Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 749

749. The Middle School Emperor (2)

Realizing the situation had changed, Madam Ju’s demeanor also shifted, becoming more confident and dignified.

With her back straightened, Madam Ju asked the official,

“So, until when do I need to prepare to return?”

“The Ming Dynasty is requesting your return as soon as possible, but the decision rests with the Noble Consort.”

At the official’s words, Madam Ju leaned back against the chair. With a mysterious smile that was hard to decipher, she asked the official again,

“So, you’re saying it’s alright to delay the next Emperor’s return?”

“Our Federal Empire has no objections.”

“Hmm…”

Letting out a soft hum, Madam Ju pondered for a moment before finally reaching a conclusion.

“It was something I desperately wanted, but I never expected it to happen at such an unexpected time. It’s difficult to decide right now, so I’ll send Eunuch Wang to inform you within a few days.”

“I will report that. Then…”

The official, who had placed the national letter from Ming on the tea table, bowed respectfully and withdrew.

As Wang Chung, who had gone out to see the official off, returned, tears streamed down Madam Ju’s face.

“Finally…”

Unable to finish her sentence and only shedding tears, Wang Chung immediately prostrated himself on the floor and shouted,

“Your Ladyship! This is heaven’s punishment! Now everything will return to its rightful place! I offer my humble congratulations!”

At Wang Chung’s words, Madam Ju dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief and replied,

“Yes, we must return it to its rightful place. Of course. Even if it was His Late Majesty’s command, we cannot simply let those who sent His Highness to Liaodong [a region in northeastern China] as a trap go unpunished. We must make them pay the price.”

“That is right!”

Madam Ju, who was sharpening the blade of revenge, soon realized something and jumped up from her seat.

“Wait! Has the Prince, no, the Emperor, not returned yet?”

“Yes, he went out for a while to clear his head, but he has not returned yet.”

“Send people to bring him back immediately!”

“Yes, Your Ladyship!”

Wang Chung, who received Madam Ju’s order, immediately went outside and called a servant. Madam Ju, who sat back in her chair, examined the contents of the national letter. Her eyes were burning with a blue flame of vengeance as she checked the contents of the national letter several times.

“I still can’t forget that day.”

Madam Ju had clearly witnessed the deaths of Zhu Qizhen and Concubine Jeon, who had decided to take their own lives when Liaodong Fortress fell.

“I will definitely take revenge!”

Dreaming of revenge, Madam Ju let out a long sigh.

“Hoo~. The problem is the Emperor… He’s probably chasing after that girl. What should I do…”

* * *

While Madam Ju was sighing, Zhu Jianxin was really talking to a girl.

“Geum-soon~. Don’t be like that, let’s go to the entertainment district together the day after tomorrow? Hongmei, who is famous as the most beautiful gisaeng [Korean courtesan] in Pyongyang, is coming. Let’s go see Hongmei’s dance and eat delicious food. You like Western-style sausages, right? Let’s eat them together while watching the dance.”

“I want to go, but I’ll get scolded by my mother if I’m seen going to the entertainment district with a strange man.”

“We’re neighbors, so I’m not a strange man, am I?”

“Still, I can’t.”

“Geum-soon~.”

“I’ll get scolded by my mother if I stay any longer. I’m going now~.”

Leaving Zhu Jianxin, who was restless with longing, the girl called Geum-soon went home.

With a face full of regret, Zhu Jianxin, who was looking at Geum-soon’s back, sighed deeply and turned his body.

“Hoo~.”

As Zhu Jianxin was walking along, slumping his head with a sigh that seemed to make the ground sink, several boys approached and teased him.

“Hey, Hidden Dragon! Rejected again!”

Seeing the boy who put his arm around his shoulder and teased him, Zhu Jianxin smiled slightly and replied.

“Pilsu, and To, is that you guys?”

“Then who else would play with the Hidden Dragon besides us? The Hidden Dragon always has hidden dragons by his side, doesn’t he?”

At Pilsu’s words, Zhu Jianxin chuckled and replied,

“Aren’t we just minnows instead of hidden dragons?”

“Do you want to die? Minnows!”

“I know your grades from Samin Academy and Middle School, so where are you trying to claim you’re a hidden dragon?”

At Zhu Jianxin’s words, Pilsu retorted with a dumbfounded expression.

“What about you?”

Pilsu raised his hand as if he was wronged and pointed to a boy next to him.

“Isn’t Seokjun the only one here who has even passed the first round of the Yihak Academy entrance exam?”

At Pilsu’s words, Seokjun raised his chin with a slightly arrogant expression, and the other boys next to him shouted at the same time.

“You bastard! Are you going to rub salt in our wounds!”

“We’re already getting the cold shoulder at home!”

As they each said a word, the alleyway quickly became noisy. The adults around them muttered with a look of pity.

“Those troublemakers are causing trouble again…”

“They should be studying Chinese characters or math instead of doing that…”

“They’re not bad kids… I wish they were just stupid so we could at least give them some work to do… Hidden dragons or just useless dragons…”

Zhu Jianxin and the boys around him were famous in this neighborhood.

* * *

The connection between Zhu Jianxin and the boys started at Samin Academy.

The children who entered Samin Academy were divided into groups of several people and assigned to a class, and they spent most of their day together.

As they learned together, played together, and ate together, Zhu Jianxin and the boys became close.

It wasn’t that the boys didn’t know Zhu Jianxin’s identity. It was because they had heard the adults around them whispering.

“…Yes, it’s his father who’s the problem, not the child.”

“That’s true.”

They didn’t know the exact meaning, but the boys realized it was bad news. Thanks to that, the boys initially kept a slight distance from Zhu Jianxin.

However, as time passed, the boys became closer as they realized that Zhu Jianxin was not a bad child.

And later, as they learned history, the boys properly understood the meaning of what the adults had said. However, at that time, the boys all made a similar decision.

“Yes, as the elders said, it was Jianxin’s father who was the problem. It wasn’t him who was the problem, right?”

“Even the country doesn’t blame him, so we have no reason to blame him.”

That’s how the boys continued their friendship as they made that decision. And, at some point, the boys started calling themselves hidden dragons.

The reason why they called themselves hidden dragons and the people around them called them useless dragons was because of Zhu Jianxin.

When Zhu Jianxin encountered the word hidden dragon while learning letters and basic Confucianism at the academy, he immediately raised his voice.

“Oh? I know this word? It’s what the Noble Consort says to me every day.”

Instantly, the boys in the classroom all burst into laughter.

“Hahaha!”

“Hidden dragon? He says he’s a hidden dragon!”

At the children’s ridicule, Zhu Jianxin tearfully appealed to his innocence.

“It’s true! The Noble Consort really says that to me every day!”

And, as the years passed and the boys learned about Zhu Jianxin’s identity, they unknowingly nodded their heads.

“So, that’s why he was a hidden dragon?”

That’s how Zhu Jianxin’s nickname became Hidden Dragon.

The reason why the adults around them clicked their tongues as they looked at Zhu Jianxin and the boys was because of their talent.

They weren’t excellent, but they had pretty good minds. However, their problem was that they were overconfident in their minds.

“If I just put in a little effort, success is right around the corner!”

In fact, when Seokjun, one of them, passed the first round of the Yihak Academy entrance exam, their confidence soared through the sky.

“See! If we just put in a little effort, we can get results like that!”

Thanks to that, their parents sighed every day.

“Should I just marry him off?”

“No way. Do you want him to get divorced in less than two weeks?”

“Those reckless fools…”

* * *

In this noisy atmosphere, Pilsu spoke to Zhu Jianxin.

“Do you like Geum-soon that much?”

“I like her. I like her so much I could die.”

“Then, why don’t you try acting first and telling later?”

At Pilsu’s words, Zhu Jianxin shook his head.

“A man has his pride. How could I do such a heretical thing?”

At Zhu Jianxin’s answer, Pilsu patted Zhu Jianxin’s shoulder.

“That’s right! That’s how a hidden dragon should be! A hidden dragon has to be like a hidden dragon! Hahaha!”

“Hahaha!”

As the two of them were laughing heartily, the servant sent by Wang Chung found Zhu Jianxin.

“You are urgently requested to return.”

“Why?”

“This humble one doesn’t know well, but they say something big has happened.”

“Really?”

At the servant’s words, Zhu Jianxin looked back at Pilsu and the other friends.

“I think I have to go now.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

* * *

Zhu Jianxin, who returned home, headed straight to Madam Ju’s residence.

“I’m going to get an earful again, aren’t I?”

As he worried about Madam Ju’s nagging and entered the gate of the inner quarters, Zhu Jianxin stopped in his tracks.

Madam Ju, Wang Chung, and all those who had stayed with them were kneeling and looking at him.

“What is this…”

Instantly, everyone who was kneeling bowed their heads to the ground and shouted in unison.

“We greet the heavens! Long live, long live, long long live!”

“Long live, long live, long long live!”

Unable to come to his senses at the people’s shouts of long live, Zhu Jianxin asked Madam Ju.

“What is going on? Greet the heavens? What’s going on?”

At Zhu Jianxin’s question, Wang Chung stepped forward and answered.

“Your Majesty is now the Emperor of Ming.”

“What? What?”

“You have become the Emperor! I offer my humble congratulations! Long live, long live, long long live!”

At Wang Chung’s words, Zhu Jianxin’s face became blank.

“I’ve become the Emperor?”

* * *

Barely regaining his senses, Zhu Jianxin checked the national letter at Madam Ju’s residence.

“Is this national letter really genuine?”

At Zhu Jianxin’s question, which he asked again, Wang Chung stepped forward and answered.

“It is genuine. An official from the Federal Empire’s management office brought it himself.”

“Heo…”

At Wang Chung’s answer, Zhu Jianxin’s mind went blank.

‘I’m the Emperor? The Emperor of Ming? Is this reality, not a dream?’

Zhu Jianxin couldn’t believe the current reality. Of course, after learning about his birth, he had sometimes imagined himself becoming the Emperor.

‘But, imagination is just imagination.’

Knowing his own reality well, he dismissed it as just an imagination, but suddenly his imagination had become reality.

‘Yes! Let’s admit it! This is not a dream! I have become the Emperor!’

“Hoo~.”

Barely organizing his thoughts, Zhu Jianxin looked at Madam Ju and Wang Chung.

“So, are we leaving right away?”

“No, we are not.”

At Wang Chung’s answer, Zhu Jianxin crossed his arms and fell into thought again. After pondering for a while, Zhu Jianxin looked at Madam Ju.

“When I sit on the throne, what do you want me to do?”

Because Madam Ju would grab him at every chance and talk about past grudges, Zhu Jianxin was expecting a certain answer. And Madam Ju’s answer did not deviate from his expectations.

“Please punish those who pushed Your Majesty’s father into a trap.”

At Madam Ju’s answer, Zhu Jianxin could only sigh again.

“Hoo~.”