The Iron Defense Line
Clip-clop, clip-clop...
I walked the night streets with Yu Bi, heading for No Sik's house. We'd split a bottle of hwaju between us, but I could hardly call myself drunk.
That was only true of me, though. Yu Bi was in high spirits, swinging both arms as she strode along with a spring in her step. Before long she turned a faintly flushed face toward me and spoke.
"Ahh... After talking with you, Do Yeop, my head feels so much clearer."
"Yu Bi? As I said earlier, there's a chance I'll fail at this. If that happens, we'll have no choice but to send No Sik back to his hometown, and you may end up having to decide everything yourself."
"That could never be! You will surely return with good news, so I shall keep waiting at Maengjin."
And what if I never come back at all? You're not going to wait for me endlessly at Maengjin until you turn into a stone statue, are you?
"Then... what becomes of us now?"
"I already told you earlier, didn't I? Speak to Gan Ong and summon every last one of your people from your hometown. Then wait for me with your two younger sisters, and..."
"That is not what I mean! You and I... we are no longer a simple acquaintance, are we not?"
"...?"
Yu Bi flushed deeper than ever and lowered her head. The dizzying sight of her, like a flower petal about to fall, nearly made me reach out and pull her into my arms without thinking.
But no longer a simple acquaintance? It was true I was secretly handling a bit of business for her sake, but that hardly meant we'd graduated from "former coworkers," did it?
"I don't understand what you're trying to say."
"Aigoo... Once you come to Maengjin, will you not be moving together with me from then on? And if that is so... does that not mean we will properly enter into a lord-and-retainer relationship?"
"Ah, that? I'm basically a eunuch in service to the King of Jinliu. Lord and retainer? What lord and retainer?"
"I-is that how it was?"
Yu Bi looked genuinely disappointed that she couldn't take me under her command. Have I lost my mind!? Easy Mode is already long gone, but that doesn't mean I need to volunteer for Hell Mode.
Strictly speaking, both she and I were nothing more than subjects serving the Son of Heaven. The only difference was that I was a White-Haired Failure — no matter how I reallocated my stats, there were hard limits — so I was simply using her to fill in the gaps.
"I had no idea, and I was looking forward to it so much."
"Do you want to take me as a retainer, Yu Bi?"
"Of course I— hup! But I mean only a relationship bound by righteousness! I never meant anything else by it!"
"...?"
Yu Bi suddenly got worked up all by herself and started flailing. But hearing those words brought one particular phrase to mind.
The very thing Chosun had spoken of: Gun-shin-yu-hui.
Her explanation that it was only natural for a lord and retainer to share affection in order to deepen their bond. Yuan Shu, Dong Zhuo, and Ding Yuan had even reenacted the scene right before my eyes.
Which raised a question. Did the same rule apply when the lord was a woman and the retainer a man?
In other words, if I entered a lord-and-retainer relationship with Yu Bi, would we get to try "this position" and "that position" and everything else in the name of strengthening our friendship?
"Why have you suddenly gone quiet?"
"Slurp! Ah, it's nothing. We're almost at No Sik's house, aren't we?"
Without meaning to, I'd imagined Yu Bi's naked body and drool had run all the way to my chin. But that was absurd!
Yu Bi was an innocent maiden who had never once seen a man's bare body. Granted, she had seen my manhood, but that had been nothing more than an accident.
Her symbol was an unsullied pure white — the first snow on a back hill where not even a squirrel had ever passed. Was it right for a lump of filth like me to splash mud on a place like that?
And. Yet. She would end up bound to someone eventually. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were already eyeing her, weren't they?
Gongsun Zan was the same bastard. Odds were he'd been drooling over Yu Bi back when they studied under the same teacher — a golden sun waiting to rise.
Yu Bi's abilities were far too lacking for her to stand on her own. Bounced around from place to place, she might eventually end up under someone and have to offer up her body in humiliation.
If she was going to belong to someone anyway, what was wrong with me claiming her first? A fellow beginner like me, sweetly teaching her the ways of the bed...
I shook my head hard.
What the hell am I thinking? The Tear Gland skill ended ages ago — why am I still swooning over Yu Bi's charms?
In the meantime we arrived at No Sik's gate, where I came face to face with Guan Yu glaring at me with eyes sharp as blades.
"Huh? Guan Yu?"
"Ahh... Yunjang, why are you outside?"
Yu Bi startled and flung my hand away. Wait — since when had she been holding my hand?
"Never mind me, Sister. Where have you been and what have you been doing at this hour of the night?"
"I-I just needed a word with Do Yeop for a moment..."
"Just go inside. We'll talk later."
"Aigoo... Then I shall take my leave. I will count the days until we meet again."
Yu Bi left a lingering regret behind with her farewell and stepped inside. I was about to head back to the palace myself, yet for some reason Guan Yu still hadn't moved from the doorway.
"Uh... Guan Yu, did you have something to say to me?"
"Where did you go with my sister and what were you doing? And what did you mean by meeting again?"
"Just like Yu Bi said, we talked a bit about her future path. As for meeting again... well, No Sik is leaving Luoyang, isn't he? I meant I'd at least say goodbye properly then."
"..."
She clearly didn't believe a single word. She wasn't holding a sword, but her eyes already looked like they'd shredded me to pieces in her mind.
Honestly — she had the face of a Guanyin bodhisattva, so how could she make eyes that terrifying?
"Don't go filling Sister's head with useless nonsense. We're going to find Gongsun Zan and start over."
"Gongsun Zan has serious character issues — you'd be better off not getting close to him. And I wasn't filling her head with nonsense; I was just stating my thoughts."
"Just you wait. Someday I'll expose your true nature for certain."
"..."
Guan Yu treated me like garbage the same as always and went into the house. Did thorns grow in her mouth if she went a single day without trying to tear me apart?
Either way, the die was already cast. No matter what she said, Yu Bi trusted me so completely that she was likely to follow my words to the letter.
Which meant I needed to prepare as well. Return to the palace, attend Yu Hyeop, and watch for my chance...
"Did you have fun?"
"Huh? Chosun?"
This time it was Chosun who appeared. Of course, running into her by chance in the middle of the night was impossible.
"You followed me? Well, you already knew the meeting place and time, so it wouldn't have been hard."
"What did you discuss with Yu Bi?"
"Same question as Guan Yu... I just gave her some career counseling."
"I've wanted to ask for some time — what exactly is your relationship with Yu Bi? I couldn't help but be surprised when I saw you knocking on Wang Yun's gate today."
"As you know, we worked together at Chwiwharu. Yu Bi is soft-hearted and often messes things up because of it — looks like this time that someone is me."
"You can't fool my eyes. Have the two of you entered into a lord-and-retainer relationship?"
"Still the same talk... It's nothing like that! If I have to name my lord, it's Her Highness the King of Jinliu."
"You would do well not to take back that oath. Dong Zhuo has already bared his ambition — prove your loyalty with your life."
"How exactly am I supposed to prove my loyalty with my life?"
"There's only one way here, isn't there?"
Chosun told me without so much as blinking to stake my life. And the only thing worth staking my life on here was one thing.
Assassinate Dong Zhuo and die as a martyr of the Han.
The next morning, on my way to see Yu Hyeop, I briefly turned over the words Chosun had spoken the night before. Stake my life, kill Dong Zhuo, and put an end to the chaos I myself had set in motion.
Of course I'd intended to do exactly that. But problems had arisen midway, I'd lost Dong Zhuo's trust, and now I truly wouldn't be able to put so much as a scratch on him without risking my life.
"..."
But I couldn't stake my life. I wasn't even Chinese — what kind of great patriot was I supposed to be?
I was a White-Haired Failure commoner who valued his own neck more than anyone.
The problem was that if I didn't strike down the traitor, Chosun would have to throw her whole body into the fight. The mere thought of Dong Zhuo's massive bulk crushing her slender frame under a mating press already made bile rise in my throat.
"What's with that face?"
"Pardon?"
That was when I realized some palace maid was staring straight at my face. And it was a face I'd never seen before.
"Who are you? I don't believe I've seen you in the King of Jinliu's residence."
"New here? But are you really a eunuch? Looks like you've got some stubble."
"W-what are you talking about? Some eunuchs grow beards. I simply forgot to shave."
The moment she laid eyes on me she doubted whether I was a real eunuch — sharp eye, wasn't she? And why was she already talking down to me?
I took a moment to study her form. Her skin was beyond pale — almost ashen — yet somehow it carried a refined air that kept it from being off-putting.
A small face framed by reddish, wavy hair that swayed and shimmered. Her nose was sharp as if carved by a master craftsman, and her half-lidded eyes radiated a sensuality so intense it was almost oppressive.
A petite frame with a modest chest. A physique the complete opposite of Chosun's — so why did sensuality still pour off her in waves?
"What's with those eyes? Fallen for me already?"
"Why do you keep joking around... I need to attend Her Highness, so I'll be going in now."
"See you later, then. This place was completely boring — didn't know they had someone like you around."
Tap!
The woman stretched out a finger and gave the bridge of my nose a light push. It was the most trivial of gestures, yet it sent a jolt of excitement straight through my prostate.
Still, I had the distinct feeling I'd "seen" her somewhere before.
And so I went with Yu Hyeop to meet Dong Zhuo. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the new palace maid trailing after us.
"You've come, King of Jinliu."
The insolent Dong Zhuo had not only summoned the Emperor's younger sister to his own office — he still refused to use any honorifics with her.
Yu Hyeop looked inwardly displeased, yet she forced a smile, unwilling to provoke Dong Zhuo's temper.
"What business do you have today, Grand Preceptor?"
"Nothing much — only that I believe it's time we changed the security arrangements within the palace. As the King of Jinliu well knows, a few small fry raised a fuss over my decision yesterday."
Swoosh. Dong Zhuo shifted his gaze toward me. Hadn't our relationship been completely finished after that incident?
"Do Yeop. From now on I grant you permission to wear a sword in the King of Jinliu's presence. Do not leave her side for even a moment — guard her."
"M-me, sir? I'm merely a eunuch — why not assign the Imperial Guard instead of..."
"I cannot trust the Imperial Guard. But I can trust your loyalty toward the King of Jinliu. So do as I say from now on."
"..."
An overreaching decision that paid no mind whatsoever to Yu Hyeop's wishes. But this was a complete windfall for me, wasn't it?
For the time being, Dong Zhuo would want to keep Yu Hyeop close no matter what he did. At least until he had thoroughly weeded out everyone in the court who opposed him, he intended to hold her as a hostage.
Which meant that I, charged with her protection, would have no choice but to stick right by Dong Zhuo's side as well. Wasn't that essentially commissioning his own assassination?
Of course, Dong Zhuo had made the decision believing I had no reason to assassinate him.
After all, I had colluded with him in the first place to make Yu Hyeop Emperor. Harming Dong Zhuo — the political backer of my own master — was unthinkable.
But I fully intended to do exactly that. I had learned the power of stats the hard way, yet this world still had people who could sort out the chaos after Dong Zhuo's death in my place.
"Why entrust such a thing to a mere eunuch... Leave my lord's protection to me. I am confident I can keep anyone from approaching."
Hua Xiong spoke, clearly displeased that Dong Zhuo was giving me yet another opportunity. And that was when Dong Zhuo played a card no one had seen coming.
"No. You have other duties ahead of you, so I will leave my own protection to Lü Bu."
"L-Lü Bu? That man is a surrendered general! How can you entrust Lord Dong's protection — a duty of such weight — to the likes of him?"
"Not a surrendered general — a blessing that rolled right into our lap. He not only took Ding Yuan's head but forced the Bingzhou army to surrender, helping me seize Luoyang. Treat him as you would my own son."
"..."
Just as Dong Zhuo was about to hand me the perfect chance at assassination, he produced the ultimate counter as if he somehow knew I harbored other intentions.
I could beat Hua Xiong. I could not beat Lü Bu. Dong Zhuo grasped that truth in an instant and completed an iron defense line that no one could breach.