The Chieftain's Request
Once the Mid-Autumn Festival had passed, Hong-wi decided it was time to return to Hwangseongpyeong.
With Utai's group now part of the party, their numbers had swelled considerably, though their baggage had not. After all, the purpose of the journey had never been trade — it was to establish ties with the Onyan clan. The goods they had carried were not merchandise but gifts.
Then, to Hong-wi's surprise, Onyan Isiha moved to hold him back.
"I shall introduce you to the chieftains of the lands around us. What say you to paying your respects before you go?"
Hong-wi had no reason to refuse, and so he accepted the elder's proposal.
Remarkably, Onyan Isiha did not merely offer words. He himself made the rounds, personally presenting Hong-wi to the chieftain of each and every village.
"This man is Temusi-i, a merchant of Joseon. A Joseon man he may be, but he is a trustworthy one — a man vouched for by Chieftain Tumut-Chahar of Sahalcha and by this old man myself."
"I see. So he is Temusi-i."
"Indeed. I ask that you treat him as you would treat me."
"A man introduced by the Grand Chieftain himself? There is nothing to weigh, surely."
The villagers and chieftains alike were stunned by such an unprecedented gesture, but Wolyeong and Tung Jugang understood perfectly why he did it.
Hong-wi was the hero who had saved his only, precious daughter.
With a widely revered Grand Chieftain making the introductions in person, the chieftains took a keen interest in Hong-wi — and he wasted no opportunity in turn.
He promised the powerful chieftains that he could supply whatever goods they needed, and on the spot he closed several deals.
"If the Grand Chieftain vouches for him, the man is worth trusting."
The chieftains went so far as to present precious furs, pearls, and gold dust as gifts in advance, even though Hong-wi had yet to deliver a single shipment. Hong-wi protested strenuously that he could not accept, but they only pressed the gifts into his hands, insisting they were tokens of goodwill.
As this went on for the better part of a month, Hong-wi's company found itself turning a profit several times greater than the value of the very gifts they had brought along to give away.
Watching it all, Utai marveled inwardly without end. He confided his impressions to his old friend Iharachi.
"Truly, Lord Temusi-i is a man the heavens themselves made."
"Only now figuring that out?"
Iharachi grinned broadly.
"Well... I knew he was no ordinary man, but I never dreamed he'd rise this fast."
Utai shook his head. They had been taking the measure of what Hong-wi had accomplished on this trip, and the sheer scale of it was enough to make a man's head spin.
The wealth received in advance payment — or under the polite name of gifts — alone was worth a small fortune. On top of that, his network of connections was now rock solid. Having turned a handsome profit in Sahalcha yet still remaining a modest operation, Hong-wi's merchant company had now seized the chance to leap, in name and in fact, into the ranks of the great trading houses.
"You've seized the opportunity of a lifetime, brother. What do you say? Better than rotting under that dog Bushuku, isn't it?"
"That it is."
Utai agreed. And yet his face had grown somehow dark.
"Still, I can't help but worry. Thinking about Bushuku's brother, you know."
"Kunuma, you mean?"
"Aye."
Utai's expression was troubled.
"That one will rise to avenge his brother, no question. And that's the truth of it — it frightens me not knowing when he might come down upon us."
"I've heard the man's reputation too, but... our Lord Temusi-i is no ordinary man either, so don't fret yourself overmuch."
"You think so?"
At Iharachi's confident assurance, Utai laughed. Perhaps it really would be so, he thought. But deep down, the worry never quite left him.
On the night before his departure for Hwangseongpyeong, Hong-wi called upon Onyan Isiha to offer his thanks.
"You have risen on my behalf so graciously, Elder, that I am deeply in your debt. I will not forget this kindness."
Hong-wi's words were no empty courtesy. What he had gained on this journey was beyond all reckoning.
He had made a firm impression on the powerful chieftains of Jianzhou, and secured several major trading partners whose profitability was all but guaranteed. By Iharachi's and Utai's assessment, if the venture were handled well, Hong-wi could build a faction to rival that very Pushan Hadaru.
But Onyan Isiha shook his head.
"No. It is this old man who owes you a great debt. You did not refuse to save my one and only daughter."
"Anyone would have done the same."
Hong-wi's answer carried a double meaning. It was a humble reply implying that he — or anyone — would have stepped in to rescue a woman in danger. And it also meant that he would have saved her even had she not been the Grand Chieftain's daughter.
Onyan Isiha smiled.
"I suppose you would. You did as much in Sahalcha, and again in Hwangseongpyeong, after all."
"So you knew."
"These old ears have not gone deaf just yet."
Onyan Isiha paused for a moment.
"...And I have also heard that the whereabouts of a certain noble personage in Joseon have grown murky. Nearly a year now, I hear."
Hong-wi did not answer. He simply gazed at Onyan Isiha in silence for a long while. At last, he spoke.
"I..."
"You need say nothing. I do not seek confirmation of my suspicions from you."
"Your eyes truly cannot be deceived, Elder."
"You flatter me. But this Lord Temusi-i of ours... hm. I shall call you that for now."
"You may call me that always."
Onyan Isiha gave a faint smile.
"Yes — in any case, this Lord Temusi-i is a remarkable man. The road here must have been long and perilous. And to cut through the threats of your enemies and arrive at all was surely no easy feat. Your achievement alone deserves to be set down in song."
"Hardly an achievement. I merely scraped through alive, and here I am, eking out an existence."
Hong-wi lowered his gaze.
"Do not reproach yourself so. Your uncle made up his mind to kill you — and yet you lived, and came all this way. If so, then you who survived are the victor."
"It is too early to speak of victory. That I can do anything at all is thanks entirely to you, Elder."
Onyan Isiha smiled without a word, and Hong-wi bowed his head again and again.
"I wish to repay this debt, however I can."
"If you insist so earnestly..."
Onyan Isiha cleared his throat.
"I do not care for demands made under the pretense of goodwill. And more than that, you have already saved my only daughter. I am in no position to ask anything of you — and yet..."
"Whatever it is, please speak. For your sake, Elder, how could I spare any effort?"
"You are very kind."
Even so, Onyan Isiha could not entirely hide his hesitation. Presently he cleared his throat once more.
"...I trust you have come to know my daughter, Wolyeong, by now."
"Of course."
"I truly have no wish to impose upon you — but this old man will, shamelessly, make a request all the same."
"And that is?"
"Lord Temusi-i. Will you take my daughter into your care?"
At this utterly unexpected request, Hong-wi's eyes went wide. He floundered, unsure how to answer.
"Elder, I..."
"If you weigh your true identity, you may well think my request outrageous, and I would have no answer to give. But I had marked you in my heart long before I glimpsed who you might be."
"Why so?"
Hong-wi said quietly, "Whatever my true identity was, the man I am now has nothing. It would be wiser to choose the son of a powerful chieftain instead..."
"I look not at what you possess now — not at bloodline, not at status. I look at your ability, your future, and above all, your character."
Onyan Isiha spoke with force.
"When word reached me of the man who stood against that Kunaha and Biriherimdon in Sahalcha, for the sake of Ban Village, my interest was stirred. I will not bother hiding the fact that we Jurchens hold merchants in low regard. But it was precisely because of that that my interest grew. And when I learned that Tumut-Chahar had entrusted you with the black arrow, all the more so. I have known that man for a long time. He is trustworthy — and he is not a man who gives his trust to just anyone. If a man like that trusts you enough to send you off bearing the black arrow, then I too can trust you and entrust things to you."
Hong-wi found himself at a loss for words.
"So from that moment on, I listened for every rumor about you. And when one listens for rumors, all manner of stories come flooding in. I heard with great interest that you had stood against the Kunaha in Hwangseongpyeong. Never once had any man — however bold a warrior, however powerful a chieftain — dared such courage. And for what? Merely to save an aged father and his young daughter?"
Onyan Isiha shook his head.
"And then, as it happened, word came that you were coming to seek me out. Truly as the stories promised. I say it not in boasting, but I flatter myself that I have a decent eye for men. I owe that, I suppose, to the fortune of my unworthy self having walked alongside that Lord Mentemu in my youth — the honor of keeping company with countless heroes and champions in those days."
Hong-wi listened to Onyan Isiha in silence.
"I dare to say it: this Lord Temusi-i is a man born bearing an aura to rival the glory of that Lord Mentemu of old — no, of your great-great-grandfather, that Ullusbulka, whom the Joseon folk name Yi Seong-gye!"
"No — no, please, restrain yourself!"
Hong-wi waved both hands in alarm.
"How could one such as I stand in the same company as those men! And besides, His..."
Hong-wi could not bring himself to speak the name of Yi Seong-gye, King Taejo — his own great-great-grandfather.
"Why do you think that of yourself? That Lord Mentemu was a hero of his age, and yet he said even in life that he was not worthy so much as to carry that Lord Ullusbulka's sandals. This, though two or three decades and more had passed since the man's death. Are you not now closer to Lord Ullusbulka than anyone alive? If not you, then who could be said to compare with him?"
"He was a hero without equal and an undefeated master of war. I would be ashamed even to call myself his successor."
"Do not belittle the potential of what you may yet become by the measure of what you are now. You..."
The next words died on Onyan Isiha's lips, cut short by a cough that burst from him without warning.
As the aged Grand Chieftain doubled over, Hong-wi startled and rushed to support him. It was then that he saw it — a smear of bright crimson spreading across the sleeve with which the old man had covered his mouth — and his blood ran cold.
"Elder! This — what..."
"A sickness of the lungs. I have carried it a long time. I took a wound in my youth, you see, and being driven from place to place as I was, I never had the means to heal properly. Somehow I survived — and the price was this wretched affliction."
Onyan Isiha smiled faintly, but there was a bitter taste steeped into that weary smile.
"I will be honest with you. My days are not many."
"You still look hale to me!"
Onyan Isiha shook his head slowly.
"This old body knows itself well. I will not last long. At present, save for Asikusinu, hardly anyone knows. My daughter, of course, does not know — nor does Tung Jugang. Urgh — hrm!"
He hacked and sputtered before managing to continue.
"Sadly, it seems my half-brother has caught wind of it."
"Ichigeo, you mean?"
"The same. Kushinu is a man to be trusted, but the servant we sent to run my medicine errands vanished without a trace outside the village some days ago. With bandits rampant of late, I thought it a sorry loss of life, nothing more... but it seems the secret has leaked."
"So that is why he is pressing you to send Lady Wolyeong to the Kunaha."
"Precisely so. I will be honest — what could I hide from you, when I mean to entrust you with my own daughter? Whatever days remain to me, I will not see two more years beyond this. I have watched the flowers bloom, the green canopy rise, the leaves turn red and fall — sixty-six times now, but it seems I have not been granted a seventieth."
"It cannot be..."
Hong-wi's heart ached with genuine sorrow.
Strange, considering he had known this old man for barely a few dozen days. And yet even that brief span had been more than enough to reveal Onyan Isiha's extraordinariness, his wisdom, his gentle magnanimity.
Ten years would not have sufficed to learn all that this man's wisdom and insight had to teach.
The void his death would leave behind would be very, very great indeed.