The Biography of Zhuge Liang (1)
"Still shut away in there, is he?"
"Yes… He seems terribly heartbroken. Just the other night he was weeping so mournfully I nearly cried myself."
"Hah… Can't blame the boy. That Young Master Gu he used to keep company with didn't merely pass as a Geoin—he took Haewon. Of course it stings all the more."
Soso answered the branch manager's voice drifting in from outside.
"Ahem… If he happens to come out, give him this."
Footsteps receded into the distance.
Once they had faded completely, a moment passed.
—Creeeak.
The door swung open with a groan of hinges.
Soso spotted my face peeking out and came over carrying something.
"Is he gone?"
"Yes. But how long are you planning to stay cooped up in this room?"
"This? The branch manager sent some refreshments. Said you should eat something, sir."
"Did he? Hand it over, then."
The instant the words left my mouth, Im Seha appeared in my field of vision.
The moment I confirmed it—
"Soso… how could I possibly eat this…"
"Pardon?"
"A wretched, unfilial son who failed to carry on his parents' dying wishes and flunked the exam—how am I supposed to put this in my mouth…"
Tears welled in my eyes. Making yourself cry on cue is acting fundamentals—child's play for someone with years of performance under his belt.
"S-sir! The branch manager sent these because he cares about you. Why don't you at least accept them?"
That's my Soso. She didn't flinch at the sudden improvisation—she picked up the cue perfectly.
And her acting? Good enough to put any child star to shame.
"I am a failure who washed out of the Hyangsi. I cannot eat this… Send it back."
"How can you say such a thing? You haven't eaten a bite since the day before yesterday. Please, at least have this."
Truly magnificent WWE.
Im Seha wouldn't suspect a thing.
I was certain of it.
"Brother Lee, the girl is begging you so earnestly. Why not accept it?"
Im Seha had drawn right up beside us. Taking in the scene, he offered a word of his own.
"Young Master Im… but how can I… khhh-heughh…"
A tear rolled clean off my cheek.
"There will be another Hyangsi, will there not? Dust yourself off and rise again. Fortune simply wasn't with you this time."
"Very well. Refusing would be improper as well. As Young Master Im says… I shall accept it."
And so I took the refreshments from Soso's hands.
Whew… Almost had to send them back there.
Thank goodness Im Seha played along. I nearly lost out on these precious snacks.
"…"
Im Seha watched the whole exchange in silence, and something subtle shifted in his expression.
"Is something the matter?"
At my question, Im Seha offered a faint smile and spoke.
"No… I simply expected you to refuse far more stubbornly."
"…"
"You accepted rather quickly, all things considered."
The air in the room went cold.
Soso's pupils trembled.
I glanced down at the refreshments in my hands as well.
This bastard's sharp.
Because I'd reacted so fast, Im Seha seemed to have caught on to something.
But panicking here would be the end of it. I slowly set the tray down and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Young Master Im."
"Yes?"
"When a man is truly grief-stricken… he also gets hungry. And returning a gift is poor manners besides."
"……"
"Moreover, as she said—I haven't eaten since the day before yesterday."
Im Seha looked back and forth between my face and the refreshments, then let out a short laugh.
"Fair enough… A man does need to eat to live. I was quite worried on the way here, but I'm relieved to see you seem all right now."
"…"
I studied Im Seha for a moment, then asked,
"I seem all right to you?"
"At the very least, you don't look like a man about to die."
With that, Im Seha stepped closer, plucked one of the pastries from my hand, and popped it into his mouth.
Chew, chew.
"Delicious. Quite fine refreshments, these. Branch Manager Baek must have gone to some trouble."
"…You're just helping yourself, then?"
"Ah. Was that rude of me?"
He said it, but his hand was already reaching for the next one.
"Young master, those were given by the branch manager specifically for sir to—"
"What is it? Do you find my conduct improper?"
"Pardon?.. How could this humble maid possibly…"
As Soso floundered for words, I spoke up in her place.
"Taking a gift meant for someone else without permission is hardly good manners."
At that, the young master gave a dry little chuckle.
"Deceiving one's host is hardly good manners either."
Soso and I both froze, staring at Im Seha. Our performance had been nearly flawless. There was no reason he should have seen through it—so how?
"One of the examiners for this session was a former study-mate of mine. I asked him why someone of Brother Lee's caliber might have failed. He told me that aside from Young Master Gu's answers, there wasn't a single paper worth remembering."
"My abilities must simply have been lacking."
I was finished. Im Seha had been suspicious of me from the start.
Realizing that, I scrambled for an excuse.
But my excuses did nothing to sway him.
"Young Master Gu—who claimed Haewon—serves you as his sworn elder brother. How could your abilities possibly be lacking? I came today hoping to resolve that very question…"
Im Seha's gaze settled slowly on me.
"You were far too composed for a man who had botched his exam… and you never once looked like someone who had truly failed."
Soso's shoulders gave a tiny shudder. I said nothing, simply meeting Im Seha's eyes.
"Of course, I have no intention of prying it out of you by force."
I answered at once.
"When the time is right, I will tell you."
"I shall await that time."
With that, Im Seha asked nothing further and turned back the way he had come.
"…"
"Sir, what do we do now? Am I going to have to get up at dawn every morning again, scrub floors with a wet rag, and haul water from the well all day?"
"Not yet… I don't think so. He didn't throw us out, after all."
"R-right?"
Soso smoothed a hand over her chest, still wound tight with nerves. Then, before I knew it, she had sidled right up beside me and plucked one of the pastries from my hand.
"Soso. Who said you could eat that?"
"Do you have any idea how hard I worked putting on that act? You're really going to be like this?"
"Fine. Eat."
"There's no time to hesitate!"
Once Soso and I had polished off the refreshments, I shot to my feet and bellowed.
"Aaagh! My ears! Why are you suddenly yelling?"
I'd been thinking it over while we ate, and the truth was plain: the fire was already licking at my heels.
Im Seha could throw me out whenever he pleased, and no one would bat an eye.
Which meant I needed money—now.
"Soso, I'm heading out for a bit."
I scooped up the two volumes sitting in the room and made for the door.
"Heh heh heh… Just you wait. I'm going to show the world what you two can do."
Outside, I looked down at the two volumes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms I had written. If Gu Un-sang's assessment was anything to go by, this was unquestionably a masterpiece.
So I needed to get them printed and selling immediately.
Which was why I headed straight for a bookstore—not the old man's little shop, but the largest bookstore in Hyeongju.
The moment I stepped inside, the difference from that cramped little place was unmistakable. The rich scent of ink hung thick in the air, clerks bustled this way and that, and at the far end several people sat together working their brushes—copyists, by the look of it. As I stood taking in the shop, a man who appeared to be a clerk approached.
"Welcome, sir. What can I help you find?"
"I've come to have a book printed. Is that possible?"
I already knew they did printing work here—that was why I'd come—but I asked out of courtesy.
"Of course! This way, please. Boss! Boss!"
At the clerk's shout, a middle-aged man appeared, his mustache jutting up like a goat's.
"I'm busy enough to drop dead—what is it, you idiot!"
"Printing! Someone's here who wants something printed!"
"What? What did you say!? Good heavens!! Please, come right this way."
The word "printing" transformed the owner's face on the spot. He hurried over to me.
"Ah, welcome, welcome. And what might you be looking to print, sir?"
"Would you be able to print this book?"
I handed over chapters one and two of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The bookstore owner took them up.
"Never seen this one before."
He flipped through the pages with a rapid flutter, examining the interior without seeming to read a word of the content.
"Hmm… Well…"
Once he had actually looked at the text, the owner let out a regretful sound.
"Is there a problem?"
"We could do it here, certainly… but are you quite sure you want it printed? Not transcribed?"
Transcription meant copying the book out by hand. I had clearly said I wanted it printed, and yet the owner was asking me this.
"Not transcription. Why do you ask?"
"A volume of this length doesn't come cheap to print. If you only need a few copies, I'd recommend having it transcribed instead."
"How much are we talking?"
I still had the Eunwonbo Im Seha had given me.
"For something this size, I'd estimate about two hundred silver liang per volume."
"I'm sorry—could you say that again? Silver?"
I must have misheard. I asked him to repeat it.
"Four hundred silver liang, I said."
Four hundred silver liang.
That was more money than a Jeomsoi could earn in a lifetime of labor.
Not just a Jeomsoi—most people in this era would never see that kind of sum.
The Eunwonbo in my robes was worth roughly fifty silver liang.
And he wanted four hundred?
Eight times an Eunwonbo.
With what I had on me, it wasn't even close. For a moment I couldn't breathe.
Insane.
Just to print a book, and it cost as much as a house?
"Why is it so expensive?"
The owner answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"We'd have to carve new woodblocks, wouldn't we? Add the cost of paper, ink, and the laborers' wages, and that's about what it comes to."
"……"
"Especially with a long work like this—the carving alone takes an enormous amount of time. Just the wages for the woodblock carvers add up to a considerable sum."
My head spun. I'd expected it to be expensive, but I'd figured one Eunwonbo would cover it.
Thinking about it, though, of course it wouldn't.
This era had no printing presses. Every single page had to be carved into a woodblock by hand.
In other words, printing Romance of the Three Kingdoms wasn't simply making a book—it was essentially commissioning hundreds of brand-new woodblocks. In the modern world printing was trivial, and I had completely failed to account for that.
I'm screwed.
I'd thought I could somehow manage with the single Eunwonbo I'd squeezed out of Im Seha. Instead, the sum was so large I couldn't even get started. Price ringing in my ears, I stumbled out of the bookstore in a daze and wandered the streets without direction, my plans in ruins.
What do I do… what do I do…
I turned the question over and over in my head, but nothing useful came to mind.
A full eight Eunwonbo.
Where on earth was I supposed to find that kind of money?
"I… I can't be happy! This miserable, godforsaken world!"
I shouted my grievances at the empty air. Dropped into this place without so much as a starter window that everyone else seemed to get.
I'd suffered every hardship imaginable, been taken hostage by bandits. And there I'd had to butter up not only the bandits but the head of the Jegal Clan himself…
Wait…
I was mid-rant, dredging up the past to curse my lot in life, when it hit me. Jegal Hyeok, head of the Jegal Clan. Jegal Hyeok, who had been utterly captivated by the tales of Zhuge Liang.
If it was him…?
Couldn't he become my investor?
The thought barely formed before I was sprinting back toward the Cheonpung Merchant Group.
"What's the big rush?"
I burst into the room at full tilt. Soso asked, but there was no time to answer. I had work to do.
"Soso! Paper! As much as you can get—hurry!"
"What? Yes!"
At my words, Soso dashed off to fetch paper.
I stayed behind, grabbed every scrap still left in the room, and began to write. Not the Romance of the Three Kingdoms I'd been working on—something else entirely.
A book that would capture the heart of my future investor, Jegal Hyeok.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms — Side Story — The Biography of Zhuge Liang.