Chapter 231
There is a saying that even three seom of beads are only a treasure once they have been strung.
Even if one possesses an extremely precious raw gemstone, it only becomes valuable as a beautiful jewel after meeting a craftsperson and undergoing proper processing.
In the case of diamonds, which we consider the finest of all jewels, their value changes dramatically before and after processing, and I think Hunminjeongeum is no different.
“The Hunminjeongeum of today has a few shortcomings.”
There are issues such as using Hunminjeongeum as an auxiliary script while writing important words in Chinese characters in a mixed Korean-Chinese script, or writing vertically in the same manner as Chinese characters.
Furthermore, there is not even such a thing as spacing or standard orthography.
If we improved these things just a little, the ease felt by the common people who use Hunminjeongeum would change dramatically.
“In this era, there is no one besides me who could propose improvements.”
It was not as though I intended to propose improvements because I was some extraordinarily remarkable person.
However, I knew the fruits of the efforts devoted to the scientific development and systematization of Hangul by people including Teacher Ju Si-gyeong, who sacrificed their lives to preserve and widely spread Hangul, the script containing the spirit and soul of our people.
Because I was someone who knew those results, I intended to introduce them several centuries early so that the people of Joseon could use Hunminjeongeum more easily, conveniently, and widely.
“Grand Academician, I would like to take sick leave because I am unwell.”
The moment Byeon Gye-ryang heard my words, his face stiffened.
Then he began scrutinizing my face very carefully.
After finishing his inspection, he sighed and shook his head.
“For someone claiming to be unwell, you look far too healthy.”
“I may look fine on the outside, but the chills that began when I was working late last night became extremely severe. By this morning, I was so cold that even opening my eyes was difficult. Does His Majesty not always say that failing to maintain one’s health by working late into the night for the sake of the country is to violate the duties of filial piety, and that one must not damage one’s health by focusing too much on state affairs? Therefore, while this illness is still mild, I wish to take sick leave, rest thoroughly at home, and restore my health by taking medicine.”
Naturally, the meaning behind the words of Sejong that I had quoted was different from their apparent context.
The true meaning behind King Sejong’s words—that ‘ruining one’s health by working late for the sake of the country is to abandon filial piety’—was this:
Working late into the night for the sake of the people and studying by reading books was the greatest pleasure a human being could enjoy.
But because my father had seized me and made me exercise every night, I could no longer work late to my heart’s content, and I was terribly miserable.
Since I had become unable to enjoy working late, I would deprive all of you of the pleasure of working late as well.
That was the true meaning, but ordinary officials like me naturally preferred leaving work on time and relaxing at home rather than working late...
King Sejong’s drag-everyone-down strategy had, contrary to its original intent, become the greatest welfare benefit for the officials.
However, a king’s words possessed authority in their literal sense, so the moment someone mentioned the hidden intention behind them, that person would instantly become a ‘disloyal wretch’...
‘Keeping one’s body healthy is filial piety, yet you refuse to grant my sick leave? That is obstructing filial piety, one of Joseon’s highest virtues, alongside loyalty.’
It would be extremely difficult to counter this logic of mine.
Because in Joseon, filial piety was the highest value, one that took precedence in every circumstance.
“Since you say you are that unwell, I suppose it cannot be helped.”
Though Byeon Gye-ryang said that, he still did not look as if he believed me.
That was right. The truth was that I was taking sick leave to improve and refine Hunminjeongeum a little further and create a guide explaining how to use it...
Not because I was actually ill.
However, Joseon was a far more progressive country than twenty-first-century Korea when it came to taking and guaranteeing leave, granting twenty days of vacation to officials who claimed they were going to visit their ancestors’ graves, and even half a month to officials who said they were going to track down runaway slaves...
So this was a matter that was bound to be approved anyway.
“Go home, take good care of your health, and return.”
“Thank you, Grand Academician.”
“Write a memorial to His Majesty the Grand King Emeritus as well, saying that you are taking a short rest because of illness. That is the proper procedure.”
“I will keep that in mind, Grand Academician.”
In a civil service organization, whatever the task, observing formality and procedure was important, as was never neglecting to submit reports.
I had heard that in some especially bizarre places, people even reported to their team leader who would sit where during a company dinner, in addition to the criteria for selecting the restaurant and the dinner budget.
Joseon could not possibly be free from this characteristic of civil service organizations.
Besides, if one took sick leave without submitting a sick-leave application and simply went home, that would be unauthorized absence as well.
After telling Byeon Gye-ryang that I would take sick leave and submitting a memorial requesting it, I left work in high spirits. As I did, I heard the officials of the Jiphyeonjeon gathered nearby gossiping.
“Since His Excellency the Vice Academician has taken sick leave, won’t it be much easier to work during the few days he is absent from the Jiphyeonjeon?”
“I need to send word home right away that for lunch today, I want to eat a meal brought from home instead of a packed lunch. It’s not that the packed lunch tastes bad, but isn’t it a little beneath a yangban to eat one? Should I say it looks too shabby?”
“With the workload reduced a little, we should be able to live a bit more easily for a few days.”
One of the virtues required of a high-ranking person was the consideration to pretend not to hear his subordinates gossiping behind his back.
Unless it was vicious gossip aimed directly at him, he needed to be able to say, ‘Ah, I see. Do as you please,’ and let it pass; he should not become a petty man who permitted not even the slightest criticism.
Because if he made a huge fuss over such a trivial matter, the person making the fuss would only end up looking small-minded.
If I complained about something like this, I would come across like Grand Academician Byeon, who, even after receiving a gift of precious delicacies during a holiday, would let them spoil rather than share them with others or servants.
Therefore, I would pretend not to have heard what they said and let it pass.
They seemed to treat me as some incarnation of overwork, but just wait until Hunminjeongeum was promulgated after I had used up all my sick leave and returned.
After being tormented by King Sejong the Great, who declared himself to be the embodiment of love for the people and the one who dominated his ministers’ loyalty to the king and devotion to the state, and by Yi Bang-won, who exorcised with an iron mace anyone speaking as though possessed by the ghosts of Goryeo, those mistaken notions would soon be corrected.
Just as I was about to turn and leave, I heard Kim Jong-seo and Hwangbo In talking to each other from another direction.
I could not make out what they were saying, but both their faces had gone deathly pale.
They looked just like Hwang Hui, who had submitted a memorial because he genuinely wanted to resign, only to be impeached by the Office of the Inspector General and prevented from resigning.
All I was doing was pretending to take sick leave and rest while working on Hunminjeongeum at home...
I had no idea why everyone was making such a fuss.
“Do they think I have been possessed by the ghost of someone who worked himself to death?”
Who else paid such attention to his ministers’ leisure time as I did?
**
A memorial requesting sick leave from Kim Daebung reached Sejong.
[I, Kim Daebung, Vice Academician of the Jiphyeonjeon, respectfully report. As I devoted myself to my work with the resolve to serve the state faithfully for the sake of the country, I neglected my health and was seized by chills... (excerpt)]
As a king who had guarded the throne for nearly twelve years, Sejong knew this type of memorial requesting sick leave very well.
Rather than wanting to rest because they were ill, people used the pretext of illness to take leave for some other purpose.
It was much like rubbing an onion on one’s eyes and pretending to have an eye disease on a day when one particularly did not want to go to school, or putting a thermometer in boiling water, raising the temperature, and insisting that one had a fever.
Therefore, Sejong did not even read phrases such as ‘I am taking leave because I am ill.’
[Since the script Your Majesty created has not yet been promulgated to everyone, I have judged it difficult to undertake the work of correcting the minor flaws that occasionally appear in order to improve the use of Hunminjeongeum. Therefore, as other ministers have done in such circumstances, I wish to use illness as an excuse to remain at home, examine Hunminjeongeum deeply and minutely, and refine and revise it into an even more perfect script.]
Sejong felt deeply annoyed as he read Kim Daebung’s memorial, which informed him that he intended to refine and revise the characters Sejong had already created to near perfection and make them ‘even more’ perfect.
How dare he say that there were even slight flaws in the characters he had created by pouring in all his heart and soul, especially when Kim Daebung had only learned them once and for such a short time?
Sejong even felt that it was quite infuriating that he had found flaws in Hunminjeongeum within that brief period.
[The characters Your Majesty created are perfect. Even Cangjie (the mythical figure believed to have invented Chinese characters), were he to return to life, would not dare claim that he was superior to Hunminjeongeum. However, quite apart from that, if we are to enable impoverished commoners to learn it easily and use it widely....]
Beneath that were several improvements Kim Daebung had considered.
They included abolishing notation such as mixed Korean-Chinese writing and using only Hunminjeongeum, as well as adopting horizontal writing and spacing so that words could be distinguished and read separately without using Chinese characters.
At the very end, there was a sentence that read:
[I shall devote my life to upholding Your Majesty’s sacred will.]
Sejong found those final words more reassuring than anything else.
Meanwhile, Kim Daebung was devoting himself entirely to researching ways to introduce compulsory education and improve the convenience of Hunminjeongeum, prepared to burn up his life for the cause.
He was so absorbed in his work that he considered even sleep a waste of time and slept less than two hours a day.
“I will introduce compulsory education to Joseon no matter what it takes.”