Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: The Resocialization of Butchers (6)
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Gyeonggi Province, Icheon County, Jangseong Village.
The reservoir construction was in full swing today as well.
They had to start the embankment work around this time of year if they wanted to finish before the heavy rains of the monsoon season poured down. Only then could they easily collect water for next year's farming.
The people working on this project were those who had chosen three years of hard labor as the price for rising from butchers to commoners under Kim Dae-bung's policy.
"This is way harder than slaughtering cows. It's so tough I feel like I'm gonna die. My back doesn't even feel like mine anymore. My back wouldn't hurt this bad."
The butchers working here were nomads who had roamed far and wide living that lifestyle, and hunters who had frequently hunted to survive.
The work of slaughtering involved swinging a knife into the neck of a cow several times larger than a man, severing it, and stripping the meat and hide from the bones...
It was no ordinary job.
As a result, butchers needed exceptionally sturdy physiques just to make a living.
Yet the civil engineering work they were doing now squeezed every ounce of strength from their bodies and lasted for long hours, so even Im Kkuk-jeong, who had over thirty years of butcher life under his belt, couldn't help complaining that it was killing him.
"Damn it, why is this so hard? Slaughtering cows is definitely better."
He grumbled nonstop from his mouth, but his body never stopped shoveling.
It was incredibly tough, but not utterly impossible, and the words of the old Icheon magistrate from not long ago came back to him.
A gang of bloated criminal butchers had set fires that burned down about a fifth of Hanyang and killed 1,800 of its people.
The enraged king had captured every one of the arsonists, forcing them to watch their wives and children be beheaded. The culprits themselves were burned alive, only to be pulled out just before death and torn limb from limb.
After executing those arsonist butchers, the king had granted this final chance for non-criminal butchers to become commoners of Joseon. If any rejected it, he declared he would drag even their families to the mines and make them labor until death.
"I'm really dying here. When the hell does this embankment work end...?"
He still had at least three years of this ahead, and thinking about it made him truly want to die.
Even so, he kept working silently until suddenly, a wave of exhaustion drained all strength from his body.
"Im Kkuk-jeong! What's wrong?"
A government soldier saw him stagger slightly and hurried over to check his face and body.
Considering that no soldier—a commoner—would ever have worried about a butcher like him before, this was truly an astonishing change.
"His Highness commanded you to endure three years of hard labor and then become people of Joseon, farming and living among us. Have you forgotten that?"
"No, sir."
"What did the overseer say before starting work today? If you feel unwell, speak up right away and rest. Drink salt water and take a gak—about fifteen minutes—off, he said. If you push yourself too hard, you'll die. You'll die."
The soldier's words didn't quite add up when you thought about it.
He'd been urging them to work themselves to death earlier, but now that exhaustion was setting in, he was asking why they weren't resting.
This was the same guy who would have scolded, "Yeah? Don't try any tricks—work harder," if he'd actually said he was tired and needed a break.
It was terribly contradictory, but that was how things worked in Joseon government offices anyway.
Still, Im Kkuk-jeong was inwardly moved by the soldier's words.
In the past, no soldier or clerk would have cared if a lowly butcher collapsed during labor.
Lowly butchers and fire haulers weren't the same as people to them.
But now this soldier was worrying about him like this, which meant he saw him as a person...
"I'm fine."
"What's fine about it? Truth be told, I came here from my hometown pretty far away because of military service. Seeing you all slaving away on construction for three years doesn't feel like someone else's problem. Rest for a gak, and the snack break will be here soon."
"A snack break, sir?"
"The villagers prepared snacks and makgeolli because they know how hard you're working."
At first, the villagers had eyed the butchers warily when they showed up for the reservoir project.
But after a month in the village with no trouble and diligent work, the suspicion had eased somewhat.
Seeing these butchers sweating over the desperately needed but grueling reservoir construction...
Sympathy arose—they were butchers, but pitiable. And hearing they were toiling like this just to farm and live like everyone else, some even found it admirable.
As a result, the villagers had finally started providing snacks to the butchers.
"They're really giving snacks to us?"
"What's so great about a snack that you're this happy? A month ago, when the magistrate sent down meat and liquor, you didn't seem that thrilled."
Im Kkuk-jeong saw possibility here.
Just three years— if he threw himself into it like he was dying, he and his family could live without being pointed at as butchers.
That alone reignited his will to push on.
Even as commoners, scraping by wouldn't be easy...
But living as people not despised and scorned would be more than enough to be grateful for.
"Thinking that in three years I can live like a person too makes me so happy."
The soldier nodded in agreement.
Honestly, he'd always thought of butchers as ghosts in human form, not people.
So he'd stayed on guard.
Even the magistrate had warned to always be ready to kill them if needed, since who knew what they'd do.
But watching them work up close for a month, even he—a drafted soldier—saw them as pitiable, and realized they were people just like him.
It was truly wondrous.
"Just a bit more effort."
"Yes, sir."
***
Sejong and Yi Bang-won had poured their hearts into accepting the butchers as Joseon subjects.
Their efforts had borne some fruit, but there were always those left out.
Those excluded had festered away at Joseon through crimes like the Hanyang Great Fire.
As Kim Dae-bung's new butcher policy took effect, Sejong and Yi Bang-won ordered local officials to submit regular reports on the butchers—no, the former butchers who had become commoners.
"It's already been a month since the butchers began their labor across villages nationwide."
"Yes, Father. The aftermath of that horrific Hanyang fire is finally calming, but I'm truly curious how these new commoners—formerly butchers—are faring."
Yi Bang-won urged Sejong to read the report quickly and pass it to him.
Hearing the urging, Sejong hurriedly read it, then smiled brightly and handed it over.
Seeing Sejong's smile, Yi Bang-won guessed it was good news and snatched the report.
"While the previous dynasty of Goryeo only rejected and shunned the fire haulers, our Joseon has succeeded in fully embracing them through benevolence!"
The report stated as follows.
At first, villagers feared the butchers who shot arrows well and rode horses.
But seeing them take on the backbreaking tasks the commoners should do—like building reservoirs, repairing roads, and laying stone bridges—many grew grateful...
They admired or pitied these men enduring harsh labor just to become ordinary commoners in three years, gradually opening their hearts to the butchers.
If this continued, reservoirs built by them would multiply across Joseon, making irrigation easier and farming tasks like rice transplanting simpler...
"We ordered lands granted, food provided, and commoners to guide them well so they could settle in. But what they needed first was to humbly approach the commoners themselves."
Sejong sighed at Yi Bang-won's words.
"Reading these reports that they're being accepted, I painfully realized my own shortcomings."
"I've never sensed any shortcomings in you. Why do you think that?"
"I sought to be a benevolent king, but I didn't know how the people would view or accept my policies. Until Kim Dae-bung's memorial, I pushed currency thinking only of its benefits to the nation, nearly courting disaster."
Yi Bang-won and Sejong had desperately strived to introduce currency in a Joseon without Kim Dae-bung.
The results were disastrous.
As exceptional kings, even without experience, they could roughly imagine the chaos currency would have wrought without him.
"It's because I saw the people only as objects to teach and nurture, not seeking to understand the real problems they faced in daily life. Kim Dae-bung knew, so he submitted that memorial to stop it."
Yi Bang-won nodded.
"You're right."
"From now on, I will study how the people live, what they think, and what they desire. That way, I can help them even a little more. Even if I can't achieve an age of great peace, I can get close, don't you think?"
The age of great peace—the world commoners and officials longed for most.
Yet an ideal forever unattainable.
Reading the report, Sejong resolved to run toward that impossible goal for life.
"This makes me think of one regrettable thing."
"What is it?"
"Unlike me, the people can't read or write characters (Hanja), so they can't record or convey their thoughts. How wonderful it would be if there were easier letters for them to read and write. Then even I, as king, could understand and empathize with them more."
As he spoke, a new dream began to bud in Sejong's heart.
To create a world where all the people could read and write.