Land Turtle Ship
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The forge rang out with deafening clamor that morning. Just like yesterday, I was pounding away at the iron like a human waterwheel.
My shoulder muscles swelled as if they might burst, and sweat poured down my back like rain. But I couldn't stop. Every swing of my hammer produced a sheet of steel. This wasn't mere labor—it was like running a mint, printing money with each strike.
"Chief! That's enough! We've got plenty of plates!"
Na Dae-yong waved his hands frantically.
I halted the hammer mid-swing for one final blow and wiped the sweat from my brow. The courtyard was piled high with hundreds of thin steel sheets, gleaming black under the sunlight. Their sleek, metallic sheen was downright sexy.
"So now it's just assembly left?"
"That's right. I finished the design overnight."
Na Dae-yong unrolled the blueprint, his eyes sunken from exhaustion but sparkling like a fresh-caught fish.
"This is the 'guicha'—the turtle cart."
I peered at the drawing. The base was a cart, but the wheels were twice the size of ordinary ones, reinforced with iron spokes. A rounded roof covered the top, scaled with our steel plates like armor.
"Spikes stud the roof to keep enemies from climbing on, and gun ports on all sides let us fire out from inside. And..."
Na Dae-yong pointed to the front.
"Up front, an iron ram to smash straight into enemy lines. Chungak tactics on land."
"Brutal. A literal rolling fortress."
"The problem is the weight."
Na Dae-yong's face grew serious.
"The plates alone are heavy enough, but ordinary wood won't hold for the frame. We'd need sturdy oak or birch, which adds even more mass. Rough math says it'll weigh at least fifty gama of rice."
A 300kg tiger was three or four gama, so fifty? Four tons? No, probably closer to two or three at minimum.
"Could oxen pull it?"
"Four oxen might barely budge it. But you can't drag oxen across a battlefield—they're slow and skittish, bolting at the crack of a matchlock."
Na Dae-yong stared at me intently.
"In the end, like you said, men have to push. You... really think it's possible?"
I shrugged.
"We'll see. Let's build it first. If it doesn't roll, we add more wheels."
"Agreed. Let's start with the timber. There's a thick stand of oaks on the back hill."
We dove right into work.
The Yiho Army lads got no rest. Yesterday they dug dirt, the day before hauled iron, and now they were lumberjacks.
"Hey! Cut the base clean! It's tipping!"
Under Choi Ga's command, massive oaks crashed down one after another. I shouldered three whole logs at a time down the mountain. The villagers gaped at the human forklift in awe.
The inn's courtyard transformed into a massive shipyard... no, a tank factory.
Chop-chop. Scrape-scrape.
Na Dae-yong's hands moved with godlike skill. A few adze strokes brought the grain alive; a few plane passes carved precise grooves. He used almost no nails, joining timber with intricate mortise-and-tenon joints to withstand impacts without warping.
Once the frame was up, we started plating it with steel.
"Plates here!"
I hoisted the sheets; Na Dae-yong positioned them and drove in the iron nails.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The hammer rang out crisply. As black steel sheets layered over the wooden frame, the monster's shape slowly emerged.
Seo Baek-seol, watching from the sidelines, stuck out her tongue.
"Whoa... it's ridiculously brutish. That thing's gonna roll?"
"We'll make it roll. It's our lifeline."
"But the cost... each plate's worth how many mal of rice?"
"We'll loot it back from the Japanese—with interest."
We toiled day and night for three straight days. Na Dae-yong barely slept, lost in his work; I assisted, bending steel and sawing wood.
And finally.
"It's done."
Na Dae-yong set down his hammer with a declaration.
In the center of the inn's courtyard crouched a colossal beast.
Two meters tall, four meters long. A rounded body clad in black steel armor. Sharp iron spikes jutted from every side. At the front loomed a fierce goblin-horned ram.
Like a giant turtle crawled from hell, or a black iron bastion.
"What should we name it?"
Mi-ryeong's eyes sparkled as she asked.
"Guicha feels too tame for that brute."
I scanned its heavy, black form. A massive bulk sheathed in ebony steel, like a guardian deity from myth.
"How about 'Hyeonmu'? Black turtle."
"Hyeonmu? The one from the Four Symbols chart?"
Na Dae-yong clapped his knee in delight.
"Brilliant! Turtle ships rule the sea, so Hyeonmu conquers the land. Black-armored guardian of the north! Perfect, just perfect!"
"Done. From today, this is Hyeonmu."
"Name's set—time for a test drive."
Villagers swarmed to gawk. Word had spread: the tiger-slayer Kim Deok-ryeong built a freakish cart.
"What's that? A hearse?" "Looks like a grave, but steel-plated."
The crowd buzzed.
"Choi Ga, fetch two oxen."
At my order, Choi Ga brought two yellow oxen from the inn's stable. They shied back at the sight of Hyeonmu.
We yoked them and hitched the ropes.
"Hup! Go!"
Choi Ga cracked the whip.
Mooo-!
The oxen strained, veins bulging in their necks, hooves gouging the dirt.
Screeech...
The axles groaned in agony. But Hyeonmu didn't budge—like its wheels were nailed to the earth.
"Harder! Hup!"
The oxen foamed and pulled, but the wheels barely turned a half-rotation. Too heavy. The dirt amplified the friction.
"See? Told you it wouldn't work."
Seo Baek-seol crossed her arms and shook her head.
"How's two oxen gonna move that beast? Needs at least four. And good luck maneuvering four oxen on narrow mountain paths."
Na Dae-yong's face fell.
"Weight was the issue after all. Even King Taejong abandoned it for this reason. What chance do I have...?"
The genius engineer's shoulders slumped. Theory versus reality. The best weapon was scrap if it couldn't move.
Onlookers clicked their tongues. "What a waste of iron." "Melt it down for hoes."
The mood soured. The Yiho Army lads looked crestfallen.
I walked silently to Hyeonmu's front.
"Brother, too early to quit."
"Huh? Got another idea?"
"Oxen out—time for a new engine."
"Engine? What's that?"
I answered by stripping off my shirt. Muscles rippled. Days at the forge had hardened me further—traps like mountains, back like a snarling demon.
"Mi-ryeong, water."
She fetched a basin; I chugged it down.
"Watch close. This is Joseon's horsepower and torque."
I circled to the rear, where a door allowed entry for pushing.
Inside: dim, cramped, reeking of steel and wood. Handles on the sides, foot braces on the floor.
I gripped the thick oak handles—wrist-sized.
"Hah...!"
I regulated my breath, filling and compressing my lungs.
My heart pumped furiously, blood surging to muscles. The Geumgang Bulgoe body screamed awake.
'Move.'
Feet braced, I threw my full weight into the push.
Crack.
Not my joints—the cart's frame groaned.
Grnnn...!
Veins bulged like they'd burst. Vision reddened. Two oxen failed; I had to conquer friction and inertia.
Screeeeech-!
A chilling metallic wail. The rusty axles shrieked into motion.
"Huh? Whoa?!"
Choi Ga's shout from outside.
"It's moving! Wheels turning!"
A bit more. Just a bit.
I gritted my teeth, powering my legs. Thighs hardened like steel.
Thud.
One full wheel rotation. Static friction broken.
Then acceleration.
Thump, thump, thump.
Marching to my footfalls, the ironclad behemoth lurched forward. Slow as oxen at first, then picking up speed.
"Woooah!"
Cheers erupted.
"It's rolling! One guy's pushing!" "Insane! Possible?!"
I ramped up. Momentum eased the weight—no, that mass converted to destructive force.
I bellowed out.
"Clear the way! No brakes!"
Hyeonmu barreled across the courtyard. A woodpile loomed—man-high stack of logs.
Dodge? No. Performance test.
"My Hyeonmu pierces the heavens! Haaah!" Anime line shouted, I pushed harder.
BOOM-!
Impact.
The goblin-ram prow smashed the pile.
Like a bomb blast. Logs flew everywhere, thick trunks snapping like twigs.
But Hyeonmu plowed through, slamming the far dirt wall before halting.
Rumble!
The wall collapsed in a heap.
"Hah... hah..."
I released the handles and slumped. Lungs burning. But euphoria surged.
This. This was it.
Matchlocks or spear walls—Hyeonmu would crush them all.
The rear door swung open; I crawled out, steam rising from my body.
The courtyard fell deathly silent. Shattered wood, crumbled wall, and the black steel titan standing tall between.
Na Dae-yong approached in a daze, caressing the prow's impact zone. Paint chipped, but no dents.
"Monster..."
He turned to me, murmuring.
"You're the real monster. Pushing that alone... at that speed..."
"Well? Battle-ready?"
I panted. He nodded vigorously.
"More than ready! This is a revolution! No horses needed, matchlocks useless... true king of the land!"
Mi-ryeong and Seo Baek-seol approached.
"Uncle... your arms..."
Mi-ryeong stared, tiny hands kneading my bulging forearms—curious or worried.
"Cost a fortune too."
Seo Baek-seol tsked at the wall.
"Gonna cost more to fix."
But her hand naturally swept my back, dusting dirt—though her touch lingered sticky.
"Muscles'll burst. Ease up."
A smile she couldn't hide played on her lips. She'd seen it: this beast's worth. And the man who moved it.
The Yiho Army lads treated me like a god.
"Chief forever! Yiho Army forever!"
Cheers exploded.
I wiped sweat, stroking Hyeonmu's cold surface.
Land turtle ship, Hyeonmu. Now I had an impenetrable shield and a spear to pierce anything.
Gunpowder and tanks.
"Alright, grub time. Starving after that."
I shouted to the crew.
"Tonight, we slaughter an ox!"
"Yaaaah!"
Their roars pierced the sky.
January 1592. In Damyang's humble inn, the monster to alter Joseon's fate awoke. And that monster's heart was me, Kim Deok-ryeong.