Little Academy Punks - 2
I'd half-expected Akrok Academy to be a bit off-kilter too. Both Seokgosan Academy and Akrok Academy were tucked away in Hunan, a relatively remote corner of Dasong. And remoteness meant the capital's watchful eyes didn't reach easily—places like that always bred problems.
What's more, Akrok Academy's prestige wasn't one whit inferior to Seokgosan Academy's. It was the famed institution where Zhu Xi himself—the Confucian superstar who synthesized Neo-Confucianism—had lectured. In other words, Akrok had history, honor, wealth, and freedom all wrapped up in one tidy package. It wouldn't be strange at all if the scholars studying there had gotten drunk on petty power and devolved into nuisance-makers.
Yeah, not strange at all. But then... why the hell had the rumors spread all the way to Hengshan?
If Hengshanpa had been based in Jangsa, I'd have shrugged it off. If local scholars were kicking up a fuss right in your backyard, even I'd report it. But Akrok Academy and Hengshanpa were in different cities. Just like I hadn't known about Seokgosan Academy's rot until I arrived in Hyeongju-bu, news from distant regions didn't travel easily in this era.
Yet Akrok had pulled it off. From Jangsa, they'd made sure even the folks at Hengshanpa caught wind of their drama.
Did they hear it while traveling on official business?
Optimistically speaking, maybe it wasn't that the rumors from Akrok had reached Hengshan—maybe Hengshanpa's martial artists had sought them out. I'd first met Jeong U-rok not at Hengshan, but at Dongting Lake, after all. As a founding merit sect, Hengshanpa cooperated with the government; they might've popped down to Jangsa when word spread that hands were needed.
Even so, that didn't excuse Akrok Academy. How rank did they have to stink for even a brief visit from Hengshanpa to sniff it out?
"Jeong U-rok."
"Yes, my lord? Speak, please."
"I'm not too familiar with Akrok Academy, so... mind filling me in?"
It was a blunt demand: spill everything you know. Jeong U-rok stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded solemnly.
"If I can be of even small assistance to you, my lord, it's my duty."
His words that followed were thick and clipped, considerate of his listeners.
"Akrok Academy is in a state of internal strife."
"What?"
"They clash over differing opinions and brawl at the drop of a hat, or so I've heard. Tempers have frayed beyond repair—there've even been fistfights between their scholars right in the middle of inns."
The only issue was how thick it ran, beyond my expectations.
Clashing opinions?
Scholars debating was natural. Hell, clashing views meant they were actually studying properly. So Akrok wasn't like Seokgosan Academy's petty nuisances. Their passion for learning ran so hot that their conviction and pride in their knowledge led to tussles with fellow scholars.
But tussles turning physical? That was a problem. Especially if it spilled out of their own grounds into public inns.
How spectacularly did they have to fight?
My head spun. If Jeong U-rok was saying, "Those spirit beasts ought to punish them," how rowdy had it gotten? Hengshanpa already knew the nasty bite of spirit beast penalties from dealing with those two.
"Akrok's juniors are certainly... passionate."
I held my silence a beat, then finally spoke. Passionate. Assuming Jeong U-rok spoke true, no word captured Akrok's state more perfectly. Scholars so zealous they fought their peers—bold enough to do it publicly, in front of common folk. Nothing short of extraordinary fervor could pull that off.
"What on earth could they be quarreling over...?"
"Ah, well."
At my mutter, Jeong U-rok flinched, gauging my mood. Odd. It was just me, Ak I-yeon, Jo Wi-cheo, and him here. The spirit beasts didn't count—you didn't mince words for their sake.
What the hell?
Anxiety crept in. What was he about to say that instinct made him hesitate? What bomb was he winding up to drop—
"Those who harm benevolence are thieves (ze), and those who harm righteousness are brutish (zhan). Together, they are thief-brutes, unworthy of respect—mere upstarts (yifu)."
...?
"Mencius taught that even the Son of Heaven must be overthrown if he is a thief-brute. So what price must past martial artists pay, those who ignored benevolence and righteousness and kept silent?"
What.
"That's the debate among Akrok's scholars. Whether the old murim, silent during the Supreme Ancestor's uprising, paid a fitting price—or if not, what price they should pay. The arguments never cease."
"I... see."
Jeong U-rok's words tangled my already spinning head even further.
Just be corrupt already, you bastards.
Don't debate a ticking time bomb like that. When those scholars stirred shit up, it was us officials left cleaning it.
Right after Dasong's founding, amid the fierce merit debates, one topic had raged hot.
"How should we handle those who betrayed the people's trust and ignored the realm's chaos?"
More bluntly: How do we crush those damn murim assholes?
It was inevitable. The founding forces loathed the Mongols, but hated murim just as fiercely. Those fat cats lording over the gi, taking "protection" fees while preaching guardianship, slashing down anyone who questioned them or slipped up—they'd gone silent when it mattered. Even the taboo against touching officials had held through Mongol rule.
Had murim suffered like the common folk? No—they'd clung to privilege even under barbarian reign. Room there to interpret it as tacit alliance with the Mongols, or outright collaboration.
"Do we need swords rusting in arsenals? Melt them all down into sickles and hoes."
Thus, the merits had clamored for murim's total dismantlement.
"Birds fattened on the people's tears cannot become phoenixes! They're merely vicious, wicked beasts of injustice!"
"No crops grow on blood-soaked soil. Plow it all under and make new fields."
"Those who kept silent are no true Central Plain folk—they're honorary Mongols! Confiscate the wealth they piled up sucking up to the Mongols and use it for the people!"
Ferocious stuff. The arguments I remembered were the tame ones. Legends whispered some merit proposals were too horrific to record—hinting at the savage atmosphere.
"Execute and confiscate from forces that directly or indirectly aided the Mongols. As for the rest, we'll discuss later."
And that savage debate halted with the Supreme Ancestor's intervention. He executed only the blatant collaborators and traitors. For those who'd merely stayed silent, it was asset seizures, forced relocations—lenient stuff.
The merits grumbled, but who argues with the Supreme Ancestor? The hero who'd toppled eternal-seeming Mongols and birthed a new nation.
"We've barely reclaimed peace, finally coaxing smiles back to the Central Plains. I won't drown it in the blood of fellow kin."
Crucially, he stressed peace repeatedly after. Kill the barbarians and traitors, sure—but no more staining the land with Han blood. A de facto promise to leave murim be. With words from the true founding father, the merits bowed and obeyed.
Hence our era's uneasy government-murim coexistence. The government's periodic parakho crackdowns became routine...
"The Supreme Ancestor said we'd discuss murim's treatment later. But he's never broached it with his ministers, so isn't it still pending? We must debate it anew."
Are you a genius?
Right after the current Emperor's ascension, some merit's bizarre remark blew it open. The Supreme Ancestor wielded such overwhelming authority he hadn't needed full consensus. He'd mentioned it privately, never formally.
That tiny gap empowered the merits. Officially recorded: he'd promised to "discuss it later with you all lol." But he died without following through? Obviously, his successor—the current Emperor—had to fulfill that dream.
Thus, the subtle staring contest between Emperor and merits began. Caught in the middle, I'd been desperately reining in Central Plains murim.
The Emperor needed to prove the current system could check them.
Who knew it'd leak to the public?
And Akrok Academy had copy-pasted the government's powder keg. Truly lamentable. Kaepyeong's bigwigs jawing about it was headache enough—now frontier scholars too? What if the common folk started caring about murim policy?
Should I... just grab the plaque and bolt?
Soon as we hit Jangsa, I'd seriously pondered it. Steal Akrok's plaque outright? If the aggro swung to the plaque thief, murim debates might just vanish.