Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 283

Episode 283: Hanseong’s ordinary daily life. (1)

A few days after the ‘construction of the third steel mill’ was decided, ministers from each department, including Lee Jik and Maeng Sa-seong, gathered at the gisaeng’s house.

“It’s really been a while since I was kicked out on time….”

“That’s right.”

“At least these days, I can take a breather because the officials below me are doing a good job.”

“Thanks to you, I am able to leave the company on time. “Hehehe!”

“That’s right. ha ha ha!”

The ministers smiled cheerfully and exchanged drinks.

The gisaengs who entered the room cheered themselves up with songs and dances, and as one drink or two became one bottle or two, the faces of the ministers became more and more intoxicated.

Maeng Sa-seong, who was watching this, spoke to Lee Jik.

“Captain, how about we break it off now?”

However, Lee Jik, who was intoxicated, waved his hand at Maeng Sa-seong’s words.

“no way! This is just the beginning. Are you thinking about finishing it already? I don’t know when there will be another regular withdrawal, so let’s drink it properly! Isn’t that right, captains?”

The ministers responded with loud voices to Lee Jik’s words.

“cancer! That’s right! “Of course!”

“Chief Maeng, why do you show yourself to be this weak?”

Seeing the reactions of the ministers, Maeng Sa-seong sneaked out and quietly called the royal gisaeng.

“Did you call me?”

“After half an hour (about 1 hour), bite all the parasites. And now all the rooms on the left and right of this room are empty, right?”

“yes.”

“Then don’t receive any guests in those rooms until this place is occupied. And leave all the doors open. “Except for the door facing outside.”

“yes? “Is that why you are doing this?”

“Because there shouldn’t be ears to hear.”

There was no trace of intoxication in Maeng Sa-seong’s eyes as he answered. To Maeng Sa-seong’s sharp command, the gisaeng immediately responded by bowing her head.

“Yes, Captain. That is exactly what I will do.”

“And give me one or three buckets of the strongest soju. “I need to get rid of it and send it away before four months pass.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Meng Sa-seong’s orders were quickly implemented. When the doors to the room where the ministers sat together and the neighboring rooms all opened, the ministers clapped their knees in joy.

“haha! “It’s spacious and makes me feel refreshed!”

“Yes! “The wind is truly refreshing!”

“haha! Since my heart is so full, I feel like I can drink alcohol easily! “You won’t get drunk even if you drink it, right?”

“Isn’t that because of the medicine the captain took?”

Instead of being intoxicated with excitement, as soon as Hana said the word ‘health medicine’, the atmosphere instantly froze.

When the atmosphere was frozen like that, Lee Jik poured a glass full of soju, rinsed his mouth, and spit the alcohol into the empty bowl.

As soon as they saw Lee Jik, the ministers rinsed their mouths with alcohol like Lee Jik, spat it out, and glared at the speaker in question.

“This guy has something to say….”

“I’m sorry!”

“Anyway, let’s drink again!”

“yes!”

So the ministers continued drinking. As Maeng Sa-seong commanded, as Ban Si-jin passed, the gisaengs went out one by one, but no minister paid any attention to it.

This was because alcohol slowly progressed to the stage of drinking people.

And as alcohol became addictive, arguments began to break out here and there.

The incident started with Kim Jeom and Lee Maeng-gyun.

“Great! “Isn’t that too much?”

“What do you mean? “What would I know if you suddenly said something like that?”

Lee Maeng-gyun raised his voice even more in response to Kim Jeom’s rebuttal.

“This time, I will receive a gift in return from Ming! Five times the production cost of one hundred rifles! “Is that possible?”

“Well, it’s not much, so why are you being so harsh?”

“It’s not even that much! Inspector, please go and get it! “How petty the Ming Dynasty officials are!”

“Even if you try, you have no choice but to hand it over as soon as the emperor allows it, right? “It would be easy for the emperor we know, right?”

When Kim Jeom asked again with an expression that he did not understand, Lee Maeng-gyun beat his chest and burst out in anger.

“That was before we beat up Lee Man-ju and Muntemu!”

“So what do you want?”

“Stop putting unnecessary burden on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!”

“unnecessary?”

At Lee Maeng-gyun’s words, Kim Jeom’s expression became fierce.

“If you are not that confident, submit your resignation to His Majesty! “Just don’t whine about this!”

“Just this? “This person really is!”

“If you’re just going to whine about this little thing, why are you asking for so much of the budget? Do you know that there is a surplus budget for coordination? “Would you like me to start selling bundles and using them for travel expenses like before?”

“This guy is real!”

“Uh-huh! Captains! “Hold on, hold on!”

As the atmosphere between the two became heated, Maeng Sa-seong intervened and tried to cool down the overheated atmosphere.

“now. What can you do when the country’s situation is not good and work is difficult? We’re both in trouble, so let’s ease it off with a drink. ruler! ruler! Please have a drink each.”

Maeng Sa-seong intervened and repeatedly offered the two people drinks. The two people, who found it difficult to refuse the alcohol that Maeng Sa-seong recommended, continued to drink and became drunk, and before they knew it, they had come together.

“All of this is a lot of work. “There’s a lot of work, but there’s still not enough people!”

“That’s right! Our kids are already exploring the countryside! I need to check the farming results in advance to find out how much tax revenue I will have this year! already!”

“Management is not something people can do!”

“That’s right! Now, on that note, let’s have a drink!”

“Let’s hear it, sir!”

“Whoa~.”

As the mood between the two improved, Meng Sasheng let out a long sigh of relief.

“Even if I leave it for an hour now…”

Are you saying that words become seeds? Before Maeng Sa-seong could finish muttering, a shout erupted from the other side.

“Great! “Why is that so!”

“I was just doing what I was supposed to do!”

Maeng Sa-seong looked at the place where the shouting came from and lowered his head. There, Jo Mal-saeng and the new Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, Jeong Heum-ji, were arguing.

* * *

The reason why Jeong Heum-ji and Jo Mal-saeng had a war of words was because of Yi Sun-mong.

When the ‘false sick leave due to private affair’ was discovered, Lee Sun-mong was sentenced to ‘document purification’ and had to be imprisoned in the records office along with the perpetrator, Hwang Sang.

However, as the military reform progressed, Yi Sun-mong and the emperor left the record office and took command of the military in Pyeongan-do and Mureung-do.

Soon after Lee Soon-mong took command of the Joseon army in the Pyeongan-do region, Lee Man-ju and Muntemu began their affairs.

In the process of suppressing Yi Man-ju and Muntemu, Yi Sun-mong performed well, and Jo Mal-saeng naturally presented King Sejong with a reward to give to Yi Sun-mong.

However, Jeong Heum-ji took this risk and fell.

“It cannot be said that Yi Sun-mong’s contribution in the process of suppressing this rebellion was small, but it is not enough to praise him. Above all, the sin he committed is too great.”

“Is the sin too great?”

Jeong Heum-ji immediately answered King Sejong’s question.

“A person who was assigned the important task of protecting Your Majesty from danger while sitting by His Majesty’s side not only committed adultery and caused trouble, but he also falsely took sick leave and was away! This is a mortal sin that cannot be washed away by anything! “Ascension to a higher position in the civil service and gaja (promotion in rank) are absolutely unfair!”

Because there were many ministers who agreed with Jeong Heum-ji’s protest, Yi Sun-mong was limited to receiving decorations through the newly created system, the Seo Merit (a medal given according to the level of merit).

* * *

Jo Mal-saeng stumbled at this very point.

“If you think about the contribution you made in suppressing this rebellion, you can ignore the sins you committed in the past!”

“It is a sin that cannot be ignored! “You neglected to be by your side and protect your well-being!”

“But nothing happened!”

“Nothing happened? Have you already forgotten what happened? “I’m talking about Gyeyu’s year of crime!”

“That’s not what happened after Yi Sun-mong was punished! “Don’t force it to fit!”

“Don’t force it to fit! That can happen at any time! But the person in a position to always be on high alert has forgotten his duty! “I don’t think what I did was wrong!”

“This person!”

“Uh-huh! Why are you doing this in such a nice place? “Hold on, hold on!”

As the atmosphere overheated here, Maeng Sa-seong quickly intervened and started to put out the fire.

It was only after almost half of Dong-i’s alcohol had disappeared that the war of words between Jeong Heum-ji and Jo Mal-saeng could be put to rest.

Maeng Sa-seong’s efforts and a large amount of soloism. Lastly, he succeeded in evolving by using the ‘common enemy of overwork.’

* * *

As the drinking session continued, similar things kept happening.

The reason why such a war of words arose was that most of the various policies implemented by the government were not for the sole responsibility of any one department, but rather had to be worked together by several departments.

In the process of gathering and coordinating, the participating ministries repeatedly clashed and cooperated depending on their own interests, and resentment accumulated accordingly.

In addition, the ministers in charge of the newly created departments were burning with desire to succeed in their tasks and solidify the presence of their departments.

Accordingly, it was natural that competition between ministries intensified.

And whenever competition intensified like this, there were regular ambassadors from the heads of each ministry.

“Don’t I know about that?”

The adjustments made before the construction took place were small. In order to run state affairs at such a small scale, officials of a certain rank not only held concurrent positions, but also experienced a variety of tasks by going back and forth between central and regional offices. Thanks to this, I was able to quickly adapt to any ministry that was assigned to me once I became a party boss.

Because they were ministers trained through that process, they also knew the work of other ministries. And we tried to use it to gain an edge over the competition.

* * *

The resentment that had sprouted amid such competition was now exploding during the drinking session. Thanks to this, a war of words broke out here and there with voices raised, and Maeng Sa-seong had to work diligently to extinguish it.

The method chosen by Maeng Sa-seong to extinguish the war of words was more alcohol and a ‘common enemy’.

He continued to drink alcohol to get drunk and made ‘excessive work’ the topic, directing the ministers’ anger towards the working environment rather than their fellow ministers.

Maeng Sa-seong’s desperate efforts must have been successful, as the war of words that used to run rampant in drinking bars was replaced by a song sung in a very tongue-in-cheek voice. Meanwhile, in addition to the first three buckets of soju, four more buckets of soju were brought in.

After observing the situation, Maeng Sa-seong sent a message to the houses of the ministers through a gisaeng. Soon after, servants from the ministers’ houses picked them up and carried them back.

“Whoa~. This is why I haven’t been attending drinking parties lately…”

Meng Sa-seong sighed and grumbled.

“Would you like to quench your thirst for a moment?”

“Something?”

“It’s cold water mixed with honey.”

“Thank you.”

Maeng Sa-seong accepted the water bowl offered by the courtier and gulped down the honey water. After returning the treat, Maeng Sa-seong put on his shoes and looked back at the female gisaeng.

“How much is Shem?”

“I already received it.”

“huh?”

Hearing the Haengsu Gisaeng’s words, Maeng Sa-seong remembered.

“No matter how much I try to remember, I don’t remember having to do the math? “Which captain took the test?”

“It was not the captains who paid it, but the person in the western annex who paid it.”

Maeng Sa-seong’s face became serious when he heard that someone else had paid the fee.

“Lead the way.”

“yes?”

“After all this, he is still a person doing the country’s work. Even though it’s the price of alcohol, you can’t just get it from strangers. Please guide me.”

At Maeng Sa-seong’s words, Haengsu Gisaeng looked embarrassed. When Haengsu Gisaeng hesitated, Maeng Sa-seong recruited Haengsu Gisaeng.

“hurry!”

“yes. Yes….”

Haengsu Gisaeng led Maeng Sa-seong and headed toward the western annex. Although it was said to be a separate building, it was located right around the corner, not far away.

After confirming the location of the outbuilding, Maeng Sa-seong looked a little embarrassed.

“You must have heard everything…”

Since it was something that could cause a scandal if done wrong, the Gisaeng Gisaeng arrived at the annex and went inside, leaving behind Maeng Sa-seong who was struggling to find a solution.

“Please come in.”

“I understand.”

Maeng Sa-seong, who entered the annex with a serious face, looked at the face of the person who had settled the bill, and his face turned white and he was in despair.

“Your Majesty!”