Chapter 182 — The Conditions of a Bribe
"How is it that even as you grow older, your thinking stays exactly the same?"
"What does age have to do with it? I am speaking of right and wrong."
"So bribes and all such things are fine when you receive them, but not when others do?"
"Those men skimmed off the army's supplies in the middle."
"And you?"
"They were truly gifts. I did not even know it was happening. They told me only when I said I would resign."
"To keep you from resigning?"
"Hyu. They did not even say that."
"You speak well. Whether something is a bribe is judged by intent and by whether there is a return expected."
At the words intent and expected return, Youngwoo grew sullen.
Even in his own mind, it looked as if it could be considered a bribe.
There had clearly been an intention to keep him there.
"And?"
"What?"
"What is the standard? The standard for calling something a bribe."
Park Geunsu sighed as he looked at ignorant Youngwoo.
The fellow did not even know whether what he had received counted as a bribe.
"First, whether there is a price attached.
If something was given in the hope of securing a decision, a convenience, or someone looking the other way, it is a bribe.
If the receiving side knows that and accepts it, the matter becomes even clearer."
"And?"
"Second, whether it is connected to official duty.
If it is related to authority, it is dangerous.
Private exchange outside one's authority is closer to sincerity."
Youngwoo made his own conclusion.
"Then it is sincerity."
"Third, timing and circumstance.
If it is given while a matter is pending, or before a judgment is made, its meaning changes.
Even a token after the work is done can invite suspicion again if its scale is large.
If it was before and after the matter, that is, if it was meant to stop your resignation, then the timing and circumstances fit."
"Hang it on the ear and it becomes an earring, hang it on the nose and it becomes a nose ring. It was sent before my current resignation."
"If it was sent in advance to stop your resignation…"
"Ah, no. That is not it. And? What else?"
"Fourth, scale and repetition.
If it is too large, or if it accumulates over several times, people see intention in it.
A single greeting and continuous provision carry different weight.
Gifts came several times, continuously. Did they not?"
Youngwoo hunched his shoulders.
A lot had come.
No, people said a lot had come.
It had been repeated.
Several times, no, continuously, they had sent things.
"Yes. Is there more?"
"Lastly, whether it can be revealed openly is a standard.
If it can be recorded and reported, it is closer to sincerity.
If it must be hidden, its character as a bribe becomes stronger."
"This was not hidden, so it is sincerity."
Park Geunsu looked elsewhere.
It was a textbook case of bending the water toward one's own field.
If Youngwoo kept his military post, this could become a problem later.
"If something was given as payment to influence your duties, secretly, repeatedly, and excessively, then it is a bribe.
Applying that to your case, even if you did not demand it, if gifts were sent because of your position, and if they could influence later judgment, then from the outside it is easy for them to look like bribes.
Inside, they may be sincerity.
Outside, they look like a transaction."
Youngwoo asked with a pout.
"Is that all?"
"As far as I know, yes."
"Then it was right to arrest and kill all those military commanders at Seonchullyeong.
They stole things and offered them upward, and those above ate them up. It was chaos."
"You already did that."
Youngwoo tilted his head.
"Kim Baeksu was at the Noksu ferry station on the border. He was lounging around and drinking…"
"You saw him?"
"How could I not see him on the way here? I thought you had placed him there to turn my stomach inside out."
Park Geunsu answered with an uneasy expression.
"It seems he comes from a family of meritorious retainers of the previous generation."
Youngwoo asked,
"If someone is from a meritorious family, may he skim off supplies, offer them upward, drink with the proceeds, and kill his subordinates?"
"Kill his subordinate?"
"A man named Yi Yongcheol killed himself."
"That is difficult to assign responsibility for. He killed himself."
"I told you, he made him kill himself. A boy who could have lived without law."
"Without law, he would have been beaten to death. That place was a lawless ground."
"So you approve of it?"
"There must have been difficulties. Seo Ui-taek too, and Yi Huisong too, all seem to have had circumstances."
"So is this one of those things where everyone knows everyone through one connection?"
"Yes. It seems they could not deal with all of them, and some remained."
Youngwoo's face turned cruel.
"So I killed him. On the way here."
Park Geunsu started and rose, bracing himself on the table.
"What?"
"I do not know if he died. I shot from a distance so I would not be discovered."
"Is he dead?"
"I did not confirm it."
Park Geunsu sat still, as if his soul had left him.
Perhaps this was why they had said children like him should not be raised upward.
Perhaps this was why they had opposed bringing such a child into the leadership run by men who had learned enough and had families behind them.
Park Geunsu knew that he himself was not free from their impulse to exclude.
Youngwoo acted according to his own will.
He judged and moved by his own standards, but those standards differed greatly from theirs.
Judging matters was also, in many ways, a cultural act.
Perhaps that was why they were horrified and opposed when a child whose culture differed from the high officials rose into their ranks.