“Hmm… what should I do…”

After agonizing over the letter Sejong had left behind, Hyang let out a long sigh and picked up the letter.

“Sigh… Since he said only I should read it, I could just bury it and be done with it, but… this damnable curiosity…”

Smiling bitterly at his choice to open the letter, unable to overcome his curiosity, Hyang broke the seal.

“Hyang, read this…”

—Hyang, read this.

From childhood, you were a child who displayed extraordinary talent.

At an age when ordinary children barely learned the Thousand Character Classic, you already studied high-level classics, and your debates with the Crown Prince’s lecturers were admirable.

They said “This is not a child’s insight,” so excellent was your level.

Whenever I heard the lecturers’ words, I was very happy.

What parent wouldn’t be delighted to see their child’s excellence? I too was delighted.

However, at some point, I realized something.

That your devotion to study wasn’t to deeply understand and enlighten yourself about the sages’ teachings.

Rather, you worked so hard because you saw classics as shackles you wanted to remove quickly.

After removing those shackles, you began pursuing what you wanted to do with total dedication.

And you did so while cleverly avoiding the noisy ministers’ criticism.

The golden pen was the most representative example.

Creating the golden pen to prove its utility, selling it to help the nation’s finances, and preventing talk about you conducting affairs with the Crown Prince’s money—how could such an idea come from a child not even ten years old?

Your policy proposals were the same.

(Content omitted)

Long ago, many of us, including myself, gathered to discuss matters concerning you.

Among the many things discussed then, three points overlapped.

First, that you already knew things we didn’t, and you struggled to explain them as simply as possible to us.

Second, that when we discovered something after much effort, you already seemed to know it.

Finally, that when there was something we absolutely needed to know, you would cleverly guide our thoughts in that direction.

At the time, many of those gathered had numerous doubts.

Was this all?

During the creation of Correct Sounds, your behavior was peculiar. You seemed familiar with things I was only contemplating.

This doubt grew stronger as I examined the papers from your room.

(Content omitted)

As such incidents accumulated, I sometimes felt you weren’t my son.

It was as if a person from hundreds of years in the future had put on my son’s shell and was living.

Whenever such thoughts arose, I would blame and discipline myself.

What a wretched person I must be to harbor such nonsensical thoughts out of jealousy toward my son. During that time, I would tell myself to better compose myself and work harder.

And I acted accordingly.

Of course, being human, occasionally such preposterous thoughts would creep in to torment me.

However, since your mother gave birth to you, I’ve watched you continuously, and you are indeed my child.

Of course, those who follow Buddhism speak of reincarnation. But even if reincarnation exists, it refers to flowing with time and being reborn later in the future, not being reborn by going against time.

Going back in time is against heaven and against reason.

Therefore, my conclusion is that you are simply far superior to others.

Perhaps not quite to the level of Buddha, who took three steps upon birth and declared “I alone am honored in heaven and earth.”

I say again, you are indeed my son. My proud son.

Now I too have reached the time to conclude my journey in this world.

Looking back to this point, I have continuously walked new paths.

Every day was a new day I had never experienced before, and each step I took trod ground I had never stepped on before.

Walking new paths each day, not yesterday’s path, I take pride in having done my best.

Therefore, I will walk the path to the other world—not of this world but of the next—with a light heart.

So I make a final request of you.

Release everything you’re still keeping inside.

I know well that you still hold much within you.

This is not my misjudgment. It’s a conviction I gained from seeing your expression when you looked at the Miscellaneous Thoughts Record I presented.

Because among Wan who learned from you, experienced ministers, Jeong Inji who daily pursues knowledge with scholars at the research institute and Area 51, and even myself, you were the only one who found something in records we all considered mere miscellany. You had already thought of things similar to what I conceived and recognized their value accordingly.

Therefore, before you leave this world, release everything you’ve held inside.

Even if scholars’ knowledge and craftsmen’s skills cannot keep up, release it.

Even if they cannot reach it now, it will become an excellent signpost.

I earnestly request that you not abandon my entreaty.

Still having strength, I add a few more lines.

Now that I think again, knowing you, you’re the type who would release things even knowing they’re impossible now.

One of your bad habits is hiding things and releasing them bit by bit, and another is setting up situations and watching.

Being you, you’re probably planning to release everything only just before dying.

Then you’d certainly die laughing at the scholars’ frustration.

Don’t get cursed even after death—figure it out and release things early.

Don’t endure curses you don’t need to endure.

This is my final request.

***

“Sigh…”

After finishing Sejong’s letter, Hyang let out a long sigh and clicked his tongue.

“Tsk… You knew me too well. Come to think of it…”

Not long after Hyang established Area 51 and the research institute, the behavior of those around him gradually changed.

Until then, most reactions were “Why this?” or “Is this really possible?” But from some point, when Hyang gave assignments, they tried their best to produce results rather than question them.

The budget issue was similar.

Of course, Area 51 and various events had helped the budget greatly. But he still had to watch the Treasury’s mood when allocating budgets.

Yet at some point, the pressure during budget allocation began to weaken slightly. Of course, he still had to mind Kim Jeom, who held the nation’s purse strings, but even Kim Jeom didn’t blindly oppose everything as before.

Though he still got scolded by Sejong whenever he requested additional budget.

“You rascal, get out!”

Recalling old memories, Hyang looked at the letter with a sad expression.

It was because of the sentence “You are indeed my son” written in the letter.

It had taken considerable time for Hyang to acknowledge Sejong as his father.

In a way, it was natural.

It was difficult to accept that Sejong, a great figure who would remain in history, was his biological father.

Moreover, he strongly felt that only his 21st-century parents were his real parents.

Therefore, when young, Hyang had been even more formally respectful to Sejong.

Reading the letter’s contents, it seemed Sejong knew Hyang kept his distance.

However, Sejong had embraced Hyang to the very end.

“No wonder they say children are left only with regrets when their parents pass away…”

To hide his suddenly melancholy mood, Hyang forcibly changed the subject.

“But he told me to release everything… How should I do it? Rubber should come soon, and since we’ve already gone down a completely different path from the history I knew…”

Hyang began pondering with his arms crossed.

“Since history is already messed up, should I just push forward saying ‘Shut up and follow me’? No. That would give me a headache. Hmm…”

Hyang worked hard to find an easier and more convenient method.

“Should I write something like a Miscellaneous Thoughts Record and just throw it down before dying? Nah. That wouldn’t be fun for me…”

After much deliberation, Hyang’s conclusion was simple.

“Let’s continue as we are. If things get really bad, I’ll write a Miscellaneous Thoughts Record. Anyway, I’ll get plenty of curses later just from what I’ve done so far…”

Had Sejong heard this, he would have immediately shouted “You rascal!”

***

Having decided on future matters, Hyang looked at the letter before him.

On the envelope containing the letter, Sejong’s command was written.

—Burn it after reading.

“But somehow it seems a waste… It’s a letter that well reveals Father’s human aspects and his attitude of constant effort…”

Hyang found it too precious to destroy a letter revealing Sejong’s paternal affection and fierce self-discipline.

After much thought, Hyang’s decision was to ‘seal’ it.

“Let’s see… a suitable book…”

Hyang rummaged through books crammed in the bookshelf and pulled out one.

“This would be good.”

What Hyang chose was ‘Area 52 Top Secret Operations List.’

“Since it won’t be revealed immediately after I die. At the earliest, it’ll take 100 years before this book is opened. When discovered then, historians will go wild. ‘The human side of the First Emperor discovered!’ they’ll say.”

Predicting what would happen in the distant future, Hyang smiled slightly, inserted Sejong’s letter into the book, and placed it back on the shelf.

As a side note, Sejong’s letter left by Hyang was discovered 200 years after Hyang’s death.

As Hyang predicted, the letter’s discovery turned the world’s historical community upside down.

‘The letter left by the emperor who shook world history upon dying’

This alone had enormous historical value, but the recipient of the letter was also problematic.

—If the First Emperor opened the empire’s door, the Second Emperor paved the empire’s path.

—The one who threw the world into chaos.

—The one who left the greatest mark in the world’s scientific development history.

—Are you even human?

Because Hyang, who received such evaluations, was the recipient.

With attention from the historical community and interested general public—mainly empire citizens—focused on them, the letter’s contents were revealed.

Most people who learned the letter’s contents were moved by Sejong’s human side and attitude of constant effort, as Hyang predicted, but some fixed their gaze on other parts.

“Look here! Even the First Emperor had doubts about the Second Emperor! He was an alien disguised as a human!”

Dozens of conspiracy theory books filled with such content were published and sold like hotcakes.

Amidst the global frenzy, the imperial court spokesperson sighed into the broadcast.

“Sigh… Everyone. Think about the environment. Think about the trees sacrificed to print such books.”

“Is that all?”

At the reporters’ question, the spokesperson asked back with a tired face.

“Aren’t you tired of saying and writing the same thing every time?”

“Ah…”

At the spokesperson’s words, the reporters unconsciously nodded.

They too had copied what the spokesperson would say from other manuscripts.