The scribes and historians who had rotated with the next shift ran as if their lives depended on it, completely forgetting they were within the palace grounds. Arriving at the Office of Annals, they gasped for breath and blurted out:
“Urgent! An urgent, no, a huge, huge problem has arisen!”
“What huge problem is this?”
“In… Inspection! The Emperor Emeritus and the Grand Emperor have declared they are conducting an inspection!”
Crash! Thud-thump!
Upon hearing this, their colleagues leaped from their seats. Office supplies scattered across the floor. Some even bumped into desks and furniture but didn’t feel a thing.
“W-Which ministry?”
“All of them!”
“Good heavens!”
“Q-Quickly, spread the word!”
As chaos erupted, the Director of the Office of Annals slammed his hand on his desk.
Bang!
“Silence! Be quiet! Have you forgotten where you are?!”
At the Director’s roar, the scribes flocked to him.
“But, Director. Isn’t this an emergency? An inspection is no ordinary matter!”
“So?!”
“Shouldn’t we inform the others immediately?”
“Do not act rashly.”
“This isn’t acting rashly! We all eat the King’s salary; shouldn’t we help each other?”
“That is precisely what ‘acting rashly’ means! Have you forgotten one of the rules scribes must follow: ‘Do not speak of what you have seen and heard outside’?”
“But, everyone…”
“This is what you call a checkmate.”
“Pardon?”
The scribes looked bewildered at the Director’s words.
“I say again, there are rules scribes must follow. ‘Do not inform outsiders of what you see and hear,’ and ‘Do not seek private gain from what you see and hear.’ Have you forgotten?”
“…”
The scribes shut their mouths at the Director’s rebuke. Scribes and historians shared one commonality with eunuchs and court ladies.
- They see and hear the Emperor’s every move all day long.
Because of this, if they played their cards right, they could reap all sorts of private benefits. Knowing a policy decision or implementation beforehand allowed them to move ahead of the curve. Therefore, scribes, historians, eunuchs, and court ladies were strictly bound by rules prohibiting disclosure and unjust enrichment.
“Why do you think the Emperor rarely lets you out unless it’s something significant? It’s because of those rules. That’s why it’s a checkmate. You can’t do this, you can’t do that. No, if you do this, you’ll get cursed at; if you do that, you’ll get thrown into the Archives. Which is better?”
“…I’d rather just get cursed at.”
The Royal Secretariat was reaching a similar conclusion.
***
Hyang and Wan moved with lightning speed. Two days after mentioning it, they visited the Prime Minister and stated their business.
“Since the abdication is approaching, we must conduct some inspections.”
“In… inspection, you say?”
“Indeed. We have already spoken to the Emperor.”
“…I will prepare the personnel.”
“That is fine. We already have the Board of Audit and Inspection, do we not? We can simply use their people.”
“…Understood.”
“Then, have a good day.”
Leaving behind these words that sounded more like a threat than a blessing, the Prime Minister slumped into his chair and lamented as he watched the two depart.
“Good day my foot! Inspection! An inspection!”
***
After notifying the Prime Minister, Hyang and Wan went straight to the Board of Audit and Inspection. Finding the Chairman, they got straight to the point.
“We will begin the inspection. Here is His Majesty’s order.”
Checking the order, the Chairman answered with a trembling voice.
“I will gather the people.”
“Why summon busy people? Isn’t it enough if we move?”
“Pardon? Pardon?”
“Follow us.”
“Pardon? Pardon?”
Suddenly finding himself acting as an assistant to Hyang and Wan, the Chairman stood by their side as they began to shake down the Board of Audit and Inspection thoroughly. Hyang had earned notoriety alongside Sejong, and Wan had learned properly from him.
“Let’s see… Hmm? Why hasn’t this inspection report been processed?”
“We were busy with work…”
“It’s a report from a whopping three years ago?”
“There is no record of how it was disposed of, no seal indicating it was reported to the Emperor… and its presence here means it hasn’t gone to the Office of Records either…”
“So, in the end, you just buried it? Chairman?”
At Hyang’s call, the Chairman immediately prostrated himself on the floor.
“I-I apologize! This subject was incompetent and delayed the processing.”
“If you’re sorry, you shouldn’t have created a situation to be sorry for. Summon everyone involved. The writer of the report, the first approver, and even the bastard who buried it here. Everyone.”
“Yes, sir!”
For nearly a month afterward, the Board of Audit and Inspection was thoroughly shaken down by Hyang and Wan. During that month, five high-ranking executives were demoted, seven were dismissed and sent to the Office of Records, and about twenty mid-to-low-ranking officials were sent to the Office of Records. And among the auditors who were properly thrashed by Hyang and Wan, this saying circulated:
- Compared to the Emperor Emeritus and the Grand Emperor, the current Emperor is a sage king!
And upon hearing this, Hyeon’s expression turned grim.
“Oho? So I’m a pushover, is that it?”
Meanwhile, Hyang and Wan, having thoroughly shaken down the Board of Audit and Inspection, were chatting with bright smiles.
“The Board of Audit and Inspection is properly venomous now.”
“Is that so? Then shall we unleash them once?”
“I have high expectations.”
The next day, at Hyang and Wan’s command, officials from the Board of Audit and Inspection were unleashed upon every government office in Seoul.
“Imperial Order! We will now commence inspection!”
“Already?”
Officials of the ministries visited by the auditors wore expressions of being caught off guard. However, preparing for it wasn’t easy. In particular, witnessing the Board of Audit and Inspection being thoroughly shaken down, the officials of all ministries felt their vision go dark.
“Preparation itself is impossible!”
But like true Imperial officials, their survival instincts kicked in. Or should we call it a desperate last struggle?
- Neither the Emperor Emeritus nor the Grand Emperor can overwork themselves due to their age.
- Seeing them inspect the Board of Audit and Inspection, it is certain that inspecting other ministries will take a lot of time.
- Inspecting just the central ministries in Seoul will easily take a year.
- Then, apologies to the ministries caught first, but the others can secure enough time.
- So, which ministries have the highest probability of being caught first?
Here, the predicted answers of all officials were largely the same.
- The Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of National Defense.
It was a famous story that the relationship between successive Emperors and the Ministry of Finance was awkward due to budget issues. Therefore, the probability of putting the Ministry of Finance last was very low. Similarly, since the Emperors had great interest in national defense, the probability of choosing the Ministry of National Defense first was high. The officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Defense were making the same judgment.
“Phew… It can’t be helped.”
“We have no choice but to examine and re-examine to the best of our ability.”
Seeing the officials of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of National Defense acting somewhat calmly and resolutely, officials from other ministries wore expressions of pity.
“Sorry about this. Please suffer a bit for us.”
“Good luck with the trouble.”
However, Hyang and Wan’s moves completely defied the officials’ expectations. Thanks to being dusted off until dust flew, they unleashed the auditors, who were filled with venom to the brim, to strike all ministries simultaneously. These were people famous for being fastidious originally, and now they were properly venomous.
And just as Hyang and Wan thought, they began to shake down all ministries until dust flew. Moreover, Hyang and Wan dragged the Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection and barged into the Prime Minister’s and Deputy Prime Minister’s offices.
“We will begin the inspection.”
“E-Even us?”
“Why ask the obvious?”
“Are you lords not subjects of the Empire?”
“…We will accept the inspection.”
As the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister stepped back, Hyang and Wan ordered the accompanying eunuch.
“Bring the documents from over there.”
“Yes.”
Watching Hyang and Wan immediately take seats and begin the inspection, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister sent pleading glances to the Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection sitting to one side. However, what returned was an angry expression filled with venom.
***
It was natural that the work of all ministries creaked as Hyang and Wan shook them down under the pretext of inspection. And Hyeon, who was similarly filled with venom, did not let this slide.
“State affairs are not running smoothly these days. Surely, you didn’t think you could do a sloppy job just because we will soon be an old man in the back room?”
“N-No, Your Majesty!”
“That is absolutely not true!”
Hyeon continued to bite at the Prime Minister and Ministers who strongly denied it.
“No? Then what is this work processing? With results like this, what do you mean ‘no’?”
“T-That is because of the inspection…”
“Do not make excuses!”
At Hyeon’s roar, the ministers prostrated themselves flat like turtles withdrawing into their shells. Watching such ministers, Hyeon continued to press them.
“Did you say the inspection is the problem? The inspection the Emperor Emeritus and the Grand Emperor are conducting now is merely re-examining what your ministries have done so far, is it not? And what we are taking issue with now is what is being done currently and what will be done in the future! The nature of the two situations is completely different, yet you use this as an excuse!”
“I-I apologize.”
“And if you lords had performed your tasks properly in the first place, there would be no need to be nervous about the inspection! But if you are so nervous that you cannot even perform your assigned tasks properly, I can guess how your work has been handled so far!”
“N-No, Your Majesty!”
“Your subjects did their best!”
“And yet it looks like this now?”
“I-I apologize!”
“If you’re sorry, I said don’t do things to be sorry for!”
“Please forgive us!”
“Tsk tsk! That is all for today! Prepare properly again and bring it back! To think I trusted such people… Tsk tsk tsk!”
As Hyeon clicked his tongue and left the court, the Prime Minister and Ministers exited the Geunjeongjeon Hall with exhausted expressions.
“With three generations joining forces to bite us, we cannot live…”
“There has never been a time when I respected my predecessors more than now…”
***
Before long, a strange rumor began to circulate among the officials who were wailing while being frantically shaken down by the three Emperors.
- The reason this happened is because of Myeonsinrye!
“Myeonsinrye? Why Myeonsinrye?”
“Why is Myeonsinrye, which disappeared ages ago, coming up here?”
Officials harboring doubts soon learned the context and spat out every curse they knew.
“Rotten bastards! There are things you do and things you don’t. You do Myeonsinrye to discipline the new Emperor?!”
“Damn it! Why would those old fogies, who know full well the Crown Prince isn’t just becoming Emperor, think of playing tricks!”
“The Ministry of Finance is the same!”
The ones getting cursed weren’t just the high-ranking officials.
“Which crazy bastards did Myeonsinrye!”
“Find those damn bastards!”
“Just let me find them! I won’t kill them nicely. I swear!”
Officials lit fires in their eyes and began searching for the officials who allegedly conducted Myeonsinrye. After a tracking pursuit by officials filled with venom, the troublemakers finally began to be revealed one by one. Officials who found those who caused the trouble smiled grimly.
“So… you’re saying this situation happened because of you half-wits right here?”
“S-Save me!”
“Sorry about this!”