The Last Scholar
The shabby old man.
Choi Ik-hyun wanted to see me. If someone asks to meet, isn’t it only proper to grant them an audience? Truth be told, I wasn’t particularly eager to see him, but I heard he’d suffered quite brutal torture while in captivity. They only went far enough to keep him from dying—Kuroki Tamemoto had tormented him with vicious cruelty, careful not to push the Confucian scholars too far. Since I didn’t know when he might die, I figured I should see him at least once.
“Are you Master Myeonam?”
The Myeonam I saw in person was far more gaunt than in any book. He must have endured a great deal while imprisoned by Kuroki Tamemoto’s Japanese troops.
“I did want to meet you once before. It seems fate has arranged it this way.”
“What brings you to seek me out?”
I had no particular intention of provoking Choi Ik-hyun. There was no point in stirring up unnecessary trouble. Better to slowly, steadily dismantle the landed elites. I was planning land reform anyway, and we’d already rounded up plenty of them this time.
“I simply wanted to see with my own eyes the person who so thoroughly thrashed the Japanese and drove them out. The opportunity never presented itself before.”
“Is that so? Now that you’ve seen me, what do you think?”
“It is astonishing that such achievements were accomplished by hands that look as though they could scarcely grip a sword.”
“If I hadn’t stepped forward, this country would have become nothing but Japanese slaves. What else was I supposed to do?”
Colonization was absolutely out of the question. I had prevented Russia from turning the Korean Empire into its colony by making the Tsar into a puppet emperor, and I had recognized that the Russo-Japanese War was Japan’s desperate all-or-nothing gamble. By defeating them, I had created a future where we would not become a colony. I thought I had done quite well.
“Indeed. Your patriotism is clear to me. But what I truly wish to ask is something else. Is the killing of scholars truly for the sake of this nation, the Korean Empire?”
Hmm. Choi Ik-hyun had struck a rather sharp point.
“It is not for the sake of the Korean Empire.”
“Then for whose sake is it? Why would you seek to strike down the scholars who form the very foundation of this country?”
“It is a simple truth. It is for the sake of the Korean people who live on this land of the Three Han.”
“The people, not the nation?”
“Even a stubborn man like you, Master Myeonam, must understand. If the Korean Empire does not change, it will never survive in this world. You have experienced it with your own body, have you not?”
“So you intend to carry out a dynastic revolution, like our nation’s founder?”
Did I look like Yi Seong-gye to him? In this era, when the Mandate of Heaven had already shifted, a romantic dynastic revolution like those of Wang Geon or Yi Seong-gye was impossible. I shook my head.
“Regrettably, I have no such intention. I am a woman, and even setting gender aside, the throne is something I could seize at any time. Of course, a noble scholar like you, Master Myeonam, would never understand even if you died trying. But this is the last chance.”
“The last?”
“This country has had countless opportunities. There were chances to grow strong through exchange with the Western powers, but the scholars competed to ruin those opportunities. They ruined every chance to reform the nation. If it was going to collapse, they would simply fight the invaders and fulfill their scholarly duty. That was all. And what would come at the end? Whether Japanese, Russian, or British, many scholars would bravely take up bamboo spears and matchlocks—though they stood no chance—and gloriously perish fighting the foreigners. But what would become of the remaining people of the Three Han? They would all become slaves.”
You people would die satisfied with leaving your names in history after all your grand posturing, but what about the rest of the nation? They would be reduced to slaves, whether to the Japanese or the Russians or anyone else. That was why I had risen up. The country had to be fixed.
“So you are saying that even if it means becoming like the Western barbarians, the country must be reformed?”
“Yes. The very existence of the scholar class is what made this inevitable. For five hundred years, they simply bowed to China and the Manchus, wallowing in the humiliation of that history while repeating the glories of the past to console themselves. Are those not the scholars?”
And recently, there wasn’t even any past glory left. Even the Imjin War, where Admiral Yi Sun-sin had shone, saw countless Joseon people dragged off as slaves to Japan. The porcelain artisans were taken too, and Joseon ended up lagging behind Japan even in ceramics. It was a war that produced over a million casualties, yet they comforted themselves by claiming victory simply because the Japanese had withdrawn. A victory that wasn’t even a victory.
“Those are harsh words.”
They weren’t harsh. They were entirely possible.
“I have incorporated Southern Manchuria into the living space of the Korean people. A country that spent five hundred years watching the eyes of foreign powers has finally recovered its ancestral lands. Stagnant water rots. While other nations have ceaselessly advanced and civilized over the centuries, the Korean Empire remained a frog in a well. Even now, we must work diligently to step onto the stage of the international community. Or do you, Master Myeonam, still believe we can civilize them through the teachings of Confucius and Mencius? When the imperial capital of this nation was trampled by the Japanese, was it the scholars with their bamboo spears and matchlocks who saved it? Or was it the Manchurian Army that had received Western-style military training and was armed with their weapons?”
In the end, it was not the brush but the gun and the sword that had protected this country. Only guns and swords could protect this nation and the people of the Three Han. In the eras when the Korean people had known glory—Goguryeo and Goryeo—they had taken up swords. They had not held brushes.
“Then what do you intend to do with the imperial family?”
“The Mandate of Heaven has already been exhausted. Whether we move toward a constitutional monarchy or a republic, it must be done. In the end, the Mandate of Heaven for this country could not surpass the five hundred years of Goryeo.”
It was almost astonishing that they had clung to life for five hundred years by treating China as their parent. Even Ming scholars had acknowledged that Joseon had grown weak because of the Ming. That was the kind of country Joseon was. It should have collapsed during the Imjin War. It should have collapsed during the Byeongja War. Yet after the humiliation of Samjeondo, it somehow survived for several more centuries as a de facto vassal of the Qing.
“That is true. No matter how one looks at it, this country never achieved the accomplishments of the previous dynasty, Goryeo. And the one who distinguished himself this time was you.”
“Master Myeonam, do you still believe the scholars are in the right? Do you truly believe that those who do nothing but submit memorials are righteous?”
Truly? Really? I’d be disappointed if so.
“I will give you my answer.”
“Yes, please speak.”
Come on, give me an answer. If this turned out to be like reading scriptures to a cow or talking to a wall, I might just change my respect for the elderly into an attack on the elderly right here.
“You are right. Honestly, I still cannot understand it. I can only lament bitterly how the world has become one where it cannot survive unless it becomes a beast. However. We scholars cannot escape responsibility. As you said, we enjoyed special privileges as the ruling class for so long, yet we allowed the country to be trampled by barbarians.”
Yes. It was all your fault. You people who constantly spouted “Confucius said, Mencius said” while throwing away the glory of the Goguryeo era. Why was I so obsessed with Goguryeo? Because aside from that period, how often had the Korean people advanced into Manchuria and displayed national power? Balhae was only a half-baked Goguryeo that never fully recovered Liaodong, and even the powerful Goryeo had struggled. But Joseon—and this Korean Empire—had done even worse. There were probably circumstances. Confucianism was stable for governing the country, and there were all sorts of excuses. But the result of treating China as a parent had a very good effect on later generations when the Chinese communists spouted nonsense about Korea being part of China.
Of course, I didn’t know everything. If someone refuted the theories I was spouting, the only thing left for me would be the hand axe skill, since my theoretical knowledge relied on the alternative history gallery. But regardless, the current reality was created by this idiotic class.
“Then……”
What exactly are you trying to say?
“In any case, I will not live much longer. Even if I wanted to stop you, how could I? I am a shabby old man who can do nothing.”
Yes. A useless old man. There are few things more frightening than those words. After all, there was no greater hope among the old scholars than Choi Ik-hyun right now. But in any era, the brush and the mouth are weak before guns and swords.
“But you are still the leader of the remaining scholars.”
His age didn’t matter. This man was a monster who might try to ruin the country on his deathbed. If he incited the scholars, it would become extremely troublesome.
“I have no intention of inciting the scholars to cause division in this country at such a critical time. I will persuade them. Please spare their lives. Also, regarding the imperial family. No matter how its history began or continued, it has lasted five hundred years. Do not move hastily. If you keep that promise, I will watch—even after death—how this country changes.”
“That is unexpected.”
It really was unexpected. I had thought this man would foam at the mouth and shout that it was impossible, that it must not be done. But that wasn’t the case.
“Did you think I would shout and rebuke you?”
Choi Ik-hyun smiled bitterly, as if enjoying my reaction.
“To be honest, yes. Because what you are saying now is a denial of everything you have believed in your entire life, is it not?”
Better to die. What would it feel like to have everything you had built up denied? Better to scream at the woman before you that she was wrong, to pour out every curse imaginable—asking what good it did to become like them.
“The nation must come before my personal convictions. As I said, I do not have much time left. If I were your age, I would have traveled the world to verify whether your words were true. Regrettably, that is no longer possible.”
I suppose so. He was old, after all.
“I understand. We will conditionally release the captured scholars on appropriate terms.”
If Choi Ik-hyun was coming out like this, I had no choice. Rather than creating unnecessary trouble through force, it was better to reach a reasonable compromise.
“Thank you.”
Choi Ik-hyun bowed his head and quietly withdrew. Watching his retreating figure, I felt that this was the end of the scholars.
“Do you really intend to listen to that old man?”
At Nam Sang-deok’s question, I nodded.
“They say even the wishes of the dead should be honored. This much is necessary.”
What would you do if I didn’t? If it were anyone but Choi Ik-hyun, maybe. But it was Choi Ik-hyun. If he were merely an ignorant petty man who wandered around getting beaten by secret inspectors in fairy tales, I would have beaten him without mercy. But he was not that kind of person. Choi Ik-hyun was simply someone whose eyes for the world had been blind. Of course, being a frog in a well in this era could be called stupidity, but he wasn’t young. He had simply been born in the wrong time.
“But even if we let Choi Ik-hyun be, when else will we uproot all those weeds if not now? We must pull out the very roots of this country’s foundation if the Korean people are to survive.”
“First, make them write proper conversion statements. They can either abandon everything and retire to the countryside, or if they want to take a spoonful from a new rice bowl, that’s fine too.”
They called it a conversion statement, but it was simply an order to obey what we were doing. Or they could fully submit to our side and become our agents. If the scholars willingly became our vanguard, the reforms would become much easier.
“What if they all refuse?”
The option of refusing everything was probably the most likely. They wouldn’t submit to either side. If they insisted on holding their heads high out of pride, we would have to exile them. As Choi Ik-hyun said, we only needed to keep them alive, right? Then it would be best to send them somewhere remote while keeping them alive. Choi Ik-hyun didn’t seem like he had long to live anyway. In that case, I just had to keep my promise. All I needed to do was spare their lives. In other words, as long as I kept them alive, I could do whatever I wanted with them. That was how I saw it.
So I had an idea. One of the punishments that had been most effectively used in the old system the scholars longed to return to.
“There is a place called the Jido County—actually, the Sinan County—on the western coast of Jeolla Province. Send them all into exile there.”
Yes. Exile. Send them all to Sinan. Let them enjoy themselves on that island known as the Island of Angels.
“It was often used as a place of exile in the past.”
“It was, among other things.”
I was sending them for a different reason, but it didn’t matter in this era. In any case, if I sent all the scholars off to the Island of Angels, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to us from an island.
Choi Ik-hyun walked through the streets of Hanseong together with men wearing traditional scholar’s hats. The scars of war had almost disappeared now, but this Hanseong was no longer the capital it had been since the Joseon era. It had accepted the culture of the Western powers, and after Yi Beom-yun’s cabinet from the Gando Administration took office, they had begun full-scale modernization, erecting Western-style buildings everywhere.
And the new citizens of the Korean Empire were overflowing with vitality. The reason was obvious: having suddenly risen as a victorious nation, Westerners were visiting the country and providing substantial support. With those funds, Yi Beom-yun’s cabinet built factories, created jobs, and tore down the old, messy, war-ravaged hanok houses of Hanseong to erect new buildings.
Watching it all, it felt as though this country was no longer the Korean Empire. Yet at the same time, it was a Korean Empire that had finally accepted the flow of the times it had once turned its back on.
“How truly shameful.”
“Master, we believe it is because of us that you suffered so greatly.”
Suffered. Yes, suffered. It wasn’t wrong. Though the suffering had a different meaning.
“They will not last long. How long can a throne gained by sword and gun endure?”
“That is not it.”
Choi Ik-hyun shook his head. He was done with empty talk that had neither plans nor action. What made him ashamed was not his disciples or the scholars.
How did it come to this?
The scholars and the nobility—the very foundation of this country—had brought it to this state. They had made it so natural for the beastly nations to trample the Korean Empire at will that the country could not resist. This nation had been incredibly weak. The people who had once proudly repelled foreign invaders and claimed a place in history as a strong nation had ultimately failed.
Perhaps it was only natural. From the Imjin year to the Byeongja year, and then the Byeongin and Sinmi years of humiliation. What had the so-called scholars done all that time? They had simply repeated the same things: that they must fight to the death at court, that they could not negotiate with barbarians, that there would be no compromise. He himself had been no different.
Yes. How could one defeat those incomparably powerful barbarians with a brush? During the Imjin year, while they argued whether there would be war or not and only fought among themselves, the land of three thousand li was stained with blood by the Japanese they had so despised. The Byeongja year had been the same. It was Choi Ik-hyun himself who had rationalized that if they had seized the opportunity to strike directly at the enemy’s capital, there would be no Qing dynasty now.
All of it had been nothing but delusion. And because of such scholars, the young generation had finally risen up. In a ferocious way, declaring that for the sake of future generations, they would kill the scholars. If this was not reaping what one had sown, what was?
On the one hand, it was shameful to entrust the work they should have done to the younger generation. How utterly shameful. Shameful, and heartbreaking. If only he had been a little younger, the story would have been different.
Regrettably, the only thing Choi Ik-hyun could do now was to ensure that the hands of the young generation would not be stained with any more blood of this country’s scholars. That was all.