County Magistrate So seemed to remember the silence clearly from when she admitted that she did not know where the Ghost Gate was.
Since then, she had been wearing only a strange, awkwardly benevolent smile. Watching her, Wonhyeok thought to himself.
‘So this is how she has lived, glossing over her neglect of duty with social grace....’
In any event, the current state of the Ghost Gate was more important than her negligence.
The Military Clerk who hurried over at County Magistrate So’s summons was a man with a wispy beard.
His body was solid and imposing in contrast to his beard, making him look like someone suited to the position of Military Clerk.
Haje spoke.
“Going out of your way to grow a beard. As expected of a government official, you are rather old-fashioned.”
‘Is that something you, who must be at least seventy, should be saying...?’
Wonhyeok felt a sudden urge to object to Haje, but held it in.
Still, there was one important part of Haje’s words.
Rather old-fashioned.
Since Haje had not lowered his voice at all, the Military Clerk heard every word and replied with a displeased expression.
“Ahem. W-well, Ghost Gate Messengers of the Office of Ghostly Inspection quickly accept new fashions, so you may think that way. But even local clerks hold official positions.”
“Who said otherwise? Being old-fashioned is not necessarily an insult.”
“Ahem! In any event, I heard you came to inspect the Ghost Gate? I should give you the records.”
The Military Clerk spoke without saying anything further to Haje.
‘He is not even introducing himself....’
Wonhyeok looked at the Military Clerk with a sour expression. Even if they had come as inspectors!
However, Haje did not say anything, either because he was used to such things or because he did not care.
He merely stood crookedly.
His arms were firmly crossed before his chest, and he stood with one hip cocked as though daring someone to challenge him.
...He was neither used to it nor unconcerned.
Haje was displaying his displeasure in full!
Only County Magistrate So and Wonhyeok stood between them, breaking out in cold sweat.
“Yes, Military Clerk. You said that you have managed things well. Once the Messengers examine the records and the Ghost Gate, they will recognize your hard work.”
“That depends on whether there was any hard work.”
Haje sneered again.
At last, Wonhyeok reached out from behind Haje and poked him with a finger as he whispered.
“Why do you keep doing that?!”
Haje suddenly fell silent. Then he tilted his head and spoke.
“Clerk, be careful with your hand. What if I am startled and bite down?”
“My hand was not even near your mouth.”
“I have a mouth on my back too.”
He was lying and threatening him at the same time. Who in the world was the corrupt official here?
In any event, after hearing County Magistrate So, the Military Clerk answered, “Yes,” and had servants bring out every document related to Ghost Gate management.
As the books began piling up, Wonhyeok’s face naturally grew pale.
“There are... more than I expected.”
“It has been three years since the last inspection, so that is only natural.”
“Three years?”
Haje asked sharply.
County Magistrate So gave her usual friendly smile and answered, “Yes.”
“It has been nearly five years since I was appointed to Tanghangseong. From the year of my appointment through the following year, there were Ghost Gate Messenger inspections every year. But after that, you two are the first to visit.”
“Well, His Majesty did say we should reduce the frequency of Ghost Realm Inspections starting last year or the year before.”
Wonhyeok simply thought, I see, as he listened to Haje speak casually.
When the servants finished bringing out the documents and reported that they were done, the Military Clerk spoke to Wonhyeok and Haje.
“These are the records for the Ghost Gate Messengers who subjugated Ghost Gates over the past three years, along with the documents concerning the handling of their byproducts. There are quite a few, but that will be all right, yes?”
“If it is not all right, will you examine them for us? Fine.”
“Th-then, we must first review all these documents....”
After Haje’s indifferent answer, Wonhyeok stared in dismay at the piled books.
Even though they had been stacked in several generous piles, every one of them came up to Wonhyeok’s knees.
As Wonhyeok could not bring himself to continue, Haje rested a hand on his shoulder and spoke for him.
“Yes. We will review them ourselves.”
“Please say that is not true.”
“Please no.”
Damn it!
Why were there no civil officials among Ghost Gate Messengers? They were so closely tied to writing.
Wonhyeok and Haje had moved all the materials into the guest hall. Sitting on the broad wooden floor, they stared at the books before them.
Haje spoke.
“Well, now that everyone uses Hunminjeongeum, there is no need to study until one’s skull cracks as civil officials do. Still, I do occasionally wonder why civil officials do not become Ghost Gate Messengers.”
As Haje said, after Ghost Gates appeared and people awakened regardless of age, gender, or status, these records had all been replaced with Hunminjeongeum.
Documents written inside the royal court still used classical characters, but that was another matter.
In any event, because Ghost Gate Messengers needed to read and understand matters quickly, documents such as Ghost Gate incident reports were normally written in Hunminjeongeum.
Haje was reading the Ghost Gate incident reports, while Wonhyeok examined the ledgers concerning byproducts.
“Come to think of it, mathematical officials are part of the technical examinations, so there must be Ghost Gate Messengers among them as well, correct?”
“Who knows. Perhaps the communication network has different categories and standards from those established by the old court. Among Ghost Gate Messengers, when people speak of technical examinations, it might only mean medicine, Taoism, music, and shamanism.”
“Mathematics, law, and even translation are not included among the technical studies?”
“That is right. It seems they considered those to involve reading and writing as well. Crafts, commerce, and farming are technical examinations.”
Wonhyeok felt his head hurt even more.
Law and translation... Very well, he could grant that a hundred times over. They were both connected to writing, after all.
But he had truly considered the role of mathematical officials to be within the realm of technical studies!
Who could have known that in Joseon during the Ghost Gate era, mathematics and statistics would be disregarded by the communication network alongside the civil-service examination?
No wonder the technical examinations still had so many applicants!
In the end, Wonhyeok swallowed his tears and diligently calculated the Ghost Gate byproduct ledgers.
It was only after he had barely managed to understand and organize an entire ledger that Haje, who had been casually reading the Ghost Gate incident reports, closed his book and spoke.
“But we do not actually need to read all this. They are forged documents anyway.”
“...Why are you only telling me that now?”
“Because you seemed to be working rather hard, Clerk.”
Inwardly, Wonhyeok sprinkled Haje with salt.
Unbothered, Haje gave a snort and tapped the wooden floor among the stacked books with his finger.
“Before we entered Tanghangseong, I told you that we came because of a petition.”
“...Ah! Come to think of it!”
“You will have a long way to go if you are this inattentive. A higher-ranked Ghost Gate Messenger already reported that Ghost Gate management in Tanghangseong was suspected of being negligent. And no Ghost Realm Inspection came for three years? That is impossible. There must be collusion between a Ghost Gate Messenger from Tanghangseong and the local clerks.”
At last freed from the swamp of arithmetic, Wonhyeok thought it over and asked.
“Earlier, you acted as though there was nothing strange about no inspection coming for three years.”
“Could I stand in front of them and say, ‘Hmm? Even though the court has told Ghost Gate Messengers not to throw their weight around, no inspection came for three years? That smells suspicious’?”
“That is true. But if there really is collusion with a Ghost Gate Messenger, would they not already know that a petition had been submitted and that they were targets of inspection?”
“That is why they prepared forged documents so meticulously. The incident reports do not matter much, but the ledgers do.”
As he said that, Haje took the ledger Wonhyeok had been reading.
“Even if they think the Messengers’ information-gathering ability is a joke, would it not be suspicious if few byproducts actually appeared on the market? There was no evidence, so everyone could only watch wide-eyed. That is why they squeeze the commoners’ lifeblood and pretend it is profit from Ghost Gate byproducts. They say, ‘You do not buy them, so how would you know?’ They did put some thought into it.”
“Is the information-gathering ability of Ghost Gate Messengers limited to matters concerning Ghost Gates and their byproducts?”
“More or less.”
Listening to Haje’s affirmation, Wonhyeok thought Ghost Gate Messengers were quite a strange group.
He had heard that they communicated through the communication network somehow, but civilians had no way of knowing how it worked.
However, Wonhyeok had no interest in the habits of Ghost Gate Messengers. He immediately cried out.
“Then the Military Clerk and Revenue Clerk are the ones neglecting Ghost Gate management and secretly taking profit for themselves! Does that not give us grounds to arrest them?”
“Hmm, no? Why bother? If we were to arrest anyone, we would arrest the Ghost Gate Messenger colluding with local clerks. But from what I can see, that Messenger may not even be in Tanghangseong right now. In truth, even if we arrest them, there is little we can do.”
“Pardon? Why?!”
“There is no evidence! And why are you whining like that? It is irritating.”
Was there truly an old man who would call him whiny merely because he had spoken a little more than usual?
Wonhyeok was dumbfounded for a moment, but that was not what mattered.
Come to think of it, Haje was right. There was no evidence.
The incident reports had all been forged, and so had the ledgers.
If the Ghost Gate Messengers’ strangely detailed knowledge of byproduct sales had not made them suspicious, Tanghangseong would simply appear to be a county that taxed its commoners unusually heavily and whose Ghost Gate lock was unusually often in danger.
‘In the end, we need to find evidence before we can arrest the corrupt officials.’
But even if they found evidence, it was uncertain whether Haje would act.
Had he not gone so far as to play that absurd <Duel: Whirling, Impassioned Whatever-It-Was Jacks> just to say he would not interfere?
At the same time, the images of the poor people crouching in the streets passed through Wonhyeok’s mind.
“...How do we find evidence?”
Haje shrugged, pushed aside the piled books, and spoke.
“We enter the Ghost Gate.”
“...Pardon?”
I-I am a civilian, though?