SHYL 02

Chapter 2

The first day I fell into the Joseon Dynasty.

I was in the middle of a bizarre, chaotic commotion.

“Rat-lipped wench! I’ll burn your rat lips!”

Men dressed in inner court official uniforms shouted loudly and waved their torches about. The young palace maids, with rice cakes stuck to their mouths, shrieked as if they were about to have a fit.

“So you dare speak carelessly in the palace? I’ll scorch that snout of yours for sure!”

One of the inner officials thrust a burning torch at them and growled. Amidst the shouting of the officials and the screams of the maids, sparks scattered through the air.

Right in the middle of it all, I stood with a blank face, observing the situation.

What a ridiculous dream to be having.

My last memory was falling asleep as if fainting after flipping through the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. And of all things, I dream that I’ve become a palace maid? Isn’t that a bit too cruel for a history student already suffering over their thesis?

Sigh. Save this grad student, please.

“Rat-lipped wench!”

‘Rat-lipped wench’—that was a kind of initiation ritual used to discipline newly entered palace maids.

It’s called ‘discipline’ in name, but it’s practically child abuse.

For the young maids, it must be an absolutely terrifying experience. But to me, a 24-year-old modern person, it was nothing more than a cringe performance put on by a bunch of middle-aged men.

The only strange thing was how vivid all the sensations were.

The cries of the maids aside… the heat piercing through the chilly air, the crackling sound of flying sparks, even the sharp sting of it—everything was too real.

And then.

“Is this the child you spoke of?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

I looked up at the sound of a woman’s voice. A splendid silk garment entered my view. For a moment, even I was startled. Because the woman was extraordinarily beautiful. Honestly, she was the kind of stunning beauty I had never seen in my life, the kind that makes your jaw drop.

But why is this woman so tall?

I thought as I looked up at her face, which was far above me.

“She is no ordinary child. Even the older maids in their teens are weeping in fear, yet this little one is so composed.”

The woman was speaking about me.

“For such a young child to be this calm. You did well to bring her.”

She gazed at me with an intrigued look, then peeled the rice cake off my mouth. The brush of her fingertips felt so real that I flinched.

“Little one. How old are you?”

“….”

Is she calling me ‘little one’?

As I hesitated, confused—

“Ahem. Her Highness is asking you a question. Answer at once.”

The head court lady standing beside the woman urged me sternly.

If she’s being addressed as ‘Jaga’, that means she’s a Bin (嬪), the highest rank among the royal concubines.

Bin or not, do I have to endure such authoritative words even in my dreams?

But perhaps thanks to my experience of being hounded by my professor, the answer popped out of me.

“Twenty-four….”

Huh? What’s with this lisp?

Startled, I rolled my eyes.

Something’s strange. What is this dream?

I looked down. At the end of a jade-green sleeve, there was a red cuff.

This is a palace maid’s uniform.

That wasn’t the only problem. The hand peeking out from the sleeve… was that of a tiny, chubby little kid.

Only then did I realize.

It wasn’t that the women were too tall. It was that I had the body of a small child.

“Twenty-four? Haha. She’s just a baby, so she doesn’t know her numbers yet. She means four years old.”

“That is correct, Jaga. Although she is still three, the new year is near, so it would be fine to consider her four.”

Even as I sank into confusion, the concubine and the head court lady continued their conversation. The situation didn’t feel like a dream at all. An eerie feeling crept over me.

This won’t do. I have to pinch myself and wake up from this weird dream quickly…

“Ouch!”

“…Little one? What’s wrong?”

The back of my hand stung so much my eyes welled up.

…What? Is this not a dream, but reality?

Then the woman spoke.

“I like this child. My heart has been feeling quite empty lately; having a young one around will surely lift my spirits.”

“I am sure that will be the case, Jaga. Though she is an orphan, she is not an unsophisticated commoner—she has learned some court etiquette as well.”

“An orphan? Oh my. How pitiful.”

…Forget the fact that I, currently stuck between dream and reality, was an orphan—what shocked me more was that they were saying such things right in front of the child.

“This will be good for the child as well. I’m certain His Highness the Crown Prince will look upon her kindly as well.”

“There can be no doubt, Jaga Huibin.”

Huibin…!

I froze in shock.

Could it be that Huibin?

Nah. No way.

I composed myself.

No need to worry. First of all, this is a dream… or it has to be a dream.

Above all, there wasn’t just one person called ‘Huibin’ in the Joseon Dynasty.

“Then, Jaga, I shall take the child to your residence as you have permitted.”

“Yes. May it ease the loneliness of Chwiseondang a little.”

The moment I heard those words.

“Wha?! Chwiseondang?!”

I couldn’t help but yell.

Chwiseondang?

I’m the young court lady of Chwiseondang?!

Chwiseondang is the name of the residence where the most famous woman in all of Joseon history lived.

Jang Huibin. Jang Hui-bin (張禧嬪).

Meaning, the woman standing before me…

Is she really Jang Hui-bin?

The legendary beauty and femme fatale who left her mark on history through her romance with King Sukjong. The epitome of court intrigue, known as the representative villainess of Joseon.

But I had a different reason to panic.

For those of you who are history buffs, you might know this: Jang Hui-bin was executed by poison for cursing Queen Inhyeon.

There are debates about whether she was poisoned or hanged, but that’s not important right now. What matters is, if I really am the young court lady of Chwiseondang…

…Most of the palace maids of Chwiseondang were executed after Jang Hui-bin’s death!

“Ha…”

I stared at the ceiling rafters, the kind you’d only see in a folk village, and let out a deep sigh.

This is Changgyeonggung Palace.

The place I’m lying in is the court maid’s quarters attached to Chwiseondang. A cozy heated room with antique furniture that looks straight out of a historical drama. When I raised my body because my back felt like it might burn, I spotted a chamber pot sitting alone in the corner.

It was an object you’d only find in a museum or an antique shop in modern times.

That chamber pot clearly told me the reality I was in.

So I’ve been possessed.

Normally, a person who gets possessed should have some special ability or at least a noble status—that’s the rule.

But none of that applied to me.

Let me summarize how absurd my situation is:

1. I was a graduate student majoring in Joseon history. In other words, I got possessed into the very era I was studying.
2. I got possessed into an ordinary palace maid with no connection to royalty, nobility, or special powers. And not just any maid—a tiny little one, barely the size of a rat’s ball!
3. I am presumed to be a complete orphan. So there’s no secretly evil father to reform me, no mysterious family hiding all kinds of secrets—nothing.

…But there’s an even more serious problem.

Honestly, the personal information of a powerless little court maid was worthless.

The important thing was this:

Even at this very moment, a time bomb was ticking that would send all the maids of Chwiseondang to their deaths.

*Jang Hui-bin was executed in the 27th year of King Sukjong. But what year is it right now?*

I need to know how much time I have left to live.

Just then, the door burst open.

“Hwang Bong-bong! Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Whether from the shock of the possession, I had been down with a fever for a few days.

In that time, the only information I had gathered about the child I had possessed was one single thing: her name, ‘Hwang Bong-bong’.

At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder.

‘Hwang Bong-bong’? What kind of name is that? What were her parents thinking?

Anyway, the court lady who entered my room was a maid named ‘Seolhyang’. She was something of a senior who shared the room with the young court lady Hwang Bong-bong. Seolhyang was very kind to me, taking good care of me while I was sick.

“Then, Bong-bong, get dressed quickly and come out. Today is Ipchun (the beginning of spring). It’s the day we post the spring couplets. The youngest can’t be missing, can she?”

If today is Ipchun, that means it’s the twelfth lunar month, with the new year just around the corner.

It was a small piece of information, but my ears perked up.

As I struggled with my short limbs to get dressed, a good idea came to mind.

“Yes. But, Ma’am…”

“What?”

“How old is His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“His Highness’s age? What do you need to know that for?”

“Just because.”

Without pressing further, Seolhyang answered readily.

“His Highness is twelve. After the new year passes, he’ll be thirteen.”

“He’s twelve now?”

“Yes. But Bong-bong, why do you have that expression? Are you sick again?”

I heard Seolhyang’s voice, but my head was spinning.

*Jang Hui-bin was executed in September of the 27th year of King Sukjong. At that time, the Crown Prince was fourteen years old.*

Crown Prince Lee Yun, Jang Hui-bin’s son and King Sukjong’s eldest son, who would later become King Gyeongjong, is twelve this year.

And today is Ipchun, so…

It is the 12th month of the 25th year of King Sukjong.

That means…

One year and nine months…!

That is the time left for Hwang Bong-bong, the young court lady of Jang Hui-bin’s residence, to save her life