Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 1

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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 1. Persimmons and Marinated Crabs Are Off-Limits
Whoosh!
A stone shot from my slingshot cleaved through the crisp early-winter air.
Direct hit!
Moments later, a perfectly ripe persimmon that had been hanging from the very top of the persimmon tree plummeted to the ground with a soft thud.
“Excellent!”
I pumped my small fist and cheered with unbridled enthusiasm.
Honestly, I felt immensely proud. After all, I was only four years old—merely a child.
“Sigh….”
But my satisfaction was fleeting.
Here I was, reduced to flailing about on these stubby little legs. Suddenly, the weight of reality crashed down upon me.
It had been half a year since I—a twenty-four-year-old history student—awoke in the body of a four-year-old child.
If I had opened my eyes in a Joseon Dynasty palace, shouldn’t I have become a princess or imperial daughter at the very least?
I sighed and looked down at my clothes, which seemed to defy the typical rules of transmigration narratives.
A loose jade-colored jeogori and a blue skirt hung loosely on my frame. Red trim adorned the sleeves.
The red trim was the mark of a palace maid.
In other words, I was nothing more than a young servant girl belonging to the Royal Palace.
Not only had I transmigrated into an ordinary palace maid, but I apparently had to survive in this world too.
Truly unfair. Utterly unfair.
I grumbled while clutching my only weapon—my trusty slingshot—tightly.
“One, two, three, four….”
I counted the burst persimmons scattered across the ground, then surveyed my surroundings.
Not a single persimmon tree with fruit remained hanging.
All thanks to my excellent marksmanship with the slingshot, I might add.
“This area’s all done. Once I handle the persimmon trees in the Back Garden….”
“Are you at it again with those persimmons?”
“Goodness!”
Startled by the sudden voice, I spun around.
Standing before me was a boy dressed in deep blue robes.
Upon his chest gleamed a golden dragon emblem, radiant and resplendent.
Which meant, in other words….
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”
“Yes, that’s me.”
The Crown Prince smiled at me warmly.
The Crown Prince was thirteen this year, and he was quite tall and broad-shouldered for his age.
Moreover, he wore a tall ikseon crown upon his head.
Because of this, I had to tilt my head back considerably to look up at him, small as I was.
“Why must you shake down every persimmon you see? You should leave some for the wild birds and magpies to eat.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“Persimmons are dangerous, Your Highness. How many times must I tell you?”
“Did you make an enemy of persimmons in a past life? No matter how I look at it, you’re a truly peculiar child.”
The Crown Prince spoke while watching me stand with my arms crossed, slingshot still in hand.
Even as he spoke, I was doing my utmost to maintain an expression of utmost solemnity and resolve.
Finding my expression amusing, the Crown Prince let out a soft chuckle.
‘It’s not I who made an enemy of persimmons—it’s you, Your Highness.’
The Crown Prince would one day bear the epitaph of a king who died after consuming persimmons and fermented crab. I was desperately scrambling to prevent that very fate.
Yet here I was, barely suppressing my laughter.
“Your Highness, what did you have to eat today?”
“Hmm… let me see. For lunch, I had noodles in broth. There was also braised meat and fermented crab…”
“What? Fermented… crab…!”
Seeing my face go pale with alarm, the Crown Prince hastily opened his mouth.
“I didn’t eat it. I didn’t! Since you made such a fuss about persimmons and fermented crab, it was served but I didn’t touch a single bite.”
“Phew…”
I exhaled a sigh of relief and spoke in a grave tone.
“Your Highness, I’m speaking to you with complete sincerity.”
“Don’t even look at persimmons and crab, is that it?”
“Yes. If you consume them, something terrible will happen! Remember this, and remember it again…”
“Goodness, I understand. I understand. I swear by my honor that I shall never eat persimmons or fermented crab.”
“You promise?”
“I do. I promise.”
It was at that very moment when the Crown Prince and I were making a secret pact with our pinky fingers linked.
“Young miss, there you are. I’ve been searching for quite some time… Oh my, Your Highness!”
A eunuch came rushing over in a fluster and bowed deeply before the Crown Prince.
“Park, what brings you here?”
“Yes, Your Highness. The Royal Chambers has been searching for you urgently…”
“Father? But I paid my respects not long ago. Why would he…?”
The Crown Prince’s face darkened in an instant.
Yet how could one defy the word of the king, supreme as heaven itself?
The Crown Prince steadied his breath and spoke with resignation.
“Very well. Let us go, Park.”
“Wait, Your Highness. The matter is…”
However, Park seemed somewhat flustered.
“What is it?”
“Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Your Highness, but it is not you whom His Majesty seeks…”
Park’s gaze shifted quietly to the side.
More precisely, toward me.
“Me?”
I, having quietly hidden my slingshot, turned to the eunuch with a question.
“Yes, young miss. His Majesty is asking for you.”
“Ah, again? Why?”
“…Well, how would I know? Come on, little one.”
“I’m coming, but I’m not a little one.”
I despise being called a “little one.”
Though my body is small, my mind belongs unmistakably to a mature woman.
“Ah…. But His Majesty always calls you ‘little one,’ so the habit has taken root in my speech.”
Despite the eunuch’s explanation, my lips protruded like a duck’s bill, and my cheeks puffed out indignantly.
I’m not trying to act childish.
But what can I do? With the body of a four-year-old, the slightest dissatisfaction or irritation triggers these involuntary reactions.
The eunuch, observing my expression, spoke in sudden alarm.
“That is…. Your name…. Hwang…. What was it again?”
This eunuch’s memory is dreadful. Honestly, it’s harder to forget a name like mine.
I announced my name with spirit.
“Hwang Bong-bong!”
…I failed. At four years old, with underdeveloped vocal cords, the pronunciation was difficult.
“Hwang, Bong, Bong!”
I enunciated each syllable of my name as clearly as possible.
“Ah, that’s right. Hwang Bong-bong. That’s your name. Yes, Bong-bong, let’s go to the Royal Chambers now.”
“Yes, I understand.”
In any case, since His Majesty has summoned me, what choice do I have? If he calls, I come; if he orders, I go.
I glanced at the Crown Prince. He wore an expression of relief.
“Your Highness, I shall take my leave now.”
“Very well. Bong-bong, then we shall….”
At that moment, a sharp whistle cut through the air, and footsteps echoed.
The rustling of a skirt was particularly loud, and my head turned of its own accord.
“Oh….”
What escaped my lips was not a sigh, but an exclamation of admiration.
My gaze fixed upon the elegantly dressed woman standing at the head of the palace attendants.
‘I should be accustomed by now, yet she always appears fresh and new.’
A beauty so dazzling it could only be described as breathtaking.
A peerless beauty before whom even the world’s most exquisite flowers would bow their heads in shame.
‘Jang Hee-bin.’
I gazed upon that radiant face I had never encountered across two lifetimes, and thought.
‘No wonder even people of later ages regard Jang Hee-bin as the epitome of beauty.’
It was then.
“Hmm?”
Before I knew it, Jang Hee-bin had drawn near and seized my hand swiftly.
Not crude, perhaps, but her grip was quite firm.
“Jang Hee-bin…?”
“Yes. Bong-bong, let’s return to Chwisuondang now.”
Jang Hee-bin began walking, pulling me along.
The strength she exerted was almost unbearable for a child, so I had no choice but to scurry my feet frantically to keep pace.
Park (Eunuch), his face turning pale, cried out urgently.
“My lady, Lady Jang Hee-bin! I beg your pardon, but Hwang Bong-bong must go to the Royal Chambers now. His Majesty is urgently searching for Hwang Bong-bong….”
“Park (Eunuch).”
Jang Hee-bin spun around sharply.
A radiant smile bloomed across her face like crimson peonies in full bloom.
“Tell His Majesty this.”
“W-what should I tell him?”
“If His Majesty wishes to see Hwang Bong-bong….”
Beneath that enchanting smile lay a venomous chill that made one’s blood run cold.
“He should come to Chwisuondang.”
“….”
“Hwang Bong-bong is clearly a maidservant of my quarters, so I shall take her myself.”
Held fast by Jang Hee-bin’s hand, my small legs moving hurriedly beneath me, a worry far beyond my years settled upon my face.
‘Please, let this be a dream….’
Barely suppressing a sigh that threatened to escape, I thought desperately.
If only I could sleep and wake to find myself back as a graduate student in the Republic of Korea.
But for the past several months since opening my eyes in this child servant’s body, I had called out to Buddha, to God, to Dangun, and even to my professor in desperation—all to no avail.
In the end, I had to accept the truth.
My name is Hwang Bong-bong.
I am four years old.
My occupation is child maidservant.
My place of service is Chwisuondang.
And the era into which I have transmigrated is the eve of a storm where countless deaths—including that of Jang Hee-bin—loom imminent.
In other words….
‘If I do nothing, only catastrophe awaits this Royal Palace.’
Therefore.
‘I must prevent Jang Hee-bin’s death—or I cannot survive!’
***
「From the Annals of King Sukjong, Year 27, Ninth Month.
The King issued a secret decree at night.
‘The crimes of Jang Hee-bin have been revealed to all under heaven.’
‘Therefore, Jang Hee-bin is commanded to take her own life.’」

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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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