Cleaning
Jangryeong Commandery might have been dismissed as a backwater by the people of the martial world, but it was by no means a small place. Not that anyone would deny it was a backwater. Even so, the region had one undeniable advantage.
To the north lay Suju Prefecture, a flourishing hub of commerce; to the east, Wi County, thriving on maritime trade; and to the west, Sawol County. For anyone doing business, it was unquestionably a useful city.
Naturally, any clan with half a brain found it reasonable to establish a merchant caravan of its own.
The Yi Clan was no exception. It was a martial clan, certainly, but there was no law saying a martial clan couldn't run a trading house. Beyond the caravan, the Yi Clan operated numerous other ventures as well. Thanks to Jangryeong's prime location, merchants poured into the commandery, and with them came the escorts and porters they hired.
Inns were obviously a necessity, and since the visitors were martial artists, forges to repair their weapons were needed too.
It went without saying that a region with advantages like these was bound to breed cutthroat competition.
Three clans held dominion over Jangryeong Commandery, collectively known as the Three Great Clans of Jangryeong: the Yi Clan, the Jang Clan, and the Hyeokri Clan.
Which of the three stood supreme was impossible to say with any certainty.
And it was in just such a moment that the youngest son, sent off to Sawol County, returned home.
The faces of everyone gathered in the Patriarch Hall were grim. Understandably so.
Every last detail of what had happened had already reached their ears.
It began with him driving a shard of broken plate through Pyeong Sam's throat at the inn in Sawol County, then went on to him beheading the bandits of Myeongwol Mountain.
But the most chilling part by far was how he had taken the bandit chieftain's head. He hadn't simply severed it — they said he carved it off with a short blade. And it wasn't only the bandits who'd been terrified. Even his own allies had been shaken to the core.
These were people who knew exactly what kind of man Yi Do had always been. The shock was inescapable. It was as though a stranger had taken his place.
The doors opened, and a man walked slowly into the hall.
He was slightly gaunt, his long hair pulled back and bound tightly behind his head. His frame was frail — but those eyes of his burned brighter than anyone else's in the room.
Everyone felt it at once.
The youngest son, Yi Do, had changed.
Yi Do lifted his head and looked at the man seated in the highest seat of honor. A strange smile played at the corner of his mouth. He was utterly different — so different it defied comprehension.
That's Yi Do?
The boy who used to tremble like a leaf in front of the patriarch, who shook like a sapling in the wind whenever he stood in any official gathering — that Yi Do was standing there looking like this?
It felt like a dream.
Is this an act?
They wanted desperately to believe it was.
"It's been a very long time, Father."
That single sentence confirmed it. Not once in his life had Yi Do ever spoken in such a clear, steady voice. The boy who used to talk like he was crawling on his belly...
No one could find their words. Not even a sigh would come.
Yi Se-geuk, patriarch of the Yi Clan, was no different.
"...Yes. It has been a long time."
Yi Do held his father's gaze in silence, then continued.
"May I ask why you have summoned me here?"
Truthfully, there was no reason for the entire household to assemble like this. The youngest son had merely completed one trading expedition. If the whole clan gathered every time a single trip ended, nothing could be more inefficient.
But this time, there was more than sufficient cause.
"I have heard strange news. They say you killed your own servant with your own hands. Explain yourself."
That was what Yi Se-geuk wanted to know. And Yi Do could answer with perfect clarity.
"Pyeong Sam was not my servant."
"...There isn't a soul in this clan who doesn't know you and Pyeong Sam were raised together. What are you saying?"
"True, we grew up together. But the boy never served me. On that point, in fact, I believe the ones who owe an explanation are my esteemed brothers over there — not me."
Yi Se-geuk's eyes turned first to the broad-shouldered man with the close-cropped hair, then to another with hair of similar length who somehow looked even frailer than Yi Do. The former was the eldest son, Yi Jeong; the latter, the second son, Yi Won.
Both men flinched under their father's stare.
Still, an eldest son had his pride. Yi Jeong stepped forward first.
"Youngest. Watch your tongue. This is hardly the place or the time."
Yi Do regarded him with that peculiar smile — but something about his gaze was so profoundly wrong that Yi Jeong forced himself to ignore it and pressed on.
"Come to think of it, I did see Yi Won here quietly talking with your servant on several occasions... so unfortunately for him, I had nothing to do with any of it. If anyone owes you an explanation, it's him."
Yi Won shot to his feet. His face flushed red, the second son shouted,
"Brother! How can you say that? You're the one who was colluding with Pyeong Sam! If this expedition succeeded, it would only have complicated matters for—"
"Enough!"
At Yi Se-geuk's roar, Yi Won slapped a hand over his mouth, catching his slip just a breath too late.
The patriarch glared at him for a long moment before bursting out a sigh. Yi Se-geuk was no fool. He understood roughly what had been happening.
His gaze swung back to Yi Do, who spoke as though he had only been waiting for this.
"Patriarch. May I say my piece?"
"...Go on."
"How does a mere servant dare collude with outsiders in front of his own master and spread his master's information to the world? As blood of the Yi Clan, I did only what I was obliged to do."
"...I see."
"Yes. Also, on my way back, I ran into bandits."
"I heard that too. They say you took the bandit chieftain's head."
"It is the same as before. They were nothing but vermin scraping by as bandits — would killing one or two of them change anything? However, among the things they said, there was one part I found rather interesting."
"...Interesting?"
"Yes. I'm not certain of it yet, but I'd like to look into it further. Which is why I bring it up — our Yi Clan's caravan will be crossing Myeongwol Mountain more than once or twice in the years to come. What if we mobilized the clan's warriors and exterminated the bandits of Myeongwol altogether?"
At those words, Yi Jeong and Yi Won swallowed hard in unison. Both of them understood exactly what Yi Do was implying. They turned to look at each other — and into their ears came Yi Do's voice.
"The Yi Clan's standing in Jangryeong Commandery is formidable, and several families trust and follow us. But if we leave those bandits be, they will turn their eyes toward other clans. If we move first and destroy them ourselves, the honor of it will belong to our family alone."
Yi Jeong seized the opening like a starving man.
"The youngest is right! Bandits appearing again on Myeongwol Mountain — a place we purged to the last man years ago — this is not something we can simply let pass. And since the first to discover them was our own Yi Clan, it is only right that we be the ones to destroy them. However—"
Yi Jeong's eyes slid toward Yi Do.
"The youngest has only just returned from a long expedition. He is exhausted — if we push him into this affair as well, he may well collapse. As eldest son, I cannot in good conscience stand by and watch that happen. So leave this matter to me."
Yi Do had no intention of lifting a finger anyway. He had laid the table and told them to clean up their own mess — and sure enough, Yi Won stepped forward as well.
"Then I shall accompany my brother. Together we will make it unmistakably clear to all of Jangryeong that the Yi Clan stands above the rest."
The contest for the heir's seat was, plainly, between these two. The young clan head had not yet been formally decided, and Yi Se-geuk had kept putting off that decision — this affair was a golden opportunity to earn his favor.
That was reason enough, but the truer reason was simpler: they needed to keep his mouth shut.
The two of them had hired the bandits to ruin Yi Do's expedition. Had it gone through, it would have meant that two sons of the Yi Clan had attacked their own clan's caravan just to squeeze out one youngest brother — and the moment that truth reached Yi Se-geuk's ears, the consequences would have been beyond anything they could control.
While the brothers drowned in such scheming thoughts, Yi Se-geuk's eyes rested on Yi Do alone. Yi Do's rested on his father. Of the two men locked in that silent regard, Yi Se-geuk spoke first.
"You've changed a great deal."
"I had to. The martial world is not a kind place for the weak."
"That much is true. This expedition must have meant a great deal to you, then."
"It was a most valuable experience."
"Good work. You may go."
"Thank you."
With that businesslike exchange concluded, Yi Do left the Patriarch Hall and made his way to his own quarters in the main residence.
He entered — and less than a quarter-hour later, he walked back out.
His face was stone.
He grabbed a servant passing by.
"Who was it?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"Who cleaned my room?"
The servant, frightened half to death by the murderous look on Yi Do's face, could only tell the truth.
"This morning, Head Manager Jeong brought three servants and cleaned your quarters, my lord."
Head Manager Jeong. A man who belonged to Yi Won, the clan's second son.
With the answer he wanted in hand, Yi Do set off — toward Cheongwongak, the hall where the clan's managers kept their offices. He arrived and sought out Head Manager Jeong directly.
Jeong had been sharing a joke with some of the underlings, a broad grin plastered across his face, and his brow snapped into a knot the moment he saw Yi Do approaching. He came forward wearing an expression of open displeasure.
"What business brings you here, my lord?"
"I hear you cleaned my room this morning. That right?"
"Yes."
"On whose orders?"
"Orders? It's what I always do, isn't it? Your quarters sat empty for so long that I tidied them up for your return. Is there something wrong with that? Truly, I don't understand."
The icy expression on Yi Do's face slowly began to thaw.
An exceedingly gentle smile bloomed at the corner of his mouth.
"I'm genuinely grateful for the cleaning. But the box of elixir pills in my room — where did you put it?"
The box of elixir pills.
It existed clearly in Yi Do's memory. Judging by the future he had lived through, Yi Do — after being ambushed by the bandits at Myeongwol Mountain — had been beaten half to death. Bruises covered his body and his internal organs had been damaged. He'd returned to the clan in that state, taken a tongue-lashing from the patriarch, and been handed over to the physicians for treatment.
At that point, Yi Do had mentioned to the physician that the elixir box he kept in his quarters held several pills exceptionally effective for treating injuries. The physician fetched the box and used it to treat him.
But the future he remembered had changed. When he walked into his room this time, that elixir box alone was gone.
And the answer Head Manager Jeong came back with was a masterpiece.
"Oh, that? I took it and gave it to the young master Yi Won."
"Why?"
"Why? Well, honestly speaking — rather than letting you take them, if we're thinking of the clan's future, surely it's only right they go to the young master Yi Won?"
The smile at Yi Do's lips deepened.
"Yi Won didn't tell you to bring it to him?"
Jeong flinched — then quickly composed himself and stood tall. That was the way of men with powerful backing: they grew bold.
Watching a mere rabbit strut and preen in front of a tiger because a mongrel had its back was enough to make anyone laugh.
"Did you not hear what happened at Myeongwol Mountain today?"
"Oh, I heard. They say you took a bandit's head — quite impressive, I'm sure. But when a man changes so suddenly, it's a little unsettling, my lord. You are the youngest of this house. And the youngest, surely, owes it to his elders to yield the good things to his brothers. Isn't that duty?"
Yi Do had never expected the way people looked at him to change overnight. In his past life, things like this happened every single day. It wasn't something accumulated in a day or two — it was the product of years and years of rot.
In the past, he had endured it. Now, he could not.
Not possibly.
He would not.
"Head Manager Jeong. Let me offer you one final piece of advice."
"...I'll hear it."
"When you get to the underworld, do try to keep your wits about you down there."
For a moment, Jeong failed to understand. Had he misheard?
It didn't matter. Yi Do had never thrown those words out hoping he'd grasp them.
Yi Do's fist swung.
CRACK—!!
The manager's head snapped back. He lost his balance, and as he struggled to turn his neck, he saw it: Yi Do's foot driving toward his solar plexus.
A natural progression of things.
WHAM—!
The blow to his sternum sent Head Manager Jeong crashing to the floor. Yi Do loosened his shoulders, climbed astride him, seized his hair in his left hand, and curled his right fist.
Then he swung without mercy.
CRACK!
Jeong's screams were swallowed by the sound of impact — and they would stay swallowed.
The punches kept coming.
Crack, crack, splat, crunch, crunch.
At some point, the sounds of impact began to change — into the dull, wet thud of a hammer crushing tofu.
Understandable. The manager's head had long since been reduced to pulp.
It hadn't merely burst open. It had been utterly flattened beyond recognition, mangled past the point where anyone could deny the man was already dead.
And still Yi Do's fists did not stop. Not until the man's entire face had been pressed flat into the floorboards. Not until it had soaked completely into them.
He kept swinging.
Only after roughly twenty-five blows did Yi Do's fists finally fall still.
The surroundings were silent.
He wiped the blood and flecks of flesh from his clothes, then rose to his feet.
Hoo.
He gave his order to the servants standing frozen nearby.
"Take this and bury it."
Silence.
Yi Do's murderously cold eyes swept the room.
"Answer me."
Only then did the dazed servants come back to their senses.
"Y-yes! Yes, my lord!"