Chapter 24
- The Butcher Woman (1)
"Moo-"
A brindle ox tied to a tether blinked its large eyes and let out a long bellow.
At that very moment,
A sharp iron hammer flew accurately towards the space between the ox's eyebrows.
- Thud
Though it hadn't completely shed its calfhood, its massive frame collapsed without a scream, as easily as if it were nothing.
Soon after, a small, sharp blade neatly severed the bulging artery beneath its neck, and warm blood gushed out like a burst dam.
While the blood filled the wooden tub placed beneath, the sound of a dark, cast-iron knife being sharpened against a whetstone could be heard.
As soon as the sound ceased, the large blade slid smoothly, slicing open the ox's belly.
The entrails spilled onto the straw mat laid on the ground, and a hot steam rose with a fishy smell.
"Ugh... Disgusting."
Jang-geum, who had been watching the scene with her face covered by her Jang-ot, frowned and turned her head away.
Being young, she was not yet accustomed to such sights.
Ji-young, who was watching beside her, was not unaffected, but it was a spectacle she couldn't take her eyes off from beginning to end.
The raw energy of the butchering.
It was completely different from the neatly managed meat processing facilities where she sometimes saw meat being broken down when she worked as a chef in modern times.
"But why did that person follow us here?"
Jang-geum, the Royal Kitchen trainee who always trailed after Ji-young, gestured with her eyes towards the man standing blankly beside them.
Standing there was a man with a Tal mask on his head, Gong-gil.
When Gong-gil's eyes met Jang-geum's, he grinned nonchalantly, causing Jang-geum's face to turn red as she quickly turned her head away.
Gong-gil replied in a nonchalant voice.
"Our Royal Cuisine Master said she wanted to see the cattle market, so I came along. This place is where all sorts of riffraff gather. A riffraff like me should accompany you, because it wouldn't be right for just the Hanga (a respectful term for court ladies) to come alone."
Even after hearing those words, Jang-geum's brow remained furrowed.
Perhaps because of her memory of being harassed by the Masked clown at the market the other day, she seemed very uncomfortable with Gong-gil.
Ji-young wasn't particularly fond of Gong-gil either, but in this situation, she had no choice but to soothe Jang-geum.
"That person, even if he's a bit strange, doesn't seem like a bad person. Besides, we came outside the palace without Yoon Nae-gwan knowing, so it's reassuring to have him here."
"...I feel even more uneasy with him here."
At that moment, another cheer erupted from the crowd gathered there.
A blue blade danced over the carcass of the ox, from which all the entrails and blood had been removed.
It seemed that the full-scale dismantling work was about to begin.
In an instant, the blade flashed by, and in the blink of an eye, the ox's hide was peeled off, the muscles were separated, and the bones were removed.
All that was needed for this entire process was a single sharp knife,
And the one person wielding that knife.
The way the blade slipped effortlessly between the ox's muscles, without much force, was something that only someone who had been engaged in butchering all their life could do.
Butcher.
Those who made butchering their profession, called one of the eight lowest classes of Joseon society.
Before this butcher, the single ox had been transformed into materials with different uses, such as meat, bones, entrails, and hide.
Not a single unnecessary scrap of flesh was wasted in the process.
Such skillful knife work.
However, what captivated the viewers was not only the butcher's amazing skill.
Arms that were somewhat slender but with firm, toned muscles, clearly visible beyond the sleeveless top.
A slender waist without any excess fat, delicate shoulders, and a dark nape of the neck peeking out from under the roughly tied-up hair.
The butcher was a woman.
'Wow...'
Ji-young couldn't help but express her surprise at the sight.
Even in modern times, female butchers were rare, so how much more of a spectacle would it have been back then?
"That woman's skills are quite impressive."
Gong-gil, who was watching beside her, shrugged as if he was also surprised.
The people gathered at the cattle market seemed to be itching to say something about the rare sight.
"That butcher woman's knife skills are something else."
"Her hands are deft, just amazing."
"I wonder who that woman's husband is. It must be wild at night. Hehehe."
The words that the onlookers casually threw out were occasionally mixed with crude jokes.
Perhaps they thought lightly of her because she was a lowly butcher.
But the butcher woman didn't care and boldly called out to the people.
"Come on, this isn't something you see every day. This is a fantastic piece of tender meat. Those who want to buy meat, come this way, and those who want to buy leather, go to the cobbler over there."
Perhaps intrigued by the unusual sight of a female butcher, more and more spectators began to gather.
Seeing this, Ji-young grabbed Jang-geum's arm and pulled her along.
"Let's hurry and go before it gets too late."
It seemed like they had to get in line quickly if they wanted to buy a good cut.
The female butcher was already busy cutting meat and weighing it, moving her body without a moment's rest, as orders poured in.
Behind her, a good number of people had also gathered in front of an old male butcher selling leather.
Judging by their similar appearances, they seemed to be a butcher family working together.
At that moment.
Another kind of commotion began to be heard from the opposite side of the cattle market.
The sound of arguing and scuffling, followed by rough and irregular footsteps.
A group of men was rushing in, kicking up dust.
"Oh dear... It looks like things are going to get complicated again. Quickly, move aside."
As if he had already guessed what was about to happen, Gong-gil quickly pulled Ji-young and Jang-geum to the side of the road.
The people gathered at the cattle market also sensed that the atmosphere was unusual and scattered like frightened rabbits.
"W-what's going on?"
Before Gong-gil could answer Ji-young's question, who had not yet grasped the situation, one of the men who had suddenly appeared approached the butcher woman and abruptly struck the table with a club.
- Bang
The table shattered, and the scales, cutting board, and chunks of meat on it all tumbled onto the dirt floor.
It seemed that starting with intimidation was their way of speaking.
"Who gave you butcher bastards permission to make such a mess here? Huh?"
"What do you think you're doing?"
"What do you think you're doing, not knowing how scary the world is?"
The man made a menacing face at the butcher woman and casually slung the club over his shoulder.
The men gathered around him also wore similar expressions, fiddling with the clubs in their hands.
"W-what is that? Gangsters? Ruffians?"
When Ji-young asked in a whisper, Gong-gil shook his head without taking his eyes off the scene.
"They're the people from Banchon who run the Hyeonbang."
"Hyeonbang...? Banchon...?"
When Ji-young tilted her head, unfamiliar with the terms, Gong-gil explained simply.
"Banchon is a village under Sungkyunkwan, and the government slaves who work at Sungkyunkwan run meat shops called Hyeonbang there. You could say they're government-licensed meat shops."
"But why are the people who work at that Hyeonbang doing this?"
"They're the only ones officially allowed to sell meat within the capital. Besides, the Banchon people, the Hyeonbang Half-men, are government slaves of Sungkyunkwan, so they have powerful backing."
In other words, they had connections with high-ranking officials from Sungkyunkwan.
As if to prove Gong-gil's words, the Hyeonbang Half-men put on airs as if they were officials on patrol and threatened the butcher woman.
"Don't you know that the country forbids unauthorized private butchering like this?"
"Is it authorized by the country to come and act like thugs while others are doing business?"
"You should be begging for forgiveness, but instead, you're talking back...!"
"Enough, let's see the list of registered merchants at the Office of market supervision. Let's see if your Hyeonbang is registered with the Office of market supervision or not."
Gong-gil couldn't help but chuckle at the butcher woman's words.
It was true that the Hyeonbang had a monopoly on meat sales within the capital.
But that was just a custom that arose in exchange for the Hyeonbang providing meat for the ancestral rites held at Sungkyunkwan.
The butcher woman knew that it wasn't a codified right like the Six Licensed Stores.
"What nonsense are you spouting...? Do you even know how to read if we show you something?"
"Our father, who's standing behind me, may be a butcher, but he can read. But can you even read a single line while doing this? Even a dog at a village school can recite poetry after three years, but what are you doing with clubs in your hands, you people who work in Banchon under Sungkyunkwan?"
"This butcher woman is fearlessly... You're really in trouble today."
The man, as if stung to the quick, spat dry saliva into his palm and raised the club threateningly.
"Let's see if you can still talk after getting a good beating."
A murmur began to spread among the spectators.
Even if she was a butcher, her bones might break or she might faint if she was hit by such a club as a woman.
"S-shouldn't we do something? It looks like something bad is going to happen..."
"Well..."
Despite Ji-young's worried words, Gong-gil simply watched the scene unfolding before him with his arms crossed, as if he found it interesting.
"Are you going to hit someone with that club? Can you really hit me?"
"You're pushing me to the edge... Fine, consider today your death anniversary."
The Hyeonbang Half-men, enraged by the butcher woman's words, couldn't control his anger and swung the club with all his might.
- Whoosh
The sound of the club cutting through the air echoed.
And,
Almost simultaneously, the sound of something being neatly cut off was heard.
The next moment, what the spectators saw was a club that had been cleanly cut in half.
And the butcher woman was holding the dark, cast-iron knife that she had been using to butcher the ox just a moment ago under the Hyeonbang Half-men's chin.
"Today is... Whose death anniversary did you say it was?"
The King's office in Gyeongbok Palace, Sajungjeon.
"Everyone is dismissed for today."
Among the officials hurrying out of the throne hall, one person caught the eye as he hesitated.
Royal Secretary Im Soong-jae.
"Royal Secretary, do you have something to say?"
"...I am afraid to ask, but I have something urgent to tell you, Your Majesty."
"Stay behind for a moment."
The empty throne hall, from which all the civil and military officials had departed.
Before long, only the King and Sungjae remained there.
"What is it?"
"It's about the matter of Scholar Lee of the Office of Special Advisers..."
"Lee Jang-gon, you mean? I was wondering why he hasn't brought me what I ordered him to bring. I was curious."
"That, that is... I am afraid to report it..."
Sungjae's complexion gradually turned pale, and cold sweat broke out.
He hesitated for a long time, unable to bring himself to say the words, before finally spitting them out.
"...Scholar Lee of the Office of Special Advisers... has disappeared."
