An Advertising Genius Falls into the Joseon Era - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 21
Cheongyun Pavilion.
From Cheongyun Pavilion, renowned throughout Uiju for its splendor, flowed the notes of a gayageum and the silvery laughter of courtesans.
The tables overflowed with rare delicacies and fine spirits one rarely encountered in ordinary life.
“Ha-ha-ha! So you know what this fellow said to me then?”
“What did he say?”
The courtesans perked up at Han Seong-deok’s words, their curiosity kindled.
“Ah.”
After a moment, he steadied his voice and began to mimic Ha Yun’s manner of speaking.
“The moment this gulbi graces the royal court dining table, the whole realm shall witness that our establishment’s gulbi stands supreme in all Joseon. How, then, could one speak of its price as cheap or dear?”
“Oh!”
Han Seong-deok trumpeted Ha Yun’s heroic tales, using them as fuel for his own merriment.
“Goodness, what such confidence! My own heart swelled just watching from the side, I tell you.”
“Is it true he really said such a thing?”
“Of course! Even the great master was left speechless, hanging on his every word.”
“Truly, a man of such bearing and presence—one destined for great things carries himself differently from the rest.”
With words of praise, the courtesans drew closer to Ha Yun’s side.
“Young master, as a token of remembrance, allow me to offer you a cup.”
“Ah, yes… of course.”
Ha Yun accepted the cup with an awkward smile.
‘So this is what a lavish treat amounts to?’
She’d come expecting a grand feast, only to find herself in a pleasure house—a place she’d never imagined visiting.
By her true nature, she would have stormed straight out the front gate.
Yet, dressed in men’s clothes and serving as the evening’s guest of honor, her sudden departure would arouse unwanted suspicion. So she remained.
“Do take a cup from me as well, young master.”
“Ah… yes.”
Ha Yun drained the cup with visible reluctance.
‘Ugh, it’s bitter.’
This was already the third cup.
After that, the cups kept flowing toward Ha Yun in unending succession.
“I’ve wronged you these past months. Allow me to offer a sincere apology here and now with this drink.”
“Then I shall…”
Ha Yun drained it at once. The fierce grain liquor burned its way down her throat, scalding her insides.
“I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean any of it, though that sounds hollow now.”
“I understand. I do.”
Ha Yun smiled bitterly.
“Well then, I suppose I must offer a cup as well. I was the one who teased you most mercilessly, after all.”
“It was you?”
“Do accept my cup, and let us bury all past grievances this evening.”
“No lingering resentment—understood!”
With cup after cup pressed upon her, Ha Yun’s mind grew steadily hazier.
The other stewards, watching her, burst into broad grins.
“Understood? The fact that you’re spouting words we can’t even parse means you’re quite drunk, Ha Yun. Ha-ha-ha!”
“Drunk? Me? Hic!”
“Ha! Now that you’re drunk, you finally seem human. You were so stiff before—nearly impossible to talk to.”
“Indeed. I couldn’t even meet your eyes.”
Once the others saw Ha Yun loosening up, they too began to treat her without reserve.
“Come now, we shouldn’t waste this moment. Let’s conduct a proper initiation ritual right here.”
“An initiation ritual?”
“Don’t overthink it. Just drain another cup. Go on!”
“Understood. Hic!”
If alcohol had one saving grace, it was this: it made fools of everyone equally.
Spilled cups, dropped chopsticks, repeated remarks said moments before—words one would never ordinarily utter came tumbling out without hesitation.
And crucially, fools needed only to glance at each other to dissolve into laughter.
That was why a drinking gathering never lacked for mirth.
Ha Yun, too, loved the spirit of such occasions.
If everyone could laugh in joy, she didn’t mind being the fool.
Conceiving something, bringing it to life, presenting it to the world—
Contrary to appearances, Ha Yun’s nature inclined toward bringing happiness to others.
“Ah.”
Ha Yun drained his cup in one motion, his half-lidded eyes sweeping across the other staff members.
“Now, shouldn’t you seniors have a drink too? Hiccup!”
“Huh? Us as well?”
“How could I be the only one drinking? Come on!”
“Wait—”
As Ha Yun poured strong grain liquor into a bowl with a splashy flourish, the staff members couldn’t hide their bewilderment.
“What are you doing, just standing there? Drink up! This is my offering to you. Hiccup!”
“Ha, we’ve met our match here.”
“Indeed. By the looks of it, he won’t be leaving on his own two feet tonight.”
“Down the hatch! The liquor flows! How long are you going to keep me dancing on my shoulders! Look at me! My shoulder’s dislocated!”
As Ha Yun descended into buffoonery, the atmosphere ripened in an instant. Cheongyun Pavilion filled with laughter that showed no signs of stopping.
In this world where everyone had become a fool, there was one person who still maintained perfect clarity of mind……
“Tsk, pathetic.”
The cup that had been first poured for Song Do-hyeon still sat before him untouched.
Though the mere reek of liquor in the air was enough to intoxicate someone, Song Do-hyeon maintained an impeccably upright posture without the slightest wavering.
That was when it happened.
A courtesan approached him.
She had clearly taken a fancy to Song Do-hyeon’s handsome features.
“Won’t you have a drink as well? Why do you sit so stiffly on such a fine evening?”
As the courtesan brought a fresh cup and moved to pour, Song Do-hyeon blocked it with his hand.
“I’ll pass.”
“Sir?”
“No need. Pour for those fools over there instead.”
Without hesitation, he rose from his seat and walked out.
Bang!
The door closed harshly, and silence descended upon the room in an instant.
“Tsk, he’s ruined the taste of the evening. What’s his problem?”
“That one’s just broken.”
“We brought him here for Ha Yun’s sake, and all he does is dampen the mood.”
As cold water was thrown on their festive spirit, complaints erupted among the staff.
“Tut-tut, such arrogance will earn him the disdain of the head steward.”
“That wretch is destined to live alone. I’ve never seen him mesh with anyone.”
“Does a mere yangban really think he can indulge in such pride?”
At the word yangban, Ha Yun’s eyes widened.
“A yangban? Song was a yangban? Hiccup!”
“Who knows. The rumor says he’s from a fallen yangban line, but who could trust anything about that man?”
“What yangban would be doing work like this if they had any means? They’d sooner starve.”
“Exactly! Nothing about him is trustworthy, I’m telling you.”
Now the mystery began to unravel.
The reason for the solitude that had always emanated from Song Do-hyeon.
Ha Yun felt a strange kinship with him.
Just as he had fallen into a different world overnight, so too had Song Do-hyeon.
“Hmm, a yangban, then……”
Ha Yun stared at Song Do-hyeon’s vacant seat with a half-dazed expression.
The cup that had been first poured still sat there untouched.
***
“Ugh, I’m getting drunk.”
Unable to bear the endless drinking bout, Ha Yun stepped outside for fresh air.
The rear garden, where few people ventured, was quiet and serene.
Cool night air brushed against his face, and the distant sound of a gayageum drifted to his ears.
Ha Yun staggered slightly and leaned against the railing for a moment.
“Phew……”
As he exhaled, the heat of the liquor escaped with his breath.
Only by getting this drunk could he forget, even for a moment.
The pressure of his duties.
The task of finding the Gogyok.
The fact that he had fallen into the Joseon era.
He pretended to be composed on the surface, but an invisible weight pressed upon his shoulders at all times.
“Huh? Two moons? No, just one.”
The full moon reflected in the lake was the same two hundred years hence as it was now. The only thing that had changed was Ha Yun’s circumstances.
That was when it happened.
“Huh?”
Someone else was standing in one corner of the rear garden.
They stood in shadow so Ha Yun couldn’t make out their face, yet something about their silhouette felt familiar.
A moment later, as moonlight brushed across them, their identity became clear at last.
“Song Do-hyeon!”
Song Do-hyeon was standing in the rear garden—the one Ha Yun thought had returned to his quarters. A smile bloomed across Ha Yun’s lips at the sight of him.
“You bastard, you picked a good time. Hic!”
The alcohol that had built up inside him drove his body forward.
Words spilled from his mouth without thought.
Emotion tumbled out of his chest of its own accord.
“Hey there, Song.”
“Song?”
“Yeah. You’re Song, not Im, right?”
“This is utterly absurd—!”
Song Do-hyeon’s eyes widened with bewilderment at the unfamiliar form of address.
“Tch….”
He’d nearly bristled with anger, but catching sight of Ha Yun—now thoroughly sodden—he let out a long, pitying sigh instead.
“…You’re drunk. Go inside.”
“Yeah, I’m drunk! So what! Hic!”
Using the alcohol as cover, Ha Yun began spilling out all the feelings he’d bottled up until now.
“Song Do-hyeon. Don’t live your life so tight. Don’t, all right?”
“What are you—”
“Enjoy things when there’s time to enjoy them. What happens later if you don’t? What then?”
“…What’s this sudden outburst about?”
“Nobody knows how their life will turn out tomorrow. Nobody.”
What Ha Yun was saying now wasn’t really meant for Song Do-hyeon at all—it was a confession directed at himself.
That night before he fell into Joseon.
If only he’d listened when his friend Su-jin said, “Why don’t you leave early for once?”
If only he hadn’t pushed to lock in that project deadline.
He might have been at the alumni gathering now, laughing and celebrating the year’s end.
His last memory as the truck struck him was, “What about the work I left behind?”
His past—a life spent looking only ahead—was something he could never regret enough.
Drawing from his own experience, Ha Yun pressed on with his counsel.
“You keep living like that and eventually nobody stays by your side. Friends, family—you lose them all. You want that?”
His agitation sent the alcohol rushing through him faster.
In the haze of his failing consciousness, Ha Yun wasn’t even aware of what words were leaving his mouth.
“Your past? It doesn’t matter how you lived before. None of it matters. What matters is right now. Right now.”
……
Song Do-hyeon stared at Ha Yun in silence.
His eyes held an unreadable tangle of emotion.
“So from now on, live properly. If you don’t, you’ll regret it deeply later. Remember what I’m saying.”
……
Like a man whose secrets had been laid bare, Song Do-hyeon said nothing in return. He only stood and listened, quiet and still.
“You get it? You unlucky bastard. Hmm….”
Even as Ha Yun continued with his lengthy sermon, his head began to droop slowly,
and with a soft thud,
he collapsed directly onto Song Do-hyeon’s chest.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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