." Passing the exam at eighteen and reaching Sixth Grade before twenty.
Considering that most officials didn't enter the ranks of Junior Ninth Grade until their forties, depending on their exam ranking... they might have wanted to crush me out of sheer jealousy.
Thinking that way made getting worked like a GPT by the Six Ministries' ministers feel a million times better. At least for today.
"Instead, the ministers of the Six Ministries brought me every thorny issue under their purview. Lord Hwang asked if there was a good plan for establishing markets in every township across the nation, and Lord Heo inquired how to resolve the problem of all exam passers flocking to Hanyang."
I have zero dating experience. I was a lifelong singleton in Korea, and even here in Joseon, I haven't had a single romance.
Adding up my past life and time in Joseon now, over forty years, and I'm a total introvert who can barely talk properly to women my age! That's me.
At first, even striking up a conversation with Kim Gyeol was exhausting. But does a beauty have the power to change a man?
Kim Gyeol listened with interest to whatever I said, reacting just right...
Talking to other women is still tough, but with her, I've naturally started opening up about everything.
Is this how guys get conquered by unusually kind, pretty girls?
Honestly, having such a good listener and beauty as a companion in a foreign place like Hanyang feels great...
'But I keep wondering about Kim Gyeol's own feelings...'
"My father once said that if you put an awl in your pocket, it will eventually pierce through. He meant that someone with fine character and outstanding ability will naturally reveal and prove themselves. You've benefited the people of Jinhae County so widely that the lords must recognize you and entrust you with important matters without hesitation."
What a model response. If I weren't itching to submit my resignation and live free, her words would have given me great comfort.
No, even though she's a beauty saying such pretty things, and I'm eager to resign soon, somehow... I start thinking maybe sticking it out in office for another five years to develop Joseon wouldn't be so bad.
Is this why they say men need to meet the right woman? Depending on who he meets, a man's potential can shrink or expand.
"I know it's overstepping for a mere girl from a merchant family to say this, but from what I hear, every court official endures harsh initiation rites."
"That's true..."
The higher your rank, the milder the hazing gets. So, as a Sixth Grade like me, the Hall of Worthies seniors probably wouldn't have made me pretend to fish in sewage or anything like that.
But they might have had me down two measures (3.6L) of bomb shots, then act like a clown.
Or maybe splurge a fortune to treat all the officials, ending with some rough banter.
Or perhaps, annoyed that a young punk was already Sixth Grade, they could've unleashed insane hazing under the pretext of "disciplining the insolent newbie."
"For the Deputy Chief Scholar to accept you into the Hall of Worthies without rites shows the court's high expectations. Handling the flood of duties must be especially grueling, but like in Jinhae, it will benefit countless people in the end. Please, take heart."
"Hearing that truly helps. I already feel energized to work hard tomorrow."
"Thank you for saying so."
Kim Gyeol smiled brightly at me. That smile was so dazzling it might be bad for my heart.
I worried the pounding of my heart might reach her ears, but a man must say what needs saying once he's resolved.
"......If you're coming just because of Man-deok's orders, you don't have to strain yourself."
Kim Gyeol tilted her head at my words.
"What do you mean?"
"Just what I said. If Man-deok hadn't told you to, you—a girl not yet twenty—wouldn't be coming and going from a man's house like this."
Joseon commoners' romances seem awfully ambiguous from a modern view. Most folks like Gap-dol or Gap-soon married whoever their parents chose...
But about one in ten couples did marry for love.
A well-off merchant like the Kim Man-deok household, akin to a mid-sized company president, was different from average folk.
Still, even without yangban rules like "no sitting together after seven" or women avoiding long talks with "strange men"...
'They must have been very cautious about women meeting men.'
And if the housemaid helping around our home were from a yangban house, I'd have had to marry her right away.
But since she's from a merchant family, it's ambiguous, so no one complains.
So, even if Man-deok sees me as the family's benefactor, if he told Gyeol to keep her distance, she'd vanish without a trace. That would leave me heartbroken and lonely...
Love isn't just about my feelings. Nineteen years in Joseon, yet I'm clueless here. Probably because I'm a lifelong singleton with no confidence.
"......I don't know what you think, my lord, but I don't dislike coming to your house."
"...Is that so?"
"Since birth, the only men I've had deep talks with are my father and you. I have female friends too. In Jinhae, we swung on swings at Dano, circled pagodas during the April Buddha's Birthday lanterns, and climbed mountains on holidays to play."
Swinging at Dano and pagoda circling at Buddha's Birthday were events even yangban ladies, heavily restricted outdoors, could freely join.
And among commoners unburdened by political marriages, all sorts of things happened those days.
"Among my close friends, Hye-sook and Myeong-jin have already married off to other counties. I vividly remember sobbing together before they left."
Joseon weddings often happened without either side knowing the other's face. Though sometimes they'd arrange "accidental" chats.
Anyway, girls as young as fifteen could end up with fifty-year-old husbands based on family circumstances.
"In letters from Jinhae, Hye-sook says her husband cares for her body to bear an heir, but otherwise ignores her completely, leaving her in endless tears."
Kim Gyeol's face filled with pity.
"Myeong-jin says her once-kind husband turned angry after failing the exams, blaming his wife for his failure and tormenting her. She even said she wanted to die. But you, unlike their husbands, always listen well to my stories and thank me for even small household help. So, I've never found coming here burdensome."
By late Joseon, they bound women with rules like "the legal wife mustn't be jealous of concubines" under the Seven Grounds for Divorce, a male-centric code. They even taught urging a husband to take a concubine during pregnancy as wifely virtue.
Human hearts and emotions are the same then as now.
"Then I'm glad. And on your way here..."
I pulled a norigae from my sleeve and handed it to her.
"Without you, my life in Hanyang would have been much harder. So, to express my gratitude, I bought a norigae that suits you."
This wasn't very Joseon-like. Normally, you'd send a servant to pick one arbitrarily...
For a Sixth Grade official to personally select and bring one? Unheard of.
But Kim Gyeol accepted it without question.
"Lord Scholar."
It was hard to say from my lips, but it had to be said.
"If you don't mind, please keep coming often. Your visits are a great comfort to me."
"Thank you, my lord... It's late, so I'll take my leave."
She sprang up abruptly after those hasty words.
Her face seemed flushed—was it the candlelight?
Anyway, let's do our best tomorrow too.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Kim Gyeol's face was as red as a ripe persimmon when she left Kim Dae-bung's house.
She could feel her heart racing uncontrollably.
"Why is this happening...?"
A woman from Kim Dae-bung's era would have kindly told her: You're in love.
But no one was there to tell Kim Gyeol that.
"It's not that I dislike Lord Scholar..."
He's quite handsome, and always kind to everyone. He even remembers slaves' birthdays, giving them rice and liquor to rest with family.
Three days ago, when his house slave Dol-soe fell ill, he called a skilled physician, prepared medicine, and let him rest fully.
If marriage is by father's order... someone as gentle as Lord Scholar would be ideal.
He's not the type to treat her harshly.
Such thoughts led her to imagine how tenderly he'd cherish her if she were his woman.
"Who else in all Joseon would treat a woman like me with such affection?"
From the moment her father started sending her often to Kim Dae-bung's house, it meant he could have her anytime... even untie her garments.
It was tacitly permitted.
Kim Dae-bung knew, but respected her will and pretended otherwise.
Kim Gyeol couldn't refuse if it came to that.
The family head's decision was absolute.
"Even though he seems to like me, he holds back and cares for my feelings. What a truly kind man, our Lord Scholar."
His goodwill and thoughtfulness touched her deeply. He always thanked her for small helps...
And today, personally picking a norigae for her at the market.
"You probably don't realize, my lord... the more you care for me, the more I fall for you..."
Kim Gyeol returned to her father's new house in Hanyang with light steps.
Unable to calm today's fluttering, she tossed and turned long after bed.