Laying the Groundwork
Jegal Mun-ho greeted Yeon Hojeong with a pleased expression.
“You’re here?”
“Have you been well?”
“Haha, I’m always the same.”
“You seem to have lost a little weight.”
“It’s the fate of those who use their heads. Even after swallowing all those tonics, my white hairs keep sprouting.”
His hearty laughter carried a clear sense of pride in his role as military counselor. It was an undeniably troublesome position, yet one that brought him genuine satisfaction.
“By the way.”
Surprise flickered across Jegal Mun-ho’s face.
“You’re truly remarkable. Before, I could gauge your level, but now it’s hazy. Have you already stepped into a realm I can no longer perceive?”
Jegal Mun-ho himself was a patriarch of one of the Six Great Clans and possessed no small amount of martial prowess.
His discernment, in particular, was sharper than most. Yet even to his eyes, Yeon Hojeong’s limits had become impossible to discern.
The gap between them had grown that vast. Yeon Hojeong had advanced so far that even the keenest gaze could no longer trace the boundary of his realm.
Yeon Hojeong shook his head.
“I still have a long way to go. At this level, I can’t fight with peace of mind.”
Jegal Mun-ho gave a dry laugh.
“Aren’t your standards a little too high? At this point, it’s meaningless to measure you by age. If your martial arts surpass even the heads of the great orthodox sects that represent the righteous path, then you already possess the strength to discuss the world.”
“To discuss the world, one must reach the realm of the Heavenly Demon.”
“I never thought I’d hear such words from you… but that’s excessive greed. You’re not even thirty yet. At your age, with martial arts like yours, there’s no one in history to compare you to.”
“As you said, Military Counselor, in the world we live in, age holds no meaning. Especially now, when the enemy’s strength exceeds imagination, we must obtain the power to clash head-on with their leaders as soon as possible.”
Yeon Hojeong smiled.
“Besides, there is one expert around my age who is already closing in on me.”
Jegal Mun-ho’s eyes widened.
“Who is that?”
“One of the Sword Queen candidates from Botam. In terms of talent and martial prowess, she’s the closest to becoming the next Sword Queen.”
“Hah! So Botam had such a talent?”
“She’s still only half-complete. Her mental fortitude isn’t strong enough to fully utilize that excellent martial art. Well, we’ll have to see if she improves later.”
Jegal Mun-ho asked,
“Even if it’s a little tedious, could you tell me how you’ve been? Everything, including what you mentioned about that Sword Queen candidate.”
Yeon Hojeong smiled again.
“How could it be tedious?”
He recounted to Jegal Mun-ho the same story he had told Moyong Gun, with one difference: he relayed everything that had happened at Foshan without omission.
Jegal Mun-ho nodded.
“There’s bound to be a difference between reading a report and hearing it directly. Even so, it feels almost identical to what I already heard.”
“That means the Junior Beggar’s abilities are outstanding.”
The report Jegal Mun-ho had received had been written by Ga Deuk-sang.
The contents matched exactly with what the field operative had said. It proved how well Ga Deuk-sang had conveyed the situation.
It was an ability worthy of the Beggars’ Sect’s Junior Beggar, whose information network was said to be the best in the world.
“By the way, Botam…”
Jegal Mun-ho sighed.
“As you said, the Black Dragon Department Head’s greed went too far. No matter how deep his grudge against the Sasin Cult, to do something like that in times like these.”
“Strictly speaking, it was a plan he’d been preparing for years, but he could have kept it hidden depending on how the situation developed.”
“What do you think of the Black Dragon Department Head?”
“Not much different from what you see, Military Counselor.”
“Still, I need to hear it.”
Jegal Mun-ho’s expression grew serious.
“We’re in a situation where we have to send one of the Martial Alliance’s core experts and the commander of the Righteous Army to the Black Dragon Department. When it comes to the Black Dragon Department Head, I need to know even the smallest details.”
Yeon Hojeong clicked his tongue.
“My apologies for making that decision without consulting you.”
“Yes, you went a bit too far this time.”
“Tsk.”
“Still, what’s done is done. And honestly, if the losses had outweighed the gains, I would have stopped you myself.”
Jegal Mun-ho sighed.
“It’s extremely risky… but if the Black Dragon Department Head views you favorably, then it’s a sound enough strategy as a countermeasure against the Three Sects.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“Tell me. What do you think of the Black Dragon Department Head?”
Yeon Hojeong conveyed his thoughts honestly, without embellishment or omission.
Jegal Mun-ho clicked his tongue.
“Lately, I’ve felt the Black Dragon Department Head’s movements have grown sharper than before. Hearing your words, it seems he’s definitely changed.”
“That’s right.”
“Understood. I’ll combine what you’ve told me with everything else and try to persuade the others in my own way.”
“Thank you.”
“And lastly.”
Now came the most important matter.
“We need to catch the spy, don’t we?”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed. His gaze was more serious than during any of their previous discussions.
“I imagine your thoughts are similar to mine, Military Counselor… but this spy is no ordinary individual.”
“Not merely extraordinary. The Martial Alliance’s inspectors are all seasoned veterans with exceptional judgment and experience. For someone to thoroughly conceal themselves among them? That’s not someone who can be described with words like first-rate or top-class.”
“What do you think, Military Counselor? How should we begin if we want to catch the spy?”
He asked for Jegal Mun-ho’s thoughts before offering his own.
From Yeon Hojeong’s words, Jegal Mun-ho could tell that he already had some plan in mind.
“My thoughts…”
Jegal Mun-ho closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke after half a cup of tea’s time.
“To be honest, I’m skeptical about catching the spy at all.”
It was an unexpected statement.
Jegal Mun-ho sighed and continued.
“One of the inspectors is a spy. That means even if we catch the spy, keeping it secret will be difficult. More precisely, we can’t even estimate the probability of whether the secret will hold or not.”
A strange light flashed in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because we don’t know how the Three Sects will respond.”
“…!”
“There’s a spy among the Martial Alliance’s inspectors? That’s terrifying. We must catch the spy as soon as possible. But do you know what that also means? The fact that a spy exists proves the Three Sects’ capabilities are that outstanding—and simultaneously admits the Martial Alliance’s incompetence.”
“We have to accept that.”
“We do. I’ll say it clearly: I’m someone who believes that if the Martial Alliance has done wrong, that fact should be made public. If we want a century of peace, it might be better to keep it hidden. But looking further ahead, we cannot bury our mistakes.”
“I agree.”
“The problem is the current situation. While the Martial Alliance’s history is long, in truth, the present Martial Alliance is a newly formed coalition. It shares similarities and differences with the Black Dragon Department in that regard.”
“That’s true.”
“What if we catch the spy? And what if the Three Sects, not us, reveal that the spy existed?”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes wavered.
He had never considered it from this angle. ‘Then what?’ If the Three Sects publicly announced that they had planted a spy in the Martial Alliance?
That wouldn’t happen. Revealing that fact would disappoint the martial world toward the Martial Alliance, but it could also give the Central Plains an opportunity to unite as one.
No matter how powerful the Three Sects were, they wouldn’t make such a reckless move. If they did, there would be only one possible outcome.
A full-scale war.
They would launch a preemptive strike before the Central Plains could gather its strength.
In other words, the Three Sects had no reason to announce that they had planted a spy in the Martial Alliance. If they truly wanted an all-out war, they would have kept the secret and descended upon the south in one swift strike.
“I know what you’re thinking. They have no reason to do so. It would be better to gather all their forces and wage an all-out war instead.”
“That’s correct.”
“But you seem shocked by what I said. Why is that?”
A shadow fell over Yeon Hojeong’s face.
“The Three Sects have likely planted spies not only in the Martial Alliance but in other regions and sects as well.”
“The probability is extremely high.”
“In a battle of public opinion, victory usually goes to whoever strikes first. If the Three Sects seize control of public opinion the moment they reveal the spy’s existence, the Central Plains could fall into chaos before it even has a chance to unite.”
Jegal Mun-ho smiled.
“As expected, you’re a clever one.”
“But… the probability of that happening isn’t high.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
The smile on Jegal Mun-ho’s face hardened.
“It’s not easy to calculate the odds. You should understand why I can’t easily escape these ominous thoughts.”
“The Imperial Palace.”
“Exactly.”
Planting a spy in the Martial Alliance? That was shocking enough.
But the enemy had dispatched countless spies to the Imperial Palace as well. There was no way to know how much of the palace the remnants of the Three Sects had already seized.
It couldn’t be helped. No matter how powerful the Martial Alliance was, it couldn’t interfere in palace affairs. Even sending someone to investigate was nearly impossible.
“This fight isn’t simply a war between martial factions. One of the biggest variables in this war is the Imperial Palace.”
Even if they won the battle of public opinion within the martial world, if the Imperial Palace sided with the Three Sects, all their efforts would come to nothing.
Then why hadn’t they investigated the palace? ‘That’s absurd.’ They were martial artists. If they recklessly started a fight in the palace while the treaty of non-interference between the martial world and the court remained in effect, the entire nation would brand the Martial Alliance as an enemy.
The Three Sects hadn’t seized the palace by force but had instead spent a long time secretly expanding their influence because they understood the overwhelming power that legitimacy provided.
If the Three Sects occupied the palace by force, the decisive victory they sought would slip away. They knew that.
“But because of the Imperial Palace’s existence, it also makes no sense to spread false information without catching the spy.”
“You’re right. If the Alliance Lord were here, it might be different, but right now it’s impossible. No, even if the Alliance Lord existed, that method wouldn’t work.”
“So we have to catch the spy.”
“We do. I’m just worried about the aftermath.”
Jegal Mun-ho sighed.
“We have to catch the spy, but the problem is we don’t know what kind of backlash will follow.”
Catching just one spy required assuming the possibility of an all-out war.
This was that kind of fight. It was on an entirely different level from secretly annihilating the Shinwha Sect’s armed forces.
Silence settled between the two men.
After some time had passed,
“Military Counselor.”
“Speak.”
“We must catch the spy. It’s something that absolutely must be done.”
“You’re right. You are… but…”
“I understand your concern about what comes after.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed.
“Then there’s no choice. We have to strike first.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“I mentioned it earlier, didn’t I? Victory in a battle of public opinion usually depends on who makes the first move.”
“You did.”
“……”
“You don’t mean…?”
“Yes.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes turned cold.
“Isn’t it against my nature to agonize this much over catching just one spy?”
“…!!”
“Whether we fight the great demon later or not, let’s secure a few corners first and start from there.”
“That’s far too dangerous!”
“Dangerous either way.”
Yeon Hojeong rose from his seat with a smile.
“If both paths are dangerous, then we should create a situation the enemy never expected and strike them from behind. That way, they won’t have time to think of anything else.”