There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 47

The officials who participated in the conspiracy were all rounded up.

Whether they were the type who never had a sense of loyalty from the start, once a confession burst out, they were strung along like a chain of candy.

“N-No, I didn’t!”

“It was all the doing of those censors! We were just sitting at our seats, tilting our cups!”

“Arrest them all without exception!”

The people directly delivered to the Uigeumbu (State Tribunal) without exception realized why Kill Bang-won was Kill Bang-won.

“Leaking military secrets is a grave crime among grave crimes!”

“I-I merely delivered it to the envoy without any intention. How can informing them of the existence of the matchlock be a crime?”

However, the more they made such excuses, the more infuriated Lee Bang-won became.

Lee Bang-won’s sharp blade began to swing without an inch of mercy.

“The Gaegyeong faction is finished now.”

Hwanghee, who went to the court and brought back the news, said.

“Those involved in this incident have all been given poison or dragged to the gulag [a Siberian prison camp], and their families are all going to the gulag.

With all those who were trying to hinder the construction of Hanyang gone, I am truly grateful, Your Highness.”

Hwanghee bowed his head and said.

“Even if they were all dragged to the gulag, those who reported the crime first will be released after only one year of suffering in the gulag, so isn’t that a merciful act?

Minister Hwang, you have worked hard as well.”

Hwanghee’s contribution to this matter was significant.

Like a quick-witted person, he knew exactly who to stab to maximize the effect.

As Hwanghee quickly lowered his head, I patted him on the shoulder.

As I warmly encouraged him, a sense of expectation settled on Hwanghee’s face.

Hwanghee, who had been fidgeting like a puppy about to relieve itself, opened his mouth.

“Y-Your Highness, then······.”

“That’s right. I will lift your period of confinement, so return home.”

“Hic, hic!”

Tears began to flow from Hwanghee’s eyes as I spoke.

Nobun, who was next to him, looked at the scene with an absurd expression.

“Has Your Highness been maintaining his confinement until now?”

‘But Hwanghee is a traitor.’

Even though I rolled him at the training institute, there’s no way I would have released him without him making this much contribution.

Now that I’ve given him this much tough love, Hwanghee won’t even think about taking bribes again.

‘Unless he’s born as a bribe-eating creature, how could he cause another accident?’

There’s no way such an instinct could exist.

‘Hwanghee was the most capable among the officials of the Hanyang Construction Office, but the problem was that he was the most corrupt.

This is just the warm affection of a superior telling him to fix that.’

Even before coming under me, Hwanghee was famous for being fond of favors.

I was just tearing up as I gave him treatment to fix that habit.

‘I guess this is why King Sejong rejected Hwanghee’s resignation.’

It must have been that he gave Hwanghee labor re-education as punishment for taking bribes.

The greatest monarch in Korean history did that, so why couldn’t I?

Hwanghee should be exploited until he dies to get the most out of him.

Anyway, Hwanghee was quite moved, shedding tears without a word.

“Congratulations, Minister Hwang!”

“Congratulations. Don’t take bribes anymore.”

Meng Saseong and Heojo clapped and congratulated Hwanghee’s amnesty from the side.

“He must have suffered so much that his face has become half its size.”

“Your Highness, shouldn’t we feed Minister Hwang some health food since he has suffered so much?”

Is he suggesting a company dinner?

‘When I was in modern times, I would have frowned at the thought of a company dinner, but.’

I’m the boss now, so it doesn’t matter.

“Minister Hwang, what do you want to eat?”

Hwanghee was about to open his mouth, but Heojo stepped forward and answered instead.

“If it’s health food, it’s definitely meat.”

And in Joseon, meat generally means beef.

Pork dishes weren’t common yet.

“Hmm, beef, huh.”

“······.”

At the word beef, Hwanghee and Heojo’s gazes suddenly turned to Meng Saseong.

Meng Saseong suddenly flinched at the gaze.

“Sss, sounds delicious.”

Then Meng Saseong was horrified.

“You can’t have our Nureongi!”

“Hah? I didn’t even say anything?”

He didn’t say anything in particular, but Meng Saseong, feeling guilty, brought up the name of his beloved cow, Nureongi.

‘I didn’t mean to do that. Would even the most heartless person try to eat someone else’s pet? Meng Saseong must have overreacted.’

I felt a little bitter, wondering if the people of our Hanyang Construction Office had so little trust in their colleagues.

Heojo must have felt the same way, as he also said with a pitiful face.

“What’s wrong with eating one cow?”

“?”

What did I just hear?

“A colleague has been pardoned, so what’s the big deal about one cow······.”

“No, out of all the cows in the world, why are you trying to eat our Nureongi?”

Meng Saseong vehemently opposed, and Heojo smacked his lips with a regretful expression.

Come to think of it, the cow that Meng Saseong rode on looked quite robust.

‘No, no, I shouldn’t be thinking like this.’

I almost became a barbarian myself.

Meng Saseong will be sad.

I quickly spoke to clear the atmosphere.

“Then let’s give up on beef and eat chicken instead. They say chicken is better for health than beef, right?”

Let’s just eat a bowl of baeksuk [Korean ginseng chicken soup], the soul food of the Korean people.

It’s still a long way from Dog Days, though.

Then Hwanghee clapped his hands and said.

“There’s a man named Lee In-soo who served as a cook for the Grand King and is good at cooking chicken dishes. His Pogye (炮鷄) [a type of Korean fried chicken] dish is truly a masterpiece.”

“Is that so?”

But why haven’t I ever eaten it since I fell here?

“Baeksuk is good, but Pogye was so delicious. The Pogye that he presented at the banquet hosted by the Grand King was truly a taste of paradise.

I understood why he even received the position of Daehogun [a military title] for his cooking.”

Hwanghee said with a blissful expression, recalling the taste he had in the past.

Just reminiscing about it is enough to make him like that.

Hwanghee’s reaction made me crave it too.

“But I don’t know if he still cooks these days.”

“I heard that he left the front lines a long time ago because he’s too old.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Meng Saseong and Heojo pointed out, and disappointment quickly settled on Hwanghee’s face.

“Haha, it’s a dish that I wanted to eat again somehow in my life, but it’s a pity.

It can’t be helped, it can’t be helped······.”

While subtly sending me intense glances.

“Ahem, he was a loyal subject of the Grand King, so it would be difficult unless he orders it.

But since I’m just a mere subject, I can’t ask the Grand King, so I’ll just have to give up. Don’t worry too much about it, Crown Prince.”

‘This guy wants a lot.’

I clicked my tongue as I looked at Hwanghee, who was crouching and saying such things.

Even though it’s a celebration of being released from confinement after making a contribution.

‘I’ll have to tighten the discipline again later.’

“Alright, alright. I’ll talk to Grandfather and see if I can get you to feast on Pogye.”

I’ll have to taste it myself to see how delicious it is that he’s acting like this.

===

“That guy is dead.”

“Yes?”

I went to ask Lee Seong-gye for a favor, but suddenly a message of death popped out.

“Ah, I don’t mean he’s really dead. He’s just old and his energy has dropped, and he can’t see well, so he’s stopped cooking altogether. That banquet was probably his last.”

“Ah.”

You scared me.

I meant that his sense as a cook was dead.

But the result was no different.

“Then what do we do?”

“What do we do? We can’t force someone who has no energy and can’t cook anymore to touch a chicken.”

“That’s true.”

Even I think that’s a bit too much.

But I couldn’t give up just by listening to Lee Seong-gye’s words.

‘Pogye is just fried chicken after all. Lee In-soo was exceptionally good at it and received favor, but if I slightly change the method, I don’t necessarily need someone with that level of skill······.’

An idea came to mind.

Lee Seong-gye, who was watching me deep in thought, opened his mouth.

“Ahem, come to think of it, my stamina has also dropped a lot.”

“Yes, and?”

“Didn’t you come up with some way this time too?”

“It’s not exactly health food, but yeah.”

“Let me have a taste too.”

Lee Seong-gye openly put his spoon on it.

“Hey, did you leave something with me?”

“Hey, is that something you should say to an old and sick grandfather?

Aigo~ Other people have filial sons and grandsons and live in luxury in their old age! How unlucky am I that my son is unfilial and my grandson is······.”

Here we go again.

“Okay, okay. I’ll do it, whatever.”

Then Lee Seong-gye’s face suddenly brightened.

‘He’s like a child.’

===

The food I was going to make was, of course, a food that would warm the hearts of Koreans, chicken.

‘The Pogye made by Lee In-soo can’t compare to fried chicken.’

I know how to fry it.

I used to work part-time in the kitchen at a chicken restaurant.

As a side note, the boss turned out to be a senior in my department at my university, so he took good care of me.

Apart from that, I was desperate for my future self.

“Hmm.”

But there was one huge problem with making chicken right now.

‘This eats too much oil.’

Since it’s been a long time since I switched from the goal of feeding health food to the goal of making a satisfactory chicken dish, I don’t have to worry about the increase in cholesterol due to oil.

However, the absolute amount of oil was too insufficient.

If it were the West, I would have squeezed olives, but that’s not possible now.

‘This is also why I couldn’t mass-produce soap.’

If I were just going to eat it myself, I would have collected some soybean oil or animal oil and fried it, but I also have to make it for Lee Seong-gye and the Hanyang Construction Office officials.

Even if I scraped all the oil in the royal kitchen right now, the amount would be barely enough, and if I used it all, I wouldn’t be able to fry a single pancake from tomorrow.

‘But I can’t give up on chicken.’

It’s been half a year since I fell into Joseon.

I was reaching my limit.

“Isn’t there anywhere to squeeze oil from?”

I was muttering like that while digging the ground with a tree branch, and Nobun was horrified when he heard that.

“Gasp!”

“What’s wrong, you?”

“Y-You’re not thinking of scraping the oil from the people gathered in the gulag, are you?”

“······What do you think of me?”

How could you say such a terrible thing?

He seemed fine when I first met him, except for dozing off, but why did he become like this?

I asked, dumbfounded, and Nobun barely stroked his chest.

“I heard that the old Mongol barbarians invaded the Goryeo land and did such a thing.”

“Really?”

“Yes, they say they soaked people’s oil in firewood and set fire to it when attacking Guiju Fortress.”

“You saw me as a barbarian doing such a thing.”

“Yes? No, it’s not that, I was just worried in case······.”

“Shut up.”

What’s happening to my image?

Special measures are needed.

‘My image should definitely be a benevolent inventor who brings new light?’

Prometheus, who gave fire to mankind, Willis Carrier, who made air conditioners, Mun Ik-jeom, who hid cotton seeds······.

“Wait, cotton seeds?”

I could definitely squeeze oil from cotton seeds.

Cotton is a material for making cotton and cotton cloth. The country is encouraging cotton cultivation, and people are working hard to grow it to make clothes, so it’s much easier to obtain than other materials.

I can solve the oil problem with this.

Of course.

‘Except for one minor problem······.’

If you eat it, you die.

End