Chapter 186
Chapter 186: Night of the Long Sword (2)
The Yo Family had been a mid-ranking bureaucratic family employed in the Ministry of War for three generations in the capital, Nakdo.
Yo Han-myeong's father, Yo Jin-san, had risen to the important position of Vice Minister of War within the Ministry, but was purged some ten-odd years ago due to a wrong choice made during the struggle over imperial succession.
Naturally, the family fell from grace.
However, owing to the mercy of the new emperor, they were spared the Extermination Slave Punishment. Instead, Yo Han-myeong and all other officials of the Yo Family were demoted and exiled to the frontier.
And so Yo Han-myeong became the Magistrate of the border frontier city of Gangdo.
It was a position where doing well merely broke even, and doing poorly meant his neck was on the line at any moment. In severe cases, even the remaining members of his family who had survived could all be executed.
Magistrate in name only—what it really meant was that he was a mayfly with no real authority, never knowing when he might die.
Vinegar Fly Yo Han-myeong.
That was, in fact, the derogatory nickname the nobles of the capital used to refer to him.
***
Clack.
Yo Han-myeong returned to his office at Gangdo Prefecture.
He closed the door and sank into his chair.
'Hero Gate…….'
Heroes, of all things.
He had heard the word chivalrous warrior perhaps once in a blue moon, but heroes? And Hero Gate?
Did such a romantic word still exist in this Great Viet Empire—and in the Martial World, of all places?
"Hmm."
Yo Han-myeong leaned his head back against the chair rest and recalled what had happened earlier.
***
— You…… no, what is the name of the sect you intend to establish here?
— Hero Gate.
— Hero……Gate?
— That's right. I, we, this place—we must now become heroes and purify this wretched Martial World.
— What does that……mean?
— Exactly what I said.
— …….
— Purification.
***
'To make it clean.'
This Martial World of Gangdo.
Yo Han-myeong had spent more than a decade here.
During that time, he had governed by exploiting the balance of power between the Iron God Society, the Seven Star Immortal Assembly, and the other factions. More precisely, he had managed them.
Anything beyond that was outside his ability, and it was a custom and convention that had been held for the previous hundreds of years. Under ordinary circumstances, it would have continued that way for hundreds more.
That is, if the variable known as Kim Rae-won and Hero Gate had not appeared.
'The Iron God Society and the Seven Star Immortal Assembly. Both are now gone…….'
Taken purely on its own terms, this was a matter so grave that the moment he reported it to the capital as it was, the life of the mayfly called Yo Han-myeong might simply cease to exist.
But what mattered was.
"Hero Gate."
The fact that that man, Kim Rae-won, had remained in Gangdo.
And he and Hero Gate.
Walk the Middle Path.
Plant the Banner of Heroism.
When foreign enemies invade, they will hold them back.
If things went as he said, wasn't that actually a good thing?
Achieving in his own tenure an order that not even the magistrates posted here over hundreds of years had managed to accomplish?
It was an achievement grand enough that it might even allow him to restore the Yo Family to its former glory.
'Then for now, I'd best sit back and watch what our new friend does.'
That had been Bukgung Ri's expression.
That a 'new friend' had appeared in Gangdo.
Whether he would be a friend or a disaster……that remained to be seen.
What was certain was that whether Vinegar Fly Yo Han-myeong would be slapped dead by a flyswatter, or transform and soar as an eagle, solely rests in the hands of Kim Rae-won and Hero Gate.
That alone was now the pressing matter before Yo Han-myeong.
"Come."
At Yo Han-myeong's call, the adjutant who had been standing outside immediately entered.
"Yes, Your Excellency the Magistrate."
The Magistrate's official order fell upon him at once.
"From this point forward, the government of Gangdo shall turn a blind eye to all activities of Hero Gate."
"What that means……?"
"Exactly what it says. We shall support Hero Gate in every way—materially and otherwise—to restore order within Gangdo."
"That would be breaking the principle of the Government-Martial Non-Aggression Pact, Your Excellency."
"No."
Yo Han-myeong rose from his seat and moved to the window, casting his gaze into the distance.
It was the direction of the Western Road—now in ruins, or rather, being rebuilt—where the Iron God Society, now Hero Gate, had taken root.
"Hero Gate walks the Middle Path, and as such, it espouses neutrality, just as the government does. How great could the difference be between walking boldly down the road in the center and standing in the center? This is not a violation of the Government-Martial Non-Aggression Pact; it is simply the birth of a new principle—Government-Martial Unity."
"However, the capital will not permit this."
Yo Han-myeong turned his body and looked the adjutant squarely in the eye.
"And if the capital does not permit it?"
"……."
"The capital doesn't care one whit about such things. Deploy additional troops and masters to manage a border frontier like Gangdo? That is what they truly cannot permit."
"……."
"As long as there are no additional mobilization costs and no loss of skilled fighters, they will allow us to do absolutely anything."
"Such things……."
"All the more so, they would have no reason to oppose establishing a new order through 'heroic' conduct. Do you understand?"
"……Understood. I shall carry out your orders immediately."
The adjutant left the office then and there.
Yo Han-myeong gazed once more into the distance toward Hero Gate, and murmured softly.
"This official has done everything within his power."
The image of Kim Rae-won he had seen earlier came to mind.
A cold and indifferent face—yet when he had smiled briefly, his teeth shone brilliantly.
"A hero who walks the Middle Path."
Middle Path.
The expression center is easy to hear as a way of going left when it suits you and right when it doesn't. In other words, it sounds fine on the surface—a pleasant-sounding word and phrase.
And yet.
In reality, it contained the exact opposite meaning.
This was especially true in a world as savage and unscrupulous as the Martial World. Whether Orthodox or Demonic, each side wanted others under their banner—and they would never permit anyone to stand apart and observe from a distance. In other words, pursuing the Middle Path meant occupying a position where one would inevitably be beaten on one side by the Orthodox Faction and on the other by the Evil Demons and Heretics.
No one wanted the weak to hold their ground in the center. Standing at the center without power to back it up was no different from suicide.
Of course, having eliminated two of Gangdo's influential powers at once—though he denied doing the Seven Star Immortal Assembly himself—it was clear he possessed formidable martial force.
Could he truly raise the Banner of Heroism high in this wretched world?
There were honestly far too many incomprehensible aspects……
But regardless, understood.
I'll be counting on you from now on.
Kim Rae-won.
***
Immediately after Yo Han-myeong departed.
Dong Bong-soo moved at once to work toward founding Hero Gate.
[The Household Window], [The Guild Window], and understanding each of the children individually also needed to be done, but those were not the most urgent matters.
He left Jeon Ra-hwa and the children to continue cleaning up the Iron God Society's grounds—now Hero Gate's grounds. After all, there was nothing they could do or be deployed for at the moment.
He set his priorities for what had to be done immediately.
First: Repair and Construction.
He went outside and headed straight to District 7.
There, he sought out the merchant he had saved before and hired the maximum number of laborers he could, then sent them to the Hero Gate grounds. There was much to fix, much to build, and much to clear away.
Funds were more than plentiful. There was what he had taken from the Iron God Society, much of what he had gathered from the Floating Island, and what he had stripped from the bandits as well.
Second: Cremation.
He asked the merchant for the location of the crematorium and went there.
It was under government management, and—whether Yo Han-myeong's orders had already reached them—they were immediately cooperative. He asked them at once to clear away the bodies piled up on the Hero Gate grounds.
Third: Cleanup.
Despite Jeon Ra-hwa and the children—along with the laborers hired from District 7—already being deployed, more 'cleanup' was needed.
Cleanup in a fundamentally different sense of the word.
The character for clear, and the character for sweep.
Was Gangdo not currently in a state of chaos that required sweeping clean?
This kind of cleanup required not a broom handle, but a sword hilt.
The sweeper, Dong Bong-soo, kept moving without pause.
***
An evenly matched contest between a dragon and a tiger.
It refers to a situation where a dragon and tiger battle one another in near-perfect balance over a single mountain.
But what if both the dragon and the tiger on such a mountain suddenly vanish?
Naturally, the hawks and bats that had been suppressed by the dragon's might would run rampant, and the jackals and wolves that had cowered under the tiger's threats would roam freely and ravage that territory to their hearts' content.
That was the nature of a world governed solely by the law of the jungle.
And.
If one failed to act at a golden opportunity like now—when both dragon and tiger had died—that was no beast at all.
In a hellhole like Gangdo, beast carried no negative meaning whatsoever. The Iron God Society and Seven Star Immortal Assembly had all been beasts. They had simply possessed the ability to rise to the position of dragon and tiger.
A capable beast must never let such a perfect opportunity slip by.
Fire Bell Society Leader Jo Jung-heon was moving covertly, accompanied by twenty of his trusted subordinates.
He had kept his head down all this time under the Iron God Society's tyranny, but now the only powers in the Western Road that outstripped his Fire Bell Society were Black Wind Hall and Single Eye Gate.
'Now both of them are within reach.'
What's more, both forces were currently preoccupied devouring the Iron God Society's former operations. In other words, it was self-evident that the defense of their own main bases would be temporarily weakened.
Indeed, according to intelligence from his spy within Single Eye Gate, there were currently only about twenty percent of their usual number of warriors inside the gate. Even the Gate Leader himself was away.
'If not now, it will be difficult to plan such an undertaking again.'
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-.
Though they did make some sound, since they were moving across rooftops, no one had noticed their movement.
Jo Jung-heon and twenty men wearing red headbands.
The numbers were few, but these were the Fire Bell Society's core members. This could be considered nearly half of the total fighting strength the Fire Bell Society could project.
There was a slight gap due to Bo Geon-hwi failing to join in time. Not enough to affect the overall outcome.
'Today, Single Eye Gate will be erased from Gangdo.'
Even as they moved.
Screams continued to ring out from all over the Western Road—born of clashes between Black Wind Hall and Single Eye Gate and others.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh."
An irrepressible delight leaked through his lips.
This was a feast.
The grandest feast in hundreds of years, with all of Gangdo as its stakes.
The screams billowing up like smoke formed a melody most encouraging.
That beautiful music did not stop, continuing until they arrived near Single Eye Gate.
And yet……