I Became a Fallen Noble of Goguryeo

Chapter 19: A New Beginning (1)

"Everyone, how’s the ginseng coming along? Ah, we need to extend the sunshade here. The light is too strong. When making the sunshade, use more densely packed wood. As I said, ginseng..."

"If it gets too much sunlight, it won’t grow properly? Got it, got it."

I, with Munso at the center, passed on the ginseng cultivation method to the people of Gromchon, even going as far as to freely distribute the mushroom spawn.

Most villagers cheered at how generously I shared my knowledge, but there was one person who reacted differently.

"When are you leaving?"

In response to Munso’s question, I asked back.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you’re sharing everything you know without holding back. You’re acting differently from before, so it means you're about to leave. Probably... what we’ll need soon isn’t techniques, but technicians. Starting with us, you’ll spread the farming methods to Pyeongyang. That would help your rise in the world."

"Wow, you really read me like a book."

"...That’s not something you say to an old man."

"Seeing that you're the same as ever, I guess you’ve still got a while before you leave?"

"If only you didn’t talk..."

Munso chuckled at those words.

"Out on patrol again today?"

"Yep. What’s the password?"

"Fox spirit. The answer is hemp cloth."

Recently, Gromchon had become quite a wealthy village, enough to be known by nearby areas.

And being wealthy meant more people were targeting us.

Thanks to Yeon Jayu, who had effectively become the top aristocrat in Goguryeo, the nobles didn’t mess with us… but thieves targeting our money or mushrooms were countless.

Because of that, the villagers had started taking turns standing night watch to protect each other’s storage.

The password was part of that effort.

"If they don’t answer right away, kill them like last time."

"Yep."

Not long ago, I became a full-fledged murderer after killing thieves who broke in at night for my property.

Forget about the shock of a first kill—when someone with a weapon broke into my house, I didn’t even have time to think.

And the people of Gromchon actually cheered for me for it. That was a big change.

‘I’m no longer the goose that lays the golden egg.’

The goose that lays golden eggs is someone to be protected, not someone who needs protection.

Then who is the one doing the protecting?

No need to say it—it’s the aristocrats.

Like in most countries, the aristocrats of Goguryeo also began as a military class.

Over the past few years, they had come to recognize me as a noble and saw themselves as my retainers.

Knowing that, I shared my farming techniques with them freely.

While wandering along, I spotted a familiar bald head in the distance.

"Monk, this area is dangerous."

It was Monk Uiyeon, with whom I became acquainted during the previous stone battle.

He recently found a reason to go to Pyeongyang Fortress and quietly visited our village again.

He didn’t tell me the reason, but I could more or less guess.

If Uiyeon was headed to China, that would’ve been during Wang Godeok’s era—right around this time.

"Today’s password is ‘fox spirit.’ The answer is ‘hemp cloth.’"

"...Can’t you tell just by looking at my head?"

"Hey, how do you know a thief won’t shave their head?"

"That’s... not wrong either."

Monk Uiyeon said that and gazed out over Gromchon’s fields.

"The fields here are always abundant. The ones I passed on the way here were quite barren."

"...Aren’t you being a bit too obvious?"

"This is my job, after all."

You often read in textbooks that Buddhism was promoted for centralization, and that’s usually understood as kings equipping themselves with ideas like "the king is Buddha."

That reason alone is enough for kings to like Buddhism, but that’s not the whole value of temples.

In this era, temples served as a minimal social safety net and were prestigious in the provinces.

Monks were the intellectuals of the time, highly educated and without families, so there was little concern over hereditary power.

The Kings of Goguryeo, recognizing this, maintained close ties with temples and used them as their eyes and ears.

‘Even if it’s the same census, people find it suspicious when done by officials, but when a respected monk casually looks around, everyone just accepts it.’

That’s another reason why promoting Buddhism went hand in hand with strengthening royal authority.

And over the past few years, monks from nearby temples had visited Gromchon quite often.

Unless they were all fake monks, the news about the Dispute Law must have reached Pyeongyang.

‘It’s about time for me to step into the spotlight…’

Before I knew it, I was twenty.

I’d built my foundation, and the ginseng was nearly mature.

It was time to begin my rise—but I wasn’t quite sure how to start.

‘The first person that comes to mind is Yeon Jayu.’

But I didn’t want to rely on Yeon Jayu.

There were a few reasons, but the biggest was that he had no daughters.

‘The best kind of backing is marriage, after all.’

Across any era, there’s rarely a stronger bond than family.

You say even families betray each other? People outside the family betray you even more.

Nobles of this time also often formed clans and tribes around their family cores.

But Yeon Jayu had no daughter, and honestly, even if he did, I don’t think he’d marry her off to me.

‘There’s no reason for a family like Yeon’s, with no flaws, to send their daughter to me…’

Even if not Yeon’s family, there’s no reason for any successful family to form a marriage alliance with me.

So the ones with potential are the families with some reputation but struggling with money.

The so-called families who have "no money but plenty of pride."

Of course, in Goguryeo, it would be absurd to suggest marrying for money.

‘Goguryeo is obsessed with reputation.’

If word spread that a bride’s family took money from the groom, they’d be cursed as “raising a slave girl to sell, not a daughter.”

However, I was free from such controversies.

‘What I offer isn’t money, but the ability to earn it—agricultural knowledge.’

Giving a daughter in exchange for money might be problematic, but having a capable son-in-law who helps expand the family business and brings in money isn’t an issue.

For example, imagine me growing ginseng in my father-in-law’s hereditary village and expanding it widely. The father-in-law would become rich overnight.

‘Surely there must be one or two people aiming for this.’

If I could marry into a prestigious family that way, my future success would become much easier.

But… it wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounded.

First of all, the fact that my reputation in Pyeongyang Fortress had hit rock bottom was the first issue.

An even bigger problem was that I had almost no information about Pyeongyang.

I asked Monk Uiyeon.

"Monk Uiyeon. By any chance... have you ever heard of any noble families in Pyeongyang Fortress with high prestige but no real assets, and a daughter of marrying age?"

"Haha, well. Wouldn’t it be a problem if a monk knew women too well? Every straw sandal has its pair, so time will reveal everything."

Just like with the fox spirit before, the monk's words sounded plausible, but weren't very helpful in life.

I wandered the mountains with a shuriken in hand.

"All the signposts are still here."

Recently, on the roads leading to Gromchon, signposts (materials: human heads) had increased significantly.

To be honest, half of them were my work.

If someone saw that and still came here, they were quite bold.

As always, Goguryeo had plenty of bold individuals.

Rustle—!

A sound of movement behind me.

I quickly shouted the password.

"Fox spirit!"

No reply of 'hemp cloth' came.

What’s this, a thief?

I gripped my spear and looked toward the sound.

It wasn’t a thief.

"I-It’s me."

What emerged from the bush was a girl on horseback.

She looked about sixteen.

Her arms were full of jingling gold bracelets.

‘At this rate, she’s more likely to be robbed than a robber herself.’

Normally, if a woman with jewelry ran into a big man holding a spear in the countryside, she’d flee.

But she did the opposite.

"It’s been a while. Just as Mother said, you were in the mountains."

She approached me without fear.

I asked in disbelief.

"...Who are you to speak of my mother?"

"I’m not a fox spirit. Maybe a tiger spirit, though."

"Tiger?"

"Roar."

That strange cry was definitely...

"Boknyeo...?"

"You remember. Well, I guess it’s hard to forget. We met in the mountains back then too, remember?"

Boknyeo spoke abruptly.

"I missed you. But it’s a bit much to explain everything, so I’ll get straight to the point."

She inhaled and spoke in one breath.

"Please marry me."

"Huh?"

"You don’t know what marriage is? Marriage? Let’s get married! I need to marry you!"

"Me?"

"Yes, you! ...Dal!"

At those words, I was taken aback.

Not just because of her sudden proposal.

But because the name she called wasn’t my name, 'Kim Insam'.

"My name isn’t that—it's Kim In—."

At that moment.

‘Huh?’

My head throbbed, and all strength drained from my limbs.

My vision turned white. My mouth and ears no longer felt like mine.

Boknyeo’s face kept changing shape. The sound and her mouth didn’t match.

Like a dubbed foreign film, Boknyeo shouted.

"D...Dal! What’s wrong?"

Who is she calling?

That’s not my name...

In that instant, a lightning bolt of a thought flashed in my mind.

‘Is my name really Kim Insam?’

When I first reincarnated, I heard my name and thought, 'It’s the same as my previous life’s name.'

What a funny coincidence.

But does that make sense?

Having the same name in both lives? Isn’t that too unlikely?

Just then, Monk Uiyeon’s voice echoed in my head.

When I first met him as a child, he said—

—There’s a fox spirit living in your head. It devours difficult words and thoughts and spits out something else. In truth, it’s neither a fox nor a spirit.

Fox spirit.

What words and thoughts had that thing eaten?

And what had it spit out?

I finally understood.

What the fox spirit in my heart truly was.

And what it had devoured.

"D...Dal! Are you okay?"

It had eaten my real name.

And spit out the name from my previous life.

Why?

—It’s like the scary tiger that lives in a child’s heart. That tiger turns the rustling leaves of the mountain into the sound of tiger footsteps and the sound of wind into a tiger’s roar.

They prevent children from wandering into the mountains and protect them from real tigers.

To protect me?

—But eventually, children chase out the tiger in their hearts and climb the mountain where real tigers live. Similarly… someday, you too must chase out the fox spirit and ascend the mountain. Fortunately, it seems you’ve already met the fate destined to help you banish the fox spirit.

That fate.

Was right in front of me now.

"Boknyeo, by any chance..."

I clung to my fading consciousness and asked.

"...Are you a princess?"

"You’re only realizing that now?"

So it was true.

I knew Go Boknyeo.

‘...Pyeonggang.’

Pyeonggang (平岡) merely meant "daughter of King Pyeongwon."

Since King Pyeongwon wasn’t yet King Pyeongwon at this time, Pyeonggang couldn’t be Pyeonggang either.

She was Go Boknyeo.

And just as the current Pyeonggang wasn’t really Pyeonggang but Go Boknyeo—

"On... Dal! Please stay with me! On Dal!"

I too, at this moment, wasn’t Kim Insam but On Dal.

As if pulling out an old photo and retracing memories,

Things I hadn’t remembered began to surface.

A fallen noble of the Domestic Fortress Faction.

A mother with failing eyesight.

Living near Pyeongyang Fortress while gathering herbs in the mountains.

Anyone would have called that On Dal.

‘Why didn’t I realize it until now?’

I was from Punggi.

A short trip from Punggi brought you to Danyang, and between Danyang and Punggi was the Jukryeong Pass.

And it was at Jukryeong that On Dal Fortress, the place where On Dal died, was located.

Even in elementary school, I had gone on field trips to On Dal Fortress several times.

And that wasn’t even the whole of it.

Even knowing the current Goguryeo Princess’s name was Go Boknyeo, I didn’t think of Pyeonggang,

Nor did I connect her to the court lady Boknyeo I met.

Even though I met Boknyeo when the King had come out on a hunt.

I didn’t even blame myself for being an idiot.

I remembered figures like Eulji Mundeok, Go Yangseong, Yeon Jayu, Kim Muryeok, and Buyeo Chang—many key people of this era—

Yet the only thing I completely failed to recall was On Dal and everything related to him.

That went way beyond simply "forgetting."

According to Monk Uiyeon, it was the doing of the "fox spirit," my mind’s defense mechanism.

Why did that thing go so far to hide the fact that I was On Dal?

Was it afraid I’d get scared and run from my fate?

That I’d believe in fate and do nothing?

...Even though I had lived differently from the historical On Dal, why had Pyeonggang—Boknyeo—come to me?

At least one thing was clear.

‘This is killing me.’

When you eat something extremely spicy, you start to feel where all your digestive organs are.

That’s exactly how I felt now.

I could sense which side was my left brain, right brain, brainstem—

My head throbbed, burned, and every connection in my brain felt aflame.

Those scenes in crime movies where someone faints after remembering a traumatic past and wakes up a month later—

I now kind of understood them.

Good thing I went through this as an adult. If it happened during adolescence, I might’ve actually died.

‘Is this something like split-brain syndrome? A condition where certain traumatic words are mentally blocked? Or... has the harmony between my past and current life finally completed?’

I stopped thinking such thoughts.

What use was pretending to be scientific in a world where I’d already lived through reincarnation?

The moment anyone said "reincarnation," any scientist would shake their head and say,

"Once you start with an unscientific premise, scientific analysis is no longer valid."

‘Ughh...’

I barely opened my eyes and looked around.

A familiar ceiling—it was my house.

Did Boknyeo bring me here?

With a horse, it might’ve been possible.

My body wouldn’t move, like sleep paralysis. Only my fingertips twitched. My ears returned faster than my hands.

"...Princess."

The first voice I heard was my mother, Geumhwa.

"My son has no education, and thus is unfit to marry a noble."

Then, Boknyeo replied.

"Even a single measure of grain, when milled, becomes food, and a single piece of cloth, when sewn, becomes clothing.

If two hearts are truly in harmony, wealth and status mean nothing."

My mother seemed a bit flustered by that.

"Well... It’s true we’re unlearned and unattractive, but it’s not like we’re poor."

"...Excuse me?"

"We’re doing quite well, actually."

At my mother’s words, Boknyeo faltered.

"Uh... but I heard in Pyeongyang Fortress that you dig tree bark and smear poop on yourselves..."

"We peel bark to grow mushrooms. And we smear dung for fertilizer. As for the small house, it’s because it’s just me and my son living here—we don’t need a big one..."

"Eh?"

Boknyeo was thrown off.

...She must have firmly believed the rumors from Pyeongyang Fortress.

"Ahem..."

Just then, my body started moving again, and I sat up.

I had just taken a peek at the River Jordan, but the looks around me said, "You’re only waking up now?"

Well, I doubt anyone would understand even if I explained it.

Feeling everyone’s eyes on me, I awkwardly asked,

"...How did I get here?"

"The princess brought you on a pony. You were completely exhausted and lay unconscious at the gate all night."

"So I was unconscious for over a day?"

"You were, On Dal. Is your body all right?"

My mother stared at me.

Now, the name On Dal sounded perfectly clear.

"...I’m sorry. But... do you know a name, Kim Insam?"

"...Never heard of it. Is he from Silla?"

Ah, that’s right.

Until now, I hadn’t even questioned the oddity of a ‘Kim’ surname in Goguryeo.

The fox spirit had really done a thorough job.

"Is he someone important right now?"

"No, not at all."

I immediately looked at the wall.

Idu script was hard, but I had written down my name at my bedside.

But instead of three characters, there were only two.

It wasn’t 'Kim Insam (金人蔘),' but 'On Dal (溫達).'

...This was terrifying.

At this level, it wasn’t a fox spirit—it was like an alien or some cosmic entity.

"Th-The, On Dal?"

As I was deep in thought, Boknyeo grabbed my arm.

"Do you really live well?"

"Yes, we do. Half this village is practically mine."

"...But I heard you were poor!"

"Rumors can’t be trusted."

"My father said the same thing..."

Her father was Go Yangseong.

I asked,

"What did the King say? Did he mention that since the princess always cried and annoyed him, she should marry the fool On Dal?"

"Have you met my father before? That sarcastic tone is just like his."

"...And when you came of age, you said, ‘My father told me to marry On Dal, so I will’? Is that it?"

"Uh... isn't that a bit much?"

Boknyeo shook her head.

"How could I escape the palace on my own in the first place?"

Apparently, this story would unfold differently from the The Biography of On Dal I knew.