Chapter 38
38 Blood-Soaked Shirt
"……Are you sure you won't regret this?"
"This is the path I've chosen. This village, and this woman."
Lee Jang-gon offered a faint smile from beside Bong-dan.
Before leaving Butcher Village, it was Shin Su-hyeok who couldn't hide his regret as they exchanged farewells.
Though their swords had clashed briefly due to a misunderstanding, this was another moment of parting with a close friend with whom he could share his innermost thoughts.
Moreover, Lee Jang-gon was a rare talent in the court, skilled in both literary and martial arts.
If he were to use his abilities for the country, how great would his contribution be?
But his mind seemed to be firmly made up.
"I will do what I must here, and you do what you must in the court."
"……Scholar Lee."
"Please, protect His Majesty……"
Su-hyeok said nothing more and simply nodded slowly.
It was the last consideration he could offer his old friend.
Lee Jang-gon turned his head and expressed his gratitude to Ji-young, who was standing beside him.
"Thanks to you, the lives of everyone in Butcher Village were saved."
"Ah, no. What are you saying…… His Majesty saved them."
As Ji-young waved her hands dismissively, Bong-dan, who was next to her, suddenly interjected.
"……Spare the unnecessary modesty. We all know you saved the entire village. Thank you kindly."
Expressing her feelings directly like this, instead of using flowery rhetoric, seemed to be Bong-dan's way.
"It's our principle as butchers to repay any debt we owe. But we have nothing to give you right now……"
Bong-dan abruptly extended her clenched fist towards Ji-young and opened it.
Inside was a small wooden tag engraved with the white character "white."
"……Take this token. As long as you have this, you can receive help from butchers anywhere in Joseon."
"A butcher's…… token……?"
Ji-young looked at the wooden tag as if seeing it for the first time, examining it from side to side.
It was just a piece of wood, nothing special.
"Keep it safe. It might come in handy more than you think."
Gong-gil, who had been quietly watching from the side, spoke in a low voice.
"……The lowly must stick together to survive. That's why they have such strong bonds among themselves. Just like our Clown troupe, so are those butchers."
The more the lower classes are deprived of the protection of public authority, the more they create groups to protect themselves.
The Mafia and Yakuza all originated from the lower classes' associations to protect themselves.
It would not be surprising if there was a butchers' association.
'Maybe they can help me find clues about that book, Record of Yearning for the Clouds.'
If she could find that book, the path back to the modern world might open up, so it was welcome to have even one more helping hand.
But there was one more thing Ji-young wanted to confirm.
A disturbing suspicion she had harbored since leaving the palace a few days ago.
It seemed she had to address it.
"Excuse me…… Scholar Lee, may I ask you something?"
"Of course…… What is it?"
"Just, this way……"
Ji-young grabbed Lee Jang-gon's sleeve and led him to a secluded spot behind the hut.
Even as they moved the short distance, she repeatedly checked to see if anyone was eavesdropping.
"What is it that you're being so secretive about?"
Standing before Lee Jang-gon, who looked utterly bewildered, Ji-young paused for a moment.
"It's important, so you must answer honestly."
"……I understand."
Just as a hint of suspicion began to appear on Lee Jang-gon's face, Ji-young threw a direct question.
"What's inside the Sealed Box that His Majesty is looking for?"
"……!"
"Scholar Lee, you've opened it, haven't you?"
As if struck in a vital spot, Lee Jang-gon's face turned ashen, and he stammered.
"Th, th, that is……"
That reaction alone turned Ji-young's suspicion into certainty.
"Don't worry. I already know what's inside……"
"……You, you know what's inside the Sealed Box?"
At Jang-gon's wide-eyed question, Ji-young quietly nodded.
"H, h, how could you know that……"
It was something Lee Jang-gon could never have imagined.
That a strange outsider woman knew what was inside the Sealed Box, which contained the court's secrets.
But Ji-young couldn't give an honest answer as to how she knew.
'This is a story that anyone in the modern world would have heard at least once, even if they weren't a historian.'
It was a repertoire that had been adapted and repeated countless times in novels, dramas, and movies.
What was inside that Sealed Box.
It was definitely.
'……A blood-soaked shirt.'
It was undoubtedly a piece of the shirt stained with the blood shed when Yeonsangun's biological mother, Deposed Queen Yun, was given a death sentence.
Yeonsangun, whom modern people commonly think of as a 'tyrant.'
Strictly speaking, that image is of him after seeing the blood-soaked shirt and learning of his mother, Deposed Queen Yun's death.
'Of course, it's not like Yeonsangun was a great king before that……'
Even before that, he had indulged in extravagance and pleasure, arbitrarily disregarded the palace's laws, and carried out the 'Literati Purge of 1498,' ruthlessly purging the Sarim faction, behaving like a reckless fool.
The Yeonsangun that Ji-young was seeing was from this period.
She had been sick of seeing his waywardness.
'……But the image that will unfold from now on is on a different level from what has been seen so far.'
After seeing the 'blood-soaked shirt,' Yeonsangun's mind completely broke down, and he even lost his humanity.
From then on, he ran wild like a bloodthirsty demon.
'……Father said that the story of the blood-soaked shirt was just a wild tale. That there wasn't a single record of it in the Veritable Records……'
But the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty was just a political document selected by someone in the court.
Perhaps,
The reason the story of Deposed Queen Yun's blood-soaked shirt wasn't passed down in the Veritable Records wasn't because it wasn't true.
"……Did Scholar Lee discard the draft of the history?"
"!!!"
Lee Jang-gon's face turned as white as paper once more.
Ji-young had thought it was strange from the beginning.
The highest quality oiled paper used only in the court, which the butcher woman Bong-dan used to wrap meat.
And the source of that paper was Lee Jang-gon, a scholar in the Office of Special Advisors.
What was strange was, no matter that he was a scholar in the Office of Special Advisors who managed documents, why did he have a pile of blank paper when he was urgently leaving the palace?
Perhaps they weren't blank from the beginning.
Perhaps Lee Jang-gon took out a specific pile of historical drafts when he left the palace.
Perhaps,
'……He washed the drafts he took out in flowing water, erasing the ink.'
Erasing the drafts.
The act of washing away the ink by soaking the drafts, which would become the Veritable Records, in flowing water.
For a scholar in the Office of Special Advisors, whose main job was managing documents, taking out a few drafts wouldn't be too difficult.
Ji-young slowly began to reconstruct the events of that day in her mind.
'Lee Jang-gon probably found the 'blood-soaked shirt' and the drafts related to the Deposed Queen's death in the Sealed Box. Shocked, he took them out of the palace, and immediately washed all the drafts.'
Ji-young couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.
Because of Lee Jang-gon, who was standing before her with a pale face and a troubled expression.
"Don't worry. I won't breathe a word of this to anyone."
"……If His Majesty finds out about this, an unimaginable bloodbath will ensue. Something more terrible and frightening than what happened in the year of Muo will occur."
"I know that very well."
The 'Literati Purge of 1504' that occurred in the original history.
There was no way Ji-young, a modern person, wouldn't know. What happened to Yeonsangun after the Literati Purge of 1504.
Lee Jang-gon continued to speak in a trembling voice.
"……That's why I erased the drafts. But I couldn't arbitrarily discard 'that' inside the Sealed Box, so I tried to take it out of the palace. Because there are those in the palace who are trying to manipulate His Majesty using it."
"Who is it?"
Lee Jang-gon slowly shook his head with a somber expression.
"I don't know for sure yet. But I'm sure they were the ones who ambushed me and stole the Sealed Box. The fate of this country will change depending on whose hands that object falls into."
Ji-young felt like she finally understood.
That the time she had fallen into was a major turning point in Yeonsangun's life, and in Korean history.
The Sealed Box, or rather, the 'blood-soaked shirt' inside it.
The moment Yeonsangun saw it, he would become the true 'worst tyrant in history,' just as in the original history.
"Please, His Majesty…… I beg you, His Majesty."
Lee Jang-gon's voice began to resonate with a completely different meaning than before.
Ji-young suddenly had a premonition that she might be at a crossroads.
When that moment came, she would have to decide.
Whether to let Yeonsangun go mad as in the original history.
Or to defy history and prevent Yeonsangun's rampage.
And that choice,
Might change history and the future.
Ji-young felt a slight chill.
* * *
Geunjeongjeon Hall in Gyeongbok Palace.
Looking up at the still-empty throne, the ministers gathered for the long-awaited morning audience were busy whispering to each other.
"They say His Majesty has just entered the palace."
"I heard he went on a secret excursion in disguise……"
"Not only that, but he completely turned the Chuncheon Prefecture upside down without saying a word to the Gangwon Governor."
"Moreover, I heard he established a government office in a Butcher Village and imposed tributes without any discussion."
"They even say he gave a title to a lowly butcher, tsk tsk."
The only one standing upright and silent in that already bustling place was Seong Hui-an, the Vice Minister of Personnel.
He always had an expression that was difficult to guess, but on this day, even he, who was like a stone statue, couldn't hide the slight twitching of his eyebrows.
Soon, Eunuch Jang's clear voice echoed through the main hall.
"His Majesty arrives~"
Before long, a man in a Dragon Robe strode confidently towards the throne.
It was Yeonsangun, who had revealed himself after a long absence.
"Have you all been well while I was away?"
"Your benevolence is boundless."
The high and low officials bowed in unison.
And before the greetings could even finish, a sharp voice shot out like a thorn.
"Yooour Majesty!!!"
There was only one person who could raise their voice so loudly in the court.
Seong Hui-an, the Vice Minister of Personnel.
He was glaring fiercely, as if he would jump onto the throne at any moment.
"V, Vice Minister of Personnel. What is it? Why are you shouting so loudly as soon as I enter the palace…… It's frightening……"
"Has Your Majesty truly forgotten the duty of the King of this nation?"
"What are you suddenly talking about……?"
Yeonsangun couldn't help but be flustered by the sudden, fierce rebuke.
But Seong Hui-an, the Vice Minister of Personnel, continued to speak without paying any attention.
"While Your Majesty was away from the throne, a grave matter has occurred that shakes the dignity of this nation."
"What? The dignity has fallen? A grave matter?"
He didn't like being scolded as soon as he returned from his excursion and entered the palace, but he couldn't ignore the Vice Minister of Personnel's words about a grave matter.
"What on earth happened?"
At Yeonsangun's question, Seong Hui-an, the Vice Minister of Personnel, opened his mouth, emitting a fierce gaze.
"……An envoy has come from the great nation, the Ming Dynasty."
