Byeok Nana
A blinding flash and an ear-splitting roar swept across the ridge.
But no metal shards came raining down, so it really did seem to be Byeok Muji's sister.
Having stolen our sight and hearing, the woman of the Byeok Clan dove straight for me, determined to reclaim her brother. I snatched her outstretched wrist with a sharp snap.
"Impossible. You've already recovered your vision?"
She stared at me in pure disbelief.
"I've been hit by that trick once before."
That was why I'd already wrapped my eyes in inner energy. The moment she heard those words, her conviction that her brother and I had been enemies only hardened, and her expression turned far more murderous.
"So it was you! The one who beat my Muji half to death!"
"Geez, you really don't listen to a word people say, do you?"
She showed zero intention of listening. After slamming a palm strike into my chest, she sprang back and yanked something from her robes. The thick outer coat fell open, revealing clusters of genuine thunder bombs hanging like grapes.
"You villains… Hand over my brother, or we all join hands and cross the Yellow Springs together! One or the other!"
"…What a goddamn bomb maniac."
No wonder her silhouette had looked so bulky. She'd stuffed herself full of gunpowder weapons.
"Even a master won't walk away clean if this many thunder bombs go off. So choose carefully."
Apparently that single wrist grab had been enough for the young lady of the Byeok Clan to feel the gap in skill, so she was threatening with firearms instead of martial arts. She even added that these were experimental models without fuses—ones that detonated seconds after impact—so don't even think about charging.
"You should choose carefully yourself. We're not the ones who knocked this boy out. We're the ones who saved him."
"On what basis am I supposed to believe that? It's already been exposed that this is the rendezvous point!"
Fine. I understood she'd just finished off the enemies who ambushed her on the mountain and come straight up. I even understood how the conversation had gotten this tangled. But at this rate our dialogue was just running on parallel tracks.
"Young Lady Byeok Nana of the Byeok Clan. Do you perhaps remember me?"
At that moment Jo Harang—who had once been hired as a wandering warrior by the Byeok Clan—stepped forward.
"Remember you? Who are you…"
"I was this young master's bodyguard four years ago. It was only a brief encounter, but do you remember this greatsword?"
She dug through hazy memories, then slapped her knee the instant she saw the massive blade.
"Ah… Ah!"
The moment a familiar face appeared, the wariness and suspicion on the woman called Byeok Nana began to ease. I raised a vivid fist aura right in front of her and continued the persuasion.
"If I meant to subdue you, I already would have. So calm down."
"…"
Apparently she hadn't realized I was this strong. She swallowed hard and gave a small nod. Finally we could talk.
"And put those vicious bombs away while you're at it."
It felt exactly like dealing with a terrorist in a bomb vest. I pointed and gestured for her to do something about them. Timed impact bombs, she'd said. If I'd hit her without knowing, we'd all have been toast.
"Alright. I'll put them away for now."
Byeok Nana carefully closed her coat with hesitant hands. Unfortunately one of the bombs hanging like grapes had come loose and dropped to the ground with a dull thunk.
"…"
In the absolute silence that followed, a single bomb rolled across the dirt. Hadn't she just said it would explode seconds after impact?
"Ah…"
Byeok Nana's face said it all: We're screwed.
"Oh shit!"
The instant I saw it I launched myself forward.
KWAANG!
A short while later, in a corner of the ridge that had just been swept by a genuine explosion.
Clear blast scars still marked the ground, and a woman was grunting and straining in a thoroughly bizarre posture.
"Um… excuse me…"
Byeok Nana's face was flipped completely upside-down and burning crimson as she forced the words out.
"What."
"You said you'd forgive me if I did this… but what kind of posture is this exactly…"
She looked like she was dying and still managed to ask the question.
"It's called the Grandjeol. The absolute maximum expression of apology."
Both arms and the head planted firmly into the earth, body inverted as if performing a handstand. A form of etiquette that conveyed more sincerity than any ordinary bow.
"I-I'm sorry. I really didn't know you were the ones who saved my brother."
"Sorry is enough? I yelled that it was a misunderstanding and you didn't even pretend to listen."
"I just… thought you were with the ones who ambushed me on the mountain…"
I brushed soot and ash from my clothes—now full of holes and thoroughly blackened—while Byeok Nana floundered through excuses.
"Hah. More excuses. Can't you thrust up a little more vigorously?"
At my demand that she show sincerity through action rather than words, her legs stretched even longer toward the sky. A textbook-perfect Grandjeol. Even martial artists found the posture nearly impossible to hold for long. In other words, it was an extremely punishing pose that made sweat pour like rain.
"Ugh…"
Then, finally coming around, the boy rubbed his eyes and woke up beside Jo Harang. Byeok Muji opened his eyes, took in the utterly bizarre scene before him, and went blank.
"What in the world…"
Still planted head-first with both arms trembling, the woman brightened the moment she spotted her brother awake.
"Muji! You're awake! Thank goodness…"
She rushed over and hugged him tightly in pure relief. A touching family reunion.
But while the sister sighed in relief, the brother's confusion refused to clear.
"This acrid black-powder smell… and those scorched clothes. Did the two of you fight or something?"
My current outfit made the bomb damage impossible to miss, so he caught on immediately.
"No, rather than fighting… this person saved me."
"Then why is the sister who got saved stuck in that punishment pose?"
"Because I almost killed him."
"…?"
A face that clearly didn't understand a thing. While you'd been out cold, a lot had happened. I carefully walked him through the events and the pile of misunderstandings that had accumulated. The longer the story went on, the more embarrassed the boy looked as he scratched his cheek.
"…Even in that situation, thank you for saving my sister."
In the urgency of the moment I had lunged and kicked the bomb away. It detonated right beside me, dumping every fragment and every bit of blast pressure my way. But thanks to that, the damage never reached anyone else.
"Anyway, the siblings are reunited, so the first commission is done, right?"
Agreeing, Byeok Muji and Byeok Nana both offered their thanks once more. But this wasn't the end. Only when we restored the Byeok Clan that had been caught in the conspiracy and collected the family's accumulated wealth from the vault as payment would the real mission be complete.
"So, what's the next plan? You've got something lined up, right?"
The joy of reunion lasted only a moment. At my words the siblings remembered the cold reality of being hunted and opened their mouths.
"The next goal is dealing with the returned prodigal son—Byeok Jinsang."
A name like Jinsang. Already the human type was crystal clear. The clan head of the Byeok Clan had been dragged off by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so he was hard to touch for now. Starting with the easier target made sense.
"But Boss, is it really an easy job?"
"Mujin, that place is crawling with bombs and cannons. It won't be easy."
Having suffered through every previous commission, Ilhong and Jo Harang took turns voicing their worries. Bombs carried no killing intent or murderous aura, and once they exploded even a sword couldn't cut them. Get hit wrong and even a master could go down in one shot. So the two of them looked thoroughly uneasy about a commission that was basically walking into a powder magazine.
"It's fine. We'll just blow things up too."
But these kinds of weapons were very familiar to me. I'd handled more than a few of them back in my military days.
"…What exactly are you planning to blow up?"
"Just… this and that."
Charging a thoroughly defended clan with a tiny force. I'd done it before in Sichuan. And this one, somehow, felt like it was going to be an extremely satisfying commission in every possible way.
"Then let's go."
The sickroom of the medical hall reeked of bitter medicinal decoctions and the stench of rotting pus.
Second Prince Ju Gachi looked down with a completely indifferent gaze at the man who had once been called the Crown Prince. Skin peeled away in patches, revealing raw red flesh; seeping fluids that refused to stop even when wiped with clean cloths. Calling him a living corpse with only breath remaining was no exaggeration.
Once he had been the perfect older brother who made one resentful from constant comparison in every area. Now he was gasping for air, unable to overcome even a single illness.
"Life truly is unpredictable."
Because of this, the attention of the Empress and everyone around her had returned to him as well. But those gazes were cold—nothing like the ones that had once fallen on the Crown Prince. Still, if he wanted to keep even those cold gazes, he had to strive with everything he had to meet his mother's expectations.
"Your Highness the Second Prince, of all places, why here…"
Why summon me to the Crown Prince's sickroom where there are ears listening? Someone in Embroidered Uniform Guard attire spoke in a troubled voice.
"It's an awkward place for secretive talk. Even now, if we change locations…"
"He's unconscious and will soon breathe his last. Who could keep a secret better than this?"
"…"
Everyone expected he wouldn't last long, but saying it right in front of the man was another matter entirely. The Embroidered Uniform Guard glanced once at the ailing Crown Prince and kept silent.
"So. You have a report to make?"
"…Yes. Regarding that new eunuch named Muhong who interfered with the poisoning the Empress planned last time. It seems we've identified who he is."
"Oh?"
That assassin had been a skilled killer carefully selected by Mother. Not someone who would be discovered by a mere new eunuch. From the beginning the identity of that new eunuch had been under suspicion.
"Do you recall when the Third Princess suddenly begged for permission to allow the Beggar Sect's entry?"
"Of course I remember. That made Beijing noisy for quite a while."
He'd heard the beggars had flocked in and caused a ruckus in the imperial capital—especially turning the tables on those who had been bullying them. Bizarre rumors had spread all the way into the Imperial Palace.
"Upon closer investigation, the one who made that request was a troubleshooter named Dan Mujin… and it seems this fellow is the same person as Muhong, who entered the Princess's palace as a new eunuch."
At the Embroidered Uniform Guard's answer, the Second Prince's expression twisted slightly.
"So what you're saying is that my mother's meticulously crafted plan fell apart completely because of one mere troubleshooter?"
"…"
Sensing the displeasure in the tone, the Embroidered Uniform Guard shut his mouth. But that silence was answer enough; the Second Prince's face twisted even further.
"And this Dan Mujin fellow wasn't finished. Finding it strange, I dug deeper, and his record is quite spectacular."
"A spectacular record for some unorthodox riffraff of a troubleshooter… Hmph. Go on."
He snorted and jerked his chin for the man to continue. But as the long explanation went on, his expression inevitably hardened more and more.
"Investigation results show that the one who interfered with the Eunseong Merchant Group's silkworm affair was also this Dan Mujin. The one who beat down the Embroidered Uniform Guard and blocked the Seomok Clan's recruitment. The one who shook the credit of our funding source, the Mangeum Money House—all of it revealed to be this man's doing."
Almost every scheme the Second Prince had been unfolding, knowingly or not, until now.
"What…?"
Because of the repeated failures of those schemes he had greatly lost the Empress's trust for a time. Especially the scolding he'd received just the other day for failing to crush even a single merchant group and getting berated by the Princess. And all of that had been the work of one troubleshooter no better than a street thug?
"…What an interesting fellow. For a mere troubleshooter to dare intervene so deeply in Imperial Palace affairs."
Of course he had assumed the Third Princess's side had pulled some strings. But that wasn't the case. This wasn't a level that could be dismissed with a simple "impudent." Beyond insolent—it was staggering. Second Prince Ju Gachi found himself engraving into his mind the name of a troubleshooter he had never expected to remember for the rest of his life.
"And by the way, the Byeok Clan matter seems to have ripened to a certain degree now."
At the Embroidered Uniform Guard's words, the Second Prince forced down the rising anger mixed with absurdity and regained his cool. Well, at least one thing was rolling properly.
"Um… but Your Highness. Do we really have to go this far?"
Sensing something ominous being plotted, the man asked with a touch of anxiety. The Second Prince answered with a cold face.
"Do we have to go this far? Is that even an appropriate thing to say in a war where losing means losing everything?"
A fierce fight with all of the Central Plains at stake. And in war there must naturally be blades, bombs, and cannons. The Third Princess's side would also have started moving in earnest with the poisoning attempt as the trigger, so there was no room to retreat. And if it came to it, the puppet of the Byeok Clan would take the blame without ever knowing what had happened.
"Somehow prepare it by autumn."
He gave the order while looking down at the man who had once been his brother, groaning in the sickroom. The very person who had led people to conclude that a weak Son of Heaven was of no benefit to the national interest. The struggle inside the jar of poison to cull the weak that had begun that way.
"I will never end up like this."
In a corner of the medical hall thick with stench, a prince burned with extraordinary ambition.