Chapter 27: Gwageo Purification

An unprecedented incident shook the royal court.

A satirical rumor that had been circulating among the people had become the subject of official discussion—such a thing was unheard of since the ascension of the current novel-hating king.

Perhaps that was why.

The direction of state affairs being discussed on this day was quite different from the usual.

Of course, as always, whenever things went awry, harsh words would rain down from the king on his throne upon his ministers.

"Consider, consider! Always with the ‘consider!’ Is that truly the only word you all know?"

Normally, if such a satirical rumor became a topic, the king’s anger should have been directed toward that.

Yet now, King Jeongjo's fury was unmistakably aimed at the ministers bowing their heads before him.

"The civil service exam is a test for selecting talents who will be the pillars of the nation! It directly determines Joseon's future! And now, the system has become such a mess, but not a single one of you cared?"

"Your Majesty, I beg your pardon, but—"

"If you know it's disgraceful, then shut your mouth!"

At the wrong moment, one minister stepped forward, only to be struck by a torrent of scorn from the old man.

If things had gone poorly, Kim Josun, who was seated there, might have been in that very position himself, so he patted his startled chest in relief.

"Wasn’t there a similar incident at the Office of Royal Decrees in the year of my ascension? I warned you most sternly back then as well!"

King Jeongjo’s angry voice thundered through the audience hall.

After all, he was a king who, while publicly promoting the policy of impartial governance, secretly beat his ministers into submission to strengthen royal authority.

This incident was the perfect case for Jeongjo to use for political leverage, and to make it all the more compelling, there was yet another powerful justification behind it.

It was the scandal that broke out during a promotion examination at the Office of Royal Decrees right after Jeongjo took the throne.

Curious about the high scorers with excellent answers, the young king summoned them for an audience.

‘Why are none of you able to rewrite the answers you submitted on the spot?’

"Y-Your Majesty… The thing is…"

When Jeongjo administered the test himself, none of the top three scorers could reproduce even a single line from their original answers.

Corruption in the exams had already permeated deep into not just the civil service exams, but the very core of the royal court.

But at that time, Jeongjo was a young king who had just inherited his grandfather's throne and whose legitimacy had yet to be established due to his father’s scandal.

Thus, he had no choice but to let the incident slide with only light punishments for the examiners and officials.

Now, however, the matter he’d lacked the power to address had resurfaced.

And just recently, the king had overseen a special examination—ripe for him to clamp down.

Those who got entangled in the  case truly had rotten luck in every way.

"Chief Left State Councilor!"

At that moment, the ever-reliable Chae Jegong, who managed all sorts of affairs under Jeongjo, was called by name once again.

Everyone present in the hall realized at once: there was no way the king would simply let this matter go.

"I appoint you as the Chief Supervisor of the newly established Bureau of the Gwageo Scandal, and charge you with eradicating every known vice!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The words that fell from Jeongjo’s lips were quite terrifying.

This meant that the  incident would not be treated as a mere crime.

The term ‘Gwageok’ (科獄) referred to the examination scandal that arose from cheating in the state exams during the reign of King Sukjong.

‘Goksa’ (獄事), after all, was a word used for the gravest of crimes, such as treason or murder.

In other words, Jeongjo had declared: ‘I will show no mercy to all those implicated in this case.’

According to precedent, and as predetermined by Jeongjo and Chae Jegong, the appointments for the bureau were swiftly made.

Strangely, all the appointees were men whose children or relatives had no ties to the state examinations.

Furthermore—

"And you, Kim Josun of Gyujanggak!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"You, too, are hereby appointed as the Chief Administrator of this special bureau!"

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise at this unexpected appointment.

For Kim Josun, barely in his mid-thirties, to be given such significant power and position was a bold move.

The Chief Administrator was the de facto leader in charge of all the practical affairs of this special task force.

To appoint even a favored loyalist like Kim Josun, who was merely a 7th rank lecturer, was an extraordinary leap.

Moreover, this special task force was certain to uncover rampant corruption and leave a trail of blood.

Placing Kim Josun in such a position was a clear and official declaration of royal favor.

Most of the ministers present had already heard rumors about the king barging into Gyujanggak to personally summon Kim Josun.

"……!!"
"This… this is…"

Those who had cheated on the exams now sat like mice before a cat.

Those uninvolved, meanwhile, braced themselves for the coming storm that would soon sweep through the court.

They all sensed it.

This incident would indeed be one that would shake Joseon to its very core.

---

No, is this really how things turned out?

After Kim Josun reported the details to me, all of Hanyang erupted in chaos.

All the scholars who had passed the recent special examination were summoned en masse to the palace by royal decree.

Even those who had returned to their hometowns were called back without exception, and so rumors ran wild in Hanyang that  had finally caused a major stir.

Soon after, news spread that the corrupted exam passers were bound in red ropes and dragged into the State Tribunal.

Then, terrifying rumors followed: countless ministers and high officials had lost their hats—and their heads.

Some were already calling this campaign to root out corruption from the civil service exams ‘Gwageo Purification’ (科擧醇正).

It meant returning the civil service examinations to a pure and righteous state.

Strangely, the name reminded me of the ‘Munche Ban-jeong’ that vanished alongside the ‘burning spirit tablet’ incident, giving me chills for no clear reason.

Perhaps, in the future, history would refer to this event as ‘Gwageo Purification’ instead of ‘Munche Ban-jeong.’

In any case, it seemed that a purification was bound to happen around this time.

Even the history books I’d read from the future cited Jeongjo’s check on the Noron faction as one cause of the Munche Ban-jeong.

Perhaps the pent-up ‘old-man-psyionic energy’ that had been directed at novels now exploded here instead.

When I think about it, what was the reason Great-Grandfather King Sukjong repeatedly instigated purges to crush his ministers?

Even then, they had so-called ‘Odd Exam Scandals’ and ‘Imjin Exam Scandals,’ using the corruption in the exams as a pretext to trample their ministers to dust.

It was one method to strengthen royal power, wielded with the support of an impeccable bloodline.

Well, anyway, it was a relief that with the disappearance of Munche Ban-jeong, the collateral damage didn’t spill over into the world of novels.

It was also fortunate that, thanks to a string of misunderstandings, Kim Josun got caught by Jeongjo, but my true identity was not revealed.

And the king’s authority, strengthened from +25 to about +30 by purging his ministers, would likely be passed on to me when I eventually took the throne.

Moreover—

[……This humble servant Kim Josun owes all glory to Your Highness. I pledge my undying loyalty now and always……]

Kim Josun, by this affair, had firmly caught my father’s eye.

Already a favorite, now he’d placed himself at the center of national politics at a young age.

Of course, to be honest, Kim Josun was just a slightly fanatical henchman to me.

His career success didn’t particularly benefit me at this point.

Later, after revealing my true identity, he might become a valuable political partner at court, but that was a distant prospect.

Only after we forged an even stronger bond might he truly become my right hand.

But that wasn’t the most important thing.

[……It seems His Majesty’s thoughts on satirical stories have changed somewhat. Furthermore, he summoned me secretly at night and commanded……]

It was clear Jeongjo was quite pleased with this Gwageo Purification affair.

According to Kim Josun’s report, it was as if the people had been shaken up by the satire, allowing a swift surprise attack on the targets.

Jeongjo was highly satisfied with the results of this unintended operation.

After all, the people, usually apathetic toward government policies, were now reacting with intense passion—completely unlike before.

‘Truly, His Majesty is a sage king!’
‘A wise ruler who knows how to right wrongs!’
‘How benevolent, to care even about the satirical rumors of the common folk!’

A man who loved to watch over the people surely could not have failed to hear such things.

With the king lauded for overturning the ‘sweet potato’ revealed in  and pouring ‘cider’ over it, the praise from the people came thick and fast.

For a father obsessed with the Confucian duty to care for his people, surely this was the greatest gift.

By chance, the ending I’d written for  also played a role in this outcome.

This was a slightly different matter, but honestly, I had always regretted that the spicy original work, so gripping in the middle, ended on such a bland note.

Of course, I understood the original ending had been shaped by adult circumstances.

But as the successful author I was now, I was confident I could capture readers no matter how I concluded .

As  showed, this era was immune to so-called ‘light-ending’ dreams and bad endings.

I planned to finish  with spice until the very end.

And so, the result—

"Yes…!! This is it! This!!"

The first to read the completed manuscript of  was Court Lady Choi, who reacted with intense excitement.

She looked as if she’d just downed cider to wash down every last piece of sweet potato.

"As expected, ‘that person’ is a master storyteller! To embed a lesson of virtue triumphing over evil in this story, and still leave such lingering aftertaste!"

"Is it really that good?"

"A-ah… Please, just forget how I looked just now… I beg you…"

At some point, Lady Choi had begun restraining her reactions in my presence, but still.

, which had descended into a makjang, or melodramatic trainwreck, ended in a sort of wipeout finale.

The protagonist Lady Han’s son gains first place in the preliminary exam and qualifies for Sungkyunkwan, thanks to the exam corruption orchestrated by Master Kim the Wall.

But that was the limit of their happiness.

Master Kim the Wall, catching wind of Lady Han’s jealousy-fueled murder of the model student, uses it to blackmail her for more money, escalating the conflict.

In the end, Lady Han murders Master Kim, staining her hands with blood yet again, sending the plot into a dopamine-fueled frenzy.

But then, the king—bearing a striking resemblance to Jeongjo—orders a thorough investigation.

Following the king’s inquiry, Lady Han’s exam cheating and murder are laid bare for all to see.

As a result, her family is destroyed, and she herself faces the harshest punishment, closing  with a classic ‘virtue triumphs over evil’ ending.

As a coda, a stinging, lingering afterword was sprinkled like chili powder on the final lines:

[“...So you’re the famous Master Kim the Wall?”

“That’s right.”

“But I heard you met a tragic end in the last scandal…?”

Bang Sato, anxious about his son’s exam results, looked up in shock.

He had heard that this Kim, infamous throughout Hanyang, had perished in a scandal tied to exam corruption.

“Heh… Who knows. Maybe those are just the ramblings of the ignorant?”

But the man called Master Kim only smiled quietly, snapping open his folding fan.

After that, people claiming to be Master Kim continued to appear throughout the land.

Had Lady Han failed to squeeze the life from him?

Or were impostors borrowing his tainted name?

Even now, a wandering ghost called Master Kim haunts all of Joseon.

The ghost named Kim.

︙

︙]

It was meant to leave a lingering warning: that unless corruption was rooted out, it would always return.

But the reaction from readers was explosive.

- Ah, this is it! This!!
- This is why I read satire!
- Is it true the author of this satire was arrested by the State Tribunal?
- So is this a posthumous work? Who’ll write such brilliant stories from now on…?

This was the hottest response I’d ever gotten for a novel, according to the message that Gyedeok-sang later slipped me.

Apparently, he’d compiled these reactions after canvassing opinions before the publication of the final volume.

It was the first time Gyedeok-sang had reported reader feedback in this way, and only then did I realize that  was a hit like no other.

Honestly, I made no effort to avoid accusations of collusion with the authorities.

The ending was clearly political, and it was a fact that I had intentionally inserted a king resembling my father—a character I had not originally planned to include.

But that was simply a desperate attempt to ease my father’s prejudice against novels.

With my identity liable to be exposed at any moment, I needed such safety mechanisms to avoid the rice chest.

Thankfully, my father still seemed to believe Kim Josun was the author of .

One must always lay the groundwork to minimize risks where possible.

And so, what had begun as a parody of a popular drama, merely to tamp down overheated enthusiasm for , concluded with rather unexpected results.

And there was one, most important lesson:

Through this unintended chain of events that grew into a massive snowball, I learned that even politics could be influenced through novels.

There were far more ways to help change Joseon from behind the scenes than I’d ever imagined.

---

A few days later.

It was shortly after I’d finished .

"Gasp…!!"

One evening,

I was struck by a blinding turn of events.

"You’ve come."

It happened while I was making my usual evening call of duty.

As always, fulfilling my duties as Crown Prince, I first headed to Huijeongdang, where my father was.

"Let’s talk for a while tonight."

On King Jeongjo’s desk, piled high with memorials from the day’s state affairs, sat something I could never have imagined.

"I want to hear your thoughts about this satire."

.

What caught my eye were the five characters in the book’s title, laid out on Jeongjo’s desk.