At the current office banquet, these two had pulled their table away from the rest, drinking face-to-face.
They both hailed from the Jangdong Kim and Bannam Park clans, sharing the distinction of being at the core of the Noron noble lineages.
However, even so, these two showed no particular contact with each other in the original history.
Partly because of their age gap, but also because Kim Jo-sun had openly followed the elite path, while Park Ji-won had gone astray from his youth—it was difficult for them to be entangled.
Above all, it was a major event at the end of King Jeongjo’s reign that had irreparably ruined the relationship between them.
That event was none other than the Literary Style Purge (Munchebanjeong).
When the burning of ancestral tablets swept away the Namin and Soron factions, Jeongjo struck back, launching a crackdown on the Noron—a tragedy ensued.
At that time, Kim Jo-sun was stripped of office by Jeongjo for the incident of reading a romance novel while on duty in 1787.
He was so thoroughly humiliated that even as he set out on a diplomatic mission to Qing, a royal messenger chased after him to fetch a letter of apology for something from five years prior.
Of course, Kim Jo-sun, with his characteristic literary flair, managed to win Jeongjo’s admiration with that apology, and turned the Literary Style Purge into an opportunity for advancement.
But Park Ji-won, even then, resisted a bit, only submitting to Jeongjo belatedly—and paid dearly for living his life as a rebel.
The real problem came after that.
‘Yeonam? That man only likes petty tales—he probably can’t even properly read a single passage of the , can he?’
‘Nonsense!! Master Yeonam could breeze through at least a whole chapter of the !!’
‘To think you know so little of prose. Best you give up the idea of working in the Royal Academy (Hongmungwan) while I’m here.’
This conversation really did take place between Seo Yu-gu, a scholar of the Royal Library and disciple of Park Ji-won, and Kim Jo-sun.
It’s said that people who switch sides often become more zealous than those originally on that side, just to prove their loyalty.
The Kim Jo-sun of the original history attacked Park Ji-won with more hostility than necessary, to prove that he was as far removed from ‘petty tales’ as dust itself.
It was a rather ironic situation—one who would later become famous as a novel enthusiast, ruthlessly disparaging the greatest novelist of the time.
Yet, in original history, Park Ji-won showed no response, even when a much younger man insulted him so harshly.
Perhaps he understood that Kim Jo-sun, striving to survive as Jeongjo’s favorite, was forced to appeal himself this way.
But now.
Thanks to the actions of a certain figure operating behind the scenes, Joseon’s history had shifted a little.
With the burning of ancestral tablets at Jinsan never occurring, the Literary Style Purge wouldn’t be happening for the time being.
As a result, the act of twisting history for the sake of writing novels had affected the relationships among this era’s literary figures.
“I’ve long heard of your illustrious name, sir. Was it not said you’re the author of the famous ?”
“Heh heh… That’s a secret no one should know. Did you hear from Gye Jeon-ju of the Gyeonggi printing office?”
“Yes.”
“Well, Gye Jeon-ju did say Kim Daegyo-nari is working hard for the revival of ‘petty tales.’ Ha ha.”
Just a small misstep and their words could become devastating blows to each other.
Thankfully, Jeongjo was absent from this scene.
It was possible only because both men had precisely grasped each other’s activities through Gye Deok-sang.
Gulp. Gulp.
Continuously downing the Royal Liquor bestowed by Jeongjo, the two busily scrutinized one another over their cups.
‘Why is this old man of the Baektap School coming after me…?’
Having taken the first hit, Kim Jo-sun desperately tried to read Park Ji-won’s intentions.
‘Hmm… Judging by how he speaks, he’s not the same breed as me, is he?’
Park Ji-won, for his part, was fiercely playing a mental game, intent on achieving his purpose in approaching Kim Jo-sun.
And then.
“Congratulations, Kim Daegyo-nari.”
The first volley of attack was launched.
Of course, it was Park Ji-won who struck.
“I hear you’ve greatly won the King’s favor lately.”
“Oh, I merely followed His Majesty’s orders, that’s all.”
“Is that so? But I’ve heard about the ‘petty tale’ that’s caused such a bloody storm lately, and it’s hardly a minor affair as you suggest.”
The ‘petty tale’ that stirred up a storm must refer to , the novel that was the cause of the recent purge.
A glint flashed in Park Ji-won’s tiger-like eyes.
“Eh…?”
“. Rumor has it Kim Daegyo-nari is the author.”
“Gah…!!”
Kim Jo-sun, caught mid-drink, choked and coughed.
He’d been struck right in a troublesome spot.
“Th-that is, sir…”
“Don’t bother denying it. Otherwise, why would His Majesty bestow such an exceptional appointment upon you?”
Park Ji-won’s offensive continued relentlessly.
Kim Jo-sun had no excuse to counter this.
The head position at the office he was assigned to was so important that sometimes even a third-rank official would take it.
For Kim Jo-sun, only a regular seventh-rank scholar of the Royal Library, to be given this role was an extraordinary leap.
Moreover, Park Ji-won was already quite certain.
He had come to ask whether his own had been referenced in .
At that time, together with the Baektap School’s ragtag crowd, he’d even overheard Jeongjo mumbling suspicions that Kim Jo-sun was the author.
“Ahem. Ahem… That’s…”
“Yet there’s something strange.”
But what Park Ji-won wanted to probe from Kim Jo-sun wasn’t some favor from Jeongjo.
A rebel at heart who kept his distance from worldly success would hardly care for such things.
“Since when did your literary talent surge so greatly?”
Kim Jo-sun spat out his drink.
“L-literary talent, you say?”
“I hear you’re excellent at the pure, upright prose His Majesty enjoys, but that you’ve had no connection with these ‘petty tales.’”
“What do you mean? What nonsense have you heard…?”
“. Are you still going to deny it?”
Pffft.
This time, Kim Jo-sun sprayed his drink in an even bigger arc.
Some of it splashed onto Park Ji-won across the table, which was a breach of manners, but Park Ji-won didn’t care at all.
“H-how did you…?”
“I know everything. Someone who once got rejected by the chief of the printing office, now suddenly writing acclaimed ‘petty tales’ that have swept through Hanyang and the court…?”
“T-that’s!! I just happened to receive the blessing of the Literary Star…!!”
Kim Jo-sun’s excuse was that he’d received the blessing of the star presiding over literature.
He desperately tried to smooth things over, but it was pointless.
Just from Park Ji-won’s expression, it was clear his excuse wouldn’t fly.
After all, Park Ji-won was the greatest writer of this age.
No feeble excuse would work on a man who had written more novels than anyone here.
“The Literary Star, you say…”
And Park Ji-won was someone whose own true literary talent could turn Kim Jo-sun’s clumsy lie into a blade of truth.
“That Literary Star—could it be shining brightly over Changdeok Palace?”
Kim Jo-sun drew in a sharp breath.
Anyone with some education would know what Park Ji-won’s words meant.
It was a pointed jab: ‘Don’t give me nonsense about receiving the star’s blessing. Wasn’t it someone in Changdeok Palace who wrote for you?’
But Kim Jo-sun still managed to keep his composure.
He too had heard from Gye Deok-sang that Park Ji-won had had some contact with ‘that person.’
Of course, if he hadn’t known this, Kim Jo-sun might have fainted on the spot.
“Ha ha.”
Feigning calm, Kim Jo-sun composed his expression.
“Are you threatening me now? For someone who knows as much as you, this is troubling.”
In other words: ‘Park Ji-won, you know about ‘that person’—are you trying to blackmail me by telling Jeongjo?’
To him, it seemed Park Ji-won was acting to catch him on a weak point.
However, Park Ji-won wasn’t such a petty man.
“No.”
He drained his cup in one go and flashed a sly grin.
“I have no interest in how or how much Kim Daegyo-nari enjoys the King’s favor.”
“T-then why…?”
“Pure literary curiosity, shall we say? I simply wondered: who could have written such outstanding ‘petty tales’?”
Kim Jo-sun was stunned at this completely unexpected reason.
But now that Park Ji-won had stated his true intention, he continued unfazed.
“No matter how I think about it, as Gye Jeon-ju speculated, it couldn’t have been the court ladies. The writing pace is simply too fast for them.”
Somehow, Park Ji-won was now speaking down to Kim Jo-sun.
Having utterly dominated the mental contest, it showed even in his tone.
“T-that's…!!”
“That leaves only two possible noble candidates, and one of them, from what I’ve seen, is certainly not the one.”
Park Ji-won folded a finger, alluding to the very King who had just sent over the drinks.
Now Kim Jo-sun could guess the only remaining candidate.
“That’s impossible! But the Young Master…!!”
“Who knows? Maewoldang (Kim Si-seup) wrote a poem containing the universe at age three and engaged in Zen debates with senior ministers at age five.”
“…!!”
“If our Royal Heir is a genius who’s even surpassed His Majesty, isn’t it more than possible?”
Park Ji-won grinned and munched on a snack.
It was a shocking notion.
Kim Jo-sun had never once doubted that ‘that person’ was a noble lady of the Inner Palace.
Of course, there were holes in Park Ji-won’s argument.
If the Royal Heir truly was ‘that person,’ how could a child so young have secretly penned so many ‘petty tales’ from to ?
And changing writing styles between Korean and classical Chinese as well…?
“B-but that’s impossible…!!”
“Why, Kim Daegyo-nari—do you dislike the idea that the Royal Heir could be the literary genius of the age and the bright future of Joseon?”
“N-no, it’s not that…!!”
Kim Jo-sun, deeply shaken, barely managed to deny Park Ji-won’s words.
In truth, the most plausible possibility he’d considered was that the noble court ladies were collaborating on the writing.
Or perhaps they’d been gradually releasing manuscripts written over the years.
That was the only realistic hypothesis that could explain the rapid output.
Therefore, Kim Jo-sun had ruled out the Royal Heir—who wasn’t even ten years out in the world—as a possibility.
Well, except for one thing.
As Park Ji-won said, there was the chance the Heir was a once-in-a-century prodigy.
In fact, in some ways, this explained more than suddenly believing the court ladies or the King had started behaving differently.
Moreover, what if the ‘person’ he revered so fervently was in fact the next King of Joseon?
Just imagining it sent chills of excitement through Kim Jo-sun.
“Wouldn’t that be magnificent, if it were true?”
And Park Ji-won could see exactly how thrilled Kim Jo-sun was by that thought.
“B-but why are you telling me this…!”
“Because it’s amusing. Didn’t you find it fascinating too, Kim Daegyo-nari?”
Park Ji-won’s words were like a devil’s whisper.
Sheer nonsense, but so sweet to Kim Jo-sun’s ears.
At that moment, Park Ji-won’s expression suddenly hardened.
He had been grinning at Kim Jo-sun, who was floundering in confusion.
“Oh dear, just when things were getting interesting.”
Muttering as if his interest had waned, Park Ji-won’s gaze shifted to behind Kim Jo-sun.
Only then did Kim Jo-sun sense someone’s presence at his back.
“Kim Daegyo-nari, I’ve come on royal command to escort you.”
“Oh my, does His Majesty not wish for this Park to satisfy his curiosity? Hahaha…”
At some point, a royal usher had arrived behind Kim Jo-sun.
The only one who could have sent him was Jeongjo himself.
To Kim Jo-sun, who had been getting grilled by Park Ji-won about ‘that person’s’ identity, it was a lifeline.
Thus, Kim Jo-sun excused himself to those at the table and got up abruptly.
But just as he was escaping from crisis, a final comment stuck to the back of his head.
“But Kim Daegyo, thank you!! Thanks to you, I feel even more certain!! Hahaha!!”
That was Park Ji-won, flushed with excitement, raising his glass and shouting.
Those words greatly unsettled Kim Jo-sun, who had only just managed to collect himself.
No way…
Surely not…?
* * *
“Your humble servant Kim Jo-sun, answering the royal summons, is present… huh!”
Yet even when Kim Jo-sun was summoned before Jeongjo, he found himself blinking in surprise.
The very person whom Park Ji-won’s sly tongue had obsessed him with was right there in the room.
“Are you already acquainted with the Heir?”
“Yes, that is… By chance, I once had the honor of passing by and greeting His Highness at Changdeok Palace…”
“I see. That’s good, then.”
But perhaps because of the thought Park Ji-won had just planted in his mind, Kim Jo-sun kept stealing glances at the Heir, even as he conversed with Jeongjo.
As he grew older, the Heir was increasingly resembling his late mother’s delicate beauty.
No doubt, that explained why the King, usually stern, wore such a complicated expression with two favored officials in front of him.
Lately, Jeongjo would often exhaust himself praising the Heir’s brilliance to his retainers, then occasionally fall into a worried silence.
But the one who truly irritated Kim Jo-sun was not just the young Heir.
“And of course, you’re acquainted with Yak-yong as well.”
“Yes. As you know, from the Royal Library…”
At Jeongjo’s mention, the sullen Southerner gave a nod.
Of course, Jeong Yak-yong and Kim Jo-sun, both members of the special Royal Scholars, had frequently encountered each other at the Library.
But unlike Kim Jo-sun, the outgoing scion of the Noron elite, Jeong Yak-yong—who preferred the gloomy company of the Baektap School’s nerds—was an awkward outsider by nature.
Thus, Kim Jo-sun felt a subtle discomfort even now.
But.
Such minor unease among young officials was the last thing Super Old-Fashioned King Jeongjo would care about.
“There’s a reason I summoned you here, even after granting you the Royal Liquor.”
Fixing his gaze on Kim Jo-sun, who had just finished his greetings and knelt, Jeongjo smiled faintly.
In that moment, Kim Jo-sun remembered.
The terror he’d felt when the angry King grilled his officials, steering the affairs of state according to his will.
The humiliation of being toyed with at the King’s pleasure upon the throne.
That expression right now—it was the very look Jeongjo wore when he hurled a bomb at his ministers in the middle of state affairs.
“You two are to travel to the Qing together.”
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