Volume 3 Release - 4
"Might we also be permitted a quiet word about the Tea Book Club and Dangga Pungun?"
With the troublemaking customers visibly thinning out, the Tang Clan warriors had put the question to me, ever so carefully.
"The Tea Book Club, you say?"
"We do not mean to rest during working hours. Rather, we wish to remain at Daseogak even in the hours when our guard duty rests, and talk of Dangga Pungun to our hearts' content."
When I asked back with a puzzled look, the warriors—apparently afraid I had taken their words as a bid for some unauthorized holiday of their own devising—threw up both arms and hurried to explain themselves.
"It's no trouble at all."
On the contrary, they were more than welcome.
A doctor reviewing a medical drama, a pro basketball player breaking down a legendary championship final, a soccer legend analyzing a Korean national team match—when an expert weighs in on pop culture, the world pays attention.
And now, into a discussion circle devoted to a novel whose protagonist hailed from the Sichuan Tang Clan, the Tang Clan's own warriors were set to appear. It was bound to become the talk of the town.
Of course, had they savaged the book I would have had to rein them in—but every last one of them was a fervent fan of Dangga Pungun.
"Might we join the Tea Book Club as well?"
And so the Tang Clan warriors began attending the Tea Book Club gatherings.
"Th-the warriors of the Tang Clan! But of course!"
These were people with no shortage of things they had been dying to ask about Dangga Pungun anyway.
Had the Sichuan Tang Clan truly given its blessing to Volume 3? What did the clan actually make of Dangga Pungun? Could Dang Jeong truly be called a Tang Clan warrior?
To the flood of questions, the warriors began giving their answers.
"The marvel of Dang Jeong's triple poison lies not merely in the fact that he poisoned Saekma."
And with that, the Tang Clan people held forth with pride, as though Dang Jeong truly were one of their own warriors.
"Then there is more to it than that?"
"In Volume 2, Dang Jeong conceived the triple poison as his secret stratagem for defeating Saekma. Which means he procured his poisons on-site and blended them himself to forge the triple poison. It means he possesses an extraordinary understanding of poison—extraordinary enough to create an entirely new one."
"Do not all Tang Clan warriors make and wield their own poisons?"
"A warrior who swings a sword does not necessarily know how to forge one. However deeply one knows poison, the power to create a new poison is a gift all its own."
"As expected! So Dang Jeong was deeply learned not only in the poison arts, but in poison itself!"
"Dang Jeong is a truly formidable warrior. The cunning to inflict two poisons without so much as Saekma noticing—and then, at the moment of his choosing, to administer the final poison and summon forth the symptoms. One may well say his mastery of the poison arts, too, has ascended to the Peak Realm."
"To hear the Tang Clan warriors say so themselves, I am newly awed by what an extraordinary novel Dangga Pungun truly is!"
"Even within the clan, they say they had never seen a novel depict the Tang Clan's poison arts with such depth while making them look so magnificent—the praise was unanimous."
Well, it was a book written with expert opinion actively gathered at every turn.
"A novel even the Tang Clan praises to the heavens!"
"Our Tea Book Club, too, marveled as we read—so the poison arts ran this deep all along."
"Heh heh. The clan, too, stakes great hopes upon Dangga Pungun—that it may ring the fearsome name of the Tang Clan far and wide."
"Just as expected!"
Nothing sweetens a beloved work like an expert singing its praises. The seats around the Tang Clan warriors were packed so tight with Tea Book Club members there wasn't an inch of floor left to stand on.
When the warriors had finished a full round of explanations, one of the Tea Book Club members raised a most troublesome question.
"By the way—who do the Tang Clan warriors believe the true wife should be?"
……
Why are you all looking at me?
If the Tang Clan warriors all sealed their lips and turned their eyes my way, people were going to start wondering what was afoot. Look away, quickly.
"You don't actually think Gu Sook-jeong, the Sichuan Number One Beauty, deserves to be the true wife just because you happen to be Sichuan men yourselves... do you?"
Im Hayeon. Why aren't you working, and why are your eyes burning holes through the words 'true wife'?
Leaning far forward as if she might vault the counter at any instant, Im Hayeon was staring toward the Tea Book Club with smoldering eyes.
And who would the Tang Clan warriors name as the true wife?
When I pulled a face that said sort it out yourselves and turned my head away, the warriors at last broke their awkward silence and began to speak.
"Even within the Tang Clan, opinion is split into several factions."
"Even within the Tang Clan itself?"
"Gu Sook-jeong, the Sichuan Number One Beauty, and Du Eung-hyang, the Hubei Number One Courtesan—both are charming women, are they not? And though they are few, some even hold the women of the next volume to be true-wife material."
"What did you just say?"
Im Hayeon muttered from behind the display counter, eyes narrowed to blades. Hey. Why don't you just join the Tea Book Club outright while you're at it?
I'll write your letter of resignation myself.
"Hoho. Surely there is still a majority faction? Here in the Tea Book Club, the Sichuan Number One Beauty faction held a slender lead—until of late, when a talent of tremendous caliber arose within the Hubei Number One Courtesan faction, and now our Sichuan Number One Beauty faction senses a crisis at hand."
"No—how could anyone champion Du Eung-hyang as the true wife at a time like—"
"Enough."
Tang Pae clapped a hand on the shoulder of the bristling Tang warrior and looked my way.
"Ah... my apologies."
The warrior bowed his head twice in quick succession—to Tang Pae, and to me.
What was that about? The Tea Book Club members looked back and forth between Tang Pae and me with wondering eyes. This is making things far too obvious.
I heaved a small sigh and shot Tang Pae a glance. Tang Pae—this one's yours. Handle it.
Tang Pae seemed to take the hint; with a small nod, he turned to the Tea Book Club and spoke.
"Ahem! As men of the Tang Clan, we hold it improper to press personal views upon the true-wife question in this company. It could needlessly bring trouble upon Author Hopil."
No comment. A wise answer.
The Tang Clan Head may have gone on to wed his beautiful betrothed, but the master of Daseogak was Hyang-ah's son—hardly a subject one could raise with ease.
To be sure, I had told them Dangga Pungun borrowed only its motifs from true events, that it was a work of fiction and no mirror of reality—but there was no helping that the Tang Clan people could not swallow it so readily.
"As expected!"
"Moreover, Dang Jeong is no commonplace hero. For a hero of his stature to keep several women at his side is no disgrace whatsoever."
"Quite right! He shall love them all, every last one, together with his true wife!"
Back when I set out for Yichang, I had publicly declared that however the ending fell, every woman would be accepted.
Unlike the original history, that is.
"Well said, well said! A responsible man like Dang Jeong would never forsake his women, be they two or ten—would he not!"
"Th-that is so."
Why do you keep stealing guilty glances at me? Dang Jeong is not the Tang Clan Head, I tell you.
"Hmph! Still, the Tang Clan shows some sense."
Whether the warriors' answers were half to her liking, Im Hayeon nodded with a small smile.
"To be sure, the word of the Tang Clan is not something even Author Hopil could disregard—a proper stance, I would say."
"Of course, the true wife remains Lady Du Eung-hyang."
Like a lone voice crying that the Earth still revolves amid a hall of geocentrists, Im Hayeon declared it proudly to the air, then returned to her work.
News of Dangga Pungun Volume 3's release, the appearance of the Tang Clan people, and the qipao besides.
"What? The Tang Clan people are joining the Tea Book Club? I must set aside time today to visit Daseogak!"
"Have you heard? At Daseogak, you can speak with the Tang Clan people themselves about Dangga Pungun!"
The publicity effect was undeniable.
"Why are the Daseogak staff dressed like that?"
"I hear it's a garment called a qipao."
"It shows off a woman's figure to full effect, yet bares not an inch—demure and alluring all at once!"
"That is not all! They say the apron worn over it is called a 'maid' outfit! Does it not make them look the very picture of a devoted wife?"
"Hnnnnngh."
"A seat just opened at the Tea Book Club table where the Tang Clan man sits. I'm going in first!"
"Why, you—!"
Customers pouring in day upon day, printing presses that never stopped turning, a Daseogak in constant bustle—buried in work like this, a week went by in a flash.
And so the days flowed on, until at last came the momentous release day of Dangga Pungun Volume 3.
"Good heavens."
"Wow. Where did all these people come from?"
When the doors opened, the first thing in sight was a line that stretched on without end.
The Daseogak staff stared down that line, muttering in dumbstruck awe.
"Goodness! Scholar Hwang! Have you kept vigil through the night again?"
The head of the line for Volume 3 was, once again, held by members of the Tea Book Club.
"Hahaha."
"This time, I have come as well."
A familiar face peeked out from behind Scholar Hwang—a welcome face, one that had lent me a hand in the literary society.
"So Scholar Hwang's younger brother was here too."
Two brothers, keeping an all-night vigil for a chronicle of lechery. Glad as I am that it's my book, I can only pray the Hwang household is blessed with a third child.
"These two unrolled their sleeping bags the very moment Daseogak closed its doors yesterday!"
"Hahaha."
The Tea Book Club members clicked their tongues at the two Hwang brothers in disbelief.
"Do come in! Sales of Dangga Pungun Volume 3 will now begin!"
Channeling the Soyun Mind Image Art, I proclaimed Daseogak's opening to the endless line stretched out before us.
"Daseogak is open!"
"Dangga Pungun is mine! Out of my way!"
"HAAAH!! Any who raise a ruckus shall be cast out, no matter when they arrived!"
As expected of the Tang Clan warriors. What a comfort.
The instant the warriors fixed the doorway with a tiger's glare, the maddened customers went quiet as lambs, as though their frenzy had never been.
And with the momentary uproar quelled, Scholar Hwang of the Tea Book Club stood first of all before Dangga Pungun Volume 3.
Hurry up and buy it. Why are you stopping?
"So very much has come to pass. The novel born of Yichang was set upon by injustice and tyranny, and its lifeblood came within a breath of running dry."
Gazing upon Volume 3 with the reverence owed a sacred text, Scholar Hwang pressed on.
"I was so afraid I might never lay eyes upon Volume 3!"
"For months on end I offered up prayers!"
"Sniff! That Manager Kang might return! That Author Hopil might never lay down his pen!"
As if the torments of those months had come flooding back, the Tea Book Club members could not mask the grief welling up within them.
I was the one who went through hell, you know. Anyone watching would swear the Tea Book Club had borne it all.
"Having passed through an age of endurance, we now stand before Dangga Pungun Volume 3."
With eyes as soft as a man's upon his beloved, Scholar Hwang drew near to the book.
"This third volume is proof that no trial, no tribulation, can keep a soul from rising again! It is a hymn to humankind—that which is yearned for with all one's heart shall, in the end, be attained!"
"This day we shall witness the third visage of Dang Jeong, chivalrous hero of the new age!"
"The book itself seems to shine! Is this the fabled Sun Fist of the East Sea Isles?"
"N-now I could die without a single regret!"
"You fool! Read it first, then die! M-my heart is already thundering."
"And I am trembling down below at the thought of beholding the two young ladies!"
……
"Other customers are waiting, gentlemen."
Your preamble runs far too long. Kindly think of the customers waiting behind you.
At my urging, Scholar Hwang took up Volume 3, came over to me, and bowed with full formality.
"Young Master Kang. Welcome back. Thank you—truly."
Really, when people made this much of a fuss over me, I could hardly contain my joy as an author.
"Thank you for waiting."
It had been a long road—for the one who returned, and for those who waited. Each of them, surely, had endured it in their own way.
As Hopil, and as master of Daseogak, I returned the Tea Book Club's greeting with a deep, respectful bow.
"Three copies, if you please—one for preservation, one for reading, and one for spreading the faith."
"This time, it is one copy per customer."
"Ah... how can this be."
Release day of Dangga Pungun Volume 3.
Swamped beneath the flood of customers, Daseogak had to keep its doors open past sunset and deep into the night.
That day's takings—Baekga Bookstore's included—left the record set by the Volume 2 release day, the greatest single day's revenue in decades of history, far behind in the dust.
"Young Masters! Where in the world have you been all night?"
The two great pillars of the Tea Book Club—Scholar Hwang and Scholar Hwang's younger brother—hurried home upon tense, quickened steps.
"Brother."
Clasping Dangga Pungun Volume 3 to his chest like a treasure beyond price, the younger brother looked up at his elder.
"Little brother."
Holding Volume 3 more dear than the very certificate he had received upon passing the civil examination, Scholar Hwang gazed back at his brother.
"Young Masters? What is the meaning of this?"
Both of them out all night, both returning clutching strange books, both staring into each other's faces—the servant could make neither head nor tail of it.
"You have endured much, brother."
"No, Brother—it is you who have truly endured."
"To think Manager Kang has returned, and we may read Dangga Pungun Volume 3—it feels as a dream."
"I, too, can scarcely master this surging heart of mine."
"Once I enter my chamber, I intend not to emerge for half a day."
"Heh. A mere half day? I intend not to emerge for a full one."
"By 'half a day,' I meant to read and ruminate, then take to my bed and ruminate upon the novel within my dreams."
"Then for our full day, let us speak not even our impressions to one another, and give ourselves wholly to rumination."
"Agreed."
Like comrades who had shared the hardships of a long campaign, the two gazed upon one another a moment, then each made for his own room.
"Young Masters!"
"Call not for me! Seek me on the morrow!"
Gathering up Volume 3 in haste, Scholar Hwang vanished into his room.
The long-awaited Dangga Pungun, Volume 3.
Only after barely stilling his racing heart did Scholar Hwang gently turn the cover, taking care that no harm come to the book.
And the Volume 3 he had awaited so long held, without question, a story worth every hour of that long wait.