The Pioneer
After the dust-up with the loan sharks had settled—
"By the way, lad, you really have become a master, haven't you?"
That was the first thing Neung Jinsam said once we had made it safely back to the office.
The last time he had seen me I had been nothing more than a green free-lance swordsman; now I had somehow grown into a troubleshooter who made even loan sharks flinch. He clearly found the change remarkable.
"Right? There's a reason they call him the Scourge of the Academy, you know."
Jo Harang, who had been training while waiting for us, greeted us with a grin that said finally catching on, are you?
"Why do you keep bringing up that nickname?"
"Why? Because it sounds cooler than Dog-Beating Dragon. Fresher, too."
She wiped the sweat from her brow out in the front yard as she said it. From the look on her face she meant every word. Taste was a mysterious thing; I would never fully understand hers.
I shook my head and dropped into one of the office chairs.
"Ilhong. That."
At my gesture, Ilhong untied the bundle we had bought at the market on the way back. From inside it, a chicken's head with a bright red comb popped into view.
"…What, exactly, is this?"
"What else? One of the twelve zodiac beasts—a chicken."
Was this not the very sort of fluffy creature he used to adore? There had been a time when even a stray animal in the street would make his eyes light up.
"Looking at this, what comes to mind?"
"Wine and roast chicken."
But the man standing before me now seemed thoroughly steeped in worldly habits. Neung Jinsam gazed at the bird with zero spark of inspiration.
"Honestly, I was thinking the same thing, Boss."
Ilhong, who had personally hauled the clucking bird here, muttered a confession of his own.
"Don't you feel even a little sorry for the chicken?"
"Someone's awfully full. Shall I serve you grass-leaf porridge for dinner instead?"
Truly merciless subordinates.
"No—roast is better."
I had long since sworn off those thin, barely-filling gruels.
"Hah. How did it come to this? There was a time I was utterly captivated by that soft plumage, the wrinkled comb, the eyes like red jade…"
Neung Jinsam set his brush pot of ink and brushes down on the desk with a soft tap, murmuring something no one else could quite share. Overall, his interest in animals seemed to have dipped.
"Ah well. Even if I paint my heart out, I'll only be overshadowed by the famous masters again. What would be the point?"
Why does a person suddenly lose all passion and drive for something that once burned so brightly? More often than not, that sort of thing comes from deep disappointment.
"Could I truly surpass them with beast paintings?"
"Then paint landscapes or portraits instead."
"As if that would work. I was never any match for them in those fields either."
No matter what encouragement I offered, Neung Jinsam only shook his head, looking thoroughly dejected. As an artist he had fallen ill with a serious case—in short, a heart-demon had found him.
"All right then. Let's take a look."
"At what?"
"A portrait. Try painting Jo Harang here."
Extreme measures were called for. I jerked my chin toward her; she had been diligently polishing her great saber.
"M-me? That's a little embarrassing… I've never had one painted in my life."
"Then this is your chance. If you're going to get your first portrait, might as well ask a famous Beijing painter."
He was better known for beast paintings than portraits, but a painter was a painter. Jo Harang, who had spent her whole life shut out from high-society culture, looked thoroughly flustered.
"Why me, though? Just have him paint you."
"I don't know. I just think you'd suit it better—and look prettier."
This particular medicine worked best when paired with a beauty, after all. However she chose to interpret my words, Jo Harang sat down opposite Neung Jinsam with a faintly shy expression.
"…If you put it that earnestly, I guess I can't refuse. Fine."
The "pretty" and "suit it" comments must have landed well; the corners of her mouth kept twitching upward.
"I want one next, Boss."
"Sure. Go ahead."
Volunteering of her own accord was a gift as far as I was concerned. I told a competitive-looking Ilhong as much, then ordered Neung Jinsam to paint Jo Harang with everything he had.
Like a student forced to study something he hated, he ground out a portrait of her. He still had a painter's basic skill, so despite the low motivation the finished piece was fairly decent. Jo Harang accepted her first-ever painted portrait with a bright expression and began to admire it.
"Well, Young Hero Mujin? What do you think of my work?"
"Hmm. It's well done… but I don't feel any real drive in it."
I delivered a bland assessment of a portrait that was, if nothing else, ordinary.
"Exactly. People always used to say the same thing. Someone even said it had no soul."
Even at a glance it was clear this man did not particularly like people. Being forced to paint them must have been pure torment since his early days as a brush-for-hire.
"But what if we try this?"
I took the brush from his hand and added a few modifications to the finished portrait of Jo Harang. Tufts of fur rising from either side of her head. A long tail emerging from the small of her back.
With every unorthodox stroke of the brush, Neung Jinsam's eyes grew wider and wider.
"H-haah…! Th-this is…!"
He sucked in a sharp breath like a man who had just witnessed something that defied common sense.
"M-Mujin, what even is this? Why does my portrait have animal ears and a tail?"
If the earlier beast paintings had drawn their strangeness from animals behaving like people, this was the reverse: a human foundation with animal traits layered on top—an entirely new approach.
"Isn't it nice?"
"Nice? It's uncanny! I'm not some kind of monster…"
She jabbed a finger at the portrait now sporting fluffy tiger ears and a tail, looking thoroughly weirded out.
"So what? It's cute."
"Ugh, that doesn't work on me. Erase it right now!"
Apparently she felt as if she had become one of those bizarre creatures that only appeared in stories. She thumped my back insistently and finally reached for the brush itself—only for another hand to dart out and seize her wrist.
"Not the humanization of animals, but the animalization of humans…! Have you ever seen such a stroke of genius?"
The owner of that hand was none other than our client. Painter Neung Jinsam wore the face of a man who had finally attained enlightenment after a long trek through the gorge of anguish.
"I've found it! My new inspiration!"
After I had unlocked a second taboo that should not yet have existed in this era, Neung Jinsam's motivation seemed to roar back to life.
"It's the same human face, yet simply adding a few animal features makes the elegance and beauty stand out even more…"
He still could not stop marvelling at the "new path" I had shown him.
"But Young Hero Mujin—I'm thoroughly immersed in this new direction, yet will other people feel the same? That's what worries me."
After trembling with joy for a while, a touch of reality seemed to return, and he voiced a modest doubt. He had a point. Unlike pure beast paintings, this genre could embrace far more social strata—but breadth often meant shallowness as well.
"Then we use a cheat key."
"A cheat… what?"
"We play a sure hand—something people can't help but fall for."
Beast paintings took animals as their foundation. These Beast-People Paintings, however, took humans as theirs. And the power of the finished work would vary wildly depending on exactly what that foundation was.
"My friend, this place is Cheonhwaru, is it not?"
"Yes, that's right."
"You said you needed a sure hand, so why suddenly a pleasure house…"
Because that sure hand—the one that would lift people up and set them down again—was right here. To sell anyone on a new business item, you needed a definitive sample.
I met with Ye Ryeong, the proprietress of Cheonhwaru, and asked whether I might see her.
"Young Hero, I understand your situation, but the girl is terribly busy. Carving out separate time for her is difficult."
Seeing her was no easy matter. I supposed that was only natural for Beijing's hottest celebrity of the moment. Prior appointments were stacked high.
"Proprietress, I'm fine. The other appointments can be postponed."
But one young woman who had heard my voice poked her face into view and said exactly that.
"Still, are you sure…?"
"Of course. I've already received the grace of two life-saving favors from him."
Truly a girl who made you feel the effort of saving her had been worthwhile every time you saw her. Why Ilhong and Jo Harang kept eyeing such a kind, pure-hearted child with suspicion, I would never understand. Tsk, tsk.
"Mmm. If that's the case, I suppose it can't be helped. But the high-and-mighty may take offense, so don't take too much time. Understood?"
"Yes, Proprietress."
After answering, the top courtesan of Cheonhwaru approached me with light, graceful steps. Her smiling eyes turned up toward mine.
"Great Hero, you've come to see me again. What is it this time?"
"Nothing major. Would you like to sit for a portrait, Wolay?"
She was already skilled in poetry, calligraphy, and painting so she could converse with the nobility; the idea of having her portrait done seemed to pique her interest.
"Oh my. Does the Great Hero also wish to preserve my beauty forever upon paper?"
Apparently high officials had already tried the same thing. My purpose was entirely different from theirs, but I went along with it for the moment.
"Mm, something like that."
Her eyes curved into crescent moons. Looking delighted, she half-turned her body and lifted her chin just so—every movement of someone who knew exactly which angle made her most beautiful.
"Wolay… Ju Wolay… To be able to paint her this close…"
"Pull yourself together."
"Ah. Right. Yes."
It must have been a deeply moving moment. With a face full of fresh drive, Neung Jinsam began brushing away with gusto. Fully revived, he looked back and forth between the canvas and Ju Wolay with solemn concentration, pouring his whole heart into the work.
Swish, swish. Swoosh.
"Wolay. Do you have a favorite animal?"
"Of course. I love soft, fluffy rabbits the most."
She answered with a beaming smile. I nodded and quietly relayed the fact to Neung Jinsam. Sparks lit in the beast-painter's eyes as he brightened with pure joy.
Swish. Swoosh.
At last the portrait was finished.
A profound work that captured Ju Wolay's loveliness with exquisite care, like a beauty painting destined to remain in history. And for the finishing touch—a pair of perky white rabbit ears and a fluffy tail.
"Great Hero, what is this…?"
Ju Wolay, who had rushed over excitedly at the news that it was done, wore a complicated expression. Bewilderment seemed to be rising.
"Young Hero Mujin, what am I to do? I haven't been able to take my eyes off my own painting since a while ago."
The painter who had drawn it was now heaping praise upon himself. An exquisite beauty's face marked with animal traces—and from that combination rose a strange allure found in no other painting. If the taste suited the viewer, this piece had the power to pierce straight through a person's heart.
Realizing that, Neung Jinsam wore the face of a man who could die without regrets.
"…Terrifying destructive power."
I too could not look away from a result far more overwhelming than I had expected. A portrait of such uncanny allure that it would snatch your gaze even if you were only passing by.
"Great Hero, can you not hear me? There's something strange stuck on the painting."
"Strange? It's just cute."
"C-cute isn't the word. It looks like some kind of monster."
A monster, she said. Fair enough—there was a faint air of the kind of creature that stole a man's liver and soul.
"Th-this is cancelled!"
"Ah-ah. No take-backs."
A masterpiece for the ages. Neung Jinsam and I swiftly reclaimed the finished painting. Then, dodging Ju Wolay as she thumped our backs and insisted the work had to be destroyed, we set out to find someone who could actually turn it into a business.
"…So the person you came to see is me?"
In the clean, orderly merchant-lord's office of the Eunseong Merchant Group, Eun Hwaran—who had been handling paperwork as usual—looked thoroughly taken aback by the new business item that had been shoved in front of her without warning.
"What on earth is this…?"
She had worn roughly the same expression the last time I asked her to connect beast paintings with Beijing's wealthy. Now she was staring at us with an equally flabbergasted face.
"They're called Beast-People Paintings."
"…"
"So you're saying… this makes money?"
"Yes. And because the customer base is broader, they might even sell better than the beast paintings."
"…What a world we live in."
Pioneers are persecuted in every age. But in the end you only have to prove yourself. Hadn't those much-maligned beast paintings ended up making money too?
"Even so, this is ridiculous. Sticking animal fur on a human face? It's grotesque."
"But it's pretty, isn't it?"
"Well… I suppose it is. It's a portrait of Ju Wolay, one of the Five Flowers of Beijing."
This was the same Ju Wolay that high officials fretted themselves sick over just for a single glimpse of her face. And now it carried this bizarre special feature as well. It might even cause a greater sensation than the beast paintings.
When I emphasized that point, Eun Hwaran let out a low groan and pressed her fingers to her forehead, as if her existing common sense were shaking.
"Little brother, I feel a bit dizzy."
"Then take a moment to catch your breath. We still have more paintings to show you."
With that, I jerked my chin at Neung Jinsam and had him produce the trial Beast-People Paintings of the others we had drawn back at the office.
"As companion pieces—portraits of Jo Harang and Ilhong."
Familiar faces, yet each now carried the distinctive feel of a tiger or a cat. The painter clenched his fist and looked at her as if to say, Well?
"…Primordial Heavenly Lord preserve us."
The sheer power of these paintings could make even the irreligious suddenly call upon a god. It seemed we were once again kindling a spark that would shake the world.