Breaking News: Heirloom Seal of the Realm Discovered
While Emperor Lee Wonbum fretted over his novel, a conference room at Daebuk University in Danamo was deep in discussion over the Heirloom Seal of the Realm.
"His Majesty has ordered that a foreign institution examine it, so we must decide with whom to cooperate…"
The Seonggyungwan, Imperial University, Daebuk University, and a host of other prestigious domestic institutions and scholars had already confirmed the seal as the genuine Heirloom Seal of the Realm—but no one could simply ignore the Emperor's command and announce the finding among themselves.
"What about entrusting it to Nanjing University?"
Across the waters from Danamo, in Nanjing—capital of the Song Empire—stood Nanjing University, the foremost authority on Chinese history. The northern Republic of China had lost vast swaths of its cultural heritage through successive wars, and the Western Kingdom of the Sichuan region had scarcely known a quiet moment since the modern era. In that light, the suggestion was almost inevitable.
The moment Nanjing University was mentioned, however, the others recoiled in alarm.
"Professor Yu. Are you in your right mind? Hand that seal over to those people for examination and they'll never dream of giving it back."
"Well… it may not go that far, but they could well demand we return every Southern Dynasties relic we currently hold."
The Song Empire claimed itself the legitimate successor to the Chinese imperial tradition and had spent years asserting ownership over every scrap of Chinese antiquity in Korean hands, demanding their return. Before CCTV became widespread, a few self-styled "chivalrous knights" had even tried to snatch Song-period artifacts from the vaults of the Danamo Museum. Most of those "knightly deeds" failed—but several pieces of Song porcelain and a few Buddhist thangkas had vanished all the same. Within the Korean Empire, the prevailing theory was that the culprits had been professional agents of the Song government, or of its imperial house.
The Korean Empire had closed the matter by insisting the pieces had been properly purchased and that there was no reason to surrender ownership. Still, not a single professor in that room was under any illusion about just how "fair and square" those purchases had really been.
"Ahem…"
"Ahem…"
"Then why not bring them here? Shipping something this precious abroad is absurd on its face. Invite researchers from foreign institutions and have them examine it on site."
"Ah—yes, that would work. And while we're at it, why not gather every East Asian specialist we can find? A little showing off never hurt anyone. Hahaha!"
"Hahaha! That's an excellent idea!"
"I'll reach out to the universities I know in Beijing."
"I'll contact Tokyo…"
"As long as we're doing this, why not invite the East Asian historians from the Americas as well? Those fellows are forever calling the Heirloom Seal a 'mystery' or dismissing it as pure legend. This would be the perfect chance to rub their noses in it, wouldn't it?"
"That sounds splendid!"
And so invitations flew out to history departments—and East Asian studies departments—around the world, summoning them to Danamo. The senders did not forget to add a pointed reminder: keep your mouths shut, because only after receiving the investigators' conclusions could anyone stamp the seal as the genuine Heirloom Seal of the Realm.
For the most part, the professors honored Daebuk University's solemn warnings. What they could not stop was the data being fed into their personal computers equipped with non-linear processing functions—that is to say, their graduate students.
People tended to forget that graduate students were human beings too. It couldn't be helped…
Says he's taking me along since I'm from there lmao
Gonna demolish every bowl of beef noodle soup in sight lmao
"Hmm… this looks worth digging into…"
It never took long for chatter from an internet community to seep into the press.
"Well, well."
Having once again diligently completed his daily update—an achievement in itself—author Lee Myeongbok (side job: Emperor of the Korean Empire) found his eye caught by an intriguing online headline.
Yeah… that last outlet really deserves to be shut down.
So even in this world, people contaminated by Hwan-guk pseudohistory still existed…
He briefly considered whether using imperial power to restore them to sanity might be the right thing for the world—then discarded the thought. Types like that only thrived under persecution. He simply scrubbed them from his own field of vision.
A quick survey of the other articles claiming "something" was in Danamo revealed outlets that were newspapers in name only—yellow rags piecing together rumors from every corner and stitching them into half-coherent stories. Surely no actual professor would have casually spilled information to tabloids that cheap.
Still… where on earth is the leak coming from?
In this day and age, truly, nothing stayed secret. Investigation teams from multiple countries had arrived less than two weeks ago.
"Your Majesty. The results have just come in."
"They're willing to draw a conclusion that quickly?"
"They say conclusive evidence has emerged, and there is no reason to delay the verdict…"
"So what is the result?"
"The Heirloom Seal of the Realm… they say."
"Good grief. Of all the people to sit the throne when something like that turns up—it had to be me?"
Half of him had thought, There's no way it's real; the other half had hoped it was. But he'd rated the odds as low. He'd assumed the museum director was simply making a fuss over nothing.
"Well… an incident is an incident. We'll have to make a public announcement…"
Ordinarily, even a major discovery was no business of the Emperor's. After all, the people who had done the hard work were the researchers—what right did the Emperor have to stand up and proudly announce it? Occasionally, when an item was connected to the imperial house, it was formally returned with due ceremony, but the spotlight always belonged to the research team.
This, however, was the Heirloom Seal of the Realm. The genuine jade seal inscribed with the words Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may His reign prosper forever.
Of course, the notion that a mere stamp could serve as a blank check for the Mandate of Heaven had been dismissed as nonsense even by Confucian scholars of the Ming Dynasty, long ago.
And yet—for all that—this was something like East Asia's equivalent of a holy relic.
It was an object capable of drawing out the unspoken consensus that whoever held it was the master of "All Under Heaven."
"The professors also seem to hope Your Majesty will be the one to announce the finding. I myself believe that since the truth will come out regardless, it is better for the imperial house to take the lead."
"Very well. Arrange a press conference as soon as preparations are ready."
Stories about the people-friendly Emperor—or, more honestly, the Emperor whose mildly eccentric behavior made older citizens raise an eyebrow—always drew a crowd.
Those who expected this "major announcement" to prove more entertaining than some dull speech by the Prime Minister or Minister So-and-So quietly settled in front of their televisions or phones, watching the live broadcast.
"Several weeks ago, a treasure was discovered in the vaults of the Danamo Museum. After consolidating the opinions of both domestic and international researchers, what was found in those vaults has been identified as—"
"—the Heirloom Seal of the Realm."
The moment the words left his mouth, camera flashes erupted from every direction.
Ah, damn it—here come the tears again.
If he let so much as a single "jade tear" fall here, who knew what wild over-interpretation would follow…! He had to hold it in…!