I Became a Hotelier at the Goryeo National Hotel - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 30

 

‘Lost again? Could it be that Mother passed away first…?’

 

After finishing her words, the little child dusted off her hands and abruptly stood up, heading toward Hyeeum Sa.

 

‘…Did I hurt her feelings?’

 

Seo Rin sat for a while where the little child had been sitting, then returned to her room with a bitter heart.

 

When she opened the door and entered, Gap-i and Da Sim were sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall, deliciously eating lavash.

 

“Oh, you’re back?”

 

“Huh? Yeah…”

 

Seo Rin roughly washed herself with the water Gap-i had brought, took a piece of lavash, and plopped down next to Gap-i.

 

Gap-i suddenly stared at the lavash she was tearing and asked.

 

“S-Seo Rin. What’s g-going to happen to those k-kids now?”

 

Like Seo Rin, Gap-i also had younger brothers following her around, so she seemed worried about those bone-thin children she had seen earlier.

 

“I wonder…”

 

“O-of course banditry is b-bad. In the n-neighborhood where I l-lived, b-bandits also p-plundered our grain. But I’ve n-never seen such y-young bandits before. And s-so skinny too.”

 

“You’re right. They looked like they’d break with just a poke from my chopsticks.”

 

“Don’t h-hit them!”

 

Gap-i shouted with her mouth full of lavash.

 

“…As if I’d actually hit them. I’m just saying.”

 

Seo Rin looked at Gap-i with cold eyes and sighed before speaking.

 

“Right, they looked way too severely malnourished when I saw them earlier.”

 

Da Sim stopped tearing her lavash and spoke with a worried expression.

 

“But what about those kids? I heard that if you get caught stealing, you get corporal punishment…”

 

“Corporal punishment?”

 

“Getting beaten with a beating stick. I heard it can be as many as 50 strikes in severe cases.”

 

“What?!!”

 

They’re going to beat those children who are nothing but bones with a beating stick? And 50 strikes when even one hit would be devastating?

 

The image of the children desperately tearing at the lavash flashed through Seo Rin’s mind.

 

…And over those children’s faces, her younger sibling Chang Hee’s face overlapped once again.

 

“Banditry? Yes, that’s definitely wrong. But as a result, no one was hurt and nothing was stolen. Shouldn’t such cases receive reduced sentences? If they die from the beating, wouldn’t that be too harsh?”

 

Isn’t the real problem the state that drove such young children to banditry to avoid starving to death?

 

‘Instead of building this kind of hotel, if they had used that money to help the people instead—’

 

Then a passage from the information guide she had read at Hyeeumwon’s visitor center came to Seo Rin’s mind.

 

…It serves as a resting place for government officials and civilian travelers, and also plays a role in stabilizing people’s livelihoods by providing relief when the people face difficulties such as crop failures or epidemics…

 

‘Relief…’

 

Relief is when the state rescues disaster victims or the poor! Then it’s exactly for kids like them, isn’t it?

 

“Girls, we really can’t just ignore something like this, right?”

 

“H-huh?”

 

‘These are kids I fed my food to – I can’t just leave them like this!’

 

* * *

 

The room where the head monk of Hyeeum-sa stays, the Abbot’s Quarters.

 

The owner of the Abbot’s Quarters, Hye Gwang, was in the midst of a fierce battle with a needle, relying on the dim oil lamp light.

 

Hye Gwang was currently trying to take apart donated winter clothes and alter them to a smaller size. But he couldn’t see the eye of this damn needle and couldn’t thread it.

 

“Oh my, these stubborn eyes of mine. They won’t follow my will to find just one needle’s eye.”

 

He moistened it with saliva once more and tried to thread it again, when a hand quietly took away his sewing materials from beside him.

 

“Monk, why don’t you confine us and lock the door?”

 

Instead of the old monk, the one who skillfully threaded the needle and began sewing the clothes was the oldest among the captured children.

 

“What did you say your name was?”

 

“…It’s Jae Yeol.”

 

“Ah yes, that’s right. These days my memory tends to run away.”

 

“…”

 

Jae Yeol’s heart felt as heavy as lead.

 

When their theft was discovered – they had all gone out together wanting to cook at least one bowl of porridge for their families – he thought they would surely die now.

 

But they weren’t immediately handed over to the government office, nor were they confined. They were even given food to share and allowed to sleep in a warm place.

 

Moreover, this old monk had not only given up his room but had personally laid out his own bedding in the same room, saying he would sleep together with them.

 

Jae Yeol kept watching to see if he could discern the old monk’s intentions. But suddenly he brought out some clothes and began sewing, just like when his mother had taken apart his clothes to make clothes for his younger sibling.

 

Feeling uncomfortable just watching the monk struggle without being able to thread even one strand through the needle’s eye, Jae Yeol had taken away the sewing materials the old monk was holding.

 

“…You’re good at this. It doesn’t seem like your first time?”

 

“…Yes, I often helped my mother with her work.”

 

Jae Yeol had helped his parents with their work, whether it was farm work or housework, since long before he came of age.

 

Perhaps because of this, his skill at mending clothes was much better than most women. He had personally made several sets of clothes for his younger sibling by taking apart his own clothes.

 

Hye Gwang quietly looked at Jae Yeol.

 

“Would you have preferred if I had confined you?”

 

At the old monk’s words, Jae Yeol put down the fabric he was sewing.

 

“…Either way, we are thieves…after all.”

 

“It seems you know you did wrong.”

 

“…Yes. …Um, Monk.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“…Will we be going to the government office tomorrow?”

 

“Well, I don’t know? Everything happens according to Buddha’s will, doesn’t it?”

 

“…Huh?”

 

Hye Gwang sat there thinking about something for a while, then brushed himself off and stood up.

 

“Let me go out for a moment.”

 

Jae Yeol was flustered. Once the old monk left, there would be no one guarding this room.

 

“Wh-what if we run away while you’re gone?!”

 

“Will you run away?”

 

“N-no!”

 

“Then what’s the problem.”

 

Hye Gwang left without looking back.

 

After leaving the Abbot’s Quarters, Hye Gwang headed to Hyeeumwon’s Medical Office.

 

With several oil lamps lit, the bright Medical Office was filled with the heavy scent of herbal medicine.

 

At one side of the room by the medicine cabinet, a monk was adding medicinal herbs to a medicine pot placed on a brazier filled with charcoal.

 

As the medicine went in, a sweet yet bitter smell spread through the air.

 

“Is there any improvement?”

 

“You’ve arrived, Master.”

 

The monk immediately guided Hye Gwang to the inner part of the Medical Office where the sickbed was located.

 

When the monk drew back the banner, Eun Cheon, Jun Gyeong, and Lee Jeong Ah could be seen standing beside the sickbed with worried faces.

 

On the sickbed lay Go Jang Nam, the Head Cook who had collapsed in the kitchen earlier, with a pale complexion.

 

“Master, you’ve come.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Hye Gwang sat in the chair beside the sickbed, lifted Go Jang Nam’s wrist to check his pulse, and closed his eyes.

 

Hye Gwang was not only the head monk of Hyeeum Sa, but also a physician of high repute on Myohyang Mountain.

 

“…Hmm.”

 

“How… is he?”

 

Lee Jeong Ah asked with a worried expression.

 

“Fortunately, there’s improvement.”

 

Lee Jeong Ah exhaled in relief.

 

“Why did the Head Cook suddenly collapse?”

 

Eun Cheon, who was standing behind, asked.

 

“It seems he consumed a laxative.”

 

“A laxative? Isn’t that medicine that causes diarrhea?”

 

When Lee Jeong Ah was startled, the young monk who was brewing medicine answered instead.

 

“That’s correct. There are teas that cause stomach pain and upset stomach when brewed strong and consumed, and it seems he drank that. This was found discarded in the area behind the kitchen.”

 

“Oh my…”

 

He unfolded some paper. What was inside appeared to be the tea leaf residue he had just mentioned.

 

“…Ugh…”

 

At that moment, a faint groan escaped from between Go Jang Nam’s lips.

 

“Head Cook, are you regaining consciousness?”

 

At Hye Gwang’s words, Go Jang Nam’s eyelids trembled, then slowly lifted.

 

“…Master? Why am I…”

 

“Don’t you remember? You lost consciousness and collapsed in the kitchen.”

 

Footnote

 

1) Bangjang : The dwelling place of a high-ranking monk.

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