Sejong's Enlightenment (4)

A world in which everyone lives with a duty to learn.

The idea that, to create such an ideal nation, we must find a way for even the youngest commoner to learn with ease.

It was a concept that no one in Joseon had ever dared to imagine.

Yet Joseon is a land where Neo-Confucianism lives and breathes and people seek to follow the principles of Confucius and Mencius, so this was an ideal that absolutely had to be realized.

“A nation where all the people of Joseon learn and understand the principles set out in the Elementary Learning, where everyone knows proper conduct and the rites one must possess as a human being. A nation where anyone can taste the joy of learning.”

Kim Daebung's words perfectly captured the ideal world he had only vaguely imagined.

That was why he wanted to send a eunuch to Kim Daebung's house immediately, order him to return to the palace at once, seat him before him, and demand that he lay out everything he was thinking.

And yet, after tossing out only these clues, he had actually dared to run away (go home from work).

It was like a beauty capable of toppling a kingdom loosening her jeogori, with only her pure-white sobok (which served as underwear in Joseon) left to remove before he could see her naked body, without a single thread covering it...

It was exactly like a band of Japanese pirates suddenly appearing, shouting, ‘Hello, we’re Japanese pirates!’ and turning the whole situation upside down...