Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 283

283. A Normal Day in Hanseong (1)

A few days after the decision to construct the Third Ironworks, ministers from various departments, including Yi Jik and Maeng Sa-seong, gathered at a house of courtesans [a traditional Korean establishment offering entertainment and companionship].

“It’s been so long since I left work on time…”

“Indeed.”

“Fortunately, the officials below have gotten the hang of things, so we can breathe a little easier these days.”

“Thanks to that, we can leave work on time like this. Haha!”

“That’s right. Hahaha!”

The ministers laughed jovially, exchanging cups of alcohol.

The courtesans who entered the room enlivened the atmosphere with songs and dances. As one cup turned into two, and one bottle into two, the ministers’ faces grew increasingly flushed with intoxication.

Watching this, Maeng Sa-seong spoke to Yi Jik.

“Minister, shouldn’t we slowly wrap things up?”

However, Yi Jik, quite drunk, waved his hand dismissively at Maeng Sa-seong’s words.

“Hey! We’re just getting started! Why are you already thinking of ending it? Who knows when we’ll get to leave work on time again? Let’s drink properly! Isn’t that right, ministers?”

The ministers responded to Yi Jik’s words with loud agreement.

“Of course! That’s right! Absolutely!”

“Minister Maeng, are you showing weakness already?”

Seeing the ministers’ reactions, Maeng Sa-seong quietly slipped out and called the head courtesan.

“You called?”

“Dismiss all the courtesans in half an hour (approximately one hour by modern time). And make sure all the rooms to the left and right of this room are empty.”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t take any guests in those rooms until this gathering is over. And open all the doors, except for the ones facing outside.”

“Yes? What’s the matter?”

“We can’t have any listening ears.”

There was no sign of intoxication in Maeng Sa-seong’s eyes as he spoke. At Maeng Sa-seong’s sharp command, the head courtesan immediately bowed her head and replied.

“Yes, Minister. I will do as you command.”

“And bring in three large jars of the strongest soju [Korean distilled spirit] you have. We need to get them thoroughly drunk and send them away before anything happens.”

“Yes, Minister.”

Maeng Sa-seong’s orders were quickly carried out. When the doors of the rooms adjacent to the room where the ministers were gathered were all opened, the ministers clapped their knees in delight.

“Haha! It’s so spacious; it feels refreshing!”

“Indeed! The breeze is truly refreshing!”

“Haha! My chest feels so open; I feel like I can drink well! I don’t even feel drunk?”

“Isn’t that because of the tonic you took, Minister?”

The moment one of the ministers, drunk with excitement, mentioned ‘tonic,’ the atmosphere instantly froze.

As the atmosphere froze, Yi Jik poured a full glass of soju, rinsed his mouth, and spat the alcohol into an empty bowl.

As soon as they saw Yi Jik’s actions, the ministers rinsed their mouths with alcohol like Yi Jik, spat it out, and glared at the one who had made the problematic statement.

“There are things you can and cannot say…”

“I, I’m sorry!”

“Anyway, let’s drink again!”

“Yes!”

And so, the ministers continued to drink. As half an hour passed according to Maeng Sa-seong’s orders, the courtesans left one by one, but none of the ministers paid any attention to it.

It was because the alcohol was slowly taking over.

And as the alcohol took over, arguments began to break out here and there.

The incident started with Kim Jeom and Yi Maeng-gyun.

“Minister! Isn’t that too much?”

“What are you talking about? How am I supposed to know what you mean when you suddenly say that?”

At Kim Jeom’s question, Yi Maeng-gyun raised his voice even louder.

“The gifts we’re receiving from Ming [Chinese dynasty] this time! Five times the production cost of a hundred arquebuses [early type of portable gun]! How is that possible?”

“What’s the fuss? It’s not even that much.”

“Not even that much! You try going and getting it! How stingy do you think the Ming officials are!”

“No matter how stingy they are, if the Emperor allows it, they have no choice but to give it to us, right? The Emperor we know should make it easy, right?”

When Kim Jeom asked back with a puzzled expression, Yi Maeng-gyun beat his chest and burst into frustration.

“That was before we crushed Yi Man-ju and Muantu!”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Don’t put unnecessary burden on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!”

“Unnecessary?”

At Yi Maeng-gyun’s words, Kim Jeom’s expression turned fierce.

“If you’re so unsure, submit your resignation to His Majesty! Instead of whining about this little thing!”

“This little thing? You’re really something!”

“You’re going to whine about this little thing, but why do you ask for so much budget? Do you think the court’s budget is overflowing? Should I make you do peddling again on this envoy to cover your expenses, huh?”

“You bastard, really!”

“Hey! Ministers! Calm down, calm down!”

As the two men’s atmosphere intensified, Maeng Sa-seong stepped in to try to cool down the heated atmosphere.

“Come on, now. What can we do if the country’s situation isn’t good and things are difficult? We’re all in the same boat, so let’s just let it go with a drink. Come on! Come on! Have a drink each.”

Maeng Sa-seong, who had stepped in, repeatedly offered alcohol to the two men. The two men, who found it difficult to refuse the alcohol offered by Maeng Sa-seong, continued to drink until they became very drunk, and before they knew it, they were in agreement.

“All of this is because there’s too much work. There’s a lot of work, but we’re still short on people!”

“That’s right, that’s right! Our guys are already traveling around the provinces! They have to check the crop yields in advance to know how much revenue we’ll have this year! Already!”

“Being an official is not something a person should do!”

“That’s right, that’s right! Well, in that sense, let’s have a drink!”

“Let’s drink, Minister!”

“Hoo~.”

As the two men’s atmosphere improved, Maeng Sa-seong let out a long sigh of relief.

“Now I can rest easy…”

As the saying goes, speak of the devil? Before Maeng Sa-seong’s muttering was even over, a shout erupted from the other side.

“Minister! Why is that so!”

“I simply did what I had to do!”

Maeng Sa-seong, who saw where the shout came from, lowered his head. There, Jo Mal-saeng and the new Chief of the Office of the Inspector General, Jeong Heum-ji, were arguing.

* * *

The reason why Jeong Heum-ji and Jo Mal-saeng were arguing was because of Yi Sun-mong.

Yi Sun-mong was given ‘document sorting duty’ for ‘false sick leave due to illicit relations (私通) [adultery],’ and was stuck in the archives with the perpetrator, Hwang Sang.

However, as the military reforms progressed, Yi Sun-mong and Hwang Sang left the archives and commanded the military in Pyeongan-do and Mureung-do.

Not long after Yi Sun-mong took command of the Joseon army in the Pyeongan-do region, Yi Man-ju and Muantu started trouble.

In the process of suppressing Yi Man-ju and Muantu, Yi Sun-mong achieved decent results, and Jo Mal-saeng naturally reported Yi Sun-mong’s reward to Sejong [King’s name].

However, Jeong Heum-ji challenged this.

“It cannot be said that Yi Sun-mong’s contribution in suppressing this rebellion is small, but it is not enough to be praised. Above all, the crime he committed is too great.”

“The crime is too great?”

Jeong Heum-ji immediately answered Sejong’s question.

“A person who has the important duty of protecting His Majesty from danger while being by His Majesty’s side not only caused trouble by having illicit relations, but also took sick leave and vacated his position! This is a great crime that cannot be washed away by anything! Promotion (陞差, rising to a higher position) and Gaja (加資, raising the rank) are absolutely unacceptable!”

Because there were many ministers who agreed with Jeong Heum-ji’s protest, Yi Sun-mong only received a medal through the newly created system of conferment (敍勳, awarding medals according to the rank of meritorious service).

* * *

Jo Mal-saeng challenged this very point.

“Considering the merits he made in suppressing this rebellion, the crime he committed in the past can be ignored!”

“A crime that cannot be ignored! He neglected to protect His Majesty’s safety by His Majesty’s side!”

“But nothing happened, did it!”

“Nothing happened? Have you already forgotten that incident? The palace intrusion in the year of Gyeyu!”

“That was after Yi Sun-mong was punished! Don’t force it!”

“Don’t force it! Such a thing can happen at any time! But the person who is always in a position to be on high alert has forgotten his duty! I don’t think what I did was wrong!”

“This guy!”

“Hey! Ministers, why are you doing this in a good place? Calm down, calm down!”

As the atmosphere overheated on this side as well, Maeng Sa-seong hurriedly stepped in to calm things down.

It was only after almost half a jar of alcohol had disappeared that Jeong Heum-ji and Jo Mal-saeng’s debate could be calmed down.

It was a success thanks to Maeng Sa-seong’s efforts, a large amount of strong liquor, and finally, using ‘the common enemy of excessive workload’.

* * *

As the drinking party continued, similar incidents continued to occur.

The reason why such debates broke out was that most of the various policies implemented by the court were not the sole responsibility of one department, but had to be done jointly by several departments.

In the process of coordinating in that way, the participating departments repeatedly clashed and cooperated according to their own interests, and grudges accumulated accordingly.

In addition, the ministers who took charge of the newly established departments were burning with the desire to solidify the presence of their departments by making the work they were in charge of successful.

Accordingly, it was only natural that competition between departments intensified.

And whenever this competition intensified, the heads of each department had a common line.

“Do you think I don’t know about that work?”

The court before the Gyeongjang [political reform] was small. In order to manage state affairs with such a small size, officials of a certain rank or higher experienced various tasks while holding concurrent positions and moving between central and local officials. Thanks to this, if they were Dangsanggwan [high-ranking officials], they could quickly adapt no matter which department they were placed in.

Because they were ministers who had been trained through that process, they also knew the work of other departments. And they tried to use it to gain an advantage in the competition.

* * *

The grudges that sprouted in such competition were now erupting at this drinking party. Thanks to this, debates broke out here and there, raising their voices, and Maeng Sa-seong had to move diligently to quell them.

The method Maeng Sa-seong chose to quell the debates was alcohol, more alcohol, and ‘a common enemy’.

He continued to feed them alcohol to make them drunk, and by using ‘excessive workload’ as the subject, he made the ministers’ anger directed at the working environment rather than their fellow ministers.

Whether Maeng Sa-seong’s desperate efforts were successful, songs with slurred voices replaced the debates that raged in the drinking party. In the meantime, in addition to the three jars of soju that were first brought in, four more jars of soju were brought in.

After assessing the situation, Maeng Sa-seong sent word to the ministers’ homes through the head courtesan. Not long after, the servants from the ministers’ homes carried the ministers on their backs and returned.

“Hoo~. That’s why I haven’t been attending drinking parties these days…”

Maeng Sa-seong grumbled with a sigh.

“Please quench your thirst for a moment.”

“What is it?”

“It’s cold water with honey.”

“Thank you.”

Maeng Sa-seong, who received the bowl of water offered by the head courtesan, gulped down the honey water. Maeng Sa-seong, who returned the bowl, put on his shoes and looked back at the head courtesan.

“How much is the bill?”

“It’s already been paid.”

“Huh?”

At the head courtesan’s words, Maeng Sa-seong rummaged through his memories.

“No matter how much I rummage through my memories, I don’t remember paying the bill? Which minister paid it?”

“It wasn’t the ministers who paid, but the person in the west annex.”

At the words that someone else had paid instead, Maeng Sa-seong’s face became serious.

“Guide me.”

“Yes?”

“Even though I look like this, I’m a person who works for the country. Even if it’s just the cost of alcohol, I can’t just get it from someone I don’t know. Guide me.”

At Maeng Sa-seong’s words, the head courtesan had a difficult expression. As the head courtesan hesitated, Maeng Sa-seong urged the head courtesan.

“Hurry!”

“Yes. Yes….”

The head courtesan led Maeng Sa-seong to the west annex. Although it was called an annex, it was not far away, just around the corner.

After confirming the location of the annex, Maeng Sa-seong had a slightly embarrassed expression.

“They must have heard everything…”

Because it was something that could lead to scandal if handled incorrectly, the head courtesan, leaving Maeng Sa-seong agonizing over finding a solution, arrived at the annex and went inside.

“They said to come in.”

“I understand.”

Maeng Sa-seong, who entered the annex with a serious face, prostrated himself with a pale face after seeing the face of the person who had paid the bill.

“Your, Your Majesty!”