Great Fire of Hanyang (5)

When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

It was the sort of line a protagonist in an Internet novel or comic might say. But when I really opened my eyes, what I saw was an unfamiliar ceiling I did not recognize.

My entire body was terribly sore and painful, and it even felt hot.

"I did overdo it a little."

I am, in fact, the sort of person who does not even exercise for thirty minutes a day.

It may seem like unbecoming conduct for someone who made His Majesty King Sejong hike Bugaksan for two hours every day, as well as ride horses and practice archery, but...

There is absolutely nothing shameful about this as a subject.

After all, it is our proper duty as subjects to offer loyal remonstrances saying, "The king is special, so I may do this, but you may not, so you must follow these rules."

And even if I compare myself closely with the others, I am a very proper gentleman by comparison.

Other men routinely submit memorials saying that they themselves should be allowed to eat beef and increase their wealth even during a drought, while the king must not do such things.

Compared with that, what does it matter if I do not exercise much?

"My whole body aches, and this hurts terribly. And why is it so hot? It stings, too. At this rate, I'm really going to die."

When suppressing the fire, I had run all over the place without caring whether sparks flew or things came hurtling through the air.

So I seem to have been burned badly in all sorts of places.

In that case, it would hardly be strange for my entire body to be covered in burn marks.

But what exactly is this covering my body right now?

In Joseon, people were not covered with red silk blankets.

'This can't possibly be the one I think it is, can it?'

Shin Suk-ju, who loved reading as much as King Sejong did and had even asked the other scholars of the Hall of Worthies to take his night duty so he could enjoy reading,

The red silk dragon robe that King Sejong personally covered him with when he nodded off while on night duty.

At last, I realized what the garment covering my body was, and I had no choice but to cry out.

"Aagh!"

Red silk of a deep crimson hue, with round dragon designs embroidered in gold thread on the shoulders and back.

There was only one garment like this in Joseon.

It was the dragon robe that only the King was permitted to wear.

Before my head could issue an order, my body moved on its own.

I spread the dragon robe out very carefully over the bedding I had been lying on, then bowed to the robe.

Modern people might not understand the sentiment, but it was something a person from Joseon naturally had to do.

"Your Majesty's grace is boundless!"

I had to change into my official robes quickly and return the dragon robe to His Majesty.

But I was not even a chief state councilor; as a mere junior fourth-rank official, I could not expect to see His Majesty simply because I wished to.

Should I return it through the chief palace eunuch...?

No, there was something I had to do before that: find out what had happened to me.

The fact was that I had fallen asleep, woken up in an unfamiliar place, and found myself covered by a dragon robe.

Putting the situation together, I reached one conclusion.

I had been so absorbed in putting out the fire that I collapsed the moment I heard it had been extinguished.

Then someone had carried me to the palace.

Just as I realized this, someone entered the room.

He was an old man wearing red official robes. He examined me closely, then spoke.

"Well, are you feeling more lucid now?"

"Yes, I am. But is this the palace?"

"That is right. An order was issued to bring you to the palace for treatment after you collapsed from exhaustion while putting out the fire in Anguk-bang. That is why I have been looking after you until now."

"Thank you, Royal Physician."

The royal physician examined various parts of my body, then spoke.

"The wounds from the burns have healed to some extent. They are healing faster than I expected. It seems that taking to heart the saying that keeping your body clean prevents illness and maintaining your body as clean as possible has helped you greatly."

"Is that so?"

"His Majesty gave special orders that I examine your condition very carefully. Judging from the great favor he has shown you... once he hears that you have awakened, he will probably come to see you before long. Prepare yourself. Ah, but for Kim Jegum, the man who submitted that lying-down remonstrance, something as minor as this must be nothing... I suppose I have said something pointless. Rest well for now."

I had woken up to find a dragon robe draped over me, and the King was supposedly coming to see me soon. Would you be able to rest easy in my place?

No, that was actually beside the point.

With the Great Fire of Hanyang having occurred, no one could even guess how many people had died.

How much property had been destroyed, and how many people had been driven into the streets after their homes burned down?

On top of that, there were bound to be plenty of thugs and ruffians looking to cause trouble amid the confusion...

Thinking about all this made me feel terribly uneasy—not only because my body hurt, but in my heart as well.

I had sent Gyeoul toward the Han River, so she should naturally be safe... but one never knew.

Something bad might have happened.

I had no idea how much property our household or my father-in-law's household had lost.

The more I thought about it, the more serious and bleak matters became, one after another. Then the door opened, and Sejong himself appeared before me.

"Kim Jegum, how are you feeling?"

"Thanks to the Royal Physician's excellent care, I am fine. More importantly, I would like to know what happened to my family."

Sejong burst out laughing when he heard me.

"Haha, yes. People say that Kim Jegum knows nothing but the state and its people, awake or asleep, and that not even a drop of blood would come out if he were stabbed with a knife. But you are a human being too, after all."

Fifty percent of the reason I devoted myself to Joseon was to become a husband whom Gyeoul would not be ashamed of.

Once our child was born, fifty percent would be because of Gyeoul, and about twenty percent of the remainder would be to become a father my own child would not be ashamed of.

Besides, I was human too. I could not live with "Joseon first, no matter what!" as my only principle.

"Your wife, Kim Gyeoul, is safe. I have also heard that the rest of your household is safe. In addition, your father-in-law, Kim Mandeok, is safe as well. Fortunately, your house is said to have escaped the fire's destruction too. However, I hear that the fire spread to Kim Mandeok's house."

Like me, Kim Mandeok had stored most of his wealth in warehouses built far from Hanyang.

That was because land in Hanyang was far too expensive for building warehouses to store all that rice and various other goods.

So even if my father-in-law's house had burned down, he would not have suffered a truly major financial loss.

"...... I am deeply sorry, Your Majesty."

Sejong tilted his head, apparently unsure what I was apologizing for when he heard my words.

"I knew that disorderly elements would increase as Hanyang gradually grew. Therefore, I had informed not only the Ministry of Works but also Hanseongbu of this problem in advance. But because I failed to push the matter more firmly, more forcefully..."

Until I collapsed, I had devoted myself entirely to putting out the fire.

And I had struggled to shut out the wails and cries of those who had lost their children, heads of household, parents, or siblings because of the fire.

I had refused to hear the groans of those burning to death or let their images enter my eyes.

It was an unavoidable choice I had made to save as many people as possible.

Even so, those tragedies would not leave my mind.

As I told Sejong, if only I had pushed the matter a little more firmly and forcefully, then even if Hanyang had suffered a great fire, I would have been able to reduce the property damage and loss of life compared with the current situation.

"I still do not know how many people died, how many were injured, or how much they lost in homes and property. But I do know that truly many people suffered terribly. I did not start the fire, but this happened because I neglected what I ought to have done."

"No. It is not your fault. All this happened because I, as the King, lacked virtue."

Tears welled up in Sejong's eyes.

"I saw them. I saw people engulfed in flames, dying in agony. I saw people left stunned after losing their homes and possessions. I saw people wailing after losing their families to the fire. Among them was a woman who fled her house with her body on fire."

"......"

"She had rushed out with her child in her arms, determined to save the child somehow... but the child I saw had already suffocated from smoke and stopped breathing. I could not bring myself to tell that woman her child was dead."

Earthquakes, floods, and fires are all calamities far too horrific for human beings to endure.

What I felt most keenly after experiencing a fire firsthand this time and meeting its victims was this:

We must never allow a great disaster like this to happen again.

"So I took the child from the woman and promised that I would save it. Then the woman immediately died."

"How can something so tragic happen in this world?"

If there was one thing I disliked most about modern law in the twenty-first century, it was that prosecutors could not automatically seek the death penalty for arsonists.

That bastard had set the fire intending to kill multiple people, yet if no one died, he could even get off with a suspended sentence. How could that make any sense?

"Your Majesty, I believe this fire was no different from treason."

"Treason...?"

"We do not know what intentions those people had when they set Hanyang ablaze, but this was an act that could have burned Jongmyo and the state and completely destroyed the foundations of the country. If this is not treason, then what is?"

Sejong nodded when he heard me.

"Because I failed to fulfill my duty, so many people of Hanyang died. I am truly a criminal who has committed a grave offense against Jongmyo and the state."

I was neither the Hanseong Pan-yun in charge of Hanyang nor an official of Hanseongbu.

In other words, I did not need to bear responsibility for a disaster caused by neglect of Hanyang's safety management.

"Please allow me to wash away even a little of this crime I have committed."

Sejong shook his head vigorously in denial at my words.

Then he declared:

"You have committed no crime. The ones who committed a crime are the rebels who started the fire, and I alone, who failed to heed your words as the King of Joseon."

"Your Majesty."

"I command Kim Daebung, Jegum of the Directorate of Warships."

"I will obey Your Majesty's command."

Sejong gave me an order.

"Put down the rebellion."