The Lineage One Cannot Choose
Yu Ja-gwang, a native of Namwon in Jeolla Province, was an eolja — a son of lowborn mother — just like Hong Gil-dong.
He too had long since given up any dream of rising in the world, but a man still had to eat, and he had no stomach for farming. And so he drifted up to Hanyang with no particular plan in mind.
Yu Ja-gwang spent some time scraping by as a street bravo, and it did not take long for him to catch Hong Gil-dong's eye.
Rating his martial talent highly, Hong Gil-dong handed him a position among the Geunchunmun Gapsa and made him his right-hand man.
Yu Ja-gwang was barely twenty at the time, and there were more than a few Gapsa who resented such extraordinary treatment for one so young.
But Yu Ja-gwang crushed that resentment with sheer skill, and now not a single Gapsa in the Geunchunmun gang refused to acknowledge him as its second-in-command.
Even so, Yu Ja-gwang was cautious by nature.
His abilities were outstanding, yet he never once allowed himself to grow complacent.
Back in his bravo days, he had seen plenty of boys drunk on their own pride come to bad ends — and more than once, he had been the one to seize victory by striking the moment an overconfident opponent let his guard down.
He had already been watching the young swordsman closely, and he had sensed that this one was no easy mark.
"Judging by his skill, he's decent enough — but I don't see any need for you to step in yourself, hyung-nim…"
Yu Ja-gwang slowly shook his head.
It meant: don't get involved.
The Gapsa gathered around all went wide-eyed.
Their looks said it all.
'What? Ja-gwang is holding back?'
"Wahaha!"
Just then, Hong Gil-dong burst into roaring laughter.
"What a pack of fools…. Haven't I told you boys time and time again? Before you spar with anyone, you have to know who you're sparring with. Did I say that, or didn't I? Know your enemy, know yourself, and you'll never lose a hundred battles… and you forgot the most basic basic of them all?"
Hong Gil-dong clicked his tongue and shook his head from side to side.
"No one measures up to Ja-gwang, truly. That young swordsman is not an opponent for the likes of you!"
"But, hyung-nim…"
Kim Jeong-geun, who had kept his head bowed the whole while, finally raised his neck like a startled turtle.
"What about the honor of us Geunchunmun Gapsa…?"
"I'd already heard it from the Gwanghwamun boys… so they finally made their way here, did they? You lot picked the wrong opponent."
"Seong-nim… is that young master really someone even you and Ja-gwang ought to be wary of?"
"It's not about skill!"
Hong Gil-dong scowled sourly.
He, after all, had clawed his way to his position through ability alone.
Yu Ja-gwang said nothing.
"Boys — can you really not recognize who that young man is?"
Hong Gil-dong turned to look at his Gapsa.
The men shook their heads with blank, bewildered faces.
"That young master is royal blood, and his father-in-law is no less than the Right State Councillor himself. If the likes of us picked a careless fight and he came away with so much as a scratch, we'd be ringing the bell for it."
"What…?"
The Gapsa's mouths all fell open.
"That whelp was Nam I?"
Only then, once they realized who their opponent was, did the Gapsa's expressions change.
Rumors about Nam I were rife among Hanseong's famous bravos and idlers — and no wonder.
Who could fail to know the man who kept challenging anyone in sight to sword duels?
Plenty of fools had obliged him lightly, thinking they'd teach a lesson to some spoiled young noble with no sense of the world, and had come away with bleeding noses for their trouble.
"Yes, that Nam I."
Hong Gil-dong said.
Learning Nam I's identity, the Gapsa deflated, muttering to themselves one after another.
"What a mess. Why would a highborn young master come flapping his gums about wanting to spar with the likes of us? All we got out of it was a dent in the Geunchunmun Gapsa's honor."
"That's your fault. If you'd eaten your share of the soldier's rice, you'd have known to find out who your opponent was before crossing blades. Wouldn't you?"
At Hong Gil-dong's rebuke, the Gapsa made sheepish faces.
Hong Gil-dong let out a hearty guffaw.
Deciding it was about time to patch up his men's morale, he went on.
"Ah, never mind. From what I hear, that young master's skills are impressive in their own right. I'm told he's already broken the Gwanghwamun Gapsa."
"What? He broke the Gwanghwamun boys too?"
The Gapsa looked astonished.
"Mm, just yesterday, I hear. They're apparently too ashamed to even bring it up. So no one can judge us too harshly for coming away broken ourselves. Not that your skills are anything to compare with the Gwanghwamun lot's…"
The Gapsa nodded and smiled awkwardly.
Hong Gil-dong laughed along with them, but the smile left his face almost at once.
He pointed a finger at Nam I as he continued.
"Never forget who stands behind that young master — the Right State Councillor himself. Can any of you boys beat the Right State Councillor at his own game?"
"Well… no, hyung-nim."
They gazed steadily at Nam I.
At eighteen, Nam I was the great-great-grandson of Nam Jae, a founding meritorious official of Joseon who had served as Chief State Councillor, and his grandmother was none other than Princess Jeongseon, the fourth daughter of King Taejong.
Even his wife was the daughter of Gwon Ram — the man everyone whispered was Suyang's right hand. He was, in short, as nobly born as a man could be.
For a Gapsa with no backing, to lay hands on him carelessly was to invite ruin with no hope of recovering even one's losses.
If losing meant losing face, and winning meant living in fear of retribution, then losing was simply the wiser course.
"Exactly. In a situation like this, losing is nothing strange. And who's going to say a word about it?"
Only then did the Gapsa's sullen faces ease, as though they finally understood.
Hong Gil-dong turned and glanced back at Yu Ja-gwang.
He was staring hard at the young swordsman.
Hong Gil-dong spoke up.
"That young lord — I've heard the rumors, and his skill really is remarkable for his age. But he's far too insolent. If he keeps that up, he'll come to grief."
"He will."
"Anyway, let's wrap this up and send him off politely. You handle it."
"Yes, hyung-nim."
Hong Gil-dong turned on his heel and strode away.
Bowing low behind his departing back, Yu Ja-gwang slowly turned around.
He walked out into the middle of the courtyard where Nam I stood.
Nam I called out with cheerful energy.
"Come to have a match with me?"
"Not at all, my lord."
Yu Ja-gwang advanced until he stood before Nam I, clasped his two hands together, and offered a respectful bow.
A flicker of disappointment crossed Nam I's face.
"This humble one is Yu Ja-gwang, a Gapsa of Geunchunmun. Your renown has long since reached my ears, my lord."
"Ah."
Only after hearing the introduction did Nam I nod, as though something had finally clicked.
"So you're Yu Ja-gwang. I've heard of you. The Gwanghwamun Gapsa speak of it, don't they? The rumors say your swordsmanship is the finest of them all."
"So the rumors go, apparently."
Yu Ja-gwang grinned.
Either way, it was a compliment that hurt nothing to hear.
"I see. I had rather hoped we might cross swords today…"
"Hahaha."
Yu Ja-gwang laughed it off heartily.
Tucking his tail between his legs without so much as a fight sat ill with his temperament.
Besides, seeing Nam I up close, he was still nothing more than a callow boy.
That quieted something in him — even as it pricked his pride, leaving a sour taste he could not quite shake.
Yu Ja-gwang barely managed to swallow the words 'then shall we have that match after all?' that had risen to his lips.
"In any case, my subordinates acted without sense — forgetting their duties and giving offense to you, my lord."
"Offense? Not in the least, I assure you."
Nam I replied with easy, open laughter.
Of course you would say that… Yu Ja-gwang felt his stomach churn, all the same, but answered with a glib tongue.
"When you ask us to spar, my lord, it puts men like us — who draw the state's grain precisely to guard the palace precincts — in an awkward position. We'd be rebuked for wasting our attention where it doesn't belong. And what would your honorable father-in-law, His Lordship, think of it?"
"Well, yes, but…"
At the mention of Gwon Ram, Nam I seemed to shrink slightly.
"I trust you'll understand that I cannot accept this match."
"I understand well enough."
He gave the answer, but Nam I was unmistakably downcast.
"With such outstanding martial gifts as yours, my lord, your renown will surely shake the four seas one day."
"You think so?"
For all his talent, Nam I was, at bottom, still a child.
"I have long dreamed of standing as a great man does, sword in hand, and carving my name into a fame that never dies."
"Is that so."
Yu Ja-gwang answered half-listening.
The next moment, Nam I's face suddenly clouded.
"But in peaceful times like these, when would such a thing ever come to pass?"
In that instant, Yu Ja-gwang felt an odd kinship with him.
The truth was, he had been wrestling with precisely the same frustration.
And because of it, the words slipped out of him unbidden.
"Well, these may be peaceful times, but who can say for how long?"
The moment he said it, Yu Ja-gwang winced inside.
Carelessly spoken, those words could sound like a denial that peace reigned at all — and depending on the ear, they could pass for treason against the court itself.
He hurriedly searched Nam I's face.
Fortunately, the boy did not seem the type to twist a man's words against him.
"What do you mean?"
"It's just… well, who knows what tomorrow brings in this world, you know? There are the barbarians stirring on the northern frontier, and the Japanese raiders in the south."
Yu Ja-gwang fudged vaguely.
"Perhaps so… though my father-in-law has never said anything of the sort — that a war might come any time soon."
Nam I invoked his father-in-law Gwon Ram without thinking.
And at that, Yu Ja-gwang's gut quietly twisted.
Some men had no one in the world at their backs, and here was this young lord, riding on the shoulders of Gwon Ram himself — the very heart of power — blithely complaining that he only itched for a war he'd never seen…
Yu Ja-gwang swallowed it down and answered evenly.
"That may well be. But as long as Lee Man-ju is still alive and breathing up on the northern frontier, who can truly say? Even if peace holds for the next few years, you're very young still, my lord. Who knows what things will look like in ten years, or twenty?"
"That's true enough."
Nam I nodded.
Yu Ja-gwang put on a genial smile.
"And if such a day ever comes, would you give this humble servant the chance to fight at your side and earn some merit of my own?"
It was nothing more than honeyed flattery, smooth on the ear.
Still, it seemed no bad thing to part on friendly terms with a silver-spooned young noble while the chance presented itself.
Sure enough, Nam I's face brightened.
"A man of your caliber, Master Yu — I could well entrust my back to him. My thanks."
"Think nothing of it."
Nam I thanked Yu Ja-gwang for the pleasant words, said he would take his leave, and departed.
Yu Ja-gwang saw him off in reasonably good spirits.
Kim Jeong-geun stepped up beside him.
"Look there, Jeong-geun. That young master."
Yu Ja-gwang gazed after Nam I's receding back as he spoke.
"I envy him, truly — and yet at the same time, I can't help but resent him."
Jeong-geun nodded.
Yu Ja-gwang, uncharacteristically, let out a sigh.
"People never understand what a thing is worth once it's already in their hands. Look at that boy — born into wealth, married into a wealthy family. His rise in the world is already laid out before him like a meal at a set table. What need does that young master have for a past, or for merit? He needs none of it at all. And yet there he is, spouting fat man's complaints, never knowing how good he has it!"
Jeong-geun did not answer.
Being of the same lot as Yu Ja-gwang, he felt every word of it down to the bone.
"Men born with the road already open before them, like that young master — they know nothing of what it means to be us, with no prospects and no future. They'll never understand how precious are the things they already hold."
Yu Ja-gwang sighed and bit his lip.
Kim Jeong-geun grumbled.
"But what can we do about it? It's our lot in life… With births like ours, the military exam is a pipe dream, so all we can do is scrape by as Gapsa… Well, if luck ever strikes and we pull off some great deed, who knows."
"That's right — which is why we have to earn that deed. Mm. We climb, whatever way we can, on the back of a great merit."
Yu Ja-gwang's voice was low, but a hard resolve ran beneath it.
Someday, I will rise. No matter what it takes… far enough that even that young master will have to look up at me.
Without realizing it, Yu Ja-gwang clenched his fist.