The Whereabouts of the Missing Twenty Thousand Geun of Copper
I carefully slid the omitted ledger of the Daedong Merchant Group's copper transactions, which Gaetdong-i had extracted for me, onto King Sejong's desk.
"The copper your servant confiscated last night from the Daedong Merchant Group and the Yang family estate totals forty thousand geun, Your Majesty. However, the total purchase recorded in the merchant group's original ledger was sixty thousand geun."
"Twenty thousand geun is missing. Are you saying someone embezzled it along the way?"
"When we reverse-tracked their ledgers, we found a separate destination where those twenty thousand geun of copper flowed. It is none other than... the Gungigam, the Office of Military Weapons, where all our armaments are cast."
The moment the word Gungigam left my lips, King Sejong's eyes turned razor-sharp.
"Your Majesty, twenty thousand geun is an amount more than sufficient to immediately deploy hundreds of new cannons to the northern Four Counties and Six Garrisons. Yet, looking at the Ministry of Taxation's budget execution records, there has not been a single piece of evidence submitted over the past few years showing that the Gungigam cast such weapons or supplied them to the front lines."
"...If that is the case."
Having fully grasped the situation, King Sejong's expression froze like ice.
"Those military officers at the Gungigam bought copper with state funds, failed to manufacture any weapons, and smuggled the copper out the back door."
"In the worst-case scenario, it is highly probable that they smuggled it to the northern barbarians or Ming merchants to amass a massive slush fund."
Slam!
Unable to contain his fury, King Sejong struck his desk. The inkstone rattled, splashing black ink across the wood.
"Those absolute madmen! Trading military supplies meant for national defense with our enemies?! I will dispatch the Uigeumbu immediately to surround the Gungigam and have every single one of those generals beheaded!"
The King's wrath exploded, threatening to consume the entire Pyeonjeon. It felt as though a bloodbath was imminent, but I did not even blink. Instead, I stepped forward to stop him.
"Your Majesty. Surely we did not embark on this path merely to take a few heads."
"What?"
"The moment troops move and swords are drawn, they will catch wind of it. Their first move will be to hide the slush fund warehouses and burn their double-entry ledgers. If they sever their own limbs and erase their tracks like that, we will never recover the stolen national treasury."
I stared straight into the eyes of the monarch, my own gaze flashing.
"Grant your servant the authority to conduct a special budget audit of the Gungigam. I will tear their ledgers apart and claw back every single coin of that massive slush fund into the vaults of the Ministry of Taxation."
King Sejong's raised eyebrows twitched.
"You wish to investigate the Gungigam yourself, not as an investigator of the Uigeumbu, but by marching in there directly?"
King Sejong let out a dry, hollow laugh as he looked down at me.
"It is a den of military officers who wear swords at their hips. Your head could be the first to roll."
"Do you think I fear that?"
I met the monarch's gaze with calm, steady eyes.
"My goal is to scrape the very bottom of that filthy vault built on selling out our national defense, and return those funds to Your Majesty's treasury and the northern military budget. With those missing twenty thousand geun of copper, we can deploy hundreds of new cannons across the Four Counties and Six Garrisons to sweep the barbarians away."
It wasn't out of simple righteousness. The moment I caught the scent of a hidden slush fund, my professional instinct—honed over years as an auditor at the National Tax Service—demanded that I shake them down until they were bone dry.
"Grant me the authority to audit them, Your Majesty. I shall prove it to you myself."
King Sejong stared down at me for a moment before pressing his hand to his forehead and bursting into a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha! Splendid! If you claim you can recover the entire budget to feed our northern soldiers and sweep away the barbarians, how could I possibly deny you that authority?"
Without hesitation, King Sejong picked up his brush and signed his royal signature on the special audit document I had presented.
"Sever the windpipes of those who dared covet the national treasury."
King Sejong's eyes flashed with a cold light.
"I shall specially assign the troops of the Gyeomsabok as your escort. Surround the Gungigam and strip them of everything down to the last hair."
It was an extraordinary favor from the King. However, I bowed my head and politely added a condition.
"Your grace is immeasurable, Your Majesty. But as I mentioned earlier, if a large force moves all at once, they will undoubtedly catch wind of it and burn their double-entry ledgers first."
"Then what do you propose?"
"Have the Gyeomsabok move quietly at intervals to block their escape routes. Meanwhile, I will first choke their breathing using the authority of the Ministry of Taxation, laying a trap that will force them to head to the hidden copper warehouse of their own accord."
At my calculation, King Sejong let out a dumbfounded chuckle, but soon nodded in deep satisfaction.
The stealth to secure the ledgers, and the King's elite royal guard to crush any resistance. It was the moment I obtained a perfect blank check.
As I left Sajeongjeon and passed through the palace gates, the special audit decree, bearing the clear, vivid stamp of King Sejong's royal seal, was tucked safely inside my robes.
Crossing the Yukjo-geori in front of Gwanghwamun and entering the Ministry of Taxation compound, a massive silhouette leaning against the tightly shut doors in the damp night air brightened up and approached me.
It was my personal bodyguard, Jincheol.
"Brother! You're back safe!"
At Jincheol's booming voice, Gaetdong-i came rushing out from inside the building, panting heavily.
"M-Master! Ah, no, Lord Chamui! How did it go at the palace? Did His Majesty truly grant permission to raid the Gungigam?" Gaetdong-i asked anxiously.
I chuckled, lightly tapping the special audit decree in my hand.
"Of course I got his permission. More importantly, the Pyeonjeon was quite a sight to behold this morning. That stiff-necked Chief State Councillor cast out his own flesh and blood with his own mouth."
"Pardon?! The Chief State Councillor personally severed his own limb?"
"Indeed. With such a massive vault raided, he had no choice but to cut off the largest tail if he wanted to save his son's neck. You have to hand it to him—his resolve to play the loyal subject while cutting off his own in-laws is truly something. Thanks to that, the old men of the Gwanhak Faction have had their souls utterly shattered."
Gaetdong-i gasped in shock at my explanation. After dazing out for a moment over the fact that the Chief State Councillor had cut off his own subordinates, his face hardened again as he spoke cautiously.
"B-But, my Lord. While it is a great relief that you broke the Chief State Councillor's spirit, the Gungigam is a completely different story. That is a den of military officers who carry real swords instead of brushes. There is no way they will open their warehouse doors willingly."
At Gaetdong-i's highly realistic concern, Jincheol, standing behind me, cracked his neck with a loud pop and smiled brightly.
"Brother. If they don't open the doors, should I just smash through them and crack all their skulls open?"
"Both of you, calm down. We aren't going just yet."
I stuffed a premium royal honey cookie, which I had swiped from a court eunuch on my way out of the palace, into the whining Gaetdong-i's mouth.
"Mmph?!"
"Even if we march in there empty-handed right now, all they have to do is play dumb and claim, 'We already melted down all twenty thousand geun of copper in the furnace to make cannons.' If those military officers lock their gates citing military secrets, we won't have enough leverage to force them to open their ledgers."
Munch, munch.
Gaetdong-i chewed and swallowed the cookie, barely paying attention to my words, but the moment the sugar hit his bloodstream and reached his brain, his expression shifted dramatically.
His droopy eyes, which had been trembling with fear just a moment ago, snapped wide open, and his hazy pupils contracted as sharp as needlepoints.
"Ah... Now that the sugar is in, my brain is finally working."
Gaetdong-i wiped the crumbs from his mouth with his sleeve. His cowardly demeanor from earlier was completely gone, replaced by a calm, steady voice.
"It is exactly as you say, my Lord. To completely block their escape routes, we need absolute physical evidence to prove that the numbers written in their ledgers are entirely fabricated."
My eyes flashed as I smirked. It was the moment the chemistry of two beasts catching the scent of money aligned perfectly.
"Where are we heading?"
"The Jujaso, the Type Casting Office."
The heart of Joseon's weaponry specifications, and the palace foundry where metal type and cannons were cast.
I gestured to Jincheol with my chin and quickened my pace.
"We are going to meet the greatest madman in the palace, whose eyes must be bloodshot with fury right about now."
Though dawn had not yet broken, the air in front of the Jujaso was already thick with sweltering heat and acrid smoke.
The relentless, deafening sound of hammering beat against my eardrums.
"Listen here! What is the point of making molds all day long when we don't even have molten metal?!"
A raspy, frustrated voice erupted from deep inside the building.
Covered in black soot, a man was furiously pounding on an innocent lump of iron with bloodshot eyes.
He had started from the very bottom as a government slave, but solely through his overwhelming intellect and talent, he would eventually rise to the rank of Daehogun (Senior 3rd Rank). Under King Sejong's absolute patronage, this genius inventor would single-handedly cast Joseon's most advanced technologies, from water clocks and astronomical instruments to exquisite metal movable type.
And to me, he was nothing less than a budget destroyer, a money-devouring hippo that sucked Joseon's massive treasury dry like a bottomless pit.
He was Jang Yeong-sil.