An Outing to Seolju (1)
Once every three months, the great temple in Sinsi held its grand service.
I made a point of attending this one even when I skipped all the others, but the crowds were so enormous that people kept getting trampled and injured...
"Temple Chief."
"Yes, Haneul-nim."
"Couldn't we build temples in the other cities too? People keep getting hurt every single time."
The number of cities had grown enormously — so why weren't more temples being built?
"What meaning would a temple have in a place where Haneul-nim is not present?"
Look at these hopeless fools. Even from way back there, did they really think they could see my face?
"Do you really need to see my face to know I'm here? Faith reaches the heart just fine."
"Ah..."
He seemed moved, but sorry to break it to you — how long do you intend to survive on nothing but my face? Let me go out and have some fun for once!
Sure enough, with all these face-to-face events piling up, I could barely leave the temple at all. Maybe I should take a trip somewhere foreign?
"Build temples in every city so people can stop in wherever they are, and dispatch the Daesinjang to Sinsi while each city receives its own Temple Chief."
"Understood. It shall be done as you command."
Temple work was nice in that nobody talked back. The downside was that nobody offered any other opinions either.
"Oh! And recruit plenty of priests. If we're going to help all these people, the temples need more hands."
"Of course. Thank you, Haneul-nim."
A handful of people doing the cleaning, preparing the services — they were already doing heavy labor as it was. They only managed because their bodies were strong; there was simply too much to do.
With the population having grown so much, this much expansion should be fine.
"Also, have the temples hold exchange gatherings, and let people take turns staying at each one."
"You mean a pilgrimage?"
A pilgrimage? A rotating service? Something like that? They'd figure out the flexible details on their own.
"Er...? That's it. Yes, exactly."
"Thank you for your wisdom."
It would be nice to have some kind of token to give them — something sacred, maybe. A relic of the divine, or something.
Whoooosh—
For the first time ever, I was climbing the World Tree. Not clinging and scrambling my way up — I was flying.
My goal was the very top. I thought I might grab a few branches while I was at it.
Tap.
"A clearing?"
Maybe because the tree was so enormous, there was an open space right at the top? Sunlight filtered down through the branches, and it was wonderfully warm.
If I'd known a place like this existed, I would have set up my rest spot up here ages ago.
Then again, would I have ever met my primitive friends if I had? Out of nowhere, the old days came flooding back. Those times were pretty fun.
"Friend Tree. I was thinking of sharing these with the people down below — would you lend me some of your branches?"
Shaaaaa—
Was that an answer? The wind was barely stirring, so why was the tree swaying like this?
Rustle-rustle-rattle.
Huh? Branches were raining down! Something about this felt good. I could plant them in pots, couldn't I?
"Thank you!"
Shaaa—
"Yeah. Really, thank you~"
Arms full of branches, I returned to the temple and planted them. Nothing fancy — just soil in some jars, with a branch stuck into each one.
One day...
Two days...
I was keeping an eye on whether they'd survive at all when, miraculously, the branches grew more twigs and leaves!
A whole month went by and the trees were still alive. So vibrantly green you'd think they'd march off to the forest on their own two roots.
"Oh? You're all pretty sturdy yourselves, huh?"
Well, everything in this country was sturdy. It's not like ordinary branches survive being stuck straight into dirt, right?
These children the tree had given me must be something special.
"Temple Chief — no, I suppose it's Daesinjang now? Take this with you when you go."
"What... what is this?"
"A Branch of the Divine Tree. Every temple ought to have at least one sacred relic, don't you think?"
"Gasp!"
Oh? Were this man's eyes always that big? This was the first time I'd ever seen him surprised. It's just a branch — why was he taking it so hard?
"Are you unwell, Haneul-nim!?"
Oh, for heaven's sake. You're a Daehan man all right — your voice is absolutely deafening.
"Yes, I'm just a little tired, so hurry along now."
"Sniff... Thank you. Thank you so much."
Anyway, give these people anything and they go wild over it. Apparently he liked it, thankfully. The Daesinjang carried each branch outside as reverently as if he were transporting a jar of sacred relics. Since they were sacred relics now, I supposed jar-carrying was appropriate?
I wondered whether that tree actually had some kind of effect. Even a faint echo of the World Tree's power would be wonderful.
The cities at the northernmost edge were said to be too cold, with too much snow, for any farming at all.
Come to think of it... I felt strangely tired...
.
.
.
Flash.
"Huh? When did I fall asleep? And why does my room look like my room and yet not like my room at all?"
Since when had my bed been draped in this gauzy, billowing canopy? It was like someone had hung curtains all around it.
That said, it did seem to be my room in the temple... but the walls had accumulated an absurd number of gold ornaments and carvings.
Wasn't this a little... too luxurious?
Click.
Hm? Who is it? People usually knocked first.
Blink-blink.
"...?"
It felt like I was looking at a question mark with eyes. This is my room, you know? And yet somehow it felt like she was the one asking me who I was?
"Who are you?"
"Eek!"
Thud.
What? Did she just faint? What is this situation...? Our people didn't have anyone this faint of heart, did they?
Slap-slap.
"Hey? Wake up now? You have to tell me your story."
Apparently they picked people by their faces these days. Puppy-faced, and quite pretty, too.
Something about her felt oddly similar to me, actually. Did someone open a plastic surgery clinic?
"Hellooo~"
Slap-slap.
"Mmmh..."
I slapped too hard — there was a handprint on her cheek...
"You back with me?"
"Gasp!!!"
"What? What's wrong?"
Don't tell me — is there a ghost behind me? I was too scared to turn around... Please, please stop looking at me like you've seen a ghost. I hate ghosts...
"Haneul...nim?"
"Yep. That's me. Now, who are you?"
"Greetings, Haneul-nim! Assistant Secretary Jian, at your service! It is an honor to meet you! An absolute honor!"
Wow. Confirmed. She was Daehan's child all right. Her voice boomed like a war drum. My eardrums were going to burst.
"Nice to meet you. You can speak softly — I'll still hear you fine."
But since when did we have Assistant Secretaries? I'd never seen this girl before in my life.
"Four!"
"Where's the Head Secretary, then?"
"Oh! The Chief Secretary? That's right! I must report that you've awakened! I'll be right back!"
Huh? What's a Chief Secretary now? Good grief. She went tearing off with a dada-dada, and honestly, it was kind of admirable.
CRASH-BOOM!
Wh-what now? An earthquake? They say you're supposed to hug a pillar during an earthquake. Maybe I'll take a little look...
BANG!
"HANEUL-NIM!!!"
"It truly is Haneul-nim!"
"O divine one! To think I would behold you in my lifetime!"
What? I'd never seen a single one of them before? Judging by the clothes, they looked like the Secretary, the Chancellor, and the Daesinjang?
Don't tell me... was I asleep for a long time?
"Hello, everyone? Did I oversleep or something? Somebody explain, please?"
"You have slept for no fewer than 230 years."
"Whoa."
What? Why? The last thing I did was pick up some branches... Were those things behind this? So there really is no such thing as a free lunch.
"Er... you all worked hard while I was gone, I take it."
"Thanks to Haneul-nim, everyone lives well."
"Nothing terrible happened?"
"No, Haneul-nim!"
Well. Hearing them out, it sounded like both Hanna's country and the Xia Dynasty had stayed quiet, and while the branches distributed to each city didn't cover a huge area, they had the World Tree's farming blessing to some degree and had been an enormous help. Especially up in those northern regions.
Apparently, as they recruited more priests, the Secretary's office had grown alongside them — one Chief Secretary with nine Assistant Secretaries beneath her.
One, three, nine — people sure did love numbers like those.
Hahaha. Vanishing for 230 years actually had its perks.
The whole point of people not recognizing me! Women whose style happened to resemble mine might get a lingering glance now and then, but people moved on quickly. Nobody knew it was me.
Freedom!
But...
"Why is my height exactly the same!"
These kids were all so tall. The men and the women both.
They ran the country perfectly well without me, and nobody recognized me anyway, so I left the temple and set my course north.
"No! Where are you going, Haneul-nim? Please stay a little longer!"
"Am I going somewhere far? Quiet down, you're hurting my ears!"
There was a bit of an uproar about it, but I said I was going on a pilgrimage. What were they going to do about it?
"I have to see for myself what these branches can actually do if people are calling the place livable, don't I?"
Word was you could even grow potatoes around there. Perfect for a multi-crop setup, if you ask me.
"Huh? No, wait. That's what knocked me out, isn't it?"
Not something to take lightly, then. Ten years per branch, was it? This time it was 230 — what if there's some kind of progressive tax and the next one costs me a thousand years?
Right. No more greed. What I have now is plenty.
Transportation would only get easier with time, so people could propagate the branches from the ground up, anyway.
"Speaking of which, old man Ian has really made something of himself."
The Eunha Inns — the lodging business I'd invested in along the old highway — lined the entire road as far as the eye could see.
Clop-clop, clop-clop.
Which was exactly why I got to travel this comfortably. I stayed at the inns, and between them ran stagecoach services operated by the inn network itself.
Thanks to that, the number of travelers getting ambushed by wild animals while camping rough on the road had dropped dramatically.
I could see an inn in the distance — looked like I'd be waiting for the next coach there.
"And they say it's another month's travel from here?"
It had taken a month just to get from Sinsi to Hanju, and they wanted me to keep going north? Just how far up had these people climbed?
"Man, it really is cold, though."
"Nyahaha! No wonder there's hardly anybody around, eh?"
Yikes, that startled me. Some enormously hearty-looking uncle had appeared out of nowhere? With that thick, shaggy beard, his face had to be warm under there.
"Oh~ hello there."
Bow slung over his shoulder, wrapped in layered animal-hide furs — a hunter, presumably.
"Traveling alone? A pretty young lady, and so bold! Nyahaha!"
"Haha. I've done rougher things than this."
This body had been through an actual war, mind you. When was that — several hundred years ago by now?
"I've hunted here my whole life. If you ever need animal hides, give me a shout — I'll sell 'em cheap."
Oh, he was a traveling salesman.
"I'm all right. Mine's plenty warm."
I'd come up the mountain road in cotton-padded clothes, with rabbit-fur boots and gloves I'd bought along the way. A cute bunny hat as the finishing touch — my head was small enough that it fit snug as could be.
Did everyone up here just live off hunting? It'd be lovely if they made jerky and dried meat strips here.
"What do the local people mostly do for a living?"
"Everybody used to go out hunting, but these days they farm, over there in Seolju."
Coming up the road, the ground had seemed harder than stone. Was farming really possible?
"They farm around here?"
"Ahaha, no no — Seolju's different from here. The soil's soft and rich up there, perfect for it."
"That's amazing, honestly."
Farther north than here, and the soil was softer? Tree, what on earth are you doing up there? I was dying of curiosity.
"It's all Haneul-nim's grace, of course. Haha. Well, I'd best be off. For food, try the bear or the roasted venison — absolutely superb."
"Yes, thank you."
Ooh, a local's food recommendation. You've always got to eat the local food, right? Bear would probably smell gamey, so pass. Venison was a first for me — I wondered what it tasted like?
Creeeak.
When I pushed open the inn door and stepped inside, mildly warm air washed over me, mingled with the scent of earth and timber. This place was peaceful too.
"Welcome! Staying the night?"
Huh? Was she a Daehan person? Or not? Something about her felt strangely familiar — a middle-aged woman.
"What is it? Something curious?"
Ah. I must have been staring.
"Ah... no, not at all!"
"I'm a local, born and raised, and I run this inn. Surprising, isn't it?"
Oh? So the Siberian natives were the same stock as us after all? So this land never belonged to the Russians?
"It is surprising. I assumed only Daehan people lived here."
"We look similar, and we were taught we're practically the same people. We've been using Hangul for a long time now, too."
So there were schools up here as well? Had this region already been formally absorbed into Daehan?
"I see. You don't feel like a stranger at all."
She really did look remarkably like us, and she spoke Daehan's language fluently.
"I'd love to become a Daehan citizen myself, someday soon."
"Hm? Is something the matter?"
Hm? Why hadn't she been granted citizenship? From the look of that uncle earlier and this woman here, they seemed like plain countrymen of ours already?
"They say Haneul-nim fell into slumber right after Seolju was founded. So we're waiting."
Er... Ma'am? Why are you giving me those misty, wistful eyes? So the Haneul craze had reached all the way up here too...