Chapter 21 — Land Survey (1)
Yeoni led Doyul into a shabby building tucked away in one corner of the government office.
Saws, hammers, chisels, and all kinds of tools were scattered around, making it look like a storage shed at first glance.
"Hm. I didn't know there was a storage room back here."
Yeoni shook her head.
"...Then what is it?"
She bowed her head slightly.
"Autopsy room."
Doyul was briefly taken aback by how absurdly short her answer was, but quickly focused on what she meant.
"...Autopsy?"
Nod. Nod.
"Workroom."
"...?"
"...Ah!"
As though suddenly realizing something, Yeoni introduced herself.
"Yeoni."
"Hm?"
"My name."
"...!"
Doyul recognized it.
"Ah, seriously, Yeoni is so, so cute! Every time she appears, I can't stop smiling like a proud mom!"
...Nayun definitely mentioned her before.
Doyul looked around the room and fell into thought.
If this is an autopsy room, then...
An autopsy involved examining the body of the deceased.
Naturally, it was not something performed under ordinary circumstances.
There were only two situations where an examination of a corpse became necessary.
When someone had been killed.
Or when someone had died under suspicious circumstances and the cause was unknown.
Looking around the room, Doyul remembered something one of his criminal law professors had once said.
"Let's take a short break and talk about something interesting."
The professor, a former chief prosecutor, had told them stories from his days in the prosecution.
"Back when I was a prosecutor, I had to attend quite a few examinations of suspicious deaths. But what would prosecutors like us know just by looking at a corpse? We mostly stood there blankly. The forensic doctors were the ones who actually did all the hard work."
[Article 222 of the Criminal Procedure Act — Examination of a Person Who Died an Unnatural Death: When there is a corpse of a person who died an unnatural death or is suspected to have died unnaturally, a prosecutor of the district prosecutors' office having jurisdiction over the location shall conduct an examination.]
Under modern Korean criminal procedure, when a suspicious death occurred, a prosecutor was formally responsible for the examination.
But prosecutors who spent their lives studying law could hardly determine much simply by looking at a corpse.
So in reality, forensic experts conducted most of the examination under the prosecutor's supervision.
"But everyone, did you know Joseon had people like forensic examiners too?"
"Really?"
"Yes. Specialists who examined corpses in Joseon."
Doyul looked at Yeoni.
"If this is your workroom..."
His professor's next words came back to him.
"In Joseon, they were called..."
"You're an ojagin, aren't you?"
Nod. Nod!
Yeoni looked around to make sure no one was watching.
Then she removed her mask.
...A girl. Maybe around her mid-teens.
Doyul quietly observed her.
Ojagin played an extremely important role in identifying the cause of suspicious deaths.
But in Joseon, handling corpses was considered deeply unclean.
As a result, society looked down on ojagin terribly.
...Is that why she normally hides her face behind a mask?
He didn't know the details.
But his conclusion was simple.
I need to make a good impression on her.
The fact that Nayun had mentioned her meant she was probably a significant character.
But there was another reason too.
...I absolutely need an ojagin.
Just as modern prosecutors needed forensic specialists, Doyul would need someone capable of examining corpses.
"Tell me what's wrong. If it's something I can help with, I'll do whatever I reasonably can."
Doyul responded warmly, hoping to leave Yeoni with a favorable impression.
Unfortunately...
"..."
"...?"
Yeoni wasn't particularly good with words.
"Grandfather."
"...Grandfather?"
"Land."
"..."
"Taken."
"......?"
Doyul stared blankly, unable to follow.
Yeoni responded by reducing the matter to what she apparently believed were the absolute essentials.
"Park Jeongdo. Ibang."
"...Park Jeongdo?"
"Good grandfather. Land. Taken."
Doyul took a slow breath.
...What does that even mean?
Why was Park Jeongdo suddenly involved?
And why was the unrelated Ibang involved too?
"...Could you explain just a little more?"
Nod.
"Grandfather. Land."
She nodded to herself.
"Park Jeongdo."
"...Right."
"Taken."
"......"
That wasn't much better.
"...When you say grandfather, do you mean your actual grandfather?"
Shake. Shake.
"Then?"
"Good grandfather."
"...A good grandfather?"
Nod.
"......"
Doyul was speechless.
What the hell is she trying to tell me...?
After thinking for a moment, he muttered.
"...Wouldn't it be faster to just ask the magistrate?"
Shake! Shake!
Yeoni strongly objected.
"Magistrate. Busy."
"...?"
...And I'm not?
"Mustn't trouble him."
"..."
......And me?
Doyul couldn't understand the logic behind refusing to trouble the magistrate while happily troubling him instead.
Still, he decided to go along with it.
Fine. Let's do this her way for now.
She probably has a reason.
After thinking for a moment, Doyul suggested something.
"Then can you take me to this grandfather?"
"...!"
The moment she heard him, Yeoni put her mask back on and marched out energetically.
"...Where are you going?"
"Follow me."
Yeoni brought Doyul to an elderly man.
The old man bowed politely upon seeing him.
"...My name is Im Dogyeom. Aren't you Yulli Kang Doyul, whose reputation has spread throughout the county lately?"
Doyul bowed as well.
"I am Kang Doyul."
At a glance, Im Dogyeom appeared to be a commoner of respectable status.
But he held no official position.
In practice, he lived no differently from an ordinary farmer.
That was likely why Im Dogyeom used formal language toward Doyul, who worked for the government office.
Doyul returned the courtesy out of respect.
"Haha. It seems Yeoni has been bothering you, Yulli."
Shake! Shake!
Yeoni strongly objected.
Im Dogyeom ignored her and continued.
"Please pay it no mind. This old man could die any day now and has merely committed a foolish mistake. The child has a kind heart, so she must have behaved rudely because she was worried about me. I apologize."
Im Dogyeom bowed.
But Doyul immediately picked up on something in his words.
"What do you mean when you say you made a foolish mistake?"
"...It is nothing. How could I trouble a busy yulli with a private matter?"
Yeoni, listening beside them, apparently couldn't endure it any longer.
"Park Jeongdo! Grandfather's land! Took it!"
"...Yeoni! You mustn't say things like that!"
Yeoni drooped.
"..."
Doyul looked past the sulking girl and asked.
"Elder. I heard your land was taken."
"...The child is speaking nonsense."
"I have a duty to investigate problems that may involve wrongdoing. Would you tell me what happened?"
"...Ugh."
Im Dogyeom hesitated with a troubled expression.
"This old man merely made a mistake. How could I possibly complain about that to you?"
...There's definitely something here.
Sensing it, Doyul became more serious.
"Please tell me. I can't help you unless I know what happened."
"Well..."
Im Dogyeom's face visibly stiffened.
After hesitating for a while, he finally began explaining little by little.
"There is a piece of land that has been passed down through my family for generations. It is not large, but it was enough to farm and support my family."
"I see."
Not every yangban in Joseon devoted himself to studying.
Especially in rural areas, many respectable commoners and minor landed families lived almost exactly like ordinary farmers.
"As I grew older and my strength declined, I left the land unused for a while. Then one day, a man came to me and asked to rent it."
"As a tenant farmer?"
"Yes. He seemed to be an outsider. To my shame, he offered far more money than the usual rate, so I agreed to lease him the land."
"I understand."
"But..."
Im Dogyeom lowered his head.
"...It turned out the written agreement wasn't a lease at all."
He swallowed.
"It was a sale contract."
"...What?"
Doyul stared at him in surprise.
"What do you mean? How could a land-sale document be mistaken for a tenancy agreement?"
"...It is shameful, but I cannot read."
"...!"
That one sentence made the situation clear.
So that's why he didn't want to explain.
For a yangban or respectable commoner, illiteracy was deeply embarrassing.
Im Dogyeom was elderly and effectively no different from an ordinary farmer, so it wasn't particularly strange that he couldn't read.
But socially, admitting it would still be humiliating.
And whoever tricked him into selling the land clearly exploited that weakness.
Doyul sighed.
"...I'll help you. A transaction like that can be challenged and invalidated on the grounds of fraud..."
"...That is impossible."
"What?"
Im Dogyeom spoke bitterly.
"...I already offered to return the money and demanded my land back."
He paused.
"But they said the land had already been sold to someone else."
"...!"
Doyul's expression changed.
"Then the person who bought the land was...?"
"...Yes. Elder Park Jeongdo purchased the land that I supposedly sold."
Im Dogyeom was older than Park Jeongdo.
But Park Jeongdo held much more influence locally, so Im Dogyeom still referred to him respectfully.
"...So a stranger approached you claiming he wanted to rent your land, but the document turned out to be a sale contract. And when you went to protest, you learned that Elder Park Jeongdo had already bought the property?"
"Exactly."
Doyul asked with a sinking feeling.
"By any chance... was the man who first approached you about renting the land named Jeongmu?"
"...! How did you know that, Yulli?"
"...Haha."
Doyul let out a hollow laugh.
They're running this kind of scam in Joseon?
The entire situation became clear.
"...Then did you also go to Elder Park Jeongdo?"
"Of course. But the elder said he knew nothing about the matter and had lawfully purchased the land for a proper price."
Seeing Im Dogyeom's bitter expression, Doyul felt the pieces click into place.
First, his embarrassment delayed his response.
And because he personally placed his seal on the agreement, proving fraud would be extremely difficult.
If he challenged the transaction in court, Im Dogyeom would have to admit that he was illiterate.
He would also have to reveal that greed had tempted him into accepting unusually high rent from a stranger.
In Joseon, where reputation mattered tremendously, that alone would make it difficult for many people to come forward.
But there was an even bigger problem.
Under Joseon's legal reasoning, the situation was difficult to undo.
Even if I somehow prove Jeongmu committed fraud, Park Jeongdo will claim he legally purchased the land from him.
The current owner is Park Jeongdo.
And as long as the sale between Park Jeongdo and Jeongmu is presumed valid, we can't simply seize the land back from him.
If the buyer had been an unrelated third party, there might still have been room to recover the land by proving the fraudulent circumstances.
But demanding that Park Jeongdo, the most powerful local figure in the county, simply return the property was practically difficult.
...This wasn't an improvised scam.
They planned it carefully over a long period and targeted the exact weaknesses in the system.
Seeing Doyul's expression grow serious, Im Dogyeom tried to reassure him.
"Yulli... I understand that this foolish old man made a mistake. Yeoni simply became upset on my behalf, so please forgive her for troubling you..."
"One more question."
Doyul, deep in thought, asked one final thing.
"...Yeoni said the local clerk was involved as well. Is that true?"
"That..."
Im Dogyeom hesitated awkwardly.
"Yeoni misunderstood. The Ibang simply performed his official duty."
"What do you mean by that?"
"As you know, Scholar, local clerks manage matters involving land and taxation. So when land is sold, the transaction must be verified by the local clerk. The Ibang merely placed his official seal on the document. Yeoni must have interpreted that however she pleased."
"......!"
Park Jeongdo.
Jeongmu.
And the Ibang.
Jeongmu committed the initial fraud.
Then Park Jeongdo bought the land and laundered the ownership.
And during that process... the Ibang helped validate the transfer.
The Ibang could read.
There was no way he failed to notice that something was suspicious when stamping the land-sale documents.
Which means...
"Elder, I understand for now."
"Oh, Yulli. I hope this old man's foolish problem hasn't upset you..."
"No. It hasn't. I'll be going now."
Doyul had something he needed to verify.
"Where?"
Yeoni tilted her head.
Doyul gave her a short answer.
"...Before I solve this, I think there's someone I need to meet."
