Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 847
Episode 847: Daily Life in the Empire (6)
Hu Fu (胡服) entered the Empire – Joseon at the time – when the Jurchen people came to stay in Hanseong.
As the children of the Jurchen tribe’s noble chiefs and high-ranking officials in Joseon received official positions in the central government and stayed in Hanseong, the residents of Hanseong at that time came into contact with the Jurchen tribe’s good fortune.
The first reaction of Joseon people who came across Hobok was ‘grave grave’.
“The clothes look a bit cramped….”
“It would be comfortable for riding a horse.”
Like the reaction of the Joseon people at the time, Hobok was a garment created to meet the needs of the Jurchen tribe, who were nomads.
The neck and chest were tightly closed to prevent wind from seeping in, and the side lines were open to make it easier to get on and off the horse.
Underneath the Hobok top made in this way, women wore skirts or trousers and men wore trousers as everyday attire.
The fact that Jurchen women wore skirts and pants was also a sign of status.
Upper-class women who rarely rode horses wore skirts, and lower-class women who had to move a lot wore pants.
Therefore, this suit did not become a bomb in the fashion world. Even for the nobility who liked to argue, it was good clothing that did not pose any major problems.
Rather, what the noblemen hated were the foot bindings of women from Ming Dynasty.
What made this kind of luxury clothing a bomb in the fashion world was the fragrance of the women of the imperial family.
* * *
Hyang was making steady efforts to improve clothing, starting with skirt pants made by modifying the riding pants that were popular among Western upper-class women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Funnily enough, it started with the most basic problem, the bathroom.
“Wow! There are so many things hanging around! “I’m going to pack up my clothes!”
Because of this basic inconvenience, Hyang worked hard to improve his clothing.
Thanks to these efforts, the clothing of people from the Joseon Dynasty and later empires continued to change.
However, what made this scent difficult to touch was the women’s clothing.
Even the most zealous effort to abolish Gache ended up being only half successful.
The gache, which was so large and heavy that it was said that it broke the neck of the new bride, and the eoyeo-meori on which it was topped almost disappeared, but the gache boasted its tenacious vitality as the jojim-meori with cheopji and jokduri became popular.
* * *
In addition to the gacha, the thing that Hyang couldn’t easily touch was women’s underwear.
“Isn’t it too stuffy…” Hyang
grumbled inwardly every time she saw the Crown Princess and Yangje Yangwon in their underwear in the bedroom.
Starting with leg underwear, which can be considered the panties of the 21st century, women of the nobility wore four layers of underwear under their skirts, and women of women’s houses wore three layers of underwear under their skirts. The top was also everyday wear, consisting of several layers, starting with the undergarment and the undergarment.
Of course, the poor who could not afford to dress up in various outfits could only wear red socks and underpants.
However, it was a daily routine for women in families with enough money to make a living, regardless of their gender, to wear at least that much layering.
To go one step further, there were cases where women who were relatives or high-ranking officials wore more than 10 layers of underwear and bottoms. Of course, mujigi, the main culprit for increasing the number of layers, was to put on and take off the overlapping skirts by tying them together, but that did not mean that 7 to 8 layers became one layer.
Because the situation was like this, the scent was grumbling.
“I have a long way to go… but if I keep going like this, I’m going to kill myself.”
It was the scent that made me grumble inside every time I went to bed with my queen and concubines.
Because it smelled like this, it was a daily routine for me to mutter to myself whenever I saw the royal robes of the Jurchen couple attending a banquet held by King Sejong and paying their respects.
‘Cheongsam and swords are a cheat key… If you add a garter belt and a pistol, it’s the complete version… It doesn’t matter if it’s a real event or an animation…’ As an
aside, this is an afterword about the fragrance that looks intently at the women of the Jurchen tribe. This was going around.
“Isn’t it possible that the crown prince is interested in Jurchen women?”
“no way? “Didn’t you only have the Crown Princess and Yangje Yangwon?”
“That’s right. “In the beginning, you said you would only have one Crown Princess, but due to His Majesty’s insistence, there were only three.”
“The crown prince is also a man. “Do you know anything?”
“Hmm…”
Eventually, this rumor spread and reached Sejong’s ears, and he immediately called Hyang.
“I will ask you boy to boy. “Perhaps…”
Before Sejong could finish his sentence, Hyang urgently answered.
“Oh no! “I was just intrigued by their clothes!”
“…I know so.”
King Sejong responded with a strange expression and sent out incense. King Sejong, who was paying his respects and watching the scent go out, muttered softly.
“But it’s a bit disappointing. Bringing in a Jurchen woman was a good move politically, but…”
* * *
Afterwards, Joseon turned into an empire and Hyang, who became emperor, muttered with a strange smile.
“I mean, I gathered enough ingredients…”
Hyang, who sat alone in the bed and muttered something meaningful, gave an order to the eunuch.
“Please call the Councilor Eochimjang.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After a while, the chief of the royal family came running after receiving the eunuch’s message and bowed with a very nervous expression on his face.
“Did you call me?”
“Okay, Jim has a favor to ask you.”
Hearing Hyang’s request, Eochimjang bowed down on the floor and raised his voice.
“It’s extremely unfair of you to ask a lowly Jangjang! Just give orders.”
“I understand, then… Juseo and the officers should leave for a while.”
After sending out the officers and the chief priests, Hyang opened the drawer of the writing table, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to Eochimjang.
“Take it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Eochimjang, who came at a kneeling pace and handed over the paper, looked at the picture drawn on the paper and looked at the scent with surprised eyes. It was a serious offense to look directly at the emperor without permission. Nevertheless, the picture drawn on paper was so shocking that I almost forgot about it.
After seeing Eochimjang’s reaction, Hyang smiled softly and continued speaking.
“These are pajamas for the empress and her queen.”
“Ah…”
While nodding his head at Hyang’s words, Eochimjang had a perplexed expression on his face.
“It’s unconventional.”
“Sometimes there has to be something unconventional like this. “Then I will explain the ingredients.”
“yes.”
At Hyang’s words, Eochimjang took out paper and a stylus from his sleeve. As soon as the preparations for fish sauce were finished, Hyang began to speak.
“First of all, the finest lace and silk stocka (predecessor of stocka stockings) made in France on top-quality silk that is so thin and soft that it is transparent….”
“Yes, yes….”
As time passed, Eochimjang wrote down all the fragrance orders. I came out of the bedroom holding the picture with the design in my hand.
On his way back to the hospital, Eochimjang stopped several times to look at the painting. Eochimjang, who was examining the painting by the moonlight, let out an exclamation.
“Kya! Looking closely, I can’t believe that it’s a tiger’s uniform, and that such a sexy acupuncture suit comes out of the tiger’s uniform! “There is nothing your Majesty can’t do, and you even have such style!”
Eochimjang, who could roughly guess what kind of clothes would come out just by looking at the design, was amazed.
“This will soon cause an uproar in all corners of the empire!”
Eochimjang, who was anticipating what would happen in the future, suddenly became stiff.
“wait! If it goes as I expected, all of my relatives will soon find out… and if that happens, there will be work…”
Eochimjang, who was already well aware of the power of the ‘Gyeongbokgung Palace Mafia’, sighed.
“Whoa~. My uniform has exploded. It exploded. At least… my name will be known.”
As compensation for this incident, the local government ordered an officer to record that Eochimjang did the work under the local government’s orders.
* * *
Following the orders of the village head, Eochimjang diligently collected ingredients. To obtain the necessary materials, the merchant, together with an interpreter, visited a French merchant staying in Seoul.
The French merchant’s face became brighter as he wrote down the order through the translator.
‘Everything is of the highest quality! ‘How much is this?’
The merchant who was groveling and writing it down asked the translator.
“Where can I deliver it?”
“It’s the imperial palace.”
“omg!”
The startled merchant answered immediately.
“What we have now is not enough to serve in the imperial palace.”
“The quality of the item is the issue, time comes second. But I can’t wait forever.”
“I will do my best!”
“Don’t forget. Everything must be of the highest quality. And we must arrive before it is too late.”
“Yes yes.”
The French merchant who received the order immediately rode an iron horse and went down to Mokpo. The merchant who boarded the trading ship that departed from Mokpo immediately returned to France.
Under normal circumstances, only a message would have been sent, but the merchant chose to make the move himself.
‘It’s about delivering to the imperial family! If you do it right, you can make a lot of money from then on!’
As a merchant who had seen the power of word of mouth while staying in the empire, it was an opportunity that could not be missed.
* * *
It took some time, but once all the ingredients were obtained, work began immediately.
Eochimjang directly or supervised the entire process, starting with dyeing the stoka and lace black.
Eochimjang, who had successfully completed the first work, worked hard to cut the silk, sew it, and apply gold leaf.
Finally, after finishing all the work and making three sets of acupuncture suits, Eochimjang clenched his fists and shouted.
“No more! did my best!”
Eochimjang, satisfied with his results, visited Naegwan.
“Please report this to His Majesty.”
“I understand.”
Hyang, who heard the story through an insider, went to see the doctor himself. After checking the results, the Hyang highly praised the Eochimjang and the Chimjangjang and gave orders to the Naegwan.
“Please deliver it to the empress and empresses.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After receiving the order, the eochimjang carefully packaged the acupuncture needles and handed them to the naekwan. Hyang had a sad expression on his face as he watched the eunuchs carrying the wrapped acupuncture needles and heading towards the place where the empress and her concubines were.
“They have such a good bass… Hmm!”
Hyang muttered something meaningful and immediately turned around.
“ruler! “Today must end on time!”
* * *
That night, the fragrance visited the Empress’s bed.
“Your Majesty, please turn off the light….”
“Let’s wait a little longer.”
The Empress couldn’t overcome her shame and twisted her body as she saw Hyang looking at her wearing a gown with a sad expression.
“Haha, it’s not polite to dress like this…”
“Have you ever been fully dressed when we sleep together?”
At Hyang’s words, the Empress immediately lowered her head with a red face. As Hyang said, when the two of them slept together, they never wore proper clothes.
Hyang was so tired that he could not even take off his clothes and slept in them, or he could sleep without anything on.
Anyway, that night, the two had a ‘hot night’ for the first time in a long time. No, it wasn’t just the empress. The same was true for the two empresses.
It was good up to that point, but after that, Hyang called a medical doctor and put a compress on his waist.
But there were other unfortunate victims. They were Jimilsanggung and merchant ships who always had to stay near the village.
Jimilsanggung muttered softly while covering up the nosebleed that was flowing out.
“The person who was in charge of the East Palace before had frequent nosebleeds, so I wondered why…”