He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 3

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Drafted by King Sejong (3)

After receiving the royal decree from King Sejong, no, from Sejong, I quietly returned to my seat.

When the ceremony ended and a banquet was held, perhaps because I was the top scorer or because I was marked as an impudent newcomer, several high-ranking officials in red official robes flocked to me.

That hunched-back gentleman I saw yesterday must be Heo Jo, and the bearded man who somehow looked warm and gentle was likely Hwang Hee.

Looking at their expressions as they stared at me, I felt scared.

In alternate history novels I’ve read, the ministers working under King Sejong are depicted as treating the protagonist like a new graduate student.

For now, that’s exactly what I felt from the way those two were looking at me.

It was the same look a corporal obsessed with discipline gives when looking at a pitiful private who’s about to become the target of hazing.

“I am Heo Jo, serving as Minister of Personnel. And this person beside me is Bangchon, serving as Minister of Taxation.”

“It is an honor to meet two distinguished ministers renowned in the Royal Court.”

Usually when a newcomer makes such humble remarks, the senior officials would respond with encouraging words like “let’s work well together” or “we have high expectations,” and the atmosphere would become pleasant…

But who am I? I’m the crazy bastard who wrote on his exam answer sheet that the king and his subjects don’t properly care for the people and just extort taxes.

If I had been a renowned scholar from the countryside, such words might have been overlooked as insightful observations about the times…

But I’m just a lowly 6th rank nobody who barely passed the civil service examination.

So to summarize my current situation in one word? I’m completely screwed.

Proving my prediction wasn’t wrong, Heo Jo gave me a sharp look.

“Well, well, Joseon has produced a brilliant minister. A talent who could support Joseon like Zhuge Liang or Yue Fei in the future. I’m genuinely curious, so let me ask – when you read the classics, have you ever come across the saying ‘The tongue is a sword that cuts people, and the mouth is a door that invites disaster’?”

There’s only one choice I need to make here.

I need to bow down flat and apologize for being too presumptuous.

Actually, if I wanted to, I could passionately prove why the current tax policy doesn’t make sense, drawing on my knowledge of Joseon history…

But I’m currently charged with insubordination.

If I were to argue point by point that I was right in this situation, that would make me an idiot who mixed his common sense with soup and ate it.

“I apologize.”

“I too agree with your statement that Joseon still has a long way to go before achieving a golden age. However, no matter how much you wanted to say about taxes… how could a young man so harshly criticize the tax system that has been refined over many years from King Taejo’s time to our current His Majesty? What a loyal subject we have here.”

Joseon is a country of etiquette and propriety.

While Korea also values etiquette and propriety, it’s quite different in nature from Joseon.

In Korea, being impolite at most gets you marked by your superiors and negatively affects your promotions, but in Joseon, being impolite gets you a ‘beating from the mob.’

If I hadn’t been appointed as the magistrate of Jinhae, I would have been called to the new official welcome ceremony and had etiquette forcibly drilled into me.

Things like bowing to clerks and fetching drinking snacks, or going into muddy water to catch fish.

In this world where etiquette is important, not getting caught by high-ranking officials is more important than anything else.

“Harsh politics are more fearsome than tigers. And you’re saying the current tax policy is exactly like that to the people? What an insolent fellow. In my time, in my time there was no one who dared to speak with such audacity.”

As Heo Jo continued to rage, Bangchon—that is, Hwang Hee—who was beside him tried to calm him down.

“Isn’t it that his youthful vigor and spirit led him to submit such an answer to the great examination? And the Retired King (Lee Bang-won) has already said that the reasoning is not wrong.”

“If I didn’t know that, do you think I would have left that bastard alone until now? That worthless brat is calling the tax system that we worked so hard to create—tearing down rotten Goryeo and building Joseon up to this point—more fearsome than tigers. I can’t let him live.”

“Why are you so rigid? Principles are good, order is good, but sometimes you need to know how to be flexible too.”

“Ugh, Confucius said…”

“Oh my, stop with that talk and just drink. Isn’t this a celebration for passing the examination as the top candidate? What are you doing here?”

Hwang Hee brazenly seated Heo Jo next to me.

Then he gave me a look, signaling me to pour wine into their empty cups.

Even in actual history, Hwang Hee was said to be radical when he needed to be, but quite good at maintaining relationships with people. While not as much as Maeng Sa-seong, he plays this mediating role very well.

Although that bastard Hwang Hee is the embodiment of corruption, he did save me today, so at least for this occasion, I should think of him as the incorruptible Prime Minister Hwang Hee and serve him devotedly.

“Please look kindly upon this young scholar’s excessive vigor, Your Excellencies.”

When I bowed once more and spoke humbly, Heo Jo clicked his tongue.

“In my time, right after the ceremony ended, you would have been dragged away immediately to be educated on the proper attitude toward senior officials. You’re really lucky. In my time…”

Hwang Hee gestured to stop Heo Jo, who kept going on like an old-timer, and smiled slyly.

Ah! That smile, that expression looks exactly like… a professor kidnapping graduate students.

Young officials who know nothing would look at that benevolent smile and admire it, thinking “Ministers really are different, that’s the kind of composure that comes from caring for subordinates and years of experience”…

But I know, having seen those who were fooled by that benevolent expression and dragged into graduate school to become slaves.

I must never be fooled by that smile.

“Now that I’ve risen to this position, I can see that the Royal Court needs young and capable talents like you more than anything else. The Minister of Personnel (Heo Jo) is speaking like this now, but before His Majesty, he praised you endlessly, saying that while you may be presumptuous, you possess exceptional insight that can see through the flaws in our systems.”

“I am deeply sorry.”

“This may sound like stale praise to someone who passed the examination as the top candidate, but truly, someone with your insight and perception will undoubtedly become a pillar of the nation. Both the Retired King and His Majesty seem to have high expectations.”

“I am overwhelmed by such honor.”

Hwang Hee poured me another cup of wine.

I took it, turned my head, and downed it in one gulp.

“But you know, having good eyes alone is useless. Even if you read a text a thousand times, what good is it if you don’t understand what teachings it contains?”

“That’s right. Only when you read and comprehend the meaning contained in those sentences does it truly become yours.”

“I still don’t know whether the Jinhae County Magistrate is someone who merely reads texts, or a prodigy who can fully comprehend their meaning and put it into practice.”

What Hwang Hee was saying was this: I don’t know if you’re a smooth-talking fraud or a truly capable worker.

“There are countless fake gentlemen in this world who only speak smoothly. I’m truly curious to see which type you are.”

Hwang Hee’s words sent a chill down my spine and made all the hair on my body stand on end.

In Joseon, the term ‘fake gentleman’ is one of the harshest expressions used among people, specifically among the nobility.

If I were to translate it into Korean profanity, it would be something like ‘orphaned con artist bastard.’

Using such an expression while saying he wants to see what kind of person I am…

“Well, human nature is inherently evil, but it can be made good through education, can’t it not? If you’re someone who arrogantly speaks smoothly just because you think you know a lot at such a young age… we ministers can follow the teachings of Confucius and Mencius to strictly educate you.”

“How could there be any question about that.”

“I’ll see what kind of person you truly are through how you perform your duties as Jinhae County Magistrate. Please don’t disappoint me.”

After saying this, Hwang Hee smiled once more and left with Heo Jo.

Truly remarkably.

The food and wine set before me were surely the finest products made directly in the Royal Palace…

Yet I could taste nothing from them.

And I thought: If I don’t want to receive Harsh Training from the ministers (including all sorts of unreasonable treatment and guaranteed daily overtime), I must absolutely achieve the best results in Jinhae.

“Now that it’s come to this, even if the Royal Court becomes more distant, let’s survive first.”

**

And so I took office in Jinhae, bringing Dolsoe and several other personnel with me.

Usually, it’s customary for a magistrate to receive ‘massive gifts of local specialties’ immediately upon taking office, then send them to the officials who recommended him and those to whom he owes favors.

Yu Hee-chun, who wrote the Miamil-gi, received as much as 1,000 seom of rice in the year his exile was lifted…

This is how important it is in Joseon to take care of specialty gift exchanges.

So the county clerk, upon seeing me…

“Sir Magistrate, this place Jinhae is famous for anchovies, dried persimmons, and crafts made from paulownia wood. Therefore, we wish to be of assistance to you…”

“That’s unnecessary. Just bring me the tax records immediately.”

I had said with my own mouth that I had a way to normalize Joseon.

Since Hwang Hee and Heo Jo said they had expectations of me, I must respond by showing performance beyond what a mere magistrate could accomplish here.

“Since His Majesty loves the people like his own children, I too must have such a heart.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————