MTLNOVEL Ch. 4
Chapter 4: How to Become Rich
“…You’ve already mastered the throwing spear in just fifteen days?”
Munso clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“You really must have the Clan Chief’s blood in you. At this rate, you’d do great with a bow too…”
“Well, if I get the chance someday.”
I’d have to learn eventually for my rise in the world, but for now, going up the mountain came first. Besides, there wasn’t anyone in Bear Village skilled enough to teach archery anyway.
“At this level, I should be able to go up the mountain, right?”
“Of course. Let’s head up right now.”
“Thank you!”
I grabbed my throwing spear, dagger, and shield, and took a step after Munso up the mountain.
That step was a small stride for me, Kim Insam—
But it would be a giant leap for Goguryeo.
That great leap began with a loud scream.
“Gyaaah, gyaaaah….”
“Such whining… And you think you can climb a mountain like this? What a waste of that big frame.”
Munso, who was well past fifty, was at an age where, by Goguryeo commoner standards, dying tomorrow would still be considered a long life (though nobles who lived well did last longer), yet he climbed the mountain briskly even with his hands clasped behind his back.
I, much younger and stronger, could barely keep up.
I’d heard stories about elderly hikers who scaled mountains so easily that twenty-somethings got left behind… and I now knew exactly how that felt.
“Oh, that’s balloon flower over there.”
What’s more, Munso was able to spot hidden herbs all over the place even while climbing at such speed.
It really made you believe in the value of experience.
“I’ll look for herbs. You carry the pack and keep an eye on the surroundings.”
While Munso roamed the mountains and harvested herbs, I carried the bundle on my back, gripped my spear, and kept watch.
Even then, Munso didn’t miss a chance to teach me.
“Come here. This is an arrowroot root. If you follow this root carefully, you’ll find the plant. But remember, you can only harvest arrowroot during the day.”
“Why’s that?”
“Arrowroot grows like mad. If you follow the root on a dark day, zoning out as you go, you might lose your way and end up tiger food.”
While I pressed all this precious knowledge deep into my brain, my pack was soon filled not just with herbs and mushrooms, but with firewood as well.
“Today’s a lucky day.”
So Munso said, but I felt a bit disappointed.
Because I hadn’t found what I truly wanted.
“Uh, is there any wild ginseng… I mean, ginseng around?”
“Ginseng?”
At that, Munso chuckled.
“Even if Goryeo ginseng isn’t as good as Baekje’s, or even Nasan (Silla ginseng)… ginseng doesn’t just sprout up like weeds. You’re lucky if you find one a year.”
“…How much does it go for?”
“The biggest one I ever found was the size of my palm, and I got sixteen seok of millet for it.”
Sixteen seok of millet.
That was basically a farmer’s yearly income.
“If it had been Baekje ginseng of the same size, I’d have gotten over a hundred seok.”
Baekje ginseng of the same size was worth ten times more.
It had great medicinal effects, but Goryeo ginseng was more abundant overall. After all, the mountain regions of Manchuria were all under Goguryeo’s control.
“In any case, ginseng is a miracle. Our main income comes from mushrooms and herbs. Ginseng is a gift from the heavens—if you only chase that, you won’t last long as a mountain miner.”
And so, I climbed the mountain every day with Munso, learning about herbs and the ways of the mountain.
“Only balloon flower and arrowroot today.”
“Balloon flower and arrowroot are still good. That’s not bad at all.”
Usually, balloon flower and arrowroot made up the bulk of our finds.
“But remember, we got lucky and found honeycomb last time.”
“Did you sell that?”
“Of course. I got four mal of millet for it. Sent two mal to your family.”
Our luckiest haul had been cliffside honeycomb.
“…Sigh, looks like today’s a bust. Grab the axe.”
“Axe?”
“You’re planning to go back empty-handed? Let’s at least chop some firewood. Firewood’s better than wild berries.”
On unlucky days, we’d head back down with just firewood. Occasionally, we’d run into other mountain miners too.
“Hey there, brother. What’re you carrying down? Arrowroot?”
“Can’t you see? It’s firewood.”
“Looks like you struck out.”
Munso seemed to know nearly all the local mountain miners. He glanced at one and spoke curtly.
“Looks like you had better luck?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re carrying a lot of weapons. Must’ve found some ginseng and stashed it away somewhere, huh?”
Ginseng wasn’t harvested the moment it was found.
Winter ginseng had the highest medicinal effect, so it was left until winter. Whether that was scientifically proven or not, it was economically true. Winter ginseng sold for more.
“Ginseng, my foot… The kid behind you—is that your grandson?”
The mountain miner cleared his throat and hurriedly changed the subject.
Munso didn’t press further.
“Grandson, my foot. He’s my disciple. You’re changing the subject—suspicious, huh?”
“Hey now, stop bringing up that non-existent ginseng… Be careful these days. Beasts keep coming down. Could be wolves, could be tigers….”
“Why would a tiger bother with old meat like me? You’re the one who should be careful.”
“Not wrong… but you’ve got a fresh piece of meat tagging along, don’t you? Oh, planning to throw him at the tiger and run away?”
“Seriously, quit the nonsense. You don’t even know who this person is.”
“Who is he then?”
“…Forget it.”
“You’re no fun.”
When the mountain miner laughed, Munso snapped at him.
“Yeah, if you come this way, you’re dead. See this crossbow in my hand? Keep your territory in check.”
“Oof, if you’re gonna shoot, aim for the neck in one shot. I’d rather die instantly than suffer from a leg wound.”
It may all look like the same mountain, but there are territories within. They're marked with trees or rocks.
If you enter someone else’s territory by mistake, getting shot with an arrow is considered your own fault.
It’s less about eliminating competition and more about how dangerous the mountain is—people often shoot first if anything moves.
“But hey, if you die, your spot becomes mine, yeah? Don’t give it to the guy behind you!”
“It’s my place—I’ll give it to whoever I want. Who are you to say anything?”
“There’s still a code of ethics here…”
“Talk about it after I’m dead. I’m still kicking. Why don’t you go ahead and perform a death ritual for me?”
“Please, let’s end this. Be careful of the beasts.”
He says “go die already” but then slips in a warning to watch for animals. What a romantic death wish.
And then, about a month later—
“Wait, this smell…!”
Suddenly, Munso darted off.
I’d never seen him so frantic.
Could he have found ginseng?
“Come here, now!”
“Yes, sir!”
At Munso’s shout, I dashed after him.
But what we found wasn’t wild ginseng—it was a mushroom. And a very common one at that.
“This is… nothing special…”
“Nothing special? This is the King of Mushrooms—the Grand King Mushroom! We’re seriously lucky today!”
Grand King Mushroom?
…This thing?
Munso got excited and began explaining.
“You mustn’t pull it out completely by the roots. If you do, Grand King Mushrooms won’t grow here again. So, like this…”
Munso focused on the “Grand King Mushroom” like he was possessed.
He gently snapped them off at the base, one by one.
But at that moment—
Thud-thud-thud—
A strange sound made my hairs stand on end.
“W-Wait! Don’t you hear that sound?”
“Sound?”
“From over there…!”
The sound got closer and closer.
I turned my eyes toward it—and saw a pair of furious eyes.
“A wild boar!”
At those words, Munso quickly lifted his head and looked where I was pointing.
Normally, Munso would’ve noticed it first, but he’d been too distracted by the Grand King Mushroom.
“It really is a wild boar…!”
The furious boar charged straight at us as soon as it saw us.
Normally, wild boars don’t attack people easily. The problem is—they like mushrooms too.
‘Guess this was the boar’s dinner table…’
To the boar, we looked like intruders standing on its food plate.
I immediately raised my shield—not to block the impact, since shields don’t help much against boar charges.
It was more for camouflage. Hiding behind a shield made it harder for prey to be targeted. After all, shields were originally developed for hunting, not war.
But this time, it was too late. Even behind the shield, the boar didn’t stop charging. Munso shouted.
“No choice. I’ll shoot!”
Munso calmly aimed the crossbow. The bolt had already been loaded, so he just needed to pull the trigger.
Fweeeep—!
That was all the sound the crossbow bolt made.
No “snap!” or “thwack!”
“Damn it!”
Munso cursed as the bolt missed completely.
Honestly, I expected that. It’d be weirder if that raggedy crossbow fired properly.
Kuwaaang—!
By then, the wild boar was right in front of us.
Boars in the 21st century knew better than to mess with people or they’d get shot, but in this era without guns, boars were a bit more aggressive.
Click-click!
“Why isn’t this working?!”
Munso hastily tried to load a second bolt, but he wouldn’t finish before the boar reached us. The crossbow was easier to use than a bow, but it reloaded more slowly.
That was when I stepped forward.
“Duck!”
I hurled the throwing spear in my hand with all my strength.
Whoosh!
Unlike Munso’s earlier bolt, which only made a “whoosh” sound, my throwing spear followed it up with another.
Crash—!
The spear pierced straight through the boar’s forehead and drove in more than a span deep.
Gwoooh—! The boar staggered past Munso and collapsed with a thud.
“Are you okay?”
I ran to Munso and helped him up.
Munso let out a long breath.
“That was close…”
“Just throw that crossbow away.”
“I’ll need to do some repairs. Add more glue. Sigh… We’ll have to end the hike here today.”
It wasn’t that Munso was mentally shaken by the boar. It was a physical reason.
“This one’s pretty big. We’ll need to carry it together. It should fetch at least two or three seok of millet.”
Since we had to carry the boar back, there was no need to gather anything else today.
Despite having nearly died, Munso grinned at the boar.
“Lucky day.”
I guess that’s the average Goguryeo man.
“This isn’t where a boar should be…”
The area Munso normally traveled through wasn’t part of the boar’s territory. Hunters and herb collectors generally know the territories of beasts.
“Like that guy said, maybe a tiger or a wolf wandered in from somewhere. The boar must have been pushed out and came down here.”
“Which means…”
“It means going up the mountain just got dangerous. Sigh, if it’s a tiger, that’s serious.”
A tiger itself was a problem, but the trouble it caused was just as bad.
“When word spreads about a tiger, the noble lords come running and cause a ruckus. They drag people off at random, and they quietly seize our grain to feed their soldiers…”
In the 21st century, soldiers try to avoid inconveniencing civilians, even during training.
Civilians come first. But in this era, soldiers don’t care about that. Whether they’re noble retainers or central troops, they’re treated above farmers.
You could say soldiers are well-treated—or you could say they’re thugs. Just moving around is a disaster for the farmers.
Sensing this, Munso—who’d spent twenty years as a mountain miner—quickly made a decision.
“Let’s avoid the area for a while. We’ve got the boar to process, and we harvested plenty of Grand King Mushrooms to sell.”
The hallmark of a seasoned squad leader isn’t shooting well or leading by example.
It’s knowing when to run. That’s the essential skill of a veteran, a hidden art earned only with experience.
“Don’t go near the mountain for a while.”
Munso was no different.
He proved he hadn’t wasted his years of experience, reading the danger signs like a ghost.
My original goal was wild ginseng.
More precisely, the seed of wild ginseng—called “ginseng berry” because it looks like a strawberry.
Basically, ginseng and wild ginseng are the same species.
When cultivated in a field, it’s ginseng. When it grows naturally in the wild, it’s wild ginseng.
So if I could somehow get a ginseng berry and plant it, it would become ginseng.
That way, I’d succeed in cultivating ginseng and become the richest man in Pyeongyang—but…
Crash—!
Right now, I was chopping wood with an axe.
My plan to grow ginseng had failed.
I hadn’t even seen wild ginseng, let alone a berry.
“Phew!”
I looked at the oak logs I’d chopped.
The cold breeze felt refreshing on my body.
“…This should be enough, right?”
I stored the oak logs in a well-ventilated place.
Mother said,
“We’ve got plenty of firewood…”
“This isn’t for firewood.”
The ginseng plan had failed. I couldn’t get seeds.
But that didn’t mean all my plans for wealth had failed.
‘Ginseng isn’t the only way.’
What caught my eye was the Grand King Mushroom.
It’s called “Grand King” because it’s the king of mushrooms.
At first, I assumed it was Korea’s top mushroom—the matsutake.
But surprisingly, the Grand King Mushroom wasn’t matsutake.
‘It was shiitake…’
Shiitake mushrooms.
In the 21st century, they’re dirt common, growing like weeds in farms.
But apparently, in this time period, no one knew how to cultivate them.
‘Right, they say shiitakes are full of MSG. If cultivation hadn’t been invented, they’d be pricier than truffles…’
And that’s exactly the case now.
A handful of shiitake fetches at least two mal of rice.
In 21st-century terms, that’s like 500,000 won for a handful.
‘…Jackpot.’
Shiitake cultivation isn’t hard once you know the basics. And I know them well.
‘Dry oak logs in the sun, then inoculate them with shiitake spores.’
Mushrooms compete by devouring one another.
They’re each other’s predators, which is why multiple types rarely grow on the same log. But what if only one species had that log?
Think of the rabbits in Australia.
Without predators, they took over the whole continent in no time.
Likewise, a mushroom alone on a log would grow like crazy without competition.
That’s why we dry logs under the sun.
It’s like the sunlight sterilization that interrupts Korean soldiers’ naps during guard duty—except with logs instead of blankets.
That process eliminates any spores or mold on the wood. Then, I inoculate with just the shiitake spores.
So how do you make the spores?
That’s easy too.
‘Just sawdust and rice bran.’
Mix them well, put them in ceramic jars, and poke holes to let them breathe.
Bubble bubble—!
You sterilize it once by boiling.
There might be unknown spores or mold in the sawdust.
After the jars cool, I took the Grand King Mushrooms I got from Munso—
Then carefully tore the caps and sprinkled the pieces.
The optimal temperature is about 25°C, but we can’t manage that in this era… It doesn’t matter.
Mushrooms grow wild anyway. “Optimal” just means maximum efficiency, not impossibility.
“Phew, it’s done.”
Now I just had to put the lid on and wait.
“Grow well, my money-making Grand King Mushrooms.”
This might be the last time I call them “Grand King Mushrooms.”
‘They’re called that because they’re rare.’
If cultivation succeeds, these “Grand King Mushrooms” will become common, and their name might change to something like “Warring States Duke Mushroom” or “Three Kingdoms Warlord Mushroom.”
Artificial cultivation of shiitake began during the Joseon era. Before that, they were royal court delicacies and ranked as high as matsutake.
In fact, some say shiitakes contain the most MSG among mushrooms… so there are claims that if artificial cultivation hadn’t been invented, they’d be pricier than truffles.