Chapter 146: Even If You Go to the Red-Light District [2] Yeoju and Yeoni both had their lips jutting out.
Since they had been half-forced into coming to the Red-Light District, that was only natural.
"Do we really have to come here?"
Even the usually demure Yeoju asked in a voice sharp beyond measure.
Kanghyeok still wore a shameless face.
"No, we didn't come here to do anything strange."
"What else could you possibly do here?"
This time it was Yeoni. She pointed to a woman waving her hand from atop a three-story wooden building. Perhaps cloth was in short supply, because there was almost nothing on her that was actually covered. Even Yeoni, herself a woman, felt embarrassed enough to turn her head away.
"Haha. I told you, we're not going to places like that. Sayaga is the one guiding us, after all."
"That is correct. If you go to places like that, you suffer for it later."
At Sayaga's words, Yeoju and Yeoni tilted their heads. What did he mean by suffering later?
By contrast, the men, including Kanghyeok, grinned unpleasantly. Among males, there were always certain words that needed no detailed explanation to be understood immediately.
Right. Places like that aren't somewhere you go.
Why would Kanghyeok refrain from playing around carelessly even back in Joseon? Because he knew the value of his own body. If he caught syphilis by mistake, it would not end with merely suffering a little. And at this point, there was no medicine that worked for it.
"You do suffer, yes indeed."
Makbong lowered his gaze to his lower half with a strangely distant look in his eyes. Apparently, he had experience with it.
As expected, he's filthy.
Kanghyeok shook his head and hurried after Sayaga. Even in the middle of that, the women's attempts to lure customers continued. Their faces were painted white, their upper garments cast aside, and they shook their bodies with considerable boldness.
"Is it always like this?"
At Kanghyeok's words, Sayaga shook his head.
"No. They are likely curious about Joseon people. And here, they believe Joseon people are all rich."
"Ah. And why is that?"
"In truth, life in Joseon is better than in Japan in some ways... and the things that come here from Joseon, such as porcelain and books, are all luxury goods. People here go crazy for Joseon products."
"Really? So there was already a Korean wave even back then?"
"Pardon? What wave?"
"No, never mind."
Kanghyeok waved his hand and gave up on explaining. What was the point of explaining that sort of thing?
I'll just look around.
He did not quite have the courage to go in, but there was certainly some fun in just looking.
"Are you enjoying yourself that much?"
"It's entertaining."
"I don't find it entertaining at all."
"That's your problem."
Ignoring Yeoni's sullen glare, Kanghyeok kept glancing around as he walked. But it was hard to ignore it completely. Little by little, he began to come back to his senses. And once he did, it was not exactly a sight worth getting excited over.
From a modern perspective, the women out on the street now do not particularly appeal to me. They're awfully noisy.
Rather, Kanghyeok's imposing build seemed to appeal more to them. Tall and broad-shouldered, with a fair and handsome face, and even a neatly grown beard. In Asia, it was the sort of appearance that would work anywhere, in any age. Because of that, quite a few women threw alluring looks only at Kanghyeok. It was hard to tell whether they were soliciting him or simply cheering at him.
So Japanese people already had bad teeth even back then.
By contrast, Kanghyeok had now completely returned to the eyes of a doctor. Because it was an island nation, inbreeding was an unavoidable fate. Tsushima was also small in scale, so some of the resulting genetic traits appeared quite clearly there.
Quite a lot of rickets patients too. Short stature is one thing, but bowlegs and crooked teeth too.
Looking at them, he found it hard to understand how Joseon had suffered such a disastrous defeat in war.
No. That just means Joseon's condition was that much worse.
While Kanghyeok was turning over such thoughts, Sayaga stopped in front of a large gisaeng house.
"This is the place."
"Oh."
"This feels a bit different, does it not?"
"It does. It certainly has more class."
Kanghyeok smiled with satisfaction as he looked at the grand tiled-roof house. It clearly felt incomparable to the Red-Light District they had just passed through.
This is... yes, it feels like a ryokan.
Not some shabby inn thrown together carelessly, but the kind of ryokan where one had to pay a great deal to stay. Sure enough, inside the main gate there was a neat and tasteful little garden.
Walking forward with obvious familiarity, Sayaga spoke.
"There is no place on Tsushima better than this. Only the lord's garden would be comparable."
"Oh? Then who owns this place?"
"Ah, well..."
Sayaga hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth. Since he had already brought them this far, there was little point in hiding it now.
"It belongs to the Kurushima Family."
"Kurushima? Kurushima...?"
As a rule, the only Japanese names familiar to Kanghyeok were mostly actresses, and only female actresses at that. The sort who usually appeared in films rather similar to what he had seen on the way there. But Kurushima did not sound like that kind of surname at all.
Where have I... Ah! Was it in Uncharted Waters?
It was a game whose city theme songs still came to mind even now if he closed his eyes. Though Kanghyeok had never had many hobbies beyond studying, that game had been the exception. Even his parents had not interfered much with his playing Uncharted Waters. That had been thanks to some nonsense joke he made back then, though thinking about it now, it had not been complete nonsense.
Because of that game, I know the world map roughly.
If someone had told him to memorize it outright, it would have been impossible. Even if he had forced himself to memorize it, he would have forgotten it quickly. But the world map he had absorbed naturally over several months had never left him.
In that game, Kurushima was... a pirate, wasn't he?
He did not think Koei would have lazily made up the game without research. They had probably referred to real history to some degree. Japanese people tended to put tremendous effort even into small details.
"Is it... a name you know?"
Sayaga asked, looking somewhat embarrassed.
Judging by his reaction, that tells me everything.
If it had been some proud and honorable family, there was no way he would have reacted like this.
"Why... are they pirates?"
"Hah, so you knew. Yes. It is a rather famous pirate family."
"Piracy must pay pretty well, judging by the fact that they can decorate a place like this almost on par with the lord's garden."
Now that he thought about it, even the torches placed there and there were no ordinary things. Whether they were gold leaf or pure gold, he could not tell, but they glittered with a golden sheen.
Yeoju, who particularly disliked the wokou, demanded, "Why exactly have we come here?"
"Ah... well, because this is the best place... Kurushima probably won't be here. They don't operate in this area."
"Then where are they? Joseon?"
"Ah, no."
Sayaga scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"At present, the Kanpaku has summoned them, so they are likely there."
"If you say Kanpaku..."
"Yes. Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself."
"Hm."
Kanghyeok scratched under his chin and fell into thought. That was because something else about Kurushima had come back to him.
Wasn't that... in that movie where Admiral Yi Sun-sin was the lead too?
The man had worn a strange mask, so he had been quite memorable.
I think he got thoroughly wrecked in Myeongnyang.
Did he not get utterly crushed, soul and all, by Yi Sun-sin, despite having hundreds of warships against Yi Sun-sin's twelve, and in the end die there? Thinking that way made Kanghyeok feel a little better. For now, he strutted around after building a fine gisaeng house with money plundered by force, but one day he was surely going to die far away at Myeongnyang.
"Welcome."
After they had passed about halfway through the garden, a neatly dressed woman came hurrying over. Though because the kimono was narrow, her movement felt more like quick little steps than running.
"Mm."
Instead of answering, Sayaga merely nodded. The woman coming to greet him was far too low in status to receive him properly. Recognizing his reaction, the woman immediately bent her head low.
"My apologies, Elder Sayaga."
"Where is Aoi?"
"At present, there is an honored guest..."
"A guest?"
Sayaga tilted his head. The lord was surely still inside conferring with the envoys. Other than So Yoshitoshi, there should have been no one in Tsushima above Sayaga who could be called an honored guest.
The woman did not dare raise her eyes toward Sayaga, who made no attempt to hide his displeasure. So she kept her head lowered and spoke only with her mouth.
"That..."
"Say who has come. If it is an honored guest, then those on this side are no less so."
With anger on his face, Sayaga pointed at Kanghyeok and his party. At a glance, they wore fine clothes, and moreover, they were not Japanese. They were the hard-to-see Joseon people, and on top of that, yangban.
"That..."
The woman hesitated for a long time before finally speaking, and even then only after Sayaga laid a hand on the sword at his waist.
"It is Lord Kuki Yoshitaka of Shima."
"What?"
Sayaga stared toward the rear garden with a face that said he could not believe it. A few figures clearly identifiable as samurai stood guard. Judging by the armor they wore and the swords at their sides, they were certainly not men beneath Sayaga in station. If they could be assigned to stand watch over a mere rear garden, then Kuki Yoshitaka had to be someone Sayaga knew well.
"No, what brings him all the way out here? And without even informing the lord?"
"I do not know the details myself. Only..."
"Only?"
"I heard only that he was returning after passing through Hirado."
"Hirado?"
Hirado was a place name that overlapped rather curiously with the Tongsinsa's route. Or rather, once one left Tsushima, that was exactly where one would arrive next.
Is he inspecting something before the Tongsinsa gets there?
Sayaga recalled the words Toyotomi Hideyoshi had originally ordered be conveyed to Joseon. They had deeply flustered So Yoshitoshi, and he had not been able to pass them along word for word.
Is he really planning to strike Ming? While hiding preparations for war?
Kuki Yoshitaka was one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's core men. If such a man was taking the time to trace the Tongsinsa's route in advance, it could not possibly be coincidence. There was surely some scheme behind it, and it was unlikely to work in Joseon's favor.
"Is there some problem?"
Kanghyeok, who had been listening in silence, finally spoke. Within Japan, Kuki Yoshitaka's reputation completely overshadowed the Kurushima Family, but regrettably that fame had not spread as far as Joseon. So even after hearing the name, the party had no idea who he was.
"There is a guest already here first. Regrettably, it seems the best room will be impossible."
"I thought you were pretty high-ranking in Tsushima. So that's not the case?"
"Haha. No matter where you go, there is always someone above you."
With a somewhat self-mocking smile, Sayaga headed toward the room they were being shown to. Kanghyeok followed behind him, curious about just who this "guest already here" might be.
In truth, Sayaga's standing in Tsushima shouldn't be low... and everyone above him should be with the lord right now. So who exactly is this fellow?
Kanghyeok was not the kind of person who endured curiosity well, and this time was no exception.
"Who is Kuki Yoshitaka that you're reacting like that?"
"Ah... well. Originally, he was a pirate of Shima."
"A pirate?"
"Yes. But after defeating the Mōri navy, he became famed as the greatest naval commander of the Warring States period."
"Oh..."
"And the Kanpaku is very fond of him as well."
"I see."
If he was favored by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, that meant he would likely be used in the Imjin War before long. While glaring at the wall with a hostility he could not quite explain, a scream came from beyond it.
"Ahhh!"
"Lord Yoshitaka!"
Then came a crashing sound, followed by the noise of something falling over.
At that, Dolseok widened his eyes and looked at Kanghyeok.
"Young master."
"Doesn't this sound like a situation we've run into plenty of times?"
"Yes. Sounds like something's gone wrong next door."
"Should we go?"
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