Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 53

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

Chapter 53. A Name
Seol-hyang and I were headed to Nam-chon next.
Nam-chon, where Hwang Bong-bong had lived before entering the Royal Palace.
It was quite a distance.
By the time we crossed Cheonggyecheon and arrived at Nam-chon, my legs were aching considerably.
“Children, where is the house of Mrs. Song Jin-sa?”
Seol-hyang asked the children who were playing jacks on the ground.
“Do you see that large willow tree over there? The tile-roofed house is right to its left.”
“Thank you for showing us.”
The “house of Mrs. Song Jin-sa” that Seol-hyang mentioned was the house next to Hwang Bong-bong’s.
It was where the lady who had cared for me after my brother’s whereabouts became unknown was living.
“This must be Mrs. Song Jin-sa’s house. So that means….”
Seol-hyang, gripping my hand tightly, passed by the modest tile-roofed house.
“Here it is. This must be our Bong-bong’s house.”
….
I gazed at the house where I had once lived, feeling strangely moved.
It was a small thatched cottage.
Two small rooms, a kitchen, and an outhouse—that was all.
To speak kindly, it was humble; to speak plainly, it was shabby.
Just as Han Sang-gung had said there would be no one, the house felt utterly devoid of human warmth.
The wicker gate creaked stiffly, and a thick layer of white dust blanketed the wooden floor.
As I slowly looked around the house and turned my gaze toward the inner room’s veranda, I noticed something.
“Hmm…?”
On the dust-covered veranda, one spot gleamed distinctly, as if polished.
It was the trace of someone having sat there.
Who could it be?
Since the house had been empty for so long, perhaps a vagrant or someone with nowhere else to go had stayed here briefly?
‘But there are no other signs of anyone having stayed….’
That was when it happened.
“Who goes there?”
A middle-aged woman emerged from the neighboring house of Mrs. Song Jin-sa.
Upon seeing me, the woman hurried over with quick steps.
“Oh my! Child! What brings you here? What is all this about today?”
This woman must be Mrs. Song Jin-sa herself.
The kind woman who had brought me food when I went hungry.
“Good day to you, madam.”
“Well now….”
The woman’s eyes widened as she looked me up and down.
She seemed greatly startled by my appearance in silk robes with ornamental pendants hanging from my waist.
“My goodness, child. Your fortune has certainly changed. Heaven has blessed you! To think that you, an orphan abandoned to fate, would return looking so refined and dignified. You must be living very well now, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I’m doing well. Thank you for taking care of me while I was here.”
As I bowed, the woman’s mouth fell open in astonishment.
“You know to be grateful? I hate to say it, but without me, you’d have starved to death or been sold off to some brothel. But….”
The woman’s gaze swept over my silk robes again.
“A grateful child comes empty-handed? Dressed in such fine clothes, no less. And is that trinket really made of amber?”
Greed flickered across the woman’s eyes.
“Yes…. Probably.”
Her sudden shift in demeanor made me uncomfortable, but since arriving empty-handed didn’t seem wise either, I laughed it off.
“Hmm. Hmm.”
Seol-hyang, sensing the strange turn in the conversation, abruptly interjected.
“Good day, madam. I should have brought something on behalf of the child, and I apologize for coming empty-handed. I promise to bring something next time.”
The woman’s attention shifted to Seol-hyang.
“Hmm, and who might you be?”
“Ah. I’m a palace maid who lives with Hwang Bong-bong.”
In that instant, the woman’s expression grew peculiar.
“Bong…. What? Bong-bong?”
“Yes. Is there a problem…?”
“Oh. So the palace calls the child that, does it?”
“Yes. Since her name is Bong-bong, we call her Bong-bong. What’s wrong with that?”
As Seol-hyang pressed further, the woman blinked rapidly.
“Well, I never. This child’s name is not Bong-bong.”
“Pardon?”
…What? What did you say?
“Her name is not Bong-bong, but Bong-mok. Hwang! Bong! Mok!”
Of all the things in this world.
I had come home only to discover an astonishing truth.
To be honest, when I first learned my name was Hwang Bong-bong, I cursed Hwang Bong-bong’s parents.
I thought it was such a ridiculous name.
But Hwang Bong-mok was my real name!
“Not Bong-bong but Bong-mok. I’m utterly bewildered.”
Yes. I’m truly bewildered as well.
Seol-hyang’s confusion mirrored my own.
The woman nodded knowingly.
“The lady who took Bong-mok must have misheard the child’s name. She seemed terribly busy….”
“We had no idea and called her Bong-bong all along. Even the palace maid registry lists her as Bong-bong.”
As Seol-hyang and the woman exchanged words.
I kept turning over my newly discovered name in my mind.
‘Hwang Bong-mok…. Hwang Bong-mok….’
I am Bong-mok. Bong-mok is my name….
…It feels strange. It doesn’t sit right on my tongue.
Bong-bong seemed like the better option.
Abandoning my struggle with the name, I posed the question I had been wanting to ask the woman.
“Excuse me, ma’am. May I ask you something?”
“Of course. Speak freely, Bong-mok.”
“Do you… happen to know anything about my mother?”
“Your mother?”
The woman’s eyebrows drooped as if she found the question troubling.
“Oh, what a pity, Bong-mok. You were so young that you have no memories at all, it seems. Your mother passed away giving birth to you. And your father left this world when you were about a year old.”
“Ah…”
I felt no shock.
I already knew that my parents had passed away.
“You were raised by your older brother’s hands, Bong-mok. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes…”
“Your older brother went begging for milk and raised you on his back.”
“Then my older brother…”
I had heard many times that he must be dead, but still, I wanted to confirm it once.
“Your older brother…”
At that moment, the woman hesitated and swallowed dryly.
But her expression soon became composed.
“He must be dead. We never found his body, but if he were alive, he would have visited this house at least once.”
“…”
“So don’t think of other things. Think of it as burying your bones in the Royal Palace. Look at it this way—you can wear silk clothes, receive a salary, and eat three full meals a day. How wonderful is that? There are children in this world who starve to death.”
“Yes, you’re right.”
“That said…”
The woman’s expression suddenly changed completely.
“You’ve come at just the right time, Bong-mok.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look, your older brother is dead, and you’re staying in the Royal Palace, so you won’t really need this house, will you? How about selling it to us?”
“The house?”
“Yes. It’s worked out well. Why don’t you settle this matter quickly while you’re here? I have old affection for you, and I’ll pay generously.”
“Hmm…”
In truth, the house meant nothing to me.
It seemed unlikely I would ever return to it.
“How much would you give me?”
“Twenty nyang. What do you think? Good, isn’t it?”
Twenty nyang.
Hmm…
Honestly, I didn’t know the value of money well.
Though I had majored in history, currency units were not my field of expertise.
That was when…
Pfft.
I heard Seol-hyang let out a loud, scoffing laugh.
“What, madam? Are you joking right now?”
The moment I heard Seol-hyang’s voice, I understood.
My Seol-hyang had (once again) shifted into high gear.
“Twenty nyang? That’s the kind of thing a passing dog would laugh at!”
“Well, twenty nyang isn’t exactly a small sum….”
“Isn’t it? No matter how dilapidated the house is, land has value.”
“That’s, well….”
Seol-hyang. She was sharper with money than I’d expected.
Only then did I recall hearing rumors that Seol-hyang and Sun-rye had pooled their Palace Maids’ salaries to restore their household.
“I thought you were a kind person, but you’re trying to cheat a child out of everything?”
“Cheat? What harsh words! I saved a dying girl, and this is the thanks I get? Did you think I showed mercy just to hear such nonsense?”
“That’s one thing, this is another. Twenty nyang! With twenty nyang, you could buy the outhouse of this house!”
Seol-hyang fixed the woman with an intensely sharp glare.
Eventually, the woman averted her gaze.
“Bong-bong.”
“Yes, madam.”
“Never sell this house. Property prices in Hanseongbu are so high these days that officials are desperate to buy. If you leave it alone, the value will keep rising.”
Oh…. Seol-hyang.
So she was a real estate magnate?
“I won’t allow it. I’ll speak to my father about having him clean and maintain the house. We can’t have someone just move into an empty, unoccupied property.”
Seol-hyang added, casting a sidelong glance at the woman.
“It would be a disaster if another person tried to swallow up the house for next to nothing.”
“Ha! As if I would! Ha!”
The neighbor woman made a disgruntled sound and turned away.
But…. What do I do?
I still have one more thing to ask this madam!
I scurried toward the woman.
“Excuse me, madam.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I’m sorry to ask, but could you tell me my older brother’s name?”
The moment the word “older brother” left my lips, the woman’s expression grew even more sour.
Of course, she’d also just taken a blow from Seol-hyang.
“Why would you need the name of a dead man? It’s Jin-gi. Hwang Jin-gi!”
“…Thank you.”
I paused for a moment.
Hwang Jin-gi. Hwang Jin-gi….
I was certain I’d heard that name before…?
I racked my brain desperately, but the memory wouldn’t surface.
True enough. During my studies of history, countless names must have flitted past my attention.
‘I must have confused it with a similar name. Hwang Jin-gi isn’t such an uncommon name, after all.’
It was only reasonable to conclude that the name of a fourteen-year-old boy long dead would have no place in the historical record.
“I shall take my leave now, my lord.”
“Very well.”
Before departing, I took one final look around the house.
The small thatched cottage where Hwang Bong-mok—or rather, Hwang Bong-bong—had been born and lived until the age of four.
It seemed unlikely I would return here for some time…
“Hmm?”
In that moment, something caught my eye.
A small folded piece of paper wedged into a gap between the floorboards in the corner.
Seol-hyang was gazing into the distance, as if gauging the path ahead.
I quickly reached down and retrieved the paper.
Turning away from Seol-hyang, I unfolded it.

[Hwang Ho
(黃浩)
.
Cheok Yu-hwa
(拓裕和)
.
Hwang Jin-gi
(黃鎭紀)
.
Hwang Bong-mok
(黃奉穆)
.]
On the yellowed paper were written the names of what appeared to be my family, including myself.
‘Cheok Yu-hwa…’
A chill ran down my spine as I read that name.
It was because I suddenly recalled the question the King had posed to me after such a long silence.
‘Could your mother’s surname perhaps be Cheok (拓)?’
…The answer to that question lay within this paper.
Yet what truly seized my attention was not the name of my birth mother, whom I was seeing for the first time.
It was the single line written beneath the carefully listed names.
[Do not forget. Remember this.]
…Who left this note, and why?

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