Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Chief State Councillor Slayer (2)
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Freedom wasn't as sweet as I'd imagined.
What could I even call it?
When planning a trip, my heart would race with excitement at the thought of all the things I'd do.
But when the time actually came to leave, it didn't feel real at all—kind of like that.
Still, once I left Hanyang and arrived home, seeing my parents' faces would make it all hit home for sure.
They say you don't truly feel like you've started your trip until you arrive at the airport, right?
"Su-chan, my lord."
"Just call me 'my lord.' I'm not the Hall of Worthies' Scribe anymore."
In Korea, submitting a resignation doesn't mean you're out the door immediately. You usually have to hand over your duties first, so there's a bit of a delay before it's official.
But Joseon is different.
For high-ranking officials like third-rank or above, the king has to personally approve their resignation. But I'm just a lowly junior sixth-rank attendant official, so once I submit my resignation petition, it's automatically approved.
So from the moment I filed my properly formatted petition, I was free to pack up and prepare to head back to my hometown.
Oh, right... And from now on, I need to get serious with Gyeol about marriage. No more stiff, formal speech.
Joseon doesn't have the concept of dating, but the two of us are basically already a couple.
"G-Gyeol."
Just calling her name by itself was embarrassingly awkward. The mood felt unnecessarily heavy too.
No, the heaviness was probably just my imagination. It wasn't actually like that.
I just had no dating experience, so I couldn't casually call a woman by her name.
In Korea, even with casual acquaintances, you'd call women by their names plenty of times. But in Joseon, hardly anyone—man or woman—ever used real names like that.
Calling her "Gyeol" right now was basically like saying "darling," "honey," or "babe."
"Yes, my lord."
Silence stretched between us for a while. Gyeol glanced at my eyes briefly before turning her head away. Her face flushed red as an apple, and she bowed her head slightly.
I couldn't meet her gaze either.
When I looked away, my eyes landed on Gyeol's chest this time. I had no idea where to rest my gaze—it was mortifying.
It was awkward and embarrassing, but damn if it didn't feel good too. I was going crazy. If I tried holding her hand...
My head was filled with all sorts of stray thoughts, and I felt like I might lose my mind when Gyeol hesitantly spoke up.
"I'm worried you've been deeply hurt by this, my lord."
"Why would I be hurt? Getting impeached after serving as an official in Joseon is just everyday stuff."
Even Admiral Yi Sun-sin, who was so impeccably honest and principled that modern historians suspect he lacked social skills, faced countless impeachments.
The reasons were absurd.
When assigned as a military official to a garrison, it was common sense in Joseon to send "gifts" to superiors and to civil and military officials in Hanyang alike. Admiral Yi didn't follow that custom.
By twenty-first-century standards, it might not earn him full "incorruptible paragon" praise, but it's certainly worthy of respect.
Think of it like this: even if your company covers meals up to 100,000 won per meal, you pay out of pocket because you won't misuse company funds. That's the level we're talking about.
So Admiral Yi's post got reassigned multiple times. If even he couldn't avoid it, how could an incompetent guy like me?
"I don't know much about politics, but ever since you served as magistrate of Jinhae County, you've always looked out for the common people's plight and steered clear of corruption and graft. And when Grand Prince Regent His Highness tried to implement currency, didn't you risk your life to offer loyal counsel for the people's sake, without expecting any reward?"
"Anyone would do the same. It wasn't anything special."
"Father said that because you did what others saw as 'just your duty,' he—and thousands, even tens of thousands more—saved their lives. No matter how harsh the world gets, how could they treat a man like you—who thinks only of the ancestral temple, state altar, and the people day and night—so cruelly...?"
Tears fell from Gyeol's eyes in drops.
I'd talked tough, but truthfully, I wasn't free of resentment. Some might see me as a workaholic monster, an emotionless drone, but I'm human too, you know.
It's natural to get furious over unfair slander or feel your guts twist from impeachment.
"All you did was serve the people, wasn't it? Yet because of me and my father, you suffered this brutal impeachment, forced to retire before realizing your dreams in the court... My heart feels torn apart."
Getting impeached did twist my insides, sure... but knowing Ryu Jeong-hyeon and his faction orchestrated it actually made me pretty happy on one level.
No big deal for a mere attendant official like me—unlike high-rankers, we can legally retire without the king's permission after an impeachment if we submit a resignation.
But given how I'd acted so far, it was easy to mistake me for a loyal servant who wanted to be Chief State Councillor for life. Time to clear that up.
"I'm fine with it."
"My lord."
"I was born a son of a yangban scholarly house and laid the groundwork for the Bangwon Law, which will prosper Joseon for a century—no, a millennium. Once the Bangwon Law benefits the people far and wide, my name will spread just as broadly."
After I die, history textbooks will detail the "Bangwon Law." And they'll cover the branch office petition, and how Kim Dae-bung built its foundation.
There'll be no end of papers analyzing why Kim Dae-bung retired. Scholars, masters, doctors, professors in this world will study my actions and think them awfully strange.
I'm not some gallery regular desperate to become a named poster basking in recognition. Why force myself to do things I don't have to? The more I grind away, the more I'll end up like Hwang Hui, Jo Mal-saeng, Maeng Sa-seong, or Jang Yeong-sil.
I reached out and took Gyeol's hand.
The unbelievably soft touch nearly made me lose my mind for a second, but I held on tight.
Gyeol didn't seem to hate it. She didn't pull away or scowl.
She just bowed her head to hide her flushed face, as if giving me free rein.
I wouldn't do anything beyond holding hands, though...
I could probably go further, but that's beyond my caliber.
"Once we get back to Yanggu County, let's start by paying respects to my parents."
Gyeol tilted her head.
In Joseon times, they say you didn't hold a wedding ceremony for a concubine, but that's not entirely accurate.
There were cases where no ceremony happened for slave women taken as concubines, but otherwise—especially if not from your own household slaves—they at least held a simple rite.
Gyeol was a full commoner, so taking her as a commoner concubine meant we had to hold a wedding, naturally. Though we'd skip the absurdly complicated rituals of yangban weddings between houses.
No matter how much I scaled it up, it'd end up like a quick modern village feast wedding.
"...My lord."
"I'll have to take a proper wife eventually, but I don't want you getting grief from her. So I'll aim for a girl from as modest a family as possible. That way, she won't dare mistreat you."
Even yangban or not, if her natal family was poor, she wouldn't bully a concubine backed by a wealthy merchant house. Otherwise, I'd disown the wench.
"After the wedding..."
In Joseon, "romance" mostly happened after marriage, as couples built their love over time.
Doing the marriage first and dating after might sound funny, but what's wrong with dating as a married couple?
"We'll go boating on Wolmyeong Lake, climb mountains to see the autumn leaves, head to the sea for some fresh-caught fish dishes. And if we have kids along the way, we'll bring them too. That'd be even better."
This is early Joseon, when I can get away with that. People might point fingers calling me weird, but it wouldn't be a major scandal.
"...Yes, please take me with you."
Gyeol gently laid her hand over mine. As if she wouldn't let go.
A moment later, she quietly left my room.
Once I confirmed she was gone, I immediately started preparing my petition.
Resigning from office was one thing. Getting revenge on the bastard who screwed me over was another entirely.
"Let me check... What was that famous curse against Ryu Jeong-hyeon in history...?"
This guy's notorious for usury.
He threw around loans at jang-ri rates (50% interest) and gab-ri rates (over 100%).
In a twenty-first-century modern state, those contracts would be void on the spot, but in Joseon, they were all perfectly legal.
King Sejong the Great cracked down eventually and lowered rates, but for now, it wasn't an issue... so set that aside...
"Oh yeah, didn't this trash give an official post to some brutal debt collector who excelled at violent collections during his usury days?"
I was going to leave him alone as long as he just opposed the Great Equalization Law... but impeach me for staying quiet?
No, this won't do.
You're dead meat.