The New Work — Part 1
Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon.The Tale of the Wind and Cloud Chivalric Hero.
The story of Unhyeon, a boy who lost his parents to bandits and joined the Wudang Sect to become a martial artist, only to step out into the wider world upon meeting a fateful opportunity, striving to become a true hero.
A novel I had written crying out for orthodox wuxia, aimed at martial artists who didn't feel like martial artists and righteous sects that didn't feel righteous, in a world that called itself wuxia but was nothing of the sort.
It was the first novel I wrote in this world — and also my memory of a bitter, bitter first failure.
"It's a novel I wrote."
I introduced my own book to the two women, who were staring at Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon with bewildered expressions.
"You were writing something other than Dangga Pungun?"
"Back when I was a penniless black-haired beggar, I was racking my brain over how to make it in the Central Plains. That was the first book I ever wrote."
I needed to raise my reputation to meet the ending conditions.
Words travel a thousand li without feet, so a book would surely make me famous faster than working as a black-haired street storyteller ever could.
The direction was sound, no doubt about it.
It failed, though.
"S-so, Master Kang wrote his first novel, and it was thiiiis?"
"Author Hopil's first novel wasn't Dangga Pungun, but this book?"
The two women looked back and forth between me and Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon again and again with astonished eyes.
"Where is the man who gets full on his first sip of liquor? This was a novel seasoned with the taste of bitter failure. Dangga Pungun was written by taking the lessons of Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon's failure to heart."
Wuxia doesn't sell in this world? You think I'd give up just because of that?
I crushed the market analysis and made it work anyway.
Pack commercial appeal into the wuxia. Erotica is popular, you say? Then just throw in scenes of passion with beautiful women. That was how Dangga Pungun, the erotic chivalric chronicle, was born.
"Another novel written by Master Kang himself...?"
"You know, about that book of yours..."
The gazes of the two women, drawn like meteorites caught in gravity, simply would not fall away from Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon.
"Care to read it?"
The words had barely left my mouth before their hands moved.
Jegal Hyang's hand was certainly fast, but the other one moved at a speed beyond my powers of perception.
"H-Hayeon Eonni!"
"I'll read it quickly and give it back."
Lim Hayeon waved the book with a smile of victory.
There was no way Jegal Hyang, however great her talent, could outpace the speed of the Shadowless Divine Thief, the greatest thief talent in the history of the world.
Jegal Hyang belatedly tried to snatch the book away, but much like the difference in their heights, the notion of her stealing from the Shadowless Divine Thief was a patent absurdity.
"Hayeon Eonni, just a few days ago we..."
Jegal Hyang trailed off, looking up at Lim Hayeon as if she'd been wronged somehow.
"Ugh! Fine, shall we just look at it together, even if it's a bit awkward?"
Lim Hayeon, flustered, meekly held out the book to her. Had something passed between them that I didn't catch?
"There are more copies printed from Yichang, so you can each have your own."
"Eh? Really? Then give me one right nooow."
Like a baby bird desperate for its next meal. I handed Jegal Hyang the first volume of Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon, unable to hide her anticipation.
And so began the reading hour for Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon.
The two women set aside whatever they had been doing, sat down in their respective places, and began to read.
"L-losing his parents to bandits. How sad, hooow."
"An orphan protagonist. A different kind of lead from Lord Dangjeong of the Tang Clan, isn't he?"
"Eh? The protagonist's name is Unhyeon?"
"Of course it is — Unhyeon is the name of the hero mentioned in volume 3 of Dangga Pungun!"
The two women looked at me as if to ask what on earth was going on.
"I mentioned him in advance, hoping to publish Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon someday if the chance arose."
Once Lim Hayeon's situation was resolved, I wanted to try releasing Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon as well. I happened to have a print shop at my disposal, so I'd had a whole stock printed up.
"So it takes place in the same era as Dangga Pungun?!"
"Heh heh heh."
Watching the two women devour my book with such absorption, something felt ticklish inside me.
Embarrassment, perhaps. An emotion hard to put into words kept me from sitting still.
"I'm going out for a short walk. Enjoy your reading."
There is a time-honored method for torturing a creator.
The method with the longest and proudest history would no doubt be the heated iron skewer, but if you truly want to torment someone psychologically, you show them their old creative works.
If someone told me to reread the parody novels I wrote for fun as a kid, I'd sooner bite off my own tongue.
Back then, it was fun — I even received my first fan art. It's definitely not something I'm ashamed of, and yet the moment I think of revisiting it, it feels like some legacy of the past that's hard to face.
To me, Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon was much the same.
I believed I had poured my heart and soul into it, but it was, unmistakably, a record of failure.
Lingering attachment had made me stack the manuscripts away, vowing to publish them someday, but facing readers' reactions head-on would take considerable courage.
"Have you all finished reading?"
Having gathered myself, I carefully opened the door to the study, and the two women gazed at me in silence.
"You..."
"Master Kaaang."
I knew it. It wasn't any good.
The two women rose from their seats with strange expressions and approached me.
"I suppose it wasn't much fun after all."
Just as I'd expected. There was a reason I'd never shown Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon to Hwarin either.
"What are you saying?!"
"H-how could this possibly be anything but wonderful, hooow?!"
Huh? The two women glared up at me in irritation at my defeated laugh.
"...It was better than I expected?"
"It was fun! Truly fun, hooooow!"
"Why on earth have you never published this?!"
"Really?"
A novel nobody read was... fun?
"It was a different kind of fun from Dangga Pungun! It's just a story of growing up in the Wudang Sect, and yet it's this engaging! I-it's shocking, hoooooow!"
"Unhyeon seems like a protagonist with a charm all his own, different from Lord Dangjeong. Unbowed by adversity, walking the straight and true path! He's exactly the kind of upright sect martial artist you hardly see anymore!"
"I-I absolutely must read the next part of young hero Unhyeon's story, hooooow!"
"To lose everything and become an orphan, yet never lose the dream in his heart. That's no easy feat."
Was it really that good? I felt a little dazed.
"How do you think it would be received if we published it?"
"It's a new work by Master Kang, so o-of course I think it will do as well as Dangga Pungun, hoooow."
Jegal Hyang nodded again and again.
"And what do you think, Lady Hayeon?"
Did she have reservations? Unlike Jegal Hyang, who had answered without a moment's hesitation, Lim Hayeon was silent for a moment before speaking.
"It's certainly entertaining. If we promote it on the first floor of Daseogak, it would sell reasonably well. But..."
Lim Hayeon glanced subtly toward the copy of Dangga Pungun in the corner of the study.
"I don't think it will do as well as Dangga Pungun?"
"..."
"I know that already, so there's no need to hedge your answer."
"It's Dangga Pungun that's the anomaly — tales of the Murim simply aren't very popular."
I nodded in agreement with Lim Hayeon.
In an eroge, scenes of passion were something like a mandatory element of adult visual novels.
Pink, white, and crimson narcotics, as it were. You could call a work a masterpiece even without such scenes, but they were elements you could never actually do without.
That was why I'd wanted to re-release Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon, but deciding it was better to focus on Dangga Pungun, I had shelved the idea.
But now, in this situation, things were different.
"Well said. But this time we have Lady Hayeon, don't we?"
The moment for this novel to finally shine had arrived.
"Me?"
"Didn't I say I'd put Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon to use promoting the Shadowless Divine Thief?"
"Ah! Don't tell me—!"
Lim Hayeon looked up at me, as if realizing something.
"The opening act: announce it as Hopil's new work, Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon, and spread the name."
"With Author Hopil's name and Daseogak's promotion behind it, even those who shy away from Murim tales will at least pick it up. And in volume two?"
"The Shadowless Divine Thief appears, of course. We promote the Shadowless Divine Thief under Hopil's name."
Hopil's new work alone might not be enough. But a promotional novel for the Shadowless Divine Thief was another matter entirely.
It would prove more than sufficient for promoting the Divine Thief — and the novel's effects wouldn't end there.
"So Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon would end up promoting the Shadowless Divine Thief by name?"
Volume two would be released, and soon after, the Shadowless Divine Thief would begin her activities.
A wuxia tale, not an erotic one. Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon.
Not an ordinary thief, but a righteous one. The Shadowless Divine Thief.
A novel that normally could never outsell Dangga Pungun, and a vigilante who normally would take ages to become famous, meet.
"And they both become famous."
Synergy.
"A scheme worthy of you."
Lim Hayeon nodded with a smile.
"The problem is, since the Shadowless Divine Thief won't appear until volume two, if volume one flops on its own like before, it's all for naught... Hmm?"
As I smiled with a touch of uncertainty, the two women seized my hands tightly.
"It's your novel, isn't it? Have some confidence."
"That's right. Y-your novel is definitely going to succeed, hooooow."
One bitter failure. I'd dredged up the idea because of the Shadowless Divine Thief promotion, but honestly, I wasn't confident at all.
What if I failed a second time? Wasn't it better to just leave it buried?
I looked at the two women gripping my hands firmly.
In their eyes was a certainty that mine lacked.
"Let's do this together."
With the strength of three, it might be worth taking another shot at Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon.
With only minor revisions, volume one of Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon was ready for sale.
I began writing volume two together with Lim Hayeon, and preparations for volume one's publication began in earnest.
"The Shadowless Divine Thief is moving far too normally. In a situation like this, she should just move through the air."
"No — how is a person supposed to spin through the air to dodge a spear, then ricochet her body off in a completely different direction?"
A person, mind you. I asked for realism, and she gives me this nonsense.
"You don't think I can do it? Come outside. I'll show you."
Lim Hayeon grabbed my hand, dragged me outside, and demonstrated the very scene she'd described.
"Good heavens..."
I'd be revising that immediately.
"Now, when it comes to opening a safe—"
"Let's skip the detailed explanation."
"Pardon?"
Because it could be used for actual crimes.
"Master Kang! Young hero Unhyeon's face is finished!"
While I was writing volume two with Lim Hayeon, Jegal Hyang painted the artwork to be used for Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon's promotion.
"He looks a bit like Dangjeong."
"You don't like it?"
He was certainly a handsome fellow whose face spoke of a firm, unshakable will toward chivalry, but still.
Even though both were Hopil's works, I wanted to convey a protagonist who was distinctly different. A shame.
Every distinctively ugly face has its own reasons, but handsome men, like the ten-thousand-horses-return-to-one formation, are uniformly handsome and there's nothing to be done about it, I suppose.
Some unique trait of a Wudang martial artist... hmm?
"Could you make the lines a bit thinner? I'd like a more androgynous feel."
In that instant, one person came to mind.
The Wudang hero I'd met on the road to Sichuan. Cheongun.
He had the image of a hero carved from a ruler's measure, and yet there was something about him — a slender, androgynous handsomeness.
I asked her to paint him in Cheongun's image.
"An androgynous feel?"
"Upright and true, but with a precarious, teetering air — as if he might not be all right if left alone."
Precisely because he's too straight. One wrong move and he might snap. This is a man who needs someone to lean on. I ordered a handsome man with Cheongun's feel from Jegal Hyang.
"Yes. I'll try, hooooow."
Yichang. Daseogak main branch.
The Daseo Society.
The second floor of Daseogak, once brimming with life before Kang Yunho and Lim Hayeon departed, had of late grown gloomy and dim.
"Yesterday we debated who the destined bride would be, and today is the day we predict the contents of volume four."
Scholar Hwang sighed to himself as he thought of the Daseo Society members, barely visible on the second floor.
"Didn't we do that three days ago?"
"Have we debated which elements within the first three volumes seem destined to serve as foreshadowing for what's to come?"
"Wasn't that four days ago?"
"Then now we..."
"...What do we even do now?"
"..."
A painful silence settled over the Daseo Society.
No matter how entertaining a work, without new material the enthusiasm inevitably cools. Even gathering daily to manufacture their own discussion topics, they had now reached their limit.
And at last, behind the painful silence, anger followed.
"Just when is volume four of Dangga Pungun coming out?!"
"It's been months since volume three!"
"Isn't Daseogak itself on the verge of being handed over to Mangeum Hall? What fault is it of Author Hopil that he laid down his brush for the sake of a friend in crisis!"
"Mmm."
Scholar Hwang barely managed to calm the enraged Daseo Society members.
"They say Manager Kang has opened another Daseogak in Wuhan?"
"What?!"
"They say he's borrowing money to expand the business in order to protect the Yichang branch."
"Then shouldn't Author Hopil hurry and release the next volume to help Manager Kang?!"
This time even Scholar Hwang could not hold back.
"Telling me won't accomplish anything."
"Just when is volume four of Dangga Pungun coming out!"
"If only we could hear some news of Author Hopil..."
Just when on earth would Dangga Pungun volume four arrive?
Under an open-ended wait, the members of the Daseo Society were gradually wearing down.
"Move it over here!"
Whether or not they understood the mood of the Daseo Society, the staff of Daseogak poured onto the second floor all at once and began bustling about.
"What's going on? Is there construction today, perhaps?"
"We must hang a great scroll sent from Wuhan."
"A scroll? What kind of scroll?"
"The news you Daseo Society members have been waiting for."
"What news could it possibly—? Don't tell me—?!"
Was timely rain about to fall upon the Daseo Society, cracked and parched by drought?
The members started in alarm and crowded around the great scroll.
"Is it volume four?"
"Dangga Pungun volume four?"
"Or the tale of the parting heroines?"
"What on earth is the news?!"
Unrolled, the great scroll revealed a painting by an artist of tremendous skill.
"Author Hopil's new work. Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon?"
There stood a slender, androgynous hero of the righteous path, sword in hand, roaming the rivers and lakes — and beneath him, in a bold and exhilarating hand, was written the very news from Hopil that the Daseo Society had been waiting for.