Chapter 42
The Ministry of Revenue was unquestionably the one that took the hardest direct hit from Kim Daebung’s resignation memorial.
Up until now, if they worked overtime, they could somehow get today’s work done today, and at least rest on their days off...
"Minister, please spare us. At this rate, we’re going to die."
"If I could sleep just three shijin—six hours—a day, I’d have no more wishes... Haha, at this rate my wife will forget my face and my voice."
When Kim Daebung was around, even if they were busy because of the Bangwon Law, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue didn’t sag around like walking corpses.
That was because whenever an unsolvable problem came up, Hwang Hui would throw it all to Kim Daebung.
When Kim Daebung took on a task, he would calculate exactly what preparations were needed to start the Bangwon Law and spit out the answer, and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue only had to work accordingly.
Thus, even when an avalanche of work more than two or three times the usual amount came pouring down, they could somehow hold on. Of course, that was only true up until a few days ago.
Cutting through the grim atmosphere inside the Ministry of Revenue, Minister Hwang Hui called in the second-in-command, the Vice Minister of Revenue.
...... Vice Minister.
Yes, my lord.
Stand straight there.
The Vice Minister of Revenue was frozen stiff, just as he had been back when he had first passed the state exam.
If Kim Daebung had seen it, he would have found it amazing that a man as high-ranking as the Vice Minister of Revenue was standing at attention as crisply as a new recruit just assigned to his unit.
Of course, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue witnessing this scene were inwardly calling on their deceased ancestors—or Buddha.
Joseon was a nation of Neo-Confucianism, so the yangban scholar-officials didn’t openly worship Buddha, but...
Barely fifty years had passed since Goryeo’s fall, so the officials of Joseon still secretly believed in Buddhism to some extent.
There was even a certain usury expert who happened to be Chancellor and burned through 5,000 seom of white rice performing a Suryukjae rite for Buddha, so that said it all.
So today too, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue prayed to Buddha and their ancestors as usual.
'Greatly compassionate Buddha, please spare us.'
'Ancestors, please... save our only son.'
No matter what, Hwang Hui just chuckled and started chewing out the Vice Minister of Revenue.
"Ah, you can stand however comfortably you like. You know that too, don’t you, Vice Minister? I’m not the sort to nitpick petty things like posture the way the Minister of Rites does. You can relax. Relax completely. All you have to do is answer the trivial questions I’m about to ask properly."
"This is more comfortable for me."
"I see. Well then, look at the many piles of official documents stacked on my desk. I can understand papers piling up like this during a busy period. That much is only natural."
Anyone who had ever served as an official in Joseon would know this. Here, saying he understood it meant he was emphasizing just how 'unfathomably awful' it was.
Thus, this thought had no choice but to arise in the Vice Minister of Revenue’s mind.
'Today, I’m dead.'
Of course, Hwang Hui, who knew the terror of top-down scolding all too well, wasn’t chewing out the Vice Minister merely because there was a lot of work.
"But listen... there’s this much work. Lately the officials of the Ministry of Revenue have been making a lot of minor mistakes. Didn’t I say that aside from direct reports to His Majesty, they didn’t need to worry about formality and the like?"
"How could we not understand Your Excellency’s consideration?"
"But listen. That Kim Jeong-rang over there wrote 16 doe when he should have written 18 doe of white rice under the Bangwon Law. Because of that, all the calculations got twisted. And our Park Chamui reported to me exactly what the clerks had calculated using that wrong number."
The Vice Minister of Revenue went cold all the way down his spine.
Even if they were swamped with work, this was the kind of mistake they absolutely must not make.
What if their own calculations were wrong, and the Retired King found out?
It was an immense relief that Minister of Revenue Hwang Hui was the one who caught it.
Because an 'encouragement' to do your work properly—meaning a scolding starting with the Retired King—would be 10 billion times worse than one starting with the Minister of Revenue.
"Let’s see where else the numbers are wrong, and where the contents are wrong..."
From Hwang Hui’s mouth came a stream of names—not only from the main Ministry of Revenue office, but from those attached to the subordinate offices as well.
Each time their names were called, the Vice Minister of Revenue trembled.
"Vice Minister."
"Yes, my lord."
"You must do better, mustn’t you? Can I trust you?"
"Of course, my lord."
And the faces of those whose names were called were all as white as blank sheets of paper.
Among them, the exceptional talent Hwang Hui especially had high hopes for, Kim Jongseo, was granted a very great honor.
It was being chewed out personally by the Minister of Revenue.
"Kim Jeong-rang."
"Yes, my lord."
"Because Kim Suchan isn’t here, you can’t be looking this deflated too, can you?"
"I’m sorry."
"Does saying sorry end your official life? Is the Bangwon Law finished? Do you think I’d be saying this just because I like talking? I’m saying it all for your own good, and I mean it as a matter of properly serving the ancestral shrines and the state. If you make this mistake again..."
Hwang Hui sternly warned Kim Jongseo, with just a faint trace of longing for someone not present here.
"For the next ten days, I’ll make you work like Kim Suchan."
Kim Daebung had done the work of six Ministry of Revenue officials all by himself.
If you gave him something terribly difficult and complicated, something that might take days just to find a solution for, he would finish it in less than half a shijin—less than an hour. And you want to make him work like Kim Daebung?
There were only two possible endings for Kim Jongseo.
Either become the Ministry of Revenue’s resident ghost, or die in the Ministry of Revenue.
"I’m sorry, my lord."
"Don’t make me have to say sorry. I’m only doing this because I care about you so much, you know?"
Hwang Hui said that and pointed at the officials on the other side who were being chewed out by the Vice Minister of Revenue.
There were no curses, but they were being torn apart until their bones might as well have turned to dust.
"...... Thank you, my lord."
"Do better from now on. There’s no point in working hard... just do well."
Then Hwang Hui picked up his brush and, looking over the documents, thought.
'That bastard Kim Daebung.'
He couldn’t bring himself to curse Yi Bangwon even in his heart, so he cursed Kim Daebung, the culprit who had dumped this avalanche of work on him.
At the same time, he missed him. If he came back, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue would once again get days off.
"I want to rest... I don’t need anything else, I just want to rest... I want to leave for the day..."
In the Ministry of Revenue, where every official was working themselves to the bone, a sound rang out, breaking the silence.
"His Majesty has granted royal food! Finish the royal meal, and His Majesty has commanded that you may leave for the day."
Even after hearing that they could leave, the Ministry of Revenue officials had no strength left even to shout 'long live the king.'
To borrow Kim Daebung’s words, this place was truly an overtime hell.
An overtime hell filled with the grace of King Sejong, who wrung officials who had voluntarily begun their careers because they wanted to serve the ancestral shrines and state like a dry rag, and turned that into 'sustainable labor.'
**
In peaceful Yanggu County, Gangwon Province, Kim Daebung’s house.
Kim Jangik, the head of this house and Kim Daebung’s father, could not contain his pounding heart.
In a country where it was considered a virtue to choose death without even a 0.1-second hesitation for the sake of honor... a royal edict had been sent to him, a man who had never once held office.
This was truly an honor that his family could boast about for generations.
"Yanggu County student Kim Jangik is to receive the royal edict."
At the words of the envoy who had come to deliver the royal command, Kim Jangik knelt to receive the edict and bowed deeply.
The envoy began reading the edict aloud.
"Ah, I once sought to mint coins in order to benefit the people far and wide. Looking back, what I intended for the people nearly became something that would have killed them. But I had the loyal subject Kim Daebung, and by risking his life to remonstrate with me, he kept me from making that mistake."
Tears overflowed from Kim Jangik’s eyes.
Just having his son pass first in the civil service exam and make a name for himself by showing good governance as magistrate of Jinhae County was already enough to move him beyond words...
And now the king himself was saying that he had been spared a mistake thanks to his son—wasn’t that the greatest glory and honor a scholar could enjoy?
And in this age, a son’s accomplishments were the father’s accomplishments too... so Kim Jangik’s name had risen along with them.
Now, the most famous scholar in this county was surely going to be Kim Jangik himself.
"And come to think of it, the reason Kim Daebung was able to offer such loyal remonstrance with the resolve to burn his life as if it were chaff was because you taught him so strictly, was it not? Therefore, I wish to greatly praise you, Kim Jangik, father of Kim Daebung, who raised a pillar of the nation and a loyal subject."
Kim Jangik made up his mind. This edict would henceforth be our family’s heirloom number one, for generations to come.
"And I have one more request. Loyal subjects always have slanderers around them. I know there were people who slandered Kim Daebung, and that it wounded Daebung’s heart deeply. So I ask that Kim Jangik encourage Kim Daebung, the Jiphyeonjeon scribe and a talent fit to uphold the nation, so that he may rise again. It may seem like a trivial matter, but I regard Kim Daebung as a loyal subject on par with Zhuge Liang, Wei Zheng—the loyal minister of Tang Taizong—and Yue Fei... Kim Jangik, do this with all your heart."
All the while the edict was being read, tears never stopped flowing from Kim Jangik’s eyes.
Then, in a trembling voice, he answered with solemn resolve.
"Your humble servant, the student Kim Jangik of Yanggu County, will obey the royal command."
And so Kim Daebung’s father, Kim Jangik, began discussing with his wife how best to encourage their son and send him back into office.
And this is how Kim Daebung ended up in the position of having even his parents stand in the way of his resignation.
If his son truly hated entering official life, he would have hesitated, but looking at the path he had taken so far and the letters he had sent from time to time...
Kim Daebung was already hooked on tending to the people through his official service.
Making him devote himself to Joseon as he ought to was a father’s duty, and now that a royal command had even been issued, there was no reason to hesitate any longer.