The Son-in-Law Who Asks for the Thorns
Meanwhile, Nam I had mounted up alongside Jo Yeong-dal. Jo Yeong-dal stole a few careful glances at him before finally venturing to speak.
"Lord Nam, is something the matter at home...?"
"It's nothing. My wife has been a little short-tempered, that's all."
Nam I answered with practiced indifference, but Jo Yeong-dal could not hide his uneasiness. He was five years Nam I's senior, yet ever since they had once crossed blades, he had sworn to follow the younger man.
Nam I, for his part, had shared drinks and conversation with him several times and come to feel a kinship with him — a meeting of that vast, unbound spirit of integrity that great men share — and the two had come to treat each other almost as brothers.
"Still, my lord — your lady is none other than the daughter of His Excellency Sohandang himself."
Jo Yeong-dal was quietly troubled. Sohandang, Gwon Ram, was now called the Left State Councillor behind Suyang — the real power of the realm, the man said to knock birds right out of the sky. Nam I might weather it, but for a man like himself to get entangled and fall out of favor would spell true disaster.
"Don't fret over it, Yeong-dal. Does a man of your mettle really worry his head over such things?"
Of course I worry, Jo Yeong-dal swallowed the words in his throat.
"No, it's only that I—"
"There's nothing to fret over."
The two spurred their horses toward the archery grounds where the idle young men of Hanyang habitually gathered. Tying their horses beside a stand of willows, Nam I and Jo Yeong-dal mingled among the idlers. Those who recognized Nam I bowed and scraped. Most of them had crossed a single bout with him at one time or another and understood that his martial skill was no trifling thing. And with Gwon Ram standing behind him as well, they could hardly fail to show respect.
Nam I looked around and asked, "I don't see Herald Kim today. Buried in official duties, is he?"
"Well now. It's been some time since he last came."
"And Kang Seondal? He's nowhere in sight either."
"Him as well — he's been gone a while now."
"Is that so... Perhaps he's fallen ill. Strange men for that."
Nam I tilted his head, and the idlers exchanged glances among themselves.
"I'd hoped to cross blades with those men today. A pity. Say — would any of you care to spar with me?"
"Aiyo, how could the likes of us stand against you, my lord?"
They waved both hands in frantic refusal. Nam I's martial skill was exceptional enough on its own, but they also feared that if one of them carelessly wounded him, some dreadful retribution would surely follow.
Failing to find the men he'd hoped to meet, Nam I and Jo Yeong-dal drifted away in boredom. Since he was already out, Nam I decided to make the rounds of a few more places.
"What — Vice Guard Yu is gone too?"
"That's right."
The Geunchunmun guard who fielded the question answered flatly. Nam I could not make sense of it. The young idlers and junior officers of some real martial ability — men Nam I himself respected — had vanished as if by mutual agreement.
"Tell me, Yeong-dal. Doesn't something feel off to you?"
"I couldn't say..."
"Maybe it's just my feeling, but it seems plenty of the men who matter have slipped away. Even Guard Yu of the Geunchunmun suddenly took a leave of absence and disappeared."
"There must be some explanation, surely. Illness, or a mother's funeral..."
"One or two men, fine. But this is strange. Look into it a little, would you?"
Nam I spent the entire day running about, pressing everyone he could find for word of the missing men's whereabouts. Strangely, though, everyone claimed to know nothing.
"This is suspicious..."
Only at suppertime did Nam I finally secure a clue — after dragging one guard who was leaving his post into a tavern and plying him with liquor and persuasion.
"I don't know much myself, my lord, but... they say there's something called the Byeolchogapsa."
"Byeolchogapsa...? What is that?"
"How would I know? I've only heard rumors."
The guard shook his head vigorously. Nam I found it peculiar, but there was no way to learn more.
In truth, Suyang and Han Myeong-hoe had guarded the secret of the Byeolchogapsa — the reconnaissance organization being assembled to track Hong-wi — with absolute rigor, relying entirely on personal connections and patronage networks. Just as Yu Ja-gwang had learned of the Byeolchogapsa only through Hong Gil-dong — and that Hong Gil-dong had heard it from his half-brother Hong Il-dong, and Hong Il-dong had been approached by Han Myeong-hoe himself. Finding someone who knew was nearly impossible, and even if one found such a man, he would never tell.
"Something is decidedly rotten here."
"What will you do, my lord?" Jo Yeong-dal asked.
Nam I narrowed his eyes. "Sweeping up the finest warriors in Hanyang — guards, Naegeumwi, idlers, every last one... Something is brewing, isn't it? And how could I simply let a thing like this pass? I'll have to go see His Excellency Sohandang."
Nam I resolved to visit his father-in-law, Gwon Ram. Jo Yeong-dal startled. "His Excellency the State Councillor? My lord, calling at this hour—"
"He'll have left the palace by now. What harm is there in a son-in-law paying his respects to his father-in-law?"
Nam I would not be moved. Jo Yeong-dal cast an anxious glance at the westering sky as dusk came down, then shortly followed after him. By the time they arrived at Gwon Ram's house, darkness had settled, and Gwon Ram happened to be home. Hearing that Nam I had come, Gwon Ram found it strange and admitted them.
"No word sent ahead, and at this hour? What brings you?"
"Father-in-law."
Having finished his greetings, Nam I fixed Gwon Ram with a grave look. That gaze unsettled Gwon Ram. What now, with this one...
It had been Gwon Ram himself who had marked the sixteen-year-old Nam I as a son-in-law. The young man's reputation as a great warrior was resounding, his face hardly lacking, his family respectable. Gwon Ram, who prided himself on a fair eye for physiognomy, had singled him out as a match for his daughter So-yul the moment he laid eyes on him.
But once the marriage was actually made, a thorny problem had surfaced. He had known Nam I was bold — but not that he would roam the streets and pick fights with any renowned idler or skilled guard the moment a spare hour offered itself. When Gwon Ram first heard of it, he had laughed heartily, calling it another mark of that boldness. Only Lady Lee had frowned at the news.
Still, there ought to be limits. When their married daughter Gwon So-yul came weeping her grievances, Lady Lee had begun nagging Gwon Ram daily to talk some sense into his son-in-law — what would become of the girl, she demanded, if her husband came to harm living like this?
Gwon Ram had lightly chided her — worry is one's lot in life — though inwardly a quiet unease had been growing. To leave his new bride behind and lose himself in such a dangerous pastime. Even if his opponents pulled their blows, surely a real fight could crack his skull open, or worse, spill blood.
I had been meaning to give him a word of warning anyway.
Gwon Ram thought this visit opportune — and yet Nam I's expression would not stop nagging at him.
"So. What is this about?"
"Father-in-law — have you by chance heard of something called the Byeolchogapsa?"
"The Byeolchogapsa?"
Gwon Ram was flustered. Of course he knew exactly what kind of organization it was. Of all things under heaven, this one had to catch his son-in-law's eye!
"Where did you hear of it?"
Mid-sentence, Gwon Ram realized his mistake. He should have cut the thread clean rather than ask. Meanwhile, Nam I's face had brightened.
"So you do know of it, Father-in-law!" Nam I went on, beaming. "I heard a rumor that famous warriors of the capital have been joining something called the Byeolchogapsa."
Gwon Ram looked at him and saw, absurdly, a boy with a new toy set before his eyes. Come to think of it, Nam I was barely past his teens. He understood instinctively that bending the young man's will would be no easy thing. But there were things one could permit, and things one could not.
"That is no business for you."
Gwon Ram said it flatly. Compared to the Byeolchogapsa, his son-in-law's current habit of wandering about challenging men to bouts could be chalked up as boyish roughhousing and forgiven. This was something else entirely — a path likely to leave his daughter So-yul a widow in all but name. What manner of organization was the Byeolchogapsa? It was a special unit Han Myeong-hoe had petitioned Suyang for personally and brought into being. A full year was drawing near since Hong-wi had vanished from Yeongwol, and Suyang and his most trusted men had all, little by little, come to accept a fact: no trace of Hong-wi, alive or dead, could be found anywhere within the realm.
Then where was he? If I know anything at all, it is the northern frontier. Han Myeong-hoe had pronounced his verdict. And naturally so. Where else would Hong-wi go? It was conceivable he had taken ship for the islands of Wa — but every circumstance pointed to his having chosen the road north.
In that case, we must loose hounds upon the trail of Nosan-gun Hong-wi. Yi Jing-ok held sway in Hamgil Province for years; the old reconnaissance men cannot be trusted. At Han Myeong-hoe's observation, all present — led by Minister of War Hong Dal-son — had nodded in agreement. Indeed, even before that, few reliable scouts had remained. Under the pretext of executing Yi Jing-ok and rooting out his faction, a purge had been carried out, and the reconnaissance network had bled in the process. Their political line may have differed, but Yi Jing-ok had devoted himself tirelessly to watching the movements of the wild men of the north, and there was scarcely a scout whose path had not crossed his hand. Of course, years had passed since Yi Jing-ok's death, and veteran intelligence men of that caliber could not be bred up in a short time. And his successor, Yang Jeong, had shown little interest in the work besides.
If that wretch Yang Jeong had done his job properly, there would have been no need to invent this Byeolchogapsa at all. Gwon Ram bit his lip. Even the name "Byeolchogapsa" was, strictly speaking, a label of convenience — the unit had no true name. If pressed, one might call it the Special Vanguard Reconnaissance Guard. It was a force to be infiltrated into the lands of the northern tribes after some six months of training, there to gather intelligence and, when needed, serve as the vanguard's eyes for punitive expeditions.
The unit numbered no more than twenty or thirty men. Its purpose was to confirm the fate of the deposed king Hong-wi and cut him down — which meant they could take just anyone. They had to choose men who were beyond doubt trustworthy, whose abilities were outstanding, and who, when the hour came, were prepared to die. And men like that, in practice, were nothing but swarms of day-flies blinded by ambition. What sort of land was the northern frontier? Never mind the tribes' country — even Hamgil Province, unquestionably Joseon soil, was a place most men who went did not return from. To send his son-in-law Nam I to such a place was to tell his daughter So-yul, plainly, become a widow.
"Father-in-law! I will go — I must."
Nam I's will had already hardened like iron. "I tell you, no!" Gwon Ram shouted. Then, the next moment, he softened his voice into coaxing. "Why — why in heaven's name would you choose a road of thorns? Stay here, and advancement is yours for the taking. If you want a civil post, I will open every civil gate for you. If you want a military post, there is nothing I cannot arrange. There's even the Seonjeongwan position, is there not?"
Gwon Ram dangled the Royal Herald post created just the year before. Since usurping the throne, Suyang had been harried on every side by plots to restore Hong-wi, and he had resolved that for his own protection he must choose men he could truly trust. The Seonjeongwan was thus a post established to escort the royal palanquin, reserved for the young and exceptionally strong among the sons of merit subjects and high ministers.
"If you wish it, I can place you in the Seonjeongwan post by morning. So what do you say, eh?"
Gwon Ram all but begged. A man whose authority was such that he was called the power behind Suyang — and yet, where his daughter's happiness was concerned, he grew endlessly soft. True, Nam I was still far too young for a Seonjeongwan post — but so what? If it was Gwon Ram asking, Suyang would elevate the boy to Herald by special dispensation without a second thought.
But Nam I shook his head. "This is the petition of a man. I ask to become a Byeolchogapsa."
"Heh... No — really, this boy."
Gwon Ram was at a loss. "Do you truly intend to make my daughter a widow while she lives? This is a matter of life and death. You will be sent far away, into the lands of the wild tribes."
Gwon Ram was determined to talk him out of it at any cost — but those words would have been better left unsaid. For Nam I, they did nothing but fan the flames of his fighting spirit.