There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 279

It wasn’t hard to get information about these visitors, who were said to be pale-skinned with reddish complexions and unkempt hair.

That’s because Min Mu-gu, who brought it up, was eager to tell the story.

“Your Majesty may not have seen them, but I’ve encountered barbarians from all over, so I wasn’t surprised. They say that’s how Western foreigners used to look?”

*I’m* sorry, but *I* know more about it than my uncle.

But there’s no need to ruin the mood by saying that.

“These wicked men dare to call our Joseon a country of sorcerers, and even think that Your Majesty is a sorcerer who has learned evil magic. How can we stand idly by?”

“So what did you do?”

“I beat the barbarians who insulted the king with a club.

I reported them to the Uigeumbu [a Joseon-era law enforcement agency] and brought them here by boat for punishment. Would you like to see them, Your Majesty?”

Min Mu-gu said proudly.

“You crazy bastard, bring them here quickly!”

I screamed inwardly.

This old man, you should have told me that first.

===

When King Yi Je saw the Europeans being dragged in, tied up like Yeo Po of Baekmunru [a reference to a historical figure known for being bound], he had a simple thought.

‘Wow, they’re real Europeans.’

Having lived in modern times, he had been thinking about contacting Europe someday, but he never dreamed he would meet them like this.

‘Did they already go around the Cape of Good Hope?’

It was hard for him to know whether the Cape of Good Hope route was open at this time in the original timeline.

‘We’ve never had contact with Europeans while we’ve been stirring up the Indian Ocean, so it’s safe to say that their route hasn’t been discovered yet.’

Could it be that the rumors about Biak [a fictional aphrodisiac] have advanced the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope route?

However, contrary to Yi Je’s expectations, they did not discover the Cape of Good Hope route 70 years earlier and reach Joseon.

Min Mu-gu pointed to the captured Europeans.

“Look at them. Aren’t they strangely *saenggyeotji* [a Korean word meaning ‘looking’]?”

I can’t agree with my racist uncle, but I can’t agree with him as a 21st-century cosmopolitan.

“You guys! This is the royal court! Why don’t you kneel down and pay your respects!”

At the command of the Geumbu officer, the guards forced the Europeans to kneel.

Then one of them, who was still maintaining his spirit despite being beaten, stepped forward and shouted.

“Don’t treat us like slaves! We are envoys from a distant country. How can we bow like slaves?”

The man shouted in Arabic, and fortunately, there were people in Joseon who could speak Arabic—the Ortok merchants [merchants from Central Asia] took the lead in teaching it—so his words were translated smoothly.

Yi Je asked after hearing the translated words.

“Did you say you were envoys from a foreign country?”

Then the man shouted confidently.

“Yes, my name is Francesco Severini. We are envoys from the Most Serene Republic of Venice!”

The modifier ‘Most Serene’ was subtly omitted during the translation process, so the only thing the vassals heard was that they were claiming to be envoys from a country they had never heard of.

Fortunately, the interest in them waned, so there was no incident of them being beheaded for daring to claim their country was the greatest in the world.

Among them, the only person who had heard of the name Venice was the king.

‘Venice… Italy travel…’

Even that was only superficial knowledge from travel YouTube, so there was no such thing as changing his attitude and welcoming them, saying, ‘Are you the Venetians?’

Rather, Yi Je was closer to not believing the claim that they were envoys at all.

“Hmm, are you really envoys from a country? Then you must have a letter of credence [a formal document accrediting a diplomat to a foreign government]?”

“…I had one, but it was taken away when I was suddenly arrested.”

Then Min Mu-gu bowed his head and said.

“As a result of my confirmation, there was a seal, but it was so messy that I couldn’t believe it was sent by the head of state.”

Yi Je nodded at the answer.

“Hey there.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Beat them hard.”

After a few cries, the truth came out of the mouths of the group, who were trembling in pain.

“We are merchants trading spices from the Soranzo Brothers Company (La fraterna Soranzo)!”

“Francesco said it would be easier to open trade if he claimed to be an envoy from Venice…”

It seemed that Francesco was the leader of the incident, and the rest had tacitly agreed.

Yi Je clicked his tongue.

‘That’s why you have to hit them first.’

Yi Je couldn’t believe it because there were so many scammers in this era.

Even a computer illiterate would be less vulnerable going to Yongsan Electronics Market [a large electronics market in Seoul known for potential scams] with cash.

In that respect, it’s so useful to have direct identity verification and networking by following the Zheng He fleet [a reference to the Chinese explorer’s voyages].

“Daring to forge a letter of credence and impersonate a government official of the country. Don’t you know that this is a crime against not only Joseon but also your country?

Your Majesty, please execute them all to show the strictness of the national law!”

Minister of Rites Heo Jo stepped forward and pointed his finger.

“Ah, let’s leave them alone for now.”

Yi Je, who was curious about how they came all the way from Europe, stopped him.

“I heard you came from a very distant country. How did you get to Simhado [a fictional island in the story]?”

“…Venice has a friendly relationship with the Mamluks [a medieval Egyptian dynasty].”

Venice at this time had established friendly relations with the Mamluks and almost monopolized the European spice trade.

Venetian merchants mainly carried spices from Alexandria and Beirut and sold them to Germany and Lombardy, making a good profit, and the Soranzo Company was one of those Venetian giants.

As usual, Francesco and his colleagues went to Alexandria to trade spices and heard rumors about the mysterious elixir in Mamluk.

‘Th, that…!’

‘An elixir that can awaken dead genitals!’

If that were true, it would be a tremendous trade item that could not be compared to ‘spices’.

Venetian merchants, who were arguably the best at making money in Europe, would never pass by such an amazing item.

Francesco and his party immediately headed to Cairo to find out if they could get Biak.

However, even in Mamluk, only some merchants brought a little of the medicine to present to the Sultan.

‘I can’t get it even in Cairo. Isn’t this just a rumor and a scam?’

‘No, that can’t be. The Sultan saw the effect of the medicine, right? The item is definitely there. To get it, you have to go to the East!’

Francesco insisted to the end.

They went to Cairo via Alexandria, and this time they passed through Mamluk by land and got a ship from the Red Sea.

And after passing through India, they finally arrived in Singapore, a Joseon territory and a city of pleasure.

‘Look! The mysterious medicine existed!’

If only the evil Bey [a Turkish title, here referring to a local official] of Joseon, Min, who greeted them, hadn’t suddenly become enraged, they would have been able to achieve their purpose.

===

“Our King may lack learning, but his character is no different from that of a saint, yet you dare to treat him as a heretical sorcerer!”

“Be quiet.”

I don’t know if this is a shield or an insult.

If it weren’t for my uncle, sigh…

The guys who handed over the forged letter of credence, saying, ‘Is this Joseon, the land of magic?’ or my uncle who suddenly beat them up and brought them on a boat.

“If there was a problem like this, shouldn’t you have said something sooner?”

If I hadn’t talked to you and you hadn’t remembered, you would have kept forgetting.

Well, after coming home, the excited old man wouldn’t have had the mind to pay attention to the prisoners stuck in the hold.

‘If you ask me, they’re criminals who committed serious crimes…’

They committed treason, so it’s okay to cut off their heads.

Venice?

They probably don’t even know that these guys are here.

How many ships sink in a year? If a few adventurers disappear, they can just write it off as a loss.

But I like these guys’ spirit.

They believed in a rumor that there was a golden land and came through a route that looked quite difficult.

‘Amazing?’

Are these the Venetian merchants?

‘We need to step up our game too.’

I want to write down their heroic stories and distribute them to our merchants as self-help books.

I want you to go further.

“Impersonating a foreign official in front of the king is a serious crime that deserves capital punishment, but considering that Venice is originally a country of merchants and that you are uneducated barbarians, I will give you grace first.”

“Thank you, thank you!”

The scammers, who were about to go to hell in a pagan country, bowed their heads and expressed their gratitude.

‘Come to think of it, since they’re Italians, they must be Catholics, right?’

I ended up showing mercy as a fellow Catholic.

I’m not going to reveal it in front of them, but I’m originally 1/3 Catholic.

“Then are you going to acquit them?”

“If they came to get Biak, they wouldn’t have come empty-handed. Isn’t there any property that has been confiscated?”

Let’s take that into the national treasury and release their bodies.

Min Mu-gu’s face turned gloomy at my words.

Did they hide their property in the boat they came on?

The Venetians, who heard my intentions, also frowned.

“Taking money from merchants is like taking their lives…”

“How are we supposed to do business like this…”

“Ah, it’s okay.”

I waved my hand and said.

“Biak has an expiration date anyway. By the time you take the medicine back to your country, the effect will have disappeared and it will have become garbage.”

Instead of paying a lot of money and being treated like scammers in your own country, wouldn’t it be better to pay us your life and go back?

And there’s nothing left.

‘You had a good trip, right?’

The treasure you were looking for is the adventure you had coming here.

That alone is enough to make the trip worthwhile.

Yeah, that’s right.

Around the time I was thinking that, the translation was completed, and the blood drained from the faces of the Venetians.

The eyes of the guy named Francesco, who was standing in the front, rolled around.

– Thud!

“F, Francesco!”

“Hey, wake up!”

“What a mess in front of His Majesty. Get him out of here!”

The monumental first contact with Europeans ended with one fainting person and several injured people.

===

One of the guesthouses was given to the Venetians.

It was better than the prison or the hold of Simha Castle, but they were worried that they would be asked to pay for the guesthouse, as they had lost all their property.

“Damn it, are we going to be dragged off as slaves somewhere because we can’t pay?”

People always see the world from their own perspective.

It was natural for the Venetians, who were good at the slave trade as well as spices, to worry about this.

“I’ve lost all my investment. No, it might be a good thing if that’s all. Now that I know the medicine is real, I can get investment again and get back on my feet.”

“The problem is that the medicine will become garbage by the time it gets to Europe.”

Merchants always take risks when doing business.

It’s always possible to have your goods stolen.

But in this case, it might be better.

Land routes take several times longer than sea routes, and the expiration date will be eaten up while passing through the Middle East by land.

Even if they discover the Cape of Good Hope route 70 years earlier, it’s the same.

“Damn it, who’s fault is this?”

“Hey, stop it. Francesco is awake.”

He was the one who caused the group to have these difficulties, but he was still the leader who had led the adventure, so the gossip stopped for a while.

“Francesco, your heart must be the most hurt. But the important thing is how to overcome this crisis…”

“I have an idea.”

Francesco blurted out.

“No, you came up with an idea as soon as you woke up?”

“Are you sleep talking?”

“I really came up with an idea! Let’s dig a canal!”

Francesco shouted with crazy eyes.

“What an amazing idea! God must have given me a revelation while I was asleep!”

The colleagues all gave him a pitiful look.

‘Poor thing…’

‘He’s gone crazy.’

He needs to transport aphrodisiacs, so he’s going to dig a canal.