Reincarnation - Chapter 6

Translator: Sin | Editor: Nebosuke

“Why did you come out so early?”

“The person who submitted the answer sheet is allowed to leave.”

“You’ve already completed it and handed it in?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Isn’t that too fast?”

“Will sitting for a long time make a difference?”

“That’s true. Give me the book wrapper.”

Jang-sam did not ask any more questions as if he understood.

“Did you find Yang Kun-byuk?”

“It took some time, but I found him.”

“Did you do as you were told?”

“I did.”

“What did he say?”

“I’ve never heard such a strange and creative curse before in my life. He started by saying, ‘I knew it,’ and summoned all kinds of animals and ran to the ground.”

“Good work.”

“Are we okay with this?”

“What?”

“That’s all a lie.”

“Does anyone live without lying?”

“A word can change a person’s life. If you and I destroyed a healthy family…….”

“Huh-huh. Don’t worry. You’ve saved 30 lives in the last 30 years. The Buddha said it’s better to save one person than to build a temple. You’ll be a saint.”

“What are you talking about?”

Jang-sam shook his head. Then he asked again as if he remembered something.

“By the way, did you really do well on the exam? According to the guards, there were many Confucian scholars this year, so they divided the exam into seven sections.”

“What’s the point of looking closely? I have to write well.”

I didn’t steal the answers from the top winner. Instead, I made my own logic based on the topic I knew beforehand.

Of course, the answers I thought of in my previous life were refined and refined overnight.

I don’t even want to win the first prize. Just knowing the topic in advance already breached fairness, but I still wanted to be judged by my usual thoughts and sentences.

“What are you doing without going?”

“Wait a minute.”

“Why?”

“You’ll know when you see.”

How long have we been waiting?

The students who finished the test began to come out one by one. Among them, there was a small, thin-bodied Confucian scholar with a white face.

There was a bean-sized spot on the left side of his nose, and he would just be a handsome Confucian scholar if he didn’t have the spot. 

I quickly blocked his way.

“How was your test?”

“Who is this?”

“You don’t even recognize the face of your benefactor.”

“Ah!”

He, who recognized me belatedly, quickly pulled out a bamboo brush from his wrapper and handed it to me politely.

“Thank you very much for earlier.”

“Never mind.”

“I’ll see you then.”

“Busy?”

“What’s up, sir?”

“It seems like you’re a Confucian scholar from Yangju, so let’s go to a nearby restaurant and have a bowl of warm meat noodles before we separate. I’m from Hangzhou, so I know every good place.”

“How do you know I’m from Yangju?”

The face of the bean-spot hardened slightly. Like someone caught something important.

“Your tone shows that.”

“Southern Jikye’s tone is mostly similar, but is there any particular reason why you think I’m from Yangju? Maybe we’ve seen each other before or…….”

“The do-rag you’re wearing on your head. I think it is dyed with Gampo-cho, a specialty of Yangju, no?”

“How do you know that?”

How do I know? I delivered a lot in my previous life when I was a porter.

Gampo-cho is a grass that grows a lot along the river in Yangju, and when dying a cloth after picking a bunch of red flowers, it strangely turns orange. So, its name is Gampo-cho.

Even if it is the same orange color, the cloth-dyed with Gampo-cho is deep in color and glossy, so it is traded at a very high price.

However, Gampo-cho had a unique character. When men or women with no experience of sex wear hat dyed with Gampo-cho, one in every 100 people experience a toxic reaction.

It’s not much, but it makes it a little itchy with red spots on both ears. So was that Confucian scholar in front of me. As he talked, he scratched his earlobes with his fingers from time to time.

Hmm. I can’t believe he still hasn’t sex experience at his age.

“You have a keen eye.”

“There is one restaurant I’ve found with my sharp eyes. It’s a cow’s hind leg that’s been boiled all night, and it’s really good.….”

“I’m sorry, but I have an appointment. Let’s eat together if we meet again next time. Then I’ll say goodbye.”

The Confucian scholar laughed lightly and then disappeared. I couldn’t stand him even for just a few minutes.

“Well, I tried to get a bowl for free.”

“He is a Confucian scholar with a very impressive nose. At first, I thought it was a fly. But do you know him?”

“I’ve never seen him before today.”

“Then how?”

“That’s a nut too. Though he came here for the exam, instead of the brush, you brought a pen-like sword.”

“Pen-like sword?”

“You know, the iron skewers that the fighters carry and make them look like brushes to sweep people’s blood.”

“No, why?”

“He must have been confused. If it’s in a bamboo brush box, you won’t know until you take it out. So, I borrowed my brush because he didn’t know what to do. I was already on my way out.”

“He must have mastered martial arts.”

“If you’re confused with the print and the brushstrokes, it means you didn’t use both often. How much would you know if he knew the writing, and how much would he know if he knew the martial arts? Don’t you agree?”

“I know one such person.”

“Is it me?”

“Huh! How did you know?”

“Hey, you! I am just watching you.”

“You told me to be honest before.”

“You’re very stuffy, too. How’d you serve other people with that mind? You have no talent in being a big man. Hmm.”

It was then. When Jang-sam put his hand in his pants and took it out, two silver coins were stuck between his fingers.

Then, in amazement, he quickly hid one again and shook the other before my eyes.

“The money that’s been given to you has been cut off, but I get an annual salary every month. How about getting bowls of hot meat noodles in such cold weather?”

“Dumplings?”

“That’s a basic step.”

“What, a big man to be? Let’s go quickly.”

***

Baeksun restaurant was one of the largest restaurants around West Lake. It was also said Baeksun restaurant gets its name because it sells as many as 100 kinds of food, from cheap to expensive.

As we went inside, the restaurant was already crowded with Confucian scholars. As it is the exam day, every restaurant around the West Lake will be busy with Confucian scholars today.

“Hi, dear Gongja?”

A waiter came running, wiping his hands on a towel. It seems that Lee Jeong-ryong visited this place quite often during his lifetime. In the past, Baeksun restaurant had long been known as a famous place in Hangzhou because of the picturesque scenery of the West Lake.

“The first floor is already full.”

“Yes, because today is exam day.”

“Please show me to the second floor.”

“The second floor is also full.”

“The second floor too?”

“Actually… ….”

“Why are you studying my face?”

The waiter hesitated several times and said cautiously.

“…… Gongja Byung-ryong rented the entire third floor, saying he wanted to have a quiet meal with a dozen of his friends. So, all the guests who would normally sit on the third floor were spread out to the first and second floors.”

“Only ten? He must be a rich family kid, no matter how much money he has. It is not good to rent a whole floor on such a busy day. He means that people without money cannot get food or what?”

My words that inadvertently spat out turned the waiter and Jang-sam’s faces white. At that moment, I came to my senses when I realized that Gongja Byung-ryong, whom the waiter just said, was my third brother, Lee Byung-ryong.

“Is Cho Young-young there?”

“Yes.”

Cho Young-young is Young-ae of the Soohyang Brothel, whom the dead Lee Jung-ryong had a crush on. I asked just in case because the waiter hesitated more than necessary, but my prediction was right.

“Let’s go somewhere else, Jang-sam.”

Then, as I tried to turn around quickly, a warrior, boasting a huge body, blocked my way and bowed down.

Such a giant like a tower was the closest warrior to Lee Byung-ryong and the messenger leader of the Cheonryong Pyoguk. I think his nickname was “iron tower” because he swung a sword like a ghost.

“The third Gongja has us on the third floor.”

“How does he know I’m here?”

The ‘Iron Tower’ pointed to a young waiter with its eyes. He must have gone upstairs and told on us. He would have received about eleven coins in return.

“I have an appointment now.”

I had a hunch that this meeting would never be beautiful through my senses, which I had gained for 30 years as a porter. Someday we’ll bump into each other, but I wanted to avoid today.

“Don’t let me be rude.”

“What?”

I glared at the ‘Iron tower’ with tearful eyes. He didn’t avoid me. He glared at me like a candle in a quiet room.

However, my heart was fluttering. There was something in the eyes of the masters, such as a certain sense of oppression that could not be explained in words, even in the midst of softness.

His level was definitely different from that of Ko Jung-tae, whom I faced in the morning.

“Look down.”

“……?”

“I’m going to pluck the ink of your eyes out.”

“……!”

“Front, please.”

I can lose in a sword fight, but I don’t want to lose in staring fight.