Side Story: Staff Sergeant Seo Chan-hui (1)
I had a dream.
Of a time that had long since become a story of the distant past.
A dream of the days when I could still call myself a Taoist.
Having finished my discharge report, I had barely stepped outside the base before falling into another world and nearly dying.
"...So, where exactly is this place again?"
I stared blankly at the village that looked like something out of a historical drama on TV, yet somehow far more refined, and asked once more of the elderly man who had saved me—the one who called himself a Taoist.
"This is the nation of those who were once called the people of Goryeo. Gaon."
...Goryeo?
The Goryeo I know?
"Heh heh. That look on your face says you understand. There's a friend better at explaining than I am, so for now, let's go."
Honestly speaking, I had naturally expected some fantasy-like village scene.
"Come, come. This way."
Without even time to prepare myself, the vivid historical-drama landscape unfolding before my eyes left me unable to collect my thoughts.
And so, without a moment to react, I somehow found myself inside a vast castle straight out of a period piece. After winding through a maze of complicated paths, we arrived at a building that radiated a mysterious atmosphere.
"First things first, you'd best change your clothes."
"E-Elder... phoo!"
Before I could get a single question out, a set of black martial robes was flung straight into my face. I stared at them blankly.
"Haa..."
Inside the empty room, I let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Oh, they suit you rather well."
"Do they... really...?"
It wasn't as if I had never worn hanbok as a child, but these martial robes turned out to be surprisingly hard to put on.
"Come, let's go. They're waiting."
Once again, he showed no intention of waiting for my reply. In an instant the elder was already striding far ahead.
"Elder! Wait!"
"Hm?"
Apparently rushing about was simply his natural temperament. He stopped and turned with a puzzled look at my call.
"Where am I going, and who am I meeting?"
I at least wanted a chance to steel myself.
"Heh heh. If you knew ahead of time, you wouldn't be able to prepare your heart for anything. Just follow me. I'll explain everything once it's over."
What came back was the unspoken pressure to quit the nonsense and quietly tag along.
And so, with no other choice, I followed the elder—and arrived at a place that made me freeze.
"...Elder. Please tell me this isn't what I think it is."
"Sharp young man. I like that."
It was the largest building inside the castle. One glance was enough to know it was where the king resided.
"No—I don't even know the proper etiquette...!"
"No need. His Majesty doesn't stand on such ceremony."
I grabbed the elder, begging him to spare me from a sudden audience with the king, but somehow I only ended up being dragged along in an undignified scramble. I couldn't even make him stop.
In the end—
"Your Majesty! This humble servant, Taoist Master Hyeonjin, presents himself!"
Standing before the great, ornate sliding doors, I swallowed hard.
"Enter."
At the dignified voice from within, I clutched my stomach with both hands under a pressure that felt ready to punch a hole through the top of my head. I followed Elder Hyeonjin as he strode boldly inside.
"Well now. What amusing business has brought you all the way to see Us? Let's hear it."
"Heh heh. When you put it that way, it sounds as if I only come when something has gone wrong."
"And that is precisely the truth. Blame yourself for making Us so dreadfully bored."
The two voices exchanged banter in a light, joking atmosphere completely different from anything I had expected.
"...You there. What are you doing?"
Elder Hyeonjin's voice, sounding thoroughly exasperated, finally broke the silence. Two pairs of eyes settled on me.
"Are you ill? Why are you clutching your stomach like that?"
"Ah, no. It's nothing like that..."
When he asked why my head was still bowed, I slowly raised it, wondering if it was truly all right.
"And that fellow?"
"I picked him up outside just a short while ago."
There sat not the king of my imagination, but a man with the powerful build of a seasoned warrior.
"Hmm. Picked him up, you say."
"Yes."
The man—the king—sat arrogantly, stroking his chin with one hand as he regarded me. His gaze was far more threatening than the bear-like something I had run into earlier.
"Indeed. Faint, but a familiar feeling."
He nodded to himself as if something had clicked into place, then asked with a faint smile at the corner of his mouth:
"You. What is your name?"
"Seo Chan-hui, Your Majesty."
"A fine name."
"Thank you."
After praising my name, he looked at me with a face now full of gentle kindness, so different from moments before.
"Have you thought about what you will do from here on?"
"...I have not."
"Then how would you like to stay here until you decide what you wish to do?"
The sudden offer. Part of me wanted to nod at once, but—
"...Forgive me, but I do not understand the reason."
Bringing someone he had only just met all the way before the king, and me not even fully grasping the situation I was in—I decided I could not simply accept.
"A reason, is it."
To that question of mine, the king answered:
"Does one need a reason to show kindness to a brother who shares the same blood as Us?"
The pure question made me feel foolish for ever suspecting some hidden scheme.
"Gaon is neither so cold-hearted nor so weak that it would turn its back on a brother stranded in a strange land."
A brother stranded in a strange land.
With those words, I finally understood my situation with perfect clarity.
In this land, there was no place for me to return to.
"...I gratefully accept the kindness you have shown me."
"You are welcome. Welcome to Gaon."
And I also understood that if I had refused the king's goodwill, or if I had failed to please him, I would have been thrown straight back into the forest where I had nearly died.
"Ah, and one more thing. In our Gaon we have a saying: He who does not work shall not eat. I trust you understand what that means."
Lastly, I learned that this so-called king was an absolute master at putting people to work.
After that sudden meeting with the king, every last drop of strength drained from my body. I returned with Elder Hyeonjin to the building we had visited earlier—the place they called the Taoist Hall.
"Heh heh. Well done."
"...You have quite the hobby, Elder."
"The fact that you still have energy left to snipe tells me your guts are fairly decent."
I no longer had the energy to care about manners or anything else. I flopped down roughly onto the bed in the empty room I had entered earlier and asked the elder, who was watching me with a sly grin:
"So what am I supposed to do from now on?"
"Young man. Have you ever thought of becoming a Taoist?"
"...A Taoist?"
"That's right. A Taoist."
As if he had been waiting for this very moment from the instant he first laid eyes on me.
"You're scrawny as a stick—anyone can see physical work isn't for you."
After nearly two years of military service I had been fairly confident in my body, but between the way the king had treated me and everything else, it seemed I was just a scrawny weakling around here.
"If you decide now, this Hyeonjin—current Taoist Master—might specially take you on as a disciple. What do you say?"
Sooner or later I would have to go outside and search for a way back to my original world. From the start, the only real choices had been warrior or Taoist.
"Choose. Will you sweat it out in the barracks with the other soldiers and become a warrior? Or will you become a lofty Taoist under my guidance?"
At Elder Hyeonjin's words, I shouted without a single second of hesitation:
"Please make me a Taoist—!"
...Having finished my discharge report less than a day ago, the word "barracks" hit me far too hard.
Request for discharge: withdrawn.
"Rise, Chan-hui."
"Aaaargh—!"
Taoist training or whatever—this place was no different from the barracks.
No.
If anything, the barracks had been freer.
"A pleasure to meet you. From today I will be overseeing your basic training. I am Deputy Taoist Master Lee Cheonyu."
Forced awake before the sun even rose, I ran the training grounds prepared inside the castle. After running, I ate a simple breakfast and then sat for meditation.
"I do not know for what reason the Taoist Master took you as a disciple, but do not expect any special treatment. Keep that in mind."
After that came every kind of menial chore under the excuse of being a Taoist apprentice, and once the chores were done I was given a brief personal maintenance period.
And I, who had lived nearly two years under schedules just like this—
"Ahahaha!"
"Grrk."
—adapted to Taoist life in a single, cursed day.
"I heard from Cheonyu! She says being a Taoist is your true calling!"
Around the time the sun began to set and all the day's duties were finished, I sat at dinner with Elder Hyeonjin—now my master—and asked while chewing my greens as if they were the old man himself:
"So what are we doing this time?"
"What else? Basic training is over, so now you learn Taoist magic."
"...Excuse me?"
"Don't tell me you thought I would abandon my disciple on the first day and go to bed?"
Honestly, that was exactly what I had thought. I swallowed the words that had risen all the way to my throat and scratched my head instead of answering.
"You had best steel yourself. From now on you will be handling a schedule twice as heavy as the other apprentice Taoists."
And so the real training to become a Taoist began.