From the Imjin War to the Qing Invasion

Strange Ceiling

Screeeech!

I woke up to the sound that seemed to rip my eardrums.

What happened? Oh, I must have dozed off.

I needed to close the gas valve before a fire broke out.

When I opened my eyes, the ceiling that I saw for the first time was spinning round and round.

“Ugh, ugh!”

But where was I? My room didn’t have this vintage interior.

“Sangseung! Have you regained your senses?”

Where am I? Is this a dream? I’ve been studying so much about Joseon that I’m even dreaming about becoming a Joseon person!

Is this novel going to be a real hit?

An old man with a strangely familiar face was looking at me.

His eyes were so full of sorrow that it seemed as if this was not a dream but reality.

“Wh-who are you?”

“Ah, how can you not recognize even this old man?”

“Sangseung, I’m your mother.
Do you recognize my face?”

From the looks of it, the noblemen in this room seemed to be my family.

Ah, but this seems like the introduction to the novel that I often use.

How stressed must I have been to even dream about the introduction scene of the novel?!

“…I’m sorry, but I don’t remember anything.”

“Sigh, what should we do? Abeom[1].”

“Yes, Father! I will call the best doctor in the town.”

My body was heavy and my head ached as if it would break.

I don’t know why I have to feel pain in a dream, but maybe in reality, I hit my head on the table while dozing off.

Sigh.
Honestly, it’s my first time having such a dream while writing dozens of novels, so I’m quite flustered.

But I can’t resist my curiosity.

“Ahem, where am I? And who am I?”

“This is Ulsan, the main house of Gimhae Kim clan.
You are Kim Sangseung, the 56th descendant of the Samhyeon branch of the Gimhae Kim clan.
Do you really not remember anything?”

For now, my surname is Gimhae Kim, which is correct.

And Samhyeon is also correct.

But I should be the 73rd generation.
So how far back did I go if I’m the 56th generation?

“…I’m sorry.”

“Ha ha, what should we do about this?”

The man closest to me, who looked like my grandfather, was difficult to guess his age, but he seemed to be over 70.

My grandfather’s eyes were full of sorrow, as if he was genuinely worried about me.

Just by looking at his eyes, it seemed as if I was truly loved even in my dreams.

Behind him was a man who looked exactly like my father.

Of course, he looked much younger than the father I remember, but he still resembled him.

The character who looked like my father was also looking at me with deep sympathy, just like my grandfather.

Next to them was a woman who I presumed to be my mother, wiping away her tears secretly.

But why does only my mother’s face look different in this dream? Did my father cheat on her? I’ll have to ask about this secretly after waking up from the dream.

For now, I have collected some information about the ‘characters.’ Let’s find out more about myself.

“Um, how did I end up here?”

“Ahem, it seems you really don’t remember.
Sangseung, you wanted to ride a horse so badly, so we let you ride one.
But suddenly, the horse named Sopung[2] started to misbehave, and you fell off its back.
You have been sick for three days and nights, and today is the day you regained your consciousness.”

So I got injured like this because I fell off a horse while riding?

Well, that could happen.

I once wrote sports novels for a while, and one of them was about horse riding.

I think the title was Uma-Mammoth-Ma.

It was a novel about the protagonist reincarnating as a racehorse, but it was not popular, so it was discontinued before being monetized.

I learned while researching about horse riding for that novel that horses tend to be very moody creatures.

Not just moody, but as moody as a discharged sergeant who’s had their leave cut short.

So, in my opinion, it’s entirely possible that Sopung would misbehave if it didn’t like its rider.

“Then, how old am I?”

“You are exactly 10 years old this year.”

Now, let’s summarize.
I seem to be a 10-year-old nobleman named Kim Sangseung.

At least, the house looks old, but it seems to be a well-off house with a vintage atmosphere.

Since it’s a noble family’s house, it must be a prestigious family in this area.

Especially, the noble families of the Joseon Dynasty, particularly the head families, can be considered as chaebols holding land resources and the grains produced from the land.

I don’t know how great this family is, but basically, being a head family in the Joseon Dynasty means that they hold tremendous power in the provinces, similar to medieval lords.

Of course, from the standpoint of the Joseon Dynasty, local forces were prevented from growing by appointing local magistrates to govern each village.

What could he do? A governor was a temporary position, and the nobles held the power of land ownership in the region! Even the kings of Joseon tried various means to reduce the power of the noble families but mostly failed, didn’t they? That’s why, in historical novels, protagonists who possessed the bodies of kings couldn’t wield vast power from the beginning and were instead controlled by ministers – because the nobles’ power was immense.
This was because the local noble families gathered their strength within their clans, sent their talented members to the royal court, and strengthened their positions.

“…”

Ah, it felt like he should wake up from his dream by now, but there was no sign of him waking up.
No way, this couldn’t be a ridiculous plot twist where I suddenly possess my ancestor who lived in the Joseon era that I was planning to write about, could it? Well, it would be a little funny, wouldn’t it? What if I used this as the prologue of my novel? How would the readers react? Maybe they’d comment that it’s baseless because it’s not about being reborn after getting hit by the reincarnation bus.

Beep!

Ugh, tinnitus again? Come to think of it, the headache that hasn’t disappeared yet and the numbness throughout my body were too realistic to be attributed to a dream.

“Mother, please look at Sangseung’s forehead.”

“Boy, why are you dilly-dallying? I’ll have to run to town and fetch the doctor right away.
It seems like a fever, but if we leave it like this, it’ll undoubtedly escalate into a severe illness.”

“Alright, I’ll be back soon.”

My father hurriedly left the room.

Thump.

Even the small sound of the door closing brought a headache that felt like my head was splitting.
Ah, my consciousness was getti