Chapter 56
- The Royal Excursion
A few days prior, in front of the Sigumun Gate.
Inside a small space surrounded by screens, an autopsy was in full swing.
"Are you certain this is the child?"
Shin Su-hyeok, the Royal guard captain, lifted the cloth covering the corpse's face.
Jang-geum, a Royal Kitchen maid, grimaced at the sight and quietly nodded.
It was the face of the child who had been in and out of the Royal Kitchen, fetching water and running errands, until only recently.
It was undoubtedly the face of the last Water maidens they hadn't been able to identify.
"Hmm..."
Among the medical examiners inspecting the body, one physician spoke up.
"It appears to be a clear case of asphyxiation."
Ha Jong-hae of the Royal Clinic.
True to his reputation as the most fastidious physician in the Royal Clinic, he lightly swirled the pooled blood in a silver bowl, dabbed it with his finger, and rubbed it.
"The blood drawn has a bluish tinge and isn't coagulating, classic signs of asphyxiation."
"Are you saying she was strangled?"
"But that's the odd thing. There are no signs of strangulation."
Ha Jong-hae untied the cloth around the corpse's neck.
"Usually, a strangled corpse shows signs of being choked. So, if you soak a cloth in rice wine dregs and wrap it around the neck, the compressed area will turn red... Look."
There were no marks on the corpse's neck.
Ha Jong-hae pulled out the silver rod that had been inserted deep into the corpse's mouth and examined it closely.
"There's no discoloration, so it doesn't seem like poisoning..."
"So, you're saying a perfectly healthy person suddenly died of asphyxiation?"
"If she had a pre-existing condition, it's possible."
Hearing that, Jang-geum interjected with an incredulous and bold tone.
"A fifteen-year-old girl disappears on the very day a Wheat Flour sack is torn, and you're saying she suddenly died of asphyxiation due to a pre-existing condition?"
It was quite audacious for an apprentice maid.
But Ha Jong-hae seemed to understand Jang-geum's sensitive reaction, considering the Water maidens she knew, a girl in the prime of her life, had become an unreturning guest.
"I agree it's strange. But I can't do anything beyond this. I can't mix personal speculation into an examination."
Hearing that, Shin Su-hyeok, having no further grounds for questioning, had no choice but to remain silent.
"Then we'll conclude this as asphyxiation of unknown cause and submit the report."
Ha Jong-hae said matter-of-factly, gathering his medical examination tools and rising to his feet.
Just then, something flashed through Jang-geum's mind.
"Royal Physician, may I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
Words she had heard from her maternal grandfather, a renowned scholar-physician, since she was young, swirled in Jang-geum's head.
Since things had come to this, she felt she should ask about anything even slightly suspicious, so she wouldn't have any regrets later.
"I've heard that if you improperly apply acupuncture to a meridian point, it can block the breath, is that true?"
"You, how do you know that...!"
Ha Jong-hae's face paled instantly.
But he quickly changed his expression, looked around, and whispered something rapidly.
Then, with a nonchalant face, he cleared his throat and hurriedly left the scene.
"What you just heard must not be spoken of outside this place for the time being. Do you understand?"
At Su-hyeok's stern voice, Jang-geum nodded, her face pale.
"Ah, truly a magnificent sight, no matter how many times I see it. It inspires poetry."
Beyond the Imjin River, a massive cliff stretched out, seemingly carved at a right angle.
The so-called 'Jangdan Stone Wall' was majestic and beautiful.
It was said to be Yeonsangun's favorite place.
He had deliberately come on a Royal Excursion here to enjoy the magnificent scenery.
'Well, even in modern times, this scenery attracts many people for camping and whatnot...'
A famous spot better known as 'Imjingang Basalt Colonnade' in modern times.
Yeonsangun gazed at the scenery with a faintly sentimental expression.
Ji-young suddenly recalled a memory from a few days ago.
Yeonsangun, in his Gangnyeongjeon bedchamber, had told her to make a wish.
Ji-young had simply asked him to find a book for her...
Perhaps it was such an unexpected answer, but Yeonsangun couldn't hide his bewildered expression for a while.
After a moment of silence, Yeonsangun gave an irrelevant answer after a long time.
'...I understand, let's go out for some fresh air somewhere nearby.'
The place they ended up was here.
They had come on an outing to the Jangdan Stone Wall.
Officially, it was a celebration for successfully (?) hosting the Ming Dynasty envoys, a kind of after-party.
That's why everyone who had contributed to the envoy's visit was gathered here.
She didn't know why Ji-young had to suffer by cooking even here.
"Haa..."
Ji-young sighed lightly, watching the Royal Kitchen staff busily moving around in the temporary kitchen, the cookhouse.
Then, she heard a familiar voice from beside her.
"Hiyah~ Just smelling it makes my mouth water already. Food always tastes best when eaten outside."
It was the Masked clown Gong-gil, wearing a Drunken clown mask on his head, peeking into the cookhouse tent.
Shin Su-hyeok, the Royal guard captain, who was watching the scene from the side, sternly rebuked him.
"Hey! Get away from here. Aren't you preparing the Royal Cuisine for His Majesty?"
"Whoa? Who said anything? I was just seeing what you were preparing."
"Don't you know that no one except the Royal Kitchen staff can approach the ingredients?"
"Ah, you're so petty, really. Now, even if I fart, you'll say I pooped? I just looked from a distance."
Su-hyeok, who was always strict and cold, and Gong-gil, who was always relaxed.
The two were temperamentally incompatible.
They bickered whenever they were in the same space.
Of course, it didn't make sense for a mere clown to argue with the Royal guard captain, a second-rank military officer.
But in Yeonsangun's reign, what wasn't absurd?
The King favored Gong-gil's free-spirited attitude so much that no one dared to question it.
"Anyway, that guy has no humor, no humor at all."
The Masked clown Gong-gil grumbled in a voice that could barely be heard as he stepped back.
But what really bothered Su-hyeok wasn't Gong-gil's rude attitude.
'Unbelievably outstanding skills for a mere Masked clown. There's definitely something about him.'
Hadn't he seen it with his own eyes while going on secret missions together?
He was a swordsman far superior to most Royal guard officers.
That was why Su-hyeok was particularly stiff with Gong-gil.
He couldn't let his guard down for a moment with someone whose true identity was unknown.
And.
There was another person who had been frowning and watching the two of them from earlier.
None other than Royal Secretary Im Soong-jae.
'Tsk, tsk...'
Sungjae clicked his tongue lightly and shook his head.
He didn't like either Su-hyeok or Gong-gil.
First of all, the fact that Royal guard captain Shin Su-hyeok was the Queen's older brother was uncomfortable in itself.
From the Queen's perspective, Im Soong-jae was nothing more than a treacherous villain.
A sycophant who stuck close to the King and flattered him.
He had been more diligent than anyone else in his role as a Red Envoy, capturing and presenting beautiful women, and he was also the one who brought the infamous villainess, Royal Concubine Jang Nok-su, into the palace.
So, there was no way that Shin Su-hyeok, the Queen's brother, would look favorably upon him.
'He's always scheming to find my weaknesses and kick me out... I must never let my guard down.'
And the Masked clown Gong-gil.
There was no need to say more about him.
He was a damn rascal who came into the palace and acted like a wild horse.
He danced with His Majesty every day in the Office of Music, wearing masks.
From Sungjae's point of view, it was something he could never understand, or rather, didn't want to understand.
He had heard rumors that he was a master of mask dance, and His Majesty had called him directly, but who had he heard those rumors from?
'There must be someone behind him...'
Sungjae narrowed his eyes and raised suspicious eyes whenever he saw Gong-gil.
Just as he had brought Ji-young, Sungjae was convinced that Gong-gil had been deliberately infiltrated by someone.
So, to summarize all of this.
Currently, the three men who were serving Yeonsangun most closely, Royal guard captain Shin Su-hyeok, Royal Secretary Im Soong-jae, and the Masked clown Gong-gil, were either wary of or suspicious of each other.
Ji-young, who could see the relationship between these three at a glance, was simply tired.
'What are these able-bodied men doing, bickering with each other?'
But even so, what made Ji-young the most tired was something else.
A man who reigned over all these absurd things.
The absolute tyrant who would shine in Korean history. The king of double standards.
A walking natural disaster.
Yeonsangun.
'...When I think about it, that man is the root cause of all this suffering.'
Yeonsangun's handsome profile, as he looked at the Jangdan Stone Wall in the distance, was simply hateful.
Compared to him, Chef Jeon and Jang-geum, who worked together in the Royal Kitchen, were just light...!
"Huh? What is it, Royal Cuisine Master? Why are you suddenly looking at me with such affectionate eyes..."
"Ah, no. I'm just getting emotional?"
Just then.
She heard the voice of another man who suddenly approached Ji-young and spoke to her.
"Hey, is the preparation going well?"
"...You!"
The official robes that were awkwardly draped over his dark skin looked particularly out of place.
As if he knew that fact, he awkwardly put his hand on the back of his head.
"...The world is a strange place. Don't you think so? I'm serving in the court like this and even following the King's Royal Excursion."
It was Jang Chun-saeng, the grandson of Jang Yeong-sil, the Blacksmith of Anseong.
His Majesty had issued a strict order to bring him to the palace, even if it meant kidnapping him.
But there was no need to go to such trouble, as he had walked into the court on his own two feet.
"It seems that hiding away wasn't the only answer, as you said."
It seemed that Ji-young's words had played a significant role in his decision to work as a craftsman in the Military Provisions Department since recently.
Moreover, his expression was quite bright, as if the work suited him.
"It's kind of fun making the strange tools you tell me about."
"...Is that so?"
Ji-young tried to smile, but a sense of guilt crept into her heart.
After all, he had ended up working under Yeonsangun.
It was obvious that he would be worked like a slave under that psycho King.
'Should I offer my condolences in advance?'
Still, this man was in the same category as Chef Jeon and Jang-geum.
Although he was stubborn, taciturn, and unfriendly, he was a trustworthy man who didn't harbor ulterior motives or was blinded by power.
"By the way, would you like to try using the special brazier I made this time?"
Now that she saw it, it seemed that he had come to the cookhouse himself because of that.
Chun-saeng placed the item he had brought in front of Ji-young.
A device with intricately connected iron chains and pulleys caught Ji-young's eye.
"I've named it the 'Hot Air Oven.' The steam moves this pulley, and hot air is intermittently blown out of this bellows."
A cooking tool that circulates heated air to cook ingredients.
A Joseon Dynasty version of what was called an 'air fryer' in the 21st century was in front of her.
Moreover, the skewer connected to the pulley automatically rotated 360 degrees, so it even had a 'Rotisserie' function.
'I only told him the concept roughly, but he actually made a real thing like this.'
Indeed, he was a craftsman worthy of being called the best in Joseon. But what was even more chilling was.
'Since the pulley is turned by the power of steam, this is simple, but... it's a steam engine?'
It wasn't an absurd thing. In fact, Papin's digester was known as the precursor to the steam engine.
Chun-saeng's invention also seemed to be evolving from a digester to a steam engine.
Ji-young's head was already spinning at how absurdly history would change if this continued.
But this wasn't the time to be lost in thought. It was time to finish preparing the midday meal quickly.
"Then I'll use this Hot Air Oven to prepare the food today."
When she saw the Hot Air Oven, the first dish that came to her mind was.
First, she emptied the insides of a whole chicken, just like when making Samgyetang, and filled the belly with jujubes, milk vetch root, glutinous rice, and ginseng.
'He said he would go hunting in the afternoon, so he said he must eat ginseng...'
Ji-young evenly applied Soy milk butter, or butter, brought from the Butcher Village, to the surface of the chicken.
The chicken that was made that way was inserted into the skewer inside the air fryer, or rather, the 'Hot Air Oven.'
"Hoo, indeed. This way, the skewer will rotate automatically, and the chicken will cook evenly."
Chef Jeon widened his eyes and looked at it with wonder.
"The oil is drained, and the inside is moist, and the outside is crispy, so it's said to be one of the best cooking methods."
Soon after, as the brazier heated up, the bellows moved, and the skewer rotated, and the skewered chicken dish gradually began to cook golden brown.
This was thanks to the Maillard reaction occurring more actively at that high temperature as the butter applied to the surface melted.
Gradually, a savory and appetizing smell spread around.
And.
How he smelled that smell like a ghost again, Yeonsangun, with his crazy eyes rolling, drove his horse madly and ran.
"What is this smell!"
Yeonsangun, who jumped off his horse in a hurry, was already licking his tongue and smacking his lips.
"Oh! What is this? Is it a chicken dish?"
"Yes, it is."
"Hoo. How strange. There was a way to bake it like this."
"It's thanks to the special brazier made by Jang Chun-saeng of the Military Provisions Department."
Yeonsangun seemed to be satisfied with the sight of the whole chicken skewered and rotating 360 degrees, cooking golden brown.
"Thanks to you, I will save face in front of a precious guest."
"...Yes? Guest, you say?"
Ji-young's head tilted in confusion as she looked at Yeonsangun's face with a satisfied smile.
Who else was coming to this place?
"He's coming over there. This way! Come quickly!"
A bright smile spread across Yeonsangun's face as he waved his hand.
Who on earth was it that Yeonsangun was so happy to see?
As Ji-young turned her head with a light question, a man wearing Military Uniform as splendid as the King's was getting off his horse and approaching.
To be exact, it was a face that hadn't completely shed the boyishness yet.
He was probably in his mid to late teens.
He wasn't as handsome as Yeonsangun, but he was a gentle and handsome man with a soft and beautiful impression.
But there was a dark aura on his face.
"...Your Majesty. Have you been well?"
"Hey, didn't I tell you not to be so formal with each other?"
Yeonsangun hugged the boy, who was about to kneel and pay his respects as a subject, without hesitation.
"It's been a long time. I'm glad you came. My brother."
Wait a minute, what?
Ji-young's eyes widened as she watched the scene from the side.
If he was Yeonsangun's brother...
Could it be, Grand Prince Jinseong?
So, the pale-faced boy who was being hugged by Yeonsangun was the man who would later depose Yeonsangun and ascend the throne, recorded as 'King Jungjong'?
