Chapter 2: The Ghost Woman

"What on earth do you mean, a ‘ghost woman’?"

"Good heavens, I saw her with my own eyes! And it wasn’t just me. The whole village saw her! With her hair all loose and wearing strange clothes, who else could she be but a ghost woman?"

"Shut your mouth! You must’ve seen some illusion and come babbling nonsense."

Though Hong Eon Guk scolded the man harshly, he hurriedly adjusted his hat strings and prepared to step outside.

The villager’s face was still filled with unease.

"Isn't this an omen of some great calamity? We must report it to the magistrate at once—"

"Enough! Have you forgotten the old saying, 'Do not speak of the supernatural and absurd'? If word of this reaches the magistrate’s ears, do you even realize the trouble you’ll bring upon yourself?"

With that sharp rebuke, Hong Eon Guk hastily straightened his robes and stormed out the gate with his sleeves billowing behind him.

Though he had dismissed it as nothing serious, something told him he needed to see it with his own eyes.

The village man shuffled out after him, muttering like a drowned rat.

"My lord, mark my words. This bodes no good. Whether it brings poor harvests or shipwrecks, mark my words... trouble’s coming."

Listening half-heartedly, Hong Eon Guk swiftly mounted the horse prepared in front of the government office and said to the government office's slave beside him.

"Deok Chul, go to the provincial office at once and tell the officer on duty to gather the constables."

"Huh? Why summon the constables so suddenly at this hour...?"

"A stranger was swept in by the currents. If she's just a shipwrecked drifter, then it's fine. But, what if she's a leftover bandit or a straggler from the Japanese raiders?"

"Ah... Yes! Understood!"

At the mention of bandits and raiders, the government office's slave named Deok Chul tensed up and hurried off.

Hearing this, the eyes of the village man also widened in alarm.

"Seems like something’s about to go down, eh?"

"You! If you go around spreading reckless rumors, you’ll be the first one to taste the rod. Mark my words."

With that stern warning, Hong Eon Guk yanked the reins with a 'Hyah!' and spurred his horse forward.

The horse from the Gyeonggi Provincial Office, used as a dispatch steed, vanished into the distance in an instant, its vigorous hoofbeats fading away.

~~~~~

"Um... excuse me? Do you understand me? Hello?"

Ji Yeong dragged her soaked body slowly toward the shore. Each time she took a step, the villagers buzzed with murmurs and retreated a step back. It wasn’t so much that they were afraid of her, but closer to the wary caution one might feel toward an unfamiliar animal encountered for the first time.

"You... you do understand Korean, right? Where is this place? Please, say something."

Fragments of the villagers' voices faintly reached Ji Yeong’s ears.

The whispers weren’t entirely clear, but she could definitely make out their words. They sounded like something out of a period drama, an archaic way of speaking straight from history.

"Are you filming a drama? Or a movie? Whatever it is, the realism is insane. In various ways."

Ji Yeong forced a wary smile, trying not to startle them as she inched closer.

But, the villagers still eyed her with unmasked wariness.

Then...

"Stop!"

A sharp command cut through the air.

The moment the order rang out, the plain-clothed villagers dropped to the ground in unison, pressing their foreheads to the dirt.

In the wake of the commotion, Ji Yeong was left standing alone, utterly bewildered.

The reason for the villagers' prostration became clear immediately.

A dozen of constables in black official robes with spears in hands, surged forward and swiftly surrounded her.

Behind them, a man atop a horse with his face shaded by the wide brim of a traditional Korean hat spoke with an air of unquestioned authority.

"Hong Eon Guk, Chief Aide to the Provincial Governor of Gyeonggi, demands an answer. State plainly, stranger. What misfortune had casted you upon these shores?"

Hong Eon Guk glared down at her from his saddle with his piercing gaze. The constables gripping their spears wore expressions of hardened suspicion.

"Ah...that. Look, I don’t really get it either, but I think I was in a car accident....in France...on the highway to the airport...?"

Ji Yeong’s rushed explanation came out in a tangled mess.

The villagers still prostrating on the ground, the spear-wielding constables, and the man on horseback all wore expressions of utter bewilderment.

It seemed none of them could fully grasp what she was saying.

"A most bizarre manner of speech. A dialect I’ve never heard. First, tell us where you came from."

His suspicion remained sharp as he pressed her again. Ji Yeong realized that she needed to defuse their wariness and to do that, she’d have to answer their questions, however absurd they sounded.

"I’m a Korean. A citizen of the Republic of Korea."

"The Republic of Korea? Does such a place exist...?"

"Perhaps... a minor southern barbarian state? If you go down the south of Yugu nation, there are many small island kingdoms, or so I’ve heard."

When a duty officer in military cap slided closer and whispered, Hong Eon Guk gave a grudging nod, as if this scrap of half-knowledge satisfied him.

"At least we share the same langauge. So, I will ask you again. What brought you from that place called Republic of Korea, where you lived, to the land of Joseon? Speak truthfully."

Ji Yeong had a mountain of her own questions, but their relentless interrogation left her floundering. She decided to stick to the bare minimum.

"Well, uh... I was in a traffic accident. You know, a 'traffic accident'? When two cars go 'smash' into each other. And then, somehow, I ended up...here."

Ji Yeong was gesturing frantically, trying to keep her answers as simple as possible, when suddenly one of the prostrating villagers cried out.

"A ghost woman! How else could she wear such outlandish clothes yet speak our langauge so smoothly? In all my decades of life, I’ve never seen such an abomination!"

As if waiting for this very moment, the crowd’s suppressed fears erupted like a dam breaking.

"A ghost woman! A cursed omen!"

"With taxes already crushing us, another poor harvest will starve us all!"

"Who knows what calamity she might bring?"

"We have to drown her back in the river at once. The spirits are angered!"

The murmurings spread once more among the people.

This unrest seemed to stem from a deep-seated fear of something.

What could they be so afraid of?

Ji Yeong was taken aback by the sudden outcry—

"Silence!"

Hong Eon Guk shouted. At the same time, the officer on duty beside him drew his sword from his waist.

Swoosh!

The sharp, chilling sound of metal rang out, and like cold water being poured over them, the murmuring died down instantly.

Indeed, they were people of absolute monarchy who were long conditioned to submit to the ruling class.

But, it was clear that their submission under the threat of the sword was only temporary. Sooner or later, in some way or another, their resentment would erupt again.

~~~~~

"If we leave things like this, who knows what might happen? We can't just dispose of a stranger without proper questioning. For now, take her to the provincial office."

"Understood. What are you all standing around for? Tie her up at once!"

No sooner had the order been given than the constables rushed at Ji Yeong and bound her tightly with a rope.

~~~~~

'Something is seriously wrong here.'

Ji Yeong, locked in a prison cell that resembled a barn filled with hay, couldn't shake off the thought.

'This isn’t just a simple mistake. This is something far beyond.'

She had been driving along the outer road in Paris, heading to the airport, when an excruciating headache struck her. Her memory cut off there.

And when she opened her eyes, she was here.

How she ended up here from France was one question, but an even bigger one loomed in her mind.

'Is this really the Joseon Dynasty?'

At first, she thought it might be a film set, that these people were all highly trained actors.

But, as she was brought to this place called 'Gyeonggi Provincial Office', she had to abandon that idea.

On the way here, she hadn’t seen a single modern building...no cars, no motorcycles, just the occasional merchant pulling an ox-cart or leading a donkey.

'Have I really traveled back to the Joseon Dynasty?'

No matter how many times she asked herself, as hard as it was to believe, she couldn’t deny what was right in front of her.

When she asked the constables what year it was, all they said was that it was the 'Gapja' year (甲子)*.

[TL/ N : Gapja year* - In the traditional Korean calendar (based on the Chinese sexagenary cycle), the Gapja year (갑자년, 甲子年) is the first year in the 60-year cycle that combines two systems, Heavenly Stems (10 cyclical characters) and Earthly Branches (12 zodiac animals).]

Commoners in the Joseon era used the sexagenary cycle to mark years, so expecting a more precise answer was pointless. She could only guess which 'Gapja' year this might be among the many in history.

But, there was a more important question than knowing the exact year.

'Is there any way to return to my own time?'

She had been rushing back to Korea upon hearing that her father was critically ill, only to end up in this unimaginable place.

She had to find a way back, and fast.

As she thought this, her eyes caught the moon peeking through the wooden bars of the cell.

Somehow, the sight gave her a sliver of courage.

'At least the moon is the same, no matter where I am or what era I am in.'

~~~~~

'Tomorrow is going to be a long day.'

Hong Eon Guk, the magistrate of Gyeonggi Provincial Office, gazed at the moon in the night sky. His mind was uneasy.

Because he would have to receive important guests tomorrow.

Hong Gwi Dal, the Gyeonggi Governor whom Eon Guk served under, was not only a highly respected senior official in the court, but also his own father.

It was only natural that Eon Guk himself, as the governor’s son, should take charge of hosting the guests to ensure everything went smoothly.

Yet, he knew all too well that this duty would be like sitting on a bed of thorns.

‘The guests visiting tomorrow are notoriously corrupted officials infamous throughout the land. And among them, there are figures of such immense power who could even make birds fall from the sky…’

A deep furrow formed between Eon Guk’s brows.

It was no secret that his stubborn, rigidly principled father had many enemies.

This was precisely why he had wanted to avoid escalating the incident that had occurred earlier near Mapo dock at dusk.

‘If absurd rumors spread about a ghost woman appearing from water or some other nonsense, it could be used as an excuse to accuse him of failing to control public sentiment. Who knows what kind of slander might follow?’

For now, they’ve locked up the stranger and tightly sealed the people’s tongues. All they could do would be hoping for no further troubles to arise.

"Was that so, Father? What did that stranger’s clothing look like?"

A clear, childlike voice snapped Hong Eon Guk back to reality. Before him sat a lovely young girl with neatly braided hair. She was his thirteen-year-old daughter. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she pestered him, as always, about the world’s affairs.

"I’ve never seen such bizarre attire in my life. A peculiar jacket, trousers that clung tightly to the legs, and her hair, loose with wild curls. No wonder the commoners mistook her for a water ghost."

"How fascinating! Where could she have come from?"

"Well… she did mention that she came from a place called ‘the Republic of Korea'. From what I’ve heard, it seems to be some island nation far to the south."

Though his daughter’s innocent face was so dear that it wouldn’t hurt even if she were placed in his eye, Hong Eon Guk’s unease only grew heavier.

The guests visiting tomorrow were none other than the so-called "Lim Clan Father and Son" Im Sa Hong, the Minister of Public Works, and his son, Chief Secretary Im Song Jae. They were the vilest of corrupted officials, branded as "the worst of treacherous ministers." Countless households had been ruined after falling prey to their schemes.

‘Everything should go smoothly…’

Yet, as he gazed at his daughter’s innocent expression, Hong Eon Guk’s face hardened like stone.

-----

*Author's Note*

Hong Eon Guk (1475–1540)

The son of Hong Gwi Dal, Governor of Gyeonggi Province. In actual history, he was exiled after refusing to send his daughter to become Prince Yeonsan's concubine. That was none other than the incident that sparked the "Gapja Sahwa" (갑자사화, 甲子士禍), the 1504 Purge of Scholars.

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Miel's Translations