Perhaps because he exercised so hard, after being forcibly washed and laid on the bed, he fell asleep without even properly pronouncing the last part of "damn it."
Mother?
Mother was in better shape than him, but that didn't mean she lasted much longer.
Bodyweight exercises aren't exactly easy, you know.
Plus, getting from Upton to here isn't exactly a short distance.
Traveling on unpaved roads in a not-so-great carriage couldn't have been comfortable.
"Whew..."
After watching the two of them sleep in a room that, while not lavish, was well-organized, I returned to my own room.
White walls with various paintings hung, and a bookshelf made of antique Indian wood held quite a few books.
Again, it wasn't lavish, but it was a well-organized room.
Since our young master Alfred's house is located quite high up, I can even look down on part of London through my room's window.
"You've really been through a lot."
Just thinking back to when I first reincarnated in Upton, really...
Of all times, the 19th century?
Would it have been better if it were Korea around the time I was born?
Studying would be studying, but stocks, coins, huh?
Just picking things that would skyrocket would make life so much easier.
But the place I stood was 19th-century England.
At first, I held onto hope.
Because it was the British Empire.
However, the 19th century... was far more backward than I had imagined.
When I think about these bastards going to Joseon and complaining about feces on the streets being dirty, it makes my blood boil.
"Damn..."
Damn bastards.
It's like a shit-stained dog criticizing a dog with husks on it—that would be better than this.
Aren't they just doing the worst things possible that humans can do to each other?
But...
In a way, it's thanks to that era that I've come this far.
Not even twenty yet, but I can support my parents without envy and won't be looked down upon anywhere in London.
'If only I had a status window... it would be much easier.'
Don't you always see them in time-loop or otherworld stories?
That status window thing?
But why...
"Sta... Status!"
Wondering if I needed to say it in English instead of Korean, I shouted, but nothing happened.
Thinking maybe my volume was too low, I shouted "Status Window" and "Status" even louder, but still, nothing happened.
Well...
Still, if I try to think positively, the situation isn't that bad, right?
So I uncorked the wine Liston had given me as a gift not long ago.
It's not like there are wine refrigerators in this era, and it's summer, so I was worried it might have spoiled, but the smell seemed fine.
Back in Upton, I'd had vinegar-like wine a few times, and that...
Since it wasn't originally made to be vinegar, it was really strange.
Glug, glug, glug.
Anyway, I poured the wine into a glass.
Since it was exactly the same kind of thing sommeliers use, it felt a bit odd.
I doubt I'll ever be able to drink white wine again.
Automatically, the image of a sommelier comes to mind...
"Hmm."
After pouring it into the glass, the rich aroma of wine began to fill the room.
'I used to prefer full-bodied ones...'
Wines from Napa Valley have the variety and such written on them, but these baguette bastards seem to have said "to hell with user convenience" and just written their region's name.
Crazy bastards.
They still seem to think France is the center of the world.
Even though we have the British Empire here.
Frankly, how are we supposed to know your region names?
Furthermore, there's no way to know what wine variety comes from that region.
"Hmm."
In a situation where I couldn't predict the taste at all, I took a sip.
It had the characteristic bitter taste of tannins, but it was basically sweet.
Is it a sweet wine?
Why is it sweet?
- If you add lead to wine, it can be stored for a long time.
That remark from Liston hyung-nim suddenly came to mind.
It was a statement that had filled me with terror...
Maybe because I've been so busy lately, I'd forgotten it for a moment.
Clink.
At the same time, a clinking sound came from inside the wine bottle.
With an uneasy feeling, I poured out all the wine, and sure enough, there was metal.
I'm no metal expert, but...
Just looking at it, it's lead, this thing.
I don't know why adding lead makes it store better.
I don't...
But do I really need to understand?
It's an already established phenomenon.
'Lead wine... oh dear.'
Even though I'd heard about it before, my hands trembled.
Maybe because of that?
I barely managed to drop the glass I was holding.
The floor is stone.
So it should, of course, break...
Clank.
It rolled to the side with a strange sound.
It got slightly scratched, but it's just a surface scratch.
I have a feeling it wouldn't break even if I hit it a few more times like that.
It's not like glass craftsmanship got worse in the 21st century, right?
Thinking that, I looked and the glass seemed slightly opaque.
There must be impurities, but if so, it should be reddish or bluish, so what should I call this?
Slightly, um, a bit...
'Could it be lead?'
You might wonder why they use so much lead.
My walls are lead too, that thing.
But why am I living here?
If I try to forcibly scrape that off and powder flies, that would be even more critical.
Later, if I get to build my own new house, I shouldn't use lead then...
But it's also unrealistic not to use it at all.
Painting isn't just for making things look pretty; it has multiple purposes like waterproofing and preventing decay, and there probably isn't paint that can do that without lead yet.
'I guess I should only drink whiskey from now on.'
I shouldn't drink wine.
Thinking that, I lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
I don't have work tomorrow, so I could sleep in a bit, but if I want to show my parents around London, I need to hurry.
'Future Trafalgar Square, the Parliament—I said I'd show them if we go. The palace—we can just see the front a bit. The slums might be interesting, so we'll go there too... Food... let's try to eat at home as much as possible.'
When it comes to travel, half of it is actually exploring good restaurants, but unfortunately, British food in this era isn't tasty.
No, most of it is bizarre.
Fish and chips are at least tasty, but you have to go to a proper place for that.
Otherwise, you end up eating fish fried from those caught near the Thames...
The river itself is so polluted that the fish are practically extinct, so how could anything from nearby be okay?
It's not fish; it's poison in the shape of fish.
"Please get in the carriage."
"Wow... this is really nice."
Breakfast was very satisfying.
Because Mother took charge.
Having kimchi jjigae and fried eggs after so long really filled me up.
Joseph also seemed in a good mood, but the expressions of everyone else weren't great.
Some were even pinching their noses, saying the kimchi smelled.
If they just tried it, they wouldn't say that...
Well, it's their loss if they don't eat it, so I left them alone.
"Let's go to the square first."
"Ah, that... the square built to commemorate winning the naval battle, right?"
"You know about it?"
"Of course. The boss is well-connected."
"Ah, well. That's true."
Our boss...
Must be making a lot of money with leaded wine.
Since it's quite sweet, it probably really sells...
But now that I know the reality, I don't think I can support it anymore.
No, more importantly, what about our parents?
They probably have lead poisoning.
'Well, from now on, let's stick to whiskey or beer.'
What can you do about lead that's already poisoned them?
Plus, apart from hypertension, they don't seem to have any other ailments.
Well, without proper testing equipment, even if there were problems, I wouldn't know...
But still, they really don't seem to have any issues.
Sometimes I wonder if modern medicine advancing has actually made humanity weaker.
Maybe if we'd eaten lead for a few more generations, a much stronger new human race could have been born, but clueless doctors and scientists unnecessarily worked hard and changed something.
"Mhmm. Right."
"This is the square."
"Mhmm... right."
"This is the palace."
"Mhmm..."
"Parliament."
"Mhmm, right."
Separate from that, we're going around now, but our parents' expressions aren't very good.
If I were really a teenager, I might feel hurt, but including my past life, aren't I actually the same age as my parents?
No, that's not right.
I'm younger.
Looking at their faces, I might call them grandfather instead of father...
'What is it? Are they tired? Has the travel fatigue not worn off?'
I started to worry.
Even if they're forty, not all forty-year-olds are the same.
There's lead poisoning, they've had a hard life, and their nutritional status is inevitably different from modern people's...
"Are you tired? Should we rest a bit?"
"Uh... no, more than that, I'm curious about something."
When I asked, fortunately, it didn't seem like they were tired.
They didn't seem to be lying; their eyes looked that way.
"What is it?"
When I asked again, Father was staring into empty space, not at me.
Only then did I realize Mother had been doing that from the start.
I also turned my head to follow their gaze.
There was just the ordinary London sky.
A hazy sky where it's hard to find the sun unless you focus.
It wasn't particularly bad today.
Summer is gradually passing, but it's not cold yet.
Compared to winter... this is practically clear sky.
"That... why is the sky like that?"
While I was thinking that, Father surprisingly asked about the sky.
"The sky?"
"Yes. Doesn't that look strange to you?"
"What about it?"
I didn't understand.
It's clear today.
It's not raining.
As I looked at Father with a blank face, Mother suddenly started praying beside me.
She prayed for our Taepyeong's vision to be restored and so on...
I didn't understand.
Actually, if cataracts were coming, it would be for our elders, not me, right?
"That hazy thing... that."
"Ah, that? London is always like that, haha. There are many factories here, you know. But today, the smog... well, it's not a very severe day, is it?"
You might think London smog only existed in the 20th century...
But it actually existed since the 13th century.
Since the 1200s.
Why? They say if you go to the northeast coast of England, you just trip over coal.
Of course, now that it's all mined, it might not be that bad...
But there are so many railways and so much coal that they say since the early Middle Ages, they used coal for heating instead of firewood.
The fact that they made laws in the 13th century telling people to stop using coal so much says it all.
"It's not just hazy... what's that yellow band around it?"
"Ah, aah. Haha."
Anyway, only after looking where Father was pointing with his finger did I understand what he meant.
It's to the west, and since there's a port there, there are many factories and such.
"I'm not entirely sure either... but we Londoners call it pea soup. Doesn't it look like it?"
"Ah... is it okay?"
"Probably not."
As I said it, I realized.
That I had now truly become a proper 19th-century Londoner.