Chapter 29 — The First Legal Principle: Indirect Perpetration (2)
"Those damned bastards...!"
Jeongmu ground his teeth.
Where did it all go wrong?
The plan had been perfect.
The design had been flawless.
Jeongmu had been certain that no one would uncover the fact that he had instigated the crime.
The reason was simple.
...All humans were selfish.
That was why he had designed everything so that as long as the hunters acted selfishly, he would remain safe.
If they only looked after their own interests, then there was no way they would betray him.
At least, that was what he had believed.
He used people... as tools!
Doyul had understood the very essence of the situation and turned the hunters' selfishness against him.
Jeongmu had never heard such logic before in his life.
Yet he had no choice but to admit that it was both reasonable and convincing.
The brilliance of the legal reasoning is astonishing enough, but what's even more remarkable is that bastard's decisiveness.
He must have known Pasu and Seoko also had murderous intent, yet he still made a deal with them just to catch me...?
Even in the capital, it would have been difficult to find an oejibu with this level of ability.
Damn it.
Damn it, damn it!
Consumed by rage, Jeongmu could not accept that he had lost.
He glared at Doyul with murderous eyes.
"You brat! Don't get cocky just because you pulled off a little trick! Do you really think you've won?"
His lips twisted.
"But! I've still taken half the victory from you!"
"How dare you speak so insolently to the Yulli!"
A constable from Eonyang moved to stop him, but Doyul raised a hand instead.
"...It's fine. Let him talk."
"Heh... You never could have imagined it, but by now, everything in Yeongsan should be nearly finished."
"..."
"Do you know what that means?"
Jeongmu shouted at the top of his lungs.
"A lawsuit is already underway in Yeongsan! Hahahaha!"
"..."
The people around them began murmuring.
"A lawsuit has begun in Yeongsan?"
"Wait, if it's the lawsuit in Yeongsan... don't tell me..."
"Y-Young Master, while you're here in Eonyang... did the paeji case already begin?"
At Donggu's words, Yeoni's eyes widened in shock.
"...!"
Doyul answered calmly.
"I know. I just finished reading the magistrate's letter. And I'd already suspected it before that."
"You bastard! Don't pretend to be calm, you country bumpkin!"
Jeongmu screamed wildly.
But even he could see that Doyul's composure had not cracked in the slightest.
Why...
Why is he so calm?
Unable to guess Doyul's thoughts, Jeongmu forced his own interpretation onto the situation.
"Don't tell me..."
"...?"
"You knew about my plan... but you abandoned more than a hundred villagers because you weren't confident enough to fight me?"
"...Ha."
Doyul let out a hollow laugh.
Naturally, someone like Jeongmu could only imagine motives like his own.
"So that's it. You knew there was no chance of winning if you represented them in Yeongsan, so you chose the case you could win instead."
Jeongmu snickered.
"I thought you were some stiff-necked scholar, but I suppose you're the same kind of man I am after all."
"All that pretending to be noble!"
"Hahahaha!"
Yeoni was shaken by his words.
...Yulli said... he'd help.
Yeoni had wanted the Ibang's murder case resolved as quickly as possible.
She had believed that once Doyul returned to Yeongsan, he would brilliantly help Im Dogyeom and all the others who had lost their land.
But...
Had Doyul known everything and still chosen to focus on the criminal case in Eonyang?
The expressions of those who had come from Yeongsan darkened.
Now that's better.
Their faces are finally worth looking at.
Then Jeongmu's gaze shifted.
He spotted Pasu and Seoko.
"H-Hiiik!"
...Right.
There are still some bastards who need to pay.
Jeongmu chuckled.
"Since things have come to this, I suppose there's no reason for me to protect you two anymore."
...Hm?
Doyul immediately noticed the strange tension between Jeongmu and the hunters.
"I retract my testimony."
"G-Gasp! J-Jeongmu!"
"Shut up! You useless fools! If you'd only kept your mouths shut, everything would've gone smoothly!"
Jeongmu shouted.
"Listen well! When I instructed those two..."
"A-Aaaaagh!"
"...Ghk!"
Terrified, Pasu suddenly lunged forward and kicked Jeongmu hard in the face.
Jeongmu immediately collapsed unconscious.
Choi Sihyeon roared.
"You bastard! What do you think you're doing?!"
But despite the magistrate's rebuke, Seoko and Pasu rushed to Doyul and clung desperately to his robes.
"...What are you doing?"
"M-My lord! P-Please save us!"
Everyone stared at their sudden behavior in confusion.
"Why did the witnesses suddenly kick the criminal and start clinging to the Yulli?"
They're asking me to protect them from Jeongmu's confession.
Doyul smiled and called out.
"Donggu."
"Yes, Young Master."
"Get them off me."
"As you command."
Donggu moved instantly.
Thud!
"Ghk!"
With a single kick, both hunters went tumbling across the floor.
Pasu and Seoko stared at Doyul in despair.
"Y-Yulli? This isn't what you promised...!"
"Not what I promised?"
"...What?"
"I'm fairly certain I kept my promise."
"B-But!"
"As promised, I put you on the witness stand. That was all."
Doyul spoke calmly.
"If Jeongmu has something else he wishes to reveal... that's his freedom."
"How could that possibly be something I control?"
"...!"
Doyul deliberately put on a grave expression.
"How strange. Perhaps there were other crimes I didn't know about."
"Y-Yulli! You can't do this now!"
Then he smiled.
"Donggu, tie those two up as well."
Donggu immediately played along.
"Wow, I never expected this either."
"...Ghk!"
Donggu tied Pasu and Seoko beside the unconscious Jeongmu.
So Jeongmu ended up dragging those two down with him after all.
...In the end, everyone will pay for what they did.
Once Jeongmu woke up and confessed the truth, the hunters would also be held responsible for murder.
For Doyul, that was the best possible outcome.
However...
One misunderstanding still remained.
"...Hm?"
Yeoni approached Doyul, her small body trembling.
"...Yulli."
"Hm?"
"Lie...?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You said... you'd help...."
Seeing the tears begin to fall, Doyul immediately blamed himself.
...Damn. I made her worry for no reason.
"I'm sorry."
"...Huh?"
Yeoni looked even more shocked.
...Does that mean... he can't help Grandfather?
Seeing her expression, Doyul hurriedly corrected himself.
"N-No! That's not what I meant by sorry."
"...?"
He carefully explained to the confused girl.
"What the defendant just said was half right and half wrong."
"I'm apologizing because I made you misunderstand."
"What... does that mean?"
Doyul patted her head and smiled.
"He was right that I decided to focus on this criminal case."
"But I never gave up on Yeongsan."
Yeoni still looked confused.
And she wasn't the only one.
The others around them were equally puzzled.
"But you've left Yeongsan... How can you say you didn't give up on the case there?"
One of the government slaves asked the question.
Doyul smiled.
"Because there's another excellent jurist there."
Park Jeongdo strolled forward with leisurely, aristocratic steps.
"Ahem!"
The government office was packed.
Not only the people directly involved in the lawsuit, but countless villagers had gathered to watch.
"Elder Park Jeongdo bought all that land...?"
"Th-Then what's going to happen?"
"A-Ahem. Surely the magistrate will give a wise judgment...."
...There are more than a hundred defendants seeking confirmation.
Kim Jiseok struggled to contain his anger as he looked over the dense list of defendants written in Park Jeongdo's petition.
After examining the matter more closely following Im Dogyeom's case, he had discovered that the number of victims was far beyond anything he'd imagined.
"G-Gasp! You'll really pay this much just to lease the field?"
"Haha. I have my reasons. What do you say? Well... if you don't like the offer, tell me quickly. I'll simply lease someone else's land."
"O-Of course I'll do it! You won't find a better field than mine anywhere around here!"
Every victim had been unable to read.
And every one of them had been in financial difficulty, desperate for even a little money.
They had deliberately targeted the vulnerable and stripped away their land.
Kim Jiseok's hands trembled at the meticulous cruelty of the scheme.
"I hope you have been well, Magistrate."
Park Jeongdo bowed.
"Strange rumors have been spreading lately, so I came to settle the confusion."
"I submit these paeji proving that I entered into legitimate sale agreements with a man named Jeongmu."
"I ask that you render a proper judgment."
Kim Jiseok answered flatly.
"The opposing party has not been designated, so the lawsuit cannot proceed."
"The opposing party has not been designated? What do you mean by that?"
Park Jeongdo frowned and looked toward the many villagers sitting on the floor.
Im Dogyeom was among them.
So were countless others who had only later realized they had been deceived and had now come to join the case.
There were so many of them gathered together.
How could Kim Jiseok possibly claim there was no opposing party?
"If they aren't the opposing party, then who are they?"
Park Jeongdo paused.
Then he stroked his beard and smiled broadly.
"Ah. Are you perhaps looking for a legal representative?"
"..."
Kim Jiseok slowly answered.
"...I cannot listen individually to the arguments of more than a hundred defendants."
"A legal representative would suffice."
"Or a single representative may step forward."
"What I mean is that someone must speak on their behalf."
"I see."
Park Jeongdo turned toward the defendants.
Like frogs faced with a snake, all of them stiffened.
"H-Hiiik!"
"...Didn't you hear the magistrate? Why isn't one of you stepping forward?"
"W-Well..."
Everyone understood that they needed a representative.
But no one volunteered.
The reason was simple.
What if they stepped forward to represent the entire lawsuit and then lost?
...All their anger will be directed at me!
As long as Jeongmu and Park Jeongdo had formally executed their paeji correctly, there was no clear method under Joseon law to defeat those documents through mere logic.
Heh heh.
Didn't Jeongmu tell me that no oejibu could possibly defeat this?
Park Jeongdo had even been confident he could win if Doyul served as the opposing representative.
Still, just in case, he'd waited until Doyul was gone.
So who could possibly dare stand against me now?
Park Jeongdo spoke with exaggerated regret.
"My, my. What should we do?"
"It appears no one wishes to volunteer."
"Wouldn't it be better to stop wasting time?"
"..."
Kim Jiseok swallowed his anger.
"As I understand it, if the plaintiff files a lawsuit and the defendant fails to appear, judgment may be rendered based solely upon the plaintiff's argument."
"...You've studied quite a bit."
Thanks to Jeongmu briefing him beforehand, Park Jeongdo pressed forward confidently.
"So..."
"Shall we begin the proceedings?"
...Do I have no choice but to start?
Kim Jiseok sighed.
He was just about to announce the beginning of the lawsuit when...
"W-Wait! Please wait!"
Bang!
Someone burst through the doors of the government office.
Everyone who saw him muttered in shock.
"N-No way!"
"How dare that bastard come here...?"
The crowd whispered.
Yet without realizing it, they opened a path for him.
That... that bastard?
What is this...?
Both Park Jeongdo and Kim Jiseok stared in surprise.
The approaching boy stopped.
Then slowly spoke.
"I am..."
He hesitated.
Then took one step forward.
"...the son of a corrupt local clerk."
"A man with neither wealth nor ability of my own."
He took another step.
"I spent my life insulting and looking down on others..."
"...while believing myself superior."
His voice trembled violently.
His face was flushed red, but his eyes were serious.
"If everyone hates me for that, then their feelings are justified."
The boy slowly walked the long path from the entrance.
The same path Doyul had once walked on the day of the yulli selection examination.
"I do not ask for forgiveness."
"I know that my wrongdoing will not simply disappear."
His legs trembled, but he forced strength into them.
He clenched his shaking hands into fists.
And kept walking.
"But even someone like me..."
"If I can find just a little courage..."
"You damned... bastard! How dare you show your face here!"
At the end of the path...
The boy found his own answer.
"Maybe..."
"Maybe I can still help someone."
He remembered the words spoken by the person he respected.
There will be something only you can do, Isu. Something that you must do.
"...I am Lee Isu!"
"The son of the corrupt Ibang!"
"An arrogant jungin!"
He shouted with all his strength.
"I have come here shamelessly... brazenly... with this face everyone has every right to despise..."
His voice was already hoarse.
"...to help clear the grievances of the people!"
"...!"
"I have come to stand against the plaintiff as the defendants' legal representative!"
His throat strained until it felt ready to burst.
"Legal representative Lee Isu..."
"...has appeared before the government office!"
