Chapter 213 — Park Geun-su Visits the House
By the time Park Geun-su reached Yeongu's house, the sun was already leaning west.
He seemed to have come straight from the office after leaving work, for he was still in official dress.
On his head he wore a black bokdu, and the wing-like flaps extending to either side formed thin, neat lines in the evening light.
Because he had ridden a long way, the cord of the bokdu had loosened a little beneath his chin, and along the edge of his forehead, faint traces remained where the sweat of the day had dried.
He wore a round-collared danryeong.
The hem that must have been proper inside the office had grown somewhat disordered by the time he reached the alley before the house.
At the ends of his sleeves, a faint ink-darkness remained, like traces from holding brushes and turning through reports, and on the lower edge of his robe, a thin layer of dust raised by horse hooves had settled.
Even so, the belt around his waist remained firm.
Like a habit that never loosened from a military officer's waist, it held his stomach and back straight.
Park Geun-su stopped for a moment before the gate.
The tablet he had carried from the office was no longer visible, perhaps tucked away inside his sleeve.
Instead, in his hand he held a small bundle of documents, as if he had simply kept hold of them on his way out.
He did not behave like a man who knocked carelessly on another person's gate.
In the military camp, he was a man who could make others stand with a single command, but before the gate of a private house, he lightly struck the wooden door two or three times with the back of his hand.
"Is Yeongu here?"
His voice was low.
It was a voice from a throat that had given orders all day, yet within it, the weariness of late evening came before the sharpness of the office.
When he sensed someone inside, Park Geun-su stepped back once.
He straightened the hem of his robe and pressed the cord of his bokdu once with his fingertips.
The attire of an official who had just left the office still remained on his body, but the heart of the person who had come here had already tilted toward private concern.
Yeongu, who had noticed him in advance, opened the door and came out himself.
Park Geun-su looked him up and down.
His eyes first searched for wounds, and only then examined the color of his face.
Only after that did his stiff shoulders lower a little.
The collar of his official robe still wrapped his neck neatly, but his manner of speech had loosened somewhat from the language of the office.
"You are still here. I was worried you might already have left."
"I will go tomorrow."
"Good."
He said that and was about to step inside, then stopped again.
Looking at his dust-covered shoes, he wiped them at the edge of the yard.
The hem of his danryeong stirred slightly, and the small ornament hanging from his belt struck softly.
Watching him, Yeongu realized that this man had come straight from the office.
Without even having time to put aside his public face, he had come all the way here to check on one person.
When they went up to the men's quarters, Yeongu's mother soon brought in a meal table.
There was no time to ask or question him.
Rice had already been scooped in the kitchen, the soup was steaming, and small dishes of side food were set neatly on the table.
"You have not eaten, have you?"
His mother did not wait for an answer.
Park Geun-su waved his hand and laughed.
"Ah, I have no appetite. Your son has made things so difficult for me that all thought of food has disappeared."
"How difficult could it be? Even so, it is better to eat. When one works, one must eat well."
As she spoke, his mother pushed the table a little closer toward Park Geun-su.
When she opened the lid of the rice bowl, white steam rose softly.
The scent of freshly cooked rice spread through the men's quarters, followed by the smell of warm soup.
She moved the dish of greens to a place his chopsticks could easily reach, then pushed pickles and salted seafood one by one in front of him.
Her movements were unhurried and natural, like something she had done for a long time.
Park Geun-su tried to decline again, then closed his mouth.
The rice on the table already possessed the power to keep a person from stepping back.
It was rice set before a man returned from the battlefield, a man exhausted by the office, a man who had walked the evening road out of concern for someone else's child.
Yeongu's mother did not unfold that feeling in many words.
Instead, she set the soup bowl near his hand and placed the spoon neatly beside the rice bowl.
"Have the soup first. When the stomach is empty, even words come out wrong."
Park Geun-su lowered his head and laughed.
There was embarrassment in that laugh, and gratitude as well.
Before lifting the spoon, he glanced once at Yeongu.
"You made me like this."
Yeongu hunched his shoulders.
His mother pretended not to hear and pushed one more small dish forward.
The little plate slid across the table and stopped before Park Geun-su.
It was a heart that moved before words.
It was a hand trying to make him eat even one more spoonful of rice.
After the audience with the king, Yeongu thought he had explained everything, yet perhaps Park Geun-su still found it doubtful, for he asked again.
His careful questions about each individual matter were endlessly bothersome.
"Oh, if you trust me that little, ask His Majesty."
"Hey, you brat. How am I supposed to ask His Majesty?"
"You emphasized so much that communication must be good, yet you yourself do not do it?"
"Communication is important. That is why I came here and am asking again."
Yeongu turned his body like a sulky child.
"Ah, I do not know anymore. From now on, do whatever you want."
"What do you mean, do whatever I want?"
"I conveyed everything. Whether you do it or not is for you to decide."
"The matter is that important."
"Everyone says that. That it is only my thought."
"It is a matter that requires mobilizing the army."
Yeongu spoke as if accusing him.
"Peace lasted too long. You settled into it."
Park Geun-su let out a sigh.
"How can His Majesty go to Liaodong, that dangerous land?"
"Is it not the duty of a ruler to conduct regular inspection tours? Rather than sitting still and waiting for persimmons and pears to fall into his lap… It is because he does not do it that people who know nothing talk nonsense about the army and the Jurchen."
Park Geun-su scolded him.
"What is wrong with you? Why do you not try to have a normal conversation?"
"I told you. I already said everything. Instead of deciding what to do and making plans, you keep asking the same questions of the man who spoke to His Majesty, trying to make him deny it as if it were not true. From now on, this war is a war with Liao and Song."
As the matter grew larger, Park Geun-su limited the scope of the conversation.
"Song is not yet involved."
"As long as they aim to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, the war will continue."
"For now, the war with Liao is… the major problem."
"I would rather you lead the army and come help. If not that, I only asked that you deploy and make them split their forces in two places. If even that cannot be done, then go further. March into Liaodong and join as an allied army. That is better in the long term. Diplomacy, war, and peace… it is plainly visible to my eyes, yet even after I explain it in such detail, you still do not understand?"
Park Geun-su let out a low groan.
He shifted the context of the conversation.
"How many, how many young men must lose their lives before the peace we desire comes?"
Yeongu flinched and swallowed.
"Is it not our duty to make sure such a thing does not happen for a long time to come?"
"War takes many things."
"And for that reason, do we not fight?"
"Is it not their war?"
"If the result has no effect on us, then leave it that way. But we must cooperate actively. Do not call passive neglect a measure and sit still trying to do nothing."
Park Geun-su let out a long sigh.
The broad fields visible in the distance were peaceful.
It was land that made a person want to set everything aside and sleep.
"This is hard."
"It is hard because you are trying not to do it. If you try to do it, it is easy."
"The Goryeo court is not that simple."
"That is true."
Yeongu suggested, "Then how about going to Lord Kim Bu-sik and consulting him?"
"He will oppose it, of course. This is truly hard. You are telling me I must do something everyone opposes by myself."
"Perhaps not."
Yeongu recalled that when he had met him before, they had a certain relationship with Agolta.
If they were families that had branched from one ancient root, they might agree that it was necessary to help the Jurchen and form an allied army.
Park Geun-su tilted his head.
"Where does that basis come from?"
"When I met him once before, he was very favorable toward the Jurchen."
"That cannot be. He is not on good terms with the Seogyeong faction, but would that mean he supports dispatching troops?"
Yeongu made an even more radical proposal.
"In truth, I also asked His Majesty to consider joining the countries."
"What? Joining the countries?"
"I asked him not to repeat the past mistake of failing to embrace Balhae."
Park Geun-su lost his words.
This brat somehow had no limit.
He pushed matters all the way to the end of what they could imagine.