A Nation Where All the People Learn (3)

Suddenly, my father sent word that he would be staying at our house.

It honestly feels like I’m going insane.

At a time when I already have a mountain of work to handle as Deputy Academician of the Hall of Worthies, with such momentous matters as the promulgation of Hunminjeongeum and the expansion of compulsory education before me...

Why did he have to send word that he was coming to Hanyang at a time like this and make things difficult for his son?

“Sigh, what am I supposed to do?”

If my father were simply coming because he wanted to see his son, I could tell him that I was working nonstop on important official duties and would have difficulty making time for him, so he would be better off waiting for another opportunity.

However, he said that he was coming to take the special civil service examination King Sejong was holding to commemorate the promulgation of Hunminjeongeum, and that the only place he had to stay in Hanyang was his son’s house, so that was where he would be going...

This was a reason I could never refuse as long as I lived.

For a yangban in Joseon, taking the civil service examination and rising in the world was something that had to be done even at the risk of one’s life.

So my father was coming to Hanyang to do something that important. If his child, who had already settled in Hanyang, refused to give him a room to stay in...