- Recovery
So-un regained consciousness three days later.
A nameless elixir provided by the General rekindled warmth in his frozen body.
The army physician’s careful treatment pulled him back from the edge of death.
Medicine was poured into a body weakened by hunger.
Fires were kept burning so the cold would not claim him again.
Needles were placed without hesitation at the great meridian points.
On the morning of the third day, he opened his eyes.
It was early dawn.
A thin grey light filtered through the tent cloth.
So-un looked around and realized he lay in an unfamiliar place.
He tried to rise.
Something thick and medicinal had been spread across his body.
Bandages of coarse cotton held him in place.
He could not move freely.
At that moment, So-sam happened to glance inside the tent.
Their eyes met.
Startled, So-sam dropped the flap and stepped back before straightening himself and entering properly.
“You’re awake! You’re awake!”
“Who are you?”
“Me? So-sam. From Guangdong.”
“Where is this?”
“This is the Northern Route main camp…”
“So this is where the Great General resides?”
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“You found the right place. You collapsed at the gate. I carried you here. Wait—if you woke up, I’m supposed to report to the General. Hold on.”
“Wait.”
“What?”
“May I have some water?”
“Water? Right. Here.”
He handed him a cup, then nudged Dong-in.
“You go report.”
“Why me?”
“You heard him. I’ve got to stay.”
Dong-in muttered but left.
A short while later, the General entered.
He wore heavy breastplate and shoulder armor.
A thick crimson and blue cloak hung from his shoulders.
“What happened?”
So-un struggled but remained lying down.
“I am So-un, eldest son of the Yu family of Taiyuan.
My father, before his death, ordered me to come here.
The barbarians attacked Taiyuan.
All within our household were slain.
I survived only because I was at the academy.
I buried my family without rites and came as he instructed.”
“That distance is not small. How did you travel so far?”
“I captured a riderless barbarian horse behind our estate.
I took what food and clothing I could from the ruins and departed.”
“Yu Jang-ju is truly dead?”
“Yes.”
“Others?”
“All perished.”
Jin Mugwang exhaled.
Taiyuan lay not far from the capital.
If horsemen had reached that far, the frontier had already failed.
“Your father sent you here…”
So-un watched him carefully.
“If I am a burden, I will leave.”
“That is not it,” the General said.
“This is a battlefield.
You are still young.
You passed the provincial examination, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“Then your path is not here.”
“I have nowhere else.”
“My estate in Henan would receive you.
I can send men to escort you there.
Your father and I were sworn friends.”
So-un shook his head.
“I am fourteen.
I may be young, but I will follow my father’s will.
He did not send me to Henan.
He sent me to Haran.
He fought the barbarian vanguard to the end.
Until the last servant fell.
If I interpret his final words, they mean this:
to take the warrior’s path.
I wish to take up the blade and avenge him.”
Jin Mugwang studied the boy in silence.
The frame was still slight, but the bones were balanced.
The eyes did not waver.
“You wish to bear arms?”
“Yes.”
The General considered.
“I do not know what your father would think of this.”
“Our family descends from warriors of Henan.
Only in my father’s generation did we take the civil path.
He practiced our family sword.
So do I.
If there is doubt, tell me what you doubt.”
The General shook his head slowly.
“It is not doubt.
It is reluctance.
The son of my friend is no different from my own.
Would I place such a life upon the edge of steel?”
“There is nothing left for me to lose,” So-un said.
“How can I seek peace while my father’s blood remains unavenged?”
Jin Mugwang did not answer immediately.
But he nodded once.
“Rest,” he said.
Later, in his own tent, he ordered that the boy be given what he would need to live within the camp.
Fourteen was young.
But not unheard of.
In times of famine and war, boys younger than that had taken up spears.
Some had lied about their age.
Some had come in place of sick fathers.
It was an era in which such things happened.