The Safe Floating on the Sea

Yeosu, the home of the main headquarters of the Jeolla Left Naval Headquarters. Inside a shabby tavern room tucked away in a corner of the port, a candle flickered late into the night.

Gaetdong-i couldn't take his eyes off the merchant's smuggling ledger spread wide across the floor. Holding a brush, he was filling the spaces on either side of the grid lines he had drawn with Arabic numerals. How much time had passed? Finally, having finished the calculations on the last page, Gaetdong-i set his brush down. He wiped his ink-stained hands on his clothes and pushed the paper forward.

"My lord. It is finished."

"Let me see."

Sitting cross-legged in the center of the room, I took the paper Gaetdong-i handed me. At the very bottom of the balance sheet, organized so it could be understood at a single glance, was the cumulative total of the rice embezzled over the past few years.

"...Twenty thousand seok."

At the number that escaped my lips, Han Myeong-hoe, who had been dozing off against the corner of the room, snapped his eyes open.

"Even if Asan is where the waterways of Chungcheong Province converge, isn't that amount equivalent to half the tax grain of the entire western region of Chungcheong?"

I turned the page and continued.

"The exact amount of silk and treasure pocketed by the Chungcheong Governor and the Asan Magistrate in exchange for turning a blind eye is also recorded here."

I pointed to an entry at the end of the ledger.

"And this is the compensation these merchants received for handing the rice over to the Jeolla Navy. They received rare goods like Japanese silver ingots and black pepper as a 'handling fee' for gathering tens of thousands of seok of rice and loading it onto the naval ships."

At that point, Han Myeong-hoe slapped his palm with his fan.

"The silver they pocketed alone must be astronomical."

"Indeed. However..."

I narrowed my eyes, my voice sinking heavily.

"The ledger's records stop exactly here."

At my calm voice, all eyes in the room gathered on me.

"The merchant's share is written down, but the whereabouts of this twenty thousand seok of rice after it was handed over to the Jeolla Navy is completely missing. It means the actual total of silver bullion the navy guys made by directly selling this massive amount of rice on the sea is not recorded."

At my words, Han Myeong-hoe swallowed hard, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Which means the naval bastards who control the sea are the ones running the truly massive money-laundering operation..."

If the silver ingots dropped as a mere transaction fee were this much, the true scale of the operation—if all twenty thousand seok of rice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were laundered into silver bullion—would be beyond imagination.

In the heavy silence that filled the room, only the sharp crackle of the candle wick burning down echoed loudly.

Creak.

Just then, the firmly shut room door opened, and Jincheol, who had been keeping watch outside, poked his head in.

"Brother. You need to come outside for a moment."

At Jincheol's call, I silently rose from my seat and stepped out of the room.

As I walked into the tavern's front yard, a grim scene unfolded alongside the salty breeze stinging my nose.

Unlike Chungcheong Province, where local magistrates and petty clerks lorded over everyone, this place was a strict military control zone completely dominated by the regular navy.

Every corner of the alleyways was crawling with government soldiers armed with spears and swords, keeping a watchful eye on the village.

"Aigoo, milord! Please, have mercy just this once! This boat is my family's lifeline!"

A desperate scream erupted from the pier.

Five or six naval soldiers holding spears were throwing an old fisherman onto the ground as he tried to board a battered fishing boat.

"Silence! By royal decree, we must load military rations for the naval headquarters, so hand over the boat immediately!"

"If you take even this boat, are you telling us all to starve to death?!"

The fisherman, his lips bloodied, clung to a soldier's trousers. But the soldier kicked him squarely in the chest without mercy.

"Has this old man lost his mind? If you want to keep your life, get lost this instant!"

Mocking the fisherman rolling on the dirt, the soldiers dragged the boat away, laughing amongst themselves.

Several other seized fishing boats were lined up at the harbor, and soldiers could be seen loading something onto them. It was a deplorable sight—the military, which was supposed to protect the people's property, openly committing banditry.

"Those absolute bastards..."

Murderous intent flared in Jincheol's eyes. Just as he gripped the sword at his waist and was about to leap off the wooden veranda, I silently reached out and pressed down on his shoulder.

"Endure it."

"Brother! How can you just watch this...!"

"They are not local clerks. They are the regular military defending the seas of Joseon."

At my words, Jincheol gritted his teeth, his hand on his hilt trembling.

"If you rashly draw your sword and spill blood here, we instantly stop being the Chujing Dogam acting on royal command and become rebels attacking the naval headquarters."

Jincheol finally let out a rough breath and took his hand off his sword.

As the soldiers dragged the stolen boat away, the old fisherman face-down on the ground began to wail, beating the earth.

"Aigoo! What is my family supposed to eat and live on now?! Just kill me instead, you thieves!"

Hearing that wretched wailing, Han Myeong-hoe, who had been watching the situation beside me, walked over to the weeping fisherman and bent down.

"Old man. Calm yourself and stand up."

As Han Myeong-hoe helped the fisherman up, he slyly slipped a few brass coins from his sleeve into the man's hand. It wasn't simple charity. His foxy, narrow eyes glinted sharply.

"But this is truly strange, isn't it? The naval headquarters must be overflowing with warships as massive as mountains. Why would the government ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soldiers go out of their way to seize your battered little boat? Surely, they must have some other scheme."

At the bait Myeong-hoe subtly threw, the fisherman, clutching the money, held Myeong-hoe's hand and poured out his grievances, tears streaming down his face.

"Under the pretext of transporting military rations, those naval bastards have been seizing every single boat in the village for days! Yesterday, they dragged away Chilsung's boat from the lower village, and today, even my little boat...! Just as you said, scholar, if they're moving military rations, why on earth are they seizing our boats instead of using their own massive warships?!"

The old man's lamentation was filled with a bewildered sense ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of injustice. I turned my head toward Han Myeong-hoe, who had comforted the fisherman and returned to my side.

"Did you hear that? The naval headquarters must have warships the size of houses, yet they covet even such miserable little boats."

"Indeed, my lord."

"If the navy's warships move, a record of their departure is left with the Ministry of War."

The gazes of both Han Myeong-hoe and Jincheol locked onto me. I stared at the far end of the fishing boats.

"However, requisitioned fishing boats roaming the night sea are perfect for disguising themselves as ordinary fishing vessels. To smuggle that massive amount of rice out to sea without leaving a trace—rice that can't possibly be stored in the naval headquarters' warehouses—they would need several of these untraceable little boats."

As I finished speaking, my gaze, which had been scanning the pier, stopped at one spot. Taking advantage of the chaos on the bustling pier, two low-ranking naval soldiers carrying spears slunk away from the crowd and slipped into a dark alleyway. It looked like they were planning to slack off, pulling out liquor bottles from their robes.

I nudged Jincheol beside me and whispered quietly in his ear.

"Jincheol. Did you see those guys who just crawled into the back alley?"

"Yes, brother."

Before my words could even finish, Jincheol melted into the alleyway. After waiting outside with Myeong-hoe for a brief moment, a short, dull thud echoed from deep inside the alley.

Walking leisurely into the dark alley, sure enough, the two naval soldiers who had been smirking just moments ago were sprawled on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Jincheol had knocked them out in a single blow to the back of their necks.

"Strip their clothes immediately."

Without delay, we stripped the military uniforms off the unconscious soldiers and threw them over our own clothes. After pulling the worn military hats low over our eyes and picking up the spears they had dropped, we looked exactly like low-ranking soldiers on patrol.

I adjusted the fit of the uniform around my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠waist and turned to Han Myeong-hoe and Gaetdong-i, who were watching with wide eyes.

"Scholar Han, bind these men tightly and lock them up somewhere out of sight."

"M-My lord. Are you planning to directly infiltrate the ranks of those naval soldiers right now?!"

"We will follow them and see the truth with our own eyes."

I pressed a hand on the shoulder of Han Myeong-hoe, who was trembling while clutching his fan, and gave him firm instructions.

"Instead, there is something you must do on land, Scholar Han. Together with Gaetdong-i, when dawn breaks and the fishing boats return to the port, verify with your own eyes exactly what is loaded onto them. And thoroughly trace where the goods unloaded from the boats are headed. Find their final destination."

At my command, Han Myeong-hoe's eyes flashed, and he nodded.

"I will keep that in mind, my lord."

"I'm counting on you."

Leaving those brief instructions, Jincheol and I pulled our hats down even lower. We quietly slipped in among the soldiers who were loading goods onto the seized fishing boats at the pier.

"Don't dawdle! We must set sail before dawn!"

Mingling with the soldiers running hither and thither under the shouting of the military officers, we naturally boarded a small boat piled high with sacks of rice. Soon, dozens of fishing boats raised their anchors simultaneously and began to cut through the water. The boats headed out toward the pitch-black, deserted open sea.

How long had we rowed? The thick sea fog gradually cleared, and a rugged, uninhabited island, rising sharply like the fangs of a beast, blocked our path. It was a reef zone so treacherous that even government patrol ships would hesitate to approach.

Yet, behind the deep shadow cast by the island's sheer cliffs, an unbelievable sight revealed itself. A massive vessel, looking as if two or three Panokseon had been joined together, was secretly anchored, using the rocky island as a shield.

As we drew closer, a foreign, unfamiliar emblem—not of Joseon—was revealed on the bow.

"Bring the boats alongside! Hurry up and hoist the cargo!"

Thick ropes were thrown down from the ship.

"Hey! You guys standing there! We're short-handed, so carry the cargo and get up here right now!"

A fierce-looking man guarding the massive Japanese ship shouted down at us. Though we were disguised as soldiers, there was no avoiding the labor. No, rather, this was a golden opportunity to naturally step onto the deck, the very heart of their operation.

Without a word, I bowed my head, hoisted a sack of rice onto my shoulder, and climbed onto the deck of the Japanese ship. Jincheol followed closely behind me.

The heavy weight of the rice pressed down on my shoulder, but my eyes were sharply scanning the cargo hold where the rice was being funneled.

It was then.

"Don't slack off! Move faster!"

From beside the entrance of the cargo hold, a strangely familiar voice directing the porters and soldiers reached my ears. I slightly raised my head beneath my hat and peeked toward the source of the sound.

A man wearing a military officer's robe, standing with his hands behind his back, monitoring the deck with a fierce glare. It was the very same military officer who, a few days ago, had held a sword to the merchant's throat and threatened him in the deep mountains of Chungcheong Province.