I Became a Fallen Noble of Goguryeo

Chapter 28: Recruitment Exam (2)

The recruitment exam, as with most events, began with the host’s ceremonial speech.

“…In the past, Chumo, the Son of Heaven….”

In other words, there was a speech from the Grand King.

It was meaningless to question how all these people could hear without a microphone in this era.

There were microphones in this era, too.

“…In the past, the Son of Heaven….”

“…We must, ah—conduct the rite!”

When the Grand King spoke, the so-called bio-microphones, that is, the Royal Army soldiers stationed nearby, bellowed it out at the top of their lungs.

No wonder Yeombu’s voice was half-hoarse.

I wasn’t sure if the guy who bit his tongue in the middle was all right.

“…Chumo, son of Haemosu, came out of Buyeo and founded a nation, so as descendants of Heaven, we must conduct the rite….”

That speech neatly skipped over the fatal political question of whether King Chumo came from Eastern Buyeo or Northern Buyeo.

He merely said “Buyeo.”

In the 21st century, if someone spoke like this, reporters would rush in, prodding, “Which Buyeo exactly is that?” and show their journalistic spirit… but here, such a thing was impossible.

Questions were not asked when one was curious, but when one could bear the consequences.

If someone challenged the Grand King here, instead of being hailed as a hero who sacrificed for the honor of the Domestic Fortress Faction, they’d be treated as some rage-disorder lunatic making a ruckus in front of the Grand King’s speech.

The atmosphere would turn icy in an instant.

Applause would only come when their heads rolled, so… it was far better for one’s health to simply imagine sticking “Northern” in front of Buyeo in one’s mind.

“…Heavenly Lord Haemosu! Bear and Tiger of Joseon! Confucian sage Gija! Great Khan of the steppe, the sacred star that tells us the time, mighty earth deity Sajik, and the divine blacksmith! Watch over us!”

The multitude of gods was one side of Goguryeo’s unique multi-cosmic worldview.

Westerners ridiculed Goguryeo’s rites as licentious because they even worshiped Confucian sage Gija, but who cared?

If Goguryeo had conquered Rome, they probably would have worshiped Jesus too—‘the Goguryeo way.’

“Now, before the gathered gods, we begin the Lelang Hunt!”

With that, the speech ended.

Honestly, even if he had spoken more, I wouldn’t have understood anyway.

“We begin the Lelang Hunt! Keh-keh!”

“Ke-ehk! We begin!”

That was because the bio-microphone’s battery had run out.

The decibels had been cut in half about ten minutes ago.

Anyway, the exam began.

There were a total of five subjects in the exam, and the first was dagger (Bido) and shuriken (Pyochang).

Thwack! Thwack!

“A hundred throws, all on target—!”

The shuriken I had honed from catching sparrows pierced the target dead on.

Naturally, I ranked first.

But the rank itself didn’t mean much. Roughly half the participants got perfect scores.

‘The favorite pastimes of Goguryeo people have always been pitch-pot and go.’

The level of distinction was no better than a dictation test, so this was basically just a warm-up before the real exam. Which meant—

“We shall now test horse skills!”

This was where the true contest began.

Horse skills were horseback games of many kinds.

Some put targets atop five poles and competed in archery. Others performed acrobatics on horseback. Some even did mock battles in teams as military training.

And there was quite an amusing tale about these horse skills related to Silla.

During the reign of King Jijeung.

Silla’s Isabu pretended to be conducting horse games on the border, but then suddenly advanced his cavalry and completely destroyed a small state of Gaya.

It wasn’t that Isabu was particularly brilliant, but that the Gaya state was rather foolish.

If North Korean troops played war games with BB guns at Panmunjom, would you just sit back and watch?

And this wasn’t even Isabu’s first time. Earlier, a Silla general named Geodo had used the same trick to wipe out Usan-guk (Ulsan) and Geochilsan-guk (Busan). It wasn’t some “three-time lucky” tactic—how could anyone fall for the same trick three times?

Anyway, these horse skills were my arena.

“Bucephalus, let’s do well.”

“Neighhh!”

I entered the arena with Bucephalus. All eyes turned toward us at once.

“What horse is that…?”

“Isn’t that a Han-blooded horse?”

It was no wonder they were surprised.

Bucephalus, descended from the Han-bloodline, the finest breed in East Asia, was a head taller than the nobles’ horses of the Domestic Fortress, and two heads taller than the commoners’ nags.

‘And I’m tall, too.’

I was a head or two taller than most people, so it was a big man on a big horse. The size difference was overwhelming.

“Everyone, take up a wooden cudgel.”

The horse game we were about to play was close combat with cudgels.

The most common horse game was horseback archery, but since the final subject of the exam was already hunting, it seemed they had judged there was no need to test that here.

“Those who have their cudgels, form your teams. Once teams are formed, the matches will begin.”

This horse game was not an individual competition but a team battle of ten.

That was to mimic the feel of the battlefield.

A lone lunatic charging on horseback into the enemy was something only seen in movies.

“Everyone, gather up!”

At that call, the nobles of the Domestic Fortress Faction quickly clustered together to form their team. Whether it was prearranged or just recognition at the scene, they had come prepared.

‘No invitation for me, huh.’

Far from inviting me, they even threw me hostile glances, as if they thought I was some noble’s son from the Pyeongyang Faction.

If I revealed I was Ondal of the Domestic Fortress Faction, I could side with them… but with Wang Godeok in mind, I shouldn’t, and I didn’t want to anyway.

‘But then, who should I team up with?’

As I was pondering that—

“Um, Kim Insam.”

Soyong sidled up to me.

“Have you found a team yet?”

“You want to be in the same team with me?”

“Uh… please.”

Soyong chuckled foolishly, baring his empty teeth. I couldn’t quite bring myself to refuse after seeing that.

Besides, if I wanted to keep him from spouting nonsense, sticking close to him was best.

I asked lightly.

“Can you shoot a bow at all?”

“Well… not very well, but today’s horse skill isn’t archery.”

“Then it’s fine. Come in.”

After that, I roughly gathered some more people.

Most were commoners riding pack horses.

“Registering our team.”

We each received a flag and strapped it to our backs. That flag was our life, and our points. When the noble team saw us, they muttered.

“What do you think of that lot?”

“The one in the middle looks a bit big, but… the rest don’t look like much.”

“It’s fun to catch at least one big guy.”

They were the “First Team.”

Since they had prearranged to form a team, they were the first to complete one.

And the choice also lay with them.

Since they had prepared quickly, it seemed they were being given the right of the first attack.

What would follow was obvious.

“First Team, step forward!”

Soon after, I heard our team being called.

If I had to pick my weakest subject, it was archery.

Swordsmanship, spearmanship, horsemanship, or wrestling were all fine, since I had strong physical abilities.

Especially in recovery. Yeombu, who had noted the sturdiness of my body, had taught me in a brutal, fighting-game-like way.

–Want to improve your skills? Learn while getting beaten.

If you didn’t know something, you got hit. If you got hit enough, you grew stubborn and found a counter. That was exactly how Yeombu had taught me weapons.

He struck me with cudgels, with wooden swords, even from horseback. I thought I might die at this rate, but Yeombu knew my body better than I did.

It meant he struck me just short of killing me.

If I didn’t want to get hit, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and fight back, so my skills improved dramatically.

‘But archery was impossible to learn this way.’

Unlike swordsmanship, archery wasn’t a clash between two people—it was done alone.

You couldn’t learn it by being beaten.

In Goguryeo, it usually took five years to master archery. Joseon required ten. Goguryeo didn’t shoot twice as well as Joseon—there was simply less content.

‘Because Goguryeo didn’t have baby arrows.’

The ultimate archery technique, shooting short arrows like a crossbow by placing a tong-a on the bow, didn’t exist in this era. It appeared sometime around the Yuan Dynasty’s interference.

So, since one final piece of archery content was missing, mastery time was halved from ten years to five. But whether five or ten years, mastering it in a single year was impossible.

I had, through blood and sweat, managed to raise my stationary archery to a decent level, but horseback archery was still beyond me.

Of course, horseback archery wasn’t on the recruitment exam.

But the final subject did involve hunting on horseback.

Naturally, it didn’t mean one had to use a bow. Throwing spears was allowed, too. But that was like going to war with a pistol while everyone else carried rifles.

That was when Yeombu gave me a golden tip.

‘An exam is not about scoring well. It’s about scoring better than others. So if you can’t shoot, wouldn’t it be best to take out the ones who can shoot beforehand?’

If you lacked confidence in competition, eliminate the competitors.

What a brilliant strategy.

My plan was to crack the heads of all the archers here so they wouldn’t even make it to the next test.

And the best archers here were bound to be the nobles of the Domestic Fortress Faction.

That was why I had teamed up with commoners. If I wanted to defeat the Domestic Fortress Faction, I had to be on the opposite side.

But I wasn’t the only one who thought that way. The Domestic Fortress nobles glared at us and growled.

“How dare these commoners stand before us with their pitiful nags?”

“Withdraw now, if you don’t want to die. We won’t stop at just taking your flags.”

They were filled with thoughts of preemptively weeding out the commoners in this horse game.

The calm before the storm.

Whether they were weeded out, or we were, the result would decide.

Bwooo—!

With the blare of the trumpet, both sides advanced slowly.

One thing I learned here was that full-speed cavalry charges were usually only in movies.

‘If you did that, you’d go to the underworld holding hands with whoever you crashed into.’

Even the strict Goguryeo tactical manuals, said to be written by King Gwanggaeto himself, forbade full-speed cavalry charges as suicidal.

(Of course, if you disobeyed, you didn’t get transferred out by a superior—you just died.

No one stabbed a corpse.)

Even without a full charge, the sheer weight of horse and rider, each weighing hundreds of kilos, made cavalry charges immensely powerful.

They didn’t need full speed, because even at controlled speed, they could wipe out the enemy.

What mattered wasn’t speed but formation.

And in this, the Domestic Fortress nobles had the advantage.

The result was horrific.

“Ha-ha, die!”

The enemy closed in, moving in small groups, and began striking the commoners mercilessly with cudgels.

Aahhh—!

Two men were unhorsed in the very first clash.

Even though they could have just taken the flags, they forced extra blows to beat them down.

The Domestic Fortress nobles, victorious in the first clash, grinned.

“Well, that was boring!”

“Shall we split up and hunt them?”

“Of course! From here on, it’s a hunt!”

The nobles laughed.

From that moment, they broke their formation and began indiscriminate hunting.

Since victory was already certain, they now focused on personal records, seizing flags and cutting down enemies.

But that gave me an opportunity.

“Let’s go, Bucephalus!”

“Neighhh!”

As the enemy formation fractured, I spurred my horse forward from the flank, riding straight between them. Bucephalus carried me swiftly into their midst. The enemy was startled.

“Wh-what! How’d he get here?!”

The Han-blooded horse was not only big—it was fast. You might think its stamina would be poor, but astonishingly, it was strong in that, too.

First, for its size, it weighed relatively little. Second, you could tell by riding on its back.

Where other horses rattled with bone beneath you, the Han-blooded horse felt like sitting on solid muscle. In short, it was packed with fighting muscle.

‘No wonder its nickname was Celestial Horse.’

And Bucephalus probably felt the same about me. Where other riders’ hip bones jabbed, my hips were padded with muscle. Together, two solid masses of muscle charged at the enemy in an instant.

“The crown of his head! I see it!”

Because Bucephalus was tall, and I was tall, I could literally see the crown of the enemy rider’s head. That allowed me to bring my cudgel down directly on him.

“Die!”

“Guh-hurk!”

The man struck on the shoulder fell cleanly from his horse and crawled away on all fours. The sight caused the enemy to falter.

“Take him down first!”

“Surround him!”

Before I knew it, enemies were rushing from behind, intent on cutting me down first. I heard the swish of a cudgel from behind. I thought I was finished.

“Not so fast!”

A cudgel flew in, knocking away the one aimed at me. By reflex, I swung my cudgel, striking down the one who had attacked me.

“Are you all right?”

“Soyong?”

“Yes! It’s Soyong! I’ll cover your back!”

“All right, I’m counting on you!”

This guy had a knack for attaching himself at the right time, and an even better knack for staying attached. Thanks to him, I caught my breath, then charged forward and smashed the balls of the horse right in front of me.

“Neighhhhhh!”

The weakness of beasts and men alike was the same.

The horse raised its front legs and unhorsed its rider.

Judging by the man’s broad shoulders, he must have been good at archery.

At that moment.

“Th-that!”

Those watching me opened their mouths wide.

Had I gone too far with a low blow?

For a moment I thought I might be restrained….

“To aim precisely for the vital point in that situation? Truly courageous! Calm as a tiger!”

“What funeral is happening here?”

“It’s not a funeral, but a festival.”

“Of course! What’s a festival without blood!”

Ah, so that was the mood.

From that moment, with my back covered by Soyong, I swung my cudgel madly at the enemies.

Flags? What were those? I didn’t know.

If I knocked everyone down, there would be no one left to take the flags anyway.

Military banners were always obtained naturally once a decisive victory was won.

Yes, that was right.

Thwack—! Thwack—!

With crisp sounds, those before me fell like autumn leaves in the wind.

In martial arts, they might have been more skilled than me, but the difference in horse and physique was too great.

Their horses, cowed by Bucephalus, did not dare come close.

‘If this were a real battlefield, I wouldn’t have managed this much.’

The Han-blooded horse was excellent, but not invincible.

There were plenty of ways to counter it in battle.

Infantry could attack from above and below together, or projectile weapons could be used.

‘But this wasn’t a battlefield, it was a horse-sport arena.

Horse skills were a sport with rules.’

If you landed an uppercut on Messi’s chin, you might steal the ball, but then it wouldn’t be soccer anymore.

In this close-combat game, with equal numbers on both sides and no projectile weapons allowed, the rules favored me and Bucephalus from the start.

On top of that, the enemy made a fatal mistake.

‘They broke formation after their first victory.’

That meant they abandoned tactical strength, turning the situation into an environment where someone physically superior like me could thrive.

Had they not dropped their guard and kept formation, the outcome might have been different.

Thwack—!

As I knocked down the enemy before me, I suddenly heard a cry from afar announcing the end of the match.

“Oh, it’s over?”

Focused only on beating my opponent, I hadn’t even noticed the match had ended.

I finally checked the flags.

“Seven?”

“Here’s one more, eight in total.”

These weren’t flags I had picked up.

I had only knocked people down, while Soyong diligently gathered the flags one by one and stuck them on my side.

“And those last two flags over there….”

Soyong looked at me carefully.

I nodded.

“Fine, those two are yours.”

“Thank you!”

The remaining allies had gained no flags at all, but they seemed satisfied enough just to have survived this bloodbath and advanced to the next round unscathed.

“Bucephalus, well done.”

“Neighhh!”

I wiped away his sweat.

The Han-blooded horse had thin skin, so after running long, the redness of his body showed through.

With sweat flowing down it, he looked as if he were bleeding—‘sweat-blood.’

“When this is all over, I’ll give you a drink.”

“Neighhh!”

At the word “drink,” he rubbed his head against me in delight.

And some time later, when the matches of all the other teams were over, the final results came.

“Today’s horse skills match is concluded! Up to this point, the first place is Participant Number One Hundred, who took eight flags!”

For now, I was in first place.

And I intended to stay first to the very end.

Horse games were called “Mahi” or “Masahei.”

In Goguryeo’s , there were depictions of shooting at pillars while on horseback, performing tricks, and judges scoring them.

Also, considering that Isabu and Geodo pretended to play horse games and then advanced cavalry to seize nations, there must have been cases of fighting in formation, though the exact rules have not been passed down.

The rule about seizing flags is fictional.

The history of the 60 Sexagenary Cycle began in the Shang Dynasty and was widely used on the Korean Peninsula by the Three Kingdoms era.

In 1935, a cavalry unit in Turkmenistan riding Han-blooded horses crossed 4,000 kilometers in 80 days, including 360 kilometers of the Karakum Desert without a drop of water.

This was possible because the Han-blooded horse’s origin lay in the steppe near harsh desert lands.

To forage, they had to roam widely, developing both speed and stamina.

Living in hot climates, their skin grew thin, granting excellent temperature regulation, and their heads rose high.

As for the name “sweat-blood horse,” there is also a theory that parasites were responsible, though such claims are rarely heard today.

Thanks to this, the Han-blooded horse was considered the finest warhorse in the East for a long time.

In the West, the “destrier,” a French breed, was regarded as the best.

Unlike the agile Han-blooded horse, the destrier was heavyset, emphasizing instant destructive force from weight rather than speed and stamina.

Horses were said to enjoy beer or rice wine.

Being as clever as dogs, they supposedly knew when they had done well.

From a veterinary standpoint, giving alcohol to horses wasn’t recommended.

But then again, doctors also told humans not to drink.