Chunhyangjeon
Magistrate Byeon Hakdo
The tyrant of Namwon
The arrogant, corrupt new governor of Namwon who tries to force Chunhyang to serve him.
Byeon Hakdo arrives in Namwon with a grand procession and cries of make way. He is vain, cruel, and a lover of luxury, and he boasts that he has heard the wine flows sweet and the women are legendary. He neglects his duties and cares for nothing except his own comfort.
He treats power as his personal possession. He doubles the grain tribute while peasants warn that the common folk will starve, and he orders the registry of all the women in Namwon. When a clerk points out that Chunhyang is lawfully wedded to Lord Yi's son, he argues that without a registered public ceremony she remains under his jurisdiction. He cannot stand to be told no, and he answers every challenge with threats.
“Double the grain tribute from every village! If the peasants complain, let my guards remind them who rules Namwon!”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Byeon hears of Chunhyang's beauty and demands that she serve at his banquet. When she refuses, he threatens her, orders her beaten with thirty strokes, and has her locked in a cangue and thrown into a dungeon. He then decrees that she will be executed at his birthday feast if she does not submit.
At the banquet a ragged beggar sits among the officials and writes a poem condemning their cruelty. The magistrate realizes that the Royal Inspector is in their midst and calls for his horse, but Mongryong reveals the bronze seal. Byeon is stripped of his hat and office, bound in ropes, and sent to the capital to face the King's tribunal.
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