SATTC 24

Chapter 24:

The Butcher Woman (1)

“Moo—”

A speckled ox, tethered by a rope, let out a long bellow, its large eyes blinking slowly. At that very moment, a pointed iron hammer flew straight toward the beast’s forehead.

Thud!

Though still bearing traces of youth, the massive creature collapsed without so much as a whimper, its fall almost comically abrupt. A small, sharp blade swiftly severed the artery below its neck, and hot blood gushed forth like a burst dam. As the blood filled a wooden bucket below, the sound of a heavy iron knife being sharpened on a whetstone—scrape, scrape—echoed nearby.

The moment the sharpening ceased, the large blade slid smoothly through the ox’s hide, splitting it open in one fluid motion. Entrails spilled onto the straw mat below, releasing a pungent odor and steaming faintly in the air.

“Ugh… disgusting.”

Jang-geum, her face half-hidden by a hooded cloak, wrinkled her brow and turned away. Her young age made such a scene unsettling, it seemed. Ji-yeong, watching beside her, wasn’t entirely unaffected, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the spectacle. The raw energy of the slaughter was unlike anything she had seen in her modern days as a chef, where meat was processed in pristine butchering facilities.

“But why did he follow us all the way here?”

Jang-geum, the ever-present apprentice maid from the royal kitchen, gestured with her eyes toward a man standing idly nearby. It was Gong-gil, wearing a peddler’s hat. When their eyes met, Gong-gil flashed a carefree grin, causing Jang-geum to blush and whip her head away.

Gong-gil responded in a casual tone. “Our head cook wanted to see the cattle market, so I tagged along. This place is crawling with all sorts of riffraff, you know. A lowlife like me has to keep an eye out for fine ladies like yourselves—can’t have you wandering alone.”

Jang-geum’s scowl deepened at his words. Perhaps the memory of being harassed by masked entertainers at the market lingered, making Gong-gil’s presence particularly grating. Ji-yeong wasn’t exactly fond of him either, but in this situation, she could only try to soothe Jang-geum.

“He’s a bit odd, sure, but he doesn’t seem like a bad person. Besides, we snuck out of the palace without Eunuch Yoon knowing. Having him around makes it a little safer, doesn’t it?”

“…He makes me more nervous,” Jang-geum muttered.

Just then, a cheer erupted from the crowd gathered around. A gleaming blade danced over the ox’s drained carcass, signaling the start of the full butchering process. In the blink of an eye, the knife flashed, peeling the hide, separating muscles, and stripping bones.

All it took was a single sharp blade and the person wielding it. The effortless way the knife slid between muscles was a skill only a lifelong butcher could master.

A butcher.

In the Joseon era, they were one of the “eight lowly classes,” known as palcheon, those who made their living through slaughter. Before long, the ox before this butcher had been transformed into meat, bones, entrails, and hide—each with its own purpose. Not a single scrap of flesh was wasted. Such was the mastery of the blade.

But what truly captivated the onlookers wasn’t just the butcher’s remarkable skill. Visible beneath a sleeveless shirt was a slender yet muscular arm, lean with no trace of excess fat, a narrow waist, petite shoulders, and a tanned nape peeking out beneath loosely tied hair.

The butcher was a woman.

“Wow…” Ji-yeong couldn’t help but express her amazement.

Even in modern times, female butchers were exceedingly rare, so in this era, she must have been an extraordinary sight.

“That woman’s got some serious skill,” Gong-gil remarked from the side, shrugging in admiration.

The crowd at the cattle market seemed equally fascinated, their tongues itching with chatter.

“Man, that butcher woman’s knife work is something else.”

“Her hands are so precise, just look at that.”

“Wonder who her husband is. Bet it’s a wild time at night, heh heh.”

Among the onlookers’ careless remarks were crude jests, perhaps because her status as a lowly butcher made her an easy target. But the butcher woman paid no mind, boldly calling out to the crowd.

“Come on, come on, this doesn’t happen every day! Tender, top-notch meat right here. If you’re buying meat, step this way; for hides, head to the old man in the back.”

Curiosity about the unusual female butcher drew an ever-growing crowd. Seeing this, Ji-yeong grabbed Jang-geum’s arm.

“Let’s go before we miss out.”

The atmosphere suggested they’d need to hurry to secure a good cut. Orders were already piling up, and the butcher woman was tirelessly slicing meat, weighing it, moving without pause. In the back, an older male butcher selling hides was also drawing a sizable crowd. Their similar features suggested they were a family of butchers working together.

Then, a different kind of commotion arose from the opposite side of the market. The sounds of heated arguments and scuffles, followed by rough, uneven footsteps, signaled trouble. A group of men stormed in, kicking up clouds of dust.

“Oh no… this is gonna get messy. Get over here quick,” Gong-gil said, as if he’d already anticipated the trouble, pulling Ji-yeong and Jang-geum to the side of the path.

The crowd at the market, sensing the ominous shift, scattered like frightened rabbits.

“What’s going on?” Ji-yeong asked, still trying to make sense of it.

Before Gong-gil could answer, one of the men from the group strode up to the butcher woman and slammed a club down on her table.

Bang!

The table shattered, sending scales, cutting boards, and chunks of meat tumbling into the dirt. It seemed their tactic was to intimidate first and talk later.

“Who gave you butcher wenches permission to make a scene like this, huh?”

“What do you think you’re doing?” the butcher woman shot back.

“What’re you doing, acting like you don’t know how the world works?”

The man leered menacingly, hefting his club onto his shoulder. The others around him mirrored his expression, toying with their own clubs.

“What are those guys? Thugs? Gangsters?” Ji-yeong whispered.

Gong-gil shook his head, eyes still fixed on the scene. “They’re from Ban-chon, running the Hyeonbang.”

“Hyeonbang? Ban-chon?” Ji-yeong tilted her head at the unfamiliar terms.

Gong-gil explained briefly. “Ban-chon is the village near Sungkyunkwan. The slaves working for Sungkyunkwan run a butcher shop called Hyeonbang there. You could say it’s the only officially sanctioned meat market.”

“Then why are these Hyeonbang people acting like this?”

“Because they’re the only ones allowed to sell meat in the capital. Plus, the Ban-chon folks, or Ban-in, are Sungkyunkwan slaves, so they’ve got powerful backers.”

In short, they had connections to high-ranking officials from Sungkyunkwan. As if to prove Gong-gil’s point, the Ban-in men carried themselves like officials on a crackdown, intimidating the butcher woman with puffed-up authority.

“Don’t you know unauthorized slaughter outside Hyeonbang is forbidden by the state?”

“And is it state-sanctioned to barge in and wreck someone’s business like this?”

“What? You should be begging for mercy, and you dare talk back?”

“Let’s see your market license from the Pyeongsi-seo. Is your Hyeonbang even registered there?”

Gong-gil couldn’t help but chuckle at the butcher woman’s retort. It was true that Hyeonbang held a monopoly on meat sales in Hanyang, but that was merely a custom tied to supplying meat for Sungkyunkwan’s rituals—not a codified right like the six licensed markets. The butcher woman clearly knew this.

“What nonsense is this wench spouting? You think you can read a license if we showed you one?”

“My father back there may be a butcher, but he can read just fine. But you lot, working under Sungkyunkwan, do you even know a single line of text? They say even a dog in a schoolhouse can recite poetry after three years, so what are you Ban-chon folks doing swinging clubs around?”

“You fearless little… You’re done for today.”

Stung by her words, the man spat on his palm and raised his club threateningly. “Let’s see if you can keep yapping after a good thrashing.”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Even if she was a butcher, a woman getting hit with a club like that could break bones or pass out.

“We have to do something! She’s going to get hurt!” Ji-yeong said, her voice filled with worry.

“Hmm…” Gong-gil merely crossed his arms, watching the scene with interest.

“You’re going to hit me with that club? Are you sure you can?” the butcher woman challenged.

“You little… Fine, today’s your funeral!”

Enraged by her defiance, the Ban-in man swung his club with full force.

Whoosh

The club sliced through the air. Almost simultaneously, another sound followed—a sharp *snap* as something was cleanly cut. The next moment, the crowd saw the club, severed neatly in half. The butcher woman, holding the same dark iron knife she’d used to slaughter the ox, now pressed it against the man’s chin.

“Today… is whose funeral, you said?”

…

Inside Gyeongbokgung Palace, at Sajeongjeon, the king’s office.

“Let everyone retire for today.”

Among the officials streaming out of the hall, one figure hesitated noticeably—Doseungji Im Sung-jae.

“Doseungji, do you have something to say?” Yeonsangun asked.

“…Forgive my impertinence, Your Majesty, but I have urgent news.”

“Stay a moment.”

As the other officials left, the hall emptied, leaving only the king and Im Sung-jae.

“What is it?”

“It concerns Hongmun-gwan’s official, Lee Jang-gon…”

“Lee Jang-gon? I was wondering why I hadn’t seen him, as I’d ordered him to bring something to me.”