A Triumphant Return and a New Right Hand
Released from the prison of the Uigeumbu and bestowed with the red official robes of a Dangsang-gwan, the first place I headed was not a grand mansion, but a dilapidated tile-roofed house on the outskirts of Hanyang. It was the home where the original owner of this body, Kim Jinseong, had lived.
'How miserable...'
The moment I stepped through the main gate, the first things that caught my eye were a rusted cauldron riddled with holes and an empty rice chest. Even for a Yangban family on the brink of bankruptcy, there wasn't a single servant to attend to the masters of the house.
Even though I tried to distance myself, reminding myself that this wasn't my original body, the memories of Kim Jinseong embedded in a corner of my mind weighed heavily on my chest. A deep sense of guilt toward his long-suffering wife, his sickly mother, and his downtrodden younger brother welled up inside me, completely independent of my own will.
"You wretched boy! Jinseong! Have you completely lost your mind and gone looking for death?!"
The moment I stepped into the courtyard, what greeted me was not a warm welcome, but a frost-cold roar. My father, Kim Mungwon, who had been sitting on the worn wooden veranda, slammed his cane onto the floorboards with a loud thud! as he stood up.
"A scholar who should be studying classics spent his time flipping through ledgers and handling vulgar money, and now rumors are rampant all over Hanyang that you have finally embezzled from the state treasury! You are a disgrace to our family, you fool!"
It seemed my father had only heard the news of my imprisonment and subsequent release, but was entirely unaware of the dramatic turn of events that followed.
Just then, the vivid red official robes and the splendid embroidered rank patch on my chest caught the bright sunlight, revealing themselves in full glory.
"..."
My father's mouth fell open, his words dying in his throat. The hand reaching for his cane trembled violently in midair.
"H-how did this happen? Why are you wearing the red robes of a Dangsang-gwan...?"
"I have been appointed as Chamui, Father. It is a post personally bestowed upon me by His Majesty."
At that moment, the sliding door of the room burst open, and a woman rushed out. It was Kim Jinseong's wife, Lady Lee. Her eyes were swollen red from crying, believing her husband would surely die in prison. But upon seeing my transformed attire, she collapsed onto the dirt floor of the courtyard in sheer shock.
"My lord... Have you returned to me alive? Is this truly not a dream?"
I walked over to her and took her rough, calloused hands in mine. Though she was not my wife in my past life, the agony she had endured felt incredibly vivid through Kim Jinseong's memories. I reached into my robes, pulled out a heavy pouch, and pressed it into her hands. It was a portion of the operational funds His Majesty had granted me for this mission.
"Use this to get Mother's medicine first, and buy plenty of rice. I will send someone soon, so look for a more decent house for us to move into."
"W-where did all this money come from...?"
"Do not worry, it was given to me as operational funds for my investigation." I leaned in and whispered softly in her ear. "My lady, we will need to make some investments in a merchant group under a borrowed name. I will convey the details through my brother, Jincheol, very soon. I need you to manage the operations from behind the scenes."
The eyes of Lady Lee, whom I had assumed to be fragile, flashed with a sharp, keen light. She was a master of household management who had practically kept this declining family afloat on Kim Jinseong's meager official salary. Instantly grasping my intention, she gave a silent, firm nod.
"Jincheol!" At my call, my younger brother Jincheol, who had been practicing his swordsmanship near the veranda, came running over.
"Brother! What on earth is going on?!"
"Pack your bags. You're coming with me to Chungcheong Province."
"Chungcheong Province? Why so suddenly...?"
Since I was in dire need of an escort, there was no one more trustworthy than my own flesh and blood. In truth, Jincheol was not just a physically imposing brute. In a ruined Yangban family, passing the military service examination without a proper master was an unimaginable luxury. Yet, he was a fiercely stubborn soul who, every single dawn, swung a rotting wooden sword thousands of times in the corner of the courtyard without fail.
But what made him truly formidable was his practical combat experience. To ease the burden of feeding a poverty-stricken family, Jincheol had slipped out of the house every night to climb the mountains in secret. He was a hunter who tracked down man-eating wolves, wild boars, and even tigers in the rugged mountain ranges surrounding Hanyang. Navigating terrains so treacherous that even the Chakho Gapsa—the elite tiger-hunting special forces—shook their heads in dismay, he treated the wild peaks like his own backyard, honing his instincts to sever a beast's windpipe in a single, swift strike.
Though people whispered behind his back, mocking a Yangban's son for hunting to make a living, Jincheol's prey, along with Kim Jinseong's meager salary, had been the only things keeping this household from starving.
"Your brother has a job to do. I need you by my side to swing that sword of yours."
The Samnam Road, stretching from Hanyang down to Chungcheong Province. As I rode ahead on horseback, a dependable shadow rode close by my side. It was my brother, Jincheol, who had temporarily set aside his dream of passing the military service exam to protect me. Mounted on a sleek black horse purchased with the bonus I had given him, Jincheol kept a sharp, vigilant eye on our surroundings, a heavy greatsword slung across his back.
Behind us, trembling violently atop a small donkey, came another figure. It was my secret weapon, Gaetdong-i.
"Gaetdong-i, straighten your back. You are now the direct assistant to a Dangsang-gwan of the Ministry of Taxation."
"A-assistant? What is that, my lord? I couldn't sleep a wink last night out of sheer terror when I heard we were heading to the estate of the Chief State Councillor's in-laws..."
"It's just a word. It's a good thing."
Seeing the boy clinging desperately to his donkey with a tearful face, Jincheol burst into a hearty laugh.
"Don't worry, Gaetdong-i! I'll cut down anyone who dares to lay a finger on you, so just make sure you don't fall off that donkey."
Despite Jincheol's simple and cheerful reassurance, Gaetdong-i's face remained pale as ash. To think that my very first disciple in Joseon would be this cowardly genius. I reached into my robes and tossed a bundle of papers to him.
"You'll be bored on the road, so look over this as we go."
"What is this?"
"Numbers. Not the Chinese characters you're used to, but Western numerals. We'll be using them from now on to control the nation's purse strings."
Written on the paper were Arabic numerals from 0 to 9. Next to them were unfamiliar terms like "assets," "liabilities," and "equity," along with a T-account diagram. Jincheol turned his horse's head slightly to steal a glance at the paper, then shook his head in bewilderment.
"Brother, I think walking into a tiger's den would be easier than understanding this."
"Look closely, Gaetdong-i. On one side, you record what comes in, and on the other, what goes out. If the totals on both sides don't match, it means someone has been skimming off the top. This is called Double-entry Bookkeeping."
As we rode, I began explaining the basics of modern accounting to Gaetdong-i. Though initially bewildered, by the time we stopped at a tavern to eat hot rice soup, a strange, intense light had begun to flicker in his eyes.
"My lord... this symbol '0' is absolutely brilliant! Representing 'nothingness' makes calculations dozens of times faster!"
"Alright, here's a test. The Chief State Councillor's in-laws harvested 100 seok of rice from their estate, but they only recorded 70 seok in their ledgers and hid the remaining 30 seok in a secret storehouse. How much tax was evaded?"
Gaetdong-i set his spoon down and stared blankly into space. His eyes began darting rapidly left and right, as if streams of data were scrolling across a monitor.
"If we calculate the standard tax rate and add the transportation labor cost of five ri per pun... it is exactly 4 seok and 5 mal! However, my lord, if they inflated the transportation costs in their ledgers, the actual amount of tax evasion would be even greater!"
"Spot on. You're quite something, aren't you?"
"Incredible, Gaetdong-i!"
Listening from the side, Jincheol clapped Gaetdong-i on the shoulder in admiration. Though the boy staggered under Jincheol's bear-like grip, his eyes were no longer filled with fear, but with a manic obsession for numbers.
As our journey continued, Gaetdong-i didn't even sleep on his donkey, burying his nose in the accounting practice sheets I had given him. Eventually, even without me asking, he began muttering to himself and offering his own analyses.
"My lord, regarding the tavern we passed earlier. The smell of burning firewood was far too strong. The owner must be illegally felling trees from the nearby mountain to embezzle fuel costs. I am ninety percent certain of it!"
"...Hey, that's an occupational hazard. Take it easy."
It seemed he was already developing an occupational disease. But it was reassuring. With this level of analytical prowess, tearing through the double ledgers of the massive Chungcheong estates would be a walk in the park.
Halting my horse, I clicked my tongue at the sight before us. The estate of the Chief State Councillor's in-laws was not a farm; it was a fortress. Atop walls that stood at least three meters high, private soldiers armed with sharp spears patrolled the perimeter. Guarding the tightly shut main gate were dozens of men whose fierce demeanor easily eclipsed that of any local government officers.
"Brother, the situation looks grim," Jincheol muttered in a low voice, dismounting and adjusting his grip on his sword hilt.
"I can probably clear a path through the bastards at the gate... but dealing with the arrows raining from above the walls and the hundreds of men inside is too much. This isn't a farm; they're preparing for war."
"M-my lord! Look over there! There are countless spear tips glinting in the sun! Can't we just turn back?"
It was just as Gaetdong-i, who had shrunk behind his donkey, said. There were far too many soldiers for just three of us to charge in. Yet, a smirk played on my lips.
"I didn't come here to launch an immediate assault anyway. I came to gauge their scale."
With those words, I turned my horse around.
"Brother? Where are you going? Surely you aren't giving up?"
Jincheol asked, visibly bewildered, but my smirk only widened.
"Give up? To catch a wild boar that massive, you don't just blindly thrust a spear. You lay a flawless trap along the path they frequent."
"A trap...?"
"A preliminary investigation disguised as a routine site survey. To sustain thousands of slaves and cultivate secret lands within that massive estate, a colossal amount of goods must flow through the local markets and merchant inns. We start by stepping on the tail of that supply chain."
Next Chapter: I've Come to Rob You, Legally.