Chapter 17
- Unjong Street (3)
“A, a, a spy? What do you mean…!”
Ji-young tried to retort loudly but stopped, covering her mouth with both hands.
Spy.
It was a word that would do no good if it fell into the ears of others. Caution was paramount.
“I heard that you were found washed ashore on the banks of Mapo Ferry outside the capital just a few days ago? Other than that, no one has heard or seen anything about you. It’s as if you fell from the sky. But that can’t be true.”
The man in the Navy robe seemed to have done some background checks on Ji-young.
“W, well… it’s a bit complicated to explain… I had a traffic accident on the way from Paris to the airport, and…”
Ji-young tried to explain the whole story but stopped, closing her mouth.
Recalling how she fell into this world, she didn’t have the confidence to explain it understandably.
How could she explain a phenomenon she herself didn’t fully understand to someone else?
While Ji-young was stammering, unable to finish her sentence, the man in the Navy robe continued,
“A person with strange attire and a peculiar way of speaking, who seems to know our language but whose origin is unknown to anyone…”
“……”
“Who caught the eye of Im Soong-jae, the Red Envoy, at the Gyeonggi Provincial Office and entered the palace, and who captivated His Majesty’s heart with bizarre dishes in just a few days.”
“……”
“No matter how I look at it, there are more than one or two suspicious things about you, aren’t there?”
“S, suspicious? I don’t know what’s going on either.”
“…Did Im Soong-jae tell you to say that?”
The man in the Navy robe seemed to see Ji-young as Im Soong-jae’s henchman to the end.
Come to think of it, that wasn’t entirely wrong.
As a result, it was all Im Soong-jae’s plan that Ji-young came to the palace, especially the Royal Kitchen.
And in return, Ji-young was trying to get the book ‘Record of Yearning for the Clouds’ by using Sungjae.
This was a kind of transaction.
As long as this transactional relationship was maintained, she couldn’t say anything even if someone interpreted Ji-young as Sungjae’s henchman.
“You can think whatever you want. I’m just trying to go back to where I was.”
“So Im Soong-jae is behind you after all.”
The man in the Navy robe nodded with an arrogant attitude.
At that moment, Ji-young felt a surge of inexplicable anger and blurted out what she had been wondering about for a while.
“Then what about you? Who is behind you?”
“What?”
“Royal guard are supposed to protect the palace. You wouldn’t be following me to the marketplace to whisper for fun.”
Caught off guard by Ji-young’s direct question, a look of bewilderment flashed across the man in the Navy robe’s face.
Not missing the sign, Ji-young snapped,
“Tell me who you’re a henchman of. Is it one of the old men in the palace? Or that fox-like woman, Jang Nok-su?”
The man in the Navy robe sighed lightly and shook his head.
“Haa… I didn’t know that a woman of strange appearance who flowed in from who knows where would be so rude. It seems you haven’t learned anything properly…”
“W, what did you say?”
“No matter how rude and uneducated you are, you can at least read Vernacular Script, right?”
“Hey, who’s being rude here…”
“If you don’t know it well, you’d better learn it quickly. It’s a script that you can read and write without difficulty in half a day…”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?!”
Before she could finish speaking, the man in the Navy robe grabbed Ji-young’s hand.
“What the h…!”
Just as Ji-young was about to shout, she felt something in her hand.
The man in the Navy robe had secretly handed her a small scroll.
“What you need will be inside, so open it carefully. It’s written in Vernacular Script, so you can read it without difficulty.”
“…Vernacular Script? I heard His Majesty forbade it…”
Surprised by the sudden turn of events, Ji-young muttered to herself, and the man in the Navy robe uttered something even more surprising.
“Surely His Majesty wouldn’t punish the Queen that much? She said that if you want to live, you should remember the contents of that Secret Order.”
‘The Queen!’
Surprised by the unexpected word, Ji-young couldn’t say anything more.
‘If it’s the Queen, it must mean the King’s wife… That person sent me a message? But why…’
Just as Ji-young was organizing the situation in her head, a realistic voice suddenly came from over there.
“I brought you to the market on purpose because you begged to come along, but what are you doing standing there blankly?”
It was the voice of Yoon Nae-gwan, who was checking the goods from a distance.
Regaining her senses and looking around, the man in the Navy robe had disappeared somewhere.
* * *
“One doe of cinnamon, one doe of cloves, three doe of turmeric, one mal of pepper, two mal of sugar…”
As the eunuch read out the items written in the inventory ledger one by one, the workers opened the boxes to confirm that there were no abnormalities in the condition and quantity of the goods.
If spoiled or altered ingredients were to be put on the Royal Cuisine Table, the heads of all the Court Provision Department officials, from the cooks to the Provision officer, would not be safe.
Yoon Nae-gwan carefully examined the cinnamon and cloves, taking a handful of each to smell and check the color.
These spices, produced in places such as Annam and Sumatra, were precious items with only a very small amount being distributed.
In this land of Joseon, they seemed to be regarded as luxurious luxury goods due to their unique flavors.
‘But those are the things that will change the landscape of the global economy…’
In this era without refrigerators, spices did not simply enhance the flavor of food.
Spices prevented the spoilage of food ingredients and extended their shelf life, so they had tremendous value that shook the world economy at the time.
‘Columbus discovered the New World only about ten years ago from now… That was to find a new route to obtain spices such as pepper.’
Ji-young recalled something she had read somewhere in a world history textbook, which was common sense to modern people.
As everyone knows, the history of the world completely changed after the discovery of the Americas.
But in the Joseon marketplace in front of Ji-young’s eyes, it seemed that even distributing this small amount of spices was by no means easy.
This was because the Ming Dynasty’s ‘Haijin Policy,’ which dominated all of East Asia, that is, maritime trade using sea routes, was prohibited in principle.
The fact that the smuggling that was secretly taking place became a business that left huge profits was, paradoxically, due to the Haijin Policy.
‘Maybe that’s why the King likes exotic foreign dishes.’
Ji-young thought of herself when she was young.
On days when she was home alone because her father was always busy, what flowed out of the TV in the empty house were unfamiliar and exotic foreign landscapes.
Perhaps the reason she went to study cooking as far as France was because those memories were unconsciously ingrained in her mind.
Ji-young suddenly thought that Yeonsangun might be similar to her.
‘Maybe he’s a pitiful person… Yeonsangun.’
As soon as she thought this,
Ji-young suddenly flinched as if burned and shook her head.
‘You have to be crazy to some extent. What are you thinking about a psychopath like that…’
The most pitiful person right now is Ji-young herself.
She had unexpectedly crash-landed in the Joseon Dynasty, been dragged into the palace, and was serving that outrageous King, and her life might disappear without anyone knowing.
Moreover, it’s not just the King that she has to be careful of.
Why are there so many people around her who aren’t in their right minds…?
Im Soong-jae, Jang Nok-su, Seong Hui-an, and the suspicious Masked clown just now, and the man in the Navy robe…
Then suddenly, Ji-young remembered the small scroll in her hand.
The Secret Order that the man in the Navy robe had handed over a little while ago.
It was a message said to have been secretly sent by the King’s wife, the Queen.
If they had the Royal guard deliver it outside the palace on purpose, it must be something that others shouldn’t know.
Ji-young looked around and quickly opened her pocket and unfolded the paper inside.
The neat handwriting of old Korean script came into view.
The moment she read and confirmed the contents several times, Ji-young suddenly felt a presence and quickly crumpled the paper and hid it in her clothes.
Soon, the door of the Provision Department opened and Yoon Nae-gwan came out after finishing his business.
“All the goods have been checked. But, even though the price is the same, it seems like the quantity is less this time.”
“Oh, don’t even mention it. Getting this much is like picking stars from the sky. There’s a rumor going around these days that smugglers in Zhejiang Province have colluded with Japanese pirates, so the sea route is very dangerous. I’m the only one who can get this, no one else can.”
“Haha, if it weren’t for you, Chief merchant, the Royal Kitchen would be closed. Please take care of me next time too.”
While appeasing the Chief merchant, who was showing off, Yoon Nae-gwan called his servants to pack the luggage.
There wasn’t much time left to serve the Evening Royal Cuisine.
He had to take the palace people he had brought with him back to the Royal Kitchen as soon as possible.
* * *
“Something terrible has happened.”
As soon as Ji-young and her party returned to the Royal Kitchen, a court lady hurriedly came and said with a tearful face.
“What’s wrong?”
“A command has just come from Gangnyeong Hall through Royal Concubine Suk-yong…”
“And…?”
“His Majesty has no appetite today and doesn’t want Evening Royal Cuisine… Instead, he asked for snacks to soothe his hunger.”
As soon as she heard those words, a loud sigh was heard from the former cook’s side.
“Haa, His Majesty… I’d rather he asked for a feast…”
“Isn’t it easier to serve snacks?”
At Ji-young’s words, the former cook shook his head.
“No. When he asks for snacks instead of Royal Cuisine like this, it means that His Majesty is not in a good mood… You don’t know how difficult it is to suit His Majesty’s taste at times like this. Tell me, what is His Majesty’s mood like right now?”
At the former cook’s question, the court lady cautiously opened her mouth while looking around.
“…He seems very upset. A loud noise was heard inside Sajung Hall a little while ago, and His Majesty left the meeting without saying a word during the Yundae (reporting of government affairs).”
A commotion began to be heard among the Royal Kitchen cooks.
This was because they knew all too well that if they served the Royal Cuisine wrong in this situation, something bad would happen in the Royal Kitchen.
“First, you guys prepare syrup, honey, ginger juice, and cinnamon powder. I’ll prepare Yumilgwa and Gangjeong.”
“Last time, he served Yumilgwa as a snack and kicked the table, saying it was boring…”
The face of the court lady who came to deliver the message was gradually becoming tearful.
Meanwhile, Ji-young, who had been listening to all of this, was deep in thought.
She had started as a patissier in a small restaurant in Paris.
She knew better than anyone that there was nothing better than a sweet dessert to lift a depressed mood.
She already had countless fancy and sweet dessert recipes in her head.
But the problem was that most of the ingredients that were common in modern times were difficult to obtain in this era.
She had no choice but to find similar ingredients and use them.
“Former cook, can you prepare Wheat Flour, sugar, and barley grains?”
“I can get them, but what are you going to use them for? Besides, barley in the Royal Kitchen? That’s what the people eat to avoid hunger during the spring famine…”
“You don’t have to get a lot, just prepare what you have. Please. And could you possibly get some more milk, or Tarrak?”
When Ji-young asked with sparkling eyes, the former cook gave a few orders to the lower cooks without asking further.
“Whether it’s Wheat Flour or sugar, they’re such precious ingredients that we don’t have much, but we’ll bring enough to use right away.”
This is the Joseon Dynasty.
The types of ingredients that can be used are ridiculously limited.
But if she just sits back and does nothing, her head might be cut off.
She had no choice but to use the ingredients she could get to make something somehow.
“But what are you going to do?”
“…I think I can make a dish that can lift His Majesty’s spirits.”
Beyond the former cook’s bewildered expression, Ji-young’s eyes sparkled.
