Just Leave It Be (1)
"Congratulations, Alliance Lord!"
Ho Ga-myeong bowed deeply toward Jang Il-so.
"You're being awfully formal all of a sudden."
Jang Il-so waved a hand as if it were nothing.
It truly was nothing.
The moment the Black Dragon King lost to the Mount Hua Divine Dragon, the outcome had already been decided. No—if he were being exact, perhaps it had been decided the instant the Namgung Clan headed for that Plum Blossom Island.
All Jang Il-so had done was steer everything along exactly the path he wanted. So the Black Dragon King's submission was only the natural result.
"At last, the Water Bandits will be firmly under the Alliance Lord's command."
"It took long enough."
Jang Il-so shook his head as if he were sick of the whole thing.
"It took three years just to seize control of the Water Bandits, the weakest force in the Evil Tyrant Alliance. What a tedious business."
Ho Ga-myeong looked at Jang Il-so with eyes full of admiration.
Three years.
It might be a long time. But if it took only three years to swallow the Water Bandits whole, who would dare call that span long?
This was an achievement that "great" did not even begin to describe.
"And the Water Bandits?"
"They've been obedient enough. Even if they have complaints, they won't dare show them now."
"Hmm."
Jang Il-so looked out toward the riverbank. Boats lit with fire drifted across the Yangtze River, their lights stitching bright threads across the dark water.
"Pick out a couple of them……."
"……Pardon?"
"Grab a couple of the ones with rank and make an example of them. Somewhere everyone can see."
Ho Ga-myeong hesitated before answering.
"At the moment, there isn't exactly anyone who has committed a crime……."
"Tsk. Ga-myeong, Ga-myeong. Why are you always so honest?"
"……"
"Whether there is someone who has committed a crime or not doesn't matter. What matters is that someone needs to be made into a criminal."
"Yes, Alliance Lord."
"Trying to solve a problem after it appears is stupidity. Truly smart people never leave room for problems to begin with. That's how people are. When someone does something different, others can't help wanting to try it too. Once rebellion takes root like that, it may be suppressed, but it doesn't disappear."
"……"
"The best thing of all is this."
With his fingertip, Jang Il-so slowly traced just beneath his lips.
"Making sure they never even get the chance to become rebellious in the first place. To do that, you need to scare them properly. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Alliance Lord. I'll kill a couple of suitable examples and hang them from the sails."
But again, Jang Il-so let out a long sigh.
"Ga-myeong……."
"Yes?"
Ho Ga-myeong looked confused. Jang Il-so shook his head.
"When did I ever say to kill them? I'm not that bad a person."
"Then……."
"Keep them alive."
Jang Il-so spoke in a calm voice.
"Hang them alive. Skinned, if possible. Make sure everyone can watch them suffer for days on end, neither dead nor alive."
Ho Ga-myeong's eyes widened slightly.
"Cut away bits of flesh now and then, sprinkle salt on them, let the worms gather. If people fall asleep to the lullaby of the dying man's groans, they should wake up thinking that even if they die, they'd never want to die like that. Make them feel that if that's how they're going to die, it'd be better to stab their own throats and sink to the bottom of the river to feed the fish."
The voice was peaceful and matter-of-fact, as if he were discussing some ordinary everyday affair, yet for that very reason it felt several times more cruel than if he had spoken in a low, sinister tone.
"There are many ways to win loyalty, Ga-myeong. But right now, we need nothing but fear. They're fools who obeyed Black Dragon King without a word, so showing them greater power and greater cruelty will be enough."
"……I understand."
At that obedient answer, Jang Il-so smiled faintly.
"Good. Then that's settled."
Ho Ga-myeong swallowed dryly.
In truth, Jang Il-so's methods were not especially cruel. In Sapa, killing an enemy brutally wasn't even something that would draw much criticism.
The problem was that those men were now subordinates Jang Il-so would have to rule.
"Alliance Lord. May I ask you something?"
"Hmm?"
"……What do you intend to do with Black Dragon King?"
"Black Dragon King?"
"Do you plan to keep him alive?"
"Hmm."
Jang Il-so looked at Ho Ga-myeong as though he had heard something amusing.
"What do you think?"
"It would be better to kill him. A man like Black Dragon King would never truly be loyal to anyone. He'd bare his teeth at you again someday, Alliance Lord."
"A wolf that can't be tamed?"
"I'm not sure 'wolf' is the right word for that bear of a man, but in any case, he won't ever be tame."
"Ga-myeong."
"Yes."
"Do you know how to tame a wolf that can't be tamed?"
"……I don't know."
"Pull out all its teeth."
Jang Il-so said it with lazy indifference.
"Pull out its teeth, pull out its claws, and if it still won't listen, cut off its legs."
"……"
"Then it may not be able to obey like a dog, but at least it won't be able to bite or scratch me, will it? Once that happens, it's no different from a dog."
"But what meaning would Black Dragon King have once he's reduced to that?"
"Tsk, tsk. Ga-myeong."
"Yes, Alliance Lord."
"The important thing is the fact that I am the one who has broken the wolf and made it obey."
"……"
"Whether that wolf had sharp teeth or claws that could kill no longer matters in the slightest. What matters is that the wolf who answered to no one is now trapped in my cage, wearing a leash and bowing its head. Don't you see?"
"……I understand what you mean."
"Killing Black Dragon King and stealing the Water Bandits—anybody can do that. But that's only replacing him with another Black Dragon King. It's not the same as putting the entire Water Bandits under your feet. That isn't something just anyone can do."
Jang Il-so's gaze shifted sideways, away from the Yangtze and toward the opposite bank, toward that vast stretch of Jiangnan land.
"Whether others understand it or not, at least two of them will understand what it means. For now, that's enough."
Jang Il-so smiled with languid allure.
Seizing the Water Bandits meant that Jang Il-so had effectively taken control of at least half the forces of the Evil Tyrant Alliance.
Originally, even though he was the Alliance Lord of the Evil Tyrant Alliance, if two or more of the other three forces joined together against him, he would have no way to withstand them. But from this moment on, Jang Il-so had gained the power to fight even the entire Evil Tyrant Alliance.
"It's a shame I couldn't repay the blows I took, but I suppose this is a pretty good bargain."
Ho Ga-myeong, who had been quietly watching Jang Il-so smile as if talking to himself, spoke up carefully.
"Alliance Lord."
"Hmm?"
"Then from here on……."
"Just leave it be."
"……You mean leave it as it is?"
"That's right."
Jang Il-so reached out and picked up a wine bottle. Taking a sip, he gazed blankly across the river.
"There are things in this world that need time, don't you think? Let's wait leisurely for those Water Bandit fools to accept me. Having an enemy across the river will make that possible."
"……Wouldn't Shaolin pull back first?"
"They can't."
Jang Il-so waved a hand dismissively.
"Shaolin is facing the worst possible situation right now. If they retreat like this, they won't be able to stop the fall anymore. Listen carefully, Ga-myeong. The world does not turn on strength alone. No matter how powerful Shaolin may be, once a name is lost, it never truly returns."
"But staying here doesn't exactly give us a better opening, does it?"
"Instead, it keeps the war clouds hanging overhead."
"……War clouds?"
Jang Il-so looked at Ho Ga-myeong with a strange smile.
"Why do you think I signed a three-year truce after the last Yangtze bloodbath?"
"Because you needed time to bring the interior of the Evil Tyrant Alliance under control."
"Yes. That too. But more important than that was cutting off their momentum."
"Their momentum, you say……."
"No matter how much they hate one another, once war breaks out they have no choice but to unite. For example, even those bastards in the palace who spend all day setting traps to kill each other will still join hands when an outside enemy invades, won't they?"
"They will."
"If we had planted seeds of discord everywhere and acted as though we were about to invade Jiangbuk at any moment, what would they have done?"
"They would have buried everything and turned to face the Evil Tyrant Alliance first."
Jang Il-so nodded in satisfaction.
"Exactly. And that would have made no sense, would it? So I gave them enough time to bare their teeth at one another."
"……"
"This time it's the same. If we withdraw now, all the responsibility will fall on Shaolin. That old middle-aged priest doesn't want that to happen. So he's shouting from over there right now."
Jang Il-so spread his arms theatrically.
"A war is coming soon! The moment this truce ends, blood will flow and flow again! So now is not the time to pin blame on anyone!"
"Indeed……."
"A wily old fox."
Jang Il-so shook his head.
"Still…… that slyness helps us too. There's nothing bad about keeping the war clouds hanging. The gains Shaolin makes will become mine as well. In the meantime, I can quietly swallow the Water Bandits whole and crush any complaints that spill out from behind."
Ho Ga-myeong looked across the river with renewed interest.
Strange.
As far as he knew, ever since Mount Hua withdrew from Plum Blossom Island, Jang Il-so and Shaolin had not exchanged a single word of intention.
And yet, as though they had conspired together in advance, both sides were now doing things that benefited each other. Jang Il-so was placing the Water Bandits forward, lending weight to Shaolin's argument, while Shaolin, by not leaving the riverbank, was buying Jang Il-so the time he needed to absorb the Water Bandits.
Maybe this is what true collusion looks like.
No conversation, no document—just an unspoken movement in directions that benefited both sides.
Considering what the word collusion meant, what situation could fit it better than this?
"In the end, if all we do is drag things out, everything will flow exactly the way you want, Alliance Lord."
"……I'd like it to be that way."
But unexpectedly, Jang Il-so's expression turned faintly ambiguous as he stroked his chin.
"It was dangerous. Very dangerous. If things had gone wrong, I might have had to give up my own neck."
He wasn't pointing to any one thing in particular, but there was no way not to know what he meant.
"If there's a variable, it'd be Mount Hua. Those bastards really are impossible to predict. Especially that……."
Jang Il-so suddenly stopped speaking.
Cheong Myeong as a variable could still be dealt with. All he had to do was consider the worst possible outcome. Cheong Myeong would faithfully walk that path for him.
But…….
Hyun Jong.
That old man—there was no telling where he would lurch next. Jang Il-so simply could not grasp the way his mind worked.
He's out of his mind.
Chasing profit was understandable. Chasing righteousness was understandable too.
But to love his own sect more than his own life, and at the same time demand that the sect be sacrificed for others?
Where in the world did such a deranged man exist?
"I don't know. If the day ever comes when my head falls…… it will be because of those damned fools."
"That will never happen."
"Yes. It shouldn't."
A flash of cold killing intent swept through Jang Il-so's eyes as he looked across the river.
Not yet…… not yet.
But the time would come eventually.
The day Mount Hua was drenched in blood at his hands.
Jang Il-so's tongue slowly traced his red lips. It almost seemed as though he could taste blood already.