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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 3, 2004 18:47:28 GMT -5
The examinees sat anxiously outside, awaiting the announcement of the top candidate. As one of the examiners came forward, a hush fell over the courtyard. Unfolding a large sheet of paper, he read in a loud voice, "Third place: Kang Do Hyun. In Hyung Suh Han Chool Gil. Second place: Il Suk Woo, Shin Jin Ha." Soon Shin nervously clenched his robes in his fist waiting for the last name to be announced. "First place, from Asan, Son Byung Taek!" Smiling smugly at the announcement of his victory, Byung Taek shot the dumbfounded Soon Shin a triumphant look over his shoulder.
walking aimlessly through the village streets, soon shin barely noticed the commotion around him until a woman ran into him as she hurried to catch sight of the small parade that was passing through. Soon Shin looked up to see Byung Taek mounted on a horse, wearing ministerial robes, preceded by musicians and men who were announcing him. As he passed his former rival, Byoung Taek cast a sidelong glance at Soon Shin and smiled again as Soon Shin simply stared in silence.
On the side of the road, Chun Soo, still sporting bruises from his fight the night before, noticed soon shin rooted to the spot in the middle of the street. Running to him, he passed by the victorious Byung Taek. "What the hell is he doing sitting there?" he thought aloud. Coming up to Soon shin, he cried, "Soon Shin-ah! Soon Shin-ah!!" Soon Shin simply stood and said nothing. "What is this? What happened?" Soon Shin cast his eyes downward. "Talk to me! How did that rotten person win? What went wrong that things turned out this way?"
Soon Shin shook his friend's hand off of his arm and walked away. Chun Soon watched his friend's vanishing back, confused and worried.
Walking along the rocky shoreline, Soon Shin thought back to the conversation he had had with the eunuch after the exam. "What is this? What kind of corruption is this?"
"You rotten bastard," the eunuch had said in reply, shaking his finger at him. "You don't know? Blame it on your father. How dare you even apply for the examination?! You think that a dirty traitor's son like yourself could ever hold such a position at court?"
The thought of his words made him crush his robes yet again in his fist.
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 3, 2004 18:52:45 GMT -5
A party of men ran through the woods and then crept quietly through the tall grass. Seeing movement in the high blades, Soon Shin concentrated on the patch of grass and threw his ax. Running again, he saw the boar he had been pursuing stop in a small clearing. Willing all his anger and rage into his ax, he hurled it as hard as he could and felt a wave of satisfaction when he heard the boar squeal in pain. Hoisting the dead animal onto his shoulders, he went to join the rest of the party.
Washing his axe in the river, Soon Shin was lost in thought when one of his party came up to him carrying a chunk of meat on a string. "Good work," he told him, dropping the kill. "Here's your share."
Standing up, Soon Shin grabbed him by the collar and brought his dirt-streaked face right up the other man's. "I was the lead today, isn't that right? My share is bigger than that, I think," Soon Shin snarled at him. The man hastily nodded.
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 3, 2004 18:53:19 GMT -5
Soon Shin's father walked into the courtyard of his house and found his wife waiting for him. "What are you doing out, wife?" he asked her.
"You've just returned now?" was all she said as he put his fishing gear aside. "It has been months since the exam and Soon Shin has yet to find peace. I'm worried. Until when will he feel so unhappy?.
"A person who is drowning, in order to come out of the water must first strike the bottom. Just leave him be." His father turned to enter the house.
"I never should have encouraged him to take the exam," she said suddenly. When he stopped walking, she continued, "I resented you - when you wouldn't let the boys study, I was angry with you. "
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 3, 2004 18:57:33 GMT -5
"Hostess! HOSTESS!!"
Soon Shin waved his arms in a drunken fashion and continued to call for the hostess. "Wine! More Wine!"
"Yes, yes! Coming" the woman shouted agreably as she emerged from the inn.
After she had brought out another bottle, Chun Soon looked with concern at soon shin and said, "Enough! That's enough, I said! For how long are you going to sit here and drink
"Hey, why don't you just have a drink and then leave," his friend mumbled in reply.
Chun Soo's face took on a hurt expression. "You really are too much. I know you are hurt, but . Why did you cover it up?"
"Don't be concerned about it."
"What do you mean don't be concerned?"
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" he muttered.
CHun Soo was speachless. finally he said, "what? how can you say such a hearltess thing? I am yi soon shin's friend who has been at his side for all this time!"
" You are a peasant's son and i am a traitor's son."
"Fine then. From now on, do what you want. I won't be bothered with you!" Standing up, Chun Soo walked away.
AS Soon Shin took another drink, a voice behind him said, "Can I have a drink too?"
Standing along the river bank, Yi Jung stared out across the waters and asked, "Is it hard to bear?"
His father's question caught him off guard. "I'm...glad..." he finally managed. "That it was not hyung nim but me, for that I am very grateful."
His father sighed. "Ten years, it's been. In that time, this river has comforted me, and in that time I had put everything behind me - my father's bitter grief, my father's bitter grief, the rage i felt against the world, io put it all behind me and i hoiped that the oworld would forget buit the world was not so kind the same c
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 4, 2004 16:32:57 GMT -5
"That rotten jerk," Chun Soo muttered to himself. Soon Shin's drunken mumblings still stung him.
"Hey, what are you doing just standing there?" his father shouted out to him, adjusting a crate of salt onto a back frame.
Running to his father's side, Chun Soo cried, "Ah buh ji! What are you doing? I told you to take it easy and lie down today!!!"
His wizened old father gave a little chuckle. "What good can i do rotting inside the house? i have to get out an about at least once in a day."
"Something terrible could happen!"
"aigo, aigo, aigo..." his father clucked. "Don't worry! Haven't you noticed that i am seventy? no no no, until you get married and have a family of your own, i'll live a thousand, no ten thousand years!" He cackled again gleefully which prompted another bout of coughing.
Chun Soo could do nothing but look at his father and sigh as he listened to him hacking away.
At the magistrate's headquarters, the magistrate was seething with fury. "WHAT!!!!...."
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 4, 2004 17:18:13 GMT -5
Chun Soo's aging father as well as the other salt merchants pleaded in vain with the magistrate's messenger. "This salt is our livelihood! Please do not take it away from us, sir!"
"Huh-huh!!!" the man replied in exasperation. "This talk certainly won't do!" He leaned in closer and said, "So what now? Does this mean you won't pay your ( )?"
"Aigo, aigo," Chun Soo's father said cajolingly. "I'm not saying that we won't pay it...it's just that..."
"Not paying is a crime, didn't you know?" Waving his hands he ordered the guards around him to start collecting.
"Naoori! (sir)" the elderly septegenerian begged.
"What are you waiting for?" he shouted impatiently. "Why are you not taking the salt?!"
"Yes, sir!" they bowed.
As they moved forward to remove the salt, Chun Soo's father stepped forward crying, "NOnononono! Please you can't do this!! If you do that, then it is better that you kill us all!"
"Stand aside!" the magistrate's assistant thundered.
"Better to die than to move aside!" Chun Soo's father said defiantly. He began coughing from shouting so much.
" "
Chun Soo's father was at a loss for words
"What are you all doing? Cart this old bastard away!"
"Naoori, no! Please!" he begged. One of the other old salt merchants attempted to intervene on his behalf but was held back by his son.
"Do you want to get in trouble too? Don't get involved!" he warned him.
Chun Soon ran as fast as he could through the streets of Asan, trying to get to the magistrate's headquarters.
From within the walls of the magistrate's compound, the helpless cries of Chun Soo's father could be heard clearly. Tied down by his arms and legs, he was brutally paddled over and over by two guards. His old body unprepared for such physical abuse, blood had already soaked through his ratted trousers. He alternated between shouting and coughing until finally, mercifully, he lost consciousness from the pain. The magistrate and his assistant watched unmoved as his arms went limp on the stretching board.
Two guards threw him on the ground just as Chun Soo ran up. "Ah buh ji!" he cried over and over in heartbroken tones. Carrying his father home on his back, the other villagers watched the pitiful scene. Two were the elderly salt merchant and his son. Another was soon Shin's mother.
"Chun soo's father is badly hurt? What do you mean, mother?!" Soon Shin asked, his eyes wide with concern.
"something terrible has happened, i do not know what. but it was bad enough that he is not conscious. what should we do?"
Soon Shin didn't bother to answer his mother. Turning, he bolted in the direction of Chun Soo's house as fast as his legs could carry him.
Back at Chun Soo's home, he had lain his father on a blanket and was wiping his forehead with a wet cloth. "Father," he said mournfully, "please gather your wits." His voice broke into small sobs. His father stirred a bit at his words. "Father!"
"Chun Soo-ya," he said in a small voice.
"Ah buh ji!" Chun Soo said again, overjoyed. "Are you more awake now? Why didn't you just let them take the salt? It wasn't worth all this!"
His father shook his head. "How could I let them take all of our salt, you idiot? There would be nothing left then for you..." He was interrupted by another fit of coughing.
Chun Soo shook him. "A person's life is more important than salt!"
"I'm sorry...that I gave you nothing but poverty and leave you nothing but hardship behind." his father said painfully, between coughs. His breath began to come in more agonizing gasps. As Chun Soo watched in fear, his father turned to him and said fondly, "Chun Soo-yah, look under the ashes of the furnace...the furnace..."
"Ah buh ji!" he cried, gripping his father's hand desperately.
"Chun Soo-yah," he said again, softly. "My child, Chun Soo-yah." With those words, his eyes closed and his head fell limply to one side.
Chun Soo stared at his father's lifeless body in disbelief. "Ah buh ji," he whispered. As the reality of his father's death began to sink in, his voice grew increasingly panicked. "Ah buh ji!!" Sobbing without restraint, all Chun Soo could do was shout his father's name over and over. Running into his friend's yard, Soon Shin heard his friend's heart-rending cries through the walls of his house and knew with a heavy feeling that he was too late.
The next day, as Chun Soo sat mutely wearing the traditional head covering and white clothes of mourning, Soon Shin prepared his father's body for burial. Carrying the corpse on his back, Soon Shin and Chun Soo walked to a quiet spot by the sea and laid the old man to rest. As Soon Shin patted the grave into the customary mound shape, Chun Soo still sat silent, staring at the ground. As he looked at his friend's bowed back, Soon Shin felt sadness and frustration, and attempted to busy himself with patting down the dirt over the fresh grave.
Back at his home, Chun Soo still had not said a word and watched still in silence as Soon Shin burned his father's clothes and straw hat. Unable to continue to watch, he walked into the house and dug up a small earthen pot under the ashes of the hearth and removed from within it a small cloth sack. Putting his hand in the sack, he pulled out a large handful of coins. Staring at so much money in his hands, he fell backwards and began to sob violently. It was money that his father had painstakingly saved over many long years of peddling salt. Soon Shin looked up at his sobbing. Wringing the coins in his hands, he wept, "He should have just given it to them. Why didn't he give it to them? Dead! Dead! A person's life is more important than this! All this time he could have gotten medicine! I won't let them get away with this! Ah buh ji!" Soon Shin put his arms around his friends and held him as he cried.
Outside, the magistrate's assistant and a retinue of guards were walking towards chun su's house. "Hey! Chun Soo! Is Chun Soo here?"
Soon Shin walked out to meet them. "What is this?" he asked somberly.
The man looked him up and down and finally said, "Why are you here, young sir? .Where is chun Soo?"
"Why are you looking for a son in mourning?"
"Mourning?" he repeated. "huh huh. A consumptive like that We can't trust him anymore. Tell him that he must pay his tax directly."
How dare you come here after you killed this man's father and demand money!" Soon SHin shouted indignantly.
"Killed? Who says we killed him?" the man shouted back. "We all know he had lung problems-"
"WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Chun soo ran out in a rage. "A consumptive?!"
"Hey, what's with you?"
"Say that again! I'll shut you up!! I'll kill you! I'll kill you and then I'll kill myself!" Soon Shin stopped him and his friend fell to his knees sobbing.
"Get lost!" Soon Shin ordered. "Don't disturb this man in mourning!"
"Fine. But he still has to pay the tax-"
"You sonofab*tch! Can't you get your @ss outt of here right now?!"
As they left, chun soo kept calling to his dead father
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 4, 2004 20:20:23 GMT -5
the magistrate of Asan is furious with soon shin
Taking a bundle off the shelf, Soon Shin pulled out a plain notebook and some brushes and formulated a plan in his mind to rectify the injustice done to Chun Soo and his father.
The next morning, he went to go see one of the old salt merchants and his son. "So, you plan on registering a complaint against the magistrate?"
"That's right," Soon Shin nodded. "I need to know exactly how much was taken in tax in order to ..."
"Stop following these useless pursuits," the younger man interrupted, looking up at the ceiling.
"Didn't you see what they did to Chun Soo's father?"
"If you lodge a complaint against the magistrate, they'll think we're crazy. This is all pointless!"
As Soon Shin went from house to house, he was dismayed to find that no one wished to give him information that would prove the magistrate's injustice. Peasant after peasant waved their arms in the air, refusing to speak.
Watching was the old salt merchant and his son. "Don't get involved father," his son warned. Following Soon Shin, he saw him speak with a few peasants who did their best to recount how much had been taken through taxation.
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 4, 2004 21:08:05 GMT -5
Passed out on the straw mat floor, a few discarded porcelein bottles that had once held wine lay around Chun Soo's inebriated body. He mumbled incoherently and then rolled over. Soon Shin's voice came through the door.
"Chun Soo-yah."
Annoyed, he said, "Now what? Just leave me alone!"
Sitting down, Soon called his friend again.
"What?" he asked opening his eyes.
" " he explained.
"Don't bother with such useless pursuits!" he interrupted.
"Chun Soo-yah!"
"What good can possibly come of this?" Chun Soo asked heatedly. "Will it bring a dead father back to me? Just leave me alone and leave!"
"Chun Soo yah!"
"Just let it go!" he said sadly. Lying back on the straw mat, he began to cry softly
Later that night, Soon Shin diligently copied the information he had gathered . Walking outside and seeing a light still on, his mother entered his room to find him asleep over his notebooks, the brush still in his hand. Taking a notebook from under his hand, she read the contents. When she realized what he was doing, she became very nervous.
The next morning, Soon Shin was about to set out to collect more information when he was stopped by his mother. "soon Shin ah! Where are you going this early in the morning? What the hell are you doing these days? And what is all this writing you are doing?"
Soon Shin looked down and sighed. "My friend's father died. IF i leave it like this, it will just go on."
"this is not your concern! Just-"
"No! I know you are worried, but i will never forgive myself if i do not act." with that he left.
" " Yi Jung said.
"Husband!"
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Oct 4, 2004 21:10:28 GMT -5
the salt merchant's son rats on soon shin to the magistrate's assistant, who promptly sends guards to arrest him.
As Soon Shin leafed through his ledger, he saw the elderly salt peddler collapse under the weight of his salt. Running to his side, he asked with concern, "grandfather, are you alright?" Soon Shin helped the old man to his feet.
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