And So, It Was for Survival! (1)
“Military strategist!”
One man burst violently into the silent great hall. But the one sorting through the ledgers piled mountain-high on the desk didn’t even glance up at him.
“Military strategist.”
“Wait.”
The man who had knelt there in deference fell silent and waited.
By the time it would have taken a single candle to burn a little farther down, the man sifting through the documents picked up a fine brush, signed his name in one corner of the ledger, and closed it.
“Approve these documents and send them out.”
“Yes.”
The person waiting at his side answered respectfully.
“Call in the ones who drew up this ledger separately and lock them up in the prison.”
“Yes, military strategist.”
“Especially.”
Ho Ga-myeong tossed the ledger in his hand onto the desk.
“The person responsible for this ledger—cripple their dantian and sever the tendons throughout their body, then throw them into the underground prison. Send troops to seize their entire estate as well. If anyone resists, make them the same way.”
“They won’t last long if they’re thrown into the prison like that.”
“Oh? I almost made a mistake. Then before they can’t endure it and die, drag them out of the prison and cut off their head. We can’t just let them die a natural death.”
“I-I’ll carry out your orders exactly!”
Ho Ga-myeong, the military strategist of the Evil Tyrant Alliance, closed his eyes and pressed his temple with two fingers.
“Human beings are truly impossible to understand. Which do they value more—five strings of coin, or their own lives?”
Even though they clearly knew that embezzling the sect’s funds meant death by a thousand cuts, even though there had already been no small number of people who had actually died that way, they still sneaked around and did it again whenever there was the slightest opening.
He was unorthodox too, but he was at the point of being sick to death of people like that.
But what could he do? It was the path he had chosen.
Ho Ga-myeong slowly opened his eyes.
“Report.”
“Yes, military strategist! All preparations for departure are complete.”
“Late.”
“...I have nothing to say.”
Ho Ga-myeong’s gaze moved to the water outside, now stretched broad and open. The cloudless blue sky came into view. Not long had passed since the typhoon had cleared, so the waves were still somewhat high, but this was well within the range of safe sailing.
“Hainan, then...”
Ho Ga-myeong slowly rose to his feet.
“There’s no benefit to dragging this out. Load the troops.”
“Yes!”
The one who had delivered the report bowed deeply and ran outside. Ho Ga-myeong gave the unfinished documents on the desk a passing look, then abandoned his lingering attachment and started walking.
If we deal with Hainan first and come back, finishing up afterward should be fine.
It wouldn’t take all that long.
However...
“Wenfang.”
“Yes, military strategist.”
“Have there been any reports on the movements of the Ten Great Sects or the Heavenly Friends Alliance?”
“The last confirmation was three days ago, but up until then there was nothing unusual.”
Nothing they did from the Yangtze River could get here within three days, no matter how they tried.
“Setting the Ten Great Sects aside, even the Heavenly Friends Alliance...”
A faint sneer touched the corners of Ho Ga-myeong’s mouth.
“You think they’d really be able to do anything anyway?”
“Is that not so?”
“No.”
“...Pardon?”
Ho Ga-myeong spoke with cool calm.
“If they knew the situation, they would have done something. That’s just the kind of people they are.”
“But this place is...”
“Whether it’s Hainan or not doesn’t matter. At the very least, they would have started a fight on the Yangtze to keep us from being able to focus here. The fact that they still haven’t moved means the information that we’ve acted hasn’t reached them.”
Ho Ga-myeong immediately revised his evaluation of the Heavenly Friends Alliance in a subtle but important way. Their intelligence network was clearly weaker than he had expected. At least in Jiangnan.
The Ten Great Sects? No, even if they knew, they wouldn’t have passed the information to the Heavenly Friends Alliance. No... no, that’s not right. If they knew, they’d have leaked it so the Heavenly Friends Alliance and the Evil Tyrant Alliance would wear each other down. That old fox is exactly that kind of man.
While he was sorting through the information in his head, Wenfang’s puzzled voice reached his ear.
“...I don’t quite understand, military strategist. If we’re talking about the side connected to Hainan, wouldn’t it be the Ten Great Sects? Then why would the Heavenly Friends Alliance move? What possible gain would there be for them?”
Ho Ga-myeong did not answer. There was no need to explain and make him understand. It was Ho Ga-myeong who assessed the situation and made the decisions. They only had to follow his instructions properly.
If they were the kind of people who moved only when it made practical sense, I wouldn’t have to put up with this trouble.
What made them irritating was that their actions didn’t reveal any discernible logic. They probably had reasons of their own, but from this side, the principle behind those reasons was impossible to grasp.
Only Jang Il-so seemed able to calculate even their movements to some degree...
But that’s not what matters right now.
Putting the thought aside for the moment, Ho Ga-myeong quickened his pace.
Whatever happened, this matter in Hainan would become a great warning to the others. A clear warning showing what would happen if anyone dared oppose the Evil Tyrant Alliance.
So it had to be handled with absolute certainty, and with absolute cruelty.
“Whatever they do now doesn’t matter. Whether it’s the Ten Great Sects or the Heavenly Friends Alliance, they’ll hear only the news that Hainan has burned to ash.”
That was why he had come in person.
“Have everything ready within one hour. We depart for Hainan.”
“Yes, military strategist!”
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
“Senior Brother. Isn’t this supposed to be the gathering for our expulsion ceremony?”
“...That’s what I thought too.”
“Then why are they standing around over there like that?”
“How should I know?”
The Hainan disciples, who had yet to hear what was going on, stared blankly at the Heavenly Friends Alliance’s disciples.
From their perspective, the situation was absurd beyond words.
Of course, an expulsion ceremony wasn’t necessarily something that had to be hidden from others, but wasn’t it still awkward to display it so openly?
Whether a disciple had committed a crime and been cast out, or had left the sect of their own will, it was embarrassing for the sect either way.
“I thought they were just eating and then leaving.”
“And now they’re saying they’re going to stay and watch the expulsion ceremony?”
“...That makes no sense.”
And yet no one could openly criticize the people who had blundered into the gathering without manners, because standing together with the Heavenly Friends Alliance disciples was none other than Geum Yang-baek, the sect leader of Hainan.
Sometimes a single action reveals more than a thousand words. The fact that Geum Yang-baek was standing there with them was proof enough that he, at the sect level, had allowed their presence.
“Senior Brother. Did you hear something? Do you know what’s going on?”
The ones who still couldn’t make sense of the situation eventually turned to Gwak Hwan-so. As far as they knew, he was the last person to have spoken with those people.
“The sect leader will explain.”
“Pardon?”
“For now, wait.”
“...Understood.”
They had their doubts, but they couldn’t press the matter any further. The atmosphere made even continuing the conversation feel burdensome.
I don’t understand this at all.
Lee Ja-yang frowned. It was something he’d felt repeatedly, but the people who had come to visit Hainan crossed the line far too often.
What kind of occasion was this?
A place to make the people leaving the sect feel guilty? No, not that.
This was a place where those who had resolved to protect Hainan, even now, in a situation like this, strengthened their final resolve by watching those who were leaving.
Which meant it was all the more a place that should have remained pure. And yet those impurities had barged in, so of course it would put a man ill at ease.
So the young warriors of the Heavenly Friends Alliance are all said to be extraordinary talents of the age.
Nothing in the world was harder to believe than rumors, it seemed. Was great talent really earned just because one’s martial skills were strong? What about these fools with no sense at all?
As Lee Ja-yang struggled to calm his discomfort, Geum Yang-baek stepped up onto the platform.
The Hainan disciples immediately straightened their posture to greet their sect leader.
Standing on the platform, Geum Yang-baek looked over everyone and spoke.
“Today... the expulsion ceremony for those who were to leave Hainan was originally scheduled to be held.”
Originally? Everyone sensed that something had gone wrong and focused sharply on his next words.
“But the expulsion ceremony will be omitted. Instead!”
With a firm voice, Geum Yang-baek shouted as he looked at the disciples.
“I will share our plan for dealing with those Evil Tyrant Alliance bastards with everyone here!”
Lee Ja-yang frowned.
What is he saying all of a sudden?
Wasn’t how they were going to deal with them already decided...
“I, Geum Yang-baek! As the sect leader of Hainan, will lead the disciples of Hainan and head for the Jiangnan lands they currently control.”
At that thunderbolt of a declaration, the Hainan disciples all recoiled in shock.
“Pardon?”
“S-Sect Leader!”
“Jiangnan?”
Of course they had considered the possibility that their sect leader might pursue another plan. If things had come to this, then sink or swim, perhaps they would load themselves onto a ship and head for the far, boundless sea.
But Jiangnan? What kind of lunatic would flee from a tiger only to throw himself into the tiger’s den?
But Geum Yang-baek did not wait for their understanding and continued speaking.
“And the Heavenly Friends Alliance envoys here will also head to Jiangnan together with us of Hainan.”
This time, everyone’s eyes turned to the people standing below the platform. Under all those gazes, they stood there as composed as ever, as though to prove that every word was true.
“S-Sect Leader. Why so suddenly...”
“I’m not forcing anyone!”
Geum Yang-baek shouted.
“The reason I won’t hold the expulsion ceremony separately is because, for some people, being expelled in front of everyone may be a path they can never choose. Those who do not have the resolve to face Hainan to the very end, stay on this island. If you do, you may survive.”
“...”
“But!”
Geum Yang-baek clenched his teeth and shouted.
“Those who will fight beneath the name of Hainan until the very end! Those who intend to open a path with their own lives on the line! Follow me. We will cut through Jiangnan, pierce the heart of the enemy, and head for the Yangtze. And on the Yangtze—not here in Hainan—we will continue the fight against that vile Evil Tyrant Alliance!”
“...”
“Those who believe in me!”
Geum Yang-baek swept his gaze over everyone and cried out.
“And those who cannot abandon the name of Hainan, step forward! I will gladly cross the sea with them. I will let the world know that Hainan’s spirit still lives!”
In the heavy silence, the Hainan disciples simply stared at Geum Yang-baek. They had no idea how they were supposed to react to those words, which held not a shred of logic and nothing but fierce resolve.
And at that moment, Gwak Hwan-so, who had remained silent until now, slowly stepped forward and stood before Geum Yang-baek.
“This disciple, Gwak Hwan-so, humbly has one question for the sect leader.”
“You may ask!”
Gwak Hwan-so paid his respects and asked in a clear voice,
“Why does the sect leader wish to fight in Jiangnan rather than here?”
At that, Geum Yang-baek took a deep breath. Then he said,
“Some say that fishermen are those who know the nature of the sea and live in harmony with it.”
“...”
“What do you think? Is that true?”
Several people shook their heads.
“Yes. It is absolutely not true. The best way to live in harmony with the sea is not to set out upon it. If you do not drive your vessel into the waters, where the waves may change at any moment in a sudden whim, then you will never fail to return from the sea! And countless tragedies that happen in Hainan will never be repeated.”
Geum Yang-baek shouted with unwavering eyes.
“And yet we go out to sea anyway. Even knowing how dangerous it is, even knowing we may never return, we steer our ships out again and cast our nets. Because that is the path of those who fight, and that is the path of those who resist!”
Everyone here was the son or daughter of those who battled the sea. There was no one who could fail to understand Geum Yang-baek’s words.
“For us, Jiangnan is like a storm-tossed sea. So what? Will you moor your ship at the dock, stare at the sea that lies before you, and starve to death? Will you accept death because sailing into a typhoon is a foolish thing to do?”
No. No one would do that. At least, no one from Hainan ever would.
“Why are we going to Jiangnan?”
Geum Yang-baek drew a deep breath and roared,
“To fight! And to survive! However reckless it may seem, those who live by the sea will understand this—there is nothing more reckless than staying where you are and waiting for death!”
Geum Yang-baek’s gaze shifted toward the Heavenly Friends Alliance party standing off to the side.
“These people reminded me of something I had forgotten myself. They, travelers from the land, awakened us to what those of us who live by the sea should have understood before anyone else: if we truly wish to protect something, if we truly wish to survive, then we must fight.”
Finally, Geum Yang-baek’s gaze fixed on Gwak Hwan-so.
“That is why I will go. Because however fearsome that Evil Tyrant Alliance may be, it cannot be more fearsome than a sea in the grip of violent waves.”
Gwak Hwan-so slowly nodded. Then he drew the sword at his waist.
“My father never returned from the sea either.”
“...”
“When I was young and full of resentment, I blamed him for that. But... now I’m old enough to bear responsibility for others, and in the end I came to understand my father’s choice. There are times when one must take the risk.”
The eyes of the two men met in the open air.
“If the sect leader means to head toward that sea called Jiangnan...”
Gwak Hwan-so held out the sword he had drawn.
“Then this disciple, Gwak Hwan-so, will follow that road as a man of Hainan!”