Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 1089

The scribes and recorders, having exchanged their turns and seats, sprinted as if they had forgotten they were inside the palace. Reaching the Office of Annals, they gasped for breath and hurriedly spoke.

“A-A grave, no, a big thing has happened!”

“What grave matter is it?”

“An inspection! The Retired Emperor and the Regent have begun an inspection!”

*Crash! Thump!*

The colleagues who heard the news jumped from their seats. Furniture tumbled to the floor. Some bumped into desks, barely noticing the pain.

“W-Which ministry?!”

“All ministries!”

“This is bad!”

“Q-Quickly, let everyone know!”

As chaos erupted, the head of the Office of Annals slammed his desk.

*Bang!*

“Silence! Be quiet! Have you forgotten where you are?!”

At the head’s roar, the scribes crowded around him.

“Head Official, isn’t this an emergency? An inspection is no ordinary matter!”

“So?”

“Shouldn’t we inform others of the news, even now?”

“Do not act rashly.”

“It’s not rash! Everyone here receives a stipend [fixed regular payment] from the nation. Shouldn’t we help each other?”

“That is *precisely* what I mean by acting rashly! Have you forgotten that one of the rules a scribe must follow is ‘Do not speak of what you see and hear!’?”

“But, everyone…”

“This is a checkmate.”

“Yes?”

The scribes looked bewildered.

“Let me say it again: scribes have rules to abide by. ‘Do not reveal what you see and hear to the outside.’ ‘Do not privately profit from what you see and hear.’ Have you all forgotten?”

“…”

The head’s words silenced them. The scribes and recorders had one thing in common with the eunuchs and court ladies:

They saw and heard every move of the Emperor all day long.

Because of this, they could secure private gains if they played their cards right. They could anticipate and act on policy decisions before anyone else. Therefore, scribes, recorders, eunuchs, and court ladies had to abide by the rules of non-disclosure and prohibition of unjust enrichment.

“What do you think is the reason why the Emperor doesn’t send you out unless it’s a very important matter? It’s because of those rules. That’s why it’s a checkmate. You can’t do this or that. If you do this, you’ll be cursed, and if you do that, you’ll be thrown into the archives. Which one is better?”

“…I’d rather be cursed.”

Meanwhile, the Royal Secretariat was reaching a similar conclusion.

* * *

Hyang and Wan moved with incredible speed. Two days after the initial discussion, they found the Prime Minister and delivered their message.

“As the abdication is near, we should conduct an inspection.”

“I-Inspection, you say?”

“That’s right. I have already spoken to the Emperor.”

“…I will prepare the people.”

“It’s alright. Isn’t there already the Board of Audit [government agency responsible for auditing]? It would be enough to use the people from the Board of Audit.”

“…I understand.”

The Prime Minister, watching them leave after delivering this backhanded blessing, slumped in his chair and lamented.

“Good day, my ass! An inspection! An inspection!”

* * *

Hyang and Wan, having notified the Prime Minister, went straight to the Board of Audit. They found the Head of the Board and cut straight to the chase.

“We will start the inspection. Here is the order from His Majesty the Emperor.”

The Head of the Board of Audit, after confirming the order, replied in a trembling voice.

“I will gather the people.”

“Why bother the busy people? Shouldn’t we be the ones to move?”

“Yes? Yes?”

“Come along.”

“Yes? Yes?”

The Head of the Board of Audit suddenly found himself assisting Hyang and Wan. With the Head of the Board right beside them, Hyang and Wan began to thoroughly investigate the Board of Audit itself. Hyang, who had been infamous alongside Sejong, and Wan, who had learned well from him, were a formidable duo.

“Let’s see… Hmm? Why hasn’t this audit report been processed?”

“We’ve been busy…”

“It’s from three years ago?”

“There’s no record of the decision, no imperial approval… and if it’s here, it means it hasn’t even been sent to the records office…”

“So, you’re saying it was just buried? Head of the Board of Audit?”

At Hyang’s call, the Head of the Board of Audit immediately prostrated himself on the floor.

“I-I am sorry! I was incompetent and slow in handling the matter.”

“If you were sorry, you shouldn’t have created something to be sorry about. Summon all those involved. The report’s author, the initial approver, and the one who buried it here—all of them.”

“Yes!”

For nearly a month, the Board of Audit was thoroughly ransacked by Hyang and Wan. During that month, five high-ranking officials were demoted, seven were dismissed and sent to the records office [a place of bureaucratic exile], and about twenty mid- to low-level officials also met their fate in the records office. And among the auditors who were thoroughly shaken by Hyang and Wan, this saying circulated:

-His Majesty the Emperor is a benevolent ruler compared to the Retired Emperor and the Regent!

And Hyun’s expression turned grim when he heard this.

“Oh ho? So, I am water, am I?” [Implying he’s seen as weak or lenient]

Meanwhile, Hyang and Wan, who had thoroughly shaken the Board of Audit, were chatting with bright smiles.

“The Board of Audit is properly enraged.”

“Is that so? Shall we unleash them now?”

“I have high expectations.”

The next day, following Hyang and Wan’s orders, officials from the Board of Audit were dispatched to all government offices in Seoul.

“This is an imperial order! We will now begin the inspection!”

“Already?”

The officials of the ministries who received the visit from the Board of Audit wore expressions of being caught off guard. However, preparing for it was not an easy task in itself. In particular, the officials of all ministries who witnessed the Board of Audit being thoroughly ransacked had their eyes turn dark.

“Preparation itself is impossible!”

However, the survival instincts of the empire’s officials began to stir. Or, should we call it a desperate last struggle?

-The Retired Emperor and the Regent are both old and cannot overwork themselves.

-Judging from the inspection of the Board of Audit, it is certain that the inspection of other ministries will take a lot of time.

-It will take at least a year to inspect the central ministries in Seoul alone.

-Then, while it’s unfortunate for the ministry that gets caught first, the other ministries can secure enough time.

-Then, which ministry is most likely to be caught first?

Here, the expected answers from all the officials were almost the same.

-The Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of National Defense.

It was a well-known story that the relationship between the successive emperors and the Ministry of Economy and Finance was awkward due to budget issues. Therefore, the probability of putting the Ministry of Economy and Finance last was very low. Similarly, since the emperors were very interested in national defense, the probability of choosing the Ministry of National Defense first was high. The officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of National Defense were also making the same judgment.

“Hoo~. It can’t be helped.”

“We have no choice but to examine and examine again to the best of our ability.”

Seeing the officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of National Defense acting calmly and resolutely, the officials of other ministries wore sorry expressions.

“Sorry. Please do your best.”

“Please suffer a little.”

However, Hyang and Wan’s actions completely deviated from the officials’ expectations. Thanks to being thoroughly shaken, they unleashed the officials of the Board of Audit, who were enraged to the core, to simultaneously strike all the ministries. They were already famous for being meticulous, but now they were properly enraged.

And these officials began to thoroughly ransack all the ministries, just as Hyang and Wan had intended. Moreover, Hyang and Wan dragged the Head of the Board of Audit and stormed into the Prime Minister’s Office and the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office.

“We will begin the inspection.”

“Y-You mean us too?”

“Why do you ask the obvious?”

“Are you not subjects of the Empire?”

“……We shall submit to the inspection.”

As the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister yielded, Hyang and Wan instructed the accompanying eunuch.

“Bring those documents over here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As Hyang and Wan immediately began their inspection, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister exchanged desperate glances with the Head of the Board of Audit, silently pleading for help. However, they were met with a face contorted with rage.

* * *

It was only natural that the work of every ministry faltered as Hyang and Wan thoroughly ransacked them under the guise of inspection. And Hyeon, equally enraged, did not let this pass without comment.

“State affairs have been running poorly lately. Surely, you don’t think you can slack off just because I will soon become a retired old man in the back room?”

“N-No, Your Majesty!”

“Absolutely not!”

Hyeon continued to berate the Prime Minister and his officials, who were vehemently denying the accusation.

“Not so? Then what is this handling of affairs? The results are in this state, so how can you say ‘not so’?”

“That, that is because of the inspection…….”

“Do not make excuses!”

At Hyeon’s roar, the officials lowered their heads like turtles withdrawing into their shells. Hyeon continued to press them.

“You claim the inspection is the problem? Is the inspection that the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor are conducting merely a review of what your ministries have done so far? And what I am questioning now are the things you are currently doing and will do in the future! The nature of the two situations is completely different, yet you dare to use it as an excuse!”

“W-We are sorry.”

“And if you had properly carried out your duties in the first place, there would have been no need to be nervous about the inspection! But if you are so nervous that you cannot even properly perform your assigned tasks, I can only assume that your past work has been just as shoddy!”

“N-No, Your Majesty!”

“We have done our best!”

“And yet, this is the result?”

“We are sorry!”

“If you are sorry, then do not do things that will make you sorry!”

“Please forgive us!”

“Tsk tsk! I will stop here for today! Prepare properly and bring it back to me! To think I trusted such people…… Tsk tsk tsk!”

As Hyeon clicked his tongue and left the hall, the Prime Minister and officials, looking utterly exhausted, made their way out of Geunjeongjeon [the main hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace].

“Being torn apart by three generations of emperors is unbearable…….”

“There has never been a time when I respected my predecessors as much as I do now…….”

* * *

Not long after, a strange rumor began to circulate among the officials who were being relentlessly grilled by the three emperors.

-This whole incident was triggered by the *myunsinrye*! [A ceremony to formally introduce officials to a new emperor]

“*Myunsinrye*? Why *myunsinrye*?”

“Why is the *myunsinrye* that disappeared long ago suddenly coming up now?”

The officials, filled with doubt, soon learned the whole story and unleashed every curse they knew.

“Those bastards! There are things you can and cannot do. They held a *myunsinrye* to try and get the new emperor under their thumb!”

“Damn it! Why would those old men, who know very well that the Crown Prince does not simply become the Emperor, think of playing such tricks!”

“The Ministry of Economy and Finance is just as guilty!”

It was not only the high-ranking officials who were being cursed.

“Which crazy bastards held the *myunsinrye*!”

“Find those damn guys!”

“Just you wait until I find them! I swear I won’t let them die peacefully!”

The officials began to search for the officials who had performed the *myunsinrye* with fire in their eyes. After a relentless pursuit by the enraged officials, the troublemakers finally began to emerge one by one. The officials who found those who had caused the trouble wore bitter smiles.

“So… this whole situation happened because of these morons here, is that right?”

“P-Please, spare us!”

“Sorry about this!”