一
Several days had already passed since the new students held their entrance ceremony. Over the past few days, they had been so busy receiving class assignments and listening to schedules that they had not even noticed time passing.
And today.
It was the day when class presidents would be elected en masse at Cheongun Academy before classes officially began.
"Should I run for class president too?"
"Don't you need someone to nominate you first before you can become a candidate?"
"Then you simply nominate me as a candidate."
"I'm busy enough studying; what would I gain by being class president?"
"If you say you were class president at Cheongun Academy, people would think highly of you."
"Indeed, if you were class president at Cheongun Academy, that's something to boast about anywhere. Then maybe I should run for class president too?"
"I say, if you run for class president, who will nominate me?"
"Haha! What is there to worry about? You nominate me, and I'll nominate you."
"Huhu! There was such a method."
"Then should I try it too?"
The classroom transformed into a sea of laughter in an instant.
Though they were rivals, they were still young, and in just a few days, they had become close friends.
At that moment, Jo Cheolgi shouted at them with a scornful expression.
"Hmph, there are too many people everywhere who can't grasp their own standing. Do you lot honestly think you have the ability to be class president?"
Bang!
Instantly, the students sprang to their feet, stomping the floor with agitated expressions.
"Jo Cheolgi! Are you talking to us right now?"
"You're going too far. Apologize immediately."
"Hmph! Me apologize to you? I have a personality that doesn't speak with those lacking ability."
Jo Cheolgi snorted.
"The incapable and incompetent always raise their voices the loudest."
He disparaged the other students in his class without mercy.
Gojin had been looking out the window at a bamboo grove, but he furrowed his brows at Jo Cheolgi's words.
"Ugh, Jo Cheolgi! The more I see you, the more blind you become!"
The insulted students looked ready to pounce at any moment.
Jo Cheolgi did not so much as bat an eye, regardless of their behavior.
In truth, the one who was angry was Jo Cheolgi himself. The class president position of Hak I Class was his by right.
The class president was a symbolic position representing the class.
He had never even considered the thought that someone other than himself might become class president.
'I will surpass Yi Geomhak and become the class president of Hak I Class. And in one year, I'll rise to the intermediate and advanced classes and rewrite the history of Cheongun Academy. It starts with becoming class president.'
Indeed.
He was the type whose pride was wounded and mood soured if anyone tried to take what was his, even in jest. Needless to say, the class president who would represent Hak I Class was no exception.
Yi Geomhak had been quietly watching Jo Cheolgi and the students argue when he slowly rose from his seat.
"You lot! If you don't want to suffer, you'd best step back. The Shandong Jo Family Estate has been a martial family since ancient times."
"Hm……."
"Th-that's right."
The students' faces hardened stiffly.
Jo Cheolgi's grandfather, Jo Manheun, was a renowned commander among commanders who had led a hundred thousand troops to pacify the Nanman. Under his grandfather's influence, Jo Cheolgi had immersed himself in both martial arts and learning from a young age.
"And……."
Yi Geomhak swept his gaze over the students and spoke emphatically.
"If anyone wants to be class president, get my permission first. Even if it's just empty words, if someone says they'll be class president, it's as good as slighting me. I feel extremely unpleasant at the thought of anyone above my head."
His eyes blazed fiercely. The students flinched at Yi Geomhak's gaze and averted their eyes.
Yi Geomhak's family was the Gumunjedok. Since ancient times, the Gumunjedok had revered martial valor and symbolized military authority. Naturally, Yi Geomhak too had received direct instruction from the imperial palace experts stationed at the Gumunjedok headquarters from a young age, and his martial arts were exceptional.
Though the students were furious at Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak's overbearing attitudes, they were intimidated by the power of the Shandong Jo Family Estate and the Gumunjedok and could not utter so much as a peep.
The Shandong Jo Family Estate and the Gumunjedok.
Their power was so immense that even birds flying overhead would fall. At that moment, Jo Cheolgi spoke to Yi Geomhak with an unpleasant expression.
"Yi Geomhak! Even I need your permission to become class president?"
"You are no exception. It's not like you think you're better than me."
"Hmph, delusions are free."
Jo Cheolgi snorted.
Yi Geomhak and Jo Cheolgi were acting magnanimous, but in fact, they were wary of each other. And because of their pride, neither wanted to lose the class president position to the other.
A heavy silence descended upon the classroom.
The students glanced at each other's faces with sidelong looks. Within their expressions lay greed for the position of class president.
A position that would determine the representative of Hak I Class.
It was something everyone had likely dreamed of at least once.
二
'Tsk tsk, making such a fuss over a mere class president position.'
Gojin shook his head with a light sigh alongside the thought.
Did they not say that a gentleman discusses virtue while petty men fight over fame?
Who became class president was a distant matter to Gojin. He was worried about making ends meet right now; he had no time to leisurely serve as class president.
Before long, Hak I Class began electing their class president. The homeroom teacher, Myeong Seonghun, briefly explained what the class president would be responsible for before accepting nominations.
And at the end, he added that if one became class president, the academy would provide a small tuition fee reduction.
"You all probably wouldn't become class president for a few measly coins of tuition anyway, but if someone has an exceptional sense of duty, don't look around and boldly recommend them."
But perhaps because of the incident just moments ago, the students merely glanced at each other, and no one willingly offered a nomination.
However, not everyone was like that.
Gasp!
'Ha, tuition fee?'
Gojin's ears perked up. When he was already worried about living expenses, the fact that being class president came with tuition fees was a heavenly opportunity.
Having spent the past eight days doing laundry, he had experienced firsthand how hard and difficult it was to earn money in Beijing. In that case, this was something he absolutely had to do.
His earlier disdain for those fighting over the class president position vanished without a trace. Instead, his mind was now filled with thoughts of how much the tuition fee might be.
'Please let it be at least ten nyang.'
One could say his dreams were quite practical.
Ten nyang was the amount an inn worker would earn working for a month. Though Gojin had not even become class president yet, his imagination ran wild and knew no bounds.
Until then, the students had merely exchanged glances without nominating anyone. Myeong Seonghun found this rather strange, tilting his head as he spoke.
"Hmm…… this is disappointing? Are the people of Hak I Class all so passive? It seems there isn't a single person willing to sacrifice for the class."
Before his words could even finish.
Gojin shot his arm up.
"Te-teacher!"
Instantly, all eyes turned to Gojin.
'Isn't he the problem child who sleeps during class?'
'Who is that guy trying to nominate?'
'It's obviously either Jo Cheolgi or Yi Geomhak.'
That was what the students thought. Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak, despite their arrogant and domineering personalities, came from excellent families, so befriending them was not a bad idea.
Among the Hak I Class students, there were those who had been trying to get on their good sides from the start. The students thought Gojin was one of them.
"So, who do you wish to nominate?"
At Myeong Seonghun's question, Gojin hesitated for a moment. He had raised his hand before anyone else, but even he felt immensely embarrassed to nominate himself.
'Wh-what in the world am I doing?'
Gojin had not even wanted to be class president.
But it was a matter involving money. Being kicked out for unpaid rent was far worse than enduring a moment of shame to earn money—several times more beneficial, in fact.
"Te-teacher, I nominate myself. If you entrust it to me, I'll do my best."
Gasp!
The students looked at Gojin with aghast expressions. Gojin's answer was something no one had anticipated.
'He nominated himself?'
'What kind of guy is that?'
'A guy without ability wanting to be class president. He has nerve like no other.'
'I could tell from all the sleeping during class, but he's completely beyond salvation!'
The students were appalled by Gojin nominating himself.
In all of Cheongun Academy's history on class president election days, Gojin was undoubtedly the first to nominate himself.
Perhaps because of that.
People cursed, saying that no human could be so thick-faced.
Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak looked at Gojin with dumbfounded expressions, ridiculing him.
'How did such a foolish bastard get into Cheongun Academy?'
'Hmph, you fool! If that's how one becomes class president, I would nominate myself too.'
However, the outcome developed in a direction no one had expected.
Myeong Seonghun could not even dream that Gojin was doing it for the tuition, and he liked Gojin's proactive attitude more than anything.
"Since there are no other nominations, you shall serve as the class president."
With only one candidate, there was no reason to vote.
'Th-this is absurd.'
'Being class president isn't some child's game…….'
Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak looked as foolish as dogs chasing chickens.
Originally, if there were no nominations, the class president was usually selected by academic rank. They had been waiting quietly believing that, only to be struck out of nowhere.
Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak immediately objected.
"How can you select a class president so haphazardly?"
"Gojin is a problem child who sleeps during class. Who would acknowledge someone like him as class president?"
'So that's why everyone was just looking around…….'
Myeong Seonghun now seemed to understand clearly.
In fact, he had wondered if the students' reluctance to nominate anyone might be due to Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak. He had somewhat foreseen this situation ever since Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak were assigned to Hak I Class.
But hearing their words now made him realize clearly. Cheongun Academy did not recognize status in principle. All students held the same status. That was the academy's principle.
Therefore, he was all the more inclined to entrust the class president position to a third party rather than Jo Cheolgi or Yi Geomhak. That would be the way to prevent strife before it began.
"Jo Cheolgi, Yi Geomhak! Any student at Cheongun Academy is qualified to be class president. Gojin, I hope you will lead Hak I Class proactively as you have done today."
With those words from Myeong Seonghun, the class president of Hak I Class was decided to be Gojin.
"R-really, teacher? I've become the class president?"
Gojin asked back with a bewildered expression.
The person most surprised by this outcome was Gojin himself.
Gojin had never even imagined he would be chosen as class president. He had merely raised his hand, and he himself had been worrying that there was almost no chance he would be chosen.
'I was chosen, but…… somehow, I feel like this has become a big deal.'
Unless he was an idiot, he could not fail to notice the classroom atmosphere.
Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak. And in the eyes of the other students, strong rejection arose—they could not accept Gojin as class president.
'That problem child dares?'
'He'll just sprawl out and sleep during class, won't he?'
The students' eyes said as much.
It was a matter that started because of money. The position of class president and honor were not important to him. He felt sorry for those who truly wanted to be class president, but that was precisely why he could not give up the position.
'By the way, how much is the tuition?'
Even amidst this, Gojin was thinking only of money.
三
Aigoo!
'The tuition fee is only ten mun…….'
Later, when Gojin asked Myeong Seonghun about the tuition, hearing "ten mun" made him deflate completely. How could his fortune be so wretched?
The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.
Gojin felt his greatly inflated heart collapse at the words "ten mun." He could not possibly step down from the class president position now, and he truly felt like going mad with frustration.
'Argh! Just when I thought things were going well…….'
Truthfully, he had not expected a large sum from the start, but ten mun was far too little. He was worried about when he could ever earn five nyang like this.
Being class president meant inevitably spending a lot of time at the academy. If he used that time to work instead, he could earn several times more money.
He was losing time and not getting money—somehow he felt like he had taken on nothing but a bothersome task.
But Gojin soon steeled his resolve anew.
'Still, ten mun is precious money to me. I should find a job quickly and earn money.'
The incident of Gojin nominating himself and becoming class president caused a stir at Cheongun Academy for several days.
First, some mocked him for being shameless, while most reactions were negative, wondering who Gojin was.
And the fact that he had stepped up to be class president in Hak I Class, where Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak held sway, led some to say it was an incredible gutsiness that bordered on recklessness, surpassing mere honesty.
But the Hak I Class students did not acknowledge Gojin as class president. They had already looked down on him as an unsalvageable delinquent who slept during class. None of them would change their minds just because he had become class president. On the contrary, their dislike only grew.
Some openly ignored Gojin at every turn, while others, though not openly dismissive, subtly disregarded Gojin's words.
"Hmph, you think we'd follow someone who seems to have snuck in through the back door?"
"Since it's come to this, we'll have to make him leave on his own, saying he can't do it."
After that day, Jo Cheolgi and Yi Geomhak showed no outward signs, but inwardly they were greatly enraged. They were waiting vigilantly for an opportunity to deal with Gojin.
"Trash-like bastard. Ignoring my warning and daring to take the class president position?"
"If you had any ability, I wouldn't feel this unpleasant."
Their anger was not simply from having the class president position taken. Gojin had been a problem student in Hak I Class. For him to nominate himself and become class president struck them as nothing less than a deliberate slight and obstruction.
"Gojin, I will make you regret this day for the rest of your life."
Their gazes were anything but ordinary.
Despite searching for a job every day, Gojin did not forget to study. Ever since the battle formation incident that day, he had devoted himself intensely to the Paljincheondohae.
Originally, Gojin had planned to buy the Paljincheondohae from Gwak Bung for money.
However, Gwak Bung readily gave it to him as an admission gift. The Paljincheondohae seemed unlikely to yield money even if translated, and it was a reward for Gojin's hard work.
When he had first moved to Beijing and settled into a place, he had studied only the Paljincheondohae. The Paljincheondohae was not a simple text ending with itself; it was connected to geometry, mathematics, astronomy, geography, and the I Ching, among various learning. Once he got his hands on it, over two shichen would fly by.
That had been the case, but after accidentally obtaining the Jinwen from the bow that Nam Okjin dropped, he divided his study time. Gojin would first study the Paljincheondohae and then begin deciphering the Jinwen.
To obtain qi, refine essence, and train the spirit is never the true Dao.
"What does this mean?"
Gojin tilted his head.
He was currently in the Cheongun Academy library. Fortunately, the library had a Jinwen dictionary. However, not every word was recorded, making perfect deciphering impossible.
Still, it was all he could rely on for now.
Gojin had taken a rubbing of the Jinwen engraved inside the bow and carried it in his bosom. And as soon as classes ended, he came straight to the library, spread out the Jinwen dictionary, and set about deciphering it.
As a result, he had managed to decipher the passages related to essence, qi, and spirit.
However, rather than resolving his questions, deciphering plunged him even deeper into a labyrinth. This seemed less like learning and more like a mind and body training method.
"What are the qi, essence, and spirit mentioned here, and what does it mean by the true Dao?"
Gojin furrowed his face.
Both Confucianism and Daoism mention the Dao. Ultimately, the Dao spoken of in Confucianism and Daoism is one and the same in vein.
But he could not understand what the Dao referred to in a mind and body training method like this. No, more than that, he wondered if such a high-level learning like Confucianism or Daoism could exist within a mind and body training method.
Martial arts were simply a training of mind and body; there was no way something high-level could exist within them.
This was the prejudice Gojin held.
No, this was not a prejudice held by Gojin alone—most scholars probably thought the same. Therefore, it was difficult to understand what the Jinwen was saying.
Gojin felt his pride wounded. He was someone who realized any learning without difficulty upon reading it once. Yet, no matter how many times he read the Jinwen, he could not understand its meaning.
"I suppose I'll have to interpret the next passage to know."
Gojin was surprisingly stubborn. He was also no less competitive than anyone.
From a young age, whenever something blocked him or raised a question, he would forget to eat and immerse himself until it was resolved. Needless to say, now that his pride was wounded, there was no question.
As he was flipping through the dictionary and interpreting the Jinwen.
"Ho, is that not Jinwen?"
"Hm?"
Gojin unconsciously looked up and sprang to his feet in surprise.
"Headmaster!"
A white-haired old man with a benevolent appearance and long silver beard.
He was none other than Headmaster Undae of Cheongun Academy.
四
"Who might you be?"
"I am Gojin, who enrolled this year."
"Ho, a new student reading Jinwen?"
Headmaster Undae looked at Gojin with a proud expression.
Ancient characters were difficult to decipher even for upperclassmen. Jinwen was a script one step older and more difficult than ancient characters.
A peculiar light arose in Headmaster Undae's eyes.
Then he suddenly recalled that the top-scoring student who enrolled this year had received a perfect score for the first time in Cheongun Academy history. Several of the problems had been personally devised by Headmaster Undae. He had created a few problems that intermediate students should be able to solve and a few that upperclassmen would barely manage to solve.
Under normal circumstances, a perfect score should have been impossible.
Even the intermediate and upperclassmen who saw the exam papers considered them quite tricky.
As expected, even those known as prodigies, such as Yi Geomhak and Jo Cheolgi, had all gotten them wrong. It was perhaps only natural.
Yet, surprisingly, Gojin had solved all the intermediate and upperclassmen-level problems. The teachers were shocked, and Headmaster Undae himself took great notice of Gojin.
"Might you be the one who enrolled as the top scorer?"
"Th-that is correct. But h-how do you know me?"
"Hehe! How could this old man not know? I personally devised the difficult problems."
"I-it was merely luck."
Gojin spoke humbly.
"Hehe! Had I known you were at the level of reading Jinwen, I would have made them even harder."
"……."
Gojin scratched his head with an embarrassed expression. To say he was reading it was shameful. Though he was deciphering it with a dictionary spread open, even that was difficult, taking several days to decipher a single sentence.
But Headmaster Undae smiled broadly with a pleased expression and said to Gojin.
"I had no idea a child interested in such archaic old texts still existed today!"
Though he spoke thus, Headmaster Undae's eyes were infinitely desolate.
In truth, these days, true learning was fading away due to fierce exam preparation.
Even Cheongun Academy was no different. There were roughly a dozen renowned academies under heaven, and they engaged in fierce ranking battles every year. Having a high ranking was advantageous for attracting students, after all.
The primary method of determining an academy's ranking was, of course, the number of its students who passed the imperial examination. Recently, employment rates at merchant companies, military camps, and escort agencies had also become essential criteria for ranking.
The imperial examination was not held every year. Therefore, in years when the exam was held, the rankings would undergo dramatic changes. To avoid falling behind in the ranking competition, each academy had no choice but to focus on exam-oriented study.
It was no exaggeration to call it an entrance exam war. However, learning was about seeking knowledge and achieving wisdom, virtue, and physical fitness—it did not exist merely to pass the imperial examination. Headmaster Undae lamented this state of affairs.
"Tsk tsk, it is good to take an interest in Jinwen, but if you interpret it by flipping through a dictionary one word at a time, it will take over a year."
Headmaster Undae clicked his tongue lightly.
Gojin had not realized it, but in fact, Headmaster Undae had been observing him for more than a shichen. He had assumed the rubbing Gojin carried was part of an old text's contents.
"I am deeply honored, Headmaster! This disciple merely……."
"Are you saying you are frustrated and indignant that things do not go as you wish?"
"Th-that is……."
Gojin's face reddened.
"Keke! A true man must have at least such will. Learning must begin with feeling one's own inadequacy and painful self-reflection. Only then can one devote oneself more deeply to learning."
Headmaster Undae smiled benevolently.
"What do you say? If you do not dislike the idea, I would like to teach you Jinwen."
"Is that true?"
Gojin was startled.
He had been feeling the limitations of deciphering with a dictionary.
Gojin was the type who had to see things through to the end when questions arose.
But deciphering Jinwen alone was nearly impossible. Given his personality, he could not give up halfway, but neither could he afford to spend forever on Jinwen.
At that moment, Headmaster Undae had proposed teaching him Jinwen. To Gojin, Headmaster Undae's words were like discovering a ray of light in a dark cave. Soon, however, he cautiously asked.
"But would that be alright? Any student at Cheongun Academy would wish to receive instruction directly from the Headmaster."
"That is surely true! Then let us keep today's matter a secret! If others knew, would they not say I am showing favoritism to you alone?"
Headmaster Undae winked. He was pleased by Gojin's considerate heart.
In the current climate where interest in the imperial examination grew and interest in old texts gradually waned, Gojin's demeanor was certainly peculiar. Therefore, he took a greater liking to Gojin and felt the desire to teach him.
'If I teach this child, the lineage of Jinwen shall not be lost!'
Indeed.
In the Central Plains, Headmaster Undae was the only one who properly knew Jinwen. Originally, Jinwen was difficult learning, but because it was not a script of the Central Plains, no one bothered to learn it.
The two set a time and secretly began to teach and learn Jinwen. Headmaster Undae took the opportunity to teach not only Western Region scripts but also oracle bone scripts and Huihui scripts—ancient scripts that had already vanished.
Other people would have refused to learn such rigid, archaic learning, fearing it would interfere with the imperial examination.
But Gojin's eyes sparkled to learn even one more thing.
This moved Headmaster Undae's heart, and he too taught Gojin passionately.
Gojin possessed considerable skill in Western Region script.
He had translated several Western Region books over the past few years and had traveled to the Western Regions to learn spoken and written language directly. Therefore, it would be no exaggeration to say he understood Western Region script even more accurately than Headmaster Undae.
"You followed a merchant caravan to the Western Regions yourself?"
Headmaster Undae was astonished upon hearing Gojin's explanation.
"One can go for free if one works as a laborer."
Gojin spoke with an awkward expression.
"After all, translations cannot fully capture the feeling of the original……."
"Hehe! That is very true."
Headmaster Undae laughed heartily.
Gojin's words were absolutely correct a hundred, a thousand times over. To study properly, one must insist on the original text. Because language and script constitute more than half of learning.
But the problem was that scholars these days did not go to the Western Regions to learn the language to read the original texts. In that sense, Gojin was a born scholar.
'As expected, my eyes did not deceive me!'
Headmaster Undae looked at Gojin with a satisfied smile.
A future where the academic world of the Great Ming Empire would be newly restructured around Gojin was vividly drawn before his eyes.