There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 196

< The Legend of the Exam (2) >

‘What should I do?’

‘If it were a question of whether I could die instead, I would just write that I would, but kill someone else?’

‘They won’t pick someone who says they’ll kill someone. It’s better to come up with a trick to stop the horse somehow. Let’s see, was there a way to handle horses in the scriptures?’

‘Seeing as they said there are only two paths, it’s impossible to stop the horse from running wild. I’d be lucky to get a low score for writing that.’

‘Then wouldn’t it be better for one person to die than for five people to die? Even a sage like the Duke of Zhou didn’t he kill Guan Shu and Cai Shu?’

‘A gentleman does not violate benevolence even while eating, so he must rely on it even in urgent and desperate situations (Analects, Yiren) [This quote emphasizes the importance of benevolence even in dire circumstances]. Even in an emergency, how can you bring yourself to harm others?’

‘First, you need to know whether the person on the road is a nobleman or a commoner to solve the problem, right? Right, I should just write that the problem itself is wrong.’

‘I’ve heard that His Highness has a strong personality, so he might even welcome hitting five people…’

Lee Bang-won smiled as he watched the exhibition students racking their brains.

“How is it? Isn’t the problem very interesting? I think I can hear them racking their brains all the way over here.”

When Lee Bang-won casually spoke to Jishinsa [A high-ranking official] Jo Mal-saeng, Jo Mal-saeng bowed and replied.

“It seems so to this subject as well. Even if you asked me now, it would be a difficult problem to solve.”

“Oh, for someone who graduated at the top of the class to say that. Aren’t you being too modest?”

“No, it’s not! It’s just that the problem His Highness the Crown Prince presented is so difficult that even this subject cannot easily decide on a position.”

“Haha!”

Lee Bang-won was in a good mood from Jo Mal-saeng’s praise and burst into laughter.

His gaze was filled with pride as he looked at his eldest son.

‘How did he come up with such a problem?’

Lee Bang-won opened his mouth and asked.

“You came up with the problem, so you have to grade it. Which position are you going to give points to?”

Then his son shook his head and replied.

“It doesn’t really matter which choice you make. The important thing is the reasoning that goes with it.”

Lee Je added.

“Whichever answer you give, if you write down the reasoning thoroughly, you can give points accordingly.”

In other words, he would focus on logical consistency.

As in modern times, there is no right answer, so it is a problem where you can honestly write down what you think.

Lee Bang-won nodded in satisfaction at his son’s answer.

“Indeed.”

He already knew that his son had this much talent.

‘Our son doesn’t study, but he knows how to do it when he has to.’

Even when he was studying, he had never seen a problem with so many things to think about.

A saint is a saint even without learning. Although he is not familiar with the scriptures, he exquisitely points out the conflict between the morals that people should follow and the actions they should take.

Whether Lee Bang-won was lost in his son-foolish delusion or not, Lee Je thought to himself.

‘Whew, I barely got over one hurdle.’

Presenting an exhibition problem that tests the talents of the whole country was a headache for him as well.

It was fortunate that he brought the trolley dilemma [A moral thought experiment] and managed to break Lee Bang-won’s sudden quest more or less successfully.

However, Lee Bang-won thought differently.

He came up with such a good problem the first time, who knows, with experience, he might come up with even better problems.

‘From now on, the Crown Prince should be in charge of the exhibition problems.’

Lee Bang-won made up his mind.

===

The exhibition ended after about half a day.

The supervisors collected the papers, leaving behind regretful noises, and soon began to bring them to me in droves to grade the exam.

‘I can’t believe they’re really leaving the grading to me.’

The thought that these people’s careers would be determined by the scores I gave weighed heavily on me.

In this era, the scores for the civil service examination are divided into five grades: Great Understanding (大通), Understanding (通), Partial Understanding (略通), Rough Understanding (粗通), and Non-Understanding (不通).

In fact, getting a Non-Understanding means failing the exam, but even if you fail the preliminary or secondary exams, the exhibition is a situation where everyone’s appointment is confirmed, so it only serves the function of the lowest score.

I began to examine the answer sheets with trembling hands.

And soon.

“He says the guy riding the horse on the narrow road is at fault, so he should be punished first, making the problem itself meaningless. This one gets a Non-Understanding (不通)!”

“‘People’s lives are in the hands of heaven?’ This guy just wrote this one line and submitted the answer? He passed the secondary exam, so it doesn’t matter what rank he gets, his appointment is guaranteed? This is also a Non-Understanding!”

“The importance of human life depends on the status of the person, but the problem doesn’t specify this, so it can’t be solved, so it’s a wrong problem? Who wrote this? Bring me his name!”

I burst into anger.

‘The last answer is absurd.’

Joseon is clearly a class society, so if you think about it, it’s not wrong, but saying it out loud is another matter.

A scholar shouldn’t be saying ‘My life and your life have different values’ in the civil service examination.

I would have understood if he had constructed a different logic to criticize the problem, but this is a Non-Understanding without a second thought, no, I have to find him and deal with him.

“Your Highness, when grading the exam, fairness is ensured by not knowing the name of the respondent.”

The officials said, stammering.

“Damn it.”

There’s nothing I can do.

It was a pity that I couldn’t fail him because it was an exhibition.

‘The level of the 33 people selected from the eight provinces of Joseon is this much.’

“There seem to be a lot of mistakes because it’s a problem that people aren’t familiar with.”

Jo Mal-saeng said with a bitter smile, reading my expression of disappointment.

However, as expected, the scholars who came to the exhibition were selected talents of Joseon, so these answers were only a small part.

After that, there were quite normal answers.

“This one wrote, ‘Zhuja said that only great sages or saints should use expediency, so it should not be done.’ It’s true, but it’s a pity that the only basis is Zhu Zi Yu Lei (朱子語類) [A collection of conversations and writings by Zhu Xi, a prominent Neo-Confucian scholar].”

“And it’s a bit unrealistic.”

When you enter the court, you will often say, ‘Although it goes against etiquette, I followed expediency.’

According to that logic, that secret sentence should also be sealed.

Still, I gave this answer a Rough Understanding (粗通) because he tried hard.

After somehow deciding on the top scorer and the runner-up, I was quite relieved.

The officials who were helping with the grading seemed to feel the same way, and they began to giggle with smiles on their faces.

“Your Highness, you gave a problem that was too high level.”

“It’s a difficult problem, but a completely new type of problem has popped up, so the guys preparing for the civil service examination will be grabbing the back of their necks.”

“But why is the corner of your mouth turned up?”

I was wondering what it had to do with me issuing a non-civil service examination, and then I got a ridiculous answer.

“This subject has already taken the civil service examination and entered the court, so it doesn’t matter.”

“It’s just watching the fire from across the river [A Korean idiom for being a bystander]. I hope Your Highness will give the exam next time and it will be more difficult, hahaha!”

“Those guys need to suffer a little because of the civil service examination. You have to be shaken a thousand times to become an adult.”

I shook my head at the officials who were revealing the typical ‘not me’ mentality.

How on earth is this country’s court run?

===

When the list of 3 people in Gap-gwa [Top tier], 7 people in Eul-gwa [Second tier], and 23 people in Byeong-gwa [Third tier] below the top scorer was posted, Chang’an [Ancient capital of China, used here to refer to the capital city] was once again buzzing with civil service examination stories.

“Did you see this year’s exhibition problem?”

“I saw it. I thought a problem discussing the current situation would definitely come out this year, but I feel like I’ve been hit in the back of the head.”

“That’s why you’re a 허수 [A useless person]. Didn’t I say that a problem asking about legal principles would definitely come out this year?”

“That’s a stretch. Where does this look like a legal problem?”

The civil service examination is, so to speak, a combination of Korea’s top three civil service examinations and the college entrance exam.

In other words, it is bound to attract the attention of scholars across the country.

Originally, it is common for examinees to analyze problems, but because it was an unprecedented problem, they would gather and talk about the exhibition problem.

“Ah, that’s enough, that’s enough! So what’s the right answer? What should I write to please the superiors?”

“Well, the answers are all different. The top scorer said that killing an innocent person is not benevolence, so the horse should be left alone, and the runner-up argued that the direction of the horse should be changed by laying down iron thorns for the public good.”

Without the reward of finding a model answer, the opinions of the examinees began to diverge as the answers of the 1st and 2nd place winners differed.

“If you turn the horse’s direction, isn’t that murder!”

“It’s different from killing someone directly. Then should we just sit still and watch five people die? Is that the benevolence you’re talking about?”

The controversy sparked here not only did not die down as time passed, but burned even more fiercely, crossing the palace walls and being re-imported.

“Hyungnim [Older brother or respected male figure], what do you think?”

Do came running to me and asked with sparkling eyes.

“Uh? Uh… This is a problem that is meaningful only if you think about it yourself. So I can’t answer you.”

I vaguely said that.

In fact, it was true that the problem was meaningful in that it made you think for yourself, so I didn’t say anything wrong.

Besides, if I, the questioner, reveal my opinion, people will believe it as the correct answer, so I can’t easily give an answer to the dilemma.

‘Still, I’m proud.’

I wasn’t paying much attention, but the proud scholars must have been subtly dissatisfied with the fact that I wasn’t well-versed in academics.

But with this civil service examination problem, the eight provinces of Joseon were shaken, and they were mobilizing all kinds of logic to complement each other’s positions, so it was safe to say that the atmosphere had definitely changed.

I could even feel the changed eyes of the ministers who had been looking at me with suspicious eyes, wondering what kind of bizarre problem I would come up with.

I swept my face as Do went back and muttered.

‘Who am I?’

The questioner of the most legendary difficult problem since the founding of Joseon.

With pride swelling, I walked around the palace with dignity.

The rumors had spread so widely that even Lee Seong-gye and Lee Bang-gwa, who seemed to have no interest in civil service examinations, knew about it.

However, their reaction was a little different from what I expected.

“Ah, that problem.”

“Do you know about it?”

“I’ve heard about it. It was too easy, wasn’t it?”

Lee Seong-gye said while picking his nose, and Lee Bang-gwa nodded vigorously next to him.

“Huh?”

No, how could these people match a problem that even the most talented scholars had to think deeply about?

Then Lee Seong-gye said with a triumphant expression.

“Isn’t it just a matter of shooting that crazy horse to death with an arrow?”

“…”

“It would have been easy to get it right if it had been given to the military examination, but those literary guys, anyway.”

“If you know how to do Masangjae [Martial art on horseback],,, get on a running horse,,, and stop it,,, if your body is bad,,, your head suffers,,,”