Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 370

Coal was discovered by chance during these investigations.

Prospectors were dispatched to Daeseoldo to determine if there were any economically viable sulfur hot springs or sulfur mines other than Hell Valley.

The prospectors, accompanied by a considerable escort force to guard against predators and hostile Ainu tribes, began to search various parts of Daeseoldo.

Among these, a coal vein was discovered near a place called Otaornai (Otaru) in the Ainu language.

‘The quality is excellent, and coal extraction is somewhat easier compared to Gangwon Province.’

Upon receiving the report, Sejong immediately summoned his ministers to gather opinions.

“As more and more coal is needed for various industries, including iron manufacturing, and coal is used in large quantities for heating homes, I think it’s right to mine it.”

As the ministers’ opinions converged on development, Sejong ordered the development of the mine.

Consequently, many miners began crossing the sea to Daeseoldo. Although the perception was poor due to most serious criminals serving labor in mines, the salary that properly employed miners received was quite high, so the number of people who left for Daeseoldo was considerable.

Before long, a significant number of Ainu people began working in the mines of Daeseoldo. This was because working in the mines provided a steady income compared to dangerous hunting or low-yield farming. And since the pay was not meager but equal to that of Joseon people, the families of miners could live much more abundantly compared to other Ainu people.

In this process, the relationship between the Ainu people and Joseon people began to grow closer little by little.

The Ainu people and Joseon people observed each other with curious eyes.

In this process, Joseon people evaluated the Ainu people like this:

“They’re innocent and kind, but not very interesting.”

On the other hand, the Ainu people’s evaluation of Joseon people was almost identical to Hakumakkuru’s.

“What interesting humans.”

The Joseon people that the Ainu saw were truly interesting.

When working, they worked truly diligently, but when playing, they played wildly and excitedly. When necessary, they were politely respectful, but when they became close, they were rudely disrespectful to the point of almost provoking anger.

Joseon soldiers were the same. Usually, they lived gently, but when Japanese pirates invaded or hostile Ainu tribes attacked, they fought with ghost-like faces.

Every time the iron clubs, seemingly imbued with the energy of lightning struck by Kandakorokamui (the sky god), spewed fire, the blood of enemies formed streams.

The Joseon soldiers with these terrifying iron clubs and ghost-like faces drove the enemies until they all died or surrendered.

Watching the behavior of these Joseon people, all the Ainu people came to a similar conclusion.

“They’re just like bears.”

The Joseon people were like bears, seemingly gentle and docile usually, but once they turned ferocious, they transformed into messengers of death.

To add, among the reasons they were seen as bear-like was also the Joseon people’s big appetite and crazy preference for meat.

“They eat like bears too.”

***

The government monopoly store official burst into laughter when he heard this story from an Ainu person he had become friendly with.

“Hahaha! That sounds plausible? Maybe we are bears. We have the blood of Ungnyeo (Bear Woman) mixed in, after all!”

“Ungnyeo?”

The government monopoly store official explained the Dangun myth to the Ainu person.

After hearing the official’s story, the Ainu person nodded.

“That really does sound plausible.”

At that very moment, a loud bell rang from the watchtower on the bamboo-reinforced concrete wall surrounding the village.

Ding ding ding!

“It’s here~!”

At the shout of the sentry in the watchtower, soldiers standing guard around the gate grabbed their muskets and ran out.

A moment later.

Bang! Ratatang! Bang!

Loud gunshots rang out. And not long after, a large cart went out.

Soon after, a bear carcass with an enormous body was brought in on the cart.

The body was so big that only the trunk was on the cart, with the head and legs drooping outside the cart. Around the bear carcass, soldiers with muskets slung over their shoulders were walking along with grinning faces.

***

The most common and dangerous predator in Daeseoldo was the bear. Therefore, since setting foot on Daeseoldo, Joseon troops had to hunt many bears.

When the number of bears caught like this quickly approached a hundred, Sejong issued a royal order.

-Bear hunting is prohibited except for bears coming down to civilian houses!

For Joseon people, living in harmony was not just about humans. Just as they left persimmons at the top of persimmon trees as “magpie food,” wild animals and plants were also included in the category of this harmony.

Therefore, the policy regarding predators was not to actively hunt them unless they came down to civilian houses and caused harm. However, if harm was received, they hunted the predators with full force.

This is why the saying arose that “For half the year in Joseon, tigers hunt people, and for the other half, people hunt tigers.”

Of course, Sejong issued this order not only out of concern for indiscriminate overhunting but also to prevent negligence in defense due to being preoccupied with hunting.

Anyway, because of this order, an implicit rule was created that in cases like this where a bear appeared, it was handled by the soldiers on duty at the entrance of the village.

And it was also an implicit rule that if money was made in this way, a certain reward was given to the soldiers who alerted the situation from the watchtower.

***

“Wow! Look at the size!”

“With that size, the gallbladder must be huge too!”

“Is the gallbladder the only issue? For bears or tigers, everything from the skin to the claws is money, money!”

“Those guys are going to make a fortune!”

The Joseon people and soldiers watching from around all looked at the lucky protagonists with envious eyes.

The Ainu person, who had been watching the bear carcass moving on the cart and the Joseon soldiers, turned to look at the government monopoly store official.

“Didn’t you say they were descendants of bears?”

***

Lastly, the research institute, where Hunminjeongeum was also welcomed, had unavoidable circumstances as well.

The most internationalized place in current Joseon was the research institute.

Not only were there Joseon researchers, but also people from Arab countries, Italy, and Greece gathered there, so it was natural that communication problems arose due to language.

In the case of Arab people, like Hassan, they had resided in Joseon for a long time, so there wasn’t much problem with language communication, but the researchers from Italy and Greece who had most recently entered Joseon were the problem.

“First, learn Joseon’s language and Chinese characters.”

Because of Hyang’s order, they started learning Korean and Chinese characters, but it wasn’t easy to learn a foreign language where everything was different, starting from the grammar book.

Therefore, Hyang had to propose a compromise to lower the hurdle a bit.

“Learn only the minimum etiquette necessary for conversation. And for writing… do your best.”

Due to Hyang’s measure, the monks and alchemists could work with only minimal etiquette learned, pushing back etiquette related to honorifics and titles starting with the rule of respecting superiors.

However, Chinese characters, which were essential for document writing, couldn’t be like that. The number of advanced Chinese characters that go into theses and reports, not just simple letters, was no joke. For reference, even the Arab people who were said to be familiar with Korean and Chinese characters were having difficulties in this area.

Therefore, even though monks and alchemists had arrived, progress was inevitably slow.

When a discussion on some mathematical point was held, the discussion could proceed with formulas and dialogue. However, proper discussion couldn’t proceed with just scattered words and formulas, and a well-expressed thesis organizing thoughts was absolutely necessary.

Because of this, at first, Hyang had to translate theses organized in Latin.

“Damn! I have so many things to obsess over, but I have to keep translating!”

Annoyed, Hyang mobilized newly trained interpreters for translation.

However, the translations by interpreters with shallow mathematical knowledge were full of errors.

Therefore, this kind of saying circulated among Joseon people in the research institute and Area 51.

“Which would be faster, for them to learn Korean and Chinese characters, or for us to learn Latin?”

It was in this situation that Hunminjeongeum appeared.

***

Joseon researchers who encountered Hunminjeongeum through Hyang and Jinpyeong cheered greatly!

“Now we can escape the trouble of looking up dictionaries!”

Even for those accustomed to writing, it wasn’t easy to find accurate Chinese characters and write with them. Hunminjeongeum, which allowed them to record their familiar words as they were, was the best gift that could prevent unnecessary mental exhaustion.

This Hunminjeongeum was also welcomed by monks and alchemists. First of all, they were accustomed to phonetic writing systems. Although the arrangement of words composing sentences was different, they could soon adapt to that part. Being able to record the Korean language they had become quite familiar with, although still awkward, directly, and being able to read and immediately understand documents written by others was also welcome to them.

As both sides became familiar with Hunminjeongeum, the work of interpreters gradually decreased. And finally, the interpreters were able to leave the research institute.

On the day they heard the order that ‘You no longer need to come to the research institute,’ the interpreters rushed to a gisaeng house as a group and held a feast.

As a postscript, these trained interpreters later played active roles in Alexandria and Europe.

And they became notorious old fogies.

“Listen! In my day! We had to translate mathematical theses! Don’t whine about mere contracts!”

Thus, it seemed that peace had come to the research institute and Area 51, but not long after, a major accident occurred where the entire research institute was split in two and collided.

***

It started with ‘time difference’.

In the process of sailing to Alexandria, measuring the position of the ship was a very important task. Various measuring devices were needed to measure the exact position, but the most important was the clock.

Well aware of this, Hyang instructed Jang Yeong-sil to develop a precision clock – chronometer – that moved with a spring. Until then, the clocks used by Joseon used weights and pendulums, and these types of clocks had errors due to the rocking of waves and such. That’s why he ordered the creation of a spring-driven clock.

Jang Yeong-sil, who had been deeply versed in precision technology to the extent of creating a water clock where dolls struck drums and bells to tell time and a self-moving royal palanquin – with a spring as the power source, no less – in the history before Hyang’s intervention, was able to create clocks at the level Hyang wanted by working through his subordinate craftsmen.

And these precision clocks thus created began to be loaded onto Challenger-class and Haeung-class warships.

And it was in the sailing records of these Challenger-class warships that embarked on ocean voyages with these clocks that the time difference problem began to be officially recorded.

Hyang, who confirmed the time difference problem through the sailing records, smiled wickedly.

“Shall we start setting up the board? There’s a lot more to do besides this, but if we don’t sort this out properly, there’s a high chance of problems when crossing the Pacific in the future. We need to change the seat from religion to science.”

Having made up his mind, Hyang gathered the researchers and proceeded with the work.

“Looking at the records of sailing to Alexandria, there’s a common mention that ‘the time indicated by the clock on the ship is different from the local time.'”

“Are you referring to time difference, Your Highness?”

Hyang nodded at Jeong Cho’s words.

“Yes. From what I’ve observed, if we divide the route from our Joseon to Alexandria at appropriate intervals, it seems we can calculate the time difference.”

Thinking for a moment at Hyang’s words, Jeong Cho soon nodded and continued.

“It seems possible.”

And so the research proceeded.

And as Hyang wanted, a fire pit was created.

‘Spherical Earth Theory vs. Flat Earth Theory’

‘Heliocentric Theory vs. Geocentric Theory’

It was the start of a war.

“We need popcorn, popcorn!”

***

Note 1) Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. ‘Ungnyeo’

http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0040541