Settling Accounts

It was a full four hours before Yi Do, who had gone to collect the money, returned.

The members of the clan thought nothing of it.

Countless interests were entangled at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion, and the debt could only be collected after every one of them had been untangled.

Chief among those entanglements was the Jang Clan. One needed to look no further than the Jang Clan's young master — the man stood as the direct disciple of an elder of the Imperial Sword Sect, and that was a truly grave problem.

The Pavilion had attached itself to the Jang Clan knowing full well what that meant.

This was not something the youngest of the family, Yi Do, could possibly resolve on his own. It was not something the entire Yi Clan could easily have handled, for that matter.

Which was exactly why the task had been given to him.

By rights, the first duty assigned to a newcomer ought to be the one most likely to end in failure. If a man ran an unbroken road to success from the very start, he was bound to taste a crushing setback later on — and the intent was to make him taste it early, while the stakes were small.

And yet.

The words that left Yi Do's mouth upon his return turned the Yi household upside down.

"You did say it did not necessarily have to be money, so I have brought back the entire Heavenly Flower Pavilion."

"...What...?"

"Also, a martial artist of the Jang Clan named Jeong Rin has died."

Yi Se-geuk shot to his feet.

Every word falling from Yi Do's lips had been a shock, so the reaction was only natural.

Who, after all, was Jeong Rin? A rising star of the Jang Clan's warriors — a master of the Yang Light Dual Emergence realm, no less.

"The Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Flower Pavilion, Jeok Gae-san, had in fact been concealing his martial arts all along. He killed Jeong Rin on the spot and declared he would kill me next — but Jeong Rin, that formidable warrior of the Jang Clan, resolved to drag his enemy down with him in death and subdued Jeok Gae-san. Tragically, Jeong Rin survived only with his limbs shattered and his dantian burst, and at the very last he breathed his final breath, leaving me these dying words."

"...And what words did he leave?"

"He asked me to bury the Jang Clan's involvement with the Heavenly Flower Pavilion. Those were his words to me."

On the surface it almost made sense — but the situation itself, the whole shape of it, was simply beyond belief.

Jeok Gae-san, that kind of hidden master? Jeong Rin, dead? It refused to add up.

"...All of it — every last word — is it truly the truth?"

"Yes. There were other witnesses present besides myself."

"...Witnesses?"

Yi Do gestured toward the back of the hall.

"Enter."

The doors of the Patriarch's Hall opened, and a man wearing an expression drenched in fear shuffled slowly inside.

It was a waiter of the Heavenly Flower Pavilion.

Yi Se-geuk addressed him.

"Is everything Yi Do has just said the truth?"

The waiter swallowed hard, then, with the look of a man who had settled his resolve once and for all, spoke.

"Yes. It is the truth."

Hoo...

Groans of disbelief erupted from every corner of the hall.

The waiter drove the wedge deeper.

"Jeok Gae-san, the former Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Flower Pavilion, was in fact a Mado — a master who had hidden his blade for years. He and Jeong Rin of the Jang Clan perished together, but had it not been for Young Master Yi Do's help, Jeok Gae-san could never have been brought down."

"...Then why, of all things, would that Jeok Gae-san draw up a contract transferring every right to the Heavenly Flower Pavilion to Yi Do?"

The waiter stole a sidelong glance at Yi Do, then delivered his answer without a hitch.

"The truth is, Jeok Gae-san had been scheming to set the Jang Clan and the Yi Clan against each other."

"What is that supposed to mean? Explain yourself properly, and slowly."

"When Young Master Yi Do told him to hand over the entire pavilion if he would not repay his debt, Jeok Gae-san brought out a contract, signed it first, and then bade Yi Do do the same. He then asked Jeong Rin to stand by as notary — and so, quite naturally, Jeong Rin, Yi Do, and Jeok Gae-san came to occupy a single room. The three of them stood very close together, and the instant Yi Do set pen to paper, Jeok Gae-san attacked Jeong Rin."

"...He attacked? Jeok Gae-san struck first?"

"Yes. Having killed Jeong Rin first, he plainly intended to kill Yi Do next. The contract was nothing more than a pretext for the ambush. Had Jeok Gae-san, the final victor, simply torn that contract to shreds, then no one alive would ever have learned what transpired within those walls."

"...There is not a single lie in your words. Of that I am certain."

"Yes. Everything I have spoken to the Patriarch of the Yi Clan, I stake my life upon — it is all the truth."

Yi Do watched the waiter with a faintly satisfied smile.

The waiter — Jo Hyeon — felt his heart slamming against his ribs.

It was a lie. And yet, looked at one way, it might as well have been the truth. Because only two people in all the world knew how every moment of that day had truly unfolded: Jo Hyeon and Yi Do.

What came out of those two mouths was all that mattered. Whatever they said would become the truth.

Jo Hyeon remembered it still. Yi Do's words.

Let it be said plainly: this was the opportunity of a lifetime.

That much was enough. Nothing more needed to be said.

Jo Hyeon dropped to his knees without a moment's hesitation.

"I will become your man. Please, accept me."

Yi Do ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠answered with perfect clarity.

"Good."

"Thank you!"

"On one condition — there is something you must do for me first."

"Command me with anything at all. I will see it done."

And so the two of them got their stories straight.

Those who knew nothing of the inside of it could not even grasp what was happening before their eyes. And that was understandable.

Granted, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the realm Yi Do had displayed that day was merely the Heavenly Circulation Realm — but the gulf between a warrior of the Three Physical Realms and one of the Qi Condensation realms was, at its root, an ocean wide.

Ordinarily, no matter how desperately they thrashed, even dozens of Physical Realm warriors hurling themselves forward together could never stand against a man standing at the very threshold of Qi Condensation.

Whether or not the Middle Dantian had been opened — that alone accounted for a difference of exactly that magnitude.

In the end, Yi Se-geuk ruled that the accounts of Yi Do and the waiter were the truth.

And one sijin — two hours — later, it was the Jang Clan's turn to be turned on its head.

Jang Mak-su, Patriarch of the Jang Clan, gazed at the man before him in silence.

The youngest son of the Yi Clan.

By every report, his mother had been a serving girl, and lacking so much as a shred of respectable background, he was shunned even within his own clan. According to everything Jang Mak-su had been told, the boy was so spineless he could not bring himself to kill a single ant, so cowed that flinching before anyone he spoke to was simply his way of life — a creature unfit for even the smallest errand, let alone any matter of consequence.

Then what, in Heaven's name, was the figure standing so squarely and boldly before him now?

Was that truly the third son?

The boy had come of his own accord and recounted, from beginning to end, everything that had happened at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion. The contents were shocking — but Yi Do's bearing as he spoke was more shocking still. Yi Do said:

"Everything you have just heard is the truth. From this moment on, the Heavenly Flower Pavilion belongs to the Yi Clan."

Jang Mak-su asked with a smile of deep, unreadable meaning.

"Is what you say truly the truth?"

"Yes. There are witnesses standing right here, are there not?"

Jang Mak-su's gaze slid to the waiter at Yi Do's side.

The waiter, Jo Hyeon, shook like an aspen in a storm — and yet his account matched Yi Do's to the letter. As if the two had been stitched together beforehand.

"Even if the magistracy opens a proper investigation, will you still insist, precisely as you do now, that this is the truth?"

Jang Mak-su's manner was unmistakably different from Yi Se-geuk's.

And so was Yi Do's. He did not answer the same way at all.

"Investigator or otherwise — no matter who arrives to look into it, the truth does not simply cease to be true. The only reason I have come here in person is that my gratitude to Jeong Rin, the man who saved my life, was far too great to keep buried in my chest."

"...Jeong Rin. Yes. He was the pillar around which our Jang Clan's warriors rallied. His strength was immense, and his realm more formidable still. With Un-ryong there at his side, he was a man certain to accomplish far greater things."

"Yes. And that very man fell in battle against a Mado. A loss that cannot but be mourned."

"..."

"I had originally intended to press the Jang Clan for the debt the Heavenly Flower Pavilion owed. But to accept a man's grace and then turn around and collect from him — that is a thing only a beast wearing a human face could bring itself to do."

"Yes. That is only right."

Jang Mak-su did not trouble himself to deny it.

Nearly nine thousand taels of silver was, without question, an enormous sum. And it was true that the Jang Clan had been the ones pressuring the Pavilion never to repay it. But now that things had come to this pass, Yi Do was asking them to let the debt lie buried and acknowledge the pavilion's transfer of ownership.

That was how Jang Mak-su received Yi Do's words.

However.

A man's words must be heard to the very end before they can truly be understood.

Yi Do had not come seeking anyone's "acknowledgment." He had already resolved, within himself, to take what he wanted. And so he would take it. The recognition of others was a thing he did not need.

Yi Do spoke.

"On the way here I took a rough look through the ledgers. You certainly do run up a great many tabs. The money Young Master Un-ryong and your various warriors spent in this month alone comes to more than two thousand taels of silver."

"....."

"Then there is the damage from Jeong Rin's battle with Jeok Gae-san: four tables, two chairs, and floorboards broken in roughly six places. The blood seeped deep into the flooring, so it will all have to be torn out and replaced. I had an estimate drawn up — it comes to somewhere around two hundred taels of silver. But how could I, a humble human being, ever bring myself to bill you for that as well? My heart is firmly against it. And yet with the pavilion's master now changed, the old terms simply cannot be maintained. Surely you agree?"

"...Yes. With a new master, the old terms cannot stand."

"Precisely. And so I have come to collect every outstanding tab in full. Jo Hyeon."

"Yes, young master."

"Go and hand that over."

Jo Hyeon hurried forward, placed a thick bundle of papers in Jang Mak-su's hands, and slipped back to his place behind Yi Do.

Page by page, Jang Mak-su peeled through the bundle in grim silence — and his expression warped, bit by bit.

"As you can see, eight thousand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nine hundred and thirty-three taels of silver. Not merely this month, but every tab ever run at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion up to this very day. I will waive the surcharge at the end and take only eight thousand nine hundred."

"...This arithmetic of yours is strange. How can a jar of Shaoxing wine come to fifty taels of silver? By my understanding, ten taels is what a man drinks. And this Nü'erhong — its price defies reason as well. One hundred taels a bottle? The Baihualu is stranger yet. How can a single bottle of this cost four hundred taels?"

"As you are no doubt aware, Shaoxing wine is an exceptionally rare brew from Shaoxing in Zhejiang. Ten taels of silver may be its ordinary price, but not at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion. That price includes the laughter of the courtesans who pour it — and that, you must not overlook. The same holds ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for Nü'erhong and Baihualu, the famed vintages of the Shaoxing region. Insist the prices are absurd if you wish, but the men who drank them surely know better than anyone that they were not."

Jang Un-ryong, who had been listening in silence, felt his jaw hang open.

Honestly — when had the son of a wealthy house ever once thought about money while eating and drinking? How much a bottle cost, Jang Un-ryong had not the faintest idea. Nearly everything had been left to Jeong Rin, the one man he trusted most.

Frankly, even if Yi Do had inflated every price to absurd heights, there was no way on earth to prove it. If he simply insisted that the price of liquor shifting from day to day was the pavilion's custom, that was the end of the matter. The master had changed, and the old master was already dead and in the ground — who was left to arbitrate?

"And surely the illustrious Jang Clan — one of the Three Great Clans of Jangryeong — would never dream of refusing to repay what it borrowed."

The sum of the debt the Heavenly Flower Pavilion had owed the Yi Clan and the cost of repairing the pavilion matched, to the tael, the amount Yi Do now demanded.

It was, without a doubt, a truly remarkable coincidence.

"I would ask that payment be settled in full, this very moment. Exactly eight thousand nine hundred taels of silver."

Jang Mak-su found himself utterly lost for words.

This absolute madman.