Chapter 9
How Should One Live?…
After helping the second branch of the family with the cleanup, Madam Jang hurried back to the room with So Daehae. She immediately grabbed So Cheong-young’s hand and anxiously pressed her about what had happened in the town.
“How did you end up running into Yeo Bak-seung? Don’t tell me you went all the way to the town just to see him on purpose?”
Madam Jang and So Daehae had never thought kindly of the Yeo family. But what worried them even more was the possibility that someone might have seen Cheong-young meeting him privately, giving the villagers something to gossip about. That would do nothing good for their daughter’s reputation.
The five members of the main household gathered in the room shared by So Cheong-young and the twin siblings.
The main household had originally consisted of seven people, but they had only been assigned two small rooms in the eastern side wing. Because of this, Cheong-young’s eldest brother had shared a room with the second branch’s Woo-mun and Woo-mu brothers until he was conscripted and left home.
This room had once been shared by Cheong-young and her eldest sister, but after the elder sister married and moved away, it became the room for the twins. Fortunately, the siblings were still young and small, so sharing one bed had not been too much of a hardship.
When Madam Jang pressed her questions, So Daehae naturally turned his gaze toward their daughter.
In one corner of the room, the twins—who had been sharing a piece of snack—paused, carefully wrapped up what was left, and tucked it away. Their eyes sparkled with delight.
If there’s this much, we can eat one piece a day for quite a long time!
Barely able to contain their joy, the two children beamed and began chattering excitedly about everything that had happened at the market, barely waiting for Madam Jang to finish her question. Then Cheong-haeng added, as if concluding things,
“Mother, that older brother isn’t a bad person.”
Nestled in Madam Jang’s arms, Cheong-haeng looked up while clutching her clothes tightly. Madam Jang tapped her daughter’s forehead lightly with a finger.
“What do you children know? Just because someone buys you snacks, you think he’s a good person?”
Cheong-haeng pouted and shook the hem of her mother’s clothes. At that, Cheong-yang, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
“He’s not bad like Hwa-pyo! You could tell just by looking at him—he was completely different.”
The “Hwa-pyo” Cheong-yang referred to was the only son of a widow in the village.
His father had been taken to the battlefield and killed, and his mother had raised him alone without remarrying. Feeling sorry for the mother and son, the villagers had all helped them in one way or another. In that sense, Hwa-pyo had grown up eating food given by the entire village.
Yet Hwa-pyo showed not a shred of gratitude.
One day he would steal a chicken from one house, the next day vegetables from another. Instead of farming, he loitered around other people’s fields, waiting for the crops to ripen before showing up with a sack and sweeping everything away.
The villagers went to the village head countless times to complain, but Hwa-pyo would only pretend to repent, then turn around and repeat the same acts as if nothing had happened. He didn’t even hesitate to snatch snacks from children.
And that wasn’t all.
Later, he began frequenting the town, associating with thugs, and extorting protection money from farmers running stalls and merchants with shops. If they refused to pay, he would immediately threaten them with a club. With his violent temper and vicious appearance, children were terrified just by seeing him, and even the village adults had begun to avoid him in fear.
So Daehae fell silent for a long while, deep in thought, before finally speaking.
“I asked around in town, and that Yeo Bak-seung fellow doesn’t have a very good reputation. They say he showed no talent for studying when he was young and only liked fighting. Even as an adult, he spent his days wandering around and stirring up trouble.
There are also stories that, even at eighteen or nineteen, he has no proper work, spends his days drinking and frequenting brothels… And they say he’ll be sent to the battlefield soon. If that happens, who knows whether he’ll even come back alive—just like your older brother, whose whereabouts we still don’t know….”
The moment So Cheong-song’s name was mentioned, the room fell into heavy silence.
Madam Jang’s eyes reddened instantly, and she began to sob silently in front of the children. The twins hurried over and hugged her tightly, their own eyes turning red as well.
After all, the children had been old enough to remember when So Cheong-song left two years ago. The time they had spent with him still lingered vividly in their memories.
“I miss big brother. I feel like I’m really going to forget what he looks like now….”
Cheong-haeng murmured softly, leaning against Madam Jang.
“Mother, when I grow up, I’ll be filial. I’ll listen to Father and Mother properly.”
Cheong-yang said in a small but resolute voice, lifting his head high.
Tears streaming down her face, Madam Jang stroked the children’s heads. Only after a long while did she manage to wipe away her tears. Watching her, So Daehae looked on with deep worry etched on his face.
So Cheong-song was their eldest son.
From a young age, he had been mature and dependable, never shirking even the hardest farm work. Now, however, they didn’t even know whether he was alive or dead. It was only natural that Madam Jang cried for him every night.
At that moment, she spoke again in a low voice.
“Your father and I don’t want you to marry into the Yeo family. What if you become a widow? And what if, by some misfortune, your in-laws refuse to let you leave? How would you survive there all on your own…?”
She broke down in tears before she could even finish.
My poor children…
Her eldest son’s fate was unknown, her eldest daughter had been led away by her step-grandmother into a harsh marriage, and now even her second daughter, Cheong-young, was being sent to marry a man soon bound for war.
What kind of cruel fate had her children been born into?
Swallowing her sobs, Madam Jang continued,
“You’ve seen how Hwa-pyo’s mother lives now, haven’t you? She used to be such a good person… But after Hwa-pyo’s father died, raising a child alone must have been too much. Hwa-pyo went down a bad path, stealing everywhere… and in the end, even his mother became a thief. At first she only stole goods, but later she even—”
“Enough! Don’t say such things in front of the children!”
So Daehae cut her off sharply, and Madam Jang fell silent.
After crying quietly for a while, she turned to her husband and said,
“I’m just terrified when I think about how Cheong-young will live in the future. At least Hwa-pyo’s mother has a son—something to live for while alive, and someone to perform rites for her after death. But if Yeo Bak-seung doesn’t come back… how is our Cheong-young supposed to live all alone?”
She began to sob again, and So Daehae sat silently on the bed, sinking into deep worry.
After a moment, Madam Jang spoke again, ignoring her husband’s lack of response.
“To be honest, your father and I originally thought well of Dae-ho. We know him inside and out, and he lives in the same village, so it would’ve been convenient. And since he’s the only son, he could avoid conscription whenever the state drafts men.
If that had happened, we could’ve lived close by and relied on each other… Just look at your older sister. She married into a faraway village, and now even her husband has gone missing like your brother. We don’t even know how she’s living with her in-laws….”
Wiping her tears again, Madam Jang continued,
“I opposed it back then too. I said we shouldn’t marry her off so far away. But your grandmother only heard that the family would offer a lot of silver and stubbornly pushed it through. And now she’s selling you off as well—for fifty taels of silver….”
So Cheong-young quietly looked at So Daehae. Seeing that he offered no rebuttal, she felt a subtle sense of relief. More than anything, she had been afraid that her parents might blindly obey the elders without thinking.
Moving closer to her mother, Cheong-young wrapped an arm around her shoulders, gently wiped her tears, and spoke softly.
“Mother, don’t worry. Even if things turn out badly, I’m confident I can survive somehow. And after meeting Yeo Bak-seung today, he didn’t seem as terrible as the rumors say. Not everything people say appears to be true.
He said that even when he goes to brothels, he only drinks and does nothing else—and he even swore an oath. And although he lacks talent in studying, he enjoys martial training. He’s been in many fights since childhood and seems to have learned a few techniques from a martial master at an escort agency. With that level of skill, even if he’s dragged into the battlefield, wouldn’t he at least be able to protect his own life?”
Madam Jang snapped back irritably,
“With such sloppy martial skills, how could he possibly survive!”
Cheong-young continued calmly,
“Still, his chances are higher than most. And if you think about it, becoming a widow is better than growing old as a spinster. Widows don’t have to pay taxes, and if I live near you and raise a child on my own, there would be fewer worries. Even if I don’t have a child, I could always adopt one. Life would be quieter and more comfortable that way.”
Madam Jang, exasperated, slapped her daughter on the back.
“You foolish girl! What’s so good about being a widow? Haven’t you seen what became of Hwa-pyo’s mother?”
Cheong-young replied calmly,
“Mother, I’m not like that woman. And I have you and Father, my brother, my sister, and my younger siblings. Cheong-yang, you’ll take good care of this older sister later, right?”
At that, Cheong-yang straightened his back and answered loudly,
“Yes! I’ll definitely take good care of you later, Sister!”
Smiling proudly, Cheong-young gently patted his cheek.
“Alright. Then later I’ll build a house near you in our village and live there. When that time comes, I’ll be counting on you.”
“Me too! Me too! I’ll take care of you too!”
Cheong-haeng hurriedly chimed in.
“Alright, alright. It’s nice to have Cheong-haeng taking care of me too.”
Cheong-young laughed warmly as she pulled her into a hug.
But Madam Jang still couldn’t put her mind at ease.
“That Yeo Bak-seung is also the child of a former wife. If you marry him, you’ll be living under a stepmother-in-law. How can you decide on your own that you’ll live near us? There’s no guarantee you’d even be allowed to visit your natal home!
Just look at your grandmother. Your father and I have asked to split households for years, and even now that your brother is old enough to marry, we still don’t have a single room of our own. And yet your grandmother won’t budge. In her eyes, your father exists only to work the fields here until he dies.”
So Daehae remained silent even after hearing this.
He, too, had thought about separating households.
Living under a stepmother was hardly comfortable. It would be better to move out and live quietly on their own. But in times like these, attempting to split households could lead to even greater trouble.
With wars breaking out constantly, the conscription system had changed to drafting a fixed number of able-bodied men per household. If they were to set up a separate household, the number of men taken from the family could double or even triple.
That was why his father and brothers opposed the idea so fiercely. Looking around the village, it was clear that very few families dared to split households under such circumstances.
Given the situation, So Daehae himself wasn’t entirely eager to move out either.
