Not Hundred-Refined Steel, but Flawless Steel
"...That is everything that happened after Young Master left."
After listening to Ye-eun's calm report, Hui-yeom stared at her for a moment before speaking.
"You truly possess a composure far beyond your years."
"I am simply grateful that you look kindly upon this dark and gloomy girl."
She's twelve? Come on, that's impossible. Could she be on her second life like me?
Hiding a faint suspicion deep in his chest, Hui-yeom smiled gently at Ye-eun.
"Thank you. I shall continue to rely on you."
He drew a few silver coins from his robes and pressed them into Ye-eun's hand.
"I cannot accept this."
"Take it. It is a reward for carrying out my orders well."
"I am Young Master's personal maid. Obeying your words is only natural—how could there be a reward? I fear the other servants will grow jealous, so please take it back."
"Trust and loyalty are bought with money. If you refuse this, I cannot keep you by my side."
"...Is that so?"
"It is."
Hui-yeom's conviction was absolute.
An employee will always betray the moment they are offered greater benefit than what they currently receive. To make her refuse when someone later tries to buy her off, I have no choice but to engrave deep in her bones that serving me is profitable.
It stemmed from the experience of being betrayed beyond imagination by directors he had treated like brothers in private, after building a small-to-medium enterprise all the way into a major corporation.
As if gauging his thoughts, Ye-eun looked alternately at Hui-yeom and the silver coins he held out with her transparent gaze. At last she accepted them respectfully and tucked them into her robes.
"Then may I use this money to show favor to the other servants?"
"It is money given to you. Use it as you please."
"Thank you."
Ye-eun bowed at the waist and withdrew.
Watching her retreating figure, Hui-yeom gave a bitter smile.
"It's not easy when I can't read her mind despite her age."
It was a muttering that would have drawn hollow laughs from anyone who overheard it, coming from him of all people.
Completing the crucible furnace took a little over two months.
During that time Hui-yeom spent his days training as Young Master in martial arts, supervising production and ledgers for cosmetics including Tangga Manneung-go and Hogol-go, and still finding moments to visit the furnace construction site to check progress rates—busy days without end.
"The Elder Council didn't try to interfere, did they?"
At Hui-yeom's question the master builder snorted.
"When the warehouse started raising hell about not releasing materials, I went over once and made a scene about smashing everything. After that they shut up. Then those elder bastards quietly sent people to spout nonsense about how things wouldn't go well for me if I kept this up, so I told them to come say it themselves if they had something to say. Not a single one of them ever showed his face."
"Quieter than I expected."
"Probably because they had no justification. Pathetic fools. Those kinds of people call themselves elders just because they've lived long enough..."
Hui-yeom felt a flicker of curiosity watching the master builder, who made no effort to hide his hostility toward the Elder Council as if he were a main-family man himself.
"Master Builder, you aren't of the main bloodline either, are you? Forgive me for saying so, but aren't you closer to the Elder Council side than to me? Why go so far as to oppose them?"
The master builder answered with open indifference.
"I am a master builder. The head of a construction site. And a site falls into chaos the moment hierarchy isn't properly established. When the lower ranks ignore the master builder and decide to build however they please, isn't that exactly like a snake's tail trying to act like the head? Not knowing it's about to die, thrashing about any which way until it drowns or gets snatched up by a kite!"
"Well, that much is true."
"A great clan is the same. Like it or not, the main family has to be the core, and collateral bloodlines like ours have to follow the main family for order to hold. If they hate that sight so much, they can just leave the Dang Family and live elsewhere. After all, there's no real restriction on collateral members who don't know the secrets of poisons and hidden weapons leaving the family, is there?"
"That's true as well. So are there many who go independent?"
"Ha! I've been swinging a hammer in the Dang Family for nearly half a century, and in all that time I've barely heard of a collateral blood relative going independent more than a few times. The opposite, though—I've heard plenty of stories about them desperately trying to drag in distant relatives who couldn't even properly be called collateral, just to pull them into the family."
"There was that sort of thing too?"
"Once you're a member of the Dang Family, at the very least you won't starve to death! And if you've got even a little skill with your hands and become valuable to the clan, or at least learn enough letters and arithmetic to be useful somewhere in the family, you can go around swaggering, 'I'm from the Sichuan Dang Family.'"
The master builder spat a yellow gob of phlegm.
"Those Elder Council bastards were so desperate to swell the ranks of people supporting them that they dragged in every sort of riffraff from outside the family. Naturally those newcomers had no choice but to become the Elder Council's loyal dogs."
"That... is a problem."
Hui-yeom's expression grew grave.
The direct bloodline of the Sichuan Dang Family, represented by the Family Head's Hall—those who could use the surname "Dang"—were inevitably few in number. By contrast, the collateral bloodlines controlled by the Elder Council—people who had married in, sons-in-law taken into the family, or the clans of their kin who had entered under the Dang Family's banner—multiplied with ease.
Originally, when the main family monopolized superior martial arts and maintained thorough power concentration through bloodline, no matter how much the collaterals increased it would not have been a major issue. But that was no longer the case. In reality the Elder Council's prestige had grown to the point where it could slowly threaten the Family Head's Hall and begin a contest of strength.
I'll have to carefully consider a solution.
As if seeing through Hui-yeom's thoughts, the master builder spoke.
"Well, as long as Young Master keeps doing what he's doing, it'll all resolve itself."
"Is that so?"
"Of course. A person who invents something like this at the mere age of seven! Keep racking up achievements and setting the example, and the Family Head's Hall's prestige will rise while the Elder Council has no choice but to shrink!"
"Then may I take that to mean that in a crisis, Master Builder will stand with the Family Head's Hall?"
At Hui-yeom's subtle probe the master builder let out a hearty laugh.
"If this furnace pours out Hundred-Refined Steel just as Young Master claims, then I'll do exactly that!"
"Then it's about time we confirmed it."
Hui-yeom grinned. Today was the day they would finally light the first fire in the completed crucible furnace.
Family Head Dang Un-sang had been unable to attend due to other business, but several direct-blood relatives from the Family Head's Hall and servants sent by Dang Un-sang were watching Hui-yeom, waiting for the lighting of the furnace.
"Young Master, forgive my lateness."
"Thank you for coming despite your many duties, Elder Bak Chang-eon."
"Of course I had to come."
Even Bak Chang-eon, an Elder Council elder about whom word was slowly spreading that he was one of Hui-yeom's people, had come to watch the lighting ceremony. Hui-yeom chuckled softly. Having Elder Bak present was not a bad feeling at all.
Expanding my people is important work, after all.
"Come, this way. Elder Bak, and Master Builder and Deputy Builder as well."
"Us too?"
"You are the ones who built this crucible furnace. It would be a shame for the representatives to be left out."
"Is this some kind of ceremony?"
Elder Bak Chang-eon tilted his head. A furnace lighting ceremony was usually nothing more than holding a simple rite to pray for no accidents, lighting the fire, and then sharing the sacrificial food. Yet looking around, he saw a golden rope strung around the entire crucible furnace. It was not so much blocking entry as it was extravagantly decorated—suggesting some other intention.
Hui-yeom grinned.
"Ah, a cutting ceremony... no, a ribbon-cutting commemorative event. Just as one cuts the umbilical cord of a newborn, those who contributed to the birth of this crucible furnace gather, cut this golden rope, and pray for future fortune. The painters over there will record the scene in a painting."
In the direction he pointed, three or four painters with their kits slung over their shoulders were peering about curiously as they waited. One had already begun roughing out a composition with the furnace as background.
"Oh-ho, an interesting event."
"That's not all. On the clay tablets being prepared over there, we will take handprints and signatures from all the honored guests present today, then fire them and display them together with the completion monument for this crucible furnace."
He had borrowed the idea from twenty-first-century building completion ceremonies, but it was not merely for commemoration. By firmly leaving evidence that no Elder Council personnel had contributed to this project, he meant to prevent them from later trying to claim credit.
Only then grasping the intent, Elder Bak Chang-eon tilted his head again.
"Isn't there also the method of writing a joint petition signed by many?"
"Those are easy to forge. But if we fire them into clay tablets and make them part of the building itself, no one can lay a finger on them. Recording the golden-rope cutting in a painting is for the publicity value."
If we leave a painting of today's scene, they won't even be able to spin the narrative, Hui-yeom thought, smiling slyly to himself.
Whether he knew that inner thought or not, Bak Chang-eon smiled gently.
"With Young Master's schemes so deep, the future of the Dang Family is bright."
"You flatter me. All of this was only possible because Elder Bak helped so much with the cosmetics and Hogol-go businesses."
While Hui-yeom surveyed the visitors with a contented smile, Ye-eun approached, quietly offered her respects, and handed him a sheet of paper.
"Young Master, the list of honored guests. From the collateral side, Elder Bak Chang-eon is the only visitor."
"Good. I didn't think no one from the collaterals would come at all."
"Shall I send people even now?"
"No. This is actually perfect, so don't worry about it."
Politically tone-deaf fools, Hui-yeom scoffed inwardly at the collaterals.
"Now then, we will begin the lighting ceremony. Before the rite, there will be the golden-rope cutting. Honored guests whose names I call, please gather before the golden rope. First, Daoist Master Il-seon of the Qingcheng Sect, who did not spare the long journey to attend the main family's event; Hongye Hall Master Dang Eun-mi, attending as representative of the direct bloodline in place of the Family Head; Cheongal Hall Master Dang Eun-ha..."
After calling the invited outside guest who would deliver the congratulatory address, the legitimate direct line, the direct line, and Elder Bak Chang-eon as the collateral representative, Hui-yeom even called the names of the master builder and deputy builder. He then stood in their midst and took hold of the golden rope. Ye-eun brought a silver tray of scissors and distributed them one by one.
"For the boundless prosperity of the Dang Family! And for the accident-free, safe operation of Crucible Furnace Number One! Cut!"
Snip!
The golden rope, cut by many hands at once, fell to the ground. The gathered crowd burst into applause, the musicians struck up the prepared ceremonial music, and the painters busily captured the scene in paint.
Hui-yeom was the first to press his handprint onto a rectangular clay tablet and, with a carving knife, inscribed at the bottom: "Young Master, Crucible Furnace Inventor and Designer, Dang Hui-yeom." The other guests, finding the novel experience of making handprints amusing, laughed as they joined in. After they washed their hands, the rite began.
Daoist Master Il-seon of the Qingcheng Sect—an allied force of the Sichuan Dang Family and one of the pillars of the Nine Sects and One Gang—who had come at their invitation, began by reading an invocation to drive away evil spirits and pray for safety. The rite proceeded in a splendid, lively atmosphere and concluded amid noise and celebration.
"Open the furnace gate!"
"Open the gate!"
When the furnace chamber of the crucible furnace was opened, the firewood that had been stacked inside came into view. Unwilling to expose the use of coal and coke—his secret ingredients—to outsiders, Hui-yeom had filled the interior with coal and coke while packing the visible areas with oil-soaked firewood and straw.
"Furnace, ignite!"
"Ignite!"
A servant thrust a torch into the straw. Flame leapt instantly onto the oil-soaked straw and firewood, and a red blaze spread through the furnace. Watching smoke rise from the chimney, the people applauded.
And so the long-awaited lighting ceremony came to an end.
Now only the ceremony of drawing the first molten iron remained, once the iron ore in the furnace had melted. In a modern electric furnace, complete melting of the ore would take only five or six hours. With the traditional Gyeong-style method using charcoal, however, one had to work the bellows day and night for three full days while continuously feeding the fire. Using coal and coke as a secret weapon meant they would not need that long, but Hui-yeom had no desire to grow greedy and risk the iron remaining incompletely melted—a far greater disaster. He therefore waited out exactly three days and nights.
And finally the day arrived to pour the first molten iron produced by the crucible furnace. Family Head Dang Un-sang and a host of others gathered around the crucible furnace.
"Close the furnace vents and open the crucible chamber lid."
At Hui-yeom's command the craftsmen moved swiftly. The vents that had been relentlessly feeding heat into the crucible furnace were sealed. When the tightly sealed lid of the crucible chamber was opened, tremendous heat billowed out and surged upward like volcanic smoke. Once the smoke had somewhat cleared, the craftsmen used specially made long iron tongs to draw out one of the crucibles lined up inside the lid.
"Careful!"
Under extreme tension the craftsmen opened the lid of the extracted crucible with the tongs. Inside, searing red molten iron revealed itself. Gripping the crucible with the tongs, they tilted it and poured the molten iron into a prepared mold. Lava-like metal flowed out amid flames and began to fill the mold.
"Success!!"
Cheers and applause erupted from the main-family direct bloodline, while the Elder Council side remained quiet, merely watching one another for cues.
"Well done! The furnace you designed truly does its job!"
When Dang Un-sang praised him with a smile, Hui-yeom smiled and shook his head.
"It isn't finished yet. You must compare the quality of the finished iron."
"That's true enough... but does it really not need stirring?"
In the traditional steelmaking method, one would still need to add a catalyst of ash, lime, and yellow earth in certain proportions to the molten iron and stir it with a rod. Hui-yeom, however, simply poured the molten iron into the mold and closed the lid as it was.
"Once it cools like that, we'll compare the iron ingots directly. Did you do as I asked?"
"...Yes, I spoke to the Elder Council side."
Dang Un-sang answered with a faintly displeased expression. There were still a great many crucibles left to extract from inside the furnace. As each crucible was taken out and its molten iron poured, mold after mold was filled. By the time the last mold was filled, the first iron that had been poured had solidified enough to hold its shape. They quenched it in oil, and soon a finished iron ingot was complete.
Hui-yeom carried it respectfully on a tray and presented it to his father, Dang Un-sang.
"Hundred-Refined Steel freshly produced from the crucible furnace. Please test it."
"Mm."
With a heavy expression Dang Un-sang nodded and looked toward the Elder Council elders.
"Bring the Hundred-Refined Steel."
"Yes."
One of the Elder Council members who had endlessly doubted and opposed the usefulness of Hui-yeom's crucible furnace stepped forward with an ingot of Hundred-Refined Steel produced by the existing furnace method and held it out.
"This is without doubt made by the traditional method?"
"It is."
"Then let us compare them. But without using internal energy."
"...Then I shall not decline."
Elder Ma Jeonggu of the Elder Council picked up the traditional Hundred-Refined Steel. He did not load it with internal energy. Internal energy would greatly increase the strength of refined steel, making a fair comparison impossible. The thought of secretly loading it had crossed his mind, but the main-family direct line were watching with eyes wide open, so it was impossible from the start.
He did not believe in Hui-yeom's invention, so he simply swung the traditional Hundred-Refined Steel ingot with pure strength and struck the one Hui-yeom had made.
Clang! Clang! Claaang!
With each collision sparks flew and tension lit the faces of the onlookers.
In this era, cast iron broke easily. Therefore a blacksmith had to hammer, heat, and cool it repeatedly to reduce impurities and drive out internal air bubbles, turning it into Hundred-Refined Steel—metal approaching what modern people thought of as steel. But blacksmiths were only human. If the hammering was not applied evenly across the billet, air bubbles remained in places, and when swords clashed those spots would shatter and the blade would break.
How could a lump of cast iron that hasn't even had its bubbles removed beat Hundred-Refined Steel?
Ma Jeonggu snorted and put more strength into his hand. Common sense said traditional Hundred-Refined Steel, made through forging, could not lose this contest of strength.
It could not lose—and yet,
Claaang—!
"Th-that!"
"What in the world?!"
Cries of shock rose among the watching elders. With a clear ringing sound, the ingot in Elder Ma Jeonggu's hand snapped cleanly in two. Staring as if his own teeth had broken, eyes bulging at the iron fragment rolling on the ground, he looked at Hui-yeom, who smiled sweetly.
"Iron that has never been refined even once has defeated steel refined a hundred times... so how about naming it Flawless Steel?"
"..."
Ma Jeonggu could only tremble, unable to speak. Hui-yeom swept his gaze over the elders, whose eyes were filled with shock and disbelief as they stared at him, the Flawless Steel, and the broken Hundred-Refined Steel. Then he smiled brightly and spoke.
"There seemed to be many who doubted the method I devised, but I believe this sufficiently proves it. Father, may we increase the number of crucible furnaces?"
"Permission granted—of course permission is granted! Isn't that so, Elder Hong Ilgon? Surely you won't oppose even at this stage?"
Dang Un-sang threw his head back and laughed as he looked at Hong Ilgon. Hong Ilgon immediately lowered his eyes.
"...Since Young Master has rendered such great service, how could this not also be the Dang Family's great fortune? Congratulations, Family Head."
"Congratulations, Family Head!"
Just what kind of person is this Young Master?
He thought of this at only seven? This is absurd!
This affair is big. Damn it. For a while we'll just have to watch the Family Head's Hall swagger.
We have to find some fault somehow...
He's already this formidable—what happens if he grows to adulthood...
Feeling gazes steeped in envy and shock, rage and fear directed at him, Hui-yeom muttered inwardly.
...Serious checks will start coming in earnest soon. For a while they'll still be watching their step, so I have to drive the wedge in during that window.
Hui-yeom scurried over to Dang Un-sang, who was receiving congratulations with a full smile.
"Oh! My proud son! Hahaha, I knew you would do it!"
Toward his thoroughly elated father, Hui-yeom smiled cutely.
"Father, you look happy."
"Of course! This is the first time I've been this happy since you developed Tangga Manneung-go! Hahahaha!"
"While you're in such good spirits, there is something I would like to ask of you, Father."
"What is it? Just say the word!"
"Your son needs an allowance."
"An allowance? Hahahaha, all right—how much do you need?"
"You are granting it?"
"Yes, tell me—how much do you need?"
"Then shall we go write up a contract first?"
"...Eh?"
Dang Un-sang blinked as if cognitive dissonance had struck him.
"We were talking about allowance and suddenly a contract?"
At his father's question, Hui-yeom smiled with particular richness. And looking at that smile, Dang Un-sang felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding.