How Dare a Mere Office
"What's your name?"
Under Hwang No-baek's gaze, Yeom Gil-seong answered in a trembling voice.
"...Yeom Gil-seong, sir."
"Yeom Gil-seong. Not a bad name. Why would a servant of the Yi Clan come all the way here?"
"...Young Master Yi Do sent me here."
"...That man did?"
"Yes, sir. He told me to give you this and receive the manuals in return."
Just as Yi Do had instructed, Yeom Gil-seong handed over the elixir and the secret manuals.
A strange look crossed Hwang No-baek's face.
"...Good grief. It's not even 'sicken them and then offer the cure' anymore, but an elixir now... And what in the world is this..."
Hwang No-baek, who had been speaking as he unfolded the manual, fell silent mid-sentence.
Slowly, page by page, he turned the leaves.
"Heh... hoh..."
After a string of low exclamations, he shut the manual with a thump.
"...Yi Do. That man... I truly cannot figure him out."
Hwang No-baek's expression was a peculiar thing. Neither joy nor sorrow.
Just complicated, in every possible way. In a small voice, he murmured.
"So the genuine arts of that Mount Hua Sect, wiped out centuries ago, really did survive. The Violet Mist Divine Art, the Plum Blossom Yin-Yang Sword Art, and the Seven Star Footwork."
Yeom Gil-seong stayed quiet. He had never once doubted Yi Do. If Yi Do said the manuals were genuine, then genuine they were. The true originals among true originals.
"...You must have no idea why I'm so flustered right now."
There was no way he could know. Hwang No-baek continued.
"My name is Hwang No-baek. My father's name was Hwang Cheol. He had another name as well — do you know what it was?"
"...I don't, sir."
"Wun Cheol. The last warrior of the destroyed Mount Hua Sect."
This was a fact even Jo Hyeon hadn't known.
"The sect fell six hundred years ago, but its line was carried on. Carried on, yes — but never able to rise again. Do you know why?"
"...I don't know that either."
"Because every single one of its arts was lost. All that survived were seven preliminary forms among the Fourteen-Form Plum Blossom Sword Art. Not a single mental cultivation method remained. Not even a footwork technique. Fists? Spears? Nothing left to speak of. So let me ask you again. Are you certain Yi Do — that man — is the one who gave you this manual?"
Yeom Gil-seong nodded.
"...Then that man knew of my origins all along. Ha... hahahahahahaha."
Hwang No-baek burst out laughing.
Yi Do had said it.
He would provide compensation.
And Hwang No-baek had replied that he trusted the man would take good care of him.
Honestly, he hadn't expected a thing.
Setting aside the fact that he no longer wanted any entanglement with him, the air around Yi Do was simply drenched in the smell of blood.
Getting involved at all was guaranteed to bring disaster.
And yet.
The martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect.
Good heavens.
Just who in the world was that man?
"I'm losing my mind."
"Ah... and he also had me deliver a message."
"What message?"
"...I'm not good with words, so I'll simply recite what the Young Master said, word for word."
"...Go ahead."
"Yes. 'Jo Hyeon and Hwang No-baek — both of you, deny any connection to me. It would be better to report that you were exploited. From this moment on, you and I are strangers. And as for the Dongpa meat, consider it already eaten.' That is what he said."
Hwang No-baek pressed a hand to his head.
Heh.
"To think I'd end up raising two disciples I never asked for, in the span of a breath."
He waved a hand vaguely.
"Go wipe down some tables. You're the counter clerk of the Golden Inn as of today — and the second disciple of Hwang No-baek."
"...Thank you, sir."
"No need for thanks. Now get moving."
With an air of being bothered, Hwang No-baek waved him off lazily and opened the window, gazing outside.
The sun had still not risen.
And yet.
The smell of blood hanging thick in the air suggested that today, countless people in Jangryeong Commandery were going to die.
No — it was happening right now.
He was desperately curious who that man really was, but there might never be another chance to find out.
Yi Do had drawn a clear line.
Whatever he intended to do next, Hwang No-baek couldn't say.
...Wait a moment.
A chill crawled up his entire body.
What was to become of the list of people who had sold Yi Do out to the Golden Heaven Divine Sword?
Lady Un, Wun Mu-jeong, Yi Won, Hyeokli Won-pyeong, Hyeokli Yang-geon.
Those five were not all.
There was one more.
The Magistrate of Jangryeong Commandery — Lim Cheol-san.
"...Oh, you son of a..."
Surely not.
Surely it wouldn't come to that.
But if that weren't the case, why would the man draw such a clear line?
If the government launched an investigation, they would surely probe everyone who had so much as brushed against this affair.
...However mad Yi Do was, he wouldn't touch the government.
That was a matter of an entirely different dimension from striking a clan.
If he touched the government.
Especially someone of magistrate rank...
"...Ha..."
He didn't even want to imagine it.
And yet somehow, he felt the man really would.
No way.
He couldn't have gone that mad.
***
KWA-AAAANG-!!
Through the splintered doorway, a member of the Hyeokli Clan's Gale Squad came flying. His body tumbled across the floor before coming to a stop at the feet of a man.
He slumped down.
He looked up.
A man drenched head to toe in blood was walking slowly toward him.
"A mo... a monster..."
Five Gale Squad members charged at Yi Do, the man they called a monster.
Their blades flashed toward him. Yi Do twisted sideways. One sword swept past his face. His foot shoved off the earth as he closed in on the swordsman, and his hand clamped around the man's throat.
KWAJIK!
He hurled the broken corpse aside, and two Gale Squad members were knocked flat beneath it. Yi Do stretched out both hands.
The swords of the remaining two were caught, one in each hand. He squeezed.
KWAAANG — a thunderous crack, and both swords shattered. Yi Do's body spun. His heel crushed one man's throat, and a moment later his outstretched hand burst the other's skull like a ripe fruit.
Yi Do walked on and stomped down on the necks of the two prone squad members, one after the other.
KWAJIK. KWAJIK.
They were no match at all. Slaughter would have been the kinder word.
Behind him, countless corpses already carpeted the ground.
Yi Do picked a sword up off the floor. Slowly, he approached the man who had collapsed where he sat.
"Hyeokli Jung-su, nephew of Hyeokli Won-pyeong. Am I right?"
"Y-yes, that's right..."
"Good enough."
SWOOSH-!
Hyeokli Jung-su's head soared into the sky.
Yi Do set off walking again.
That he had never once abandoned something midway through meant the same thing as leaving no roots behind.
Yi Do intended to annihilate the Hyeokli Clan.
And annihilation meant killing every single soul who bore the name Hyeokli.
This man was the last.
He looked up.
The Hyeokli Clan's Gale Squad had once numbered three hundred warriors.
Today, one hundred eighty of them had died.
"...You mad dog... don't you ever tire?!"
Yi Do turned his head. One of the squad was pointing a trembling sword at him. Yi Do answered flatly.
"Do I look tired to you?"
"......."
"I'll give you a chance. My goal is the annihilation of the Hyeokli Clan. Every Hyeokli is dead now — which means the ones you were sworn to protect no longer exist. If you still wish to fight after hearing that, then come."
"..."
"If not, then take the chance when I offer it. Before I kill every last one of you."
Before the words had even left Yi Do's mouth, more than half of the Gale Squad had thrown down their weapons and begun to flee.
The Hyeokli Clan was finished.
That much was certain fact.
Those who hadn't run glanced at one another — and then, as one, they broke and fled as well.
Thus ended the Hyeokli Clan, one of the Three Great Clans of Jangryeong.
Having achieved his purpose, Yi Do stood rooted in place for a moment.
He had no choice.
"You there! Do not move from that spot!"
Because dozens of men were shouting those words as they closed a ring around him.
When Yi Do checked their uniforms, his brow creased.
"The government."
Someone answered.
"Heh heh heh. Yes — the government. You lunatic. How much longer do you intend to turn Jangryeong Commandery upside down before you're satisfied?"
"..."
"You have crossed the line. The Golden Heaven Divine Sword saw fit to spare your life, and this is how you repay it. Martial artists, honestly... Tsk."
Yi Do was curious who this man was.
"Who are you?"
The one to answer was Jeong Sun-won, the constable standing at the man's side.
"Heavens, you wretch! Do you even realize whose presence you're standing in with that foul tongue of yours? This is His Honor Lim Cheol-san, Magistrate of Jangryeong Commandery! Show your courtesies at once!"
The moment he heard that name, a soft smile — one no one had ever seen from him before — bloomed across Yi Do's lips.
"Magistrate Lim Cheol-san?"
"...You insolent cur! Do you truly intend to taste a beating before you come to your senses?!"
Lim Cheol-san laid a hand on his constable's shoulder and smiled just as softly.
"Heh heh, enough. Isn't he the bastard son who was so poorly raised he can barely string a sentence together?"
Chest thrust out proudly, Lim Cheol-san declared, truly, magnanimously:
"In the vastness of my heart, I shall forgive your insolence. Now — kneel where you stand."
"Kneel?"
"That's right. Kneel. You will be escorted to the government office in bonds."
"Well, I've only ever knelt once in my life."
"Then this will make it twice. Cooperate quietly, and I won't even strip your official recognition."
Yi Do shook his head.
"I have a better way. Care to hear it?"
"...A better way? Fine. Let's hear it, then."
Yi Do gripped his sword and began walking forward, slowly. Lim Cheol-san's brow furrowed.
"Stop. Do not come any closer."
Yi Do's footsteps halted abruptly.
"Scared, are you?"
"..."
"For someone called a magistrate, your gall is awfully small. With gall that size, can you truly govern a commandery as it deserves?"
Crack — Lim Cheol-san's face twisted in fury.
"You wretch... kill a few martial artists and you think you're untouchable, it seems. You know full well what a magistrate's office is, and still you spew this drivel in my face?"
Yi Do said a single word.
"You talk too much."
"..."
"Did you become a magistrate by talking?"
"...Constables."
"Yes, Your Honor."
"The man hasn't come to his senses. Go subdue him, and bring him before me."
Jeong Sun-won smiled brightly.
"At once, Your Honor."
Loosening the rope at his waist, he advanced on Yi Do.
"You threw away the chance His Honor so generously granted. Blame no one but yourself."
Jeong Sun-won assumed Yi Do would stand still.
He had no choice but to.
Jeong Sun-won was a constable, yes — but in the end, he belonged to the government.
Touching the government was something no man of the martial world could ever do. At the bare minimum, he would be hunted by the Imperial Golden Guards, and weathering that took more than ordinary nerve. You would have to be outright insane.
And Yi Do was.
Mad enough.
A shadow fell across Jeong Sun-won's face as he unwound the rope to bind his prey.
He heard the sound of thunder.
That was the last thing he ever heard.
SWOOSH-!
Jeong Sun-won's bisected body crumpled in two. Everyone around flinched.
"Th-this madman... are you trying to touch the government?!"
"What, am I not allowed to?"
The man had no words. Ordinary martial artists would never dare.
Yi Do advanced. There were men in his way. The constables.
Every last one of them was cut down.
KWA-RRRRUNG-!
With the thunderclap, blood sprayed in all directions. Lim Cheol-san stumbled backward.
This had not been part of the calculation.
"W-wait... I am the magistrate...!"
He cried it out to Yi Do, who was nearly upon him, but his words might as well have been wind.
"You were on the list of those who sold me out to the Golden Heaven Divine Sword."
"That... that was...!"
"Did you really think being a magistrate would make me look the other way?"
"...You touch the government, and you truly believe you'll walk away unscathed?"
"You should be asking it the other way around."
"What?"
"Do you truly believe a mere government office can lay hands on me and survive?"
"...You demented bastard..."
"Even if it were the Emperor himself and not some magistrate — lay a hand on me, and that man will die. Without fail."
"........."
"I alone decide when to stop and when not to. Not you. Me."
"...Wait. Let's simply talk this through."
"Have we not talked enough already?"
THWACK-!
Yi Do's sword pierced Lim Cheol-san's heart. He drew it out. Hack — as the man coughed up blood, Yi Do took hold of his head.
SWOOSH-!
And sent it flying.
