77 Daedonggye 3 (1/2)
Ganghyuk could not sleep well for days because of anxiety.
He was worried if Byon Sungbok would talk about Yeoju somewhere.
With reasonable inference, it was nearly impossible, but he could not take it easy.
'He is a traitor so where does he dare to talk about her in public?'
At most, he could talk about her to Jeong Yeorip.
It was improbable that he would talk about her in a government office or in the marketplace.
'But I am still anxious. Goodness.'
A treason.
Although he did not know about history very well, he knew what the result of the treason was.
A traitor or a wrongly accused traitor might have tragic death…
'There were a lot of Sahwa and Oksa in our history.' [Sahwa means a ma.s.sacre of scholars and Oksa means death in prison literally]
When he was a high school student, it was a big task to remember various Sahwas and Oksas. A lot of people died of such ma.s.sacre, and he could not remember all of them.
He was brought to Joseon unexpectedly and he managed to find the way to live in the given state. He really hated to be involved such an incident.
”Aho”
He sighed.
”Ei”
He gave up thinking further.
Even though it was daytime, he laid down on the futon.
Somebody knocked on his door while he spent time like that.
”Sir, Yeoni and Makbong came back.”
”Ok, let them come in.”
”Yes.”
Dolseok opened the door and Yeoni and Makbong came in.
Ganghyuk laid down on the futon for some time so his hair was tangled.
He did not care to show his tangled hair.
”What did you find?”
”Yes… Daedonggye is not an usual organization, sir.”
Yeoni started to talk.
”At first it was organized in Jeollado but now it had expanded to Hw.a.n.ghaedo. Byon Sungbok is a member who works in Hw.a.n.ghaedo.”
”Hw.a.n.ghaedo?”
”Yes, sir.”
”Eum.”
Jellado was quite far from Hanyang.
But Hw.a.n.ghaedo… It was a very short distance.
He could not help thinking about dark thoughts.
”What are their activities?”
”It seems that the organization is for the ones who are strong and agile. There were not many people who knew about it in detail and even the people who knew it did not want to talk about it.”
Yeoni seemed to talk that it was not easy to find but she could finally find what it was.
Ganghyuk asked with s.h.i.+ning eyes.
”Then, what do they do?”
”Mostly they gathered and trained their martial arts… there was a very famous incident.”
”Incident?”
”Yes, when j.a.panese bandits invaded Jeonju, they defeated j.a.panese bandits with the request of Jeonbu Buyun (Grade 2 officila).”
”Wow, they might have strong force.”
Ganghyuk could not hide his exclamation.
Buyun is a high-ranking official comparable to Gwanchalsa [A provincial Governor].
If he made a request, the j.a.panese force might be quite big.
'It must be the size of the bandits that attacked Eotanmyeon.'
If they defeated such j.a.panese bandits, the force might not be negligible.
'Is he really trying to make a treason?'
On the other hand, he could understand Yeorip a bit.
With his investigation, Ganghyuk found out that Yeorip was an extraordinary genius.
He pa.s.sed Gwogeo [National Exam to recruit a government official in Joseon] and got an office when he was very young. He changed his party from Seoin to Dongin suddenly.
He did not know the exact reason, but it seemed that King Seonjo hated Yeorip.
He went to his hometown after King Seonjo came to the throne.
'He might not like Seonjo, either.'
He had not met Seonjo but considering all the books and media that Ganghyuk had read in that world, Seonjo was not an attractive king.
He was probably a bad man.
'But treason is not a good thing, either'
The subject in Joseon where loyalty was the best virtue, thought of treason!
That could not be successful.
Ganghyuk shook his head and then asked.
”Was there any other special event?”
”No, sir. But they might have meetings regularly.”
It comforted him.
With Ganghyuk's calculation, Gichukoksa was still far.
If the history did not change because of b.u.t.terfly effect that he had made, he would have some time before the terrible event.
”Good. You did a good job.”
”Thank you, sir.”
When Yeoni finished the report and was about to leave, Makbong hesitated to leave.
”Why are you not going?”
”Sir, I have something to report.”
”Oh, what is it?”
He did not expect Makbong had something to tell him.
He might use his brain this time.
But Ganghyuk did not expect much and asked him insincerely.
”Ok, tell me. What is it?”
”Yes. Well…”
”What are you doing?”
”Ok, I will tell you. After the incident in Jeonju, Daedonggye became famous.”
”Yes, it might be…”
A private martial art group defeated j.a.panese bandits!
No wonder that it became famous.
”Therefore, many people joined the group and among them, there are many famous people.”
”Is that so? Do you know any famous people who joined the group?”
”Including Byon Sungbok, there were Park Yeonryeong, Ji Hamdu and Euiyeon. They were famous in their fields.”
”Heum”
Although Makbong told they were famous, Ganghyuk had not heard of them.
That means they were not great people who left their names in the history.
'Yes, they are a local group at the moment.'
He thought he should not need to worry about them anymore.
Ganghyuk laughed.
When he looked back at it in later time, it was ridiculous to ignore this report. But it was the right thing for him to do at that time.
”Ok, good job. Makbong, you did a good job.”
”We are learning letters from Miss Yeonju.”
”Really? Yes, she is a good teacher.”
”Yes, sir. She is kind and knowledgeable.”
Ganghyuk agreed that Yeoju was a really good teacher.
She was really good at giving some examples whenever she taught letters.
It made her lecture very interesting and Ganghyuk could remember the letters well by a.s.sociating the old stories that she had told.
Ganghyuk had built up good knowledge in Sino literature [Korean literature written in Chinese] thanks to her and it helped his life in this world a lot.
”Did I tell you that we would go to the Lord Ryu Seongyong's house? I have a meeting there.”